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EUROPE IN 1914 
 
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A HISTORY OF 
 
 MEDIEVAL AND MODERN 
 
 EUROPE 
 
 For Secondary Schools 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM STEARNS DAVIS 
 
 Professor of History in the Uninjersity of Minnesota 
 ASSISTED BY 
 
 NORMAN SHAW McKENDRICK 
 
 Instructor in History in Phillips Exeter Academy 
 
 HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 
 
 BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO 
 
Revised Edition 
 
 13103 
 
 I ^ a o 
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY WILLIAM STEARNS DAVIS 
 Copyright, 1914, by William Stearns Davis 
 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 
 
 Eighth Impression 
 Jaiiuayy, ig2o 
 
 aCfjt jRibcrSfte 3^re66 
 
 CAMBRIDGE • MASSACHUSETTS 
 U • S ■ A 
 
 JAN 12 1921 
 ©CI.Ae04932 
 
 ^,v« I 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The main purpose of this book is to tell the story of the 
 building of Europe, in a way useful for students in the secon- 
 dary schools, or, in other words, to answer the question how 
 the European nations, especially the prime units in civihza- 
 tion, — England, France, Germany, and Italy, — came to be 
 what they are to-day. There has been an earnest effort not to 
 take too much for granted in the way of previous information, 
 not to overload the student with facts and names of which so 
 little can be told that they cannot " body-out " in his imagina- 
 tion, and not to cover any but the essential features of the main 
 subjects. 
 
 While our story must for completeness go back to the fall 
 of the Roman Empire, common sense dictates that for most 
 students the medieval era is of relatively less importance than 
 the last four centuries. The amount of space allotted to given 
 events is, therefore, increasingly ample as recent times are 
 approached : thus, there is a much longer discussion of Napoleon 
 than of Charlemagne. On the other hand, it has seemed needful 
 to keep the treatment of even the modern period within fair 
 limits, especially by adhering closely to the study of Europe 
 only. Thus there is merely an allusion to many of the events 
 which created the British Empire, and the student will have 
 to go elsewhere to learn how France acquired a great dominion 
 in North Africa, and how Russia was checked by Japan in the 
 Far East. This is a misfortune, for such a process as the open- 
 ing of China may prove to be a matter of more importance in 
 universal history than the whole Thirty Years' War, but the 
 limitations on the time of most students and the need of 
 adhering to the main thread of what is at best a very long 
 narrative, seem to forbid the treatment of many fascinating as 
 well as valuable problems. 
 
IV 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 In including or excluding an event, a name, or an institution, 
 in or from this history, the tests have been usually these, — 
 (i) Is this matter really important historically.'' (2) If so, can 
 it be stated clearly, and so as to appeal to the imagination and 
 understanding of an immature student in a relatively short 
 number of words? For example, the institutions of the Anglo- 
 Saxons have high significance for advanced scholars in English 
 history, but such details cannot be made to have any real 
 meaning for young students unless explained at very consider- 
 able length ; and rather than have a mass of dry and probably 
 meaningless statements cast into the learner's teeth, the 
 whole subject has been almost ignored. On the other hand, the 
 French wars of Edward III have been traced with clear details, 
 because a very few statements about Crecy and Poitiers will 
 make those names assume a real meaning in the mind of any 
 red-blooded student, and make the Hundred Years' War seem 
 a vital period of history. For this reason, too, more has some- 
 times been said about men than about institutions. " Parlia- 
 ment " is an abstraction that probably means little to many 
 high-school students: John Pym, lighting the battle for human 
 liberty in the name of the vindication of Parliament, can be- 
 come a very genuine figure, indeed. 
 
 In this process of inclusion and exclusion the author has been 
 obliged in every sentence to exercise his own personal judg- 
 ment. Literally thousands of more or less important facts and 
 names have been omitted. The excuse has to be that the length 
 of a textbook of this kind is strictly limited by the many de- 
 mands of the modern curriculum upon a student's time and 
 energy, and that this history, therefore, if it is not to fall into 
 the capital error of being a dry-as-dust compendium, must re- 
 sign any pretension of putting a full quart into a pint pot. 
 
 If in the end of the study the reader has gained some con- 
 sciousness of the " increasing purpose," which has led the 
 nations onward, from Roman degeneracy and Germanic dark- 
 
PREFACE V 
 
 ness, through the long twilight into the present brightness of 
 promise; if he has come to recognize how the brotherhood 
 of civihzed men owes its enlightenment and hope not to the 
 deeds of one age or nation only, but to a long, painful, often 
 agonizing process of building, stretching across the centuries; 
 if, in short, he has learned that " history is the continuous record 
 of human achievement," and that the man of to-day is infi- 
 nitely the debtor to the man of yesterday, — this little history 
 will have fulfilled its modest purpose. 
 
 In preparing this textbook the collaborating author, Mr. 
 McKendrick, has revised the entire manuscript with helpful 
 scrutiny, suggesting many improvements of every kind. He 
 has also been the originating author of all the questions, 
 analyses, bibhographies, maps, tables, etc., which will prob- 
 ably be considered among the most important features of the 
 work. Indeed, the preparation of the volume as a working 
 textbook would have been quite impossible without his always 
 friendly and faithful cooperation. 
 
 Professor J. T. Shotwell, of Columbia University, has given 
 the entire volume the benefit of a searching criticism from the 
 standpoint of up-to-date, advanced scholarship, and has 
 added many practical suggestions of very pronounced value. 
 Mr. M. T. Sadler, formerly of Oxford University, has performed 
 a like kindly and extremely helpful service. Last, but not least, 
 mention must be made of the publishers of this book. It was 
 at their suggestion that the work was originally undertaken, and 
 through the long process of its development they have never 
 failed with patient supervision, with fertile and stimulating 
 suggestion, and with a painstaking attention to all the excellent 
 mechanical details which it is beheved this book will be found 
 to possess. 
 
 WILLIAM STEARNS DAVIS. 
 University of INIinnesota, 
 Minneapolis, May, 1914. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Suggestions to Teachers xlv 
 
 I. The Dying Empire and the Forest Peoples .... i 
 
 I. The greatness of the Roman Empire. 2. Why the Empire was 
 declining. 3. The German tribes beyond the Rhine and the Danube. 
 
 II. The Germans in the Old Empire 10 
 
 4. The Huns drive the Germans southward. 5. The sack of Rome by 
 the Visigoths. 6. The Germanic kingdoms within the faUing empire. 
 
 7. Theodoric the Ostrogoth and the later Germanic kingdoms. 
 
 III. The Christian Church in the Early Middle Ages 18 
 
 8. The Christian Church survives the Empire. 9. The secular Gov- 
 ernments make use of the Church. 10. The organization of the 
 Church. II. The rise of the Papacy. 12. The rise of monasticism. 
 
 IV. The Mohammedans and the Eastern Empire ... 29 
 
 13. The Arabians before Mohammed. 14. The career of Mohammed. 
 15. The doctrines of Islam. 16. The conquests of the Arabians. 
 17. The Eastern Empire repulses the Saracens. 18. The later 
 caliphate. 19. The wonderful city of Constantinople. 
 
 V. The Monarchy of the Franks 39 
 
 20. Clovis and the Merovingian Franks. 21. The evil successors of 
 Clovis. 22. The "Mayors of the Palace." 23. The battle of Tours. 
 
 24. Pepin the Short. 
 
 VI. Charlemagne and his Age 49 
 
 25. Charlemagne's personality and power. 26. Charlemagne's 
 Saxon wars. 27. The downfall of the Lombards. 28. Charlemagne's 
 other wars. 29. The coronation of Charlemagne. 30. Charlemagne 
 the civilizer. 
 
 VII. The Terrible Ninth Century and the Rise of 
 
 Feudalism 61 
 
 31. Why Charlemagne's empire dissolved. 32. The growth of new 
 national units. 33. The feudal system. 
 
viii CONTENTS 
 
 VIII. The Holy Roman Empire in Germany and Italy 
 
 (to 1056) 71 
 
 34. The origins of the Kingdom of Germany. 35. Henry the Fowler. 
 36. Otto I — his power in Germany. 37. Otto I — his revival of the 
 Holy Roman Empire. 38. The successors of Otto I. 39. Henry III, 
 the Pope-maker. 
 
 IX. The Rise of the French Kingdom 82 
 
 40. The founding of the Capetian monarchy. 41. The mediaeval 
 Kingdom of France — its weakness. 42. The first phases of the 
 monarchy. 43. Philip Augustus, maker of France. 44. St. Louis 
 confirms the French monarchy. 
 
 X. The Crusades 93 
 
 45. Origin of the crusades. 46. The preaching at Clermont. 47. The 
 leaders of the First Crusade. 48. The crusaders reach the East. 
 49. The sieges of Antioch. 50. The taking of Jerusalem. 51. The 
 Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem. 52. The later crusades. 53. The 
 results of the crusades. 
 
 XI. The Origins of the English N.^^tion 108 
 
 54. The sea as a factor in English history. 55. The coming of the 
 Saxons. 56. The Saxon kingdoms: the christianizing of England. 
 57. The Northmen and Alfred. 58. Cnutand Edward the Confessor. 
 59. William the Conqueror. 60. The successors of William. 61. The 
 Great Charter (Magna Charta). 62. The thirteenth century in 
 England. 63. The origins of the "common law" and of trial b}^ jury. 
 
 XII. Life in the Feudal Ages 127 
 
 64. The feudal castle. 65. Life in the castle. 66. The relations of 
 suzerain and vassal. 67. Feudal wars. 68. The general wretchedness 
 of feudal life. 69. Life in the Church. 70. The intellectual life of the 
 Middle Ages. 71. The Gothic cathedrals. 
 
 XIII. The Rise of the Non-Noble Classes 141 
 
 72. The evil state of the peasants. 73. The slow rise of the agricul- 
 tural classes. 74. The rise of the free towns. 75. The aspect of a 
 mediaeval city. 76. The cities of Flanders. 77. Venice and Florence. 
 
 78. The revival of commerce and industry. 
 
 XIV. The Popes, the Emperors, and the Medieval 
 
 Church i53 
 
 79. "The freedom of the Church." 80. Hildebrand: as monk and 
 as Pope-maker. 81. Henry IV and his bad rule in Germany. 82. The 
 humiliation at Canossa. 83. The end of the investiture contest. 
 
CONTENTS ix 
 
 84. St. Bernard of Clairvaux. 85. Frederick I (Barbarossa). 
 86. Innocent III, arbiter over kings. 87. Frederick II, the "wonder 
 of the world." 88. The triumph of the Church. 89. St. Francis and 
 his friars. 
 
 XV. The Hundred Years' War 168 
 
 90. The causes and contestants. 91. The Crecy campaign. 92. 
 Poitiers and the Treaty of Bretigny. 93. Charles V and the first 
 expulsion of the English. 94. The second coming of the English: 
 Agincourt. 95. Jeanne d'Arc. 96. The end of the war. 
 
 XVI. The Later Middle Ages in England 181 
 
 97. Edward I and Scotland. 98. Robert Bruce and Bannockburn. 
 99. Wiclif and Richard II. 100. The rising of the peasants and the 
 rule of the House of Lancaster. loi. The Wars of the Roses. 
 102. The bad King Richard III. 103. Henry VII, restorer of law and 
 order. 104. England at the end of the Middle Ages. 105. The 
 English in Ireland. 
 
 XVII. The Popes, the Schism, and the Councils . . .195 
 
 106. The downfall of Boniface VIII. 107. The "Babylonish Cap- 
 tivity" at Avignon. 108. The Great Schism. 109. The councils. 
 John Hus. I ID. The final era of the mediaeval Papacy. 
 
 XVIII. The Renaissance • 204 
 
 III. The mediaeval universities and schoolmen. 112. The new 
 conditions in Italy. 113. The epoch-makers — Dante, Petrarch, and 
 Boccaccio. 114. The "new learning." 115. The revival of "the joy 
 of living." 116. The new art. 117. The new inventions. 118. The 
 Northern Renaissance. 
 
 XIX. The World at the End of the Middle Ages . .216 
 
 119. The state of France. 120. The "German" Empire. 121. The 
 coming of Spain. 122. The coming of the Turks. 123. The mihtary 
 revolution caused by gunpowder. 124. The expansion of the world 
 by foreign discoveries. 125. General unrest of the times. 
 
 XX. The Protestant Revolt in Germany and Switzer- 
 
 land 229 
 
 126. The state of the Church in the sixteenth century. 127. The 
 early career of Martin Luther. 128. Tetzel, and Luther's Theses. 
 129. The hearing before Cajetanus. 130. The disputation at Leipzig. 
 131. Luther at Worms and the Wartburg. 132. The spread of the 
 revolt in Germany. 133. The religious peace at Augsburg. 134. 
 Zwingli and Calvin in Switzerland. 135. The Council of Trent and 
 the Catholic reaction. 
 
X CONTENTS 
 
 XXI. The Religious Revolt in England 242 
 
 136. Henry VIII — his character and poUcy. 137. The divorce of 
 Catherine of Aragon. 138. The break with Rome. 139. The spread 
 of Protestantism. 140. Edward VI — The Protestants control 
 the Government. 141. Mary Tudor and the Cathohc reaction. 
 
 142. The economic troubles of the age. 
 
 XXII. The Age of Philip of Spain and Elizabeth of 
 
 England 255 
 
 143. Philip II of Spain — his power and his character. 144. How 
 Elizabeth began her reign. 145. Mary Stuart blunders in Scotland. 
 146. William the Silent and the revolt of the Netherlands. 147. The 
 execution of Mary Stuart. 148. The Spanish Armada. 149. The 
 Huguenots in France and Henry of Navarre. 150. Conclusion of 
 the epoch. 
 
 XXIII. The Early Stuarts in England 274 
 
 151. James I, the "wise fool" of England. 152. The Gunpowder 
 Plot. 153. The Spanish marriage. 154. James and his Parliaments. 
 155. Charles I and the Duke of Buckingham. 156. Charles's quarrels 
 with his Parliaments. 157. The arbitrary rule of Charles. 158. The 
 revolt of the Scots. 
 
 XXIV. The Great Civil War in England and the Rule 
 
 OF Cromwell 285 
 
 159. The Scots and the "Short Parliament." i6o. The "Long Parlia- 
 ment." 161. The trial and death of Strafford. 162. The attack on 
 the five members. 163. The "Great Civil War" and the rise of 
 Cromwell. 164. The triumph of the army and the death of the king. 
 165. The Commonwealth and the "Rump" Parliament. i66. Crom- 
 well, Lord Protector of England. 167. The return of the Stuarts: 
 what the Civil War accomplished. 
 
 XXV. The Thirty Years' War in Germany 299 
 
 168. Origin of the great struggle. i6q. The revolt of Bohemia against 
 Austria. 170. The appearance of Wallenstein. 171. The Edict of 
 Restitution. 172. Gustavus Adolphus in Germany. 173. The fall 
 of Wallenstein. 174. The French period of the war. 175. The Peace 
 of Westphalia. 
 
 XXVI. Louis XIV, Dominator of Europe 310 
 
 176. The greatness of France in 1661. 177. Louis XIV — his abso- 
 lute government and his court. 178. The persecution of the Hugue- 
 nots. 179. The wars of Louis XIV. 180. The siege of Vienna by the 
 Turks. 181. The War of the Spanish Succession. 182. The effect of 
 the example of Louis XIV : his end. 
 
CONTENTS xi 
 
 XXVIL The Later Stuarts in England and their Over- 
 throw 322 
 
 183. Charles II, "The Merry Monarch." 184. The persecution of 
 the Puritans and the Catholics. 185. James II — his character and 
 aims. 186. The first years of James. 187. The case of the seven 
 bishops. 188. "The Great Revolution": the overthrow of James. 
 189. William III and Mary. 190. The reign of Anne: the end of the 
 revolutionary period in England. 
 
 XXVIII. The Growth of Russia and Prussia . . . .335 
 
 191. Early Russia. 192. Peter the Great. 193. Peter the Great and 
 Charles XII of Sweden. 194. The Electorate of Brandenburg. 
 195. The Great Elector, Frederick William. 196. Brandenburg 
 becomes the Kingdom of Prussia. 197. Frederick W illiam I. 
 
 XXIX. The Eighteenth Century 348 
 
 198. The character of the age. 199. Louis XV and Madame de 
 Pompadour. 200. Maria Theresa of Austria. 201. Frederick the 
 Great. 202. The wars of Frederick the Great. 203. Joseph II of 
 Austria, the crowned idealist. 204. The division of Poland. 205. 
 Louis XVI and the last years of the Old Regime in France. 206. The 
 "Balance of Power in Europe." 
 
 XXX. England under the Georges 361 
 
 207. The general tsndencies of the age. 208. The four Georges. 
 209. The growth of English industry and commerce. 210. The naval 
 supremacy of England. 211. The winning of India. 212. The English 
 colonial empire. 213. The rise of the cabinet system. 214. The great 
 parties and the great ministers. 215. England at the end of the 
 Georgian age: the case of Ireland. 
 
 XXXI. The Causes of the French Revolution . . .378 
 
 216. The general expectancy of Europe in the eighteenth century. 
 
 217. Why the revolution started in France. 218. The French mon- 
 archy, despotism tempered by inefficiency. 219. The pri\'ileged and 
 idle nobility. 220. The bourgeoisie of the towns. 221. The helpless 
 and discontented peasantry. 222. The unequal and absurd system 
 of taxation. 223. A worldly and unbelieving clergy. 224. Voltaire 
 and Rousseau. 225. The prime factors in the French Revolution. 
 
 XXXII. The French Revolution 391 
 
 226. The summoning of the States General. 227. The meeting of the 
 States General. 228. The tennis-court oath. 229. The fall of the 
 Bastille. 230. Paris captures the monarchy. 231. The new constitu- 
 tion. 232. The flight to Varennes. 233. The new legislature. 
 
xii CONTENTS 
 
 234. The outbreak of war. 235. The downfall of French royalty. 
 236. The Convention and the massacres. 237. The death of the king. 
 238. The war with all Europe. 239. The Committee of Public Safety 
 and the Terror. 240. The revolts against the Jacobins. 241. The 
 fall of Danton and the dictatorship of Robespierre. 242. The down- 
 fall of Robespierre. 243. The "Third" Constitution and the whiff of 
 grapeshot. 
 
 XXXin. How Napoleon Bonap.arte overturned the Old 
 
 Europe 420 
 
 244. The youth and early career of Napoleon. 245. The "First 
 Italian Campaign." 246. The Treaty of Campo Formio. 247. The 
 naval power of England. 248. The Egyptian expedition. 249. Napo- 
 leon First Consul. 250. The end of the Holy Roman Empire. 251. 
 Napoleon, Emperor of the French. 252. Trafalgar and Austerhtz. 
 
 253. The humiliation of Prussia. 
 
 XXXIV. The Downfall of Napoleon 438 
 
 254. Napoleon at the height of his power. 255. The Continental 
 Blockade. 256. The resistance of Spain and Austria. 257. The 
 regeneration of Prussia. 258. The IMoscow campaign. 259. The 
 great uprising against Napoleon. 260. The "Battle of the Nations": 
 Leipzig. 261. The first abdication. 262. Waterloo and St. Helena. 
 
 263. Napoleon's character and place in history. 
 
 XXXV. The Reaction in Europe: the Domination of 
 
 Metternich 454 
 
 264. The Congress of Vienna. 265. The Holy .Alliance. 266. The 
 Greek and the Belgian revolts. 267. France under the Bourbons. 
 268. The Revolution of 1830. 269. The situation in Germany, 
 270. The situation in Italy. 271. Louis Philippe's rule in France. 
 
 XXXVI. The Revolutions of 184S, and the Second 
 
 Empire 466 
 
 272. The downfall of Louis Philippe. 273. The Second French 
 Republic. 274. The revolution in Germany. 275. The revolution in 
 Austria-Hungary. 276. The revolution in Italy. 277. The Assembly 
 in Paris. 278. Louis Napoleon, President of France. 279. The Coup 
 d'Etat. 2S0. The Second Empire: Napoleon HI. 
 
 XXXVII. How Cavour made Italy . . , 4S0 
 
 281. Italy after 1S4S. 282. Cavour's policy in Sardinia. 283. The 
 intervention of Napoleon HI. 284. The making of the Italian King- 
 dom. 2S5. The conquest of Naples. 286. The winning of Venetia, 
 287. The winning of Rome. 
 
CONTENTS xiii 
 
 XXXVIII. How Bismarck made Germany 491 
 
 288. After the 184S Revolution in Germany. 289. The coming of 
 Bismarck. 290. The Danish War. 291. The Austro-Prussian War. 
 292. The founding of the North German Confederation. 293. Bis- 
 marck and Napoleon III. 294. The outbreak of the Franco-Prussian 
 War. 295. The Franco-Prussian War. 296. The German Empire. 
 
 XXXIX. Nineteenth-Century England 507 
 
 297. The Problem of 1830: the "Unreformed Parhament." 298. The 
 Great Reform Act. 299. The era of liberal reforms. 300. Queen 
 Victoria. 301. The repeal of the Corn Laws. 302. The Indian, or 
 Sepoy, Mutiny. 303. The Second Reform Act, and Gladstone. 
 304. Disraeh and Imperialism. 305. The return of Gladstone: the 
 Home Rule Question. 306. The British colonial empire. 307. The 
 death of Queen Victoria. 
 
 "vL. The Most Recent Age in Europe 524 
 
 308. France since (1871) the Third Republic. 309. Germany after the 
 unification. 310. The new Italy. 311. The Austro-Hungarian 
 Empire. 312. The Triple Alliance and its enemies. 313. The twenti- 
 eth century in Great Britain. 314. The evolution of Russia. 315. The 
 crumbhng of Turkey. 316. The Balkan War. 317. The Hague Peace 
 Tribunal. 
 
 XLI. The March of Democracy 550 
 
 318. The recovery of Democracy after the French Revolution. 
 
 319. The example of the United States. 320. The industrial revolu- 
 tion. 321. The new means of communication. 322. The new con- 
 sciousness of nationality. 323. The spread of education. 324. The 
 Free Press. 325. The new military system. 326. The enormous 
 expenses of modern governments. 327. Socialism. 328. A summary 
 and retrospect. 
 
 Conclusion. The Great European War. 1914-18 . 547*7 
 
 The summer of 1914. — The Serbian Note. — • Germany declares war. 
 — Invasion of Belgium; Spread of the War. — The first battles of the 
 Marne and of the Yser. — The defeat of Russia. — The struggle in the 
 west. — The submarines and the United States. — The Russian Revo- 
 lution. — -The intervention of the United States. — The breaking of 
 the deadlock on the western front, 1018. — The collapse of Germany. 
 — The Armistice (November ii, 1918). — The world at the end of 
 the Great War. — The Treaty of Versailles. 
 
 Appendix i 
 
 List or Maps xi 
 
 List of Portraits and Illustrations xii 
 
 Key to Pronunciation xv 
 
 Index . . . . xix 
 
SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS 
 
 These suggestions, and the "helps" provided in the body of the book, 
 are for the many teachers of history in our secondary schools who are 
 endeavoring to do justice to the subject without having had special 
 preparation for teaching it. It is realized that experienced teachers of 
 history will probably make use of the book in their own ways, with little 
 regard to the aids with which the book is equipped. 
 
 Under the heading "Review," a set of questions is provided at the end 
 of each chapter which will thoroughly test the pupil's knowledge of the 
 material presented in the chapter, and which will call constantly upon 
 him to examine causes and results and their relations, as well as require 
 him to make frequent comparisons in all possible ways. Question number 
 one in each instance gives opportunity for a rapid drill upon the signifi- 
 cant names and phrases found in the chapter. 
 
 The second question emphasizes the importance of map-work in the 
 study of European history. All the map-work called for should be done. 
 The maps in the book have been made especially to illustrate the text. With 
 a very few unimportant exceptions, all the places and regions mentioned 
 in the text are located on the accompanying maps, and the important 
 territorial changes are shown with suiTicient fullness. Except in a few 
 instances, the maps show only the places referred to in the text; thus the 
 useless "padding" of maps, so often found in textbooks, is avoided. The 
 maps, however, cannot supplant an atlas: the pupils should have access 
 to a good one. It is probable that greater benefit will be derived by using 
 various kinds of outline maps than by confining the use to those made by 
 one publishing-house only. 
 
 Under the heading "Exercises," a set of questions is further provided 
 which is based upon the material found in the list of "Readings." Where 
 time permits, the use of these questions will be found to be of great value, 
 for every pupil should extend his study of history beyond the covers of 
 a single book. It is not expected that each pupil will attempt to find 
 answers for all the questions. In making the list of books to be used in 
 connection with the "Exercises," regard was had to the need of keeping 
 the cost within reach of all schools. The books can be obtained at a con- 
 siderable reduction below the list price, possibly for a sum of twelve or 
 fifteen dollars, if some of the books marked with a star are omitted. Many 
 teachers will wish to substitute for the list in the Appendix (pp. ii-iv), 
 other books which seem to them more desirable. The only claim made 
 for the list of books chosen is that it makes a very usable and well- 
 
SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS 
 
 XV 
 
 rounded working library, the cost of which is moderate enough for any 
 school to meet. 
 
 Most students of history will agree, probably, that the habit of "brows- 
 ing," i.e., reading casually, is an excellent one to cultivate. To help in the 
 development of this habit and to give practice in the use of the table of 
 contents and index, the questions in the "Exercises" are left without 
 direct references to the particular page or pages upon which the answers 
 may be found. In the search for the answers, the attention of the pupils 
 must often be arrested by incidents aside from the particular matter in 
 hand. 
 
 In the study of European history, one of the most difficult things to 
 impress upon the minds of the pupils is the fact that the events described 
 in one chapter did not necessarily happen before the events described in 
 the following, or some subsequent, chapter, just because the first chapter 
 precedes the others. in the text. The following chart has been found, by 
 actual experience, a very efficient means of overcoming this difficulty. It 
 is recommended that only the events which are described in the text, or 
 referred to in the "Exercises," be used in making the chart. 
 
 In the "List of Important Dates" (Appendix, p. i), brief statements 
 ,are made concerning the significance of each event. The pupils should be 
 asked to explain the statements, to enlarge upon them, to find illustra- 
 tions of them, and to make similar lists of other important dates. A bare 
 list of dates, without some such use made of it, has little value. 
 
 PLAN FOR A CHRONOLOGICAL CHART 
 
 England 
 
 France 
 
 Eoly h 
 Em 
 
 Germany 
 
 'oman 
 bire 
 
 Italy 
 
 The 
 
 Papacy 
 
 Spain 
 
 Russia, Scandinavian and Balkan Slates 
 
 
 
 Names 
 perors 
 be writ 
 across 
 
 of Em- 
 should 
 ten 
 this line. 
 
 
 
 
 Suggestions : — The Chart may be made by the pupils during the year ; or, as an 
 aid to review at the end of the year. In each column should be entered the names 
 and dates of the rulers, and the names and dates of the important events in each reign. 
 Contemporary rulers and events should occupy, as far as possible, the same horizon- 
 tal lines. Some events, e.g., the battle of Bouvines, should appear in several columns, 
 since they concern several nations. Individual columns for Russia and the Scandi- 
 navian and Balkan States, etc., may be made at the discretion of the teacher. The 
 Chart may be made upon one or two large sheets of paper, or may be divided into a 
 number of sheets, taking the events period by period, or century by century. 
 
A HISTORY OF MEDI/EVAL 
 AND MODERN EUROPE 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE DYING EMPIRE AND THE FOREST PEOPLES 
 
 I. The greatness of the Roman Empire. In the fourth cen- 
 tury of the Christian era the Roman Empire embraced almost 
 every land then civilized. All the country now bordering 
 upon the Mediterranean was subject to it, and also Britain 
 (modern England). The intelligence and wisdom not merely of 
 ancient Italy, the home land of the conquering Romans, but of 
 old Greece and older Egypt and Syria had been absorbed by 
 the men of the Empire. A traveler from the Euphrates River to 
 Londinium (London) would not as to-day have had to pass 
 through half a score of different countries with varying lan- 
 guages, laws, customs, religions, often sorely hostile one to an- 
 other; he would have been moving continuously within a single 
 vast empire, all under one firm government, with the same law, 
 the same general manner of religion, the same general social 
 conventionalities. The same money passed current every- 
 where. If he had had to transact any official business he could 
 always have dispatched it in Latin, though in the Eastern 
 Provinces the more usual language was Greek; and in various 
 rural districts the old local dialects were still in use. The only 
 books he would have read would have been either in Latin or 
 in Greek, He would have found a vast commerce passing over 
 a magnificent road system. On the great frontier rivers, the 
 Euphrates (where the Empire fronted the Kingdom of Per- 
 sia), the Danube, and the Rhine (whence the Romans looked 
 
2 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 out against the German tribes), he would have discovered 
 highly disciplined armies ready to cast themselves upon any 
 invader. 
 
 At short intervals in his travel he would have entered stately 
 cities with magnificent palaces, theaters, forums (public 
 squares), triumphal arches, and especially amphitheaters 
 where the multitude sought the gladiatorial games wherein 
 they so delighted. Everywhere there was a profusion of splen- 
 did sculptures, statues, bas-reliefs, and paintings. Life in these 
 cities was highly cultured : there were numerous literary men, 
 and scholars were held in high esteem. Some of these cities 
 were of notable size: besides Rome,^ which was undoubtedly 
 an exceedingly large city even from a modern standpoint, 
 there were Carthage in North Africa, Alexandria in Egypt, 
 Antioch in Syria, and especially the new capital, Constanti- 
 nople (founded in 330 a.d. by the Emperor Constantine as a 
 counterpoise to old Rome), which rivaled the '' Queen of the 
 Tiber," in magnitude and splendor. In the open country 
 were great landed estates, where the fortunate owners lived in 
 their villas amid refined ease and luxury. 
 
 By about 375 a.d. the religion of this huge empire was nom- 
 inally Christian. The days of the martyrs were over: Con- 
 stantine (died 337), the first Christian Emperor, had begun 
 the official discouragement of paganism, and since his day — 
 despite some reactions — the old heathen religion had steadily 
 declined. In a few generations more it was to be almost dead, 
 and " Rome " and " Christianity " were to become practically 
 synonyms. 
 
 2. Why the Empire was declining. And yet this stately, 
 almost universal empire was declining, and was doomed to a 
 slow, lingering, but certain death. Among the causes of this 
 
 ^ The safest guess as to the population of Imperial Rome seems to put it at 
 over 1,000,000; possibly up to 1,500,000. The student must remember that until 
 decidedly modern times reliable census figures are lacking. 
 
THE DYING EMPIRE AND THE FOREST PEOPLES 3 
 
 "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," — ^ which consti- 
 tutes some of the most significant chapters of history, — are 
 these : — 
 
 (a) The government of the Empire was that of a despotism. 
 Once the Roman Emperors had tried to veil their power under 
 a decent show of maintaining some kinds of popular liberties, 
 but now the Cassars were for all substantial purposes as abso- 
 lute autocrats as if they had called themselves " Shahs " or 
 "Sultans."^ The sole thing they really dreaded was the mu- 
 tiny of the army. The Empire was suffering from the numbing 
 effects of an absolute monarchy, one of the most destructive 
 things possible to private ambition and effort. 
 
 (b) Along with this despotism went a grasping and grinding 
 system of taxation. To pay for the expensive court and the 
 increasing demands of the army it was necessary to tax the 
 
 ' subjects of the Roman Empire as few people have been taxed. 
 This taxation swept off all the surplus wealth, and left the 
 multitude hopeless, discontented, and often starved. 
 
 (c) The army was ceasing to protect the frontiers properly. 
 The long years of peace had given the men of the Empire a 
 distaste for the military life. Most of the soldiers were recruits 
 from the German tribes. These troops were brave but unreli- 
 able. By their mutinies they raised and destroyed emperors. 
 The bonds of discipline were becoming relaxed. Very soon this 
 demoralized army would cease to be able to hold back the 
 invaders. 
 
 (d) As a canker at the heart of the Empire was the evil of 
 slavery, A great proportion of the people were still slaves, 
 although the spirit of Christianity was opposed to the slave 
 system. Slavery was brutal to its victims: but its effect on the 
 masters was still worse. It taught them to be pitiless and 
 
 ^ At this period the Empire had been divided, usually, into a western and an 
 eastern portion, each with its own emperor. But the Empire was always in theory 
 one, and the two sovereigns were expected to work in harmony. 
 
4 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 tyrannical and to despise all fonns of toilsome labor as fit only 
 for bondsmen. No great country ever contained such a pro- 
 portion of dishonest idlers as the later Roman Empire. For 
 this evil, slavery was largely responsible. The men of the 
 fourth century had hardly an idea of the dignity of labor. 
 
 (e) Along with slavery, as its disastrous counterpart, went 
 the great disproportion in the distribution of wealth. Most of 
 the landed property was in the hands of a relatively small num- 
 ber of immensely wealthy magnates of the " Senatorial Class." 
 The masses were either the actual slaves toiling on the mag- 
 nate's estates, or colon i, — a kind of serfs,- with some nominal 
 rights, but whose actual condition was not a great deal better 
 than that of the slaves. When the Empire stood in sore peril, 
 these down-trodden millions would not feel a great deal of 
 interest in preserving a system in which their rights were so 
 little considered. In their last fights for existence the Caesars 
 could not appeal to the patriotism of their people as can a 
 modern government in a great crisis. 
 
 (/) Besides these evils, we meet the fact that the old Graeco- 
 Roman civilization had almost spent itself. Its philosophers 
 and poets had spoken their last word. Its sculptors could not 
 surpass their former creations. Literature had ceased to be 
 creative. Art was becoming florid and over-elaborate. There 
 was still much refinement and learning in the old world, but 
 also much artificiality and absolutely no originality. 
 
 (g) The spirit of Christianity had come too late to save a 
 civilization already condemned. There were many noble indi- 
 vidual Christians, but too many men accepted the new religion 
 with their lips, while they continued pagan and selfish in their 
 hearts. To teach the nations the true Gospel of Love was to be 
 the work of long ages. 
 
 3. The German tribes beyond the Rhine and the Danube. 
 Beyond the northern frontiers of this great but decadent em- 
 pire lay a swarm of barbarous peoples commonly called by 
 
THE DYING EMPIRE AND THE FOREST PEOPLES 5 
 
 the general name of the Germans. The Franks, Alemanni, 
 and Saxons were some of the tribes nearest the Rhine, while 
 north of the Danube lay particularly the powerful Gothic 
 nations, divided into the Ostrogoths (East Goths) and the 
 Visigoths (West Goths). 
 
 These Germans were decidedly inferior to the men of the 
 Empire in most of the essentials of civilization, but they were far 
 from being absolute savages. In the vast forests, the swamp 
 lands, or the plains of their northern homes they were slowly 
 developing some- 
 thing like settled 
 agricultural life, 
 although hunting 
 and grazing still 
 furnished their 
 'chief means of 
 subsistence. They 
 were a tall, blond, 
 blue -eyed race, 
 — " Northern Gi- 
 ants " the weak- 
 er races of the 
 Empire anxiously 
 called them ; and in battle only the superior discipline of the 
 Roman armies had flung back the rushes of their sword pha- 
 lanxes and of their terrible battle-axes. War, both with the 
 Romans and with their fellow Germans of neighboring tribes, 
 was the only real pursuit enjoyed by "men of spirit." The 
 hunting of bears and wild boars would suffice to employ a 
 northern chief during the intervals of "inglorious peace." Most 
 of the real toil of life, outside of fighting or the chase, fell on 
 the women. The villages of low wattled huts were separated 
 by wide intervals of forest land. There were no roads through 
 the woodland; only forest trails. Life in a German hamlet 
 
 KOAIAXS DESTROYING A VILLAGE OF THE 
 GERMANS 
 {Relief from the Column of Marcus Aurelins at Rome.) Ob- 
 serve the circular huts constructed of wickerwork, without 
 windows and having but a single narrow door 
 
HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 doubtless seemed brutal and sordid enough to any unlucky 
 Roman who came as an explorer or a prisoner. 
 
 Nevertheless amoijg these rude peoples were distinct evi- 
 dences of better things. Manly purity and female honor were 
 better observed than in the gay but sinful cities of the Empire. 
 There were slaves: but they were neither very numerous, nor 
 treated (according to German standards) with great severity. 
 At a carousal in his village the German warrior would drink 
 himself immoderately drunk, but on the campaign he might 
 exhibit all the sober virtues. Germans as a rule kept their oaths : 
 and they were remarkably faithful to any chief they had sworn 
 to follow. Indeed, the loyalty a comitatus 
 (band of picked fighting men) had for its 
 war chief was probably far greater than the 
 loyalty its members bore toward the com- 
 mon tribe. For a band to come back from 
 the battle where its chief had fallen un- 
 avenged, was a disgrace almost impossible 
 to wipe away. The whole company would 
 sooner perish. 
 
 The political organization of the Ger- 
 mans was loose and primitive. In times 
 of peace each little village community gov- 
 erned itself, or rather, the elders among the 
 nobles managed its simple affairs. In times 
 of threatened war, there would be assem- 
 blies of deputies from the villages, perhaps 
 in some forest glade under a ''sacred oak," 
 to consider the weal of the common folk and 
 to plan the campaign. Some tribes had no 
 permanent " king," and only elected a spe- 
 cial leader for each war: but usually each tribe had its own 
 " king," who, however, exercised little power save while on the 
 warpath, when he would be obeyed with reasonable diligence. 
 
 A GERMAN WAR 
 CHIEF 
 
 (Restored. From the 
 Musee d'Artillerie at 
 Paris) 
 
THE DYING EMPIRE AND THE FOREST PEOPLES 7 
 
 There seems to be evidence that by the fourth century the 
 Germans were becoming more civilized. They were learning 
 the arts of peace from the Romans and developing intern- 
 ally. Their governments were becoming firmer: their kings 
 had greater authority. Missionaries (especially the famous 
 Goth, Ulfilas) had re- 
 cently converted most 
 of them to a manner 
 of Christianity/ al- 
 though probably the 
 crude worship of the 
 old nature deities (e.g., 
 Donar, the Storm and 
 Thunder God) still 
 lingered on in many 
 villages, and in some 
 entire tribes. They 
 were becoming more 
 content with the lands 
 which they possessed, 
 and a little less intent 
 upon roving. Yet re- 
 peatedly their bands had collided with the Romans. In the third 
 century many German hordes had penetrated into the Empire, 
 and had been destroyed with the greatest difficulty. In the 
 fourth century the legions seemed to be preventing any actual 
 armed invasion ; but tens of thousands of Germans themselves 
 were enlisted in the legions, while many more were entering the 
 Empire as peaceful settlers. The Germans cheerfully recog- 
 nized the Romans as superior to themselves in everything but 
 war, and the glitter and splendor of Rome fascinated and lured 
 them southward. Late in the fourth century came events 
 
 DWELLING-HOUSE IN A TOWN OF THE FIFTH 
 CENTURY 
 
 (Restored. After Gamier and A mmann, Uistoire dc I'ha- 
 bitalion hnmaine.) Note that the building is largely com^ 
 posed of fragments of earlier monuments and structures 
 
 ' To Arianism, a kind of Unitarianism, which involved the acceptance of 
 Jesus Christ as a "God-Man," but denied his actual divinity. 
 
8 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 which broke the barriers on the Danube and the Rhine, and 
 let them into the Empire. 
 
 GENERAL NOTE ON ORDEALS 
 
 The Germans had one custom which was not merely a curious 
 usage of barbarous peoples, but which they took with them into the 
 Roman Empire and worked into the legal practices of the early 
 Middle Ages in many parts of Europe. This was the method of set- 
 tling many lawsuits not by a verdict after hearing the evidence, but 
 by an ordeal, a solemn question put to Heaven, which was supposed 
 to answer — according to the result of the ordeal — as to the guilt 
 or innocence of the accused. 
 
 Ordeals might take two general forms: among a certain class of 
 German warriors, and between mediaeval noblemen who imitated 
 their example, the favorite method was the wager by battle. In 
 this the two litigants, after due precautions to secure fair play, 
 literally "fought it out" with proper weapons, until one of them 
 was slain, or — if spared — the defeated man "confessed himself 
 recreant," that is, owned his guilt or retracted his charges. 
 
 The second form was more directly a query addressed to God. In 
 the "Ordeal by Boiling Water" the accused was obliged to take a 
 stone out of a deep boiling hot caldron. The condition of the ac- 
 cused's hand after the trial determined his fate. Or there might be a 
 "Fire Ordeal" — e.g., the accused might be obliged to walk nine 
 feet blindfolded over red-hot ploughshares. If he were badly 
 burned, clearly he was guilty. Would not Heaven protect the 
 innocent? There were a good many other possible tests. One much 
 in vogue after the Germans became Christians was the "Ordeal of 
 the Morsel," — when, after a priest had solemnly consecrated the 
 bread in the sacrament, the accused partook of the holy element, 
 calling on God to strike him dead if he swore falsely to his innocence. 
 
 Owing to the simple faith and the belligerent spirit of the early 
 Middle Ages it was long before these usages were replaced by more 
 rational forms of trial. In fact some dead traces thereof lingered in 
 the law-books down to modern times. A person accused of murder 
 in England demanded trial by wager of battle as late as 1818, but 
 the court promptly disallowed his demand, and the formal right 
 was soon legally abolished. 
 
THE DYING EMPIRE AND THE FOREST PEOPLES g 
 
 REVIEW 
 
 1. Explain briefly, or state concisely the important facts connected with 
 the following names or topics — Coloni — Comitatus — Ullilas — 
 Arianism — Constantine — Ordeals. 
 
 2. Compare the map facing page i with the front linings, and locate on 
 a blank map of Europe the modern nations within the boundaries of 
 the Roman Empire. 
 
 3. In what ways was the Roman Empire "great"? 
 
 4. Make a list of the causes of the decline of the Empire. 
 
 5. Compare the Germans with the Romans as to their respective elements 
 of strength and weakness. 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 1. For what were Carthage, Alexandria, and Antroch noted? 
 
 2. Do any of the conditions marking the decline of the Empire exist in the 
 United States at present? For what conditions are there no parallels 
 here? 
 
 READINGS 
 
 Sources. Ogg: Chapter i. Robinson: vol. i, no. 8. 
 
 Modern Accounts. Emerton: Introduction: pp. 1-26. Seignobos: pp. 
 3-11, 16-18. Bemont and Monod: pp. 1-36. 
 
 ^ For this and all the subsequent chapters the questions marked "Review" 
 are based upon the text of the book, and are intended to bring out from various 
 angles the facts and inferences which ought to be gathered from a careful study 
 of each chapter. In the geographical questions, to be studied always with due 
 use of the maps, important locah'ties which are mentioned for the first time are 
 given. It is assumed that places which have been prominent in earlier chapters 
 are already familiar. 
 
 The questions marked "Exercises" are of the "seek-further" variety. They 
 cannot be answered properly from the text, and must be studied by reference to 
 some or all of the books mentioned under "Readings." A large part of the value 
 of the work should come from, the frequent use of these "Exercises," teaching 
 the student to pass beyond the bare statements of the text, to clothe the facts of 
 history with enough detail to give them real life, and to train the student in that 
 use of judgment and inference from conflicting evidence which is one of the mort 
 valuable gains from historical study. — See " Suggestions to Teachers " (pp 
 xiv-xv) for more complete directions. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 THE GERMANS IN THE OLD EMPIRE 
 
 4. The Huns drive the Germans southward. Far away in 
 the heart of Asia lay barbarous tribes of warrior nomads, com- 
 monly called the Huns .^ They were as far below the Germans 
 in civilization as the latter were below the Romans: this, how- 
 ever, did not prevent them from being almost invincible in 
 battle. About 350 a.d. their hordes were roHing westward 
 seeking new fields of conquest. Meeting the Germanic Goths 
 in what is to-day southern Russia, they enslaved the Ostro- 
 
 GERMANIC SWORD {in sheath) 
 
 goths, and drove the whole people of the Visigoths before them 
 in a panic toward the Danube, where lay the Roman barrier 
 forts and the protecting legions (375). At the bank of the 
 great river the Visigoths begged Valens, the Emperor of the 
 Eastern Provinces, to admit them to his dominions, promising 
 faithful service against his enemies, and especially against the 
 Huns who were pressing at their heels. In an evil hour Valens 
 consented. The whole Visigothic folk — men, women, and 
 children — were ferried across, avowedly to settle quietly in 
 the Roman provinces. But almost immediately disputes arose 
 with the imperial officials: and alleging unjust treatment the 
 Visigoths soon took up amis against those who had harbored 
 
 ^ The best short formula wherewith to describe the Huns is to rename them 
 "Tartars." They were certainly very like the least civilized of the bands that 
 still traverse the steppes of Mongolia and Turkestan, although our information 
 about many of their traits is scanty. 
 
THE GERMANS IN THE OLD EMPIRE ii 
 
 them. Valens called out a large part of the whole imperial 
 army. At Adrianople (378) he staked everything on a great 
 battle. He lost his army and his life. The victors wandered 
 ravaging through the Balkan peninsula. The spell of Roman 
 invincibility was broken. Valens's successor in the East, 
 Theodosius, made a new treaty, indeed, with the Goths and 
 induced them to remain peaceably for some years near the 
 Danube. They actually aided him to conquer the western 
 provinces, and he became Emperor of the whole Roman world: 
 but in 395 he died. To one feeble son, Arcadius, he gave the 
 East; to another, Honorius, the West. The Empire was divided, 
 never to be united again. The ministers of these purple-clad 
 youths were for the most part inefficient and corrupt.^ The 
 opportunity of the Germans was come. 
 
 5. The sack of Rome by the Visigoths. In 400, Alaric, King 
 of the Visigoths, with his valorous people, set forth from 
 Illyricum^ to invade Italy.' Their first attempt ended, how- 
 ever, at the great battle of Pollentia (402) , when for about the 
 last time the old legions won a notable victory. Alaric 
 returned to Illy ri cum and slowly recruited his swordsmen. 
 
 In 408, he again invaded Italy. No effective army now barred 
 his path. With a kind of awe and trembling, but with bold 
 daring and resolve in their hearts, the Visigoths pressed on. 
 The tale runs that Alaric believed a divine voice was saying 
 to him, " Thou shalt reach the City!" and he knew that "the 
 City " was august Rome, " Mother of Empire," which no 
 victorious foe had approached for many centuries. He block- 
 aded the great capital, and presently hunger pinched the vast 
 multitude within the gates. "Give me all your gold, all your 
 silver, all your movable property, and all your barbarian 
 
 ^ Stilicho, the prime minister of Honorius, was a brave and capable warrior, 
 and until he was murdered (408) the Goths made no great headway. It is worth 
 noticing, however, that Stilicho was descended from a chief of the Vandals, one 
 of the German tribes. 
 
 * Modern Servia, Bosnia, and Croatia. 
 
12 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 slaves — then I will raise the siege," — so he told a deputation 
 of trembhng senators. " What, then, will you leave us? " 
 " Your lives," was the grim answer. However, the invaders 
 presently agreed upon a more reasonable ransom. But two 
 years later, Alaric returned (410), and this time Rome did not 
 escape. Terror spread through the world as men told one 
 another with bated breath how the "Eternal City " had been 
 sacked by the Gothic barbarians, even as Roman amiies, in 
 days now past, had sacked a score of capitals. If Rome could 
 be violated, what hope for any lesser city? The very end to 
 civilized life seemed come! 
 
 The Visigoths did not long remain in Italy. Alaric himself 
 soon succumbed to the hot, unfamiliar southern climate. Even 
 in her weakness the majesty of Rome and the superiority of her 
 civilization impressed itself upon the invaders. Said Athaulf, 
 Alaric 's successor, " My first wish was to destroy the Roman 
 Empire, [but now] I choose the glory of renewing and main- 
 taining by Gothic strength the fame of Rome, desiring to go 
 down to posterity as the preserver of that Roman power which 
 it is beyond my power to replace." 
 
 The Visigoths presently made a kind of treaty with the 
 feeble Western Emperor by which they were permitted to 
 occupy Spain and Southern Gaul: and here they estabUshed 
 a permanent dominion, their king lording it over his own folk 
 and also over the Romanized provincials, who as a rule found 
 their new Gothic lords more just and less exacting than the 
 former imperial officials. This Gothic kingdom in Spain lasted 
 till 711. 
 
 6. The Germanic kingdoms within the falling Empire. 
 Alaric had shown the way for many another (jcrmanic war 
 chief to enter the Empire. To make the last stand in Italy 
 against the Visigoths, the Roman Government had been 
 obliged to recall the legions guarding the Rhine and the dis- 
 tant province of Britain. Over the undefended frontiers soon 
 
THE GERMANS IN THE OLD EMPIRE 
 
 13 
 
 DECORATIVE METAL-WORK 
 
 {In the Cabinet dcs Medaillcs at Ike Bib- 
 liotiieque Nationale, Paris) 
 
 poured one barbarian tribe after another — all seeking the 
 lands and booty which the helpless provinces seemed so able 
 to supply. The fifth century witnessed the utter rending of the 
 Western Roman Empire. Cen- 
 turies of peace had made the 
 provincials forget the use of arms 
 and trust for all protection to the 
 professional amiy, and now this 
 army was practically no more. 
 Sometimes the barbarians came 
 in a comparatively inoffensive 
 manner; respected the Romans' 
 private rights and superior cul- 
 ture; contented themselves with 
 merely a fair share of the pro- 
 ducts of the soil and reasonable 
 
 taxes. Sometimes the reverse was the case; the invasions 
 meant blood, sack, slavery — the ruin, in short, of all the arts 
 of peace, of all civilized life. At best the fifth century was a 
 time when men of intelligent instincts must have believed the 
 real progress of the world turned backward, all the accumu- 
 lated refinements and learning of the past centuries almost 
 hopelessly lost. 
 
 To trace the progress of these invasions in a few words is 
 difficult, indeed. One can only name and locate the principal 
 Gemianic kingdoms which spring into view after the period 
 of wandering and warfare is somewhat over. Besides the 
 Visigoths in Spain and South Gaul, the Vandals ^ (a very 
 untamed and oppressive folk) seized northern Africa and spread 
 their piratical naval power oxer the Mediterranean. In east 
 central Gaul settled the Burgundians, in North Gaul the Franks 
 (of whom more hereafter) . 
 
 For a Httle while the old Roman Government held on in 
 
 1 From them, of course, comes the term "vandalism." 
 
14 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 Italy and in part of Gaul. It had still strength enough to join 
 forces with the Visigoths, and when Attila, the terrible leader 
 of the Hunnish hordes, led his destroying horsemen into Gaul, 
 Roman and German united against him and defeated him in 
 the famous battle of Chalons (451),^ saving western Europe 
 from a second devastation infinitely more terrible than the 
 first. 
 
 This was the last gleam of success, however. In 476, Odoacer 
 (a German of the Herul tribe), commander of the Imperial 
 
 Guard, deposed Romulus Au- 
 gustulus, the last of the weak- 
 ling Western Emperors. A 
 barbarian himself, he dared 
 not take the imperial title. 
 By a transparent fiction he 
 GERMANIC HUNTING-HORN Called himsclf Patnciau of 
 
 Italy," and pretended to rule 
 the land as deputy for the Emperor at Constantinople. None 
 the less the Roman Empire of the West was ended. 
 
 7. Theodoric the Ostrogoth and the later Germanic king- 
 doms. Odoacer did not rule long. Another branch of the Goths 
 came on the scene: the Ostrogoths, under a remarkable king 
 — Theodoric- Armed with a kind of commission from the 
 Eastern Emperor, Theodoric led his people into Italy, over- 
 threw Odoacer's army, and slew its leader. From 493 to 526, 
 Theodoric reigned in Italy, treating the Roman population 
 with singular tactfulness, respecting their laws, rebuilding the 
 ancient monuments, fostering commerce, literature, and all the 
 
 1 Attila's power was not broken by this battle. Next year he was strong 
 enough to invade Italy, but in 453 he died, and the hordes that had obeyed him 
 soon drifted into civil war, in which the Hunnish nation practically destroyed 
 itself. 
 
 2 Theodoric as a boy had been a hostage at Constantinople, and probably 
 had imbibed there many ideas as to Graeco-Roman civilization and law and 
 order. The Ostrogoths had been vassals to the Huns. After the fall of Attila's 
 power, they had invaded the Balkan Peninsula. 
 
1 6 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 fair things of peace. His successors, however, were less happy 
 in dealing with their subjects, and in the sixth century it 
 bechanced that at Constantinople there was reigning over the 
 eastern part of the old realm of Augustus a great Emperor — 
 Justinian (527-65). 
 
 In the eastern part of the Empire many elements of the 
 original Roman power had survived.^ Justinian was now able 
 to send out reorganized and formidable armies to recover a 
 part of the lost western provinces. Before this attack the 
 Vandals of northern Africa succumbed; likewise the Ostrogoths 
 of Italy: their very races were almost blotted out in the wars, 
 and their ephemeral kingdoms became again parts of the 
 Roman Empire, ruled now, however, by the Caesars, not of 
 Rome, but of Constantinople. 
 
 This imperial restoration, nevertheless, did not last long in 
 Italy. About 568 the Lombards, one of the last of the Gennanic 
 peoples to quit their northern homes, invaded Italy. They 
 could not seize the whole of the peninsula, nor capture Rome: 
 part of the country remained long in the possession of the 
 Eastern Emperors; but they established their monarchy in 
 the north with their capital at Pavia, and for over two centu- 
 ries the unhappy peninsula was rent by devastating wars 
 between rival governments, neither strong enough to expel the 
 other. In this miserable state Italy continued until a new 
 power arose beyond the Alps which gave to the troubled west- 
 ern world the semblance of order. This was the Frankish 
 kingdom. 
 
 REVIEW 
 
 1. Topics — Valens; Theodosius; Alaric; Stilicho; Attila; Odoacer; 
 Theodoric; Justinian. 
 
 2. Geography — 
 
 (a) Locale, with dates of important events occurring there, these 
 places — Adrianople; Chalons; Pavia. 
 
 1 See chapter v, section 19. 
 
THE GERMANS IN THE OLD EMPIRE 17 
 
 (b) Trace on the map the routes of the migrations. (Emerton, p. 34.) 
 
 (c) Mark the bounds of the Empire under Justinian, indicating his 
 re-conquests. 
 
 (d) Mark the German tribes in their permanent locations in the 
 Empire. 
 
 3. What happened in 378, in 410, and in 476? 
 
 4. Compare Theodoric with Alaric. 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 1. Compare the Huns and the Germans in regard to civihzation. 
 
 2. Which battle had the greater effect on history, that of Adrianople or 
 that of Chalons? 
 
 3. What impression upon the men of that time was made by the sack of 
 Rome (410)? 
 
 4. Theodoric and his work. Cassiodorus, his prime minister. 
 
 5. The results of the invasions upon the civilization of the Empire. 
 
 6. Why was Ravenna noted? 
 
 READING 
 
 Sources. Ogg: chapters 11, iii. Robinson, nos. 9-16. 
 Modern Accounts. Emerton: pp. 26-59. Seignobos: pp. 11-15, 46-47. 
 Bemont and Monod: pp. 36-64. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES 
 
 8. The Christian Church survives the Empire. The Western 
 Empire had perished amid blood, confusion, and misery. Many 
 of the barbarian kingdoms that had been erected on its ruins 
 went down ahiiost as rapidly as they were founded. All human 
 virtues save those of the savage warrior seemed in jeopardy 
 had not one great factor in the fallen Roman world survived 
 the shock: — the Christian religion. 
 
 Most of the Germans had been converted to a kind of Chris- 
 tianity ere they started on the invasions, and although their 
 " Arian " type of behef was pronounced " heresy " by the ortho- 
 dox theologians, they were wilHng as a rule to respect Chris- 
 tian churches, priests, and church properties, although certain 
 Arian kings — e.g., the Vandal rulers in North Africa — 
 proved severe persecutors of their Catholic ^ provincial sub- 
 jects. In the moil and toil of the invasions the last remnants 
 of the old Graeco-Roman heathenism had perished, save in a 
 few very obscure districts. The Romanized provincials,^ torn 
 from their former government and political institutions, came 
 to rally more loyally than ever around the only one of their 
 old organizations still left — their Church. 
 
 9. The secular Governments make use of the Church. On 
 the other hand, the barbarian conquerors found the Church 
 distinctly useful in their new kingdoms. Although they had 
 
 ^ "Catholic" may here be used as detininp: those Christians who accepted 
 the famous "Nicene Creed" (drawn up at Nica;a in 325), afiirming the divin- 
 ity of Christ, which the Arians rejected. 
 
 ^ The Christian Church is said to have taken over a good many matters of 
 outward usage from old paganism. Thus various heathen festivals were duly 
 given an orthodox significance, and then adopted by Christianity. 
 
THE CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES 
 
 19 
 
 destroyed much of the old imperial civil organization, they had 
 still to control many milHons of provincials, who had customs 
 and a legal system which the untutored Germans by no means 
 understood. Some experienced administrative officers whom 
 the provincials could trust, and whom (by their non-mihtary 
 character) the conquerors could control, were necessary. The 
 Christian bishops, already, under the Empire, clothed with 
 many secular functions, were exactly such 
 officers. The Roman proconsul had vanished, 
 but the Christian bishop remained. During 
 the early Middle Ages a bishop was almost 
 as much a secular as a religious adminis- 
 trator. He was usually a high magnate able 
 to rank with the greatest nobles among the 
 laity. 
 
 As long as the Christian Emperors had 
 ruled, they had repeatedly meddled in Church 
 affairs, appointing and removing bishops, con- 
 vening "councils" (i.e., assemblies of all the 
 leading ecclesiastics of the world) for the set- 
 tling of Christian faith or conduct, and even 
 issuing articles of faith which all good sub- 
 jects of the Empire were expected to believe. 
 In short when the Church had ceased to be 
 persecuted by the Roman Government, that 
 Government had captured it for great political ends. The 
 better class of churchmen had always deprecated this yoking 
 of Church and State. " Better to have the Church poor and 
 persecuted, than so swamped by worldhness," complained 
 many a great " Father " of the early Middle Ages: but no 
 one seemed able to prevent the evil. The Church was exceed- 
 ingly wealthy. Rich men, dying with vexed consciences, knew 
 no better way to square themselves with Heaven than to 
 bequeath great properties to the Church. Pious women would 
 
 A BISHOP 
 
 Seventh century 
 (5. Venanzio, Rome) 
 
20 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 leave their all to the local bishop for hospitals, poor relief, 
 or stately religious edifices. Great provincial lords, Germanic 
 chiefs, Roman Emperors, all had gifts to shower. There was 
 much noble charity, and much perfectly legitimate use for this 
 wealth; but the fact remained that the Church was very rich, 
 and that usually the office of bishop carried with it, not 
 merely honor and influence, but a great income. In such an 
 age it was impossible for these high positions always to fall 
 to men of simple piety and zeal. The Roman Emperors had 
 shown how useful the Church was to the State if properly 
 controlled. The barbarian kings controlled and interfered with 
 the Church even more, although they were often pitiless war- 
 riors whose conduct was a parody on their Christian profes- 
 sions. A large part of the history of the Middle Ages was 
 to be the story of how the Church struggled — in the end 
 successfully — against this capture of itself by the secular 
 Government. 
 
 10. The organization of the Church. Already, before the 
 Western Empire fell, the Church had perfected an internal 
 organization which it maintained for many centuries, and 
 which, in its more striking features, the Roman Catholic 
 Church perpetuates to-day. It was held that the whole body 
 of Christian believers was divided into two great classes, 
 namely, the clergy entrusted with " the cure of souls," and the 
 laity whose duty in religious matters was to obey passively the 
 directions of their spiritual guides. The clergy itself was 
 organized into a well-established hierarchy. The lowest class 
 of really effective clergy were the deacons,' and above these 
 the presbyters (or "elders"), or, as they w^re frequently 
 called, the priests. These were the ordinary working guides of 
 a parish, the local church district: but over a group of a rather 
 varying number of parishes and with a recognized authority 
 
 ' Before becoming a deacon one had to pass through various "minor orders, 
 subdeacon," etc.; but these persons had relatively little importance. 
 
THE CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES 21 
 
 over all the lesser clergy, was the episcopus, or bishop. 
 The term episcopus meant in Greek simply "overseer": 
 and many people have held that in the early Church this 
 word and that of presbyter might be applied indifferently to 
 any regular working clerg>iTian. But by the fourth century 
 it was well recognized that a bishop far outranked any ordin- 
 ary parish priest. Ordinarily there was a bishop in every sizable 
 city, with a number of lesser clergy under him, and in his 
 diocese (area of jurisdiction) would be included all the outlying 
 towns and villages of the region.^ 
 
 The bishop was the usual working head of the Church: he 
 disciplined his clergy and laity, managed the ample church 
 property, enforced the canons (i.e., fundamental laws of the 
 Church), and could punish violators of his mandates by 
 excommunication, — exclusion from all the rites and consola- 
 tions of religion, — a very serious matter in an age when a man 
 whom the Church had banned was considered not merely a 
 misbeliever, but a kind of semi-criminal. The bishop, too, 
 even more than the ordinary clergyman, was a sacrosanct per- 
 sonage: consecrated with peculiar solemnities and presumed to 
 stand as a special representative of God before men. 
 
 He was not, however, the highest officer in the Church. The 
 bishops of the very largest cities claimed a certain superior 
 jurisdiction, as archbishops, over their brethren in the smaller 
 communities. Such cities were ordinarily the capital cities of 
 the old Roman provinces. This assumption of power was often 
 resisted, yet the greater influence of the bishops of the leading 
 cities was undoubted. Higher, nevertheless, than the arch- 
 . bishops was the final authority of the council. An assembly 
 of all the bishops of all Christendom, meeting commonly at 
 the summons of the Emperor, was presumed to be particularly 
 
 * Generally speaking, in the Eastern countries the tendency was for the 
 dioceses to be smaller, and hence the bishops were more numerous and less 
 influential than in the West where their districts were always decidedly large. 
 
22 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 inspired in its actions by the Holy Ghost. Such a council at 
 Nicsea (325) had drawn up the famous Nicene Creed, the 
 
 IVORY LID OF A SACRAMENTARV 
 Depicting the celebration of mass. The Sacrcmentary is a book 
 relating to all the points of ritual connected with the Roman Catho- 
 lic Mass. This particular book dates from the ninth century, (i) 
 Preparation for mass; the celebrant sits on his throne. (2) He repeats 
 the Confitcor. (3) He gives the kiss of peace. (4) He kisses the 
 Book, placed upon the altar. (5) He returns to his throne. (6) He 
 returns to the altar. (7) [left] He receives the offering; [right] he 
 places the bread on the altar. (8) He repeats the prayers of con- 
 secration. (9) He communicates. 
 
 acceptance or rejection of which was the usual test of orthodox 
 Christianity. The councils naturally met only on special sum- 
 mons at rare intervals. Local synods (meetings of the clergy 
 
THE CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES 23 
 
 of a province) would be convened more frequently, but of 
 course could deal only with local questions. 
 
 The Church as a whole, notwithstanding many worldly and 
 evil-minded bishops, and much political meddhng, presented 
 an admirable picture of a firm, well-disciplined organization, 
 conscious of a lofty mission, and confident and serene at a time 
 when all the secular side of civilized existence seemed falling 
 away. It seemed to need, however, a center and a leadership 
 around which it might rally in its fight to preserve the spiritual 
 and ideal side of life during the wreck and ruin of the early 
 Middle Ages. It found that leadership at Rome. 
 
 II. The rise of the Papacy. Men to-day differ as to the 
 validity of the right of the Popes of Rome to claim the spiritual 
 allegiance of all Christians, but no one denies that those 
 claims were considered excellent by most Europeans during 
 the Middle Ages. It is easy to state the main reasons why the 
 Bishops of Rome came to be considered something more than 
 ordinary archbishops; to be regarded, in short, as the especial 
 deputies of God set over all Christendom. 
 
 {a) They were in Rome, and Rome, even in her decadence, 
 was a large city, with an incalculable prestige. The bishop 
 thereof was bound to be a most important personage. 
 
 {h) In the confusion and ruin of the period of barbarian in- 
 vasion the Christians of the West, especially their bishops, 
 would look to some central authority for advice in matters of 
 discipline and faith, and for moral support in their perils. 
 No other churchman could compare with the Bishop or Pope ^ 
 of Rome in the weight of his opinions through the mere im- 
 portance of his commanding position. 
 
 (c) While not all the Popes were men of great genius, they 
 were usually men of common sense and very decided ability. 
 
 > The word "pope" is derived from the Greek term papa — "father": in 
 this case, of course, the "Holy Father," — later to be singled out above all the 
 rest. 
 
24 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 They usually managed to keep the Roman Church out of those 
 profitless squabbles about doctrine and dogma which ex- 
 hausted the energy of the Eastern churches and brought on 
 them the fearful charge of " heresy." The Popes were as a rule 
 accounted highly "orthodox," by all CathoHc Christians. 
 
 ((/) Behind these reasons and reinforcing them was the great 
 claim which the Popes made for a divine commission, giving 
 them a peculiar supremacy over all other churches. This claim 
 (which many millions of Christians accept to-day) is centered 
 upon the famous words whicli Christ spoke to St. Peter, "Thou 
 art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the 
 gates of hell shall not prevail against it." ' The advocates of the 
 Papacy argued, and a large part of Christendom was wilhng 
 to accept their claim, that this inspired commission to Peter 
 was not for himself only, but for all his successors in the 
 episcopal office: and according to the general behef of the 
 Church, Peter had been the founder of the Christian community 
 at Rome, and all Roman Bishops partook of his especial power. 
 Besides, the great Apostle Paul was regarded as practically 
 another founder of the Roman Church, and the Popes inherited 
 his great spiritual authority also. How far in the early Middle 
 Ages the Popes had more than an advisory authority over the 
 outside churches is a matter over which scholars still argue at 
 the present day: but no one denies that by about 600, the Pope 
 was undoubtedly the leading churchman of the world. 
 
 A leading champion of papal authority was the famous 
 Gregory the Great (Pope, 590-604). In his day, owing to the 
 attacks of the Lombards and the feebleness of the Eastern 
 Emperors, Rome was practically an independent city-state 
 with the Pope as its temporal head. Gregory made treaties 
 
 1 The rest of the text (Matt, xvi, 18-19) reads, "And I will give unto thee the 
 keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall 
 be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in 
 heaven." Another text often quoted (John xxi, 15-17) is where Jesus said tc 
 Peter, "Feed my sheep." 
 
THE CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES 25 
 
 with the Lombards ahiiost as if he were a secular prince, and 
 conducted defensive warfare. He corresponded with Germanic 
 kings, and with great ecclesiastics all over the world: he sent 
 out missionaries who reclaimed the Anglo-Saxon conquerors of 
 Britain to Christianity: he used his vast influence for the 
 appointment of good bishops, and the maintenance of orthodox 
 doctrine: he was, in short, the mainspring of the Church. The 
 Papacy thus continued in this position of recognized leader- 
 ship till the alHance it made with the Prankish Kingdom in the 
 eighth century enabled it to go on from strength to strength. 
 12. The rise of Monasticism. One other great factor ap- 
 pears in early mediaeval Christianity — Monasticism. The 
 world was a very dreary place during the centuries of the fall- 
 ing Empire. It seemed full of sin and confusion, and abundant 
 evidences of God's wrath. How to escape the fires of hell, 
 which were very real to men's imaginations, and how to win 
 the saint's heaven, were questions that milhons wrestled with, 
 amid sore trials of spirit. To flee from the world and its ini- 
 quities or engrossing pleasures, to try by vigil, prayer, and 
 " mortification of the flesh " to conquer evil thoughts and to 
 win a sure hope of heaven, — this problem had begun to appeal 
 to Christians even before the barbarians first broke into the 
 Empire. Early in the fourth century there were many monks ^ 
 in the Egyptian deserts, at first simply isolated hermits living 
 on the small oases, sleeping as little as possible, eating a few 
 dried dates, and spending their whole time in meditation on 
 the mysteries of religion. Such men were regarded as peculiarly 
 holy, as possessing an unusual chance of blessedness hereafter. 
 They had many imitators, and the example spread from Egypt 
 to Syria, and presently to Europe. The life of a mere hennit 
 without any human intercourse was, however, found to have 
 its drawbacks. If he might have visions of angels, visions of 
 devils might attend his solitary vigils also. It was speedily 
 
 ' The word "monk" means in the Greek "one who lives alone." 
 
26 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 recognized that the truest peace of mind came to a monk when 
 he was with a number of fellow monks in a common " mon- 
 astery," living together a well attuned religious life under 
 " monastic rule " or system of religious discipline.^ 
 
 It is exceedingly easy for moderns to ridicule the monastic 
 life and its ideals, to charge it with selfishly seeking the indi- 
 vidual's salvation and of leaving the world at large to perish 
 unaided. At the same time, amid the infinite confusion of the 
 early Middle Ages, to any refined or sensitive nature the life 
 of the average layman must often have seemed very repulsive : 
 and even the " secular clergy " ^ were frequently caught in the 
 worldly, unspiritual life about them. Probably by the sixth or 
 seventh century a very large fraction of what we may call the 
 " cultivated minds " of the time was in the monasteries ^ (or 
 nunneries for women) as the only true refuge. The outraged, 
 the oppressed, the timid, who feared the world and its storms, 
 the intellectually minded, all took the " vows of rehgion " and 
 merged their personahties in the life of the multitudinous 
 monastic communities. 
 
 The great organizer of Monasticism in the West was St. 
 Benedict of Nursia, a noble Itahan, who about 526 drew up 
 his famous Benedictine Rule, a system of monastic discipline 
 which many Catholic institutions follow up to the present day. 
 According to his idea, although a monk was to spend many 
 hours in prayer and attending the services of the monastery 
 church, he was neither to torture himself by undue severities, 
 nor starve himself by too spare a diet. However, on entering 
 the monastery he ceased to be his own master: he took a vow of 
 poverty (no property was to be his own, all was to belong to 
 
 ^ Hence the term "regular clergy" — those living under a "rule" (Latin — 
 regiila). Isolated hermits remained very common in the East. Community life 
 was prevalent among the monks of the West. 
 
 ^ The priests, bishops, etc., who cared for the ordinary worship of the Church 
 and the faith and morals of the laity. 
 
 ' A "convent" is substantially the same thing as a "monastery," although 
 it is a name now commonly given to nunneries also. 
 
THE CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES 
 
 27 
 
 the community), of chastity, and finally of obedience, — 
 obedience implicit and entire to the abbot,^ the elected head 
 of the monkish community. 
 
 Benedict enjoined upon the monks the duty of labor. At 
 first this labor was simply the tilling of 
 the monastery farm, though even here 
 the pride in doing a thing "well unto God " 
 would lead the monks to make their agri- 
 culture as skillful as possible, no doubt an 
 example to all neighboring farmers; but 
 presently came the cultivation of other 
 arts. A monastery prided itself on the 
 beauty of its church and buildings, as 
 planned and actually erected by the 
 monks themselves unaided. Again, the 
 copying of manuscripts and the increasing 
 of the common library came to be regard- 
 ed as a work especially favored by Heaven ; 
 and to the patient monkish copyists we 
 owe a very large part of all the precious 
 Greek and Roman classics handed down 
 from antiquity. Finally, in the monastery 
 might be a school for the whole countryside, where at least 
 the youths intended for the clergy could be taught Latin 
 and a few simple sciences, in an age when even a great noble 
 among the laity could seldom read or write. A monastery, 
 then, was not merely part of a religious system: it was a 
 center for the handicrafts, for the arts, and for learning, often 
 in a very backward or half-barbarous community. 
 
 Such are some of the leading aspects of the Church of the 
 Middle Ages. To criticize its institutions seems for some mod- 
 
 A BENEDICTINE 
 
 (Front the A ttnales de 
 rOrdre de Saint Benoit) 
 
 * The term "abbot" is from Syriac ahha — "father." The chief assistant of 
 an abbot was known as the "prior." An abbey was simply a large monastery 
 ruled by an abbot. 
 
28 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 erns exceedingly easy, yet it was really the one thing that saved 
 civilization from being blotted out in the barbarian invasions. 
 A Germanic king feared a Christian bishop and his appeal to 
 the saints and to Heaven, when he feared no Roman Emperor; 
 and by the Church the ideals of humanity were upheld in an 
 age which had almost forgotten them. 
 
 REVIEW 
 
 1. Topics — Council; Priest; Bishop; Archbishop; Parish; Diocese; 
 Canon; Excommunication; Nicene Creed; Synod; Orthodox; Heresy; 
 Regular Clergy; Secular Clergy; Abbot; Benedictine Rule. 
 
 2. Geography — Locate Rome; Nicasa; Monte Cassino. 
 
 3. What were the relations of the rulers to the Church (a) before and 
 
 {b) after the German invasion? 
 
 4. What were the sources of the wealth of the Church? 
 
 5. Summarize the reasons for the rise to leadership of the Bishop of Rome. 
 
 6. What were the causes for the rise of monasticism? 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 1. The work of Gregory the Great. 
 
 2. The work of St. Benedict, and the Benedictine Rule. 
 
 3. The work of the monks as sustainers of civilization. 
 
 READINGS 
 
 Sources. Ogg: chapter vi. Robinson: nos. 5, 6, 7, 18-37. 
 Modern accounts. Emerton: pp. Q2-113; 135-49- Seignobos: pp. 18-23. 
 Bemont and Monod: pp. 15-1S; 119-24. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE MOHAMMEDANS AND THE EASTERN EMPIRE 
 
 13. The Arabians before Mohammed. In the seventh cen- 
 tury arose the rehgion which was to prove the dark counter- 
 foil to mediaeval Christianity and which was to play a great 
 part in the making and ruin of nations — Mohammedanism. 
 It originated in the hot peninsula of Arabia, a land of desert, 
 oasis, and infrequent strips of arable territory, which had 
 hitherto contributed very little to civilization or history. The 
 Arabians or Saracens ' of the land were split into nomadic 
 tribes, living by their herds of sheep or camels, and dwelling 
 usually in black haircloth tents, with only here and there a 
 permanent city. The tribes were frequently at bloody feud one 
 with another: anything like a general government was lacking. 
 The general conditions of Hfe were those of the Hebrew patri- 
 archs — Abraham and Jacob. ^ The religion of these desert 
 dwellers was a crude idolatry, but their old traditions and 
 intercourse with the Christians and Jews of Syria had given 
 them certain higher religious notions: how besides their 
 heathen deities there was one great god (Allah) in the heavens. 
 They were a valiant, vigorous race, with many fine mental 
 qualities ; but their disunion had made them harmless to neigh- 
 boring nations. Now a genius was to unite them, imbue them 
 with religious fanaticism , and launch them on the conquest of 
 a great part of the world. 
 
 14. The career of Mohammed. Mohammed, " the Prophet 
 of Islam," was born at Mecca, the largest city of Arabia, about 
 
 ' These names have come to mean practicall}' the same people. 
 
 ^ The Arabs were Semites of the same great race as the Jews and had a 
 similar language. They claimed to be descended from Ishmael, the son of Abra- 
 ham and the half-brother of Isaac. 
 
30 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 571. Although at first merely a poor camel-driver, he became 
 comparatively rich by a lucky marriage. He was always a 
 contemplative, mystically minded individual, and in 611 he 
 announced to his friends that he had seen visions: — Allah, 
 the high God, had commissioned him to order the Arabs to put 
 away their idols, and to adore the one God after the manner of 
 the new gospel which Mohammed had been empowered as 
 " the last of the Prophets " to deliver. Mohammed to-day 
 would probably be regarded as an interesting, harmless 
 " crank." Among his unsophisticated countrymen he was 
 taken more seriously. Did his inspiration come from God or 
 the Devil, was the question, or was he a plain impostor? His 
 own tribe at Mecca exiled him in 622,^ with threats against 
 his Ufe. He fled to Medina, the next largest city in Arabia, and 
 there had far greater success. Medina adopted his gospel and 
 at his summons took up arms against the tribes who refused 
 to be converted. Mohammed speedily developed remarkable 
 quahties as a general and an organizer, as well as an ability to 
 inspire even forced converts with the truth of his mission, and 
 to make them its zealous champions. Tribe after tribe went 
 over to him. When he died in 632 he was the uncrowned King 
 of Arabia, and was preparing to attack both the Roman and 
 the Persian Empires. History has long since ceased to dismiss 
 Mohammed merely as an impostor whose work was pro- 
 moted by Satan. There is much that is noble in his character. 
 He doubtless had an honest belief in his own gospel ; and that 
 gospel has profoundly affected human history. 
 
 15. The doctrines of Islam. Mohammed's fundamental doc- 
 trine was one of great simplicity: "There is no God but God, 
 and Mohammed is his prophet." Allah (God) had in the past 
 
 1 This flight to Medina is called the "Hegira" by the Moslems, who use it 
 is a starting-point for dating their years. The Mohammedan year is 354 (some- 
 times 3ss) days. The year 1332 a.h. {Anno Hegira) began November 30, 
 
 I9I3 A.D. 
 
MOHAMMEDANS AND THE EASTERN EMPIRE 31 
 
 revealed Himself to men by several great prophets whereof 
 Jesus was one of the mightiest; but Jesus was not the actual 
 son of God, and now Mohammed is sent with a better and final 
 revelation. At the "Last Day," when all souls are assembled 
 for judgment, all sinful Moslems and the whole mass of un- 
 believers (Christians, Jews, pagans, etc.) will be consigned to 
 the endless Gehenna, and " there shall they be [forever] amid 
 boihng water, in a dense smoke, and they shall drink of the 
 scalding water." True Moslems, however, are promised an 
 eternal paradise. They shall '' recline on couches, adorned with 
 gold and precious stones," in delightful gardens: they shall eat 
 and drink delicious foods and wines continually without satiety, 
 and be attended by ravishingly beautiful maidens, the houris. 
 All this, like the woes of Gehenna, shall never end. 
 
 To win this reward no great religious austerities are neces- 
 sary. He who prays five times per day, fasts from sunrise till 
 sunset during the sacred month of Ramadan, gives liberal 
 alms to the poor, goes once in a normal lifetime on a pilgrim- 
 age to the holy city of Mecca, and keeps the leading moral 
 precepts in Mohammed's book of revelations, the Koran, ^ 
 will be sure of eternal happiness. But the surest way to win 
 heaven is to fall fighting against the unbeliever: then he who 
 dies martyr is translated instantly to paradise. He who em- 
 barks on the " holy war " and survives will have the spoils of 
 the infidel ; he who perishes secures the greater reward in heaven. 
 What a prospect to the booty-loving, courageous, imaginative, 
 and withal sensual desert-dwellers! Mohammed's religion unites 
 worldly reward with emotional appeal as does no other gospel. 
 
 Islam," then, has certain great temporal advantages over 
 
 ^ The Koran is not a connected book. It is a series of disconnected utter- 
 ances (suras) of Mohammed, somewhat on the style of the Hebrew psalms. It 
 contains much noble poetry, although the imagery is often too forced and 
 Oriental to appeal to Western students. 
 
 ^ This official name for Mohammed's rehgion means "Submission to the will 
 of .'\llah." 
 
32 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 media?val Christianity: — there is no intricate theology, no 
 hard doctrine of perfection; one need not turn monk to be 
 certain to win heaven, but only lead a hfe of very reasonable 
 morality,^ and execute certain entirely practicable religious 
 acts. It is not surprising that a large part of the population of 
 the Orient, on whom Christianity had only feeble hold, fell 
 away at the first attack by these strange Arabian fanatics. 
 
 i6. The conquests of the Arabians (632-732). Mohammed 
 left able lieutenants. The caliphs ('' Successors of the Prophet ") 
 sent forth their hordesmen simultaneously against Persia 
 and the East Romans. Those mighty empires had just been 
 terribly weakened by a long, exhausting war, and were in no 
 condition to resist the unexpected onslaught of the redoubt- 
 able desert horsemen. Religious enthusiasm and Semitic pas- 
 sion made the Arabians for the while irresistible. " Victory or 
 paradise is before you: hell and the Devil are behind you: — 
 charge! " a Moslem general is said to have called to his men, as 
 he launched them upon superior numbers — and not in vain. 
 
 All Persia was conquered within about ten years. After 
 641, that country was prostrate before the caliphs. Syria and 
 Egypt were as quickly torn from the Eastern Empire. The early 
 caliphs proved themselves men of great skill in organizing their 
 new governments, dealing justly with the conquered popula- 
 tions" and elaborating the simple laws and usages of the 
 Arabians to meet the needs of a great empire. After 661, their 
 capital was transferred from Mecca to Damascus, and the 
 caliphate became a family possession of the Ommiad Dynasty. 
 In 750, tills dynasty was overthrown by the hne of the Abba- 
 
 1 Thus Mohammed very conveniently allowed his followers /oz/r wives. The 
 Christian precept, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in Heaven is 
 perfect," is not found in the Koran. 
 
 ' Under the temporal advantages offered, practically all the Persians, and a 
 large fraction of the SA'rian and Egyptian Christians, accepted Islam; but with 
 such non-Moslems as submitted cheerfully and paid tribute, the early caliphs 
 dealt justly and even liberally. Taxes were probably lighter under their rule 
 than under the later Roman regime. 
 
MOHAMMEDANS AND THE EASTERN EMPIRE 33 
 
 sides, who founded the new capital of Bagdad: the Ommiads 
 keeping only the independent government of Spain. But some 
 years earher the Arabian Empire had already reached its limits 
 toward Europe. Northern Africa was wrested (about 690) from 
 the East Romans ; in 7 1 1 , a Moslem force crossed to Spain and 
 
 ^..Boundaries of East Roman 
 and Persian Empires about 
 
 ^^ Mohammedan Conquests 6 
 
 " •' 661-7 
 
 20* Longitude Euut 30* from 
 
 THE MOHAMMEDAN LANDS IN THE EAST 
 
 destroyed the kingdom of the Visigoths. How western Europe 
 was saved at Tours is told in another place (see chapter v). 
 
 Frankland, however, was not the only European region 
 whose life was in sore peril early in the eighth century. Fifteen 
 years before the battle of Tours the Moslems had dashed them- 
 selves upon the walls of Constantinople. 
 
 17. The Eastern Empire repulses the Saracens (717). To 
 Constantinople nearly all the remnants of the old Graeco- 
 Roman art, learning, and culture seem to have retreated. 
 Western Europe was at this time deep in the semi-barbarism 
 into which it had been cast by the Germanic invasions. It 
 would require centuries before conditions would be such that 
 
34 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 it could welcome again and understand the ancient civilization 
 which Constantinople could give back. Had the Moslems 
 taken the great city in 717, the loss to later civilization might 
 have proved incalculable; but fortunately there were still huge 
 stores of strength in the Eastern Empire. Many provinces had 
 
 been lost, but the old Greek lands 
 and Asia Minor opposed a des- 
 perate resistance to the invader.^ 
 Christian fanaticism in turn was 
 rekindled : — was it not doing God 
 and the saints a service to hurl 
 back the invading blasphemers? 
 
 The Empire had been sorely 
 shaken in the preceding wars, but 
 when in 717 a mighty Moslem 
 land and naval armament ap- 
 peared before Constantinople, 
 Islam was doomed to its first 
 great repulse. A bold soldier, Leo 
 the Isaurian,- seized the power 
 and conducted a valorous defense 
 w'orthy of the old Roman tradi- 
 tions. An unwontedly severe win- 
 ter devastated the camp of the 
 besiegers, — southern - born as 
 they were. A recent invention — 
 Greek Fire ^ — enabled Leo to destroy the attacking fleet. 
 A pitiful remnant of the great host escaped back to the Caliph- 
 
 1 In the lands which were truly Grecianized or Latinized, the Modems as a 
 rule penetrated only very slowly. It was in the Oriental part of the Emi)ire that 
 they found the prom]3tcst welcome. 
 
 - Isauria was a mountainous district in southeastern Asia Minor. 
 
 ' This was a combustible, probably composed of naphtha, sulphur, and pitch. 
 It could be poured or hurled upon the enemy, and could not be extinguished 
 with water. Until the invention of gunpowder, it was the most destructive agent 
 known in war. 
 
 SOLDIERS OF THE IMPERIAL 
 GUARD 
 
 Restored. (From a mosaic in the 
 Church of St. Vitale at Ravenna, Italy.) 
 On one of the shields, note the two first 
 letters of the Greek word for Christ: 
 XP 
 
MOHAMMEDANS AND THE EASTERN EMPIRE 35 
 
 ate, to tell the tale of how Allah had refused victory to his 
 chosen people. The Eastern Empire was saved. More than 
 seven centuries were to pass ere the Moslem standards might 
 wave upon the walls of Constantinople, and in the mean time 
 
 Longitude "WeetO 
 
 THE EAST ROMAN EMPIRE ABOUT 750 AD. 
 The Mohammedan lands in the West 
 
 western Europe was to grow strong enough to advance Chris- 
 tian civilization alone. The present age owes an unmeasured 
 debt to Leo the Isaurian. 
 
 18. The later Caliphate. This defeat, followed by the disaster 
 at Tours (732), dampened the ardor of the Moslems. Their 
 first fanaticism had ceased. The original Arab conquerors had 
 become a mere fraction of the less vigorous races which had 
 now accepted Islam. About 800, the Caliphate of Bagdad under 
 Haroun-al-Raschid, was at its height. The caliph was obeyed 
 from the Atlantic to the frontier of India. His capital had all 
 thegold and ghtter, also the tawdriness and filth, of a great and 
 typical Oriental city. The Moslems rapidly learned the refine- 
 ments and arts of the conquered races. They even developed 
 certain sciences, and transmitted their learning to the Western 
 world. Much of our knowledge of algebra and chemistry is 
 
36 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 derived from them: also our "Arabic numerals.'^ Many 
 manufacturing processes, — e.g., the making of muslin and of 
 paper; and many plants — as lemons, oranges, and the sugar- 
 cane and tulip — had an Arabian origin. After St,;^, however, 
 the power of the Bagdad caliphs declined rapidly. Provinces 
 
 revolted : the barbarous 
 
 / \ 
 
 Turks invaded from the 
 North. 2 By 900, the 
 Arabians had ceased to 
 be formidable to the 
 men of the West. 
 
 19. The wonderful 
 city of Constantinople. 
 The Eastern Empire 
 had survived the death- 
 grapple with Islam. Leo 
 the Isaurian (717-41) 
 and the Emperors after 
 him reorganized it upon 
 a firmer basis. Many 
 provinces had been lost, 
 but old Asia Minor and 
 Greece plus Macedonia 
 and Thrace gave a large 
 and wealthy realm, with 
 inhabitants far more industrious and advanced in the arts of 
 peace than any neighbors. The East Roman (or " Byzantine ") 
 navy was the strongest on the Mediterranean. The merchant 
 ships of Constantinople carried most of the world's commerce. 
 The Government of the Empire, although highly despotic, was 
 
 ' Which the Arabians seem in turn to have borrowed from the Hindus. 
 
 * The Turks (a race originating in the great plains of Central Asia) are in no 
 wise akin to the Arabs. They were invaders who presently overthrew the caUph- 
 ate, although they adopted Islam. They have proved a decidedly inferior race 
 to the Arabs in everything, save the deeds of war. 
 
 BYZANTINE PATTERNED SILK 
 {From the Musee de Ciuny.) The center medallion 
 represents the games in the Circus 
 
MOHAMMEDANS AND THE EASTERN EMPIRE 37 
 
 in the main exceedingly energetic and intelligent. A well-dis- 
 ciplined professional army held back Moslem invaders from 
 Syria and Bulgarian invaders from the North. Down to about 
 1050, the Eastern Empire remained the best-governed and 
 most highly civilized state in the world, well able to command 
 the respect of its neighbors. 
 
 Constantinople was the focus of this great dominion: its 
 commerce, the number of its factories (which supplied the world 
 with metal goods, fine fabrics, delicate glass, and many other 
 wares which other nations had forgotten how to manufacture), 
 its magnificent pubKc buildings adorned with statues filched 
 from old Athens or Rome, the vast multitudes, drawn from 
 many lands, which swarmed its squares or cheered the races in 
 the hippodrome, — all these things made men account it the 
 wonder of the world. " The city guarded by God " was the 
 name its proud citizens gave it. Here alone, if a man of the 
 present age were suddenly to return to the ninth century, let 
 us say, would be found conditions somewhat similar to modern 
 life: — an intelligent government, great pubhc buildings, 
 something akin to modern universities, hospitals, etc., and a 
 thrixdng commerce covering the known world. 
 
 Constantinople preserved this lordly position until well after 
 the year 1000. Then her rulers became inefficient, new ene- 
 mies (the Turks) attacked her, the rising power of Venice 
 seized her commerce, and her power declined. 
 
 REVIEW 
 
 1. Topics — Hegira; Koran; Islam; Caliph; Leo the Isaurian; Haroun- 
 al-Raschid; Greek fire. 
 
 2. Geography — • 
 
 (a) Locate Mecca; Medina; Damascus; Bagdad; Constantinople. 
 {b) Mark on the map the regions conquered by the Mohammedans. 
 
 3. What were the principles of the Mohammedan beh'ef ? Why were they 
 often more attractive to the Oriental people than the principles of 
 Christianity? 
 
 4. What were the contributions of the Arabs to civilization? 
 
 5. Describe the civiHzation of the city of Constantinople at its best. 
 
38 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 1. The work of Justinian. 
 
 2. Write a summary of the events occurring in western Europe during 
 the period 571-750. 
 
 3. The East-Roman Empire is known also as the Byzantine and the 
 Greek Empire. Why? 
 
 4. Which repulse of the Mohammedans — that at Constantinople, or 
 that at Tours — was of greater importance to Europe? 
 
 READING 
 
 Sources. Ogg: chapter vii. Robinson: no. 48. 
 
 Modern Accounts. Emerton: pp. 122-26. Seignobos: pp. 27-38, 39-460 
 Bemont and Monod: pp. 99-114, 135-66, 336-47. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 THE MONARCHY OF THE FRANKS 
 
 20. Clovis (481-511) and the Merovingian Franks. Of all 
 
 the kingdoms founded by the Germanic invaders on the wreck 
 of the old Western Roman Empire, only one really survived — 
 
 THE MONARCHY OF THE FRANKS 
 
 the kingdom of the Franks. Bloody and barbarous as the 
 early annals of this kingdom seem, they cannot be ignored, for 
 
40 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 the Franks were the founders both of modern France and, in a 
 less direct sense, of modern Germany. 
 
 In former days the Franks had lain along the eastern bank 
 of the Rhine, close neighbors to the Romans. During the storm 
 and stress of the fifth century they moved across into the 
 northern provinces of Gaul and seized their share of the dying 
 Empire; but they differed from other invaders in that they 
 never wholly evacuated their homeland beyond the Rhine. 
 A large part of their dominions always lay in regions that had 
 never submitted to the imperial legions. 
 
 •The Franks were probably fiercer and seemingly less tract- 
 able to civilization than many other invaders. " From their 
 youth up," wrote an anxious Roman, " war is their passion. 
 [Against superior numbers] death may overwhelm them, but 
 not fear." Their very name is usually derived from their 
 favorite weapons, the franciscas, their great battle-axes with 
 which they knew equally well how to smite and how to hurl. 
 Nevertheless, uncouth as they were, they had elements of 
 abiding strength. They were more famihar with the con- 
 quered Romans, thanks to long residence as neighbors, than 
 certain other Germanic invaders, and, despite their original 
 savagery, they amalgamated with them much better. Then 
 their first great king, Clovis, became a Christian under condi- 
 tions that gained him favor with a most influential body of his 
 subjects. 
 
 Clovis was as brutal and cruel a war-lord as has ever defiled 
 Germanic annals. Through treachery and blood he won his 
 way to the supremacy over both the terrified Romans of North 
 Gaul and the rival chieftains of his own nation; but he was 
 becoming convinced that his old heathen gods could not help 
 him as well in his fighting as the Deity of the Christians, whose 
 priests never failed to promise temporal advantage to the 
 " true believers." Little enough could Clovis understand of 
 theology, but he was probably satisfied that " the white 
 
THE MONARCHY OF THE FRANKS 41 
 
 Christ " was " good magic " and worth having on his side. 
 Clovis's queen, Clothilde, was a Christian and constantly- 
 urged her rehgion upon her husband. At last, in 496, Clovis 
 was in battle with the rival tribe the Alemanni. The fight was 
 against him. His best axe-men were pressed hard. Clearly 
 his old gods were of no avail. The king vowed then and there 
 he would become a Christian if the Christians' God would give 
 victory. The tide was turned. The Alemanni were routed. 
 Clovis stood to his vow. He was baptized by St. Remigius, 
 Bishop of Rheims, and 3000 of his mighty men with him. 
 " Bow down thine head meekly, O Sigambrian,"^ spoke the 
 bishop; "adore [the holy things] which thou hast burned: 
 burn what thou hast adored." 
 
 Seldom has a religious conversion produced more wide- 
 reaching results. Clovis became a Catholic Christian, filled 
 •with a belligerent zeal for his new faith, while nearly all the 
 other Germanic kings were Arian Christians, hated by the 
 orthodox clergy as heretics httle better than pagans. Clovis 
 and his monarchy received the full support and benediction of 
 the Catholic Church. Under his vigorous leadership and that 
 of his immediate successors, nearly all of present-day France, 
 plus a considerable strip along western Germany, became fused 
 into the Frankish monarchy. The character of Clovis was the 
 vilest. He removed rivals by assassination and waged blood- 
 thirsty wars of spohation, " in order, with God's help, to seize 
 the land of the Arians." In all these bloody deeds, in which 
 self-seeking was masked by piety, however, the Church 
 blessed him in gratitude for his strenuous orthodoxy. 2 
 
 The history of both France and Gennany in one sense may 
 be reckoned as beginning with his brutally effectual reign. 
 
 1 The name for a branch of the Frankish peoples. 
 
 ^ After reciting various bloody and treacherous deeds, a pious chronicler adds: 
 "The Lord cast Clovis's enemies under his power day after day, and increased 
 his kingdom, because he walked with a right heart before Him, and did that 
 which was pleasing in his sight." 
 
THE MONARCHY OF THE FRANKS 43 
 
 21, The evil successors of Clovis. The Merovingian 
 Dynasty (which Clovis raised to power) ruled in Frankland as 
 actual or nominal kings for more than two centuries after him. 
 There was no strict rule of primogeniture among the Franks. 
 Clovis divided his realm among his four sons, and the brothers 
 promptly waged bloody war over the apportionment of the 
 heritage. For three years (558-61) the kingdom was reunited, 
 then fell asunder again with three grandsons of Clovis at each 
 other's throats about the division of territory. Finally, in the 
 seventh century there was an outward show of union, but by 
 this time the energy of the Merovingian kings and the loyalty 
 of their people had been well-nigh exhausted. The history of 
 the time seems a mere chronicle of battle, treachery, and sud- 
 den death, with only a few important facts emerging clearly. 
 
 (a) The Franks and the Romans were welded together into 
 practically one society. The men of East Frankland (Aus- 
 trasia) were more Gennanic, those of West Frankland (Neus- 
 tria) more Roman ; but there was now no sharp division between 
 the invaders and the invaded. 
 
 (b) City life was nearly destroyed. The old Roman towns 
 were sunken usually to starving hamlets. The free peasants 
 were dwindling. The noniial type of life was on the great 
 landed estates, — the manor house of the lord, and the huts of 
 the serfs close at hand.^ 
 
 (c) The arts of civilized life were half -forgotten. The Church 
 suffered, indeed, from the evil influences of the age: but in the 
 Church was the only intellectual life. There were no schools 
 outside the monasteries. Probably almost nobody save priests 
 or monks understood the mysteries of reading and writing. 
 
 Then gradually a better day dawned. 
 
 22. The ''Mayors of the Palace.'' The incessant civil wars 
 of the Merovingian monarchs had been a great benefit to their 
 
 ' This development of the great manor {villa) had been well under way in 
 Roman times. 
 
44 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 nobles; lands, power, and influence the kings must all grant to 
 keep their warriors' aid. By the middle of the seventh century 
 the kings were only nominally the first persons in their king- 
 dom. The supreme power had been grasped by the " Mayor of 
 the Palace," ^ the chief of their royal ofiicers. Practically every 
 kingly function was usurped by these great prime minis- 
 ters, while the help- 
 less " kings ' ' were con- 
 fined on some great 
 estate, and only pro- 
 duced as carefully 
 guarded prisoners on 
 state occasions. 
 
 Many of these may- 
 ors of the palace were 
 men of great ability 
 and applied their en- 
 ergy genuinely to the 
 pubhcgood. Particu 
 larly, in a happy year 
 Charles Martel (714- 
 41) came into power. 
 Far - sighted, active, 
 and capable, he set 
 himself to repressing 
 the anarchy every- 
 where prevalent,- and restored something akin to law, order, 
 and comparatively civihzed life. It was well that he did so. 
 In 732, a terrible peril confronted Frankland and all Christ- 
 endom, and Charles needed his entire strength. 
 
 23. The Battle of Tours (732). In 711, the disastrous battle 
 
 1 The "Major Donius," as the officers are often styled, after the Latin. 
 
 ^ Much effective preliminary work had been done by Charles's father, Pepin 
 of Heristal, the mayor of the palace before him, and himself no mean figure in 
 Franl-.i:h annals. 
 
 CHAIR OF THE SEVENTH CENTURY 
 Restored in the twelfth century. [In the Cabinet dcs 
 Medaillcs) 
 
THE MONARCHY OF THE FRANKS 45 
 
 of Xeres delivered Spain into the hands of the Moslem invad- 
 ers. The long-decadent Visigothic kingdom vanished in blood 
 and smoke. Only in the extreme northwest of the land, close 
 to the Atlantic and the stormy Bay of Biscay, a little band of 
 Christians turned at bay, and checked the invader. But this 
 seemed a mere incident. Spain was now practically a Moham- 
 medan land. In 721, the victorious hordes of Islam began 
 pressing over the Pyrenees and threatening southern Gaul, 
 
 Odo, the Duke of Aquitaine, had been a disobedient vassal 
 of Charles Martel. He strove at first to fling back the 
 "Paynims" with his own might, but by 732 he had been so 
 beaten that he had no refuge save in the help of his overlord. 
 It was a great crisis confronting Christianity. If Charles could 
 be overcome, there seemed no reason why at least southern 
 Frankland and Italy (where the Lombards were very weak) 
 should not become two more pro\ances for Islam. The Moslem 
 leader, Abd-Rahman, sent his light cavalry ravaging and pillag- 
 ing almost to the Rhine. ^ Presently near Tours (732), on the 
 Loire River, Charles, with the whole levy of northern Frank- 
 land, came face to face with these foes of Christian civilization. 
 The battering charges of the Moslem horsemen were desperate; 
 but " like walls of ice " the Frankish axemen flung them back. 
 All day the fight lasted. By nightfall, Abd-Rahman was slain, 
 and the Christians were as terrible as ever. Courage had oozed 
 out of the Orientals: "Allah had turned against them." In the 
 darkness they fled away southward, leaving huge spoils to the 
 Christians. 
 
 Never again was Frankland and the west in such mortal 
 danger. Possibly it is due to Charles Martel ' and his sturdy 
 
 1 The invading host probably was made up mosth' of Moors. The Arabs had 
 found the inhabitants of North Africa very apt converts to Islam: and their 
 habits of life and temperament were very like those of the original Mohamme- 
 dans. There were many Spanish-Christian rcnegados also in the Moslem host. 
 
 ^ Charles seems to have gained his surname "Martel" ("the Hammer") 
 after this terrible pounding of the Moslems. 
 
46 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 Austrasians and Neustrians that Europe and America to-day 
 are reading the Bible and not the Koran. 
 
 24. Pepin the Short (741 68). Charles Martel, the un- 
 crowned King of Frankland, left his power jointly to his two 
 sons, Pepin " the Short " and Karlmann. The latter, however, 
 acting in a manner characteristic of the age, soon voluntarily 
 resigned his " mayorship " and went to save his soul in a mon- 
 astery: but Pepin proved himself a son worthy of Bis mili- 
 tant father. The borders of Frankland were extended. The 
 outlying " Dukes " ^ of Bavaria and Aquitaine were reduced to 
 obedience. In 752, Pepin was able to disregard the lingering 
 remnants of the Merovingian puppet kings, and cause himself 
 to be crowned king in their stead. This he did with the consent 
 of the most august moral force then in Christendom • — the 
 Roman Papacy. " It is better," replied the Pope to Pepin's 
 inquiring messengers, " that he who has the power in the state 
 should be king, rather than he who is falsely called the king." 
 
 The last Merovingian puppets (" Sluggard Kings " the last 
 of them were styled) disappeared from history. A new and 
 worthier dynasty was on the throne of Frankland. Pepin the 
 Short threw his protecting a'gis over a great missionary, St. 
 Boniface,- the "apostle to the Germans." The Gospel was 
 preached among the Teutonic peoples in modern Hesse and 
 Thuringia. By a skillful mingling of argument and authority, 
 the priests of the old heathenism were silenced. Monasteries 
 sprang up at Inilda and elsewhere which became notable cen- 
 ters for temporal civilization as well as for religion. Only the 
 fierce Saxons and Frisians to the north resisted Boniface and 
 kept their ancient gods until Pepin's son, the mighty Charle- 
 
 1 The term "duke" (Latin, dux) at this time maj' be often taken as equivalent 
 to a "king writ small": — i.e., a national chieftain, who is not quite able to assert 
 his independent authority. 
 
 - He was an Englishman. It is interesting to notice that thus early (and Boni- 
 face in turn had important English and Irish predecessors) the churches of the 
 British Isles began to distinguish themselves by missionary activity. 
 
THE MONARCHY OF THE FRANKS 47 
 
 magne, preached to them with the gospel of the sword. Other- 
 wise the work of Christianizing the Gemians had been nearly 
 accomplished ere Boniface died a martyr's death (755). 
 
 But Pepin did more than sustain Boniface in his activities. 
 In 754, Pope Stephen II appeared in Frankland begging mih- 
 tary help against the much-hated Lombards who seemed about 
 to seize Rome.^ Pepin could not forget the favor done him in 
 the matter of the transfer of the kingship, and the formidable 
 Frankish anny was put in motion. 
 
 Twice Pepin descended into Italy. The second time he forced 
 the Lombard king to admit his overlordship and to surrender 
 certain territories in Central Italy which he had seized from 
 the feeble viceroy of the Eastern Empire. These lands Pepin 
 did not care to administer from a distance. He bestowed them 
 as a temporal possession upon " St. Peter," — i.e., upon the 
 Pope. From this time forth the Frankish kings were established 
 as official protectors of the Papacy, and the Popes were es- 
 tablished as regular civil rulers in Italy — both facts pregnant 
 with future history. 
 
 In 768, Pepin the Short died after a prosperous reign which 
 paved the way for greater events to come. 
 
 REVIEW 
 
 1. Topics — Clovis; "Arian Christian"; Merovingian; Primogeniture; 
 Austrasia; Mayor of the Palace; Charles Martel; Tours (learn its 
 date); "Sluggard Kings"; St. Boniface. 
 
 2. Geography — 
 
 (a) Locate Rheims; Tours; Fulda. 
 
 (b) Mark on the map the growth of the Frankish territory under 
 Clovis. 
 
 (c) Compare Clovis's lands with modern France in extent. 
 
 1 The Popes were in sore peril. If the Lombards seized Rome, there would be a 
 limit to the independence of action of the Popes, even if the Lombards professed 
 to respect them. The Popes had quarreled with their former protectors ^ the 
 Eastern Emperors — on theological matters. Besides, these Eastern rulers were 
 too busy fighting the Moslems to send efficient help to Italy to protect their old 
 territories against the Lombards. What the Popes desired was a protector, 
 powerful, but not too near at hand. Pepin seemed to be such a champion. 
 
48 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 3. Wherein did the Franks dit'ler from otlier German tribes? 
 
 4. How does the reason which the Pope gave for consenting to Pepin's 
 coronation compare with the idea of the early Germans as to what a 
 king should be? 
 
 5. What were the results of Pepin's interference in Italy? 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 1. The character and deeds of Clovis: of Charles Martel; of Pepin the 
 Short. Compare these three men as to their relations with the Church. 
 
 2. Chalons and Tours are classed among the world's most important 
 battles. (See Creasy's Fifteen Decisive Battles.) Compare Tours with 
 Adrianople and Chalons as to importance. What is meant by c 
 "decisive battle"? 
 
 3. Why did the Popes desire that their "protector" should not be "too 
 near at hand"? 
 
 READING 
 
 Sources. Ogg: chapters iv, viii. Robinson: nos. 17, 43-47, 40-5 -• 
 Modern Accounts. Seignobos: pp. lo, 25-26, 4S-52. Emerton: pp. 60-72, 
 
 114-22, 126-34, 150-79. Bemont and Monod: pp. 64-QS, 167-7C. 
 
 Duruy: pp. 3-^-73- 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 CHARLEMAGNE AND HIS AGE 
 
 25. Charlemagne^ s personality and power. In 768, Pepin 
 the Short, the great King of the Franks, passed away to make 
 room for his greater son, whom the common usage of history 
 knows in Latin as Carolus Magnus, or, to use the famihar 
 French form, Charlemagne/ The new monarch may be con- 
 sidered on the whole as the most important personage in 
 mediaeval history. His reign marks an epoch between the 
 ancient world and the modern, and his masterful personality 
 stamped its deep impress upon his own age, and cast its shadow 
 over several subsequent centuries. 
 
 An intimate companion^ has left us a well-rounded pen- 
 portrait of this truly remarkable man. We are told that he was 
 "large and robust, and of commanding stature and excellent 
 proportions. The top of his head was round, his eyes large and 
 animated, his nose somewhat long. He had a line head of gray 
 hair, and his face was bright and pleasant; so that whether 
 standing or sitting he showed great presence and dignity. His 
 walk was firm and the whole carriage of his body was manly. 
 His voice was clear, but not so strong as his frame would have 
 led one to expect." 
 
 We are told of his simple habits as to dress; his temperance 
 in eating and drinking; his delight in riding and hunting, and 
 manly sports. "He was ready and fluent in speaking, and able 
 to express himself with great clearness. He took pains to learn 
 foreign languages, gaining such a mastery of Latin that he 
 
 ^ He may very properly be called in English Charles or Karl the Great. 
 Down to 771, he shared his power with his brother Karlmann, who then died. 
 
 ^ Einhard, who wrote an excellent Life of Charlemagne, — one of the best 
 literary productions of the Middle Ages. 
 
so 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 could make an address in that tongue as well as in his own; 
 while Greek he could understand rather than speak." When 
 at table he delighted in music, or in listening to the reading of 
 pious books or histories. He was fond of attending the lectures 
 
 .^. ,-^ 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 'Mi-^ 
 
 m 
 
 &\# i.-.=J^.,.i5V- ^w;- ii. . i .5.-.- 
 
 A BANQUET 
 Carolingian period. {Rcslonilion after a Unlh century manuscript in the Bibliolheque 
 Naiionalc) 
 
 on grammar, logic, and astronomy, of the learned men of his 
 day. One must not exaggerate the profundity of this royal 
 scholar, however. With all his genuine love of letters, he never 
 really learned how to write. 
 
 In his temperament Charlemagne had many human infirmi- 
 ties; he could be cruel and perpetrate acts of manifest tyranny, 
 but considering his age he may be called just, magnanimous, 
 and far-sighted. From his father he inherited an effective war- 
 power, and none of the neighbors of the Franks could match 
 him in arms. He had a high regard for the old Roman civiliza- 
 tion as he understood it, and throughout his reign labored 
 earnestly and intelligently to increase the knowledge and influ- 
 ence the morals of his people. Beginning his career simply as 
 a powerful Germanic king, as he found his dominions swelling 
 into a veritable Western Empire, he allowed his imagination 
 
CHARLEMAGNE AND HIS AGE 51 
 
 to lead his ambition to a nobler title. The ruler who began as 
 King of the Franks, ended as a Roman Emperor, claiming all 
 the power of the old Caesars. 
 
 26. Charlemagne's Saxon wars. Charlemagne's work was 
 only partly that of a warrior, yet some of his campaigns left a 
 permanent stamp upon history. When he came to the throne 
 a large fraction of present-day Germany was not merely inde- 
 pendent of the Frankish monarchy, but was heathen and sav- 
 age. Behind their swamps and forests the Saxons had resisted 
 every attempt at their conversion and civilization. Many 
 years of Charlemagne's reign (772 to 804, with many intermis- 
 sions) were consumed in the attempt to bring this fierce, un- 
 tamed, yet potentially noble people under the yoke of the 
 Frankish monarchy. Modern ethics do not commend the 
 propagation of Christianity and civiHzation by the sword, yet 
 the fact remains that if the Saxons had been let alone one of the 
 most valuable portions of the Gennan folk would have been 
 left to centuries of squalor and degradation. Campaign after 
 campaign Charlemagne directed into their country. Usually 
 the Frankish host invaded the swampy Saxon land in the 
 spring and remained for the summer, chasing the enemy into 
 the forests, taking hostages, bribing or browbeating the prison- 
 ers into accepting baptism, and finally erecting a few fortresses 
 in which were left garrisons. Then the invaders would retire; 
 the Saxons would emerge from the greenwood; some of the 
 Frankish fortresses would be taken; others besieged. The next 
 spring would bring a new invading host, and the former 
 process would be repeated; only each campaign fastened the 
 Frankish yoke a little more firmly, and left the pagan party 
 a little weaker and less resolved upon resistance. With the host 
 of Charlemagne would go another host of priests and abbots, 
 " so that this race (says the mediaeval chronicler), which from 
 the beginning of the world had been bound by the chains of 
 demons, might bow to the yoke of the sweet and gentle Christ." 
 
52 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 Wherever conditions admitted, churches and monasteries were 
 built, bishoprics established, and the whole population duly 
 baptized — usually under sore compulsion. 
 
 It was a weary, uneventful war. There were no great battles. 
 The contest was almost entirely of the guerrilla order; petty 
 skirmishes, raids, and sieges. In 785, Wittekind, the chief 
 Saxon leader, made his submission ; but many of his followers 
 held out till 804. Thenceforth there w^as peace in the exhausted 
 land. With surprising rapidity Christianity and Prankish re- 
 finements took root in Saxony. A century later it could be 
 reckoned among the most civilized countries of Europe and 
 was actually giving Emperors to Charlemagne's old dominions^ 
 — one of the most astonishing transformations in history. 
 
 27. The downfall of the Lombards. Charlemagne's father, 
 Pepin, had answered the call of the Pope for deliverance against 
 the oppressive Lombards, but his death had seemed to reheve 
 this intractable people of most of their fears of Prankish inter- 
 vention. For a moment Charlemagne actually was likely to 
 become the ally of King Desiderius, by becoming his son-in- 
 law; but on some pretext, the Lombard princess was soon put 
 away. To the marked rehef of the Pope (who saw in Charle- 
 magne his only worldly help against domination from Pavia), 
 the two monarchs proceeded to quarrel. Probably Desiderius 
 had trusted to a faction among the Prankish nobles for help 
 against their lord, but no disaffection materialized. In 773, 
 with an overpowering host, the great King of the North swept 
 through the Alpine passes. Desiderius dared not risk a battle. 
 He shut himself within his fortress-capital of Pavia, awaiting 
 the outside help which never came. 
 
 Charlemagne blockaded the city, and let famine do its work. 
 He himself left his army to press the siege while he went on to 
 Rome — there to be received with all those pompous honors 
 the Romans have known so well how to bestow in every age. 
 
 ' See p. 74. 
 
CHARLEMAGNE AND HIS AGE 53 
 
 He was duly proclaimed "Patrician " ^ of the Holy and Eternal 
 City. The citizens took oath to him; and he promised the Pope 
 to confirm to him the very wide but equally ill-defined grants 
 of temporal authority in Italy which had been made by Pepin. 
 In 774, Pavia surrendered. Desiderius and his children were 
 shut up in monasteries. The Lombard royal line was at end; 
 and with it one more of the kingdoms which had reared them- 
 selves on the ruins of the old Roman Empire of the West. 
 Outside of the petty Anglo-Saxon states in England every one 
 of these kingdoms had perished except that of Frankland. The 
 Moslems had absorbed Africa and Spain; Charlemagne held 
 Gaul and all of North and Central Italy. "King of Italy" he 
 was now styled, when he declared himself Desiderius's lawful 
 successor. He was now the holder of two crowns, besides 
 being "Patrician" of Rome, making him an almost indispen- 
 sable protector to the Pope. Such a monarch might well aspire 
 to the imperial title. 
 
 28. Charlemagne^ s other wars. The earlier Frankish kings 
 had possessed indefinite rights of overlordship east of the 
 Rhine, extending into what is now South and Central Germany 
 and western Austria. Part of the folk here were Germanic, 
 farther east lay the savage Slavs and the still more savage 
 Avars. The security of his frontier, as well as the honor due his 
 name, required that these restless peoples should be conquered 
 thoroughly. Charlemagne devoted much of his military energy 
 to the task. In 786, the outbreak of Tassilo, Duke of Bavaria, 
 the leading prince among these uneasy vassals, gave the great 
 king abundant pretext for a thorough conquest. Tassilo was 
 deposed, and his nigh-independent dukedom of Bavaria was 
 absorbed. The chastisement of his barbarous allies the Avars 
 carried the war far to the east. The Frankish armies were not 
 halted until much of the modern land of Austria had been 
 
 1 The exact meaning of this word, in Charlemagne's case, is very hard to 
 define briefly. Perhaps "Royal and Especial Protector" is the best translation. 
 
54 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 brought within Charlemagne's growing domains. Christianity 
 (hitherto with a very feeble footing in tnose parts) now became 
 the dominant, and soon the only lawful, religion. Almost the 
 entire German people were brought to the new faith, and a be- 
 ginning had been made in the conversion of the non- Germans 
 beyond them. 
 
 In 778, Charlemagne had gone on an expedition elsewhere, of 
 greater fame than importance. Some disaffected emirs had 
 invited him to invade Mohammedan Spain. A few cities 
 directly south of the Pyrenees were seized, but it was soon evi- 
 dent that the Moslems had too firm a grip on the land to be 
 readily shaken; and Charlemagne had other projects. On the 
 retreat through the pass of Roncesvalles the Basque moun- 
 taineers fell on the king's rearguard, and slew " Count Roland 
 of Brittany " and a contingent with him. It was an insignificant 
 loss, but two and a half centuries later it was seized upon by 
 the French minstrels, and made the subject of a great epic 
 poem. The Chanson de Roland, telling how Roland -and his 
 knights were slain at Roncesvalles, forms the burden of the 
 noblest epic produced in the Age of Chivalry. After a few 
 years, however, Charlemagne reoccupied the country as far as 
 the Ebro, and organized it into the Spanish '^ March." ^ This 
 was an important step in the Christian recovery of Spain. 
 
 29. The coronation of Charlemagne. As years went on, as 
 the Frankish monarchy grew from power to power, as its ruler 
 seemed ever more irresistible in war, more indefatigable in 
 spreading the works of peace, the conviction doubtless deep- 
 ened steadily that here was a sovereign and a dominion for 
 which the old names and titles of a mere German kingdom were 
 totally inadequate. Even in Charlemagne's boyhood no one 
 seems to have questioned that, however much the authority 
 
 ^ The "Marches" (or in Germany, "Marks") were frontier districts, usually 
 of high military Importance, ruled by a "Count of the Marches" ("Marquis," or 
 "Markgraf "), who ranked very high in the scale of mediffival nobility. 
 
CHARLEMAGNE AND HIS AGE 
 
 55 
 
 of the Csesar of Constantinople may have been defied in fact, 
 in theory he was the lord of at least the whole Christian world. 
 But the Lombards had destroyed the last vestige of East 
 Roman authority in Italy, before they had been themselves 
 overwhelmed by the Franks. The Popes had quarreled with 
 the Eastern Caesars on many theological points, and they were 
 
 CHARLEMAGNE'S EMPIRE 
 
 also profoundly jealous of the Patriarch of Constantinople, 
 who affected a kind of equality with themselves. Could there 
 be two Roman Emperors? Could the old Empire of the West, 
 whereof the fame had never been forgotten, ever be revived? 
 Could not the "Roman People,"^ whose ancestors had once 
 
 1 The remnant of the Roman population, that Hved on in the vast but crum- 
 bling city all through the Middle Ages, never ceased to take pride in their 
 ancestry, to trade on their great name, and to affect to keep up the traditions of 
 Roman sovereignty. It was an absurd pretension, but so captivated were men 
 by the fame of the Eternal City that at times they half-recognized it. 
 
56 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 ruled the world, bestow the imperial title on whom they would? 
 Should not the Pope, the Vicar of Christ on earth, have a great 
 part in the bestowal of the greatest temporal honor? 
 
 Such questions must have been earnestly debated all through 
 the last decade of the eighth century. The time was ripe for 
 bold assertion of the claims of Charlemr.gne; for at Constanti- 
 nople the imperial throne had been seized by a brilliant but 
 unscmpulous woman, Irene; and it was very doubtful if in 
 strict law a woman could reign over the Roman Empire. If her 
 title were bad, the throne of Augustus and of Constantine was 
 vacant. 
 
 In 800, Charlemagne found himself in Rome to quell certain 
 local disturbances. It was Christmas Day. A brilliant com- 
 pany had gathered in the magnificent and sacred Basilica of 
 St. Peter.' The king was praying at the great altar. One can 
 imagine the impressive ceremonial: the incense smoke, the 
 chanting choir, the splendidly arrayed courtiers in the nave; 
 the still more splendidly vested ecclesiastics nearer the altar. 
 Suddenly Pope Leo approached the kneehng monarch, and 
 placed on his head a glittering crown. Catching the mean- 
 ing instantly, the populace made the great church quiver 
 with their shout, " To Charles the Mighty, great and pacific 
 Emperor of the Romans, crowned of God, — be long life and 
 victory! " 
 
 Whether Charlemagne was Emperor because the Roman 
 people had so saluted him, because the Pope as God's vicegerent 
 had crowned him, or because by his own glory and victories 
 he had won the title (which this act then merely proclaimed), 
 no man at the moment took pains to decide. Charlemagne 
 afterward declared himself displeased at what had befallen in 
 the church. Perhaps he wished the Pope's part had been less, 
 yet in any event he made no effort to repudiate the title. For 
 
 * Not the present famous church of St. Peter, but its predecessor, on the 
 same site; a building in some respects possibly nobler than the e."<isting structure. 
 
CHARLEMAGNE AND HIS AGE 
 
 57 
 
 the rest of his reign (fourteen years) he is Carolus Augustus in 
 his proclamations, even as an old Roman Emperor. He con- 
 sciously tries to cen- 
 
 tralize his authority. 
 He never becomes 
 ashamed of his old 
 Germanic traditions 
 or institutions ; he 
 never plays the tyr- 
 ant; nevertheless the 
 world sees something 
 very different from 
 the old Frankish mo- 
 narchy. Here is the 
 old Western Empire 
 revived; albeit on a 
 thoroughly Christian 
 and Germanic basis. 
 The ' ■ Holy Roman 
 Empire " is born. 
 
 30. Charlemagne 
 the civilizer. Char- 
 lemagne's empire 
 roughly corresponded 
 with the old Empire 
 of the West. Various 
 provinces ^ were lack- 
 ing, but he had a 
 hold on Germany 
 such as no genuine 
 Caesar had possessed. 
 To administer these 
 
 SPECIMEN OF CAROLINGIAN ART 
 The cover of a prayer-book of the time of Charle- 
 magne. This composition is obviously suggested by 
 Psalm LVII. At the top there is a representation of 
 God surrounded by heavenly beings. At his feet seated 
 upon a couch is an angel holding a child on his lap, 
 symbolizing the soul of man which rests in the shadow 
 of the wings of God. The angel is viewed as the div- 
 inely sent deliverer and the winged figures represent 
 Mercy and Truth. The soul of man, though protected 
 by the divine wings and the angel's arms, is threatened 
 by evil ones represented by lions and by hostile bands 
 which approach him, but stand back in awe. They are 
 destined to fall into the pit digged by themselves. 
 
 ^ Especially Spain, Africa, and Britain. The Emperors of Constantinople 
 also still held southern Italy and Sicily. 
 
58 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 great dominions he used no complex machinery. At his court 
 were a few high officers, and his council of worldly wise bishops 
 and battle-loving noblemen; in the various districts were 
 counts ^ to administer justice, enforce the laws, and lead the 
 provincial mihtia; over the marks (the important frontier 
 provinces) were markgrafs, usually tried mihtary men. To 
 supervise these local officers and keep them to their duty, 
 Charlemagne sent his missi dominici, imperial messengers, 
 usually dispatched in pairs, and ever visiting and reporting 
 upon the condition of the nations. This system worked admir- 
 ably with such a person as Charlemagne at its head. Under 
 less skillful guidance it proved too simple to be really efficient. 
 
 But Charlemagne gave more than firm government with law 
 and order. Under his fostering a real revival of learning and 
 letters took place. Literature and mere literacy were at a very 
 low ebb, even in the Church ; when he became king, he devoted 
 himself with genuine enthusiasm to combating the evil. To 
 aid him in this task he summoned from England a distinguished 
 scholar, Alcuin, who became master of the "Palace School " — 
 a sort of model academy maintained at court, and frequented 
 by the youths of noble family. The bishops and abbots through- 
 out the Empire were required to establish similar schools for 
 their localities, while earnestly did Charlemagne combat the 
 notion that ignorance was compatible with genuine piety. 
 " Let schools be established in each monastery or bishopric " 
 (ran his mandate) " in which boys may learn to read, and to 
 correct carefully the Psalms, the signs in writing, the songs, the 
 calendar, the grammar, because often men desire to pray to God 
 properly, but they pray badly because of the incorrect books." 
 
 Under Alcuin's guidance there was a widespread revival of 
 interest in the old Latin classics. Cicero, Horace, Virgil, and 
 Seneca were copied and studied in numerous monasteries; and 
 
 ^ Literally, comiks, "companions," i.e., of the king or Emperor, and hence 
 his local representatives. 
 
CHARLEMAGNE AND HIS AGE 59 
 
 their style imitated in poems, histories, and essays. There was 
 little originality in the literary attempts — usually a merely 
 slavish rehandling of ideas that were new eight centuries pre- 
 viously; but it was a great thing that the wisdom of the ancients 
 was held in honor, and that a mighty ruler exalted the scholar 
 as well as the warrior. 
 
 How Charlemagne disciplined unworthy ecclesiastics, reor- 
 ganized the Frankish Church, estabhshed just systems of laws, 
 promoted skillful agriculture, — there is no space here to tell. 
 In 814, the great Emperor died at the height of his prosperity. 
 German and Roman seemed welded together into a new and 
 better Western Empire, and the end of the centuries of confu- 
 sion appeared to have come. 
 
 REVIEW 
 
 r. Topics — Wittekind; Desiderius; Pavia; Patrician; Ost-Mark; Ronces- 
 valles; Chanson de Roland; Marches (Marks); Count; Alcuin; Palace 
 School (Scola Palatina) ; Missi Dominici. 
 
 2. Geography — 
 
 (a) Locate Pavia. 
 
 (6) Mark the bounds of Charlemagne's Empire at his accession and 
 at his death. 
 
 (c) Make a list of his wars, and mark the regions of the wars on the 
 map. What inference would you make from a comparison of the 
 dates and places of his campaigns? 
 
 (d) In the lands north of the Mediterranean and west of the Balkan 
 Peninsula, compare Charlemagne's Empire at its greatest extent 
 with the Roman Empire at the beginning of our period. 
 
 3. Charlemagne's personahty and habits. 
 
 4. Why did the conquest of the Saxons take such a long time? Compare 
 with the conquest of the Lombards. What part was taken in the Saxon 
 conquest by the Church? 
 
 5. What was the meaning of the great event of 800 a.d.? 
 
 6. The nature of the revival of learning. 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 1. Charlemagne's methods of warfare. 
 
 2. How were laws made under Charlemagne? How were they enforced? 
 
 3. The importance of the Church under Charlemagne. 
 
6o HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 4. What were the aims of Charlemagne in his wars? 
 
 5. What was the real basis of Charlemagne's power? Did his coronation 
 increase it? 
 
 6. Charlemagne as a farmer. 
 
 7. Distinguish between "Count" and "Duke." 
 
 8. The relation of Charlemagne as Emperor to the Pope as head of the 
 Papal States. 
 
 9. The Carolingian Renaissance. 
 
 10. The beginnings of feudalism under Charlemagne. 
 
 READING 
 
 Sources. Ogg: chapter ix. Robinson: nos. 53-64. 
 
 Modern accounts. Emerton: pp. 180-235. Seignobos: pp. 52-62. Bemont 
 and Monod: pp. 179-210. Duruy: pp. 73-S5. Pattison: pp. 15-38. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE TERRIBLE NINTH CENTURY AND THE RISE OF 
 FEUDALISM 
 
 31. Why Charlemagne^ s Empire dissolved. The Empire of 
 Charlemagne was such an immediate success, the authority 
 of the monarch was so generally acknowledged, the usages of 
 civilization took such a marked revival that it was fondly 
 imagined that the golden age had returned. Never was there 
 more terrible illusion. The age of Charlemagne was followed by 
 over a century of misery and anarchy, until very slowly a better 
 era returned. The new " Holy Roman Empire " had really been 
 held together by the personal genius of its founder. Under his 
 feebler successors, elements of weakness at once displayed 
 themselves. In 887, the Empire (temporarily reunited) was 
 for the last time split asunder: it was never constituted in its 
 fullness again; and when we study the conditions then existing, 
 we marvel, not that the Empire fell, but that it lasted so long. 
 Here are some of the causes which toppled down the imposing 
 fabric which Charlemagne had erected. 
 
 (a) The personal weakness of his successors was a great 
 bane. Some of these men were feeble; some were evil; none was 
 free from bitter rivals. The Carohngian dynasty had already 
 produced four great rulers in succession. ' It was almost beyond 
 nature to maintain the high quality of the line. Louis the Pious 
 (814-40), who took over his mighty father's realm, was a man 
 of many private virtues, but far too weak and priest-governed 
 to control his own turbulent, undutiful sons, who contended 
 bitterly in his own lifetime over the inheritance. Soon after 
 his death the Empire was rent by devastating civil wars, with 
 
 ^ Pepin of Heristal, Charles Martel, Pepin the Short, and Charlemagne. 
 
62 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 the younger brothers, Louis the German and Charles the Bald, 
 striving against their elder brother Lothaire.' In 841 , the battle 
 of Fontenay (near Auxerre in modern France) ended in the 
 defeat of Lothaire, and the parceHng of the Empire into three 
 separate dominions (Treaty of Verdun, 843). Only for less than 
 four brief years (884-87) was the whole Empire again reunited. 
 
 (b) There was no real national unity in Charlemagne's 
 dominions. The Lombards of Italy, the Gallo-Romans of 
 A.quitaine, the " Franks " of mixed blood of the Rhinelands, 
 the newly baptized Saxons of the North, felt nothing in com- 
 mon. The moment the firm hand of the master was withdrawn, 
 the hostile elements sprang asunder. 
 
 (c) The physical difficulties of proper communication 
 through such a vast empire were very great. The roads were 
 wretched. Most of the great rivers were unbridged.- To send 
 armies or even messengers from one province to another was 
 a very slow and uncertain business. 
 
 (d) At the moment when the successors of Louis the Pious 
 were rending one another in civil war, their arms ought to have 
 been diverted against the ravaging Northmen. These hardy 
 Scandinavian pirates began their raids almost as soon as the 
 terrible Charlemagne had departed. With their long, open 
 "dragon ships " they would row up the rivers of Gaul to some 
 convenient point, disembark, then carry their forays far and 
 wide. Individually they were better armed ^ and more battle- 
 worthy than the average Frankish levy which could be brought 
 against them. Bold pagans themselves, they found in the rich 
 churches and abbeys their richest booty. For years this scourge 
 
 ^ To Lothaire was conceded the title of "Emperor": the others were merely 
 "kings"; but the question was what lands should the two have and what should 
 be Lothaire's exact power over them. 
 
 ^ In the period of the invasions, most of the magnificent road and bridge 
 system maintained by the old Roman Emperors had fallen grievously into dis- 
 repair. 
 
 ^ They kad particularly excellent shirts of woven " ring-mail," a kind of armor 
 possessed by very few Frankish warriors. 
 
THE RISE OF FEUDALISM 
 
 63 
 
 NORSE SHIP 
 {From the Bayeiix Tapestry) 
 
 went on without effectual check, until in 885 the " Northern 
 Heathen " besieged Paris and met with a gallant resistance 
 and a defeat.^ Driven by necessity the inhabitants of Frank- 
 land at length developed an efficient cavalry (in the place of a 
 mere infantry force) and covered their land with fortified 
 castles against which 
 the Northmen beat in 
 vain. In 911, RoUo, 
 a Scandinavian chief, 
 made a treaty with 
 Charles the Simple, 
 King of the West 
 Franks, which practi- 
 cally ended the inva- 
 sions. The Northmen 
 were to receive a large 
 tract of land along the 
 British Channel (Normandy) , become Christians and the feudal 
 vassals of the king, with Rollo as their duke. The plan suc- 
 ceeded. The Northmen assimilated Frankish habits with 
 astonishing rapidity and were soon zealous for their new 
 religion. Within a century Normandy was one of the most 
 typical and relatively civilized lands of western Europe.- 
 
 32. The growth of new national units. It was a period of 
 fearful cruelties and of utterly destructive warfare. Again 
 civilization seemed to retrograde: but certain definite forces 
 were at work. Italy was again for a while separating itself from 
 northern Europe, under rulers who called themselves now 
 " Emperors,"^ now "Kings of Italy." There are clear tokens 
 
 * This is about the first time that Paris appears prominently in history. It 
 is an important center from this time onward. 
 
 - Besides the Norse invasions, there were raids by the Saracens and Hunga- 
 rians in the ninth and tenth centuries. To protect the frontiers, it was necessary 
 to give their defenders, the "counts," unusual powers; thus they tended to 
 become as strong as their rulers, and practically independent of them. 
 
 ' Their actual power at best was over only a fraction of northern Italy. 
 
64 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 of how Neustria (West Frankland) and Austrasia (East Frank- 
 land) were changing themselves into entirely separate nations 
 — France and Germany. At Strassburg in 842, while Louis 
 the German and Charles the Bald were still in alliance against 
 Lothaire, they exchanged oaths of mutual fidelity, each in the 
 language best understood by his brother's followers. The 
 
 THE FRANKS IN THE NINTH CENTURY 
 
 exact text of these oaths has been preserved. The pledge given 
 before the men of the West was very obviously in something 
 like French : that given before the men of the East still more 
 resembled Germ.an. The division of lands made by the ensuing 
 Treaty of Verdun (843) was also potent for future history. 
 
THE RISE OF FEUDALISM 65 
 
 To Charles the Bald was given the western lands, the nucleus 
 obviously of modern France: to Louis the German, the east- 
 ern, most decidedly a large part of modern Germany. Their 
 brother Lothair received a long, narrow strip of territory from 
 the North Sea down into Italy. It corresponded to no terri- 
 torial division ancient or modern. '' Lothair's Kingdom"^ 
 was all they could call it afterward, and "Lorraine" remains 
 to this day a debatable land betwixt France and Germany, a 
 standing menace to the peace of Europe. 
 
 In 887, the last direct Carolingian ceased to reign in Ger- 
 many. The independent "Kingdom of Lothair" had already 
 been extinguished — temporarily. In France the Carolingians 
 were not to be expelled from nominal power until 987 : but the 
 age of Charles the Great was clearly ended. The " Frankish " 
 period of European history is passed: and insensibly one enters 
 the ■' Feudal" period. 
 
 33. The feudal system. The " Feudal Age " is the term often 
 used as synonymous with the " Middle Ages." As a matter of 
 fact it includes only about the years 900 to 1300, when the 
 power of the kings and the " nation" was weak, and what we 
 may call " the feudal nobility" was strong. 
 
 The origins of feudalism can be traced back to old Rome 
 and to old German times, before the great invasions. There 
 were plenty of tokens of " feudal conditions " in Charlemagne's 
 day. But what really brought the feudal regime to pass was 
 the direful weakening of the Government under his unhappy 
 successors: and the need which men felt for some system of 
 society which would guard against the worst kind of anarchy. 
 
 By 900, the power of the kings who inherited the fragments 
 of Charlemagne's Empire had sunk low, indeed. Even if they 
 had been wise a^d well-intentioned monarchs, the entire spirit 
 
 ' "Lotharii RcKnum." The name "Lorraine" seems especially to have 
 attached itself to the northern part of the strip, which was also ruled over later 
 by Lothair H, son of Lothair I. 
 
66 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 of the age prevented the successful exertion of their authority. 
 Many causes, long operating, tended to substitute for what we 
 may call the normal political society, in which all men are 
 fellow members of a great nation, a new order commonly called 
 " feudalism." Feudalism is extremely difficult to define in a 
 few words, but perhaps it is correct to say that it is a condition 
 of things in which lawful authority is not based on the common 
 allegiance of everybody to a central " government," but on 
 
 a great number of special compacts, 
 each between two persons, whereby 
 the great '^ lord " becomes at once a 
 kind of landlord, and also a high 
 magistrate and war-chief over the 
 lesser " vassal." In the Middle Ages 
 the question would not be so much, 
 " Of what nation are you? " as, " Of 
 what lord do you hold your lands? " 
 The manner in which that question 
 was answered settled the social and 
 political status of an individual. Of 
 all the causes contributing to the 
 growth of feudalism, the most general 
 was the fact that kings and other 
 magnates would grant away the 
 lands whereof they were possessed in return for military 
 service. • At first this "' leasing " (as modern men would say) 
 was temporary: it ceased when the very peculiar "rent" 
 (military service and certain financial assistance) was not 
 duly paid and wdien either the landlord (suzerain) or tenant 
 (vassal) died. But as the king's power weakened, and as long 
 
 CHAIR 
 
 (Dra'i'n from a miniature in a 
 ienlh-ccnlury manuscript) 
 
 1 Along with the mere private control of the land would usually go various 
 kinds of "immunity" — e.g., exemption from royal jurisdiction over the land, 
 or the collection of royal taxes within the land. The new "vassal" would thus 
 enjoy the jurisdiction over the lands granted him, conjoined often with its entire 
 revenues. 
 
THE RISE OF FEUDALISM 67 
 
 occupancy of a "lief" (feudal holding) made the tenant feel 
 that holding the fief was his rigid, not his privilege, the ties 
 of vassalage became more and more permanent. The king 
 could not recall the fief if he would, except in extreme cases. 
 He was also obliged to confirm it to his late vassal's son or 
 sons, or, if there were no son, to his daughter. During the 
 breaking-up of Charlemagne's Empire the great vassals of the 
 kingdoms forgot all but their most formal duties to their 
 nominal overlord. They became independent princes in all but 
 name, and it was seldom that " their lord the king " was able 
 effectively to coerce them. 
 
 But these great vassals in turn were under necessity of seeing 
 their own dominions parceled out among lesser princelets still ; 
 and these again might have dependent on them a swarm of 
 petty nobles possessing only a fortified tower and a few bare 
 acres. The feudal system in fact caught in its tentacles prac- 
 tically the entire social fabric of the Middle Ages. The bishops 
 and abbots of the Church were usually feudal lords, with all the 
 political and military rights and duties of the lay nobihty 
 over the ample estates of the Church.^ The miserable lower 
 classes, who had been held in various degrees of bondage dur- 
 ing the Roman and Frankish periods, became adjuncts to the 
 feudal system, as villeins of the lords; the humble and necessary 
 supporters (serfs or not much better) of the dominant nobihty. ^ 
 
 In this feudal regime there is no essential order or system. 
 Theoretically every ''nobleman"^ owed allegiance to some 
 overlord, and this overlord to some higher overlord, and so on 
 
 ' Perhaps one fourth to one fifth of all the lands of western Europe can be 
 conceived to have been held by the Church during the Middle Ages. Still, 
 although the Church was drawn thus into the feudal sj'stem, the Church itself 
 never became really feudalized. Churchmen might also be feudal lords, but no 
 bishop, for example, held his bishopric as the vassal of an archbishop. 
 
 ^ For the status of the non-nobles under the feudal regime, see p. 141. 
 
 ' That is, every person who held land or who had fair claims to hold land 
 as a genuine vassal: in other words, about every person who was a stout fighter, 
 and was not the son of a villein, and had not entered the Church. 
 
68 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 in a regular sequence upward to the king. Actually the most 
 extreme confusion reigned. ^ "Organized anarchy" feudalism 
 has been called by a justly despairing scholar. Still, despite 
 the confusion, there are certain lines of demarcation which 
 characterize feudal institutions and conditions. Bearing* these 
 in mind will solve many problems. 
 
 (a) As a rule, the lowest feudal noblemen ranked as mere 
 ''seigneurs" (German, "Ritters"), possessors of a small 
 castle with a few peasants depending. Above these would fol- 
 low in a kind of order barons, viscounts, counts," marquises, 
 and dukes : at the head of all, of course, the king. A great abbot 
 would probably rank as a viscount : a prince-bishop as a count, 
 perhaps higher. There were, however, no fixed usages: e.g., in 
 France certain counts were every whit as powerful as the dukes, 
 while other counts might be doing homage for some of their 
 lands to a baron or viscount. 
 
 (b) The prime obligations of the nobleman to his suzeraui 
 were (i) homage: to kneel down before him on proper occa- 
 sions; to take his hands; to swear to execute the feudal duties; 
 to do him no injury; and then, in compliance with his oath, 
 (2) to fight for him against his enemies (this was the chief 
 duty); to give him good counsel, especially to assist him in 
 awarding justice; and on certain stipulated but rather rare 
 
 King Count Bishop 
 
 Duke ■* Baron 
 
 1 This diagram gives a slight idea of the possibilities of compHcations 
 under the feudal system. Note that the baron owes allegiance to the other 
 four magnates. In case of a war between the king and the duke, or the count 
 and the bishop, whom was he to support? — Matters might often be more 
 complicated than this. 
 
 ^ In England the counts were styled "earls," — although that was really an 
 old Anglo-Saxon title. In Germany the corresponding title was "Graf." 
 
THE RISE OF FEUDALISM 69 
 
 occasions to supply him with money. In return the suzerain 
 would owe "his man " mihtary protection against his enemies, 
 fair play in any lawsuit, and must see to it that his children 
 were not cheated out of their father's inheritance. 
 
 (c) The center of feudal life and action was ordinarily the 
 nobleman's castle. Every regular fief possessed one; some- 
 times a mighty fortress, sometimes a petty tower. ^ In any 
 case, however, the capture thereof was a slow and bloody 
 business. Behind his good walls and with a few trusty retainers 
 a very feeble baron could ^' make good his rights " against his 
 suzerain, — so inefficient were the battering-engines of the 
 day. These castles had sprung into being particularly to check 
 the ravages of the Northmen, and other raiders: but every- 
 where they were multiplied, and became so many centers of 
 political disintegration. Only starvation could reduce them 
 as a rule, and their m.asters comported themselves as so many 
 petty kings. They exercised the powers of " pit-and-gallows " 
 (life and death) over their peasants; they coined money in 
 their own name; they waged bloody warfare upon their neigh- 
 bors in the next castle, or perhaps against the prince-abbot of 
 the neighboring monastery. A rude sense of honor usually 
 coiTipelled them to execute their bare pledge to their suzerain, 
 especially by giving the stipulated number of days of military 
 service, but if an overlord was a wise man, he did not interfere 
 in the internal management of his vassals' fiefs, or in their pri- 
 vate quarrels. It was enotigh if they did their sworn duty to 
 himself, and did not involve him in war with his neighbors: 
 while he in turn (unless he were the king) was probably full of 
 distrust toward his suzerain. 
 
 This, then, was the setting of mediaeval society: — the 
 masses of the toiling peasantry without political rights or 
 standing; the barons in armor, riding rough-shod over the 
 
 ^ Of course, a fief sometimes consisted of a mere grant, say of market-dues or 
 liunting privileges, but the normal type of a fief involved a land grant. 
 
70 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 unprivileged unarmed multitude; and the enfeebled king often 
 trembling before his own '' vassals." Only of the terrible 
 thunders of the Church had these feudal lords great awe.^ 
 
 REVIEW 
 
 1. Topics — Louis the Pious; Verdun; Northmen; Rollo; The Strassburg 
 Oaths; Lorraine; Feudahsm; Suzerain; X'assal; Immunity; Fief; 
 
 - Villein. 
 
 2. Geography — - 
 
 (fl) Locate Fontenay; Verdun; Paris; Normandy. 
 
 {b) Mark the bounds according to the division of 843. 
 
 3. What were the real causes for the dissolution of the Empire. 
 
 4. What do you consider the really important dates for the "Prankish 
 period" of European history (from Clovis to the final division of the 
 Empire) . 
 
 5. What conditions would tend to prevent the Kingdom of Lothair (843) 
 from being a permanent one? 
 
 6. Why did feudalism develop in the ninth and tenth centuries? 
 
 7. What was the position of the Church in the feudal system? 
 
 8. What were the obligations of the suzerain and of the vassal? 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 1. The Northmen. 
 
 2. Extent of the Norse raids. 
 
 3. The Strassburg oaths and their significance. 
 
 4. The siege of Paris. 
 
 5. The importance of the foundation of the Duchy of Normandy. 
 
 6. The beginnings of feudalism under Charlemagne. 
 
 7. The essential elements of feudalism — vassalage, benefice, and im- 
 munity. 
 
 8. The ceremony of rendering homage and fealty. 
 
 READING* 
 
 The Empire — Sources. Ogg: chapter x. Roljinson: nos. 65-71. 
 
 Modem Accounts. Emerton: Mediccval Europe, pp. 13-40. 
 
 Seignobos: pp. 148-4Q. Bemont and Monod: pp. 211- 
 
 45. Duruy: pp. 86-104. Pattison: pp. 39-57. 
 
 Feudalism— ^oi/rr^. Ogg; chapter xiii, pp. 34-38. Robinson: nos. 7 2-90. 
 
 Modern Accounts. Emerton: Introduction, pp. 236-55. 
 
 Bemont and Monod: pp. 246-54. 
 
 ^ Feudal society and the organization of feudal countries are extremely hard 
 to define without going into many technical details. A clearer idea of the age 
 and its so-called civilization will be gained after reading chapter xii. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 the holy roman empire in germany and italy 
 
 (to 1056) 
 
 34. The origins of the Kingdom of Germany. Out of the 
 
 ruins of Charlemagne's Empire were born two nations that 
 bear themselves proudly in modern times — Germany and 
 France. Of these Germany, the eastern fragment of the old 
 Prankish dominions, developed first, and displayed a noble 
 promise of becoming the dominant power of Europe : nay, for 
 a while bade fair to restore the Empire of Charlemagne. The 
 attempt failed, but it was a magnificent failure, full of notable 
 e\'ents and significant for later history. The annals of Germany 
 as apart from those of East Prankland begin with Henry the 
 Powler (919-36). It is needful to see over what manner of 
 realm he ruled. 
 
 By 900, the future Germany seemed dissolved into a number 
 of great territorial units which represented something more 
 than merely feudal states, however much the feudal system 
 may have penetrated them.^ Stem-duchies these great divi- 
 sions are usually called. Each had its own dialect, social cus- 
 toms, code of laws, and local pride. The inhabitants would 
 probably be much more devoted to their own mighty duke than 
 to the " king," who might come from some distant duchy 
 with which they had held long rivalry. Saxony with Thu- 
 ringia, Pranconia, Bavaria, Swabia, and Lorraine are units to 
 be borne in mind all through the study of German history. 
 Usually the elective king of Germany would be the duke of one 
 
 1 Generally considered, the feudal system gained a little less complete control 
 of Germany than of France, in which feudal conditions reached their fullest 
 development. Italy, too, was never as much feudalized as France. 
 
72 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 of these duchies in his own right. If he were able to win the 
 hearty support of hvo other dukes, he could probably coerce 
 the remainder, for Thuringia was too small to have an inde- 
 pendent policy and usually went with Saxony. To bring even 
 three duchies heartily into line, however, was often a weary 
 task even for a very energetic monarch. 
 
 The kingship of Germany was elective, like almost all medi- 
 aeval kingships. ' Originally nearly all the higher nobles and 
 prince-bishops of the land seem to have felt entitled to have a 
 part in the " Diets," — assemblies to choose the new sovereign 
 or transact other business of state. Only very gradually was 
 the number of "electors" limited and their strict procedure 
 fixed. After perhaps a tumultuous mass meeting, while the 
 "Aye! Aye!" of the supporters of the victorious candidate 
 was resounding, the defeated faction would retire to consider 
 whether it were wise to contest the election — not with bal- 
 lots but with swords. 
 
 While there was a certain amount of fellow feeling among 
 these former East Franks, as against the incipient Frenchmen 
 west of the Rhine, nevertheless the divisions and local differ- 
 ences amongst them were great. To make Germany into a well- 
 compacted nation was the task of nearly ten centuries. 
 
 35. Henry the Fowler (919-36). The last legitimate 
 Carolingian ceased to reign in Germany in 887. From that 
 time until 919 the land was in a state of practical chaos. The 
 kings had Httle control over the ''stem-dukes," the petty 
 nobles waged ceaseless and pitiless war one upoii the other, 
 and the country was terribly harried by the Northmen descend- 
 ing from Scandinavia, and by the still more cruel Magyar 
 
 ' Usually in Germany the reigning monarch could use his influence to get his 
 son elected co-king in his lifetime. On the death of the old king, the young king 
 would step into full power. But often there would be no available prince suit- 
 able or acceptable for election. The nobility were intensely jealous of the growth 
 of royal power. Sometimes a relatively weak and ineffective man would be 
 chosen — that he might not become a reallv masterful so\crcif;n. 
 
THE EMPIRE IN GERMANY AND ITALY 
 
 n 
 
 hordes, issuing, on their wiry horses, from the plains of Hun- 
 gary, to burn and pillage. 
 
 Either the country must have a king who could command 
 the allegiance of the dukes, could enforce peace upon the nobles 
 
 5° Lonpitude East from On 
 
 THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE IN GERMANY AND ITALY TO 1056 
 
 and fling back the invaders, or Germany would relapse into its 
 primitive barbarism. Such a king appeared in the person of 
 Henry the Fowler. ^ 
 
 1 He gained his name from the tradition that he was returning from hawking 
 when the messenger came to announce the tidings of his selection. 
 
74 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 Henry the Fowler was a mature and tried ruler when a large 
 faction of the princes rallied around him. He was already duke 
 of the most powerful single stem-duchy, — Saxony, — and 
 he could command the ready allegiance of Franconia and 
 Thuringia. Thus fortified, he was able to coerce successively 
 Swabia, Bavaria, and Lorraine, either making their dukes 
 submit themselves loyally, or (in the case of Lorraine) replac- 
 ing the old ruler with one more trustworthy. So some kind of 
 law and order was presently restored to the troubled land 
 from ivithin, and Henry was able to deal manfully with the 
 terrible enemy beyond, the borders. 
 
 The ravages of the Northmen were ceasing, but the Magyars 
 remained as a direful scourge. This race of semi-Tartar 
 nomads, akin, perhaps, to the old Huns of Attila, had recently 
 encamped themselves on the fertile plains of the Danube, and 
 now were harrying the whole length and breadth of Germany. 
 Repeatedly they had defeated large German armies in battle. 
 To check their devastations, Henry resorted to measures not 
 spectacular but effective. Pocketing his pride, he purchased a 
 nine-years' truce from the Magyars (924-33), and during the 
 interval devoted himself, first, to developing a cavalry force 
 (the Germans had been hitherto almost exclusively an infantry 
 folk), without which the mounted barbarians could hardly be 
 brought to bay ; and, second, to the building of castles and forti- 
 fied towns of refuge against which they might dash themselves 
 in vain.' 
 
 In 933, when the truce expired, the Magyars, on being refused 
 their tribute, swept into Saxony. Henry met them at the bat- 
 tle of the Unstrut, and they were totally defeated. For some 
 time their power was broken, and Henry's policy was amply 
 
 1 Henry Rave a mighty impulse to the founding of toums in North Germany. 
 Ouedlinburg, Goslar, and Nordhausen, and other _\cry old German cities were 
 among his foundations. On his accession (barring a few old Roman towns, e.g., 
 Mainz and Cologne on the Rhine) there was perhaps hardly a place of one thous- 
 and inhabitants in Germany. 
 
THE EMPIRE IN GERMANY AND ITALY 75 
 
 justified. Cautious, methodical, practical if never brilliant, 
 Henry the Fowler was one of the prime builders of Germany. 
 
 36. Otto I (936-73) — his power in Germany, Henry was 
 able to transmit his power to his son Otto I, a man of solid 
 abilities equal to his father's, but more brilliant and more 
 ambitious. The first years of his reign were consumed in 
 struggles with his own Saxon kinsmen. In fact it was not till 
 954 that the last malcontents in Germany had been crushed 
 and the stem-duchies and great prince-bishoprics put in the 
 hands of faithful supporters of the monarchy. In 955, Otto 
 gained new prestige by inflicting another great defeat upon the 
 Magyars at the battle of the Lech (Bavaria), which ended their 
 ravages for all time. During these earlier years of Otto, his 
 good friend the Markgraf Hermann Billung had been pushing 
 back the Slavic Wends to the east of Saxony from the country 
 now around Berlin and adding new lands to Germany and to 
 Christendom. By 961, Otto was in a position of such security 
 and power that he could undertake a great expedition to 
 Rome^ — in search of nothing less than the imperial crown once 
 worn by Charlemagne. 
 
 37. Otto I — his revival of the Holy Roman Empire. Italy 
 was in a most evil state on the eve of his coming. The peninsula 
 was torn asunder by a score of petty princelets. In the cities, 
 usually ruled by a prince-bishop, there were still large sur\dvals 
 of the old Roman culture, but civilization seemed decaying 
 even in these its last strongholds. The Roman Papacy had 
 never been in a worse plight. The papal ofiice was still held in 
 great reverence throughout western Europe ; but its very tem- 
 poral importance made it the prey of utterly worldly and often 
 immoral men, who usually gained power by support of an 
 armed faction. When Otto undertook to march to Rome, the 
 Papacy was held by John XII, a youth who had become Pope 
 
 ^ He had already (951) made a brief expedition over tiie Alps, and assumed 
 the vague title, " King of the Lombards." 
 
THE EMPIRE IN GERMANY AND ITALY 77 
 
 when only sixteen, and who was, by universal testimony, in- 
 competent and personally degraded. Had Otto failed to inter- 
 fere in Rome at this time, in all probability the Papacy would 
 have sunk so low in the world's esteem, that only a miracle 
 could have restored its lost authority.^ 
 
 In g6i, Otto I descended the Alps, a mighty German arniy 
 thundering at his heels and bearing down all opposition. The 
 astonished Italians bent before the shock. At Pavia, Otto was 
 crowned with the ''Iron Crown" of Lombardy. He then 
 pressed on to Rome. John XII negotiated with him and pro- 
 mised him fair. Otto entered the Eternal City, and on Feb- 
 ruary 2, 962, like Charlemagne, he knelt before the Pope, 
 under the eyes of the multitude, and arose "Imperator 
 Augustus," "Lord of all the World." The Holy Roman Em- 
 pire had been revived as an adjunct now of the German 
 kingship. 
 
 Otto soon turned back toward the north, having no intention 
 of taking permanent residence in Rome; but hardly was he 
 departed ere tidings came that the slippery John XII was 
 negotiating with the Emperor's enemies. Otto marched back 
 on Rome, and found the Pope had already fled to the mountain 
 fastnesses. Acting now in his capacity as Roman Emperor, — 
 God's deputy to rule alike in Church and State, — Otto pro- 
 ceeded to put the absent Pope on trial. Abundant evidence 
 was presented that John was a totally unfit pontiff, of iniquit- 
 ous and unchurchly private life. Otto declared him deposed, 
 and on his own authority appointed a successor (Leo VIII). 
 After the Emperor left the city, the faction of John called the 
 outlaw back, and it took still a third visit of Otto to make his 
 appointee finally recognized.- From this time till his death 
 (973), Otto was the unquestioned dominator both of Germany 
 
 ' The desperate state of the Papacy at this time is freely conceded by Catholic 
 writers: in fact, it is argued that only an institution ordained of God could have 
 survived such a terrible period of humiliation. 
 
 ^ John was murdered in Rome in a private quarrel, ere Otto's return. 
 
78 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 and Italy, and all-potent in the government of the Church. 
 His reign ended in a great blaze of glory. 
 
 Otto had thus restored the Holy Roman Empire, and had 
 taken drastic measures for the renovation of the Church.* His 
 Empire lacked, however, one great unit of Charlemagne's 
 dominions - France; and he had brought about an unnatural 
 
 yoking of Italy and 
 
 r~"'"^"r^ Z^ "'"^ -^^^s^—s^^ II I '^ ^ Germany, a union 
 
 which wrought no 
 real benefit to either. 
 38. The Succes- 
 sors of Otto I (973- 
 1039). Otto I, or 
 " The Great," as he 
 was not unjustly 
 styled , was succeeded 
 by his son and then 
 by his grandson (Otto 
 II and Otto III), but 
 neither of these men, 
 though not lacking 
 abihty, reigned long 
 enough to do more 
 than keep the power 
 of the Saxon dynasty 
 partially intact. The 
 death of Henry II (1024) (a distant nephew of Otto I) left 
 the Saxon house without a suitable candidate for the throne; 
 and the nobility of Germany chose Conrad II, who began 
 the line known as the Franconian or Salian Emperors. Dur- 
 ing all this time the German monarchs had interfered inter- 
 mittently in Italy, but never really effectively. The will-o'- 
 the-wisp of a coronation at Rome and a great lordship in the 
 South kept them from concentrating their efforts on Germany 
 
 AN EMPEROR (OTTO HI) 
 (From a miniature in the Bamberg Evangel). The 
 Emperor holds in one hand the scepter, crowned with 
 the imperial eagle; in the other the orb, bearing a cross, 
 the symbol of domination over the Christian world 
 
THE EMPIRE IN GERMANY AND ITALY 79 
 
 and fairly crushing the feudal disintegration there. On the 
 other hand, they could not impose their power on Italy com- 
 pletely enough to restore law, order, and prosperity to that 
 troubled peninsula. Between Italians and Germans there was 
 httle sympathy: it was an anomaly, indeed, that the king 
 elected by the Northern nobles should be calling himself '' Holy 
 Roman Emperor": but the 
 German rulers never dis- 
 owned this proud ambition, 
 nor could the Italians resist 
 them. The condition of the 
 Church was still corrupt 
 and worldly, and the Papacy 
 was in no condition to resist 
 the constant interference of 
 the Emperors in its affairs : 
 — the "rule of Christ by 
 Caesar," as was complained 
 by angry but helpless 
 churchmen. 
 
 39. Henry III, the Pope- 
 maker (1039-56). The 
 power of the Empire over 
 the Church seemed at its 
 height when, in 1046, Henry 
 III, a valiant and worthy 
 monarch, held a synod at 
 •Sutri (near Rome) , at which three warring claimants to the 
 Papacy were obliged to present themselves, and to allow him 
 to pass upon their cases. All three would-be pontiffs were 
 declared deposed,^ and Henry deliberately appointed a new 
 Pope even as he would a palace minister. For the rest of his 
 
 
 THE EMPEROR HENRY' IV KNEELING 
 
 BEFORE THE COUNTESS MATILDA AT 
 
 CANOSSA IN 1077 
 
 (From a miniature in a biography of the 
 
 countess, finished 1114, and now preserved in 
 
 the Vatican Library at Rome) 
 
 ^ There seems little doubt that they were all very unfit men for a great spiritual 
 office. 
 
go HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 reign the Papacy was practically another great imperial office, 
 and seemed likely to continue so for all time.^ If this had 
 come to pass, the German monarchs would have been Emperors, 
 indeed, — controlling both Church and State. 
 
 But even in Henry's own time events were tending to under- 
 mine this power. Starting from a famous and sternly disci- 
 plined convent in South France — Cluny — a new spirit of 
 righteousness Ifad been sweeping over the Church. One of the 
 very Popes named by Henry (Leo IX, 1048-54) was an ardent 
 reformer who paved the way for a great revival of papal power 
 in the next generation. When the Emperor died (1056) he 
 seemed, however, to leave his six-year-old son (Henry IV) a 
 solid lordship over Church and State. As a matter of fact the 
 hold of this boy upon the secular government was to prove 
 very precarious, and he was to lose his grasp on the Church 
 
 almost entirely. 
 
 REVIEW 
 
 1. Topics — Henry the Fowler; Stem-Duchy; Diet; Magyars; Otto the 
 Great; John XII; The "rule of Christ by Caesar"; Synod of Sutri; 
 Leo IX; Cluny. 
 
 2. Geography — 
 
 {a) Locate Hungary; Danube, Unstrut, and Lech rivers. 
 {b) Mark the stem-duchies; the marks. 
 
 {c) Mark the bounds of Otto's Empire. Compare it with Charle- 
 magne's. 
 
 3. Note the interval between the conquest of the Saxons and the choice 
 of a Saxon as King of Germany. 
 
 4. How were the kings chosen in Germany? 
 
 5. How did Henry prepare to defeat the Magyars? Compare with the 
 defense of West Frankland against the Northmen as described in 
 chapter vn. 
 
 6. Compare the coronations of Otto and Charlemagne as to circumstances 
 and results. 
 
 7. What were Otto's relations with the Popes? 
 
 8. What seemed to be the tendency in Henry Ill's time as to the relative 
 powers of the Emperor and the Pope? 
 
 1 For a long time the kings had been naming the great prince-bishops, and 
 treating the Church offices as if they were so much valuable political patronage, 
 to be given to worldly-minded adherents. 
 
THE EMPIRE IN GERMANY AND ITALY 8i 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 1. Describe the conditions in Italy during the period. 
 
 2. Why was the "yoking of Germany and Italy" an "unnatural" one? 
 
 3. The Popes of the tenth century. 
 
 4. What was the effect of Otto's coronation as Emperor upon the powers 
 of the German kings in Germany? 
 
 5. The separation of the Greek and Latin churches. 
 
 6. The aims of the Cluny reform. 
 
 READING 
 
 Sources. Ogg: chapter xv, section 42. Robinson: nos. 102-04, 106. 
 Modern Accounts. 'Emerton: Medi(eval Europe, pp. 115-26; 141-43. Be- 
 
 mont and Monod: chapter xvii, pp. 345-46. Seignobos: pp. 95-97. 
 
 Lewis: pp. 1 14-61. Pattison; pp. 58-68. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE RISE OF THE FRENCH KINGDOM 
 
 40. The founding of the Capetian monarchy. The eastern 
 portion of Charlemagne's Empire rid itself of the rule of his 
 unworthy descendants long before they ceased to reign in the 
 West. This was partly because the later Carolingians in those 
 regions were not so degenerate and exhausted as in the East, 
 partly because in the western fraction of the old Empire there 
 was no great local power to assume the leadership, as did the 
 Saxon duchy in Germany. Yet in just a century after the 
 deposition of Charles the Fat (the last ruler of the undivided 
 Carolingian Empire), the reign of the Carolingian kings ceased 
 also from over the West Franks (9S7). West Frankland or 
 Neustria ended its annals. A new dynasty — the Capetian — 
 arose, ruling a kingdom that speedily was known by a new 
 name — France. 
 
 For at least a hundred years before they fairly displaced 
 the Carolingians, the Capetian princes had been uncomfortable 
 rivals or doubtful vassals. Odo (or Eudes), Count of Paris, 
 one of the founders of the line, had distinguished himself by 
 his gallant and successful defense of Paris against the North- 
 men (885) . After the deposition of Charles the Fat he had been 
 recognized as king by many of the nobles of Neustria, but the 
 time was not ripe to do away with the old dynasty. During 
 most of the troubled tenth century, kings of the ancient Hne 
 held the dubious allegiance of the West Franks. Odo's descend- 
 ants (the " Dukes of France," with their power centered at 
 Paris) were among the chief of these weak sovereigns' unruly 
 liegemen. The authority of the Carolingian kings continually 
 waned. In 987, it had dwindled almost to a shadow. " Kings of 
 
THE RISE OF THE FRENCH KINGDOM 
 
 83 
 
 Laon " they were contemptuously called, for the one city over 
 which they had firmest dominion. At length King Louis V 
 died without direct issue. Rather than see the royal name 
 pass to his German-bred kinsman, the nobles of Neustria hailed 
 
 BARCELONA^ 
 
 FRANCE TO 1270 
 
 as overlord the greatest of their own number. Hugh Capet, 
 Duke of France (987-96), was proclaimed king. His descend- 
 ants were destined to reign in France until 1792.^ 
 
 ^ There are scions of this royal house Hving to-day, eager to claim the throne 
 of France, if that great nation ever decides to abandon her present republic 
 for a monarchy. 
 
84 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 41. The mediasval Kingdom of France — its weakness. It 
 
 was almost a tinsel crown which the Archbishop of Rheims 
 (the first churchman of the realm) put on the head of Hugh 
 Capet. To buy the support of the nobles he had been forced to 
 make great concessions of land and authority. Nowhere was 
 the feudal system, with its " organized anarchy," its system of 
 great principalities and little baronies, more perfectly developed 
 than in the country over which he was nominally the chief. 
 Theoretically Hugh inherited the vast powers of Charlemagne ; 
 practically he was only the most honored among several hun- 
 dred barons who called him "sovereign lord," more because 
 they desired a check upon one another than because they 
 wished to have any effective king over them. He possessed 
 some real authority over his old " Duchy of France," the land 
 immediately around Paris, known commonly as the " Royal 
 Domain Lands. "^ Outside of this region he had practically no 
 power. The great Dukes of Normandy, Burgundy, and Brit- 
 tany and the equally lordly Counts of Flanders, Champagne, 
 and Vermandois could each put as many armed retainers in 
 the field as he, and never hesitated to fight him when they 
 harbored a grievance or an ambition. In the south of his 
 nominal kingdom, the Duke of Aquitaine and the Count of 
 Toulouse ruled over a folk who differed in language - and local 
 customs from their northern neighbors, and usually did not 
 trouble to give the king even outward homage. Besides these 
 first named, a host of lesser counts, viscounts, and barons '' ruled 
 by the Grace of God," coined their own money, quarreled or 
 made peace with one another, tyrannized over their subjects; 
 in short, performed all the acts of petty sovereigns with prac- 
 tically no heed to the wishes of " their lord the king " at Paris. 
 
 1 This whole territory was probably no larger than the small State of Massa- 
 chusetts, and even within it were a good many barons who — secure in their 
 castles — obeyed the king only intermittently. 
 
 - The "Languedoc" tongue of South France, as against the "Languedoil" of 
 North France. 
 
THE RISE OF THE FRENCH KINGDOM 85 
 
 Under these circumstances the marvel is that the new 
 dynasty of Capet ever built up an effective kingship ; yet this 
 was the case. Out of this feudal chaos arose the majestic mon- 
 archy of France; and to this end many factors contributed. 
 
 (a) While various barons were continually resisting the 
 king, the scattered princes seldom could forget their own feuds 
 enough to unite against him. He had the support of some 
 vassals in almost every war. 
 
 (b) The Capetian kings were highly fortunate in never 
 lacking a direct heir down to 1328. The reigning king could 
 always present a son eligible for election by the nobles and 
 coronation as co-king in his own hfetime.^ There were no dis- 
 puted successions, no wars within the royal family. Men 
 became accustomed to the idea of a Capetian king as the one 
 possible ruler of all France. 
 
 (c) While several of the Capetian kings were not conspicu- 
 ously able, none was entirely unworthy to rule, and several 
 (and those in the most critical years) were sovereigns of 
 marked capacity. 
 
 (d ) The kings very early put themselves on friendly terms 
 with the Church. They avoided the great collisions with the 
 Papacy which in the end ruined the rulers of Germany. The 
 average feudal lord oppressed his neighboring bishop or abbot ; 
 the king would come to the latter 's relief; the church repaid 
 this protection by giving its own potent support to the king 
 against his vassals. 
 
 (e) As time elapsed and the lower non-noble classes, espe- 
 cially the dwellers in the towns, strove for personal and local 
 Uberties, they found a champion in the king against their 
 baronial lords. The king reaped his reward in the subsidies his 
 
 ^ Note that for long the monarchy in France, as in Germany, was theoretically 
 elective, with the great nobles as the electors; but about 1200, it was so firmly 
 understood that only a Capetian could succeed a Capetian, that the election itself 
 became unimportant, and insensibly hereditary succession was established in its 
 stead. 
 
86 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 new subjects were glad to pay him; and money has always 
 meant power. 
 
 (/) While the Capetian Dynasty lasted, many feudal dynas- 
 ties disappeared; family feuds, local feuds, crusading warfare, 
 and many other calamities carrying them off. The king claimed 
 the vacant fiefs, and there were few able to gainsay him. 
 
 Thus from a dismal abyss the new French monarchy strug- 
 gled upward to greatness. 
 
 42. The first phases of the monarchy. During the century 
 following the accession of Hugh Capet the new kings barely 
 held their own, with their authority seemingly little more than 
 a shadow. Duke William of Normandy, after his conquest of 
 England (1066), appeared a far more important and powerful 
 personage than weak Philip I, who dwelt at Paris. In fact, the 
 acquisition of the English kingdom by the mighty Norman 
 princes might well forebode the moment Avhen these duke- 
 kings would either disavow their allegiance to France alto- 
 gether, or else seek to displace the Capetians, as the latter had 
 displaced the Carohngians. This moment, howe\'er, never 
 came. The Norman kings of England had their own wars and 
 troubles beyond the Channel. In France they did not lack 
 jealous fellow-princes who supported the king against them. 
 The Kings of France were too weak and preoccupied to take 
 part in the earlier crusading movements, which were engross- 
 ing almost all the energies of France, but they at least kept 
 their domain-land and their nominal prerogatives uninjured. 
 
 Early in the twelfth century there came to the throne a wise 
 and energetic king, Louis the Fat (i 108-37). There was nothing 
 sluggish about him but his physique. With admirable firmness 
 he crushed out the petty barons who defied his power near 
 Paris, and gave his domain-land law, order, and a wise admin- 
 istration. This was the foundation for later development; but 
 first the kingdom must pass through a sore ordeal in the days 
 of the inefficient Louis VII (1137-80). 
 
THE RISE OF THE FRENCH KINGDOM 
 
 87 
 
 In 1 1 54, Henry II became King of England. He was far 
 more than that; by inheritance or marriage he was simul- 
 taneously Duke, or feudal Lord, of Normandy, Anjou, and 
 Aquitaine, and many adjacent lands — i.e., of nearly two thirds 
 of the great states of France. He was a man of remarkable 
 ability and corresponding vigor. That such a ruler irked at 
 doing homage for his great French holdings to the feeble ruler 
 at Paris passed without saying. The natural thing to expect 
 would be for him to try to unite his English and French lands 
 into a single independent realm. 
 
 GENERAL VIEW OF THE LOUVRE AT THE TIME OF PHILIP AUGUSTUS 
 (1180-1223) 
 
 (Restored.) The Louvre at this time was part palace, part fortress. It occupied 
 roughly the space of the great court of the Louvre of to-day. Of the building here 
 shown only a few fragments of wall and the foundations now remain. 
 
 43. Philip Augustus, maker of France. Again the good for- 
 tune of the Capet ians saved them. Henry had his heavy 
 troubles with his English subjects. His own sons also raised 
 war against him, and always found refuge and help awaiting 
 
88 fflSTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 them at Paris. His lesser barons had their turn at revolting. 
 In 1 1 80, there came to the throne of France the man who was 
 to see the ruin of Henry and his empire. Philip Augustus 
 (i 180-1223) was perhaps the ablest monarch of the whole 
 French line. Admirable his character was not. He was cold, 
 sly, tortuous, unscrupulous. He was no mean warrior, but he 
 preferred to conquer by intrigue. No great leader ever com- 
 bined the fox and the lion more successfully than he. During 
 the first part of his reign he artfully hindered every attempt of 
 the English-Norman princes ^ to destroy his frail monarchy; 
 in the second part he turned and rent them. 
 
 So long as Henry II of England lived, the best that Philip 
 could do was to support his rival's undutiful sons against their 
 father, and keep his own dominions intact; but in 11S9, Henry 
 died, leaving his vast but scattered possessions to his son, 
 Richard the Lion-Hearted, a mighty champion in all knightly 
 warfare, and withal a very competent general after the rough- 
 and-ready mediaeval sort, but by no means a great statesman. 
 In company with Philip, Richard went on the Third Crusade 
 to recover Jerusalem. The two kings set forth as friends, but 
 soon drifted asimder, and quarreled bitterly. PhiHp promptly 
 came back to France, leaving his rival in Palestine, and busied 
 himself undermining Richard's authority among his vassals. 
 After long delays the valorous crusader returned,- and in his 
 lifetime Philip made little headway in his warfare, but in 1 199, 
 Richard was slain before a South-French castle, and his power 
 passed to his worthless and incompetent brother John, who 
 soon drove his English subjects into revolt by his tyranny, 
 and had little means or energy left to resist Philip in his French 
 dominions. 
 
 1 Henry II and his immediate successors are otten called the "Angevin 
 Princes" in the histories, having derived their origin from the County of Anjou. 
 
 - Richard was captured and held prisoner, while en route homeward, by Duke 
 Leopold of Austria, his enemy, and only released upon a heavy ransom. All 
 this, of course, greatly aided Philip. 
 
THE RISE OF THE FRENCH KINGDOM 
 
 89 
 
 Now was the Capetian's opportunity; and he used it val- 
 iantly. John's crimes toward members of his own family had 
 alienated most of his French vassals and former supporters. 
 Philip was able to besiege the great fortress called Chateau 
 Gaillard, the key to all Normandy, and its capture (1204) was 
 followed by the submission of all of the old Norman duchy. 
 John's lands to the southward were mostly overrun with 
 surprising ease ; and the wide dominion of Henry II crumbled 
 away in a very few years. 
 
 One last effort, indeed, John made. In 12 14, he induced 
 an army of his allies, the Princes of Flanders and many Ger- 
 man knights, led by their 
 Emperor Otto IV, to at- 
 tempt a formidable inva- 
 sion of France from the 
 North. But Philip's suc- 
 cesses had awakened a 
 great burst of national 
 feeling and of per- 
 sonal loyalty among 
 the French. ^ He 
 called to his sub- ^ 
 jects for help and 
 not in vain. Barons 
 and city-folk united 
 under their king to beat back the invader. At Bouvines (12 14) 
 Philip won a truly memorable battle over the Germans, and 
 the foreign peril passed. His reign ended (1223) with the 
 Capetian power ascendant and expanding. 
 
 44. St. Louis confirms the French monarchy. Under Louis 
 IX, better known as St Louis (1226-70), the work of Philip 
 
 A KING'S DEATHBED 
 Bishops and abbots attending. {From a twelfth-century 
 manuscript) 
 
 1 Philip, as an organizer of the lands he had won, was no less great than as a 
 conqueror. He was able finally to command the whole resources of his realm, as 
 had almost no monarch since Charlemagne. 
 
90 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 was confirmed and strengthened. St. Louis was one of the 
 most admirable characters produced by the Middle Ages. He 
 was possessed of all the piety and semi-monkish virtues so 
 admired at the time, and has been justly canonized by the 
 Church. He went on two unsuccessful crusades, in which he 
 displayed exceedingly poor generalship, but at home it was 
 
 otherwise. In France he was a 
 highly effective ruler, often hiding 
 the iron hand under the velvet 
 glove; making the high barons 
 deal justly with their own under- 
 vassals, discouraging the barba- 
 rous " wager of battle," and often 
 substituting his own more right- 
 eous " royal jurisdiction " for the 
 feeble and frequently perverted 
 law-courts maintained by the no- 
 bility. He kept practically all the 
 lands acquired by Philip and added 
 to them; but above all, he estab- 
 hshed conditions akin to genuine 
 law, order, and justice throughout 
 their length. During a long reign 
 men were taught to love their king as the true model of all 
 knightly and princely, as well as churchly, qualities. The same 
 ruler who piously and tenderly distributed bread each morn- 
 ing to the poor before his palace gate, was stern justice incar- 
 nate when it came to insisting on his kingly rights as against 
 malcontent barons and prince-bishops. His position as a man 
 of surpassing piety was such that Popes listened humbly 
 to his lecturings upon their shortcomings. The moral value 
 of such a reign, of " a great king ruling in righteousness," 
 was incalculable. " Sons of St. Louis " his successors proudly 
 called themselves. And in addition to the religious prestige 
 
 LOUIS IX OF FRANCE 
 
 {Painted on glass in lite Cathedral 
 of Chartres, France) 
 
THE RISE OF THE FRENCH KINGDOM 91 
 
 thus acquired, there came remarkable advantage to the 
 monarchy from the fact that St. Louis was a really con- 
 structive statesman. In his day was fairly organized the 
 " Parliament of Paris " — the highest court of France, while 
 the scientific law codes of the old Roman Empire in part dis- 
 placed the old"'' customs " of feudalism, with their premium on 
 confusion and misrule. In short St. Louis rendered his king- 
 dom a service which most happily completed the consolidat- 
 ing process begun by Philip, his grandfather. 
 
 In 1 180, the Capetian monarchy had seemed on the verge of 
 destruction. In 1270, it controlled a great dominion, with 
 large revenues, a great corps of royal officers, and a compli- 
 cated system of government and administration. Its kings 
 had won the loyalty of their people by their public and private 
 virtues, and by the blessings of the good government which 
 they had conferred. France was no longer a confederation of 
 feudal states with a nominal overlord. It was a powerful 
 nation; the first true nation (in the modern sense) to appear in 
 Europe. 
 
 REVIEW 
 
 1. Topics — Capetian; Odo; Dukes of France; "Kings of Laon"; Hugh 
 Capet; Louis the Fat; Henry II; Philip Augustus; St. Louis. 
 
 2. Geography — 
 
 (a) Locate Bouvines; Chateau Gaillard; Paris; Rheims. 
 
 {b) Mark the regions of the great fiefs. 
 
 (c) Mark the lands taken by Philip Augustus from the English 
 
 kings. 
 {d) Mark the lands still held by England in 1270. 
 
 3. What was the theory as to the choice of the French king? of the 
 German? of the English? 
 
 4. How much real power did Hugh Capet have? 
 
 5. Why should there have been any difference in language and custom 
 between North and South France? 
 
 6. What factors contributed to strengthen the French monarchy. 
 
 7 . Why could the French kings more easily than the German kings avoid 
 "great coUisions with the Papacy"? 
 
92 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 8. What dangers threatened the Capetian kings up to the time of PhiHp 
 II? How were the dangers avoided? 
 
 9. The battle of Bouvines is sometimes called the "first great international 
 battle." Why? Show its importance. 
 
 10. Summarize the work of St. Louis. 
 
 11. Compare the position of Hugh Capet as king with that of St. Louis. 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 1. The siege of Paris (88 5). 
 
 2. Compare the displacing of the Merovings by the Carolings with the 
 displacing of the latter by the Capetians. 
 
 3. Under such circumstances as described in section 41, what was the use 
 in having a king? 
 
 4. Note that in France the lower classes unite with the king against the 
 nobles. What was the case in England? Account for the difference. 
 What are the results likely to be in both countries? 
 
 5. Philip II as an organizer of his lands. 
 
 6. The character of St. Louis. 
 
 READING 
 
 Sources. Ogg: chapter x, section 29; chapter xix. Robinson: nos. 91-95. 
 Modern Accounts. Emertoi\: pp. 413-22. Bemont and Monod: pp. 390- 
 
 444. Seignobos: pp. 120-25. Duruy: pp. 105-10; 139-65. Pattison: 
 
 pp. 91-113. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 THE CRUSADES 
 
 45. Origin of the crusades. The year 1000 roughly marked 
 the end of the long period of depression under which the civil- 
 ized life of Europe had been laboring. There is no magical 
 significance in the date as historians once assumed, but from 
 this time onward the conditions of the peoples become stead- 
 ily more tolerable, there is more humanity, more intellectual 
 activity, less ignorance, and less feudal chaos. The power of 
 the Church — at one time the only real influence for good — 
 in the early Middle Ages is supplemented by the rise of new 
 forces. The feudal states begin to group themselves into mod- 
 ern nations. Particularly, as we have just seen (chapter ix), 
 one portion of Europe " finds itself," as a proud, patriotic 
 kingdom, with a history and a^destiny all its own. And in the 
 making of this nation of France the crusades played no small 
 part. 
 
 The "crusades" are, of course, a series of armed expedi- 
 tions conducted by the Christians of Europe against the 
 Moslems for the purpose of delivering Jerusalem and the Holy 
 Land from the unbeliever. They would probably have come 
 earlier, but for two reasons which postponed them until the 
 end of the eleventh century: (a) Until that time the Chris- 
 tians had been too disunited and weak for any great concerted 
 military eftort. (b) The Arab " caliphs " in their government 
 of Palestine had for long treated the Christian pilgrims 
 thither with such tolerance that the latter had no very just 
 grievances against them.^ 
 
 ' Of course, at no time did the Christians fail to consider it utterly deplorable 
 that the Holy Land should rest in the power of the Infidels. 
 
94 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 By about 1090, however, conditions were changed, and a 
 combination of causes sent the warriors of Christendom, 
 particularly those of France, on an expedition which makes 
 the earlier efforts of feudal armies sink into insignificance. 
 Some of these causes were : — 
 
 (a) The conscience of the age was quickening, as men grew 
 morally better. For centuries pilgrims had gone in steadily 
 increasing nuuibers (e.g., a company of seven thousand in 
 1064) to the holy places, impelled by pure religious devotion, 
 or seeking to be healed of disease, or to do penance. Nobles 
 and peasants convicted of a sense of sin understood no surer 
 way of expiation than a pilgrimage to the Saviour's tomb. 
 
 (b) In feudal countries peace and order were beginning to 
 prevail to the extent that battle-loving spirits found a lack of 
 activity at home. France was overcrowded. There were new 
 fields for adventure and new lands to be won in the campaign 
 against the infidel. 
 
 (c) The relatively refined and tolerant Arab rulers of Pales- 
 tine had been supplanted by the barbarous and intolerant 
 Turks, who displayed their fanatical devotion to Islam by 
 cruelties practiced upon Christian pilgrims to Jerusalem. 
 Honest wrath at these cruelties and a desire for vengeance sent 
 many a Western knight upon the Holy War. 
 
 (d) The Papacy was quite conscious of its newly gained 
 power, and anxious to earn the prestige of leading a great 
 movement of all Christendom for an object accounted excep- 
 tionally pleasing to Heaven. 
 
 (e) The Mohammedans were threatening Christian Europe 
 again. In Spain, the Christians had been defeated in the great 
 battle of Zalacca (1086); in the East, the Seljuk Turks were 
 pressing the Empire so hard that the Emperor Alexius I asked 
 the Pope for aid. This appeal was the immediate occasion of 
 the crusades. 
 
 46. The preaching at Clermont. These were some of the 
 
THE CRUSADES 95 
 
 motives which were latent or active in men's minds when, in 
 1095, Pope Urban II quitted Italy to hold a Church Council 
 at Clermont, near the center of France. Already there were 
 clear rumors that more was intended at the gathering than the 
 mere transaction of ecclesiastical business. A great concourse 
 of warriors and noblemen attended the council. With ringing 
 eloquence the Pope ^ set forth the desolation of the Holy Land, 
 the abominable tyranny of the Turks over the Eastern Empire, 
 and the opportunity for his hearers to expiate their own sins 
 by a holy war against the infidel. A thunderous shout, " God 
 wills it! " answered him. There was a general demand for 
 " red crosses " to wear upon the breast, as token of being 
 pledged to the " crusade." From Clermont the enthusiasm 
 spread over 'France like wildfire. Stirring preachers, whereof 
 the most notable was Peter the Hermit, set all France, peasant 
 and noble, to arming. It was the old gospel of Mohammed 
 recast in a Christian guise; — pardon for sin and the spoils of 
 the infidel if victorious! — a swift road to heaven if slain in the 
 battle! Possessed with this hope and enthusiasm, armies to be 
 reckoned by the hundreds of thousands were launched upon 
 the East. 
 
 47. The leaders of the First Crusade. Some disorderly mul- 
 titudes of peasants, who drifted to Constantinople and soon 
 were slain by the Turks of Asia Minor, were the precursors of 
 four great armies of well-equipped knights and infantrymen, 
 who during 1096 were making their way across Europe to 
 Constantinople. The crusaders lacked a single chief, — no 
 king went on this crusade, — but among the swarm of lordly 
 barons who went on the campaign, four great leaders were 
 generally acknowledged. 
 
 (a) Godfrey of Bouillon, Duke of Lorraine, considered by 
 
 1 Urban was himself a Frenchman, one of the best Popes of his age, and well 
 able to appeal to the gallant instincts of his countrymen. The crusaders were 
 assured of extraordinary spiritual benefits and remission of sins while indulging 
 in the very thing the fierce barons loved the best, — brisk fighting. 
 
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THE CRUSADES 97 
 
 some to have been the ablest and most genuinely devout of 
 these chieftains. 
 
 (b) Robert of Normandy, son of William the Conqueror, a 
 prince very brave in battle, but very inept elsewhere. 
 
 (c) Raymond, Count of Toulouse, a pious but haughty man, 
 leader of a great host of the South French. 
 
 (d) Bohemond of Tarentum, leader of those Normans who 
 had recently conquered southern Italy and Sicily. ^ He had 
 marked courage and skill, but was utterly self-seeking and of 
 inferior moral stuff. 
 
 Behind these leaders went a countless host of all sorts and 
 conditions of Frenchmen, — great barons, petty nobles, 
 peasants, priests, monks, — even women. Possibly 300,000 
 souls started on the expedition, though there were by no means 
 so many trained warriors. Discipline was direfully lax; the 
 arrangements of the commissariat abominable. Probably 
 nothing was understood of camp sanitation in Oriental coun- 
 tries. The leaders knew very little of strategy; but the personal 
 valor of the crusaders was superb. Christian fanaticism was to 
 strike Moslem fanaticism ; and for the moment the latter was 
 to give way. 
 
 48 The crusaders reach the East. After weary marches by 
 devious routes these armies concentrated at Constantinople. 
 Their coming was hardly welcome to Alexius, the Greek Em- 
 peror, although he had appealed to the Pope for aid against 
 the Turks that were harrying his own dominions. He had not, 
 however, expected such a horde of importunate Westerners, 
 who seemed quite wilhng to begin the work of slaying infidels 
 by first plundering the rich capital of the Greek Christians, 
 with whom they had little sympathy. But delicate handling 
 induced the crusaders to cross into Asia, there to confront the 
 
 * He led the only important contingent on this crusade which did not come 
 from France, or at least from lands near France. And even he and his men prob- 
 ably called Norman-French their mother tongue. 
 
98 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 Moslem in real earnest. The Turkish Sultan of Asia Minor 
 tried to halt their progress. At Dorylaeum (1097) in a great 
 
 battle the Christians 
 taught the enemy that, 
 with anything like a 
 fair field and even num- 
 bers, the mailed Western 
 knights could scatter 
 the light-armed Turkish 
 horsemen with terrible 
 proficiency. The cru- 
 saders were left after 
 their victory to strug- 
 gle onward, across the 
 deserts of southeastern 
 Asia Minor, fighting the 
 more dangerous enemies 
 of hunger and thirst. 
 Presently they halted 
 before the great city of 
 Antioch, the key of 
 northern Syria, the cap- 
 ture whereof seemed 
 absolutely necessary 
 ere pushing on to Jeru- 
 salem. 
 
 49. The sieges of 
 Antioch. Antioch was 
 strongly fortified, and 
 held by a courageous 
 Turkish emir with a 
 stout garrison. The 
 
 LATIN STATES IN SYRIA ® 
 
 crusaders had great 
 difficulty in pressing the siege, and for a while were in 
 
THE CRUSADES 99 
 
 danger of breaking up in despair. Then Bohemond found 
 a traitor within the walls; a tower was betrayed, the city 
 taken; — but in the orgy following the capture the Chris- 
 tians became completely demoralized. Before they had re- 
 covered discipline, a terrible danger confronted them. Ker- 
 bogha, emir of Mossul, at the head of a vast army of allied 
 Turks, fell on them, and drove them to take refuge behind 
 the very city walls they had just won from the enemy. In 
 the previous siege and sack all the provisions had been con- 
 sumed, and soon the whole Christian host was starving. They 
 even negotiated with Kerbogha, — offering to abandon the 
 crusade, — but he would grant no tolerable terms, believing 
 them utterly in his power. In their agony a miracle seemed 
 necessary to save them, and the equivalent of a miracle came 
 when it was announced by the leaders that the " Holy Lance " ^ 
 had been discovered, buried under the altar of one of the 
 Antioch churches. Heartened by this talisman, the famishing 
 Christians issued from Antioch and gave battle to the Turks. 
 Fanaticism and desperation worked together to make the cru- 
 saders fight as never before. Despite the fact that nearly all 
 their horses had perished in the siege, and that the French 
 knights had to charge as footmen, Kerbogha's host was ut- 
 terly routed. With such a warning it was some time ere the 
 Turks dared join battle with these terrible " Franks " again. 
 50. The taking of Jerusalem. It was the spring of 1099 
 before the Christians could fairly start southward from 
 Antioch on their last great march to Jerusalem. Perhaps not 
 more than thirty thousand fighting men were left; but a good 
 army is hke the fabled serpent; its head dies last. These 
 warriors were the best of the whole expedition. They found 
 Jerusalem held not by Turks but by the generals of the 
 
 1 Wherewith the Roman soldier is said to have pierced the Saviour's side. 
 After the danger was passed, most of the crusaders became convinced that the 
 miracle was spurious, but it had entirely accomplished its purpose. 
 
100 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 caliph of Egypt, with a garrison greater than the whole cru- 
 sading army. The Egyptians, however, were none the less 
 infidels, and desperate fighting was still called for; but after 
 the experience at Antioch, the Christians were capable of 
 everything. On July 15, 1099, after two days of reckless and 
 bloody attack, the Holy City was stormed. The crusaders 
 showed their " piety " by a terrible massacre of the Moham- 
 medans within the walls. In Solomon's Temple, '' our men rode 
 in the blood of the Saracens up to the knees of their horses," 
 wrote one of the conquerors. While the massacre still lasted, 
 anxious "to thank God for their victory," Godfrey and his 
 peers hastened to pray at the Holy Sepulcher. The First 
 Crusade had succeeded. 
 
 51. The Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem. Thus came into 
 being the mediaeval Kangdom of Jerusalem, with various 
 dependent principahties. It embraced the old Palestine of the 
 Jews plus a narrow strip northward along the Syrian coast up 
 to and including Antioch. It was a feudal state organized on 
 the model of France, with its ruling population made up of 
 barons of the regular mediaeval t^pe, who had lost none of their 
 belligerent Norman, Flemish, or South French propensities 
 because they had '^ taken the Cross " and emigrated to the 
 Holy Land. These barons owed very wavering allegiance to 
 the " king "^ they had set up in Jerusalem. There were several 
 semi-independent outlying principalities, — e.g., those of the 
 Counts of Tripoli, and the Princes of Antioch, — and of vari- 
 ous lesser barons who ruled their castles with scant heed of 
 their nominal overlord at Jerusalem. The lower population 
 was made up of native Syrian Christians, of a certain number 
 of Moslems to whom a grudging toleration was extended, and 
 
 1 Godfrey of Bouillon, the first sovereign of Jerusalem, took only the title of 
 "Baron of the Holy Sepulcher" — refusing to be called "king" where his 
 Saviour had been crucified; his less modest successors accepted the roj'al title. 
 His reign and the next one following were taken up in the conquest of most of 
 Palestine. 
 
THE CRUSADES 
 
 lOI 
 
 divers European pilgrims of the baser sort who were induced 
 to settle in Palestine. This kingdom, then, was a hybrid in the 
 East; a European colony in a hostile Asiatic environment, 
 differing utterly in laws, customs, religion, from the nations 
 adjoining. It speaks highly for the valor and ability of the 
 crusaders that they were able to hold Jerusalem for eighty- 
 eight years. 
 
 Various reasons enabled the Christians to do this : — 
 
 (a) The great personal 
 valor of the Western knights, 
 who repeatedly, with inferior 
 numbers, outmatched the 
 huge armies of the lightly 
 armed and ill - disciphned 
 Moslems. 
 
 -(b) The divisions of the 
 Mohammedans among them- 
 selves. The Arabs were at 
 strife with the Turks; the 
 Egyptians with the Syrians. 
 Down to 1 140, the Orientals 
 could hardly unite against 
 the European invader. 
 
 (c) The constant influx of 
 pilgrims to Palestine from Europe, who, now that the way had 
 been opened, came in considerable numbers, and were glad to 
 join military exploits against the infidel with acts of piety at 
 the Holy Places. Very important help, too, came from the 
 rising commercial cities of Venice and Genoa, that found in 
 Christian Palestine a great center for their trade. 
 
 (d) The great strength of the castles erected by the Chris- 
 tians in Palestine. Some of these castles, held by the feudal 
 barons, were marvels of the mihtary art of the time, and could 
 defy vast armies, though held by only small garrisons. 
 
 BATTLE BETWEEN CRUSADERS AND 
 SARACENS 
 (From a stained-glass window in the A bbey 
 of Saint-Denis, now destroyed. After Mont- 
 faticon) 
 
I02 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 (e) The development of the miHtary orders of monks 
 
 (especially the " Knights of the Hospital " and the " Knights 
 of the Temple"), who, to most of the usual monkish vows, 
 added the duty — very congenial in the Middle Ages — of 
 fighting the unbeliever. These valorous monks were mighty 
 helpers to the hard-pressed Kings of Jerusalem. 
 
 52. The later crusades. The first Crusade had founded the 
 
 kingdom, but ere half 
 a century had passed 
 (1144) the Moslems 
 regained Edessa, a 
 strong town that had 
 protected the Chris- 
 tians of northern Syria. 
 The rulers of Jeru- 
 salem trembled for 
 their safety and be- 
 sought help from Eu- 
 rope. St. Bernard of 
 Clairvaux (the great- 
 est churchman of his 
 age) preached the Sec- 
 ond Crusade. The 
 Kings of France and Germany headed the great expedition, 
 but it was a sorry failure. Bad strategy, ignorance of the best 
 routes, and general incompetence destroyed most of the army 
 on the way. The remnant accomplished nothing in Palestine. 
 The Moslems continued to grow in power almost unchecked. 
 In 1 187, came the catastrophe which had been impending. 
 The Mohammedans were united under a wise and energetic 
 ruler, the famous Saladin. Near old Nazareth, in Galilee, he 
 defeated and took prisoner Guy, King of Jerusalem. The Holy 
 City itself was forced to capitulate. Europe was horrified to 
 hear that the Sacred Places were again polluted by the infidel. 
 
 MILITARY AND CIVIL COSTUME IN THE TIME 
 OF RICHARD I 
 
THE CRUSADES 
 
 103 
 
 Again the crusade (Third Crusade) was preached, and kings 
 and barons responded. Frederick Barbarossa of Germany led 
 a great host to the East, and might have accompHshed much 
 (he was a skilled and respected general), but he was drowned 
 accidentally in Cilicia. Richard the Lion-Hearted of England 
 reached Palestine and won notable successes against Saladin. 
 He recaptured Acre (the port of Palestine, and next to Jerusa- 
 
 u 1 
 
 ^ 
 
 THE CASTLE OF KRAK, SYRIA 
 
 {Restored ; after Rey.) This fortress was erected by the Hospitalers at the beginning 
 of the thirteenth century, on a height dominating the pass between the Orontes valley 
 and the Mediterranean basin. 
 
 lem its chief city) and displayed his knightly valor in a manner 
 which struck terror into the Moslem. ^ But his quarrels with 
 King Philip Augustus of France hampered his efforts to retake 
 Jerusalem. In 1192, he sadly made peace with Saladin and 
 departed from the East. The Christians had not won back the 
 
 * It was said that for many years the Turkish women would name Richard as 
 a bogey-man wherewith to frighten their disobedient children. 
 
104 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 Holy City, but they still held a long, thin strip of the coast of 
 Syria from Cilicia down to Egypt, and men hoped for yet 
 another crusade that would undo the disastrous battle near 
 Nazareth. 
 
 Such a triumph never came. Once more a crusade (commonly 
 called the Fourth Crusade) was preached in 1202, and might 
 have accomplished much had not the Venetians ^ in an evil hour 
 persuaded the princely leaders to attack Constantinople in the 
 interest of certain claimants to the throne of the now feeble 
 Greek Empire. This attempt ended in the actual seizure of the 
 throne of Constantinople (1204) by a Western prince (Count 
 Baldwin of Flanders), the plunder of the magnificent and 
 wealthy city by the invading harpies, — who thus eternally 
 defiled their pretensions to piety, — and the diversion of the 
 great trade of Constantinople to Venice, an object the canny 
 merchants of that city had always kept in view. A blow was 
 given the old East Roman or Greek Empire by this foul shock, 
 from which it never truly recovered; but the Western Latins 
 were not able to retain their grip on the famous capital. In 
 1 261, the Greeks had regained enough energy to eject the 
 successors of the crusaders, and restore — in a very tottering 
 manner — their empire. The whole issue of the Fourth Cru- 
 sade was, then, not to regain Jerusalem, but to make the Greek 
 Christians of the East hate their Latin brethren of the West 
 with a bitter hatred (which they keep unto this day), almost 
 greater than that which they reserved for the Mohammedans. 
 
 This was not the last crusade, but it was the last that had a 
 serious chance of success. The Mohammedan states of Syria 
 and Eg^pt were again become too powerful, and the Chris- 
 tian leaders lacked the military skill and local knowledge of 
 Oriental conditions needful for victory. In 1229, the Christians 
 gained Jerusalem under a treaty, but soon lost it (1244). In 
 
 ^ Who had suppHed the crusaders with transport ships, and to whom they 
 were therefore much beholden financially. 
 
THE CRUSADES 105 
 
 1248, St. Louis of France (Louis IX) made a brave but fruitless 
 attempt to win Palestine by first conquering Eg}pt. His army- 
 was destroyed, and he himself taken prisoner. When he died 
 in 1270, at Tunis, in northern Africa, on a second expedition, 
 the crusading spirit had spent itself. Men had found other 
 ways of satisfying their consciences than by armed expeditions 
 to the Holy Land, and princes were too busy with their national 
 conflicts to listen to the call of the Popes to a new "Sacred 
 War." 
 
 In 1291, the Moslems took Acre, the last Christian fortress 
 in Palestine. 
 
 53. The results of the crusades. Millions of persons, Euro- 
 peans and Orientals, lost their lives in these crusades and the 
 continual lesser warfare accompanying them; and the Holy 
 Land was not really regained. Nevertheless, the result of these 
 vast movements was not unmitigated evil and misery. 
 
 (a) Although the kings had joined in some of the crusades, 
 the bulk of the fighting and of the loss fell upon the feudal 
 nobility. Feudafism was weakened by the destruction of 
 many princes and barons whose vacant holdings reverted to 
 the Crown, thus greatly increasing royal authority. This was 
 peculiarly true in France. 
 
 (b) An outlet was provided for the fighting spirit of the age. 
 After such enormous effort in warfare a reaction to more peace- 
 ful conditions was bound to come. The crusades, then, were a 
 real blow to the ceaseless feudal warfare and anarchy. 
 
 (c) Many city communities obtained charters of liberties 
 thanks to the fact that their lords were going on a long and 
 costly expedition, and needed the subsidies of their subjects. 
 The lower classes were thus enabled to buy their emancipation. 
 The necessity of the lord was the opportunity of the non-noble 
 peasant or townsman. 
 
 (d) Most important of all, the crusades brought the men of 
 the West in contact with an Eastern world far superior in 
 
io6 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 many ways to the civilization of their own. Oriental spices and 
 carpets, many fruits and vegetables, many manufactured 
 articles, such as morocco, muslin, velvet, paper, sugar, etc., 
 were very possibly first carried to the West by the returning 
 crusaders, who often brought back the secrets of their culture 
 or manufacture with them. They thus brought back new handi- 
 crafts, new ideas, a wider knowledge of the world in every way. 
 The new wants and new ideas also were a notable stimulus to 
 commerce and home industry just at a time when Europe was 
 beginning to awaken of itself to renewed peaceful activities.^ 
 This increasing knowledge of the world with all that went 
 with it, was one of the chief factors in hastening the passing of 
 the Middle Ages. 
 
 REVIEWS 
 
 1. Topics — Seljuk Turks; Urban II; Clermont; Peter the Hermit; 
 Godfrey of Bouillon; "Franks"; Antioch; The Holy Lance; St- 
 Bernard; Saladin; Frederick Barbarossa; Acre. 
 
 2. Geography — 
 
 ((/) Mark the routes of the first four Crusades. 
 (h) Locate Dorylasum; Antioch; Jerusalem; Clermont; Acre; Pisa; 
 Genoa; Venice. 
 
 (c) Mark the Latin states of Syria. 
 
 3. What were the general conditions in Europe at the beginning of the 
 crusades? 
 
 4. Why did not the crusades come earlier? 
 
 5. Summarize the causes of the crusades. 
 
 6. Compare the inducements offered the crusaders to go upon a "holy 
 war" with those ofTered to Mohammedans (see chapter iv). 
 
 7. How do you account for the changes in the crusading Routes from land 
 routes to water routes, comparing the First and Third Crusades. 
 
 8. The organization of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. 
 
 9. Why did the Christians hold the Holy Land for such a long period? 
 
 10. What were the reasons for the failure of the later crusades? 
 
 11. Make a summary of the results of the crusades. 
 
 * It is hard to trace the exact amount of Eastern culture that came to the West 
 through the crusaders: Christian Europe learned much from the Moslems of 
 Spain and Sicily, but in any case the crusade factor was the most important. 
 
THE CRUSADES 107 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 1. Early pilgrims to Jerusalem. 
 
 2. The story of Peter the Hermit. 
 
 3. The crusaders at Constantinople. 
 
 4. The difficulties of the siege of Jerusalem. 
 
 5. The importance of the commercial cities in the history of the crusades 
 and of the Latin kingdoms in the East. 
 
 6. TheAssizes of Jerusalem. Compare the feudal system in the Kingdom 
 of Jerusalem with the system established in England under William I, 
 
 7. The Prankish castles in Syria. 
 
 8. The military orders — their origin and subsequent history. 
 
 9. Frederick II and the Saracens. 
 10. Mediaeval ships. 
 
 READINGS 
 
 Sources — Ogg: chapter xvii; chapter xix, pp. 314-21. Robinson: nos. 
 
 123-33- 
 Modern Accounts. Emerton: chapter xi. Bemont and Monod: chapter 
 
 XXII. Seignobos: chapter viil. Archer and Kingsford: all chapters. 
 
 Duruy: pp. 126-34. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE ORIGINS OF THE ENGLISH NATION 
 
 54. The sea as a factor in English history. In the story of 
 the " Building of Europe " one nation stands apart — England. 
 Great has been the influence of the sea upon history, but sel- 
 dom greater than when twenty miles of stormy water were set 
 between the chalk cUffs of Dover in southern England and the 
 opposite coast of France. The result of this separation of the 
 British Isles from the rest of Europe has been not merely to 
 render them far more defensible against invaders, but often to 
 sever them from movements of thought and politics in which 
 all the Continent more or less shared. England was thus, in 
 the main, able to work out its own special national salvation, 
 develop its own type of institutions and structure of society; 
 and create, in brief, a type of civilization somewhat peculiar to 
 itself. This fact had a potent bearing upon the history and 
 institutions of nations yet unborn, which were destined to look 
 to England as their founder — especially upon the develop- 
 ment of the United States of America. 
 
 55. The coming of the Saxons. In Roman days " Britain " 
 had been a province of the great Empire, although perhaps less 
 deeply permeated by Roman manners and civilization than 
 the neighboring lands in Gaul. About 407, the imperial legions 
 had been withdrawn to defend the tottering home government. 
 The natives appear to have seen their Roman protectors go 
 with regret, and they were justified in their feelings. Within 
 half a century their island had begun to be a prey to Germanic 
 invaders, who went forth to conquer by sea, even as their 
 Gothic and Prankish brethren started on their conquering 
 migrations by land. 
 
THE ORIGINS OF THE ENGLISH NATION 109 
 
 These Saxons^ from the shores of Germany were at first a 
 race of battle-worthy, untamed barbarians: pagans still, and 
 capable chiefly as ravaging destroyers. The struggle began 
 about 450, and lasted at least a century and a half. The 
 Saxons began most of their invasions on the east coast of 
 England, and slowly fought their way westward, in the face of 
 desperate resistance from the native Celtic inhabitants. Sev- 
 eral times the advance of the Saxons was temporarily halted,^ 
 only to be resumed, until by about 600, nearly all the Celtic 
 element had been driven into the extreme west of Britain: 
 into the gnarled hill country of Wales, and into the peninsula of 
 Cornwall. Here, finally, they stood at bay and maintained 
 independent principalities for centuries. The Welsh are indeed 
 to-day an important factor in British Hfe and still keep up 
 their traditions and their Celtic language. But the great bulk 
 of -the land had passed to the invaders. Roman institutions 
 and Roman religion (Christianity) seem to have been thor- 
 oughly uprooted.'' The Saxon tribes had possessed all of 
 England (Angle-land), and had given it their own language and 
 type of government and society. 
 
 56. The Saxon Kingdoms: the christianizing of England. 
 By 600, the Saxon conquest was substantially complete, but 
 the invaders were far from having founded a united nation. 
 At least seven warring kingdoms possessed the land, and bloody 
 and tedious is the tale of their colhsions.^ In the institutions 
 
 1 As a matter of fact, the invaders were of different tribes, but all of the same 
 general type and race: — thus we find the Anglo-Saxons and the Jutes all at- 
 tacking Britain almost simultaneously, and seizing portions of the soil. 
 
 2 Possibly it was at this time that King Arthur ruled among the native Celts 
 and gave a temporary check to the invaders, but the facts of his career are hope- 
 lessly shrouded in legend: indeed, it is somewhat hard to prove that he is an 
 historical character. 
 
 ' It is generally held that the extermination or expulsion of the romanized 
 Celts was so complete that the later England owes very little of its law and civili- 
 zation to them. 
 
 * These kingdoms were Kent, Essex, Sussex, Wessex, Northumbria, East 
 Anglia, and Mercia; and this period is often called the time of the " Heptarchy" 
 (" Seven Kingdoms "). 
 
West 2 fn.in 
 
 Greenwich Lutifitiide KasI 
 
 ENGLAND TO 1300 
 
THE ORIGINS OF THE ENGLISH NATION m 
 
 and laws of these Anglo-Saxons (Angles plus Saxons) can be 
 found the germs of very many of the institutions of England 
 and America to-day, but the process of tracing them is often 
 obscure and difficult. Slowly the seven kingdoms were fused 
 into a single monarchy, but considerably before this process 
 was completed the Anglo-Saxons had renounced paganism, 
 even as had their Germanic brethren on the continent. 
 
 The great Pope Gregory I ' sent Augustine and other Roman 
 missionaries to England, and in 597, they converted Ethelbert, 
 King of Kent. The old heathen worship died hard : there were 
 reactions to paganism, and new Christian martyrs. But the 
 Anglo-Saxons evidently were already finding their crude 
 nature-worship unable to explain the great problems of life 
 and eternity. Thus spoke one of " the king's chief men " 
 while Edwin of Northumbria deliberated on accepting Chris- 
 tianity: " O King, this present life of man seems to me like the 
 swift flight of a sparrow, passing through the room where you 
 sit at supper in winter: in at one door he comes, then out of the 
 other into the storm he vanishes. So is our life. If this new 
 doctrine contains somewhat more certain, justly it deserv^es to 
 be followed." 
 
 The adoption of Christianity was followed by a remarkable 
 building of monasteries which in England as everywhere 
 became notable seats of learning. The greatest scholar of the 
 age, the "Venerable" Bede (d. 735), was an Anglo-Saxon 
 monk of Jarrow. 
 
 By about 829 the process of uniting had gone so far that all 
 the seven kingdoms were under the rule of Egbert of Wessex. 
 There was now a real English kingdom. 
 
 57. The Northmen and Alfred. Hardly had the new king- 
 dom begun to consolidate than sore trials smote it. England 
 was now to be invaded by the same Northmen who were 
 simultaneously sending their bands against Frankland. The 
 ^ See section 11. 
 
112 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 Anglo-Saxons and the Scandinavian Northmen were, indeed, 
 of much the same general stock and origin, but the former had 
 been settled a good four hundred years in England, long enough 
 to lose many of their savage habits, to change their rehgion, 
 and to acquire the arts of peace. The Northmen came at first 
 merely to plunder; then returned to make permanent con- 
 quests; and proved themselves often more than a match for 
 the less military English. 
 
 For a while, indeed, their onslaughts (which involved a 
 return to the worst forms of barbarism and paganism) were 
 halted by a very noble ruler, King Alfred of Wessex (871-901), 
 who defended his people against great odds for many years, 
 and finally compelled the Northmen to settle in northeastern 
 England and leave the remainder in peace. Alfred is, indeed, 
 a refreshing character to meet in an age of violence and bar- 
 barism : a warrior of no mean ability; the builder of a war fleet; 
 the promulgator of many beneficent laws for his kingdom; 
 the encourager of schools and educational institutions at least 
 for the clergy and nobility; the translator of Latin books 
 into Anglo-Saxon that his people might possess a desirable 
 literature; — all this combined with a humane and genuinely 
 Christian character make Alfred one of the rare figures in 
 mediaeval history. 
 
 Alfred's son Edward (901-25) and his grandsons reigned 
 after him not unworthily; but in 980, when a long line of 
 capable kings had degenerated, the Northmen invasions began 
 again. The weak "Ethelred the Unready" was on the throne, 
 and the work of Alfred seemed speedily undone. 
 
 58. Cnut and Edward the Confessor. The leaders of the 
 Northmen were now the Kings of Denmark, and in Cnut the 
 invaders had a terribly capable champion. By 1017, he had 
 beaten down the resistance of the English and added England 
 to his other realms of Denmark and Norway. Cnut, how- 
 ever, was no untamed barbarian. His people, through foreign 
 
THE ORIGINS OF THE ENGLISH NATION 113 
 
 contact, were losing their fierceness, and Cnut himself became 
 a Christian. During his reign (1017-35) England had what it 
 seldom enjoyed before, — relative peace, law, and order. From 
 a sadly undeveloped agricultural country, something like 
 commerce, industry, and town Hfe began to manifest itself. 
 London (already the chief town) rose to new prominence. 
 Cnut on his death left only weak successors; and the relation 
 
 WESTMINSTER ABBEY IN THE DAYS OF EDWARD THE CONFESSOR 
 {From the Bayctix Tapestry) 
 
 to Denmark was peacefully dissolved in 1042 when Edward 
 the Confessor^ (of the old line of Alfred) was summoned by 
 general consent to the throne of his fathers. 
 
 59. William the Conqueror (1066-87). Hitherto England 
 had lain too much apart from the main channels of civiHzation. 
 Its Norsemen invaders had been barbarians, less civilized than 
 the old inhabitants. The natives had been forced to struggle 
 to preserve their own civilization. Now in a drastic but effec- 
 tive fashion they were to be brought into contact with the out- 
 side world and made to participate in the culture of Europe. 
 
 ^ The title of " Confessor" has been bestowed upon Edward in recognition of 
 his general piety and extreme devotion to the Church. 
 
114 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 The Norman Conquest is almost the keystone of English 
 history. 
 
 Edward the Confessor had spent his youth in residence in 
 Normandy, and had learned there at the ducal court many of 
 the refinements familiar in France, though all but unknown 
 among the Anglo-Saxons. A weak prince himself, easily influ- 
 enced, his reign witnessed a great flocking of Normans across 
 the Channel to his court to receive positions in his govern- 
 ment. The Anglo-Saxon nobles naturally resented this, and 
 presently forced the king to dismiss most of the foreigners 
 from their posts. Nevertheless, ties had been established 
 
 HAROLD SWEARS ON THE RELICS 
 While Harold was visiting in Normandy, William had forced him to 
 support his claims to England. {From the Baycux Tapestry) 
 
 between England and Normandy which were not readily 
 broken. When Edward died in 1066, without sons, the Nor- 
 man Duke William was ready to claim the succession to the 
 English crown on the strength of a promise made him by the 
 late king. Edward had no legal right to make such a grant 
 without the consent of the Witan (the " Wise Men " of the 
 realm), but here was a plausible claim for a capable, ambitious, 
 unscrupulous warrior. The native party declared for Harold, 
 the leader of the Anti-Norman reaction, and a gallant warrior 
 
THE ORIGINS OF THE ENGLISH NATION 115 
 
 and worthy of William's steel. The sword was clearly to be the 
 arbiter. 
 
 William assembled his Norman liegemen and a great host of 
 French volunteers. The prize was the whole land of England. 
 Landing in southern England, the duke soon confronted 
 Harold, the new king, at Hastings^ (October 14, 1066). Seldom 
 has there been a more decisive battle, and if \dctory went to* 
 the Normans the Anglo-Saxons proved themselves dangerous 
 foemen. For long through the day Harold's army of infantry- 
 
 THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS 
 
 {From the Bayeux Tapestry) 
 
 men with their mighty axes maintained their shield wall against 
 the headlong charges of William's mounted knights. Finally, 
 the better discipline of the Normans and their great superiority 
 in archers gave them the battle. Harold fell, with his two 
 brothers and all their bodyguard, battling to the last. It was 
 a hard-won victory but decisive. Anglo-Saxon resistance col- 
 lapsed. On Christmas Day, 1066, William the Conqueror was 
 crowned in London. 
 
 England, on the whole, submitted to William (reigned 1066- 
 87) with surprisingly little resistance. There were several fierce 
 
 ^ Sometimes known as the battle of Senlac. 
 
ii6 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 revolts against his authority, but he crushed them with a 
 heavy hand, and the rebels brought about nothing but their 
 own ruin, and the confiscation of their estates to reward 
 William's Norman followers. A whole horde of military adven- 
 turers had accompanied the Conqueror from the Continent. 
 He had perforce to pay them by giving them nearly all the 
 great offices in the Church and State, and by land grants 
 whereby the original English were usually reduced to the status 
 of under-tenants of their unwelcome Norman lords. But 
 
 -ffipu^ ^ j-e^^. E Tc fe dcfa ^ . ... fTt^. moUj^ uiu-U^x . 
 ifs ei.ut car In^nw.e "«^V.i-iHi^ Vt.t.tori'ci^.,,. 
 <a/ Ibt m^n le jxvtti (oWy ^cOuxfiJi ^X.3icn2^' 
 
 "^Pja e w.caf' JtjStik^ ii«T<u»r'"7itit.uiti4_:ri»t.t>o»^cu.if, 
 
 tar- ib«- «« • fcr"t 7 mtfliii'Vc.jTWT. U^t^-Jmt^'jCciaa^ 
 
 S tliu. ic. V. t>orc^ Valuro yut . lij^.-7|stf(^.-^. Ct.mdXoL^W.r^t 
 
 F.\CSIMILE OF ENTRIES IN DOMESDAY BOOK 
 
 William had no intention of creating another feudal France, 
 where the king's power was at the mercy of the disobedient 
 seigneurs. The feudal system never gained the hold upon 
 England that it did upon the Continent. William kept a firm 
 rein upon his Norman barons, and prevented any one man or 
 group thereof from becoming all-powerful. ^ He kept the right 
 to tax all his subjects, and in 1086 he produced the " Domesday 
 
 1 Thanks to the fact that England was conquered gradually from the south 
 upward, it came to pass that most Norman barons had their "manors" (estates) 
 well separated, and not all in one district. A baron could then draw revenues 
 from all his lands, but he could not readily assemble all his armed vassals to 
 act against the king. This was indeed a mere incident in the conquest, but it 
 redounded greatly to the advantage of the monarch. 
 
THE ORIGINS OF THE ENGLISH NATION 117 
 
 Book," a careful record of a survey of the taxable wealth of 
 all England. In that year, too, he exacted from all the land- 
 holders of England the great Salisbury Oath, by which they 
 bound themselves by direct allegiance to the king, and could 
 not plead the commands of some intermediate seigneur (as in 
 France) if they took up arms against him. 
 
 WilUam the Conqueror, in short, did a most necessary work 
 by severe methods. 
 The old anarchy of 
 Anglo - Saxon days 
 was largely ended. 
 The " King's Peace " 
 and the " King's 
 Law " prevailed 
 throughout England. 
 ''Good peace he made 
 in this land," said 
 the old Anglo-Saxon 
 chronicler, who de- 
 plored his many 
 faults, " so that a 
 man might travel 
 over the kingdom 
 with his bosom full 
 of gold without mo- 
 lestation." Terrible though this period seemed for the down- 
 pressed Anglo-Saxons, nevertheless it cleared the way for 
 better things. 
 
 60. The Successors of William (1087-1100). William was 
 succeeded by his unscrupulous but not incapable son William 
 II (loSy-iicxD),! and he by his talented brother Henry I (iioo- 
 35), under whom began the slow process of reconcihation and 
 intermarriage between Norman and Anglo-Saxon. Henry won 
 
 * Usually known as William "Rufus" (= "The Red"). 
 
 EXCHEQUER TABLE 
 {From " The Red Book of the Exchequer Court of Ire- 
 land," fifteenth century) 
 
ii8 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 the loyalty of the English by marrying a princess of the old 
 Saxon royal hne, and by pledging himself in a charter to restore 
 the laws of Edward the Confessor. From his reign also date 
 certain important de\dces for good government which had 
 considerable future significance. The king's justice was to 
 be secured not merely by the terror of men-at-arms, but 
 
 by traveling judges 
 going upon regular 
 rounds through the 
 country ('' justices 
 on circuit "), and 
 by a sort of high 
 court consisting of 
 the king and his cliief 
 ministers. The king's 
 money, also, — taxes, 
 feudal dues, fines, 
 etc., — was to be 
 brought in twice per 
 year to a meeting of 
 the ministers who 
 had charge of it, and 
 piled upon a table 
 which had a checker- 
 board cover, to aid 
 in counting. From 
 this circumstance 
 the meeting was 
 called the " Exchequer," ^ a name which is sometimes given 
 to the British Treasury unto this day. 
 
 Henry was strong enough to enforce his reforms, but under 
 his nephew Stephen (1135-54) the lawless barons plundered 
 
 1 The finance minister of England is slilJ called the "Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer." 
 
 ._.— 
 
 Bounds of the , 
 
 Englis 
 
 h lands in France 
 
 under 
 
 Henry II. 
 
 He iu 
 
 leritirt, tlirou^h bis 
 
 mother 
 
 Noniiaudy and Maine. 
 
 from I 
 
 eiirv I; from hh father. 
 
 Anjou and Touraiue. He ffaituM 
 
 by uia 
 
 riage «ith Eleanor, al 
 
 A([Uita 
 
 ne. He asserted feudal 
 
 rights 
 
 over Cnttany, 
 
 f ■ 1 
 
 English Lands by 
 
 the T 
 
 caly ol Pans 1S59 
 
 ENGLISH LANDS IN FRANCE TO 1300 
 
THE ORIGINS OF THE ENGLISH NATION 119 
 
 and ravaged far and wide, and built up their castles, — after 
 the bad fashion in France, — ■ to defy the royal justice. Henry's 
 daughter Matilda waged war on Stephen, and finally he 
 accepted her son Henry as his heir. This Henry II brought 
 back happier days for England. He sternly repressed the 
 robber nobles, and restored the reforms of the first Henry, 
 while adding yet others. ^ From his father, the Count of Anjou, 
 Henry II had inherited a great dominion in France, - and 
 much of his time was spent out of England. Even in his 
 able hands such a condition worked harm for England, for the 
 interests of both nobles and king were continually divided. 
 It was a boon for the island kingdom, when, after the in- 
 conclusive reign of the brave crusader, Richard I (1189-99),^ 
 his brother John (i 199-12 16) lost almost all the continental 
 possessions, even the ancestral land of Normandy, to the 
 wily and able Philip Augustus of France.^ 
 
 ^ See p. i2>. 
 
 2 Hence he and his descendants were called "Angevin" (Anjou) kings, or 
 "Plantagenets," from the broom-plant (Latin, planta genista), which his father is 
 said to have worn as a badge. 
 
 ^ Richard the Lion-Hearted: for his crusade, see p. 103. 
 
 ^ In the reign of Henry II occurred a famous incident which illustrates at once 
 the violence and lawlessness of the feudal ages and also the mighty retributiv'e 
 power of the Church. Thomas a Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, and conse- 
 quently first prelate of England, a high-minded and aggressive man, had long 
 been at odds with Henry II over what he alleged were the king's usurpations of 
 the rights of the Church. After a period of banishment, Becket had been 
 recalled to his dignities, but his relations with the king again became strained. 
 Finally he excommunicated certain bishops who had been firm adherents of the 
 king's party. When the news of Becket's deed traveled to France, where the 
 king was, Henry burst out in wrath, — "Of the cowards who eat my bread is 
 there none who will free me of this turbulent priest!" Four of the royal knights 
 took this as a license to commit murder. They journeyed to England, and pres- 
 ently forced their way into Canterbury' Cathedral, and slew Becket at the very 
 foot of the altar (11 70). 
 
 Henry was stricken with horror at the thought of what his partisans had done 
 in his name. The Pope excommunicated the murderers, and enrolled Becket 
 among the saints. In 1174, to restore himself to the favor of Heaven, Henry 
 (though at this time a most powerful and dreaded king) visited Canterbury as a 
 barefoot penitent, and at the tomb of the slain prelate implored forgiveness for 
 his part in the crime. Then, kneeling against the tomb, he suffered all the 
 
I20 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 6i. The Great Charter {Magna Charta). John did not lack 
 d certain frantic energy, but his general character was that of 
 a faithless, cowardly, and wholly unscrupulous tyrant. He 
 embroiled himself with the great Pope Innocent III, fell under 
 the papal anathema, and finally was driven into actually 
 confessing himself a feudal vassal of the Papacy. Philip 
 Augustus stripped him of his noble French inheritance, — 
 Normandy, Anjou, Maine, and Touraine. In England the 
 king's blundering despotism alienated almost all his nobles. 
 By 1 2 14 he had driven them to desperation, and they met the 
 king in arms. 
 
 Already in the century and a half since Hastings the institu- 
 tions of '' Free England " had begun to shape themselves, 
 sometimes on the basis of old Saxon usages, sometimes from a 
 modification of feudahsm. Now the demands which the mal- 
 content barons made upon John were couched in a distinctly 
 less selfish and personal spirit than those of ordinary feudal 
 revolters. Not because they loved the common people, but 
 because they needed their countenance and help against the 
 overweening power of the king, the Enghsh barons were 
 obliged to take the interests of the commonalty somewhat 
 into account in the program of reform. John found himself 
 for the moment helpless, and '' nursing his wrath the tyrant 
 summoned the barons to a conference at Runnymede," July 15, 
 1 215. Here in a meadow near Windsor was sealed by the 
 unwilling king Magna Charta. 
 
 Many of the provisions of this famous document have only 
 a Hmited or personal appHcation. It was not a general constitu- 
 tion or bill of rights for the realm, and the interests of the 
 
 churchmen present (about eighty) to smile him with their lashes upon his naked 
 shoulders, — every monk giving three blows, and every bishop five. 
 
 Becket's shrine became among the most famous in Christendom, miracles and 
 wonders were reported to have been wrought at it, and great wealth was bestowed 
 upon it. The pilgrimage to "St. Thomas of Canterbury" remained one of the 
 most popular of all pious journeyings down to the end of the Middle .'\ges. 
 (Recall Chaucer's Canterbury Pilgrims.) 
 
THE ORIGINS OF THE ENGLISH NATION 121 
 
 nobility were those most carefully provided for; nevertheless, 
 certain fundamental principles therein stated remain the 
 basis of Anglo-Saxon " Uberty " unto this day. Particularly 
 was it provided that no " aids and scutages" (i.e., various forms 
 of taxation) should be collected except by the consent of an 
 assembly of the feudal lords, ■ and again the king pledged, " no 
 man is to be taken or imprisoned [or otherwise molested] except 
 by the legal judgment of his equals, and by the law of the land." 
 Imperfect as were these provisions, many historians find 
 
 fvjff rtff im 
 
 cxaef 
 
 emw 
 
 FACSIMILE EXTRACT FROM MAGNA CHARTA 
 
 the prophecies here for the two fundamental privileges of 
 British and American citizens — freedom from arbitrary 
 taxation and freedom from arbitrary imprisonment. The 
 " Great Charter " deserves its name. 
 
 62. The thirteenth century in England. John died in 12 16, 
 utterly discredited and still at war with his subjects. During 
 the long reign of his son, Henry III (1216-72), the country 
 prospered in spite of the incompetence of the sovereign. For 
 a while the barons, led by Simon de Montfort, actually took 
 the government into their own hands, defying the king and 
 
 ^ This gathering was by no means a representative parliament: but during the 
 next century the king's councils and assemblies came more and more to contain 
 delegates from all classes of the population. 
 
122 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 calling upon the lesser nobles to help them raise the taxes. 
 From 1272 to 1307, however, England was in the control of 
 one of the greatest statesmen in its long line of kings, — 
 Edward I, son of the late Henry III. Following the lead of the 
 barons, he called together representatives of the "counties" 
 (i.e., local districts) and the towns to meet with his "Great 
 Council"; and so began the English Parliament (1295). This 
 " Model Parliament" contained two classes, the great nobles 
 and the high prelates, who alike received individual summonses 
 to come, and the two representatives from each shire (county) 
 and borough (incorporated town), who came upon a gen- 
 eral summons to the place, ordering it simply to elect depu- 
 ties to advise with the king. This distinction marked the 
 "Lords" from the "Commons." Only the latter were elected. 
 Edward's reason, indeed, for calling in the Commons was 
 to get their authorization for taxes. The Commons voted 
 these, and in return, although they did not yet claim the 
 right to "pass laws," they could "petition the king" for this 
 or that favor, and he was under considerable constraint to 
 "redress their grievances." Under a weaker king, about a 
 century later, ^ the voting of money was actually made condi- 
 tional upon the king's acceptance of the "bill" of Parliament, 
 which — upon receiving his seal — became a regular part of the 
 law of the land. 
 
 63. The origins of the " common law ' and of trial by jury. 
 As early as the reign of Henry II there are evidences of the clear 
 beginnings of certain legal usages which have left their influence 
 down to this day. In the twelfth century the legal system of 
 England was still in a very unfixed state. Old Anglo-Saxon 
 usage had favored the ordeals — e.g., b)' Ijoiling water or the 
 red-hot iron — to decide law suits: the Normans had favored 
 the ordeal of wager of battle." Another old Germanic method 
 
 1 Henry IV (see p. 187, note 2). 
 
 2 On " Ordeals," see note at end of chapter i, p. 8. 
 
THE ORIGINS OF THE ENGLISH NATION 123 
 
 in favor was for the accused to clear himself by getting a certain 
 number of his neighbors to swear that they believed him in- 
 nocent. If he had thus enough "oath-helpers" he went free.' 
 But by the time of Henry II, the king's traveling ("itinerant ") 
 judges were beginning to administer a different system. 
 
 (a) There was the need being felt of a more scientific and 
 
 THOMAS A BECKET DISPUTING WITH HENRY H 
 
 universal set of laws than the old " local customs," which had 
 been hitherto applied each in its own petty district.^ As the 
 king's judges went about holding court " on circuit," they 
 began to develop a "common law" (i.e., usages and customs 
 good for all England). These general laws were worked out 
 comparatively scientifically along the Hne of the old customs, 
 but with an improved spirit, thanks to the example of the old 
 
 ^ This process was called "compurgation." 
 
 ^ The "local customs" were at their worst in France where there were several 
 hundred petty codes in as many little districts. 
 
124 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 Roman law, the study whereof was reviving among the 
 learned. This " common law," in short, was so successful that 
 it became the basis for all English law of later times, and is the 
 fundamental private law of the United States unto this day.^ 
 
 (b) In Henry II's reign we hear of the jury. It was then 
 used not to try criminals, who must still endure the " ordeal," 
 but to accuse them. This was the origin of our modern 
 " grand jury." At about this time also we find a jury to settle 
 "civil" (private) lawsuits, but it was not until after the or- 
 deal had been abolished, in 1 215, that there developed a second 
 jury to try criminals after they had been accused by the first 
 jury. This new body was called the "petit jury." All these 
 bodies were varieties of an earlier "inquest jury" which 
 William I had used to collect information and assess property. 
 This body in turn seems to have come from Normandy and is 
 very likely traceable back to the old Roman law. So origin- 
 ated our system of trial by jury, which is one of the most 
 important contributions of England to the world's legal his- 
 tory. Hereafter under the new system a man's fate was to be 
 settled, not by a superstitious ordeal, or by an official of a pos- 
 sibly tyrannous ruler, but by a group of his neighbors and 
 peers. A great safeguard, surely, against absolutism! 
 
 By 1300, it is fair to say that the process of blending the 
 Saxons and the Normans into one race is practically completed. 
 "' Norman-French " is still the language of the courtly nobility 
 and Latin that of the judges and lawyers, but English — a 
 tongue based on the old Anglo-Saxon, but with a great com- 
 mingling of Latin, introduced through the Norman-French — 
 has become the general language of the now solidified land. 
 This new " English " people has ceased to look back to the 
 " Conquest " as an age of victory or oppression. The descend- 
 ants of the Norman barons feel themselves at home in their 
 
 * Except in the State of Louisiana, wlicrc the basis of the law is not English 
 but Roman, derived through the French. 
 
THE ORIGINS OF THE ENGLISH NATION 125 
 
 island possessions; their " tenantry " and "yeomen" no longer 
 consider them foreign tyrants. There is a common loyalty 
 to the king, to the " English nation," and to the " good old 
 customs of England "; above all, there have developed cer- 
 tain political and legal institutions which will go into every 
 Anglo-Saxon land hereafter. 
 
 By 1300, England, though less populous and wealthy than 
 several European countries, had become a well-ordered and 
 compact nation, and was able to interfere in the affairs of 
 the Continent. 
 
 REVIEW 
 
 1. Topics — Venerable Bede; Alfred the Great; Cnut; Edward the 
 Confessor; Harold; Domesday Book; Itinerant Justices; Jury; Magna 
 Charta; Model Parliament. 
 
 2. Geography — Locate, and tell why important: London; Salisbury; 
 Runnymede; Canterbury; York; Oxford; Hastings. 
 
 3. By an indication of the general lines of attack adopted by the different 
 invaders of England before the Norman Conquest, suggest the influ- 
 ence of geographical features on the settlement, invasion, and subse- 
 quent distribution of the Romans, Saxons, and Danes. 
 
 4. Would the fact that there was one church with one head in England 
 help the unity of the country in Saxon days? In the Norman period? 
 
 5. Compare Alfred and Charlemagne. 
 
 6. The character and work of William I: what circumstances aided his 
 conquest? 
 
 7. Magna Charta, — how obtained? its importance and chief provisions? 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 1. The work of St. Patrick. 
 
 2. The council of Whitby and its importance. 
 
 3. Contrast the England of Edward the Confessor's time with the Eng- 
 land of 1087. In what did it differ at this latter date from the duchy 
 of Normandy? Why? 
 
 4. The Norman kings and their relations to the Papacy and the national 
 English Church. Note especially the work of Anselm and Stephen 
 Langton. 
 
 5. Trace the growth of the English judicial system from Henry I to 
 Edward I. 
 
126 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 6. Henry II as king: his difficulties with his sons, his barons, his French 
 lands, and the Church? What did his reign really achieve? 
 
 7. Simon de Montfort and his rebellion. What were his ideas of Parlia- 
 mentary government? How did they differ from the final results 
 under Edward I. 
 
 8. Edward I, "the EngHsh Justinian." Show the great importance of his 
 reign in the development of the English Constitution. 
 
 READINGS 
 
 Sources. Ogg: chapters V, XI, XIV, xviii. Robinson, nos. 39-42; g^a, 96- 
 
 lOI. 
 
 Modern Accounts. Bemont and Monod: pp. 124-32; 445-66. Seignobos: 
 pp. 147-57. Any good textbook of English history (as Ransome's 
 Advanced Hisiorv of England, pp. 3-205; especially pp. gi-io,^, and 
 135-81). 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 LIFE IN THE FEUDAL AGES 
 
 64. The feudal castle. In the Middle Ages there were really 
 only three classes of people, — feudal warriors, pri\ileged 
 priests, and servile peasants. ^ We will consider now the hfe 
 of the first two of these classes — the only two classes then 
 usually reckoned to be of real importance. 
 
 The regular unit of Hfe in the Middle Ages was not the city 
 or the open farmstead. It was the feudal castle — a more or 
 less pretentious fortification, situated if possible upon a lofty 
 hill, and often with a little village of the rude huts of the 
 lord's peasants clustered close beside it. During the earher 
 feudal period these castles were of a very primitive nature. 
 In most cases they would be simply a single huge wooden, and 
 then later stone, tower — round or square, with merely a rude 
 palisade with a ditch for outworks. The height would baffle any 
 scahng-ladder. There would be no opening in its blank masonry 
 until a considerable distance from the ground. Then the nar- 
 row door would be entered only by a flimsy wooden bridge, 
 easy to demoHsh, or a frail ladder — drawn up every night. 
 Inside this tower there would be a series of dark, cavernous 
 rooms, one above another, communicating by means of lad- 
 ders. The sole purpose of such a comfortless castle was 
 defense: — and that defense by mere height and mass,^ not 
 by any skill in arranging the various parts. 
 
 ^ Any artisans — carpenters, weavers, and the like — would usuall)' be num- 
 bered among the peasants, and probably would spend a part of their time in 
 agriculture. As for commerce, it had sunk to the importation of a few luxuries, 
 — e.g., silks, spices for cooking, incense for the Church. These Oriental wares 
 would be supplied through the rare visits to the castles by wandering peddlers. 
 
 2 There were many castles with donjons that rose over one hundred feet high, 
 
128 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 Little by little this simple donjon became more complicated. ^ 
 The original tower was kept, but only as the last citadel of a 
 great complex of fortifications. There developed outer pali- 
 sades, moats, flanking towers, gates defended by drawbridge 
 and portcullis, a great courtyard surrounded by fairly habit- 
 able buildings, with the donjon still frowning down as the 
 center of all. Great ingenuity was displayed in making a 
 series of concentric lines of defense. To force the outer barriers 
 meant simply that you had a far stronger inner bulwark before 
 you. The best kind of a mediaeval castle needed only a very 
 small garrison. From behind its walls even a petty baron could 
 defy a kingly army. 
 
 65. Life in the castle. In this castle (more or less extensive 
 according to the power and ambitions of its owner) would live 
 the feudal lord (seigneur), his family, and some scores or hun- 
 dreds of personal retainers — men-at-arms, '' varlets," and 
 serving-women. For a normal mediaeval nobleman there was 
 only one legitimate calling — warfare, or the preparation for 
 the same. A lad of noble family would only learn to read and 
 write by some exception.- From his earliest manhood he 
 would be taught the use of arms, — to mount a " destrier," 
 one of the ferocious war-horses; to leap and strike actively 
 in ponderously heavy armor; to handle sword and lance with 
 precision. Probably his father would send him to the court of 
 his own feudal suzerain to be " nourished " — i.e., taught all 
 the things which pertained to a high-born warrior. Here as his 
 lord's " squire " he would be given certain lessons in court 
 
 and with walls fully twenty feet thick. At Coucy (in northeastern France), a 
 relatively late and highly elaborate castle, was a tower two hundred and ten feet 
 high. 
 
 1 Probably the mediaeval castle-builders got many of their ideas of fortification 
 through the crusades — from the military art of the East Romans and Moham- 
 medans. Castles kept getting more and more complicated down to about 1400. 
 
 ^ This was surely true in the earlier Middle Ages; in the later Middle Ages, 
 the nobles, of course, became increasingly literate, and presently we find high- 
 born scholars and genuine patrons of learning. 
 
LIFE IN THE FEUDAL AGES 
 
 i2g 
 
 ceremonial, in the courtesy due noblewomen, the waiting on 
 banquets, fetes; but his main education would still be military. 
 When about twenty, his training would be complete. He would 
 be a first-class warrior now: a match with his great horse and 
 formidable armor for twenty less trained and poorly armed 
 footmen. His lord at length would give him an elaborate feast, 
 where the young noble would be given new spurs and girded 
 with a new sword. Finally, the lord would give him the formal 
 buffet on the head or shoul- 
 der — the accolade. " Be val- 
 iant!" he would enjoin. The 
 young squire was henceforth 
 a "knight."^ 
 
 In due time this youth, if 
 an eldest son, might hope to 
 inherit his father's castle. A 
 younger son must turn adven- 
 turer and try to win a vacant 
 fief — or a rich heiress — by 
 the grace of some prince in 
 whose service he fought. The 
 times which were spent at the 
 castle without actual warlike 
 occupation could be whiled 
 away by endless hunting, with 
 dogs or hawks, with wild feasting (too often turning into 
 bestial carousals), or with tournaments — i.e., mock battles, 
 in which the element of deadly risk was often great. The 
 average feudal seigneur had few enough quiet avocations. 
 He might make a winter's evening endurable by playing chess, 
 or Kstening to a minstrel's tale of " the great deeds of Roland 
 
 1 Knighthood was clearly at first only the public recognition that the young 
 noble was now a full-fledged warrior. The idea of a religious ceremonial, "chiv- 
 alric" vows and duties, an especial blessing by the Church, etc., all came in the 
 later Middle Ages. 
 
 A HAWKING PARTY 
 {From c. Ihirtccnlh-cenlury German man- 
 uscript in the Heidelberg Library) 
 
I30 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 and Charlemagne "; but he was Hkely to find such diversions 
 weary stuff. ^ 
 
 The women of the castle were of like temper with the men. 
 The seigneur's dame had probably been married to him by her 
 parents while a very young girl, with httle heed paid to her 
 own wishes. At times he might treat her almost as brutally as 
 he did his oafish serving-men; but she in turn would be a 
 hardened, masterful woman, well able to chastise her dozens 
 of slovenly " weaving- women," and to command the castle 
 garrison when her lord was off on the foray. The age was a 
 strenuous one, and few weaklings would be able to survdve the 
 physical perils of childhood. 
 
 66. The relations of suzerain and vassal. Theoretically the 
 feudal system was a most humane arrangement between 
 " lord " and '' man " — of reciprocal loyally and protection, 
 service and reward. Actually it put a premium on contention, 
 oath-breaking, aggression, insurrection. Practically, every 
 " noble " (i.e., member of the feudal fighting class) was a 
 vassal - of some one, and had vassals under him. The vassal 
 was bound to kneel before " his gracious lord," and take oath 
 to be a faithful helper in return for the landed fief granted him. 
 This was " doing homage." The main duties of a trusty vassal 
 were to give his lord good counsel, •' certain limited money aids, 
 and especially to fight for him (along with his own followers) 
 so many days each year, and, of course, never to do anything 
 to injure the lord's interests. The latter in turn owed his vassal 
 " justice and protection." 
 
 1 A list has been made of the possible amusements of a French media?val 
 seigneur: there are fifteen; these include fencing, playing chess, eating and drink- 
 ing, listening to songs, watching bear fights, talking with ladies, holding his 
 court, warming himself, having himself cupped and bled, and watching the snow 
 fall! 
 
 ^ " Vassals " were always noblemen: the term was never applied to peasants 
 or townsmen. 
 
 ^ Especially in aiding the lord in pronouncing legal judgments, for the ex- 
 ecution of which the lord and his advisers were naturally responsible. 
 
LIFE IN THE FEUDAL AGES 131 
 
 The value of this pact usually depended on the power and 
 tact of the lord in enforcing it, and the necessities of the vassal. 
 An ambitious, skillful prince could build up a great feudal 
 dominion: under a weak heir there would be a general " refusal 
 of homage " — the dependent fief would crumble away from 
 him. Many a nominally subordinate baron would "hold" 
 his various fiefs of two or more suzerains at once — and often 
 these might be at war: the result would be that the vassal 
 would play off one against the other to his own great advan- 
 tage. Often the " homage " became the merest formality, 
 and the vassal was to all intents and purposes an independent 
 piince.^ Then, too, the question of the relation of his vassals 
 to the overlord was always a deHcate one. The overlord was 
 always trying to get away the sub-vassals (of his dependents) , 
 so as to have them as his " immediate " (direct) liegemen, as 
 being then more subservient and therefore more serviceable to 
 himself. " The vassal of my vassal is not my vassal " ran the 
 saying. Over these questions of " sub-infeudation " would 
 come endless friction. 
 
 67. Feudal Wars. Feudal wars were incessant. Every 
 baron was likely to nurse a giudge against his equal, — the 
 lord of the next feudatory, - — against his suzerain (or suze- 
 rains), and against his own vassals, for all kinds of reasons. 
 The right of " private warfare " was cherished by even the 
 lowest nobles. The Church, aided sometimes by the kings, 
 tried to mitigate these local wars by the " Truce of God " 
 (cessation of fighting between Wednesday night and Monday 
 morning and on holy days) and by various other restrictions, 
 but to settle one's troubles with sword and battle-axe was a 
 " noble right "; it was really a concession, often, if the contend- 
 ing barons fought out their troubles in single combat (the 
 
 ' A case to the point is the stor}- of Geoffrey of Anjou (eleventh century), who 
 captured Thibaut of Blois, forced him to grant in fief his county of Tours, then 
 "did homage" to his prisoner. 
 
132 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 so called " judicial duel ") before judges who arranged fair 
 play, and did not embroil the whole countryside in general 
 warfare. 
 
 Quarrels over hunting and fishing rights, over boundaries 
 of fiefs, over titles to fiefs, over the di\dsion of a fief between 
 
 SACK OF A VILLAGE 
 {From a manuscript of the second half of the fifteenth century, in the Germanic 
 Museum, Nuremberg) 
 
 brothers, over the dowry claims of a widowed mother, over the 
 right of the overlord to declare a fief vacant — these were a 
 few of the pretenses for plunging a community into misery. 
 Contrary to general belief, feudal wars saw few great battles. ' 
 
 ^ Of course, a good many real battles are recorded during the whole course of 
 
LIFE IN THE FEUDAL AGES 133 
 
 The weaker bands shut themselves up in their castles: the 
 stronger party tried to coerce its foes by burning their open 
 \'illages, ravaging their fields, driving off their cattle, perse- 
 cuting their peasantry. What fighting there was usually came 
 in single combats, raids, ambuscades, or skirmishing on a small 
 scale. The main sufferers were the wretched peasantry, the 
 helpless prey of either party. At length one party would be- 
 come exhausted. Peace would be made — and duly sworn to 
 upon the box of holy saints' relics in some near-by church; 
 but at any time the feud might be resumed if the formerly 
 losing side saw new hopes of victory. There was exceedingly 
 little, therefore, that was morally ennobling in this warfare of 
 the sometimes-lauded days of "chivalry and romance." 
 
 68. The general wretchedness of feudal life. The feudal 
 anarchy was at its worst in the tenth century: from about 
 1000 onward matters steadily improved, yet even by 1200 
 law and order were woefully lacking in many parts of France, 
 not to name less settled countries. It requires some stretch of 
 imagination to think of a time when war, not peace, was the 
 order of the day, and when to " take one's weapons " was 
 almost as usual as to don one's cloak. A journey of any length 
 without arms for one's self, and if possible a strong escort, was 
 (except for churchmen^ and ragged peasants) practically 
 unthinkable. 
 
 There were many other drawbacks to fife in the feudal 
 ages, apart from this reign of armed violence. Outside of the 
 Church practically all men were illiterate. Great barons and 
 peasants alike were victims of crass superstitions. The Church 
 
 mediaeval history. But they are decidedly few, considering the total amount of 
 warfare which was going on. When they did occur, they were usually very un- 
 scientific; huge bodies of warriors rushed on one another; each man selected an 
 opponent; the side which won the majority of the resulting duels would win the 
 final day. There are almost no great strategists to be found among the mediaeval 
 captains. 
 
 ^ Even monks and priests were subject to frequent attack and pillage by 
 bandits and barons who defied the thunders of the Church. 
 
134 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 did well to lay great emphasis on the warnings of hell-fire — 
 it was only the animal fear of the eternal burning that kept 
 many a sinful nobleman within the bounds of decency. Castles 
 and hovels lacked the merest rudiments of modern sanitation 
 and conseciuent healthfulness. On the floors of the great halls, 
 where the lords and retainers feasted and drank deep, would 
 lie a thick htter of nishes, changed only a few times each year. 
 Into these rushes would be cast most of the scraps from the 
 meal. What the numerous dogs did not devour would there 
 remain until the distant day of sweeping. Probably as late as 
 1 200, there was not a castle in Europe (even of a great king) 
 where a modern visitor would not have been utterly horrified by 
 very many matters to offend eyes, ears, and nostrils. Medical 
 science was often mere c|uackery.^ A great proportion of chil- 
 dren were born dead: another great fraction died in infancy. In 
 short, thanks to bad sanitation, lack of medical treatment, and 
 ignorance of the laws of health, the proportion of persons who 
 grew to old age (apart even from those cut ofl" in war) was much 
 less than to-day. 
 
 The original feudal castle was merely a cheerless barracks, and 
 fortunate it was that the folk of the Middle Ages spent as much 
 of their time as possible in the open air. The later castles 
 became more livable and in the end — in a crude way — luxu- 
 rious, although never really comfortable in the gray days of 
 winter. But to the man of modern ideas, the great drawback 
 to mediaeval life was its extreme mental limitations and 
 monotony, — the lack of most intellectual pleasures, the 
 extreme paucity of ideas, the narrowness of the human horizon,^ 
 
 ' The best medical science of the Middle Ages was often derived from the 
 Mohammedans, especially the Moors of Spain. Occasionally by the use of com- 
 mon sense and rough knowledge gained b}' experience, a mediaeval doctor could 
 accomplish real cures, but the average physician was often an unpunished 
 murderer! 
 
 - A great source of mental narrowness was, of course, the absence of easy 
 communication: roads often were mere trails or tracks; dangerous fords in place 
 of bridges; no decent inns; robbers everywhere. Practically all commerce had to 
 
LIFE IN THE FEUDAL AGES 
 
 135 
 
 the perpetual round of carousing, hawking, boar-hunting, 
 tournaments, and downright warfare. It was amid this almost 
 soul-deadening monotony that the great seigneur lived. Was 
 there, indeed, any escape from such a melancholy stagnation, 
 for men of weaker bodies and nobler intellects? The answer 
 came — " in the Church." 
 
 69. Life in the Church. From 900 to 1250, or later, the best 
 intelligence of Europe was usually in the Church. It absorbed 
 
 A MYSTP:RY play at COVENTRY 
 
 the energies which to-day are absorbed, not only by the clergy, 
 
 but by the lawyers, physicians, teachers, and many of the more 
 
 important forms of business. The Church had entered the 
 
 feudal system. Possibly nearly one third of the lands of western 
 
 Europe were held by churchmen — doing homage for them to 
 
 overlords, and receiving the homage in turn of lay vassals. 
 
 Many a dying baron, stricken in conscience after a turbulent 
 
 be by pack-horses instead of carts. Under such circumstances ideas, no less than 
 foreign commodities, can be exchanged only slowly. 
 
136 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 life, had willed most of his estates to some bishopric or abbey 
 " for the eternal profiting of his soul." Of course, the " one 
 Catholic Church " was the only one allowed to exist by public 
 law and pubUc opinion. It was as inconceivable to have two 
 permissible religions on earth as to have two suns in heaven; 
 and by both secular and church law the stake and fagots 
 awaited heretics as certainly as the gallows awaited murderers. 
 No one dreamed of having things otherwise. 
 
 The churchmen fell roughly into two great classes — the 
 secular clergy, who lived " in the world " and had the " cure 
 of souls "; and the regular clergy (i.e., monks subject to the 
 monastic rule).^ The bishops had often great revenues from 
 the estates of their " dioceses " (districts): they were usually 
 feudal overlords of a considerable principality, and besides 
 managing the churches of the region, were immersed in secular 
 business. They were often the king's ministers, diplomats, 
 and sometimes even leaders of his armies. Men of humble 
 birth occasionally rose to be bishops, but as a rule they were 
 noble-born, — a bishopric proving a very convenient deposi- 
 tory for the younger sons of a noble house when the eldest had 
 the principaUty. The humbler parish priests were usually 
 appointed by the rich layman (or his heirs) who had endowed 
 the local church, and these priests were frequently peasant- 
 born. Compared with the bishops they were inferior, indeed, 
 but among their fellow-peasants they were revered, not merely 
 as the sacred intermediaries between God and man, but as the 
 only individuals, often, in the parish who had the least edu- 
 cation, — i.e., could read, write, and speak a Kttle Latin. 
 
 Among the regulars, the abbots of .the monasteries often 
 had positions of feudal influence almost equal to the great 
 bishops. The monks were as a rule more learned than the 
 parish priests, because they had less work to do among the laity 
 and could devote their leisure to studies. At its worst, the 
 
 1 Compare chapter in, section 12. 
 
LIFE IN THE FEUDAL AGES 137 
 
 monastic life was said to imply great idleness and gluttonous 
 dinners: at its best, a monk was intensely busy with all kinds 
 of peaceful arts and with continuous hard study. Neighboring 
 abbeys differed often in character. One might be extremely 
 lax; the next famous for its learning and pious austerities. 
 
 One thing all churchmen claimed in common: exemption 
 from trial in the ordinary lay courts. A priest must be tried 
 by his bishop, a m.onk by his abbot. The Church was, in fact, 
 "a state within a state." 
 
 70. The intellectual life of the Middle Ages. Down to about 
 1200, almost all intellectual life seemed centered in the 
 Church^ — at first only in the monasteries, which maintained 
 schools for the training of their novices or intended priests, 
 and later in the schools attached to the great cathedrals. The 
 learning preserved in these monasteries was almost entirely in 
 Latin, and based either upon the Bible, the early Christian 
 writers (the '' Fathers "), or upon such old Roman authors as 
 Cicero and Virgil. There was exceedingly little originality of 
 scholarship, almost no personal investigation of the phenomena 
 of nature, and a great willingness to say [e.g.], " thus says St. 
 Jerome," and to consider all discussion of the case closed by 
 merely citing a time-honored authority. This, of course, often 
 led to many absurd notions, when either the ancients them- 
 selves were wrong, or when (very often) their real meaning was 
 misunderstood. Nevertheless, it was of great merit that the 
 monks kept any intellectual life at all in the Middle Ages, con- 
 sidering the general storm and stress! Also, it was of no less 
 service that the gains for civilization by the ancients were in 
 the main preserved until the next age could build a nobler 
 civilization upon them. The mediceval monk, despite his 
 slavish bowing to the dicta of " Master Aristotle,"- his endless 
 
 ^ This was so much the case that it was assumed that if a man could read he 
 was a "clerk" — i.e., in churchly orders. 
 
 ^ Aristotle wrote in Greek; but some of his works had been translated into 
 Arabic, and then, by a curious round-about process, into Latin. Other of his 
 
138 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 parchments upon the obscure mysteries of theology, his hope- 
 lessly unscientific " chronicles " which record, so imperfectly 
 the annals of his own time, should nevertheless be the hero of 
 an age when to fix one's ambition on anything save feudal 
 glory must have been infinitely hard. 
 
 By about 1200, we find the hitherto despised " vernacular " 
 of the laity — French, German, Itahan — beginning to 
 express itself in hterature, but for a long time the stately Latin 
 of the mediaeval churchmen held its own as the language of all 
 learned men. It had been hardly displaced by the age of the 
 Protestant Reformation.' 
 
 71. The Gothic cathedrals. In its own especial way this 
 mediaeval society was intensely religious. It showed its zeal 
 in a series of great architectural monuments which remain as 
 the most glorious witnesses to the best in the Middle Ages. 
 The great mediaeval churches cover Germany, Italy, northern 
 Spain, England, and especially France. Sometimes great 
 barons built them, sometimes bishops or abbeys, but often 
 whole communities united in one great offering to God — 
 devoting their wealth and energy for a century more or less to 
 building a stately cathedral.- At first these were in the 
 Romanesque (rounded arch) style. After about 11 50, they 
 began to rise in the more elegant Gothic (with pointed arches).^ 
 
 writings were available in a sixth-century translation by Boethius. Aristotle 
 was the great authority of the Middle Ages in all matters of secular learning. 
 
 1 Among learned men, thanks especially to the influence of the Church, this 
 mediicval Latin came much nearer giving the world a "universal language" than 
 anything wc have to-day. 
 
 ^ A cathedral is, of course, the especial seat of a bishop (his scdcs = seat; 
 hence the word "see.") Often the ordinary parish churches or the abbey 
 churches were built with a magnificence equal to a cathedral. Usually the medi:e- 
 val cathedrals were undertaken on such a magnificent scale that a whole genera- 
 tion could build only a small part of them. It has been well said, "No Gothic 
 church has ever been finished!" 
 
 ' More technicall,v, we can say that diagonal ribs are used in Gothic churches 
 to hold up the masonry vaulting, so that the weight of the roof is all on the capi- 
 tals, none on the walls (which can be very thin, and have elaborate windows). A 
 few genuinely Gothic churches have rounded arches. 
 
LIFE IN THE FEUDAL AGES 139 
 
 The climax came in such French cathedrals as Notre Dame of 
 Paris, and, better still, Amiens, Chartres, and Rheims. These 
 " symphonies of stone " — with their soaring towers, lofty 
 vaulted roofs, elaborate stone carvings, multitudes of sculp- 
 tured saints, vast windows of inimitable stained glass — are 
 witness to the truly devout and artistic life that could develop 
 in the Middle Ages, and tell us that despite the feudal anarchy 
 the forces of civilization and righteousness were winning the 
 '/ictory. ^ 
 
 REVIEW 
 
 1. Topics — Donjon; Squire; Knight; Tournament; Homage; Vassal; 
 Sub-infeudation; Truce of God; Secular Clergy; Regular Clergy; 
 Clerk; Aristotle; Cathedral; Romanesque; Gothic. Find the mean- 
 ings of these terms in any good dictionary: — Palisade; Moat; Port- 
 cullis; Drawbridge; Benefit of Clergy. 
 
 2. What are the chief diiTerences between castles of the earlier Mid- 
 -dle Ages and those of the later INIiddle Ages? 
 
 3. Compare the education of the noble youth of this period with the 
 educational aims of Charlemagne. (See Emerton, Introduction, 
 
 pp. 225, 228-2Q; Ogg, p. 145.) 
 
 4. Amusements in the Middle Ages. 
 
 5. What occasions would there be for feudal wars? 
 
 6. The influence of the Church as to maintaining peace and order. 
 
 7. What "comforts of life" existed in the Middle Ages? 
 
 8. What effects did the difficulties of travel and communication have? 
 
 9. Position of the Church and churchmen in the feudal system. 
 
 10. What were the textbooks of the Middle Ages? In what language were 
 they written? 
 
 11. What is the significance of the cathedrals of the Middle Ages? Name 
 some of the most famous. 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 1. What are the striking differences between a feudal army and a 
 modern army? 
 
 2. Did the nobles pay taxes in the Middle Ages? If so, to whom? 
 Compare with taxation under the Roman Empire. 
 
 1 It is an interesting fact that often in the mediaeval churches the inner side 
 of sculptures, etc., is elegantly finished, although set so as not to be exposed to 
 any spectators. "But God can behold if our work is imperfect!" a mediaeval 
 craftsman would have said. 
 
140 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 3. Travel and communication in the Middle Ages. Compare with the 
 same under the Roman Empire. 
 
 4. Life in a mediaeval monastery. 
 
 5. The origins of the terms "Romanesque" and "Gothic" as applied to 
 architecture. What are the characteristics of each style? 
 
 6. The armor and weapons of the feudal period. 
 
 7. What was meant by "honor" in the Middle Ages? 
 
 8. Compare in general life in the Roman Empire and that in feudal times. 
 
 READINGS 
 
 Sources. Ogg: chapter xiii (in review) ; chapter xv, section 44. Robinson: 
 pp. 377-80. 
 
 Modern Accounts. Seignobos: pp. 63-67, 71-go, 128-39. Bemont and 
 Monod: pp. 254-67, chapter x.xxi. Seignobos: Feudal Regime, chap- 
 ters II, III. Emerton: chapters xiii, xiv, xvi. Duruy: pp. 111-16. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 THE RISE OF THE NON-NOBLE CLASSES^ 
 
 72. The evil state of the peasants. The knights and the 
 priests with their swords or their pens made nearly all the 
 history of the earlier Middle Ages; yet barely one man in forty 
 belonged to these two favored classes taken together. It is 
 time to say a little of the less favored thirty-nine. 
 
 In 1000, the bulk of the peasantry in Europe were serfs — 
 bound to the soil, subject to the extremes of forced labor and 
 personal taxation, able to marry only with the consent of the 
 seigneur, and able to transmit their little farm and personal 
 belongings to their children only by the payment of a heavy 
 tax, again to the seigneur. They could be actually bought and 
 sold, but only along with the land to which they were unalter- 
 ably attached.- If they ran away, they could be chased down as 
 "masterless men," and reclaimed like runaway slaves. There 
 were, however, also an increasing number of free peasants. 
 These men could marry and change their abode at will, and 
 transmit their property. But their social status was scarcely 
 better than that of the serfs. They were without effective 
 protection against the lords, who could tax and maltreat 
 " serfs " and " freemen " alike with impartial brutality and 
 arbitrariness. 
 
 Nobles and churchmen ahke taught that it was the duty of 
 
 1 While many of the statements in this chapter apply to the whole of western 
 Europe, especial reference is made to France, as the most typical of all feudalized 
 countries. 
 
 2 In being thus bound to the soil, and having the real use if not actual owner- 
 ship of a little farm, the medieval serfs, ditTercd from absolute slaves. There 
 were a few genuine slaves in Europe in the Middle Ages, but not enough to make 
 them a real factor. 
 
142 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 these " villeins "Ho submit cheerfully to their lot, to support 
 the upper classes with their labors, to thank Heaven if they 
 were treated with a modicum of justice, and to endure patiently 
 if the feudal lord abused them (as too frequently) a httle worse 
 than his dogs and cattle. Truth to tell, the \illeins were prob- 
 ably a brutish lot. Their days were consumed in grinding field 
 labor with spade and mattock; their homes were mere hovels 
 of wood, sun-dried brick and thatch; their clothing a few coarse 
 
 PEASANTS OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY 
 
 {Adapted from a Bible of ijSo in the Brussels Library) 
 
 rags; their food always scanty. Of their intelligence, manners, 
 cleanHness, nothing need be said. In the average peasant's 
 hut, the dirty, half-naked children would struggle on the earthen 
 floor along with the little pigs and the poultry. " How could 
 God and the saints love such creatures? " — Betwixt peasant 
 and noble there was surely a great gulf fixed ! 
 
 73. The slow rise of the agricultural classes. In the Middle 
 
 ^ That is, dwellers in a villa or farm, whence later came the idea of a "vil- 
 lain" as a clownish, rascally countryman. 
 
THE RISE OF THE NON-NOBLE CLASSES 143 
 
 Ages the towns were at first few and insignificant, and nearly 
 all peasants lived in miserable huts on the feudal estates. 
 
 Agricultural methods were extremely primitive; a drought or 
 a wet year meant a famine and misery for a wide district. Dur- 
 ing times of great shortage there are grim tales told of feasts 
 on human flesh, and of the multiplication of wolves, human 
 and quadruped. Even the rights which the feudal law secured 
 to the peasant were seldom enforcible if his seigneur were an 
 unscrupulous man : — for how could the serf ever hale his mail- 
 clad lord to justice? Sickening stories of extreme tyranny and 
 cruelty abound. Nevertheless, little by little the peasantry 
 found their lot improve, for various reasons : — 
 
 (a) On the ample Church lands, the churchmen as a rule 
 treated their peasants with greater humanity than did the 
 average seigneur. ^ 
 
 (b) The Church declared the freeing of serfs a most merito- 
 rious act for a nobleman. Frequently a conscience-stricken 
 baron would try to square accounts with Heaven by freeing all 
 or a part of his peasants. 
 
 (c) Especially in crusading times the lords had great need of 
 ready money for their wars. Wretched as the serfs were, often 
 individuals or villages had saved up a little private stock. They 
 could now " buy their freedom," by one lump payment. 
 
 So the serfs were always tending to become "free peasants." 
 They were still despised villeins and " non-noble," but they 
 were not quite so defenseless. They were next able to make an 
 agreement with their lords so that the taxes they paid on their 
 lands, and the amount of forced labor requirable of them 
 should be limited to a certain fixed amount. Besides, the kings 
 (especially in France) were growing in power. They would 
 give a certain protection to the peasants, as a makeweight 
 to the nobles. Nevertheless, the country villeins continued 
 
 ^ Especially the peasants dependent upon an abbey could count on being fed 
 by the monks in times of famine. 
 
144 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 to be as a rule oafish, ignorant, and outrageously oppressed 
 all through the Middle Ages. The non-nobles of Europe first 
 found their opportunity and their power in the growth of the 
 towns. 
 
 74. The rise of the free towns. The Roman Empire had 
 been covered with stately cities. Many of these had perished 
 outright; others were (in 1000) merely starving villages inside 
 the ruins of the old walls. But in the decades following the 
 year 1000 came a revival of civic life. Sometimes a reviving 
 commerce reawoke a nigh-dead community; sometimes an 
 unwontedly intelligent seigneur fostered its growth; sometimes 
 the presence of a prosperous monastery was the decisive 
 factor. By 1 100, there are signs of city life over western Europe. 
 By 1200, cities are numerous and relatively important.^ 
 
 At first these cities were mere collections of a few nobles and 
 a mass of peasants who preferred trading to farming. Ordinary 
 feudal law (or lack of law) obtained in a community. The 
 peasants were subject to about the same burdens as if they 
 had worked in the fields. But in these towns the non-nobles 
 could join together as never in the open country. They soon 
 learned their numbers and their strength. Merchants and 
 master artisans were becoming wealthy. They, too, were no 
 longer utterly defenseless against the seigneur. The towns soon 
 built walls which could defy an ordinary feudal army. Inside 
 the gates the mounted knights — so formidable in the open 
 field — were almost helpless in the narrow streets when stones 
 and boiling water rained on them from the houses above. 
 During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the cities of France, 
 England, Flanders, and Germany were winning charters from 
 their king or lords. 
 
 Occasionally these charters were freely granted by magnani- 
 
 1 The small size of these "cities" must be clearly realized. In the Middle Ages 
 1000 inhabitants would make a considerable town: 10,000 a "great city," indeed. 
 Very possibly in 1200 (outside of Italy), there were no places of much more than 
 10,000 inhabitants in all Western Christendom, save Paris and London. 
 
THE RISE OF THE NON-NOBLE CLASSES 145 
 
 mous and intelligent princes. Often they were purchased — 
 through an extraordinary payment by the townsfolk. Some- 
 times, also, the king or emperor would grant them — perhaps 
 in the teeth of the local feudal ruler — to set up a rival power 
 beside that of the dangerous baron. Or often city folk rose en 
 masse: the gates would be closed; the great alarm-bell rung; 
 the residence of the local prince or prince-bishop would be 
 stormed, and the charter would be granted before the threat 
 of gleaming weapons. The ordinary result in any case was the 
 same, a carefully drafted and sealed document creating a " free 
 town " — i.e., with specific rights of local self-government, 
 and all taxes and other obligations due to the lord defined and 
 limited. Hereafter the inhabitants of such a town are no longer 
 helpless peasants. They are called (in France) bourgeoisie, — 
 "free-burghers," — with their own especial rights. They 
 elect their own magistrates, levy their local militia, raise their 
 own taxes; and if fortune favors, the bond uniting them to 
 their old feudal lord becomes very frail, indeed. The cities 
 then become veritable httle " city-states " — almost on the 
 old Greek model. 
 
 This new order of burghers, which intruded itself between 
 the two favored upper classes and the peasants, was unwel- 
 come, indeed, to the former. " Commune — a name new and 
 execrable! " cries a priestly chronicler. But the nobles and 
 churchmen were fain to make the best they could of these 
 intruders: for wealth, intelligence, enterprise, and new ideas 
 made haste to find their way to the free towns. 
 
 75. The aspect of a mediaeval city. The government of a 
 mediaeval city differed with time and country. In Italy, where 
 the feudal power had always been weakest, the towns became 
 most independent and were justly called " republics." In 
 Germany, Flanders, and France the assertion of liberty was 
 never quite so complete. In any case the mediaeval city was 
 never a democracy. Sometimes various petty nobles actually 
 
146 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 settled in the town, fraternized with the non-nobles, and made 
 a civic aristocracy. More often, the great merchants, the 
 heads of the trading and craft guilds, etc., formed a body 
 of city " patricians," which dominated the city council, 
 and usually supplied the " burghermasters " (Germany), 
 " mayors " (France), or " consuls " or " podestas " (Italy), as 
 the head magistrates were variously called. Yet While it was 
 an aristocracy, such a government was usually intelligent and 
 public-spirited. A burghermaster could hardly dare to im- 
 itate a feudal prince in his contempt for the wishes and 
 rights of the lower classes. The government of a " free city," 
 in short, would often be founded on efficiency and justice, 
 though not on human equality. 
 
 As presented to the eye, a typical mediaeval city would be a 
 remarkable sight. Its extent would be small, both because of 
 the Hmited population, and the need of making the circuit of 
 the walls to be defended as short as possible; but within these 
 walls the huge, many-storied houses would be wedged closely 
 together. The narrow streets would be dirty and ill-paved — 
 often beset by pigs in lieu of scavengers; but everywhere there 
 would be busthng human hfe with every citizen elbowing close 
 to everybody else. Out of the foul streets here and there would 
 rise parish churches of marvelous architecture, and in the 
 center of the town extended the great square — marketplace 
 — where the open-air markets would be held, and close by it, 
 dwarfing the lesser churches, the tall gray cathedral, — the 
 pride of the community; close by, also, the City Hall (Hotel de 
 Ville, or, in Germany, Rathhaus), an elegant secular edifice, 
 where the council met, where the great public feasts could take 
 place, and above which rose the mighty belfry, whence clanged 
 the great alarm-bell to call the citizens together in mass meet- 
 ing, or to don armor and man the walls. The magnificent 
 houses, walls, churches, and civic buildings of Nuremberg 
 (South Gemiany), as they stand to-day, testify to the glories 
 
THE RISE OF THE NON-NOBLE CLASSES 147 
 
 of many of the greater media?val cities toward the end of the 
 Middle Ages. 
 
 76. The cities of Flanders. In one northern country the 
 free cities came almost to dominate the whole political situa- 
 tion. The Counts of Flanders were nominally vassals of the 
 Kings of France, but during the period 1200 to 1400, or later, 
 their powxr was greatly curtailed by the growth of the great 
 manufacturing towns, 
 which reached such a 
 size and power that only 
 by calHng in French 
 help was the count able 
 to keep them in any 
 kind of formal obed- 
 ience. The prosperity 
 of Flanders rested on 
 the manufacture of 
 woolens (the first great 
 manufacturing industry 
 of northern Europe) . 
 The importation of wool 
 from England gave 
 emplo3rment for many 
 vessels.^ Thousands of 
 looms in Ypres, Ghent, 
 and especially Bruges, 
 made these cities among 
 the wealthiest in the 
 woild until the fifteenth century, when they receded before 
 the rapid rise of Antwerp. All kinds of commerce followed 
 this woolen trade. The cities of the neighboring land of 
 Holland were growing rich on the trade in North Sea her- 
 
 * Usually sent out hy the North German cities of the "Hanseatic League." 
 (See chapter xix, section 1 20, footnote.) 
 
 LENDIT FAIR IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY 
 
 {After a miniature representing the blessing of the 
 Fair by St. Denis, in a Latin manuscript in the Bib- 
 
 liotheqite Nationalc) 
 
148 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 ring.^ The whole region of the " Low Countries " became, in 
 short, the center for a number of city-republics, highly in- 
 telligent, conscious of their might and restive of feudal dom- 
 ination. The Flemings even defied the whole power of the 
 Kings of France, and in 1302 the army of the French chivaln,' 
 was disgracefully routed by the Flemish citizens (at the battle 
 of Courtrai). In due time the Flemings were reduced again 
 to French overlordship; but never to shameful vassalage. The 
 " Low Countries " kept their wealth and their liberties until, 
 in the sixteenth century, they fought the battle of freedom for 
 all the world when they broke the power of Spain. 
 
 77. Venice and Florence. In Italy, two city-states demand 
 more than a passing word. About 452, when Attila's hordes 
 devastated Italy,- the tradition runs that desperate fugitives 
 took refuge on the small islands at the head of the Adriatic Sea. 
 The settlements they founded became united under the name 
 of Venice. At first this maritime republic professed loyalty 
 to the Emperors of Constantinople; but by 11 00 (or earlier), 
 Venice was well able to stand alone — a proud and independent 
 city-state, ruled by a despotic but highly intelligent and enter- 
 prising oligarchy Venetian merchant ships covered the Medi- 
 terranean. Venice held nearly all the Greek islands in her 
 possession; her naval power for long checked the advancing 
 Turks; while thanks to her great Oriental trade she truly 
 " held the Golden East in fee." The beauty of the palaces of 
 her merchant princes has become traditional. In 1450, she was 
 by all odds the wealthiest, the most luxurious, the most formid- 
 able city in Europe. 
 
 Her rival in wealth was inland Florence. Banking and manu- 
 facturing had made Florence powerful. Her government was 
 more democratic than that of Venice; her history is a long story 
 
 1 The numerous and strictly observed fast days of the mediaeval Church made 
 the trade in fish relatively more important than it is to-day. 
 ° See p. 14. 
 
THE RISE OF THE NON-NOBLE CLASSES 149 
 
 of civic feuds, revolutions, banishments, " returns of exiles," 
 conspiracies. About 1434, she fell under the control (at first 
 purely unofficial) of the famous Medici family (originally 
 bankers) who governed in the main with skill and moderation. 
 Florence was the strongest power in North Central Italy, but 
 her true title to fame was not her riches or her valiant generals. 
 Florence was the birthplace of poets, artists, and scholars, who 
 
 TRADE ROUTES AND COMMERCIAL CITIES 
 
 have made their native city almost a rival of Athens in her 
 contributions to civilization.^ 
 
 78. The revival of commerce and industry. In the later Mid- 
 dle Ages, despite bad roads, bad inns, bad bridges,^ bandits 
 
 1 Mention might also be made in this age of Genoa, a proud naval and com- 
 mercial republic, that almost distanced Venice in the struggle for maritime 
 supremacy, but at the last test failed. 
 
 * The medieval bridges were in the average so bad and perilous that we 
 
I50 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 and "robber knights," commerce was again reviving. Spices, 
 carpets, silks, and " Damascus steel " weapons were imported 
 from the Orient. The merchant vessels began feeling their way 
 along the coast, and as ships became larger and stancher, their 
 captains grew bolder. From Venice or Genoa a considerable 
 caravan trade also found its way over the Alps, to Lyons in 
 France, or to the German Augsburg or Nuremberg, which 
 became centers for an active commerce. The Rhine, the Dan- 
 ube, and the great French rivers became covered with freight 
 boats and barges. ^ In the larger cities famous fairs sprang up, 
 where merchants from all Europe and the nearer Orient came 
 together to interchange alike new commodities and new ideas. 
 Gradually, too, men learned to put aside the prejudice against 
 lending money at interest (" usury ") which had been forbidden 
 by the Church in the earlier Middle Ages. Great credit trans- 
 actions and an elaborate banking system had developed, at 
 least in Italy, by the time Columbus discovered America. ^ 
 All this meant another step in human progress. 
 
 Commerce (the importation of foreign wares) came first. 
 The next step was to try to imitate or improve upon the foreign 
 importations. From 1200 onward, there is a great revival of 
 European industry, and all the arts and crafts improve. Manu- 
 facturing is usually, indeed, on a small scale: the " master," 
 with a few " apprentices " and " journeymen " (wage- workers), 
 
 find in the prayer-books formulas for " commending one's soul to God ere start- 
 ing to cross a bridge." 
 
 1 River navigation played an extremely important part in commerce before 
 the days of railroads. Nearly all the great media;val cities lie upon navigable 
 rivers. 
 
 - It was regularly agreed that money was a barren thing — it could not grow 
 of itself — how, then, was it right to demand interest "to make money breed 
 money?" The Church practically forbade Christians to lend at interest. The 
 result was that about ail lending transactions had to be through Jens ("who 
 had no souls to lose!"), who had to demand a tremendous interest because they 
 often lacked the legal means to collect their debts, and had to recoup themselves 
 for their losses. The Jews were practically forced to become money-lenders. They 
 were not allowed to enter the feudal system and hold land, and they had no other 
 way to invest their wealth. 
 
THE RISE OF THE NON-NOBLE CLASSES 151 
 
 makes in the rear of the little shop the articles which he sells 
 at retail over the counter in front: the prices, however, the 
 manufacturing methods, the whole mode of trade is controlled 
 by the " guild " to which they all belong — a kind of labor- 
 union, but managed by the employers. 
 
 By 1500, in brief, the merchants and the craftsmen have 
 won back the place they once held in Grasco-Roman so- 
 ciety, as important parts of the body politic. During the 
 next four centuries they are to grow continually in strength 
 until they seem to overshadow alike the old nobles, the 
 churchmen, and the peasants. 
 
 REVIEW 
 
 1. Topics — Serf; Free Peasant; Villein; Commune; Burghers; Burgher- 
 master; Podesta; City Hall; Medici; Guild. 
 
 2. Geography — 
 
 (a) Locate Nuremberg; Flanders (see map on page 256); Ghent; 
 
 Bruges; Antwerp; Holland; Courtrai; Venice; Florence; 
 
 Augsburg; Lyons; Genoa. 
 {b) Mark the trade routes. 
 
 3. Position of the villeins in mediaeval society. Were their masters 
 under any obligations to them? 
 
 4. How might the serfs become free? 
 
 5. Make a summary of the reasons for the rise of the agricultural classes. 
 
 6. What were the causes of the revival of city life? 
 
 7. What rights were ordinarily given to the cities by the charters? 
 
 8. If the "free towns" were so objectionable to the nobles and clergy, 
 and if these were so much more powerful than the non-noble class, 
 why w^ere the "free towns" allowed? 
 
 9. Describe the government of the chartered towns. 
 
 10. What conditions made the cities of Flanders so powerful? What 
 changes in these conditions would lessen the power and importance of 
 the Flemish cities? 
 
 11. What part had \'enice taken in the crusades? 
 
 12. What difficulties were in the way of commerce in the Middle Ages? 
 
 13. What was the objection to charging interest on money? What was 
 the result? 
 
 14. Compare the guild with a modern labor union. 
 
152 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 1. Obligations of the peasants to their lords. 
 
 2. Occupations of the workers in the Middle Ages. 
 
 3. The life on the manor. 
 
 4. Town halls of the Middle Ages. 
 
 5. The government of Venice. Compare with that of Florence. 
 
 6. The expansion of Venetian territory. 
 
 7. Rivalry of Venice and Genoa. 
 
 8. The Medici family. 
 
 g. What "poets, artists, and scholars" made Florence almost a rival of 
 Athens? 
 
 10. What goods were exchanged between northern and southern Europe? 
 
 11. Famous fairs. 
 
 12. Position of the Jews. Did the Crusades affect their position? 
 
 13. Merchant and craft guilds. 
 
 14. The Hanseatic League. 
 
 READINGS 
 
 Sources. Ogg: chapter xx. Robinson: nos. 157-71. 
 
 Modern accounts. Bemont and Monod: pp. 375-90. Seignobos: pp. 67-71, 
 
 88-89, ii5~i7i 140-46, 164-72. Emerton: chapter xv. Gibbins: pp. 36- 
 
 loi. Seignobos: Feudal Regime, chapter i. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 THE POPES, THE EMPERORS, AND THE MEDIEVAL CHURCH 
 
 79. " The freedom of the Church.'' In 1056, died the 
 Emperor Henry HI, in whose reign the government of the 
 Holy Roman Empire had seemed about to establish its com- 
 plete domination over the Papacy and the entire Western 
 Church. The Emperor had removed and named Popes even as 
 he might secular officials. He had filled up the German and 
 Italian bishoprics (with their great princely as well as spiritual 
 powers) with appointees devoted to his interests. Was not the 
 whole Church on the point of being " captured " by the tem- 
 poral government? Was not '' Coesar " about to dominate 
 '^ Christ " ? This interference of the State in the Church was, 
 indeed, deplored by almost every pious churchman, yet for the 
 moment there seemed no avoiding it. The Church, and its 
 central office, the Papacy, had become demoraHzed and dis- 
 credited. Until there had been a new spirit put into the whole 
 organization it was useless to expect the State to cease its 
 " unholy " intermeddling. 
 
 But the Church had still its millions of zealous supporters. 
 A great reform movement was about to purify the whole 
 mighty fabric, and make the Empire tremble in turn before the 
 Papacy. ^ Some of the reforms demanded were these : — 
 
 {a) An orderly method must be provided for the election of 
 Popes : hitherto they had been too often the choice of a riotous 
 faction in Rome. 
 
 {h) " Simony " (i.e., the sale of Church offices), a common 
 scandal, must be ended. 
 
 * This reform movement is commonly considered I.0 have started at the great 
 and influential monastery of Clmiy in France: hence it is sometimes called 
 the "Cluny Movement." 
 
154 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 (c) The marriage of the clergy (denounced now as a crying 
 sin) must cease. ^ 
 
 (d) The investiture (i.e., confirmation in office of bishops) by 
 laymen must also end. 
 
 These various demands were all summed up in the call for 
 the " freedom of the Church ": — that is, its exemption from 
 secular interference, and the reform program found a notable 
 champion — Hildebrand. , 
 
 80. Hildebrand: as monk and as Pope-maker. To a certain 
 individual humbly born at Saona, Italy, about 1020, the 
 mediaeval Papacy owes more than to any other one man.^ 
 Hildebrand spent his youth as a monk at Rome, witnessing the 
 worldly abuses and confusions of the Church, but also busying 
 himself in maturing plans to right them. " His was that rarest 
 and grandest of gifts, an intellectual courage and power of 
 imaginative beUef which, when it has convinced itseh of aught, 
 shrinks not from acting upon it at once." He was not a mere 
 dreamer, but he combined with the typical monk's contempla- 
 tion a notable ability as a constructive statesman; he was a 
 manipulator of men, a leader who could tire others with his 
 own high courage, and a combatant who never spared a foe, 
 nor himself, in what he considered the war for righteousness. 
 
 Beginning with 1048, he became the indispensable adviser to 
 several very worthy Popes who were striving to execute the 
 reform program in the Church. After 1056, when the death of 
 Henry III left the Empire in weak hands and relieved the 
 Papacy from governmental interference, Hildebrand was able 
 
 1 Up to this time the marriage of bishops had been absolutely forbidden, but 
 in many sections the marriage of ordinary priests had been at least winked at. 
 Besides the objections which the Catholic Church still urges against clerical 
 marriage, another one could be advanced in the Middle .'\ges — that if priests 
 were allowed to raise families, inevitably (under feudal conditions) their sons 
 would soon inherit their Church offices, and the priesthood would become an 
 arrogant "priestly caste" like the Brahmans of India. 
 
 2 In his later career his name did not fail to be seized upon by his enemies for 
 ill-natured puns, Hildebrand = Brand of Hell ! etc. 
 
THE POPES AND THE EMPERORS 155 
 
 to carry out his policy with drastic thoroughness. Thanks to 
 his sagacious counsel, the Popes of the day reasserted their old 
 leadership over the Church: and it was established that the 
 Popes must be elected in a peaceable and proper matter by 
 the cardinals.^ Papal " legates " (deputies) visited different 
 parts of Gemiany and Italy and held synods wherein the 
 '' simoniacal " and otherwise unworthy bishops were disci- 
 plined or deposed. The decrees against clerical marriage were 
 sternly enforced despite much outcry and, no doubt, suffering 
 on the part of the unfortunate priests called upon to " put 
 away their concubines " — their wives. 
 
 In 1073, the Church had largely purged itself, and was pre- 
 pared to attack the great problem of secular interference in its 
 pohcies. In that year Hildebrand himself became Pope. 
 
 81. Henry IV and his bad rule in Germany. While this 
 monk, "small of stature but with a lion's soul," was lifting 
 again the power of the Papacy, the one-time dominator thereof 
 — the Empire — was falhng into an evil case. Henry IV (1056- 
 II 06), son of Henry III, was not by any means cowardly or 
 incapable, but from his early youth he was taught to consider 
 himself " monarch of all the world," and to indulge in very 
 ignoble pleasures; while his German realm was run by regents, 
 usually politically minded bishops who perpetrated acts of 
 tyranny in his name and brought the imperial power into dis- 
 repute. When Henry became of age and ruler in his own right, 
 things went no better. He was himself a Franconian (Central 
 German) : by 1073 he had goaded the Saxons (North Germans) 
 into revolt. 2 After some fighting he gained a temporary 
 
 1 Every student should investigate the origin and nature of the "College of 
 Cardinals." It is an essential part of the government of the Catholic Church 
 to-day. (See any good encyclopedia.) 
 
 ^ The Saxons had never forgotten that they were the original imperial race 
 of the Ottos; and the}' took very ill the domination of their rivals of Franco- 
 nia. But apart from this jealousy, Henry's rule had been blundering if not 
 tyrannical. 
 
156 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 mastery over the rebels ; but his power was in a feeble way when 
 he collided with Hildebrand. 
 
 82. The humiliation at Canossa. Hildebrand took the title 
 of Gregory VII (1073-85) . As Pope his real power in the Church 
 was not made greater than it was formerly, but became more 
 recognized. All the earlier lines of reform were followed with 
 new zeal, but especially Gregory undertook to strike the prac- 
 tice of lay investiture. So long as princes, and the Emperor in 
 particular, kept the power to give or withhold from a newly 
 made bishop the " temporalities " (i.e., the feudal powers and 
 territorial wealth of a bishopric), just so long would they retain 
 a firm grip on the act'ial appointment of the bishops and fill 
 the great positions of the Church with unspiritual politicians. ^ 
 On the other hand, with the bishops holding about the same 
 secular powers as the feudal princes, and with a large fraction 
 of the whole realm actually under their control, the naming of 
 them was a very vital matter to the Emperor. A great conflict 
 was absolutely certain. 
 
 Gregory began by treating Henry IV with moderation, but 
 in 1075, he issued a decree from Rome forbidding any lay ruler 
 to presume to invest a bishop, and forbidding any churchman 
 to accept " lay investiture." The blow was very clearly aimed 
 at Henry, who was not minded to give up the long-standing 
 usage of the Crown touching this most valuable kind of patron- 
 age. After a little correspondence, both parties drifted to open 
 war. The many prelates who dreaded a reform of the Church 
 egged Henry on to defy Gregory to do his worst, and to order 
 " Hildebrand " to " quit the Papacy which he had usurped." 
 Gregory's answer was a sentence of anathema and excom- 
 munication. Speaking as the Vicar of Christ, set above all 
 
 ^ Theoretically the bishop would be chosen "by the clergy and people" of 
 his diocese. Practically these would never elect a man unless the prince was sure 
 to confirm him, otherwise he would never receive an essential part of his temporal 
 property and power. The result would be that the prince really named the new 
 bishop. 
 
THE POPES AND THE EMPERORS 157 
 
 kings and emperors, Gregory '' prohibited Henry from ruling 
 in Germany and Italy," and " released all Christian men from 
 the obligation of their oaths to him." " I forbid all men to 
 serve him as king, ^ and I bind him with the bonds of the 
 anathema." 
 
 Almost instantly at these dread thunders Henry's cowardly 
 adherents in the Church fell away, while the Saxons rose 
 against him. He was declared suspended from his kingly 
 functions, and it was proposed to hold a council in Germany to 
 try him for his crimes, with the Pope as actual president of the 
 council. 
 
 To escape this certain doom Henry hastened almost unat- 
 tended over the Alps in midwinter, and presented himself 
 before Gregory at Canossa, an Itahan castle where the Pope 
 was halting on his way north. Three days in biting winter 
 weather the man who claimed to inherit the power of Augustus 
 and of Charlemagne waited barefoot in the snow entreating 
 "' entrance " and " absolution " from the stern-visaged Pope. 
 At last Gregory yielded, though misdoubting the king's loud 
 professions of penitence. Henry was admitted and after mani- 
 fold pledges absolved. 
 
 Thus " Caesar " literally prostrated himself before " Peter " 
 — the humbly born monk of Saona : a proclamation to all the 
 world of the victory of the spiritual over the temporal power! 
 It was the greatest moment of outward triumph ever enjoyed 
 by any Pope, and in some ways the most typical and significant 
 scene in the entire Middle Ages. 
 
 83. The end of the investiture contest. The glory for the 
 hour was with Gregory, but not the entire advantage. He had 
 humiliated Henry too much, and laid himself open to the 
 charge of un-Christian pride. There was a reaction of public 
 opinion in Germany in the king's favor. He was able to 
 
 ^ Henry IV had not yet been crowned in Rome, and so was technically only 
 "king" and not "emperor"; his actual power, however, was practically the same. 
 
158 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 reassemble armies and defy again both his rebel nobles and the 
 Pope. Gregory's second anathema did not wither Henry's 
 power as did the first. The king beat down the Saxon malcon- 
 tents, and in 1081 again went into Italy — this time with an 
 army. He besieged Gregory in Rome and actually captured 
 the greater part of the city, and had himself crowned " Em- 
 peror " by an anti-Pope of his own creation. He was obliged 
 soon to retire northward, but Gregory's position in Rome had 
 become untenable and he was forced to take refuge with his 
 South Italian ally, the Prince of Naples. 
 
 In 1085, the great Pope passed away at Salerno. Almost at 
 the end he renewed the ban upon Henry. Proud and defiant 
 were his final words: " I have loved righteousness and hated 
 iniquity: therefore, I die in exile." He had for the moment 
 failed in his attempt to set the Pope as an arbiter over kings, 
 but it was a magnificent failure. 
 
 In 1 106, Henry IV died, banned by the Church and at war 
 with his own son. In 11 22, this son (Henry V) ended the 
 " investiture conflict " by a treaty (Concordat of Worms) 
 with the Pope. Both parties were weary of the contest and 
 glad of a compromise. The Emperor was to cease to " invest " 
 bishops, but still retained some control upon their choosing, so 
 that he could hamper the election of downright enemies. 
 
 84. St. Bernard of Clairvaux. Gregory VII had been prema- 
 ture in trying so abruptly to make the Pope and the Church 
 dominators over the feudal princes, but his example had been 
 notable and not in vain. Never was the Church stronger than 
 in the twelfth century. The crusades, indeed, redounded greatly 
 to the glory of the Papacy, but from about 1 1 20 to his death 
 (11 53), the most influential man in Christendom was not the 
 Pope, but a great Abbot, — St. Bernard of Clairvaux, — a 
 French monk of remarkable piety, spirituaHty, and withal 
 worldly wisdom. His moral leadership was such that he was 
 practically able to 'decide between rival candidates to the 
 
THE POPES AND THE EMPERORS 
 
 159 
 
 Papacy, to give good advice (gratefully received) to the Popes 
 themselves, to control the councils of kings, and to set in mo- 
 tion by his eloquence the Second Crusade.^ This " mellifluous 
 doctor " was really the first man of his age: a wonderful testi- 
 mony to the manner in which the moral ideals upheld by the 
 mediaeval Church were able to dominate a society just emerg- 
 ing from feudal violence. 
 
 85. Frederick I (Barbarossa) — (1152-90). After the end of 
 the investiture struggle, the 
 Emperors are for some time 
 unimportant. They were 
 really only elective feudal 
 kings of Germany, with a 
 very weak hold upon their 
 subjects there, and a still 
 weaker hold upon Italy — 
 although in theory they were 
 still " Cssars," " Lords of 
 all the World ": but the 
 Middle Ages were accustomed 
 to rulers of mighty claims 
 and very limited power. In 
 1 152, however, the German 
 princes elected a man of 
 a bolder stamp, Frederick 
 Barbarossa (" Red-Beard ' ') , 
 who made a decisive bid 
 for all the old authority of Charlemagne and of the Ottos. 
 
 The new ruler was of the famous Hohenstaufen (South 
 German) family — " the most gifted race which ever reigned 
 in Germany." He was a man of soaring ambition, of truly 
 
 * See p. 102. Besides being a prolific theological writer and carrying on a vast 
 correspondence, Bernard was the author of many beautiful hymns. His Jesu, 
 Dulcis Meiiioria'i" Jesus, the very thought of thee," etc.) is sung to-day in many 
 churches, Protestant and Catholic. 
 
 THE CASTLE OF FREDERICK 
 
 BARBAROSSA 
 
 At Kaiserswerth on the Rhine. {Restoration 
 
 after Jdger.) 
 
i6o HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 noble physical presence, and able to command enthusiasm, 
 sometimes cruel, yet magnanimous and never petty.' His 
 reign is the story of many attempts, sometimes nearly successful, 
 to rivet his power especially upon northern Italy. Once he 
 actually destroyed the great city of Milan (1162), and seemed 
 to have all the rich city-republics of Lombardy at his feet. 
 But the Italian free towns loathed the domination of the 
 hated " Northerners " from Germany; while the Papacy 
 trembled at Frederick's growing power, and made common 
 cause with the " Lombard League "- against him. In Germany, 
 the great duke of united Saxony and Bavaria, Henry the Lion, 
 also undermined his power. At Legnano (1176), the Lombard 
 cities routed Frederick's amiy, and he was forced to grant them 
 their independence in all but namc.^ His power was not ruined, 
 however. In Germany, he humiliated Henry the Lion and 
 restored his own authority; in southern Italy, he married his 
 son (Henry VI) to the heiress of the Kingdom of Naples and 
 Sicily. Everything was ripe for a new attack on Italy when the 
 Emperor felt constrained to depart upon the Third Crusade, 
 in which he ]^crishcd. 
 
 86. Innocent III (1198-1216) arbiter over kings. Frederick 
 Barbarossa had almost restored the Empire to its state of 
 domination over the Church even as before the days of 
 Gregory VH, but now Heaven again glorified the Papacy. 
 Frederick's very capable son, Henry VI, soon died, during an 
 attempt to seize his wife's inheritance in Sicily.'' His death 
 
 ' Probably Frederick Barbarossa fills the imagination more completely with 
 all that is implied by the term "mediaeval emperor " than any other ruler except 
 Charlemagne. 
 
 ^ A federation of North Italian city-states for mutual protection. By its 
 united efforts Milan was rebuilt in 1167 as a necessar\' bulwark against the 
 Emperor. 
 
 ^ The Emperor retained some unsubstantial rights of confirming their mag- 
 istrates. 
 
 * It was vastly for the Emperor's advantage (and the Pope's disadvantage) 
 to secure Sicily and southern Italy (then united in one kingdom). The Imperial- 
 ists could then threaten Konie from both north and south. 
 
THE POPES AND THE EMPERORS i6i 
 
 delivered Germany over to a ruinous civil war between rival 
 kings and gave to a great Pope his opportunity. Innocent III 
 was not, perhaps, the ablest Pope who ever reigned, but he 
 made high-minded and statesmanlike use of his office to exalt 
 every papal pretension. Using with full effect the awful 
 weapon of excommunication and anathema, he in turn 
 humiliated the Kings of England and France and forced them 
 to bow to his dem.ands, asserted the rights of decision and lead- 
 ership in almost every great question of the day, and claimed the 
 power to arbitrate between the contending rivals in Germany. 
 Boldly he announced his theory, — " God has instituted two 
 high dignities: the Papacy which rules over the souls of men; 
 the Monarchy which rules over their ^0(//t'5. But . . . as the 
 moon receives its hght from the sun, so does the royal power 
 derive all its glory and dignity from the papal power. ' ' 
 - In I2I2, the Emperor, Otto IV, ceased to be on friendly 
 terms with Innocent, who thereupon showed that his claims 
 were not mere theories, by giving his blessing and authoriza- 
 tion to the claims of young Frederick II (son of the late 
 Henry VI). ^ Frederick crossed the Alps from Italy, and aided 
 by the mighty influence of the Church soon ruined his enemy's 
 power. 2 Otto died in 1 218, with only a few faithful castles still 
 left to him. Innocent had passed away two years earlier. No 
 personage since the days of Charlemagne had exercised such 
 power as did he. What Gregory VII had attempted seemed 
 now almost to be fulfilled. 
 
 87. Frederick II (1212-50), the " wonder of the world.'' 
 Could Innocent III have read the future he would not have 
 died happy. Young Frederick II proved to be a deadly foe to 
 the Papacy, and one of the succeeding Popes was of phable 
 stuff. Frederick himself was a man of remarkable capacity and 
 
 1 Otto had been recognized by all Germany, since 1208 (the date of the death 
 of the rival claimant, Philip of Swabia). Young Frederick II had been growing 
 up meanwhile in Sicily, the kingdom he inherited through his mother. 
 
 ^ For an account of the battle of Bouvines, which helped ruin Otto, see p. 89. 
 
1 62 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 versatility; he had been bred in half-Oriental Sicily, and never 
 felt at home in his cold reahns of the North, which he must 
 from time to time visit. He was a troubadour of no mean abil- 
 ity. He loved to converse with misbeheving Arabian men of 
 science and letters. He spoke many tongues. His religious 
 views were liberal and extremely unorthodox. ^ His private 
 morals were lax; his court was gay, luxurious, and wicked; he 
 preferred an armed force of Saracen mercenaries to the regular 
 feudal armies;'- his governmental methods were those of an 
 enhghtened, clever, but extremely arbitrary and cruel, despot. 
 The " wonder of the world " his admiring courtiers called him: 
 the "first modern man" some later historians have named 
 him; — in any case, it is certain that both in his virtues and in 
 his vices he was born entirely ahead of his age. 
 
 Relatively little of Frederick's life was spent in Germany, 
 where he let the feudal princes do much as they would, while 
 he concentrated his main efforts on Italy. From 1227 to 1250, 
 his reign was one desperate contest with the Popes, broken 
 only by intermittent truces. It was no one question that was 
 at stake, but the whole issue, whether any secular sovereign 
 could become so powerful in Italy as to be able to keep the 
 Papacy hopelessly in leading-strings. In open warfare and less 
 bloody intrigue, Frederick was for long victorious, but like his 
 grandfather (Frederick I) he goaded the Lombard cities into 
 revolt, and their hostihty finally made victory inchne to the 
 Papacy. In 1 245, the Council of Lyons put him under the most 
 complete outlawry of the Church. In 1250, still contending 
 desperately iii arms, the Emperor died, " taking," so his 
 delighted foes proclaimed, " nothing with him to hell but his 
 
 1 It was currently reported among his horror-stricken enemies that he said 
 there had been three capital deceivers — Moses, Mohammed, and Christ. This 
 did not prevent him from trying to conciliate the Church by exceedingly severe 
 laws for the punishment of heretics. 
 
 " His preference for the Saracens, no doubt, was because they surely would not 
 be "loosed from their allegiance" by the papal ban, under which Frederick rested 
 for much of his Ufe! 
 
THE POPES AND THE EMPERORS 
 
 163 
 
 sins." With him practically ended the " great " period of the 
 medigeval Empire, and its bid for world sovereignty. 
 
 88. The triumph of the Church. Frederick II's last legiti- 
 mate son died in 1254. In 1268, Conradin, his young grandson, 
 perished in a vain attempt to seize his ancestor's kingdom in 
 Sicily; and no male representative of " the accursed and 
 heretical spawn of the Hohenstauien " was left to menace the 
 Papacy. A French dynasty had (at the papal invitation) 
 already seized southern Italy and Sicily. In Gemiany, civil 
 war raged between pre- 
 tenders to the crown. Not 
 for many years was the 
 Papacy really to fear an 
 " Emperor " who could 
 abridge its powers and free- 
 dom of action. In truth, a 
 great page of human his- 
 tory had been closed. The 
 dream of a universal em- 
 pire founded upon the 
 elective feudal kingship in 
 Germany had ended in 
 sheer disaster. When the 
 GeiTnanic kings ought to 
 have been strengthening 
 their power at home, they 
 had been chasing the impe- 
 rial will-o'-the-wisp in Italy. 
 Their attempt had been broken upon the resistance of the 
 Papacy and the hatred of Itahans for German domination. 
 The failure left Germany still a dissevered feudal country, 
 with its " Emperor " only the pretentious head of a weak con- 
 federation of princes: while in Italy there was even greater 
 disunion without any common monarch at all. 
 
 POPE CLEMENT IV (1265-126S) 
 Endowing Charles of Anjou. by a papal 
 bull, with the crown of the Two Sicilies. {From 
 a fresco at Femes ( Vaucluse), France) 
 
i64 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 The Papacy seemed for the moment triumphant. As a 
 matter of fact, while it had been beating down the Germans, a 
 new power had been rising to prominence — France; and before 
 the swelling power of the French monarchy, the Popes were 
 soon to learn how groundless were their hopes of becoming 
 secular dominators of the world with its kings their obedient 
 deputies. 
 
 89. St. Francis and his friars. The clang and clash of the 
 wars of the Popes and the Emperors fills much of the thirteenth 
 century, but it was by no means an age of naught but struggle 
 and confusion. In the reign of the great Innocent III himself 
 began a new phase of the old monastic movement which soon 
 put its impress upon almost the whole intellectual and spiritual 
 Hfe of Europe. In 1182, was born at Assisi (in Umbria, in 
 Italy) St. Francis, one of the most beautiful and refreshing 
 characters in all history. Before he died in 1226, he had 
 founded the " Franciscan Order of Friars," which is a great 
 force in the Catholic Church unto this day. 
 
 St. Francis was an enthusiast, but an enthusiast able to 
 make men love him, follow him, submit to him. He began as 
 a young man by giving up his hopes for a martial career and 
 becoming a religious hermit; but not, however, as a selfish 
 recluse who in his secluded cell " fled the world," and sought 
 merely for his own salvation. St. Francis declared that all 
 men, even the vilest, were his brothers; and he often spent his 
 days in pauper hospitals and in caring for lepers. He took 
 the Bible injunctions against riches literally. He and his fol- 
 lowers slept in haystacks or lepers' hovels, and repudiated 
 every kind of property save only the most necessary garments; 
 while "Holy Poverty " he declared to be "his bride." His 
 great effort was not only to preach morality, but so to exemplify 
 in his own life the spirit of Christ as to carry the Gospel 
 throughout the sinful world. " To preach the Gospel and to 
 bear Christ's cross " was the real summing-up of his rules for 
 
THE POPES AND THE EMPERORS 165 
 
 his brethren ; and in all his efforts he displayed a serene cheer- 
 fulness, a childlike trust in God and love for his fellow men 
 which make men of a far later age dwell on his career with 
 admiring delight. 
 
 Innocent III at first looked askance at the proposition to 
 sanction this new movement. The Church seemed to have 
 already too many orders of monks: but Francis was tremen- 
 dously in earnest with his petition for a papal confirmation,^ 
 and Innocent was statesman enough to see the value of such 
 enthusiasm placed at the disposal of the Church. The con- 
 firmation was granted. Instantly Francis's brotherhood grew 
 by leaps and bounds. Before he died his " friars " (brothers)^ 
 were active in every Christian land. 
 
 Francis himself was too impractical really to systematize 
 the great movement which he had started. Much to his dis- 
 tress the " Franciscans " had to be organized, under a " gen- 
 eral," with lesser officers. The rules he estabhshed enjoining 
 absolute poverty were so austere that they had to be some- 
 what relaxed.^ A man who spoke of the sun and moon as his 
 personal " brother " and " sister," and who Hterally delivered 
 eloquent sermons to " our sisters the birds," was surely not an 
 adept in worldly wisdom! Nevertheless, the influence of his 
 example was tremendous. The beauty and unselfishness of his 
 fife made him the greatest saint of the Middle Ages, and it was 
 long before his followers lost the glow of his spirituaHty. 
 
 Almost simultaneously with Francis, the Spaniard Dominic 
 (1170-1221) was founding the Dominican order of friars, a 
 
 ' The tale runs that Innocent said to Francis, "Go, brother: go roll in the mud 
 with the pigs, and to them set forth the doctrines you have so admirably ex- 
 pounded"; and speedily Francis returned, saying, "My lord — I have done so." 
 
 ^ The original name for the Franciscans was the "little brethren"; i.e., 
 Francis did not consider them worthy to be ranked beside the "Great" (ordin- 
 ary) monks of the older orders. 
 
 ' Thus the Franciscans obtained the possession of convents by- some such 
 device as letting the Pope own the convent, while the friars had merely the use 
 of it. Later the Popes refused to act as trustees for the order, and the Franciscans 
 were obliged to strain their rules and actually own their monasteries. 
 
1 66 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 less sympathetic but an almost equally powerful order, on 
 much the same lines as those of Francis, only laying less stress 
 on poverty, and more on theological learning and on formal 
 pulpit eloquence, in order to combat the heresies of the day. 
 
 It is impossible to overestimate the influence of this friar 
 movement: ^ a large fraction of the best intellects of the later 
 Middle Ages found its way into one or the other of these new 
 orders. Between them they vastly purified the Church, and 
 perhaps long postponed the Protestant Reformation. 
 
 REVIEW 
 
 1. Topics — Simony; Lay Investiture; "Freedom of the Church"; 
 Cluny; Henry IV; Gregory \'II; "Temporalities"; Excommunication; 
 Canossa; Concordat of Worms; Bernard of Clairvaux; Frederick 
 Barbarossa; Lombard League; Legnano; Henry the Lion; Innocent 
 III; Frederick II; Conradin; St. Francis; St. Dominic; Mendicant 
 Orders. 
 
 2. Geography — 
 
 {a) Locate Canossa; Clairvaux; Milan; Assisi. 
 {b) ALark the towns of the Lombard League, 
 (c) Mark the bounds of the Empire under the Hohenstaufen 
 Emperors. 
 
 3. The relations of Empire and Church at the death of Henry III. 
 
 4. What were the objects of the Cluny Reform? 
 
 5. Why did Hildebrand have such enormous influence before he became 
 Pope? 
 
 6. What were the aims and ideals of the mediicval Emperors as com- 
 pared with the mediaeval Popes? Why were these amis and ideals 
 wholly incompatible? 
 
 7. What were the causes of the "Investiture Contiict"? 
 
 8. What was the significance of the event at Canossa? 
 
 g. Why was it that "Gregory's second anathema did not wither Hemy's 
 power as did the first "? 
 
 10. Why did St. Bernard have more influence than any of the Popes of his 
 time? 
 
 11. Summarize the leasons for Frederick I's failure to "rivet his power" 
 upon Italy. 
 
 ^ The friars' orders are often called the mendicant orders, because Francis and 
 Dominic allowed their followers to go about begging from the charitable for their 
 own sustenance and in behalf of the poor. 
 
THE POPES AND THE EMPERORS 167 
 
 12. The power and influence of Innocent III. 
 
 13. The character of Frederick II. How do you explain it? 
 
 14. The character of St. Francis. 
 
 15. What was the importance of the work of the friars? 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 1. The Cluny Program. 
 
 2. The College of Cardinals. 
 
 3. Hildebrand's work before he became Pope. 
 
 4. The event at Canossa. 
 
 5. Compare the Concordat of Worms with the agreement between 
 Henry I of England and Anselm. 
 
 6. Is it likely that St. Bernard would have retained his great influence 
 if he had been chosen Pope? Why? 
 
 7. Compare Innocent HI with Gregory VII. Which was more success- 
 ful? Why? 
 
 8. Frederick II. His reforms in Sicily. 
 
 9. Was it possible for Emperor and Pope to be on friendly terms? Com- 
 pare their relations with the relations between the Kings of France and 
 of England during the period when England held lands in France. 
 
 10. The "Rule" of St. Francis. 
 
 11. How did friars differ from monks? 
 
 12. The Albigensians. 
 
 READINGS 
 
 SoiDxes. Ogg: chapters xv, xvi, xx, section 58; xxii, xxiv, sections 71- 
 
 72. Robinson: nos. 107-22, 146-56. 
 Modern Accounts. Bemont and Monod: pp. 286-335, 47Q~87. 488-514. 
 
 Seignobos: pp. 97-109, 160-63. Emerton: chapters vii-x. Pattison: 
 
 pp. 58-86, 114-43. Lewis: pp. 161-234. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 THE HUNDRED YEARS WAR 
 
 go. The causes and contestants. At the beginning of the 
 fourteenth century both England and France had become in 
 a way true " nations," not merely " feudal kingdoms." As 
 near neighbors, each filled with enterprising peoples and ruled 
 by ambitious kings, frequent collisions (under mediaeval con- 
 ditions) were inevitable; especially as the English still held 
 
 considerable terri- 
 tory in southern 
 France. A dis- 
 puted succession in 
 France, however, 
 in which England 
 was interested, now 
 gave especial ani- 
 mus to the rivalry.-' 
 From 1338 to 1453, 
 England and France 
 were at war or 
 merely in a state 
 of armed truce. 
 This " Hundred Years' War"- — long, bloody, and devastat- 
 ing — threatened once or twice to reduce France to a mere 
 dependency of England. In the end, the Enghsh attack failed, 
 
 1 There were plenty of reasons why a general collision was unavoidable. The 
 French wished to expel the English from Gascony, and were helping the Scots, 
 the enemies of England. They were also interfering in the important English 
 wool trade with Flanders. 
 
 2 Of course, it really lasted more than one hundred years. On the other hand, 
 fortunately, the warfare was by no means continuous. 
 
 ENGLISH KNIGHTS AND A FRENCH MAN-.^T-ARMS 
 The fisure to the left wears civilian costume 
 
THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR 169 
 
 but only after France had undergone a terrible ordeal while 
 trying to save her national existence. It was one of the most 
 useless great wars in all history. 
 
 The immediate excuse for the war was the claim which 
 Edward III of England asserted to the crown of France in the 
 name of his mother Isabella, daughter of the French King 
 Philip IV. According to the pretended "Salic law,"^ women 
 were excluded from the French throne; but did the prohibition 
 also exclude their male heirs? If so, Philip of Valois (a French 
 prince by a side-line) had the better claim when the direct 
 Capetian line died out (1328). If not, then Edward's preten- 
 sions were at least plausible. The law was not clear, and prece- 
 dents were few. Edward could well persuade himself that he 
 ought to reign in Paris as well as in London. 
 
 In this contest France seemed by far the larger and richer 
 country, but her opponents were more united and decidedly 
 better disciplined. Above all, in the actual fighting the English 
 made use of a special type of soldier — the yeoman archer. 
 The terrible English longbow with its " clothyard arrow," had 
 only recently been developed in all its possibilities. The trained 
 archers could accomplish therewith marvels in the way of ac- 
 curacy and penetration.- These men (recruited from the hith- 
 erto despised peasant class) had the mounted mail-clad knight 
 — who was still the pride and stay of the French armies — 
 
 1 The name arose from the alleged derivation of the law from the old Salian 
 Franks. It was really a law of exceedingly doubtful validity and application, 
 but there were many practical reasons for objecting to the rule of a woman in a 
 turbulent mediaeval kingdom. Probably, if Edward had been a Frenchman, his 
 case would have been more favorably considered at the outset; but the French 
 nobles had just reasons for objecting to have a foreign-born king come to rule 
 over them. 
 
 ^ The yew bow was about six feet long, and so powerful that it required a 
 careful training as well as considerable strength to be able to bend it. Such a 
 weapon had almost the range of an old-style musket, and could penetrate all but 
 the best armor. If the latter was "proof," the archer could at least aim with 
 deadly precision at the eye-holes in his opponent's helmet. Scott gives an admir- 
 able idea of the capabilities of the English bowmen in his Ivanhoc. 
 
I70 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 almost at their mercy. Destroying the monopoly of martial 
 prowess hitherto held by the feudal nobility was a distinct step 
 toward the coming of general democracy. 
 
 91. The Crecy campaign (1346). Edward III became King 
 of England in 1327 and saw his rival PhiHp (of Valois) accepted 
 
 as sovereign of France 
 in 1328. He was then 
 too young and too much 
 involved in home trou- 
 bles to assert his own 
 claims, and in fact ac- 
 tually did homage to 
 Philip for his South 
 French lands; but in 
 1339, he was able to con- 
 duct an invasion of 
 France. Edward's first 
 campaigns were unskill- 
 ful and led to little, but 
 he presently developed 
 into an accomplished 
 warrior. In 1346, he led 
 an army across the north 
 of France, ravaging up 
 to the walls of Paris. 
 Such a defiance Philip 
 VI (a brave, showy, but 
 not very capable prince) 
 could not tolerate. He 
 called out all the magnificent feudal chivalry of the land, and 
 started after Edward as he marched northward. At Cre'cy in 
 Picardy, the two armies met, and with headlong valor the 
 French knights strove to ride down the serried fines of English 
 archers, stiffened by thin companies of dismounted men-at-arms. 
 
 HORSEMAN IN FULL ARMOR 
 Period of the Hundred "i'ears' War. Note that 
 delicate plate-mail has now replaced the earlier ring- 
 mail. This was the highest development of the arm- 
 orers' art, which reached its perfection just before 
 the coming of gunpowder. (From a restoration in 
 the Miisee d'Artillerie, Paris) 
 
THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR 
 
 171 
 
 The slaughter wrought by the long bows was horrible. The 
 French fell in heaps, shot down usually before they could even 
 strike their lances against the terrible bowmen. Twelve hun- 
 dred knights, thirty thousand rank and file of the attackers, are 
 said to have perished, ere the remnant of Philip's army drifted 
 away in rout. Edward pursued his march to the seaboard, and 
 
 FRANCE DURING THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR 
 
 after a long siege took Calais (1347) — an important port oppo- 
 site England. He held now a door into France, a convenient 
 base for any subsequent attack toward Normandy and Paris. ^ 
 
 ' Calais remained in English hands until 1558. During the entire interval it 
 was a thorn in the side of the French. 
 
172 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 92. Poitiers and the Treaty of Bretigny. Further campaign- 
 ing was suspended for the time being by the direful " Black 
 Death," a pestilence from the Orient which now swept over 
 Europe (1348) and smote victor and vanquished alike. One 
 third of the whole population of Europe is alleged to have died, 
 and in some districts probably more than half of all the inhab- 
 itants. Such a visitation, of course, disorganized alike warfare 
 and peaceful commerce and agriculture.^ Yet in a short time 
 the contest was renewed. The English kings had always kept 
 a part of the old Angevin dominions in Guienne. Now the 
 " Black Prince," the capable son of Edward III,- conducted 
 a ravaging campaign from the southward, working into the 
 very heart of France. Philip VI had been succeeded by his son 
 John (1350-64), a king with little to commend him save head- 
 long valor. At Poitiers (1356), John confronted the Black 
 Prince with a greatly superior army, but threw away all his 
 advantages by a series of utterly blundering frontal attacks. 
 Again the bowmen shot with terrible advantage. When the 
 day ended, eleven thousand French lay on the field, and the 
 English held several thousand prisoners, including King John 
 himself. 
 
 Edward had now become convinced that he could hardly 
 conquer the whole of France, but after several years' captivity, 
 John in turn was glad to purchase peace by the Treaty of 
 Bretigny (1360). He kept his crown, indeed, but had to pay 
 an enormous ransom and to cede to England a great block of 
 territory south of the Loire. When he died, his kingdom was 
 thus dismembered, and the remnant of it was oppressed by 
 taxation, and rent ])y the wars of the lawless nobles, who were 
 vexing the country even more than the English. 
 
 93. Charles V (1364-80) and the first expulsion of the Eng- 
 
 1 See chapter xvi, p. loo. 
 
 - His real name was Edward, but he was named the "Black Prince" from the 
 armor which he usually wore. He was above the average of mediteval warrior* 
 in really soldierly qualities. 
 
THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR 173 
 
 lish. John's successor was his son Charles V, surnamed the 
 " Wise," or, perhaps more happily, the " Adroit." There was 
 nothing heroic about Charles, but much craft, tenacity, and 
 ingenuity. He was able to see clearly the cause of the French 
 disasters : — the French cavalry could not ride down the 
 English archers. As soon as he dared (1369), he repudiated the 
 recent treaty, and defied the EngUsh to their worst. Tbjir 
 armies again harried the land, but now the French refused 
 them pitched battles, cut oft' supplies, and forced them to 
 waste their strength in long sieges. In Bertrand Duguesclin, 
 Charles found a general of no mean ability who wearied the 
 English out. The Black Prince retired to England to die of 
 disease (1376), and practically all his conquests were lost. 
 The English held only Calais in the north, and Bordeaux and 
 Bayonne in the' south. Charles was even more successful as a 
 CLvil administrator. He reformed the machinery of govern- 
 ment, and gave back to his subjects law and order, with the 
 accompanying prosperity. Everything promised a most glori- 
 ous reign when the king died at the age of only forty-three 
 (1380). His eldest son was only twelve, and an evil day had 
 dawned for France. 
 
 94. The second coming of the English: Agincourt (1415). 
 Civil strife in England for long put a check on new projects of 
 invasion, but the reign of Charles VI (1380-1422) was not one 
 of peace for miserable France. The king soon proved himself 
 an imbecile.^ Two great court parties, the " Armagnacs " (or 
 Orleanists, to which the dauphin or crown prince belonged) 
 and the " Burgundians " (faction of the Duke of Burgundy), 
 waged a bitter war of open battle and secret assassination for 
 the control of the king and the kingdom. The state of the 
 realm went from bad to worse, and in 141 5, Henry V of Eng- 
 
 1 To the misfortune of his people Charles did not become actually insane, — 
 he had lucid intervals, — and as a result he could not be put under guardians 
 and a regular regent appointed. Instead, the poor king was the helpless tool, 
 now of one faction, now of another, to the great ruin of the country. 
 
174 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 land (the wild "Prince Hal," famed by Shakespeare), a bold, 
 chivalrous, and very ambitious sovereign, renewed the foreign 
 war. Somewhat in way of repetition of the Crecy campaign, 
 he invaded France from the north and swept ravaging through 
 Normandy. The " Armagnac " princes (then in control of the 
 government) attacked him at Agincourt with a magnificent 
 
 
 
 t 
 
 ATTACK AND DEFENSE OF A CITY IN THE 
 FIFTEENTH CENTURY 
 Note the very primitive cannon just before the gate. (From a tnanu- 
 script of Froissart's Chronicles, in the Bibliotlicquc Nalionah') 
 
 army of the old-style feudal horsemen. Sixty thousand Frenc?i 
 assailed twelve thousand English, but the clothyard shafts of 
 the bowmen had lost nothing of their terrors, and Henry fought 
 his men with superb generalship. Three French dukes, six 
 counts, ninety-two barons, five hundred lesser nobles, and eight 
 thousand of the rank and file lay on the field of battle. The 
 English took so many prisoners that they could hardly guard 
 them. The resisting power of France seemed utterly crippled. 
 
THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR 175 
 
 This disaster put the " Burgundian " faction in control of 
 the feeble-minded king and the royal government. In 141 9, 
 the Duke of Burgundy, however, was murdered under circum- 
 stances of foul treachery by the "Armagnacs." The crime 
 drove the " Burgundians " into the arms of England. By the 
 Treaty of Troyes (1420), poor Charles \T was made to accept 
 Henry V as his son-in-law and to promise him his kingdom 
 upon his own death. The English occupied Paris and nearly 
 all the north of the kingdom. Charles's own son, the dauphin, 
 was declared barred from the succession to the throne of his 
 fathers. 1 France seemed on the very point of becoming an 
 English dependency, when in 1422, Henry V and Charles VI 
 both died, almost simultaneously. The claimant aUke to 
 England and France was now the former's son, Henry VI (of 
 England), an infant of barely nine months. 
 
 95. Jeanne (TArc (1429-31). The former " dauphin " was 
 now, to really loyal Frenchmen, " King" Charles VII (1422- 
 61), but he had little power in the realm north of the Loire. 
 The English were in Paris and firmly intrenched in all the 
 northern districts. On the eastern side the great Duke of 
 Burgundy (Philip, son of the murdered Duke John) was their 
 ally. The infant Henry VI was proclaimed as king in nearly 
 half of France, and his uncle and regent, the Duke of Bedford, 
 was a skillful and active warrior. As for the dauphin,- " a 
 lazy, kindly, good-looking prince," he seemed incapable of 
 honest or strenuous exertion. His court was the scene of selfish 
 factions. His captains were ill-supported and worse directed. 
 His remnants of power seemed crumbhng. Yet only a Httle 
 was needed to kindle France into desperate resistance. The 
 English were hated. Even the Burgundians disliked their 
 
 1 The dauphin had been personally involved in the murder of John, Duke oi 
 Burgundy, and this made the entire "Burgundian" faction willing to prefer an 
 Englishman, rather than him, as king. 
 
 ^ So he was still called by many even of his loyal subjects, never having been 
 crowned and consecrated at Rheims — the religious capital of France. 
 
176 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 allies. The English soldiery were valorous, but by no meam 
 
 numerous enough to conquer and hold a bitterly hostile land. 
 
 What France needed was an inspiration and a leader. Both 
 
 were supplied in one of the most remarkable characters in 
 
 history — Jeanne d'Arc. 
 Jeanne d'Arc, " the Maid " {la Pucellc), as the French have 
 
 fondly called her, was a 
 humble peasant girl of the 
 village of Domremy, in 
 Champagne. Beginning in 
 1423, she began (she as- 
 serted) to have visions of 
 angels, with a message 
 which became increasingly 
 definite. " Jeanne," spoke 
 an archangel, '' go deliver 
 the King of France, and 
 restore him to his king- 
 dom." — " Ah! my Lord, 
 I am only a poor girl : how 
 can I lead men-at-arms! " 
 — " St. Catherine and St. 
 Margaret will aid you." 
 For six years the \dsions 
 continued. At length she 
 convinced her kindred and 
 the local commandant of 
 her divine mission. She cut 
 off her long hair, put on 
 male garments, and with a 
 
 small escort set off across France to Chinon, the castle of 
 
 Charles. ' 
 
 What followed reads like romance, but is perfectly authentic 
 
 history. Already the war was at a crisis — the English were 
 
 STATUE OF JEANNE D'ARC 
 Place des Pyramides, Paris 
 
THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR 
 
 177 
 
 besieging Orleans, one of the main props of what remained 
 of the kingdom. Jeanne convinced the doubtful king and the 
 scoffing courtiers that she came with a divine mission. ^ An 
 army was put at her disposal. With a military skill which 
 added to the enthusiasm she inspired in the soldiers by her 
 nobihty of character and her modest simplicity, she forced her 
 
 SIEGE OF A CITY IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY 
 Note the large shields, the scaling-ladders, and the crossbows. 
 (From a manuscript of Froissart's Chronicles, in the Bibliotheque 
 
 Nationale) 
 
 way into Orleans, then by a successful sortie drove the English 
 
 from their lines. Orleans was saved: the tide had turned in 
 
 favor of France ; and Jeanne followed up her astonishing success 
 
 by conducting Charles VII through the heart of the enemy's 
 
 country to Rheims, where, amid "pomp and circumstance," he 
 
 was crowned king in the great cathedral. 
 
 ^ Modern worldly wisdom would have declared her "the victim of hallucina- 
 tions." Jeanne's contemporaries asked (in this case more wisely), "Is she inspired 
 by God or the Devil?" — and, determining it was "by God," followed her. 
 
1 78 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 So far her career had been one of unparalleled success, but 
 the French courtiers had become shamefully jealous of her. 
 In her further attempts upon the English she was ill-supported. 
 In 1430, she was captured at Compiegne. The EngUsh had 
 already denounced her as a witch; now subser\dent churchmen 
 caused her to be tried in the Inquisition. One of the foulest 
 scenes in human annals w^as when the Bishop of Beauvais, 
 with every kind of argument and plain threats of the rack, 
 tried to wring from this pure girl confessions of personal 
 iniquity and of deahngs with the Devil. The end was inevit- 
 able. Despite all threatenings, Jeanne made only very unsatis- 
 factory " confession." In 143 1, she was burned at the stake in 
 Rouen. She met her end with such noble heroism and reU- 
 gious stedfastness that her tormentors trembled. " We are 
 lost! " cried an English witness; '' we have burned a saint." ^ 
 
 Charles VII, who had used her services, and who almost 
 owed his crown to her, did nothing in her behalf. Probably he 
 was glad to be rid of such irregular aid. On him, more than on 
 Jie justly terrified English, must fall the anathemas of history.- 
 
 96. The end of the war (1453). But Jeanne's work was 
 almost done. England was lapsing again into internal strife, 
 and could not keep up her forces in France. Duke Philip of 
 Burgundy was weary of alliance with the alien, and in 1435 he 
 concluded (in return for heavy concessions) a treaty with 
 Charles VII, whereby his great influence was transferred again 
 to the French side. After that, what with the new lighting 
 spirit enkindled by Jeanne, the English were hopelessly on 
 the defensive. In 1436, they lost Paris, then little by httle 
 their other holdings until, in 1449, Rouen, their Norman 
 
 ^ As soon as the war was decided in favor of the Frencli, the Church trial of 
 Jeanne was set aside by the Roman authorities as utterly illegal and void. Quite 
 recently, she has been declared one of the "Blessed" by the Catholic Church. 
 
 2 Charles could readily have saved her. In his custody were various noble 
 Englishmen. The mere threat that their fate would be the same as Jeanne's 
 would have sufficed. 
 
THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR 179 
 
 stronghold, fell, and in 145 1, Bordeaux, the city in the south 
 which they had held for hundreds of years. In 1453, there 
 came a great victory of the French over an English force at 
 Castillon^ (near Bordeaux), and the war was over. French 
 national integrity was secure forever. 
 
 Charles VII never repented of his execrably supine conduct 
 in allowing Jeanne d'Arc to perish, but in his later years he 
 displayed an energy and an ability as a ruler which she would 
 have rejoiced to see. Once more law and order ruled ; the hordes 
 of disbanded mercenary soldiers (" flayers ") were broken up. 
 Prosperity returned, after generations of devastating war. In 
 the crucible of sore affliction, France had found herself. She 
 was more united now; more loyal to her king; less feudaHzed. 
 She was, in short, in a position to develop into the first country 
 of Europe — but she had bought this preparation at a terrible 
 price. To get rid of the mercenary bands and the English, the 
 king had been allowed to maintain a standing army. To pay 
 the costs of this army through the long war he had been allowed 
 to tax his subjects almost at will. Both of these privileges, 
 the French kings carefully retained after the English danger 
 ended. With a standing army and with very arbitrary powers 
 of taxation, the monarchs of France could go far on the road 
 which leads to absolutism. 
 
 REVIEW 
 
 1. Topics — Salic Law; Crecy; the Black Death; the Black Prince; 
 Poitiers; Bretigny ; x\rmagnacs; Burgundians; Henry V; Jeanne d'Arc. 
 
 2. Geography — 
 
 ((?) Locate Crecy; Calais; Poitiers; Agincourt; Orleans; Compiegne; 
 
 Domremy; Bordeaux; Castillon. 
 (ft) Mark lands in France held by England at the beginning of the 
 ■ war. 
 
 ^ By this time the French had learned how to deal with the tactics of the 
 archers and had developed a very tolerable archer force of their own. They had 
 also the use of the newly invented artillery. 
 
I So HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 (c) Mark the English territories in France at the time of the Peace 
 of Bretigny. 
 
 (d) Mark the Enghsh territory in France in 1429. 
 
 3. What conditions made hostility between England and France inevit- 
 able? 
 
 4. The English archers — their skill and importance. 
 
 5. Why was Calais important? 
 
 6. What was the effect of the Black Death upon England and France? 
 
 7. Compare the work of Charles V of France with the work of Henry II 
 of England. 
 
 8. How did the Agincourt campaign resemble that of Crecy? 
 g. The Treaty of Troyes. 
 
 10. What were the conditions in France at the coming of Jeanne d'Arc? 
 
 11. The work of Jeanne d'Arc. Her trial. 
 
 12. What are the reasons for the final triumph of the French? 
 
 13. What were the conditions in France during the later years of Charles 
 VII's reign? 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 1. How were the expenses of the war paid, in both France and England? 
 
 2. The English armies — how organized? Compare with the organization 
 
 of the French. 
 
 3. The relations between the nobles and non-nobles in the English armies. 
 Compare with similar relations in the French army. 
 
 4. The strategy of the Crecy campaign. 
 
 5. The Black Death and its economic effects. 
 
 6. The Black Prince and the Spanish E.xpedition. 
 
 7. "States General " of France 1302-1439. 
 
 8. Henry V as a warrior. Why did he renew the war? 
 
 9. The career of Jeanne d'Arc. How do you explain her success? 
 10. The economic effects of the war upon France; upon England. 
 
 READINGS 
 
 Sources. Ogg: chapter xxv. Robinson: nos. 197-202. 
 
 Modern Accounts. Seignobos: pp. 179-87, 192-204. Duruy: pp. 187-247. 
 
 Any good textbook in English history (as Ransome, pp. 242-78; 
 
 313-39)- 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 THE LATER MIDDLE AGES IN ENGLAND 
 
 97. Edward I and Scotland. In 1272, there came to the 
 throne of England one of the greatest of her kings, Edward I. 
 Not merely was he a statesman of very high ability in whose 
 reign the English Parliament assumed a shape which it was 
 to preserve with little change for many generations ;i but he 
 undertook to bring the two outlying Celtic fragments of Great 
 Britain under Anglo-Norman supremacy. Wales, where the 
 descendants of the old Britons had hitherto remained piacti- 
 cally independent, was now invaded (1276-84), its prince 
 Llewelyn, who disowned Edward's overlordship, was beaten 
 down, and after his death (1282), the whole of this small rocky 
 country was brought under English supremacy (1284). From 
 this time onward, " Prince of Wales " has been the regular title 
 of the heir to the English crown. 
 
 But Wales presented only the minor part of Edward's 
 problem. Scotland was a far larger country, and offered tena- 
 cious resistance. Since WilHam the Conqueror's day the king 
 of this northern fraction of Britain had " clone homage " to 
 England; but the hold of the Scotch kings upon their own sub- 
 jects was very weak. In the " Lowlands " (South Scotland), 
 where there was a strong infusion of Anglo-Saxon settlers, 
 something Hke law, order, and royal authority prevailed. In 
 the " Highlands " (North Scotland), the wild Gaelic clans 
 owed far more allegiance to their various chiefs than to any 
 king. Civihzation (even from a mediaeval standpoint) had 
 been very backward in Scotland ; but in the thirteenth century 
 better things had prevailed, and the country had made consid- 
 
 * See chapter xi, p. 122. 
 
i82 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 erable peaceful progress. Now the sudden death of King 
 Alexander III (1286) precipitated a disputed succession and the 
 inevitable civil war, whereof Edward took prompt advantage. 
 In 1292, he thrust Baliol (one of the claimants) upon the Scot- 
 tish throne as his vassal. In 1296, he forced this puppet king 
 to resign, and undertook to rule Scotland in his own right, as 
 an actual appanage of England. 
 
 Englishmen soon held the castles and the chief government 
 posts in Scotland, but the patriotic and jealous people blazed 
 up in revolt. They found a gallant and capable leader in Sir 
 William Wallace. The revolt he headed in 1297 swept nearly 
 all the English from the land, and reduced their power to a few 
 castles; but Edward hastened north with a great anuy. At 
 Falkirk (1298) he won a complete victory, and the rebellion 
 seemed broken. Wallace was presently betrayed by a traitor 
 and put to a shameful death. The head of this patriot long 
 bleached above one of the gates of London. But the Scotch 
 national spirit was merely bent, not broken. In 1306, Robert 
 Bruce (a rival claimant for the crown with Baliol) kindled a new 
 revolt; and Edward I died while on his way again to Scotland, 
 leaving the problem of conquest to a weak successor. 
 
 98. Robert Bruce and Bannockburn (13 14). Edward II 
 (1307-27), son of Edward I, was one of the most feeble kings 
 who ever occupied the English throne. When after many 
 delays he assembled a great army and invaded Scotland, the 
 whole of the outraged northern kingdom had rallied around 
 their sovereign, Bruce. At Bannockburn, one hundred thousand 
 English are said to have confronted thirty thousand Scots. 
 The miserably commanded " Southrons " could make little 
 use of their numbers, and Bruce gained a complete victory. 
 This battle made abiding history. The English entered Scot- 
 land again in later days as ravagers, but never with the real 
 intent of permanent conquest. When Bruce died in 1329, 
 Scottish national independence had been fairly won. 
 
THE LATER MIDDLE AGES IN ENGLAND 1S3 
 
 This great struggle with England, however, had wrought 
 permanent harm. Britain was kept divided between two dis- 
 trustful and often hostile nations. During the next two centu- 
 ries Scotland was usually the ally of England's standing enemy, 
 France, and was involved in wars wherein she had very slight 
 interest. Again, this severance from her richer and more 
 civilized neighbor stunted her peaceful growth, and condemned 
 her to isolation, weak government, and many bloody wars and 
 feuds. Yet, notwithstanding these misfortunes, the successful 
 defense made by the Scots against national absorption by their 
 great rival must stand as one of the most creditable pages in 
 the story of the nations. 
 
 99. Wiclif and Richard II. A large part of the history of 
 
 England for the next 
 
 century and more 
 is that of the Hun- 
 dred Years' War 
 with France.^ But 
 the achievements 
 of Englishmen were 
 not merely those of 
 warriors. The four- 
 teenth century was 
 the age of Geoffrey 
 Chaucer, the first 
 great poet in the 
 noble array of writ- 
 ers in the develop- 
 ing English tongue : 
 it was also the age 
 of a religious innovator, who launched a movement which 
 caused no small trouble to the Church, and was a forewarning 
 of the greater commotions of the Protestant Reformation, 
 1 See chapter xv. 
 
 A GROUP OF CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 
 As described in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. {From 
 Cutis' s Parish Priests) 
 
1 84 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 John Wiclif ^ (about 1320-84) was an English priest and a 
 professor of the University of Oxford, who presently developed 
 into a most daring theologian. He made use of the current dis- 
 cussion of the worldly doings of politically minded Popes and 
 prelates to subject the whole Church system to a criticism such 
 as it had never faced before in the Middle Ages. The more 
 orthodox churchmen of the day shuddered at his " blasphe- 
 mies " — his denial of the miracle of transubstantiation;- his 
 afhrmation that regularly ordained priests were not necessary 
 for a la>iiian who wished to approach God ; his stress upon the 
 free interpretation of the Bible, even by the unlearned. WicHf, 
 however, was a man of organizing ability and personal magnet- 
 ism, as well .as a learned theologian. High noblemen protected 
 him in his lifetime. His itinerant " poor priests " carried his 
 most informal gospel out among the peasantry. Indeed, part 
 of his doctrine may be accounted a potent factor in the Peas- 
 ants' Revolt of 1381.^ He questioned the necessity of paying 
 tithes to the priest, and a discontented peasantry was not slow 
 to apply a similar challenge to the payment of rent, whether 
 on land or in service, to landlords. He crowned his work by 
 translating the Bible into English. It was before the days of 
 printing, yet many copies seem to have been made, and 
 Wiclif's version is one of the monuments of English Hterature. 
 
 After his death his followers, the Lollards, ■• for some time 
 made considerable head among the peasantry, but the Church 
 authorities at length stirred up the Government to halt their 
 propaganda by the standard means of stake and fagots (1401), 
 As a sect they disappeared, yet not so certainly their tradition 
 
 ' His name is also spelled Wycliffe and several other ways. In this age manj' 
 English spellings seem to have been decidedly "phonetic." 
 
 " The teaching of the Catholic Church that the bread and wine in the com- 
 munion, upon the consecration by the priest, really become the actual body and 
 blood of Christ. 
 
 ^ See p. 186. 
 
 * The word is commonly derived from the German Lollen (losing), from the 
 hymn-chanting habits of the Wiclifites. 
 
THE LATER MIDDLE AGES IN ENGLAND i$5 
 
 and influence, which may have made many Englishmen ready 
 for the great religious revolt started by Luther. 
 
 100. The rising of the peasants and the rule of the House of 
 Lancaster. The worthless Edward II was followed by the brave 
 and victorious Edward III (1327-77). The story of his wars in 
 
 Ijunmii^tf f^QU&immq'^>^^nt°^ QihTpUvebutytcottoiWa (rtoi 
 
 CORONATION OF AN ENGLISH KING IN THE 
 
 FOURTEENTH CENTURY 
 (Either Edward II or Edward III). {From a sixUenth- 
 century miniature at Cambridge, England) 
 
 France is told elsewhere. ^ At home in England the middle of 
 his long reign was marked by the frightful Black Death, 
 which in 134Q swept away one third to one half of the popu- 
 lation of England. The direct misery caused was appalling, 
 
 ' Chapter xv. 
 
i86 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 and almost as severe was the wretchedness arising from the 
 unsettling of all trade, industry, and commerce. Where were 
 the human hands left to till the fields and reap the harvests? 
 The prices for necessities rose, and the demands by the sur\dv- 
 ing peasants for higher wages naturally rose also. Such inso- 
 lence on the part of " valiant laborers," taking advantage of the 
 dearth to require more pay, filled the nobles and gentry con- 
 trolling the Government with savage wrath. The famous 
 " Statute of Laborers " then passed forbade the bestowal of 
 alms upon an " able-bodied vagrant," fixed the maximum wage 
 it was lawful to pay him, and finally forbade him to emigrate 
 to other districts where he might better his condition. 
 
 For years thereafter the EngKsh peasantry were in a state 
 of simmering discontent.^ Early in the reign of Richard II 
 (1377-99), Edward's grandson and successor, a prince of very 
 inferior stamp, the climax came. A great revolt shook the 
 peasantry of England (1381).- A severe poll-tax imposed by 
 the royal Government, and falling heavily upon the poorest 
 classes, was the pretext for the rising. Tumultuous bands of 
 peasants burned the manor houses of the squires, — their 
 oppressive landlords, — murdered the king's officers, and 
 marched on London, demanding of the young king that he " free 
 us forever, us and our lands; and that we be never named nor 
 held for serfs." Needless to say, the nobles and country 
 gentry soon had all the military power on their side. Some of 
 the peasants were cajoled by false promises to go home, the 
 rest were overcome and their leaders hanged. 
 
 Yet the revolt had not been in vain. The dread of another 
 such outbreak hung as a millstone over the country landlords. 
 The enfranchisement of the serfs, which is said to have been 
 
 1 Wild theories of social equality were afoot. Said the "mad priest" John 
 Ball, one of the preachers of sedition, — 
 
 " When Adam delved and Eve span, 
 
 Who was then the gentleman ? " 
 
 * From its leader called "Wat Tyler's Revolt." 
 
THE LATER MIDDLE AGES IN ENGLAND 1S7 
 
 halted by the Black Death, now went quietly on, until within 
 a century and a half after the great rising had "failed," there 
 was hardly a " vdllein " in all England. In place of the serfs 
 had come a sturdy class of free peasant farmers, who were to 
 do their share in making England a great nation. 
 
 This upheaval had come early in the reign of Richard 11; 
 later the king's general mismanagement led to a revolt of the 
 nobiHty, which had a very different issue. Henry of Lancaster, 
 the king's cousin, by skillful intrigues was chosen to reign, and 
 inaugurated a new (Lancastrian) dynasty, 
 
 Henry IV (1399-1413) was a clever and masterful king, who 
 built up for himself a power all the greater for being constitu- 
 tionally won. During his reign the cause of the Commons in 
 Parhament made a great advance in freedom and influence. ^ 
 Henry IV has been overshadowed in lustory by the more 
 showy and heroic career of his son Henry V - (1413-22), but the 
 unobtrusive developments of the former reign were of real 
 benefit to England, while Henry V's French wars, conducted 
 brilHantly though they were, wasted great numbers of hves 
 and much money in disastrous and unnatural attempts to 
 unite the Crowns of France and England. 
 
 In 1422, his death gave the rule nominally to his infant son 
 Henry VI (1422-61). During the regency for this unlucky 
 prince the French conquests dropped away^ and the English 
 Government at home drifted into increasing difflculties. In 
 1453, the king became practically insane, and although he 
 
 ^ Important in the successful alliance of King and Commons was the crushing 
 of the great uprising of the northern nobles, among whom was the redoubtable 
 Harry Percy (Hotspur), at the battle of Shrewsbury (1403). 
 
 - -The stories, honored by Shakespeare, about his wild youth are none too well 
 authenticated. Both Henry V, and even more his father, Henry IV, were obliged 
 — probably thanks to their dubious title to the crown — to make great conces- 
 sions to the claims of the Commons in Parliament to take part in the government. 
 These concessions became a model and precedent for the Parliament party 
 two hundred years later, while contending with the Stuart kings. (See chapter 
 
 XXIV.) 
 
 * See p. 178. 
 
1 88 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 recovered a certain lucidity later, here was really the culminat- 
 ing misfortune for the Lancastrian House. Discredited in 
 France, inefficient at home, the Government was now attacked 
 by a coalition of nobles led by the Duke of York, and England 
 was plunged into a series of civil wars which, for the nonce, 
 ruined her power abroad and reduced the one-time dominator 
 of France into a distracted second-class nation. 
 
 loi. The Wars of the Roses (1455-85). For thirty years, 
 with occasional happy intervals of peace, England was racked 
 by a succession of bloody wars between the Lancastrians 
 (" Red Rose ") and the princes of the rival Yorkists ("White 
 Rose "). The moving spirits were really parties of ambitious 
 and lawless nobles who had got almost completely out of 
 kingly control. In 1461, the weak and " saintly " Henry VI 
 was deposed by the Yorkist leader, who assumed the throne as 
 Edward IV (1461 83). He was a fine warrior and a clever man, 
 but indolent and utterly selfish . Then the weathercock of 
 feudal loyalty turned. In 1470, Edward was chased as a 
 fugitive to Flanders and the unfortunate Henry VI was again 
 proclaimed. In 147 1, Edward returned, crushed the Lancas- 
 trians in the great battle of Tewkesbury, and made bloody 
 work with his prostrate enemies. Henry died a prisoner (prob- 
 ably murdered) in the Tower of London, and Edward IV ended 
 his reign amid com.parative peace, although the contest was by 
 no means ended. 
 
 102. The bad King Richard III (1483-85). Edward IV had 
 left a son (Edward V) and a still younger brother; but the new 
 king was only thirteen, and his uncle the Duke of Gloucester 
 was proclaimed " protector " of the kingdom. The regent was 
 one of the most unscrupulous and cruel of all the evil nobles 
 bred by the civil wars. Within three months Edward V and his 
 brother " disappeared " in tlie Tower of London,^ and their 
 
 * There is every moral proof (though a >t legal proof) that these "little 
 princes in the Tower" were murdered by their dastardly uncle. Richard had 
 
THE LATER MIDDLE AGES IN ENGLAND 189 
 
 guardian, "urged " by the citizens of London and others, took 
 the title of Richard III. In 1485, Henry, Earl of Richmond, the 
 successor to the old Lancastrian claims, raised the standard of 
 rebelHon, and at the battle of Bosworth Richard, deserted by 
 nearly all his followers, died fighting desperately with a bravery 
 which contrasted with his vileness. 
 
 Bosworth ended the civil wars: the land had, indeed, need 
 of rest. 
 
 103. Henry VII, restorer of law and order (1485-1509). 
 Henry VII, " Henry Tudor " and Earl of Richmond before he 
 won the crown by conquest, was not a redoubtable warrior 
 nor an original statesman: but England needed neither of these. 
 She needed a benevolent despot, who (without aboHshing the 
 forms of law) would crush down the turbulence of the nobiHty 
 who had almost usurped the government during the civil wars, 
 enforce common justice, refrain from needless wars, and give 
 the commonalty orderly prosperity: — and such a monarch 
 was Henry VII. The Wars of the Roses had killed off a very 
 large number of the nobles, and it was therefore easy for the 
 king to overwhelm the remainder by raising to those peerages - 
 now vacant men of his own choosing, who had proved their 
 skill as middle-class merchants and who would owe their eleva- 
 tion entirely to the king himself. After some vain struggles, 
 the few survivors among the great nobles, who had maintained 
 small standing armies of their own and defied the common 
 course of justice, found their power broken. The lords had paid 
 scant respect to the ordinary judge and jury: they now found 
 themselves haled before a special royal court of " Star 
 Chamber"^ and punished for their usurpations. High-born 
 
 earlier been guilty, very possibly, of the murder of his brother, the Duke of 
 Clarence. 
 
 ' A special commission chosen for most of its members from the king's 
 Privy Council. Such a court could not, of course, be intimidated as could an 
 ordinary tribunal. This court became later a great engine of oppression. Origi- 
 nally it was usually a terror only to "noble" evildoers. 
 
I90 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 friends of the king were not exempted. When the king visited 
 the Earl of Oxford, he cast a frowning look upon the earl's array 
 of " gentry and yeomen" drawn up as if to do him honor. " I 
 thank you for your hospitality," spoke Henry, ^' but I cannot 
 allow my laws to be broken in my sight "; and the Star Cham- 
 ber fined Oxford £15,000^ for maintaining an armed force of 
 private retainers contrary to the statute. 
 
 Some of Henry's measures were utterly despotic. In place 
 of new taxes on the people at large, he wrung out of his wealthier 
 subjects " benevolences," which were really nothing but forced 
 contributions; but such measures were obnoxious only to a 
 limited class.- When Henry died, he left a full treasury, a con- 
 tented people, and valuable foreign alhances to his successor. 
 
 Henry VII stood at the parting of the ways between mediae- 
 val and modern times. His reign saw the beginning of English 
 maritime expansion. In 14Q7, John Cabot had made the first 
 voyage under the English flag to North America. Building thus 
 upon the somewhat commonplace prosperity estabhshed by 
 Henry, England was about to enter upon her wonderful six- 
 teenth century. 
 
 104. England at the end of the Middle Ages. In 1500, Eng- 
 land was still a distinctly agricultural country, with almost no 
 large town outside of London, and very little foreign trade 
 save the export of natural products and a little cloth.^ Thus 
 economically she was backward (as compared with most parts 
 of France), but politically she had made marked progress. 
 She had a firm government and well-estabHshed political and 
 
 1 Possibly ten times as much in modern money, purchasing power considered. 
 
 2 Cardinal Morton (Henry's prime minister) invented what was known as 
 "Morton's fork" for dealing with reluctant "givers out of their benevolence." 
 "If a man lived handsomely, he was told that he clearly had money to spare. If 
 he lived plainly, that he was saving money and was rich enough to help the 
 king." 
 
 ^ All through the period of the Wars of the Roses, the non-noble free farmers 
 (yeomanry) had been coming into respectable prominence; there had also been 
 a considerable development of cloth manufacture which enabled the English 
 to compete with the Flemish woolen trade. 
 
THE LATER MIDDLE AGES IN ENGLAND 191 
 
 legal institutions. 1 Her Tudor kings had almost despotic 
 power, gained principally by their ability in interpreting and 
 manipulating the existing laws in their own favor, rather than 
 in arbitrarily setting them aside. Again, the kings had no 
 formidable standing army. Their power rested on the general 
 support and loyalty of their subjects, and they were quite 
 aware of the fact and governed accordingly. The ParHaments 
 
 •tt* C nctpt$ f;pyij ^at tboU ^uc fengc 
 J^ Ipff tx> ftnotbe t§e craf 6e of ^Ifcmc go; 
 ticimp^, (^n^ fo fct to 6epc «n(jmuctlp^d[?« 
 ^Mf^ of lt^0ft)^p/ fot40|j tMi^ not «ii)fe 
 
 FACSIMILE SPECIMEN OF CAXTON'S PRINTING 
 The art of printing was brought to England in 1477 
 
 were extremely dependent upon the royal will, but the king 
 never undertook to govern without them. Theoretically there 
 was lawful consent given for even the most extreme acts of 
 oppression ; and this perpetuation of parliamentary institutions 
 was to make the erection of genuine political liberties later very 
 easy — it being necessary merely to give real freedom and 
 vitality to existing forms. The next crisis, however, confront- 
 ing England was not political but religious — she was to give 
 her own pecuhar answer to the question of separating from 
 Rome. 
 
 105. The English in Ireland. All through the later Middle 
 Ages the English kings had been putting forth their hands upon 
 the great Celtic island to the westward. Ireland had probably 
 
 ^ Particularly the nobility had been stripped of nearly all their political 
 advantages except the hereditary seats of the "Lords" in Parliament. There 
 were fewer "privileges" for the upper classes, and more general equality before 
 the law for all classes of men in England than in any other large country, while 
 serfage was almost extinct. 
 
192 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 been as civilized a land as Anglo-Saxon England before the 
 Norman Conquest:^ but it had been rent asunder by tribal 
 wars; petty kings had contended for petty kingdoms, and no 
 strong native ruler had ever consolidated the clans under his 
 authority. The Danes, too, had harried Ireland sorely, about 
 the time that they were ravaging England. In 1169, a band of 
 Anglo-Norman nobles crossed from England and began a 
 conquest on their own authority.'- King Henry II (fearing lest 
 a kingdom ruled by his former subjects would become a dan- 
 gerous neighbor) himself invaded Ireland in 1172. The Celtic 
 chiefs were soon beaten down, and henceforth the foreign 
 power never loosed its grip from the feud- rent island. But while 
 the English could conquer, they could not really subdue : their 
 settlers themselves often drifted into Irish speech and customs, 
 and the power of the royal viceroys was seldom formidable 
 beyond Dubhn and the " English Pale " — the district 
 adjacent. 
 
 This miserable condition of half-conquest continued for 
 centuries. The EngUsh kings were unable to dispatch the 
 relays of armies needful for a real subjugation: the Irish were 
 unable to effect a union (like that of Wallace and Bruce in 
 Scotland) and to drive the alien from the land. The result was, 
 of course, perpetual petty warfare, raiding, tyranny, and bloody 
 reprisal which make the story of " Celt and Saxon " one of the 
 most melancholy in the world. When the Reformation came 
 and the EngHsh accepted Protestantism, the bulk of the Irish 
 were ready — thanks to long centuries of animosity — to see 
 everything good in the old Cathohc religion of their fathers. So 
 to national hatred was added religious hatred, and the " Irish 
 
 1 According to the stories of the Hfe of St. Patrick, the great Irish saint (372- 
 454), Ireland was among the most highly civilized countries in the world at the 
 dawn of the Middle Ages. Thanks to St. Patrick, Ireland was converted to 
 Christianity nearly two centuries Ijefore Anglo-Saxon England. 
 
 2 This conquest came as a direct result of the feuds among the Irish chiefs 
 themselves. One of them sought help in England and wa§ authorized by 
 Henry II to obtain it among the Norman barons. 
 
THE LATER MIDDLE AGES IN ENGLAND 193 
 
 Question," with all its woes, was sharpened to vex British 
 politics, and to be a sore bane to England hardly less than to 
 Ireland even down to the present day. 
 
 REVIEW 
 
 1. Topics — William Wallace; Robert Bruce; Bannockburn; Chaucer; 
 Wiclif ; Transubstantiation; Lollards; the Lancastrian Kings; Wars of 
 the Roses; Richard III; Henry Tudor; Star Chamber; Benevolences; 
 the EngHsh Pale; St. Patricli. 
 
 2. Geography — Locate Bannockburn; Oxford; Bosworth; Dublin; the 
 English Pale. 
 
 3. Edward I and Scotland. 
 
 4. The work of Robert Bruce. 
 
 5. The teachings and influence of Wiclif. 
 
 6. What made the Wars of the Roses possible? How did these wars afTect 
 England? 
 
 7. Compare the effects of the Wars of the Roses upon England with the 
 effects of the Hundred Years' War upon France. 
 
 8. The character of Richard. HI. 
 
 9. What did Henry VII accomplish for England? By what means? 
 
 10. What were the conditions in Ireland at the time of the English con- 
 quest? Did Ireland improve under English control? Why? 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 1. The conquest of Wales. Origin of the title "Prince of Wales." 
 
 2. Did Baliol have the best claim to the Scottish throne ? 
 
 3. The character of William Wallace. 
 
 4. Robert Bruce. 
 
 5. The relations between France and Scotland at the time of Edward I. 
 
 6. Relations between England and Scotland under Edward HI. 
 
 7. Geoi^rey Chaucer. 
 
 8. Wiclif as an author. 
 
 9. The effect of the Hundred Years' War and the economic changes under 
 Edward HI upon the power of Parliament. 
 
 10. Richard II and Ireland. 
 
 11. The relations between Henry IV and Parliament. 
 
 12. The persecution of the Lollards. 
 
 13. The Earl of Warwick has been called the "King-Maker"; also the 
 "Last of the Barons." Why? 
 
 i^. How did the Wars of the Roses affect the towns ? 
 
194 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 15. The foreign policy of Henry VII. 
 
 16. The growth of commerce under Henry VII. 
 
 17. Early Irish civilization 
 
 READINGS 
 
 Sources. Ogg: chapter xxvii. Robinson: nos. 202, 207-09. 
 Modern Accounts. Seignobos: pp. 157-59. Gibbins: pp. 94-101. Any good 
 textbook in English history (as Ransome,pp. 205-42: 278-313: 3,39-92). 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 THE POPES, THE SCHISM, AND THE COUNCILS 
 
 io6. The downfall of Boniface VIII (1294-1303). In 1250, 
 when Frederick II died, the Popes seemed about to dominate 
 the Western world as " God's Vicars," supreme over secular 
 kings as well as over matters spiritual. Within two generations 
 they had been sorely humiliated, and the secular power had 
 put them entirely on the defensive. The new national spirit 
 and patriotism, which would rally behind a king, even against 
 the Pope, had silently come into being — especially in France. 
 The Pope could no longer bring a king to terms by " loosing 
 his subjects from their oaths of fealty." The subject people 
 simply denied the Pope's right to meddle in non-spiritual 
 matters at all, and continued in their loyalty. It took some 
 time, however, for the world to realize this change, until a 
 masterful and incautious Pope brought about his own humilia- 
 tion, and terribly proved the disillusionment of Boniface VIII. 
 
 This Pope began to reign in 1 294. He was an elderly, learned, 
 personally blameless man, but very ambitious, obstinate, and 
 utterly untactful. His chief antagonist was King Philip IV, 
 " the Fair " (1285-1314), of France, the grandson of the 
 famous St. Louis, and himself a grasping, capable monarch, 
 careless of the means to his end and well served by supple 
 ministers. In 1296, the Pope began hostilities by a bull^ for- 
 bidding the clergy of France to pay taxes to the king,- and the 
 
 1 A solemn papal pronunciamento. The name comes from the great bulla ( = 
 seal) attached to such documents. 
 
 ^ The clergy represented possibly one third of the wealth of France. The 
 Pope was not so much zealous for ///e/V rights as anxious to keep the privilege of 
 taxing them for himself. Philip might well ask whether he were an effective 
 king if so many of his nominal subjects were exempt from his taxation. 
 
196 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 king had effectively countered by forbidding the export of 
 " precious metals and jewels " from the realm, thereby cutting 
 ofT the papal income from France. Boniface made a temporary 
 truce, but soon on various minor issues war blazed forth again. 
 The Pope asserted his supremacy over kings, quoting the Bible 
 to prove that God had raised the Popes " to pluck down, to 
 destroy, scatter, rebuild, and plant "; and finally (1302) 
 asserted "it is absolutely necessary for the salvation of every 
 human creature that he be subject to the Roman PontilT."^ 
 
 In the bold defiance which Philip offered to these claims he 
 was sustained by the best sentiment of his whole kingdom. 
 The French clergy, no less than the nobility and the free towns, 
 loudly professed their loyalty. One of the Pope's bulls was 
 actually burned by the public hangman at Paris, and the 
 climax came at Anagni (a small town near Rome) in 1303. 
 
 Boniface was there about to promulgate another bull, de- 
 claring Philip deposed from his throne, when the town was 
 invaded by a loose band of hireling soldiers in the king's pay. 
 Boniface's life was threatened: he was grossly insulted and 
 flung into a dungeon. In a few days his friends rallied, rescued 
 and took him to Rome, but the insult had broken his spirit. 
 To be about to depose a mighty king, and then to become the 
 prey of semi-bandits! — the humiliation was deadly. Speedily 
 he died (1303), and his high pretensions and abject fate were a 
 warning to his successors. " He got in like a fox,^ he played the 
 Pope like a lion, he died like a dog," — so his ill-wishers 
 summed up his disastrous pontificate. He was almost the last 
 Pope able to utter dangerous threats against great princes. 
 
 107. The ''Babylonish Captivity^' at Avignon (1305-78). 
 The resistance of France had frightened the worldly-minded 
 cardinals. They desired peace with the kings and quiet enjoy- 
 
 ' This is the climax of the famous bull " Unam Sanciam." The papal bulls are 
 usually named by their first (Latin) words. 
 
 " This refers to the very dubious means by which Boniface is said to have pro- 
 cured the resignation of his predecessor — Celestine V. 
 
THE POPES, THE SCHISM, THE COUNCILS 197 
 
 ment of their revenues. In 1305, they chose a Frenchman Pope, 
 — Clement V, - — who proved himself utterly subservient to 
 PhiHp IV and his political influence. He withdrew the Papal 
 Court from Rome to Avignon in southern France. Here for 
 more than seventy years the Popes remained, often entirely 
 under French control, and leaving Rome " widowed and deso- 
 late." The Popes and cardinals built magnificent palaces at 
 this " sinful city of Avignon." The Papal Court was reputed 
 among good Cathohcs to be the most luxurious, expejisive, and 
 withal worldly in Europe.' Frenchmen filled all the chief 
 offices of the Church, and permitted the grossest kind of 
 financial abuses. " The Babylonish Captivity," in short, was 
 one long scandal, which did much to undermine the general 
 reverence men held for the Church; yet it was to be followed by 
 something worse. 
 
 . 108. The Great Schism (1378 1415). In 1378, a relatively 
 good Pope (Gregory XI) died during a visit to Rome. The 
 French cardinals were minded to choose a Pontiff who would 
 return with them to their luxurious A\ignon; but the Roman 
 mob was bent on keeping the Papacy within the sacred city. 
 " A Roman! A Roman! or at least an Itahan, — or your heads 
 be as red as your hats! " rang the yells of the multitude as the 
 cardinals entered the " Conclave " to elect; while bells rang, 
 weapons clashed, and an angry throng roared outside the Vati- 
 can palace so long as the cardinals deliberated. 
 
 ' Among the abuses imputed to this Avignon Government were: — 
 
 (a) Nepotism — thrusting of relatives into the offices of the Church. 
 
 {h) Expcciilives — the sale in advance of the appointment to an office in the 
 Church, whenever the present holder of that appointment might die or resign. 
 
 (c) Unnecessary Dispensations — the release, for a fee, from inconvenient vows 
 and churchly impediments. 
 
 {d) Making all Church litigation exceedingly slow, complicated, and conse- 
 quently costly. 
 
 (e) Pluralities — Allowing favored churchmen to hold several well-paid church 
 offices simultaneously. 
 
 These were all matters of practice. The Church doctrines were not yet in 
 question. 
 
198 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 ilii, ' f 'KA 1/ II '^ 111 , "l! I 
 ti^l ^ s//(- iM III 1 I '1 
 
 In fear of their lives the cardinals elected, indeed, an Italian, 
 — Urban VI, — but a man whom they expected to prove 
 subservient to their wishes. It soon appeared that he would be 
 to them an unbending master, who utterly refused to return to 
 Avignon. The cardinals were wrathful and disappointed. Had 
 
 they not elected Urban 
 under compulsion? Was 
 he the lawful Pope? A 
 few months after this 
 first election, the car- 
 dinals declared the Pa- 
 pacy vacant, and pro- 
 ceeded to choose a new 
 Pontiff, — Clement VII, 
 — who speedily went 
 to Avignon. 
 
 A momentous ques- 
 tion was now propoun- 
 ded to every king of 
 Europe. Which Pope 
 should he recognize? ^ 
 Urban and Clement 
 mutually excommunicated one another, and devoted their 
 rivals and all their rivals' helpers to the Devil. It was 
 all very well to say a true Christian should obey the Pope. 
 Who 7vas the Pope? Each king had really to settle the matter 
 for himself. France, the Spanish kingdoms, and Scotland 
 speedily supported Clement, the Avignon Pope: Germany, 
 Italy, England, and the other lands chose Urban of Rome. 
 The "two obediences" split the "one Church" asunder. 
 
 ' Later Catholic historians consider Urban VI the true Pope and Clement VII 
 the Anti-Pope, but it is admitted that Clement was not a vulgar pretender, and 
 that a very plausible technical case could be made out on his side. The Church 
 never made an authoritative statement as to which claimant represented the 
 true line. 
 
 ITALIAN ECCLESIASTICAL PROCESSION IN 
 THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY 
 
 {From a miniature in a fijleenth-century Breviary 
 in the Bibliotheque Nationale) 
 
THE POPES, THE SCHISM, THE COUNCILS 199 
 
 Neither Pope could crush his rival. Neither would yield. 
 When one died, his cardinals ^ hastened to elect a successor, who 
 continued the strife. There seemed, to the learned university 
 " doctors " who wrought long upon the question, only one 
 satisfactory solution — a council of the bishops, theologians, 
 and learned laymen of the whole Church, before whose 
 authority even a Pope must bow. Many good churchmen 
 balked at this proposal, but the need was great, and pubhc 
 opinion demanded it. 
 
 109. The councils. John Hus. The first council held at 
 Pisa (1409) only made bad matters worse. It declared both 
 Popes deposed, and chose a new one (Alexander V). Most of 
 the nations acknowledged him, but not all;^ — and there were 
 now three Popes dividing Christendom. Moreover, the new 
 Pisa Pope soon died, and his successor, John XXIII, was an 
 -ItaHan poHtician of scandalous life whose enemies declared 
 that he had spent his youth as a pirate.^ But a second council 
 met in Constance (in southern Germany 1414-18), with much 
 greater success. John XXIII, by his slippery deahngs and 
 pledge-breaking, lost all his supporters and was declared 
 deposed in turn. The old " Rome " Pope had the wisdom to 
 resign; the old " Avignon " Pope was obstinate, but his fol- 
 lowers left him in disgust. In 1417, Christendom rejoiced to 
 hear that a new and undoubted Pope had been chosen, — 
 Martin V — and the " seamless robe of the Church " was 
 reunited, although the hoped-for reformation of the Church 
 had not taken place. 
 
 However, the Council of Constance had not merely to heal 
 the schism; it had to deal with acute heresy. In Bohemia, 
 
 1 Urban had made haste to " create " a new body of cardinals as soon as he had 
 broken with the old ones. 
 
 ^ Some districts in Italy still held to the "Rome" Pope (Gregory XII); and 
 most of Spain to the "Avignon" Pope (Benedict XIII). 
 
 ^ John's moral unworthiness is undoubted, but Catholic historians disclaim 
 all responsibility for him, as not being a really lawful Pope. 
 
200 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 John Hus, a popular preacher of Prague, the capital city, had 
 been infected with the teachings of the Englishman, Wiclif . ' 
 
 Hus soon earned the distrust of the Church authorities by his 
 free denunciations of the more worldly clergy and by his tend- 
 ency to make very free use of the Bible to justify many doc- 
 trines which were, to say the least, only semi-orthodox. He was 
 summoned to Constance to give an account of his teachings, 
 and seems to have gone willingly,- con\inced that he could 
 bring the council to his way of thinking. When, however, he 
 was informed that " the assembled Fathers " adjudged his 
 doctrines heresy, he refused stedfastly to recant. " It is better 
 for me to die," he asserted, " than to fall into the hands of the 
 Lord by withdrawing from the truth." Under the law of the 
 time there could be only one end for him. He was burned at 
 Constance (1415), and the ashes of " the execrable heretic " 
 were scattered in the Rhine. ^ 
 
 Hus perished, but not his cause. The Bohemians considered 
 him a national hero. His friends rose to avenge him, seized the 
 local government, organized a non-Catholic Church in accord- 
 ance with his teachings,^ and raised armies which harried 
 Germany and defied every effort by the Church and German 
 princes to subdue them (1418-30). Force having failed, the 
 Church was induced to try persuasion. A new council was held 
 at Basel (1431), at which the Hussites were treated with an 
 
 1 See p. 184. 
 
 ^ He was given a pledge of safe-conduct by the Emperor, which was deliber- 
 ately broken by the council on the ground that faith need not be kept with 
 heretics, and that the Emperor had no right to promise immunity. 
 
 ^ Hus's punishment arose not so much from any specifically unorthodox 
 doctrine, but from his whole attitude of questioning the final authorities of the 
 Church. His enemies were not worldly-minded prelates, but, according to their 
 lights, honest and learned reformers, very an.xious to reestablish the Church in 
 its purity, but also anxious, while they cast out evil Anti-Popes, not to open the 
 door to false doctrine. 
 
 * The Hussite Church would to-day be considered very " Protestant " in some 
 of its methods and doctrines: its cardinal point was especially the bestowal of 
 the cup (in the Communion) to the laity as well as to the clergy. The Hussites 
 were often called the Calixlines (from calix = cup). 
 
THE POPES, THE SCHISM, THE COUNCILS 201 
 
 indulgence unusual in the Middle Ages, and readmitted into 
 the Church with a special license to retain some of their 
 peculiar usages. The Council of Basel, however, was in the 
 main a failure. The demand 
 for a " reform of the Church 
 in head and in members " — 
 i.e., the ending of such abuses 
 as had marked the Avignon 
 regime — was loud in all lands. 
 The council, therefore, con- 
 tinued long in session and pro- 
 posed drastic remedies; but its 
 leaders wTre unwise radicals. 
 They quarreled with the Pope 
 (Eugenius IV), and disgusted 
 the world with an attempt at 
 a new schism. As a result the 
 council broke up in 1449, hav- 
 ing accomplished extremely 
 little. 
 
 no. The final era of the 
 mediaeval Papacy. Following 
 the fiasco at Basel, no mote 
 real efforts were made to re- 
 form the Church for two gen- 
 erations. The Popes had now 
 resigned all attempts to play 
 the political dictator over 
 kings: they kept their spiritual 
 sovereignty over the entire Church, but their real interests 
 seemed to be those of temporal princes in Central Italy, — 
 ambitious to build up a strong dominion around Rome. 
 As a result, while some of these fifteenth-century Popes 
 were admirable men, — like the great scholar and patron of 
 
 A CHURCH CGUXCIL IN THE 
 
 FIFTEENTH CENTURY 
 
 The Pope is presiding. About him are 
 
 the high prelates. In the lowest rank 
 
 are the abbots. {From a fifteenth-century 
 
 manuscript in the British Museum) 
 
202 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 learning, Nicholas V (1447-55), — others were so wrapped in 
 the problems of the secular government of the city of Rome 
 and the strengthening of the political power of the Popes in 
 Italy that critics of the Papacy declared that they neglected 
 their spiritual functions to the detriment of the Church. The 
 most famous of these Popes was Alexander (VI) Borgia (1492- 
 1503), a ruler of remarkable energy in war and poUtics, but 
 around whose pontificate has centered a great deal of angry 
 discussion. Nothing however was done to meet the growing 
 demand for a resolute handling of the admitted difficulties of 
 the Church, and within fifteen years of Alexander's death his 
 successors were being vexed by an unwelcome name — Luther. 
 
 REVIEW 
 
 1. Topics — Boniface VIII; Philip the Fair; "Unam Sanctam"; Baby- 
 lonish Captivity; Nepotism; Expect atives; Dispensation; Clement V; 
 Conclave; Vatican; the Great Schism; Council of Pisa; Council of 
 Constance; Martin V; lohn Hus; Wiclif. 
 
 2. Geography — Locate Rome; Avignon; Pisa; Constance; Prague; Basel. 
 
 3. What was the position of the Papacy under Innocent III? 
 
 4. What had been the general character of the relations between the 
 French kings and the Popes? 
 
 5. How do you account for the support given to Philip by his subjects as 
 compared with the attitude of the subjects in the other contests? 
 
 6. The Papacy at Avignon. 
 
 7. The Great Schism. How did the Babylonish Captivity and the Great 
 Schism affect the position and influence of the Papacy? Of the whole 
 Church? 
 
 8. The results of the Councils of Pisa and of Constance. 
 Q. Compare the work of Hus with that of Wiclif. 
 
 10. How did the position and influence of the Papacy during the last part 
 of the fifteenth century compare with its position and influence during 
 the last part of the thirteenth century? How do you account for the 
 difference? 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 1. In what did the wealth of the French clergy consist ? 
 
 2. What were the relations between Boniface VIII and Edward I of 
 England? 
 
 3. The Babylonish Captivity. 
 
THE POPES, THE SCHISM, THE COUNCILS 203 
 
 4. Would Wiclif and Hus have made so powerful an impression had there 
 been no trouble in the Church? 
 
 5. The subsequent history of the Hussites. 
 
 6. The Council of Basel and Eugenius IV. 
 
 7. The general character of the Popes of the Renaissance. 
 
 8. Alexander Borgia. 
 
 READINGS 
 Sources. Ogg: chapters xxiii, xxvii (in review). Robinson: nos. 205-16, 
 
 23 20-3 2C. 
 
 Modern Accounts. Seignobos: pp. 108-0Q, 204-oQ. Lewis: pp. 276-85. 
 Symonds: chapter iv. Any English history (for Wiclif, Ransome, pp. 
 
 274/.) 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 THE RENAISSANCE 
 
 III. The mediaeval universities and schoolmen. As the 
 
 Middle Ages advanced, learning became more general. It was 
 no longer quite so exclusively the property of the clergy. It 
 was no longer taught solely at the monastery or cathedral 
 schools. Especially in Italy, France, and England (and a little 
 later in Germany), universities sprang up. At "first they were 
 merely informal associations of students and their " masters "; 
 then gradually they obtained government charters, special 
 privileges, a fi.xed organization, and the power to grant 
 " learned degrees." The " capped and gowned " doctor of 
 philosophy, law, or theology comes into existence, with a 
 prestige and power so great as to constitute almost a rival order 
 to the nobility. The influence of these universities on the 
 Church is often decisive. Their one-time students become 
 bishops, cardinals, popes. The most famous of these institu- 
 tions was the University of Paris, which had been chartered in 
 1 200, and for the next three centuries was the leader of enlight- 
 enment in Europe. It was, indeed, this university which prac- 
 tically arranged the Councils of Pisa and Constance, insured 
 their success, and ended the Great Schism. 
 
 The prime study in these universities was, of course, theol- 
 ogy, but this was not their exclusive interest. Bologna boasted 
 especially her teaching of the civil (old Roman) law; Salerno, 
 her medicine. Astonishing energy was devoted to the niceties 
 of formal logic and " dialectic " (argumentation). The great 
 doctrines of the Church were naturally first accepted as mat- 
 ters of faith, then justified by very acute arguments. In non- 
 essential religious matters great latitude of discussion was 
 
THE RENAISSANCE 
 
 205 
 
 often allowed, and mediaeval disputations, if often very arid 
 from a modern standpoint, show remarkable sharpness of 
 intellect.^ Thomas Aquinas (1226-74), " the angelic doctor," 
 who was perhaps the most famous of these ''schoolmen," is 
 still considered an almost infallible expositor of Catholic doc- 
 trines, and is undoubtedly one of the leading metaphysicians 
 of any age. 
 
 The old " scholastic " learning, then, had marked advan- 
 tages. It gained by its intensity something of what it had lost 
 by its narrow range of subjects. It created an atmosphere of 
 interest in intellectual studies, and paved the way for greater 
 things. 
 
 112. The new conditions in Italy. During the earlier Middle 
 Ages the prevailing view of hfe (among thoughtful men) had 
 been sufficiently austere — that this life was a mere probation, 
 in itself evil and painful, before the eternal heaven or the 
 eternal hell;^ temporal benefits were therefore doubtful; tem- 
 poral pleasures, still more doubtful. Any studies which did not 
 bear on preparing men for their eternal state were useless 
 or worse. Especially one must not learn to love too well the 
 old pagan Latin writings, for what had heathens like Cicero 
 and Virgil — with all their literary charm — to give to pious 
 
 ^ Some of the stock "schoolmen's" discussions, after the movement had begun 
 to degenerate, were on subjects such as, "How many angels can dance on the 
 point of a needle? " The subject seems trivial, but it was excellently adapted for 
 its object — the sharpening of fine logical distinctions. 
 
 ^ This view of the hereafter, the imminence of the day of judgment, and the 
 important bearing of the present life upon man's eternal felicity or misery, is 
 well expressed in the opening lines of a twelfth-century hymn by Bernard of 
 Cluny. (The succeeding stanzas are often sung in present-day churches as the 
 hymn, "Jerusalem the Golden.") 
 
 "The world is very evil. 
 
 The times are waxing late, 
 Be sober and keep vigil, 
 
 The Judge is at the gate; 
 The Judge who comes in mercy, 
 
 The Judge who comes in might, 
 To terminate the evil, 
 To diadem the right." 
 
 Neale, translator. 
 
2o6 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 Christians? So long as this attitude was taken toward the 
 world and human hfe, intellectual and scientific progress were 
 at best handicapped. 
 
 It was in Italy that the first change came in public opinion. 
 Italy had always kept more of the old Roman civilization and 
 city life than the sterner North. Italy was first quickened by 
 the revival of commerce — the growth of such rich cities as 
 Venice and Florence. She was also less afflicted by the evils of 
 the feudal system. Sadly as her city-states were divided one 
 from another, they were usually the seats of elegance and 
 luxury; and conditions, too, helped the growth of a leisure 
 class, — men of good family, who found no joy in knightly 
 fighting, and who, if they went into the Church, had httle 
 interest in the formal acts of piety. Such men were destined 
 to supply most of the professional scholars who now come into 
 evidence. 
 
 Again, too, many of the Italian cities, after being ruled 
 awhile as turbulent " republics " (faction against faction, 
 family against family), sank at length under the rule of local 
 despots, — princes often of diabolical cruelty and ruthlessness,^ 
 but also men of finesse, elegant manners, and quite able to 
 play the " gracious patron " to obsequious poets and scholars, 
 even while their victims groaned in the dungeons under the 
 palace. 
 
 It was in this peculiar atmosphere, of tense, turbulent, but 
 very vital city-republics, or of immoral but highly elegant city- 
 despotisms, that the leaders of the " New Thought " grew up 
 in Italy. 
 
 113. The Epoch-makers — Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio. 
 The end of the thirteenth century saw the beginning of what 
 has been called the Renaissance, — the " rebirth " of the old 
 
 1 So Verona, Milan, Ferrara, Urbino, and Modena, — not to name many 
 others, — were at various times under "tyrants," who were usually strange 
 admixtures of art-patrons and unscrupulous blackguards, — alike able to criti- 
 cize a painting and to negotiate the poisoning or stilettoing of a rival. 
 
THE RENAISSANCE 207 
 
 Graeco-Roman culture and art, of interest in secular learning, 
 of keen interest in this present world without direct reference 
 to its bearing upon the hereafter. This " revival of learning " 
 in Italy is attended " by two great achievements, — the dis- 
 covery of the world, and the discovery of [the nature of] man." ^ 
 It is a movement of wide activities and interests. Theology 
 or fighting no longer engrosses human attention. There are so 
 many lines of development that it is impossible to trace more 
 than a few, yet through this wonderful fourteenth century 
 stand out the names of three great Italians who have done more 
 for the world than many famous warriors or kings — Dante, 
 Petrarch, and Boccaccio. 
 
 Dante (1265-1321), born at beautiful Florence, but banished 
 forever from his homeland in 1301, is more the herald of the 
 Renaissance than its actual champion. He (like all learned 
 men) wrote much and ably in Latin; but his fame rests on the 
 " Divine Comedy " — one of the world's very greatest poems, 
 wherein he sums up in a single composition almost the whole 
 of mediaeval erudition, political theory, and religious aspiration 
 in his vision of inferno, purgatory, and heaven. And the 
 " Divine Comedy " is not in Latin, but in Italian.^ The mere 
 fact that so great a poem could be written in a national ver- 
 nacular is a witness that the Middle Ages were passing. 
 
 The second great spirit was Petrarch (1302-74), also of 
 Florentine parentage,^ a great lyric poet whose sonnets in 
 praise of " Laura " have won deserved immortality. But 
 Petrarch's real glory was as a new kind of Latinist. His Latin 
 lore was very different from that of the monkish theologians. 
 He was practically the founder of later-day classical learning. 
 He studied the old authors intelligently and critically; tried 
 
 1 Michelet. 
 
 ^ Dante is said to have hesitated ere writing on so noble a subject in so crude 
 a language as the Italian vernacular, and therefore came near ruining his great 
 poem by writing it in Latin. 
 
 ^ He was actually born in the small city of Arezzo. 
 
208 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 to fathom their real meaning; rescued nigh-forgotten manu- 
 scripts; in short, made all but a religion of his passion for 
 antiquity. To him Cicero and Tacitus were not " lost heathen," 
 but almost saints whose works and words were to be treasured 
 as semi-inspired. He was transported with awe-struck delight 
 when a copy of Homer was given him, although he could hardly 
 
 read a word of the Greek. 
 Petrarch, therefore, stands 
 in history as the first 
 great secular scholar the 
 modern world had seen; 
 and it was a notable day 
 when a gifted man would 
 dedicate his life to learn- 
 ing, simply for learning's 
 sake. 
 
 Less famous but hardly 
 less influential was Pe- 
 trarch's friend, Boccaccio 
 (1313-75)-' He, like 
 Petrarch, was a zealous 
 collector of Greek and 
 Latin manuscripts, and 
 composed treatises on 
 classical history and 
 mythology which were 
 to be the starting-point for much later scholarship. But his 
 place in history was won by his " Decameron," a collection 
 (in Italian) of graceful tales (" short stories " they might well 
 be called), which, by their ingenuity, wit, and skill of nar- 
 ration, became models for almost every later novehst and 
 
 DECORATIVE TITLE (reduced) 
 Of a manuscript copy of Le Roman dc la Rose, 
 a romance of the thirteenth and fourteenth cen- 
 turies. (/;; the Bibliotheque Nationale) 
 
 1 He was born in Paris but of Italian parentage, and he spent most of his life 
 in Italy. — " Dante was admired: Petrarch was praised: Boccaccio was read," 
 is a striking summary given of the achievements of these three immortals. 
 
THE RENAISSANCE 209 
 
 furnished ideas and actual plots for such English writers as 
 Chaucer and Shakespeare Before Boccaccio's day " story- 
 telling " had been the trivial task of wandering minstrels and 
 mountebanks: after him it became an art which might engage 
 the greatest literary genius. 
 
 It is a sign of the progress of the Italians in their love of 
 secular learning that Boccaccio, before his death, became a 
 lecturer at the University of Florence, commissioned to ex- 
 pound the " Divine Comedy." So we have with him the 
 beginning also of the literary criticism of modern literatures, 
 another step away from the old " scholastic " curriculum. 
 
 114. The " New Learning/' For about a century and a half 
 after Boccaccio's death, the main interest of many of the best 
 minds of Italy was centered upon the recovery of the life, let- 
 ters, ideas, and ideals of the ancient world. An enormous stress 
 was laid upon the writing of pure elegant Ciceronian Latin.' 
 " I fear a single letter from the pen of Salutati more than a 
 thousand horsemen," spoke the tyrant of Milan of a certain 
 secretary to the Republic of Florence famous for his masterly 
 Latin style. The zeal for Latin studies, in fact, sometimes ran 
 to absurdities. " ' Virtue,' which meant manliness in the 
 Roman Age, and goodness in the Middle Ages, in the revival 
 of learning meant mainly a knowledge of Latin." ^ 
 
 Latin hterature, however, only summed up one half of 
 antiquity — perhaps the less valuable half. Truly to revive 
 the old learning, one must have Greek, and Greek study had 
 almost perished in the West during the Middle Ages, though 
 the monks sometimes made unintelligent transcripts of Greek 
 manuscripts. Petrarch and Boccaccio knew very little Greek, 
 but the next age advanced far beyond them. Constantinople 
 was still a Christian city. Greek scholars drifted thence to 
 
 ' The mediceval "monk's Latin," though often very vigorous, contained many 
 uncouth forms and words, and sometimes was so intermixed with terms from the 
 local vernacular as to become "hog Latin," indeed. 
 
 ^ Sandys, Revival of Learning, p. 56. 
 
210 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 Italy. In 1396, a famous Greek teacher, Chrysoloras, settled 
 in Florence, and the youths of the city flocked around him. 
 From this time onward, Homer, Plato, Sophocles, and their 
 peers, were " given back to Europe," and in their own tongue. 
 All the matchless wealth of the Greek intellect in history, 
 philosophy, physics, and art was now at the disposal of men of 
 the West at the very moment that they were emerging from the 
 disorders of the Middle Ages and able to make fertile use of 
 new ideas. In 1453, the Turks, indeed, took Constantinople, 
 but Greek studies and books were being treasured elsewhere. 
 " Greece had not perished," we are told by a scholar of the age, 
 " but had emigrated to Italy." And Greece continues to supply 
 the bases for a great proportion of the thought of the world 
 even to this day. 
 
 115, The revival of " the joy of living ^ The revival of 
 Graeco-Roman studies brought with it the revival of the old 
 Graeco-Roman ideals. The world was not a gloomy place of 
 probation, after all, but a joyous habitation full of possibilities 
 and stirring experiences. Men continued to call themselves 
 " good CathoHcs," but often their reverence for the Church 
 became merely formal. Scholars founded " Platonic acade- 
 mies," and even imitated the old pagan sacrifices and temple 
 rites. Morality was sacrificed to the mere delight of " knowing 
 the world," and indulging in all manner of new sensations. 
 When the old restraints were withdrawn, men often became 
 unscrupulous in the pursuit of any darhng ambition.^ Hence 
 the stories of intrigues and elegant criminality with which this 
 Italian age is full; yet in the end the good outweighed the bad. 
 
 1 The following story will illustrate how insatiate was the desire of Italians 
 of this age for fame — at whatever cost. In 1414, the tyrant of the Italian city 
 of Lodi had as his guests both the Emperor (Sigismund) and the Pope (John 
 XXIII). He took his guests upon a high tower to show them the view of 
 the city. While there a desire seized him to hurl them both thence, and so 
 render his own name immortal as the destroyer of both Pope and Emperor! 
 He resisted the temptation. His guests retired unharmed; but in after years 
 the tyrant lamented his scruples and his lost opportunity. 
 
CERVANTES 
 
 Spanish novelist 
 Born 1547 Died 1616 
 
 DANTE ALIGHIERI 
 
 Italian poet 
 
 Born 1265 Died 132 1 
 
 JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE 
 
 German author English poet and dramatist 
 
 Bom 1749 Died 1832 Born 1564 Died 1616 
 
 GREAT WRITERS 
 
THE RENAISSANCE 211 
 
 After the reaction from the old austere views had spent itself 
 would come the acceptance by the world of a more normal, 
 just type of morality than that of either the Middle Ages or 
 the Renaissance. 
 
 Typical of the Renaissance spirit, with its frivolity and its 
 savagery, its elegance and its brutality, is the rise of the 
 " Condottieri," or roving mihtary leaders. These men were 
 sometimes bold adventurers, who sold themselves from state 
 to state as generals in the constant petty wars. Sometimes, 
 however, they were themselves princes, such as the Marquis of 
 Mantua, and, most famous of all, Caesar Borgia, son of Pope 
 Alexander VI. ^ This splendid warrior had a short and glorious 
 career in which he all but succeeded in conquering for himself 
 a principaHty, made up of several of the small dukedoms of 
 Central Italy. Only the death of the Pope and a sudden illness 
 of his own lost to him at the last moment the hard-earned 
 results of a life spent in aggression and merciless warfare. 
 
 116. The new art. Along with the " new learning " and new 
 attitude toward life and the world went a new manner of art. 
 Here again the old Gr^eco-Roman monuments furnished the 
 model. The " Gothic " style of architecture of the Middle 
 Ages was replaced by the " Renaissance " type, a use of elab- 
 orate Corinthian columns, with arches and mighty domes of 
 the classic style, whereof a notable example is the rebuilt 
 Church of St. Peter at Rome (sixteenth century). The med- 
 iaeval sculpture was now made natural and beautiful by 
 such sculptors as Donatello (1386-1466), a worthy successor 
 to the old masters of Greece. But painting especially was 
 brought to a perfection which probably went beyond even the 
 best of the ancient world. From Cimabue (d. about 1302) to 
 Raphael (d. 1520) and Michael Angelo-(d. 1564), we have an 
 
 ' See p. 202. 
 
 ' Michael Angelo was more than a great painter. He was at once a master 
 architect, sculptor, artist, and poet. The Renaissance produced numbers of 
 men gifted with a wonderfully many-sided genius. 
 
212 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 ascending series of Italian painters (especially from Florence), 
 who have given us what are usually counted supreme examples 
 in one of the noblest of all the arts. 
 
 117. The new inventions. The Renaissance saw also the 
 coming of the great inventions which were to help remould 
 civilization. The effects on history of gunpowder are described 
 elsewhere. 1 The mariner's compass, introduced, at first, in a 
 very crude form, possibly from the Chinese and more directly 
 through the Arabs, was also coming into use during this period. 2 
 
 No longer need the naviga- 
 tor hug the shore. He could 
 boldly launch out into the 
 deep. The discovery of 
 America was really made 
 possible by this invention. 
 Even more vital was the 
 invention of printing. Dur- 
 ing most of the Middle Ages 
 there was so little call for 
 books that mere manuscript 
 reproduction sufficed well 
 enough. The growth of in- 
 terest in literature, however, 
 created a need for prompter 
 and cheaper methods of 
 copying, and the need pre- 
 sently brought its own so- 
 lution. First the manufacture of linen paper (in place of 
 costly parchment) was introduced from the Mohammedan 
 Orient; then came various crude attempts to make printed 
 pages of books by engraved blocks of wood. The glory 
 
 ^ See p. 224. 
 
 2 At first the compass was merely a magnetic needle floating on a cork upon 
 a pail of water or oil. In Italy the idea developed of hanging it upon a metal 
 pivot beneath a glass cover. It now became really available for mariners. 
 
 A PRINTING-PRESS SOON AFTER 
 GUTENBERG 
 
THE RENAISSANCE 213 
 
 of inventing printing, however, belongs not to Italy, but 
 to Germany. About 1440, John Gutenberg began at Strass- 
 burg to attempt to cast a font of type from metal. Having 
 withdrawn to Mainz, about 1456, he issued a Bible — the first 
 printed book ever published. The expert Italian manuscript 
 copyists sneered at first at the work of the clumsy hand-presses, 
 but the value of the " German art " (as it was rightly called) 
 was almost instantly recognized. By 1500, there were printing- 
 presses in every Christian country of Europe, and between 
 1460 and 1525 one after another of the great authors of anti- 
 quity were finding their way into print, and becoming avail- 
 able for even very humble scholars.^ Every modern writing 
 of worth was, of course, printed. The importance of Guten- 
 berg's invention proved, therefore, incalculable; " and, from 
 the day of the discovery of printing, humanity has made more 
 progress in four hundred and fifty years, than it had made in 
 the three thousand or four thousand years preceding. Printing 
 has been and is still the indispensable instrument of all progress 
 and all liberty."- 
 
 118. The Northern Renaissance. At first this great intel- 
 lectual and artistic movement was confined largely to Italy, 
 but by 1500, swarms of Northern scholars, French, Enghsh, 
 and German, were finding their way to the bright land beyond 
 the Alps and returning home with ideas which were destined 
 to revolutionize the life and thought of their nations. Paris, 
 Oxford, and the German universities became seats of Greek 
 learning. The art of Italy inspired such German painters as 
 Diirer (d. 1528) and Holbein (d. 1543). As a rule the Northern 
 apostles of the new learning were more moderate and contained 
 than the Italians. There w\as less indiscriminate admiration of 
 antiquity: greater regard for the old moralities. The most 
 
 1 It has been well pointed out that in 1500 one could buy, for the equivalent 
 of fifty cents, a printed book whereof the manuscript in 1450 would have cost 
 over fifty dollars. 
 
 ^ Malet. 
 
214 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 famous figure in the Northern Renaissance was Erasmus, of 
 Rotterdam, in Holland (d. 1536), a scholar of remarkable 
 acuteness and learning, who devoted so much of his energies to 
 a shrewd criticism of the abuses in the Church that he was 
 considered a forerunner of Luther, although, when Luther's 
 revolt actually did break out, he declined to join the rehgious 
 radicals. 
 
 By 1 5 17, to sum up, a new spirit had possessed itself of the 
 minds and the attitude toward life of thinking men throughout 
 Europe. In that year the new spirit displayed itself in reference 
 to the Church. 
 
 REVIEW 
 
 1. Topics — Bologna; Salerno; Paris; Thomas Aquinas; Scholastic 
 Learning; Divine Comedy; Petrarch; Decameron; "Virtue," Chry- 
 soloras; Gothic Architecture; Renaissance Architecture; John Guten- 
 berg; Erasmus. 
 
 2. The nature of the early university. 
 
 3. What is meant by "Schoolman"? 
 
 4. Did the "scholastic" learning help in the progress of civilization? 
 
 5. Why did the Renaissance begin in Italy? 
 
 6. Is economic prosperity always accompanied by an increase in general 
 culture? 
 
 7. What did Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio contribute toward the 
 "Revival of Learning" ? 
 
 8. Why was a knowledge of Latin literature less valuable, from the point 
 of view of the Renaissance, than a knowledge of Greek literature ? 
 
 9. What effect did the capture of Constantinople in 1453 have upon the 
 spread of a knowledge of Greek? 
 
 10. How did the revival of the classical learning affect the manner of 
 learning? 
 
 11. How did it affect art? 
 
 12. Why were the new inventions of the period important? 
 
 13. Would gunpowder and printing play an important part in the history 
 of the New Wodd? Why? 
 
 14. How was the spirit of the Renaissance carried northward? 
 
 15. What was the difference between the Italian and the Northern 
 Renaissance? 
 
 16. The influence of Erasmus. 
 
THE RENAISSANCE 215 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 1. The earlier universities — when, where, and how did they originate? 
 
 2. The "trivium" and "quadrivium." 
 
 3. Famous "Schoolmen." 
 
 4. Scholasticism. 
 
 5. The scientific knowledge of the Middle Ages. 
 
 6. Dante as a scientist. 
 
 7. What was the attitude of Petrarch toward Aristotle? 
 
 8. The meaning of "hn.ianism." 
 
 9. Typical Italian Des/ S. especially Ferrante of Naples, Ludovico il 
 Moro (Sforza), Lorenz... de Medici, and Sigismondo Malatesta of 
 Rimini. 
 
 10. Savonarola. 
 
 11. What is meant by the revival of the "classic influence" in Italian art? 
 By studying pictures, tell how the general treatment, and techniques 
 of Giotto and Raphael differ; and the sculpture of Donatello and 
 Michael Angelo. 
 
 12. Early books and printing. 
 
 13. The Renaissance in northern and western Europe. 
 
 14. The careers of Erasmus, Diirer, and Holbein the Younger. 
 
 READINGS 
 
 Sources. Ogg: chapters xxi, xxvi. Robinson: nos. 182-96, 217-30, 231a- 
 
 51b. 
 Modern accounts. Emerton: chapter xiii. Bemont and Monod: pp. 515- 
 
 27. Seignobos: pp. 125-32, 225-28, 235-38, 268-82. Symonds: ^a^^/iw. 
 
 Pattison: pp. 165-89. 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 THE WORLD AT THE END OF THE MIDDLE AGES 
 
 1 19. The state of France. By the year 1500, the map of 
 Europe had begun to assume a shape which would seem famihar 
 even at the present day. Certain cou^/cries were still backward 
 and divided by the discredited relics of feudalism, but others 
 had become powerful centralized " nation-states." The most 
 notable of these was France. ^ From the wreck and ruin of the 
 Hundred Years' War she had recovered with that alacrity 
 which is a French characteristic. Under a very remarkable 
 king, Louis XI (1461-83), a person of vulpine and mysterious 
 character, but of really statesmanlike ability, she had con- 
 tinued to consolidate her government and increase her general 
 prosperity. Louis, in particular, had outmaneuvered and com- 
 passed the ruin of the great Charles the Bold fDuke of Bur- 
 gundy and Prince of the Low Countries — modern Belgium 
 and Holland), an ambitious prince, who had become an inde- 
 pendent king in all but name, and who had come very near to 
 establishing a " third monarchy " between France and Ger- 
 many.- Charles's death left France the richest, best-governed, 
 and most united power in Europe. No one could question the 
 valor of the French nobility whose swords were at their king's 
 disposal; but even more valuable were the constant revenues 
 poured into his coffers by the millions of industrious artisans, 
 peasants, and traders. If France did not at once assume the 
 
 ' What had happened, in effect, was that the kinp; had become incomparably 
 the greatest of the feudal lords, and now, between his "feudal" powers and his 
 "roj^al" powers, his authority was irresistible. 
 
 ' How Louis XI played the fox against his opponent's lion, undermined 
 Charles's power by intrigues, and finally embroiled him in a disastrous war with 
 the hardy Swiss mountaineers is admirably told in Scott's two novels, Qucntin 
 Durward and Anne of Geierslcin. 
 
THE WORLD AT END OF MIDDLE AGES 217 
 
 leadership in Europe which belonged to her by her national 
 genius and by her wealth, it was because of the inferior caliber 
 of the next two generations of her rulers. Charles VIII (1483- 
 98) and Louis XII (1498-1515) were mediocre, over-ambitious 
 kings, who wasted their subjects' blood and treasure in profit- 
 less efforts to conquer Italy — wars which finally ended by 
 delivering that unhappy peninsula over to the despotic power 
 of Spain. Francis I (1515-47), though equally incHned to 
 wasteful wars in Italy, was a great art-patron and probably 
 the chief agent in introducing into France the beauties and 
 ideals of the ItaHan Renaissance. The famous castle at Blois 
 was built as a palace for him. 
 
 120. The "German'' Empire. France had thus achieved 
 a real nationality. Much less happy was her great neighbor 
 Germany. The failure of her elective sovereigns to conquer 
 Italy in the thirteenth century left her little better than an 
 ill-compacted federation of feudal princes and " free cities," 
 under a ruler who, indeed, still called himself " Caesar 
 Augustus " and " Holy Roman Emperor," but really possessed 
 only the rights of a president of a league rather than of a true 
 monarch of a nation. " Imperial power " in Italy had long 
 since sunk to a name; while within Germany its extent was 
 usually measured by the personal influence of the Emperor, — 
 who, to be sure, often as hereditary prince of a considerable 
 dominion, might be a decidedly formidable personage. 
 
 Some of these somewhat inglorious Emperors were really 
 important figures in history. Rudolf of Hapsburg (1273-91) 
 started his career as merely a petty prince with dominions in 
 modern Switzerland,^ and ended by transmitting to his sons 
 the hereditary rights to the valuable " Austrian lands " — the 
 territories around Vienna, the nucleus of the present-day 
 
 1 One of the reasons why Rudolf was elected was because he seemed too insig- 
 nificant to curb his fellow princes. From the "Hapsburg" line which he founded 
 are descended the present Emperor of Austria and the King of Spain. It is one 
 of the most famous dynasties in history. 
 
Longitude East 5 from Greenwich 
 
2l8 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 Austrian Empire. Another Emperor, Charles IV, a practical, 
 conservative ruler, issued, in 1356, the " Golden Bull " — a 
 kind of constitution for the German Empire, especially regu- 
 lating the method of electing the Emperor, and so diminishing 
 the chances of civil war.^ In 1500, the reigning Emperor was 
 
 THE EMPEROR CHARLES IV DINING IN STATE 
 Served by the Elector Palatine. (From a manuscript copy of the 
 Golden Bull, in the Library of Vienna) 
 
 Maximilian, a chivalrous monarch of the Hapsburg line, who 
 has been well called " the last of the knights," both from his 
 valorous, visionary character, and the ludicrous difference 
 between his soaring schemes for " conquering the world " and 
 their repeated and absurd failures. As ruler of the ample 
 " Austrian lands," he was, nevertheless, a powerful sovereign, 
 but in the rest of Germany he was treated with more lip ser\Tce 
 than obedience. 
 
 The real government of Germany was vested in the very 
 
 1 The Electors who alone could choose the Emperors — the greatest princes, 
 therefore, of the Empire — were: — 
 
 (Spiritual Electors) — 
 (i) Archbishop of Mainz. 
 
 (2) Archbishop of Treves. 
 
 (3) Archbishop of Cologne. 
 
 B. 
 
 (Temporal Electors) — 
 
 (4) Duke of Saxony. 
 
 (5) King of Bohemia. 
 
 (6) Count Palatine of the Rhine. 
 
 (7) Markgraf of Brandenburg. 
 From 1440 down to Napoleon's time only once, however, was an Emperor 
 
 chosen who did not belong to the Hapsburg dynasty, which thus came to con- 
 sider the election as almost its prescriptive right. 
 
THE WORLD AT END OF MIDDLE AGES 219 
 
 numerous " electors," " dukes," " markgrafs," " counts of the 
 Empire," and " free cities." Practically speaking, these 
 powers were semi-independent, waging war and making treaties 
 and local laws in true feudal style. The largest of these princi- 
 palities (e.g.. Saxony) were really small kingdoms; the smallest, 
 the " Ritters " (knights') holdings, were mere patches of 
 ground with a small castle and a few starving peasants. A 
 match for any save the mightiest princes were the larger free 
 cities like great Nuremberg in the South and lordly Liibeck on 
 the Baltic, 1 — magnificently built cities, full of industry and 
 commerce; rivals of the Italian city-states in their elegance, 
 and in the refined homes of their merchant princes; and gov- 
 erned by city aristocracies whose enterprise and wealth often 
 put them far ahead of the old landed nobility. 
 
 From time to time an Imperial Diet met — a gathering of the 
 multitude of princes or their envoys and of the deputies of the 
 free cities. The Emperor presided; there was enormous pomp, 
 ceremony, feasting, and hard drinking. But the Diet was 
 a most ineffective organ. The discordant elements united on a 
 common decree only with ponderous slowness. Such a decree, 
 once promulgated, was almost non-enforcible. Frequently a 
 state would refuse to enforce an unwelcome decree, and in that 
 case the only remedy was to declare war upon the offender. 
 Common taxation for the whole " Empire " was often al- 
 most impossible. " Private wars " were frequent. " Robber 
 knights " "let their horses bite off traveler's purses." - There 
 were thus many tokens of public anarchy. Yet this is only 
 one side of the picture. Many of the principalities were well 
 governed. A great spirit of enterprise and a ready acceptance 
 
 ^ Liibeck was the presiding city of the great Ilansealic League of cities of 
 North Germany, especially those along the North Sea and Baltic, — a confed- 
 eracy which for a long time controlled the trade in those parts and fought on 
 equal terms with the Kings of Denmark and of Sweden. 
 ^ A rhyme current among lawless peasants ran: — 
 "To ride and to rob is no shame! 
 The best in the land do the same!" 
 

 51.-J-— I, ^ 
 
THE WORLD AT END OF MIDDLE AGES 221 
 
 of new ideas had permeated the bulk of the population. There 
 was a great zeal to develop schools, and to found universities 
 in all the important states. Also Germans were very proud of 
 the " Fatherland " and jealous of foreigners. The longing for 
 a united, firm government which should give prosperity at 
 home and glory abroad was very great. There was also a 
 strong current of feeling that all was not well with the Church, 
 and that here, too, must come a radical reformation. 
 
 121. The coming of Spain. By 1500 a new Christian power 
 had begun to interfere in the affairs of Europe — the united 
 
 A SPANISH CAMP 
 
 Note the mediaeval tents. {From a late thirteenth-century manuscript 
 in the Escurial Library, Madrid) 
 
 monarchy of Spain. Very slowly in their northern mountains 
 had the Spanish Christians rallied after the Moslems had over- 
 whelmed their land (eighth century). Foot by foot, mile by 
 mile, all through the age of the CaroKngians and the German 
 Ottos and Hohenstaufen, the Christians had won back, first 
 the center, then the richer southern part of their peninsula. 
 Frenchmen had gone only occasionally on crusades. To the 
 Spaniard, life was one continuous crusade against the ever- 
 present infidel. The story of these " holy " wars and of the 
 rise of new Christian kingdoms is very confusing. By about 
 
222 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 1250, nearly all the land had been recovered, save where, in 
 the far south, in the small but fertile and populous kingdom 
 and city of Granada,' the Moors had made a last stand, and 
 the Christians were for many years too hampered by their 
 own feuds to expel them. 
 
 The growth of the Christian powers in Spain had been 
 spasmodic, and sorely retarded by more than the usual number 
 of feudal wars and dynastic contests. On the northeast had 
 developed the kingdom of Aragon; in the center, the greatest 
 of these kingdoms, Castile; on the west, small but full of mari- 
 time enterprise, Portugal.- Days of internal peace and of 
 foreign power dawned when, in 1469, Ferdinand, the heir to 
 Aragon, wedded Isabella the Catholic, the high-minded Queen 
 of Castile. Immediately the royal power in the united mon- 
 archy took a notable bound forward. The first fruits came in 
 1492, when the last Moorish king sadly surrendered Granada 
 and the country was clear of the infidel. That same year the 
 Itahan Columbus, with Spanish ships and Spanish patronage, 
 landed in the New World, and the great story of the Spanish 
 Empire in America was begun. 
 
 In 1500, Spain was a comparatively new country; her people, 
 brave, ingenious, and ambitious, but full of pride and haughti- 
 ness, and just released from the famihar task of war with the 
 Moslem, were ready for any kind of high enterprise. They were 
 intensely devoted to the Catholic Church, and ready to fly to 
 the defense of their rehgion at the first summons. Their kings 
 shared their religious zeal and their ambitions.^ For a hundred 
 
 1 At that city, of course, is the famous Alhambra, the marvelously beautiful 
 Moorish palace described by Washington Irving. In most of the arts of peace, 
 the Moors of Granada surpassed the Spaniards who conquered them. 
 
 2 In the mountain district between France and Spain there lay also the very 
 small kingdom of Navarre, which was presently absorbed between the two 
 countries; Spain getting Navarre proper; France, Beam, the district north of the 
 Pyrenees. 
 
 * It is worth noticing that the perpetual warfare with the IMoslem, extending 
 as it did over nearly eight hundred years, had almost unfitted the Spanish 
 
THE WORLD AT END OF MIDDLE AGES 223 
 
 years Spanish valor and American gold made those kings al- 
 most the -first monarchs in Christendom. 
 
 122. The coming of the Turks. In the East a new power was 
 also rising, a far more sinister one than Spain : — the Moham- 
 medan Turks were now in Europe. 
 
 After the Fourth Crusade the Greeks had, indeed, recovered 
 Constantinople (1261), but the power of these successors of 
 the old East Romans had been exhausted. Various races like 
 the Serbs pressed them hard in the Balkan Peninsula. In 
 Asia Minor, the tribe of Ottoman Turks took the offensive; 
 tore away the last Christian cities there; then forced their way 
 into Thrace. In 1361, the great city of Adrianople fell into 
 their hands, and from this capital they reached out and con- 
 quered the neighboring Serbs and Bulgarians. Constantinople, 
 itself, thanks to its admirable site and fortifications, still defied 
 -them; but long ere the final catastrophe, the " Greek Emperor " 
 had been stripped of nearly all his dominions outside the very 
 suburbs of his capital. ^ 
 
 At last, in 1453, the hour of doom came. Mohammed II 
 blockaded the old city of the Caesars by land and sea with all 
 his hordes of Orientals. The last Emperor, Constantine XII 
 (Palasologus) , a hero worthy of his great name, made a desper- 
 ate defense, but his case was hopeless. His city was cut off from 
 the rest of Europe. His appeals for help to the Western Powers 
 were met only by a few reinforcements from Genoa and 
 Venice. The newly invented siege-guns used by the Turks 
 beat down the old towers and battlements which had defied 
 the enemies of " New Rome " so long. On May 29, 1453, 
 Constantine died fighting in the breach of the city he could not 
 save, and the Turks sacked Constantinople with true Eastern 
 fury and cruelty. Mohammed II rode in triumph to the 
 
 peoples for most peaceful activities. They had developed very little industrial 
 ability. They were almost a race of professional soldiers. 
 
 1 He retained some districts in southern Greece, down to the actual taking of 
 Constantinople. 
 
224 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 famous Church of St. Sophia, where the Moslem crier sum- 
 moned the faithful to worship " the One Allah and his Pro- 
 phet." A great chapter of history had been ended, and the ever 
 troublous " Eastern Question " had been begun for Europe. 
 
 The fall of Constantinople was followed by the more com- 
 plete subjugation of Servia, Bulgaria, and Greece proper by 
 the Turks, and the partial conquest of Hungary. In 1529, 
 the great Sultan, Soliman the Magnificent, was barely repulsed 
 before the German imperial capital of Vienna. For the next 
 century and a half the " Cross " and the " Crescent " continued 
 their doubtful battle in Eastern Europe, and only slowly did 
 the scales begin to incline toward the Christians. 
 
 It is fair to say that this intrusion of the Turks into Europe 
 was an unmitigated curse. They were a race of rude soldiers 
 with only a veneer of even Oriental civilization. They brought 
 with them an alien religion and a government that was an 
 absolute despotism.^ Their coming involved war, misery for 
 innocent non-combatants, and the ruin of commerce and 
 peaceful industry. In line, this very real " Turkish peril " 
 forms the dark background to the story of Christendom down 
 to at least the year 1700. 
 
 123. The military revolution caused by gunpowder. During 
 this age a new military factor was working wide political 
 results. Gunpowder was more than an improved agent for 
 murdering men. It was a prime factor in destroying the relics 
 of feudalism. As early as 1300, clumsy " bombards," to hurl 
 stone balls propelled by the mysterious black dust, had been 
 used to batter down fortresses. From 1400 onward, " hand- 
 guns " and "arquebuses" began to compete with the old 
 longbows and crossbows in open battles. Clumsy as these 
 weapons were, their presence was speedily felt in warfare. 
 
 1 What made the Turkish regime more obnoxious was the fact that for tliree 
 hundred years their best army corps, the Ja>iizaries, was recruited by a tax 
 levied on the Christian subjects — a tax payable in young boys who were torn 
 
THE WORLD AT END OF MIDDLE AGES 225 
 
 (a) Even a very feeble battering-train could demolish a 
 feudal castle. It was impossible any longer for a baron with 
 a few followers to " drop his portculUs and defy the king ": 
 his walls would soon be tumbHng down about his ears. Every 
 new cannon was an argument for royal as against feudal 
 power. 
 
 (b) The musket ("arquebus"), although at first absurdly 
 slow-firing and unwieldy, very soon had the most heavily 
 armored knight at its mercy. Any clod-ploughing peasant 
 could discharge the bullet which might annihilate the great 
 seigneur. The day of the cavalier in "armor of proof" van- 
 ished forever; — another gain for democracy.^ 
 
 124. The expansion of the world by foreign discoveries. 
 During the Middle Ages the human horizon had been fearfully 
 contracted. The broad Atlantic had stretched away as a " Sea 
 -of Darkness," inhabited if at all by terrible monsters. From 
 the Orient had come wild, vague tales of India and of Zipango 
 (Japan) and Cathay (China). Now the scope of geographical 
 knowledge was widening with extraordinary rapidity; and 
 with this geographical knowledge went a general spirit of 
 receptivity to new ideas. As early as 1295, Marco Polo, a bold 
 Venetian, had returned to his native city with great tales of his 
 residence in Tartary and China at the court of the " Grand 
 Khan"; but it took two centuries for Europe and the Far 
 
 from their parents, then taught Mohammedanism, and trained to be devoted 
 fighters for the Sultan. 
 
 1 Of course the Enghsh longbow had already done much in this direction 
 (see p. i6q); but to become a good bowman required a very special training, 
 while infinitely less training was needed to manage an arquebus. So great, how- 
 ever, was the skill of the English archers that in England the bow was retained 
 as a serious fighting weapon long after the coming of gunpowder. 
 
 One of the early uses of gunpowder was to scare the cneniy^s hnrscs! This was 
 especially the case, according to one account, at the battle of Crecy. 
 
 There is a droll story of how several of the petty German princes clubbed 
 together to purchase one cannon, which they passed around among themselves, 
 to beat down the castles of the defiant robber knights in their respective 
 dominions. 
 
226 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 Orient to enter really into direct contact. All through the 
 fifteenth century hardy Portuguese navigators had been feeling 
 their way ever farther down the west coast of Africa. Almost 
 simultaneously now came the discovery of the New World and 
 of the road to the Far East. In 1492, Columbus (a Genoese 
 navigator, but with Spanish ships) landed in the West Indies, 
 seeking " golden Zipango " and discovering a new continent 
 by accident. In 1498, the Portuguese Vasco da Gama swept 
 into the Indian harbor of Calicut, soon to sail back with a cargo 
 
 THE FLEET OF THE GRAND KHAN 
 
 of spices, jewels, and muslins, and with the report of a better 
 route to the golden East. In 1520, Magellan was to round the 
 southern cape of Patagonia; and his ship returned to Spain 
 with the first story of the circumnavigation of the globe 
 (1522).^ Deeds like these were enough to herald a new age. 
 125. General unrest of the times. The Italian Renaissance 
 
 1 Magellan himself (a Portuguese, but in Spanish service) perished in the 
 Philippine Islands, after successfully conducting a marvelous voyage across the 
 broad Pacific. As a mere achievement of daring, his expedition far exceeded that 
 of Columbus. (See John Fiske's Discovery of America, vol. 11, pp. iqi^- ^or an 
 e.xcellent account.) 
 
THE WORLD AT END OF MIDDLE AGES 227 
 
 had wrought a great change in man's whole attitude toward 
 the world and life within it. The new inventions^ and the new 
 geographical discoveries were unsettling old beliefs, and mak- 
 ing even very conservative persons open to all manner of new 
 ideas. In place of feudal kingdoms there were appearing — at 
 least, in France, England, and Spain — solidly compacted 
 monarchies. The rapid development of commerce and indus- 
 try, and the premium now put upon wealth and not birth, 
 were destroying the prestige and influence of the old-time 
 nobilities. Serfdom had disappeared in many Christian lands, 
 and seemed dwindling in most of the others. In short, by 1500 
 nearly every time-honored human idea and institution had 
 been essentially modified save only the Catholic Church. 
 Could that alone go through the changes of the age un- 
 scathed? The answer came from Germany in 1517. 
 
 REVIEW 
 
 1. Topics — Louis XI; Rudolph of Hapsburg; the Golden Bull; Electors; 
 Ritter; Diet; Hanseatic League; Alhambra; Ottoman Turks; St. 
 Sophia; SoHman the Magnificent; Janizaries; Marco Polo. 
 
 2. Geography — 
 
 (a) Locate Mainz; Treves; Cologne; Nuremberg; Liibeck; Granada; 
 
 Aragon; Castile; Portugal; Navarre; Adrianople; Constantinople. 
 {h) Mark the bounds of France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Turkey 
 
 in Europe about 1500. 
 
 3. The work of Louis XI. 
 
 4. What were the reasons for the failure of Germany to achieve "a real 
 nationality"? 
 
 5. What did Rudolph of Hapsburg and Charles IV contribute to the devel- 
 opment of the Empire? 
 
 6. What was the origin of Austria? 
 
 7. What made possible the wealth and refinement of such cities as Venice, 
 Liibeck, and Antwerp? 
 
 8. What conditions favorable for the development of a "nation-state" 
 existed in Germany about 1500? 
 
 9. Why had not Spain taken a prominent part in European affairs before 
 1500? 
 
 1 See p. 212, 
 
228 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 10. What conditions among the Mohammedans aided the Christians to 
 recover Spain? 
 
 11. What was accompUshed by Ferdinand and Isabella in the develop- 
 ment of Spain? 
 
 1 2. What prevented an earlier conquest in Europe by the Ottoman Turks? 
 
 13. Mohammed II is known as "the Conqueror." Why? 
 
 14. The effects upon the Balkan Peninsula of the conquests by the Turks. 
 Compare with the effects upon the Spanish Peninsula of the con- 
 quest by the Saracens. 
 
 15. How did gunpowder help the growth of democracy? 
 
 16. What had been accomplished in discovery by 1525? 
 
 17. How would the discoveries affect European civilization? 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 1. Louis XI and Charles the Bold. 
 
 2. The Italian Wars. 
 
 3. The Golden Bull of Charles IV. 
 
 4. The Hanseatic League (Hansa). 
 
 5. The Christian Reconquest of Spain. 
 
 6. The Alhambra. 
 
 7. How did the expulsion of the Moors affect the economic conditions 
 in Spain? 
 
 8. Columbus at the Court of Spain. 
 
 9. The government of Spain about 1500. 
 
 10. Cardinal Ximenes and the Church in Spain. 
 
 11. Why did not Christian Europe unite to repel the Turks? 
 
 12. Constantine XII (Palasologus). 
 
 13. Compare the sack of Constantinople by the Christians (1204) with 
 that by the Turks. 
 
 14. The invention and early uses of gunpowder. 
 
 15. Geographical knowledge before 1492. 
 
 16. Prince Henry the Navigator and the Portuguese sailors. 
 
 17. The ships of the period. 
 
 READINGS 
 
 Sources. Ogg: chapter xxiv, section 72. Robinson: nos. 203-04, 231. 232, 
 
 233-38. 
 Modern Accounts. Bemont and Monod: pp. 474-79. Duruy:pp. 247-313, 
 
 319-24. Lewis: pp. 235-353. Scignobos: pp. 187-91, 211-62. Gibbin; 
 
 pp. 105-09. Pattison: pp. 144-64, 190-214. Lodge: chapter I, 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 THE PROTESTANT REVOLT IN GERMANY AND SWITZERLAND 
 
 126. The state of the Church in the sixteenth century. In 
 
 1517, even devout friends of the Catholic Church admitted 
 that the great fabric was full of evils. The reigning Pope 
 Leo X was an upright, well-intentioned ruler personally, but 
 he was far more intent on strengthening his political position 
 as an Italian prince, and playing the patron to poets and 
 artists,^ than in cleansing the Church of its obvious abuses. 
 There were many worthy bishops, but as a rule to be a bishop 
 meant to be a great nobleman who entered the Church as a 
 ^'career" with a view to the financial, political, and social 
 advantages. The friar movement of St. Francis and St. 
 Dominic had lost much of its noble impulse. The friars were 
 now charged with averaging more idle, more greedy, more 
 morally worthless than the ordinary monks. The regular 
 priests also were often charged with gross ignorance, with 
 neglecting their parishes, and with leading unworthy lives to 
 the detriment of their credulous laity. As for the Papal Court 
 at Rome, all sorts of worldliness, financial greediness, extreme 
 luxury, and downright immorality were constantly imputed 
 even to the highest cardinals. No doubt there was much 
 exaggeration in these charges: it was easy for one rascally 
 churchman to destroy the effect of the good deeds of a dozen 
 pious men; — nevertheless, many ugly facts appeared to 
 remain. The world was advancing, but in the great Church 
 evils seemed every day more prominent.^ 
 
 ^ Among his favorites at court were Raphael and Michael Angelo. 
 ' Catholic scholars of the present day admit all these facts, but declare that 
 the remedy was one caUing for the peaceful internal reform of the Church: not 
 
230 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 Yet this Church was still acknowledged throughout all 
 Western Christendom: all attempts to alter its body of doc- 
 trines and scheme of government had failed. Men might 
 deplore " the worldliness of Rome," yet still profess firm loy- 
 alty to priest, bishop, and Papacy. There were no more out- 
 ward signs of a great religious revolt in 1516 than in 1416.^ 
 Then suddenly forces, long at work silently, manifested them- 
 selves. In a surprisingly short time Western Christendom was 
 spHt into two hostile camps, not even at this present day 
 united. All great movements, however, usually revolve around 
 a leader; — the Protestant Revolt or Reformation revolves 
 around the person of the German friar, Martin Luther. 
 
 127. The early career of Martin Luther. It is safe to say 
 that there would have been a marked religious change in any 
 event. It is also safe to say that Martin Luther gave his own 
 personal stamp and impetus to the new movement. The main 
 facts of his life are fundamentals in the world's history. He 
 was born a Saxon peasant in 1483 ; and worked his way through 
 the schools at Eisenach and through the University of Erfurt 
 by self-denial and begging.^ His friends expected him to be- 
 come a lawyer; but in 1505, being in great fear for the salvation 
 of his soul, he amazed them by becoming a friar. In the con- 
 vent he practiced every monkish mortification, but only found 
 peace for his soul upon being convinced that merely the " free 
 grace of God," not any personal self-righteousness, could 
 bring salvation to the penitent sinner. He became Professor 
 of Theology in the Saxon University of Wittenberg; and was 
 soon famous as a theological lecturer and as a preacher of 
 
 a violent rcvohiliou in which the whole fabric of the Church, not simply the 
 abuses, was demolished. 
 
 1 Nor so many signs, perhaps: the memory of the heretic John Hus (see p. 199) 
 would, in 1416, still have been keen. 
 
 ^ Luther's father had prospered enough to be of some assistance to him when 
 he went to the university. — Attempts to explain the Protestant Reformation 
 as a merely social and economic movement, and to ignore Luther, are very 
 futile. 
 
MARTIN LUTHER 
 
 Leader of German Reformation 
 
 Born 1483 Died 1546 
 
 DESIDERILS ERASMUS 
 
 Dutch scholar 
 
 Born i466(?) Died 1536 
 
 ■ 
 
 ^^" 
 
 ^H 
 
 
 T \ 
 
 '^^^^H 
 
 i 
 
 m 
 
 
 1 
 
 Q 
 
 
 IGNATIUS I)L l.dMil \ CHARLES WESLEY 
 
 Spanish founder uf So..ietj ^l Jt^a^ English Methodist preacher 
 
 Born 1491 Died 1556 Bora 1707 Died 1788 
 
 LEADERS OF BELIEF 
 
THE PROTESTANT REVOLT 231 
 
 divine grace and righteousness to the laity. He was praised for 
 his eloquence, learning, and piety. In normal times he might 
 have become a bishop. Then, in 15 17, he did a deed which 
 made all Europe talk of him. 
 
 128. Tetzel, and Luthefs Theses {i<,i*j). To raise money for 
 building the new Cathedral of St. Peter, at Rome, the church 
 authorities had commissioned one John Tetzel, a friar, to 
 preach and sell valuable indulgences through North Germany.^ 
 These remissions from the penances due for sin were only 
 valid when not merely a price had been paid, but also when 
 the purchaser had professed real sorrow for his evil actions; 
 however, there is little doubt that Tetzel exceeded his com- 
 mission.^ The indulgences were sold for a round price, and 
 Tetzel was anxious to report as large sales as possible. In his 
 noisy sermons through the German cities he seems to have 
 said much of the money, little of the contrition.'"^ Untaught 
 peasants, at least, gained the belief that the purchase of an 
 indulgence squared all accounts with Heaven, and left one 
 shriven and sinless. When Tetzel preached and sold in Jiiter- 
 bog, a town near Wittenberg, the accounts of his doings which 
 came thence aroused Luther to drastic action. 
 
 On October 31, 1517, Luther nailed to the door of the 
 
 1 The indulgences were not (as Protestants often believe) "forgivenesses of 
 sins"; they were only the remission of the penances — fasts, alms deeds, pil- 
 grimages, etc. ^ — which the priest could require of one who professed sorrow for 
 his misdeeds and asked for absolution. At the same time, many Catholic scholars 
 admit that the theory was one open to abuses if not carefully safeguarded, and 
 that Tetzel was a very unworthy, rapacious man. 
 
 ^ What made the case more objectionable was that the Archbishop of Mainz 
 (who had sent out Tetzel) was heavily in debt to the Fuggers — a great banking- 
 house of Augsburg. A clerk of the Fuggers accompanied Tetzel, and appropri- 
 ated a large share of the indulgence money to pay his employers — a highly 
 "secular" proceeding! 
 
 ^ Most dubious of all were his urgings that people buy indulgences for their 
 relatives then in the fires of purgatory. 
 
 "The money in the strong box rings — 
 The ransomed soul to heaven upsprings!" — 
 is the scandalous rhyme imputed to him. 
 
232 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 "Castle Church,"^ in Wittenberg, ninety-five "theses," or 
 statements relative to indulgences, in which he attacked the 
 methods of Tetzel, and by implication cast doubts upon the 
 whole value of the documents. Luther had no intention (he 
 later said) of questioning any of the great doctrines of the 
 Church or the authority of the Pope. But it was soon plain 
 that he had stirred up a hornet's nest. The " Theses " were 
 printed and distributed over all Germany. Instantly he was 
 both praised and blamed with extreme violence: praised for 
 daring to attack a greedy monk who was deluding the laity, 
 blamed for assailing by insinuation the fundamental power and 
 prerogatives of the Pope (whose license Tetzel bore). Tetzel 
 himself and his friends retaliated with venomous counter- 
 theses. All intelligent Germany began to take sides. 
 
 129. The hearing before Cajetanus (1518). At first Pope 
 Leo regarded the trouble as an unimportant " monks' quarrel." 
 But it was soon evident that something must be done " to 
 quench the flames." It was not enough to repudiate Tetzel.'^ 
 Luther (and the learned friends who had rallied around him), in 
 trying to justify their first attack on the indulgence-hawker, 
 were using new arguments which seemed to involve the under- 
 lying doctrines of the Church. In 1518, Luther was cited before 
 the papal legate, the Cardinal Cajetanus, at Augsburg. The 
 cardinal was a kindly and blameless man, anxious to see good 
 in Luther, but he firmly pressed for a " recantation." Luther 
 tried to justify the points at issue with arguments. This was 
 not what Cajetanus wanted : the bold friar must submit with- 
 out argument to the declared teachings of the Church. Really 
 
 ' This was the regular bulletin board for the notices at the University of 
 Wittenberg. Luther did not advance his theses as proved facts, but onlj' as 
 theories relative to indulgences which he was ready to defend with arguments 
 (a common academic procedure), but the discussion soon ranged far beyond 
 ordinary university controversy. 
 
 2 Tetzel was later so severely reprimanded for his coarse folly by Miltitz, the 
 Pope's commissioner to Germany, that he retired to a convent in disgrace, and 
 is said to have died soon after of mortification. 
 
THE PROTESTANT REVOLT 233 
 
 the two men (both sincere and honest) stood on such different 
 grounds that reconciliation was almost impossible. Cajetanus 
 was defending the claim of the Church, first, to define the true 
 belief, and then to require all Christians to accept it. Luther 
 was claiming the right of every man to evolve his own personal 
 theology without necessarily accepting the dicta of the Church.^ 
 This difference was fundamental, and remains fundamental to 
 this day. 
 
 " Recant! " at length ordered Cajetanus, " or never see my 
 face again." 
 
 Luther refused, and left Augsburg. This was the second 
 step in the great religious revolt. 
 
 130. The disputation at Leipzig (1519). The next year, at 
 Leipzig, Luther joined with a Catholic champion, Eck, in a 
 formal public disputation on their differences. More and more 
 Luther had become convinced, as his opponents had pressed 
 him, that the papal authority and all the great Church fabric 
 connected therewith were hopelessly bad, and needed com- 
 plete reconstruction. At Leipzig, he astonished his hearers by 
 asserting personal sympathy with the Bohemian Hussites, ^ 
 long since condemned as heretics by the Church. A like 
 boldness of assertion against Church authority had not been 
 for centuries. Speedily came rumors of a papal bull of excom- 
 munication against Luther, and he in turn became defiant. 
 The newly invented printing-press was at his disposal. He had 
 developed a wonderfully trenchant literary style both in Latin 
 (for the learned) and in the popular German. ^ In two great 
 
 1 It is perfectly true that Luther laid great stress upon the teachings of the 
 Bible as against the decrees of the Church: seeming simply to substitute one 
 authority for another. But the Bible is by no means a book to be received with- 
 out careful study and interpretation; and then comes in the personal element — 
 every man must make his own interpretation of the Bible, if he will not let the 
 Church do it for him. 
 
 ' See p. 200. 
 
 * Luther's friends and enemies alike have admitted that a large part of his 
 success came from his matchless literary and argumentative gifts. He is justly 
 criticized for extreme violence of statement and invective, but no one has denied 
 
234 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 pamphlets, — " The Appeal to the German Nobility " and 
 " On the Babylonish Captivity of the Church," — he denounced 
 the alleged abuses of Rome in unmeasured terms. No other 
 theological pamphlets ever had such an effect. Public opinion 
 rallied to him — "a pious German friar attacked by worldly 
 
 MARTIN LUTHER BURNING THE POPE'S BULL OF EXCOMMUNICATION 
 
 ItaKans." When the papal bull against him was published 
 (1520), a very large fraction of Germany was ready to applaud 
 Luther's action, as, upon a great public bonfire at Wittenberg, 
 he cast this notice of excommunication, and proclaimed his 
 contempt for " Anti-Christ " (the Pope) and all his power. 
 
 131. Luther at Worms and the Wartburg (1521-22). Leo 
 now demanded of the newly elected Emperor, Charles V, 
 that he arrest and punish the man whom the law of the Church 
 had condemned. But a great majority of the Germans seemed 
 
 that his trenchant pen made his arguments carry double weight. He knew his 
 countrymen thoroughly, and had a marvelous power of appealing to their hopes, 
 fears, prejudices, and patriotism. 
 
THE PROTESTANT REVOLT 235 
 
 to be on Luther's side. A powerful prince — Frederick the 
 Wise of Saxony — was his protector. It was impossible to 
 condemn him without a hearing. Although Charles V ^ (Fleming 
 born and of Spanish descent) was a devout Catholic and not 
 unwilling to sustain the Pope, he could not override the wishes 
 of his German subjects too ruthlessly. Luther was accordingly 
 summoned under safe-conduct to the Imperial Diet at WormSo 
 Luther's friends told him that he would never be allowed to 
 leave Worms alive, but he was determined to bear his witness: 
 " I will go to Worms," vowed he, " though there be as many 
 devils there as there be tiles on the house-tops! " On April 18, 
 1 52 1, the peasant's son, in his humble friar's frock, was led in • 
 before the august and glittering array of the Emperor, his 
 court, and all the German princes. But to the demand that 
 he recant his writings, Luther was as stedfast as before Caje- 
 tanus. Finally he was pressed for an unequivocal answer 
 " without horns." " I cannot recant," was the final reply, 
 " unless I be proved in the wrong by Scripture or by plain 
 reasoning. Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise. God help me. 
 Amen! "2 
 
 Under the law there was only one fate for obvious heretics. 
 Luther was ordered to return to Wittenberg, there to await 
 " the ban of the Empire," and, no doubt, a iiery punishment; 
 but on his way home he was kidnapped by his friends and con- 
 fined secretly as a prisoner of honor in one of the Elector of 
 Saxony's castles — the famous Wartburg, in the beautiful 
 Thuringian forest.^ While there he translated the Bible into 
 
 1 Charles V (Emperor, 1519-56) was, besides holding the imperial crown, the 
 Prince of the Netherlands (Belgium, Holland), and, as grandson of Ferdinand 
 and Isabella, the King of Spain and Spanish America. He was an astute and 
 very capable monarch, who fell short by only a little of being one of the world's 
 greatest rulers. 
 
 ^ There is some question as to the exact verbal form of Luther's answer. The 
 words given seem, on the whole, well authenticated. 
 
 ' So completely did he disappear that many of his friends believed him dead, 
 and accusecl the Catholic party of murdering him. 
 
236 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 German. His version at once ran into many editions, and 
 became both a German classic and a great weapon for his 
 party. In 1522, Luther ventured to leave the Wartburg and 
 return to Wittenberg. To most Germans he was a national 
 hero. The Emperor was about to plunge into war with 
 France, and dared not ahenate the nation by enforcing the 
 ban. 
 
 132. The spread of the revolt in Germany. Luther lived 
 unmolested in Wittenberg till his death in 1546. He was gen- 
 erally counted the mentor and patron of the new movement, 
 but he was no longer essential to its progress. In northern 
 Germany, between 1522 and 1530, the people seem to have 
 revolted against the old Church almost at one bound. Nuns 
 and monks left their convents; priests married;^ communion 
 was administered in "both kinds";- Luther's doctrine of 
 "salvation by grace " (in lieu of pious works) was generally 
 accepted. Many of the princes (e.g., of Saxony and Hesse) 
 joined the movement sometimes from sincere zeal, sometimes 
 because the "Reformation" meant a pretext for confiscating 
 the Church lands. There were, of course, serious setbacks: 
 wild sects of fanatics arose — e.g., the Anabaptists, who found 
 in the Bible justification of open polygamy; and there occurred 
 a great revolt of the peasantry, who, like oppressed wild beasts, 
 seized on the public unrest as an occasion for a revolt against 
 the tyrannous knights and princes, and who were presently 
 put down in blood by the authorities (1524 25). Luther him- 
 self, perhaps over- scrupulously, kept on the side of "law and 
 order," and taught his followers to submit to the leadership of 
 the constituted princes. He had his reward, however. Several 
 of the greatest principalities ranged themselves on his side, 
 and were ready to defend " the Reformed Religion " by armed 
 
 1 Luther himself married an ex-nun (Catherine von Bora; "my Kathe"), in 
 
 1525- 
 
 ' That is to say, both the bread and the wine were given to the laity, not the 
 bread only as in the Catholic Church. , 
 
CHARLES V 
 
 Holy Roman Emperor (1519-56) King of Spain as Charles I (1516-56) 
 Born 1500 Died 1558 
 
THE PROTESTANT REVOLT 
 
 237 
 
 force if need be. In 1529, these Lutheran princes " protested " 
 
 at the Diet of Spires against the decision to carry out the 
 
 Edict of Worms (against Luther and his supporters), and so 
 
 won for themselves and their cause the abiding name of 
 
 "Protestants." In 1530, the new 
 
 Lutheran churches united against 
 
 their foes under a common creed 
 
 and program, " The Confession of 
 
 Augsburg," and in 1531, their 
 
 princes drew together into a close 
 
 military alUance, the Schmalkaldic ^ 
 
 League. 
 
 Meantime throughout Germany 
 every thoughtful man was making 
 his choice — ■ the old Church or the 
 new. Many who had at first ap- 
 plauded Luther drew back, but the 
 bulk of the nation, especially in 
 North and Central Germany, com- 
 mitted themselves to one or another 
 type of " Protestantism." 
 
 133. The religious peace of Augsburg (1555). Hardly was 
 Luther dead (1546) when the Emperor Charles, who had long 
 dissembled his wrath against the German Protestants, owing 
 to his embroilments with France, sought to enforce the ban 
 against heresy. The forces of the Schmalkaldic League were 
 routed, its leading princes imprisoned; Charles made certain 
 promises of tolerance for a few Protestant tenets; yet the 
 whole movement seemed doomed. But the Lutherans found 
 a new champion in the Elector Maurice of Saxony, a former 
 supporter of the Emperor, although a Protestant, who now 
 fell out with his master, and suddenly (1552) turned his arms 
 
 GERMAN PEDDLER OF THE 
 SIXTEENTH CENTURY 
 (From a book by Hans Ganlz 
 (Frankfort. 1568) describing the va- 
 rious trades of the period) 
 
 ^ The name comes from the town (Schmalkalden) where the league was or- 
 ganized. 
 
238 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 against him.' Charles, who had beheved he had Germany at 
 his mercy, was obHged to fly, ill with gout, in a Htter over the 
 snowy Alps from Innsbruck to avoid capture by Maurice. 
 The attempt to conquer the Protestants had failed: more 
 particularly as they could always look for aid to Charles's 
 arch enemy — France. The Emperor in despair concluded a 
 preliminary treaty (at Passau), which became a permanent 
 peace at Augsburg (1555). 
 
 The compact of Augsburg was a compromise satisfactory to 
 neither party, but perhaps as good as could be secured at the 
 moment. It was agreed that the Lutherans (adherents of the 
 "Confession of Augsburg") should be tolerated in as many 
 districts of Germany as were then ruled by Lutheran princes 
 (about two thirds of Germany). The rehgion of the prince thus 
 became the religion of the region, — an absurd decision; for 
 what if the prince changed his own religion — must his subjects 
 change also? ^ What of the districts where a non-Lutheran 
 type of Protestantism prevailed, or which became Protestant 
 after the treaty? Obviously here was the certain source of later 
 conflict. Nevertheless, this rough-and-ready agreement was 
 to serve to keep the peace in Germany for over fifty years; and 
 at the time of its making many good men were justified in con- 
 sidering it only provisional: — would not one religion surely 
 absorb the other? For to expect that Christendom would 
 remain permanently split into two great opposing camps was 
 contrary to all past theory and experience. 
 
 134. Zwingli and Calvin in Switzerland. Luther's great 
 strength had been in his ability to appeal to his own German 
 countrymen. In non-German lands Lutheranism had much less 
 
 1 Maurice was by no means an ideal character. He had supported Charles 
 long enough to win for himself the Electorate of Saxony, formerly held by his 
 kinsmen. Of course, he alleged various personal and religious grievances for his 
 attack upon the Emperor. 
 
 2 Cases actually arose where, e.g., a Catholic prince was succeeded by a 
 Protestant, and all his subjects were required to change their faith or migrate. 
 Then a Catholic ruler would come in again and the whole process be reversed. 
 
THE PROTESTANT REVOLT 239 
 
 success. It wrested the Scandinavian kingdoms from the old 
 Church, but in Switzerland and the French borderlands, it 
 halted before a rival type of Protestantism which revolved 
 around the leaders Zwingli and Calvin. 
 
 Zwingli, a priest in the Swiss city of Zurich/ had begun, as 
 early as 15 19, an attack upon Catholic practice and doctrine 
 even more violent and far-reaching than that of Luther. He 
 differed, too, from Luther in being more of a pohtician and 
 less of a theologian. He was actually slain in battle between 
 the Ziirichers and the Swiss CathoHcs in 1531, but notwith- 
 standing his overthrow a large part of Switzerland became 
 Protestant. 
 
 In 1536 appeared at the city of Geneva, in French Switzer- 
 land, the man who next to Luther became the prime leader of 
 Protestantism. John Calvin was a Frenchman with the French 
 spirit of logical thoroughness. His book, '' The Institutes of 
 the Christian Religion," was a marvelously effective presenta- 
 tion of the extreme Protestant case. For many years Calvin 
 practically reigned as the " senior pastor " over the little city- 
 republic of Geneva, and made it the center for an anti-Catholic 
 movement which gave the tone to the leading Protestant 
 churches of France, Holland, and especially Scotland and 
 England.- Calvin was a stern, unsympathetic leader. His 
 capital doctrine of predestination has been in later ages bitterly 
 criticized. He used his great influence at Geneva tci send to 
 the stake Servetus (1553) accused of the " unitarian " heresy. 
 But he was able to put a lighting spirit into his followers 
 which was to carry his aggressive type of Protestantism into 
 
 ^ The Swiss Cantons at that time still retained some nominal connection with 
 "the Empire," but they were for all practical purposes independent of Germany. 
 
 ' Most of the leading Protestant denominations of America, except the 
 Lutherans, Universalists, and Unitarians, derive their fundamental theology 
 from Calvin. Calvin differed from Luther on various theological points — e.g., 
 the nature of the Lord's Supper; but the decisive difference was this: — -Luther 
 tried to retain as much of the old usage as possible, Calvin to reduce it to a 
 minimum. 
 
240 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 countries which had Httle sympathy with the Germanism of 
 Luther. 
 
 135' '^he Council of Trent and the Catholic reaction. Mean- 
 time the Catholics had ralHed. If the Germanic North of 
 Europe seemed largely lost, the latinized South was success- 
 fully defended.^ Worthy and capable Popes succeeded the 
 worldly ones. The practical abuses whereof the lirst Protes- 
 tants complained were aboHshed, — there was never another 
 Tetzcl. Between 1545 and 1563, there met intermittently the 
 great Council of Trent, which corrected the usages of church- 
 men, defined doubtful dogmas upon which the Church had 
 never spoken with authority before, and tightened up the whole 
 Catholic line of defense against the Protestant adversary. - 
 
 Another great helper came to the papal side. St. Ignatius de 
 Loyola (a Spanish nobleman) founded (1534) the " Society of 
 Jesus," or less officially the " Order of Jesuits ": a special 
 religious brotherhood of a new kind whereof the special busi- 
 ness should be to aid the Popes in all possible ways against 
 every kind of heresy. The Jesuits mingled in politics, and 
 exerted a potent influence at royal courts; but especially they 
 were interested in founding excellent estabHshments for the 
 education of Catholic laymen. For the next century and after 
 they were the right arm of the Papacy. 
 
 So the sixteenth century saw the great Western Church 
 hopelessly dissevered. Out of the separation were bound to 
 come bloody wars and the rise or ruin of nations. 
 
 * This line of demarcation was followed down fairly closely: the Catholics 
 kept southern Germany and a considerable number of adherents in Holland. 
 The Protestants won many districts in French (Latin) Switzerland. The Celtic 
 parts of the British Isles divided. Ireland remained, on the whole, Catholic: 
 Scotland and Wales became Protestant. 
 
 2 It is sometimes said that in the Middle Ages the Church left a great many 
 points of faith very indefinite: this had enabled the Protestants to claim that 
 they were "no heretics" in attacking various usages (though not laws) of the 
 Church. Now after Trent the Church system became far more precise and rigid. 
 
THE PROTESTANT REVOLT 241 
 
 REVIEW 
 
 1. Topics — Indulgences; Luther's Theses; Cajetanus; Eck; Charles V; 
 Frederick the Wise; the Wartburg; Protestants; Confession of Augs- 
 burg; Schmalkaldic League; Maurice of Saxony; Rehgious Peace of 
 Augsburg; Zwingli; Servetus; the Society of Jesus. 
 
 2. Geography — 
 
 (a) Locate Eisenach; Erfurt; Wittenberg; Augsburg; Leipzig; 
 
 Spires; Innsbruck; Zurich; Geneva; Trent. 
 {h) Mark the territories of Charles V in Europe. 
 
 3. What evils existed in the Church at the beginning of the sixteenth 
 century? Did the changes produced by the Renaissance make these 
 evils more, or less, apparent? 
 
 4. What was Luther's intention in posting his theses? 
 
 5. What was Luther's position at the hearing before Cajetanus? — at the 
 dispute with Eck? — before the Emperor? 
 
 6. Why was not Luther treated as Hus had been? Compare his treatment 
 with that of Wichf. 
 
 7. The progress of the Reformation to 1531. 
 
 8. What were the provisions of the Religious Peace of Augsburg? 
 
 9. If the Council of Basel had been like the Council of Trent, would there 
 have been a Protestant Revolt? 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 1. The influence of the Renaissance upon the movement for reform. 
 
 2. How would the character and aims of the Popes of the Renaissance 
 affect the influence of the Papacy. 
 
 3. What was the influence of Erasmus upon Luther? 
 
 4. Luther's pamphlets. 
 
 5. What classes in Germany were reached by Luther's teachings? 
 
 6. Compare Zwingli's teachings with those of Luther. 
 
 7. The Swiss Cantons and the Empire. . 
 
 8. Loyola and the formation of the Jesuit order. 
 
 9. The Election of 15 19. 
 
 READINGS 
 
 Sources. Robinson: nos. 239-62, 277-79. 
 
 Modern accounts. Seignobos: pp. 262-66,283-95,296-98,305-14. Lewis: 
 
 pp. 354-98. Pattison: pp. 215-47. Lodge: chapter iv, sections 1-9, 
 
 14-16; chapter vi, sections 1-9; chapter vii, all. 
 
CHAPTER XXI 
 
 THE RELIGIOUS REVOLT IN ENGLAND 
 
 136. Henry VIII (1509-47) — His character and policy. 
 
 Under existing conditions it is likely that Protestantism would 
 have taken some root in England in any case, no less than in 
 other countries. But England — peculiar in her civilization 
 and her political institutions — could hardly fail to be pecuhar 
 in the features of her religious revolt. In her breach with Rome 
 theological questions were sometimes all but obscured by the 
 problems of worldly policy as directed by her masterful king. 
 Henry VIII stands out prominently as one of the most unusual 
 rulers in history. 
 
 " Henry Tudor " in his youth was handsome and dissipated. 
 In his later days he became portly and sensual; but with all his 
 shortcomings he was never sottish, never contemptible. He 
 was almost an " absolute king " in his deeds and policy, but 
 he knew how to clothe his tyranny with forms of law, and 
 when to stop on a given road ere he lost the good will of the 
 bulk of his subjects. He could inspire ministers with almost 
 excessive devotion to his cause, then repudiate them when no 
 longer useful and send them ruthlessly to the block. He was 
 an amateur theologian; professed great abhorrence of Luther- 
 anism, and wrote a not unlearned treatise in defense of the 
 Pope; then ended by repudiating the papal power and launch- 
 ing England into bitter war with the Roman Church. He could 
 perpetrate acts of extreme blood and cruelty, justify them in 
 the names of religion and state policy, and probably (so able 
 critics have held) be sincere in believing in his own professions. 
 Finally, he could tear England away from Rome and yet 
 refrain from committing her to any of the usual types of 
 
THE RELIGIOUS REVOLT IN ENGLAND 243 
 
 Protestantism. Henry VIII was, in short, a strange compound 
 of good and evil.^ 
 
 137. The divorce of Catherine of Aragon. During the earlier 
 years of this young and masterful king his policy was largely 
 shaped by a great chief minister, Cardinal Wolsey, who, by 
 skillfully balancing France against Spain and offering the 
 English alliance now to one side, now to the other, in their 
 
 ^^^^^-^^:>: 
 
 CARDINAL WOLSEY AND HIS SUITE 
 
 incessant wars, managed to make England a leading power 
 among the nations without committing her to any very exten- 
 sive or exhausting campaigning. During this time, too, little 
 bands of " Lutheran " sympathizers began to appear in Eng- 
 land, only to be suppressed by the royal authorities invok- 
 ing the old anti-heresy laws. In 1527 came the opening wedge 
 
 1 A large part of Henry's career turned on his six unfortunate and notorious 
 marriages. His wives were: (i) Catherine of Aragon (queen, 1500-33; divorced). 
 (2) Anne Boleyn (1533-36; executed for alleged immorahty). (3) Jane Seymour 
 (1536-37; she gave birth to a prince, the later king Edward VI, and died soon 
 after). (4) Anne of Cleves (1540; a foreign princess repudiated within six months 
 after marriage, as homely and socially unattractive). (5) Catherine Howard 
 (1540-42; executed for immorality, probably guilty). (6) Catherine Parr (1543- 
 47; "a discreet lady," who survived the king). Some of these queens are further 
 discussed in the text. 
 
244 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 for Henry's breach with Rome. He had married a Spanish 
 princess, Catherine of Aragon, but had ceased to love her, and 
 was deeply infatuated with a pretty maid-of-honor — Anne 
 Boleyn. He now made application at Rome for an annulment 
 of the marriage on various technical grounds. ^ 
 
 Popes had often in the past been accommodating in the 
 annulling of marriages for powerful kings; but Catherine pro- 
 tested stoutly against the proceeding, and she had a potent 
 advocate in her nephew, the great Emperor Charles V. Pope 
 Clement VH feared Charles (who had just then conquered 
 almost the whole of Italy) far more than he did Henry. After 
 fruitless negotiations and half promises from the Pope, the 
 " process " against Catherine came to nothing, despite the 
 uttermost efforts of Wolsey. The failure cost the chief minister 
 his position and his honors. He was later arrested " for high 
 treason " and died ere being brought to trial (1530). His 
 deathbed words have become famous: " If I had served my 
 God as diligently as I have done my king, He would not have 
 given me over in my gray hairs." 
 
 Manifestly Henry could not get his divorce from Rome. 
 He now hearkened to councilors who told him he could get his 
 divorce in spite of Rome. 
 
 138. The break with Rome. Protestant opinion was making 
 way in England, although the majority of the people were stJl 
 quite loyal to the old Church. But could not one keep the old 
 mass service and ecclesiastical organization, and yet repudiate 
 papal supremacy ? So Henry asserted, and in Thomas Cromwell, 
 as his chief minister, and Thomas Cranmer, his new Arch- 
 
 ' Henry was able to cover this move with decent pretenses, (i) His own 
 deceased brother had been contracted to Catherine before Henry married her. 
 Under Church law the marriage was therefore void on grounds of "consan- 
 guinity," and Henry seems to have had sincere doubts about the validity of his 
 marriage with Catherine, even before he met Anne. (2) Catherine had borne 
 him only a daughter. Unless the king had a male heir, his death might mean a 
 civil war for England. 
 
THE RELIGIOUS REVOLT IN ENGLAND 245 
 
 bishop of Canterbury, he found ready agents for his will.^ 
 Parliament was completely at the mercy of the royal mandates: 
 " Convocation " (the assembly of the English clergy) was 
 browbeaten into submission. In 1532 and 1534, all payments 
 to Rome were stopped by law; in 1533, all appeals to the juris- 
 diction of Rome likewise; in 1534 came the logical climax, — 
 the '' Act of Supremacy " declared the king " Supreme Head 
 on Earth, under God, of the Church of England." In other 
 words, Henry substituted himself for the Pope as the head of 
 the Catholic Church in England, and the " usurped authority 
 of the Bishop of Rome " was expressly repudiated. Spiritual 
 and temporal monarchy were thus to be yoked together in 
 the same person. This was surely a religious revolt with a 
 vengeance ! 
 
 At Rome the Pope declared against Henry's application for 
 -a divorce, but the king had already transferred the case to the 
 court of his own underling, the Archbishop of Canterbury. 
 Cranmer had promptly declared the marriage null, and amid 
 great festivity Henry had wedded Anne Boleyn (1533). She 
 was a coarse and unscrupulous woman, and when her long 
 desired child proved to be only a daughter, her influence over 
 the king seemed to vanish. In 1536, she was accused of im- 
 morality, and on the 19th of May was executed. On the 20th 
 of May, the king was married with cynical haste to Jane 
 Seymour. Poor Catherine of Aragon was now dead, but Henry 
 had no intention of seeking reconcihation with Rome. In 1537, 
 Jane bore him a son (Edward VI), but died in childbed. The 
 king now, however, had a lawful and undoubted heir and his 
 position was immensely strengthened. 
 
 Before the death of Anne the new religious movement had 
 begun to claim its noble victims. In 1535, Sir Thomas More, 
 
 ^ These men, indeed, especially Cranmer, were willing to introduce real 
 Protestantism somewhat promptly into England, but the king for long restrained 
 them. 
 
246 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 one of the noblest scholars and statesmen of England, died at 
 the block, because his conscience forbade him to accept Henry 
 as his religious ruler in place of the Pope. ^ Meantime Cromwell, 
 the new chief minister, under pretext of ending the idleness, 
 luxury, and vicious living which he asserted he discovered in 
 the English monasteries,- had begun a campaign which ended 
 in the confiscation and dissolution of all the abbeys in England, 
 By 1539, the monks had been dispersed with often meager 
 pensions, and the great monastic buildings and wide abbey 
 lands seized by the king: — a most worldly-wise measure, for 
 the confiscated properties were duly distributed among the 
 nobility and gentry of England. Forty thousand influential 
 families are thus said to have participated in the spoils of 
 the Church, and almost every beneficiary became, of course, a 
 zealous convert to the new religious system! 
 
 139. The spread of Protestantism. Henry VIII tried, prob- 
 ably genuinely, to make England anti-papal without making 
 her Protestant. A revolt in the North in 1536 (" Pilgrimage of 
 Grace "), repressed, indeed, with much blood, admonished him 
 to go slowly. In 1540, Cromwell lost favor at court and was 
 executed under an " Act of Attainder."^ Already the old laws 
 against heresy had been sharpened. Henry tried to make it 
 alike perilous to be either new Protestant or old-line Catholic. 
 In 1540, in London there perished in one day three " heretics," 
 who were burned for unorthodox views as to transubstantia- 
 tion, and three " traitors " who were " hanged, drawn, and 
 
 1 He was the author of the famous book Utopia, and was a most distinguished 
 "humanist" and friend of learning. He did not deny Henry's power as temporal 
 king, but simply refused to take an oath of loyalty to his religious pretensions. 
 
 * Some of the English monasteries seem to have been grievously corrupt; 
 others austere and well administered. There is little doubt that Cromwell's 
 commissioners who investigated the monasteries were very unfair men, but the 
 exact facts are hard to reach. 
 
 ' This was a measure of Parliament declaring an offender guilty of a great 
 crime and ordering his execution without trial, — a fearful engine when used by a 
 despotic Government. 
 
THE RELIGIOUS REVOLT IN ENGLAND 
 
 247 
 
 quartered " for affirming that Catherine of Aragon was not 
 lawfully divorced. But, in truth, the king's position was an 
 untenable one. The current of events was driving him to favor 
 the Protestants, if he would not go back to Rome. The courtiers 
 and bishops were divided, some very conservative, some (with 
 Cranmer at their head) urging more changes. And little by 
 httle the Protestant party prevailed. In 1539, an official 
 
 \-M 
 
 ENGLISH WARSHIP OF THE TIME OF HENRY VTII 
 
 translation of the Bible had been ordered^ and its possession 
 allowed to most private persons, although its free use was for 
 a while forbidden to " husbandmen, artificers, journeymen, 
 and to all women below the rank of gentlewoman." This, of 
 course, was a mighty step toward a general religious change; 
 while the next advance — the allowing part of the Church 
 
 ^ The first printed English Bible had been published by William Tyndale, 
 beginning in 1525. It had to be printed in Germany, owing to official opposition 
 in England. Tyndale's version seems to have been the basis for about all the 
 later translations, including the "King James's Version" — now in general use. 
 
248 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 liturgy to be translated into English — followed before Henry's 
 death. 
 
 True, almost down to the end the king continued to invoke 
 the bloody laws of persecution almost impartially against both 
 parties, but v^hen he lay on his deathbed it was clear enough 
 that the Protestant faction would control the Government for 
 his son. 
 
 Grievously imperfect as he was, Henry VIH can hardly be 
 branded as a failure. The majority of his subjects were always 
 loyal to him. They probably shared his dislike for violent 
 rehgious changes; and to him can very largely be attributed 
 the " middle course " taken by the English Reformation. 
 
 140. Edward VI (1547 53). The Protestants control the 
 Government. The following reign was one of the most unfor- 
 tunate in English annals. The new king was only ten years of 
 age, of a wTakly constitution, and he died ere he really could 
 govern for himself. In his name ruled a council of nobles at 
 first dominated by the Duke of Somerset (an upright and just 
 but unpractical man), and after his downfall (1549) by the 
 Duke of Northumberland, — a selfish, worthless politician, who 
 covered his unworthy personal intrigues under show of a 
 vast zeal for " Protestantism." The Government was accord- 
 ingly corrupt, extravagant, rapacious, and unpopular. 
 
 Outside of London probably only a minority of the popula 
 tion wished for a religious change, but the new worship wa. 
 introduced in a wholly violent and tactless way. Under 
 specious pretense of "suppressing Popish superstition" the 
 endowments of churches were confiscated for government 
 favorites, the sacred vessels were melted down, venerated 
 saints' images were destroyed. Most of the country people 
 looked on these desecrations of time-honored objects and insti- 
 tutions with a wrath which blazed up (1549) into popular 
 insurrection that the regents had much trouble to suppress. 
 Various general economic causes — bad harvests, the suppres- 
 
1 
 
 < 
 
 ! 
 
 / 
 
 
 -^, 
 
 J-^nK 
 
250 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 sion of the monastery doles to the poor, and the conversion of 
 farmlands into sheep pastures — caused starvation and misery 
 for the peasantry, and increased the detestation of the new 
 system. The Protestants did not, indeed, lack certain men of 
 capacity and zeal, and it was in this reign that Archbishop 
 Cranmer introduced into the churches the famous Book of 
 Common Prayer, which, along with the translated Bible, 
 became one of the literary landmarks of the Reformation in 
 England; yet the haste and general unwisdom of the Reformers 
 was clearly paving the way for a reaction. They completed 
 their blunders when they induced the poor lad Edward VI to 
 execute an illegal will depriving his half-sister Mary of the 
 succession and giving the crown to his cousin, the Lady Jane 
 Grey. Hardly was the will signed ere Edward died, and his 
 realm returned to Catholicism. 
 
 141. Mary Tuf/or (155358) and the Catholic reaction. Jane 
 Grey (a helpless, innocent girl, the instrument of vile intrigue) 
 was deposed, after a brief " reign " in London, by a general 
 rising all over England in behalf of Mary, daughter of Henry 
 VIII and Catherine of Aragon. Mary Tudor was now thirty- 
 six years old, a proud-spirited, beautiful woman, and, true to 
 her mother's memory, an ardent Catholic. She regarded the 
 breach with Rome as at once an iniquity and a blunder. Had 
 she been willing to conciliate public opinion, to move slowly, 
 to keep clear of foreign entanglements, and to refrain from the 
 extreme forms of persecution, she could probably have reestab- 
 lished the old Church. But she w^as too ardent and sincere for 
 half-measures: she was often ill-advised. Her reign proved 
 itself to be one long tragic mistake. 
 
 With almost no resistance the old Latin mass-worship was 
 restored, along with the general rehgious institutions "most 
 commonly used in England in the last year of King Henry 
 VIII." But Mary wished for more than this. Not merely a 
 return to the old ivorship, but to the old allegiance was her 
 
THE RELIGIOUS REVOLT IN ENGLAND 251 
 
 desire; and at a return to dependence on Rome many English- 
 men drew the line. Again, Mary offended many stanch sup- 
 porters by contracting a most unpopular marriage (1554) with 
 Philip (eldest son of Charles V, and soon to be King Philip of 
 Spain), a prince, whom, it speedily turned out. Englishmen 
 did well to distrust as a bigoted tyrant.^ 
 
 In 1555, Mary and her council had induced Parliament to 
 revive all the sharpest of the old anti-heresy laws. Most of the 
 Protestant bishops of the last reign were already in prison. 
 Jane Grey (a year earlier) and her more guilty supporters had 
 died on the scaffold for treason, and now the queen's officials 
 could embark on a vigorous campaign of persecution for heresy. 
 
 In the three years which followed, the Protestants proved 
 that, if they did not know how to govern, they at least knew 
 how to die. The persecution completely effaced the discredit 
 .cast upon the Reformers during the last reign. Very few 
 Protestants recanted before the dread alternative — " turn or 
 burn." Many humbly born men and frail women went to the 
 stake very bravely. " Play the man, brother Ridley," spoke 
 the deposed Protestant Bishop Latimer to his fellow victim 
 at Oxford; " we shall this day light such a candle, by God's 
 grace, in England as I trust shall never be put out." Cranmer, 
 who had at first weakened and promised to recant, finding 
 that his death was, despite all, determined upon, repudiated 
 his recantation. Before a great audience at Oxford, assembled 
 to hear his profession of Catholic faith, he denounced the Pope 
 as " Anti-Christ " and walked firmly to the stake. 
 
 Only about two hundred and eighty Protestants were burned 
 in all England, a scant record compared with that usually 
 
 ^ It is true, Philip was merely "King Consort," and had to leave all the direct 
 government to Mary and her English councilors: none the less his influence was 
 considered as making for political tyranny and religious persecution. Besides, 
 Englishmen were at this time justly jealous of anything that savored of inter- 
 ference by the overweening power of Spain. That the English did well to mis- 
 trust Philip is shown by his whole subsequent career (see chapter xxii). 
 
252 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 charged against the Spanish Inquisition, but Englishmen were 
 not Spaniards, and the whole proceedings outraged their sense 
 of justice and decency. The local authorities often hated their 
 work. Outside of London the victims were relatively few. The 
 unfortunate queen, pure-minded and anxious for the highest 
 welfare of her people, in vain urged more energy against the 
 heretics. ' Every fresh bonfire made converts for the cause she 
 detested. 
 
 On other grounds her reign became intensely unpopular. 
 Philip involved her in a blundering war with France, whereof 
 the chief result was the capture by the French of Calais (1558), 
 the last remaining conquest of the Hundred Years' War. The 
 queen was suffering from an incurable disease. Her hopes for 
 a child to continue her reHgious poUcy had come to naught. 
 Her heir was her half- sister Elizabeth (Anne Boleyn's 
 daughter), who must by her very ancestry sympathize with the 
 Protestants. Mary knew she was hated by her people, who 
 waited eagerly for the coming of a new sovereign; she knew 
 that she was discredited in war, and that the persecution was a 
 failure; yet she never discontinued the arrests and burnings. 
 November 17, 1558, Mary Tudor died. She stands as one of 
 the most pathetic figures in English annals. 
 
 142. The economic troubles of the age. The three reigns 
 we have just described were marked not merely by religious 
 upheaval, but by sore economic confusion and disaster for 
 England. The suppression of the monasteries had substituted 
 for the easy-going, often charitable, monkish landlords a swarm 
 of rapacious courtiers and country squires, who had shared in 
 the royal confiscations and who now wrung the uttermost 
 farthing out of their new and luckless peasant tenantry. The 
 
 1 It is at least a fair question as to how far the queen was personally respon- 
 sible for the worst phases of the persecution, and how far Bishop Gardiner, her 
 chief minister, and Bishop Bonner of London were responsible. There is not the 
 least doubt of the genuine belief of these men that it was the divine will that all 
 heretics deserved to perish. 
 
THE RELIGIOUS REVOLT IN ENGLAND 253 
 
 gentry, too, used their power to eject the small tenant farmers, 
 seize their lands, then " inclose them," as the saying ran, for 
 their own selfish use, and turn the fields into private sheep 
 pastures. So profitable, indeed, was the raising of wool for the 
 Flemish trade that a great fraction of Enghsh land was delib- 
 erately taken from the plough, and turned back to pasture. 
 "The foot of the sheep has turned the. land to gold," ran the 
 saying, but the gold was not for the poor outcast peasantry, 
 who became mere paupers or drifted into the towns. ^ 
 
 The financial policy of the Crown in this age added to the 
 general confusion. Several times were the royal debts repudi- 
 ated. The coinage was so debased as to unsettle all trade and 
 credit. Commerce and industry became demoralized. Eng- 
 land had long since lost her prestige as a concjuering power 
 abroad. There was some private maritime enterprise, but the 
 royal navy seemed very feeble. In rehgious matters Protes- 
 tants and Catholics had seemed to vie with one another in 
 making blunders. Not for generations had England been more 
 wretched at home and less respected abroad than in 1558. But 
 a brighter epoch was in store. After the unlucky reigns ot 
 Edward VI and Mary came 
 
 " The spacious days of great Elizabeth." 
 
 REVIEW 
 
 1. Topics — Lollard; Cardinal Wolsey; Anne Boleyn; Thomas Cromwell; 
 Cranmer; Convocation; Act of Supremacy; Sir Thomas More; Pil- 
 grimage of Grace; Act of Attainder; WilHam Tyndale; Book of Common 
 Prayer; Lady Jane Grey; Bishop Gardiner; Latimer; Calais. 
 
 2. The character of Henry VTII. Compare with that of Henry VII. 
 
 3. Wolsey 's foreign policy. 
 
 ^ This unsettling of the peasantry gradually induced great numbers of people 
 to take up industrial and commercial life in the towns. In the end, England was 
 made more of a manufacturing nation by Thomas Cromwell's campaign against 
 the monasteries. London grew with a rapidity which astonished and alarmed 
 contemporaries, although it had only some 160,000 inhabitants in 1590. (The 
 only distinctly larger city in Europe then seems to have been Paris.) 
 
254 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 4. How did trouble between Henry and the Papacy arise? 
 
 5. Trace the steps in the separation from Rome. Did Henry intend to 
 separate when he began these steps? 
 
 6. Were the doctrines of the Church changed by Henry? 
 
 7. The causes and results of the dissolution of the monasteries. 
 
 8. How far had England changed toward Protestantism at Henry's 
 death? 
 
 9. Conditions in England under Edward VI. Who were responsible for 
 them? 
 
 10. How did these conditions affect the progress of the Protestant 
 Reformation? 
 
 11. Could Mary Tudor have brought England back to the conditions 
 which existed before the separation from Rome? 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 1. Find illustrations of the characteristics of Henry VIII as set forth in 
 section 136. 
 
 2. Cardinal Wolsey — his attitude toward reform in the Church. 
 
 3. England's foreign policy under Wolsey. "The Field of the Cloth of 
 Gold." 
 
 4. How did Henry control Parhament? 
 
 5. The "Utopia" of Sir Thomas More. 
 
 6. Cromwell was the first great minister in England who was not a church- 
 man. What is the significance of that fact? What led to Cromwell's 
 fall ? Compare Cromwell with Wolsey. 
 
 7. Economic conditions in England at the end of Henry's reign. 
 
 8. Inclosures, and the suppression of the guilds under Edward VI. 
 
 9. What was done toward the establishment of Protestantism under 
 Edward VI? 
 
 10. Wyatt's Rebellion. 
 
 11. The loss of Calais. Why was the loss an important one? 
 
 12. Economic conditions under Mary. 
 
 READINGS 
 
 Sources. Robinson: nos. 263-76. 
 
 Modern Accounts. Seignobos: pp. 295-96, S30'33- An English history 
 (Ransome, pp. 392-448). 
 
CHAPTER XXII 
 
 THE AGE OF PHILIP OF SPAIN AND ELIZABETH OF ENGLAND 
 
 143. Philip II of Spain — His power and his character. In 
 1556, the great Emperor of Germany and King of Spain, 
 Charles V, abdicated his vast power. His brother Ferdinand 
 succeeded him in the " Empire," but the bulk of his dominions 
 fell to his son, Philip II. Few po- 
 tentates have inherited wider realms, 
 richer revenues, more dazzhng pros- 
 pects. All Spain was his, with its 
 ample population, its splendidly dis- 
 -ciphned infantry, its race of daunt- 
 less, warlike nobles, who supphed 
 admirable captains and adminis- 
 trators. He ruled also the King- 
 dom of Naples and the Duchy of 
 Milan in Italy, likewise the " Low 
 Countries " (modern Belgium and 
 Holland), with their teeming cities 
 and rich industry. Last, but not 
 least, in America his viceroys held 
 Mexico, Peru, and many another 
 wide province, with the treasures from their numerous mines. 
 Sustained by such an empire, Philip was justified in claiming 
 the leadership among the princes of Europe. 
 
 The personality of this man makes him one of the most 
 peculiar figures in history. He was slow, cautious, indirect, 
 distrusting bold measures, and timid in sustaining over-ener- 
 getic generals. Day after day, in his cabinet in the Escurial 
 Palace, near Madrid, he toiled with his secretaries at the spider 
 
 IMPERIAL HERALD, SIX- 
 TEENTH CENTURY 
 
 {From a woodcut by Oslcndorfer) 
 
256 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 net of intrigue and diplomacy that was to enmesh all Christen- 
 dom. He was entirely unscrupulous in his methods. He crushed 
 the last vestiges of local liberty in Spain, where he ruled as an 
 
 THE NETHERLANDS AT THE ACCESSION OF PHILIP II 
 
 absolute despot. He removed prominent opponents by the 
 dagger when he could not send them to the block. He was 
 remorseless in deluging wide countries in blood by war or 
 
THE AGE OF PHILIP AND ELIZABETH 257 
 
 massacre. He was ardently devoted to the Catholic faith, and 
 was the sworn foe of Protestantism, yet his triumph would 
 possibly have put the Pope in permanent dependence upon his 
 officious and formidable " son," the King of Spain. ^ Privately 
 he seems to have been a kind husband, and an affectionate 
 father to his daughters. His personal followers regarded him 
 as a kind of saint, yet there is little doubt that the success of 
 his tortuous projects would have spelled tyranny and ruin for 
 Catholic no less than for Protestant Europe. These projects, 
 however, failed. Their failure was due largely to three remark- 
 able persons — Ehzabetn of England, William the Silent, and 
 Henry of Navarre. 
 
 144. How Elizabeth began her reign. In 1558, Elizabeth, 
 daughter of Henry VHI and the ill-starred Anne Boleyn, was 
 proclaimed Queen of England upon the death of her half-sister 
 Mary. She was twenty-five years old. From her father she 
 had inherited the Tudor characteristics — marked physical 
 strength, energy, courage, hauteur, decided coarseness, and a 
 considerable inclination for ostentatious display. From her 
 mother she took no little personal charm and a certain insin- 
 cerity and love of artifice that made her at times as indirect 
 and sinuous in policy as her great opponent Philip. But above 
 all else, Elizabeth had a keen judgment as to men and measures, 
 a real desire for the good of her people, and a ready common 
 sense, which, blended with her womanly intuition, carried her 
 through many crises. She had the good fortune to secure, in 
 Sir William Cecil (who later became Lord Burghley) and in 
 Sir Francis Walsingham, two ministers of remarkable energy 
 and ability. To them must be attributed a large part of the 
 success of Elizabeth's reign; yet they never overshadowed their 
 mistress. Elizabeth always asserted her own will, and directed 
 
 1 At one time (1556-59) Philip was actually at war with the Pope, over mat- 
 ters of temporal interest, and his attitude toward the Vatican was frequently 
 bullying and dictatorial. 
 
258 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 the affairs of state, while often her wisdom surpassed that of 
 her ministers. 
 
 At the moment of her accession the situation for England 
 was dark. Mary's domestic policy had been a failure, marked 
 as it was by religious persecution and economic decline. 
 Commerce and industry were stagnant. Her foreign poUcy, 
 controlled by Philip, had cost England Calais, and, what was 
 
 MMM 
 
 
 
 y-^xj: 
 
 — >-, -^ 
 
 QUEEN ELIZABETH CARRIED IN STATE 
 
 more valuable, English prestige and self-respect. Could Eliz- 
 abeth bring back peace, prosperity, and national honor? The 
 problem was a highly difficult one. 
 
 The accession of Elizabeth implied a return of England to 
 Protestantism. The persecution by Mary had disgusted great 
 numbers of Englishmen with the old Church; and Elizabeth 
 (if she was to reign as queen) could not be a Catholic; for as a 
 Catholic she would have to admit that according to the canon 
 law of the Church her father's marriage to Anne Boleyn was 
 unlawful, and that she herself was illegitimate; — ■ the crown 
 thus passing to Mary, Queen of Scots. EUzabeth certainly 
 
THE AGE OF PHILIP AND ELIZABETH 259 
 
 had no great leaning toward the more advanced type of 
 Protestantism, but with her accession the persecution ceased, 
 and soon afterwards the EngUsh Prayer-Book was reestabhshed 
 by act of Parhament, together with a studiously moderate form 
 of Protestantism in the English Church. The more zealous 
 Cathohcs naturally were disaffected, as were the extreme 
 Protestants, but by the majority of the nation — • not theo- 
 logically inclined — the "Elizabethan Settlement"^ of the 
 Church was received without much grumbling. Very harsh 
 laws were enacted against the " Popish recusants," but for 
 long the queen carefully refrained from putting them in force. 
 She always claimed that she never persecuted her enemies for 
 their religion. When they began (after she had reigned for 
 some time) to form plots against her Government and life, she 
 punished them for " treason," and tried to make their suppres- 
 sion merely a secular matter. 
 
 Philip, as the CathoHc champion, was naturally disturbed 
 at this religious policy of " his sister of England." He offered 
 to marry her himself — the ceremony to be followed, of course, 
 by the reintroduction of Cathohcism. She graciously dechned, 
 and he feared at first to coerce her lest he drive England into 
 the arms of his great rival, France.^ So for the first ten years 
 of her reign she was able to keep the peace and to promote the 
 unity and prosperity of her people; while she and all Europe 
 
 1 Virtually the "Episcopalian" system as it is understood in England to-day. 
 
 2 Elizabeth never married. She thoroughly realized the advantage given her, 
 in diplomatic dealings, by threatening at frequent intervals to marry a French 
 prince, an act so unfortunate for Spain that Philip dared not drive her to 
 extremities lest she carry out her purpose. Probably she was at one time really 
 attached to the showy Earl of Leicester (her "sweet Robin"), but the diplomatic 
 situation was never so clear that she dared to marry a mere subject. As a 
 "virgin queen," appealing artfully to the privileges of unprotected womanhood, 
 Elizabeth was able to secure the chivalrous devotion of many distinguished 
 Englishmen — e.g., the famous voyager Sir Walter Raleigh — and to secure a 
 passionate loyalty such as has been gained by few monarchs. — In her last 
 speech (1601) to Parliament she made the boast, ' I do call God to witness that 
 never thought was cherished in my heart that tended not to my people's good ": 
 and to her loyal subjects these proud words rang true, 
 
26o HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 watched events in Scotland, where Mary Stuart, the woman 
 with possibly better legal claims to the English crown than 
 Elizabeth, played her game of intrigue for high stakes — and 
 lost. 
 
 145. Mary Stuart blunders in Scotland. Mary Stuart was 
 in her own right the queen of the relatively poor and barren 
 country of Scotland. If, however, Ehzabeth was illegitimate, 
 as most Cathohcs held, Mary was the lawful Queen of England. 
 She had been married to King Francis II of France, but in 
 1560, her husband died, and the distracted condition of her 
 native kingdom called her homeward. Protestantism of the 
 stern Calvinistic type had been accepted already by the Scots 
 after sundry partisan struggles. Mary was an earnest Catholic, 
 but returned under pledge to respect the religion of her sub- 
 jects. But the Scottish lords were a turbulent, ill-united lot, 
 and many were quite willing to return to the old faith if they 
 could obtain personal advantages thereby. Mary was beautiful 
 and charming. She was almost as able as Elizabeth; she had 
 the support of the great influence of the Catholic Church and 
 the favor also of France, but she did not have Elizabeth's 
 sanity and poise in great crises. It seemed, however, not very 
 difficult to win back the Scottish lords, then to stir up Catholic 
 disaffection in England, and drive Anne Boleyn's daughter 
 from the throne. 
 
 Yet Mary failed absolutely, partly because her intrigues 
 were thwarted by " dour John Knox," the famous Scottish 
 Calvinist preacher, who warned his countrymen against her 
 undertakings; partly through her most unfortunate marriage 
 and its results. In 1565, she had married her cousin, a Lord 
 Darnley, and by him had a son (the future James I of England), 
 but by 1567, the queen and her weak and debauched husband 
 were hopelessly estranged. Darnley perished in a gunpowder 
 explosion undoubtedly planned by Mary's lover, the infamous 
 Earl of Bothwell, probably with the guilty knowledge of Mary, 
 
TiT;*^^?^ ----■: 
 
 
 ELIZABETH 
 
 Queen of England (1558-1603). In the superb dress in which she went to St. Paul's 
 Born 1533 Died 1603 
 
THE AGE OF PHILIP AND ELIZABETH 261 
 
 whom he soon married.^ The outraged Scots flew to arms and 
 overpowered their queen. Mary was imprisoned; then escaped 
 and gathered an army. At Langside, in 1568, her troops were 
 routed, and a regency ruled in Scotland in the name of her 
 infant son. Mary was driven to seek refuge in England, where 
 Elizabeth received her with cold courtesy, but held her a state 
 prisoner, as it proved, for life. 
 
 146. William the Silent and the revolt of the Netherlands. 
 And now came on the scene the second great enemy of Philip 
 — William, Prince of Orange, called, for his wise habit of 
 reticence on proper occasions, "William the Silent."- Just 
 when the failure of Mary released Philip largely from the fear 
 of a French domination in England, and left him free to attack 
 Elizabeth himself, the richest portion of his empire, under 
 William's leadership, rose in revolt against him. 
 
 The " Low Countries," or Netherlands, at the mouth of the 
 Rhine, were distinguished for their wealth, culture, and indus- 
 try. Antwerp, their commercial capital, was the greatest mart 
 in the world, next to Venice; the fishing-boats of the Hollanders 
 covered the North Sea; the looms of Flanders suppHed a great 
 part of the globe with woolens. The cities and provinces, how- 
 ever, were proud of their local rights and privileges, won often 
 by bitter struggles. In many districts Protestantism had made 
 marked progress, despite a drastic persecution under Charles V. 
 Phihp II, about 1560, undertook a tyrannous policy of curbing 
 the Netherlanders' liberties, of subjecting them to a grinding 
 taxation, of introducing the hated ^'Spanish Inquisition ^^^ 
 
 ^ The question of Mary's guilt rests on the famous " Casket Letters." If they 
 were genuine, she was a murderess; but their authenticity can never be settled. 
 
 ^ See Harrison's William the Silent, pp. 22-23, foi" the origin of this famous 
 nickname. William was really genial and loquacious in proper society. 
 
 ' The Spanish Inquisition, a revival of the old mediceval Inquisition,was set up 
 (1483) by Ferdinand and Isabella as a means of reclaiming the Christianized 
 Jews and Moors of their dominions, who had lapsed into their old religion. Its 
 cruel methods — arrest on mere suspicion, torture, refusal to confront the accused 
 with evidence, etc. — are undoubted facts; but historians are divided as to how 
 
262 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 as a means of sharpening the aheady severe anti-heresy 
 laws. ^ 
 
 A proud and freedom-loving people were not slow in showing 
 marked signs of rebellion. In 1567, Philip sent his favorite 
 general, the Duke of Alva, to the Netherlands, with orders to 
 reduce them to complete subjection and to extinguish heresy. 
 Alva was backed by a force of Spanish veterans, and under- 
 stood no methods of persuasion but those of blood. A whole- 
 sale proscription of every soul concerned in the various recent 
 demonstrations against the king's oppressive measures af- 
 flicted the Catholics almost as much as the Protestants. The 
 Count of Egmont, one of the first noblemen of the country, 
 and an ardent supporter of the old Church, perished on the 
 scaffold (1568), and Alva's infamous " Blood Council " dis- 
 patched to like fate thousands of others. The spirit of this 
 tribunal is well illustrated by the tale that one of the judges 
 was accustomed to doze during the deliberations, and only 
 wake enough to murmur " Hang him! " when the farce of a 
 trial was over. For a moment the country seemed cowed, 
 but mere despair raised a new revolt and a mighty cham- 
 pion. 
 
 William, Prince of Orange,^ had been one of Philip's chief 
 Heutenants in the rule of the Netherlands, but he had wearied 
 of the Spaniard's tyrannous methods, and was sympathetic 
 with Protestantism. When Alva entered the country, he wisely 
 withdrew to Germany, then declared himself a Protestant and 
 
 far the Catholic Church, and how far simply the Spanish Government, was 
 responsible for its excesses. It naturally became a tremendous weapon against 
 the Protestants. Even the Nethcrland Catholics resisted its coming on account 
 of its misuse for political ends. 
 
 1 Philip's great blunder was that — a Spaniard himself — he believed his free 
 Northern subjects would submit readily to a despotism to which Spain was 
 accustomed. 
 
 ^ The principality of Orange, which gave William this title, lay in south- 
 eastern France, but he also was of the German House of Nassau, and had 
 considerable estates in Holland. He had practically the rank of a petty sove- 
 reign. 
 
■i'ii^."*^'"i' '^'-1-^r^^*:^ 'iSn^, ' 
 
264 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 bided his time. Other leaders of the age were far more brilliant 
 for the hour than he, but none so tenacious, skillful in dealing 
 with men, or more gifted with a noble courage which did not 
 shrink when every hope seemed quenched. He fought Philip 
 in his games of intrigue and diplomacy, and checkmated him; 
 he had a marvelous gift of keeping the loving loyalty of his 
 followers; he likewise maintained himself confident and se- 
 rene amid every danger. The modern Dutch are justified in 
 claiming their " Father William " as one of the heroes of the 
 ages. 
 
 After several unsuccessful attempts at revolt, in 1572, a 
 oand of sailors, William's privateersmen, seized Brill, a small 
 seaport town in Holland, and defied every effort of the Span- 
 iards to oust them. The blaze of rebellion spread; speedily 
 William foimd himself at the head of the two small provinces 
 of Zecland and Holland, and with these preparing to brave the 
 united efforts of Alva and Philip to reconquer them. Holding 
 this mere corner of the land, between the remaining Spanish 
 possessions and the German Ocean, here for some years 
 William and his Hollanders stood at ba}^ against the whole 
 power of Philip. For a long time only a few subsidies, warily 
 afTorded by Elizabeth, came to aid them. It seemed the con- 
 test of a dwarf and a giant, but the dwarf was not conquered. 
 Behind their walls the Dutch cities made a heroic defense. 
 Haarlem only succumbed to starvation after a siege which cost 
 Alva very dear. He found the situation beyond his grasp, and 
 in 1573 retired to give place to less brutish though not really 
 more merciful commanders. His successors did not prosper 
 better. In 1574, they staked everything on a siege of the im- 
 portant city of Leyden. Provisions were at an end; cats and 
 rats had all been eaten, but the defense went on; the heroic 
 burgomaster telling his starving folk that they might devour 
 his body, but he would not surrender to the Spanish butchers. 
 Then at the last moment came a dramatic deliverance. The 
 
THE AGE OF PHILIP AND ELIZABETH 265 
 
 Prince of Orange had cut the dikes holding back the sea. ^ A 
 strong wind swept the waters over the Spanish camp. The 
 besiegers fled for their Hves. The Dutch ships sailed with men 
 and provisions through the very gates of the despairing city. 
 
 This was really the turning-point of the war. Through it all 
 William never lost his calm trust in his cause and in Heaven. 
 An anxious deputation once came to him asking him to make 
 some powerful alliances against the overwhelming power of 
 Spain. " Know you," he answered, "' that in this enterprise I 
 have made a most powerful alliance — it is with the King of 
 kings." 
 
 Soon after the relief of Leyden, the mutinous Spanish army, 
 having been left unpaid by Philip, began to plunder the 
 " loyal " southern provinces, and finally sacked the great city 
 of Antwerp (the " Spanish Fury "). This was enough to drive 
 these provinces also temporarily into revolt against Spain; 
 but in the south, where the number of Protestants was small, 
 and the sense of disaffection least, a shrewd general now sent 
 out by Philip — Alexander of Parma — presently recovered 
 his master's authority. In the northern half of the country, 
 however, William more than held his own. In 1581, this sec- 
 tion of the Netherlands formally declared its independence of 
 Philip. '' The Dutch Republic " was born, — " Repubhc " in 
 name, although with a strong aristocratic element in the 
 Government; and in William as " Stadtholder " (a kind of 
 president) it possessed an uncrowned king. His work was 
 really accomplished, although the war was very far from ended. 
 Philip at last did away with this mortal enemy by the assassin's 
 pistol. In 1584, William was murdered by a fanatic, Gerard, 
 who had been offered a great reward by Philip for his bloody 
 deed. William perished, but Gerard was captured and died by 
 tortures, never gaining the promised pelf from Philip. The 
 
 ^ As is perhaps well known, a large part of the Netherlands is below sea-level, 
 and protected only by a vast system of dikes and embankments. 
 
266 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 king was thus rid of one great adversaxy, but he still had to 
 reckon with Elizabeth. 
 
 147. The execution of Mary Stuart. To Elizabeth the revolt 
 of the Netherlands had been a blessed reprieve from Spanish 
 pressure. Philip was too busy with his revolted subjects to 
 devote all his power to crushing the heretic queen; but from 
 1568 to 1587, Mary of Scotland was still alive and a source of 
 vast trouble to Elizabeth, although confined in one c^ another 
 of the English castles. She was no submissive captive. Around 
 her centered countless intrigues usually promoted by the 
 Catholic party in England, always with the end that Elizabeth 
 was to be flung from the throne and replaced by Mary. But 
 year after year the EngHsh nation had become more contented 
 under Elizabeth's firm, peaceful, just, and economical rule 
 and a new generation was rising, born and bred to Protestant- 
 ism. As a result the plots of the malcontents became more 
 desperate and more open. In 1586, Mary was accused of being 
 privy to what was known as " Babington's Conspiracy" for 
 the miu'der of Elizabeth. It is probable that she was guilty. 
 As an " outraged captive " she was possibly justified in using 
 any possible means to secure her liberty and rights, but the 
 real question was whether this " daughter of discord " was to 
 continue to be the center of conspiracies against the whole 
 peace of England. Elizabeth hesitated long in ordering the 
 shedding of royal blood, but at last her ministers induced her 
 to sign the warrant; then they had it executed without her 
 knowledge. Mary was beheaded in 1587. 
 
 148. The Spanish Armada. The death of Mary, however, 
 seemed to simplify the task of Philip. Hitherto, if he had 
 crushed Elizabeth, he would only have won a throne for Mary. 
 Now, however, there were some distant claims upon the 
 English crown which he could revive for his own family, and 
 might would make them right. Besides, Elizabeth of late had 
 been sending decidedly active succor to his Netherland rebels. 
 
WILLIAM THE SILENT 
 
 Founder of the Dutch Republic 
 Born 1533 Died 1584 
 
THE AGE OF PHILIP AND ELIZABETH 267 
 
 Conquering England would be the first step to regaining the 
 Low Countries. By 1588, — after many delays, — a huge 
 armament was ready in the ports of Spain for the reducing of 
 England. If it had been a matter of land fighting, Philip might 
 well have expected triumph. His soldiers and generals were 
 undoubtedly the best in the world ; but the Spaniards had never 
 taken very eagerly to the sea. Their ships were unwieldy, 
 slow, and built for boarding warfare rather than cannonading; 
 their crews intended for land service quite as much as for 
 purely naval warfare. On the other hand, under Elizabeth 
 had developed the true EngHsh sea-power; a small but efficient 
 navy of swift, handy, and heavily armed ships, and, better 
 still, a race of hardy " sea-dogs," — captains and men, — who 
 like Sir Francis Drake had raided the Spanish West Indies, and 
 sailed around the globe, after buccaneering exploits which make 
 history sound like romance. 
 
 Philip's " Invincible " Armada, according to most accounts, 
 one hundred and thirty- two ponderous ships, ^ appeared in the 
 Channel in July, 1588, headed for the Low Countries, thence 
 to convoy over Alexander of Parma with a huge army for the 
 conquest of England." Not since Greek and Persian fought at 
 Salamis had there been as momentous a sea-fight. For a week 
 the lighter Enghsh squadrons pelted and chased the Armada 
 as it fought its way along the French coast to Calais; there by 
 night they threw the Spaniards into sore confusion by a suc- 
 cessful attack with fire-ships. The next day, in a desperate 
 running battle, the English won a complete victory. The panic- 
 stricken Spaniards abandoned all hopes of convoying Parma 
 
 1 Not more than fifty of these were battleships; the rest were really transports. 
 The whole Spanish campaign was built on the idea of throwing a land army into 
 England — not of simply beating the English fleet. 
 
 2 Phihp had counted on the support of the Catholic nobles of England. He 
 was entirely deceived. They remembered only that they were Englishmen 
 rallying around their queen. Lord Howard, Elizabeth's high admiral in 1588, 
 was a Catholic. 
 
268 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 and fled to the north, seeking to return home by rounding 
 Scotland. Then the ocean gales completed the work begun by 
 Elizabeth's cannon-balls. Many ships foundered, or were cast 
 ashore on Norway, Scotland, or Ireland. Only fifty-three 
 wrecks limped back to Spain. Philip had hazarded half his 
 power on one throw of the dice, and now was hopelessly crip- 
 pled. The defeat of the Spanish Armada was more than a great 
 naval battle. It implied the downfall of Spain as a world- 
 power and the establishment of the naval supremacy of Eng- 
 land, and made possible the English colonization of America. 
 149. The Huguenots in France and Henry of Navarre. The 
 third champion with whom Philip became involved to his cost 
 was Henry of Navarre, destined to become 
 Henry IV of France (1589 1610). The story 
 of France in the sixteenth centur}' is the story 
 of inefficient kings, first dragging her into un- 
 successful campaigns against Spain for the 
 possession of Italy, next allowing their tur- 
 bulent nobles to get out of hand and involve 
 the country in a series of desolating, fratri- 
 cidal civil wars. This interval gave Philip his 
 great opportunity. The last three kings of 
 the old Valois dynasty (Francis II, Charles 
 IX, and Henry III) were little better than 
 vicious nonentities. Far more important as 
 a ruler was their mother, Catherine de 
 Medici (d. 1589); but her power was ahnost 
 overshadowed at times by the mighty Dukes 
 of Guise, who, under the color of leading the 
 attack on Protestantism, threatened to be- 
 come more powerful than the Crown itself. 
 
 Protestantism never gained a firm hold upon the com- 
 mon folk of France, although a large fraction of the nobihty 
 turned Calvinist. Moreover, although the French Protestants 
 
 A FRENCH PROT- 
 ESTANT MUSK- 
 ETEER 
 
 Time of Henry IV. 
 (From a restoration in 
 the Music d' Arlillcrie) 
 
THE AGE OF PHILIP AND ELIZABETH 269 
 
 (" Huguenots ") ^ produced many men of noble virtue and lofty 
 aims, the whole movement took too much the character of an 
 attack on the royal authority, and a fresh assertion by the 
 nobles of their jealousy of the Crown. For this cause the old 
 Church was destined to an ultimate triumph. The story of the 
 " Wars of Religion " in France forms a dreary chapter of blood 
 and mutual intolerance. These contests began in 1560, and 
 continued, interrupted by deceitful truces, until 1598. They 
 reduced France to extreme misery, and completely prevented 
 her for a while from checking her great rival of Spain. In 1572 
 came the infamous " Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day," 
 when, during a time of seemingly secure peace, over one thou- 
 sand Protestants, including their leader, Coligny, were mas- 
 sacred in cold blood at Paris, and ten thousand more in the 
 provinces. Catherine appears to have been the prime power in 
 the outrage, and her motive was rather political jealousy of the 
 Huguenot chieftain, Coligny, than mere religious fanaticism. 
 The massacre did not ruin the Protestants. They flew to arms 
 once more, and especially held their own in the south of France, 
 where lay their main numbers. Their new leader was Henry, 
 sovereign of the petty kingdom of Navarre, but also next in 
 succession to the crown of France when the weakhng sons of 
 Catherine should perish. 
 
 Henry was an ideal leader for a desperate cause. He lacked 
 refinement and had many private vices, but he was a dashing 
 cavalry ofificer, genial and dauntless, who kept the loyalty of 
 his iron-handed, psalm-singing Huguenot troopers when the 
 odds seemed sorely against him. In 1589, the last Valois king 
 died, and Henry — as head of the Bourbon side-Hne — was 
 recognized as Henry IV, sovereign of France, by all the 
 Protestants and by the more moderate Catholics. 
 
 An extreme clerical faction (the ''League"), however, held 
 
 ' The name is usually explained as a corruption of the German word "Eid- 
 genossen" — "Confederates." 
 
270 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 out against him, and put up a pretender, and supporting this 
 pretender were Spanish gold-pieces and Spanish pikemen; for 
 Phihp, having failed to subdue the Netherlands, and having 
 failed against England, now attempted one last great stroke. 
 — to thrust a puppet on the throne of France, — and through 
 him to win a realm greater than England or the Low Countries. 
 
 Paris was secured by Henry's enemies. A Spanish army was 
 dispatched against him, but at Ivry' (1590) his gallantly com- 
 manded cavalry rode over the host of invaders and French 
 rebels and won a brilliant victory. Paris, nevertheless, for 
 some years defied all his efforts to take her; and it was evident 
 that France as a nation would never accept a Protestant king. 
 Henry IV was no man, however, to be troubled by theological 
 scruples. " Paris is well worth a mass," he cynically remarked; 
 and allowed himself to be '' instructed " in Catholicism, and 
 returned to the old Church. Resistance to him now crumbled 
 rapidly. Paris capitulated. Philip continued the war for some 
 years, but Henry IV was now the undoubted lord of his 
 ancestral dominions. In 1598, he made peace with Philip, who 
 recognized him as lawful King of France. Henry secured ample 
 toleration to the Protestants by his famous " Edict of Nantes " 
 (1598), and the last twelve years of his reign were wisely 
 devoted to advancing the internal peace and prosperity of 
 France. 
 
 150. Conclusion of the Epoch. In September, 1598, Philip 
 II died at the Escurial. All his vast projects had come to 
 nothing. Half of the Low Countries were in successful revolt 
 and were formed into the " Dutch Republic." They were soon 
 destined to develop industries and a maritime commerce which 
 made them almost the richest nation of the world. England, 
 guided by Elizabeth, was in the full noon of remarkable pros- 
 perity. A wonderful spirit of enterprise of every kind prevailed. . 
 Abroad, English seamen were carrying their flag to the remot- 
 1 This place is some fifty miles west of Paris. 
 
THE AGE OF PHILIP AND ELIZABETH 
 
 271 
 
 est lands: at home Shakespeare was composing his plays, and 
 Spenser his immortal poem the " Faerie Queen." In France, 
 the firm, wise government of Henry IV was preparing that 
 great nation to overshadow the destinies of Europe for the next 
 
 4 
 
 ^1 
 
 THE GLOBE — SHAKESPEARE'S THEATER 
 
 two centuries. Only Spain was ruined. The Inquisition had 
 destroyed her freedom of thought. The despotic taxation of 
 Philip had ruined her industries and commerce. Her best 
 blood had been wasted in disastrous wars on a hundred battle- 
 fields. 
 
 REVIEW 
 
 1. Topics — Charles V; Elizabethan Settlement; John Knox; Lord 
 Darnley; William the Silent; the Spanish Inquisition; Duke of Alva; 
 Egmont; Blood Council; Leyden; the Spanish Fury; Alexander of 
 Parma; Stadtholder; Babington's Conspiracy; the "Invincible 
 Armada"; Sir Francis Drake; Henry of Navarre; Catherine de Medici; 
 Huguenots; St. Bartholomew's Day; the League; Edict of Nantes. 
 
 2. Geography — 
 
 {a) Locate Holland; Flanders; Orange; Brill; Zeeland; Haarlem; 
 Leyden; Calais; Ivry. 
 
272 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 (b) Mark the territories belonging to Philip II at his accession. 
 
 (c) Mark the territories of the Dutch Republic. 
 
 3. How did Philip compare in power with other rulers of his time? Was 
 the fact that his lands were scattered an advantage or not? 
 
 4. The character of Philip II. 
 
 5. The character of Elizabeth Tudor. Compare with that of Mary Tudor. 
 
 6. What were the conditions in England at the accession of Elizabeth? 
 Compare with the conditions which faced Henry II and Henry VII at 
 their accession. 
 
 7. How did Elizabeth settle the religious question? 
 
 8. What were the reasons for the revolt of the Netherlands? 
 
 9. The character and work of William of Orange. 
 ID. Was the execution of Mary Stuart justifiable? 
 
 11. Why did Elizabeth send help to the Dutch after William's death? 
 
 12. The Armada: make a summary showing the reasons why Philip sent 
 it; its object; the reasons for its failure. 
 
 13. The conditions in France under the last Valois kings. 
 
 14. Compare, in their effects upon the countries, the Wars of Rehgion in 
 France and the Wars of the Roses in England. 
 
 15. Compare the conditions in England, France, and Spain at the end of 
 the sixteenth century. 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 1. Compare industrial conditions in Spain and in the Low Countries. 
 
 2. The work of Cecil and Walsingham. 
 
 3. The marriage negotiations of Elizabeth. 
 
 4. The Acts of Supremacy and of Uniformity, 1559. 
 
 5. Mary Stuart in Scotland, to 156S. 
 
 6. Why did Elizabeth keep Mary a prisoner in England, instead of re- 
 leasing her, or returning her to Scotland? 
 
 7. The "Beggars." 
 
 8. The siege of Leyden. 
 
 9. What later events made it possible for the Dutch to maintain their 
 independence? 
 
 10. The conspiracies against Elizabeth. 
 
 11. Sir Francis Drake and the English seamen. 
 
 12. The growth of English commerce under Elizabeth. 
 
 13. Catherine de Medici and the Wars of Religion in France. 
 
 14. Admiral Coligny. 
 
 15. The Dukes of Guise. 
 
 16. The Treaty of Vervins. Compare with the Peace of Cateau-Cambresis. 
 
 17. Henry IV and Sully — their internal reforms. 
 
THE AGE OF PHILIP AND ELIZABETH 273 
 
 READINGS 
 
 Sources. Robinson: nos. 280-91. 
 
 Modern accounts. Seignobos: pp. 266-67, 298-99,314-30,333-44, 406-10. 
 Gibbins: pp. 121-26, 128-30, 134-38. Pattison: pp. 245-73. Duruy: 
 pp. 332-84. Lodge: chapters viii, ix. An English history (Ransome, 
 pp. 448-85). 
 
CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 THE EARLY STUARTS IN ENGLAND 
 
 151. James I (1603-25) — the " wise fool "' of England. 
 
 In 1603, James P succeeded Elizabeth, the mighty Queen of 
 England. The new sovereign was the son of the ill-starred 
 Mary, Queen of Scots, and the equally ill-starred Lord 
 Darnley. Bred among the stern Scotch Presbyterians, he had 
 conceived little love for their semi-democratic habits, and their 
 custom of giving their king broad and unwelcome advice. His 
 own views of the powers of royalty were decisive. In his own 
 eyes he was an absolute and irresponsible monarch. '' As it is 
 atheism and blasphemy to dispute what God can do," he once 
 asserted, " so it is presumption and high treason for a subject 
 to dispute what a king can do." He was a pedantic, undignified 
 man, very convinced of his own importance, learning, and 
 infallibility. " The wisest fool in Christendom," so the witty 
 Henry IV of France remarked of him. A little saving sense 
 of humor, a certain amount of good nature, and occasional 
 flashes of real insight saved him from crowning disasters; but 
 he had many passages at arms with his high-spirited people, 
 and left a heritage of discord to his unlucky son. 
 
 152. The Gunpowder Plot (1605). Two classes of English- 
 men whom Elizabeth had oppressed, at first welcomed James's 
 accession: — the Puritans, i.e., those advanced Protestants 
 who fomid the type of Protestantism established by the queen 
 " still savoring of Rome "; and the Catholics, who believed the 
 son of Mary Stuart would relax the laws aimed against the 
 religion of his mother. Both were disappointed. James had 
 gained no liking in Scotland for the " Presbyterianism " (the 
 
 1 Reckoned as a King of Scotland, he stands as James VI. 
 
THE EARLY STUARTS IN ENGLAND 275 
 
 Scotch type of Calvinism) which most of the Puritans favored; 
 and Hstened with eager ear to the obsequious Church of Eng- 
 land prelates who asserted that " His Majesty spoke with the 
 spirit of God." When the Puritan ministers presented a great 
 petition asking for certain ecclesiastical alterations, the king 
 cried in wrath, " I'll make them conform, or I'll harry them 
 out of the land."i 
 
 The Puritans were driven into sullen disaffection, but their 
 Catholic rivals were not more fortunate. James was delighted 
 with the English Church, whereof he seemed to be the head, 
 ahke free from Pope or Presbytery. The anti-Catholic laws 
 for the imprisonment of priests, the suppression of masses, 
 etc., were enforced with rigor. In their desperation certain 
 CathoHcs resolved that all means were permissible against a 
 tyrant. A certain Guy Fawkes, in combination with Catesby 
 and other conspirators, formed the astounding project of hiring 
 a house next to that wherein Parliament met, of introducing 
 a quantity of gunpowder, and when King, Lords, and Com- 
 mons were met together, of destroying James and all his 
 Government at one great clap. In the confusion following the 
 explosion, these Catholics hoped to be able to seize the Govern- 
 ment; but at the last moment the plot slipped out (November 
 5, 1605). Fawkes was arrested at the powder barrels. The 
 other conspirators were seized, and many were cruelly tortured 
 ere being executed. The whole incident naturally increased 
 James's distrust of the Catholics, and made the average Eng- 
 lish Protestants more confirmed in their faith than ever. The 
 " Gunpowder Plot " and the " Fifth of November " were to 
 be the excuses for a shamefvil amount of persecution of harm- 
 less CathoHcs during the next two centuries in England. 
 
 ^ "A Presbytery agreed with monarchy as well as God with the Devil," James 
 asserted to the petitioners. Only one real wish did the Puritans gain: James 
 caused to be made the famous "Authorized Translation" ("King James Ver- 
 sion") of the Bible, which proved one of the most important landmarks in Eng- 
 lish Hterature, as well as in religion. 
 
276 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 153. The Spanish marriage. James's reign was decidedly 
 inglorious. In 1604, against the nation's wishes he had made 
 peace with Spain. The great spirit of maritime adventure 
 which was so fostered by EUzabeth in her wars was allowed to 
 wane, although a beginning was made in the colonizing of 
 America in Virginia and (with little enough help from the 
 King!) at Plymouth. James had an exaggerated idea of the 
 wealth and power of Spain; little realizing that, with the col- 
 lapse of the great pro- 
 gram of Philip II, the 
 strength of Spain was 
 nearly exhausted. James 
 was exceedingly anxious 
 to win a Spanish princess 
 as bride for his son Prince 
 Charles. To satisfy Spain 
 he executed, for alleged 
 high treason. Sir Walter 
 Raleigh (16 18), one of 
 Elizabeth's great states- 
 men and admirals, whose 
 real offense was in being 
 the head of the anti-Span- 
 ish party in England. In 
 1623, Prince Charles ac- 
 tually made a journey to 
 Madrid to win the hand of a Spanish infanta; but the Spaniards 
 made it an absolute condition of the match .that toleration 
 should be given to the English Catholics, and that this should 
 be confirmed by Parliament. The " wise fool " was wise enough 
 to realize that he was having sufficient difficulties with his 
 Commons already without asking favors for the hated " Pa- 
 pists." To the great joy of most Englishmen, the Spanish 
 match was broken off. Prince Charles arranged to marry a 
 
 AN ENGLISH NOBLEMAN AND HIS WIFE, 
 
 IN THE TIME OF JAMES I 
 
 From a contemporary print in the British Museum 
 
THE EARLY STUARTS IN ENGLAND 
 
 277 
 
 princess from France, where less disputatious conditions were 
 demanded. 
 
 154. James and his Parliaments. James had thus alienated 
 the Puritans and the CathoHcs, and had put himself on cold 
 terms with Spain. He also offended the great bulk of his Church 
 of England subjects by his financial policy. He was a bad 
 financial manager, and the taxes which had sufficed for Eliza- 
 beth did not satisfy his extravagant court. Four times he 
 convened Parliament, and each time there was bitter com- 
 plaint at this high-handed policy in taxing every available 
 object of revenue with 
 only a very warped legal 
 authority for so doing. 
 The '' absolute king " 
 stormed at the niggard- 
 ly money grants voted 
 by the Commons: the 
 Commons retaliated by 
 denouncing the sales 
 of " monopolies " in 
 trade and manufacture, 
 whereby the king had 
 eked out his insufficient 
 revenues, and attacked 
 the misdeeds of the 
 royal ministers and fa- 
 vorites. In 1 62 1, they actually impeached Lord Bacon, the 
 Royal Chancellor,^ for malfeasance as a judge, and drove him, 
 a ruined man, from office. No great disasters occurred, but the 
 reign went out amid petty bickerings and widespread ill feeling. 
 In March, 1625, James I died. His reign, in the sense of imme- 
 diate happenings, had been unimportant. He had possessed 
 
 ^ A most distinguished philosopher, but a man whose practice and theory 
 hardly corresponded. 
 
 BELLMAN OF LONDON, i6l6, MAKING mS 
 
 NIGHTLY ROUND 
 From a title-page in the Bag ford Collection, British 
 Museum 
 
278 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 sufficient wisdom to keep from acts which would drive his sub- 
 jects to rebelhon; but in his absolutist theories and in his 
 frequent defiance of what were cherished as " the liberties of 
 England," ^ he had set an evil example to his successor. In 
 1603, England had been profoundly loyal to the monarchy of 
 Elizabeth. By 1625, that loyalty had very largely evaporated. 
 In the ensuing reign an unwise king and an exasperated people 
 were to drift into armed hostility. 
 
 155. Charles I (1625 49) and the Duke of Buckingham. The 
 new king was personally a better man than his father. He was 
 handsome, athletic, dignified, a kind father, and an amiable 
 friend; but he was hopelessly obsessed with his father's 
 notions of the " divine right of kings "; he was so devoted a 
 son of the Church of England that he was unable to have the 
 least sympathy with his people when they preferred another 
 confession. To him Parliaments and laws protecting the sub- 
 ject were at best necessary evils, to be avoided and dispensed 
 with by every means short of military tyranny. 
 
 At Charles's elbow for the first three years of his reign was 
 George Villiers, Duke of Buckinghaip, a clever, supple, unscru- 
 pulous nobleman, who from practical insignificance had risen 
 to be the indispensable favorite and chief minister of James. 
 He retained his influence over Charles. Widely as Bucking- 
 ham was hated, both as the agent of arbitrary power and for 
 his own arrogance and self-seeking, Charles kept implicit 
 confidence in him down to 1628, when he was assassinated by 
 a discontented subaltern officer. It was a good riddance 
 for Charles and for England; but the young king was too 
 firmly rooted in his absolutist notions to seek more liberal 
 ministers. Charles drifted from blunder to blunder, until the 
 residuum of good will of the English people toward their 
 monarchy was entirely exhausted. 
 
 ' "The liberties of England" were, of course, vague matters, but to most 
 laymen they probably meant frequent Parliaments, the absence of arbitrary 
 arrests and punishments, no taxation without parliamentary authorization, etc 
 
THE EARLY STUARTS IN ENGLAND 279 
 
 156. Charleses quarrels with his Parliaments. To under- 
 stand the position of the opponents of Charles, it should be 
 reahzed that his critics in Parliament did not concede that 
 they were asserting any new liberties for the people: their 
 declaration always was that they were simply vindicating the 
 old customs and liberties of England, against the growing 
 tyranny of the Crown. They still professed great respect for 
 the person of the monarch: it was simply " his evil ministers 
 and advisers " who fell under their displeasure. On the other 
 hand, Charles could probably claim that he was not exercising 
 greater authority than had been exercised by Elizabeth. This 
 was true, but Elizabeth had been wise enough to keep to the 
 letter of the law even in acts of sheer absolutism: besides, 
 Elizabeth had the love and confidence of her people, — the 
 best possible bulwark for a sovereign. Charles had not that 
 love and confidence, and he blunderingly violated the old laws 
 at every turn. It is not, then, surprising that one contention 
 followed another. 
 
 Charles convened Parliament thrice in the earlier years of 
 his reign, and each assembly ended with an increased amount 
 of ill-feeling. There were complaints by the Crown that the 
 Commons was hampering the Government in its foreign policy 
 by its niggardly votes of taxes : ^ there were louder complaints 
 by the Commons that the Crown was indulging in arbitrary 
 imprisonment of inimical persons, in unauthorized taxation, 
 in forced loans, and in quartering soldiers on private persons 
 to make them comply with its wishes; and also that the king 
 was surrounded with rascally favorites. In 1628, matters 
 culminated in the " Petition of Right " presented by Parlia- 
 ment, a great constitutional document summarizing these 
 grievances and demanding reform. Charles affected to give 
 
 ^ Charles drifted into wars with Spain and France. These contests were con- 
 ducted without ability or energy, and while they led to no terriljle disaster, they 
 brought no glory. The nation was disgusted at the feeble conduct of Charles's 
 Government as contrasted with the brilliant exploits of the admirals of Elizabeth. 
 
2So 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 a halting consent to the petition, but soon found means to 
 evade it. In 1629, both parties were almost at swords' points. 
 Charles dissolved his third Parliament in great fury. He flung 
 Sir John Eliot, leader of the malcontents, a man of high ability 
 and noble character, into the Tower of London and kept him 
 in close durance till his death (1632). For eleven years Charles 
 ruled without a Parliament and almost as an absolute monarch. 
 157. The arbitrary rule of Charles {i62g^g). " Be a king," 
 Charles's French-born queen enjoined upon him. '' Be like the 
 
 King of France." Her 
 husband made the 
 attempt in direful 
 earnest. He was able 
 to strain the laws, to 
 dispense with assem- 
 bling Parliament, to 
 harry the Puritans, as 
 long as he had suffi- 
 cient revenues to 
 maintain his Govern- 
 ment. ^ Fortunately 
 for his subjects' sakes, 
 he was without a real 
 standing army,^ and 
 this kept him from 
 going to extremes. But by enlarging to the uttermost every 
 old claim of the Crown to revenue, and by the aid of servile 
 judges, who always interpreted the law in the king's favor, 
 Charles kept up his income without parhamentary grant.^ The 
 
 1 It was during this epoch that the Puritans migrated in thousands to Massa- 
 chusetts, despairing of civil and reUgious Hberty at home. 
 
 - The only armed force at the king's disposal in peace times was a small guard 
 of yeomen. For larger levies he had to look to the militia raised in the counties. 
 
 3 As it was, he was only able to go without Parliament by making peace with 
 France and Spain, somewhat ignominiously: not a self-respecting action for an 
 English king. 
 
 SOLDIERS OF THE TIME OF CHARLES I 
 
 Musketeer and pikeman 
 
THE EARLY STUARTS IN ENGLAND 
 
 2Sl 
 
 most famous straining of the law was the case of the ship- 
 money, a war-tax hitherto levied only on the sea-board towns, 
 but now imposed on the entire kingdom. Despite bitter pro- 
 tests, the " Court of Exchequer" (filled with judges after the 
 king's own heart) decided that the new tax was legal. ^ 
 
 This attack by the king upon the pockets of his subjects 
 alienated a vast multitude of merchants and country squires 
 who took little interest in theoretical political rights or in 
 religious difficulties. But Charles was already at bitter feud 
 with the Puritans. A large fraction of the most intelligent and 
 pious-minded men of the kingdom belonged to this party. Life 
 was for them a serious reality to be lived in strict accord 
 with the precepts of the Scriptures. The English Church still 
 retained too many of the " corruptions of Rome " for their 
 liking: they demanded a marked simplifying of the Church 
 service, and likewise a corresponding severity in private life. 
 The theaters ^ and the indecorous revels which were favored 
 at the king's gay court shocked them unspeakably. In London 
 and other cities, especially, the powerful mercantile class — 
 the very people offended by the taxation — favored Puritanism. 
 Charles thus had to confront enemies having both a financial 
 and a religious grievance, — a most dangerous combination. 
 
 In 1633, Charles made William Laud Archbishop of Canier- 
 bury. Laud was a man of piety, purity, and zeal, but he was 
 an uncompromising champion of the Church of England sys- 
 tem, and a foe of the Puritans. Ministers who failed to conform 
 to his advanced ideas for the enrichment of the Church ser- 
 vice — "reaction toward Rome," cried his opponents — were 
 ruthlessly thrust from their positions. The press was kept 
 
 ' The right of the king was contested in a famous lawsuit iirought l)y John 
 Hampden, a distinguished Commoner. He lost the case, but the notoriety given 
 to the royal policy was a heavy blow to the king's Government. 
 
 ^ The theaters of Charles I's time, sadly degenerated from the days of Shake- 
 speare, were so frivolous and licentious as to deserve most of the anathemas the 
 Puritans cast upon them. 
 
282 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 under strict censorship, and woe to the author and printer who 
 issued an unlicensed volume. In 1633, William Prynne ven- 
 tured to publish a volume assailing the morals of the theater. ^ 
 It was distorted into an attack upon the character of the queen. 
 The unfortunate writer was sentenced to have his book burned 
 by the public hangman, to pay a line of £5000,- and to have 
 both ears cropped off in the pillory. Others, less conspicuous, 
 suffered proportionately as much as he. Charles supported 
 Laud in his anti-Puritan policy: Laud in turn was able to give 
 the benison of religion upon all the king's political aggressions. 
 As Charles's chief secular minister there came to the front 
 Thomas Wentworth (after 1639 Lord Strafford), a statesman 
 of remarkable ability, who honestly believed that he was ser- 
 ving England best by putting her completely under the royal 
 dominion. By means of their summary courts, the Star 
 Chamber (to deal with secular oft'enses) and the High Com- 
 mission (for Church cases), — tribunals which acted without 
 a jury, and in a wholly arbitrary and semi-secret manner, — 
 the king and his ministers were able to silence practically all 
 the muttered opposition in England. A very large part of the 
 population was disaffected, but without a Parliament in session 
 the voice of the English people was dumb- — then Scotland 
 furnished a means of expression. 
 
 158. The revolt of the Scots. In 1637, Laud, not content 
 with embittering the Puritans of England, undertook to force 
 on the Presbyterian Church of Scotland a revised liturgy that 
 enraged every patriotic son of the North who was proud of his 
 national Church.^ The day the new service was read in the 
 
 1 The title of this very characteristic Puritan work is Uistrio mastix, — the 
 Player's Scourge. It arraigns stage plaj'S as "the very pomp of the Devil." A 
 huge, frigid, erudite, and utterly unreadable book. 
 
 2 An enormous sum for those days. In 1637, for a second alleged offense, 
 Prynne was ordered to have the "stumps of his ears" cut off, and to be sent into 
 perpetual imprisonment. He was set free as soon as the Puritan revolution 
 fairlj' began. 
 
 * Since James became King of England, Scotland had been governed by a 
 
THE EARLY STUARTS IN ENGLAND 283 
 
 great church in Edinburgh, there was an angry tumult among 
 the congregation. A serving-woman, Jane Geddes, flung her 
 stool at the officiating clergyman. " Out, false thief! dost thou 
 say mass at my lug [ear]! " she cried. It was an act that ex- 
 pressed the feeling of a poor, but proud and belligerent nation. 
 Vainly did Charles offer smooth words. Nobles and Commons 
 of Scotland united in a solemn 'Xovenant" in defense of their 
 beloved type of the Gospel, and in their Parhament declared 
 Episcopacy abolished in the land. The next step was down- 
 right armed rebellion against Charles's authority. The king 
 had now a formidable war on his hands: and Charles's extrem- 
 ity was the EngHsh Puritans' opportunity. 
 
 REVIEW 
 
 1. Topics — Gunpowder Plot; "King James Version"; Sir Walter 
 . Raleigh; "Divine Right of Kings "; Duke of Buckingham; Sir John 
 
 Eliot; Petition of Right; Ship Money; Puritan; Thomas Wentworth; 
 the Scottish Covenant. 
 
 2. The character of James I. Compare with that of Elizabeth. 
 
 3. Make a summary of James's poHcies under these heads — relations 
 with the Puritans; relations with the Catholics; relations with foreign 
 countries; relations with Parliament. How did these policies and their 
 results affect (a) James's relations with his subjects, and {b) the way 
 in which England was regarded by other nations. Compare James 
 with Elizabeth in this respect. 
 
 4. The character of Charles I. Compare with that of James I and with 
 the character of the Tudors. 
 
 5. What were the conditions which led to the granting of the "Petition 
 of Right"? 
 
 6. How did Charles obtain money during his period of arbitrary rule? 
 
 7. The religious policy of Archbishop Laud. 
 
 8. What circumstances led the Scotch to revolt? 
 
 9. How did the Scotch revolt affect the situation in England? 
 
 royal council, — nominally as an independent kingdom, — though subject, of 
 course, to the orders of the absent sovereign. The Scots resented English inter- 
 ference profoundly, and were driven to frenzy by the least suggestion which 
 "savored of Popery," as they claimed was the case with the English ("Episco- 
 pal") service. 
 
284 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 1. By what right of descent did James I have a claim to the English 
 throne? 
 
 2. James I as king in Scotland before 1603. 
 
 3. The Millenary Petition and the Hampton Court Conference. 
 
 4. What were the "liberties of England"? What rights were disputed by 
 James and Parliament? 
 
 5. Compare the rights claimed by Parliament under the Stuart kings 
 with the rights conceded to Parliament by Henry IV. 
 
 6. Foreign relations under Charles I. 
 
 7. The work of the Star Chamber and High Commission Courts under 
 the Stuarts. 
 
 READINGS 
 
 Sources. Robinson: nos. 302-12. 
 
 Modern accounts. Seignobos: pp. 387-93. An English history (Ransome, 
 pp. 485-539)- 
 
CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 THE GREAT CIVIL WAR IN ENGLAND AND THE RULE 
 OF CROMWELL 
 
 159. The Scots and the ' Short Parliament " (1640). 
 Charles was in a sore strait. He could not raise an efficient 
 army against the Scots without abundant money: he dared not 
 wring more money from his Enghsh subjects lest they rise also 
 in rebelhon. The king scraped together a very inefficient and 
 ill-paid force, but it was useless to lead it against the well- 
 conducted Scots. Very reluctantly, then, Charles convoked 
 an English Parliament, in the hope of securing authority for 
 general taxation, but its spirit proved so intractable, he dis- 
 solved it so speedily, that it has been forever known as the 
 " Short Parliament." At his wits' end he solicited funds from 
 Spain and even from the Pope, but gained nothing. His coffers 
 were empty. His own army was hopelessly feeble and dis- 
 affected. To keep the Scots from marching to London, he 
 made a truce with them, agreeing to pay them a heavy sub- 
 sidy until final peace was made. Only a Parliament could give 
 him the money needful to appease the none too modest Scots. 
 With a heavy heart, Charles again summoned his Lords and 
 Commons. On November 3, 1640, the '' Long Parliament " 
 met at Westminster. It was the most famous Parliament in 
 English history. 
 
 160. The " Long Parliament " (1640-1660). The choice of 
 the House of Commons of England was far from resting in 
 those days with the peasantry and artisans: the most influen- 
 tial factors were the country gentleman and the well-to-do 
 merchant classes. These men were not revolutionists, and 
 many had Httle sympathy with the Puritans. But they were 
 
286 • HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 enraged at the recent arbitrary rule; they resented the illegal 
 taxation; they saw in the religious changes of Laud a direct 
 reaction toward Catholicism. They were strengthened in their 
 task by the knowledge that behind them were the good wishes 
 of the greater part of England, and that if the king resisted 
 them, he was totally without funds for coping with the Scots. 
 John Hampden, Sir Harry Vane, Denzill Hollis were among 
 the mouthpieces for this party: but the great champion of 
 parliamentary rights was John Pym, who has been described 
 as an " intense conservative," but whose conservatism took 
 the form not of preserving the rights of the Crov/n, but the 
 rights of Parliament. To his mind, Parhament was absolute, 
 and he Was willing to trample on all things else to vindicate its 
 power. He and his followers came to the assembly with a 
 sweeping program of reforms. " They had now," said Pym, 
 " an opportunity to make the country happy by removing all 
 grievances, and pulling up the causes of them by the roots." 
 They had not to wait long ere selecting an object for attack. 
 
 i6i. The trial and death of Strafford (1641). In the former 
 days Pym and Strafford had been friends and allies. Together 
 they had opposed the arbitrary acts of the Crown in Charles's 
 earlier Parliaments. Then Strafford had made his peace with 
 the king, and heartily adopted the royal policy. P}Tn had 
 remained in opposition, and he had never forgiven Strafford 
 for what he considered his treason. The Parliamentary Party 
 considered Strafford the heart and soul of the attempt at 
 absolutism. They feared his iron will and merciless methods, 
 and believed that in destroying him they would teach a lesson 
 to royal ministers for all time. Strafford was speedily denounced 
 by Pym in the Commons as an " apostate," who had become 
 " the greatest enemy to the liberties of his country." Carried 
 away by Pym's eloquence and by their own wrath and fears, 
 the Commons hastily voted to impeach Strafford before the 
 House of Lords, and he was forthwith cast into prison. 
 
2SS HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 Strafford had been charged with high treason; but as a 
 nobleman of England he was entitled to a fair trial before the 
 Lords, and while it was easy enough to prove him guilty of 
 unlawful and arbitrary acts, treason was in essence an attack 
 upon the king, and the king had been only too well pleased 
 with Strafford's policies. The accused man made a skillful 
 defense, and it seemed possible that he might be acquitted. 
 In that case he would soon be free and ready for desperate 
 vengeance. Driven to bay, the Commons voted a Bill of 
 Attainder 1 against him. The Lords hesitated to concur in this, 
 but were presently brought to the Earl of Essex's mind, that 
 " Stone dead hath no fellow." While the mob of London was 
 clamoring for the fallen minister's life, the Lords passed the 
 bill. The king had yet to sign it: he had promised Strafford he 
 should not suffer in " life, honor, or fortune," but the mob 
 threatened the palace. Charles feared for his wife and children. 
 He signed the bill of attainder and his great minister perished. 
 " Put not your trust in princes," said Strafford grimly at the 
 end. 
 
 162. The attack on the five members. Strafford was dead, 
 Laud was imprisoned (to be executed four years later); for a 
 moment the king seemed totally unable to resist the onslaught 
 on his authority. The Courts of Star Chamber and of the 
 High Commission had been abolished. Subservient judges 
 were impeached and cast into prison. Ship-money and other 
 improper methods of taxation were forbidden by law. Chief of 
 all, for immediate purposes, the king had been compelled to 
 assent to an act providing that the existing Parliament should 
 not be dissolved without its own consent. He seemed deprived 
 
 1 This declared a man a criminal without a trial, and ordered his prompt 
 execution (see chapter xxi, section 139). It had been used by such rulers as 
 Henry VIII to dispose of obnoxious subjects against whom they could not prove 
 specific crimes. It is worthy of note that in their eagerness to remove a man they 
 ftared, the Commons did not shrink from highly drastic methods, as flagrant 
 and unjustifiable as any of the royal prerogatives they were attacking. 
 
THE GREAT CIVIL WAR IN ENGLAND 289 
 
 of his last weapon, and the government of the country really 
 taken out of his hands. As a matter of fact, however, Charles 
 was somewhat biding his time, and the ParHamentarians were 
 no longer able to unite on a further pohcy. Many thoughtful 
 men, though willing to destroy Strafford and to attack various 
 extreme abuses, refused to tie the hands of the king for the 
 future, and especially to follow the Puritans, when in Parlia- 
 ment they endeavored to abolish Episcopacy in the English 
 Church in favor of a system more on the Presbyterian order. 
 Several of Pym's former prominent supporters went over to 
 the king's side, and the " Grand Remonstrance," a solemn 
 protest in which all the ill-doings of the Crown were arraigned 
 and remedies demanded, was passed in the Commons by a 
 majority of only eleven. Under these conditions, early in 1642, 
 the king attempted an awkward counter-stroke. 
 
 The royal attorney-general attempted to accuse five promi- 
 nent members of the Commons of high treason.^ When the 
 Commons showed no alacrity in ordering the arrest of these 
 men, Charles committed the enormous blunder of entering 
 the House of Commons in person, followed to the doorway 
 by an armed band. The five had already fled away to their 
 friends in London. Charles strode down the aisle into the 
 House, as never for long a king had thrust himself, and 
 demanded of the Speaker " Where they were." The other, 
 falling on his knees, answered the king, " he had neither eyes 
 to see, nor tongue to speak, but as the House was pleased to 
 direct him." " I see the birds have flown," spoke the monarch, 
 and walked out baffled, followed by the shouts of " Privilege! 
 Privilege! " from the angry members. A great rising of the 
 Londoners put any further attempt to arrest the five out of 
 the question. After this act by Charles, it was only a question 
 of months ere war should break out. On January 10, 1642, he 
 
 ' They were Pym, Hampden, and three others. The main otius of the charges 
 was conspiracy with the Scots against England. 
 
ago 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 quitted London and began collecting forces in the North of 
 England, while Parliament likewise recruited for the struggle. 
 In August the royal standard was unfurled at Nottingham. 
 
 -The English Pale 
 - — Districts south 
 and east of this line 
 favored Parliament 
 in the civil war, 
 Those north and west 
 favored the King, 
 
 Cities iiiulerlincd 
 the most important 
 ones enfranchiseil liy 
 the Reform Bill of \si> 
 
 Loppritude 'West 4° from G 
 
 THE BRITISH ISLES SINCE 130O 
 
 163. The ' Great Civil War "' and the rise of Cromwell. In 
 
 the civil war which followed the Parliament was supported by 
 most of the wealthy eastern counties of England and by the 
 great city of London (an invaluable financial assistance). The 
 
THE GREAT CIVIL WAR IN ENGLAND 291 
 
 king was sustained by most of the nobility, by the adherents 
 of the Church of England generally, and by the bulk of the 
 galloping and hunting race of the country gentry whose estates 
 covered the western counties. The war lasted from 1642 to 
 1647,^ and was at first very unskillfully conducted by both 
 sides. Charles made his seat at Oxford, rallied his adherents 
 about him, and strove *to force his way to London, where the 
 Parliament was directing the campaign against him. He had 
 a dashing cavalry leader in his nephew, Prince Rupert " of the 
 Rhine," ^ who, however, lacked the solid qualities of a great 
 general. The Parliament's first commander-in-chief, the Earl 
 of Essex, was little more than a brave mediocrity. 
 
 The scales at first inclined in favor of the king, whose 
 cavalry, composed of gallant country gentlemen, decidedly 
 outmatched the Parliamentary horse recruited from none 
 -too martial townsmen.^ But gradually the contest turned 
 against Charles after an alliance had been made (1643) between 
 the Parliament and the Scots, and the events of war had devel- 
 oped that his enemies had in Oliver Cromwell, a squire of 
 Huntingdon, a general of the very first order. Cromwell was 
 the incarnation of Puritanism. The struggle was to him a holy 
 war against " Prelacy," and its possible ally, " Popery." He 
 charged into battle with a prayer and a psalm, as did the 
 doughty " Ironsides " who composed his terrible mounted 
 regiments. In 1644, he proved their might at the Parliamentary 
 victory of Marston Moor; then finally at Naseby (Jime 14, 
 1645) he smote the royal army in a decisive battle. " God is 
 our strength! " thundered the Puritans as they swept down on 
 the Royalists. The victory was so complete that Cromwell 
 
 ' The last serious fighting, howev'er, was in 1645. 
 
 ^ He was the son of the unfortunate Elector Frederick of the Palatinate, who 
 strove to seize the crown of Bohemia. 
 
 ' The Royalists were popularly known in this contest as the "Cavaliers" — 
 a sufficiently descriptive epithet. The Parliamentarians were styled "Round- 
 heads," from the closely cropped hair of the London apprentices, their ardent 
 partisans, as opposed to the long "love-locks" of their adversaries. 
 
292 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 reported the result as showing '^ none other but the hand of 
 God." Charles held out after a fashion nearly two years longer, 
 but he had no chance of success. In 1647, his best forces dis- 
 persed, he took refuge with the army of the Scots, considering 
 them the more pliable of his enemies. 
 
 164. The triumph of the army and the death of the king. 
 The confidence of Charles in his Northern subjects was mis- 
 placed. On the payment of £40,000, al- 
 ready due them as arrears for their help 
 to Parliament, the Scots turned the king 
 over to his victorious enemies. He was 
 at first treated with consideration and an 
 effort made to reach some accommoda- 
 tion by which he could continue, at least, 
 as the nominal sovereign of England. Un- 
 fortunately the victors at London were 
 now at odds among themselves. The ma- 
 jority of Parliament was anxious to make 
 Presbyterianism the state religion of Eng- 
 land; but not so the army, where "In- 
 dependent " ^ notions prevailed, and where 
 all manner of strange Protestant sects 
 found adherents. Cromwell himself stood 
 firmly for tolerance within certain limits. 
 "The State in choosing men to serve it," 
 said he, " takes no notice of their opin- 
 ions." When Parliament strove to disband the army without 
 giving the pay which the soldiers felt they deserved, the troops 
 seized the person of the king and forced certain leading Pres- 
 byterians to quit the House. 
 
 The Puritan army, whereof Cromwell was the guiding spirit, 
 was now the real Government of England. In its councils of 
 
 1 The "Independents" had closer affinities to the present-day " CongregatioQ- 
 alists" than to any other Protestant body. 
 
 A LIGHT HORSEMAN OF 
 CROMWELL'S DAY 
 Showing equipment of 
 an " Ironside." {From the 
 collection of Captain Orde 
 Browne) 
 
THE GREAT CIVIL WAR IN ENGLAND 293 
 
 officers and men, assemblies that often partook more of the 
 nature of great prayer-meetings than of mihtary assemblies, 
 the policy of the Government was shaped. An attempt of a 
 
 'r,-'^1]p 
 
 THE TRIAL OF CHARLES I :j|, 
 
 Scottish army now to interfere in Charles's behalf was crushed 
 by Cromwell in the masterly battle of Preston (1648). But the 
 Presbyterians still would not submit to " Independent " dic- 
 tation. In November, 1648, the army entered London, and 
 Colonel Pride with his guards proceeded to exclude one hun- 
 
294 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 dred and forty-three Presbyterian members from the House. 
 After " Pride's Purge," the remnant of the Long Parliament, 
 the " Rump," as it was called, was totally subservient to the 
 army. 
 
 The minds of Cromwell and his men were made up. Charles 
 had refused all acceptable tenns of accommodation. He had 
 equivocated and balked, and intrigued to sow dissensions 
 among his enemies. In his behalf much blood had been shed. 
 The soldiers now demanded that " Charles Stuart, that man of 
 blood," should perish. He was tried before an extraordinary 
 commission, found guilty of levying war against his Parhament 
 and people, and Tuesday, January 30, 1649, was executed in 
 London. Historians still differ as to whether he was a great 
 martyr or a great knave: probal^ly he partook of both.^ 
 
 165. The Commonwealth and the Rump'' Parliament 
 (1649-53). England was now a " Commonwealth " with an 
 avowedly republican form of government. The great majority 
 of the people had not approved of the abolition of the monarchy. 
 The unrepresentative ''Rump" Parliament and the all power- 
 ful army were hasting on from deed to deed far in advance of 
 public opinion; but for the moment Cromwell and his fellows 
 carried all before them. In 1650, the Scots undertook to crown 
 Charles II (the eldest son of Charles I). Cromwell invaded their 
 country and defeated them roundly at Dunbar; and later, 
 when Charles II undertook to invade England from the north 
 in 1651, Cromwell dispersed his forces with one great blow at 
 Worcester. " It was a stiff business," wrote the victor, but it 
 practicall}' ended the civil wars. Amid many romantic adven- 
 tures Charles II escaped to France. The distracted folk had 
 
 1 Charles's immediate cause of shipwreck was his unwillingness to give a 
 pledge, on which his enemies could rely, to govern with a Parliament and with 
 oi'ficers practically chosen for him by the predominant Puritans. All Charles's 
 public dealings seem stamped with insincerit}' and tortuousness. "His word was 
 not the word of a king." At the end, however, he died with great firmness and 
 dignity, displaying many noble traits of Christian character. 
 
THE GREAT CIVIL WAR IN ENGLAND 
 
 295 
 
 peace; and the " Rump " and the army were left to try to find 
 
 a system of government which might prove acceptable to the 
 
 land, and which should not rest merely on the sanction of 
 
 armed force. The " Rump " was feeble, but pretentious, and 
 
 presently fell out with its master, the chief of the " Ironsides," 
 
 and undertook to pass a bill against which he and his officers 
 
 had protested. On April 20, 1653, Cromwell came to the 
 
 House, followed by his grim-faced musketeers. " I will put an 
 
 end to your prating," he announced. 
 
 "You are no Parliament! Begone! 
 
 Give way to hones ter men! " " Put 
 
 him out," he ordered, turning on the 
 
 Speaker, and the soldiers hustled the 
 
 members from the room. "This house 
 
 is to be let, unfurnished," was the sign 
 
 a Royahst wag affixed later on the door 
 
 of the locked Parliament chamber. 
 
 England had at length arrived at what 
 
 was almost absolute monarchy. 
 
 166. Cromwell, Lord Protector of 
 England (1653-58). Cromwell was ab- 
 solute monarch, thanks to the good 
 will of the most formidable body in 
 England, the Puritan army. Even his 
 
 enemies confessed, however, that he was no imbecile or in- 
 active ruler. As "Lord Protector," his administration was 
 characterized by commercial prosperity and expansion, by 
 colonial acquisitions,^ by the development of efficient naval 
 power, with attendant victories over Holland and Spain, and a 
 most honorable alliance with France. At home he strove 
 earnestly to put his power on a constitutional basis. Many of 
 his Puritan followers were now thorough-going Republicans, 
 
 * Jamaica, especially, was taken from Spain. Cromwell laid the foundation of 
 British colonial policy. 
 
 I'^'a.vr- 
 
 PURITAN COSTUME 
 
296 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 and refused to hear of a monarchy; yet the great majority 
 were certainly wedded to most of the old institutions. Three 
 times Cromwell convened Parliaments, but his own anomalous 
 position and the attitude of the extreme Republicans who sat 
 in them, made it impossible for him to work with them, and 
 all these assemblies had to be somewhat hastily dissolved. 
 CromwTll persisted, however, well convinced that God had 
 summoned him to press for a final solution of the national 
 difficulties. Probably, if he had lived ten years longer, he would 
 have been able to disregard the Republican malcontents in the 
 army and declare himself king. Could he have done so, the 
 institutions of England would surely have been remade perma- 
 nently, but in 1658 he died aged only fifty-nine. " A larger 
 soul than his," said one who knew him, " hath seldom dwelt in 
 this house of clay." 
 
 167. The return of the Stuarts (1660). What the civil war 
 accomplished. The events following the death of Oliver Crom- 
 well can be soon told. He left his titles, but not his abihty, to 
 his weak son, Richard Cromwell. The hand of the master 
 removed, the army officers were soon at bitter quarrel; and in 
 1659, the remains of the " Rump " Parliament, as the only 
 body still maintaining old legalities, were restored by the 
 soldiers. The increasing dissensions led Richard Cromwell 
 to resign his powers, and the situation became intolerably con- 
 fused. With the great Oliver gone, and the army divided and 
 less formidable, the voice of the nation could not be disregarded. 
 Monk, the one general who gained a firm grasp on the situa- 
 tion, enforced the calling of a '' free Parliament,"' which the 
 whole population earnestly desired. In 1660, the " Conven- 
 tion,"'- chosen in accordance with the general wishes, voted 
 to summon Charles II, eldest son of the late king, back from 
 
 1 No elections had been held for Parliament (except for Oliver's irregular 
 Parliaments) since 1640. 
 
 ' Since it was not summoned regularly by a king, it was legally a mere assem- 
 bly, or "convention." 
 
THE GREAT CIVIL WAR IN ENGLAND 297 
 
 France, on condition of specious pledges of pardon for all the 
 past, and of constitutional government in the future. 
 
 The rule of the Puritans had collapsed with extreme rapidity. 
 The " Saints " (as they styled themselves) had failed to estab- 
 lish a Commonwealth on ultra-Protestant principles, because 
 English public opinion had refused to follow them. The 
 "Great Civil War," however, had not been fought in vain. 
 Royalty had been taught an abiding lesson; and after a seem- 
 ing reaction for the next generation nearly all that was really 
 good in the movement which P}-!!! and Cromwell had cham- 
 pioned, became finally embodied in the laws and society of 
 England. Indeed, it is not too much to say that it was Crom- 
 well (despite many acts which seemed to savor of military 
 absolutism) who really made toleration in religion possible and 
 absolute government impossible in every English-speaking 
 land. 
 
 REVIEW 
 
 1. Topics — The Short Parliament; John Hampden; John Pym; Bill of 
 Attainder; the Grand Remonstrance; Rupert of the Rhine; Cavaliers; 
 Roundheads; Ironsides; Pride's Purge; Commonwealth; Protectorate; 
 Richard Cromwell; General Monk. 
 
 2. Geography — 
 
 (a) Locate Oxford; Marston Moor; Naseby; Preston; Dunbar; 
 Worcester. 
 
 (b) Indicate on the map the parts of England which stood by the 
 king and those which stood by Parliament. 
 
 3. Summarize the events which led to the meeting of the Long Parlia- 
 ment. 
 
 4. What was the attitude of the Icadcrsof the Long Parliament at first? 
 
 5. What did the Commons hope to accomplish by the death of Strafford? 
 
 6. What led to the division in the Parliamentary Party? What use did 
 the king make of that division? 
 
 7. Compare the resources of both sides in the war. 
 
 8. What were the reasons for the triumph finally of the Parliamentary 
 Party? 
 
 g. What led to the disagreement between the army and Parliament? 
 10. Was the execution of Charles I justifiable? Compare with the execu- 
 tion of Mary Stuart. 
 
298 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 11. Compare, as to causes and results, (a) the dissension in Parliament at 
 the time of the Grand Remonstrance; (b) the dissension between the 
 Parliament and the army after the king was taken prisoner; (c) the 
 dissension between Cromwell and the "Rump" Parliament. 
 
 12. The nature of Cromwell's rule. Upon what was his power based? 
 
 13. What were the permanent results of the Puritan Revolution? 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 1. Was the execution of Strafford justified? 
 
 2. Were the relations of the "Five Members" with the Scotch army 
 treasonable? 
 
 3. Cromwell's "Ironsides." 
 
 4. The Solemn League and Covenant. 
 
 5. The Self-denying Ordinance. 
 
 6. Why did the Scotch army "interfere in Charles's behalf"? 
 
 7. The trial and e.xecution of Charles I. Was he a martyr or a knave? 
 
 8. The government under the Commonwealth. 
 
 9. Cromwell in Ireland and the "Cromwellian Settlement." 
 
 10. The battles of Dunbar and Worcester. 
 
 11. Cromwell's foreign policy. What was England's position among the 
 nations under his rule? 
 
 12. The character of Cromwell. His services to England. 
 
 13. The Declaration of Breda. 
 
 READINGS 
 
 Sources. Robinson: nos. :^is~~3- 
 
 Modem accounts. Seignobos: pp. 393-94. Gibbins: pp. 130-32, 138-41. 
 An English history (Ransome, pp. S39-613). 
 
CHAPTER XXV 
 
 THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR IN GERMANY 
 
 i68. Origin of the great struggle. While England, France, 
 and Holland had been engaged in their desperate grapple with 
 Spain, Germany, the first home of the Protestants, rested in a 
 state of calm. The Religious Peace of Augsburg (1555) seemed 
 to have adjusted the relations of the two parties satisfactorily. 
 The Emperor and many of the South German princes remained 
 Cathohc, while most of the free cities and the North German 
 princes became Protestant. Down to about 1600 the peace was 
 fairly well kept, and it might have lasted longer had each side 
 been willing to keep strictly to the Augsburg agreement; but 
 by that time new factors were coming into play which presently 
 forced on Germany perhaps the most utterly cruel and de- 
 structive war in modern history. 
 
 On the Protestant side the leaders were totally unwilling to 
 concede that only such states and cities as were included in the 
 Peace of Augsburg were protected in the exercise of the new 
 religion. Attempts were made, sometimes successfully, to 
 turn other districts to Protestantism which had been Cathohc 
 in 1555; and there did not lack reckless politicians at the courts 
 of the Lutheran and Calvinist^ princes who urged open warfare 
 to complete the extermination of Catholicism. 
 
 On the other hand, the Catholics were taking the offensive: 
 the Dukes of Bavaria and the various princes of the Hapsburg 
 (Austrian) territories resorted to many acts of persecution 
 against their numerous Protestant subjects; and the Protes- 
 
 ^ A good part of the Protestants of South Germany had adopted the tenets of 
 Calvinism as opposed to Lutheranism. The differences were mainly as to the 
 proper form of church government and as to the exact nature of the Lord's 
 Supper. Between these two branches of Protestantism there was often only 
 very cold charity. 
 
300 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 tants complained that encroachments were made upon their 
 religious rights in districts protected by the Peace of Augsburg. 
 The influential Jesuit Order, working at the Catholic courts, 
 and equally, intriguing opponents at the Protestant courts, 
 kindled religious zeal and magnified grievances. By 1618, both 
 parties were in a state of extreme distrust and ready to draw 
 the sword: then came the final explosion in Bohemia. 
 
 169. The Revolt of Bohemia against Austria (1618). 
 Bohemia was a country ruled by the Catholic Hapsburg 
 Emperors, but containing a restless nobility mainly Protestant. 
 The opposition to the sway of the Emperor Mathias was 
 partly national (dislike of having an Austrian reign in Bohemia), 
 partly religious. The Protestants were exasperated by the 
 entrusting of the actual government to a commission of 
 Catholics; and they could allege various specific acts of perse- 
 cution and oppression. On May 23, 16 18, occurred the famous 
 "throwing from the windows" at Prague, the Bohemian 
 Capital, when a band of insurgent noblemen cast three of the 
 Emperor's administrators from one of the palace windows, 
 seventy feet, into a ditch, whence they escaped with their 
 lives as by miracle. After this act there was only desperate 
 resistance open to the revolting Bohemians. They invited to 
 their throne the Elector Frederick V of the Palatinate,^ and 
 boldly defied the Hapsburg to reconquer them. 
 
 The Bohemian revolt was ill-conceived and ill-conducted. 
 Many of its leaders did little credit to their religion. Frederick 
 of the Palatinate was an amiable prince, but with no marked 
 abilities. Mathias had been succeeded (1619) by his cousin, 
 Ferdinand II, an ardent Catholic, the protege of the Jesuits, 
 who went into the war with the fervor of a crusader. No 
 effective help came to the Bohemians, while the great Duke 
 Maximilian of Bavaria put his forces at the disposal of Ferdi- 
 
 ^ He was the leading Protestant prince of South Germany, and son-in-law of 
 James I of England, whence the Bohemians expected, though vainly, great help. 
 
THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR IN GERMANY 301 
 
 nand. In 1620, at the battle of the White Hill (near Prague), 
 Frederick of the Palatinate and the Bohemians were utterly 
 crushed, and the victorious Ferdinand felt justified in practi- 
 cally exterminating Protestantism in Bohemia. 
 
 170. The appearance of Wallenstein. So ia,r the war had 
 been mainly Bohemian rather than German, but when the 
 conquerors followed up their success by depriving Frederick 
 of his electorate (to be given to Maximilian) and by punishing 
 his German adherents, many North German Protestants took 
 arms. To confront their formidable armies the Emperor 
 accepted the services of Albert von Wallenstein/ a brilhant 
 but unscrupulous and self-seeking general, who undertook to 
 recruit an army which should live by the systematic plunder of 
 the country and cost its imperial master next to nothing. For 
 a moment the plan succeeded admirably; and almost all the 
 loose spirits of Europe flocked to Wallenstein's camp. The 
 German Protestants, who secured the alliance of King 
 Christian IV of Denmark, were roundly defeated. Their lands 
 were frightfully devastated by the swarms of human locusts 
 W'allenstein led among them. By 1629, Christian IV had been 
 forced to make peace, and the German Protestants seemed at 
 the mercy of the Emperor. 
 
 171. The Edict of Restitution (1629). Ferdinand's victory 
 appeared almost complete : not merely could Protestantism be 
 extirpated, but Germany could be made into a centralized 
 monarchy something like Spain, subject to the arbitrary sway 
 of the Emperor. In the confidence of the hour Ferdinand pub- 
 lished the famous and ill-timed "Edict of Restitution," the 
 sum whereof was that practically all the lands which the 
 Protestants had taken possession of since 1555 should be 
 restored to the Catholics; and that in the lands remaining to 
 the Protestants only the Lutherans were to be allowed to exist. 
 
 ' More properly Waldstein, but it is permissible to use his long accepted name. 
 He was a Bohemian, born a Protestant, but reared as a Catholic. 
 
302 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 This edict drove to desperation the numerous Calvinists, and 
 convinced many moderate Lutherans — who had held aloof 
 from the earlier war — that their fate would come the next. 
 The terrified Protestants looked anxiously abroad and made 
 ready to welcome the first deliverer, who speedily came to 
 hand in the person of Gustavus Adolphus, the great King of 
 Sweden. 
 
 172. Gustavus Adolphus in Germany (1630-32). Before 
 the Swedes had landed in Pomerania, the Emperor had dis- 
 missed his best general. Wallenstein had really cared little for 
 the Catholic cause. He had been willing to increase Ferdi- 
 nand's power, because in so doing he was increasing his own 
 likewise, but the loyal Cathohc princes and prince-bishops had 
 been horrified at his aggressive self-seeking, and the marauding 
 of his ill-disciplined soldiery, who often plundered friend and 
 foe alike. ^ At the demand of his invaluable ally, Maximihan 
 of Bavaria, Ferdinand dismissed his too-powerful officer, and 
 disbanded a part of his army. 
 
 In July, 1630, however, Gustavus Adolphus crossed the 
 Baltic and entered Germany. He was the king of a compara- 
 tively thinly settled and weak country, which had established 
 its own type of Protestantism only after a bitter struggle; but 
 Gustavus Adolphus was a remarkable combination of a reli- 
 gious enthusiast and a great master of war. No doubt there 
 was a political ambition which led him to seek to extend 
 Swedish power south of the Baltic, but no doubt also he went 
 on the campaign in a high belief that he was doing God and 
 man a pure and devoted service. He had been schooled for 
 action in a series of fierce campaigns with the Poles and Danes. 
 He had evolved a new system of tactics based on rapid move- 
 ments, and the adaptation of military formation to the fire- 
 arms, which were replacing the pikes and lances whereon the 
 
 1 It is said that many so-called Protestants served in Wallenstein's nondescript 
 armies, and had their own chaplains, services, etc. 
 
304 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 old style of warfare had been founded. His army was small, 
 but excellently disciplined: a band of blond, blue-eyed giants, 
 sons of the Vikings, pressing south in search, no doubt, of 
 hard blows and booty, but also of a chance to light for the 
 " Evangelical Religion," which was to them the onlv true 
 gospel. 
 
 They came almost in the death-agony of German Protes- 
 tantism. For a moment, such was the fear of the Imperialists, 
 that hardly a city dared to open its gates voluntarily to Gus- 
 tavus. The Lutheran princes hung back, cowed and anxious. 
 The great city of Magdeburg, which had held out for the 
 Protestants, was captured (1631) by the Imperialists, and 
 subjected to a sack and massacre which smote fear of the 
 Imperialists into every other Protestant town which had con- 
 sidered following her example. But very foolishly the Emperor 
 alienated the most powerful Protestant prince, Elector John 
 George of Saxony,' who made alliance with Gustavus; and at 
 last the time of the Swedes was come. October 17, 1 631, on the 
 level plain of Breitenfeld, near Leipzig, Gustavus confronted 
 Tilly (Wallenstein's successor in command of the Imperialists). 
 If the battle of the White Hill had decided that Bohemia was 
 not to remain Protestant, Breitenfeld decided that North 
 Germany was not to become Catholic. Tilly drove the Saxons 
 from the field, but the magnificent fighting of the Swedish 
 cavalry turned the tide. The new tactics of Gusta\'us were 
 totally successful. The night fell upon the wreck of the 
 Imperialists iiying in rout from one of the most decisive battle- 
 fields of history. Breitenfeld was " the grave of the Edict of 
 Restitution." 
 
 Gustavus lived hardly a year after his victory. For the 
 moment he carried all before him. He won back most of the 
 
 ' The Elector of Saxony had striven hard to save his own debatab'e lands by 
 an almost slavish alliance with Austria. Now in an ill-advised moment the 
 Emperor strove to enforce the Edict of Restitution against him also. 
 
THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR IN GERMANY 305 
 
 lands seized by the Imperialists in Central and South Germany. 
 He defeated Tilly a second time and slew him at the Passage 
 of the Lech (1632). Wallenstein was recalled to his command 
 by the frightened Catholics and reassembled his army; he 
 checked Gustavus before his fortified camp near Nuremberg; 
 but matters were still in the balance when the war drifted back 
 toward Saxony again. At Liitzen, ^ Gustavus attacked Wallen- 
 stein and a long, desperate battle ensued. The issue was un- 
 certain when Gustavus was slain in the fighting: his men, 
 infuriated by the death of their beloved leader, pressed home 
 the charge. Wallenstein was driven from the field. The glory 
 was to the Swedes, but also the greater loss. They had other 
 good officers, but no leader to replace the fallen hero. For two 
 brief years Gustavus Adolphus plays a great part in history, 
 then vanishes: but those two years were long enough to save 
 German Protestantism. 
 
 173. The fall of Wallenstein. In the lull following the battle, 
 Wallenstein played boldly for his own hand. He knew that he 
 was distrusted by the Imperialists, and he intrigued with the 
 Swedes. A blind behever in " his star," it is not impossible 
 that he might have found his advantage by joining the 
 Protestants: but his officers were less pliable. Just when he 
 was, it seems, on the edge of a great treason, he was murdered 
 at Eger, by certain Irish and Scotch officers,^ who put their 
 duty to the Emperor above their pledges to their general (1634). 
 
 174. The French period of the war (1634-48). The death 
 of W' allenstein ends the interesting period of the war. The 
 religious motive had nearly gone out of it. All men recognized 
 that the Protestants and Catholics were about certain to hold 
 their own; but the hopes of territorial expansion still kept the 
 Swedes in the field, and the Imperialists were unwilling to 
 
 ' Like Breitenfeld, near Leipzig. 
 
 ^ Especially the Irish Butler, and the Scotch Gordon and Leslie. There were 
 many Scotch and Irish serving in European armies at this period. 
 
3o6 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 confess that their attempt to crush " heresy " in Germany had 
 failed. And at this point the unhappy Germans were beset by 
 a nev/ horde of invaders — the French. 
 
 To the brihiant prime minister of Louis XIII, the mighty 
 Cardinal Richelieu, the distractions of Germany presented an 
 admirable opportunity for the seizure of territory by France 
 and the humiliation of her old rivals of the House of Austria. 
 Although France was Catholic, Richelieu did not hesitate to 
 make alliance with the Swedes,^ and while the armies of the 
 skillful generals trained by Gustavus harried from the north, 
 the French armies were dashed upon South Germany across 
 the Rhine. In this last era of the war, deadly, cruel, and 
 devastating, religious differences were largely lost from sight. 
 Many Protestant states, e.g.. Saxony, had made their peace 
 with Austria. The war swayed back and forth, mostly in 
 Central and South Germany, in numberless battles, usually 
 indecisive but none the less bloody. The Franco-Swedish allies 
 were fighting for territorial gain: the Austrians, not to crush 
 Protestantism, but to preserve intact their dominions. At last 
 the alhes gained such advantages that the pride of the Austrian 
 Hapsburgs was humbled. Ferdinand III (1637-57), who had 
 succeeded his father Ferdinand II, consented to peace. After 
 nigh interminable delays a congress of ambassadors signed 
 the Peace of Westphalia, which gave rest to a weary land. 
 
 175. The Peace of Westphalia (1648). The Treaty of 
 Westphalia was a memorable document. Austria and the 
 Catholic Powers solemnly recognized the rights of all Protes- 
 tant states which had preserved their independence up to 
 1624;- and the states of both religions were put on absolute 
 
 1 After the death of Gustavus, the real ruler of Sweden was tlie able chancellor 
 Oxenstierna, who ruled for the late king's infant daughter, -Queen Christina: 
 some of the Swedish commanders, e.g., Torstenson, were highly capable soldiers, 
 but they lacked the nobility of character which had sent their great so\-ereign 
 upon his crusade. 
 
 2 This saved most of the Protestants of South Germany, but assented to 
 
GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS 
 
 King of Sweden (1611-32) 
 Born 1594 Died 1632 
 
THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR IN GERMANY 307 
 
 equality in all the affairs of that very shadowy federation still 
 called the " Holy Roman Empire." A new electorate (an 
 eighth) was created in the Lower Palatinate (a Rhine district) 
 for the heirs of that unlucky Elector Frederick of the Palatin- 
 ate, who had been evicted from his lands in favor of Bavaria: 
 France was given a strip 
 of territory in Alsace 
 along the Rhine, Swe- 
 den a large portion of 
 Pomerania. The vari- 
 ous German states, 
 large and small, were 
 confirmed in their local 
 "rights" in so ample a 
 manner that they prac- 
 tically became indepen- 
 dent nations in all but 
 name, with only the 
 most nominal overlord- 
 ship by the Emperor. 
 For political purposes, 
 then, the Peace of West- 
 phalia marks (i) the 
 practical, though not 
 the confessed, end of 
 the medic-eval " Empire," founded by Charlemagne and the 
 Ottos; (2) the admission of Protestants to the councils of 
 Europe, and, therefore, the termination of most of the religious 
 wars. But the peace also brought a most longed-for respite to 
 Germany. The war had been unspeakably devastating. The 
 average army had lived by the grossest forms of plunder. For 
 nearly a generation the unhappy land had almost forgotten 
 
 their suppression in Austria and Bohemia. — By this treaty also Spain now form- 
 ally admitted the independence of Holland. 
 
 A PLUNDERING SOLDIER —PERIOD OF THE 
 THIRTY YEARS' WAR 
 
 (From a uuiodcut by Ammann. reproduced in Licbc, 
 Dcr Soldal) 
 
3o8 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 what normal peace conditions were. Population had declined 
 terribly.^ The arts of peace, learning, all forms of civilized life 
 were half forgotten; some trades actually disappeared. In 
 1600, Germany was among the most prosperous countries in 
 Europe. In 1650, it was infinitely outstripped by France, and 
 barely by 1848 had it recovered all the ground lost in one of 
 the most brutal and destructive wars in history. 
 
 REVIEW 
 
 1. Topics — Bohemia; the Elector Palatine (Frederick V); Battle of the 
 White Hill; Ferdinand II; Wallenstein; Tilly; Liitzen; Oxenstierna. 
 
 2. Geography — 
 
 (a) Locate Augsburg; Prague; Magdeburg; Breitenfeld; Nurem- 
 berg; Liitzen. 
 
 (b) Indicate the territorial changes made by the Peace of West- 
 phalia. 
 
 3. What were the conditions in Germany which tended to bring on a 
 war? 
 
 4. Why did the revolt in Bohemia result in further warfare? 
 
 5. What circumstances encouraged the Emperor to issue the Edict of 
 Restitution? W'hat were its terms? 
 
 6. Why did Gustavus Adolphus join in the war? 
 
 7. Breitenfeld and its importance. 
 
 8. Compare Gustavus Adolphus and W\allenstein as to motives, char- 
 acter, ability as generals, and work accomplished. 
 
 9. What was the character of the war after the fall of Wallenstein? Who 
 profited most by the continuation of the war? 
 
 10. The provisions of the Peace of Westphalia. Compare with those of 
 the Religious Peace of Augsburg. 
 
 11. Compare the effects of the war on Germany with the effects of the 
 Hundred Years' War on France. 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 1. Why did not James I of England send efficient help to the German 
 Protestants? 
 
 2. Wallenstein's armies. 
 
 ' Famine had followed devastation. There were well-authenticated cases of 
 cannibalism. It is asserted that the population of Germany was 17,000,000 when 
 the war began, only 4,000,000 when it ended; though possibly this is an over- 
 statement. In certain districts it was actually proposed that every man should 
 be required to marry two wives to care for the unprotected women. 
 
THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR IN GERMANY 309 
 
 3. The sack of Magdeburg. 
 
 4. The tactics of Gustavus Adolphus at the passage of the Lech River. 
 
 5. Richelieu's part in the Thirty Years' War. 
 
 6. The Treaty of WestphaHa. Would Philip II of Spain have made such 
 a treaty had he been Emperor? 
 
 7. What were the provisions in the treaty concerning the Netherlands, 
 and the Swiss Cantons? 
 
 READINGS 
 
 Sources. Robinson: nos. 292-301. 
 
 Modern Accounts. Seignobos: pp. 369-85. Lewis: pp. 399-455. Duruy: 
 
 pp. 399-402. Pattison: pp. 274-300. Lodge: chapter x. Gibbins: pp. 
 
 153-55- 
 
CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 LOUIS XIV, DOMINATOR OF EUROPE 
 
 176. The greatness of France in 1661. The conclusion of 
 the Thirty Years' War left France undoubtedly the first power 
 of Europe. The commanding position of its king is best summed 
 up in the statement that he, without an ally, could dare to 
 attack any power he desired, but that no foreign power, even 
 with an ally, could venture to attack him. The military and 
 economic resources of the populous, industrious, warhke, and 
 intelligent French nation had been concentrated under the 
 royal power as never before, thanks to the abilities of two 
 great prime ministers (churchmen only in name), the Cardi- 
 nals Richelieu (in power 1624-42)^ and Mazarin (1643-61). 
 
 ^ Richelieu, who is counted one of the prime builders of the absolute monarchy 
 in France, was born of a noble but not wealthy house in 1585. He entered the 
 Church in order to "keep in the family" the Bishopric of Lufon, and he was 
 consecrated bishop when only twenty-two. He soon became a valuable assistant 
 to Queen Marie de' Medici, who had become regent for her young son, Louis 
 XIII, after the murder of his father, Henry IV (1610). But for a long time the 
 queen mother and the young king were dominated by unworthy favorites and 
 selfish court factions, and it was not till 1624 that Richelieu's high abilities were 
 recognized and he became a prominent minister in the Government. He was 
 already a cardinal: now he speedily became indispensable to the king, and 
 remained "First Minister" down to his death (1642). 
 
 Richelieu was filled with truly patriotic desire to aggrandize France, but 
 " France " for him meant simply the military power of the monarchy. To achieve 
 his end, he waged unremitting war against the "hereditary enemies" of his 
 master, the Hapsburgs of Austria and Spain; at first supporting Gustavus 
 Adolphus and the German Protestants against them, and then, after 1635, send- 
 ing large French armies directly into Germany. At home he had to deal with the 
 Huguenots, who were using the privileges given them by the Edict of Nantes 
 to defy the royal authority; and also to curb the unruly temper of the great 
 French nobles, who still retained much of their feudal insolence. In 1628, 
 Richelieu took La Rochelle, the Huguenot stronghold, and deprived the French 
 Protestants of their political privileges, although leaving them due exercise of 
 their religion. Against the great nobles he acted with iron severity. Many con- 
 spiracies were formed against him, but almost all the promoters thereof paid 
 for their daring on the scafJold. 
 
LOUIS XIV, DOMINATOR OF EUROPE 311 
 
 Through many tumultuous scenes, in the face of bitter court 
 intrigues and even civil war (1648-53), the elements hostile to 
 the crown — turbulent nobles. Huguenots using their religious 
 quarrel for political ends, and stubborn lawyer magnates who 
 controlled the high courts of the kingdom — had all been 
 beaten down. France was submissive to her kings as never 
 before. 
 
 Outside of his frontiers the French monarch had no rival. 
 Spain was sinking into a lethargy and decadence which made 
 absurd its old claim as " first power of Europe," despite the 
 fact that its empire still embraced wide dominions. Austria, 
 the standing rival of France, was weakened and humihated by 
 the result of the Thirty Years' War. The lesser German states 
 were still demoralized by that terrible struggle. The Republic 
 of Holland and the Kingdom of England might overmatch the 
 French navy, but neither was formidable by land. A great army, 
 a well-filled treasury, a rich, loyal, and extensive land were all 
 at the disposal of Louis XIV, when, after the king's long minor- 
 ity and tutelage, his great minister, Mazarin, died. Louis was 
 not the man to fail to appreciate his enormous power. 
 
 177. Louis ^77(1643-1715): his absolute government and 
 his court. Louis XIV was a very fallible man, but he was 
 
 When Richelieu died, the royal power seemed dominant at home and victorious 
 abroad. The cardinal had gone on his way with pitiless thoroughness. He had 
 taxed the commonalty mercilessly, and had never let the laws of humanity or 
 morality swerve him from a profitable course of intrigue or war. His death, 
 however, postponed the complete triumph of absolutism in France for over a 
 decade. He was succeeded as "First Minister" by his confidant, Cardinal 
 Mazarin, a supple Italian, who, though not without large abilities as a smooth 
 intriguer, lacked his master's genius. Mazarin was hated as a foreigner, and the 
 Queen Regent, Anne of Austria (acting for young Louis XIV), though decidedly 
 under his influence, did not support him capably. The nobility and the dis- 
 affected citizens of Paris again raised their heads. Spain aided the insurgents 
 with armies. Between 164S and 1653, France was racked by the so-called " Wars 
 of the Fronde." Then the ill-considered insurrection dwindled away. Mazarin 
 took up the work of Richelieu, — the organizing of France into one closely 
 centralized despotic monarchy. This work was largely completed when he died 
 in 1661, and turned the government and its nolities over to his royal pupil, 
 Louis XIV. 
 
312 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 undoubtedly a mighty monarch. He was of great personal 
 dignity: " he was as majestic in his dressing-gown as when 
 dressed in robes of state, or on horseback at the head of his 
 troops." He looked the part of a great potentate, and took his 
 position very seriously. He had much intelligence, a ready 
 
 LOUIS XIV, SURROUNDED BY HIS COURT, CONFERRING THE BATON OF 
 
 " MARSHAL OF FRANCE," THE HIGHEST MILITARY HONOR 
 
 {From a contemporary almanac) 
 
 courtesy, and knew when to unbend. When he believed his 
 prerogatives were not trenched upon, he was capable of much 
 kindliness. Unluckily, however, he was the vainest of mortals, 
 and never did great king lack for a swarm of flatterers. Church- 
 men and courtiers alike had taught him from his youth that 
 kings were anointed of God; for their actions they were 
 accountable solely to heaven; their subjects could only obey 
 
LOUIS XIV, DOMINATOR OF EUROPE 313 
 
 with diligence. " Majesty is the image of the grandeur of God 
 in the prince," wrote Bossuet, a famous French prelate. 
 Louis, at best of very mortal stuff, was readily convinced by 
 such declarations. Throughout nearly his whole life he treated 
 the weal of France as synonymous with his own ambition 
 to extend his frontiers and play the conqueror. Anything Hke 
 popular liberties he regarded as a calamity. The example of 
 Puritan England was ever before him, and the saying is 
 attributed to him that a Parliament like the English was an 
 intolerable evil for any real monarch. If, indeed, he never 
 used the famous expression, " I am the state " (so often 
 ascribed to him), it represents his whole attitude completely. 
 
 Very early in his reign he strode, in his hunting costume, 
 before the Parlement de Paris/ which was hesitating over 
 " registering " (i.e., putting into effect) one of his edicts, and 
 announced, " I have learned that you intend to continue these 
 meetings [to discuss my measures]. I have come here expressly 
 to forbid the continuation of them." And the king was obeyed. 
 
 The once haughty nobility of France no longer ruled, each 
 on his feudal seigneury. They were on the frontiers, in the 
 king's powerful armies, or in perpetual attendance at the 
 splendid royal court. Shorn now of all real political power, 
 they found recompense in the absurdly elaborate and artificial 
 ceremonial of the household service of their master. The mere 
 process of the king's arising from bed was a great state func- 
 tion: it was a high honor to be allowed to watch him breakfast: 
 a higher glory still to enter his bedroom and to behold him put 
 on his shirt. The favor of the king meant everything, — office, 
 promotions, pensions. 
 
 At Versailles, near Paris, Louis built him a palace and magni- 
 ficent gardens surpassing anything the world had seen since 
 
 ^ The Parlement de Paris was the highest court of France, and was really 
 strictly a legal body: yet it claimed certain political rights, and was the last real 
 check upon royal authority. It had nothing in common with the English 
 "Parliament." 
 
314 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 the passing of the Roman Ca?sars. Fifty millions of dollars, 
 wrung from the taxpayers of the land, went into this vast 
 monument of vanity and selfishness: " in which France no- 
 where appears, but only the king." 
 
 If, however, Louis had contented himself with mere palace 
 building, his subjects would not have complained bitterly. 
 Down to 1683, his money affairs were controlled by Colbert, 
 one of the greatest finance ministers who ever held a portfolio. 
 Not merely were the royal revenues put in excellent order, but 
 energetic and successful attempts were made to develop the 
 commerce and industry of France, to build a formidable navy, 
 and to develop colonies in Canada and India. The first decades 
 of Louis were a period of great prosperity for France, a nation 
 which has always displayed remarkable powers of recuperation 
 and expansion under good government. In 1683, however, 
 Colbert died. He left no real successor; and Louis XIV was 
 already involved in foreign projects which were to ruin his 
 treasury and alienate his subjects. 
 
 178. The persecution of the Huguenots. Richelieu had 
 deprived the Huguenots of the particular political privileges 
 which they had won from Henry IV, but they still kept religious 
 toleration. The great nobles, who for temporal reasons had 
 once embraced Calvinism, had now mostly fallen away, but 
 there were still a million Protestants, and these Louis regarded 
 with no friendly eye. He was himself a fairly devout Catholic, 
 and was doubtless sincere in his action; yet it was probably 
 the fact that he wished to have all his subjects conform to his 
 views on all matters, rather than any burning religious zeal, 
 which made him turn persecutor. ' The Protestants were now 
 mostly middle-class townspeople, merchants and artisans, the 
 very class of the population most useful for the economic weal 
 of France. 
 
 1 Louis XIV, like Philip II, was often on very bad terms with the Pope, 
 treating him (in secular matters) in a very bullying and offensive manner. 
 
LOUIS XIV, DOMINATOR OF EUROPE 315 
 
 Various half-measures were at first used to secure conver- 
 sions to the older religion. Catholic preachers labored among 
 the Protestants with various success. The over-zealous war- 
 minister, Louvois, was allowed to "dragoon" the hesitant by 
 means of the army.^ Finally, the last blow was struck; in 1685, 
 the Edict of Nantes (securing religious toleration to the 
 Protestants) was repealed. "No Protestant could meet for 
 any worship. All their ministers were banished from the king- 
 dom within fifteen days; but their laity were forbidden to 
 follow them under penalty of confiscation of goods and pain 
 of the galleys." ^ 
 
 Whether Louis ever understood the full unwisdom of his act 
 is unknown; ^ yet it was a deed of extreme folly. Despite dread- 
 ful persecution, several hundreds of thousands of Protestants 
 remained in France, and kept their religion; and despite the 
 laws, nearly 300,000 of them fled to England, Germany, and 
 America, carrying with them the peaceful arts which were so 
 needed by their native land. By this blow to a valuable part 
 of her peaceful population, the industry and commerce of 
 France were demoralized, at a time when the foreign policy 
 of Louis was making necessary the wealth of all his subjects. 
 
 179. The wars of Louis XIV. But that which really made 
 the reign of Louis XIV fatal for France was his series of wars. 
 From 1660 down to 1667 was a period of peace; then the ambi- 
 tious king began a series of campaigns directed against the 
 power of Austria and Holland, and particularly against the 
 dying Empire of Spain. "* Especially he strove to enlarge his 
 
 1 The term " dra,gooning " (dragonnade) arose from the practice of quartering 
 a squad of brutal soldiers upon the family it was desired to coerce. 
 
 ^ So the terms of Louis's act are summarized by Duruy, a moderate Catholic 
 writer. 
 
 ^ Most of the king's leading statesmen and courtiers honestly commended 
 his action. "Nothing could be finer: no king ever did, or ever will do, anything 
 so memorable," wrote Madame de SevignCf one of the first literary figures of the 
 time. 
 
 * It is curious to observe that in these wars, Holland and Spain (old enemies) 
 are now firm allies against the common menace of France. 
 
3i6 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 dominions along the Rhine and in Flanders. With an army 
 of 350,000 men, with a navy which almost matched that of 
 England or Holland, with two very able generals (Conde and 
 Turenne) to lead his forces, Louis felt justified in a series of 
 aggressions which really had only his own selfish ambition to 
 justify them, despite much fine talk concerning " the glory of 
 France." 
 
 In his first war (1667-68) he tore from Spain a considerable 
 part of her territories in Flanders. His second war was directed 
 against Holland (1672-79). Louis had actually forced his way 
 close to the Dutch capital, Amsterdam, and was proposing to 
 reduce the Dutch Republic to abject vassalage, when his 
 desperate enemies cut the dikes, and the French retired before 
 the flood. In 1679, Louis made peace with the powers allied 
 against him, and Spain again suffered — being despoiled of 
 Franche-Comte. 
 
 But Louis had now raised against him an inveterate enemy. 
 William of Orange, Stadtholder of Holland/ assumed the task 
 of welding Europe together against the overweening power of 
 France. William was not a remarkable general, nor a flawless 
 statesman, but he was a leader of dauntless courage, who never 
 confessed defeat. Thanks to his success (1689) in securing the 
 crown of England," which now became the firm ally of Austria, 
 Spain, and Holland, in Louis's third great war (1688-97), 
 France had to fight England also, and the English navy turned 
 the scale. Louis could wring out of his sorely strained kingdom 
 sufficient strength to fight all Europe by land, but not enough 
 also to match the English sea-power, which had been constantly 
 growing. The land fighting along the Rhine and in Flanders 
 was bloody, devastating, and indecisive. In 1692, the great 
 battle of La Hogue almost broke the naval strength of France. 
 Peace came in 1697 (Treaty .of Ryswick), with practically no 
 
 ^ He was the descendant of the great William the Silent, the foe of Philip II. 
 ^ See chapter xxvii, section 189. 
 
LOUIS XIV, DOMINATOR OF EUROPE 317 
 
 new conquests for Louis. ^ His best generals were dead, his 
 armies depleted, his treasury drained, his sorely taxed subjects 
 murmuring. Wisdom should have taught him that France 
 could not conquer Europe, and that the rest of his reign should 
 be one of peace. 
 
 180. The siege of Vienna by the Turks (1683). One factor 
 which earlier aided Louis XIV was the terrible peril which 
 threatened his Austrian enemies from the rear. The Turkish 
 Empire was falling into weakness and disorder, but it was still 
 a menace to the Austrians, and the sultan's redoubtable 
 ^^ Bashi-bazouks" [light cavalry] and Janizaries threatened to 
 seize all Hungary. In 1683, all Christendom trembled when 
 the grand vizier, Kara Mustapha, laid siege to Vienna with 
 a horde of 150,000 Orientals. The Christian capital was hard- 
 pressed. The fortifications were old; the garrison only 14,000. 
 But Count Stahremberg, the commandant, held out gallantly, 
 awaiting succor. For nearly two months the fate of Vienna 
 hung in the balance. Then, when the crumbling defenses 
 seemed about to succumb, the besieging host was handsomely 
 routed by the relieving force led by John Sobieski, King of 
 Poland. " There was a man sent from God whose name was 
 John! " quoted the court preacher, in the thanksgiving service 
 after the victory. From this day the Turkish power waned. 
 Never again was it a danger to western Europe outside of the 
 Balkan Peninsula. 
 
 181. The War of the Spanish Succession (1701-13). Late 
 in his life Louis XIV foolishly embarked again on a great war. 
 The King of Spain, Charles II, had died without direct heirs. 
 Rather than see his empire parceled out amongst several dis- 
 tant claimants, he left his whole dominions to Philip, the sec- 
 ond son of the French dauphin.- In defiance of his pledges to 
 
 ^ The treaty, however, allowed him to keep the German free city of Strass- 
 ■burg, which he had seized during a time of nominal peace (1681) with barely a 
 shadow of justification. 
 
 ^ Charles II had, of course, no great love for his old enemy, France, but the 
 
i^tch 0'^ Lnnfitude Eaet 
 
c=cp^ 
 
3i8 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 England, Austria, and Holland, Louis undertook to maintain 
 this French prince on the throne of Spain. The result was the 
 most disastrous war of his long reign. Louis had no competent 
 generals left, nor any great ministers. At Blenheim (Bavaria, 
 1704), Marlborough,^ the English leader of the allies, defeated 
 the French utterly. In 1706, he smote them again at Ramillies 
 (Brabant). France itself at length was invaded, and, after still 
 more defeats, Louis's pride humbled in the dust. 
 
 Peace came at last in 17 13 (Treaty of Utrecht). The French- 
 born Philip (V of Spain) kept the Spanish throne, but under 
 conditions that insured the perpetual independence of Spain 
 from France. Most of the possessions which Spain held in Italy, 
 together with the Spanish Netherlands, were handed over to 
 Austria. England gained from Spain the Rock of Gibraltar, 
 which she holds to this day, and from France, Nova Scotia, 
 Newfoundland, and the Hudson Bay Country in America. 
 
 The wars of Louis XIV had ended in pronounced failure. 
 
 182. The effect of the example of Louis XIV: his end (1715). 
 The example of Louis XIV was disastrous for Europe. Even 
 the princes (e.g., of Germany) who fought him most bitterly 
 saw in him their ideal: a monarch who trampled upon the old 
 liberties of his subjects, who exploited the public resources to 
 build up a magnificent court, who claimed to rule by " divine 
 right," and who made war for the gratification of his personal 
 glory and ambition. The wars of the Reformation period were 
 at least fought by men who were genuinely in earnest, and who 
 believed they were lighting for noble principles. The wars of 
 Louis XIV were wholly avoidable: were usually the results of 
 
 alternative was to see several other claimants — especially Austria — divide his 
 dominions. What made Louis's action in accepting the Spanish crown in behalf 
 of his grandson especially obnoxious was the fact that he had made a solemn 
 treaty with England and Austria promising the Spanish homeland and the 
 Spanish Netherlands to an Austrian prince, though France was to have Lorraine. 
 1 Marlborough was a wonderful general, and his strategic methods mark an 
 epoch in the history of warfare. It is said that he never besieged a town which 
 he did not take, nor fought a battle which he did not win. 
 
LOUIS XIV, DOMINATOR OF EUROPE 319 
 
 mere dynastic covetousness; and after causing infinite misery 
 they really left the frontiers of France little changed.^ 
 
 Nearly every princelet of Germany — perhaps with a terri- 
 tory so small that a cannon ball could cross from boundary to 
 boundary — must have his palace (a miniature Versailles), 
 a costly and self-important court, and a handful of inefficient 
 soldiers, — his "standing army," — all paid for, of course, 
 by the wretched peasants, his subjects. It took nearly a 
 century for monarchical Europe to recover from the spell cast 
 over it by " Le Grand Monarque," as the French, even amid 
 their grumblings, delighted to style their masterful king. 
 
 And yet Louis was as much the victim of the conditions of 
 royalty in which he was placed as the deliberate champion of 
 despotism. He had a high and genuine desire to advance the 
 weal of his people, and never shirked the tedious hours in the 
 cabinet supervising the work of his ministers. " We ought to 
 consider the good of our subjects more than our own " (he 
 asserted) ; " and it is a fine thing to deserve from them the name 
 of ' father ' as well as ' master.' " Unfortunately, his surround- 
 ings rendered him purblind to the fact that the last things his 
 subjects needed were disastrous wars, which ruined their com- 
 merce and doubled their taxes, drained France of her youth, 
 yet added comparatively little to her boundaries. 
 
 When he died in 17 15, the public debt of France was over 
 $480,000,000,^ and the treasury was all but empty. Commerce 
 was stagnant. The salaries of officials had been long in arrears. 
 Even the high nobles w^re in debt, while the peasantry were 
 in sorest need. Much of the land lay uninhabited and fallow. 
 
 Louis XIV himself pronounced a true criticism upon his own 
 reign, when he lay upon his deathbed, and his great-grandson, 
 a mere boy of five (Louis XV), the heir to his power, was led 
 
 ^ Of course, as a net result of Louis's aggressions France did retain some 
 possessions toward the Rhine (Franche-Comte, Strassburg, etc.), but at a 
 tremendous price. 
 
 ^ Of course, the equivalent of a far greater sum to-day. 
 
320 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 before him. " Try," spoke the dying monarch, " to keep peace 
 with your neighbors: I have been too fond of war. Do not imi- 
 tate me in that, nor in my over-great expenditure." His per- 
 sonahty and power had dominated Europe for nearly two 
 thirds of a century, and in him "monarchy by divine right" 
 reached its cUmax. 
 
 Louis XV did not profit by his admonitions: and Louis XVI, 
 his successor in turn, was beheaded in the French Revolution. 
 
 REVIEW 
 
 1. Topics — Parlement de Paris; Versailles; Colbert; Dragonnades; 
 Edict of Nantes; Kara Mustapha; John Sobieski; Marlborough; War 
 of the Spanish Succession. 
 
 2. Geography — 
 
 {a) Locate Versailles; Amsterdam; La Hogue; Vienna; Strassburg; 
 
 Blenheim; Utrecht: Gibraltar. 
 {h) Mark the territories added to France under Louis XIV. 
 (c) Mark the boundaries of the European nations after the Treaty 
 
 of L'trccht. 
 
 3. The conditions in France in 1661. Compare with those in the other 
 European states. 
 
 4. Compare Louis XIV with James I and Charles I as to their ideas of 
 government. Why was absolute government possible in France and 
 impossible in England? 
 
 5. What led to the repeal of the Edict of Nantes? What were the politi- 
 cal results of the repeal? The economic results? 
 
 6. Learn the provisions of the Treaty of Utrecht. 
 
 7. Compare France in 17 15 with France in 1661. Was Louis XIV wholly 
 to blame for the evil conditions in 1715? 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 1. Richelieu and Mazarin — compare them in character and work 
 accomplished. 
 
 2. The court of Louis XIV. 
 
 3. Colbert, and French colonization in America. 
 
 4. Vauban, Conde, and Turenne. 
 
 5. What had been the relations between Francis I and the Turks? 
 
 6. The battle of Blenheim. Why is it one of the "decisive battles"? 
 
 7. The career of Marlborough. 
 
LOUIS XIV, DOMINATOR OF EUROPE 321 
 
 8. Find illustrations of the statement concerning the evil effects of the 
 influence of Louis XIV upon other European states. 
 
 9. Taxation under Louis XIV. 
 
 10. How did the revocation of the Edict of Nantes affect the foreign 
 relations of Louis XIV? 
 
 11. The culture of the eighteenth century. 
 
 READINGS 
 
 Sources. Robinson: nos. 332-45, 353. 
 
 Modern accounts. Seignobos: pp. 345-86, 402-05, 410-33. Duruy: pp. 
 385-475. Pattison: pp. 301-28. Lodge: chapters xi, xii, xiii. Gibbins: 
 pp. 113-14, 132-33, 159-60. Robinson and Beard: vol. i, pp. 4-28; 
 34-50- 
 
CHAPTER XXVII 
 
 THE LATER STUARTS IN ENGLAND AND THEIR OVERTHROW 
 
 183. Charles II, 'The Merry Monarch' (1660-85). The 
 
 sovereign whom the EngHsh recalled was a person of no mean 
 capacity. He was an abler man than his father, Charles I; 
 he was more worldly-wise than his grandfather, James I. He 
 had much personal grace and good humor, and an easy-going 
 manner which enabled him to manipulate men to his own ends. 
 He had not enjoyed his life as an exile on the Continent, and 
 returned to England firmly resolved " never to set out on his 
 travels again." No cause was likely to find in him a martyr, 
 but, on the other hand, he was quite willing to assert his power 
 so far as appeared safe. The nation, wearied of Puritanism, 
 welcomed a monarch who had no morahty but one of pleasure, 
 and who threw his court and his people into an eager attempt 
 to restore color to life. Charles's private habits were those of 
 an elegant debauchee. He surrounded himself with scandalous 
 courtiers and a crowd of mistresses. French influence was 
 immediately visible in the drama and letters of the day, while 
 concrete proof of its existence was the pension which Louis 
 XIV paid to Charles for several years of his reign, receiving in 
 return the virtual disposal of England's foreign pohcy. He 
 had so little genuine religion that, although he seems for long 
 to have really believed in Roman Catholicism, he never lifted 
 a finger efi'ectively to protect his fellow believers from severe 
 persecution during many years; and only upon his deathbed 
 professed the religion that he really held. Under such a mon- 
 arch England was destined to submit to a distinct lapse from 
 the proud position among the nations which she had held under 
 Cromwell. 
 
THE LATER STUARTS IN ENGLAND 
 
 323 
 
 184. The persecution of the Puritans and the Catholics. 
 
 The return of the Royalists had meant the wiping-off of old 
 scores accumulated by the friends of the Episcopal system 
 
 DINNER AT THE COURT OF CHARLES II 
 Note that royalty always dined under a canopy, one of the most cherished of royal 
 honors. {From an engraving in the Print Department of the Bibliotheque Nationale) 
 
 (whose worship had been banned under the Protectorate) 
 against their Puritan enemies. Not merely, in the reaction 
 from the austere Cromwellian regime, were the Puritan divines 
 driven from their pulpits, ^ but their private religious gatherings 
 
 ^ Two thousand ministers, and those not the least learned or devoutly minded, 
 were forced to quit their churches in 1662, rather than take the required oaths 
 pledging them to accept the rule of bishops and the Church of England Prayer- 
 Book. Hitherto many of the Puritans had tried to effect reforms from ivithin 
 the English Church : now they deliberately placed themselves outside the Church 
 and organized various "Nonconformist" churches, which remain to this day. 
 Probably Charles's efforts in behalf of the Nonconformists were simply to cover 
 up designs to aid the Catholics. 
 
324 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 were forbidden. Under the laws of the " Clarendon Code," 
 not more than five persons besides the members of a household 
 might be present at any Puritan prayer-meeting, nor might 
 any of their ministers approach within five miles of an incor- 
 porated town. 
 
 Charles by no means approved of his Parliament's furious 
 zeal for the rehgion in which his father had died. He made 
 various ineffective eft'orts to lighten the lot of the "Non- 
 conformists " (as the Puritans were called), and he was natu- 
 rally still more anxious to reheve the disabilities of the Catho- 
 hcs, but on these points he met with stubborn resistance. The 
 Church of England party, ultra-loyal in its professions, and 
 controUing his Parliaments, was even more anti-Catholic than 
 it was anti-Puritan ; and a large fraction of it presently came to 
 
 regard the king's policies with 
 extreme suspicion. Charles was 
 without a legitimate heir, and his 
 successor seemed likely to be his 
 brother, James, Duke of York, 
 who with greater courage than 
 Charles was an avowed Catholic. 
 The last twelve years of the reign 
 were consumed in an ineffectual 
 attempt to force through Parlia- 
 ment a law excluding James from 
 the succession. Charles permit- 
 ted the enactment of the Test Act 
 (1673) which effectually barred 
 all Catholics from pubHc office; 
 he permitted the Catholics to be persecuted for pretended plots 
 against his own authority; many innocent men lost their fives 
 without the king risking his position to save them, but he at 
 least stood firm against the attempt to cut off James from the 
 crown. Charles dissolved his last Parliament in 1681, after it 
 
 COSTUMES OF GENTLEMEN 
 ABOUT 1673 
 
THE LATER STUARTS IN ENGLAND 325 
 
 had begun to show the same fiery spirit of its predecessors 
 under his father, and for the last four years of his reign he 
 reigned with quasi absolute authority;^ and the difficult ad- 
 justment of the relations between the Crown and the people 
 was reserved for his successors. In 1685, this handsome, witty, 
 profligate man died, and three years later England underwent 
 her second great revolution.- 
 
 185. James II (1685-88) : his character and aims. James IT, 
 the second son of Charles I, was decidedly unlike his brother. 
 A clever courtier who knew both well asserted, " Charles could 
 do good if he would: James would do good if he could!" His 
 private character was by no means of the best, but it was supe- 
 rior to that of Charles II. He is described as a "man of infinite 
 industry and gravity, and great understanding, and of a most 
 sincere and honest nature." He was, however, utterly narrow- 
 minded, and exceedingly obstinate in opinions once formed; 
 and he had not the least spark of genius or of the ability to 
 inspire others to do great things in his cause. He was a sincere 
 Catholic, and clung devoutly to his religion at a time when to 
 stand by it seemed likely to cost him the succession. To him 
 the absolute power exercised by his rival, Louis XIV of France, 
 seemed an admirable model for English monarchs harassed 
 by their Parliaments, and to increase the royal prerogative he 
 
 ^ By altering town charters, and other unscrupulous means, he was bringing 
 it to pass that any Parliament he might summon would have a majority favor- 
 able to him, and willing to legalize any act of tyranny. 
 
 * Even in this bad reign, circumstances sometimes enabled the enactment of 
 laws which promoted the growth of individual liberty. In 167Q was passed the 
 Habeas Corpus Act. The writ of habeas corpus compels a jailor to produce a 
 prisoner in court, and to show that there is a colorable case against him; — it is 
 therefore a great protection against arbitrary imprisonment. Before the passage 
 of this act, the Crown had been able to put all kinds of legal obstacles to obtain- 
 ing this writ, and consequently hold prisoners indefinitely, almost "at the king's 
 pleasure." 
 
 A tradition sprang up that the act was only carried in the House of Lords by 
 an absurd blunder. One of the tellers for the vote counted a very fat nobleman 
 as two, and then declined to admit his jest when he found that the change of one 
 vote would defeat the bill! 
 
326 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 strove most earnestly. But his second ambition — to make 
 England again a Catholic nation — was one thing which was 
 sure to awaken enemies who might have endured his measures 
 that were merely political. The Church of England party had 
 made unreserved loyalty to the Crown practically a tenet of 
 religion. When, however, the king they affected to venerate 
 began to try to undermine the very Church which supported 
 him, a disastrous strain was put upon the loyalty of nearly all 
 English Churchmen. 
 
 1 86. The first years of James. James found his subjects 
 divided into two great parties, parties which have in a certain 
 manner survived to this day. The old Puritans were crushed 
 and silenced, but against the "High Church" Tories, who 
 advocated the sustaining of the royal prerogatives, and the 
 repression of all but the Church of England religion, were now 
 opposed the more liberal Whigs, who favored a more constitu- 
 tional form of government, and the extension of toleration to 
 the "Nonconformists."^ The Tories were at this moment 
 predominant; but many great noblemen held Whig principles 
 and the nation at large (so far as it had a voice) was probably 
 with them. James went into his contest counting on the im- 
 plicit obedience of the Tories, do what he might; and trusted 
 to sheer force to curb the Whigs. Unfortunately he was to 
 discover that the Tories were not to be trusted, and that the 
 Whigs were not helpless. 
 
 Early in the reign (1685) the Duke of Monmouth (an illegiti- 
 mate son of Charles II) raised an insurrection in Dorsetshire: 
 but his undisciplined followers were routed at Sedgemoor:^ 
 Monmouth perished on the scaffold, and the" Bloody Assizes," 
 
 • These party names had arisen late in Charles II's reign during the contest in 
 Parliament over the exclusion of James. "Whig" was originally an unfriendly 
 nickname for Scottish Presbyterians, while the first "Tories'" were certain Irish 
 outlaws. In each cast what had been an epithet of reproach was adopted in the 
 end as an honorable designation. 
 
 ^ This wafi the last battle of conseciuence to be fought on strictly " English" 
 soil. 
 
THE LATER STUARTS IN ENGLAND 327 
 
 presided over by the implacable Lord Jeffreys, handed out 
 death to many persons whose guilt was more than doubtful. 
 This easy victory confirmed James in his purpose. He under- 
 took as part of his royal prerogative to " dispense" with the 
 law forbidding Catholics to hold office. Many important mili- 
 tary and civil positions were thus filled with his co-religionists. 
 An army of 13,000 men believed to be reliable was assembled 
 to overawe disaffection. As vacancies occurred in the Univer- 
 sities of Oxford and Cambridge, royal nominees of the Catholic 
 faith were thrust in, despite the plain letter of the law on the 
 side of the " Fellows " of the colleges who had exercised the 
 right of election. 
 
 187. The case of the seven bishops (1688). Many Roman 
 Catholics around James realized that he was carrying things 
 too rapidly and urged moderation, but the headstrong monarch 
 swept on to his downfall. To silence the protests of the cities 
 their charters were annulled. Subservient judges gave decisions 
 confirming the king's pretensions. In 1687, James issued a 
 Declaration of Indulgence granting religious liberty alike to 
 the CathoKcs and the Protestant Nonconformists. He felt 
 obliged to seek the support of the later, and affected to treat 
 them with benignant liberality, but unfortunately these 
 very Nonconformists, successors of the Puritans, if they dis- 
 trusted the High Church party much, they distrusted the 
 favors of the Catholics more, and stubbornly refused to be 
 cajoled. Many men also, who favored a liberalizing of the 
 obnoxious laws permitting rehgious persecution, realized that 
 a clear issue was presented. Could a king — even for a good 
 end — abolish by his mere proclamation a plain statute of 
 Parliament ? If so, his power was practically absolute. The 
 religious issue had thus become a distinctly political one. 
 
 In May, 1688, James ordered all the clergy of the Church 
 of England to read the Declaration of Indulgence in their 
 churches. As a class these men had thundered from their 
 
328 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 pulpits for nearly a generation that "obedience to the king 
 was among Heaven's first laws "; but at this insulting mandate 
 they balked. Very few churchmen read the Declaration as 
 commanded. The Archbishop of Canterbury and six other 
 bishops lodged a respectfully worded protest with the king. 
 "Here are strange words," exclaimed James angrily. "This is 
 a standard of rebelHon! " He caused the seven bishops to be 
 flung into the Tower of London and prosecuted for issuing a 
 
 THE SEVEN BISHOPS GOING TO THE TOWER 
 The people of London are wishing them safety. [From a Dulch book published in i68q) 
 
 "seditious libel." It was the occasion for a great national out- 
 pouring. High and low joined in unprecedented demonstra- 
 tions of sympathy for the bishops.^ If a respectful petition 
 were "sechtion," where were the rights of Enghshmen? In 
 June (1688), the bishops were put on trial. All attempts of 
 the crown lawyers to browbeat the jury were in vain. The 
 seven were acquitted amid vast public rejoicing. The affair 
 
 ^ A snatch of a song in behalf of Trelawney, Bishop of Bristol, has become 
 famous: — 
 
 "And shall Trelawney die? And shall Trelawney die? 
 Then twenty thousand Cornish lads will know the reason why. 
 
THE LATER STUARTS IN ENGLAND 329 
 
 was a clear warning to James to change his pohcy or lose his 
 crown. 
 
 188. "The Great Revolution' '. the overthrow of James 
 (1688-89). James was given no great time for reconsideration. 
 Almost at the time of the trial a son was born to him. Hitherto 
 his subjects had expected him to be succeeded by his daughter 
 Mary, a devout Protestant. ^ Now the prospect of a long line 
 of Catholic princes came to view, and men grew desperate. 
 An appeal was sent secretly by many high nobles to the king's 
 son-in-law, the redoubtable William of Orange, to come from 
 Holland with an armed force and deliver the country. After 
 some prudent deliberation, WiHiam acted. The prospect of an 
 Enghsh crown was, of course, an enticing one, but the controll- 
 ing motive in his action was very probably a desire to gain the 
 hearty support of England in the life-and-death struggle he 
 was waging on the Continent against the overweening power 
 of Louis XIV. He therefore landed in the west of England 
 (November, 1688) with a considerable army" to secure a free 
 and legal Parliament." 
 
 James vainly announced concessions and prepared to fight 
 him; but there was half-heartedness and treason all around the 
 king. Practically no fighting took place. As one adherent after 
 another slunk away, the terrified king tried to flee to France. 
 He was halted and brought back. William found him an awk- 
 ward prisoner. James could not be put to death, and to keep 
 him permanently in custody would awaken a storm of criti- 
 cism. WiUiam desired nothing more than to have him escape, 
 and James turned out to be his own worst enemy. The direful 
 fate of his father was ever before him; and he evaded his 
 studiously careless guards and safely escaped to France, to 
 become the weary guest of Louis XIV. 
 
 1 Mary was now a mature woman, and married to William of Orange, Stadt- 
 holder of the Netherlands, the great foe of Louis XIV. It was honestly doubted 
 at the time whether this son of James was really his child, or some spurious infant 
 introduced to keep up the male succession. In the public state of distrust toward 
 James, any absurdity became credible. 
 
330 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 189. William III and Mary (1689-1702). The flight of 
 James put the Government in William's hands. He called a 
 "Convention" (smiimoned in the same manner as a Parlia- 
 ment) , which after much deliberation reached a conclusion in 
 which the Whigs and a large proportion of the Tories joined. 
 It was that James, by his unlawful acts and by his quitting the 
 realm, had " abdicated " the throne, and that the crown was to 
 pass to his son-in-law William and his daughter Mary jointly 
 (the actual government, however, being reserved for William). 
 Accompanying this resolution went the famous Declaration of 
 Rights, setting forth the limits to royal authority and the 
 privileges of the subjects, and settling many fundamental 
 matters.! por practical purposes this Revolution of 1689 made 
 Parliament rather than the king the iinal power in England 
 The royal prerogative was still to be an important factor for 
 over a century, and the enormous social influence which a king 
 might exercise was in no wise abated, but the danger that Eng- 
 land would imitate France and drift under a strictly personal 
 government was practically at an end. Unspectacular and 
 bloodless though it was, this " Glorious Revolution " forms a 
 milestone in history. 
 
 WiUiam III was himself a Dutchman, and never felt him- 
 self at home among his English subjects; nor was he in turn 
 popular with them. His main interest was in the great war 
 against Louis XIV, who was now earnestly supporting James. 
 In 1690, James seized Ireland with a French army, but William 
 crossed over from England and routed him at the battle of the 
 Boyne, chasing him back to his exile on the Continent. William 
 had his own troubles with his Parliaments, who were very 
 illiberal in voting war supplies; but in 1697, peace was made 
 with France, and the danger of a return of James was greatly 
 
 ' Some of the leading points prohibit the "dispensing with laws," the levying 
 of taxes, or keeping of an army without consent of Parliament; and require the 
 frequent holding of Parliament; and confirm the right of subjects to petition the 
 Crown. Also it is forbidden that any Roman Catholic should sit on the throne. 
 
THE LATER STUARTS IN ENGLAND 331 
 
 lessened. In 1701, James died across the seas, and in 1702, 
 William passed away also. To understand his really great 
 achievements, he must be viewed as a figure in Continental 
 no less than in English history. 
 
 This reign, however, was not merely one of revolutions and 
 fighting. Thanks to the conditions under which WilHam re- 
 ceived his throne, his keen interest in foreign affairs, and the 
 need of conciliating his new EngHsh subjects at every turn, 
 his Government saw a number of great innovations, every one 
 of which made for the supremacy of Parliament or the growth 
 of individual liberty and prosperity. Some of these " corner- 
 stones " can be stated briefly. 
 
 (a) In 1689, a "Mutiny Act" gave the Crown the power of 
 holding its army under strict martial discipline. But this act 
 ran only for one year. Every twelvemonth it must be renewed 
 by Parliament. If the king did not convene Parliament, he 
 had not the least legal hold upon his army. To this day the 
 annual renewal of the Mutiny Act is cherished as practically 
 compelling the annual holding of parliaments. 
 
 (b) In 1695, lapsed an old law establishing a censorship of 
 the press. It was never renewed. Despite various taxes on 
 cheap newspapers, and a severe law of libel, — which was long 
 to hamper editors and pubUshers, — here was another great 
 stroke for liberty. 
 
 (c) Thanks to the Declaration of Right and other enact- 
 ments, the control of Parliament upon the taxing powers and 
 expenditures of the Crown became absolute. Between the 
 " votes of supply " and the Mutiny Act, the king was left 
 entirely at the mercy of " his noble Lords and loyal Commons." 
 The days of Charles I and " no Parliaments " were forever at 
 an end. 
 
 (d) One of the banes of Stuart days had been the wretched 
 coinage, — badly struck, and subject to unceasing " sweating," 
 " clipping," and counterfeiting. It was a really vital reform, 
 
332 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 when, in 1696, the old and often debased money was replaced 
 with a new, honest coinage, with milled edges (to prevent 
 clipping). Such a reform, commonplace as it seems, was per- 
 haps of more value to most people than many pretentious laws, 
 or naval or land victories. 
 
 190. The reign of Anne: (1702-14) the end of the revolu- 
 tionary period in England. William died without children, and 
 Queen Mary had died before him. His successor (under the 
 " Act of Settlement " of 1701, which controls the rights to the 
 English throne down to this day) was Anne, his wife's younger 
 sister, who had been brought up a Protestant. She was a good- 
 hearted but utterly colorless personage, who took her opinions 
 and her policies mainly from her ministers and the all powerful 
 ladies-in-waiting around her. The greater part of her reign 
 was consumed in the important War of the Spanish Succession. ^ 
 At home the main event was the formal union of Scotland with 
 England as the Kingdom of Great Britain, — upon terms very 
 favorable to the canny and tenacious Scots. Toward the end 
 of her reign, Anne fell into the hands of Tory ministers, who 
 were intriguing to set aside the laws passed regulating the 
 succession, and to summon her half-brother, the unfortunate 
 son of James II," to succeed her upon the throne, but she 
 died before their schemes could be completed. The Whigs 
 again seized the power, and the Elector of Hanover, the next 
 Protestant heir, was proclaimed as George I. 
 
 By 1 7 14, England had entered upon a distinctly new. era. 
 The religious factor had ceased to be a deciding issue in politics. 
 The events of 1688 had established that the final controlling 
 power was not the king, but the Parliament. The facts that 
 
 1 See chapter xxvi, section 181. 
 
 2 This unlucky prince, "James III," the "King across the Water," as the 
 "Jacobites" (his EngHsh partisans) styled him, was destined to live in exileon 
 the Continent till 1766, wearily cherishing hopes that were alwa3'S disappointed. 
 He was styled by his enemies, "The Old Pretender." His son, Charles Edward, 
 "The Young Pretender," made a last brave but unsuccessful attempt to seize 
 Scotland, as a stepping-stone to England, in 1745-46. 
 
THE LATER STUARTS IN ENGLAND 333 
 
 William III was a Dutchman, unfamiliar with English affairs, 
 and that Anne was a somewhat weak and pliable woman, had 
 tended to throw greater responsibility and authority upon their 
 ministers, who in turn were dependent upon the good will of 
 Parliament for their continuance in ofifice. 
 
 Thus the way was paved for the " Cabinet Government," ^ 
 which was to become a leading feature in the later English 
 Constitution.- Meantime England had, during the seventeenth 
 century, increased greatly in material prosperity. Her com- 
 merce had grown by leaps and bounds. She had acquired a 
 fringe of colonies along the Atlantic coast of America, and 
 several islands in the West Indies. Her navy was recognized 
 as the strongest in the world, while internally she was begin- 
 ning to cease to be a strictly agricultural, and was becoming a 
 great manufacturing, nation. 
 
 REVIEW 
 
 1. Topics — Nonconformists; Clarendon Code; Test Act; Whig; Tory; 
 Monmouth's Rebelhon; Bloody Assizes; the Declarations of Indul- 
 gence; the trial of The Seven Bishops; William of Orange; the War 
 of the Spanish Succession; the Treaty of Utrecht; Jacobites. 
 
 2. Geography — 
 
 {a) Locate Sedgmoor; Boyne River. 
 
 3. Compare Charles II as a ruler with Cromwell and Louis XIV. 
 
 4. In the "Restoration" of the Stuarts, what was restored? How did the 
 Restoration affect the position of the Nonconformists? 
 
 5. What circumstances made the treatment of the Catholics more severe 
 under Charles II than it had been under Charles I? 
 
 6. What is meant by "royal prerogative"? 
 
 7. Make a summary of the steps taken by James to restore Catholicism 
 in England. 
 
 ^ Cabinet Government may be popularly defined as the rule of a body of 
 ministers who are supposed to work as a single unit, and who keep office (or 
 resign), as they keep the favor (or lose it) of the majority of a Parliament. The 
 coterie of Whigs who acted as Anne's ministers (1708), is supposed to have pre- 
 figured the later cabinets, although the whole system was not worked out until 
 much later. 
 
 ^ See chapter xxxiv. 
 
334 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 8. Compare, as to causes and nature and results, the Revolution of 1688 
 and the Revolution against Charles I. 
 
 9. What part did England play, under William III, in the great struggle 
 against Louis XIV? 
 
 10. Compare England in 17 14 with England in 1603 as regards (a) terri- 
 tory; (b) economic conditions; (c) religious conditions; (d) govern- 
 ment. How far were the Stuarts responsible for the changes? 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 1. Was the low standard of morals of Clmrles's court the exception or the 
 rule among the royal courts of the period? 
 
 2. What other Englishmen, at various times, received pensions from 
 foreign rulers? 
 
 3. The Secret Treaty of Dover. In what relations did this put Charles 
 II to Louis XIV? 
 
 4. The Plague, and the Great Fire of London. 
 
 5. The confiscation of the borough charters. Show how this would make 
 it possible for Charles to be absolute. 
 
 6. Whigs and Tories and the beginnings of political parties. 
 
 7. Why did the Nonconformists refuse to accept the Declarations of 
 Indulgence of Charles II and James II. 
 
 8. The relations with Scotland under William and Mary. Glencoe. 
 
 9. The Mutiny Bill. 
 
 10. The Act of Settlement. 
 
 11. The Junto. 
 
 12. The Bank of England and the National Debt. 
 
 13. The relations between William III and Parliament. 
 
 14. The Union with Scotland. 
 
 15. The Duchess of Marlborough, and the Whigs. 
 
 READINGS 
 
 Sources. Robinson: nos. 324-31. 
 
 Modern accounts. Seignobos: pp. 304-405. Gibbins: pp. 138-42; 144-45. 
 Any Enghsh history (Ransome, pp. 613-734). 
 
CHAPTER XXVIII 
 
 THE GROWTH OF RUSSIA AND PRUSSIA 
 
 iQi. Early Russia. Late in the seventeenth century a new 
 Christian Power began to thrust itself upon the attentions of 
 Europe. The vast "Czardom of Muscovy" had for a long 
 time been known to exist to the east of Poland and Finland, 
 but Russia had never been taken seriously as a nation formid- 
 able either in peace or war. Russia (despite many centuries of 
 history) is among the latest of the European peoples to emerge 
 into the light of civilization: indeed, in its great rural districts 
 this mighty Empire is hardly civihzed yet; and in this fact 
 lies the explanation of many problems in present-day Russia. 
 Nevertheless, since 1650, the Russian Empire has made tre- 
 mendous strides, and it is to-day one of the most important 
 factors in the world's war and diplomacy. 
 
 The barbarous and pagan Slavic tribes which inhabit the 
 great steppes of eastern Europe gained their first tincture of 
 civilization by contact with the Eastern Empire. In 865, the 
 " Russians " made a formidable attack on Constantinople, 
 which was with difficulty repelled. Later dealings with the 
 Eastern Emperors were more friendly. Commerce sprang up; 
 envoys were exchanged between the Emperors and the northern 
 princes; and missionaries of the Eastern Church converted the 
 Russians to the Greek type of Christianity. ^ This civihzation 
 of " Old Russia " was at its height when the land was overrun 
 by the terrible Tartar hordes (thirteenth century), who long 
 held the native princes and people in vassalage. Only gradu- 
 
 1 To this day the Russians, of course, persist in being Orthodox (Greek) 
 Christians as against the Western Cathohcs and Protestants. The Russian 
 alphabet is based upon the Greek — another result of contact with Constanti- 
 nople. 
 
336 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 ally, after two centuries of disastrous oppression, was the grip 
 of the savage grand khans of the " Golden Horde " relaxed, and 
 the Tartars driven back to their wilds in Asia (1480). But this 
 period of bondage at least aided in upbuilding Russian unity. 
 The petty local dynasties were mostly overthrown. In their 
 place was left only one important ruler, the "Grand Prince 
 of Moscow"; and hfe imder Asiatic despots had taught the 
 Russians implicit obedience to a master. The Princes of Mos- 
 cow exercised an absolute rule over their subjects, such as no 
 Western sovereigns had ever even claimed. The fall of Con- 
 stantinople before the Turks (1453) carried with it the loss of 
 any claim of the original Greek Church to exercise ecclesiastical 
 authority over its fellow believers in Russia; and the Russian 
 Church had never acknowledged the leadership of the Pope. 
 As a result the rulers of Moscow possessed a control over 
 church as well as civil affairs, which increased their total 
 authority immensely. They were tyrants over their subjects 
 alike for their bodies and for their souls. 
 
 During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries this great 
 monarchy upon the steppes was consolidating and strengthen- 
 ing its grip over the often-turbulent boyars (nobles), and fight- 
 ing off its encroaching neighbors. In 1547, the Prince Ivan IV, 
 whose surname, " the Terrible," grimly describes his cruel yet 
 masterful character, took the title of "Czar"i as a token of 
 absolute and imperial sovereignty. From this time onward we 
 may speak of the " Empire of Russia." 
 
 More than a century elapsed after this event before the 
 czars were able to make themselves felt in the West. They 
 were really tyrants of the Oriental ty]3e, ruling over a people 
 nominally Christian in religion, but exceedingly barbarous in 
 customs. They were almost isolated from civilized nations. 
 
 ^ This title is often said to have been derived from "Ca;sar," but various 
 scholars think it derived from an Asiatic word denoting the holder of supreme 
 authority. Possibly it is akin to "shah." "Tsar " is a variant and possibly more 
 correct spelling in English. 
 
THE GROWTH OF RUSSIA AND PRUSSIA 337 
 
 On the south, their way to the Black Sea was practically barred 
 by the Turks. On the west, they collided with the ill-organized 
 
 RUSSIA IN 1725 
 
 but then formidable Kingdom of Poland. Finland and most 
 of the Baltic lands were held by the Swedes. Only on the White 
 Sea of the Far North could the " Autocrat of all the Russias," 
 
338 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 lord of so many leagues of plainland, and of so many myriads 
 of fierce horsemen, find salt water which he could call his own. 
 Here, indeed, the Arctic winter cut off navigation for many 
 months, but a precarious trade in furs was springing up with 
 England. In 1689, however, there came to the throne the ruler 
 who changed Russia from a long stretch of semi-barbarous 
 lands into a mighty nation. 
 
 192. Peter the Great (1689-1725). Peter the Great ranks 
 among the most intelligent despots of history. If any race 
 could have been lifted from barbarism to civilization by a series 
 of imperial edicts ruthlessly enforced, the Russians would have 
 been changed beyond recognition. It is a testimony to Peter's 
 abilities that, though his methods were those of the remorseless 
 sidtan, he was really able to accomplish so much. His chief 
 11 erit was that he recognized clearly the great superiority of 
 the Western Europeans over the Russians, and undertook to 
 introduce Western arts and habits into all phases of Russian 
 life. Early in his reign he visited Holland and England. In 
 Holland the tale runs that he worked for a brief time as a 
 common shipwright in a shipyard, so determined was he to 
 give Russia a navy. From England he took away nearly five 
 hundred engineers, ship-carpenters, skilled artisans, artillery- 
 men, and surgeons, to execute his great building projects and 
 to teach his people. He set up printing-presses, caused trans- 
 lations of foreign books to be made, and took measures for 
 the education of at least the upper classes among his hith- 
 erto almost illiterate comitrymen. These works of peace he 
 supplemented by warfare, in which, though by no means 
 always victorious, he won for Russia the status of a great 
 power. 
 
 193. Peter the Great and Charles XII of Sweden. Sweden 
 was still (thanks to her victories in the Thirty Years' War) 
 counted a great military power. She had a brilliant and 
 aggressive king, Charles XII, considered to be one of the first 
 
PETER THE GREAT 
 
 Czar of Russia (1689-1725) 
 Born 1672 Died 1725 
 
THE GROWTH OF RUSSIA AND PRUSSIA 339 
 
 captains of his age. ^ The possession of the Swedish lands along 
 the Baltic was absolutely essential to Peter if Russia was not 
 to be hemmed in forever from the sea — and the sea meant for 
 her com-merce, new ideas, national life. In his first battles 
 Peter learned his shortcomings as a general and the weakness 
 of his ill-disciplined Cossacks before the veteran Swedes. At 
 Narva (1700), Charles won a brilliant victory, but he made 
 ill use of it. Peter reorganized his army, and seized some sea- 
 coast at the mouth of the river Neva. Here, in 1703, the czar 
 founded a new capital city, St. Petersburg,^ to be the home of 
 his reorganized government. When Charles invaded Russia 
 a second time, he was utterly defeated at Poltava (1709). The 
 military prestige of Sweden was blasted, and Russia was recog- 
 nized as a mighty power. When peace was at length made 
 (17 21), Russia gained nearly all the Swedish Baltic lands, with 
 the exception of Finland. 
 
 Peter died in 1725, aged only fifty- three. He had completely 
 reorganized the government of his country, giving it all the 
 machinery for a centralized, well-articulated despotism, 
 instead of a blundering, semi-feudal tyranny. He had enforced 
 the habits of Western civilization upon his courtiers and 
 nobility. The serfs (the vast bulk of the population) continued 
 in their Oriental degradation w^ithout even a veneer of Euro- 
 pean culture. 
 
 Peter's successors continued his policy, more or less success- 
 fully according to their abilities, through the eighteenth cen- 
 tury. The most famous of these rulers was Catherine II 
 
 ' Charles XII was a magnificent field officer. Had he been as excellent in 
 planning a campaign as in actually fighting a battle, he would be ranked with 
 Hannibal or Napoleon. 
 
 ^ In 19 14 by imperial decree the name of this city became Petrograd. Hitherto 
 the Russian name had been simply Petersburg, the "Saint" having been added 
 by Western usage. Czar Peter was very far from deserving sainthood. He was 
 brutal in his personal pleasures and ferocious in his punishments. With his own 
 hands he would sometimes behead criminals by way of diversion. So far is it 
 possible for the same person to be a beneficent sovereign, yet a most despicable 
 man! 
 
340 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 (1762-96), a profligate but exceedingly energetic woman, who 
 sent her armies victoriously against the Turks, and joined with 
 Austria and Prussia in dividing unhappy Poland. By 1800, all 
 the world recognized Russia as a tremendous military power. 
 It was to take nearly a hundred years more before she had an 
 accepted place in the realms of music, literature, and art.^ 
 
 194. The Electorate of Brandenburg. While a great imperial 
 state was arising in the East, — in Europe and yet charged 
 with the temperament and institutions of Asia, — there was 
 struggling into prominence another much smaller state, which 
 was destined to reanimate the old nation of Germany, and 
 rescue it from the fearful exhaustion and stagnation in which 
 it had been left after the terrible Thirty Years' War. This 
 state was Brandenburg, which became the nucleus of the later 
 "Kingdom of Prussia." Very humble were its beginnings, yet 
 the glory of modern Germany was wrapped up in this obscure 
 principality. 
 
 In 1648, the Electorate of Brandenburg seemed to represent 
 one of the poorest and least progressive states in the all but 
 dissolved " Holy Roman Empire." Its rulers of the Hohen- 
 zollern dynasty had obtained the land in the fifteenth century, 
 and in Luther's day had become Protestants. Their territories 
 were ih-compacted, unfertile, and sparsely populated. There 
 were few sizable cities, and little commerce and industry. The 
 inhabitants were mostly unkempt, oafish peasants inhabit- 
 ing the sandy plain lands, or brave but stupid and inactive 
 petty nobles {Junkers), who in their boorish fox-hunting 
 traits greatly resembled the English country " squires." The 
 Hohenzollern dynasty of electors had done little to distinguish 
 itself since gaining power, and yet in some respects progress 
 had been made. The Hohenzollerns had never wasted their 
 power upon distant and chimerical military enterprises; their 
 
 1 "Scratch a Russian and you will lind a Tartar," Napoleon is said to have 
 remarked. 
 

 : Vi^iilAi 
 
 
 
 ■^^ 
 
 
 
 
342 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 lands had emerged from the Thirty Years' War rather less rav- 
 aged than were many other quarters of Germany; and they 
 had annexed the Duchy of Prussia. This large vassal state of 
 Poland had been ruled before the Reformation by the "Grand 
 Master " of the Knights of the Teutonic Order. ^ In 1525, the 
 Grand Master had accepted Protestantism and taken the title 
 of " Duke." In 1618, the last Duke of Prussia died, and his 
 dominions went to his kinsman, the Elector of Brandenburg. 
 Prussia and Brandenburg were by no means contiguous, — • 
 a great piece of Poland intervened. Still, in the aggregate the 
 Hohenzollerns ruled a considerable state. In 1648, the Peace of 
 Westphalia gave them the Duchy of Eastern Pomerania. They 
 had also several scattered " enclaves " elsewhere in North Ger- 
 many.- These heterogeneous lands were now to fall into the 
 power of a great statesman who was to organize them into a 
 formidable monarchy. 
 
 195. The Great Elector, Frederick William (1640-88). 
 Frederick William personally was a coarse-grained man, des- 
 potic and none too scrupulous; but he ruled a people accus- 
 tomed to arbitrary government, and the age was not one of 
 nice measures. The great bane of his electorate was the multi- 
 plicity of local divisions. There were numerous local "estates," 
 
 — assembhes of petty nobles, ignorant, tenacious of their 
 privileges, and grinding tyrants over their peasantry. The 
 whole administration of the country was exceedingly weak 
 and inefficient. Frederick William curtailed the power of the 
 estates as much as he dared, and set up a central privy council, 
 to which his ministers and all his provincial governors belonged 
 
 — thus giving the ill-assorted Hohenzollern realm a semblance 
 of unity. The taxation system was revised skillfully, so as to 
 increase the elector's revenues without increasing the burdens 
 
 1 A military-religious brotherhood, established, like the Templars and Hos- 
 pitalers, at the time of the crusades. 
 
 ^ An "enclave" was a small German territory belonging to one state, but 
 entirely surrounded by the territories of other states. 
 
THE GROWTH OF RUSSIA AND PRUSSIA 343 
 
 of the subjects. In short, Frederick William look a long step 
 toward abolishing mediaeval political conditions and substi- 
 tuting an orderly "modern" government.^ 
 
 The Great Elector realized that if he were to obtain a great 
 revenue from his lands his people must be enriched. With 
 German thoroughness and Hohenzollern common sense and 
 tenacity, he set himself to building up the industries and com- 
 merce of his subjects. Every effort was made to encourage 
 scientific agriculture. Louis XIV was driving the Huguenots 
 from his dominions by his persecutions. Frederick WilHam 
 (a zealous Protestant) promoted their settlement in Branden- 
 burg. The French immigrants were skilled artisans and agri- 
 culturalists; some twenty thousand of them brought the Great 
 Elector and his people precisely the assistance and example 
 whereof they were in need. Louis had little recked that, in 
 -banishing the Huguenots from France, he was advancing the 
 prosperity of the nation that was to prove his country's most 
 dangerous rival. 
 
 One thing more Frederick William did for his land. He 
 organized a truly efficient army. He was able to play a very 
 respectable part in the wars of the later seventeenth century, 
 usually in one of the alliances against Louis XIV. In 1675, he 
 won a notable victory over the Swedes at Fehrbellin.- Hence- 
 forth Brandenburg was something more than a " state " of 
 Germany; it had to be reckoned upon as a rising and substan- 
 tially independent monarchy to be courted and feared. 
 
 196. Brandenburg becomes the Kingdom of Prussia. Fred- 
 erick Wilham was succeeded by his son Frederick, a person- 
 age by no means equal to his father in ability. He was a 
 showy, extravagant man, who squandered his revenues upon 
 
 ^ Of course, much was left entirely untouched; e.g., down to Napoleon's day 
 the peasantry of Brandenburg-Prussia were downright serfs. 
 
 ^ The Swedes were led by Charles XI, the father of Charles XII: this was 
 almost the first great battle lost by the Swedes since Gustavus's day, except 
 when overwhelmed by numbers. 
 
344 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 a tawdry court which ih became the ruler of so poor a country. 
 He was not the less ambitious, however. The " electoral cap" 
 of Brandenburg seemed too mean for the lord of such extensive 
 dominions. In 1 701 , the " Holy Roman Emperor," being in sore 
 need of his help against France, consented that he should be 
 crowned at Konigsberg as " King /;/ Prussia." ^ The new king 
 was not very cheerfully received by his fellow monarchs. The 
 Pope protested angrily at the erection of another Protestant 
 
 CZ] Lands at th( 
 jccessionot Fred 
 
 BRANDENBURG-PRUSSIA, 1 740-86 
 
 kingdom. Frederick, however, — "Frederick I," as he now 
 proudly styled himself, — was vastly pleased with his new 
 honor. For a while it was a penal offense for one of his subjects 
 forgetfully to drink the health of " the Elector of Branden- 
 burg." In 1713, this vainglorious reign ended. 
 
 197. Frederick William I (1713-40). Frederick's son was a 
 truly great king, yet after a petty, obstinate, picturesque man- 
 
 1 It was some time later that the title was changed to "King of Prussia." 
 The idea, of course, was that Frederick was still only "elector" in Brandenburg, 
 part of the "Empire." Prussia, however, lay outside of it. 
 
THE GROWTH OF RUSSIA AND PRUSSIA 345 
 
 ner of his own. His father had made the new kingdom almost 
 a laughing-stock by his extravagance and vanity. Frederick 
 Wilham I won back the prestige of the Great Elector, and 
 added to it. In a despotically governed country the character 
 of the ruler is everything, and the king was almost exactly 
 what the un progressive land demanded. He was stern, blunt, 
 and practical. He was economical down to stinginess, and 
 maintained a most unpretentious court. He was strictly pious 
 after the stiff fashion of the Lutheran theology of his day, and 
 had a rigid sense of justice. In all the realm there was no harder 
 worker than this crabbed, ill-dressed little man who seemed 
 resolved to make his subjects happy and prosperous, if he had 
 to cuff and cudgel them into a state to enjoy their good fortune. 
 That his people were entitled to any hberty never entered his 
 head. " Salvation belongs to the Lord: everything else is my 
 business," he once asserted. 
 
 The story of his reign contains few outwardly striking 
 events. Fortunately it was a period when there were few great 
 wars, and Frederick William I had too much common sense to 
 invite them. He devoted himself to perfecting the machinery 
 of the administration, until Prussia was ruled by a magnificent 
 bureaucracy (official wheels within wheels), such as was 
 boasted by no other Government in the world. The king strove 
 diligently to foster agriculture, manufactures, and commerce. 
 But his real dehght was in fattening his treasury (he left nearly 
 $6,750,000 behind him) ,1 and strengthening his army, of which 
 he was so proud that it was said that he dared not engage in 
 war lest he lose some of his darling grenadiers. He turned over 
 to his son Frederick II - (later called " the Great ") 80,000 men 
 
 ^ A very large sum, considering the relative poverty of Prussia and the large 
 purchasing power of money in those days. Frederick William I had such a mania 
 for economy that he spent only 50,000 thalers (=$34,000) per year upon himself 
 and his court — a beggarly allowance for a king! 
 
 ^ Whom Frederick William had treated (when a lad) with an austerity and 
 downright brutality which forms a famous chapter in the personal history of the 
 HohenzoUerns. 
 
346 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 admirably drilled and fit for any service. This made Prussia 
 the fourth military state of Europe; and Frederick II did not 
 let his father's brigadiers grow gray without service. 
 
 REVIEW 
 
 1. Topics — Tartars; Ivan the Terrible; Peter the Great; Charles XII; 
 Catherine II; Prussia; the Great Elector; "King in Prussia." 
 
 2. Geography — 
 
 (a) Locate Narva; St. Petersburg; Poltava; Moscow; Konigsberg; 
 Berlin. 
 
 (b) Mark Russian territory in i6Sq. 
 
 (r) Mark the lands added to Russia by Peter. 
 (d) Mark the Hohenzollern lands in 1648. 
 
 3. How did the Tartar supremacy affect Russian civilization? 
 
 4. What conditions gave rise to the absolutism of the Russian czars. 
 
 5. The work of Peter the Great in giving European civilization to Russia. 
 
 6. What is the significance of the statement attributed to Napoleon 
 (p. 340, note)? 
 
 7. The condition of Brandenburg in 1648. 
 
 8. The work of the Great Elector. 
 
 Q. What were the conditions in Europe in 1701 which made the Emperor 
 consent to the creation of a kingdom in Prussia? 
 
 10. What did Frederick \\'illiam I do to advance the political and eco- 
 nomic prosperity of Prussia? 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 1. What was the "'Golden Horde"? 
 
 2. Ivan the Terrible. 
 
 3. Trade with Russia before 1689. 
 
 5. Manners and customs among the Russians at the time of the accession 
 of Peter the Great. How far did Peter change them? By what 
 methods? 
 
 6. Charles XII of Sweden. 
 
 7. The expansion of Russia (1689-1795). 
 
 8. The character and work of the Great Elector. 
 
 9. Whose example did Frederick I of Prussia follow in the extravagance 
 of his court and capital? 
 
 ID. The army of Frederick William I. 
 
 11. Compare Prussia in 1740 with the other German states, in regard to 
 economic and political conditions. 
 
THE GROWTH OF RUSSIA AND PRUSSIA 347 
 
 READINGS 
 
 Sources. Robinson: nos. 346-52, 354-590. 
 
 Modern accounts. Seignobos: Contemporary Civilization, pp. 3-28. Be- 
 mont and Monod: pp. 472-74. Lewis: pp. 477-94. Lodge: chapter xii, 
 sections 13-22; xiv, xvii, xviii, sections 25-27. Pattison: pp. ii^^ii- 
 Robinson and Beard: vol. i, pp. 50-60. 
 
CHAPTER XXIX 
 
 THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 
 
 198. The character of the age. The passing of Louis XIV 
 .(1715) removed the most remarkable figure in Europe. He 
 had played for great stakes; and he had lost. Not till Napo- 
 leon's day was France again to threaten to devour all the rest 
 of Western civilization. In Louis XIV, absolute monarchy by 
 "divine right" had reached its climax. He was the incarna- 
 tion of its best features and the demonstration of its worst. 
 Slowly the reaction was to set in, leading to a reassertion of the 
 rights of. that thing called "the people," not merely to be well 
 governed, but to govern itself. This period of slow reaction 
 extended till lySg, and is ordinarily described as the " eight- 
 eenth century," although it lacked twenty-six years of the 
 completed cycle. During this time monarchs continue to rule 
 despotically: in continental Europe the subject-classes are 
 without any efficient constitutional protection, or any real 
 share in the Government. New intellectual and scientific 
 forces, however, are at work.^ The absolute monarchs find 
 themselves under keen criticism. Thc}' attempt many well 
 meant if superficial reforms. A new spirit is in the air. The 
 gradual simplifying of genteel dress — the abandoning of the 
 absurd ruffs and flowing wigs of the seventeenth century — is 
 a trifling outward manifestation that we are approaching a 
 more genuine, a less artificial age. Wars are, on the whole, less 
 frequent. They are still waged mainly to gratify the selfish 
 ambition of sovereigns, and cause a vast deal of needless misery 
 and bloodshed : but as a rule there is some semblance of national 
 as well as merely dynastic advantage kept in view. 
 
 ^ See chapter xxxi, "The Causes of the French Revolution." 
 
THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 
 
 349 
 
 The separate events of this " eighteenth century " do not 
 need very minute treatment, but it is necessary to have a clear 
 idea of several of the leading royal actors. 
 
 199. Louis XV (1715-74) and Madame de Pompadour. 
 France was still, despite the magnificent failure of Louis XIV. 
 unquestionably the first power of Europe;^ but Louis XV was 
 a very unworthy successor of his mighty great-grandfather. 
 He was a mere child when his reign 
 nominally began, and for eight years 
 the ruler of France was the clever Duke 
 of Orleans, a man of profligate life but 
 no mean ability. In 1723, Louis XV as- 
 sumed the personal government, but he 
 seldom busied himself with the hard 
 work of administration. His ministers 
 .were sometimes capable men. Up to 
 1 741, France was most of the time at 
 peace and tolerably well governed. Af- 
 ter that date disastrous wars set in, 
 from which the French reaped no profit 
 from their victories, and sheer dishonor 
 by their unnecessary defeats. 
 
 The life of Louis XV was one long 
 round of idle, vicious frivolity, wherein 
 the accumulated loyalty of the French 
 nation to the throne was wantonly frit- 
 tered away. The king was too indolent and dissipated to play 
 the tyrant, yet some of his ministers did, and at times the 
 misgovernment of France was frightful. It was a terrible set- 
 back to " the first monarchy of Christendom" that for fifty- 
 nine years the "first gentleman of Europe" (so the French 
 king was styled) was a man of utterly vicious Hfe; far more 
 
 1 The English navy, of course, was first on the seas, but England never claimed 
 to compete with France as a land power. 
 
 A FRENCH SECRETARY OF 
 STATE, ABOUT I 720 
 Note that while the wig and 
 costume are still elaborate, 
 they are less absurd than were 
 the sixteenth- century cos- 
 tumes. (Afler a drawing by 
 tTUlin) 
 
350 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 important than Louis's queen, a weak Polish princess, was his 
 mistress, the beautiful, witty, selfish, worthless Marquise de 
 Pompadour. Her " reign" extended from 1745 to 1764. Dur- 
 ing that time she controlled the king utterly, and, through 
 him, the State. Ministers were appointed and 
 dismissed, wars were declared and ended, at 
 the bidding of a profligate and selfish woman 
 who had not the slightest conception of the 
 interests of France. After her death the king 
 found a second favorite, Madame du Barry, 
 upon whom he was able to squander 180,000,000 
 livres (say $36,000,000) ^ in five years, and this 
 while the finances of France were declining in 
 ever-increasing disorder. 
 
 In 1774, Louis XV sank unwept to the grave. 
 Despite his personal profligacy he did not fail 
 to realize the evil state of France. " This will 
 last through my time "; he said cynically, com- 
 menting on the rotten condition of his Gov- 
 ernment. All his life he had been sowing the 
 wind. His unlucky successor was to reap the 
 whirlwind . 
 
 200. Maria Theresa of Austria (1740-80). 
 Far nobler than this degenerate scion of the 
 great French line was the woman who occupied 
 for many years the rival throne of the Hapsburgs. 
 In 1740, the" Holy Roman Emperor," Charles VI, died, leav- 
 ing by a " Pragmatic Sanction "^ all hereditary lands to his 
 only child, his daughter, Maria Theresa. Thanks to the fact 
 that it was alleged that a woman could not inherit the Austrian 
 lands of the Hapsburgs, greedy pretenders appeared. Maria 
 
 COSTUME OF A 
 GENTLEMAN, 
 ABOUT 1770 
 
 Note that the wig 
 is smaller than in 
 1720, and the dress 
 simpler. A snuffbox 
 and a walking-sword 
 were still essential 
 parts of a masculine 
 outfit. {From an en- 
 graving by Moreaii 
 le Jciiiic) 
 
 ' Really a great deal more, for the purchasing power of money was still much 
 greater in the eighteenth century than at present. 
 
 2 An especially solemn bequest bestowing the succession to the monarchy. 
 
THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 351 
 
 Theresa for a little while seemed forced to fight half of Eu- 
 rope; but she rose to the occasion magnificently, though at first 
 her armies were disorganized, her lands nigh overrun. "Let us 
 die for our King, Maria Theresa! " cried the Hungarian mag- 
 nates, when the high-souled lady appealed to them to defend 
 her cause and that of her infant son, Joseph (II). Her claims 
 were presently vindicated. Her husband, Francis of Lorraine, 
 was recognized as Emperor. During a long life she ruled over 
 her heterogeneous dominions with masculine energy and tireless 
 industry. The reforms she introduced increased her subjects' 
 wealth, and the present-day power of Austria rests very largely 
 upon her successful administration. To the north of her, how- 
 ever, lay an enemy who had taken advantage of her early 
 necessities, and whom she never really forgave — Frederick II 
 of Prussia 
 
 201. Frederick the Great (i'740-S6). Frederick II of Prussia, 
 justly styled "the Great," is the most important figure in 
 European history between Louis XIV and Napoleon. He inher- 
 ited from his crabbed but capable father a small realm, but a 
 full treasury and a powerful army. He strove all his life long to 
 advance the interests of Prussia as he conceived them. " Men 
 have granted preeminence [he wrote] to one of their equals 
 [the king] in the expectation that he should do them certain 
 services." " Monarchs are not invested with authority that 
 they may riot in voluptuousness." " Monarchs are only the 
 first servants of the State." No man in Prussia ever toiled 
 harder than Frederick at his mighty task. His actions were 
 often arbitrary, even tyrannical, but he seems throughout to 
 have believed that he was acting for the public good. He was 
 without confidence in the ability of the masses to govern them- 
 selves, and was never anything but a despot, yet he was an 
 '■ enlightened despot " in the best sense of the term. " Nothing 
 by the people — everything for the people " was, in short, the 
 keynote of his policy. 
 
352 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 A large part of his reign was spent in wars which left Prussia 
 exhausted and desolate. Very skillfully he devoted himself to 
 the task of recuperation: fostering mechanic arts and com- 
 merce, and ordering his finances with that North German 
 scientific thoroughness which has done so much to build 
 the greatness of modern Germany. In his foreign relations 
 Frederick appears less admirable. He was frequently charged 
 with treachery, selfishness, and double-dealing in his diplomacy 
 and wars, nor can the accusations be refuted. His only excuse 
 can be that Prussia was as yet barely recognized as a king- 
 dom, and that during much of his reign he was really fighting 
 for life. 
 
 Personally he appears as a bountiful but eccentric patron of 
 art and literature, who was very tolerant of religious skepti- 
 cism. ^ His best amusement was writing bad French verses, or 
 squeaking out bad music upon his flute, after a day of hard 
 campaigning or office work. His court was simple: his private 
 life, pure. The Prussians do well to hold " our Fritz " (as they 
 called him) in afi'ectionate remembrance. 
 
 202. The wars of Frederick the Great. Frederick the Great 
 was involved in two prolonged wars which racked all Europe. 
 In the first (1740-48)- he threw himself on the Hapsburg 
 lands, in alliance with France and Bavaria, and wrested 
 from the gallant Maria Theresa the province of Silesia.^ The 
 Austrians were compelled to make peace, leaving him the dis- 
 puted territory. In this war he displayed to Europe the magni- 
 ficent fighting efficiency of the new Prussian army created by 
 Frederick William I, and also the fact that Frederick himself 
 
 ' Frederick was himself an agnostic, although he never took any official 
 measures against Christianit_v. 
 
 ^ Frederick did not participate in the struggle after 1745, but France continued 
 the war. 
 
 ^ There were some old outstanding Prussian claims on Silesia, but it is very 
 doubtful if they could be considered for a moment by a modern court of arbitra- 
 tion. The seizure of Silesia was really an arbitrary act of spoliation in the selfish 
 interests of Frederick. 
 

 Ik 
 
 - ^ 
 
 
 ^^^^^^^^^^K^^^HS^ 
 
 W 
 
 ^^Hff 
 
 t'-v-' H 
 
 
 
 ^^K 
 
 ^li 
 
 ^1^^ 
 
 9 
 
 OLIVER CROMWELL 
 
 Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of 
 
 England (1653-58) 
 
 Born 1599 Died 1658 
 
 FREDERICK THE GREAT 
 
 King of Prussia (1740-86) 
 
 Born 1712 Died 1786 
 
 GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI 
 
 Italian patriot 
 
 Bom 1807 Died 1882 
 
 HORATIO NELSON 
 
 English admiral 
 
 Born 1758 Died 1805 
 
 CONQUERORS IN BATTLE 
 
THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 353 
 
 was a general of astonishing ability without a real peer in his 
 age.i 
 
 This first v/ar, the War of the Austrian Succession, as it is 
 famiHarly called, did not end in an abiding peace. Maria 
 Theresa never forgot her loss. She drew near to the old enemy 
 of Austria, France. She even condescended to send a friendly 
 letter to Madame de Pompadour. The Empress Elizabeth 
 of Russia joined the coalition.- The famous " Seven Years' 
 War " followed (1756-63). The allies aimed to break up the 
 Prussian dominions; perhaps to reduce their ruler to a mere 
 Elector of Brandenburg. With only the semi-effective alliance 
 of England,^ Frederick and his small poor kingdom had to 
 fight almost the whole of embattled Europe. 
 
 Against these odds Frederick made one of the most gallant 
 fights in all history. With dwindling regiments and depleted 
 resources, he still fought on, when all seemed blackest: taking 
 advantage of his enemies' mistakes; firing his officers and men 
 with a noble courage and enthusiasm. The most famous battle 
 of the war was Rossbach (in Saxony, 1757), when Frederick, 
 with only 20,000 men, routed 50,000 French and Austrians, 
 proclaiming to the world the superiority of a disciplined army 
 led by a scientific tactician over an ill-conditioned army, the 
 officers whereof had been court favorites appointed mainly 
 by Madame de Pompadour. The French were not merely 
 beaten. They were disgracefully routed: and the disaster 
 was in effect a warning that France was no longer a really 
 
 1 It is not quite fair to put Frederick in the class of Napoleon or Alexander, 
 but he certainly was the equal of Gustavus Adolphus or Marlborough. 
 
 ^ Personal spite, perhaps, played a part in forming this coalition. Frederick 
 had a sharp tongue, and he is alleged to have remarked that " three old cats were 
 governing Europe." The "cats" were Maria Theresa, Elizabeth, and Madame 
 de Pompadour! 
 
 ^ The English could supply considerable money to him, but their military 
 help was not very effective. In 1761, upon the downfall of the English war- 
 minister, William Pitt, the English withdrew their help in no very creditable 
 manner, and left him in the lurch. 
 
354 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 formidable power as long as she remained under her old cor- 
 rupt rulers.^ 
 
 In 1763, the three great Powers of Europe were themselves 
 exhausted and were forced to confess that their attempt to 
 crush Prussia had failed." A long peace followed for Frederick. 
 His position in Europe had now been sufhciently vindicated. 
 Prussia was alike respected and dreaded. The great king could 
 devote his remaining years to more peaceful projects for 
 strengthening his dominions. 
 
 203. Joseph II of Austria (1780-90 'Emperor,'' 1765-90), 
 the crowned idealist. Maria Theresa was succeeded by her 
 son, the Emperor Joseph, who was a great admirer of Frederick, 
 and who had been caught in the scientific philosophical move- 
 ment of the times. He was a restless innovator, and strove 
 with furious zeal to reorganize his very scattered realms along 
 the lines of " enlightenment and reason." Unfortunately, 
 although boasting himself as everywhere "guided by phi- 
 losophy," he showed a most unwise tendency to try to reform 
 almost everything at once. In his scattered provinces were 
 vast numbers of old abuses, vested interests, and local privi- 
 leges. These he strove to sweep away almost at a stroke, and to 
 organize the Hapsburg lands into a highly centralized mon- 
 archy. The storm which his unwise improvements awoke was 
 tremendous. In the midst of it, he endeavored also to alter the 
 organization of the Church : especially he aboHshed six hundred 
 monasteries.^ New elements of opposition, of course, arose; 
 
 1 As a mere military achievement tlie battle of Leuthcn (1757), when Frederick, 
 with 30,000 men, routed 90,000 Austrians, was even more remarkable. Napoleon 
 said that this one victory was enough to give Frederick "rank among the greatest 
 generals." 
 
 - For a long while Frederick's fortunes had appeared so desperate that he is 
 said to have carried poison upon his person, to avoid falling into the hands of his 
 enemies. In this great war he lost several battles and made serious blunders, 
 but redeemed all by his indomitable courage and energy. 
 
 ' Joseph claimed to be a good Catholic, but he had reached the conclusion 
 that monasticism was a pernicious institution. "The principles of monasticism," 
 
THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 
 
 355 
 
 and finally the Austrian Netherlands (Belgium) rose in revolt 
 (1789). Before they could be subdued, Joseph II died, sadly 
 disappointed; a man who had striven earnestly for the weal 
 of his people, but who could never learn that in the alteration 
 of time-honored institutions the mass of men are less easily 
 driven than led. 
 
 204. The division of Poland (1772-95). The last decade of 
 the eighteenth century saw the territorial extinction of a proud 
 
 THE PARTITIONS OF POLAND 
 
 nation ^ — Poland. Chivalrous, brave, artistic, gifted, as many 
 Poles have been, as a people their history proves them of 
 slight pohtical capacity. The annals of Poland seem one dreary 
 
 he wrote, "are in flat contradiction to human reason." He reduced the number 
 of monastic persons in his dominions from 63,000 to 27,000. 
 
356 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 catalogue of bitter dissensions and civil wars without any real 
 guiding principle. The huge land was very ill-compacted. The 
 turbulent nobles were hopelessly disunited when it came to 
 any common effort. The kingship was elective. The death of 
 one sovereign was followed by a tumultuous assembly of the 
 nobles, 1 to elect another, — usually an ambitious foreigner 
 who only kept his " throne" by being consistently feeble and 
 pliant in his policy. In all things the weak king must be 
 guided by the Diet, to which went the representatives of the 
 nobility. At this Diet one negative vote defeated any proposi- 
 tion (the so-called ''Free Veto "). Such an absurd proviso 
 put a premium on inaction. The average Diet would break 
 up without dealing with the most necessary matters. 
 
 In 1772, the trump of doom sounded for this unfortunate 
 country. AUeging various disorders as pretexts, Catherine II 
 of Russia and Frederick the Great deliberately undertook to 
 tear away portions of Poland " in the interest of civilization."^ 
 Maria Theresa at first protested, but, unable to deter her rivals, 
 joined in seeking her share also. The wretched Poles, forsaken 
 by Europe, were obliged to submit to the seizure of a large 
 fraction of their territory. Vainly in their remaining lands they 
 strove to reorganize their Government and introduce an en- 
 lightened and efficient regime. The three avaricious monarchies 
 were not seeking better government for their neighbors, but 
 excuses for intervention. In 1793 came the" Second Division," 
 more territory seized by Prussia and Russia — Austria for 
 
 1 The Polish nobles held their peasantry in such subjection that they were 
 helpless slaves, rather than serfs. The towns were relatively few and small, and 
 there was no intelligent burgher class to be a saving leaven in the nation. The 
 peasantry took no interest in a government controlled solely by the nobles, and 
 would not sacrifice much to defend it. 
 
 - Frederick could at least allege the need of securing a strij) of land to connect 
 Prussia (proper) with the rest of his dominions. It cannot be denied that the 
 misgovernment in Poland was extreme. 
 
 Maria Theresa was sorely piqued at the dishonorable part of Austria in the 
 transaction. "Our measures," wrote she, "are such that even t/ic King of Prussia 
 can accuse us of falseness!" — Frederick was Alaria's chief aversion. 
 
THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 357 
 
 once getting no share. In 1795 came the " Third Division " 
 (Austria also participating). Despite a despairing resistance, 
 led by the brave Kosciuszko, the extinction of Poland seemed 
 now complete. The whole land was divided among the con- 
 querors. The destruction of Poland was practically the last 
 act of the old-line monarchies of Europe. By 1795, they were 
 already face to face with Revolutionary France. 
 
 205. Louis XVI (1774 92) and the last years of the Old 
 Regime in France. Louis XV was succeeded in France by his 
 grandson, Louis XVI. He was a notable improvement upon the 
 debauchee before him. In happier days he would have been 
 an adequate, although not a great, king. His private Hfe was 
 pure. He was a faithful husband and a kind father. But he 
 was a man without marked public qualities. He was not a 
 coward physically, but he was exceedingly timid in speech 
 and action, always inclining to the side of weakness and non- 
 action. He was also a homely, dull, unimaginative man, 
 incapable of arousing high enthusiasm. Worst of all, he was 
 very open to the influence of those around him — especially 
 to the influence of his queen. 
 
 Marie Antoinette (daughter of Maria Theresa) was a beauti- 
 ful, high-spirited, but somewhat frivolous, woman who easily 
 controlled her vacillating husband. She, no less than Louis, 
 wished well for France, and desired the happiness of the people; 
 but neither of this unfortunate couple could take any large view 
 of the need of a thorough reformation of the entire Govern- 
 ment. Marie Antoinette drew back at any measure which 
 seemed to affect her own w^himsies and the selfish interests of 
 her favorites in the court circle. The weal of France was treated 
 as a matter of personal caprice and convenience. 
 
 In 1778, Louis went to war with England in behalf of the 
 revolting Americans. The war ended (1783) with victory for 
 America and for France; but Louis gained little benefit. The 
 disordered finances of his kingdom were more strained than 
 
358 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 ever; and the example of American "freedom " was a bad one 
 for his restless subjects. Already he had shown himself a weak 
 ruler. In 1776, he had dismissed his great minister, Turgot 
 (a real statesman with a great scheme for reform), merely 
 because of the hue and cry raised against him by selfish cour- 
 tiers. For the next thirteen years he had blundered inconsist- 
 ently from one adviser to another; the state of his treasury and 
 the discontent of his subjects ever growing worse. In 1789 
 began the French Revolution. 
 
 206. The '^ balance of Power in Europe.'' We must remark 
 upon one special factor which had developed in the age of 
 Louis XIV and the ensuing eighteenth century — the " Bal- 
 ance of Power in Europe." It had become a cardinal prin- 
 ciple in the chancelleries of the great monarchies, that no 
 one country must be allowed to become too strong, whatever 
 be the cost of checking it. Thus practically all the rest of 
 Europe had forgotten its old feuds to unite against the over- 
 weening power of Louis XIV, and in the eighteenth century 
 we find repeatedly great coalitions formed to head off the 
 growth of this or that Power, or failing that to secure "com- 
 pensations " by corresponding additions to all its jealous 
 neighbors. So various small countries, e.g., Venice, were kept 
 alive because none of the " Great Powers " could endure to see 
 their rivals expanding by seizing their weaker neighbors, and, 
 on the other hand, the sudden claims of new "Great Powers " 
 (especially Prussia and Russia) for equality in all arrangements 
 with the old "Great Powers" (England, Austria, France, — 
 and now dwindling into weakness, Holland and Spain) were 
 regarded with suspicious jealousy, and were always discon- 
 certing. 
 
 About 1770, this system seemed very well worked out. 
 Europe might be regarded as in an informal confederacy, ready 
 to beat down any attempt of any of its members at extreme 
 aggrandizement. It was an artificial and unworkable arrange- 
 
THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 359 
 
 ment, however. First the rift came when the three eastern 
 "Great Powers" took advantage of the weakness of France 
 to begin the partition of Poland. Soon after came the wars of 
 the French Revolution. Then the only question speedily was 
 this, — how prevent the absorption of all Europe by France? 
 
 REVIEW 
 
 1. Topics — Madame de Pompadour; Madame du Barry; the Pragmatic 
 Sanction; "Enlightened Despot"; War of the Austrian Succession; 
 Seven Years' War; Joseph II; the Free Veto; Kosciuszko; Marie 
 Antoinette; Turgot; the Old Regime; "Balance of Power." 
 
 2. Geography — 
 
 (a) Locate Rossbach; Leuthen; Aix-la-Chapelle. 
 
 {b) Mark the European countries in 1715. 
 
 (c) Mark the additions to Prussian territory made by Frederick 
 
 the Great. 
 {d) Mark the "Partitions" of Poland. 
 
 3. Compare Louis XIV and Louis XV, as to character, and influence 
 upon the welfare of France. 
 
 4. The character of Frederick the Great. Compare him with the earlier 
 Hohenzolleins, with Louis XI\s and with Peter the Great. 
 
 5. How did the rise of Prussia to power aifect the traditional relations 
 of the other European states to each other? 
 
 6. What conditions in his lands made it impossible for Joseph II to carry 
 out his ideas? 
 
 7. What were the conditions in Poland which made its destruction pos- 
 sible? 
 
 8. Show, by the examples of other nations, how an "intelligent burgher 
 class" in Poland might have been a "saving leaven in the nation." 
 
 9. The character of Louis XV. Compare the Bourbon rulers as a whole 
 with the Stuarts. 
 
 10. How did the American Revolution aft'ect France? 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 1. The influence of Madame de Pompadour upon European politics. 
 
 2. Maria Theresa. 
 
 3. The youth of Frederick the Great. 
 
 4. How did the royal courts of Prussia and France compare in general 
 character during the period 1640-178;)? 
 
 5. Economic conditions in Prussia under Frederick the Great. 
 
 6. What did Joseph II actually accomplish in the way of reform? 
 
36o HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 7. What had been the earlier relations between Russia and Poland? 
 
 8. Catherine of Russia and the "Partitions" of Poland. 
 
 9. Turgot. 
 
 10. The terms of the treaties which ended the Seven Years' War. 
 
 READINGS 
 
 Sources. Robinson: nos. 358-64. 
 
 Modern Accounts. Seignobos: pp. 5-10, 75-83, 88-91. Duruy: pp. 480- 
 505, 522-24. Lewis: pp. 404-547- Pattison: pp. 333-57- Lodge: 
 chapters xv, xviii, xix, xx, xxi. Gibbins: pp. 155-68. Robinson and 
 Beard: vol. i, pp. 60-203 (especially pp. 60-80, and 184-224). 
 
CHAPTER XXX 
 
 ENGLAND UNDER THE GEORGES 
 
 207. The general tendencies of the age. After the passing 
 of Queen Anne the history of England becomes in one sense 
 uneventful. The attempt to make the country an absolute 
 monarchy had utterly failed. Failure, too, had stamped the 
 attempts to make the nation return to CathoHcism or to make 
 Puritanism the state rehgion. The great power of France no 
 longer seemed to menace the very life of England. The story 
 of the nation is, therefore, that of relatively peaceful develop- 
 ment,^ and seems comparatively tame. It was none the less 
 -decidedly important. A revolution does not lose its significance 
 because it is accomplished by ballots instead of bullets. The 
 enhghtened England of to-day is the result of a steady evolu- 
 tion from the England of 17 14. 
 
 There were certain characteristics common to this age fol- 
 lowing Anne. England was still a highly aristocratic country. 
 The rulers who controlled the ministry and Parliament were 
 neither the kings nor the masses, but the country scjuires and 
 the landed nobility, somewhat influenced by the rising mag- 
 nates of the cities. It was an age of a stately and artificial life 
 among the upper classes; the age of ceremonious courtesy, of 
 powdered wigs, silk, knee-breeches, and silver sword-hilts. 
 Mediceval traditions still lingered; modern innovations (the 
 fruit of the rising spirit of democracy) were making only slow 
 progress whether in society or in government. 
 
 ^ The account of the more important wars in which England was embroiled 
 (few of which really involved national existence or honor) is told in other chap- 
 ters (see chapters xxix, xxxii-xxxiv). The story of the American Revolution 
 is, of course, omitted, for American students will examine it during the study 
 of the histor>' of their own country. 
 
362 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 This artificial spirit spread itself into the intellectual life of 
 England and into its religion. The greatest eighteenth-century 
 poet was Pope, elegant, correct, but never guilty of the slight- 
 est genius. The English Church was also charged with being 
 self-complacent and worldly, and it assuredly produced in this 
 age no martyrs and few saints. The Nonconformist successors 
 of the old Puritans (no longer subject to persecution) also had 
 lapsed in zeal. From this lethargy, however, English religious 
 life was to be stirred by one of the great apostles of the Church 
 universal, John Wesley (1703-91), a preacher of marvelous 
 power and spirituality, who strove to make religion a thing 
 vital and personal to the untutored multitude. The English 
 Church authorities disapproved of his unconventional methods. 
 He was barred from pulpits, but he found the people willing 
 to gather by tens of thousands to hear him in the open air.^ 
 The direct upshot of his movement was the founding by him 
 of the great Methodist Church, among the leaders now of the 
 Protestant confessions; but the ultimate result of his move- 
 ment was also the immense quickening and revival of the entire 
 spiritual life of England. 
 
 208. The four Georges (1714-1830). During this period the 
 English throne was occupied by four sovereigns of the German 
 House of Brunswick, all bearing the name of George, so that 
 this time is often called the " Georgian Epoch." None of these 
 four men had an estimable character, and it was fortunate that 
 the Government now was largely vested in their ministers 
 and Parliament. The only one of them who did take a very 
 active part in statecraft (George III) interfered with most dis- 
 astrous results to his own reputation and to the weal of his 
 country. 
 
 (i) George I (1714-27) was a German-born Elector of 
 
 1 One can judge of Wesley's activity by the mere statement that in the course 
 of his Hfe as an itinerant preacher he traveled 250,000 miles and delivered 40,000 
 sermons. 
 
364 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 Hanover, who was always far more at home in his small Con- 
 tinental principality than in England.^ He understood very 
 little of the problems and politics of his greater realm, and 
 though "cynical and selfish " was at least wise enough person- 
 ally to leave the Government to native ministers, and to let 
 free British institutions develop unchecked." 
 
 (2) George II (1727-60) was of much the same type as his 
 father (with whom he quarreled bitterly) . He was an immoral, 
 avaricious man whose main interests were in Hanover, and 
 who cared for England chiefly as a source of revenue. " He 
 had scarcely one kingly equality except personal courage and 
 justice." Yet, thanks again to his non-intervention in Enghsh 
 internal politics, the nation prospered under the rule of able 
 ministers. 
 
 (3) George III (i 760-1820), the grandson of the last-named, 
 was at least a genuine Englishman; he " gloried in the name of 
 Briton." He was a moral, honest, industrious monarch, who 
 unfortunately took his duties very seriously. Unlike his pre- 
 decessors, he interfered actively in politics, and strove to 
 rebuild the power of the Crown. His obstinacy and narrow- 
 mindedness formed one of the causes of the revolt of the 
 American colonies. The success of their revolt (and the conse- 
 quent set-back to the King's schemes) probably saved England 
 from a return to personal and possibly to autocratic govern- 
 
 1 Down to Queen Victoria's day the English sovereigns were also "Electors" 
 (later "Kings") of Hanover, in North Germany. It was a purely personal 
 union, however, and the English let themselves be influenced by German condi- 
 tions as little as possible, although once or twice British foreign policy was 
 affected by a desire to preserve the king's Continental estates. 
 
 2 In one sense it was fortunate that George I and George II u'cre so German. 
 They did not know enough of English conditions to play the tyrant in England 
 even if they had desired. In any case, the fear of awakening discontent which 
 would lead to recalling "the King across the water" (the exiled Stuart) pre- 
 vented them from cultivating a despotic policy. George I was so much a foreigner 
 that he did not understand enough English to follow his ministers when they 
 met in "cabinet meetings." The result was that they usually met 7vilhoiit the 
 king, and reached their own decisions: — a great step, of course, toward minis- 
 terial independence. 
 
ENGLAND UNDER THE GEORGES 365 
 
 merit. ^ In his last years George III became insane and his 
 eldest son acted as regent. This honest, obstinate, bigoted 
 king goes down into history as the best personally, but the 
 worst politically, of the four Georges. 
 
 (4) George IV (1820-30) had already acted as regent for his 
 imbecile father. He was an individual of considerable natural 
 ability, but he trailed British royalty in the mire by his gross 
 immorality and general worthlessness. By his day the power 
 of the English king had become largely indirect and social only, 
 and all this power he nearly threw away. The story of his pri- 
 vate life is one long, unedifying scandal. " He was a bad son, 
 a bad husband, a bad father, a bad subject, a bad monarch, 
 and a bad friend." Fortunately he had one saving grace: — 
 he refrained from carrying his baneful activity too far into 
 pohtics. 
 
 209. The growth of English industry and commerce. The 
 age of the Georges witnessed a change which transformed the 
 whole problem of English society and politics. In 1714, Eng- 
 land was still mainly an agricultural country, and its commer- 
 cial and manufacturing interests were secondary. In 1830, 
 this was decidedly the reverse. The eighteenth century saw 
 the steady decline of Holland as the maritime carrier of the 
 world. The Dutch were neither conquered in war nor did they 
 lose a comfortable home prosperity; but they were too small a 
 nation to compete with the English when once the latter threw 
 their whole energy into the contest for the world's commerce. 
 During all this time the Enghsh towns were growing and becom- 
 ing full of industrial bustle: London was displacing Amsterdam 
 as the chief banking and money center on the globe; and a 
 great trade in every sort of manufactured wares was being 
 built up with almost every nation, but particularly with the 
 
 1 It is not unfair to say (considering the absolutist tendencies of George III) 
 that Washington and Franklin were fighting for the liberties of Englishmen 
 hardly less than for those of Americans. 
 
366 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 Orient and with the Englisli colonies in America. The loss of 
 the American colonies was certainly a blow to this trade; but 
 American political independence did not imply that the Amer- 
 icans could at once supply their own hardware, cottons, and 
 woolens, and for long the old colonies were among England's 
 best customers, while meantime she was developing a second 
 colonial empire far more profitable than the one she had lost. 
 New inventions of great practical utility came to aid the 
 British manufacturer in his contest for the world's markets. 
 
 In 1769, James Watt 
 ^m took out his first pa- 
 
 tent looking toward 
 a really effective sta- 
 tionary steam engine.^ 
 One small engine could 
 soon accomplish more 
 than one hundred ma- 
 chines worked merely 
 by hand power. Other 
 inventions were al- 
 most equally revolu- 
 tionary. Ini767,Har- 
 greaves devised the 
 spinning-jenny, which 
 was soon destined to 
 banish the old "spin- 
 dle-and-distaff," and 
 " spinning-wheel " of earlier days, and two years later Arkwright 
 produced his celebrated "spinning- frame," which perfected 
 and completed Hargreaves's device; then, to crown all, in 1785, 
 
 1 Newcomen had invented (1704) a kind of a steam engine, but about its only 
 practical value was for pumping. Watt improved it so that it could be made to 
 turn wheels and so develop power. Watt's first engine of 1769 was still onlj' a 
 superior kind of pump. About 1785, he began to build "stationary" engines 
 that could drive machinery. 
 
 WATT'S STEAM ENGINE IN 1780 
 
ENGLAND UNDER THE GEORGES 367 
 
 Cartwright invented the power-loom, which was (after a period 
 of introduction) as great a boon to weavers as the "jenny" 
 was to spinners. In 1792, an American, Eli Whitney, added 
 to these inventions the cotton-gin, which rapidly separated the 
 cotton-seed from the raw cotton and left the latter ready for 
 the mill. Other innovations notably improved the smelting 
 and working of iron, and wrought an entire change in all the 
 industries connected with metal. "^ 
 
 All these inventions slowly but steadily produced a great 
 social and economic reaction as the nineteenth century began 
 to advance. Manufacturing ceased to be a matter for a "mas- 
 ter" with a few "apprentices" in his" shop." Instead, there 
 were huge factories, with hundreds of " hired hands " tending 
 machinery owned by wealthy capitalists. The farming interest 
 of England became stationary, and then, after the wars with 
 Napoleon ended, steadily declined. Its place was more and 
 more. taken by the great merchant, the great manufacturer, 
 and that multitudinous, grimy, unpicturesque but most essen- 
 tial element called "Labor." 
 
 There was another marked consequence in this whole change 
 of the main interests of England. Manufacturing involved 
 concentration in towns, and these" smoky mill-towns " multi- 
 pHed, especially in norlheni England. Hitherto the southern 
 half of England had been the more prosperous and progressive; 
 but it now remained agricultural, and wealth, population, and 
 leadership began to concentrate in the new cities of the North.^ 
 
 210. The naval supremacy of England. By 1830, England 
 had become the richest and most prosperous, though not the 
 most populous, country in the world. The keystone of all its 
 
 ^ In this age England suddenly realized the value of her large deposits of 
 coal, hitherto only sparingly used. Here was an abundant and efficient fuel, 
 absolutely essential if steam-driven machinery was to be used to full advan- 
 tage. 
 
 2 Among the cities that now rise to great prominence are Liverpool, Bradford, 
 Leeds, Manchester, and Sheffield, all of which were insignificant villages in 
 Cromwell's day. 
 
368 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 riches and glory is summed up in the term " sea-power." The 
 EngHsh fleets had dominated the ocean since the War of the 
 Spanish Succession. The Enghsh Admiralty probably dis- 
 posed of more ef- 
 fective battleships 
 than all the other 
 nations of Europe 
 combined, and these 
 ships were infinitely 
 better manned and 
 commanded. Eng- 
 lish sailors claimed 
 to have brought to 
 perfection the art of 
 handling those gi- 
 gantic yet bird-like 
 creations, the old 
 sailing " first-rate 
 ships of the line," 
 which seemed the 
 final assertion of 
 man's superiority 
 over the elements.^ 
 A hundred battles 
 on twenty seas had 
 confirmed Britain's right to rule the waves. The defeat of a 
 British ship in fair fight was counted wholly exceptional. The 
 end of the Napoleonic wars (1815) left the French navy in ruins, 
 and without the slightest chance for any Continental power to 
 challenge the naval empire of the great island nation. Nor 
 until very recent times has this naval empire seemed in jeopardy. 
 
 1 The largest " three-decker" ships of the line carried 1 20-odd guns and were of 
 some 2600 tons:^ — remarkably huge structures when it is considered that they 
 were built of wood and propelled by sail. For ordinary fighting purposes, how- 
 ever, the handier "74-gun" ships were counted better. 
 
 LINE OF BATTLE SHIP OF loS GUNS 
 (From a model in the Murine M nsetim. Louvre, Paris) 
 
ENGLAND UNDER THE GEORGES 369 
 
 211. The winning of India. One great section of English his- 
 tory at this time reads hke a glamorous Oriental romance — 
 the winning of India. It is impossible to summarize conditions 
 in that distant empire. The chief facts are these: — India was 
 a huge conglomerate of kingdoms and principalities mostly 
 under the feeble suzerainty of the " Great Mogul " of Delhi. 
 Her jewel mines, her infinite products, her trade, were all await- 
 ing the European Power that could throw itself heartily into 
 the task of conquest, and be able to make its rivals stand away. 
 The Dutch and Portuguese had already tried: but all they had 
 won were a few trading-posts. In the eighteenth century, the 
 English "East India Company" had also held some trading- 
 posts, notably at the sites of the modern cities of Calcutta, 
 Bombay, and Madras. The French were competing also, and 
 for the monjent a genius among them, Dupleix, came near 
 uniting many of the Hindu Rajahs under French overlord- 
 ship, at the same tune that he was striving to expel the Eng- 
 lish. But a greater than Dupleix appeared to champion the 
 EngUsh cause — Robert Clive.^ With great skill Clive organ- 
 ized the natives ("Sepoys") into regunents and taught them 
 to fight both the French and their own countrymen. In 1756, 
 Dupleix was recalled, as a failure, to France. In 1757, Clive 
 gained the battle of Plassey, a battle which practically won 
 India for England. With 900 English and 2000 Sepoys he 
 routed the host of 50,000 natives led by the barbarous and cruel 
 " Nawab " - Surajah Dowlah. Hereafter the natives might well 
 feel themselves helpless before the "Masters" from the dis- 
 tant West. 
 
 By this victory England gained prompt possession of the 
 great and rich district of Bengal. The French opportunity in 
 
 1 Clive had come out to India as a clerk in the service of the East India 
 Company; then discovered that he preferred using the sword instead of the 
 pen. 
 
 2 This title meant "viceroy" (of the Great Mogul); but for practical purposes 
 the Nawabs were independent kings. 
 
370 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 India was forever ended. The gradual annexation or subju- 
 gation of the native princes by the British was merely a matter 
 of time, — while the prodigious wealth of the India trade 
 flowed unceasingly to London. 
 
 212. The English colonial empire. English naval supremacy 
 gave the great island kingdom much more than the lordship 
 over India. In the very reign wherein the British were losing 
 their older colonial empire in North America, they were win- 
 ning another, far more extensive territorially, even if not so 
 compact. As early as the seventeenth century they had begun 
 the annexation of the rich West India islands, such as Barba- 
 does (occupied 1625) and the greater isle of Jamaica (taken 
 from Spain in 1656). The great units however, which to-day 
 enter into "Greater Britain," came in the reign of George III. 
 Canada, of course, became British by the victorious peace with 
 the French in 1763, and British it remained despite the efforts 
 of the Americans to secure its adhesion in the war of the Revo- 
 lution. The remote island continent of Australia had been, 
 perhaps, sighted by Spanish voyagers (as early as 1522), but 
 for long it lay unexplored, much less settled. In 1770, the 
 famous English voyager. Captain Cook, made a systematic 
 exploration, and in 1788 was begun the first English colony 
 near the site of the present city of Sydney. The early settlers 
 were for the most part deported convicts, and the new colony 
 only gained genuine strength when the discovery of gold-mines 
 in 1 85 1 brought a more desirable class of emigrants; but since 
 then AustraHa has developed into a stalwart and virtuall}' 
 independent nation. Simultaneous with the advance of Aus- 
 tralia has been that of its smaller but very fertile and commer- 
 cially valuable neighbor, New Zealand. 
 
 A little after the first occupation of Australia another great 
 colony passed into English hands. In 1806, the English took 
 final possession of Cape Colony (the southernmost district of 
 Africa), wresting it from the Dutch, who were then in the power 
 
ENGLAND UNDER THE GEORGES 371 
 
 of France. Here again it was many years ^ before the last 
 resistance of the original Dutch settlers was beaten down, and 
 the whole wide region of South Africa passed under the British 
 flag. But this work was at length accomplished. South Africa, 
 along with Canada and Australia, promises to become a great 
 nation, with the English language, laws, and political and social 
 ideas as its foundations. 
 
 Of lesser islands, trading-posts, and protectorates there is no 
 place here to speak. Thanks to the enterprise of English sea- 
 men and merchants, and the organizing ability of their states- 
 men, in this period the nation became possessed of a colonial 
 empire which in the nineteenth century was destined to develop 
 into one incomparably greater in mere size than the old Empire 
 of Rome. 
 
 This empire, too, has been founded in the main on human 
 progress and on justice. The natives have been sometimes 
 treated harshly, but usually with an enlightened fairness which 
 has made for their civilization. The white settlers have 
 been encouraged to develop self-government. The loss of the 
 American colonies was a bitter lesson to England, but it was 
 learned. No later white colonies have been subjected to 
 officious meddling from London and outrageous treatment by 
 ignorant ministers; and the greater white colonies have become 
 independent nations in everything relating to their internal 
 affairs, and bound to the mother country only by the ties of 
 loyalty and self-interest. 
 
 This colonial empire of Great Britain is one of the prime 
 factors in modern history, and its creation was the greatest 
 outward achievement of the men of the "Georgian age." 
 
 213. The rise of the cabinet system. When the Georges 
 
 came to the throne it was well estabhshed that the ultimate 
 
 organ of power in England was the House of Commons. It was 
 
 not so well determined what were to be the relations of the 
 
 1 See chapter xl, section 313. 
 
372 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 House to the king's ministers, l:)ut the end of the eighteenth 
 century saw an evolution and an adjustment. It was settled 
 that the king must entrust the actual conduct of affairs to 
 a small conclave of ministers called the " Cabinet." Theo- 
 retically these men were summoned to office by the king him- 
 self, and held office only during his good pleasure. Actually 
 the king could only appoint such men as were agreeable to' the 
 majority party in the House of Commons, and he must dismiss 
 these ministers just as soon as they could no longer command 
 a majority. The king thus ceased to have a decisive voice in 
 choosing his own officials." By judicious distribution of court 
 honors, patronage, pensions, and downright money gifts, the 
 ministers and the king could, indeed, often transform a hostile 
 House of Commons into a subservient one, but in the last 
 analysis a vote of " No Confidence" in the ministers always 
 brought down a "Government " in ruins, and resulted in the 
 formation of a new cabinet, led by the chiefs of the victorious 
 opposition part)'. The alternative was a dissolution of the 
 House of Commons and an "aj>peal to the nation" through a 
 general election — a risky and uncertain proposition, which, 
 if it did not give the ministers a majority, left them more 
 defeated and discredited than ever. The King was now a 
 " limited " monarch, indeed.- He had lost by disuse and by 
 the growth of contrary custom even his old right to veto bills 
 that had passed Parliament. 
 
 This virtual change in the constitution, and curtailing of 
 royal prerogative had been made remarkably easy by the fact 
 that the first two Georges were Germans, and withal rather 
 
 ' Thus llie kinji; was often c(>m])i'llL'(l to apimint men wliom lie vastly disliked 
 personally, (leorge III was once accordingly "pleased to ai)i)oint" to a high 
 ministerial post Charles James Yox, his bitter enemy. 
 
 - Theoretically, indeed, the king kept snormous governmental powers, but he 
 could exercise them only through his ministers, and those ministers were really 
 appointed for him by the Commons. The king "could do no wrong" and was 
 irresi)onsihle, but since he could express his will only bj' ministers who were 
 very strictl}' responsible for their acts, he was obviously inidhlc to do wrong. 
 
374 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 dull men, highly dependent upon their ministers. The EngHsh 
 kings nevertheless kept an imposing position. They were still 
 theoretically the final source of power in Church and State, 
 and thanks to their great social influence they were still able 
 to play a part in politics in a land and age where court favor 
 was at a heavy premium. 
 
 214. The great parties and the great ministers. During this 
 age the control of the Government oscillated between the two 
 great parties, the Whigs and the Tories. The Whigs had been 
 the main victors by the Revolution of 1688, and the Georges 
 owed to them their crown.' With the king's influence to sus- 
 tain them, they held the ministries and monopolized public 
 office down to the death of George II. George III found the 
 Tories, with their loud professions of devotion to " Church and 
 Throne," more useful to his schemes for restoring the personal 
 power of the king.- The Tories came into power early in his 
 reign, and kept control wdth only slight intervals down to 1830. 
 In the main the Whigs affected more advanced and "reform- 
 ing " tendencies, and they ultimately merged in the modern 
 "Liberal Party" of England: the Tories justified their tradi- 
 tions and history by becoming the modern "Conservatives." 
 Very often, however, neither party represented anything but i. 
 selfish organization for political patronage and plunder. 
 
 In the long succession of Prime Ministers,^ capable or medi 
 ocre, a few stand out as commanding figures of history. 
 
 1 The Tories never, indeed, made it a strict piece of party loyalty to recall to 
 the throne "the King across the water" (the exiled Stuart); but many of their 
 leaders were "Jacobites" (Stuart partisans), and the return of the Stuarts would 
 not have been highly distasteful to the majority of the Tories. 
 
 2 By this time the chances of a Stuart restoration had ceased to be serious and 
 the Tories could be considered genuinely loyal. 
 
 ^ A British Prime Minister maybe defined as the man who is the acknowledged 
 leader of the Cabinet and is the chief of the dominant party in the House of 
 Commons. The majority of the members of the party in control of the Commons 
 thus really chooses the first official of the British Empire. He is often known 
 by the French title of "Premier." He is usually himself a member of the 
 Commons, although sometimes of the Lords. 
 
ENGLAND UNDER THE GEORGES 375 
 
 Walpole (in power 1721 to 1742) ruled England for more than 
 two decades with great ability, preserving peace at home and 
 abroad, and doing a notable work in extending the commercial 
 power of England. His regime, however, was based upon an 
 unblushing use of patronage and political corruption. ^ He 
 was a remarkable but very fallible man. Purer and far nobler 
 was the "Elder Pitt" (1756-61; later Earl of Chatham), a 
 mighty war-minister who organized with stirring energy the 
 campaigns that drove the French from Canada, and utterly 
 humbled the House of Bourbon. ^ His son William, the 
 ''Younger Pitt" (1783-1801; 1804-05), for many years ruled 
 the House of Commons with his eloquence, and was the chief 
 bulwark of the English party which waged inveterate war with 
 Revolutionary France. 
 
 After the passing of the second Pitt, the control of English 
 politics drifted to smaller men, and the close of the Napoleonic 
 wars left the nation confronting new problems and compelling 
 a reahgnment of the parties. 
 
 215. England at the end of the Georgian age: the case of 
 Ireland. The end of the era of the Georges saw England a 
 limited monarchy, indeed, but very far from being a democ- 
 racy. The "old families" of the landed aristocracy still con- 
 trolled the poHcies of the nation. They, indeed, formed a 
 highly efihcient aristocracy: to the EngHsh noblemen and 
 country gentry with their physical bravery and fine sense of 
 pubKc duty England owes a large part of her present greatness. 
 But the land was full of time-honored abuses and iniquities 
 which it cost bitter struggles to sweep away.'^ For example, it 
 ' was only in 1829 that Roman Cathohcs were permitted to hold 
 
 ^ To Walpole was imputed the saying, "Every man has his price." 
 ^ It is well said of him, "No one ever entered his room who did not come 
 out of it a braver man." 
 
 ^ For instance, the penal laws were hideously severe: a man was liable to 
 hanging for the larceny of a small sum of money; and insolvent debtors were 
 still cast into prison until they could satisfy their creditors. 
 
376 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 office and participate in public lifc.^ The new industrial and 
 factory life had led to fearful oppression of the wage-earners, 
 and every attempt of " Labor" to win better treatment from 
 " Capital " was bitterly resisted. Above all, the House of 
 
 Commons represent- 
 ed the people only in 
 name. The members 
 were chosen under 
 an absurd system, 
 or rather lack of sys- 
 tem.- In 1768, barely 
 160,000 persons could 
 vote for the mem- 
 bers in a population 
 of 8,000,000. Little 
 could be accom- 
 
 STAGE COACH IN 1804 
 
 plished until the" representative body" could truly speak for 
 the people. Also a great problem was thrusting itself upon Eng- 
 land at her very doors: — the evil case of Ireland. In 1800, an 
 Irish Parhament, coerced and corrupted by the Enghsh Gov- 
 ernment, had voted for union with Great Britain. Ireland as 
 a nation had ceased to exist. The majority of the Irish were 
 Catholics; they hated their Protestant conquerors; again, the 
 majority of the Irish were petty tenant farmers practicing 
 a precarious and unscientific agriculture; they hated their 
 oppressive landlords who were usually Protestants and either 
 Englishmen or of Enghsh sympathies. Ireland, in short, was 
 misgoverned, discontented, poor, and miserable. This " eter- 
 nal Irish question " was confronting English statesmen in 1830, 
 and demanding a solution not merely for the sake of Ireland, 
 but for the sake of the greater island which had mastered her. 
 
 1 Protestant Nonconformists had been relieved of their heavy political dis- 
 abilities in 1828. 
 
 - See commentary on the " Unreformed Parliament " (chapter xxxix, section 
 297)- 
 
ENGLAND UNDER THE GEORGES 377 
 
 REVIEW 
 
 1. Topics — ^John Wesley; "Georgian Epoch"; James Watt; Eli 
 Whitney; Dupleix; Plassey; Cabinet; Prime Minister. 
 
 2. Geography — 
 
 (a) Locate Calcutta; Bombay; jNIadras; Delhi. 
 
 (b) Mark the important gains and losses in territory during the 
 Georgian age. (See map on the back lining pages.) 
 
 3. Compare the four Georges as to character. 
 
 4. What changes in industry occurred during this period? What caused 
 these changes? 
 
 5. Why was naval supremacy essential to England? 
 
 6. What was the importance of Robert Clive's work? 
 
 7. What was the origin of the English Cabinet? 
 
 8. Compare the relations between the kings and their ministers in 
 England and in France before 1789. 
 
 9. Who were the great ministers of the period, and what did each accom- 
 plish? 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 1. How far did the fact that the English kings were rubers of Hanover 
 influence English history? 
 
 2. How did the rise of the factory system affect the life of the people, 
 socially and politically? 
 
 3. The Portuguese in India. 
 
 4. The English East India Company. 
 
 5. What attempts were made by the Stuarts to regain the throne? 
 
 6. Robert Clive. 
 
 7. Warren Hastings. 
 
 8. George III and his control of Parliament. 
 
 9. John Wilkes. 
 
 10. The effects of the American Revolution upon the politics and the 
 colonial policy of England. 
 
 11. Make a brief summary of the character and work of each of the fol- 
 lowing men: — Walpole; the two Pitts; Edmund Burke; Charles 
 James Fo.x. 
 
 12. The Rebellion of 1798 in Ireland. 
 
 13. The Act of Union, 1800. 
 
 READINGS 
 
 Sources. Robinson: nos. 365-77. 
 
 Modern accounts. Seignobos: pp. 29-54. Gibbins: pp. 105-09, 114-ig, 
 130-34, 145-50. An EngHsh history (Ransome, pp. 734-936; foreign 
 policy, wars, etc., omitted). Robinson and Beard: vol. i, pp. 80-122. 
 
CHAPTER XXXI 
 
 THE CAUSES OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 
 
 2i6. The general expectancy of Europe in the eighteenth 
 century. As the eighteenth century drew to a close, a general 
 feeling of expectancy and optimism pervaded thinking men. 
 It was believed that the world was on the eve of vast and 
 beneficent changes. The hatreds of the rehgious wars had 
 abated. The attempts of ambitious monarchs, like Louis XIV, 
 to crush all rivals had ended disastrously. The inventive genius 
 of mankind was displaying new activity. Great practical inven- 
 tions were being made as well as discoveries in theoretical 
 science. Long since, Sir Isaac Newton (1642-17 2 7) had dis- 
 covered the laws of gravitation, and Gahlco (i 564-1642) had 
 invented the telescope. James Watt (1736-1S19), the Scotch- 
 man, now, in the eighteenth century, had invented a really 
 practical steam engine, and Benjamin Franklin had proved 
 that electricity and lightning were identical. More lately, the 
 Frenchman, Lavoisier^ (1743-94), had made notable develop- 
 ments in the hitherto futile science of chemistry, raising it 
 from an offshoot of discredited alchemy, up to a great science. 
 Medicine, biology, astronomy, and many other sciences shared 
 a marvelous expansion and remoulding. This vast increase of 
 knowledge could not fail to have its effect on many Hues of 
 human life and thought. Traditional forms of theology were 
 subjected to keen attack; nor did traditional forms of govern- 
 ment escape less easily. Frequently it was asserted that 
 "enlightened reasoning" could cure all human woes; nor did 
 many realize that the problems of mankind (political and other- 
 
 ' It is claimed that he was the first to separate water into o.xygen and hy- 
 drogen — a fundamental discovery. 
 
THE CAUSES OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 379 
 
 wise) are infinitely complex; that scientific knowledge in the 
 eighteenth century was but in its infancy compared to our 
 later knowledge; and that the remedies for misgovernment and 
 human perversity by no means present themselves before 
 hasty and half -informed logic. By 1780, nearly all enlightened 
 Europeans were expecting a great social and political change. 
 That change they were to behold: but because forces came into 
 play which they had entirely left from the reckoning, the results 
 were such as few or no men could have expected. 
 
 217. Why the revolution started in France. This great rev- 
 olution started in France: — not because France was behind 
 other countries, and therefore in such a desperate condition 
 that there was need of an instant remedy, but because France 
 was so far in advance of other Continental countries that 
 public opinion would not tolerate conditions which other lands 
 endured amid stupid discontent. ^ In social influence and nearly 
 all the arts of peace France seemed to lead the world. French 
 authors, French playwrights, French dancing-masters gave 
 the tone to German and Itahan manners and society.^ The 
 petty princes of Europe looked to their great brother at Ver- 
 sailles for the minutest ordering of their courts. Certain famous 
 French philosophers, for example, Voltaire, had the world 
 listening to them as to infalhble oracles. In the salons of the 
 witty, clever, and elegant French nobihty all the problems of 
 the universe were discussed with astonishing freedom. The 
 government and social institutions, however, of this great 
 country were so utterly antiquated as to make their perpetu- 
 ation a wicked absurdity. 
 
 218. The French monarchy, despotism tempered by ineffi- 
 
 1 Of course, England is here left out of account. In most political matters, at 
 least, England was ahead of France; but for that very reason was less likely to 
 call for a revolution. 
 
 2 Frederick the Great of Prussia, despite the fact that he spent many years in 
 fighting France, was a devotee of French letters, writing much bad French verse, 
 and despising his native German literature. 
 
.sSo HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 ciency. In 1780, the King of France was stili theoretically 
 absolute. He could still say, " I am the State," and meet no 
 official contradiction. As a matter of fact, he was a slave to the 
 mere dignity of his position: such a slave to court etiquette 
 that he might not put on his shirt himself, if the noble officer 
 appointed for the task were present to hand it to him; such a 
 slave to court intrigue and influence that only by the most 
 desperate summons to his resolution could he retain a reform- 
 ing prime minister whom the courtiers found curtaihng their 
 profits and privileges. The Government of France was a 
 despotism, practically unlimited. In a few provinces there 
 were boches called "Estates," which represented in a feeble 
 way the king's subjects, but these by no means existed all over 
 the kingdom. The king had a system of "Councils" — min- 
 isters, officials, great dignitaries — to draw up laws and con- 
 sider questions of State, but they could give only advice; — 
 the final decision lay with the monarch. In the thirty-five 
 provinces,^ the king's chief civil officials — the " Intendants " 
 — enforced the royal decrees and exercised a minute watch 
 over the whole life of the people committed to them. A good 
 intendant was capable of bestowing vast good upon his people; 
 but very often he was rascally, tyrannical, and inefficient, 
 spending his time at the court and deputing his duties to still 
 more evil subordinates. 
 
 One nominal check upon the royal power there seemed to be. 
 The Parliament of Paris, the high court of France, a large and 
 influential body,- claimed the right to make royal decrees of 
 none eft'ect by refusing them "registration," but this check 
 
 ^ Strictly speaking, the intendants were over " General ites," which only 
 roughly corresponded with the old feudal provinces, — e.g., Normandy, Gascony, 
 etc., — but for practical purposes they were the same. 
 
 2 There were about a dozen other parliaments in the provinces of France. In 
 these (and that at Paris) the position of judge could, under certain restrictions, 
 be obtained by purchase! Note that in France the parliaments were law courts: 
 they resembled the English Parliament only in name. 
 
THE CAUSES OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 381 
 
 was ineffective. The king by the deliberate use of his preroga- 
 tive * could always overcome this tentative veto. 
 
 By 1780, among the king's ministers one always stood out 
 preeminent: the " Controller-General." The Government was 
 getting into sore financial difficulties. The chief minister would 
 have to be he who could find it money. 
 
 219. The privileged and idle nobility. The great Kings of 
 France had destroyed most of the poHtical power of the old 
 feudal nobility: they had not destroyed its personal privi- 
 leges. One hundred thousand-odd individuals claimed to be of 
 the " noblesse," and to them belonged about one fifth of the 
 soil. The French did not have the English rule of primogeni- 
 ture.^ The younger sons of an already poor nobleman might 
 inherit next to nothing of the sorely subdivided estate. Only 
 by the most desperate shifts often would they keep up a show 
 of respectability, but they would be nevertheless proud and 
 tenacious of their "noble prerogatives ": — namely, to share 
 in almost none of the taxes laid upon the commonalty; to 
 monopoHze practically all the offices in the army and navy; 
 and to enjoy socia} advantages to which the wealthiest and 
 most intelligent commoner dare not aspire. 
 
 Many ol these nobles, of course, still possessed vast estates, 
 from which they collected the multifarious financial dues paid 
 by the peasantry to their lords under the old feudal regime. 
 There had once been some justification for these dues in return 
 for the protection the lord had given his people. Now the pro- 
 tection was entirely the king's matter; but the seigneur still 
 collected his tolls and tithes.^ He had too the "hunting right," 
 
 ' Expressed at a great state ceremony called a " Bed of Justice," at which 
 the King in person ordered the jiarliament to "register" his edicts. 
 
 2 In virtue whereof the younger sons and daughters of an English " peer" are 
 legally only "commoners," and the noble title and privilege descend to the eldest 
 son alone. 
 
 ^ For example, the noble would have the right to levy on a certain fraction of 
 the crops, and sometimes to collect a toll on sheep or cattle driven past his 
 
382 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 — to send his hounds and horses across the peasants' farm- 
 lands, even tramphng down the standing grain. The peasants 
 were not suffered to shoot the deer from the lord's game pre- 
 serves or even the doves from his dove-cots that spread over 
 the newly seeded fields. To the exasperated farmers this 
 "Right of the Dove-Cots" often seemed more obnoxious than 
 the exemption of the seigneur from taxes. 
 
 The average nobleman did not exercise these privileges over 
 his peasantry in person. Usually he sublet his rights to some 
 greedy contractor.^ For himself the ideal life was at Versailles 
 at the king's court. Every sou that could be screwed out of the 
 wretched canaille on the farms was so much to his advantage. 
 A nobleman must not sully his name by engaging in any gain- 
 ful business. He would even look askance at many forms of 
 pubhc service, not connected with the gentlemanly calling of 
 the army. The typical French nobleman was elegant and witty, 
 a charming comrade to his social equals, and physically brave. 
 He was, however, often immoral, almost always idle, and 
 without the least idea that great privileges carried with them 
 great responsibilities. The noblesse had many superficial vir- 
 tues, but were nevertheless a woeful incubus upon the progress 
 of France. 
 
 220. The bourgeoisie of the towns. Aside from Paris, 
 France had few great cities: in the scattered towns, however, 
 and most especially in Paris, was an influential social class — 
 the wealthy, commercial, aspiring bourgeoisie. They were 
 without the personal privileges of the noblesse, but were not 
 to be confounded with the peasantry. They prided themselves 
 on being addressed as "Monsieur" and "Madame." The 
 
 chateau. The dues everywhere varied. They would be settled by old local 
 custom. 
 
 1 Frequently the noble retained the right to make certain levies upon the 
 peasants in districts where he no longer actually owned any land. Such levies 
 which were merely supertaxes, in addition to the king's revenues, were naturally 
 extremely exasperating. 
 
THE CAUSES OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 383 
 
 leaders of this rank would be the wealthy capitalists on whom 
 the king's ministers relied for handling the pubHc loans. At 
 the foot of the rank were the small shopkeepers and master- 
 artisans, who were as tenacious of the petty privileges of their 
 industrial guilds^ as were the noblesse of their feudal rights. 
 Despite much selfishness and vulgarity, however, the bour- 
 
 CARNIVAL IN THE STREETS OF PARIS, 1757 
 (Ajlcr a picture by Jeaiirat) 
 
 geoisie constituted the most intelligent and public-spirited 
 fraction of the nation. They were the most open to the new 
 ideas; the most conscious of the wrongs of the existing order; 
 the most active in trying to remedy the evils. 
 
 221. The helpless and discontented peasantry. All the bur- 
 dens which the noblesse refused and the bourgeoisie often evaded 
 fell upon the helpless lower classes, who constituted the vast 
 
 1 Usually in each town there were a number of guilds with a very exclusive 
 membership, and the monopoly of the manufacture and sale of some very limited 
 article; e.g., one guild might handle only men's shoes, another women's, a. third 
 children's. 
 
384 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 majority of the 25,000,000 of France. Between the levies of 
 the seigneur, the levies of the king, and the exactions of the 
 Church/ the peasantry in many districts appear to have been 
 unable to gain more than a most precarious living. Any failure 
 of crops or like calamity involved widespread misery and 
 famine. Life to the bulk of Frenchmen meant the most severe, 
 grinding field-labor. Even if a family prospered in a small 
 way, they hesitated to show any sign of comfortable living: it 
 would have been seized as proof that they could pay heavier 
 taxes. Yet this French peasantry, although fearfully ignorant, 
 was a good stock: hard-handed, industrious, patriotic, and 
 usually clear-headed, it was to supply the energy and fighting 
 force which made the French Revolution the wonder of terrified 
 Europe and which enabled Napoleon to carry his banners from 
 the Rhine to Moscow. 
 
 222. The unequal and absurd system of icxation. The most 
 abominable feature of the whole evil " Old Regime " in France 
 was the fact that the Government was nearly bankrupt, 
 while the people were groaning under taxation at a moment 
 when under a rational system the rich land could readily have 
 turned in much greater revenues. 
 
 The direct imposts which fell upon the non-nobles were 
 various. There were a property tax (taillc), poll-tax {capita- 
 tion), and especially the corvee — forced labor upon the roads 
 and other pubhc works. Fifty-three per cent, it is said, of the 
 net profits of a small farmer would be swept away by the king's 
 tax-collector. 2 The Church and the feudal seigneur had still 
 to be satisfied! In the assessment of these taxes there was 
 every kind of inequality. The intendant of a province and liis 
 deputies could reduce or increase assessments almost arbi- 
 trarily. All the friends and " friends of friends " of the assessors 
 were sure to look for favors or downright exemption. 
 
 1 See section 223. 
 
 ^ This statement rests on good authority, yet many scholars hold that it was 
 exaggerated. 
 
THE CAUSES OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 385 
 
 The direct taxes, however, were only a part of the royal 
 revenues. Very important were the indirect taxes, the right 
 to collect which were usually sold away by the Government to 
 wealthy " tax-farmers," who would pay the king a lump sum, 
 and then recoup themselves by collecting a given tax for a 
 fixed period. The agents of such men were sure to exact the 
 uttermost farthing. These indirect taxes were numerous and 
 outrageous. Between almost every two adjacent provinces of 
 France there was a custom-house, and duties levied on all 
 merchandise passing. Salt was a state monopoly, disposed of 
 at government shops. The price of salt varied arbitrarily in 
 different parts of France: in one district the price fixed might 
 be eight times as much as that levied in a locality a few miles 
 away. Under penalty of law every head of a family, in some 
 districts, was compelled to buy annually seven pounds of salt 
 for every member of his household above the age of seven. It 
 was a penal offense to boil down brine to obtain salt, instead 
 of buying at the public depot. The prisons and galleys were 
 full of salt smugglers. 
 
 Yet at the very time of this terrific taxation, the royal 
 treasury was chronically depleted. The cost of collecting this 
 revenue was enormous. A perfect horde of harpies, great and 
 little, came in for their profits and pickings. The court was full 
 of sinecure officers at enormous salaries. The "tutor of the 
 king's children " received a salary of $23,000: the "superin- 
 tendent of the queen's household," $30,000. The waste every- 
 where at Versailles was incredible. The three maiden aunts of 
 Louis XVI received an allowance of $120,000 for food!^ A long 
 list might be made of similar absurdities. Of course, all this 
 involved a shameless exploitation of the treasury; and a reign 
 of what the modern age has called "graft." 
 
 223. A worldly and unbelieving clergy. There were about 
 
 ^ Naturally the menials who administered the affairs of these worthy ladies 
 saw to it that most of this money went into their own pockets. 
 
386 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 130,000 prelates, priests, monks, and nuns in France. About 
 one fifth of the entire landed property of the kingdom belonged 
 to the Church, Protestants, although not quite so drastically 
 persecuted as under Louis XIV, had no legal status. This 
 Catholic clergy had thus great wealth and an entire monopoly 
 of religion; but the great churchmen, no more than the lay no- 
 bility, displayed any sense of the responsibiHties involved with 
 their riches and influence. Between the upper clergy (bishops, 
 
 THE INTERIOR OF NOTRE DAME, PARIS, IN THE EIGHTEENTH 
 CENTURY 
 
 abbots, canons, etc.) and the rank and file of the parish priests 
 there was a great gulf fixed. The regular parish priests were 
 recruited ordinarily from the lower classes. Their salaries 
 were miserably small: in 1784, their average income was only 
 $140 per year. While the French Church was exempt from the 
 taxes which fell upon the non-noble laity, it paid a fair- sized 
 "Free Gift" to the king; but the lion's share was usually 
 exacted from the parish clerg)'. 
 The great ecclesiastical offices were practically monopolized 
 
THE CAUSES OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 387 
 
 by the scions of the nobility. The peasant paid a third heavy 
 tax to the Church (tithes) after he had satisfied the king and 
 the seigneur. His hard-earned money, however, went not for 
 the most part to the laborious and pious if perhaps narrow- 
 minded local cure. The noble " higher clergy " absorbed five 
 sixths of the whole vast revenues of the Church (about $60,- 
 000,000). They spent it usually in a manner very uneccle- 
 siastical, indeed. The great bishops were commonly lordly 
 noblemen maintaining magnificent courts, dispensing elegant 
 hospitahty, and totally ignoring their religious duties. The 
 most magnificent of these mitered princes was the Cardinal 
 de Rohan. His income was $200,000. Fourteen butlers waited 
 upon him. In his palace were 700 beds; and in his stables 
 stalls for 200 horses. He could entertain 200 guests and their 
 servants simultaneously. Many of these great churchmen were 
 extremely immoral, and their lives the subject for common 
 scandal.^ 
 
 These worldly and immoral upper clergy were not even sin- 
 cere in the support of the faith they professed. Although most 
 of the bishops deplored any toleration of the Protestants, it 
 was notorious that many did not believe the ordinary tenets 
 of the Catholic religion. " There may be four or five," said a 
 well-informed Paris priest when asked how many of the French 
 bishops really believed what they preached. The intellectual 
 movement of the age was profoundly anti-religious, and the 
 great churchmen were cheerful sharers in the thought of their 
 day — so long as their own incomes were not harmed. 
 
 Between this upper clergy (recruited from the noblesse) and 
 the peasant-born lower clergy, there was distrust and ill- 
 feeling. The French Church went into the impending crisis 
 discredited and disunited. 
 
 ^ The deplorable worldliness of the higher French clergy on the eve of the 
 Revolution is widely admitted by Catholic as well as by Protestant writers. It 
 took the terrible chastening of the Reign of Terror to restore the French church.- 
 inen to lives of piety and genuine religion. 
 
388 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 224. Voltaire and Rousseau. The new intellectual move- 
 ment had two distinguished prophets — Voltaire and Rous- 
 seau. Others championed the reign of " pure reason," "philos- 
 ophy," and " science," no less ardently — but these were the 
 leaders. 
 
 Voltaire (i 694-1 778) was the most notable literary genius 
 of the eighteenth century. No man ever wrote the clear, force- 
 ful, elegant French language with greater effect than he. He 
 was a dramatist, an historian, an essayist, and everywhere 
 won fame; but his one real mission in life was to puncture 
 shams. The despotism, superstition, hypocrisy, and servility 
 of the age led him to assail the French institutions and the 
 Christian Church (as he understood it), with a bitter, unspar- 
 ing pen. Through a long life the greatest literary figure in 
 Europe thus played the iconoclast. Feeble attempts to suppress 
 him only put his works in greater demand. He died before 
 witnessing the Revolution he had done so much to promote, 
 but at a time when the " Old Regime " was already tottering 
 to its fall.^ 
 
 Voltaire was the destroyer of the old: Rousseau (1712-78)^ 
 was more constructive. In several quasi-romances, and espe- 
 cially in his famous treatise, " The Social Contract," he set 
 forth a theory that was seized upon with avidity by an arti- 
 ficial age already tired of its own emptiness and absurdities. 
 Rousseau sets forth that the conventionalities of society are 
 utterly wrong. To be happy men should " retm-n to nature," 
 and live the life of the " noble, imspoiled savage." " Civilized 
 man is born, lives, dies in a state of slavery [to artificial con- 
 ventions]. The Caribbeans are more fortunate than we by 
 half!" In "The Social Contract " he suggested the establish- 
 
 1 There is much in Voltaire's personal character (as in Rousseau's) that has 
 been execrated by unfriendly critics, but that is no reason for ignoring his 
 tremendous influence upon the thought of his day. 
 
 ^ Rousseau was born in Geneva, Switzerland; he spent much of his life in 
 France, however, and may be counted practically a Frenchman. 
 
THE CAUSES OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 389 
 
 ment of a republic, with universal suffrage, on a basis of " lib- 
 erty, fraternity, and equality." His theories were crude. The 
 present age laughs at many of his premises and conclusions, 
 but his books were read almost as inspired Scripture by the 
 Frenchmen of his day. "The Social Contract " was practically 
 the Bible of the French Revolutionists. 
 
 225. The prime factors in the French Revolution. Here, 
 then, were the causes of the great explosion which was to rock 
 Europe. The social and political institutions of France were 
 hopelessly evil; and men believed that by applying certain 
 a priori theories it was possible to establish a new regime under 
 which all humanity could be " happy." There was abundant 
 complaint from every c^uarter, and abundant wordy wisdom 
 as to the remedy; but there was almost no practical experience 
 as to that remedy. At the beginning of the Revolution drama, 
 here are the main factors for the setting: — 
 
 (a) The king and court. In sore need of money; the treasury 
 practically empty; yet with a healthy fear of imposing new 
 taxes on mere royal hat, lest a revolt be provoked that would 
 ruin the monarchy. 
 
 (b) The noblesse and upper clergy. Idle, corrupt, discred- 
 ited; incapable of effectively aiding the king; and with many 
 individual members tinctured with the new thought and wilhng 
 to help destroy the privileges of their own order. 
 
 (c) The bourgeoisie of the towns. The real brains of France; 
 discontented, active, aggressive; patriotically anxious to ad- 
 vance the interests of France, but full of crude pohtical and 
 social theories which would carry them they knew not whither. 
 
 (d) The peasantry and mob of Paris. At first too ignorant 
 and hopeless to take action, but when once roused capable of 
 a terrible burst of blind fury against their oppressors; and, of 
 course, even more open than the bourgeoisie to specious though 
 fallacious arguments. 
 
 The Revolution was begun by the bourgeoisie aided by an 
 
390 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 intelligent minority of the noblesse. In the second stage of the 
 movement the worst passions of the lower classes were awak- 
 ened and unchained. Then followed the Reign of Terror. 
 
 REVIEW 
 
 Topics — Intendants; Parliament of Paris; Controller-General; Right 
 of the Dove-Cots; Taille; Corvee; Voltaire; the "Social Contract." 
 Why were "enlightened Europeans" expecting great changes to take 
 place in social and political conditions at the end of the eighteenth 
 century? 
 
 Why was France in advance of other Continental countries, as de- 
 scribed in section 217? 
 
 Make a table of comparisons according to the following plan, covering 
 sections 218-23. 
 
 Estates 
 
 First Estate 
 
 (Clergy) - 
 
 Second Estate 
 
 (Nobles) 
 
 Third Estate 
 
 (a) Bourgeoisie 
 
 (b) Peasants. . . 
 
 Proportion 
 
 of ^ 
 population 
 
 Privileges 
 
 OHigations 
 (services, taxes, etc.) 
 
 Sources of income 
 
 5. The work of Voltaire and of Rousseau in preparing the way for a 
 change. 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 1. The scientific knowledge at the end of the eighteenth century. 
 
 2. The etiquette of the French court. 
 
 3. Taxation under the Old Regime. 
 
 4. How did the wiitings of Montesquieu, Voltaire, Rousseau and the 
 Economists influence the thought of the period? 
 
 5. What were the industrial conditions in France? 
 
 READINGS 
 
 Sotirces. Robinson: nos. 378-03. 
 
 Modern accounts. Seignobos: pp. 55-75, 88-gi, 92-106. Duruy: pp. 506- 
 34. Lodge: chapter xxi. Robinson and Beard: vol. i, pp. 203-24. 
 
CHAPTER XXXII 
 
 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 
 
 226. The summoning of the States General (1789). The 
 
 spring of 1789 saw France profoundly agitated. After long 
 tension in palace circles, after several abrupt changes in the 
 ministry, and resort to many desperate fiscal expedients, King 
 Louis XVI and his advisers found their Government confront- 
 ing bankruptcy. The revenues would not meet the regular 
 public charges, capitalists refused loans, and to increase the old 
 unjust taxes would provoke bloody revolt. Yet the Govern- 
 ment must have more money or cease to exist. By what means 
 could this be secured? An increasing chorus of voices answered 
 — "through the States General of France." 
 
 In 1788, Louis announced that he would convene the " States 
 General "; and as proof of sincerity restored as director of the 
 treasury the clever and popular financier, Necker, who had 
 formerly lost office through a court intrigue. While Necker 
 attempted various stopgaps to gain funds for a few months 
 longer, France was stirred by a rare event, an election for the 
 States General. 
 
 This latter was an old, discarded institution that had not 
 been convened since 16 14. Louis XIV, and Louis XV after 
 him, had abhorred the very name of this assembly. Still, its 
 existence had never been forgotten. In a most imperfect way 
 it had resembled the EngUsh Parliament. It had met in three 
 houses; (i) The Clergy; (2) the Nobility; (3) the deputies of 
 the Third Estate (the commonalty of France). In the Middle 
 Ages it had been convened only at rare and irregular intervals. 
 For it to pass any measure all three of its sections, meeting 
 
392 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 separately, were obliged to agree on a common action. ' About 
 its only real use had been to give the show of popular consent 
 to some extraordinary tax desired by the king. 
 
 Now in the day of necessity this old machinery was refur- 
 bished. For the first time in six generations France had some- 
 thing corresponding to an election. There were to be chosen 
 300 representatives of the clergy, 300 of the nobility, and 600 
 of the " Third Estate." But the first two groups could speak 
 and vote for only two very limited classes: the third for 25,000,- 
 000 Frenchmen. Were these 600 non-nobles meekly to walk 
 behind the aristocrats and bishops and accept their leadership? 
 Were the three classes to meet in three separate assemblies or 
 only in one? If in three, then the demands of the non-noble 
 majority for reform could be thvvarted by the resistance of the 
 nobles alone, even though the clergy took the popular side. 
 These vital questions, especially this last issue of " voting by 
 order or by head " (in three bodies or in one), were not settled 
 clearly in the royal decree ordering the election, and here was 
 the germ of the first great conflict. 
 
 There was little previous political experience in France. 
 Men do not learn instantly how " to act politically." The 
 Third Estate had to choose its deputies clumsily by the citizens 
 of each district appointing " electors," these delegates naming 
 the actual representatives. Very many country lawyers were 
 chosen, men full of the ideas and theories of Rousseau, and 
 convinced that they were sent to Versailles, not simply to vote 
 the king more money, but to execute great reforms for France. - 
 
 1 It was notorious that the three parts of the States General were usually 
 bitterly at variance, and unable to unite on any action unwelcome to the king. 
 It had never been a reliable check upon the French monarchs, and after 1614 
 the masterful sovereigns had disregarded any obligation to convene it, and had 
 made laws and imposed taxes on the mere strength of their royal decrees. 
 
 2 Each district when it elected its deputies drew up a caliirr, a bill of com- 
 plaints, which its delegate was supposed to get adjusted. A study of these 
 cahiers shows that I-renchmen were expecting a general reformation of the 
 Government to take place; especially the restriction of the despotic power of the 
 Crown and the abolition of the relics of feudalism in society. 
 
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 393 
 
 Everywhere there was unrest and eager expectation. Every- 
 where, in a land where genuine poHtical discussion had hitherto 
 been suppressed by the authorities, was a most violent agitation 
 for all kinds of reforms. The spirit of the winter 1788-89 was 
 summed up in a keen pamphlet by the politically minded 
 Abbe Sieyes. • — What has the Third Estate (he asked) been 
 hitherto? Nothing! What does it ask? To be something! 
 What ought it to be? Everything I The nobility and the clergy 
 (he argued) could be safely disregarded. Without their 200,000 
 members the Third Estate would still be '' a free and flourish- 
 ing nation " of 25,000,000. 
 
 ** Liberty " — a strange word in monarch-ridden Europe — 
 was freely spoken in France in 1789. Men fondly believed that 
 they were on the eve of a prompt and peaceful change to an 
 era of " freedom and enlightenment." 
 
 227. The meeting oj the States General (1789). On May 5, 
 1789, at the royal city of Versailles, met the deputies of France. 
 If Louis and his adviser Necker had realized the eager desire 
 of the vast majority of Frenchmen for sweeping reforms, and 
 had put themselves at the head of the movement, they might 
 have avoided many explosions which followed. But Louis (a 
 man without imagination) and Necker (a mere financier) sim- 
 ply wished the deputies to consider various fiscal expedients, 
 no doubt excellent, but not remedies for the grievous woes of 
 France. Besides, in the opening ceremonies, the Third Estate 
 members were exasperated by being treated as the social 
 inferiors of the clergy and nobihty. The king presently re- 
 quired the deputies to " organize." The nobles and a majority 
 of the clergy did so, as two separate bodies, — apart from the 
 commoners.^ The latter refused at first to organize, on the 
 
 ' Many of the clergy were delegates elected by the country cures, who had 
 little fellowship with the lordly prince-bishops. From the first this strong 
 minority among the clergy was ready to act with the commons. Also a few 
 nobles (e.g., Lafayette, the friend of Washington) wished to join with the Third 
 Estate. 
 
394 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 ground that they were only part of a single grand assembly, 
 and that a large number of fellow members were absent But 
 presently the Third Estate cut the knot by declaring itself as 
 
 THE STATES GENERAL IN SESSION AT VERSAILLES 
 
 (After a contemporary drawing by Monnet) 
 
 being " the representatives of ninety-six per cent of the French 
 nation," and therefore the "National Assembly," and per- 
 fected Its organization as if it were the sole body, the others 
 mere groups of negligible absentees. This speedily provoked 
 a crisis. 
 
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 395 
 
 The king was full of good intentions, but he was not anxious 
 to have the privileged classes swamped in a gathering where 
 they were sure to be outvoted. Under the pretext that its hall 
 would need to be arranged for a special '' royal sitting," the 
 Assembly was excluded from June 17 to June 23. Then it was 
 expected by the angry court party that the upstart country 
 lawyers would be taught their proper place and functions. 
 
 228. The tennis-court oath {June 20, 1789). But the com- 
 mons, timid at first and placed amid strange surroundings, 
 were finding courage with organization. Leaders were develop- 
 ing: especially Mirabeau, a nobleman, who, after a wild and 
 discreditable youth, had come to place his really great gifts 
 as orator and statesman at the service of the people. Angered 
 by the delays and veiled threats of the courtiers, and again 
 convinced that behind themselves were the desires and even 
 the weapons of enkindled France, the commons met in a tennis- 
 court at Versailles, and with one great voice and hands raised 
 high took oath "never to separate until they had given France 
 a constitution."^ 
 
 The firm attitude of the Third Estate was already intimi- 
 dating the upper orders, and there were desertions from them 
 to the "Assembly," before the " Royal Session" took place on 
 June 23. The deputies of all classes were then gathered in the 
 main hall wliile the king set forth many excellent reforms,- 
 but he bade the " Estates " meet separately "after the ancient 
 custom." When the king retired, most of the higher orders 
 followed him. The commons sat stolidly in their seats. 
 
 " Have you heard the orders of the king? " asked the haughty 
 " Master of Ceremonies." 
 
 1 Meeting as one body of 1200, the 600 commoners, plus a large number of 
 cures sure to be on their side, could easily outvote all the nobles and upper 
 clergy, and put through any unwelcome program. 
 
 ^ One year earlier these proposed reforms would have made Louis XVI 
 intensely popular. It was his misfortune always to do his good. deeds just a little 
 too late ! 
 
396 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 "Yes, sir," retorted Mirabeau, and his words reechoed 
 through the applauding nation, " and let me tell you that we 
 are here by the will of the people, and that we shall only quit 
 our seats at the point of the bayonet! " 
 
 It was a decisive moment. Louis could have ordered in his 
 soldiery, but the dispersal of the elected deputies of France 
 might have precipitated a general uprising. The Government 
 was bankrupt. In the votes of the Assembly was its only 
 financial hope. The king's nerve failed him. He recoiled at 
 such a conflict with his subjects, and presently swallowed his 
 dignity. The king actually " asked " the nobles and clergy 
 to join the commons. They hastily obeyed. The National 
 Assembly was at last genuinely constituted and could begin 
 the reformation of France. 
 
 229. The fall of the Bastille (July 14,1789). As yet, however, 
 mere moral force and the vague fears of an uprising had com- 
 pelled the indignant court party to retreat. The queen and 
 many more about Louis strove to convince him that, in appeal- 
 ing for help to his subjects, he had invoked not assistance but 
 a destructive demon. There was still imminent danger that 
 the Assembly would be dissolved by arms, and France thrown 
 back into the old ways of despotism. Then it was that the mob 
 of Paris suppUed the actual fighting force which was to enable 
 the Assembly to do its work in safety. 
 
 Paris had been one seething cauldron during June, 1789. 
 Men were willing to hope anything from the Assembly, to 
 beheve everything ill of the court party. A misstep by the 
 kirig^ precipitated the crisis. Necker (accounted too '^ popu- 
 lar " for the court party) was dismissed from office. Certain 
 German and Swiss mercenary regiments were moved close to 
 Paris and Versailles; — "to break up the Assembly " spread 
 
 1 At Louis's elbow were the queen, and his brothers, the Counts of Provence 
 and Artois (the later kings Louis XVIII and Charles X) — short-sighted, in- 
 competent, and reactionary, who hated all proposals for reforms with a fervor 
 worthy of a better cause. 
 
LOUIS XI 
 
 King of France (1461-1483) 
 
 Born 1423 Died 1483 
 
 MIRABEAU 
 French revolutionary leader 
 Born 1749 Died 1791 
 
 RICHELIEU 
 
 French cardinal and statesman 
 
 Born 1585 Died 1642 
 
 METTERNICH 
 
 Austrian statesman 
 
 Born 1773 Died 1859 
 
 ARCHITECTS OF EMPIRE 
 
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 397 
 
 common rumor. The tidings drove the uneasy spirits in Paris 
 frantic. At the " Palais Royal " (a favorite gathering-place) 
 a young man, Camille Desmoulins, applied the match to the 
 magazine. Leaping upon a table, he sent his voice over the 
 buzzing, excited throng: " Citizens! They have driven Necker 
 from ofhce. They are preparing a St. Bartholomew for patriots. 
 To arms! To arms!" 
 
 The next night and day were spent by the Parisians in arm- 
 ing and organizing. The insurgents were joined by the " French 
 Guards," a kind of local mihtia. Arsenals were broken open. 
 On July 14, the multitude cast itself upon the Bastille, the 
 king's great prison-fortress, the embodiment of royal tyranny 
 in Paris. The weak garrison soon surrendered and were massa- 
 cred by the infuriated Parisians.^ 
 
 The king's power in his chief city had crumbled in a twink- 
 Jing. It was evident that he had no effective army wherewith 
 to crush his malcontent subjects. 
 
 " This is a revolt! " — the tale runs — cried Louis to the 
 Duke of Liancourt, who brought the news. 
 
 "No, sire," came the reply; "it is a revolution." 
 
 The duke was right. The weakness of the king stood revealed. 
 No physical force could stop the Revolution now, — it must go 
 on its way. 
 
 230. Paris captures the monarchy {October 6, 1789). The 
 agitation soon spread to the provinces. The wolfish peasants 
 rose against their hated seigneurs. The police were powerless. 
 By night the skies were red with burning chateaux. In the 
 name of mere decency and order, all over France the intelli- 
 gent "middle classes " organized provisional local governments, 
 and local militia — " National Guards." Paris gave itself a 
 new city government with Bailly (president at the " tennis- 
 
 ^ Although earlier the Bastille had been famous as the prison for wretches held 
 at the king's arbitrary pleasure, at this time it contained very few prisoners. 
 The place would not have been taken had the governor stood stoutly to his guns, 
 but he could hardly induce his few cannoneers to face embattled Paris. 
 
398 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 court " on the day of the great oath) as its mayor, Lafayette, 
 the popular young nobleman, as chief of its national guard. 
 It was at this time that the famous tricolor (red, white, and 
 blue) ribbons were adopted as the badge of the Revolution. ^ 
 
 Meanwhile the Assembly had devoted itself to " reforming 
 the nation." It was far easier, however, to vote the abolition 
 of old abuses than to execute works of constructive statesman- 
 ship. On the night of August 4, carried away by a burst of 
 generous and truly French enthusiasm, nobles had joined with 
 commoners in decreeing the annihilation of practically all the 
 old social, financial, and political privileges enjoyed by the 
 nobility and clergy.'- By one great stroke there was ordained 
 for all Frenchmen equal rights and equal liberties. 
 
 It was excellent to vote this. It was harder to make bene- 
 fits of the revolution seem real to the impatient masses. In 
 October, 1789, bread was scarce in Paris; times were hard; 
 common report said that the king and especially the queen 
 were trying to win over the army officers, doubtless for an 
 armed counter-revolution.^ Another explosion followed. On 
 October 5, a mob of thousands of hungry women, joined by 
 many disorderly men, tramped through the mire from Paris 
 to Versailles and threatened the palace. "Bread, bread, and 
 not so many words ! " rang the yell when the astonished Assem- 
 bly tried to quiet them with speeches. Lafayette and the 
 national guards hastened from Paris to protect the king. There 
 was a lull; but early the next day the mob broke into the 
 
 * The old standard of the French kings was ivliitc. To call a man a "white" 
 in 1789 was the same as calling him a royalist. 
 
 - The Assembly had no intention of destroying legitimate property rights. 
 The holders of most of these privileges were to be paid by the Government for 
 their losses. But in the stormy days that followed, the promised compensation 
 usually came to very Uttle. 
 
 ^ It is certain that, on October i, a banquet was given at Versailles to various 
 influential officers. Remarks insulting to the Assembly were made. The "na- 
 tional" toasts were left undrunk; the white cockade, not the tricolor, was worn, 
 — while Marie Antoinette mingled with the officers most graciously. 
 
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 399 
 
 palace and slew several of the king's gentlemen. Lafayette 
 thereupon persuaded Louis, as the only means of preventing 
 further rioting, to return to Paris with the whole company. 
 
 " We 've got the baker, and the baker's wife, and the baker's 
 boy," howled the loose spirits around the royal coach on its 
 way to the metropolis. 
 
 The king was lodged in the Palace of the Tuileries. The 
 Assembly soon followed to Paris. Louis was still granted out- 
 ward loyalty and ceremony; none the less, he and his queen 
 were the prisoners of their increasingly distrustful subjects. 
 
 231. The new constitution. At Paris, subject to the pressure 
 of public clamors, the Assembly undertook the work of reor- 
 ganizing France. It committed many errors. It had little of 
 that long political experience and practical political wisdom 
 whereof Anglo-Saxons boast. Many fine propositions were 
 entertained which were to prove wholly unpractical. The 
 ordinary usages of parliamentary law had to be learned by men 
 unaccustomed to free legislatures. The representatives were 
 unduly swayed by highly wrought oratory and false sentiment 
 when nobly expressed. Yet good sense on the whole prepon- 
 derated; and everywhere was sincere patriotism. The results 
 were probably all that could have been expected. 
 
 In brief, France was given a new administration. The old 
 provinces^ (which had fostered decentralization) were replaced 
 by eighty-three "departments" based on geographical fea- 
 tures. The nation remained nominally a monarchy, but so 
 " hmited " a monarchy that Louis XIV might well have 
 groaned in his grave. The king was left merely as the agent 
 for executing the laws. For almost every positive act, he must 
 refer to the "Legislative Assembly." This body, chosen every 
 two years, was to vote the necessary laws in the future.^ It 
 
 ' Normandy, Provence, etc. 
 
 '^ Probably it would have been wiser to have had two houses; — but the French 
 took pride in not seeming to imitate the English Parliament, 
 
400 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 was to be composed of a single house of representatives of the 
 people. The king could veto its bills, but bills passed by three 
 successive legislatures were to be considered laws in spite of 
 the king. Of greater significance for the average private person 
 was the sweeping legal reform. A whole new judicial system 
 was created. Judges were to be elected officials, and no longer 
 royal appointees chosen from a special class of the nobility. 
 Trial by jury was instituted, and the old mediaeval usages of 
 torture and arbitrary imprisonment were abolished. There 
 were to be no more endless " imprisonments during the king's 
 pleasure," and no more '' Bastilles." Again, a uniform system of 
 laws was proposed for all France, in place of the two hundred- 
 odd "local customs " which had prevailed, with their varying 
 degrees of injustice. And most vital of all was the cardinal fact 
 that hereafter all Frenchmen were to be equal before the law, 
 — with the same treatment awaiting the nobleman in his gilt- 
 laced coat and the peasant in his blue blouse and wooden sabot. 
 
 France thus gained from this ''first Revolution" of 1789 
 great and undoubted social benefits. Feudalism was destroyed. 
 Equal rights for all men were created. These gains were never 
 to be lost. For all this a heavy debt of gratitude was due to the 
 "Assembly" of this memorable year. But the pohtical part 
 of its labors turned out to be far less satisfactory. Most 
 Frenchmen, indeed, would have been content with almost any 
 form of government, provided it gave them prosperity, law, 
 and order; but an active minority were full of discontent. The 
 new political system seemed simply outrageous to the old 
 noblesse, — they were anxious to make it fail. The ultra- 
 radicals, in turn, soon considered it merely a step toward an 
 ideally "free" constitution. They could lay hands on one 
 feature of the new constitution which especially seemed con- 
 trary to all ideas of equality; — to be a voter a man must pay 
 taxes equal to three days of ordinary labor. ' About one person 
 
 * The exact sum involved would be fixed by the local usage of the region. 
 
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 401 
 
 in four (otherwise eligible) was thus disfranchised. The radi- 
 cals made great outcry, and the excluded class was sure to be 
 offended, turbulent, and irresponsible. Between the reaction- 
 aries and the radicals the new constitution was thus certain 
 of a speedy trial by fire. 
 
 232. The flight to Varennes. Amid its praiseworthy efforts 
 the Assembly made one decisive blunder: it undertook tc 
 reform the French Church. No attempt was made to tamper 
 with the matters of faith, but many pious Catholics were out- 
 raged by the enactment that bishops and cures were henceforth 
 to be chosen by the voters like secular officials. Still more 
 ill-considered was the vote putting the great property of the 
 Church " at the service of the State." The Assembly did, 
 indeed, promise a just income to the churchmen whose tithes, 
 endowments, and lands were seized. None the less it was an 
 ill-considered confiscation, probably entered into because many 
 deputies saw in the Church property a convenient mode of 
 increasing the public credit without ordering new taxes, and 
 because they were indifferent or mildly hostile to the Christian 
 religion as they understood it. Many good Catholics now, 
 however, turned against the " Revolution " which they had at 
 first sustained. The king, a very devout man, felt this stroke 
 at his personal religion most keenly. Perhaps it was this un- 
 lucky legislation by the Assembly which goaded him (already 
 wrathy at other lesser matters) into disastrous action. 
 
 In June, 1791, Louis XVI, disguised as a valet, fled with his 
 family from Paris. His aim was to reach the frontier toward 
 Germany: once there, his brother-in-law. Emperor Leopold of 
 Austria, could be appealed to for a foreign army to restore him 
 to his power in France. The scheme for flight had been cleverly 
 conceived, but it was most bunglingly executed. At Varennes, 
 Louis was discovered and identified. Alarm-bells were soon 
 sounding. The townspeople rose and overpowered his escort. 
 On July 25, Louis XVI and his queen reentered the Tuileries: 
 
402 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 this time prisoners in very deed. The flight to Varennes was a 
 costly blunder. It announced to all France that the king had no 
 heart in the Revolution, and would destroy it if he could. 
 
 233. The new legislature. The Assembly had declared Louis 
 suspended from ofUce: but it was not easy to depose him. 
 His brothers and most of the other royal princes were hopeless 
 reactionaries, and were mostly "emigrants" — i.e., fugitives 
 in Germany busy devising a bloody return to France. The 
 only alternative was a republic; but most men were not yet 
 ready for that. Somewhat lamely the Assembly came to terms 
 with the king. Various changes were made in the new constitu- 
 tion, making it slightly more acceptable to Louis. There was 
 already a considerable faction urging the abolition of monarchy, 
 but a strong party headed by Lafayette strove to preserve a 
 "moderate" attitude. To their minds the Revolution was 
 completed; the new constitution must be allowed a fair chance 
 to work peacefully and to complete the regeneration of France. 
 The king finally accepted the constitution with apparent 
 heartiness, and was restored to his functions. On September 
 30, 1 79 1, the Assembly dispersed. Just before adjournment it 
 enacted a special law which did credit to its own disinteres- 
 tedness, but not to its political sagacity. It enacted that no 
 member of the Assembly should be eligible to the new regular 
 legislature about to gather. All the practical parliamentary 
 experience, therefore, acquired by members of the Assem- 
 bly was thus to be thrown away. The new legislature must be 
 composed of very untried men. 
 
 The Assembly of 1789-91 had striven nobly and patriotically 
 for France. Its leaders believed they had created a constitu- 
 tion to last for all time. This much-lauded " Constitution of 
 1 791 " was actually to last less than one year. 
 
 234. The outbreak of war. In reality the new constitution 
 never had a genuine chance to prove its ordinary excellences 
 and defects. France was about to be embroiled in war with 
 
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 403 
 
 nearly all Europe, while a powerful party at home from the 
 first cried out that the new order was only an insufficient 
 break with the old. 
 
 The Emperor of Austria and the King of Prussia had for 
 months regarded the progress of the Revolution with grave 
 concern. Political ideas seldom stop at boundaries, and France 
 had been the intellectual leader of Europe. Marie Antoinette 
 never ceased to write to her imperial kinsfolk at Vienna deplor- 
 ing the desperate straits of royalty in France, and entreating 
 aid. What a French crown would be worth, if propped up on 
 Austrian bayonets, she seems never to have asked. But more 
 than mere sympathy for the family in the Tuileries was stir- 
 ring the German princes. Various acts of the Assembly had 
 affected their own interests adversely. ^ French noble "emi- 
 grants," fleeing their homes, flocked to the petty German 
 courts and were given hearty welcome, and permission to 
 organize conspiracies. On both sides there were hatred, sus- 
 picion, recrimination. 
 
 In this atmosphere, charged with the fear of foreign inter- 
 vention, the Legislative Assembly met (October i, 1791). Its 
 745 members were mostly inexperienced radicals: its dominat- 
 ing element, the later "Girondist" Party,^ was composed of 
 clever and brilliant orators who were fervent democrats in 
 principle and regarded the idea of even a devitalized monarchy 
 with aversion. They dared not strike at the new constitution 
 for the moment, but they were able to bring to pass something 
 that they felt would accomplish the same end. They easily 
 goaded the king and his ministers into declaring war upon 
 Austria. Louis probably assented the more readily because he 
 believed that by Austrian victories he was sure to recover his 
 power. The radicals saw more wisely that the shock of battle 
 
 ^ Especially those declaring abolished various feudal rights within France, 
 but retained by German princes whose main dominions lay beyond the borders. 
 
 ^ The leading members of the faction — Vergniaud, Gensonne, etc., came from 
 the Department of the Gironde. 
 
404 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 would ruin royalty by exposing the king's duplicity. " Let us 
 tell Europe," cried the fiery Isnard, "that if cabinets engage 
 kings in a war against peoples, we will engage peoples in a war 
 against kings." 
 
 Causes were easily found. April 20, 1792, France declared 
 war on Austria and a little later on her ally, Prussia; — and so 
 began the war which convulsed all Europe, and lasted with 
 brief truces down to 181 5 and the held of Waterloo. 
 
 235. The downfall of French royalty (1792). The past three 
 years had demoralized the French army utterly. Its former 
 officers, mostly noblemen, had resigned or deserted by hun- 
 dreds. The first results of the warfare were a series of disgrace- 
 ful defeats all along the frontier. There was reason for believing 
 that the royal family within the Tuileries received the tidings 
 of national disaster without unmixed feelings of dismay. The 
 whole public administration seemed feeble and incompetent. 
 A few weeks promised to see an Austro-Prussian army in Paris. 
 In such a moment desperate remedies seemed called for to 
 save France. 
 
 In the "Legislative " the Girondists gave certain perfunc- 
 tory support to the party which still adhered to the king and 
 the constitution, but an ultra-radical faction, the Jacobins,i 
 was prepared for action. During the later part of July and the 
 first week of August, 1792, Paris was seething once more. 
 Every tale of defeat increased the rage against "Capet" 
 (Louis) and " the Austrian Woman." Not merely Paris, but 
 the departments were stirring. From Marseilles came a bat- 
 talion of 600 young Republicans, who for the first time made 
 the streets of Paris ring with the great fighting song of the 
 Revolution, " the Marseillaise," the best of all national hymns 
 to rouse men to do or die. 
 
 The climax came August 10. The faction in the Paris city 
 
 ^ The "Jacobins" took their name from their ckib-house at the former con- 
 vent of the old Jacobin order of monks. 
 
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 405 
 
 government loyal to Louis was overpowered; the armed city 
 bands dashed themselves against the Tuileries. Even now, the 
 palace might have been defended had not Louis, with an 
 untimely act of kind-heartedness, ordered his 950 Swiss guards- 
 men to cease firing. The uncouth insurgents surged into the 
 hall of the "Legislative," where the king had taken refuge 
 with his family. Cowed by manifest threats, the "Legislative " 
 decreed the deposition of the king, and the calling of a "Na- 
 tional Convention" to decide the future form of government. 
 Monarchy had fallen ignobly, not even fighting. 
 
 236. The Convention and the massacres. The rest of France 
 ratified the action of Paris. What else could be done, while 
 the public enemy was pressing forward victoriously? At the 
 moment there was no really lawful government; but the 
 "Commune of Paris " (the municipal council of the capital) 
 in a measure took its place. Its members, such as Robespierre, 
 represented the most advanced theorists of France. All chances 
 of a reaction in favor of monarchy were destroyed by the rigor- 
 ous enforcement of martial law. Tremendous efforts were put 
 forth to stop the advancing Germans. Danton, the great radi- 
 cal and the ablest of his party, voiced the unflinching spirit 
 with which these new masters of the State confronted the 
 foreign danger. "Audacity, and again audacity, and ever 
 audacity, and France is saved!" rang his summons. ^ 
 
 But Danton was not a man to stop wath nice means. The 
 prisons of Paris were full of nobles and " Constitutionalists," ^ 
 who might hope for release and revenge if carelessly guarded. 
 "We must make the aristocrats fear," are the sinister words 
 imputed to Danton. A gang of ruffians of his party knew 
 their business. Between September 2 and 7, over one thousand 
 
 ^ Danton was a radical, but rather as a chieftain of the "Mountain," the 
 general radical group in the Convention, than as a leading spirit among the 
 Jacobins, the ultra-radicals. There was a certain saneness in all that Danton 
 did. which marked him off from headlong extremists Uke Robespierre. 
 
 ^ Champions of the defunct constitution of 1791. 
 
4o6 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 prisoners were taken from the Paris prisons and massacred, 
 practically in cold blood. ^ The aristocrats did, indeed, fear. 
 Not a hand was raised to stop the massacre. 
 
 And now, late in September, the "Legislative " gave way to 
 the third great parHamentary body of the Revolution, — the 
 " Convention," — 749 members elected by manhood suffrage, 
 at a time when moderate men had been silenced, and when the 
 booming of Austrian guns had made almost every Frenchman 
 into a radical. The new body had been gathered to give France 
 another form of government, the 1791 constitution being 
 already cast into the rubbish heap ; but the making of a con- 
 stitution was slow work, and there was much needing immedi- 
 ate attention. For the next three years the Convention itself 
 practically governed France. 
 
 237. The death of the king (1793). Louis XVI, dethroned 
 and a prisoner, had yet to be dealt with, and the Girondist fac- 
 tion (temporarily in the ascendant in the Convention) were 
 inclined toward mercy: their clever orators talked eloquently 
 of founding the new republic bloodlessly on "love"; but their 
 political cohesion and adroitness was far less than that of the 
 Jacobins, who were resolved on the king's death. WTiat better 
 proof of the devotion of France for her newly gained "equal- 
 ity" than sending Louis to the scaffold? — " Let us," Danton 
 exclaimed, " cast down before Europe, as a gauntlet of battle, 
 the head of a king! " There could be only one solution to the 
 problem in such a moment. On January 8, 1793, Louis was 
 ordered to immediate death, by a majority of one vote.' 
 On January 21, he was guillotined on the great square in Paris, 
 
 1 There is no proof, though there is considerable presumption, that these deeds 
 were inspired by Danton. 
 
 - Louis was charged substantially with treason to France in the war against 
 Austria and Prussia. There is good reason for believing that he would have 
 regarded the victory of the allies with equanimity; but in truth he must be 
 judged as a man in an almost intolerable position, from whom any very strict 
 moral accounting was impossible. 
 
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 407 
 
 the Place de la Concorde; dying very nobly and bravely, and 
 making truly a kingly end after a life marked by many good 
 intentions but more blunders. 
 
 238. The war with all Europe (1792-95). The execution of 
 the king was, indeed, a proclamation to all Europe that a new 
 and terrible war had engulfed the nations, a war very different 
 from the selfish dynastic struggles between ambitious kings. 
 For the moment it had earlier seemed as if the ill-led French 
 armies would collapse before the disciplined invaders. But 
 good fortune and patriotism had fought for the French. At 
 Valmy, after an ineffectual cannonade on September 20, 1792, 
 the Duke of Brunswick (the allies' general) found himself 
 checked, and presently was driven to retreat. The new Re- 
 publican armies soon took the offensive and seized Belgium 
 and many posts along the Rhine. A decree thereupon passed 
 by the Convention, ordering the annexation of Belgium, gave 
 vast offense to England; ^ and that great country speedily 
 joined in the war. Another decree of the Convention, ordering 
 its generals to proclaim the "sovereignty of the people" and 
 the aboHtion of feudal privileges wherever the French arms 
 went, seemed the proclamation of an intention of spreading 
 ''revolutionary principles" through all Europe. The execu- 
 tion of Louis drove every brother monarch into a frenzy: 
 practically every other Christian state in Europe declared war 
 upon France. It appeared inevitable that she should be 
 crushed by a vast coalition. She was assailed on every coast, 
 on every border at once. 
 
 But in all human annals there is no finer example of patriotic 
 self-sacrifice than that which the French now displayed. The 
 grim and resolute men who had seized the Paris Government 
 developed in this crisis marvelous efficiency. A remorseless 
 conscription swept the youth of France into the armies; fac- 
 
 1 The English feared that the great port of Antwerp in French hands would 
 be a standing menace to their maritime supremacy. 
 
Luiigitude 0° West from «t«uiiii-lj 0' Ln.igitude fiaet 6° from Gucni-ich 10 
 
4o8 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 tories were turned into arsenals; church bells were melted into 
 cannon. The heroism and ''elan" of the young French recruits, 
 who charged to battle convinced that they were summoned to 
 die for 'Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity" and for "the 
 Rights of Man," proved more than a match for the ill-paid 
 mercenaries of the old-Hne monarchical armies. The admirable 
 fighting qualities of the French privates and sub-officers more 
 than made up for frequently mediocre generalship. Above all, 
 at Paris there was a great war-minister, Camot, " the organizer 
 of victory," who, though not a great strategist himself, managed 
 everything, inspired the fourteen armies, collected munitions, 
 and made the success in the field possible. To summarize 
 this colossal war is impossible. By a prodigious exertion the 
 Republic actually put 750,000 men, arrayed in thirteen sepa- 
 rate armies, in the field at once — forces such as no power in 
 Europe had ever armed before. The French were sonetimes 
 beaten, but never ruined. A coalition greater than that which 
 had overwhelmed Louis XIV now recoiled before the patriotism 
 of a free nation. In June, 1794, the great battle of Fleurus 
 practically delivered Belgium a second time to France ^ and 
 put the allies everywhere upon the defensive. Once confronted 
 with disaster, the allied kings began to remember their old 
 jealousies amongst themselves. The great coalition commenced 
 to dissolve. In 1795, Prussia made the Peace of Basel with 
 France : Austria and England might continue the war, but the 
 fear of a foreign army in Paris was ended. 
 
 239. The Committee of Public Safety and the Tenor. While 
 the youth of France were defending their country against a 
 perfect girdle of foes, terrible scenes were being enacted at 
 Paris and elsewhere. The foreign peril, the fears of a cruel 
 reaction led by the outraged royahsts, seemed to justify plac- 
 ing the whole country under a species of martial law. Shortly 
 
 ' The French had been driven from the country after their first successes in 
 1792. 
 
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 
 
 409 
 
 after the execution of the king, the Convention estabh'shed a 
 kind of executive committee, — the famous "Committee of 
 Public Safety," — at first of nine, later of twelve, members, 
 to whom were entrusted practically the entire resources of 
 France. The ordinary ministers were reduced to insignificance 
 beside this body. It became the mainspring of the armed 
 Revolution, and it was not long before its members were drawn 
 
 COURTYARD OF A PRISON DURING THE TERROR 
 
 Note the games being played by the prisoners. (Ajlet a painting by 
 Hubert Robert in the Miisee Carnavakt) 
 
 almost wholly from the most radical of all the Republican 
 factions — the Jacobins. 
 
 In the name of general safety, the Committee and the Con- 
 vention resorted to the most drastic measures. Besides order- 
 ing a wholesale conscription for the army, desperate expedi- 
 ents were invoked to fend off famine and bankruptcy. There 
 was a general scarcity of provisions in Paris. The answer was 
 the famous "Law of the Maximum," fixing the highest price 
 
4IO HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 at which necessary commodities might be sold. The penalty 
 for violation was, in extreme cases, death. Long since the 
 Government had drifted into the meshes of paper money (it 
 was so easy to make the printing-press strike off substitutes 
 for gold!). To refuse to accept " assignats " (the Revolutionary 
 paper currency) was now also made punishable by death. 
 Against "emigrants" (exiled nobles beyond the frontiers), 
 against all men suspected of conspiracy to produce reaction at 
 home, there was only one remedy. The exiles might not return 
 under penalty of death ; while all persons in France were made 
 liable to imprisonment (with excellent chances of execution) 
 if " suspected " of ill will toward the Republic. By such laws 
 the prisons were iilled and disaffection was silenced. 
 
 At first, indeed, there was discord, in the Convention, 
 between the Girondists and the more violent Jacobins. The 
 Girondists represented more the deliberate opinion of the 
 departments; the Jacobins found their best support in the noisy 
 and irresponsible crowds of Paris, who swarmed the galleries 
 of the Convention, howled down the moderate orators, and 
 applauded the speakers wdio declared that "the people were 
 weary of having their happiness postponed," and who then 
 coolly assumed that the Parisian mob was entitled to speak for 
 the entire nation. The Girondists had eloquence and noble 
 zeal upon their side, but they were bad pohticians and lost 
 control both of the Convention and the situation in Paris. 
 On June 2, armed insurgents surrounded the hall of the Con- 
 vention and the frightened members were coerced into voting 
 the leading Girondists under arrest. The radicals had now 
 almost complete possession of the Government. 
 
 And now began the famous " Reign of Terror." The Jaco- 
 bins were no doubt honest in saying that they desired the hap- 
 piness of France and a reign of liberty and humanity, but they 
 were hopeless radicals, wilHng to believe themselves the sole 
 possessors of patriotism and civic virtue, and that any critic 
 
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 411 
 
 was ipso facto a traitor. In handling the mihtary situation they 
 displayed enormous ability ; 1 in dealing with the economic 
 crisis they resorted to the desperate financial measures just 
 described; but they knew all the while (though they hardly 
 confessed it) that they were really only a minority in France, 
 and ever growing more of a minority as their program became 
 more radical. At first men had been denounced as " aristo- 
 crats," or " constitutionahsts ";^ now they were damned by 
 being styled "moderates," or charged with " incivism," i.e., 
 opposing or supporting feebly the extreme Jacobin program. 
 
 What that program really embraced was never fully defined. 
 Probably it would have ended in the complete establishment of 
 economic as well as of political equality for all Frenchmen, and 
 certainly in the later stages of the movement the Jacobins 
 cried out against the rich, not because they were reactionary, 
 but simply because they were rich. '' The poor man," spoke 
 Robespierre, who seemed to be the mouthpiece for his party, 
 " alone is virtuous, wise, and fitted to govern." 
 
 To silence opposition to their regime the Jacobins deliber- 
 ately inaugurated a S3'stem of " Terror." On October 16, 1793, 
 Marie Antoinette followed her husband to the scaffold, facing 
 the end with a heroism which partly atoned for many past 
 mistakes. Speedily after her, twenty-one of the Girondist 
 leaders were executed, and many others of unquestioned zeal 
 for a moderate republic followed them. A " Revolutionary 
 Tribunal " was set up, before which each day a certain number 
 of wretches were dragged from the prisons and condemned 
 (or in exceptional cases acquitted) after farcically irregular 
 trials. 
 
 From October, 1793, to the end of July, 1794, " Terror was 
 the Order of the Da}^" in Paris; and similar awful tribunals 
 kept up their work in many of the provincial tovms. Under 
 
 1 See section 238. 
 
 2 Partisans of the 1791 constitution. 
 
412 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 t-he guillotine ^ perished several thousands of the best lives in 
 France; for it was the intelligent and well-to-do who naturally 
 awakened the most suspicion. "O Liberty, what crimes are 
 committed in thy name! " so cried the high-minded Madame 
 Roland, an ardent Republican and Girondist when she stood 
 to take her place at the guillotine. Yet all the while the 
 Jacobin chiefs and many of their satellites in the Parisian mob 
 
 THE GUILLOTINE AT WORK 
 
 Note the statue of liberty opposite tlie instrument. {Aflcr an anony- 
 mous engraving) 
 
 beheved quite honestly that by this remorseless policy they 
 were leading France to happiness. 
 
 240. The revolts against the Jacobins. The fearful energy 
 of the Jacobins will be better understood when it is reahzed 
 that, besides the foreign war, at the same time they had to fight 
 desperate rebellions within F'rance. Many Girondist deputies 
 did not submit to arrest with their fellows, but escaped to their 
 
 1 The guillotine was a merhanical device invented at this time to take the 
 place of the old headsman's block and axe. Despite the gruesome mutilation of 
 the victim, it was an extremely humane and painless instrument. "The Repub- 
 lican Razor," it was called by the calloused creatures who daily watched the 
 public butcheries. 
 
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 413 
 
 homes in the departments and organized revolts. The Jacobins 
 had to stamp out uprisings in Normandy and in the extreme 
 south, while Lyons (the second city of France) also rose against 
 them. A fearful punishment was inflicted when it was forced to 
 surrender. A military commission condemned the numerous 
 prisoners taken, and is asserted to have had them shot down in 
 batches of 200 to 300 at a time. In five months the population 
 of Lyons is declared to have fallen from 130,000 to 80,000.^ 
 But hardest of all for the Jacobins was the revolt of the Peas- 
 ants in La Vendee,^ who, pious, conservative, and led by their 
 priests, waged a desperate guerilla war in behalf of the king. 
 The Vendean rebels were still in revolt when the Jacobins were 
 cast from power at Paris. 
 
 241. The fall of Danton, and the dictatorship of Robespierre. 
 In 1789, the great majority of Frenchmen had rejoiced in the 
 downfall of despotism; in 1792, probably less than half of the 
 nation was really enthusiastic for a repubHc; by 1794, only a 
 waning minority were in favor of the Jacobin program, which 
 virtually branded every man with good clothes and refined 
 social manners as a " bad citizen." The Jacobin leaders of the 
 Convention had run to hopeless absurdities.^ They had abol- 
 ished the accustomed calendar as a souvenir of "the days of 
 despotism," and estabhshed a new " Republican Calendar" 
 with the year "one" to date from the era (1792) vv^hen France 
 
 1 Recent criticism happily has seemed to reduce the number of the victims, 
 but in any case they were hideously numerous. 
 
 2 The region near the mouth of the -Loire. 
 
 ' Amid all the storm and stress under which it labored, and despite many 
 absurd pieces of legislation, it must, in fairness, be noted that the Convention 
 enacted a great body of wise measures which told for the weal of France; — some 
 of these were, (1) the adoption of the metric system of weights and measures; 
 (2) the beginning of drawing up a legal code (a task to be completed by Napo- 
 leon); (3) the abolition of slavery in the French colonies; (4) the initiation of 
 a general system of education for France; (5) a much-needed reform of the hos- 
 pitals and prisons. 
 
 It is very easy to find materials for extreme blame and extreme praise in deal- 
 ing with the leaders of "the First Republic." 
 
414 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 became a republic.^ Against the Christian religion, as part of 
 the old order of "slavery," the bitterest hostility was shown. 
 It had become practically impossible to attend or to minis- 
 ter in Christian worship and not become at least "suspect." 
 Frenchmen could not endure these conditions forever. The 
 foreign enemy had been repelled from the frontiers : it was high 
 time to end this terrible regime of martial law at home. 
 
 Under these circumstances, some of the clearest and coolest 
 heads among the original Terrorists, notably Danton, began to 
 talk of moderation; but "moderation" was a very unwelcome 
 word to the extreme theorists who now controlled the Com- 
 mittee of Pubhc Safety, and at whose bidding the frightened 
 Convention voted one bloody decree after another. In April, 
 1794, Robespierre, seemingly, at least, the dominator of the 
 Government, struck a blow which told all France that the 
 mere suggestion of abating the activities of the guillotine was 
 perilous. Danton — the incarnation of aggressive Republican- 
 ism — was sent to the scaffold. For the next four months 
 Robespierre seemed the virtual dictator of France. A consid- 
 erable fraction of the Paris mob was willing to defend him; 
 otherwise he was submitted to out of mere physical terror. 
 France seemed to have abolished her stately old monarchy to 
 substitute for it a ruthless Oriental tyranny. 
 
 242. The downfall of Robespierre. Robespierre was himself 
 a strange compound of inlirmity and virtue. He made boasts, 
 probably sincere, of his patriotism, incorruptibility, and high 
 ideals. He and his friend, Saint-Just, dreamed of a republic in 
 which all men and women should be happy, virtuous, and 
 equal. Christianity was to be abolished, but temples to the 
 " Supreme Being " were to abound everywhere. In this 
 program were many noble theories and projects derived from 
 
 ' The months weic named according to their climatic characteristics; e.g., 
 Thermidor (heat month) took the place of July ig to August 18. To get rid of 
 the "slave-style" Christian Sabbaths, periods of ten days were substituted for 
 weeks, the tenth day to be a general holiday. 
 
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 41^ 
 
 the old Greek philosophers. Robespierre, in short, would have 
 been a harmless, impractical philanthropist, save for two 
 capital facts, — he appeared to dominate the French Govern- 
 ment, and he believed that any person who hesitated in the 
 least before his program was worthy of death. The best wit- 
 ness to the fearful nature of his rule is the fact that in seven 
 weeks during his alleged dictatorship, 1376 persons died under 
 the guillotine in Paris. ^ The amazing thing, indeed, is that a 
 theorist of this kind should have seemed to control a great 
 Government for so long a time. 
 
 The end drew near when even Robespierre's most intimate 
 associates began to fear for their own lives. On the 8th of 
 June, 1794, the arch- Jacobin had reached the crowning moment 
 of his career. At his demand the Convention had voted that 
 " the French nation recognizes the existence of the Supreme 
 •Being and the immortahty of the soul." Now, in a great fete 
 to the Supreme Being, Robespierre walked first in the proces- 
 sion as president of the ceremonies, "dressed in a sky-blue 
 coat and holding in his hand a large bunch of flowers, fruit, and 
 corn." Acting thus as a kind of high priest, he set fire to 
 effigies representing "Atheism" and "Egoism," while, as they 
 blazed, a figure of "Wisdom" rose out of the flames, "Re- 
 publican " hymns were sung, and the ground was scattered 
 over with flowers by children : — and the next cjay the guiflo- 
 tine continued its work. 
 
 By this time the Revolutionary Tribunal had become a 
 mere organ for ordering the execution of so many prisoners 
 per day, with hardly the simulacrum of a trial. No man's life 
 was now safe; and at length the Convention turned suddenly 
 at bay, made brave by selfish fear. On July 27, 1794, long 
 recorded as the famous " 9th Thermidor," Saint- Just, and next 
 
 1 There is a theory, which is finding increasing acceptance among scholars, 
 that Robespierre was really the tool of the "strong silent men" managing the 
 armies, who found the Terror a convenient means of controlling the military 
 situation. 
 
410 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 his bosom friend, Robespierre, were howled down in the Con- 
 vention when they strove to speak. 
 
 "Down, down with the tyrant!" pealed the yell. Vainly 
 Robespierre pleaded to be heard. "The blood of Danton 
 chokes thee! '' one member is said to have flung at him. With 
 three friends the fallen dictator was placed under arrest: the 
 old Jacobin faction among the Paris mob released them from 
 prison, but before they could organize an insurrection, they 
 were again seized, and the end came quickly. Robespierre 
 died under the guillotine, with a hundred of his partisans. With 
 this last slaughter of its instigators the real "Terror " slackened 
 and declined. 
 
 243. The "Third'' Constitution and the whiff of grapeshot 
 (1795)- France needed rest. It was impossible to restore nor- 
 mal conditions immediately: war £till raged on the frontiers; a 
 thousand local feuds rent every town and hamlet asunder; but 
 the wholesale executions could at least be stopped, ^ and the 
 prisons presently were emptied of all but the probably guilty. 
 
 The Convention was now again dominated by moderate 
 Republicans. Various outlawed members of the old Girondist 
 Party returned. During the Terrorist period a constitution 
 had been drawn up for the country, but it had never been put 
 into effect, and now it seemed altogether too radical in the 
 light of woeful- experience. Accordingly still another constitu- 
 tion was prepared, the so called " Third " Constitution,^ and 
 while not an ideal document it betrayed at least some attempt 
 to improve the lessons learned in the school of adversity. For 
 example, besides a list of the " Rights of Man," so much 
 emphasized earlier, a list was also given of the " Duties of 
 Man "; also a fairly firm executive government was provided 
 
 1 The historian Taine has recl^oned, it is to be hoped with some exaggeration, 
 that 17,000 persons perished in France, in Paris or in the Departments, during 
 the whole period of Terrorist Government. 
 
 2 The constitution of 1791 was the "First"; the "Second" was the discarded 
 Jacobin effort. 
 
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 417 
 
 in a Directory of five persons, one member to retire every year, 
 and thus the whole to be renewed every five years. ^ There was 
 to be a legislature of two houses, the "Five Hundred" and 
 the "Ancients"^ (250 members), each to be renewed by one 
 third of their number annually. The Legislature was to en- 
 act the laws; the Directors (who had no veto) were to exe- 
 cute them, to control the armies, and transact generally the 
 affairs of Government through their ministers. 
 
 This constitution was not an impossible one, but it was 
 coupled with a proviso which drove many Frenchmen to fury. 
 A great reaction was sweeping over the land. The Conven- 
 tion knew there was a strong movement to restore the exiled 
 Bourbons.^ To insure against a reactionary revolution, it was 
 provided that two thirds of the first legislature, under the new 
 scheme, must be chosen from the members of the Convention'. 
 
 It was this provision which put Paris again in an uproar. 
 The downfall of Robespierre had been followed by a great 
 return of royalist spirit. In very many quarters the idea of 
 even a moderate republic was now held in open detestation. 
 The reactionaries had prospered so far as to gain control of the 
 Paris National Guard, and on October 5, 1795, its battalions, 
 20,000 strong, were directed against the hall of the hated 
 Convention. To check this attack the delegates had only 
 about 4000 regular troops, '' but they entrusted the command 
 to an active fellow member, Barras. The latter bethought him 
 of the aid of a young artillery officer who had recently distin- 
 
 ^ The Directors were to be elected by the "Ancients" out of a list submitted 
 by the "Five Hundred." 
 
 2 They had to be forty years of age. 
 
 * The luckless little son of Louis XVI, the so-called "Louis XVII," died in 
 captivity in Paris, June 8, 1795. The cruel neglect whereof this helpless boy of 
 ten was the victim is one of the foulest blots upon the Revolutionists. The 
 successor to the royalist claims was now the eldest brother of Louis XVI, who 
 took the style of "Louis XVIII." 
 
 * In the regular army, in which ardent Republicans naturally enlisted, anti- 
 royalist sentiments burned hot, long after they had ceased to glow in the rest ol 
 France. 
 
4i8 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 guished himself against the English at the siege of Toulon. 
 This young man hastily secured a strong battery of guns from 
 the suburbs, and disposed and used it so well that the insur- 
 gents were mowed down helplessly when they strove to storm 
 the Convention. " The whiff of grapeshot " was sufhcient. 
 The delegates and the Republic were saved. The name of 
 their savior was Napoleon Bonaparte. 
 
 REVIEW 
 
 I. Topics — The States General; Cahiers; Abbe Sieves; the Oath of the 
 Tennis-Court ; Mirabeau; the Bastille; National Guards; Varennes; 
 "Emigrants"; Girondists; Jacobins; Commune of Paris; Robespierre; 
 Danton; Vahiiy; Carnot; Committee of Public Safety; Law of the 
 Maximum; Assignats; Reign of Terror; Incivism; gth Thermidor; 
 the "Whiff of Grapeshot." 
 • 2. Geography — 
 
 (a) Locate Versailles; Varennes; Marseilles; Valmy; Lyons; La 
 
 Vendee. 
 {h) Mark the regions added to France by the Peace of Basel. 
 
 3. What was the immediate occasion of the summoning of the States 
 General? 
 
 4. Note the different events in the Revolution which go to prove that 
 there was "little previous political experience" in France. 
 
 5. Why did not the king dissolve the States General after the "Royal 
 Session" on June 23? Compare his motive with that of Charles I of 
 England in relation to the Long Parliament. 
 
 6. Why was the destruction of the Bastille significant? 
 
 7. What were the important features in which the constitutions of 1791 
 and 1705 differed? 
 
 8. How did the attempt to reform the Church affect the "Revolution" 
 movement? Compare with the effect of the attack upon the Episcopal 
 Church made in the Long Parliament in England. 
 
 0. Valmy is counted as one of the "decisive battles" by Creasy. Why? 
 ,'o. Why was it that conditions similar to the "Reign of Terror" did not 
 
 develop in England after the execution of Charles I? 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 1. Compare the principles stated in the "Declaration of the Rights of 
 Man" (1789) with corresponding principles in the "Virginia Bill of 
 Rights" (United States, 1776). 
 
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 419 
 
 2. Mirabeau. 
 
 3. The Bastille. 
 
 4. Lafayette. 
 
 5. The night of August 4. 
 
 6. The Constitution of 1 791. 
 
 7. The September massacres. 
 
 8. The execution of Louis XVI. Was it justified ? Compare with that of 
 Charles I of England. 
 
 9. The battle of Valmy. 
 
 10. The Peace of Basel. 
 
 11. The Reign of Terror. 
 
 12. Danton and Robespierre. 
 
 13. Make a summary showing the social, economic, and political changes 
 accomplished by the Revolution. 
 
 READINGS 
 
 Sources. Robinson: nos. 394-417. 
 
 Modern accounts. Seignobos: pp. 106-49. Duruy: pp. 53S~65. Lodge: 
 
 chapters xxii, xxiii, sections 1-20. Pattison: pp. 358-62. Lewis: pp. 
 
 548-57. Robinson and Beard: vol. i, pp. 224-84. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIII 
 
 HOW NAPOLEON BONAPARTE OVERTURNED THE OLD 
 EUROPE 
 
 244. The youth and early career of Napoleon. For the next 
 
 twenty years the history of Europe can ahiiost be summed up 
 in the biography of a single man. No other secular individual 
 in modern times ^ has cast his shadow so broadly over the 
 nations as did Napoleon Bonaparte. He has been lauded as a 
 demigod; he has been execrated as a fiend; but neither friends 
 nor detractors have denied to him the unique position he holds 
 in modern history. 
 
 Napoleon Bonaparte is commonly spoken of as a French- 
 man. As a matter of fact, he came from the decidedly Italian- 
 ized isle of Corsica. In 1768, the weak Republic of Genoa ceded 
 Corsica to France; and in 1769, Napoleon was born at Ajaccio. 
 We can best understand his character by thinking of him as 
 being only a Frenchman by adoption, and of having in him 
 much of the passionate, violent, imaginative spirit and genius 
 of the Mediterranean peoples. 
 
 Napoleon's parents seem to have been of respectable but not 
 wealthy condition.- The lad early betrayed a liking for mili- 
 tary matters; and after he had learned a little French he was 
 sent to the mainland, to the military academy at Brienne 
 (1779). His life there was unhappy and undistinguished, and 
 he complained bitterly of the way the sons of rich French 
 noblemen lorded it over him. In time, he became a second 
 lieutenant in the army, but his first real activities were in an 
 
 1 Nor in ancient times, except possibly Alexander and Julius Cjesar. 
 - His father, Carlo Bonaparte, boasted himself a nobleman, and busied him- 
 self as a lawyer of some local importance. 
 
BONAPARTE OVERTURNS THE OLD EUROPE 421 
 
 obscure attempt to participate in an insurrection of the 
 Corsicans against the French. The plot failed; but though 
 Bonaparte luckily was not quite compromised enough to be 
 branded as a traitor, every avenue to promotion seemed barred 
 against him. In 1793, however, he had command of the artil- 
 lery in the siege of Toulon, and it was then, thanks to him, 
 that the British fleet was driven from the harbor and a most 
 important city restored to France. Now (1796) the grateful 
 Directory, after his services in Paris, ^ gave him command of 
 the Army of Italy. The discontented cadet had at length met 
 his opportunity. He was only twenty-seven. 
 
 245. The ''First Italian Campaign' (1796-97). Italy was 
 a congeries of petty states, but the main factors were the 
 Kingdom of Sardinia- (nearest to France) and the provinces of 
 Austria. Bonaparte was given the task of taking a relatively 
 small and disorganized army, crossing the Alps, forcing the 
 Sardinians to beg for peace, and then of driving the Austrians 
 out of Italy as well as intimidating simultaneously the Papal 
 States and all the other lesser Powers which might take sides 
 against France. 
 
 Once entrusted with the task, the young artillery officer dis- 
 played a superabounding energy; and — secret of his success — 
 was able to communicate his spirit of energy to all about him. 
 Veteran officers ceased to sneer at the "youth," and strove 
 their uttermost to execute his orders. The whole army was 
 infused with his spirit of restless daring and ambition. Of all 
 Bonaparte's military undertakings, none was more successful 
 or more characteristic than this " First Italian Campaign." 
 
 With 49,000 men, badly equipped but brave and hardy, 
 Bonaparte had to cross the Alps and attack some 60,000 
 Sardinian and Austrian veterans, resting in strong positions 
 
 1 See chapter xxxii, section 243. 
 
 * For the extent of the King of Sardinia's dominions on the mainland, see map 
 of " Europe in 1789." 
 
422 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 sustained by great fortresses. In April, 1796, he entered Italy. 
 Within two months the King of Sardinia had cried " enough." 
 Within a year mighty Austria had also been driven to sue for 
 
 ITALY IN I 
 
 peace. At the outset Bonaparte had fired the hearts of his men 
 by the kind of promises dear to his ragged Republican volun- 
 teers. "Soldiers, I am to lead you into the most fertile plains 
 in the world. There you will find honor, glory, and riches "; 
 
BONAPARTE OVERTURNS THE OLD EUROPE 423 
 
 and immediately he had put into effect his four great military 
 maxims: "Divide for finding provisions; concentrate to fight; 
 unity of command is necessary for success; time^ is every- 
 thing." 
 
 Briefly stated, Bonaparte won his successes by always taking 
 the offensive and keeping his foes so busy meeting the shock 
 of his blows that they were utterly unable to arrange a counter- 
 stroke; or again, by inducing them to divide their forces 
 while keeping his own concentrated, and so destroying the 
 enemy piecemeal. In addition Bonaparte owed a vast deal to 
 the admirable fighting quahties of his men. The spirit of 
 Republican fanaticism which had led to the Jacobin Terror at 
 Paris made now for dauntless heroism when translated to the 
 battlefield. And Bonaparte knew how to win the hearts and 
 imaginations of his men as have few generals, as at Lodi (1796), 
 where the desperate and victorious charge in which he rushed 
 with the foremost across the bridge over the Adda made "the 
 little corporal" the idol of the soldiery. 
 
 In the spring of 1797, after desperate fighting around 
 Mantua (the Austrian stronghold) and the fall of that fortress, 
 Bonaparte was able to force his way over the Eastern Alps, 
 and was only two days' march from Vienna when the defeated 
 " Holy Roman" Emperor asked for an armistice. 
 
 246. The Treaty of Campo Formio (1797). After various 
 negotiations France made peace with Austria by the Treaty of 
 Campo Formio. That compact was substantially arranged and 
 directed by Bonaparte, despite the fact that he was nominally 
 only a general in the service of the five Directors. The treaty 
 was practically a notification to the world that Republican 
 France had shaken off the tremendous attack of the old mon- 
 archies and was now about to give the law in turn to them. 
 Austria ceded Belgium outright to France. She gave up her 
 North Italian possessions to be made into a " Cisalpine 
 
 ' That is, rapidity of movements. 
 
424 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 Republic" (inevitably dependent upon France). In a secret 
 article she agreed to allow France to keep the territory west of 
 the Rhine which she had seized from the lesser German princes. 
 As a compensation for these great losses, Austria was to receive 
 the territory of the old (and now degenerate and feeble) 
 Republic of Venice, which was thus blotted from the map. ^ 
 
 247. The naval power of England. The defeat of Austria 
 seemed to put all Europe at the feet of France and her brilliant 
 young general, who was already recognized as a political power 
 of whom the Directors might well feel jealous. But there was 
 one nation which the French had not yet defeated — England; 
 and a large part of Bonaparte's career was to be consumed in a 
 fruitless effort to humble the "Mistress of the Seas." 
 
 The Revolution had disorganized the French navy sadly. 
 Courage and enthusiasm may win bayonet charges in land 
 battles, though discipline be lacking, but calm skill and care- 
 ful organization are absolutely necessary for the conduct of 
 fleets. Ill-equipped, ill-manned, and very ill-commanded as the 
 French ships were, it is not surprising that the story of the 
 naval war between France and England was one story of French 
 defeats. By 1797, Spain and Holland had been induced to enter 
 into alliance with France against the English, but even this 
 could not turn the scale. Off Cape St. Vincent (1797) fifteen 
 British ships-of-the-line, under Admiral Jervis and Commo- 
 dore Nelson, defeated twenty-seven Spanish men-of-war. Six 
 months later, Admiral Duncan overwhelmed a Dutch fleet at 
 Camperdown. After these battles it seemed impossible to dis- 
 pute British naval supremacy. The sea-power of Britain en- 
 abled her to seize the colonies of France, to raid her coasts, 
 to capture her merchantmen, and to draw a line of blockaders 
 
 1 In 1797, after making the armistice with Austria, Bonaparte had deliber- 
 ately picked a quarrel with Venice and forced its helpless Government to sur- 
 render the city and country to France. He now used Venice as a sop to throw to 
 Austria. This is an early instance of the lack of scruple and the immorality 
 which marked Bonaparte's statecraft. 
 
BONAPARTE OVERTURNS THE OLD EUROPE 425 
 
 around her ports, ruining French commerce. The failure of 
 the RepubUc to meet the EngHsh upon the seas left Enghsh 
 commerce (and consequently English wealth) practically un- 
 touched. As a result, although the English army did not seem 
 dangerous, English subsidies put heart into the enemies of 
 France on the Continent, created new combinations of Powers 
 against her; in short, undid half the work of Bonaparte's 
 victories. 
 
 If the triumph of France was to be complete, she must at 
 all costs humiliate England. 
 
 248. The Egyptian Expedition (1798-99). Bonaparte had 
 returned to Paris from Italy to be received with all the ardent 
 enthusiasm wdiich rejoicing French- 
 men can show for a hero. " Go cap- 
 ture the giant corsair [England] that 
 infests the seas! " cried Barras, the 
 Director, when he embraced him. 
 And, indeed, the mediocre Directors 
 would gladly have sent him away 
 on some distant and risky enterprise. 
 There was not room in the Paris 
 Government offices for one man so 
 great as he and live men so small as 
 they. 
 
 Bonaparte was like-minded with 
 them — that the real foe of France 
 was England. But Bonaparte had 
 also much of the dreamer and the 
 adventurer in his make-up. The 
 strength of England was in her commerce, largely in the 
 vast wealth she drew from India. Would not the seizure of 
 Egypt put France squarely across the best road to India, ^ and 
 
 1 The regular route to India was, of course, at this time (seventy-one years 
 before the opening of the Suez Canal) via the long voyage around the Cape of 
 
 A FRENCH INFANTRYMAN 
 
 {After a contemporary engraving) 
 
426 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 with a fimi grip on Egypt would not the conquest of the golden 
 Indies be inevitable? The project appealed to Bonaparte. 
 While peace lasted with Austria and Prussia, there was little 
 chance for him to use his talents nearer home; and the Direc- 
 tors wilHngly aided him to assemble warships and transports 
 for a romantic expedition to Egypt. 
 
 With 35,000 men he sailed from Toulon. By good fortune 
 he evaded the English fleet waiting to waylay him. On the 
 voyage he seized Malta from its possessors, the helpless Knights 
 of St. John. Arriving at Alexandria, he disembarked, and the 
 disciplined valor of the French easily overcame the resistance 
 of the Mamelukes, the Mohammedan rulers of Egypt. The 
 country was soon in his hands, and Bonaparte showed his 
 ability and versatility in dealing with the Moslem sheiks, win- 
 ning their good will, and even affecting a half-readiness to 
 support the doctrines of Islam. He had not been long, how- 
 ever, in Egypt ere a great disaster overtook him. The English 
 destroyed his fighting fleet. 
 
 Nelson had been cruising the Mediterranean with his 
 squadron, seeking the French battleships. Bad information 
 and head winds had hitherto baftlcd him. Now he discovered 
 the French anchored in Aboukir Bay,^ in shoal water and 
 seemingly well protected by the land. But with a calculating 
 daring that proved him the prince of British seamen, Nelson 
 ran his ships through the shoals and laid them alongside the 
 French. Numerically the forces were about equal; but the 
 English had caught their enemies anchored and nigh helpless. 
 Nearly the whole French fleet was destroyed, and Bonaparte's 
 expedition was crippled. 
 
 "We are condemned to do something great! " declared the 
 
 French general on hearing the news. He led his men into the 
 
 Good Hope, but the strategic value and commercial possibilities of Egypt were 
 .entirely recognized. Bonaparte had already conceived the idea of a Suez Canal, 
 and carried instructions with him from France to create such a canal if possible. 
 1 This battle is also often called "the battle of the Nile." 
 
BONAPARTE OVERTURNS THE OLD EUROPE 427 
 
 Turkish province of Palestine, won victories, but failed to 
 make any real conquests. Presently news reached him from 
 France which caused him to forsake his army, and escape on 
 one of his remaining frigates homeward. "■ 
 
 249. Napoleon First Consul (1799-1804). The Government 
 of the Directory had not been an absolute failure; but it had 
 been only a very moderate success. 
 Twice the Directors had quarreled 
 amongst themselves, and the major- 
 ity had expelled the minority. Their 
 regime was very unpopular, and not 
 without blunders. In 1799, they 
 found most of Europe again in co- 
 alition against them, the so-called 
 " Second Coalition " (Russia, Aus- 
 tria, England, Turkey, Naples, Por- 
 tugal). In the campaigns that fol- 
 lowed, the French won severaj vic- 
 tories, but there was no Bonaparte 
 present to guarantee continual suc- 
 cess. France was somewhat upon 
 the defensive, when Bonaparte landed 
 again from Egypt (October 9, 1799). 
 
 The time was ripe for a bold stroke, 
 and the ambitious Corsican was no 
 man to hesitate. The Directory was hated for its inefficiency 
 and tyranny: it was also at open variance with the Legisla- 
 ture. Three of the Directors actually connived at the final 
 deed which was the upshot of the intrigues into which 
 Bonaparte had plunged after his return to Paris. On No- 
 vember II, 1799, the "Council of Five Hundred" was broken 
 
 A FRENCH DRAGOON OF THE 
 TIME OF THE CONSULATE 
 
 (After a water-color by General 
 Lejeune) 
 
 1 The army which he thus abandoned, somewhat ingloriously, held out in 
 Egypt until 1801, when an English force compelled it to surrender. Bonaparte, 
 however, had taken the majority of his best generals back to France with him. 
 
428 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 up by the bayonets of Bonaparte's devoted grenadiers. The 
 "Ancients" concurred now in a proposal to appoint a new 
 provisional government. The result was another constitution 
 for France;^ a constitution which still kept the name and 
 simulacrum of a " republic," while in fact it was a disguised 
 monarchy. There was to be a carefully hampered legislature 
 elected in a most cumbersome and indirect method by a form 
 of popular vote; there was to be a " Senate " of eighty (nomi- 
 nated by the " Consuls," not elected), with certain supervising 
 powers; but practically the entire Government was vested in 
 the First Consul,- chosen for ten years and master of all the 
 resources of the State in peace and war. " Citizens," ran 
 the first proclamation of the new regime, " the Revolution is 
 finished." 
 
 The finisher and the new " First Consul " was, of course. 
 Napoleon Bonaparte. 
 
 250. The end of the Holy Roman Empire. France was 
 weary of revolutions and new constitutions. For the moment, 
 at least, the nation seemed content to forget radical theo- 
 ries and to settle down under the sway of a victorious and 
 almost fearfully intelligent dictator. The First Consul threw 
 all his energies into ending the new war with Austria. Again he 
 invaded Italy and won a new triumph at Marengo (iSoo). In 
 Germany, the French general, Moreau, won a still more decisive 
 victory at Hohenlinden."^ Once more Austria and most of her 
 
 1 The "Fourth Constitution," officially known as the "Constitution of the 
 Year VIII." 
 
 ^ The Second and Third Consuls were ornamental creatures with consultative 
 functions only. — "Who shall preside?" asked Sieyes (the provisional second 
 consul) at the first meeting of the three. "Do you not see the general is in 
 the chair? " replied the third consul. That same night Sieyes remarked to 
 his hiends, " Goitlemcn f it'c have a master." 
 
 ^ Bonaparte regarded this victory won by a lieutenant most jealously. All the 
 real glories must go to himself alone. In 1S04, Moreau was accused of sharing 
 in a plot to overturn the Government, and was driven into exile. For a while 
 he resided in America, but in 18 13, returned to Europe, took service with the 
 Russians, and was killed in the battle of Dresden. 
 
BONAPARTE OVERTURNS THE OLD EUROPE 429 
 
 allies were humbled. The Peace of Luneville (1801) not merely 
 confirmed the pact of Campo Formio, but practically destroyed 
 the old "Holy Roman Empire." Twenty-five thousand square 
 miles of once Germanic territory were now ceded to France 
 with their 3,500,000 inhabitants.^ Austria also recognized the 
 existence of the Batavian (Dutch), Helvetian (Swiss), and 
 Ligurian and Cisalpine (North Italian) Republics, — feeble 
 countries absolutely dominated by France. Bonaparte had, 
 indeed, advanced far on his task of wrecking the old institu- 
 tions of Europe. The Revolution in France might be ended: 
 outside of France, it had hardly been begun. 
 
 In 1802, England and France made the Peace of Amiens 
 practically on the basis of the status quo? It was a truce rather 
 than a peace : there were many points left at issue, and every- 
 thing pointed to a new war; but for the moment it untied 
 Bonaparte's hands, and left him free to prosecute ambitious 
 schemes on the Continent and in the French colonies. 
 
 In no country was his influence felt more than in Germany. 
 The princes who had lost lands to France had been promised 
 compensation nearer home. Bonaparte sustained them in one 
 of the most famous spoliations in history. In February, 1803, 
 after two years of negotiations in which the German diplomats 
 vied with one another in shameful subservience to French 
 threats and French suggestions, the famous " Enactment of 
 the Delegates of the Empire " was proclaimed.^ Nearly all the 
 lesser German principalities, including nearly all the prince- 
 bishoprics and forty-two of the forty-eight "Free Cities," 
 were abolished, their lands to be absorbed by their greater 
 neighbors.* A few of the petty states escaped annihilation by 
 
 ' This included Belgium, to which Austria had waived her claims in 17Q7. 
 
 - Several French islands which the English had seized were, however, to be 
 restored. 
 
 ' This enactment is known officially by the fearful r.nd wonderful German 
 name of "Reichsdeputationshauptschluss." 
 
 ^ This process of seizure and confiscation was given the innocent name of 
 
430 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 good luck or good management ; certain of the greater states — 
 e.g., Bavaria and Baden — ■ received a disproportionate share 
 of the spoils; but in any case the map of Germany was wholly 
 remade. This new Germany was wholly dependent for its form 
 and existence upon Napoleon. The Emperor Francis at Vienna, 
 however, continued to call himself "Hol\ Roman Emperor" 
 until 1806, when he wisely dropped the title for that of heredi- 
 tary " Emperor of iVustria," claiming the Hapsburg dominion 
 only.i The Empire of Charlemagne and Otto I had met a dis- 
 honored end. 
 
 251. Napoleon, Emperor of the French. December 2, 1804, 
 saw a great spectacle in Paris. Every event since the establish- 
 ment of the " Consulate " had pointed the way to it. Bona- 
 parte exchanged his dictatorship for an imperial crown. By the 
 formahty of a popular election (3,572.329 to 2569 ran the vote 
 as announced), the" French Republic " became an "Empire " ; 
 with Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, its hereditary mon- 
 arch. There were some forms of popular government retained: 
 a legislature with highly restrained functions; and an occa- 
 sional chance for the citizens to cast a vote; nevertheless, for 
 all effective purposes, Napoleon, as we shall henceforth call 
 him, was as absolute as Louis XIV. 
 
 At his coronation the Pope had been a guest of honor, but 
 Napoleon had placed the crown upon his own head, and with 
 his own hands crowned his wife, Josephine, empress. His title 
 to sovereignty was to rest on his own genius and the favor of 
 his army, not on the confirmation of any hierarch. 
 
 In the very city and land, where ten years earlier Jacobinism 
 had been rampant, was now set up a magnilicent court. The 
 brothers and sisters of the poor cadet from Corsica were to be 
 
 "Mcdiatization " (i.e., placing in a dependent position). The unlucky "media- 
 tized" princes kept their private fortunes and social status, but lost all govern- 
 mental status and powers. 
 
 ^ This change took place after the disastrous war with France in 1S05 (see 
 section 252), which gave a final blow to the decrepit "Holy Roman Empire." 
 
BONAPARTE OVERTURNS THE OLD EUROPE 431 
 
 kings and queens of dependent nations. His marshals and gen- 
 erals became princes and dukes. Napoleon knew how splendor 
 and glitter could appeal to the French, and that the bulk of 
 the population had never been really fond of the Republic. 
 " You Frenchmen love monarchy. It is the only Government 
 you really like," he remarked; and he took pains that for long 
 his subjects should forget to discuss'' Liberty," amid a surfeit 
 of the "Glory" so dear to all their race. 
 
 For a number of years the " First Empire " was a tremen- 
 dous success, and Napoleon the most popular of mortals. 
 Only after a long time did the illusion vanish, the fearful cost 
 of this "glory" become evident, and France begin to repent 
 that she had committed her ways into the keeping of this ter- 
 rible Titan. 
 
 252. Trafalgar and Austerlitz (180$). The new dynasty was 
 soon to have its baptism of fire. The peace with England had 
 already ended in new warfare (1803).^ Now "British gold" 
 had fostered by 1805 ^ ^ew alliance, the " Third Coalition," 
 against Napoleon. England, Russia, Austria, Sweden, all 
 banded together to "restore" the "Balance of Power" in 
 Europe, so sorely dislocated by this French colossus. Prussia 
 kept sullenly neutral; Spain (feeble and decadent) was alhed 
 with France; nevertheless, the odds against Napoleon seemed 
 heavy. The subsequent campaign, however, was to demon- 
 strate that the " Emperor of the French " was no less formid- 
 able than the " General of the Republic." 
 
 In one great quarter, however. Napoleon was to receive 
 humiliation. Since 1803, he had dreamed of invading England. 
 If he once could land a few corps of his veterans on British 
 soil, he would have " perfidious Albion " upon her knees. To 
 
 ^ Each side had charged the other with failing to observe the provisos of the 
 Treaty of Amiens — and each side had been right. Between a jealous commer- 
 cial nation like England, and a politician and warrior of the overweening ambi- 
 tion of Napoleon, no real peace was, indeed, possible. One or the other must 
 needs be ruined. 
 
uj a, 
 
BONAPARTE OVERTURNS THE OLD EUROPE 433 
 
 this end he had collected a great flotilla of flatboats in the Brit- 
 ish Channel, to ferry across his army, some lucky day when 
 King George's fleet had been decoyed out to sea or had been 
 shattered in a great battle. That moment never came, and in 
 1805, Napoleon was glad to divert the "Grand Army" he had 
 assembled for England to the war in Austria. But his French 
 battle-fleet, under the brave but not over-competent Admiral 
 Villeneuve, had joined the alhed Spanish squadron; and this 
 united force of thirty-three battleships on October 21, 1805, 
 met twenty-seven English battleships off Cape Trafalgar, on 
 the coast of Spain. " England expects every man to do his 
 duty ! " had been Nelson's last signal ere his flagship, the 
 Victory, charged through the hostile Hne. Nelson perished, 
 but not before his fleet had won a complete success. Twenty 
 French and Spanish ships were taken or sunk. Never had 
 British seamanship and courage been better vindicated. Her 
 "wooden walls" made England secure henceforth against all 
 the hosts of Napoleon. 
 
 Yet, almost simultaneously with this humiliation, came two 
 of Napoleon's greatest land successes. Never had his move- 
 ments been more rapid or precise; his blows struck to deadlier 
 purpose. October 17, 1805, saw the Austrian general. Mack, 
 surrendering Ulm (in Bavaria) with 30,000 men. The French 
 marched in triumph into Vienna. When the demoralized 
 Austrians had been reinforced by the Russians under Czar 
 Alexander, Napoleon won his most brilliant and decisive vic- 
 tory. At Austerlitz (December 2), in the " Battle of the Three 
 Emperors," the French swept the alhes from the field in rout. 
 Austria could resist no more. The Peace of Pressburg tore 
 from her Venetia, which went to Napoleon's new dependent 
 " Kingdom of Italy," and nearer home she had to make large 
 concessions to Bavaria. Russia and England were still hostile, 
 but they were distant or across the seas. Napoleon seemed 
 in a position of unchallenged supremacy. 
 
434 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 253. The humiliation of Prussia (1806-07). One great 
 Power had held back from the 'Third CoaHtion" — Prussia. 
 With her aid the allies might have tipped the scale against 
 France. Her king, Frederick William III, was a well-inten- 
 tioned but heavy, unimaginative man without a spark of 
 genius. He was surrounded by very incompetent and self- 
 willed ministers. Since 1795, Prussia had been at peace with 
 France, and superficially had prospered. Her army was full 
 of superannuated officers who prided themselves on memories 
 of Frederick the Great's exploits, but who had failed to make 
 the least progress in the art of warfare since his death. Semi- 
 feudal conditions obtained in many parts of the kingdom. 
 The people seemed sluggish, unmodernized, and not very 
 patriotic. With allies Prussia might have counted heavily 
 against Napoleon, but it was madness for her to declare war 
 alone. So long as Austria had been in fighting condition, 
 Napoleon had carefully soothed Frederick William with com- 
 pliments and concessions; now he deliberately goaded the 
 Prussians into fury by his aggressions along their frontiers and 
 by various acts which they could consider perfidy. In an hour 
 of blind folly, Frederick Wilham declared war with only mari- 
 time England and distant Russia for possible helpers. 
 
 It was easy to forecast Prussian defeat, but that defeat was 
 astonishingly sudden. " His Majesty the King," a Prussian 
 general had said, " has several generals as good as or superior to 
 Monsieur Bonaparte." They proved their worth at Jena 
 (October 14, 1806) when the Prussian army was utterly routed ^ 
 by Napoleon's columns and practically the whole kingdom fell 
 into his hands with ease; one fortress after another capitulating 
 with disgraceful haste. The old fighting machine of Frederick 
 the Great had been shattered to bits by the new fighting 
 machine of Napoleon. 
 
 1 The Prussians were not merely defeated, Ijut so absolutely demoralized that 
 their unfortunate kinu was unable to get them really together for another battle 
 before he had been forced back nearly to the Russian frontier. 
 
436 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 Czar Alexander presently came to Frederick William's help. 
 The alKes made a last stand in the extreme east of the Prussian 
 kingdom. But after the unsuccessful battle of Friedland (1807), 
 the czar would do no more. He was a somewhat fickle, impres- 
 sionable man, and Napoleon succeeded in filling him with fine 
 notions of dividing the entire world between the " two friendly 
 empires" of Russia and France. The result was the Peace of 
 Tilsit (July 9, 1807). 
 
 By this treaty Russia lost practically nothing, but Prussia 
 was almost stricken from the list of great Powers. She lost all 
 her lands west of the Elbe, and nearly all her annexations at 
 the division of Poland; in short, her territory was reduced from 
 8q,ooo to 46,000 square miles. She was later pledged to pay an 
 enormous war indemnity to the French, and not to maintain 
 an army of more than 42,000 men. 
 
 The Peace of Tilsit probably marked the culmination of 
 Napoleon's powTr. He dominated Europe as had no ruler since 
 the passing of the old Roman Empire. Despite the cruelty and 
 selfishness of his policy he had accomplished, on the whole, 
 great good. The rotten institutions of old Europe had been 
 shaken to their bases. What now would take their place? 
 
 REVIEW 
 
 1. Topics — Lodi; Treaty of Campo Formio; Battle of the Nile; 
 Second Coalition; Constitution of the year YIII; Peace of Luneville; 
 the "enactment of the Delegates of the Empire"; Third Coalition; 
 Trafalgar; Austerlitz; Peace of Pressburg; Jena; Peace of Tilsit. 
 
 2. GcograpJiy — 
 
 {a) Locate Corsica; Toulon; Mantua; Campo Formio; Camper- 
 down; Malta; Aboukir Bay; Marengo; Luneville; Amiens; 
 Trafalgar; Ulm; Austerlitz; Jena. 
 
 (/)) Mark the states of Italy in 1798. 
 
 3. Make a summary giving the chief events (with dates) in the life of 
 Napoleon; noting the stages of his ascent to power, and how each 
 great campaign affected his fortunes. 
 
 4. Describe the work of the English navy from Cape St. Vincent to 
 Trafalgar, showing clearly how that work affected Napoleon's career 
 
BONAPARTE OVERTURNS THE OLD EUROPE 437 
 
 5. Show briefly what events and changes had taken place during the 
 period covered by this chapter in Italy, Austria, Prussia, the German 
 states (aside from Austria and Prussia), and Russia. 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 1. Admiral Nelson. 
 
 2. The Peace of Amiens. 
 
 3. How far did the court of Napoleon as emperor resemble the French 
 court before the Revolution? 
 
 4. The battle of Trafalgar. 
 
 5. The battle of Austerlitz. 
 
 6. The battle of Friedland. 
 
 7. The end of the "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation." 
 
 READINGS 
 
 Sotirces. Robinson: nos. 418-35. 
 
 Modern accounts. Seignobos: pp. 145-55, 170-76. Duruy: pp. 566-600. 
 
 Pattison: pp. 362-81. Lodge: chapter xxiil, sections 21-30; xxiv, 
 .sections 1-25. Lewis: pp. 557-82. Robinson and Beard: vol. i, pp. 
 
 284-323. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIV 
 
 THE DOWNFALL OF NAPOLEON 
 
 254. Napoleon at the height of his power. " The new 
 
 Charlemagne" seemed to round out his astoundingly ambi- 
 tious poHcy in 1808, when, by deUberately trading upon the 
 dissensions existing in the Spanish royal family, he induced 
 the worthless king to abdicate, and when he himself thrust his 
 own brother Joseph upon the venerable throne of Ferdinand 
 and Isabella and Philip 11. From this time to 181 2 he con- 
 tinued to ordain one annexation or protectorate after another, 
 until " France" and her dependencies covered a large part of 
 the map of Europe. 
 
 The French Empire (proper), besides old France, now ex- 
 tended to the Rhine, and included, on the north, Holland and 
 the seacoast of Germany up to Denmark. In Italy it embraced 
 a broad strip running along the west coast and including 
 Rome.^ 
 
 Around France ran a kind of fringe of dependent kingdoms, 
 their thrones filled by satellites of their powerful creator. Thus, 
 as seen, Spain fell to Joseph, Napoleon's brother; Westphalia 
 (in North Germany, a new and arbitrary unit manufactured 
 by Napoleon) to Jerome, a younger brother; Naples passed 
 to Murat, a favorite cavalry officer. Most of northern Italy 
 formed the Kingdom of Italy, of which Napoleon took the crown 
 himself, but left the immediate government to his capable 
 stepson, the viceroy, Eugene. In Germany most states not al- 
 ready absorbed were yoked together into the "Confederation 
 
 1 The helpless Pope (Pius VII) was held a prisoner in France. Napoleon 
 affected to patronize the Catholic Church as a religious organization, but if his 
 regime had lasted, the Church would have been hopelessly dependent upon the 
 secular government. 
 
THE DOWNFALL OF NAPOLEON 
 
 439 
 
 of the Rhine," with Napoleon as protector. Some of these 
 lesser states the emperor cultivated as harmless and useful 
 alHes against Austria or Prussia. Thus the rulers of Bavaria, 
 Saxony, and Wiirtemberg were raised to the proud status of 
 
 EUROPE IN 1810 
 
 '' kings"; and Baden to a " grand duchy." All Germany west 
 of the Rhine was, of course, directly in French hands, and every 
 effort was being made to make the people entirely French in 
 habits and language. French influence was in fact everywhere. 
 No doubt Napoleon dreamed of making the civilization of the 
 European world French, even as it had once been Latin. 
 
440 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 It would be a mistake to consider Napoleon a mere destroyer 
 and conqueror. Amid the clash of arms he found time for 
 a great deal of intelligent interest and legislation in behalf 
 of French manufactures, commerce, and agriculture. Soon 
 after gaining power he established the " University " — a 
 grand organization of all the higher educational forces in 
 France, putting them under the organized control of the 
 Government. He reformed the paper currency of the Revolu- 
 tion and placed French money on a sound basis. He recalled 
 many royalist exiles, and gave them places of honor in his 
 new governmental machine. His Code Napoleon was a mar- 
 velously successful codification of French law.^ If his rule was 
 that of a despot, he at least made it plain that abihty, and 
 not merely aristocratic birth or privilege, could command high 
 positions in his Government. Men served him well, for they 
 knew that he was no respecter of persons, and that the rewards 
 for faithful and efficient service were great. " Every soldier 
 carries a marshal's baton in his knapsack,'' Napoleon is said to 
 have remarked, implying that distinguished military achieve- 
 ment was certain of promotion. Corresponding conditions 
 were true in his civil service. 
 
 In 1808, Napoleon's power seemed colossal. By a " concor- 
 dat" with the Pope, he had even hushed up the much vexed 
 religious question, and restored the Cathohc Church to most of 
 its honors. He had yoked supreme ability to supreme good 
 fortune. From this time onward, however, he was to plunge 
 into manifold dilficulties, largely of his own making, which led 
 to his downfall. 
 
 255. The Continental Blockade. Even when Napoleon had 
 forced peace with the bayonet upon all the rest of the world, 
 the war with England continued. This war, however, was one 
 
 1 This Code is still used in France to-day, and with some modifications in 
 many parts of Germany, in Holland, Belgium, Italy, Spain, and the American 
 State of Louisiana. 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 Emperor of the French (1804-15) 
 Born 1769 Died 1821 
 
THE DOWNFALL OF NAPOLEON 441 
 
 in which the emperor felt his right arm tied. Since Trafalgar 
 it was practically impossible for a French fleet to creep beyond 
 the protecting fortress-guns of its home harbor. From the 
 Baltic to the Adriatic, the swarms of British blockading cruis- 
 ers sealed all the ports of Napoleon's huge realm and those of 
 his alhes. French commerce was being strangled, while Eng- 
 lish shipping ranged the seas. 
 
 In a desperate attempt to coerce Great Britain, Napoleon 
 now resorted to a form of embargo, almost unique in history. 
 In 1806-07, he declared, by the "Berlin" and " Milan decrees," 
 all his dominions and all countries under his mighty influence 
 closed, not merely to British ships, but to British manufactures 
 of any kind. All his unwilling allies and dependencies were 
 forced to do likewise. British goods if smuggled in could be 
 seized and burned ; while intercourse with England in any form 
 became a great crime. This "Continental System" was, on 
 the whole, a vast blunder. It could not be enforced rigorously 
 enough to ruin England ; it did ruin many innocent merchants 
 whose trade was destroyed; it was intensely unpopular in 
 France; and it brought home the despotic nature of Napoleon's 
 regime to the awakening patriots of Germany. These decrees 
 form one of the prime causes of Napoleon's loss of popularity. ■ 
 
 256. The resistance of Spain and Austria. In 1808, in an 
 unlucky moment Napoleon had overstepped all prudence by 
 deposing the old dynasty and thrusting his brother Joseph 
 upon the throne of Spain. The emperor had rightly formed a 
 contemptuous opinion of the Spanish army ; but he forgot that 
 Spain, though an exceedingly easy country to defeat, has 
 proved in history to be an exceedingly difficult country to 
 conquer. There was a wholesale uprising and arming of the 
 proud Spaniards against the interloping" Corsican." Napoleon 
 threw 250,000 men into the peninsula; he won repeated vic- 
 tories over the ill-led forces of the Spanish Provisional Govern- 
 ment; but although he could take the chief cities after cruel 
 
442 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 slaughter, he could not crush the guerrilla bands, who defied 
 his power everywhere, and kept the patriot cause alive. For 
 the first time in his career Napoleon had to confront, not 
 "monarchies," but enkindled "peoples." He did not know 
 how to deal with the problem. 
 
 Year after year the Spanish war continued. The Spaniards 
 gained the help of small armies from England, commanded 
 presently by Sir Arthur Wellesley.^ The generals to whom 
 Napoleon left the war found their task increasingly difficult, 
 and clamored for reinforcements. Napoleon had to divert to 
 Spain men sorely needed elsewhere. This exhausting contest 
 went on until his downfall. "My ulcer" was what later he 
 pithily called this Spanish war. 
 
 In 1809, he fought more victoriously with Austria, which 
 had ventured to measure strength with him again. Even here 
 an unpleasant surprise awaited. At Aspern, for the first time 
 in his hfe, he was really defeated. Then his good fortune and 
 genius reasserted itself. At Wagram he won a great victory. 
 Again Austria must make peace, with the additional loss of 
 32,000 square miles of territory.- 
 
 257. The regeneration of Prussia. But it was neither Spain 
 nor Austria that was to break the power of the great conqueror. 
 The real avenger of the outraged nationahties was to be 
 Prussia. 
 
 No land had been dealt with so ruthlessly by Napoleon: for 
 none did he manifest such obvious contempt. At times it 
 seemed as if he would use his great power to blot it from the 
 map. But Prussia, although hitherto a land mainly of hard- 
 drinking country nobles, stupid peasants, and a few unprogres- 
 
 1 Later the Duke of Wellington. This contest in Spain is called by the English 
 the " Peninsular War," and is notable as the scene of Wellington's early triumphs 
 and of the experience which stood him in such good stead at Waterloo. 
 
 2 Much of these lands Austria had to give to Bavaria (Napoleon's supple ally) ; 
 some to the Duchy of Warsaw (a partial revival of Poland); and certain districts 
 along the Adriatic to France itself. 
 
THE DOWNFALL OF NAPOLEON 443 
 
 sive burghers, now came to be the focus of the rising German 
 national feehng, smarting and angry as it was under French 
 insolence and French dictation. In the hard school of adver- 
 sity, Frederick William III learned many things: especially 
 he appointed as ministers several men who rank as great con- 
 structive statesmen. The salvation of Prussia was largely 
 due to Humboldt, who reformed her system of education and 
 founded the University of Berlin; ^ to Scharnhorst, who reor- 
 ganized the demoralized Prussian army on the basis, not of 
 
 'V^ 
 
 ,»i 
 
 .4 ''J 
 
 , ■) 
 
 
 ENROLLING VOLUNTEERS IN PRUSSL^ 
 
 mercenary enlistments, but of universal service, as part of the 
 duties of all citizens,^ and above all, to Stein, who secured the 
 aboHtion of serfdom and of the old feudal restrictions which 
 had hampered the rise of the lower classes. It is not too much 
 to say that the greatness of modern Germany dates from the 
 
 ^ The only efficient Prussian universities had been located in the territory 
 ceded at Tilsit. The founding now of the University of Berlin, destined to be 
 the intellectual citadel of all the new nineteenth-century scientific and higher 
 learning, was an event of the very first order — more important than many far- 
 heralded battles. 
 
 2 Napoleon had forced Prussia to limit her army to 42,000 men. The difficulty 
 was met by dismissing the new recruits as soon as they were fairly well-trained 
 soldiers, and then enlisting another set; keeping the older men within easy call. 
 In this way Prussia really had 150,000 men available for an emergency. 
 
444 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 reforms of these men, and the new spirit of patriotism which 
 went with them. 
 
 The revival of patriotic feeling was not confined to Prussian 
 governmental circles alone. Men of letters and learning shared 
 in it. The great philosopher Fichte summed up the spirit in 
 his "Addresses to the German Nation." Clearly he pointed 
 out that it was not by mere diplomatic combinations, but 
 by a new patriotism and passion for self-sacrihce, that the 
 Fatherland could be saved; and he called for an intelligent 
 devotion which should " fashion the German people to a unity 
 throbbing through all its limbs." Such appeals went home 
 even to the most doltish peasants. With a great impatience 
 Prussia awaited the day for heroic effort and national deliv- 
 erance. That day dawned late in 1812. 
 
 258. The Moscow Campaign (1812). Yet in the fateful year 
 of 181 2 Napoleon's power seemed unshaken. The Prussian 
 patriot movement seemed spending itself in harmless reforms 
 in a weak vassal kingdom. The Spanish war languished. Some 
 great disaster was needed to tell the world that the " Con- 
 queror " was not invincible; that it was not courting instant 
 destruction to rise against him. Napoleon himself provided 
 the way for his own overthrow. 
 
 With Czar Alexander he had made close and avowedly equal 
 alliance, but a real equal Napoleon could never brook. Between 
 Russia and France there arose at first friction, then coldness. ^ 
 Lured on by an evil genius, Napoleon declared war on Russia. 
 Over 550,000 men (only a minority Frenchmen, the rest drawn 
 from his trembhng dependencies and allies) followed him when 
 he invaded the czar's dominions in June, 181 2. He fought his 
 way across the great plains toward Moscow, convinced that 
 once the ancient and sacred capital of Russia had fallen into his 
 
 1 The chief ground of trouble was that Alexander refused to enforce the "Con- 
 tinental System " firmly against English commerce, and thereby ruin his own 
 Russian commerce. 
 
THE DOWNFALL OF NAPOLEON 445 
 
 hands, the czar would cry out for peace. At Borodino he fought 
 a terribly bloody battle ^ and won the day; but his foes retired 
 unbroken and in good order. On September 14, he entered 
 Moscow. 
 
 Then came the great disillusionment. The czar did not sue 
 for peace. The city took fire, and became almost uninhabit- 
 able.2 Supplies ran short for the French. Retreat was the only 
 wise course, but Napoleon delayed, hoping vainly for a request 
 for an armistice. No messenger from the czar came. On 
 October 19, the " Grand Army " started back for Germany. 
 The story of the return march is one of the tragedies of history. 
 The terrible Russian winter, the attacks of the swarming 
 Cossack horsemen, the total failure of all supplies, the destruc- 
 tion of bridges, — all made the " Retreat from Moscow " a 
 continuous horror. Napoleon reached the confines of Poland 
 in January with barely 20,000 men behind him. Three hundred 
 thousand able-bodied young men among the French or their 
 allies had perished; and the rest were prisoners, stragglers, or 
 had gone over to the enemy. 
 
 259. The great uprising against Napoleon (1813). The 
 extremity of Napoleon was the opportunity of Prussia. A great 
 outburst of patriotic zeal swept the hesitant King Frederick 
 WilHam away from his alliance with the emperor. Magnificent 
 had been the uprising of France against the Austro-Prussian 
 invaders in the days of the Revolution; equally magnificent 
 now was the uprising of Prussia against the Colossus of France. 
 University professors led their students to the enlistment hall. 
 Women sacrificed their jewels, their wedding rings, even their 
 long hair, to raise money for the Fatherland. The winter of 
 181 2-13 was spent by the Prussians in a tremendous effort to 
 
 ^ The French lost 32,000 and the Russians 47,000 men. 
 
 ^ Just how far the Russians were responsible for setting and spreading the fire, 
 and again how much it had to do with rendering Napoleon's position untenable, 
 are among the debatable problems of history. 
 
446 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 organize an army which could enable their small impoverished 
 kingdom to measure swords with the oppressor. 
 
 Napoleon, meantime, was in France, displaying astonishing 
 energy in creating another army. He had saved most of his 
 officers out of the Moscow wreck, but even before the last fear- 
 ful campaign his old veterans, the soldiers of the Republic, 
 who had won his first great battles, had been killed off. Only 
 by a remorseless conscription, which swept the whole youth of 
 France into the battahons, could he now assemble numbers 
 sufficient to enable him to take the field. Frenchmen had long 
 since grown weary of celebrating "victories" for which they 
 had paid with their sons' lives. Now, after Moscow, even Na- 
 poleon's despotism could not silence a rising demand for 
 '' peace." He went into the 1813 campaign with France weary 
 and sullen, with Russia triumphant, and with Prussia most 
 terribly aroused. 
 
 260. The '^ Battle of the Nations '; Leipzig (1813). Despite 
 the untrained recruits in his ranks, Napoleon at first was able 
 to claim more victories in Germany, but they were not victories 
 of a decisive kind. The Prussian patriot-armies did not break 
 up now as had the old Prussian army at Jena. In June, 1813, 
 he made an armistice with Russia and Prussia, each side wait- 
 ing to see what attitude Austria would assume. Emperor 
 Francis I had hesitated: — Austria had been defeated so often, 
 and Francis was now Napoleon's father-in-law. ^ But the 
 Corsican foolishly threw away his last chance of keeping 
 Austrian friendship and so breaking up the coalition. When 
 Metternich, the sly Hapsburg prime minister, called on him at 
 Dresden (June 26, 1813), to oft'er Austrian "mediation" in 
 repayment for the return of some of the Hapsburg lands previ- 
 ously seized by France, Napoleon refused any concessions and 
 
 1 In iSio, Napoleon (who had divorced Josephine because she bore him no 
 children) had wedded the Austrian princess, Maria Louisa. The fruit of this 
 marriage was a son, "the King of Rome," who would have been reckoned 
 "Napoleon 11" if he had ever reigned. 
 
THE DOWNFALL OF NAPOLEON 447 
 
 acted with intolerable arrogance. "So you want war?" he 
 cried. "Well, you shall have it. The rendezvous shall be in 
 Vienna." In a lit of rage he flung his hat into the corner of the 
 room, and vowed that he cared not if his wars cost the Kves of a 
 milUon men. The ambassador went out grimly. " The man is 
 lost!" was Metternich's blunt reply to the French generals, 
 who crowded around him as he came forth, and who as sane 
 persons were hoping for peace. 
 
 Austria now joined with Prussia and Russia in another great 
 coalidon. England sent subsidies. For the first time all the 
 great non-French Powers were in cordial alHance, and the 
 result was inevitable. Napoleon could still prolong the fighting 
 from August until October, and then came the blow from which 
 he never recovered. F^rom October 16 to the i8th raged the 
 three days' battle of Leipzig: the " Battle of the Nations," the 
 victors justly called it. Three hundred thousand allies held 
 Napoleon at bay with only 180,000 men behind him. The 
 French fought magnificently, but there could be only one end. 
 The emperor escaped back into France with only the bare 
 remnants of an utterly defeated army. 
 
 261. The first abdication (1814). Napoleon could still have 
 saved his throne and a considerable part of his conquests if he 
 would have made peace promptly; but the idea of becoming 
 merely one of several rulers of " Great Powers " was intoler- 
 able to him; besides, in France he was really only a tremen- 
 dously successful adventurer. Could he keep his throne if he 
 were no longer victorious; and if the chief result of his reign 
 should prove to have been only the slaughter of countless French 
 youth? Despite the fact that his armies were now hopelessly 
 depleted, that the English were victorious over his marshals in 
 Spain, that an increasing murmur against new sacrifices was 
 arising at home, he refused all tolerable terms of accommoda- 
 tion, and defied embattled Europe to do its worst. 
 
 Late in December, 18 13, the aUies began to penetrate into 
 
448 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 France to complete the work of Leipzig. No uprising of the 
 masses (like that of 1792-93) took place to sweep them beyond 
 the frontiers. With the last remnants of his regular army 
 Napoleon fought a magnificent campaign against superior 
 numbers; repeatedly he won victories, but not decisive ones. 
 March 31, 1814, the allied forces entered Paris, and early in 
 April, Napoleon 'b marshals — no longer wiUing to sacrifice 
 
 SURRENDER OF PARIS TO THE ALLIED MONARCHS, MARCH 31, 1814 
 
 themselves to their master's pride — informed him that the 
 army could do no more. He must abdicate, and make terms 
 with the allies. Very unwillingly he perforce consented. 
 
 The allied monarchs hesitated considerably as to the new 
 government to give to France: logically, however, only one 
 thing was possible, to restore the exiled Bourbon prince, the 
 brother of Louis XVI, as Louis XVIII, under a constitution, 
 the "Charter," which secured to France most of the perma- 
 nent reforms of the Revolution and a kind of elective Parlia- 
 ment. The boundaries of France were to be those existing 
 
THE DOWNFALL OF NAPOLEON 449 
 
 before the Revolution, with certain very slight additions.^ 
 As for Napoleon, he was to keep the title of "Emperor," and 
 be granted the small island of Elba, off the Italian coast, as a 
 principaUty. It did not require keen powers of prophecy to 
 imagine that he could not rest within such narrow limits 
 forever. 
 
 262. Waterloo (iSis) and St. Helena. On May 4, 18 14, Napo- 
 leon reached Elba. On March i, 1815, he had landed again 
 in southern France. The restored regime of the Bourbons 
 had proved tactless and unpopular. The army had not the 
 least enthusiasm for a Government which practically repudi- 
 ated ail the glories of the past twenty years.- The instant he 
 believed discontent had ripened. Napoleon struck. For the 
 moment all resistance to his progress crumbled. The troops 
 sent against him joined in the cry, " Long Live the Emperor! " 
 Marshal Ney was sent by Louis XVIII to arrest his old mas- 
 ter: and Ney joined the rest in the wholesale desertion. The 
 Bourbons fled hastily to Belgium, while Napoleon reentered 
 Paris. 
 
 The emperor enacted various "popular" measures to con- 
 cihate pubhc opinion,^ and begged the alhed monarchs of 
 Europe to believe that he desired nothing now but the old 
 boundaries of France and peace. It was impossible to believe 
 him. While his uneasy genius should control the destinies of 
 France, no former enemy could rest safe. England, Prussia, 
 Austria, and Russia declared war and put their armies in mo- 
 tion. The forces at Napoleon's disposal were very inferior in 
 numbers, though the quahty of this remainder of his old armies 
 
 1 In the second treaty of peace which followed Waterloo, France lost practi- 
 cally all these small annexations also, and was thrown back upon the old boun- 
 daries of 1790. She was likewise compelled to pay a heavy war indemnity. 
 
 2 One of the great grievances of the soldiers was the restoring of the old 
 "White" flag «f the Bourbons in place of the beloved "Tricolor." 
 
 ^ Napoleon especially tried to convince the French that he would rule as a 
 constitutional and limited monarch, and that he had abandoned all schemes for 
 foreign empire and conquest. 
 
THE DOWNFALL OF NAPOLEON 451 
 
 was excellent. His only chance was to take the offensive 
 promptly and to crush his opponents piecemeal ere they could 
 unite their myriads. In June he flung himself into Belgium, 
 and at Ligny defeated Blucher, the brave Prussian com- 
 mander; and four days later (June 18, 18 15), believing Blucher 
 had been rendered harmless, he fell upon the English Duke of 
 Wellington, at Waterloo.^ Four hours long the armies grappled 
 with headlong courage, and the plunging charges of the French 
 cavalry several times almost broke down the stubborn English 
 defense. The battle, however, seemed ending without decision, 
 when Bliicher's Prussians began coming on the scene after a 
 remarkable forced march. Napoleon's troops had spent them- 
 selves. A last spectacular charge of the " Old Guard " ended in 
 failure, and panic seized the exhausted army. They carried 
 their leader with them in the headlong rout. 
 
 On June 22, 181 5, Napoleon a second time abdicated. He 
 surrendered himself to the English as being rather less incensed 
 against him than the Prussians; but after the " Hundred Days" 
 the only fate for him was exile or death. He was sent by the 
 English to St. Helena (a lonely isle in the South Atlantic) , and 
 there he died, after a very fretful and unresigned captivity, in 
 182 1. The kings of Europe breathed more easily when they 
 heard of his end. 
 
 263. Napoleon^ s character and place in history. It is easier 
 to cover Napoleon with immoderate praise or execration than 
 •to form a just estimate of his work and his character. For 
 nearly twenty years Europe was under the shadow of his per- 
 sonahty. His restless and selfish ambition sacrificed millions 
 of lives in wars of his own creating. He was literally a devourer 
 of the youth of France and of the unlucky nations which he 
 assailed. He was genuinely anxious for the prosperity of 
 France — but only on condition that the prosperity redounded 
 
 ^ Wellington had a mixed force of about 70,000 — English, Germans, Dutch; 
 Napoleon, about 72,000. 
 
452 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 to his own glory. The Supreme Egoist — that may be one 
 estimate of his character. 
 
 Yet Napoleon's career was worth nearly all that it had cost. 
 In the surge and wreck of his campaignings the rotten institu- 
 tions of old Europe were crippled or destroyed. What might 
 have taken slow centuries was accomplished in two decades. 
 National spirit was evoked; complacent dynasts were humbled; 
 above all, feudal privilege was broken down. In Europe after 
 Napoleon there were almost no serfs save in stagnant Russia, 
 and the old hidebound aristocracies witnessed the vanishing 
 of most of their power. 
 
 REVIEW 
 
 1. Topics — Code Napoleon ; the '' Continental System"; the Peninsular- 
 War; "Battle of the Nations "; Elba; the "Hundred Days"; St. Helena 
 
 2. Geography — 
 
 (a) Locate Berh'n; Moscow; Leipzig; ElJja; Waterloo. 
 
 {b) Mark the states of Europe at the time when Napoleon was a*, 
 the height of his power. Indicate those which were practically con- 
 trolled by Napoleon. 
 
 3. Describe the internal conditions of France under Napoleon. 
 
 4. Would the " regeneration of Prussia " have occurred without the humil- 
 iations imposed by Napoleon? 
 
 5. If Napoleon had "made peace promptly" after Leipzig, is it possible 
 that the peace would have been long-enduring? Give reasons. 
 
 6. Compare Napoleon with Cromwell. 
 
 7. Summarize the part played by England in the whole period of the 
 struggle against Napoleon. 
 
 8. Have there been any other characters in modern times who might have 
 become as powerful as Napoleon, if they had been equally ambitious .'' 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 1. Napoleon and the Papacy; the Concordat. 
 
 2. The economic conditions in France under Napoleon. 
 
 3. The "Continental System." 
 
 4. In what ways had Napoleon humiliated Prussia? 
 
 5. The work of Humboldt, Scharnhorst, and Stein. 
 
 6. The Russian campaign; Napoleon's conduct, in the retreat from 
 
 Moscow. 
 
THE DOWNFALL OF NAPOLEON 453 
 
 7. The battle of Leipzig. 
 
 8. The Waterloo campaign. Wellington as a general. Compare with 
 Napoleon and Marlborough. 
 
 9. The effect of Napoleon's career uDon France; upon Europe. 
 
 READINGS 
 
 Sources. Robinson: nos. 436-54. 
 
 Modern Accounts. Seignobos: pp. 155-69, 176-92. Duruy: pp. 586-87, 
 590-91, 598, 601-31. Pattison: pp. 375-77, 381-90. Lodge: chapter 
 XXIV, sections 7, 23, 26-56. Lewis: pp. 583-661. Gibbins: pp. 175-78 
 191-92. Robinson and Beard: vol. 1, pp. 323-43. 
 
CHAPTER XXXV 
 
 THE REACTION IN EUROPE: THE DOMINATION OF 
 METTERNICH 
 
 264. The Congress of Vienna. At Vienna, in 1814, had 
 assembled a great congress of the chief diplomats of all Europe, 
 
 to remake the map of the Continent, to decide who should 
 profit by the undoing of Napoleon, to establish guaranties 
 against the return of "Revolution," and to insure the continu- 
 ance of '* legitimacy " (i.e., the continuance of the old dynasties 
 in power). The return of Napoleon from Elba interrupted the 
 congress; the diplomats often were at bitter odds among them- 
 selves as to the division of the spoils. Nevertheless, in 1815, 
 the discontented element (especially Prussia) had been brow- 
 beaten into acquiescence. A new Europe was virtually created, 
 under an arrangement which remained fairly intact down 
 to 1859. 
 
 The leading spirit in preparing and perpetuating this scheme 
 was Prince Metternich, the clever and unscrupulous prime 
 minister of Austria. To him everything savoring of " liberal- 
 ism " or " revolution " was anathema. His influence extended 
 far outside of his master's dominions. Czar Alexander and 
 many other monarchs heard his advice gladly. Down to 1848, 
 he remained in power at Vienna as the inveterate foe of all free 
 political institutions; and so complete was his domination of 
 the situation throughout Europe that this age following Napo- 
 leon is often called " the Age of Metternich." 
 
 Here are some of the chief arrangements promulgated at 
 Vienna: — 
 
 (i) Austria regained most of her old possessions north of 
 the Alps; in Italy she was given Lombardy and Venetia (an 
 
THE x^EACTION IN EUROPE 
 
 455 
 
 Longitude \0^^/ 
 
 EUROPE AFTER THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA, 1815 
 1=1 States of the ijecman Confederation. 
 \:':'A The Kingdom of Prussia. 
 — — Bounds of the Empire of Austria. 
 Note.—\'n Italy, Austria lias a small strip of 
 territory south of the Po River, on the 
 northern border of Modena. 
 
 G — Germans 
 S — Slavs 
 M — Magyars 
 R — Roumanians 
 I — Italians 
 
 The distribution of 
 races in modern 
 Austria-Hungary. 
 
 unnatural yoking of German and Slavic with Italian lands 
 which was sure to cause disaster). 
 
 (2) Out of Holland and Belgium, now united, the Kingdom 
 of the Netherlands was formed, the ruler to be the heir of the 
 old Princes of Orange. This new state was intended as a kind 
 of counterpoise to France. 
 
4S6 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 (3) Sweden was obliged to give up all her possessions across 
 the Baltic ; in return her kings were given the crown of Norway, 
 which was torn from Denmark. ^ 
 
 (4) Spain was handed back to its old Bourbon kings. 
 
 (5) The bulk of old Poland was given to Russia, as " the 
 Kingdom of Poland." Subsequent years, however, were to see 
 the destruction of even this semblance of Polish autonomy. 
 
 (6) Italy (a mere " geographical expression," Metternich 
 remarked) was treated as if there were no common Italian 
 language, patriotism, or civilization. The King of Sardinia 
 received back his old Piedmont lands, plus the territory of 
 Genoa; the Grand Dukes of Tuscany, Parma, and Modena 
 were restored; the Pope returned to the Papal States and 
 Rome; the Bourbon dynasty was restored in Naples. Austria, 
 of course, held a commanding position in North Italy. The 
 various petty potentates were absolutely dependent upon 
 Metternich and his master. 
 
 (7) In the arrangements at Vienna, Germany received the 
 harshest treatment, even though she had suffered most from 
 Napoleon. German patriots had expected that the overthrow 
 of the great oppressor would be followed by the establishment 
 of a common German state with some form of free institutions. 
 Instead, Germany was cast into a loose confederacy of thirty- 
 nine states, varying in size from the mighty Austria and 
 Prussia down to very petty principalities or free cities. The 
 Confederacy was to have a " Diet," too weak for real legisla- 
 tion, but strong enough to obstruct steps toward progress. 
 
 Prussia herself felt poorly indemnified for the great part she 
 had played against Napoleon. Most of her lost Pohsh prov- 
 inces were not handed back, and she was given only a slice of 
 territory from Saxony,- and some detached lands along the 
 
 1 The King of Denmark, unluckily for himself, had taken sides with Napoleon. 
 
 2 The King of Saxony had been peculiarly subservient to Napoleon, and the 
 victorious alUes at one time considered destroying his kingdom outright. 
 
THE REACTION IN EUROPE 457 
 
 Rhine. In short, the German arrangements of the congress 
 were discontenting ahke to the Prussian Kingi and to the 
 German people, and were sure to result in trouble. 
 
 265. The Holy Alliance (1815). In 1815, Czar Alexander, 
 a well-meaning, impulsive monarch of a mystical, impractical 
 turn of mind, induced the Emperor of Austria and the King of 
 Prussia to join him in a pact known as "The Holy Alliance." 
 In flowery language and with many professions of Christian 
 zeal and charity, the three sovereigns were to govern their 
 countries "as delegates of Providence," and invited all other 
 European Powers to unite in this league with them. Metter- 
 nich had little confidence in such high-flown utterances, but he 
 induced his master to join the pact as tying the czar closely to 
 his own reactionary policy. For the next decade Metternich 
 induced Prussia and Russia to work with Austria in stamping 
 put the '' disease of liberalism." Anything like free institu- 
 tions in a European country was a calamity ; ^ and since evil 
 political ideas w'hen propagated in one country c|uickly spread 
 across the frontiers to the next, no small state was to be allowed 
 to liberalize its institutions (even if its sovereign desired it), but 
 must be forced back into the old ways of despotism. 
 
 The age was one of a rigid censorship of the press, of the 
 silencing of outspoken university professors, and of the use of 
 spies and all forms of police coercion against possible agitators, 
 with imprisonment or exile awaiting all the bolder spirits who 
 defied the prime minister at Vienna. In 182 1, after a congress 
 of diplomats at Laibach, an Austrian army was authorized to 
 march into the Kingdom of Naples, and destroy a constitu- 
 tional government which the liberals of that sorely misgoverned 
 country had forced upon their king. In 1823, a French army 
 did a similar office in Spain, where also there was a strong 
 
 ^ Metternich, of course, as an Austrian, tried to keep Prussia as weak as 
 possible. 
 
 ^ Of course, no attempt was made to meddle with England, and its effective- 
 ness was confined to the Continent. 
 
458 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 movement toward freer government.^ Only the opposition of 
 England and the United States - prevented Metternich and his 
 allies from following this up by a reconquest of the revolted 
 colonies of Spain in America. In 1830, however, his grip on 
 Europe was seriously shaken. 
 
 266. The Greek and the Belgian revolts. The first real set- 
 back for Metternich came in the revolt of the Greeks against 
 Turkish oppression (1821). Their country really lay outside 
 of Christian Europe; their grievances were undoubted; but the 
 Turks were their " legitimate" rulers, and no revolt against 
 "legitimacy " was to be encouraged, no matter how great the 
 oppression. Nevertheless, despite the frowns of the Great 
 Powers, the Greeks struggled on. In 1827, England, France, 
 and Russia intervened in their favor.^ In 1829, the independ- 
 ence of Greece as a small kingdom was won. The first altera- 
 tion had been made in the map of 181 5. 
 
 In 1830 came another, a more serious change. Holland and 
 Belgium had not enjoyed being yoked together as one kingdom. 
 The Belgians complained that the Dutch domineered over 
 them, and monopolized the control of the Government. In 
 August, 1830, a revolution started in Brussels which soon ended 
 in the establishment of an independent Kingdom of Belgium, 
 under Leopold I.^ So the scheme for a strong buffer state north 
 of France ended in battle-smoke. In this year, also, a few 
 weeks before the Belgian uprising, a most serious outbreak 
 of " liberahsm " had occurred in France, the homeland of 
 " Revolution." 
 
 267. France under the Bourbons; (1815-30). After the 
 
 1 Louis XVIII was not an original member of the "Holy Alliance"; but he 
 owed his throne to the "Three Monarchs" and dared not forget his obliga- 
 tions. 
 
 ^ It was at this time that the Monroe Doctrine originated. 
 
 3 The battle of Navarino (1827), off the western coast of Greece (harbor of 
 old Pylos), won by the allied fleets over the Turkish fleet, was practically the last 
 great naval battle between old sailing men-of-war. 
 
 * Leopold had been a prince of Saxe-Coburg in Germany. 
 
THE REACTION IN EUROPE 
 
 459 
 
 second expulsion of Napoleon, Louis XVIII had returned to 
 Paris. There was no enthusiasm for his rule, but France was 
 exhausted and not then prepared to defy Europe a third time, 
 simply because she preferred another form of government. 
 Weary years of exile had taught Louis XVIII a reasonable 
 amount of wisdom, and he man- 
 aged to temper the furious clam- 
 ors of the returned noble emigrants 
 for "revenge" and a recall of the 
 Old Regime. The great social gains 
 of the Revolution were kept. 
 Frenchmen continued equal be- 
 fore the law, and there was no 
 odious restoration of privilege and 
 of absolute monarchy. The new 
 -constitution (the " Charter "), 
 however, was comparatively illib- 
 eral. The upper house of the 
 legislature was nominated by the 
 king: the lower house was theo- 
 retically chosen by "the people" 
 — but since only heavy taxpayers 
 were eligible to vote, the whole 
 rumiber of electors was under exposing petty offenders in 
 100,000 in a nation of 30,000,000. 
 Such a constitution was obviously 
 only a bad imitation of a limited 
 monarchy: and soon after Louis 
 
 was succeeded by his less capable and more absolutist brother, 
 Charles X (1824-30) , everything was ready for a new upheaval. 
 268. The Revolution of 1830. In 1830, discontent in France 
 was at such a stage that, even with the very limited franchise, 
 a Parliament was chosen highly unfriendly to the king's abso- 
 lutist ministers. In an evil hour they dissolved the new Parlia- 
 
 THE PILLORY, FRANCE, ABOUT 
 1830 
 
 Criminal punishments were still 
 very barbarous. (After a drawing by 
 Philipon) 
 
460 
 
 HISlORY OF EUROPE 
 
 ment and issued a proclamation (the "July Ordinances") 
 suspending all liberty of the press/ and making several reac- 
 tionary changes in the fundamental laws on the strength of 
 the king's unsupported fiat. If Charles were to have his way, 
 
 the last semblance of 
 constitutional rule had 
 vanished from France ^ — 
 and with it about the 
 last strictly political gain 
 from the great Revolu- 
 tion. 
 
 Paris was already an- 
 gr>. Now her wrath 
 boiled over. A small band 
 of P.epublicans, faithful 
 heirs of the old Jacobins, 
 were the leading spirits, 
 but they found hosts of 
 less radical helpers. It 
 was speedily discovered 
 how barricades of pav- 
 ing-stones and over- 
 turned carts could read- 
 ily block the crooked 
 streets of the old city; 
 and how behind these 
 barricades a few resolute 
 men could defy a regi- 
 ment. Charles ordered 
 the regular soldiery to clear the streets (July 27). The troops 
 were ill led and none too zealous. Their first repulse led to 
 the spread of the revolt. By July 29, Paris was in the hands 
 
 1 The French newspapers had been allowed more liberty than in most other 
 European countries. 
 
 A BARRICADE IN PARIS, 1830 
 Built of paving-stones, it completely blocks the 
 narrow street. The barricades of 1848 were often 
 much more elaborate. {From a painting by Horace 
 Vtrnet, in the Musce Carnavalct, Paris) 
 
THE REACTION IN EUROPE 461 
 
 of a Provisional Government, and after a vain attempt to 
 compromise, the futile old king was obliged to abdicate and to 
 flee the land.^ The "July Revolution" had undone a great 
 part of the work of Metternich. France at least was lost to 
 "legitimacy." 
 
 A strong fraction of the insurgents desired a republic, but 
 they were really in the minority. The crown was given to 
 Louis Philippe, a royal prince, the son of a Duke of Orleans, 
 who had supported the popular cause in the old Revolution. 
 He professed ultra-liberal views and promised a genuinely con- 
 stitutional government. France, however, was soon to find 
 his professions very different from his performance. 
 
 269. The situation in Germany. In 1813, at the expense 
 of infinite sacrifice, the Prussians had driven the French from 
 the land, and all the rest of Germany had sympathized and 
 applauded. Now, after the arrangements of Vienna, it was 
 evident that Germany was little more than a "geographical 
 expression," like unhappy Italy. The fundamental bane was 
 the subdivision of the country and the lack of a national leader. 
 Austria (despite the fact that the bulk of her lands were non- 
 German) never ceased to claim leadership in German affairs, 
 and never ceased to check every move looking to the predomi- 
 nance of Prussia. Prussia, however, was excessively dreaded 
 by the sovereigns of the little states, as likely to absorb them 
 if allowed the least opportunity. They, therefore, stood closely 
 by Austria and took their policy usually from Metternich, 
 King Frederick William III and his ministers, on their part, 
 were no persons capable of opposing the schemes of the prime 
 minister at Vienna. 
 
 In this state of unhappy deadlock, political progress was 
 excessively slow, and discontent among the educated classes 
 grew amain. The universities became not merely centers of 
 learning, but of popular agitation; their temporary closing, 
 
 1 He died six years later in Styria. 
 
462 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 the suspension or expulsion of "political" professors did not 
 end the gathering storm. In these next years of apparent non- 
 progress, German national feeling began to work silently 
 toward a focus as never before. The past glories of the mediae- 
 val Empire, when Germany really was something, were eagerly 
 studied, and from the example of the mighty past hope was 
 gained for the future. 
 
 Nor was the age absolutely barren in advancement. In 
 several of the smaller states (e.g., Bavaria, Wiirtemberg) the 
 rulers were induced to give their subjects parliaments and 
 constitutions. Again, in 1833, Prussia commenced a success- 
 ful "German Customs Union/' ^ which wrought mightily for 
 economic unity by abolishing obnoxious internal customs bar- 
 riers, and which paved the way for a later political unity, as 
 well as adding essentially to the growth of German commerce 
 and industry. 
 
 270. The situation in Italy. The state of Italy was even 
 worse than that of Germany. During the period of French 
 domination, Italy had received what she had not had for ages 
 — firm, just, intelhgent government. Now she was handed 
 back to the old reactionary dynasts whose despotism was 
 neither benevolent nor intelligent.- This was the age of the 
 multipHcation of brigandage, conspiracies, secret poHtical 
 societies.^ The ever-ready Austrian army crushed out any local 
 movement for liberal institutions (as in Naples). 
 
 Nevertheless, here as in Germany these years were not 
 
 1 Often known under its German title, the Zolherdn. It was present!}' 
 joined by nearly all the German states, save Austria. 
 
 2 In many cases the old dynasts ' (exiled from their thrones by Napoleon) 
 signalized their return by undoing just as much of the French legislation as 
 possible, including much that was obviously beneficial to all concerned. The 
 King of Sardinia ordered a botanic garden at Turin destroyed as being the work 
 of the French invaders. In the States of the Church the Government put forth so 
 much energy in suppressing the Free Masons that it had none left to crush the 
 very numerous brigands. 
 
 2 The most famous of these were the Carbonari (literally, "charcoal-burners"). 
 
THE REACTION IN EUROPE 
 
 463 
 
 valueless. A common disconient and oppression were making 
 Italians conscious of their own unity. A party known as 
 " Young Italy " was being quietly organized throughout the 
 peninsula by the great agitator, Mazzini. His ideal was a 
 republic, but it also was the ideal of a united Italy freed from 
 Austrian domination. So these silent forces continued working 
 until 1848, when France taught the world another lesson in 
 revolution. 
 
 271. Louis Philippe^s Rule in France (1830-48). In France 
 the reign of Louis Philippe proved a grievous disappointment 
 to those who expected a 
 rule of liberalism. The 
 new ruler claimed to be 
 a "citizen -king," and 
 neither lacked good qual- 
 ities of the head nor of 
 the heart; but it was soon 
 evident that his coming 
 meant personal mon- 
 archy, albeit in a some- 
 what changed form. The 
 franchise was a little en- 
 larged, so as to raise the 
 whole number of voters 
 to about 200,000. It was 
 easy by the distribution 
 of governmental favors 
 and patronage to get this 
 small voting body always to return a Chamber of Deputies 
 agreeable to the king, and to enable him therefore to pose con- 
 stantly as a "constitutional monarch." This " Orleans Mon- 
 archy" depended really for its success upon the good will of 
 the bourgeoisie element, — the rich manufacturing and capi- 
 talist class, — more vulgar usually than the old noblesse, and 
 
 FRENCH FAMILY GROUP, ABOUT 1830 
 
 (After a drawing by Ingres) 
 
464 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 often quite as selfish and rapacious. The country was pros- 
 perous, and the king was wise enough to keep the peace with 
 the rest of Europe, thus avoiding reaction at home; yet all 
 the while discontent was simmering. The Republicans (who 
 felt themselves cheated by the 1830 Revolution) began to lift 
 their heads, and the muzzling of the newspapers, and drastic 
 punishments for conspiracy could not check them. 
 
 From 1840 to 1848, Louis Philippe's Prime Minister was 
 Guizot, a scholar and statesman of noble private character, 
 but possessed of the same dubious pohtical ideas as his master.^ 
 By assiduously botthng up the growing discontent, by culti- 
 vating the material prosperity of France, and by leaning upon 
 a packed and subservient Parliament, the twain were able to 
 give to the Orleanist regime the appearance of success and 
 stability. In 1848, however, a few incidents brought down the 
 whole house of cards. France plunged again into revolution 
 and involved almost all Europe. 
 
 REVIEW 
 
 1. Topics — The Congress of Vienna; the "Age of Metternich"; "Legiti- 
 macy"; Navarino; the "July Revohition"; the Zollverein; "Young 
 Italy"; the " Orleans Monarchy." 
 
 2. Geography — Mark the boundaries of the European states as fixed by 
 the Congress of Vienna of 1815. Compare with the boundaries before 
 the French Revolution. 
 
 3. Describe the origin and objects of the Holy Alliance. How far did it 
 accomplish its purpose? 
 
 4. What were the first important events which tended to break down 
 Metternich's system. 
 
 5. Compare the provisions of the " Charter " (section 267) with similar pro- 
 visions in the British political system during the same period (chapter 
 xxx). 
 
 6. What were the prospects for political liberty in the countries of western 
 Europe at the close of this period? 
 
 1 Guizot was one of the most distinguished historical writers of France. His 
 History of France is in some ways the best popular history ever written for any 
 nation. This fact, however, does not make him an admirable prime minister. 
 
THE REACTION IN EUROPE 465 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 1. Talleyrand at the Congress of Vienna. 
 
 2. The "Liberal" movements in the European states, and the means 
 taken to suppress them. 
 
 3. The Monroe Doctrine, and its effect upon the Holy Alliance. 
 
 4. The Greek War for Independence. 
 
 5. The Carbonari. 
 
 6. The "Charters "of 18 14 and 1830. Compare them with each other and 
 with the British system then in use. 
 
 7. Industrial conditions in western Europe during the period. 
 
 8. Guizot and Thiers. 
 
 g. The Polish Revolution, 1S30. 
 
 READINGS 
 
 Sources. Robinson: nos. 455-65. 
 
 Modern accounts. Seignobos: pp. 194-207, 221-35. Duruy: pp. 630- 
 
 43. Lewis: pp. 661-76. Lodge: chapter .xxv. Gibbins: pp. 194-Q7. 
 
 Robinson and Beard: vol. i, pp. 343-62; vol. 11, pp. 1-30. 
 
CHAPTER XXXVI 
 
 THE REVOLUTIONS OF 1 848, AND THE SECOND EMPIRE 
 
 272. The downfall of Louis Philippe (1848). In Februar>% 
 1848, the Orlcanist monarchy of Louis Phihppe, with Guizot 
 for its prime minister, seemed on a sound basis. A careful 
 system of bribery and indirect governmental corruption made 
 the 200,000 electors and their Chamber of Deputies subser- 
 vient instruments of the administration. The country seemed 
 highly prosperous and reasonably contented. A weak party 
 was, indeed, crying for an electoral reform, but Guizot had 
 only a deaf ear for their demands. On February 22, the leaders 
 of this rather insignificant opposition arranged to hold a pro- 
 cession and a public banquet to advertise their cause. ^ The 
 police, nevertheless, forbade even this demonstration, and the 
 agitators seemed willing to abandon it. The people, however, 
 were not informed that the demonstration was canceled and 
 they swarmed the streets. 
 
 During the day there was some petty rioting, but no serious 
 
 clashes with the authorities: then the ensuing night gave all 
 
 the disaffected elements in Paris their opportunity. They had 
 
 found that the authorities feared them, and that the troops 
 
 and police were not zealous for repression. By morning many 
 
 fomiidable barricades had risen, and various quarters were in 
 
 the possession of an armed mob. The "National Guard" was 
 
 summoned out to suppress the insurrection, but these militia 
 
 joined in the rising yell, " Hurrah for Reform! Down with 
 
 Guizot! " The king hastily agreed to dismiss Guizot, and to 
 
 take more popular ministers; but after the lull of another night 
 
 the mob had only gained more strength and courage. 
 
 ^ These "banquets" were arranged because public meetings of the regular 
 kind were forbidden by the authorities. 
 
THE REVOLUTIONS OF 1848 467 
 
 On the 24th, the streets of Paris again rang with the cry — 
 almost hushed since Napoleon's Consulate — " Long live the 
 Republic! ' 
 
 By this time the troops were thoroughly out of hand, and 
 while the king, no doubt, had still hosts of well-wishers, few 
 could desire to die fighting for the discredited Orleans mon- 
 archy. When Louis Philippe discovered that the National 
 Guard was hopelessly disaffected, he made no attempt to carry 
 on a civil war by fleeing to the departments and trying there 
 to raise new forces. He hastily abdicated. The mob dispersed 
 the Chamber of Deputies, where the monarchists were attempt- 
 ing to proclaim his young grandson king. Louis Philippe fol- 
 lowed the weary path to exile in England, while a Provisional 
 Government held sway in Paris, and issued the decree, " The 
 Republic is the Government of France! " 
 
 273. The Second French Republic (1848-51). The French 
 people did not desire a repubhc. The revolution had been the 
 work of a very few men, and even these had no well-defined 
 program. Only the weakness and unpopularity of the Orleans 
 regime had given them their chance. Yet France had to sub- 
 mit to their sway for the moment or plunge into civil war, and 
 Paris was so completely the center of the nation that there was 
 really no other rallying-point around which the discontented 
 elements could gather. Under these circumstances it is not 
 surprising that the Revolution ran a strange course. A leading 
 spirit, Louis Blanc, commanded a strong faction of the Paris 
 laboring classes which stood not merely for a republic, but for 
 something very akin to economic socialism. The most imme- 
 diate attempt in this radical program was the setting-up of 
 " national workshops," in which the unemployed or underpaid 
 of Paris could find steady work at good wages. ^ It seemed as 
 if the happy day of the Paris laboring classes had come, but 
 
 ^ The workers were to be kept busy manufacturing articles needed by tlie 
 Government: e.g., saddles for the cavalry; army uniforms, etc. 
 
46S 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 the proposition awoke the disgust of all the capitalistic and 
 conservative element in France, and added to the ill feeling 
 toward the Republic. 
 
 Nevertheless, a National Assembly elected by manhood 
 suffrage was duly gathered to give France a new Republican 
 constitution. It drew up a scheme based largely on the 
 example of America; with a single legislature of 750 members 
 
 f^rK-^ 
 
 ^ .s--. 
 
 r^ JTf 
 
 
 A LABOR DEMO.VSTRATION IN PARIS, 1848 
 The building is the Hotel de Ville. {From L'llluslration) 
 
 and a president to be elected every four years by the people. 
 Before the new Government had been inducted into ofifice, the 
 reverberations from all Europe told how the events in France 
 had been only the first of several revolutions. 
 
 274. The revolution in Germany. ''Europe finds herself 
 to-day in the presence of a second 1793," exclaimed old Metter- 
 nich at Vienna when the tale from Paris came to him. He was 
 largely right. In Germany and Italy there were numberless 
 liberal agitators ready to take courage and example from the 
 
THE REVOLUTIONS OF 1848 469 
 
 great deeds in Paris. In Prussia there was a king, Frederick 
 William IV, who had already shown himself with unsteady 
 leanings toward liberalism.^ In 1847, he had convoked at 
 Berlin a kind of legislative assembly for all Prussia. The new 
 body had only the power to petition the king and to vote new 
 taxes, but it was a beginning, even though Frederick Wilham 
 declared before it his dislike of constitutions. "I will never 
 allow," spoke he, "a sheet of paper, like a second Providence, 
 to make its paragraphs our rulers and substitute them for the 
 ancient faithfulness." 
 
 In 1848, however, Frederick William, like practically every 
 other German prince, found himself almost at bay among his 
 subjects. Metternich had fled the rioters of Vienna for Eng- 
 land. In March, after hot street fighting, Frederick William 
 proclaimed a constituent assembly for Prussia : in May another 
 such body was proclaimed in Austria. There were demonstra- 
 tions in South Germany in favor of a republic. These were 
 repressed, but the German princes were in terror. As the only 
 outlet from calamity, a German National Assembly, chosen 
 by popular vote, was convoked at Frankfort-on-Main, in May, 
 1848. For the first time the German people at large had the 
 privilege of casting their ballots as citizens, of helping to shape 
 their government, and of acting together as a nation. 
 
 The Frankfort Parliament met amid the highest hopes. Its 
 end caused a corresponding disappointment. There was little 
 pohtical experience in Germany, but there were many political 
 doctrinaires who would yield nothing to the exclusion of their 
 pet theories; there were many wild radicals who really fought 
 the battles of the reactionaries. Much time was wasted in 
 
 ^ Frederick William IV (1840-61) was a really talented and well-intentioned 
 man.- He possessed a deeply religious nature and an earnest desire to accomplish 
 the weal of his people. Unfortunately the taint of insanity was upon him. He 
 soon displayed an extreme fickleness of policy and presently became hopelessly 
 eccentric. In the last years of his reign he became helpless, and the Government 
 passed under the regency of his brother. 
 
470 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 petty wrangling; then matters came down to a final issue. 
 Germany was to be organized into a federated empire; but 
 which great unit was to supply the emperor — Prussia or 
 Austria? The upshot finally was that the imperial crown was 
 offered Frederick William of Prussia. The eccentric king had 
 already displayed his disgust for the revolutionary program: 
 he had no desire for an imperial crown offered by a merely 
 elective assembly. Accepting the crown meant giving mortal 
 offense to Austria: probably it implied war. He decHned the 
 crown (1849), ^^^^ the whole movement for a German Empire 
 came, for the nonce, to nothing. 
 
 Already the old Governments had recovered their poise 
 and grip: especially they had made sure of the loyalty of their 
 armies. Reactionary ministers were put in power. The newly 
 summoned parliaments were dissolved.' The movement of 
 1848, begun with such promise, ended in gloomy failure. Multi- 
 tudes of earnest patriots and hberals grew sick at heart. 
 
 275. The revolution in Austria-Hungary. In the Austrian 
 lands, at least, the revolutionists went down fighting. After it 
 had been necessary for the Government to crush the insur- 
 gents at Vienna by regular bombardment, the Magyars, a 
 proud, masterful race constituting the dominant element in 
 Hungary, had seized the opportunity for making their country 
 almost independent of the Germanized Vienna Government. 
 When now the Austrians tried to force the Hungarians into 
 becoming members of a single centralized monarchy, the 
 Magyars rose in revolt. They declared themselves independ- 
 ent of Austria, and, led by their gallant chief Kossuth, made 
 a magnificent resistance. Austria, unaided, might never have 
 subdued them;, but if Hungary could win independence, why 
 not also Poland? For the sake of her own Polish possessions, 
 
 1 In 1850 a weak and illiberal constitution was put and kept in force in 
 Prussia. 
 
 It was after the failure of the 1S4S movement that thousands of prominent 
 and enlightened Germans, e.g., Carl Schurz, emigrated to the United States. 
 
THE REVOLUTIONS OF 1848 471 
 
 Russia came to Austria's aid. The Magyars were overwhelmed 
 and crushed by the czar's armies. One more revolution had 
 promised well and had failed. 
 
 276. The revolution in Italy. Another cycle of unsuccessful 
 revolution was in Italy. The news of the flight of Metternich 
 from Vienna had been followed by uproar in every Italian state. 
 Every prince, including even the Pope, had been compelled 
 to grant a constitution to his threatening subjects. Above all, 
 Charles Albert, King of Sardinia, had come to the aid of the 
 people of Milan and Venice, who had risen in one spasm of 
 fury, and thrown off the hateful Austrian yoke. In Italy also 
 for the moment all went well. Pope Pius IX (just come to the 
 pontificate) was regarded at once as capable and open to liberal 
 ideas; and the troubles of Austria with her more northerly 
 subjects gave a good hope of success in arms against her. 
 
 The campaign, however, soon lagged. Charles Albert had 
 reckoned on the support of the troops of all the other Italian 
 states, but he was sustained only very imperfectly. After 
 some indecisive fighting, he was finally badly defeated by the 
 Austrians at Custozza (July 25, 1848) and forced to make a 
 truce. Milan was recaptured, and the first phase of the Italian 
 revolution was over. 
 
 But now that the King of Sardinia had retired from the 
 national cause, the more radical Republican agitators felt 
 under no restraint in carrying out their program. Republics 
 were proclaimed in Florence and Venice. In Rome, after some 
 vain attempts at half-measures and the assassination of the 
 liberal and enlightened minister, Rossi, whom the Pope had 
 called to power, passions ran so high that Pius felt himself 
 unsafe in the city. He fled to the King of Naples, and the 
 '' Roman Republic" was once more constituted in the city of 
 the Popes and Caesars. 
 
 In 1849 came the end to this second daring and ill-consid- 
 ered movement. Charles Albert, yielding to general clamors, 
 
472 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 renewed the war, but his weak kingdom had no chance against 
 the rehabilitated mihtary power of Austria. March 23 saw 
 his utter defeat at Novara. Crushed by this failure of a great 
 hope to become leader of a free and federated Italy, the king 
 abdicated in favor of his son, Victor Emmanuel, who made 
 what peace he could with Austria. 
 
 The ephemeral Itahan repubhcs now rapidly collapsed. 
 Blockade and starvation forced Venice to surrender after a 
 brave defense. Florence succumbed speedily. The new Presi- 
 dent of France, Louis Napoleon, ^ wishing to conciUate the 
 CathoHc party at home, sent a French army to Rome that 
 presently overcame the gallant but hopeless resistance of the 
 Republican leader, Garibaldi (1849). 
 
 Italy seemed again under her old fetters. Her conquerors 
 aboHshed -all liberal concessions; and stringent policing, cen- 
 sorship, spying, and arbitrary imprisonment were the order 
 of the day. Only at one point was there a real gain. The con- 
 stitution granted to the Kingdom of Sardinia was not abol- 
 ished, and that constitution was one day to be the constitution 
 for all Italy.2 
 
 277. The Assembly in Paris (1848). While these unsuccess- 
 ful revolutions were running their courses in Germany, Austria, 
 and Italy, the parent revolution in France was also drifting 
 upon quicksands. The nation had accepted the Republic as 
 the alternative to anarchy, but there was no great enthusi- 
 asm for it. The conservative property-holding classes of the 
 departments'' conceived a strong prejudice against the new 
 
 ^ See section 278. 
 
 ^ It is said that King Victor Emmanuel was given to understand by Austria 
 that he would be granted much better terms of peace if he abolished this con- 
 stitution, but he would not break faith with his people, and most nobly re- 
 fused. 
 
 ^ The modern Frenchman of the smaller cities and villages is a very different 
 person from the often excitable, volatile Parisian. The tjqaical Frenchman of the 
 departments is solid, deliberate, thrifty, and extremely conservative in his 
 political changes as in many things else. Unfortunately for the stability of 
 
THE REVOLUTIONS OF 1848 473 
 
 scheme of national workshops, and against the clamors of the 
 Paris laboring classes for a regime of what seemed extreme 
 radicalism. The National Assembly, while engaged in mak- 
 ing the constitution, presently voted the " national workshops " 
 closed. In blind wrath the radical labor element in Paris 
 rushed to arms. "Bread or lead!" rang the cry. The art of 
 building barricades had been too well learned in previous insur- 
 rections. Once more they rose in the Paris streets, transform- 
 ing the industrial quarters into veritable fortresses. 
 
 The Assembly intrusted the situation to General Cavaignac, 
 who with the regular troops and the loyal part of the militia 
 crushed the rebels with a heavy hand. The streets of Paris 
 were raked with artillery. The insurgents were ill led and unor- 
 ganized, but resisted hke wild beasts at bay. The Govern- 
 ment, of course, triumphed presently and the prisoners were 
 ruthlessly shot, imprisoned, or transported. For the moment 
 the Socialists were crushed; but the after effect of these direful 
 "June Days" was long and disastrous. The new Republic 
 seemed utterly discredited with the well-to-do classes, if the 
 first thing it could produce was only a reign of anarchy; on the 
 other hand, among the Paris workingmen, for the moment 
 cowed and helpless, there was enkindled a hatred for the capi- 
 talist classes which exists even unto this day. 
 
 278. Louis Napoleon, President of France (1848-51). Amid 
 such ill omens the new constitution was put into effect, and 
 the French nation was called upon to vote for " President of the 
 Republic." The Republican politicians who posed as candi- 
 dates were hated or distrusted hy most of the voters. When 
 the ballots were counted it was found that Louis Napoleon was 
 the choice of 5,400,000 Frenchmen. His nearest rival had only 
 
 France, it has been very easy for the Parisians to gain control of the Govern- 
 ment. No other country is so centraHzed politically as France, or so utterly 
 dependent upon its capital. This concentration of all the governmental machin- 
 ery is largely the work of Napoleon I, and forms one of the most important and 
 lasting legacies which he left to France. 
 
474 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 1,400,000. A new and remarkable figure was about to write his 
 name into European history. 
 
 Louis Napoleon was a nephew of the great Corsican. He 
 was only six years old when his uncle had been hurled from 
 power. He had spent most of his days in a weary exile, now in 
 Germany, now Switzerland, now England. A small band of 
 adherents treated him as the successor to his mighty uncle's 
 rights to the throne of France, ^ but the world at large had 
 not taken him very seriously. Twice he had attempted a kind 
 of fihbustering expedition into France. Twice he had failed 
 ignominiously, and the second time he was seized and impris- 
 oned. In 1846, he escaped from custody to England. After 
 the events of 1848, he presented himself in Paris, declared 
 himself enthusiastic for the new Republic, and anxious only 
 to serve his country. Men still regarded him as impractical, 
 insignificant, and in no wise dangerous. 
 
 But Louis Napoleon, if not a statesman, was one of the most 
 adept politicians in history. He represented himself as believ- 
 ing that France needed a great tribune of the people, a kind 
 of autocrat whose power came because he was the efficient, 
 concrete means of executing the popular will." The word 
 "democracy" was very freciuently on his lips. Most skillfully 
 he traded upon the potent name, ''Napoleon." The miseries 
 caused by the great conqueror had now been largely forgotten. 
 The peasantry remembered him only as the demigod who had 
 shed glory upon France. The average country voter could 
 not in the least understand what had happened at Paris. He 
 only knew that the other candidates meant nothing to him. 
 " The former royalists flocked to Louis Napoleon. The peas- 
 ants had had no political education. They understood but one 
 
 • Napoleon's own unfortunate son, "the King of Rome," had died in 1832 
 at the court of his grandfather, the Austrian Emperor. 
 
 2 In 1839, he had pubHshed a book setting forth these views ("Napoleonic 
 Ideas"), in which he represented his uncle as the champion of this kind of a 
 popular monarchy. 
 
THE REVOLUTIONS OF 1848 475 
 
 name, that of the Emperor Napoleon. They voted for that 
 name." As a result Louis Napoleon was swept into the presi- 
 dency. 
 
 279. The Coup diktat (1851). It required about three years 
 for Louis Napoleon to transform the new Republic into a 
 monarchy. The control cf the army and of a great centrahzed 
 corps of administrative officials lodged tremendous powers 
 in the hands of the new president. He used them without 
 scruple. By packing the pubhc offices, by steadily cultivating 
 the good will of the army, he was soon intrenched in power. 
 The next step was to quarrel with the legislature, with which 
 he was supposed to work, and he easily maneuvered the case 
 so that he could pose as the champion of the liberties of the 
 entire people, especially of the lowest classes. When all was 
 ready the president struck. On December 2, 1851,^ he dis- 
 .solved the legislature by armed force and ordered a new elec- 
 tion. Political leaders who might have made trouble were 
 promptly arrested. A portion of the Assembly tried to meet in 
 defiance of the president and decree his suspension. Before it 
 could act, the troops dispersed the deputies. In Paris and the 
 departments were a few spasmodic risings against the president, 
 merely great enough to justify him in claiming to be the cham- 
 pion of order against anarchy. All the Republican leaders 
 were imprisoned or banished. 
 
 The constitution was promptly altered to give the president 
 a term of ten years and almost dictatorial powers. The 
 French voters were then summoned to vote their approval of 
 the new regime. The official report was that 7,481,000 voted 
 ''Yes"; 647,000, "No." It was really impossible to vote 
 "No " seriously. The repudiation of Louis Napoleon would 
 have set up a reign of mere anarchy.- 
 
 1 The day was artfully selected as the anniversary of the battle of Austerlitz, 
 the most glorious of Napoleon's victories. 
 
 ^ No alternative proposition was before the French voters. To have repudi- 
 ated Louis Napoleon would simply have cut the country adrift. In fairness it 
 
476 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 Within a year (1852) this sham repubUc was called by its 
 proper name. The president was duly voted "Emperor of 
 the French" as Napoleon III, and the one-time exile and 
 filibusterer took possession of the throne of the great Corsican. 
 280. The Second Empire: Napoleon III (1852-70). Louis 
 Napoleon has been described as the "Great Adventurer"; 
 
 again he has been branded as 
 "the Little," or "the Pinch- 
 beck, Napoleon." These de- 
 rogatory titles are in the main 
 deserved. He was not without 
 considerable kindness of heart, 
 and he was open to warm and 
 generous impulses, but he was 
 first and last an opportunist 
 and a self-seeker, rather than 
 a statesman and a patriot. He 
 took extreme advantage of the 
 willingness of Frenchmen to 
 submit themselves to one whom 
 they believed to be a great 
 man. To this end he traded 
 on the glories of his victorious 
 uncle, and strove desperately 
 to convince the nation that it 
 \vas entering again upon a long 
 period of leadership among the nations. He was really in an 
 anomalous position. He neither stood for an ideal of personal 
 liberty, as did the Republicans; nor could he champion the 
 system of a great past, as did the Monarchists. ^ Any disaster, 
 
 should be said that the majority of Frenchmen desired peace and law and order 
 rather than the outward forms of political liberty, and they voted for Louis 
 Napoleon as being Hkely to give them a "safe and sane" government. 
 
 1 The Monarchists were, of course, now split between the Orleanists and the 
 Legitimists (supporters of Charles X's heirs). The Republicans naturally made a 
 
 AN IMPERIAL MOUNTED LANCER: 
 TIME OF NAPOLEON III 
 
 {From a model in the Musee de FArmee 
 Paris) 
 
THE REVOLUTIONS OF 1848 477 
 
 any notable wane of popularity, would undo him. There was 
 no spirit of loyalty among his subjects to fall back upon in 
 any hour of peril. Under these circumstances the "Second 
 Empire" seems one long experiment: the Government trying 
 desperately by one turn after another to win abiding favor 
 with the nation. 
 
 " The Empire is peace," Napoleon III had announced shortly 
 before taking the throne, in order to allay fears that he would 
 imitate Napoleon I by plunging into incessant wars. Peace was 
 secured at home by a strict censorship of the press, and by 
 a Chamber of Deputies which could vote only on measures 
 proposed b}'' the Government. ^ Police spies were everywhere. 
 An officious Minister of Education even commanded all pro- 
 fessors "to shave their mustaches that they might drop from 
 their appearance, as well as from their manners, the last ves- 
 tiges of anarchy." - Thanks to drastic supervision like this, the 
 nation was for a while quiet and apparently contented; espe- 
 cially as the rule of Napoleon III was accompanied with internal 
 commercial prosperity and seemingly also with outward suc- 
 cess. Despite his promise of a peace policy, in 1854-56 he 
 joined with England in the victorious Crimean War against 
 Russia.^ In 1859 again, he was tolerably successful against 
 Austria in Italy. ^ 
 
 After i860, however, the popularity of the " Second Empire ' 
 rapidly waned. Napoleon had, indeed, contrived to foster 
 French commerce and industry. He caused Baron Haussmann 
 to direct a great rebuilding of Paris which made it the most 
 
 third French faction. This division among his ill-wishers of course made it much 
 easier for Napoleon III to iceep his throne. 
 
 1 Even with this weak Chamber of Deputies, Napoleon III took pains to 
 insure subservient members by proclaiming an "official candidate" for each 
 seat. Persons so recommended were almost sure of election as against candidates 
 running all alone and presumably in opposition to the emperor. 
 
 ^ The wearing of a beard and, to a less extent, a mustache, was regarded at 
 the time as a sign of favoring "Republican" principles! 
 
 * See chapter xl, section 315. ^ See chapter xxxvii, section 283. 
 
478 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 beautiful city in the world. ^ He also instituted a magnificent 
 court, where his empress, Eugenie (a Spanish noblewoman), 
 reigned as the arbitress of elegant fashion. Nevertheless, the 
 foundations of his power were always rotten. He had been 
 compelled to surround himself with ministers of like spirit 
 to himself, self-seeking politicians, clever, corrupt, unmoral. 
 Paris was never more " gay," artistic, glittering, more charged 
 with the spirit of " delightful wickedness," than in the last 
 years of the Second Empire; but it was a prosperity that 
 rested on flimsy bases. In 1862, Napoleon embarked on a vain 
 and disastrous attempt to set up an " empire," dependent on 
 France, in Mexico. The affair failed and cost him money and 
 prestige. Across the border, the events of 1866 suddenly pro- 
 claimed Prussia a mighty rival to France as the first nation of 
 Europe.- To bolster up his tottering throne, Napoleon made 
 political concessions to his subjects. In 1869, his regime really 
 became that of a liberal and constitutional monarchy with a 
 " responsible " ministry. The new experiment, however, was 
 never fairly tried. In 1870, the ''Great Adventure" ended 
 amid the cannon smoke of disastrous war. 
 
 REVIEW 
 
 1. Topics — Louis Blanc; "National Workshops"; Frederick William IV; 
 Kossuth; Charies Albert; Pius IX; Garibaldi; the "lune Days"; the 
 Coup d'Etat; the "Great Adventurer." 
 
 2. Geography — Mark the lands of the Austrian Empire, showing the 
 different races. 
 
 3. Compare the Revolution of 1S48 in France with that of 1S30, as to 
 causes, the nature of each, and the results. How far did each seem to 
 reflect the wishes of the whole nation? 
 
 4. How far was the French Revolution (1780) responsible for the revolu- 
 tions of 1848? How^ far was Metternich responsible? 
 
 1 It was at this time that the magnificent boulevards were laid out, so distinc- 
 tive of modern Paris. A main reason for making these fine streets, however, 
 was to make it easy to clear the city with cannon, and to put a stop to barri- 
 cade fighting. 
 
 2 See chapter xxxviii, section 291. 
 
THE REVOLUTIONS OF 1848 479 
 
 5. Why did the revolutions (except in France) fail? 
 
 6. The career and character of Louis Napoleon. What conditions made it 
 possible for him to become emperor? 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 1. Sociahsm in the revolutions of 1848. 
 
 2. The different races in the Austrian Empire and their influence upon 
 the Revolutions of 1848. 
 
 3. Industrial conditions in France under Napoleon III. The Suez Canal. 
 
 4. The French in Mexico. 
 
 5. The liberal concessions made by Napoleon, 1860-70. 
 
 READINGS 
 
 Sources. Robinson: nos. 466-79. 
 
 Modern accounts. Seignobos: pp. 204-07, 235-60. Duruy: pp. 643-57. 
 
 Lewis: pp. 676-79. Lodge: chapter xxvi, sections 1-20, 24-27. 
 
 Pattison: pp. 391-403,419-30. Robinson and Beard: vol. 11, pp. 53-86. 
 
CHAPTER XXXVII 
 
 HOW CAVOUR MADE ITALY 
 
 281. Italy after 1848. The Italian revolution of 1848 had 
 failed. Patriots had not to look far for the reasons why their 
 country was divided among seven principalities or provinces ^ 
 and did not form a united, prosperous nation. 
 
 (a) Even if Italy were united, she was no match probably 
 for the overwhelming military power of Austria. 
 
 (b) The Italian nationalists were themselves divided between 
 the radical Repubhcans and those merely desirous of a consti- 
 tutional monarchy. 
 
 (c) Pope Pius IX, who had begun his pontificate as a liberal 
 ruler, had been panic-stricken by the events of 1848, and had 
 swung the immense influence of the Church against the cause 
 of revolution. 
 
 Outside of the limited territory of the King of Sardinia, 
 general reaction now prevailed for several years. Liberty of 
 the press had ended almost as suddenly as it had been granted. 
 Austrian garrisons held down various districts considered 
 especially full of disaffection. Most of the national leaders 
 were in exile. When Pius IX returned to Rome, he granted an 
 amnesty to the rebels against his power, but there were 283 
 exceptions! The rule of King Ferdinand of Naples was notori- 
 ously severe. " King Bomba " his groaning people called him. 
 His prisons and galleys were filled with political offenders; and 
 even the Powers opposed to the Italian patriots deplored his 
 absurd tyranny as sure to lead to bloody rebellion. Some of 
 
 1 It is well to recall that at this time the Italian states were: (i) The Papal 
 States; (2) the Austrian provinces (Lombardy and Venetia); (3) the King- 
 dom of Sardinia; (4) the Kingdom of Naples; (5, 6, 7) the Grand Duchies of 
 Modena, Tuscany, and Parma-. 
 
HOW CAVOUR MADE ITALY 
 
 481 
 
 the other states were hardly better. In 1854, the Duke of 
 Parma was murdered in the pubhc street after a reign marked 
 by reckless despotism. The Dukes of Tuscany and Modena, 
 though somewhat more reasonable, were princes of the Aus- 
 
 10" LoDgitudc Fast i2° from Greenvvioh 14 
 
 ITALY SINCE 1S48 
 
 trian line and took their orders from Vienna. Seldom had there 
 been a more miserable time in the beautiful yet often oppressed 
 peninsula of Italy than in these early fifties. 
 
 282. Cavoufs policy in Sardinia (1849-58). In only one 
 quarter was there a promise of better things. In Sardi- 
 
482 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 nia^ reigned Victor Emmanuel (1849-78), a man oi singu- 
 lar loyalty, integrity, and open-mindedness. He came of the 
 " House of Savoy," an old dynasty that had produced no world 
 conquerors, but many highly capable princes. A great genius 
 the king was not, but he loved his country, he kept faith with 
 his people, and he had an unselfish ambition to serve them. 
 Italians do right in coimting him the real hero of modern Italy. 
 
 And yet Victor Emmanuel's service to Italy is largely 
 summed up in this : he recognized and kept in power a master 
 statesman and minister, the Count of Cavour. 
 
 Cavour was a Piedmontese nobleman who had been forced 
 to leave the army in 183 1 on account of liberal opinions. He 
 became interested in scientific agriculture, and devoted himself 
 to the study of advanced farming. To this end he made many 
 visits to England and became familiar with the English con- 
 stitutional system. After the disastrous year of 1848, he was 
 called to the Sardinian ministry. In 1852, he became Prime 
 Minister. Erom that time onward he strove with the power of 
 an ardent and honorable genius to drive Austria from Italy, 
 and to unite Italy under the rule of Victor Emmanuel. 
 
 If Sardinia was to spread herself over Italy, Cavour held 
 that she must prove her right to worthy leadership. To estab- 
 lish this, he carried through the Sardinian Parliament many 
 laws greatly improving agriculture, commerce, and finance. 
 The number of unoccupied monks and of convents seemed to 
 him excessive. He did not hesitate to defy the censures of the 
 Vatican by greatly reducing the number of these ecclesiastics, 
 and to place a tax on the Church lands. The Pope threatened 
 Victor Emmanuel personally with the wrath of Heaven for 
 this, but the king refused to disavow his minister. 
 
 1 Although the official name for this kingdom was "Sardinia," the bulk of its 
 population lay on the mainland in the territory of Piedmont. The whole realm 
 had only 5,000,000 inhabitants, but in the Piedmontese part of them were num- 
 bered some of the steadiest, thriftiest, most capable folk in all Italy: very unlike 
 the turbulent and unstable Neapolitan peasantry. 
 
HOW CAVOUR MADE ITALY 483 
 
 In 1854, Cavour sent a small Sardinian army to aid the 
 French and EngUsh in the Crimean War. ^ He had little direct 
 interest in this struggle ; but his act enabled him to participate 
 in the Congress of Powers which met at Paris (1856) to wind 
 up the contest. At the conference he was able to speak plain 
 words as to the misrule of Austria in Italy, and to lay his case 
 before all Europe. 
 
 All this time he had been spinning the webs of private 
 intrigue very successfully. Above all, he had convinced the 
 Italian Republicans that there was no hope for their entire 
 program, but much hope for a liberal monarchy over united 
 Italy if they cast in their lot with Victor Emmanuel. " Make 
 Italy, ^' wrote Manin, a Republican chief, to the king, " and I 
 and all other Repubhcan patriots are for you and with you." 
 But Cavour needed something besides the help of the Repub- 
 lican faction: most skillfully he was striving to enHst the alli- 
 ance of Napoleon III. 
 
 283. The intervention of Napoleon III (1859). Louis Na- 
 poleon had belonged in his youth and in his days of exile to 
 a secret society (the " Carbonari ") pledged to Italian inde- 
 pendence. After he became emperor and tried to pose as the 
 arbiter of Europe, the chance to make an alliance with Sardinia 
 and to hurl Austria (the old rival of France) from Italy ap- 
 peared tempting. Had not Napoleon I won his first real 
 glories in Italy? The Pope had now, however, tied himself up 
 completely with Austria, and Napoleon III hesitated to alien- 
 ate the very powerful pro-Papal party in France. To concihate 
 that party he had sent French troops in 1849 to overthrow the 
 short-lived " Roman RepubKc." Cavour now devoted all his 
 matchless energies as a manipulator of men to convincing 
 Napoleon that it was both safe and advantageous to intervene 
 in Italy: and a strange incident aided the Sardinian minister. 
 
 In 1858, an Italian patriot enthusiast, Orsini, threw a bomb 
 
 ^ See chapter xl, section 315. 
 
484 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 at Napoleon III while on his way to the Paris Opera. Orsini 
 was seized and presently, of course, tried and executed. Before 
 his execution he sent Napoleon an appeal proving himself to 
 be no ordinary conspirator. He had attempted to murder 
 Napoleon because he believed him the chief obstacle to Italian 
 freedom. He reminded the emperor that " Italy's sons had 
 shed their blood for his uncle "; and he said again, " Free my 
 country, and the blessings of 25,000,000 citizens will follow 
 you into the next world." Napoleon III, selfish and unscrupu- 
 lous schemer that he was, did not lack a nobler and an emo- 
 tional side. He was touched by Orsini's appeal: perhaps, too, 
 he feared that Orsini would find imitators. In 1858, he had an 
 interview with Cavour. A private treaty was soon made: 
 Sardinia was to be given Austrian Italy after it had been won 
 by French armies. In return Victor Emmanuel would cede 
 Nice and Savoy to France. ^ 
 
 It still required some nice manipulation by Cavour to bring 
 about the war, so that it should not seem as if Austria was 
 attacked out of sheer wantonness. The Austrians themselves 
 foolishly gave the justification. They launched an ultimatum 
 requiring Sardinia to disarm her forces. The answer was a defi- 
 ance from both Sardinia and France. 
 
 " I am leaving the last sitting of the Piedmontese [Sardinian] 
 Parliament," said Cavour gleefully, the night war was voted. 
 He was right. The next Parliament would represent all Italy. 
 
 284. The making of the Italian Kingdom. In this war of 
 1859 neither France nor Austria had great generals nor well- 
 organized armies. The Sardinians were brave and tolerably 
 well handled; probably it was their courageous fighting that 
 turned the scale; but the campaign was conducted very unsci- 
 entifically on both sides. On June 4, the allies won the battle 
 
 1 These' were small districts ivcsl of the Alps, belonging to Victor Emmanuel, 
 but really more French than Italian in language and civilization. It was a heavy 
 sorrow for the king to give them up, however. 
 
CAVOUR 
 
 Italian statesman 
 Born 1810 Died 1861 
 
HOW CAVOUR MADE ITALY 485 
 
 of Magenta, which gave them the control of Lombardy and 
 possession of Milan. The Austrians drew back and stood at 
 bay to cover Venetia. At Solferino was a second great battle. 
 There was bad generalship on both sides/ but the French 
 somehow blundered into a second victory. All the world 
 expected Napoleon to force his way now to Venice. To the 
 amazement of everybody and to the especial distress of 
 Cavour, he held instead a personal interview with Emperor 
 Francis Joseph (at Villafranca) and announced a preliminary 
 peace. Probably his nerves had been shaken by the slaughter 
 at Solferino. Austria had still great fighting power, and very 
 likely also Napoleon had begun at length to realize that a 
 strong native power in Italy would be an unwelcome rival to 
 France. 
 
 By the arrangement of Villafranca, Sardinia was to be given 
 Lombardy, but Venetia was to remain in Austrian bondage. 
 Napoleon had pledged an "Italy free to the Adriatic." Here 
 was the fulfillment of his vow ! 
 
 But the campaign was not destined to end simply with the 
 gaining of Milan. In Modena, Parma, Tuscany, and the 
 Romagna,^ the moment the Austrian power had weakened, 
 Provisional Governments sprang up, and sent their grand dukes 
 or cardinal legates flying. By overwhelming majorities, on 
 popular vote, these countries declared that they wished to be 
 annexed to Sardinia. In the Romagna a constitutional con- 
 vention declared that it did not desire the continuance of the 
 temporal government of the Pope, and that it did desire to 
 pass under Victor Emmanuel. Napoleon III was sorely per- 
 plexed at this tempest he had raised. An " Italy," far greater 
 than he had anticipated, was rising before his eyes. His fail- 
 ure to win Venetia for the Italians, as pledged, made it hard 
 
 ' For example, when the Austrian Emperor ordered the reserves to come up, 
 he was informed that they had been started in full retreat two hours before. 
 * The northern part of the Papal States, lying mainly toward the Adriatic. 
 
486 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 for him to complain to them now. He vainly advised Pope 
 Pius IX to accept the loss of Romagna. The Pope steadily 
 refused, and Napoleon was presently bribed into allowing the 
 revolution to run its course, by being given Nice and Savoy. ^ 
 Victor Emmanuel's kingdom had thus been more than doubled, 
 but it was speedily destined to grow still more. 
 
 285. The conquest of Naples. In the south of Italy and in 
 Sicily the Neapolitan kings of the House of Bourbon had made 
 the land groan under their tyranny. Victor Emmanuel had 
 offered King Ferdinand an alliance, and begged him to grant 
 his subjects a constitution. Both suggestions were haughtily 
 rejected. Cavour and his master were now in a position to 
 strike effectively. 
 
 The famous patriot, Garibaldi, a past-master in filibustering 
 and irregular warfare, was allowed to collect one thousand 
 volunteers (the memorable "Marsala Thousand") in Victor 
 Emmanuel's dominions, and embark them at Genoa for a dash 
 to Sicily. Cavour sent a note to the Great Powers, after 
 Garibaldi had sailed, "regretting " this attack upon a friendly 
 kingdom; but privately the Sardinian naval and harbor 
 authorities had been given a broad hint not to discover this 
 breach of neutrahty.^ 
 
 Garibaldi landed at Marsala, near Palermo (May, i860), 
 the old capital city of Sicily. The population rose against the 
 Neapolitan king's generals. There was desperate lighting, but 
 the volunteers in the red " Garibaldi shirts " carried all be- 
 fore them. In a few weeks Sicily was free. The liberating 
 chief declared himself temporary dictator acting for " Victor 
 Emmanuel, King of Italy." 
 
 1 To which he had lost his former claim by his failure to win Venetia. His 
 acceptance of these lands after breaking his own pact destroyed his rights to 
 Italian gratitude. 
 
 •' Victor Emmanuel's admiral received a note from Cavour: "Try to place 
 yourself between Garibaldi and the Neapolitan cruisers. I hope you und:^rstand 
 me." "My lord," was the answer, "I believe I do understand you." 
 
HOW CAVOUR MADE ITALY 487 
 
 The next move was toward the mainland. In vain King 
 Francis 11^ tried to quiet his subjects by proclaiming a "con- 
 stitution." The Neapohtans had had enough of such sham 
 reforms. Garibaldi's march from Reggio northward to Naples 
 was almost a triumphal procession, the people everywhere wel- 
 coming the "Liberator." Francis II fled Naples and took 
 refuge in the strong seaside fortress of Gaeta. There he stood 
 at bay, and for the moment matters looked perilous, for 
 Garibaldi was threatening to seize Rome (which Napoleon 
 would never have allowed), and the Papalists and. the Austrians 
 were enraged beyond measure. Cavour struck boldly by send- 
 ing Victor Emmanuel's own troops into Naples, and the king 
 in person took over the command of the war against Francis II. 
 The unfortunate Bourbon held out until 1861, and then Gaeta 
 capitulated: all the rest of the Kingdom of Naples had long 
 since been annexed. Another great stroke had been accom- 
 plished for Italian unity. 
 
 Napoleon III had viewed this seizure of Naples with the 
 greatest alarm, but he could find no tolerable pretext for 
 intervention. 2 A large party in southern Italy and Sicily still 
 desired a republic, but they yielded to the logic that demanded 
 a safe union under the House of Savoy. In 1861, a Parhament 
 for nearly the whole peninsula met at Turin, and proclaimed 
 Victor Emmanuel, "King of Italy, by the Grace of God and 
 the Act of the People." 
 
 Cavour, the prime mover in all this great achievement, 
 was not destined to contemplate his handiwork for long. His 
 health succumbed to the intense strain. He died in June, 1861. 
 " Italy is made — all is safe!" were his dying words, and he 
 was right. Few statesmen have been more adroit, patriotic 
 or successful than he. His motives had been pure, and usually 
 
 ^ Who had very recently succeeded his evil father, Ferdinand II. 
 
 ^ Cavour had assured him, "We are forced to take action [in the interests of 
 law and order in Naples]," and Napoleon is said to have washed hjs hands of the 
 whole affair. 
 
488 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 his methods. 1 Venetia and Rome were still to be annexed, but 
 in the main a united Italy had been won. In 1858, Victor 
 Emmanuel had reigned over 5,000,000 " Sardinians." In 1861, 
 he reigned over 22,000,000 "Italians." 
 
 286. The winning of Venetia (1866). Venetia fell to Italy 
 in 1866, when Prussia and Austria engaged in war,^ and the 
 former needed an ally. The Italian troops were poorly led and 
 lost a great battle at Custozza, but the mere fact of their 
 attack prevented the Austrians from using their full forces 
 against Prussia. After the Austrian defeat in Germany, the 
 treaty of peace gave Venetia to Victor Emmanuel. Only one 
 great unit was lacking now to a United Italy — Rome. 
 
 287. The winning of Rome (1870). Rome, by all tradition, 
 was the only proper capital of Italy: but Rome was the seat of 
 the Papacy, and Pius IX's Government earnestly protested 
 that it was impossible for it to consider giving up the city which 
 the Popes had ruled so long, and equally impossible for the 
 Pope to consider himself free in his spiritual functions if he 
 was not also the temporal ruler of his own city. All attempts at 
 compromise and conciliation failed. In 1862 and 1867, Gari- 
 baldi attempted with filibustering expeditions to end the 
 "Temporal Power." As a result. Napoleon III placed a 
 French garrison in Rome. In 1870, however, the French 
 troops were withdrawn to meet the invading Prussians at 
 home, and Victor Emmanuel's ministers could act again. 
 Pius IX announced that he could yield only to force, but his 
 weak army was ciuickly overcome by the Italian generals and 
 the royal troops marched into "the breach in the Porta Pia." 
 The Pope shut himself in the Vatican, declaring himself so 
 hemmed in and insulted that he was "a constructive pris- 
 
 1 Cavour stands in honorable contrast in many respects to his great compeer, 
 Bismarck. He did not wrest his word, "Fight the Devil with fire," or indulge in 
 drastic and unconstitutional methods to achieve his end. Few public men have 
 ever accomplished so much as he, and left cleaner political characters. 
 
 2 See chapter xxxviii, section 291. 
 
HOW CAVOUR MADE ITALY 489 
 
 oner." ^ By a vote of 130,000 to 1500 the people of Rome 
 declared for annexation to Italy, and the royal capital was 
 promptly moved to the Tiber. 
 
 The last stone had been placed, and the national edifice was 
 complete. Italy was now a united, constitutional nation, able 
 to rank among the Great Powers of Europe; and Victor 
 Emmanuel goes down among the great kings of history. 
 
 REVIEW 
 
 1. Topics — King Victor Emmanuel; Orsini; the Peace of Villafranca; 
 Garibaldi. 
 
 2. Geography — 
 
 (o) Locate Savoy; Magenta; Solferino; Venice; the Romagna; 
 
 Genoa; Palermo; Naples; Gaeta. 
 {h) Mark the states of Italy in 1849. 
 
 3. Compare the conditions in Sardinia with those in the rest of Italy. 
 
 4. What was Cavour's aim? Make a summary of the steps by which his 
 aim was accomplished. 
 
 5. What part did Napoleon III play in the making of Italy? What were 
 his motives? 
 
 6. What was the attitude of Pius IX toward Cavour and his work? 
 
 7. How did Prussia contribute to the making of Italy? 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 1. Mazzini and "Young Italy." 
 
 2. The Risorgimento movement. 
 
 3. The character of Cavour; his internal policy. 
 
 4. Garibaldi; his relations with Cavour. 
 
 5. The Sardinian Constitution (1848). 
 
 6. Victor Emmanuel II. 
 
 7. The struggle for freedom in Italy as reflected in the poems of Mrs. 
 Browning. 
 
 1 After the conquest the Italian Government declared the Pope an independ- 
 ent sovereign who ruled his palace of the Vatican with absolute right and who 
 had all the privileges of a king; a considerable annual income also was granted 
 him. Plus IX and his successors have firmly refused to accept this settlement, 
 have considered themselves as "morally prisoners," and have denounced the 
 House of Savoy and its ministers. No Pope since 1870 has left the grounds of the 
 Vatican palace to traverse the streets of Rome — the city in which they claim 
 they can appear as nothing less than sovereign rulers. 
 
490 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 READINGS 
 
 Sources. Robinson: nos. 479-84. 
 
 Mode}')! accoiDils. Seignobos: pp. 260-81. Pattison: pp. 391-418. Lodge: 
 chapter xxvii, pp. 1-6, 11, 17. Robinson and Beard: vol. il, pp. 90-109. 
 
CHAPTER XXXVIII 
 
 HOW BISMARCK MADE GERMANY 
 
 288. After the 1848 Revolution in Germany. The 1848 revo- 
 lution and its failure caused the most intense disappointment 
 to all German hberals. Practically nothing seemed accom- 
 plished. The Fatherland seemed as divided and despot-ridden 
 as before. It was perfectly evident (i) that the German people 
 needed a long, painful pohtical education before they could 
 exercise such rights of self-government as did the English; 
 (2) that until either Prussia or Austria was eliminated from 
 the politics of the weak, worthless German Federation/ real 
 progress was out of the question. The nation obviously needed 
 a single leader, and yet neither the king at Berlin nor the 
 emperor at Vienna could accept the law from the other. 
 
 To eliminate Prussia from the complete German question 
 was impossible, for the great bulk of King Frederick William's 
 subjects were ardent and genuine Teutons, despite a consider- 
 able Pohsh element in the eastern provinces. Impartial critics 
 would have urged the elimination of Austria. Barely one 
 quarter of Francis Joseph's people spoke the German tongue. 
 What part had the swarming Croats, Magyars, Poles, and 
 Czechs in the life of the Fatherland? Unfortunately, however, 
 the Austrian Government was very loath to remove itself from 
 Germany, where it could dominate the situation (hardly less 
 than in Italy) by trading on the fears of the lesser princes 
 against the overwhelming power of Prussia. ^ The Kings of 
 
 * See chapter xxxv, section 264. 
 
 ^ The history of Austria is in one sense that of a power which started as al- 
 most purely German, and then, little by little, has been pushed out of sym- 
 pathy with and influence in Germany; while at the same time it has gained new 
 dominions toward the east (e.g., Hungary, Croatia, part of Poland, etc.). Yet the 
 
492 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 Bavaria, Wiirtemberg, Saxony, and Hanover and nearly all 
 the grand dukes and princes, from Baden down to the least, 
 looked to Vienna for leadership rather than to Berlin. If 
 Germany was to become a genuine nation, only one solution to 
 the situation was really possible. Prussia must expel Austria 
 from Germany with the armed hand. Peaceful means would 
 surely never remove her. 
 
 Frederick William IV, however, was a very unfit leader for 
 such a movement. He was hopelessly eccentric and shifty, and 
 had lost the confidence of his people. In 1850, he had pro- 
 claimed a constitution for Prussia, but the Parliament as 
 established had a House of Lords {Herrcnhaus) made up only 
 of great nobles or of appointees of the king; the House of 
 Deputies was chosen on such a narrow franchise that it could 
 hardly claim to represent the people.^ Such grudging arrange- 
 ments, of course, angered a great part of his subjects; in addi- 
 tion he showed himself vacillating and timid in dealing with 
 Austria. 
 
 In 1850, a dispute had arisen between Prussia and Austria 
 over a new scheme for a very limited German Confederation.^ 
 The dispute quickly drifted, it seemed, toward war. Both sides 
 mobilized their armies. There was even a skirmish. Then 
 Frederick William seems to have lost his nerve, and announced 
 that he would abandon his claims. The Conference at Olmutz 
 ended in the surrender of Prussia to Austria on every substan- 
 tial point at issue. It seemed as if the king wished to make a 
 public confession of the fact that he dared not cross swords 
 with Austria. 
 
 289. The coming of Bismarck (1862). Prussia had been 
 
 Austrian Government has been verj' unwilling to withdraw itself from its old 
 German connection and become frankly an East-European Power. 
 
 1 This constitution is still the basis for the constitution of Prussia, and is the 
 cause of much discontent at the present day. 
 
 2 This was an attempt engineered by Prussia to form a small confederation 
 with some of the lesser states of Central Germany. 
 
HOW BISMARCK MADE GERMANY 493 
 
 humiliated before all the world by Austria. Her position did 
 not improve for several years. Then at length to Prussia, as 
 to Sardinia, there came an able king and a great prime 
 minister. The king was Wilham I; the prime minister was 
 Bismarck. 
 
 In 1858 Frederick William IV became so insane that his 
 brother had to be declared regent. ^ In 1861, this brother 
 became king. William I was a prince of no great genius, but 
 he possessed certain cardinal virtues. Personally he was simple, 
 unassuming, and, despite a military career, decidedly tender- 
 hearted. He possessed a genuine and earnest piety along with a 
 deep consciousness of the greatness of his human ofTice. He 
 was without the least political originality or genius; but his one 
 cardinal merit was like unto that of Victor Emmanuel: he 
 knew that he possessed a great prime minister, and he held 
 .that minister in office despite cavil, faction, and threatenings. 
 
 Otto von Bismarck, who was made President of the Prussian 
 Cabinet in 1862, came of the Prussian country nobility, a very 
 conservative stock; and in 1848, he had been a pronounced 
 anti-liberal, and an opponent of the unlucky Frankfort Con- 
 stitution. Later he had served Prussia on foreign embassies. 
 He had conceived against Austria an earnest hate, as the chief 
 foe to Prussian greatness. His views in the interval also had 
 broadened. He had learned to see a certain amount of good in 
 constitutions and in popular participation in government; he 
 now came to the portfolio charged with an intense desire to 
 expel Austria from German affairs and to unite Germany under 
 the effectual leadership of Prussia. He would glorify his be- 
 loved king and Prussia by making them the head of a united 
 and prosperous Germany. To this end he devoted all his match- 
 
 1 During Frederick William's later years he had been hopelessly reactionary; 
 all agitation for liberal institutions had been denounced as contrary to true 
 religion. "There is an evil spirit in the cities," said the king; and Stahl 
 (rector of the University of Berlin) denounced the prevailing scientific spirit of 
 the age. "Science must face about," he asserted. 
 
494 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 less powers as a supple diplomat and intriguer, and no over- 
 nice moral scruples were to hold him back from his goal. The 
 first few years of Bismarck's administration were consumed 
 in a thorough reorganization of the Prussian army along the 
 newest and most scientific lines and upon the basis of universal 
 military service. The change was very unpopular. It involved 
 drafting a very large number of citizens into the army, and also 
 a heavy expenditure. The Prussian Parliament repeatedly 
 refused to vote authorization or money for the new scheme. 
 Bismarck and his master continued on their way undisturbed 
 by popular clamors and legislative censures. The king and his 
 minister v/ere resolved to give Prussia such an army that she 
 could safely risk a great struggle with Austria, and no great 
 tenderness for the letter of the law prevented them. '' It is not 
 by speeches and resolutions," said Bismarck, "that the great 
 questions of the day are to be decided: but by blood and iron." 
 History has justified the prime minister. In Von Moltke he 
 had a "Chief of Staff" of remarkable ability. By him the 
 Prussian army was so reorganized that it was soon proved to 
 be the first in the v/orld. 
 
 290. The Danish War (1864). In 1864, Bismarck began to 
 come to his reckoning with Austria. He soon showed himself 
 a far better diplomat than the Vienna statesmen. All Germany 
 was agitated over the Schleswig-Holstein question. These two 
 duchies had a population mainly German, but had been placed 
 by a "personal union " under the King of Denmark. In 
 Holstein, especially, Danish rule was very unwelcome. In 
 1863, the Danes adopted a constitution which made the 
 duchies almost parts of Denmark. 1 In Holstein there was 
 great uproar, and men proposed to give the ducal throne to 
 the Duke of Augustenburg.^ Bismarck now adroitly maneu- 
 
 1 The inhabitants of Holstein, the southern duchy, were bitterly Anti-Danish, 
 and resented this attempt to " un-Germanize " them. 
 
 2 The Duke of Augustenburg seemed to have the ne.xt best claim if the King 
 of Denmark were eliminated. 
 
PRINCE BISMARCK 
 
 German statesman 
 Born 1815 Died i8( 
 
HOW BISMARCK MADE GERMANY 495 
 
 vered the Austrians into an entangling alliance with Prussia 
 to eject the Danes from the disputed country. The general 
 supposition was that the Duke of Augustenburg would pres- 
 ently be given the lands, and this was what the world awaited, 
 when, after a brief war (the Danes fighting heroically, but 
 simply overwhelmed by the troops of the two great powers 
 against them), the King of Denmark was obhged to make 
 peace by giving up the duchies and promising to accept any 
 disposition which the allies might make of them. 
 
 Then it was that Bismarck show^ed his hand. Over the settle- 
 ment of the government of Schleswig-Holstein endless difficul- 
 ties arose. Austria urged the cause of the Augustenburger; 
 Bismarck demanded that if the region were to be made into 
 a new principahty, it should be tied to Prussia in extreme bonds 
 of vassalage. Austria was resolved under no circumstances to 
 submit to an increase of Prussian power; the duke refused Bis- 
 'marck's proposals, and the South German princes sustained 
 him. Bismarck and his master were unpopular throughout 
 Germany on account of the unconstitutional army reforms; 
 but the great prime minister was not a man to worry about 
 mere popular grumblings. He knew that Von Moltke had re- 
 organized the Prussian army into a magnificent, scientifically 
 built fighting machine ; and he knew that he had secured Italy 
 for an ally. 
 
 By June, 1866, Austria and South Germany were thoroughly 
 angry, while Bismarck and Von Moltke were thoroughly con- 
 fident. The attempt of Prussia to prevent the Duke of Augus- 
 tenburg being proclaimed in Holstein, therefore, led promptly 
 to war. 
 
 291. The Ausiro-PrussianWar {I'^dd). The German Federal 
 Diet, the body of delegates of the worthless old " Confedera- 
 tion," declared the peace broken by Prussia and ordered a 
 general arming against her (June 14, 1866). The Diet was 
 decreeing its own dissolution. Although all the lesser kings of 
 
496 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 Germany — Hanover, Saxony, Bavaria, and Wiirtemberg, as 
 well as the princes of Baden and the two Hesses — were on the 
 Austrian side, these disconnected and feeble alHes did the 
 Hapsburg monarchy very Httle good; their scattered corps 
 
 0' LoDgituA- East 10|'^fi 
 
 I I The North Gernr 
 
 Confederation L,. r) E 
 
 1866-187I. 
 •^■^Boundary of the 
 German Empire 
 
 1871. still I. 
 
 Lands tal<en from 
 France 1 871 
 
 THE GERMAN EMPIRE 
 
 being readily defeated or checked by small Prussian armies. 
 King William had gone into the war with hesitation. The odds 
 against him seemed great. His Italian aUies were a very uncer- 
 tain quantity.^ Public opinion had denounced him for sustain- 
 
 1 Besides Italy, he had the alliance of a few quite small North German states 
 such as the Mecklenburgs. It turned out that the Italians were mainly useful in 
 
HOW BISMARCK MADE GERMANY 497 
 
 ing the illegal policy of Bismarck. But his advisers had now 
 convinced him that it was safe to trust to the newly organized 
 army, and they knew whereof they spoke. The Prussians 
 instantly took the offensive. Von Moltke directed them most 
 skillfully into Saxony, and sent the local king, with his court 
 and army, flying headlong to their Austrian friends in Bohemia. 
 The Prussians followed into the Austrian lands. On July 3, 
 1866, came a great and decisive battle at Koniggratz : ' 200,000 
 Prussians striving to storm a strong position above the Elbe, 
 defended by as many Austrians. The battle was desperate, 
 bloody, and for a long time hung in the balance. But the Aus- 
 trian general, Benedek, was no match for Von Moltke, and the 
 final arrival of reinforcements turned the scale in the Prussians' 
 favor.- Benedek's army fled southward, almost a demoralized 
 mob. It had lost 42,000 men, and was incapable of successful 
 resistance. One great contest had decided the war. 
 
 Austria had shot her bolt, and must make peace. After a 
 prehminary truce, the Peace of Prague (August 23, 1866) 
 ended hostilities. Bismarck's darling ambition was gratified. 
 Austria retired from all further participation in German affairs. 
 Prussia was allowed to seize and annex the unlucky territories 
 of Hanover, Schleswig-Holstein, Electoral Hesse, Nassau, and 
 the free city of Erankfort. Their dispossessed princes took the 
 gloomy road to exile. In North Germany, Prussia was to be 
 allowed to organize the surviving principalities into a confed- 
 eration completely under her dominance. In South Germany, 
 the local sovereigns were left their internal independence, but 
 it was understood that their entire military force was at the 
 disposal of Prussia in event of war. The " blood-and-iron " 
 
 diverting a large Austrian army to check their march on Venice (see chapter 
 XXXVII, section 286). 
 
 ^ Also often called Sadoiva, from the name of another village near the battle- 
 field. 
 
 ^ One great advantage of the Prussians was their new breech-loading "needle 
 gun," which was vastly superior to the old-style Austrian weapons. 
 
498 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 policy had amply vindicated itself. If the German nation was 
 not yet made, it was surely well advanced in the making. 
 292. The founding of the North German Confederation. 
 
 Bismarck was now free to organize a federal government for 
 all but the southern states ^ of Germany. Abstract reasoning 
 would have dictated the abolition of all the petty sovereigns, 
 but local feeling, the opinion of Europe and the etiquette due 
 to crowned heads had to be respected. The result was the 
 North German Confederation ; the present German Empire is 
 merely an expansion of this. 
 
 The new scheme was really a clever balancing of local rights 
 and prejudices against the necessity of giving the final control 
 in all vital matters to Prussia. Each state kept its own magis- 
 trates and legislature, but certain things were entirely taken 
 out of its scope. The King of Prussia was in absolute command 
 of the entire army, in virtue of holding the " presidency" of 
 the League. Postal and telegraph service, likewise the custom- 
 houses, were in charge of " federal" (that is to say, in effect, 
 Prussian) officers. As a legislature there was set up an upper 
 house, the Bundesrath (Federal Council), whereof the members 
 were ambassadors named by the different states, the larger 
 states having more representatives than the smaller. Prussia 
 had 17 votes; the other 21 states had, together, 26; but on im- 
 portant questions Prussia could always command a majority 
 (22), for her 17 votes would be cast as a unit, and her influence 
 could always pick up a few more among the lesser states. The 
 lower house of the legislature (Reichstag) was to be elected by 
 direct manhood suffrage, according to districts based mainly 
 on population. Here Prussia with her great bulk was always 
 sure of a majority. The Confederation, in short, was an " equal 
 alliance " between a lion (Prussia) and a number of relatively 
 helpless sheep. The hon, however, was wise in not displaying 
 his powers too often, and the sheep were tolerably contented 
 1 Especially Bavaria, Wiirtemberg, and Baden were still left out. 
 
HOW BISMARCK MADE GERMANY 499 
 
 under his guidance: — in short, a most ingenious scheme, and 
 one worthy of Bismarck, who now, as "Chancellor of the 
 Confederation," practically assumed charge of the Ciovern- 
 ment of Germany. 
 
 It is under a slight modification of this constitution that 
 Germany exists to-day. 
 
 293. Bismarck and Napoleon III. From across the Rhine 
 Napoleon III had watched the growth of Prussian influence 
 with increasing alarm. It was a cardinal point with Frenchmen 
 that their nation was the First Power of Europe. I'rance had 
 been repeatedly defeated: — true; but only by a r^reat coali- 
 tion. No single nation had ever successfully crossed swords 
 with her.^ In 1865, when Bismarck was planmng a rupture 
 with Austria, he had gone to Biarritz ^ and encouraged Napoleon 
 III to believe that if Prussia were allowed a free hand against 
 Austria, France would be allowed to " indemnify herself" for 
 any increase of Prussian power by seizing German lands along 
 the Rhine. But Bismarck purposely left his engagements very 
 indefinite and Napoleon was utterly hoodwiiiked. He had 
 expected Prussia and Austria to have a long, indecisive war, in 
 which he could intervene as arbiter after b(^th sides were 
 exhausted. To his dismay Prussia won an astonishingly prompt 
 victory. The battle of Koniggratz was almost as unwelcome to 
 France as to Austria. What if a new " First Power " had 
 arisen? Austria retired beaten from the German situation, but 
 Bismarck's work would never be complete until be had come to 
 grim conclusions with France, and forced her to acquiesce in 
 the union of South Germany with the North German Confed- 
 eration. 
 
 After Austria had made peace, Napoleon demanded a 
 " territorial enlargement" for France from Germany. He met 
 now a decided refusal. France would probably have declared 
 
 ^ Except, of course, England in purely maritime w; rfare. 
 ^ A famous watering-place in southern France. 
 
500 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 war, but the emperor's advisers told him that his army was in 
 no condition for action. His final efforts came down to an 
 attempt to purchase the small Grand Duchy of Luxembourg 
 from the King of Holland. The city of Luxembourg was occu- 
 pied by a Prussian garrison, but again Bismarck deluded the 
 French into believing that this would be readily withdrawn. 
 The King of Holland was ready to sell a useless possession, and 
 a treaty of cession to France was drawn up and announced to 
 Europe. Then suddenly Bismarck caused German pubhc feel- 
 ing to be aroused lest " German land "^ be alienated to France. 
 The Chancellor informed the King of Holland that, " in view 
 of the condition of opinion in Germany," war would result if 
 he went on with the sale. The Dutch, of course, dropped the 
 matter. Napoleon was accordingly advertised as rebuffed and 
 humiUated before all Europe. His hold upon France was 
 already wTakening: now his prestige at home and abroad was 
 shaken sorely. From this time (down to 1870) the French 
 watched the growing Prussian power with anxious, unfriendly 
 eyes. " Herr von Bismarck has made me a dupe," cried 
 Napoleon. " An Emperor of the French can be no dupe ! " 
 
 During the following years certain reforms were undertaken 
 in the French arm}' which — Frenchmen were told — made 
 it more than a match for the Prussians.- 
 
 294. The outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War (1870). 
 Despite the unfriendly tension no hostilities occurred from 
 1866 to 1870. The summer of 1870 seemed to show the diplo- 
 matic sky with fewer clouds than usual. Then war broke forth 
 with astounding suddenness. A revolution had occurred in 
 Spain: the successful rebels offered their crown to a German 
 prince of the Flouse of Hohenzollern. The idea of a prince 
 friendly to Prussia reigning at Madrid filled French statesmen 
 
 ^ Luxembourg had been part of the old German Confederation before 1866. 
 2 These reforms seem to have been excellent — on paper: but they were most 
 imperfectly executed. 
 
HOW BISMARCK MADE GERMANY 501 
 
 with wrath. In the face of French clamors, the prince with- 
 drew his candidacy. There things should have ended, but 
 with incredible folly, Gramont, the French Foreign Minister, 
 demanded of King William a pledge that "he would never 
 allow the prince to renew his candidacy." The king took 
 umbrage at the exacting demands and declined to permit 
 Napoleon's envoy again to discuss the matter. Bismarck, 
 already convinced that war with France was both necessary 
 and desirable, and assured by Von Moltke that the army was 
 perfectly prepared, now did a dehberate act which was like a 
 red rag waved before an already irritated bull. He gave to the 
 newspapers a dispatch touching the French demands, which 
 implied that a studied insult had been intended by the king to 
 Napoleon and his ambassador.^ 
 
 This was July 14, 1870. In Paris, where matters were already 
 tense, the council of imperial ministers resolved on immediate 
 war. It was declared on July 19. 
 
 295. The Franco-Prussian War (1870-71). It is impossible 
 to acquit Napoleon III and his ministers either of extreme 
 knavery or extreme folly. It is not quite certain whether they 
 knew that France was utterly unprepared for war, or whether 
 they beheved that she had a genuine chance to conquer. In the 
 former case, they were reckless, treasonable adventurers who 
 wrecked their country by taking gamblers' chances with her 
 very life as the stake; in the latter case, they were living in a 
 fool's paradise, when it was their ordinary duty to have learned 
 the bitter truth.- 
 
 ^ It is difficult to commend Bismarck's morality in this action. He may well 
 have believed a war with France for the interests of Germany necessary and sure 
 to come sooner or later; but a more patient and scrupulous diplomacy might 
 have long averted it, until perhaps even the selfish need thereof had disappeared. 
 What he actually did was to publish an "edited" copy of a telegram from the 
 king stating his treatment of the French demands. Bismarck struck out all the 
 softening and qualifying phrases, and left the dispatch blunt and seemingly 
 insulting. He afterwards gloried in his deed. 
 
 ^ Afterwards the emperor and his advisers claimed they were driven to war 
 by " the clamor of France." This is a futile excuse: it is the duty of a true 
 statesman to avoid a disastrous act, even if it renders him very unpopular. 
 
502 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 "We are thrice ready for war, down to the last soldier's 
 shoestring," proclaimed Marshal Leboeuf, who claimed the 
 chief knowledge and authority in the army. "We enter on the 
 contest with a light heart," declaimed the prime minister, 
 Ollivier, to the Chamber of Deputies. Vainly a few voices 
 among the deputies spoke of moderation and delay. "To 
 Berlin!" rang the cry in the Paris streets. France rushed 
 almost gayly into the struggle, full of old memories of Auster- 
 litz and Jena, and believing what her rulers told her ■ — that 
 (dl was prepared, and that victory was assured. 
 
 The moment the French forces began to mobilize, the rotten- 
 ness of the Second Empire regime was evident. It was impos- 
 sible to assemble anything like the 400,000 men expected. 
 Transport and commissariat broke down utterly. The armies 
 on the frontiers were demoralized before a single battle. 
 Troops were sent hither and thither in the most aimless and 
 reckless fashion. "I can't find my commander-in-chief, nor 
 the men I am ordered to command," telegraphed a French 
 general on reaching a frontier post. The higher officers were 
 many of them self-seeking and incapable creatures who owed 
 their posts to political favor. The emperor himself was in poor 
 health and seemed scared and hesitant as the awful problem 
 loomed before him. France, in short, lacked everything but 
 bravery; this bravery saved her national honor, but very little 
 else. 
 
 From the very outset, too, the French were outnumbered. 
 Von Moltke's relentless military machine had organized prac- 
 tically the whole Prussian nation into an army. His plans 
 worked almost automatically. ^ The first rounds of the war are 
 soon told. 
 
 (i) A German force of some 100,000 routed a French army 
 
 1 A story runs that, on the ni^'ht of the declaration of war, the great general 
 was almost asleep when the decisive news came. "Telegraph the orders in file 
 
 number ," he directed his aide, and rolled over in his slumbers. Everything 
 
 had long been arranged to meet just such an emergency! 
 
HOW BISMARCK MADE GERMANY 503 
 
 of about 50,000, at Worth, on the frontiers. The French fought 
 gallantly, but were simply swamped by numbers. This put 
 their whole campaign on the defensive. 
 
 (2) The main French army (about 175,000), under the incap- 
 able Bazaine, was driven into the fortress city of Metz after 
 the great battle of Gravelotte (August 18), and there held 
 blockaded. Nothing now hindered a march of the Prussians 
 on Paris except a surviving army led by the best French 
 general, MacMahon. 
 
 (3) Prudence dictated that MacMahon should try to check 
 the Prussian attack on Paris, while new armies were recruited 
 in France; but his desires to act thus were overcome by the 
 news from the capital that a report of any further retreating 
 meant ''a revolution against the dynasty." Against his better 
 judgment, MacMahon now tried to come to the relief of Metz. 
 He was himself forced by superior numbers into Sedan, — 
 hemmed in, and, after valorous but vain resistance, forced to 
 surrender. Napoleon III was with him. The Germans boasted 
 the capture of "one emperor," ^ 39 generals, 2300 officers, and 
 84,000 men. There had been no victory like this in all modern 
 history. 
 
 The "Second Empire" was already unpopular in Paris ere 
 the war began. The first tidings of defeat awakened wrath and 
 suspicion.^ The news of Sedan drove the capital to frenzy. 
 Once more there was sudden revolution. The Empress Eugenie 
 fled to England. September 4, 1870, the (Third) French 
 Republic was proclaimed, with a Provisional Government of 
 the "National Defense," which strove with remarkable energy 
 to check the Prussians and to save the national honor. 
 
 After Sedan the Prussians had marched straight en Paris. 
 The siege lasted from September 19, 1870, to January, 1871. 
 
 ^ Napoleon III was sent into easy captivity in Germany until the end of the 
 war. Then he retired to England, where he died in 1873. 
 
 ^ The Government added to its unpopularity by issuing lying bulletins of 
 successes, which were soon proved never to have been won. 
 
S04 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 The great city of 2,000,000 was changed into one desperately 
 defended camp, and held out heroically against its blockaders, 
 awaiting the relieving armies which were being raised in the 
 French provinces. The most active member of the " National 
 Defense " Government, Gambetta, had fled from Paris, ^ and 
 put forth memorable efforts to assemble new armies in central 
 and southern France. If bravery and patriotism could have 
 saved Paris, the capital would have been rescued, but the new 
 armies of Gambetta were really only hastily improvised militia. 
 They had no chance against the perfectly organized and skill- 
 fully led host that held Paris as in a ring of iron. On October 
 27, 1870, Bazaine had capitulated in Metz, surrendering 
 176,000 men, after a shameful failure to break through his 
 blockaders.- The German army before Metz could now be 
 used for the investment of Paris. The winter was cold and 
 added to the demoralization of the French. By January 28, 
 187 1, Paris (long on starvation rations) was practically at the 
 end of her supphes. The proud city capitulated and final peace 
 soon followed, for France was exhausted and could fight no 
 more. 
 
 The Treaty of Frankfort (May 10, 187 1) was a notification 
 to all Europe that France had ceased to be the " First Power " 
 of the continent. The cost of Napoleon IIFs criminal blunder 
 was terrible. Bismarck inexorably required: (i) The cession 
 of the frontier provinces of Alsace and Lorraine (4700 square 
 miles and 1,500,000 population). (2) The payment of a war 
 indemnity of 5,000,000,000 francs ($1,000,000,000). France was 
 
 1 Gambetta escaped from Paris in a balloon, and during the siege the Parisians 
 communicated often with the outside world by balloon. This was almost the first 
 practical use of aerial navigation, although, of course, the balloons were entirely 
 non-dirigible, and it was largely luck where they landed. 
 
 2 For this failure to struggle to the uttermost against his besiegers, and to 
 hold out to the bitter end, when the mere fact of his resistance tied up a German 
 army larger than his own, Bazaine was most righteously adjudged a traitor after 
 the war. He died in disgrace and exile. He claimed to have considered that his 
 loyalty was toward Napoleon III alone, and that he had no duty toward the new 
 "Republic." 
 
HOW BISMARCK MADE GERMANY 505 
 
 left humiliated, devastated, curtailed, and impoverished. No 
 such single calamity had ever overtaken a great nation in 
 modern history.^ 
 
 296. The German Empire (1871). The Treaty of Frankfort 
 was made, not with Prussia, but with the German Empire. 
 At the outset of the war, Napoleon III had counted on the 
 alliance or at least the neutrality of the South German states. 
 He had found speedily that they had lined up with the Prus- 
 sians to defend the common Fatherland against the old French 
 enemy. After the marvelous succession of victories had kindled 
 through all Germans a common enthusiasm, the South Ger- 
 mans felt themselves quite ready for the final step. On the 
 suggestion of the King of Bavaria, and with all the other 
 German kings, princes, and free cities concurring. King 
 Wilham assumed a prouder title. On January 18, 187 1, while 
 he lay with his army before Paris, in the great palace of Louis 
 XI V at Versailles he took the title of " German Emperor."^ 
 The North German Confederation was enlarged to receive 
 the South German states, and its name was forgotten in that 
 of the German Empire. 
 
 The dream of centuries of a powerful and united Germany, 
 able to renew the glorious memories of the medieval Ottos 
 and Hohenstaufens, had been realized. In the smoke of battle 
 against alien France, the nation had found herself. Cavour 
 had made Italy. Bismarck had made Germany. The old map 
 of Europe was changed, indeed. 
 
 ^ A frightful epilogue to the siege of Paris was the outbreak of the radical 
 socialistic element (March — May, 1871), who seized the city almost as soon as 
 peace was declared and proclaimed the " Commune of Paris," an attempt to put 
 Paris and all France on the basis of "communal autonomy" — i.e., each munici- 
 pality and district was to possess extreme local rights, a scheme which, of course, 
 would have given the Paris radicals every opportunity in the capital. A reign 
 of anarchy and terror prevailed in the sorely afflicted city. The Republican 
 Government put down the "Commune" after bloodshed and fighting more 
 terrible than any in the regular siege. Many of the finest buildings in Paris were 
 destroyed during the contest. 
 
 - The phrase, "Emperor of Germany," with its odious implication of superi- 
 ority over the lesser German princes, was purposely avoided. 
 
5o6 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 REVIEW 
 
 1. Topics — The Olmiitz Conference; William I; Von Moltke; the 
 Schleswig-Holstein Question; Peace of Prague; North German Con- 
 federation; Bundesrath; Reichstag; Grand Duchy of Luxembourg; 
 Sedan; "Government of the National Defense"; Treaty of Frankfort; 
 the Commune of Paris. 
 
 2. Geography — 
 
 (a) Locate Koniggriitz (Sadowa); Metz; Sedan. 
 (/)) Mark on the map the boundaries of the German Confederation, 
 1866. Locate the territories of Prussia: Schleswig, Holstcin. 
 
 (c) Mark the bounds of the North German Confederation. 
 
 (d) Mark the bounds of the German Empire of 187 1. Locate 
 Alsace-Lorraine. 
 
 3. What were the conditions in Germany in 1848 which made impossible 
 the forming of a real nation? 
 
 4. What was Bismarck's aim? Make a summary of the steps by which it 
 was accomplished. 
 
 5. Compare Bismarck with Cavour as to character and policy. 
 
 6. Describe the Government under the North German Confederation. 
 
 7. The relations between Napoleon III and Bismarck to 1870. 
 
 8. How do you account for the overwhelming triumph of the Prussians in 
 the Franco-Prussian War? 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 1. The Zollverein and its importance in the formation of the German 
 Empire. 
 
 2. Bismarck; his internal policy. Compare it with Cavour's. 
 
 3. How did Italy help in the making of Germany? 
 
 4. Compare the difficulties which Bismarck had to overcome with those 
 which confronted Cavour. 
 
 5. Was the war with France necessary to the making of a united Germany? 
 Give reasons. 
 
 6. What justification was there fortheannexationof Alsace and Lorraine? 
 
 7. The Commune of Paris. 
 
 8. Gambctta. 
 
 9. Thiers, and the Treaty of Frankfort. 
 
 10. The Spanish Revolution and the Ems telegram. 
 
 READINGS 
 
 Sources. Robinson: nos. 485-92. 
 
 Modern Accounts. Seignobos: pp. 260-62, 281-09- Pattison: pp. 4i9~5i' 
 Lewis: pp. 681-753. Lodge: chapter xxvi, sections 21-23; xxvil, sec- 
 tions 7-10, 12-16. Robinson and Beard: vol. 11, pp. 109-30. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIX 
 
 NINETEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND 
 
 297. The Problem of 1830: The " Unreformed Parliament.'' 
 
 In 1830, George IV sank within a dishonored grave. His suc- 
 cessor, his brother, William IV (1830-37), was of somewhat 
 better character than the last king, but he was neither con- 
 spicuously good nor great. When he came to the throne his 
 ministers were confronting an intricate problem affecting the 
 very foundations of the British Constitution, a problem long 
 postponed and now clamorous for answer — the reform of the 
 method of choosing the House of Commons. 
 
 The ''Unreformed Parliament" was more than an evil, it 
 was a monstrous absurdity. Theoretically the EngHsh nation 
 elected the members of the Commons, — it was the so-called 
 "popular " branch of the legislature. Actually the method of 
 choice differed in every "borough," thank's to the slow growth 
 of local usage and of local interests. Only in a very few dis- 
 tricts was there anything like a free ballot open to all the 
 citizens.^ The prevailing system made it easy for the great 
 aristocratic families to control both houses of Parliament sim- 
 ultaneously. "Hereditary right" put the elder brother in the 
 Lords, "family influence " put his younger brother, or some 
 trusted friend of the noble house, in the Commons. England 
 thus was still highly aristocratic in its whole Government. 
 
 It is difficult to generalize about conditions of evil which 
 were not so much a system as an anarchy; but these were some 
 of the capital abuses: — 
 
 ^ In the "counties" (unincorporated rural districts) all "forty shilling free- 
 holders" (owners of land renting for £2 per year) could vote, and the system was 
 fairly uniform. But the number of such voters was decidedly small. 
 
5oS 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 (a) Many very small towns had the right to return to 
 Parliament two members each; some towns even with only 23, 
 
 e( Coal Districls of 
 and and Wales, 
 gion of Densest Population 
 e early XVIIIlh century, 
 ines encluse the regions 
 ensest population in the 
 I XX th Century. 
 se whicb had a population of 
 r In 1910. 
 
 :ions of ttie cities wittl regard 
 fields. Tlie shifting of 
 
 Illation from tbe southeast to the 
 orthwest was due mainly to the 
 use of Bteam-power in manu- 
 facturing, made possihle by 
 the opening up of the coal 
 
 Longitude West o" from Greenwich 
 
 ,0 Longitude East 
 
 ENGLAND, SHOWING INDUSTRIAL CHANGES 
 
 19, or 13 voters.' These places had once been of fair conse^ 
 quence, but had dwindled away. On the other hand, thriving 
 
 * At Old Sarum there was no longer a town, — only a green mound where a 
 town had once stood; but certain persons still kept the right to vote for Sarum 
 and faithfuih' returned her members. 
 
NINETEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND 509 
 
 cities created by the new "industrial revolution" — e.g., 
 Manchester — had no representatives at all. 
 
 {b) The members were very unequally distributed over the 
 country. Ten South English counties (population, 3,000,000) 
 returned 237 members. Thirty other counties (population, 
 8,000,000) sent only 252. The county of Cornwall alone sent 
 44; all Scotland (with eight times the population) was allowed 
 only 45. 
 
 (c) The right to vote was most arbitrarily distributed. In 
 some towns practically all the taxpayers could vote; in some 
 the mayor and town council alone chose the members; in some, 
 certain lucky individuals who had the special privilege.^ In 
 the county elections (country districts), the great landowners 
 usually dictated the votes of their tenantry; and in 1828, the 
 Duke of Newcastle actually evicted five hundred tenants who 
 would not vote to please him. 
 
 (d) In these absurd elections bribery was flagrant and often 
 unabashed. Noble lords sold "the family seat." Ignoble 
 voters could be bought for so many guineas. A seat in Parlia- 
 ment could be readily purchased almost as a matter of open 
 trade by any rich personage who was politically ambitious. 
 
 To outline this anarchy is to condemn it; yet even in 1830 
 the great Tory nobles and the leading English Churchmen were 
 ready to denounce as treasonable and un-Christian any attempt 
 to change "the present happy Constitution." So great was 
 the power of British'conservatism! 
 
 298. The Great Reform Act (1832). William IV became 
 king in June, 1830. In September, his Tory Prime Minister, 
 the Duke of Wellington, a far better soldier than statesman, 
 asserted in open Parliament that there was no need of electoral 
 
 * In one Scottish district this actually occurred in a Parliamentary election: 
 "Only one person attended the meeting [of lawful electors]. He, of course, took 
 the chair, constituted the meeting, called over the roll of freeholders, took the 
 ^'ote, a.nd elected himself ." 
 
Sio 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 reform.^ In November, Wellington had been driven to resign 
 by the concentrated wrath of the country and a Whig Ministry 
 led by Lord Grey was in his place. 
 
 The carrying of the " Great Reform Bill " marked, however, 
 the most desperate Parhamentary struggle in the history of 
 England. Only the national moderation and common sense 
 prevented an appeal to arms. Rising public senti- 
 ment had its influence on even the "electors" and 
 "patrons" of the "rotten boroughs "and "pads.ed 
 constituencies," when the Commons refused to 
 accept Grey's " First Reform Bill." The 
 House was dissolved; and bad as was 
 the electoral body, it 
 now voted for its own 
 reformation. A House 
 of Commons was re- 
 turned friendly to " Re- 
 form" (1831); but 
 next the conservative 
 element, distressed at 
 the prospect of "de- 
 mocracy," and at the 
 menace to "the land- 
 ed interests," retreat- 
 ed upon the great 
 stronghold of conservatism — the House of Lords. The Peers 
 twice threw back rejected Reform Bills upon the Com- 
 mons. Grey and his ministers now demanded that the king 
 exercise his prerogative, and create enough new Peers to swamp 
 
 1 The Duke delivered a most amazing speech which made history. He de- 
 clared that the existing system "possessed the full and entire confidence of the 
 country," and that "no better system could be devised by the wit of man." The 
 speech created an immediate uproar. It is told that on going out Wellington 
 asked a friend "if he had said anything especial." "You have only announced 
 the fall of your ministry," came the answer. 
 
 STEPHENSON'S LOCOMOTIVE "ROCKET" 
 
 Adopted for use on the Liverpool and Manchester Rail 
 
 way in 1829 
 
NINETEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND 
 
 511 
 
 the Tory majority. When he refused, the ministry resigned, 
 and Wellington for a moment tried to assume the Government; 
 but he had practically all England against him. Armed revolt 
 seemed impending if the Lords did not yield. Grey returned to 
 office with the royal pledge to create the necessary Peers; and 
 the mere threat alone was necessary. The Tory Lords capitu- 
 lated. The Reform Bill became a law. 
 
 It was not (from the American standpoint) a highly revolu- 
 tionary measure. The rotten boroughs were disfranchised; 
 the larger towns were given members; but the seats were not 
 yet distributed on a strict basis of population. In the towns 
 
 TRAIN IN 1836 
 
 {After a lithograph in the Print Department of the BiUiotheque Nationale) 
 
 votes were given all citizens who owned or rented houses worth 
 £10 ($50) per year. In the country districts the franchise was 
 not quite so hberal. In brief, only the middle class was enfran- 
 chised, and most workingmen and farm laborers were still 
 without the votes. In 1836, there were 6,023,000 adult males 
 in the kingdom; yet there were only 839,500 voters. Great 
 Britain was very far from being a democracy; but the middle- 
 class townspeople now had the votes as well as the farmers 
 (as formerly); and the new manufacturing and moneyed 
 (capitalistic) class was now to rival in poHtical power the old 
 landed aristocracy. 
 299. The era of liberal reforms. Incomplete as it was, the 
 
512 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 " Great Reform Bill " was an earnest of better things. Parlia- 
 ment would now respond freely to the opinion of the middle 
 classes, at least. The English aristocracy, like the king, still 
 kept an enormous social influence, but its political monopoly 
 was ended. 
 
 Following the impetus given by the Parliamentary Reform 
 movement, a long series of liberalizing legislation was carried 
 in the next few years. Slavery was abolished in the British 
 colonies; the poor-laws were amended to make something like 
 the scientific treatment of the problem of non-employment 
 and poverty possible; the old system of city government was 
 amended by a great Municipal Reform Act (1835) ; and in 1839 
 a new postal scheme, instituting the famous penny-post, was 
 voted, — really the genesis of the modern cheap postal systems 
 of every civilized country. 
 
 All these and many things more were excellent, but a great 
 mass of the poorer people demanded something further. This 
 was the era of the Chartist Movement : ^ a radical agitation 
 among the working classes, which urged the abolition of 
 hereditary nobility and demanded manhood suffrage, and 
 kindred things which would have left England a pure democ- 
 racy with a king only in name. The Chartists " demonstrated " 
 with monster processions, petitions to ParHament, and the 
 like; once or twice they seemed fomenting actual insurrection; 
 but after 1848 their movement dwindled away. England had 
 become more prosperous; there was less discontent among the 
 industrial classes; and various of their less radical demands 
 had been granted. 
 
 300. Queen Victoria (1837-1901). Five years after the 
 
 1 The name comes from the "People's Charter," in which the "Chartists'" 
 demands were summed up. The program seems, from an American standpoint, 
 eminently reasonable. The six chief points were: (i) Manhood suffrage; (2) vote 
 by secret liallot; (,^) annually elected Parliaments; (4) payment of members of 
 the Commons; (5) abolition of property ciualilications; (6) equal electoral dis- 
 tricts. All these points (except the third) ha\e been substantially won since then. 
 
NINETEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND 513 
 
 Reform victory, a blessed change took place upon the British 
 throne. WilHam IV was succeeded by his eighteen-year-old 
 niece, Victoria, who reigned for over sixty-three years. 
 
 When Victoria came to the throne, the monarchy had been 
 discredited by the moral worthlessness of its last two incum- 
 bents. Affection and real loyalty for the person of the sovereign 
 was at a very low ebb. Victoria altered this absolutely. She 
 was not a woman of remarkably brilliant parts; at times she 
 showed herself decidedly prejudiced and even narrow-minded; 
 but in the main she may be described as an aggressively good 
 woman who knew her place. For rottenness at court she sub- 
 stituted an almost austere standard of purity. She kept herself 
 well informed upon all political matters; and while she never 
 undertook to dictate the policy of her ministers, she not infre- 
 quently exercised a legitimate influence upon them in the direc- 
 tion of moderation. ^ It was of inestimable value to England to 
 feel that at the center of the national life Ihere was a high- 
 minded, intelligent woman whose ideals were the ideals of her 
 most intelligent and God-fearing subjects. In 1840, she mar- 
 ried the German Prince Albert,- a "Prince Consort" of like 
 nature with herself, and their family life, blessed with nine 
 children, was an inspiration and an example to all Britain. 
 
 The "Victorian Age," to which she has justly given her 
 name, was in the main one of ascending prosperity for hei 
 country. It was marked by a literary activity which is sug 
 gested by the names of Dickens, Thackeray, Tennyson, and 
 Robert Browning. While the Continent was shaken by great 
 wars and revolutions, England (barring the Crimean War ^ and 
 native outbreaks in the colonies) had almost continuous peace. 
 Despite the existence of many sore problems, the England of 
 
 ^ For example, in 1861, at the time of the Trent difficulty with America, 
 she prevented her ministers from taking sudden and drastic action, which would 
 probably have brought on war with the United States. 
 
 ^ He was of the principality of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. He died in 1861. 
 
 - See chapter xli, section 315. 
 
514 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 Victoria continued the first industrial, the first commercial, 
 and the first maritime power of the world. 
 
 301. The repeal of the Corn Laws (1846). The Whigs (or 
 Liberals, as they were soon called) continued in power for some 
 years after their victory for Reform. Their impetus gradually 
 waned. In 1841, they were finally replaced by a Conservative 
 (Tory) Ministry led by Sir Robert Peel. 
 
 The Conservatives were still the party of aristocracy and 
 landed wealth, but they had learned wisdom, and they were 
 prepared to execute many wholesome reforms, provided always 
 the door was not opened for the violent " Radicals " and 
 ''Chartists." 
 
 The great problem of Peel's administration was the tarifl, 
 or, as was commonly said, the Corn Laws. ^ 
 
 England was then under a " protective system," with the 
 tariff especially framed to protect the farmer against the com- 
 petition of foreign grain. But the country was rapidly in- 
 creasing in population, a population devoted almost entirely 
 to manufacturing, while the hmits of English wheat produc- 
 tion had long been reached. The only solution was to import 
 foreign grain. The great artisan class, backed by the capitaHst 
 manufacturers (who with their new machinery did not fear 
 foreign competition), clamored for " free food," but the "agri- 
 cultural interest," associated as it was with the old country 
 gentry, was long able to beat back every attack. Substantially 
 the question was, — Should England try to keep up the 
 appearance of being a farming country, or should she frankly 
 throw over her agriculture and trust to her factories and her 
 merchant ships alone? 
 
 Peel had been put in power as a representative of the landed 
 interests, but his position soon became difficult. In 1838, the 
 " Anti-Corn Law League " had been organized, and was skill- 
 
 1 English usage makes the term " corn " apply to most kinds of grain, especially 
 wheat; in America the name is commonly applied to "maize" only. 
 
NINETEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND 515 
 
 fully led by the famous orators and economists, Cobden and 
 Bright. They waged a bitter war upon the country aristocracy 
 and its past method of exploiting all England in its selhsh 
 interest. Their agitation was having marked results, when in 
 1845 a climatic crisis gave double point to their arguments. 
 In that year the crops failed in England. The next year came 
 a worse potato famine in Ireland. When tens of thousands were 
 virtually starving, it was criminahty to bar out foreign grain. 
 Peel threw his past logic to the winds, and despite the anathe- 
 mas of his former partisans he carried a law which practically 
 abolished the protective tariff on grain (1846). 
 
 The uproar raised by this act drove Peel from office in a 
 few months. He was succeeded by Lord John Russell, with a 
 Liberal Ministry. The protective principle had now received 
 its deathblow. With few additional struggles nearly all the 
 remaining customs duties were repealed, leaving only a few for 
 mere revenue purposes. For many years now England has been 
 on a free-trade basis. Her agriculture did, indeed, languish 
 sorely; but it was claimed that her commerce and manufactur- 
 ing gained infinitely more than enough to make up the loss. 
 Down to nearly the end of the nineteenth century, England 
 seemed well contented with her free-trade pohcy. 
 
 302. The Indian, or Sepoy, Mutiny (1857-58). In 1857 came 
 an event in Asia which nearly ruined the great colonial empire 
 on which the prosperity of England largely rested. India was 
 now an English possession: its millions were either ruled 
 directly by Enghsh magistrates or by "protected" native 
 princes who were wholly under English influence. There was 
 one great weakness in this vast dominion, however: the bulk 
 of the army was native-born, though under British officers. 
 Hitherto these '' Sepoy " troops had proved themselves obe- 
 dient and valiant in behalf of their foreign masters. The num- 
 ber of Enghsh regiments in India was small and their posts 
 widely scattered. That the Sepoys represented any danger 
 
5i6 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 to English supremacy was scouted by most Europeans who 
 claimed to understand India. 
 
 In 1857, however, the Sepoy troops suddenly mutinied. 
 Probably religious prejudice, a groundless fear that their 
 officers were trying to make them give up their native religions, 
 was their impelhng motive. 1 In many points in northern India 
 the Sepoys shot down their officers and raised the standard of 
 revolt. For a moment it seemed as if the English cause was 
 ruined: but fortunately the bulk of the peaceful population 
 and very many of the native princes refused to join the 
 mutineers. Although there were some frightful scenes, e.g., at 
 Cawnpore, where a large number of English women and chil- 
 dren, who had been captured, were massacred in cold blood by 
 the rebel leader, Nana Sahib, the small English armies rapidly 
 gained the upper hand. Never did Europeans show their 
 fighting superiority over Asiatics better than in this desperate 
 campaign. The result, of course, was to fasten the English yoke 
 more firmly on India than ever.- The Government was reor- 
 ganized, the old " East India Company," a great trading cor- 
 poration, was deprived of its political power, and a direct 
 "Viceroy " of the Crown was appointed, and in 1877, Queen 
 Victoria was proclaimed " Empress of India." The great 
 Hindu land remains the keystone of the wide British Empire. 
 
 303. The Second Reform Act, and Gladstone. Following 
 the retirement of Peel, the control of the Government alter- 
 nated for nearly two decades between the Conservatives and 
 
 1 The earliest outbreak of rebellion had a picturesque cause. At one small 
 garrison town, a new style of cartridges had been issued to the Sepoys. These 
 cartridges had to be bitten in the teeth ere being rammed into the muskets. The 
 natives alleged this ammunition had been smeared with a mixture of cow's fat 
 and pig's grease in order to violate their respective religions. The cow was sa- 
 cred to the Hindu, and the pig was an abomination to the Mohammedan. 
 
 - The English dealt with the insurgents in a way which at once indicated their 
 own fears, and the need of teaching the Asiatics a bitter lesson. Numbers of 
 captured Sepoys were " blown from the m izzle of guns" — i.e., were tied in front 
 of a cannon loaded with a blank cartridge, then the piece was discharged. 
 
NINETEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND 517 
 
 the Liberals. A demand again came strongly for a new " Re- 
 form " of the Commons, as the measure of 1832 now seemed 
 hopelessly inadequate. In 1867, while the Conservatives (led 
 nominally by Lord Derby) were in power, they were forced 
 to undertake a very limited Reform Bill, which, however, in 
 the welter of party politics, was presently made far more radical 
 and democratic in its character than most Conservatives had 
 anticipated. ''A leap in the dark," Lord Derby petulantly 
 called it; but his avowed lieutenant, the actual leader of the 
 party, Disraeli (one of the most daring and versatile poHticians 
 England has ever seen), induced a majority in Parliament to 
 accept the bill. The new law was still far from estabhshing 
 purely democratic rule in England, but votes in the town dis- 
 tricts were now given to "lodgers" (paying a rental of £10 or 
 over), as well as merely to householders, and in the country to 
 ,small farmers. Also there was a more equitable distribution of 
 seats. For the time being this reform gave wide satisfaction. 
 
 The next election, however, brought the Liberals again to 
 power. Their Prime Minister, Gladstone, a statesman of noble 
 ambition and singular abilities, especially for conducting 
 internal reforms, carried through many long" desired pieces of 
 legislation. In Ireland, the Estabhshed (Episcopal) Church, 
 of which the adherents were a minority even among the 
 Protestant minority of Irishmen, was "disestablished," and 
 ceased to draw support and sanction from the State. Also 
 the absurd old system, whereby commissions in the British 
 army could be purchased by would-be ofificers, was done away 
 with. Many other useful pieces of minor legislation were accom- 
 plished ; but Gladstone and the Liberals represented a view of 
 British foreign poHcy with which many of their countrymen 
 had Httle sympathy. They were "Little Englanders," who 
 regarded the colonial empire as something non-essential to the 
 nation's prosperity, and they even contemplated cheerfully the 
 time when such colonies, for example, as New Zealand should 
 
5i8 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 become independent countries. To Disraeli and his type of 
 Conservatives this view was monstrous. The '' British Em- 
 pire," they held, must be preserved, consolidated, and from 
 time to time extended, if need be by an occasional war. In 
 1874, Gladstone dissolved ParHament, and the election told 
 that he had lost the confidence of the country. The Conserva- 
 tives and Disraeli were returned to power by a great majority. 
 304. Disraeli and Imperialism (1874-80). Disraeh was a 
 strident, showy leader whose real interest was in foreign poli- 
 tics. The whole Conservative policy, of course, was to divert 
 the nation from troublesome domestic questions, where the 
 preservation of time-honored institutions might be at stake, 
 to outlying matters, where "patriotism" and "the common 
 welfare " might leave httle room for conventional debate. 
 Thus, in 1875, Disraeli's Government purchased for the nation 
 a majority of the shares in the great Suez Canal/ thereby 
 assuring to England a leading voice in the control of the water- 
 way which was vitally important to her hold on India. The 
 years 1876 to 1878 formed a period of great tension in Turkey: 
 there were fiendish massacres of the Bulgarian Christians by the 
 Turks, and Russia declared war upon the Ottoman Empire. 
 Disraeli, despite loud English clamors against the Turks, took 
 a very hostile attitude toward Russia.- The czar's empire, in 
 his opinion, was the destined rival in the Orient of the queen's 
 dominions, and Disraeli was ready even for war to prevent the 
 Russians from seizing Constantinople. Thanks to a policy of 
 mingled firmness and bluster, the Prime Minister (who had 
 just become Lord Beaconsfield) brought about the diplomatic 
 Congress of Berlin, where the Russians were forced to relin- 
 
 1 This great enterprise had been completed in 1869 by a company under 
 French auspices and managed by the indomitable promoter, De Lesseps. 
 
 ^ For the Turko-Russian war, see chapter xl, section 315. In the Treaty of 
 Berlin which ended the war, and which Disraeli in substance dictated, very little 
 attention was paid to the real needs of the Christian Balkan peoples. Disraeli 
 thus became in a measure responsible for the bloody Balkan war of 191 2-13. 
 
NINETEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND 519 
 
 quish a large part of their conquests. It seemed a great triumph 
 for "Jingoism" when Beaconsfield returned from Berlin with 
 " the treaty in his pocket," but the nation was growing weary 
 of his threatenings and ostentation. The election of 1880 
 returned the Liberals and Gladstone by a large majority.^ 
 
 305. The return of Gladstone: the Home Rule Question. 
 Gladstone's second administration busied itself with various 
 desirable internal reforms, including a Third Parliamentary 
 Reform Act, which gave the right of voting for members of 
 the House of Commons to practically all the laboring classes 
 (1884). Despite the Liberals' dislike for an advanced foreign 
 policy, the disorders into which the Government of the native 
 khedives of Egypt was sinking, and the danger that the Suez 
 Canal might fall into hostile hands, led to a British military 
 occupation of Egypt (1882). This proceeding was intensely 
 distasteful to France, and the English represented their 
 seizure of the country as only temporary; but the time has 
 never come when the English have dared to leave the khedive 
 to his own devices. Eg^'pt is the veritable gateway of the road 
 to India. The English garrison and the English representative 
 (whose word is law to the native rulers) remain in Egypt unto 
 this day. 
 
 But the great question of Gladstone's administration was 
 that of Ireland. The Irish had been chronically unhappy since 
 the ill-considered "Union" of 1800. In the forties, Daniel 
 O'Connell, an orator of marvelous potency, had stirred his 
 countrymen to the limits of frenzy by his demands for the 
 " Repeal " of the Act of Union. Repeated famines and a heavy 
 emigration to America made the population of Ireland decline 
 
 1 The reaccession of Gladstone illustrates a feature of the unwritten Constitu- 
 tion of Britain. Beaconsfield was exceedingly well liked by Queen Victoria. She 
 regretted to see him retire. She had a corresponding dislike for Gladstone. It 
 is said that she strove earnestly to induce some other Liberal leader to form a 
 ministry; all refused, saying that Gladstone was the only possible man who 
 could command the votes of the party. Most unwilUngly the queen summoned 
 him to office. 
 
520 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 rapidly. There were conspiracies and frequent rioting to which 
 the English Government answered with " Coercion Acts," 
 substantially putting the country under martial law. In 1867, 
 the "Fenian Movement," an elaborate secret undertaking to 
 set up an independent Irish Republic, came to a cHmax in an 
 overt attempt to raise rebellion. ^ The answer was, of course, 
 suppression by armed force, and certain palliative legislation 
 which did not satisfy the Irish. Their members in Parhament 
 had vainly agitated for home rule, but saw Httle progress until 
 1877 when the famous Parnell became their House leader. 
 
 Parnell succeeded in welding the Irish members into a solid 
 group which made itself a thorn in the side of the Government, 
 obstructing all proposed legislation, voting with its opponents 
 and generally making its existence miserable. At the same time 
 a formidable "Land League" in Ireland undertook what 
 amounted to the coercion of landlords - and government agents 
 by boycotting, moral intimidation, and in some extreme cases 
 downright violence. Gladstone passed coercion acts, and 
 ordered the "Land League" chssolved. In 1881, Parnell and 
 certain associates were held for some months in prison. In 
 1882, Lord Cavendish, the Chief Secretary for Ireland, was 
 murdered in Dublin. The situation, in short, was nearly that 
 of civil war. Gladstone was becoming convinced that the 
 situation was intolerable and could not be cured by half- 
 measures. In 1886, he surprised many of his own partisans, 
 even, by introducing a Home Rule Bill, granting self-govern- 
 ment and a Dublin Parliament to Ireland. 
 
 1 In 1866, there had been an attempt by Fenian sympathizers in America to 
 cross from the United States and to invade Canada. 
 
 2 The'Irish landlords were charged with extreme severity in increasing rents, 
 in refusing to renew leases for land on which the tenant had made many improve- 
 ments, in making brutal evictions of embarrassed and unwelcome tenants, etc. 
 The fact that most landlords were Protestants, who often lived in London on 
 money wrung from their Catholic tenantry, did not add to their popularity. 
 Captain Boycott, an Irish land agent, was subjected to such coercion and har- 
 assment, in 1880, that he gave his name to the process of " boycotting." 
 
ISABELLA 
 Queen of Castile and Leon ; wife of Ferdi- 
 nand of Aragon ; patron of Columbus 
 Born 1451 Died 1504 
 
 CATHERINE DE MEDICI 
 Queen of Henry II of France 
 Born 1519 Died 1589 
 
 MARIA THERESA VICTORIA 
 
 Wife of the Emperor Francis I and Queen of Queen of Great Britain and Ireland (1837- 
 
 Hungary and Bohemia 1901) and Empress of India (i 876-1901) 
 
 Born 1717 Died 1780 Born 1819 Died 1901 
 
 FAMOUS QUEENS 
 
NINETEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND 521 
 
 The joy of the Irish was great, but the Prime Minister's 
 move was premature. The Commons refused to accept the 
 bill, and Gladstone was driven from ofi&ce. The Conservatives, 
 led by Lord Salisbury, ruled England from 1886 to 1892. Then 
 for the third time Gladstone (the "Grand Old Man," his 
 admirers called him) became Prime Minister. The Home Rule 
 project was renewed and passed the Commons, but the Lords 
 threw it out, and the Government was not confident enough 
 to press the battle. In 1895, the Conservatives again gained 
 office, and for years home rule was a dead issue. The Conserva- 
 tives, however, were forced to enact various measures removing 
 the undoubted injustices in Ireland, ^ and as the century drew 
 to a close that sorely afflicted island seemed more prosperous 
 materially, although still clamorous for her own administra- 
 tion and Parliament. 
 
 306. The British colonial empire. The Conservative admin- 
 istration, toward the end of the nineteenth century, saw a great 
 increase in enthusiasm among Englishmen for the "Empire." 
 Gradually it had come to the consciousness that the politics 
 of Britain were no longer those of two islands off the coast of 
 Europe, but of a series of wide lands and continents which 
 perpetuated the British laws, manners, and speech in every 
 quarter of the globe. Excluding the great Indian domain and 
 the numerous Oriental and West India islands, it was real- 
 ized that in the Dominion of Canada, the Commonwealth of 
 Australia, and the great colonies of South Africa ^ and New 
 Zealand there existed nations genuinely independent, and held 
 to England only by the ties of affection and copartnership 
 in a common tradition and a common weal. For all internal 
 
 1 The particular end of recent legislation has been to make it easy by govern- 
 ment loans for the Irish peasants to buy land for their small farms, and so escape 
 the clutches of the landlords. These "Land Acts" have undoubtedly cured the 
 most serious grievances of the Irish poor, which have been economic rather than 
 political; but the demand for home rule has lost none of its force. 
 
 ^ For the Boer War and its results in British Africa, see chapter xi., section 313. 
 
522 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 matters these colonies were entirely self-governing. " Greater 
 Britain" and "Imperial Federation" had become familiar 
 words charged with vast future significance. 
 
 307. The death of Queen Victoria (1901). On January 22, 
 1 901, Queen Victoria died at the age of eighty-one. During 
 her long lifetime she had seen her people increase marvelously 
 in material prosperity and power as well as on the nobler side 
 of civilization. So long had she reigned that to almost two 
 generations "the good Queen" had appeared as a regular 
 institution, extra-human and immutable. Her passing told all 
 the world that the nineteenth century, with its sins, its errors, 
 but also its marvelous progress, had passed away likewise to 
 make room for the unknown problems of the twentieth. 
 
 REVIEW 
 
 1. Topics — Industrial Revolution; Old Sarum; the Chartist Movement; 
 Corn Laws; the Indian Mutiny; "Little Englanders"; Congress of 
 Berlin; Daniel O'Connell; Fenian Movement; Irish Land League; 
 Home Rule; Imperial Federation. 
 
 2. Geography — 
 
 (a) Locate the chief cities which were given the right of represen- 
 tation in Parliament by the Reform Bill of 1832 (see Map of the British 
 Isles since 1300, page 290). 
 
 (b) Mark the chief colonial possessions of England. 
 
 3. Describe the conditions regarding the elections to the House of Com- 
 mons before 1830. 
 
 4. Make a summary of the three Reform Bills; showing dates, ministers 
 who carried them through Parliament, and provisions. 
 
 5. What do you consider the great social, industrial, and poHtical reforms 
 in England at this period? 
 
 6. Who were the chief Prime Ministers during this period? What did each 
 accomplish? 
 
 7. Why did the Revolutions of 1S4S on the Continent have so little effect 
 upon England? 
 
 8. The relations of England with Ireland since iSoo. 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 I. Find other examples of the "rotten boroughs." How was their exist- 
 ence justified by the Tories? 
 
NINETEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND 523 
 
 2. Previous attempts at reform. Why had they failed? 
 
 3. Cobden and Bright. The repeal of the Corn Laws. 
 
 4. The Irish Famine and its results. 
 
 5. England in the Crimean War. 
 
 6. England in Egypt: General Gordon. 
 
 7. The influence of Queen Victoria upon England's foreign policy. 
 
 8. The Irish Land Acts. What have been their effects upon the economic 
 and political conditions in Ireland? 
 
 9. Make a brief digest of the character and work of these men: — Robert 
 Peel, Lord Palmerston, Gladstone, Disraeli, and the Marquis of 
 Salisbury. 
 
 10. The growth of industry and commerce during the nineteenth century. 
 
 READINGS 
 
 Modern accounts. Seignobos: pp. 207-21,364-65,371-75. Lodge : chapter 
 XXVIII, sections 3-5, 11. Gibbins: pp. 179-89, 223-25. An English 
 history (Ransome, pp. 936-1040). Robinson and Beard: vol. 11, pp. 
 181-261. 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE MOST RECENT AGE IN EUROPE 
 
 From 1870 until 1914 there was a comparative absence of 
 striking events in Europe. The great process of "nation- 
 building" had been largely accompUshed. In nearly every 
 country there were constitutions giving a large extent of politi- 
 cal liberty. Civilization had moved steadily forward every 
 year. But it had been a somewhat unspectacular, silent ad- 
 vance, wherein the results were easier to notice than the proc- 
 esses. Furthermore, we are still too close to events since 1870 
 for us to see them in their true historical perspective. It will be 
 many years before the history of Europe from the Franco- 
 Prussian War down to the present time can be fitly written. 
 Nevertheless, the great facts about the great nations confront us 
 everyday; and in a bald, summary manner they must be stated. 
 
 308. France since {187 1) the Third Republic. The defeat by 
 Germany left France humihated, demoralized, and dismem- 
 bered. She was no longer " the First Power in Europe." For 
 a moment it seemed doubtful if she were a Great Power at all. 
 The terrible Paris Commune ^ had threatened to plunge her 
 into sheer anarchy. When at length peace and order returned, 
 Frenchmen found themselves a more sober, a less self-confident 
 nation than before their great chastening. But it was soon 
 evident that France had been bent, not broken. In a surpris- 
 ingly short time the economic damage of the war was repaired. 
 A great outpouring of patriotic enthusiasm subscribed many 
 times over for the national bonds, which were to meet the huge 
 war indemnity, and thus rid the land of the hated Prussians. 
 With a high earnestness which did them vast credit Frenchmen 
 
 1 See p. 405, section 236. 
 
THE MOST RECENT AGE IN EUROPE 
 
 525 
 
 turned to the task of building a newer and better France on the 
 ruins of the rotten "Second Empire." 
 
 The "Third Repubhc," which had been proclaimed when 
 Napoleon III was cast out, did not have the enthusiastic sup- 
 port of a large part of the nation. At first it was little more 
 than a provisional government. But, as said Thiers, the lead- 
 ing statesman of the day, "It is the Republic which di\ides 
 us least"; and despite the Royalists and the still active 
 
 THRESHING BY FLAIL, LATTER PART OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 
 {After a woodcut by Jacque, published in L' Illustration) 
 
 Bonapartists, the Republic survived — largely because its 
 enemies were very ill-united. 
 
 In 1873, the government was, indeed, so far in the hands of 
 the friends of monarchy that it was actually proposed to call 
 the Royalist pretender, "Henry V," to the throne of France; 
 but the would-be king stupidly refused to return unless he 
 could have the old white standard of the Bourbons. "The 
 chassepots [army rifles] will go off of themselves," pithily 
 declared a general when it was thus proposed to give up the 
 tricolor flag, beloved by the army. The Government dared not 
 risk a revolt of the troops, and this golden opportunity for 
 the Monarchists never returned. In 1875, after much hesita- 
 
526 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 tion, a republican constitution was at length adopted.* In 
 1879, President MacMahon (an honest Monarchist who had 
 tried to use his office to secure the return of the kings) was com- 
 pelled to resign. Since then the Royalists and Bonapartists, 
 though they have never ceased to conspire and to agitate, have 
 seen the Third Republic become more and more acceptable 
 to the people of France. It has proved to be the most satis- 
 factory and stable government the country has had since 1789. 
 
 Three times this Republic has been in serious peril, but three 
 times it has defied its ill-wishers. Between 1886 and 1889 a 
 political adventurer, General Boulanger, made demagogic 
 efforts to secure such a popular following that he could seize 
 the government by a coup d'etat. His brilliant superficial qual- 
 ities made him very popular with the less intelligent voters, 
 but he lacked the nerve to strike a blow like that of Napoleon 
 III. His opportunity slipped by, sober public opinion rallied 
 against him, and he was driven into exile in Belgium (in 1889). 
 
 In 1893, the great Panama Canal Company, in which De 
 Lesseps (builder of the Suez Canal) had persuaded Frenchmen 
 to invest enormous sums, collapsed utterly. It was found that 
 the company had dissipated its capital, amid circumstances of 
 graft and corruption. Many French statesmen were besmirched 
 and the Government was sadly discredited, though less seri- 
 ously than in 1889, and no catastrophe came. 
 
 In 1899, the case of Captain Dreyfus (a Jewish army officer 
 accused of selling military secrets to Germany) convulsed 
 France. His defenders declared that an innocent man was 
 being ruined to cover up grave corruption in the War Depart- 
 
 * This constitution is mainly on the Engh'sh model — without, of course, a 
 hereditary sovereign. There is a legislature of two houses^ a lower house (Cham- 
 ber of Deputies) elected for four years, and a Senate (some members at first 
 appointive, but now all elective for nine years). The President is elected for 
 seven years by the two houses sitting together as one body. This presidential 
 office is highly honored, but somewhat feeble in power. The President can do 
 nothing without the consent of his Ministers, and these are "responsible" to th» 
 Chamber of Deputies, on the English cabinet principle. 
 
THE MOST RECENT AGE IN EUROPE 527 
 
 ment: the enemies of Dreyfus avowed they were fighting for 
 " the army and the honor of France." The whole nation took 
 sides: the mihtary element, the unthinking mob, and most of 
 the Royalists (for poHtical reasons) demanded the punishment 
 of Dreyfus, but calmness and justice at length prevailed. His 
 innocence was established, and the attempt to make capital of 
 " the attack on the army " failed. The Republic was stronger 
 than ever. 
 
 Since 1900 the French ministries have been at bitter odds 
 with the Catholic Church. The Church has been accused of 
 secretly favoring the Royahsts, and of teaching only perfunc- 
 tory loyalty to the Republic. ^ Laws have been passed practi- 
 cally dispersing the orders of monks and nuns, and in 1905 
 ("Separation Law") the French Government ceased to sup- 
 port any State Church, putting the Catholics on exactly the 
 same terms of unofficial tolerance as the Protestants and Jews. 
 
 France in the twentieth century has no longer the command- 
 ing power she had in the eighteenth: but she is still a strong, 
 self-contained, and highly intelhgent nation, a leader in all the 
 movements of human upfift. Her wealth is growing steadily. ^ 
 She has built up a colonial empire second to that of England. 
 The "lost provinces" have not been recovered, but otherwise 
 most of the calamity of 1870 has been obHterated. Modern 
 civilization owes much to a great number of peoples, but to 
 almost none does it owe more than to the French. Not many 
 are the ideas and ideals which have not sooner or later felt the 
 quickening touch of French genius. France to-day is by no 
 means a decadent nation: she will surely make great contribu- 
 tions to the future. 
 
 1 As early as 1877 the great Republican leader Gambetta made his famous 
 declaration, " Le Clericalisme, voild Vennemil" ("Where there's Clericalism, 
 there's our foe!"). 
 
 * But not her population. France is growing more slowly than any other 
 European nation. This puts her at a military disadvantage with her old foe, 
 Germany. 
 
528 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 309. Germany after the unification. The victory over France 
 left Germany the first mihtary power in the world. That 
 position she has retained and has added to it a great dominion 
 in the realm of commerce. The German Government (and 
 that of Prussia, its predominant unit) has been less Hberal, in 
 the sense of giving political rights to the ordinary citizen, than 
 most other enlightened countries. The power of the monarch 
 is still great, as is also that of the military aristocracy. But 
 usually this power has been intelligently exercised. It is as if 
 monarchy were trying to justify its right to exist, by giving 
 proofs of extreme efficiency. 
 
 Down to 1888 the throne remained with the kindly and pious 
 Kaiser William I, who (conscious of his limitations as a politi- 
 cian) was quite willing to leave most public affairs to the 
 "Iron Chancellor," the mighty Prince Bismarck. William I 
 was succeeded for a few months by his highly liberal and popu- 
 lar son Frederick, but the new ruler was suffering from an 
 incurable disease, and reigned only ninety-nine days. After 
 him came his own son, William II (1888-19 ), only twenty- 
 nine years old, and until his accession a profound admirer of 
 Bismarck. He had not reigned long, however, before it became 
 evident that the new Emperor was too masterful a ruler to 
 listen to the dictation of the hitherto indispensable Chancellor. 
 In 1890 he "dropped the pilot"- — Bismarck was dismissed- 
 (to the great wrath of most Germans) ; and since then William 
 II has never had a minister who was not distinctly a subordi- 
 nate. The new Emperor seemed a man of mediaeval ideas and 
 ideals. " There is only one master in this country," he asserted, 
 " and I am he." And he declared that he "was responsible for 
 his actions to God and his conscience alone." But although 
 often subject to bitter criticism for unwise speeches and auto- 
 cratic actions, William II has, on the whole, displayed great 
 
 1 Bismarck died in 1898. Before his death outwardly friendly relations had 
 been established between him and the Emperor. 
 
THE MOST RECENT AGE IN EUROPE 529 
 
 mtelligence in advancing his country's welfare; he has often 
 "rattled the scabbard," but he refrained from any declaration 
 of war until Germany became involved in the general European 
 conflict which broke out in August, 1914. 
 
 Since the war of 1870 the Constitution of Germany, and 
 Prussia has remained substantially unchanged. Public interest 
 has usually revolved around two great points: (i) Socialism; 
 and (2) the increase of the army and the navy. 
 
 Socialism in Germany is not entirely what the name implies 
 in other lands. There is a general demand for more liberal 
 institutions, for less power to the monarch, no matter how 
 efficient his rule. The Socialists are really, then, the party of 
 democratic protest. ^ From election to election (when members 
 of the Imperial Reichstag have been chosen), the Sociahst vote 
 has increased from 493,000 in 1877 to 3,251,000 in 1907. The 
 Government has not dared to reenact the stern laws against 
 their societies which had been passed by Bismarck. The 
 Emperor has denounced their ''traitorous rabble" and all the 
 aristocracy and wealth of Germany has been against them : yet 
 their position seems stronger than ever. The great growth of 
 the German cities (thanks to the new development of manu- 
 facturing) adds to their numbers. Some day possibly they 
 may make a real bid for the control of the Government.^ 
 
 The military problem in Germany is a perennial one. The 
 
 ' Of course a great part of the Socialist voters believe in the whole of the 
 ordinary socialist doctrines: but it is safe to say that if by any chance the 
 Socialists controlled the Government in Germany, they would hesitate long ere 
 putting their full program into effect. 
 
 2 Up to date the German monarchs have been able to control the Reichstag — 
 and consequently the course of legislation — by the fact that there are not two 
 great parties in Germany; only a series of groups of delegates. Thus, besides the 
 Socialists there are the "Conservatives," the "Liberals" (very "moderate" 
 reformers), and especially the "Center" (the Catholic party), as well as smaller 
 followings. With the great court influence behind them, the imperial ministers 
 can almost always pick up a majority from these groups for an important 
 measure. 
 
530 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 wresting of Alsace and Lorraine from France left Germany a 
 legacy of hate across the border which possibly has cost more 
 than the value of all the conquests. ^ Russia, too, has not been 
 friendly: and the possibility of a great war on both frontiers 
 has .been a constant nightmare to most German statesmen. 
 Despite the opposition of the Socialists to "Militarism," the 
 great standing army, based on universal conscription, has been 
 maintained, and in 1913 it was deliberately increased, the com- 
 pelling reason being a dread of the increased power of the 
 Slavic States following the downfall of Turkey in the Balkan 
 War. 
 
 Since William II came to power the German navy has also 
 become formidable. ''Our future is upon the ocean," the 
 Emperor asserted early in his reign: and his whole policy has 
 been (while maintaining the army) to create a navy almost a 
 match for England. The New German navy was soon a most 
 formidable lighting machine. The English were already fear- 
 ful of German commercial rivalry. Now they saw in the Ger- 
 man navy a menace to the integrity of their empire. Between 
 England and the military clique in Germany there existed at 
 length the same bad blood and hostility that there was for- 
 merly between the "natural enemies," England and France. - 
 
 In the twentieth century Germany was leading Europe in 
 many forms of civilized activity. Her commerce and manu- 
 facturing had enormously increased and she was no longer a 
 poor, strictly agricultural country. "Modern science" with all 
 therein implied had seemed to make Germany its own peculiar 
 home. Their powers of organization and of drastic thorough- 
 
 1 France has silently but deeply longed for " revanche." " Think of it always: 
 speak of it never," was Gambetta's injunction to his countrymen. 
 
 * The above was written before the outbreak of the Great War in 1914. At that 
 time certain malignant forces were clearly recognized in German political life, 
 but it was hoped they would not prevail. They did prevail, and after four years 
 of exhausting, bloody war Germany emerged a beaten and nigh ruined nation, 
 the bare shadow of her former imposing self. 
 
THE MOST RECENT AGE IN EUROPE 531 
 
 ness have carried the Germans far. But their problems are 
 not all solved. They have bitter foreign enemies, and at home 
 some modification of the class tyranny of the aristocracy seems 
 inevitable. 
 
 310. The new Italy. Since 1870, Italy also has been making 
 marked progress, but without an accompaniment of exciting 
 events. It needed a mighty efifort (after the enthusiasm over 
 "national unity" had waned) to turn to the solid, construc- 
 tive task of building a free, powerful, and enlightened nation. 
 Italy has been disturbed by more than her share of socialist 
 and anarchist agitation; and the status of the Popes, who (from 
 their retreat in the Vatican) have never ceased to denounce 
 the deprivation of their temporal power, creates a still harder 
 problem for the new monarchy. Again, Itahan party politics 
 have often been "practical" and corrupt, and some of the 
 .cabinet ministers have proved leaders of no high order. King 
 Victor Emmanuel II, the hero of " United Italy," died in 1878. 
 His son Humbert (I) the Good, reigned until 1900,^ and then 
 was succeeded by his own son in turn, Victor Emmanuel III, 
 a prince of remarkable ability. Under his guidance Italy has 
 taken a worthy place among the Great Powers of Europe.- 
 
 311. The Austro-Hungarian Empire. After their humilia- 
 tion in 1866 the Hapsburg statesmen were compelled to re- 
 organize their empire. Their German aspirations had been 
 destroyed: they perforce had to give heed to the problems of 
 the unwieldy mass of their non-German subjects. In 1867, 
 Emperor Francis Joseph placed his realm on the basis of the 
 "Dual Monarchy" — Austria and Hungary: each half with 
 
 1 He was killed by an anarchist. After an earlier attempt against his life, he 
 is reported to have said, "Assassination is one of the perquisites of royalty." 
 A grim and true saying under modern conditions. 
 
 ^ In 1912, after a brief and somewhat bloodless war, Italy won Tripoli from 
 Turkey. This gives the Italians the possibilities of a great realm in North 
 Africa, but as yet it has only cost them heavily in men and money, and its com- 
 mercial advantages are in the distance. 
 
532 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 very complete internal autonomy, its own elective Parliament, 
 ministry, etc. The Emperor, ^ with control of the army and 
 of the foreign policy, is the chief uniting link that remains. 
 On the whole, the scheme has worked well so far as the mere 
 toleration is concerned, but within each half of the empire 
 there is a perfect vortex of hostile races contending, with per- 
 petual hate, for the mastery. ^ Whether after the death of the 
 beloved Francis Joseph this peculiar "Austro- Hungary " 
 (which is rather a collection of peoples under a single ruler 
 than a real " nation ") can be held together is one of the ques- 
 tions of present-day Europe. 
 
 312. The Triple Alliance and its enemies. In 1870, France 
 and Germany had fought out their battle alone; neither side 
 had an ally, although France might have had help from Austria, 
 if Russia had not seemed ready (in that case) to spring to the 
 aid of Prussia. Russia expected the gratitude of Germany for 
 this, but gradually the two Powers drifted apart and at the 
 Congress of Berlin (1878), which was held to settle the Turkish 
 question, Bismarck took a very unfriendly attitude toward the 
 Czar. The result was a realignment of diplomatic and mihtary 
 alliances and interests, which has divided the leading Powers 
 of Europe into two great camps. 
 
 In 1879, Bismarck made an alliance with Austria by which 
 she and Germany pledged mutual help in case of an attack 
 by Russia.^ 
 
 Meantime, Russia was drawing closer to France (which had 
 
 ' Called " King " in Hungary. The Hapsburg Emperor is officially called "His 
 Imperial and Royal Majesty." 
 
 2 Thus, in the "Austrian" half the Germans are at bitter odds with the 
 Bohemians and to a less extent with the Poles; while in " Hungary " the predomi- 
 nant Magyar element is striving desperately to keep the mastery over the va- 
 rious hostile Slavic races. 
 
 * After 1866, Bismarck did his best to cultivate good relations with Austria, 
 to help her to forget her old defeats, and to make the Hapsburgs firm friends 
 to their neighbors, the Hohenzollerns. It seems unfortunate thiit lie made no 
 corresponding attempt to win back the friendship of France. 
 
THE MOST RECENT AGE IN EUROPE 533 
 
 rehabilitated her army and was again formidable) and two 
 " Dual Alliances " seemed coming into existence. But the rela- 
 tions between Italy and France were bad. It long seemed 
 possible that the French Clerical party might secure control 
 at home, and then try to restore the temporal power of the 
 Pope. In 1 88 1, also, France estabhshed a "protectorate" over 
 Tunis in Africa (whereon Italy had cast longing eyes), and 
 this drove the Itahans to fury. Forthwith, Italy let herself be 
 drawn into Bismarck's league, which now became the "Triple 
 Alliance," to resist France or Russia. ^ This move naturally 
 made these two last countries unite more firmly than ever, but 
 they did not make a formal alliance until 1894.- However, for 
 a long time previous to this it had been plain that Russia 
 would not be indifferent to any new attempt to humiliate 
 France, and vice versa. With a revived French army, and with 
 ,the Itahan army of somewhat uncertain value, these two alli- 
 ances seemed about equal in military strength. Europe thus 
 stood divided into two great armed camps, but each side feared 
 the other. The two alliances really aided the perpetuation of 
 peace. 
 
 England had long been content to trust to her fleet and to 
 dispense with land aihes. She had been proverbially distrustful 
 of France, and more recently had feared Russia's designs on 
 India ; but as German commerce expanded and threatened the 
 English trade monopoly, and as the new German navy^ devel- 
 oped as a direct challenge, it seemed, to English naval leader- 
 ship and hence to the integrity of the whole British Empire, 
 Britons began to feel the need of powerful friends.^ In 1903, 
 
 ' The core of the agreement was that if any member of the alliance was at 
 war with any country, except Russia, the other two members were to stand 
 neutral: but if Russia mixed in the war, then all the other allies would join in the 
 fighting. Germany felt well able to handle France alone. 
 
 ^ It was not actually proclaimed until 1897. ' See Section 310. 
 
 ■* A compelling factor was the friendship shown by the Germans for the 
 Boers in their war with the English (1899-1902, see section 313). It seemed 
 :lcar that the German people were anxious for the ruin of the British Empire. 
 
534 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 King Edward VII began a deliberate policy of cultivating 
 closer relations with France: a better understanding between 
 England and Russia naturally followed. The " Entente 
 Cordiale" (an informal but genuine alliance of England, 
 France, and Russia) was the result. This new Triple Alliance 
 can assemble more men and ships than the original ''Triple 
 Alliance," but to all parties war seemed for many years too 
 serious a venture to be lightly risked; so that these alliances 
 did not invite conflict, although they tended to increase the 
 burdens of the great national armies and fleets. 
 
 313. The twentieth century in Great Britain. Queen 
 Victoria died in 1901, and her long and prosperous reign ended 
 with Great Britain involved in a war which for a while promised 
 disaster. In 1899, her "Conservative" Ministers^ undertook 
 to destroy the two small Boer (African-Dutch) Republics of 
 South Africa — the "Transvaal" and the "Orange Free 
 State." The British could rightfully charge the Boers with 
 corruption and selfishness in their government and the oppres- 
 sion of resident foreigners, who outnumbered the Dutch two 
 to one, yet were denied all political rights: but there were 
 ugly charges that land-hunger and the desire to control valu- 
 able gold-mines was behind many of the British claims. The 
 Boers made a heroic and obstinate fight. Their hardy rifle- 
 men repeatedly defeated the English ; they proved themselves 
 past-masters in the art of guerrilla warfare in half-settled and 
 difficult country. The war proved terribly costly to England; 
 and the Boers were only conquered by being overwhelmed by 
 
 The French, indeed, showed sympathy with the Boers, but not to such an offen- 
 sive extent. The Boer War taught the English that they were intensely dis- 
 liked upon the Continent, and needed to cultivate friends. 
 
 1 The Prime Minister was Mr. Balfour, but the leading spirit in managing 
 the South-African policy was Mr. Chamberlain, a brilliant but unstable and 
 not over-scrupulous politician. The war could well have been avoided or at 
 least postponed by a more conciliatory attitude by Great Britain. The Ministry 
 seems to have entirely underestimated the fighting powers of the Boers, and to 
 have imagined that a brief campaign would end everything. 
 
THE MOST RECENT AGE IN EUROPE 535 
 
 the numbers which their foes poured into Africa. In 1902, the 
 Boers at last capitulated on honorable terms, but the struggle 
 had seemed to demonstrate the inefficient management of 
 the British army. The British navy, however, was absolutely 
 intact; and while that dominated the seas the " Empire" was 
 safe, and could afford to scorn the gibes of the Boer sympa- 
 thizers in Europe at the ineffectiveness of the army. ^ 
 
 Soon after the war the Conservative Ministry fell apart over 
 the question of a revival of the protective tariff, a large part 
 of the party demanding the abolition of the long-standing free- 
 trade policy. The Liberals (1906) regained control of the 
 House of Commons and of the Ministry. Their reform measures 
 (especially their schemes of taxation which would lay special 
 burdens on the landed aristocracy) were resisted and thwarted 
 by the Conservative majority in the House of Lords. In 1909 
 and yet again in 19 10 the voters sustained the Liberals in 
 general elections. The upshot of the struggle was that a law 
 was at length carried, in the teeth of fierce opposition, declaring 
 that when a House of Commons had passed a bill in three suc- 
 cessive sessions, it should become a law even if the Lords had 
 refused to approve of it. Such a measure is, of course, a fun- 
 damental change in the whole " unwritten constitution " of 
 England, and has served greatly to weaken the still formidable 
 power of the British aristocracy in its last stronghold — the 
 House of Lords. 
 
 Following this enactment the Liberal Government, led by 
 Mr. Asquith, its Prime Minister, and the fiercely hated and 
 as fiercely loved Finance Minister, Mr. Lloyd- George, has 
 brought in measures for granting home rule to Ireland, for 
 disestabhshing the Welsh Church," and for various forms of 
 
 ' It is only fair to say that the lessons of the Boer War have been laid to heart, 
 and that to-day the British army is a considerably better fighting machine than 
 it was. 
 
 2 Both these measures have now (19 14) become law; but because of the 
 
536 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 uplift for the laboring classes which, if made into statutes, will 
 be landmarks in the history of British legislation. 
 
 As the twentieth century advances it is evident that Eng- 
 land, though no longer unique among great nations in possess- 
 ing effective free institutions, and although under sore com- 
 mercial competition from Germany and America, is still among 
 the very first of the world's Powers. Her colonial empire has 
 never seemed stronger. Her navy is still much greater than 
 that of Germany. Her commerce covers the seas. At home her 
 really grave problem is with her huge impoverished industrial 
 class. England has long been a safe and delightful country for 
 people of good birth and property; but until lately " vested 
 interests " (i.e., property, gentility, and the things accompany- 
 ing) have been more carefully safeguarded than the good 
 health, education, and fair opportunities in life of the unproper- 
 tied millions.^ After centuries of internal peace and of eco- 
 nomic prosperity, England has still an abnormal number of 
 actual paupers and a still greater number of persons desperately 
 poor. It is this pressing problem of poverty and the failure of 
 the capitalistic classes to grapple successfully with the solution, 
 and to substitute thorough remedies for mere charity, which is 
 making so many of the thinking men of England " socialists" 
 of one t^'pe or another. But when all is said. Great Britain 
 is, of course, one of the greatest of all great countries, the 
 evils just mentioned are keenly realized, and her leaders are 
 
 present general European war a supplementary act has been passed by Parlia- 
 ment suspending their operation for one year. 
 
 ^ One factor which many reforms have had to fight against in English habits 
 of thought and politics has been the tendency of the English law to lay great 
 stress upon the rights of properly. "Vested interests" — wlicther right or wrong 
 — have something sacred in the eyes of many Englishmen if only these interests 
 are old enough. This fact was admirable so long as there was need of checking a 
 rapacious and tyrannical king. It is less admirable now when it is a dishearten- 
 ing check upon ,i reforming statesman. It has actually been proposed in England 
 to indemnify liberally the owners of "public houses" (saloons) who may be put 
 out of business by the Government in an attempt to lessen (not prohibit) the 
 admittedly overgrown liquor traffic. 
 
THE MOST RECENT AGE IN EUROPE 537 
 
 striving earnestly to find a just and abiding issue for her so- 
 cial problems. 
 
 314. The evolution of Russia. Russia has become a military 
 power which has sometimes seemed a match for all the rest of 
 Europe.^ She has produced musicians, artists, and novelists 
 who rank among the world's masters. In Siberia she has devel- 
 oped an enormous Asiatic empire, carrying among the rude 
 tribesmen railroads, telegraphs, and all the outward veneer of 
 " modern civiHzation." Politically and socially, however, 
 Russia as a nation is still several generations behind her 
 European neighbors. In her cities there are large classes of 
 highly educated, intelligent, progressive people, eagerly striv- 
 ing for "reform "; but the great bulk of the Russians is com- 
 prised of the hundred millions and more of ignorant, superstitious 
 peasants: petty agriculturists whose human outlook and vices 
 resemble those of the French serfs in the Middle Ages, and with 
 whom pohtical progress is still highly difficult. The result is 
 that Russia makes very slow growth toward freedom and 
 enlightenment. The process will not be completed until the 
 bulk of her people can throw off the shackles of ignorance as a 
 necessary preliminary to ending the " autocracy " of the abso- 
 lute czars.2 
 
 In 1 86 1 an intelligent and relatively liberal czar, Alexander 
 II, took the great step of decreeing the emancipation of the 
 Russian serfs, but the landholding nobility and the great corps 
 
 1 Russia lost the war with Japan (1004-05), hut it should be remembcrccl that 
 she had to maintain her armies in Manchuria six tliousand miles from their home 
 base with only a single railroad line to rely upon and no effective communication 
 by sea. Most military critics, indeed, believe that man for man the Czar's brave 
 but not always intelligent troops are not on the average, equal, for example, to 
 the Germans; but the huge numbers of the Russians seem to make them almost 
 irresistible. 
 
 ^ In 1S25 an attempt was made by a few Liberals to proclaim a free constitu- 
 tion with a certain popular Prince Constantine as czar. The soldiers of two regi- 
 ments gladly cried out, "Long live Constantine and the Constitution." The 
 soldiers believed "Constitution" was Prince Constantino's wife! Of course, 
 considerable i)rogress has been made since then in educating the Russian masses. 
 
538 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 of government officials, who feared for their tenure of office, 
 bitterly opposed further reforms, and the czar's program broke 
 down. The "freeing of the serfs " was executed in a blunder- 
 ing way, so as actually to increase their miseries for the 
 moment, and then followed plots and conspiracies on the part 
 of an increasing body ojf Liberals, and arrests, banishments, 
 and police persecution in retahation by the Government, until 
 in 1879 an " advanced " revolutionary party, the Terrorists^ 
 removed the czar by assassination. 
 
 It was a foolish as well as a wicked act. Alexander II had 
 been slowly feeling his way toward a more liberal policy. ^ His 
 son, Alexander III, reverted to the deeds of absolutism: the 
 muzzling of the press, the exiling to Siberia of leading Liberals, 
 the suppression of anything savoring of political agitation. In 
 1894, this ruler was succeeded by his son, Nicholas II, a well- 
 intentioned man, who perhaps had some faint liking for more 
 liberal institutions; but he has proved himself utterly weak, 
 the pliable tool of ministers and officials who have every 
 interest in maintaining the old system. In 1904, Russia found 
 herself involved in a disastrous war with Japan, and the 
 Government became so discredited that in the face of the 
 riotous outbreaks of the Liberals in the great cities,- the czar 
 proclaimed a constitution (1905) with an elective parHament 
 (Duma) and most of the outward paraphernalia of a free state. 
 As soon as the foreign peril was fairly ended, and the danger of 
 insurrection past, this parliament was, indeed, dissolved, and 
 many of the liberal innovations canceled, but the new reforms 
 were not formally abrogated. Russia has still a parhament, 
 although the election of members is confined to a very hmited 
 class of people and the business transacted is closely controlled 
 by the czar's ministers. 
 
 1 He was about to sign an order creating a kind of parliament when he was 
 assassinated. 
 
 2 The advanced radicals worked on the czar and his advisers by "removing" 
 (destroying with bombs) several obnoxious kinsmen of the emperor, and various 
 reactionary Ministers. 
 
THE MOST RECENT AGE IN EUROPE 539 
 
 Russia has a long, painful road to travel before she possesses 
 an enlightened government; but the first steps have been taken 
 and the gradual education of the masses will bring the rest. 
 
 315. The crumbling of Turkey. Since the age of Napoleon 
 the diplomats of Europe have been closely watching the 
 '' Nearer East," the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire, in its process 
 of slow but certain decay. The Turkish rulers were, at their 
 best, only a race of soldiers. When they ceased to conquer, 
 their domination lost ah justification. For the last two hun- 
 dred years " Turkish rule " has usually meant inefiliciency, 
 injustice in the courts, outrageous taxes, and ignorant and cor- 
 rupt officials. Of course, to this has been added the circum- 
 stance that Moslem rulers were often oppressing a Christian 
 subject population.^ At almost any time since 1815 Turkey 
 could have been annihilated by one of the great Christian 
 Powers had the other Christian Powers been willing to see 
 their neighbor master a great territory which the rest have 
 coveted. 
 
 England has dreaded lest Russia seize Constantinople, and 
 so control one of the keys to the road to India. Russia has 
 dreaded lest Austria seize the Balkan peninsula, and so cut her 
 off from that access to the Mediterranean which the Czar's 
 statesmen always crave. France, Italy, and Germany have 
 their fears and interests in the nearer Orient also. As a result 
 the Turkish Empire has been left to misrule and misery: while 
 (especially in the Balkan peninsula) the various Christian 
 
 1 Naturally the only government known until lately in Turkey has been an 
 unmitigated despotism; but the Turks have not even made that despotism 
 efficient. There have been capable sultans, but they have been grievously hin- 
 dered in their schemes by the worthless officials through whom they were obliged 
 to work. One of the great difficulties of good government in Turkey has been the 
 fact that the unfriendly races, Greeks, Bulgarians, Armenians, Turks, Kurds, 
 Arabs, etc., have all lived mixed in together, in the same city, or in adjacent 
 villages, and it has been impossible to adjust laws and institutions to the needs 
 of different races in easily separated districts. The Turks have been no rulers 
 to find an outlet to this problem. 
 
540 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 peoples — subject to Turkish tyranny — have time and again 
 turned on their oppressor in bloody uprisings. 
 
 The revolt of Greece^ was the first move in the ejecting of 
 the Turks from Europe. In 1853, Czar Nicholas I of Russia, 
 believing that " the Sick Man of Europe " (as he styled the 
 
 sultan) was close to polit- 
 
 THE CRIMEAN PENINSULA 
 
 ical death, and that the 
 other Powers would not 
 interfere, declared war on 
 Turkey and put his armies 
 in motion. The czar, how- 
 ever, was mistaken in his 
 hopes. France and Eng- 
 land saw their interests in 
 the East menaced, and 
 came to the aid of the 
 Turks. The Crimean War 2 
 w^iich followed (1854-56) 
 was neither very desperate nor decisive, but the allies proved 
 too powerful for the Russians, and they were compelled to 
 make the Peace of Paris (1856), which practically left the 
 Turks as they were — of course, with solemn promises by 
 them of " reforms." 
 
 In 1876, the Christian principality of Servia (a vassal state 
 of Turkey in the Balkans) declared war on the sultan, alleging 
 sympathy for the cruelties practiced by the Turks upon the 
 Christians in the neighboring provinces. The Servians were 
 no match for the Turks and were quickly defeated; but in 
 1877 Russia came to their aid, alleging that all hopes of 
 
 ^ See section 266. 
 
 2 The war took its name from the Crimean peninsula (South Russia) where 
 nearly all the fighting occurred. The main struggle was around the Russian 
 fortress of Sevastopol, which the French and English captured after a long and 
 bloody siege. .\\\ the nations involved showed much bravery in this struggle, 
 but relatively little first-class generalship. 
 
THE MOST RECENT AGE IN EUROPE 541 
 
 reformation in Turkish methods were futile. The Turko- 
 Russian War (1877-78) brought the Turks down upon their 
 knees. They made a brave defense of the town of Plevna; 
 when that fell, however, the Russian troops marched to the 
 very suburbs of Constantinople. Russia dictated " the Treaty 
 of San Stefano,"^ which (if it had been executed) would have 
 left the Turks only a few fragments of land in Europe; but the 
 jealousy of England was now aroused. Lord Beaconsfield (the 
 queen's prime minister) threatened war in case the treaty was 
 not revised, and the whole matter was reopened at the great 
 diplomatic Congress of Berlin (1878), where the representa- 
 tives of all the great European Powers met under the presi- 
 dency of Prince Bismarck. 
 
 At Berlin, Russia was obliged to allow Turkey to take back 
 a considerable part of the. territory she had signed away, but 
 ,the loss to the sultan's dominions was none the less terrible. 
 The hitherto vassal principalities of Servia, Roumania, and 
 the tiny country of Montenegro became independent king- 
 doms.- Greece was promised an enlargement of territory, and 
 a great block of land between Servia and the Black Sea was 
 set off into a new principality (nominally subject to the sultan, 
 but virtually independent) — Bulgaria — inhabited by a fine, 
 virile Christian race that had suffered for centuries from the 
 worst kind of Turkish oppression.^ 
 
 The Treaty of Berlin left the Turks only a rather small strip 
 of territory in Europe, and released millions of Christians from 
 their bondage. Bulgaria rapidly developed into a well-organ- 
 ized and enlightened state. In 1908, her " Prince " Ferdinand 
 felt his position seciire enough to throw off all allegiance to 
 
 ^ A small village near Constantinople. 
 
 ^ Of course, under the overshadowing influence of the czar, who would never 
 fail to remind them of the gratitude they owed him for rescuing them from the 
 Turks. 
 
 ' By the arrangement of San Stefano, Bulgaria would have been much larger 
 than was permitted at Berlin. Especially she was then denied access to the 
 i^gean Sea. Herein lay seeds of future trouble. 
 
542 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 Turkey, and he proclaimed himself an independent "King." 
 Roumania, Greece, and to a less extent Servia made honorable 
 progress in peaceful development. The different Balkan 
 States hated one another, however, hardly less than they 
 hated the Turks. ^ In 1885, Bulgaria and Servia had joined in 
 a brief war wherein Bulgaria had been victor. 
 
 Meantime, at Constantinople the Turks had made ill use of 
 their respite. The Sultan Abdul-Hamid II (1876-1909)," Abdul 
 the Damned," as he was significantly described, was a reac- 
 tionary despot of the worst Oriental type. By a kind of 
 demoniacal cunning he played oi^ the jealousy of the Great 
 Powers one against another and so prevented interference in his 
 misrule, while he surrounded himself with grasping sycophants 
 and subservient guardsmen; ordered massacres of the Christian 
 Armenians (a race that had given signs of disaffection); and 
 put to death or drove into exile most of his fellow Turks who 
 showed themselves open to Western enlightenment.^ 
 
 But even into Turkey new ideas were bound to penetrate in 
 the twentieth century. A native party that took the name of 
 Liberahsm, the " Young Turks," won over the loyalty of the 
 army, and forced the sultan to proclaim a constitution (1908).^ 
 The novel experiment of a liberal government for an Oriental 
 monarchy had hardly been tested before the sultan foolishly 
 tried to expel the reformers and restore absolutism. But the 
 army deserted him. He was seized in his palace and deposed 
 (1909) and his brother, Mohammed V (a puppet for the 
 
 1 The jealousy arose very largely from the ambition of each state to seize the 
 adjacent portions of Turkey (at the next inevitable parceling out of the Ottoman 
 Empire) and from a corresponding fear that its Christian neighbor would grow 
 at its expense. 
 
 2 As an example of the tyrannical stupidity of Abdul-Hamid's rule may be 
 mentioned the fact that in his day Con.-tantinople had no electric lights, because 
 electricity required a dynamo and the sultan feared that this was the same as 
 dynamite, whereof he lived in perpetual dread! 
 
 ' Nominally this constitution had been proclaimed in 1876, but it had never 
 really been put in force. It is now the formal law of the Ottoman Empire, which, 
 at least on paper, has a more liberal government than that of Russia. 
 
544 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 *' Young Turk " leaders), was placed in his stead. The new 
 regime speedily had to resort to very drastic methods to get 
 itself obeyed in the provinces, but it was ruling with fair 
 success when Turkey again became involved in foreign war. 
 
 316. The Balkan War (1912-13). The year 1911 saw the 
 beginning of a new partitioning of Turkey when Italy, alleging 
 various pretexts, seized Tripoli — the last Ottoman province 
 in Africa. ^ The Turks had no navy wherewith to throw rein- 
 forcements into Tripoli, and with Italy controlling the seas, 
 the war lasted only until the Italians could overcome the stub- 
 born but isolated provincial garrison. In 191 2, the Turks made 
 peace, surrendering the disputed land to their enemy; but this 
 loss was a mere incident to the humiliation about to follow. 
 
 In 191 2, to the amazement of many of the diplomats, the 
 Balkan kingdoms of Bulgaria, Servia, Montenegro, and Greece 
 put aside their hitherto bitter feuds and united in a sudden 
 attack on the Turks. The latter seemed to have greater armies 
 than all the allies combined, but numbers went for nothing 
 before the new organization and the mingled valor and religious 
 hate of the Christians. Their enemies had been demoralized 
 by internal revolutions, and seem to have been pitifully ill-led. 
 At Kirk-Kilisseh the Bulgarians routed the Turks in a great 
 battle and marched to the suburbs of Constantinople, while 
 the other allies seized most of the rest of European Turkey. 
 Long negotiations followed, which ended by the Turks ceding 
 nearly all their territories in Europe, save a narrow district 
 near Constantinople. Then came a deplorable turn to a war 
 hitherto conducted in the name of " Christian civilization " 
 against " Moslem barbarism." The victors quarreled over the 
 conquered territory. Bulgaria demanded what seemed an unrea- 
 
 1 The Italians had long reRarded the seizure of Algeria and Tunis by the 
 French with great jealousy, and were anxious for a similar colonial empire in 
 Africa. Tripoli is not a very rich ;ind promising district, however, and although 
 the Turks have been expelled, the Italians have 'found it a difficult task to beat 
 down the resistance of the Moorish desert tribes. 
 
jTurkey before the Wars. 
 
 .Western Boundary of Turkey by the Treaty of 
 Bucharest 19 13. 
 By the Treaty of London, it was proposed to make the 
 western boundary a atraight line from Enoa to Midia. 
 The Second Balkan War. however resulted in the 
 establishment of the boundary as stated above. 
 Thie boundary remaioB at the present time 
 (Sept., 1914) but it is quite possible that 
 
 ■itory ceded by Bulgaria to Roumania 1913. 
 Albania !s a new state created by the wars. 
 
 Longitude East 24 fr^i 
 
 THE BALKAN WARS 
 
546 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 sonable share, and became involved in war with Servia and the 
 Greeks (1913). But Roumania (hitherto neutral) now attacked 
 Bulgaria in turn. This inexcusable " Second War " was short 
 but horribly bloody, and awakened the worst possible passions 
 among all the " grim raw races " of the Balkans. Bulgaria was 
 entirely defeated and stripped of part of her earlier conquests. 
 Servia, Greece, and Roumania were, of course, heavily the 
 gainers; but it will be decades before the angry passions awak- 
 ened in the Balkans cool and the various kingdoms come 
 together on terms of real brotherhood.^ 
 
 317. The Hague Peace Tribunal. The last forty years have 
 given painful evidence that the world is still far from an era 
 of universal peace, yet there was great encouragement for feeling 
 that if wars were not yet aboHshed, they were being constantly 
 avoided, while such wars as had broken out were being care- 
 fully isolated, the nations not directly affected putting forth 
 every effort to preserve neutrality and to pacify the combat- 
 ants. The great developments of commerce, with its demands 
 for law, order, and protection, had done much to aid this; an- 
 other element was the expense of a great modern war, almost as 
 ruinous to the victor as to the vanquished; " but the greatest 
 factor of all had been a growing belief among all civilized men 
 that war is a relic of barbarism to be shunned by every honor- 
 able means, and to be employed only as tlie last bitter resort. 
 ' Already in the nineteenth century the apphcation of inter- 
 national arbitration had settled many serious quarrels that in 
 earlier times might have been adjusted by the sword. Finally, 
 
 ' One result of the Balkan War has been the creation of the new " Principality 
 of Albania," a Mohammedan district on the western side of the peninsula. — 
 During the "Second War" the Turks intervened and regained the city of 
 Adrianople, which had been seized by Bulgaria in the " First War. " 
 
 ^ Under mediaeval conditions any leader, with a few thousand men and half 
 a dozen castles, could conduct a considerable "war," and pay his soldiers with 
 promises of plunder. To-day, plundering an enemy's country is forbidden by 
 international usage, armies are enormous and well paid, and the munitions of 
 war ruinously expensive even to a Great Power. Even a relatively "small war" 
 will cost each combatant fully $1,000,000 per day. 
 
THE MOST RECENT AGE IN EUROPE 547 
 
 in 1899, at the invitation of the Czar of Russia, the famous 
 " First Peace Conference '' of the delegates of the nations met 
 at The Hague to consider projects for promoting peace. It set 
 up a permanent voluntary commission for arbitration, and the 
 nations were invited to send their disputes thither. In 1907, 
 at the instigation of the United States, the " Second Peace 
 Conference " met in the old Dutch city, and the scope and 
 methods of arbitration were systematized and widened. But 
 while The Hague Tribunal had been useful in settling many 
 minor bickerings, it had not been granted authority to enforce 
 its decrees, or allowed to adjust any really formidable grievance 
 of the kind which leads to great wars. Too easily did many op- 
 timists ignore the great amount of ill-feeling that existed in 
 EiTrope. France could not forget Alsace and Lorraine, England 
 distrusted the growth of the new German navy and the open 
 .desires of "Junker " schemes for German expansion at British 
 expense. Russia, Austria, and Germany, had all their conflict- 
 ing ambitions for the final parceling of the moribund Turkish 
 Empire. Nevertheless it was pointed out that there had been 
 no great general European war since the days of Napoleon. It 
 was unwisely assumed that mankind was becoming too ad- 
 vanced and civilized to begin another destructive contest such 
 as had been wound up in 1814-15. This was entirely true of 
 most of the great nations. Unfortunately it was not true of one 
 mighty imperial power; and twelve days in July and August, 
 1914, sufficed to change the world from a relative Eden into 
 a perfect Gehenna. 
 
CONCLUSION 
 
 THE GREAT EUROPEAN WAR, 1914-18 
 
 The summer of 1914. The foregoing summary seemed a fair 
 picture of the situation as it existed in Europe at the beginning 
 of the summer of 1914. Seldom, all things considered, had the 
 chances of prolonged peace and of a gradual quiet transition to 
 a new and happier world order appeared to be better. The world 
 was full of hopeful philanthropic projects. England, France, 
 Russia, and Italy were very busy with their home problems. 
 In the Teutonic countries there appeared a calm, it seemed, 
 of like innocence, and very few suspected the thunders that 
 were behind it. The great German Empire, just recorded ear- 
 lier in this book as a leader in cultural arts and the apparent 
 progress of the race, was plotting war. Her rulers were about 
 to show what was behind their professions of high-mindedness 
 and superior civilization. A terrific stroke was to be attempted, 
 to win a world dominion such as old Persia or Rome had once 
 enjoyed. There were to be twelve days of terrible diplomatic 
 tension, then more than four years of agony and blood. 
 
 The Serbian Note. Late in June, 1914, the heir to the throne 
 of Austria, Archduke Ferdinand, was murdered at Serajevo, 
 Bosnia, by a wretched native youth. The latter was charged 
 with having been egged on by Serbian conspirators, who hoped 
 to upset Austrian rule in Bosnia and to secure the annexation 
 of that '' South Slavic " country to the nation of its kinsmen, 
 Serbia. Austria was alleged to have been justified in demanding 
 apologies and complete redress from Serbia for its attitude in 
 permitting the conspiracy, but not a month had gone by ere it 
 became evident that some malignant forces at Vienna and 
 Berlin alike were using this situation merely as an excuse for 
 
THE GREAT EUROPEAN WAR 547^ 
 
 Austria to invade Serbia and practically to rob that long- 
 suffering little kingdom of her independence. On July 23, 1914, 
 Austria sent an ultimatum to Serbia which, if accepted, would 
 have reduced the latter to a helpless vassal state of the Haps- 
 burgs. Speedily it became manifest also that the whole power, 
 not merely of Austria, but of Germany, was behind this note, 
 and that the Hapsburgs were not much more than compliant 
 tools of the Hohenzollern Government. Serbia was given only 
 forty-eight hours wherein to sign away her independence or fight 
 against vast odds. She naturally appealed to her old friend and 
 guardian, Russia. The Czars had long protected Serbia by a 
 kind of " Monroe Doctrine " and Nicholas II now felt that his 
 own honor and the prestige of Russia were at stake. Vainly he 
 and his ministers besought Austria to delay matters enough to 
 arrange a fair compromise. On July 28 Austria declared war 
 -on Serbia, and practically defied Russia to try to help her 
 weaker friend. 
 
 Germany declares war. For years there had been a party of 
 Prussian noblemen, great landowners, rich manufacturers, 
 doctrinaire professors, and the like who had conducted a sys- 
 tematic agitation to get Germany to embark on a great military 
 venture to conquer the world; their boasted aim was " World 
 power or downfall," as one of their famous Hterary propagan- 
 dists (General Bernhardi) put it. Their particular prey was to 
 be England. They also had schemes against America. But 
 first of all they intended to " reckon with " (i.e., to brush out 
 of the way and to ruin forever) France and Russia. Their 
 " Pan-German " schemes seemed so reckless that foreign 
 statesmen usually declined to take them seriously, but in 1914 
 it was displayed that they had captured the government and 
 councils of Kaiser William II. Various things in the European 
 situation made these pitiless " Junker " adventurers feel that 
 now was the time to conquer the world and to found a second 
 and greater Roman Empire. Their military equipment was at 
 
547C HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 perfection, and their rivals seemed ill-prepared. The murder of 
 the Archduke gave them now their pretext and their opportun- 
 ity. They egged Austria on to attack Serbia; then, when Rus- 
 sia began mobilizing troops as a precaution (although without 
 attacking Austria), William II harshly demanded of the Czar 
 that he demobihze, and leave Serbia to her fate. When Nicho- 
 las II not unnaturally refused, on August i William precipi- 
 tately declared war on Russia, although Austria (in whose be- 
 half William pretended to be acting) had not yet done so, and 
 actually seemed willing to negotiate with the Czar ! Germany 
 apparently wanted " war at any price." 
 
 Invasion of Belgium. Spread of the War. France and Eng- 
 land had had no direct part in the original quarrel. Vainly they 
 had urged " peace." But France was closely aUied with Rus- 
 sia and bound to fight if either power was attacked. Germany 
 as a matter of fact sent her troops first against France, not 
 against her original enemy, the Czar. The easiest way to Paris 
 from the Rhine lay across the peaceful, wholly innocent, and 
 disinterested little country of Belgium. Belgium was a neutral 
 state, immune from invasion both by general international 
 law and by special treaties which Germany had signed. On 
 August 2 the Germans ruthlessly invaded Belgium, and despite 
 brave resistance at Liege, in a few weeks they took Brussels. 
 These deeds, however, brought England promptly into the 
 war. England was very friendly to France and distrusted 
 Germany, but her statesmen hesitated as to their duty until 
 Belgium was violated. England, no less than Germany, had 
 signed the treaty to respect and to defend Belgian neutrahty. 
 When the British Ambassador warned Germany that England 
 would interfere if the treaty was not kept, the Chancellor, 
 Bethmann-Hollweg, cynically asked if England would draw the 
 sword " just for a scrap of paper " ? England declared war on 
 Germany August 4,»i9i4. 
 
 The first battles of the Marne and of the Yser. The Ger- 
 
THE GREAT EUROPEAN WAR 
 
 S47<^ 
 
 mans had created a magnificent war machine. They held their 
 foes in contempt, particularly the French, whom they expected 
 to trample over as in 1870. The English army was too small to 
 supply at first more than about 100,000 men to help protect 
 France from invasion. The Germans won the first battles in 
 
 THE WESTERN FRONT 
 
 ^-* Fsrth«st G«rman Advance August, 1914 
 
 IBB Battle Line Jannary, 19U (Bindenburg Line) 
 
 ...PinU Battle Line (November II. 1918J 
 
 southern Belgium and swept onward toward Paris; but the 
 French rallied gallantly as became the race that had once fol- 
 lowed Henry of Navarre and Napoleon. Turning at bay 
 (September 6-10) in a great battle along the line of the Marne 
 near Paris the French and their English allies defeated the in- 
 vaders in what was probably one of the supreme contests of all 
 world history. The Germans fell back to positions along the 
 
5476 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 Aisne, some fifty miles from Paris. Here they intrenched them- 
 selves. The AUies were not strong enough to drive them out. 
 After bitter fighting the war here settled down to practically 
 a deadlock, which lasted well over three years. The Germans 
 were sorely disappointed at not taking Paris " as per schedule." 
 They now, however, endeavored to take the French channel 
 ports (Calais, Dunkirk, etc.), preliminary to invading England. 
 They first took Antwerp from the Belgians, and drove King 
 Albert of Belgium from almost the final remnant of his brave 
 httle country, but at the Yser (the last river on the coast of 
 Belgium before entering France) the Germans collided with an 
 AUied army, mainly British, and were again beaten in a long 
 gruelling battle, running through October and November. 
 The winter then came without the prompt victory in the west 
 which the Germans had promised themselves in the summer. 
 " Degenerate " France and " commercial " England were hold- 
 ing them, and the war in the west was settling down to a dead- 
 lock. In the east, however, they had better prospects. 
 
 The defeat of Russia. The Russians had entered the war with 
 patriotic enthusiasm for a good cause; but the Czar's Govern- 
 ment could not shake ofi" the consequences of a blundering and 
 tyrannous past. In x'Vugust and September, 1914, the Musco- 
 vite armies were roundly defeated when they tried to invade 
 Prussia, although they were much more successful against the 
 Austrians, until German reinforcements came to rescue the 
 Hapsburg armies. Soon it was evident that the war was to be a 
 long and bitter one requiring an enormous supply of munitions. 
 The Russian factories were not organized to meet this insati- 
 able demand. Turkey had gone in on the side of the Teutons, 
 thereby cutting off the Russians almost completely from getting 
 supplies from their allies, and casting them on their own re- 
 sources. In the spring and summer of 191 5 the English made 
 very gallant attempts, first with a fleet and then with an arm}', 
 to force the Dardanelles, take Constantinople, and thus bring 
 
THE GREAT EUROPEAN WAR 
 
 547/ 
 
 munitions to Russia. Though bravely made, both attempts 
 failed. Russia was left to herself. There was gross inefficiency. 
 
 corruption and downright treason in the Czar's general staffc 
 
 Even the German-born Czarina was accused of aiding the en- 
 emy. In the spring, summer, and fall of 19 15 the Russirn 
 armies, without adequate cannon or ammunition, often without 
 
547.? 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 proper infantry rifles, were forced out of position after position 
 in Poland, sustaining terrible losses, and proclaiming every- 
 where the worthlessness of the old Czarist regime in a great 
 crisis. Russia recovered sufficiently to make some formidable 
 counter-attacks in 191 6, but the much-boasted Muscovite 
 " steam roller " never again was really started. The western 
 powers had therefore to light it out with Germany with little 
 direct Slavic help. 
 
 The struggle in the west. In May, 191 5, Italy had come into 
 the war on the side of the Allies, but her attack was mainly 
 
 THE 
 ITALIAN FRONT 
 
 confined to her frontier towards Austria, where the great Alpine 
 barrier made her progress very slow. After defeating Russia in 
 that year, Germany had turned her energies upon helpless, iso- 
 lated Serbia. Bulgaria joined the attack on an old neighbor 
 and rival. Serbia was overrun and temporarily conquered. 
 The French and English could do little to aid their eastern allies. 
 France was barely holding the Germans in check on the western 
 front, while England slowly raised a great army, first by vol- 
 unteering and then by conscription. During 191 5 there were 
 practically no changes in the great four hundred-mile line of 
 trenches across France and Belgium. Early in 191 6, however, 
 
THE GREAT EUROPEAN WAR 547A 
 
 the Germans (having partially knocked out Russia) made a 
 great attack on the French key-fortress of Verdun. The on- 
 slaughts were terrilic, the losses on both sides indescribable, but 
 the spirit of the French again rose to the crisis. "They shall 
 not pass! " became the famous watchword of the defenders. 
 In the summer of 1916 the German pressure on Verdun ceased, 
 when the EngHsh began a great offensive along the Somme in 
 northern France. Valuable ground was gained by the now 
 formidable British armies, but the deadlock in the west was 
 not ended, and the Germans retained strength enough to crush 
 Roumania promptly when that unlucky Balkan kingdom (lured 
 on by false promises from Russia) drew the sword for the Alhes. 
 So 1916 came to a close, with both sides hanging on grimly in 
 the west, but with Russia wavering and Germany seemingly 
 more powerful than ever. 
 
 The submarines and the United States. Nevertheless, al- 
 though partly victorious by land, Germany was hopelessly 
 blockaded by sea. The superior British fleet had swept her 
 cruisers and merchantmen from the ocean. Germany was soon 
 in straits for all kinds of imported commodities and presently 
 she lacked for ordinary food. In retaliation she began to strike 
 back by using the new naval weapon (the submarine) in a 
 shamelessly cruel manner, totally in defiance of international 
 law. Merchant ships on the high seas were sunk without warn- 
 ing and with no attempt to save passengers and crew. The most 
 famous victim was the British liner Lusitania, sunk May 7, 
 1915, with the loss of 11 54 lives, including 1 14 Americans. The 
 deeds of the submarines soon provoked the angry remonstrances 
 of most neutral countries, including especially the United 
 States. For a while the German naval authorities, therefore, 
 suspended some of their most ruthless practices. Meantime, 
 however, the neutral world was being sickened by a steadily 
 accumulating mass of authentic stories of the systematic 
 " severities " and Assyrian fiendishness of the German rulers 
 
547^ 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 in their occupation of Belgium, northern France, and Poland. 
 It was increasingly evident that to win a military victory the 
 
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 IAN PENETBATIONJ ^ (£ ^\S V,^ '■^ l / v. 
 
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 '-^ «Erlva/%^"^ „ 
 
 ■ — -^ C.A 
 
 Teutons would respect none of the accepted laws of humanity 
 and decency, and would practice every kind of cruelty on civ- 
 ihans, simply in order to break down the morale of the peoples 
 opposed to them, and to strike terror into neutrals. 
 
THE GREAT EUROPEAN WAR 547; 
 
 The Russian Revolution. Early in 191 7 the Germans had 
 their greatest piece of good fortune. Overwhelmed by a popular 
 rising, with all the loyalty of his people destroyed by the incom- 
 petence of his Government, Nicholas II abdicated the throne 
 of Russia March 15, 1917. A liberal " democratic " regime of 
 Russian " Constitutionalists " took his place, preparatory to 
 organizing an orderly constitutional government. But the 
 Russian peasantry and private soldiers were sick and tired of 
 the war which had brought them only defeat and terrible pri- 
 vations, and which as the " Czar's war " it seemed (in their 
 ignorance) very proper to stop now that the Czar was gone. 
 As soon as the old bonds of loyalty were snapped, mutinies in 
 the army and increasing disorganization everywhere in the 
 provinces made Russia practically drop out of the contest with 
 Germany. In November, 191 7, the moderate liberals in Russia 
 -were overthrown by a party of extreme Socialists, " Bol- 
 sheviki," who proposed to confound all society, destroy prop- 
 erty rights, and reorganize the entire world on a strictly com- 
 munistic basis. These ultra-radicals proceeded (February, 
 191 8) to make their own separate peace (at Brest-Litovsk) for 
 Russia with Germany. They surrendered a large part of the 
 old Muscovite Empire for the privilege of holding the remainder 
 wherein to work out their astonishing theories. As a miHtary 
 power Russia vanished. The mighty empire of the Czars 
 seemed dissolving in chaos. Germany had seen the end of one 
 of her most formidable enemies, and might claim to have won 
 the eastern half of the war. 
 
 The intervention of the United States. But Germany had 
 not won a corresponding victory on the western front. Almost 
 simultaneously with the abdication of Nicholas II came the 
 entrance of America into the war, when, early in 191 7, Ger- 
 many cynically resumed her practices of '" unlimited " sub- 
 marine warfare, and undertook to sink without mercy every 
 vessel, neutral or otherwise, found anywhere on the ocean 
 
547^ HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 around England, France, or Italy. As soon as American ships 
 had thus been illegally destroyed, President Wilson sounded 
 a call of the great Republic to arms that the world might be 
 " made safe for democracy." It had become evident indeed 
 that if Germany won in Europe, no free country, least of all 
 America, would be safe from unscrupulous attack and ruthless 
 spohation. On April 6, 1917, the American Congress declared 
 war on Germany.^ At first the United States could only send 
 naval vessels, to help the British patrol against the submarines, 
 rehef workers, munitions, food, etc., to the AHies, and provide 
 loans of money; but presently a great American army began 
 to be convoyed across the Atlantic. The land fighting in 191 7 
 was not very decisive. The British made further gains in Flan- 
 ders, but still did not break the German lines. In October the 
 Austro- Germans won a great success over the Italians and 
 invaded Venetia, but the Italians rallied gallantly and Venice 
 itself was saved. The winter of 191 7-18 passed in great tension. 
 America was making ready to strike and Germany was pre- 
 paring a great blow before America could be ready. 
 
 The breaking of the deadlock on the western front, 1918. 
 Thanks to the collapse of Russia, Germany could move many 
 disengaged troops over to the western front. The Hohenzol- 
 lern generals were nearing the end of their man power, but they 
 called out their last levies and staked everything on one great 
 campaign. In March, 1918, by a terrific offensive they ahnost 
 broke the English lines in northern France, making dangerous 
 gains before they were halted. They made more gains in Flan- 
 ders in April, and still others against the French northeast 
 of Paris in May and June. In the face of the common danger 
 the Allies now (for the first time) selected a single general-in- 
 chief, Foch, a French commander of remarkable genius. By 
 
 1 Since this is a history of Europe merely, it has not seemed needful to discuss 
 all the reasons that brought America into the war, but simply to treat her inter- 
 vention as part of the original European story. 
 
S47m HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 a great mobilization of shipping a huge American army was hur- 
 ried across the ocean much sooner than the Germans had ex- 
 pected. In June at Chateau-Thierry the Americans had a great 
 part in stopping the German offensive. In July they had 
 reached France in such force that they could take the offensive. 
 July 15 the Germans began the second battle of the Marne 
 and were absolutely repulsed by the Allies and Americans, and 
 on July 18 the French and Americans were launched against 
 the Teutons in a counter-attack which had astonishing success. 
 From that time until the final armistice the Germans never 
 made an eft'ective stand. Pressed now by the French, now by the 
 British, now by the powerful American anny, the Allies drove 
 their enemies from point to point until at last the Germans 
 had beer^ almost entirely expelled from France and also from a 
 large piece of Belgium. The whole face of the war was changed, 
 by one of the most startling reverses of fortune in all history. 
 The collapse of Germany. The Germans had staked every- 
 thing on their last offensive in July. When that failed their 
 power collapsed. They were short of food, short of munitions, 
 short of men, and their morale was shaken. Their lying rulers 
 had assured them that victory was at hand, and behold, a 
 great defeat! By October the situation was so desperate that 
 the German rulers were pleading with President Wilson to get 
 them an armistice. As his prestige as a ruler vanished, William 
 II had to face the wrath of his deluded and angry people. At 
 Berlin the SociaHsts presently gained the upper hand. The 
 army could not be relied upon to defend the " All-Highest." 
 On November 10, 191 8, having renounced his power, the 
 Emperor took refuge in Holland. The next day, November 11, 
 the representatives of the German Government signed an 
 armistice which marked their abject capitulation. Austria 
 (utterly defeated by Italy), Turkey, and Bulgaria had already 
 surrendered. The Pan-Germans had sought " world-power or 
 downfall," and the God of Battles had decided! 
 
THE GREAT EUROPEAN WAR 547^ 
 
 The Armistice {November 11, 1918). Germany surrendered 
 not simply because there was disaffection at home, but chiefly 
 because her armies in Belgium and northern France were so 
 shaken and demoralized that a few weeks more of fighting 
 would have marked their entire destruction. The great war 
 machine built by Von Moltke had met with complete over- 
 throw. At the behest of Marshal Foch, Germany agreed to 
 evacuate what she still held of Belgium and to withdraw her 
 forces across the Rhine. She was to surrender great quantities 
 of cannon, machine-guns, aeroplanes, locomotives, and rail- 
 way cars, and to let her enemies occupy the Rhinelands until 
 a treaty of peace could be arranged upon " Fourteen points for 
 a world-settlement," as laid down by President Wilson. Alsace 
 and Lorraine were to revert to France, and Poland and Bo- 
 hemia were to become independent nations. The great ram- 
 ■ shackle Austrian Empire had been in fact broken up after hav- 
 ing been ruinously defeated by Italy; its last Emperor had 
 abdicated and his dominions (as were those of Turkey and 
 Russia) were dissolving into many fragments. No victory by 
 Napoleon I seemed to promise so many changes on the maps 
 as that by the AlHes m 1918. 
 
 The world at the end of the Great War. The Great War, 
 lasting more than four years, had given the whole world a 
 shock, military, political, economic, and moral, such as it had 
 never experienced, certainly, since the French Revolution, if 
 then. Four great empires (Russia, Austria, Turkey, and Ger- 
 many) had been ruined and apparently destroyed. The vic- 
 torious nations had paid in turn for their triumph by sacrifices 
 that went to the depths of their being. The war had cost nearly 
 two hundred billions of dollars, and over seven millions of 
 human lives. Great districts in France, Belgium, and Poland 
 were desolate. There had never been so much wholesale de- 
 struction by land and sea since the world began. And yet at 
 the end of the war the victorious free nations of Europe and 
 
547^ HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 America rejoiced together. A terrible blow at the freedom and 
 moral progress of the world, aimed by Pan-German ambition 
 and cruelty, had been utterly foiled, and the consequences had 
 righteously recoiled upon the aggressors. A great hope was 
 dawning that personal despotisms, autocracies, and caste privi- 
 leges were vanishing, or at least were doomed, and that a new 
 vista of progressive happiness was opening for the human race. 
 The problems were vast, the physical task of reconstruction 
 tremendous, but after having survived the awful ordeal of the 
 Great War, why should not civilized mankind face all the lesser 
 dangers? The confidence was strong that the awful sacrifices 
 of a hundred great battles, battles beside which Hastings and 
 Naseby were but as skirmishes, were the price paid not in vain, 
 for a chance (despite all difficulties and dangers) to organize 
 the brotherhood of man and the " parliament of the world." 
 The Treaty of Versailles. The negotiations at the great 
 Peace Congress, which met at Versailles, near Paris, to liqui- 
 date the war, were necessarily very tedious; almost every na- 
 tion of the world had become interested in the outcome of the 
 struggle, and had its own particular problems to be adjusted. 
 Obviously the most important tasks of the Allies and of the 
 United States were first to arrange a settlement which should 
 prevent Germany from embarking on new schemes of world 
 conquest; next, to compel her (so far as she was physically able) 
 to make reparation for the awful havoc wrought; and finally, 
 to devise some scheme for a League of Nations or its equivalent 
 which should make the outbreak of new wars more difiicult. 
 The adjustment of details called for infinitely delicate negotia- 
 tions, and not a few compromises. The defeated Germans pro- 
 tested vigorously against the severity of the terms imposed, 
 but their military position was hopeless and their envoys at 
 length ratified the conditions laid before them. In the prepa- 
 ration of the voluminous peace treaty the leading parts were 
 played by M. Clemenceau, Prime Minister of France, Mr. 
 
THE GREAT EUROPEAN WAR 547/; 
 
 Lloyd George, Prime Minister of England, and last but not 
 least by Mr. Woodrow Wilson, who first among American 
 Presidents while still in office visited Europe, and who re- 
 mained about seven months in Paris arranging the terms for 
 the world's settlement. 
 
 As finally agreed upon, Germany consented to cede Alsace- 
 Lorraine to France; also to hand over for at least fifteen years 
 the control and use of the valuable coal-mining region in the 
 Saar Valley as part payment for the damage done the French, 
 and to pay (according to her economic ability) as much as pos- 
 sible for the damage done the peaceful inhabitants of France, 
 Belgium, and Great Britain by the war. She also promised to 
 limit her army and navy to a point making them harmless to 
 her neighbors. On her eastern frontier large Polish-speaking 
 districts were to be ceded to the newly reconstituted nation of 
 .Poland. 
 
 A League of Nations to enforce the terms of this treaty, and 
 prepare measures against new wars was next to be created. 
 Britain, France, and Italy joined with Japan and America as 
 its controlling powers. Germany might be admitted later after 
 a period of good behavior. The once great Austrian Empire 
 had dissolved. German Austria (the country around Vienna) 
 was left as a small republic; and Hungary (bereft of all its non- 
 Magyar lands) was also turned loose as a very weak state. 
 Bohemia, enlarged as "Czecho-Slovakia," became an inde- 
 pendent republic; and in the south the Croatian and Bosnian 
 peoples were united with their kinsmen of Serbia as the new 
 nation of the Jugo-Slavs (''South Slavs"). The Balkans were 
 still in welter, the claims of Roumania to a large part of old 
 Hungary were still unadjusted, and the great mass of Russia 
 still lay in anarchy; but in making the peace with Germany the 
 western democratic nations felt that they had settled the 
 most dangerous of the problems created by the Great War. 
 
 On June 28, 1919, the treaty between the new "German 
 
547? HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 Republic" and her enemies was signed at Versailles. A great 
 chapter in the world's history had been closed. Another chap- 
 ter, perhaps equally important, had been begun. 
 
THE MOST RECENT AGE IN EUROPE 
 
 REVIEW 
 
 1. Topics — Commune of Paris; Thiers; General Boulanger; De Les- 
 seps; Dreyfus; the Separation Law; the "Lost Provinces"; Gam- 
 betta; the " Iron Chancellor "; Militarism; Congress of BerUn; the 
 Triple Alliance; the " Entente Cordiale "; Asquith; " Vested Inter- 
 ests "; Alexander II; Duma; Nihilists; " Sick Man of Europe "; Cri- 
 mean War; Abdul-Hamid II; " Young Turks "; Balkan War; The 
 Hague Tribunal. 
 
 2. Geography — 
 
 {a) Locate Berlin; Sevastopol; Paris; Plevna; San Stefano; Kirk- 
 
 Kilisseh; The Hague. 
 {h) Mark Alsace-Lorraine; TripoH; Tunis; Transvaal; Orange 
 
 Free State; the Russian Empire; Manchuria; Japan; The 
 
 Crimea; Algeria, 
 (c) Mark the steps in the decline of the Ottoman Empire in 
 
 Europe from the sixteenth century to 19 13. 
 {d) Mark the chief colonial possessions of Great Britain, France, 
 
 Germany, and Italy. 
 {e) Mark the boundaries of the Balkan States before and after the 
 
 Balkan Wars of 1913. 
 (/) Indicate the extent of the Mohammedan power in Europe at 
 
 its height, and compare with its extent in 1Q13. 
 
 3. How do you account for the continuance of the Republic in France, 
 if Napoleon was right when he said, "You Frenchmen love mon- 
 archy"? 
 
 4. How is it possible for the Government in Germany to control legisla- 
 tion, if it is in a minority? 
 
 5. Why were France and England " natural enemies " formerly, and why 
 are they no longer so? 
 
 6. What are the peculiar internal problems confronting each nation in 
 Europe at present? What are the external problems? 
 
 7. In what nations have important constitutional changes occurred 
 during the period covered by this chapter? Describe the changes. 
 
 8. Is the Triple Alliance based upon the general good will of the parties, 
 or upon necessity? Explain your answer. Compare with the " Entente 
 Cordiale." 
 
 9. How do you explain the fact that Russia is far behind western Europe 
 in civilization? 
 
 10. Why have the Turks been allowed to remain in Europe? Are they 
 likely to remain permanently? Give reasons for your answer. 
 
 11. What events in the period show the importance of "sea-power"; i.e., 
 the control of the sea? 
 
 12. What modern conditions in Europe tend to maintain peace, and what 
 ones tend to produce war, between the nations? 
 
HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 1. The French Constitution of 1875. 
 
 2. The conflicts between the Papacy and the French and German Govern- 
 ments. 
 
 3. The Eastern Question in the nineteenth century. 
 
 4. The formation of the new states in the Balkan Peninsula. 
 
 5. European colonies and "spheres of influence" in Africa. 
 
 6. The influence of European civilization upon the Asiatic nations. 
 
 7. Does the fact that several of the European nations have numerous 
 Mohammedan colonies, influence the attitude taken by those nations 
 toward Turkey? 
 
 8. The Peace Conferences at The Hague. 
 
 READINGS 
 
 Modern Accounts. Seignobos: pp. 262-65, 296-334, 355-76. Lewis: 
 pp. 753-73. Duruy: pp. 661-84. Lodge: chapter xxviir. Robinson 
 and Beard: vol. 11, passim; especially pp. 130-80; 220-23; 251-57; 
 and 261-378. 
 
THE MARCH OF DEMOCRACY 
 
 A SUMMARY AND RETROSPECT 
 
CHAPTER XLl 
 
 THE MARCH OF DEMOCRACY 
 
 We have perforce treated the nineteenth century in Europe 
 as if it were a series of national stories, only blended usually 
 when the nations in question collided in diplomacy and arms. 
 But this is only very partially the case. Since 1815 there has 
 been a surprising number of common factors in European 
 public life which have affected almost all the great states 
 to a marked extent. National boundaries have partly crum- 
 bled. A new idea in France is sure to have its prompt reaction 
 in Italy, in Germany, in England. The world of commerce 
 (despite hampering customs-duties and tariffs) has become 
 more and more international. Not one but a large number of 
 new forces have been at work, and every one making for more 
 intelligence, greater private happiness, and above all for the 
 abohtion of political privilege and absolutism.* 
 
 318. The recovery of Democracy after the French Revolu- 
 tion. The excesses of the French Revolution, followed as they 
 were by the destructive work of Napoleon, "the child of the 
 Revolution," reacted upon the whole democratic theory. For 
 long after 1815 many intelligent, well-meaning men, especially 
 of the property-owning class, regarded " legitimacy " (i.e., 
 monarchy) as the only safeguard against anarchy, and even 
 moderate reforms were denounced as " Jacobinism." Very 
 gradually the pendulum swung back. It was realized that, 
 though the French radicals had been too hasty in making the 
 
 ^ The above represents a fair statement of the general situation, July i, 1914. 
 The criminal ambition of Germany halted what was apparently, in other 
 lands, a normal and steady development. With the military defeat of Germany 
 (1918) the victorious spirit of democracy can be expected to advance ever more 
 rapidly to the conquest of the world. 
 
THE MARCH OF DEMOCRACY 
 
 551 
 
 transition from mediaevalism to liberty, the theories whereon 
 their radicalism rested — the " Rights of Man " and " Liberty, 
 Equality, and Frater- 
 nity," were matters 
 of profound truth. 
 Only, of course, the 
 millennium of freedom 
 must come, not amid 
 one wild holocaust of 
 " effete institutions," 
 but through a process 
 of slow, often painful, 
 evolution. By 1900, the 
 theories so crudely ad- 
 vanced in 1789 were 
 daily being put into 
 successful practice, and 
 were constantly win- 
 ning new converts in 
 every civilized land. 
 
 319. The example of the United States. When the twentieth 
 century dawned, the statesmen of Europe had had before their 
 eyes for more than three generations the example of a really 
 great and successful free government — the United States of 
 America. Much of the success of America was, indeed, due 
 to its isolation from Old World problems, such as the need of 
 standing armies, the difficulty of abolishing long-standing 
 abuses, and the like. Part, too, of our success came from the 
 possession of a great undeveloped continent, full of natural 
 resources, and demanding exploitation. But in any case the 
 success of America had a tremendous reaction upon Europe. 
 Here was a standing refutation of the old allegation that free 
 governments — except on a very limited scale ^ — had never 
 
 ^ Of course it was sometimes admitted that such a small city-republic as 
 
 WATER-CARRIER, ABOUT 1830 
 
 {After a lithograph by Bellange) 
 
552 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 been a success. The saving of the American Union in our Civil 
 War was a capital event for Europe : it proved that the greatest 
 experiment ever made in practical democracy was not likely 
 to fail. American prosperity has strengthened the hands of 
 every liberal reformer from Spain to Russia. 
 
 320. The industrial revolution. In 1789, most Europeans 
 were supported by agriculture. By 1900, although Russia, 
 Hungary and to a less extent France and Germany had large 
 farmihg interests, commerce and manufacturing had become 
 
 J 
 
 
 FARM INTERIOR IN 1S78 (FRANCE) 
 
 more and more the bases for the wealth of the whole Continent. 
 Not merely England, but many other countries — especially 
 Germany, France, Belgium, and Holland — profit enormously 
 by the new markets which modern railways and steamships 
 have opened in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. On the Conti- 
 nent, as somewhat earlier in England, the " Industrial Revolu- 
 
 Athens had been a fair success. As for the Roman RepubHc, history taught that 
 as soon as the Romans won a great dominion they had to change their govern- 
 ment into "the Empire" — a monarchy. The corruption — real or alleged — - 
 of American politics has often destroyed the value of American examples in 
 Europe, but even with all deductions the fact has remained that the United 
 States is a powerful, prosperous, and free country, competing with Europe in all 
 the activities of civilization. 
 
^^^ ^> |.».^ 
 
 V 
 
 
 •i» ■ 
 
 ifril^H 
 
 ^^Mj^^M^^ 
 
 
 9 
 
 BH 
 
 
 ,.v^~ '«^^^^H 
 
 ISAAC NEWTON 
 
 ^Mathematician 
 
 Born 1642 Died 1727 
 
 RICHARD ARKWRIGHT 
 
 Inventor 
 
 Born 1732 Died 1792 
 
 GEORGE STEPHENSON 
 
 Engineer 
 
 Born 1 78 1 Died 1848 
 
 CHARLES ROBERT DARWIN 
 
 Naturalist 
 
 Born 1809 Died 1882 
 
 PIONEERS OF SCIENCE 
 
THE MARCH OF DEMOCRACY 553 
 
 tion " has reacted upon political life, and always to advance 
 the cause of democracy. The premium set upon personal 
 wealth, capital, and efficiency, instead of on noble birth and 
 ancestral acres, has shaken the prestige of, even if it has not 
 destroyed, the old aristocracies that rest on mediaeval tradi- 
 tions. The lower classes have been brought together even more 
 constantly in cities:^ and in great cities the toilers can combine 
 for mutual betterment or for agitation infinitely more easily 
 than as so many scattered farmers. And finally — a matter 
 often overlooked but not to be despised — the shifting of men's 
 interest to manufacturing and commerce, wath their keen 
 competitions, has put a premium on invention: — some new 
 scientific devices which will distance a commercial rival and 
 lead to honorable gain. This spirit of invention, which is the 
 very life of progressive modern manufacturing, is bound also 
 to have a marked political effect.- Men are generally more 
 
 1 This is particularly true of Germany, where certain cities such as Berlin, 
 Hamburg, and Leipzig, have grown by leaps and bounds, as rapidly as many 
 "western" cities in America. 
 
 2 Of course, the influence of the new manufacturing machinery has been, from 
 the standpoint of general civilization, simply enormous. It has been estimated 
 that the new machinery has added the equivalent of many millions to the 
 "non-human working population" of the civilized world. The new means of 
 communication and the far-reaching influences of modern commerce make these 
 new methods of manufacturing spread their influence to every corner of the 
 globe. "A nickel spent for thread in Uganda, Central Africa, sets the spindle 
 going in Manchester, England." We are too near to this great revolution to 
 decide on its final results: we can be sure that it will be put down in future his- 
 tories as a tremendously important event. 
 
 The early use of machinery by the English was a large factor in making them, 
 during the first half of the nineteenth century, the manufacturing leaders of 
 the world. The great wars between 1789 and 18 15 had demoralized much of 
 the industrial life of the Continent, and almost prohibited the introduction of the 
 new machinery (engines, power-looms, etc.). But after 1815, France began to 
 develop herself as a great industrial nation. In 181 2, she had only one small 
 stationary engine; in 1847, she had nearly five thousand. Nor were the French 
 content to copy English methods merely; their natural genius for invention sug- 
 gested one improvement after another, until to-day there is hardly a manufac- 
 ture in the world which does not owe much to some innovating Frenchman. This 
 development of French industry brought with it a corresponding increase in the 
 French cities, and Paris in particular had a marked growth in the nineteenth 
 century. 
 
554 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 willing now to accept what is new if it really seems superior, 
 whether in the realm of industry or of statecraft; and the same 
 prevailing instinct which will inspire one person to invent a 
 new machine for making shoes will inspire another to devise 
 some new scheme for securing more equable representation for 
 minorities in a legislature. 
 
 321. The new means 0/ communication. We have seen how 
 in the Middle Ages the introduction or exchange of new ideas 
 was almost an impossibility, owing to the great physical diffi- 
 culties of traveling. Even as late as 1789, in France, England, 
 and Germany to go fifty miles per day by stage-coach on land, 
 or a hundred miles by sailing-packet on water, was not steadily 
 to be reckoned upon. Six months was a common voyage to 
 India. ^ About 1830, steamboats began to ply the North Sea 
 and the Mediterranean in appreciable numbers, and at about 
 the same time commenced the building of railroads. These 
 great inventions have done almost as much for Europe as for 
 America; they have brought London within seven hours of 
 
 In Germany the new industrial proRress hardly came until after 1840. In 
 1842, a German professor could assert that the country had little to fear from 
 socialistic movements, for there was no distinct "worker" class in the land — 
 apart from the country peasants. But conditions speedily changed. Better 
 political adjustments and greater enlightenment led to the increased use of 
 machinery, and in certain specialties — especially in every manufacture where 
 the new scientific processes could be applied — the Germans showed remarkable 
 aptitude. The result was a development of industries on a scale larger than those 
 of France, and rivaling the English. After 1870, there was a perfect mania in 
 Germany for forming stock companies, followed, naturally, by a collapse of the 
 "boom," and a temporary set-back, but marking a genuine advance of the 
 Germans as an industrial nation. Of recent years German manufacturers have 
 been thrusting more and more into the markets of the world, and thereby earning 
 the wrath of the English, who had formerly almost a monopoly of most manu- 
 factured articles of commerce. The twentieth century will decide whether 
 Germany can distance England as the first commercial and industrial nation of 
 Europe, or whether both countries must succumb to the slowly awakening 
 economic power of the huge empire of Russia. 
 
 ^ Even to cross the British Channel with the old packets might involve a 
 delay of several days, if the winds were contrary and tied up the shipping. For 
 practical purposes, Spain was more remote from England in 1789 than South 
 America is to-day. 
 
THE MARCH OF DEMOCRACY 
 
 555 
 
 WHEELWRIGHTS IN THE DAYS OF THE STAGE- 
 COACH 
 (After a contemporary etching by Duplessis-Bcrtaux) 
 
 Paris, and Paris within twenty-two hours of Vienna. The old 
 isolation — so conducive to local prejudice as well as to sheer 
 ignorance — is brok- 
 en down, and human 
 brotherhood and civ- 
 ilization are incalcu- 
 lably the gainers. 
 
 322. The new con- 
 sciousness of nation- 
 ality. But while the 
 old isolation of igno- 
 rance is ending, the 
 sense of patriotism 
 based on loyalty to 
 a local fatherland is 
 ■still strong. The bar- 
 riers of language, race, and religion are still mighty, as any 
 American traveler can testify who has, for instance, passed 
 suddenly from Germany to France. In the nineteenth century 
 the struggles of various peoples to secure firm, united, national 
 governments (notably in Germany and Italy) seemed to 
 kindle patriotism to a white heat. But this patriotism has not 
 been of the petty, ignoble kind; in the hot fires of a common 
 sacrifice much that is best in human nature has been evoked. 
 Rich and poor, nobleman and peasant, have seen their caste 
 barriers vanish in a united effort against an oppressor or an 
 invader. The ruling classes have ever^'where been forced to 
 concihate the masses in order to win their effective loyalty. 
 The winning of national unity for Italy and Germany by its 
 very conditions implied the growth of political Hberty as well. 
 
 323. The spread of education. In 1789 the bulk of the peas- 
 antry in almost all European countries was pitifully illiterate 
 and ignorant. The governing classes could justly say that such 
 oafish, unschooled creatures could not pretend to participate 
 
556 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 in politics; they ought only to " take thankfully what God and 
 the King sent to them." But the growth of humane sentiments 
 and the rising power of the lower classes forced a complete 
 change. Every European country has developed a fairly 
 complete educational system.^ In theory every peasant now 
 has a chance at an elementary education, and the percentage 
 of illiterates even in Russia is constantly dwindling. The 
 aristocrats have been forced to this in actual self-defense. 
 " Now we must educate our new masters! " bitterly exclaimed 
 a prominent English statesman, when the British Reform 
 Act of 1867 gave the franchise to the poorer classes. By 1914 
 most Europeans were relatively trained and intelligent lords 
 of their own destinies, not loutish and hopelessly ignorant 
 peasants. 
 
 324. The Free Press. Along with the free schools has gone 
 the development of the greatest single agent for spreading 
 liberal doctrines — the modern newspaper. Something like 
 newspapers have existed in England since the reign of Charles 
 I, but stern police censorship checked all real journalistic 
 enterprise on the Continent till the Revolutionary epoch. ^ 
 Since then absolutism and reaction have found the free press 
 their most inveterate enemy. Despite censorships, suppres- 
 sions, confiscations, and like measures the newspapers have 
 developed in every European country imtil to-day they speak 
 with freedom almost everywhere save in Russia.'' The cylinder 
 printing-press (which came into use after 1810) and the electric 
 
 1 Of course, German_v and France ha\'e admirable educational systems; the 
 English primary education has not developed quite as far as that of the most 
 advanced Continental nations, thanks largely to controversies as to how far the 
 State Church shall be allowed to have control of teaching the pupils. 
 
 - The year 1789 saw a veritable crop of newspapers and party organs develop 
 in Paris, and Pans has been a center for influential journalism ever since. 
 
 ^ The law for libel is still extremely severe in Germany and some other coun- 
 tries and hinders legitimate criticism of the Crown and its Ministers, and some- 
 times of ordinary political matters. It must be said that the Continental press 
 is often exceedingly personal and scurrilous in a way which is not imitated by 
 even the worst types of American journalism. 
 
THE MARCH OF DEMOCRACY 557 
 
 telegraph have, of course, been indispensable adjuncts to the 
 development of this power which every absolutist has come to 
 dread, and with which every prime minister must daily reckon. 
 
 325. The new military system. Since the age of Napoleon, 
 the military system of Europe has been remade and (quite 
 contrary to the desires of the ruling military class) the change 
 has furthered democracy. Up to 1789, the average European 
 army was relatively small, and composed of professional 
 soldiers who spent their whole lives " with the colors." Since 
 181 5 all Europe has tended to rest more and more on huge 
 conscript armies in which all male citizens are obliged to serve 
 two or three years. ^ These conscripts may be brave and effi- 
 cient soldiers, but they are none the less citizens in their senti- 
 ments and prejudices, and they expect to return to civilian 
 life. The Governments dare not wantonly engage in wars 
 
 .which public opinion does not fairly sustain — the army might 
 not support them. Again, to secure the consent of the masses 
 to such a burdensome military system, it is necessary to concili- 
 ate those masses by many liberal reforms. The military burden 
 on Europe may, then, be a very serious evil, but it is not an 
 unmixed evil: democracy has been genuinely advanced by 
 these huge citizen armies. 
 
 326. The enormous expenses of modern governments. 
 Democracy again has been advanced by the fact that all mod- 
 ern governments cost probably five to ten times as much (all 
 factors considered) as they did one hundred years ago. For- 
 merly the army and an expensive court ate up about all an 
 average ruler's revenues: now — while the mihtary estabhsh- 
 ment has greatly increased — vast sums are drained away for 
 
 1 The huge size of the present-day armies has had also this important political 
 result: it is now less easy to organize an insurrection than formerly. The average 
 government has so many thousands of men at its disposal that the physical task 
 of arranging a successful revolt is nigh insuperable. On the other hand, the 
 modern inventions of dynamite bombs and the like have made it easier for revo- 
 lutionists to carry on a petty "private war" by the assassination of rulers. 
 
558 HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 education and for every possible kind of internal improvement. 
 The increased taxes are usually cheerfully borne, for they are 
 more scientifically adjusted than under the old regime, and the 
 old privileges of tax exemption for many classes are aboHshed; 
 nevertheless, it is impossible to collect these taxes except under 
 two conditions: the taxpayers must feel that the money is 
 being spent for their benefit and not to aggrandize a selfish 
 monarch; secondly, practically every country now recognizes 
 that the taxpayers must have a share (through a parliament) 
 in voting the taxes, and deciding upon their expenditure. 
 Arbitrary taxation or expenditure will soon be unknown in 
 any so-called civilized land. 
 
 327. Socialism. During the nineteenth century the great 
 struggle in European political life has seemed to be for political 
 equality for all men. That struggle has now been substantially 
 won. Signs are not lacking that the next struggle will be for 
 econoniic equality. Long before 1900, socialism had become a 
 great factor in most European states. Its doctrines were clearly 
 in evidence even before the troubles in Paris in 1848 and 187 1, 
 and it can, perhaps, claim a French origin; but the great apostle 
 of modern socialism was a German — Karl Marx (1818-83). 
 The Socialists are now an active and formidable party in every 
 European state. They assert that the reforms won hitherto 
 are a mere drop in the bucket compared with those which 
 should follow. Mediaeval privilege has crumbled; but, they 
 assert, the real gainers have not been the toiHng masses, but the 
 propertied classes, — the capitalists, — whose wage system, 
 and private ownership of the " means of production," consti- 
 tute a tyranny almost as brutal as that of the robber barons. 
 The Sociahsts denounce the modern army system, and declare 
 that there should be no war between nations, but only between 
 class and class; in fact their movement tries to disregard 
 national lines just as much as possible. Whether their propa- 
 ganda for aboUshing the "capitalist system," and virtually 
 
VOLTAIRE 
 
 French author 
 
 Born 1694 Died 1778 
 
 JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU 
 
 French author 
 Born 1712 Died 1778 
 
 GIUSEPPE MAZZINI KARL MARX 
 
 Italian patriot and revolutionist German socialist 
 
 Born 1805 Died 1872 Born 1818 Died 1883 
 
 PROPHETS OF DEMOCRACY 
 
THE MARCH OF DEMOCRACY 559 
 
 obliterating national boundaries will succeed, is one of the 
 questions to be answered by the twentieth century. 
 
 328. A summary and retrospect. We have come to the end 
 of a very long story. We have seen how in the fourth Christian 
 century the civilized world lay under the power of the Roman 
 Empire, a magnificent despotism, but with the canker of decay 
 at its heart. After the Roman Empire came the seemingly 
 ruinous period of the Germanic invasions, when civilization 
 would almost have perished save for the humanizing influence 
 of the Christian Church. Then follows the long pageant of the 
 Frankish Kingdom, the Hply Roman Empire, the mediaeval 
 Papacy, and especially the feudal system, with its glitter and 
 misery, its brave deeds and anarchy, its heroic crusades and 
 their ultimate failure. After the crusades comes the Renais- 
 sance and the rise of modern national kingdoms, with firm 
 governments and intelligent laws, and (in England) institu- 
 tions which promise not merely law and order, but genuine 
 human liberty. A great upheaval — the Protestant Revolu- 
 tion — cleaves the old Church asunder, and a daring attempt 
 is made by Louis XIV to subject all Europe to France. Finally, 
 in 1789, the relics of mediaevalism and feudalism are destroyed 
 in France (and soon after in Germany) by the great social and 
 political cataclysm which we call the French Revolution. 
 Since the passing of the arch-destroyer Napoleon, Europe has 
 further emancipated itself from the past and has reached confi- 
 dently toward the future. England has moved closer to democ- 
 racy; France has found an orderly free government; Germany 
 became again a great and seemingly enhghtened Empire; Italy 
 also formed a single powerful people, the Turks had been thrust 
 back to the very edge of Europe ; even the dense, ignorant mass 
 of Russia seemed stirring with the spirit of a new age. 
 
 Then like a clap from the clear sky came the Great War 
 provoked by Prussian autocracy and Pan-German militarist 
 ambition. During four terrible years all that freedom-loving 
 men had striven for since the recovery of civilization after the 
 
56o HISTORY OF EUROPE 
 
 fall of the Roman Empire seemed at stake. Only after the 
 sword of America had been unsheathed on the battle-fields of 
 Europe did it seem evident that the long, slow battle, waged 
 across so many centuries for a reign of law conjoined with a 
 reign of political liberty, had been really won. 
 
 REVIEW 
 
 1. Topics: — "Legitimacy"; Industrial Revolution; Karl Marx; So- 
 cialism. 
 
 2. Make and learn a list of the factors in the growth of democracy, 
 grouping them under the heads of political, social, and ccono?nic ia.ciors. 
 
 3. Make a list of the more important European nations, arranging them 
 in the order of their democracy; i.e., the extent to which the voice of the 
 people controls the national government. Indicate in each case the 
 form of government — monarchy (absolute or limited) or republic. 
 
 4. Which nations in the above list are most "progressive"? 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 1. Which of the European nations has e.xerted the greatest political 
 influence upon the others? 
 
 2. Which nations have contributed most to the progress of civilization ? 
 
 3. What has been the influence of commerce upon international politics 
 and the spread of civilization? 
 
 4. Socialism in Europe. Distinguish between Socialism and Radicalism. 
 
 5. Are the life, the liberty, and the property of individuals better secured 
 by the European Governments at present than they were in the days 
 of the Roman Empire? 
 
 6. Compare the art, science, and literature of the present age with the 
 same features of the Renaissance period. 
 
 READINGS 
 
 Sources. Robinson; nos. 493-504. 
 
 Modern accounts. Seignobos: pp. .377-451. Gibbins: pp. 200-10, 226-28. 
 Robinson and Beard: 11, pp. 318-422. Current literature. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 I. A LIST OF DATES OF SIGNIFICANT EVENTS IN 
 
 EUROPEAN HISTORY 
 A.D. 
 
 378 Battle of Adrianople. Made possible the "Germanization" of the 
 
 Roman Empire. 
 451 Battle of Chalons, Saved western Europe from the Huns. 
 622 The Hegira (or Flight) of Mohammed. Marks the beginning of 
 
 his power. 
 732 Battle of Tours. Western Europe saved from the control of the 
 
 Mohammedans. 
 800 Charlemagne crowned Emperor at Rome. Resulted in unnatural 
 political conditions which dominated the Middle Ages. 
 
 1066 Battle of Hastings. The Norman Conquest, which made possible 
 the development of the English nation. 
 
 1095 Council of Clermont. The beginning of the crusades. 
 
 1215 Magna Charta. Defines the rights of Englishmen, serves as a 
 standard of government for later reigns, and gives inspiration 
 to other peoples in their struggles for political liberty. 
 
 1295 Model Parliament. Beginning of elected representative govern- 
 ment in England. 
 
 1415 Council of Constance. The end of the Great Schism; Rome 
 restored to the headship of a reunited Church. 
 
 1453 Capture of Constantinople by the Turks. Thus the "Eastern 
 Question" arises, and a great impulse is given to the move- 
 ment of discovery. 
 
 1456 The first book, a Latin Bible, printed by Gutenberg at Mainz. 
 The beginning of an art which made possible modern civiliza- 
 tion. 
 
 1492 Columbus discovers America. 
 
 1 51 7 Martin Luther nails his theses on the door of the church at 
 Wittenberg. The first immediate step in the Protestant 
 Revolution. 
 
 1534 The separation of England from the control of Rome is com- 
 pleted. Marks the first great step in making England a 
 Protestant nation. 
 
 1555 Peace of Augsburg. End of first period of the Reformation. 
 
ii APPENDIX 
 
 1588 Defeat of the Spanish Armada. Gave to England the control of 
 the sea, and made possible the EngUsh colonization of the 
 United States. 
 
 1648 Peace of Westphalia. Marks the end of the religious wars; France 
 becomes the leading power in Europe. 
 
 1688 The " Glorious Revolution " in England. Completed the work of 
 Cromwell; established the fact that Parliament, not the king, 
 is the supreme power in England; made possible the develop- 
 ment of a political system (Cabinet, or Ministry responsible 
 to Parliament) which has been a model for other nations. 
 
 1704 Battle of Blenheim. By which was defeated the attempt of Louis 
 XIV to make France supreme in Europe. 
 
 1709 Battle of Poltava. Marked the overthrow of Sweden as a great 
 power, and the rise of a great Slav nation, Russia, to a leading 
 place among European States. 
 
 1763 Peace of Paris. Gave to England a colonial empire at the expense 
 of France; prepared the way for the American Revolution. 
 
 1789 Meeting of the States General in France. The first immediate 
 step toward the French Revolution. 
 
 1815 Battle of Waterloo. Defeated the attempt of Napoleon to make 
 himself supreme in Europe. Congress of Vienna. Europe as- 
 sumes its nineteenth century aspect. 
 
 1832 Great Reform of the British Parliament. Made possible the com- 
 ing of Democracy in Great Britain. 
 
 1861 Meeting of the First ParUament of United Italy. 
 
 1871 (a) King of Prussia crowned German Emperor at Versailles. 
 The completion of German unity. 
 (b) Rome made capital of the Kingdom of Italy. The completion 
 of Italian unity. 
 
 J 9 14 General Eiu-opean War Began. 
 
 II. A LIST OF THE BOOKS FROM WHICH ASSIGNMENTS 
 FOR "READING" ARE DRAWN 
 
 The books marked with a star are very helpful in Ihe work planned under the topic 
 "Exercises," but they are not essential in securing satisfactory results, and may be 
 omitted from the library if it is not possible to purchase all the books. 
 
 Sources 
 F. A. Ogg, a Source Book of Mediceval History. American Book Co. 
 J. H. Robinson, Readiiigs in European History. 2 vols. Ginn & Co. 
 The Source Book is more useful than the Readings for the period it 
 covers (to the first part of the fifteenth century), because, though it has 
 fewer selections from the sources, there are complete explanatory foot- 
 notes, and excellent introductory notes, very comprehensive and illu- 
 
APPENDIX iii 
 
 tninating. If necessary to economize, the Source Book and the second 
 volume of the Readings would cover the ground. 
 
 Modern Accounts 
 E. Emerton, Introduction to the Study of the Middle Ages (to 814). 
 Ginn & Co. 
 *MedicBval Europe (814-1300). Ginn & Co. 
 The Introduction is too well known to need comment, except to say 
 that it remains unequaled and indispensable. 
 
 The Medieval Europe is e.xcellent for its analysis of events, but is too 
 
 far advanced, on the whole, for secondary-school pupils. Parts of it are, 
 
 however, necessary for reference. 
 
 C. Seignobos, .4 History of Mediceval and Modern Civilization (to the end 
 
 of the seventeenth century). Charles Scribner's Sons. 
 
 A History of Contemporary Civilization. Charles Scribner's 
 
 Sons. 
 *The Feudal Regime. Henry Holt & Co. 
 The two volumes of the History of Civilization, although occasionally 
 inaccurate, particularly with regard to English and American institu- 
 tions, are intensely interesting and inspiring. 
 
 The Feudal Regime, while too technical for continued reading, is very 
 valuable for reference. 
 Bemont and Monod, Mediceval Europe (395-1270). Henry Holt & Co. 
 Very concise and clear, with the emphasis laid upon the development 
 of France. For that reason an excellent book for English-speaking 
 peoples. 
 V. DuRUY, History of France (to 1889). Thomas Y. Crowell Co. 
 C. T. Lewis, History of Germany (to 1872). American Book Co. 
 R. Lodge, History of Modern Europe (1453-1878). American Book Co. 
 For the modern period, the best one-volume accounts at moderate 
 prices. Reliable, and sufficiently complete for all purposes of reference. 
 *Archer and Kingsford, The Crusades. G. P. Putnam's Sons. 
 
 The most convenient account of the crusades at a moderate price. 
 Interestingly written. 
 *J. A. Symonds, a Short History of the Renaissance in Italv. Henry 
 Holt & Co. 
 
 The best brief account of the Italian Renaissance, although too con- 
 densed to be greatly interesting. Very valuable for reference. Abridg- 
 ment of the work mentioned on p. vi. 
 H. de B. Gibbins, The History of Commerce in Europe. TheMacmillan Co. 
 An excellent account of the development of European commerce, 
 well-written and clear. An adequate use of this book will show clearly 
 the influence of economic facts upon political conditions. 
 
 A good history of England: — C. Ransome's Advanced History of 
 Englaful is suggested. Almost equally good is Gardiner's (see p. ix.) 
 
iv APPENDIX 
 
 R. P. Dunn Pattison, Leading Figures in European History. The Mao 
 
 millan Co. 
 
 A collection of penetrating studies of the deeds and characters of the 
 
 greatest leaders in European History, from Charlemagne to Bismarck. 
 
 The concluding paragraphs of each study, in which the character of the 
 
 individual is analyzed, and his influence upon history estimated, are 
 
 unexcelled for fairness and keenness of insight. 
 J. H. Robinson and C. A. Beard. The Development of Modern Europe. 
 
 2 vols. Ginn and Co. Illuminating account of events since 1661 a.d. 
 
 Very strong in nineteenth-century economic and social movements. 
 
 III. SELECT LIST OF BOOKS ON EUROPEAN HISTORY 
 
 The books here named ought to be in almost any good public library. They will 
 be found useful by those students of this history who wish to read beyond the works 
 mentioned at the end of each chapter. Of course this list is merely a beginning to 
 possible suggestions. 
 
 Works of reference 
 
 Historical Atlases: The best atlas for most students of European History 
 is by W. R. Skevky.bd, Historical Atlas (Henry Holt & Co.). No other 
 atlas published in English equals it for clearness, general usefulness, and 
 accuracy: although for a very cheap work the Literary and Historical 
 Atlas of Europe, in the excellent "Everyman's Library" (E. P. Button & 
 Co.) is of remarkable value, and within the means of every student. 
 
 The Encyclopcedia Britannica (Eleventh Edition) contains historical 
 articles which are of the highest value, and the student should refer to 
 them frequently. The historical volumes of the Home University Library 
 Series (Henry Holt & Co.) are excellent. Ploetz's Epitome of Universal 
 History (Houghton Mifflin Co.) is a convenient reference book, crammed 
 with facts. Larned's Encyclopcedia of History for Ready Reference is a 
 very useful compilation. The University of Pennsylvania Series of His- 
 torical Translations and Reprints give many convenient and valuable 
 studies especially of mediaeval economic, social, and religious life. 
 
 Histories of Fraiice 
 
 G. W. KiTCHiN, History of France. 3 vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 
 Goes only to 1702. A useful, straightforward work: interestingly 
 written. 
 
 GuizoT, F. P. G., History of France. 8 vols. Several American editions. 
 Stops at 1848. By a distinguished statesman and historian "for his 
 grandchildren": delightful reading, but too diffuse for reference and 
 topical work. 
 
 DuRUY, Victor, History of France. Thomas Y. Crowell Co. Not faultless, 
 but probably the best single-volume history of France. Full of infor- 
 mation. See also Appendix 11. 
 
APPENDIX V 
 
 Grant, A. J., The French Monarchy. 2 vols. Cambridge Press. A well- 
 written, scholarly, and preeminently useful treatment of the important 
 period of French History from 1483 to 1789 a.d. 
 
 Adams, G. B., Growth of the French Nation. The Macmillan Co. A clear 
 summary, but somewhat brief, considering the long period covered. 
 
 Froissart's Chronicles ("Everyman's Library"). An inimitable and 
 immortal contemporary narrative of the first part of the Hundred 
 Years' War. 
 
 Perkins, J. B., France under Richelieu and Mazarin. 2 vols. Houghton 
 Miflflin Company. 
 
 Perkins, J. B., France under the Regency. Houghton Mifflin Co. Gives 
 a good preliminary sketch of the period under Louis XIV. 
 
 Perkins, J. B., France under Lotiis XV. 2 vols. Houghton Mifflin Co. 
 Taken together these volumes by Perkins form an entertaining and 
 highly valuable history of France during a most important period. 
 
 Lowell, E. J., The Eve of the French Revolution. Houghton Mifflin Co. 
 Excellent account of the causes of the greatest political and social 
 movement in modern history. (Taine's Old Regime is stimulating, but 
 not infallible.) 
 
 Mathews, Shailer, The French Revolution. Longmans, Green & Co. 
 The best short account. Reliable and interesting. 
 
 Gardiner, B. M., The French Revolution. Longmans, Green & Co. A 
 small volume in the well-known "Epochs of History" series. Almost 
 as good as that of Mathews. 
 
 Rose, J. H., Life of Napoleon. 2 vols. The Macmillan Co. Probably the 
 best standard life of Napoleon, though written somewhat from a pro- 
 British standpoint. 
 
 Sloane, William M., Life of Napoleon. 4 vols. The Century Co. An 
 excellent work. Shares the field with Rose. The fine illustrated edition 
 is to be preferred. 
 
 Young, Arthur, Travels in France. The Macmillan Co. A highly inform- 
 ing account of the travels of an Englishman in France just before the 
 outbreak of the Revolution of 1789. 
 
 [N.B. A convenient and scholarly history of nineteenth-century 
 France — apart from the rest of Europe — is not available in English.] 
 
 Histories of Germany 
 Henderson, E. F., A Short History of Germany. 2 vols. The Macmillan 
 
 Co. Readable, accurate. Probably best. 
 Menzel, History of Germany. 3 vols. "Bohn Library." Goes only to 
 
 1848. An old but fairly reliable work. Gives many picturesque details 
 
 not in Henderson's History. 
 Bryce, J., The Holy Roman Empire. The Macmillan Co. A famous 
 
 essay on the mediaeval German Empire. 
 Jacobs, H. E., Life of Martin Luther. G. P. Putnam's Sons. 
 
vi APPENDIX 
 
 Smith, P., Life oj Martin Luther. Houghton Mifflin Co. 
 
 Both of these give interesting and accurate biographies of the famoUi 
 Reformer, from a Protestant standpoint. 
 
 Fletcher, C. R. L., Giistavus Adolphus. G. P. Putnam's Sons. An 
 excellent biography of the hero of the Thirty Years' War. 
 
 Gardiner, S. R., The Thirty Years' War. Charles Scribner's Sons. An 
 enlightening sketch by a master historian. 
 
 Longman, F.W., Frederick the Great and The Seven Years' War. Long- 
 mans, Green & Co. About the most satisfactory brief study of the 
 maker of Prussian greatness. 
 
 Headlam, J. W., Bismarck and the Founding of the German Empire. G. P. 
 Putnam's Sons. The Bismarck literature is voluminous. This is pos- 
 sibly the most useful of several good biographies. That by Munroe 
 Smith is almost equally available. 
 
 Other Continental Countries 
 
 Motley, J. L., The Revolt of the Netherlands (3 vols.), and The Dutch 
 Republic (4 vols.). Harpers', and other editions. Among the most 
 brilliant historical works in the English language. The story of the 
 contest of William the Silent with Philip II is told with dramatic skill. 
 Motley was a careful historian, but his admiration for William some- 
 times makes him unfair to his hero's enemies. 
 
 Symonds, J. A., The Renaissance in Italy. 7 vols. Charles Scribner's Sons. 
 Interestingly though diffusely written books on the artists, poets, 
 churchmen, and princes of Italy during the age of the Classical Revival. 
 Very useful for all topics on the "civilization " side. 
 
 Orsi, p.. Story of Modern Italy. G. P. Putnam's Sons. A good short 
 account of the making of the Italian kingdom. 
 
 Thayer, W. R., Life and Times of Cavour. 2 vols. Houghton Mifflin Co. 
 A masterly and authoritative study of a great man. Interesting and 
 valuable. 
 
 Rambaud, a., History of Russia. 2 vols. Burt. The best account in 
 English. 
 
 Lane-Poole, S., Slory of Turkey. G. P. Putnam's Sons. 
 
 Lane-Poole, S., Slory of the Moors in Spain. G. P. Putnam's Sons. 
 
 Good narratives of the worst and the best, respectively, of the great 
 Mohammedan empires. 
 
 Special Studies in the Middle Ages and the Mediaeval Church. 
 Oman, C. W. C, The Dark Ages, 476-918 a.d. The Macmillan Co. 
 Tout, T. F., The Empire and the Papacy, 918-1273 a.d. The Macmillan 
 
 Co. 
 Lodge, R., The Close of the Middle Ages, 1 273-1494 a.d. The Macmil- 
 lan Co. 
 
 Well written manuals in the "Periods of European History" series. 
 
APPENDIX vii 
 
 More full of facts than of interpretation. Treat of all the important 
 countries in Europe except England. 
 
 Cox, G. W., The Crusades. Longmans, Green & Co. 
 
 Archer atid Kingsford, The Story of the Crusades. G. P. Putnam's Sons. 
 The iirst is a convenient short account of the crusades: the second 
 the best single account in English. See Appendix in, p. iii . 
 
 MiLMAN, H. H., History of Latin Christianity. 8 vols, (often bound in 4). 
 Armstrong. A long and standard history by a careful, moderate 
 English churchman. Few other works discuss the mediaeval Papacy 
 and Empire with equal clearness. Deals also with the intellectual Hfe 
 of the Middle Ages, and many political events. Useful for reference, 
 and for preparing reports and topics. Stops at 1453 a.d. 
 
 Barry, W., The Papal Monarchy. G. P. Putnam's Sons. An interestingly 
 written work on the mediaeval Popes by a distinguished Catholic 
 writer. 
 
 Sedgwick, H. D., Italy in the Thirteenth Century. 2 vols. Houghton 
 Mitflin Co. Interesting study of the art, literature, and life in the 
 Church of one of the most important periods of mediceval history. 
 Useful for reports and topics. 
 
 Thayer, W. R., ^ Short History of Venice. The Macmillan Co. Best 
 brief study of the great maritime Repubhc. 
 
 GiLM-AN, Arthur, Story of the Saracens. G. P. Putnam's Sons. A clear 
 account of Mohammed and the conquests and empire of his followers. 
 
 HoDGKiN, Th., Charles the Great. The Macmillan Co. A short but illu- 
 minating biography of the greatest figure in the Middle Ages. 
 
 Adams, George B., Civilization in the Middle Ages. Charles Scribner's 
 Sons. Not a history, but rather a stimulating commentary on many 
 phases of mediaeval life. 
 
 MuNRO and Sellery, Mediceval Civilization. The Century Co. Judicious 
 extracts in translation from recent French and German authors, deaUng 
 with important phases of mediaeval history. 
 
 MuNRO, CD., History of the Middle Ages. D. Appleton & Co. A brief 
 sketch of the period 800-1300 a.d. Especially useful for the social life. 
 
 Gibbon, Edward, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. 5 to 7 vols. 
 Many editions. A great standard work: in the present case especially 
 useful for the chapters on the fall of the Western Empire, Justinian, 
 Mohammed, the Caliphate, and the Crusades. The edition edited by 
 Bury (7 vols., The Macmillan Co.) is by far preferable. 
 
 Special Studies of Modern Epochs 
 Seebohm, F., The Era of the Protestant Revolution. Longmans, Green & 
 Co. A brief but clear and enlightening study of the Reformation era, 
 with especial stress upon its economic aspects. 
 
viii APPENDIX 
 
 LiNDSEY, T. M., History oj the Reformation. 2 vols. Charles Scribner's 
 Sons. Very readable. Perhaps the best study from a strictly Protestant 
 standpoint. Well arranged for reference work. 
 
 Johnson, A. H., Europe in the Sixteenth Century. (1494-1598 a.d.) The 
 Macmillan Co. 
 
 Wakeman, H. O., The Ascendency of France. (1598-1715 a.d.) The 
 Macmillan Co. 
 
 Hassall, a., The Balance of Power. (1715-1789 a.d.) The Macmillan Co. 
 
 Stephens, H. M., Revolutionary Europe. (1789-1815 a.d.) The Macmil- 
 lan Co. 
 
 Phillips, W. A., Modern Europe. (1815-1900 a.d.) The Macmillan Co. 
 
 Volumes in the "Periods of European History" series. Accurate 
 
 and full of facts. Wakeman and Phillips are really interesting reading: 
 
 the others are more solid than brilliant. None of them treat on England. 
 
 Hazen, C. D., Europe in the Nineteenth Century. Henry Holt & Co. Very 
 useful for advanced students. - 
 
 Rose, J. H., The Revolutionary and Napoleonic Era. (1789-1815). Cam- 
 bridge Press. Good brief account of a most important epoch. More 
 interestingly written than the similar volume by Stephens in the 
 " Periods of European History" series. 
 
 Seignobos, Ch., Political History of Europe since 1S14. Henry Holt & Co. 
 A clear, impartial statement by a great French scholar of the forces 
 which dominated Europe from 18 14 to 1899. Deals with events rather 
 than persons. Gives a vast quantity of details. Good statement of 
 social, economic, and ecclesiastical movements. Useful for reports and 
 topics. 
 
 Fyffe, C. a.. History of Modern Europe. 3 vols.; also a one-volume edi- 
 tion. Henry Holt & Co. Especially strong on the diplomatic history. 
 Covers the period from 1792 to 1877. Nothing on England. 
 
 Andrews, C. M., Historical Development of Modern Europe. 2 vols, bound 
 in one. G. P. Putnam's Sons. A clear and accurate account of the 
 nineteenth century by a well-known American scholar. Omits England. 
 
 ■Robinson and Beard, Readings in Modern European History. 2 vols. 
 Ginn & Co. Skillful collection of source material (1650-1908). 
 
 GoocH, G. P., History of Our Oivn Time (1885-1911). Henry Holt & Co. 
 About the only available small book on very recent events. 
 
 Histories of England 
 
 Gardiner, S. R., Students' History of England. 3 vols., or bound in one. 
 Longmans, Green & Co. An excellent, well-balanced account, in a 
 moderate space, but not so full for the nineteenth century as Ransome's 
 similar History. 
 
 BmouT, ].¥., History of England. 5 vols. Longmans, Green & Co. Very 
 
APPENDIX ix 
 
 full of facts, but with little interpretation. Better for reference than 
 for steady reading. 
 
 Green, J. R., Short History of the English People, i vol. (Also a similar 
 longer history in 4 vols.) Harper & Bros. A work of great literary 
 charm, and "easy to read but hard to remember." Of more value as a 
 commentary on Enghsh history after the facts have been mastered than 
 as a regular history. 
 
 Knight, Charles, History of England. 8 vols. Several editions. A 
 rather old work, but readable and very useful to immature students. 
 Gives a great body of enlightening facts and anecdotes. The author 
 was not a great historian, but he was a careful and skillful compiler. 
 Useful for reference. 
 
 Traill, H. D., Social England. 6 vols. G. P. Putnam's Sons. A coopera- 
 tive work. A mine of information about the social life of England in 
 every age. Useful for reference. The illustrated edition is of extra value. 
 
 Bateson, M., MedicBval England. G. P. Putnam's Sons. Admirable small 
 book on the life of the Middle Ages in England. 
 
 Creighton, M., The Age of Elizabeth. Longmans, Green & Co. 
 
 Stubbs, W., The Early Plantagenets. Longmans, Green & Co. 
 
 Gairdner, J., The Houses of Lancaster and York. Longmans, Green & Co. 
 
 Moberly, C. E., The Early Tudor s. Longmans, Green & Co. 
 
 Gardiner, S. R., The Stuarts and the Puritan Revolution. Longmans, 
 Green & Co. 
 
 Hale, E., The Fall of the Stuarts. Longmans, Green & Co. 
 
 Morris, E. E., The Age of Anne. Longmans, Green & Co. 
 
 Morris, E. E., The Early Hanoverians. Longmans, Green & Co. 
 
 McCarthy, J., The Epoch of Reform. Longmans, Green & Co. 
 
 These are all useful volumes in the " Epochs of History " series. Well 
 adapted for inexperienced students. The Creighton, Stubbs, Gardiner, 
 and Hale volumes are especially good. 
 
 Freeman, E. A., William the Conqueror. The Macmillan Co. 
 
 Beesly, E. S., Elizabeth. The Macmillan Co. 
 
 Harrison, Frederick, Oliver Cromwell. The Macmillan Co. 
 
 Morley, J., Walpole. The Macmillan Co. 
 
 MoRLEY, J., Chatham. The Macmillan Co. 
 
 Lord Rosebery, Pitt. The Macmillan Co. 
 
 These are among the more useful biographies in the excellent 
 "Twelve English Statesmen" series. 
 
 MoRLEY, J., Life of Gladstone. 3 vols. The Macmillan Co. A noble 
 biography of the greatest of the Victorian statesmen. A mine of 
 information. 
 
 Macaulay, T. B., History of England. 5 or more volumes; many editions. 
 Covers only the years 1683 to 1702, but gives a picture of the "English 
 Revolution" which is unsurpassed. Despite much recent criticism 
 
X APPENDIX 
 
 Macaulay stands high as a historian. Only Motley's Dutch Republic 
 competes with it for dramatic interest. The chapters on English life 
 in the seventeenth century are especially good. More useful for rapid 
 reading than for reference. 
 
 McCarthy, J., History of Our Own Times. 2 vols. Wessels. The work of 
 a clever journalist rather than of a historian, but it is probably for most 
 readers the best available account for the outward events of the reign 
 of Victoria. 
 
 White, A. B., The Making of the English Constitution. G. P. Putnam's 
 Sons. A scholarly and up-to-date statement of the main points of 
 English constitutional history up to 1485. The subject is naturally one 
 only for fairly mature students. For more extended discussions one 
 would go to the great works of Taswell-Langmead and Stubbs 
 (3 vols.). Another good book for beginners is Creasy's Rise and 
 Progress of the English Constitution. D. Applet on & Co. 
 
 For advanced students the large cooperative histories of England edited 
 hy Hunt and Poole (12 vols. Longmans, Green & Co.) and O^nan (6 vols. 
 G. P. Putnam's Sons) have very high value. 
 
 Histories of Commerce 
 
 Webster, W. C, A General History of Commerce. Ginn & Co. Covers the 
 whole field from antiquity to the present time. Well told and clear. 
 Includes many points on the "Industrial Revolution," "Factory Sys- 
 tem," etc., not strictly under the head of " Commerce." Very useful for 
 topics. 
 
 Warner, G. T., Landmarks in English Industrial History. The Macmillan 
 Co. 
 
 Cheyney, E. p., Introduction to the Industrial and Social History of Eng- 
 land. The Macmillan Co. 
 
 Cunningham and McArthur, Outlines of English Industrial History. 
 Cambridge Press. 
 
 All of these are good and useful books of somewhat similar scope. 
 Warner's is perhaps the most useful for inexperienced classes. Few 
 detailed treatments exist in the English language of the commercial 
 and economic histories of the Continental countries. Many topics can 
 be studied by a use of Palgrave's Dictionary of Political Economy. 
 3 vols. The Macmillan Co. 
 
 GiBBiNS, H. DE B., Industrial History of England. Charles Scribner's 
 Sons. 
 
 GiBBiNS, H. DE B., History of Commerce in Europe. The Macmillan Co. 
 Useful and accurate small books. [See Appendix 11.] 
 
LIST OF MAPS 
 
 Balkan Wars, the 545 
 
 Brandenburg-Prussia, i 740-1 786 344 
 
 British Isles, the, since 1300 290 
 
 Charlemagne's Empire 55 
 
 Crimean Peninsula, the 540 
 
 Crusades, the 96 
 
 Eastern Front, the 547/ 
 
 England to 1300 no 
 
 England, showing Industrial Changes 508 
 
 English Lands IN France TO 1300 118 
 
 Europe about 565 A.D 15 
 
 Europe in the i6th Century, Continental {colored) between 217-18 
 
 Europe in 1 7 1 5 (co/oreJ) between ^i-j-i8 
 
 Europe in 1789 (co/oreJ) between 40J -08 
 
 Europe in 1810 439 
 
 Europe AFTER the Congress of Vienna, 181 5 455 
 
 Europe before the Balkan Wars 543 
 
 Europe in 1914 (colored) front linings 
 
 Franks, the Monarchy of the 39 
 
 Franks in the Ninth Century, the 64 
 
 France to 1270 83 
 
 France during the Hundred Years' War 171 
 
 German Empire, the 496 
 
 German Offensives, March-July, 1918 547/ 
 
 German Penetration of Russia 547 i' 
 
 Germany ant) Italy to 1056, The Holy Roman Empire in . 73 
 
 Germany and Italy to i 500 between 205-06 
 
 Italian Front, the 547g 
 
 Italy in 1798 422 
 
 Italy since 1848 481 
 
 Latin States in Syria 98 
 
 Mohammedan Lands in the East, the S3 
 
 Netherlands, the, at the Accession of Philip II .... 256 
 
 Partitions of Poland, the 355 
 
 Roman Empire, Boundaries of the, in the 4TH Century facing i 
 
 Roman Empire, THE East, about 750 A.D - - 35 
 
 Russia in 1725 337 
 
 Trade Routes and Commercial Cities 149 
 
 Western Front, the 547^^ 
 
 World, the (colored) back linings 
 
LIST OF PORTRAITS AND 
 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PORTRAITS 
 
 Prince Bismarck . . 
 
 Cavour 
 
 Charles V . . . . 
 Queen Elizabeth . . 
 GusTAVus Adolphus . 
 Napoleon Bonaparte 
 Peter the Great . . 
 William the Silent . 
 
 Architects of Empire - 
 
 Louis XI .... 
 
 Mettemich .... 
 
 Mirabeau .... 
 
 Richelieu .... 
 Conquerors in Battle 
 
 Oliver Cromwell . . 
 
 Frederick the Great . 
 
 Giuseppe Garibaldi . 
 
 Horatio Nelson . . 
 Famous Queens — 
 
 Catherine de Medici . 
 
 Isabella 
 
 494 
 484 
 236 
 260 
 306 
 440 
 338 
 266 
 
 396 
 396 
 396 
 
 396 
 
 352 
 352 
 352 
 352 
 
 520 
 
 520 
 
 Maria Theresa . . 
 
 Victoria 
 
 Great Writers — 
 
 Cervantes .... 
 
 Dante 
 
 Goethe 
 
 Shakespeare .... 
 Leaders of Belief — 
 
 Desiderius Erasmus . 
 
 Ignatius de Loyola . 
 
 Martin Luther . . 
 
 Charles Wesley . . 
 Pioneers of Science — 
 
 Richard Arkwright . 
 
 Charles Robert Darwin 
 
 Isaac Newton . . . 
 
 George Stephenson . 
 Prophets of Democracy 
 
 Karl Marx .... 
 
 Giuseppe Mazzini 
 
 Jean Jacques Rousseau 
 
 Voltaire 
 
 520 
 520 
 
 210 
 210 
 210 
 210 
 
 230 
 230 
 230 
 230 
 
 552 
 552 
 552 
 552 
 
 558 
 558 
 558 
 558 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Attack and defense of a city 
 (fifteenth century) . . . 
 
 Banquet, a (Carolingian pe- 
 riod) 
 
 Barricade in Paris, a (1830) . 
 
 Battle between Crusaders and 
 Saracens 
 
 Battle of Hastings, the . . 
 
 Battle of Trafalgar, the . . 
 
 Bellman of London (161 6) 
 
 174 
 
 50 
 460 
 
 115 
 
 432 
 277 
 
 Benedictine, a 27 
 
 Bishop, a (seventh century) . ig 
 
 Byzantine patterned silk . . 36 
 
 Cardinal Wolsey and his suite 243 
 Carnival in the streets of Paris 
 
 (1757) 383 
 
 Castle of Frederick Barba- 
 
 rossa, the 159 
 
 Castle of Krak, Syria, the . . 103 
 
 Chair (tenth century) ... 66 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 xm 
 
 Chair (seventh century) . . 44 
 Chelsea pensioners reading 
 
 the Gazette of Waterloo . 450 
 Church Council, a (fifteenth 
 
 century) 201 
 
 Cit)'^ of the Low Countries, a 
 
 (sixteenth century) . . . 263 
 Coronation of an English king 
 
 (fourteenth century) . .185 
 Costume of a gentleman 
 
 (about 1720) 350 
 
 Costumes of gentlemen (about 
 
 1673) 324 
 
 Courtyard of a prison during 
 
 the Terror 409 
 
 Decorative metal-work . . .13 
 
 Decorative title 208 
 
 Dinner at court of Charles II 323 
 Dwelling-house in a town of the 
 
 fifth century 7 
 
 Emperor, an (Otto III) . . 78 
 Emperor Charles IV dining in 
 
 state 218 
 
 Emperor Henry IV kneeling 
 
 before the Countess Matilda 79 
 English knights and a French 
 
 man-at-arms 168 
 
 English nobleman, an, and his 
 
 wife (time of James I) . .276 
 English warship (time of 
 
 Henry VIII) 247 
 
 Enrolling volunteers in Prus- 
 
 , sia 443 
 
 Exchequer Table 117 
 
 Execution of Strafford . . . 287 
 Exposing petty offenders in 
 
 the pillory (France, about 
 
 1830) 45Q 
 
 Facsimile extract from Magna 
 
 Charta 121 
 
 Facsimile of entries in Domes- 
 day Book 116 
 
 Facsimile specimen of Caxton's 
 
 printing 191 
 
 Farm interior (France, 1878) . 552 
 Fleet of the Grand Khan, the 226 
 French Dragoon, a (time of the 
 
 Consulate) 427 
 
 French family group (about 
 
 1830) 463 
 
 French infantryman, a . . .425 
 French Protestant musketeer, a 268 
 French Secretary of State, a 
 
 (about 1720) 349 
 
 General view of the Louvre 
 
 (time of Philip Augustus) . 87 
 German country house (fif- 
 teenth century) . . . .220 
 German peddler (sixteenth 
 
 century) 237 
 
 German war-chief, .... 6 
 Germanic hunting-horn . . 14 
 
 Germanic sword 10 
 
 Globe, the (Shakespeare's 
 
 theater) 271 
 
 Group of Canterbury pilgrims 183 
 Guillotine at work, the . . .412 
 Harold swears on the relics . 114 
 Hawking party, a .... 129 
 Horseman in full armor . .170 
 Imperial herald (sixteenth cen- 
 tury) 255 
 
 Imperial mounted Lancer, an 
 
 (time of Napoleon III) . . 476 
 Interior of Notre Dame, Paris 
 
 (eighteenth century) . . . 386 
 Italian ecclesiastical proces- 
 sion (fifteenth century) . .198 
 Ivory lid of a Sacramentary . 22 
 King's deathbed, a .... 89 
 Labor demonstration in Paris, 
 
 a (1848) 468 
 
 Lendit Fair (fifteenth century) 147 
 Light horseman of Cromwell's 
 
 day, a 292 
 
 Line of battle ship .... 368 
 Lord Mayor's Show in Lon- 
 don, the (about 1750) . . 363 
 
XIV 
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Louis IX of France .... 90 
 Louis XIV, surrounded by his 
 
 Court 312 
 
 Martin Luther burning the 
 Pope's Bull of Excommuni- 
 cation 234 
 
 Merovingian manor house . 42 
 Mihtary and civil costume 
 
 (time of Richard I) . . . 102 
 Mystery Play at Coventry, a 135 
 Napoleon's return to Paris 
 after the Treaty of Tilsit . 43 5 
 
 Norse ship 63 
 
 Old-time election in England, 
 
 an 373 
 
 Palace of the Popes, at the 
 
 Lateran, Rome 76 
 
 Part of the coronation proces- 
 sion of Edward VI . . . 249 
 Peasants (fourteenth century) 142 
 Plundering soldier, a (period 
 of Thirty Years' War) . . 307 
 
 Pope Clement IV 163 
 
 Printing-press, a (soon after 
 
 Gutenberg) 212 
 
 Puritan costume 295 
 
 Queen Elizabeth carried in 
 
 state 258 
 
 Romans destroying a village 
 
 of the Germans 5 
 
 Rome, the Eternal City 
 
 Frontispiece 
 
 Sack of a village 132 
 
 Seven bishops, the, going to 
 
 the Tower 328 
 
 Siege of a city (fifteenth cen- 
 tury) 177 
 
 Soldiers of the Imperial Guard 34 
 Soldiers (time of Charles I) . 280 
 
 Spanish camp, a 221 
 
 Specimen of Carolingian art . 57 
 Stage-coach (1804) . . . .376 
 States General, the, in session 
 
 at Versailles 394 
 
 Statue of Jeanne d'Arc . . .176 
 Stephenson's locomotive 
 
 "Rocket" 510 
 
 Storming a city 303 
 
 Surrender of Paris to the al- 
 lied monarchs (March 31, 
 
 1814) 448 
 
 Thomas a Becket disputing 
 
 with Henry II 123 
 
 Threshing by flail (latter part 
 of the nineteenth century) . 525 
 
 Train in 1836 511 
 
 Trial of Charles I, the . . . 293 
 View of BerHn (1650) . . . 341 
 Water-carrier (about 1830) . 551 
 Watt's steam engine (1780) . 366 
 Westminster Abbey (time of 
 
 Edward the Confessor) . .113 
 Wheelwrights (in the days of 
 the stage-coach) . . . .555 
 
KEY TO PRONUNCIATION 
 
 (Based on IV'edster's New International Dictionary) 
 
 ale, senate, care, am, account, arm, ask, sofd. 
 
 eve, event, end, recent, maker. 
 
 ice, Til. 
 
 old, obey, 6rb, odd, connect. 
 
 use, unite, (irn, up, circiis, menii. 
 
 food, foot. 
 I out, oil, chair, go, sing, thin, ) 
 I ou , oi , ch , g , ng, th , ' 
 
 K =: ch in German ich, ach. 
 
 N = n in bon. 
 
 zh = z in azure. 
 
 ' indicates the elision of a vowel, or its reduction to a mere vocal murmur. 
 
 Abbasides, n-b5s'Td ; Id. 
 AbOUkir, a'-b66-ker'. 
 
 Agincourt, a'-zhitN'-koor' (Eng. aj'-Tn-koit). 
 -Alcuin, al'-kwTn ; al'-kiS in; al'-. 
 Amiens, a'-myaN' (Eiig. am'-i-enz). 
 Angevin, an'-je-vTn. 
 Armagnacs, ar'-ma'-nyaks'. 
 Assignats, (iis'-ig-nats (Fr. a'-se'-nya'). 
 Athaulf, ath'-S-oolf. 
 AugUStenburg, ou-g6os'-t5n-bd6rK. 
 Avars, ii'-viirz. 
 Avignon, a'-ven'-y8N'. 
 
 Ballol, bal'-ySl : bal'-ySI. 
 
 Blenheim, bleu' Tm. 
 
 Bliicher, blii'-Ker (Eng. bloo'-cher, bloo'-ker). 
 
 Boccaccio, bok-kii'-clio. 
 
 Bohemond, bo'-be-moud. 
 
 Boleyn, b661'-Tn. 
 
 Bologna, bo-lon'-ya. 
 
 Borgia, bor'-ja. 
 
 Borodino, ba'-ra-dye-n8'. 
 
 Boulanger, boo'-laN'-zha'. 
 
 Bourgeoisie, boor'-zhwa'-ze'. 
 
 Bouvines, boo'-ven'. 
 
 Breitenfeld, bri'-tfn-felt. 
 
 Bretigny, bre'-ten'-yl'. 
 
 Bruges, br6o'-j5z (Fr. bruzh). 
 
 Bundesrath, bdon'-des-rat'. 
 
 CaJetanuS, kaj'-e-ta'-nr^.s. 
 Calais, kal'-a; k,al'-Ts (Fr. ka'-I(?'). 
 Capet, ka'-pet; kSp'-et (Fr. ka'-pe')- 
 Capetian, kd-pe'-shnn. 
 Carbonari, kar'-bo-na'-re. 
 Carnot, kar'-nS'. 
 
 Castile, kas-tel'. 
 
 Catherine de Medici, kath'-er-Tn da ma'-de- 
 
 che. 
 Cavaignac, ka'-ven'-yak'. 
 Cavour, ka'-voor'. 
 Cecil, ses'-il ; sls'-il. 
 Cimabue, che'-ma-boo'-a. 
 Chalons, shii'-loN'. 
 
 Chanson de Roland, shaN'-86N' de ro'-liiN'. 
 Charlemagne, shar'-le-man (Fr. shar'-le'- 
 
 miiu'-y'). 
 Chaucer, cb8'-ser. 
 Chrysoloras, krTs'-o-lo'-rSs. 
 Clairvaux, klar'-vo'. 
 Cnut, k'noot. 
 Colbert, kol'-btr'. 
 Coligny, ko'-len'-ye'. 
 Coloni, ko-lo'-ni. 
 Condd, k8N'-da'. 
 Condottieri, kon'-dot-tySr'-e. 
 Corvee, k8r'-va'. 
 Coup d'Etat, koo da'-ta'. 
 Cr^cy, kra'-se'. 
 Crimean, kri-me'-Sn ; kri-. 
 Custozza, koos-tot'-sa. 
 
 Dante, dan'-te (Ital. dan-ta). 
 De Lesseps, de le'-sSps'. 
 Desiderius, des-T-de'-ri-us. 
 Desmoulins, da'-moo'-lSN'. 
 Disraeli, dtz-ra'-lT. 
 DorylaBum, dor'-T-le'-iim. 
 Dreyfus, dra'-fiis'. 
 Duguesclin, du-ge -kI5N'. 
 DupleiX, dii'-plSks'. 
 Diirer, dli'-rer. 
 
KEY TO PRONUNCIATION 
 
 Einhard, ui'-liart. 
 
 Entente cordiale, aN'-tiiNt' kdr'-dyal'. 
 
 Fehrbellin, far'-be-len'. 
 Fichte, fiK'-te. 
 
 Friedland, fred'-liiut ; fred'-land. 
 Fronde, £r6Nd. 
 
 Ghent, gent. 
 Girondist, jt-ion'-dTst. 
 Godfrey of Bouillon, bob'-yfiw'. 
 Gravelotte, gnlv'-lof. 
 Guilds, gildz. 
 Guillotine, gll'-o-ten. 
 Guise, gii-ez'. 
 Guizot, ge'-zo'. 
 Gutentoerg, goo'-tf n-bgrK. 
 
 Haarlem, liar'-lfm. 
 Hargreaves, hiiv'-grevz. 
 Haroun-al-Raschid, hii-roon'-ar-ra-shed'. 
 Hegira, liej'-T-ivi ; lie-ji'-ra. 
 Holbein, hol'-bin. 
 Huguenots, im'-ge-uot. 
 
 Ivan, e-vaii'; I'-vaii. 
 Ivry, ev'-re'. 
 
 Jacobin, jak'-o-bTn. 
 
 Jacobite, jak'-o-bit. 
 Janizaries. jau'-i-za-iTz. 
 Jeanne d'Arc, zlian' «l:iik'. 
 Jena, ya'-nii. 
 
 Kara Mustapha, kii'-ra mdos'-ta-fii. 
 Kerbogha, ker'-bo-ga. 
 Kirk-Kilisseh, kerk-ke-le-sa'. 
 Koniggratz, kfl'-iiTK-grStz'. 
 Kosciuszko. kos'-T-us'-ko. 
 Kossuth, kosb'-oot ; ko-sooth'. 
 
 La Hogue, la og'. 
 La Vendee, la viiN'-da'. 
 Laon, liiN. 
 Laud, iGd. 
 
 Lavoisier, l.V-vwa'-zya'. 
 Leboeuf, le-b(il'. 
 Lech, lok. 
 
 Legnano, la-nyii'-uo. 
 Leicester, les'-tSr. 
 Leipzig, llp'-sTk. 
 Leuthen, loi'-tfn. 
 Leyden, li'-d?n. 
 Ligny, leu'-ye'. 
 Llewelyn, loii-gl'-tii. 
 
 Louis Philippe, lori-e" fe'-Iep'. 
 LoUVOis, l<x) -vua'. 
 Loyola, lo-yo'-Iii; loi-o'-ld. 
 Luneville, lu'-na'-vel'. 
 
 Liitzen, lut'-s("n. 
 Luxembourg, luk'-sSm-bflrg. 
 
 Magellan, md-jgl'-an. 
 
 Magenta, md-jen'-td. 
 
 Magyars, mod'-yor. 
 
 Maria Theresa, md-ri'-d tg-re'-sd. 
 
 Marie Antoinette, ma'-ie' aN'-twa'-net'. 
 
 Marseillaise, miir'-se-ySz'. 
 
 Mathias, md-tlii'-ds. 
 
 Mainz, mints. 
 
 Mazarin, Fr. ma'-za'-iaN' (Eng. Maz'-d-ien')- 
 
 Mazzini, mat-se'-ne. 
 
 Merovingian, niei'-6-vTn'-jT-du. 
 
 Metternich, met'-er hTk. 
 
 Michael Angelo, mi-kel an'-je-lo. 
 
 Milan, mll'-dn; iiii-lan'. 
 
 Mirabeau, me'ra'-bo' (Eng. mir'-d-bo). 
 
 Moreau, uiS'-ro'. 
 
 Moscow, nios'-ko. 
 
 Nantes, nants (Fr. naNt). 
 
 Navarino, nii'-va-re'-no. 
 
 Navarre, nd-var'. 
 
 Necker, nek'-Sr (Fr. ug'-kSr'). 
 
 Neustria, iiiis'-tri-d. 
 
 Ney, na. 
 
 NicaBa, nf-se'-d. 
 
 Novara, no-vli'-rii. 
 
 Odoacer, o'-d6-a'-.ser. 
 
 Olmiitz, ol'-muts. 
 
 Old Regime, ra' zbem'. 
 
 Ollivier, t,'-le'-vya'. 
 
 Ommiad, o-mi'itd. 
 
 Orleans, ir'-la'-iiN'. , 
 
 Orsini, Mrse'-ne. 
 
 Oxenstierna, ok'-sen-ster'-ua. 
 
 Pavia, pa-ve'-ii. 
 
 Petrarch, pe'-triirk. 
 
 Pisa, pe'-sii; pe'-zii. 
 
 Podesta, po'-de.s-ta'. po-dSs'-td. 
 
 Poitiers, pwa'-tya'. 
 
 Poltava, pal-tii'-va. 
 
 Prague, prag. 
 
 Prynne, prtn. 
 
 Pym, pTui. 
 
 Hamillies, ra'-me'-ye'. 
 
 Raphael, raf'-S-el : ra'-fa-Sl. 
 
 Reichstag, riKs'-taK'. 
 
 RemigiUS, re-niij'-T-»s. 
 
 Renaissance, ren'-e-saNs' ; rt-na'-sdns. 
 
 Rheims, r'-mz (F. raxs). 
 
 Richelieu, re'-sbe-lyfi' (Eng. resb'-e-lw,'). 
 
 Robespierre, r6'-bp.s-pyar' (Eng. lo'-bt'S- 
 
 per'). 
 Roncesvalles, ron'-tlies-val'-yas. 
 
KEY TO PRONUNCIATION 
 
 xvu 
 
 Rousseau, roo'-so'. 
 Ryswick, nz'-wlk. 
 
 SadOWa, sii'-do-va. 
 
 St. Sophia, san'-ta so-fe'-'a. 
 
 Saladin, sal'-a-dln. 
 
 San Stefano, sau sta'-fa-uo. 
 
 Saracen, sar'-d-sen. 
 
 Scharnhorst, sliaiu'-hoist. 
 
 Schism, sTz'm. 
 
 Schleswig-Holstein, shlaz'-vTk-hol'-shtin. 
 SchmalkaldiC, shmal-kal'-dTk. 
 SchurZ, slioorts. 
 
 Sedan, se-diiN'. 
 
 Sevastopol, se-vas'-t6-pol ; sev'-ds-to'-pol. 
 
 Sieyfes, sya'-jes'. 
 
 Sobieski, so-bjSs'-ke. 
 
 Solferino, syl'-fS-re'-uo. 
 
 Stein, shtln. 
 
 Stilicho, stTi'-T-ko. 
 
 Sutri, soo'-tie. 
 
 TaiUe, till (Fr. ta'-y'). 
 TheodOSiUS, the'-o-do'-shT-iis. 
 
 Thuringia, thu-ilu'-jld. 
 Tilly, tll'-i. 
 
 Trafalgar, traf-al-gar' (Eng. trd-fSl'-gdr). 
 Target, tur'-go'. 
 
 Ulfilas, ui'-fT-ids. 
 Ulm, ooliii. 
 Urbino, oin-be'-uo. 
 Utrecht, u-tiekt. 
 
 Varennes, va-ren'. 
 
 Versailles, ver-salz' (Fr. ver-sa'-y'). 
 
 Villeneuve, vei'-nfiv'. 
 
 Von Moltke, ion molt'-ke. 
 
 Wagram, va'-gram. 
 
 Wallenstein, wol'-en-stln (Ger. val'-en-shtin) 
 
 Witan, \vit'-«n. 
 
 Worcester, woos'-ter. 
 
 Worms, vorms (Eng. svfirmz). 
 Worth. vQrt. 
 
 Xeres, lia-rath'. 
 
 Ypres, e'-pr'. 
 
 Zalacca, tlia-la'-kd. 
 Zollverein, tsol'-f("r-in'. 
 Zwingli, tsving'-le. 
 
INDEX 
 
 References are to pages. Z)a/w are given lor bailies, also for the duration of jw/>(jr/a«/ 
 reigns, and for the entire lifetime of really important non-royal personages : n. = note. 
 
 Abbasides, Arabian dynasty, 32-33. 
 
 Abd-Rahman, Moslem leader (732), 45. 
 
 Abdul-Hamid II (1876-1909), Sultan of 
 Turkey, 542. 
 
 Aboukir Bay, battle of (1798), 426. 
 
 Acre, recaptured by Richard I (1191), 103; 
 again taken by the Moslems (1291), 105. 
 
 Act of Settlement (1701 — England), 332. 
 
 Act of Supremacy (1534 — England), 245. 
 
 Adrianople, battle of (378), 11; conquered 
 by the Turks (1361), 223; recaptured by 
 the Turks from the Bulgarians (1913), 
 546 n. 
 
 Agincourt, battle of (1415), i74- 
 
 Agricultural class in Middle Ages, 142-144. 
 
 Alaric, king of the Visigoths, 11; death of, 
 12. 
 
 -Albania, principality of, 546 n. 
 
 Albert, Prince, his marriage to Queen Vic- 
 toria, 513. 
 
 Alcuin, mediaeval scholar, 58. 
 
 i\lexander of Parma, general under Philip 
 II, 265, 267. 
 
 Alexander V, Pope, 199. 
 
 Alexander VI, Pope (Borgia) (1492-1513), 
 202. 
 
 Alexander I of Russia (1803-25), 436, 444, 
 
 454. 457- 
 
 .Alexander II of Russia (1855-81), 537-538. 
 
 Alexander III of Russia (1881-94), 538- 
 
 Alexander III of Scotland, 182. 
 
 Alemanni, in battle against the Franks 
 (496), 41. _ 
 
 Alexandria (in Egypt), 2. 
 
 Alexius, Eastern Emperor, 94, 97. 
 
 Alfred, King of Wessex (871-901), 112. 
 
 Alhambra, Moorish palace, 222 n. 
 
 Alva, Duke of, Spanish general, 262-264. 
 
 America, discovery of, 226; effect of Span- 
 ish Armada on colonization of, 268; colo- 
 nization of, by England, 276. 
 
 American colonies, revolt of, 364; effect on 
 England of revolt, 366. 
 
 Amiens, Peace of (1802), 429, 431 n. 
 
 Anabaptists, German Reform Party, 236. 
 
 Angevin (Anjou), princes, 82 n.\ 119 n. 
 
 Anne of Austria, French Regent, 311 n. 
 
 Anne of England (1702-14), 332. 
 
 Anti-Corn Law League (England), 514- 
 
 515- 
 Antioch, sieges of (1097-98), 98-99. 
 
 Antwerp, in the 15th century, 147; sack of 
 (1576), 265. 
 
 Appeal to the German People, pamphlet by 
 Luther, 234. 
 
 Aquinas, Thomas (1226-74), mediaeval 
 schoolman, 205. 
 
 Arabs, before the time of Mohammed, 29; 
 conquests of (632-732), 32-33; learning 
 of, 35-36. 
 
 Aragon, kingdom of, 222. 
 
 Arcadius, Eastern Emperor (395-408), 11. 
 
 .\rchbishop, ofBce of, defined, 21. 
 
 Architecture, Gothic, 138; Renaissance, 
 211. 
 
 Arian belief, 7 «.; heresy, 18. 
 
 Arians, German, 41. 
 
 Arkwright, inventor, 366. 
 
 Armada, Spanish (1588), 266-268. 
 
 Armagnacs, French faction, 173, 174, 175. 
 
 Arthur, Celtic king, 109 n. 
 
 Aspern, battle of (1809), 442. 
 
 Asquith, Prime Minister of England, 535. 
 
 Assignats, French revolutionary currency, 
 410. 
 
 Athaulf, King of the Visigoths, 12. 
 
 Attainder, definition of the Act of, 246 ».; 
 Bill of, 288 n. 
 
 Attila (406-453), invades Gaul (451), 14; 
 148. 
 
 .Augsburg, Confession of (1530), 237; reli- 
 gious peace of (i555). 237-238. 
 
 .'^ugustenburg, Duke of, claimant to ducal 
 throne of Holstein (1864), 494, 495. 
 
 Augustine, missionary to England (c. 597), 
 III. 
 
 Austerlitz, battle of (1805), 433. 
 
 Australia, settlement of, 370. 
 
 Austrasia (East Frankland, changing into 
 "Germany"), 64. 
 
 Austria, founded by Rudolf of Hapsburg, 
 217; condition at close of Thirty Years' 
 War, 311; under Maria Theresa (1740- 
 80), 350-351 ; under Joseph II (17^0-90), 
 354-355; its part in division of Poland, 
 357; attitude toward French Revolution, 
 403; war declared against, by France 
 (1792), 404; war with France (1792-95), 
 407-408; in Italian campaign (1796-97), 
 422, 423; treaty with France (1797), 423- 
 424; war with France, 428, 429, 433, 442; 
 Congress of Vienna (1815), 454-455, 456; 
 
XX 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Holy Alliance (1815), 457; constituent 
 assembly (1848), 459; its part in Italian 
 Revolution (1848), 471-472; war of 1859, 
 484-489; position in German federation 
 after 1S48, 491-492; in the Danish War, 
 494-499; war with Prussia (1866), 495- 
 
 497- 
 Austria-Hungary, revolution in, 470-471; 
 
 since 1866, 531-532. 
 Austrian Successsion, War of (1740-48), 
 
 353- 
 
 Avars, wars of Charlemagne against, 53. 
 
 Avignon, residence of Papal Court at, dur- 
 ing the Babylonish Captivity, 196-197; 
 Urban VI's refusal to return to, 198. 
 
 Babington's Conspiracy (against Queen 
 Elizabeth), 266. 
 
 Babylonish Captivity (1305-78), 196-197. 
 
 Babylonish Captivity of the Church, pam- 
 phlet by Luther, 234. 
 
 Bacon, Lord, Royal Chancellor of Eng- 
 land, 277. 
 
 Bagdad, Arabian capital under the Abba- 
 sides, 33. 
 
 "Balance of Power" in the i8th century, 
 
 358-359- 
 Baldwin, Count of Flanders, in Fourth 
 
 Crusade, 104. 
 Balfour, Prime Minister of England, 534 n. 
 Baliol, claimant to Scottish throne, 182. 
 Bali<an War (1912-13), 544-546. 
 Banking, in the Middle Ages, 150 n. 
 Bannockburn, battle of (1314), 182. _ 
 Barry, Madame du, mistress of Louis XV, 
 
 350. 
 Basel, Council of (1431), 200-201; Peace 
 
 of (1795), 40S. 
 Bastille, fall of (July 14, 1789), 396-397- 
 Bavaria, absorbed by Charlemagne, 53; 
 
 mediaeval German duchy, 71, 74. 
 Bazaine, French general (1870), 503, 504. 
 Beaconsfield, Lord, 518, 541. Sec Disraeli. 
 Becket, Thomas a, Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury, 119 K. 
 Bede (d. 735), Anglo-Saxon churchman, 
 
 III. 
 Bedford, Duke of, regent under Henry VI 
 
 of England, 175. 
 Belgium, revolt of (17S9), 355; struggle 
 
 over (1792-95). 407, 408; revolt against 
 
 Holland (1830), 458. 
 Benedict, St., of Nursia, 26. 
 Benedict XIII, "Avignon " Pope, 199 n. 
 Benedictine Rule (monastic), 25. 
 Bencdek, Austrian general, 497. 
 Berlin, Congress of (1878), 518-519, 532, 
 
 541; decree of (1806-07), 441- 
 Berlin, ITniversity of, 443. 
 Bernard of Cluny, mediaeval hymnologi.'^t, 
 
 205 n. 
 Bernard, St., of Clairvaux, 102, 158-159. 
 
 Bible, Wiclif's English translation, 184; 
 translated by Luther, 235-236; ofl5cial 
 English translation (1539), 247; pub- 
 lished by Tyndale (1525), 247 n.; King 
 James version, 275 n. 
 
 Billung, Markgraf Hermann, 75. 
 
 Bishop, position of in 7th century, 19, 21; 
 as a feudal prince, 67. 
 
 Bishops, trial of the seven (1688), 327-329. 
 
 Bismarck, Otto von (1815-98), 493-505; 
 528; 532. 
 
 Black Death (1348), effect of on Hundred 
 Years' War, 172; in England, 185-186 
 187. 
 
 Black Prince, in Hundred Years' War, 172, 
 173. 
 
 Blanc, Louis, French socialist, 467. 
 
 Blenheim, battle of (1704), 318. 
 
 Blood Council, 262. 
 
 Bloody Assizes, 326-327. 
 
 BlUcher, Prussian general (1815), 451. 
 
 Boccaccio (1313-75), Renaissance author, 
 208-209. 
 
 Boer War (1899-1902), 534-535- 
 
 Bohemia, revolt in behalf of Hus, 200; re- 
 volt against Austria (1618), 300. 
 
 Bohemond of Tarentum, leader in the First 
 Crusade, 97, 99. 
 
 Boleyn, Anne, wife of Henry VIII, 243 n., 
 244, 245. 
 
 Bologna, LTniversity of, 204. 
 
 Bonaparte, Carlo, father of Napoleon, 
 420 n. 
 
 Bonaparte, Jerome, brother of Napoleon, 
 438. 
 
 Bonaparte, Napoleon. See Napoleon. 
 
 Boniface VIII (1294-1303), his conflict 
 with Philip IV of France, 195-196. 
 
 Boniface, St., missionary to Germans, 46. 
 
 Bonner, Bishop (England), 252 n. 
 
 Book of Common Prayer (EngHsh), 250; 
 reestablished, 259. 
 
 Borgia, Caesar, Italian general, 211. 
 
 Borgia. Pope Alexander IV, 202. 
 
 Borodino, battle of (1812), 445. 
 
 Bothwell, Earl of, Scottish nobleman, 260. 
 
 Bouianger, General (France), 526. 
 
 Bourgeoisie, French middle class, 382-383, 
 
 389. 
 
 Bouvines, battle of (1214), 89. 
 
 Boyne, battle of the (1690), 330. 
 
 Brandenburg, Electorate of, 340-343. 
 
 Brcitcnfeld, battle of (1631), 304. 
 
 Bretigny, Treaty of (1360), 172. 
 
 Bright, John, English statesman, 515. 
 
 Britain, under the Romans, 108. Sec Eng- 
 land. 
 
 Bruce, Robert (lived 1274-1329), claimant 
 to Scottish throne, 182. 
 
 Bruges, in the 15th, century, 147. 
 
 Brunswick, Duke of, Prussian general, 
 407. 
 
INDEX 
 
 XXI 
 
 Buckingham, Duke of, favorite of James I, 
 
 278. 
 Bulgaria, conquest by Turks, 223, 224; new 
 
 principality of (1878), 541-542; war with 
 
 Servia (1885), 542; Balkan War (1912- 
 
 I3)> 544-546. 
 Bull, papal, definition of, 195 «.; agamst 
 
 Philip IV of France, 195; against Luther, 
 
 234- 
 Bundesrath, German Federal Council, 498. 
 Burghers, mediaeval towns-folk, 145. 
 Burgundians, settlement of, in Roman 
 
 Empire, 13. 
 Burgundy, Dukes of, in time of Hundred 
 
 \ ears' War, 175; Charles the Bold, Duke 
 
 of, 216. 
 
 Cabinet government (England), 333; rise 
 
 of, 371-374- 
 Cabot, John, navigator, 190. 
 Cajetanus, Cardinal, Luther summoned 
 
 before, 232-233. 
 Calais, taken by the English (1347.), 171; 
 
 captured by the French (1558), 252. 
 Calendar, French republican, 413-414. 
 Caliphate, the (717-900), 35-36. 
 Calixtines, Hussite faction, 200 n. 
 Calvin, John, religious reformer, 239-240. 
 Camperdovvn, battle of (1797), 424. 
 Campo Formio, Treaty of (1797), 423-424. 
 Canossa, Henry IV's humiliation at, 156- 
 
 157- 
 
 Cape Colony taken possession of by Eng- 
 land, 370. 
 
 Cape St. Vincent, battle off (1797), 424. 
 
 Capet, Hugh, King of France (987-996), 
 83, 84. 
 
 Capetian monarchy, founding of, 82-83. 
 
 Capitation (French tax), 384. 
 
 Carbonari (Italian secret society), 462 »., 
 
 483- 
 Carnot, French War Minister (1792-95), 
 
 408. 
 Carthage, city of, 2. 
 Cartwright, inventor, 367. 
 Castile, kingdom of, 222. 
 Cathedrals, Romanesque, 138; Gothic, 
 
 138-139- 
 Catherine de Medici, Queen of France, 268, 
 
 269. 
 Catherine of Aragon, wife of Henry VIII, 
 
 243-244. 
 Catherine II of Russia (1762-96), 339-340; 
 
 her part in division of Poland, 356. 
 Catholic Christians, definition of, 18 n. 
 Catholic Emancipation Act (England, 
 
 1829), 375-376. 
 Catholic reaction in England under Mary, 
 
 250-252. 
 Catholics in England, attitude of Charles 
 
 II toward, 324. 
 Cavaignac, General (France), 473. 
 
 Cavaliers (English royalists), 291 n. 
 
 Cavour, Count of, Italian statesman, 482- 
 488. 
 
 Cecil, Sir William, English statesman, 257. 
 
 Celts, in England, 109. 
 
 Cimabue, Italian painter, 211. 
 
 Cities, of Italy during Renaissance period, 
 206; free of mediaeval Germany, 219. 
 See Towns. 
 
 City Hall, mediaeval, 146. 
 
 Chalons, battle of, (451), 14. 
 
 Chamberlain, Joseph, his responsibility for 
 Boer W'ar, 534 n. 
 
 Chanson de Roland, medieval epic, 54. 
 
 Charlemagne (768-814), his personality, 
 49-51; his Saxon wars, 51-52; war 
 against the Lombards, 52-53; war 
 against the Slavs and Avars, 53; invasion 
 of Spain, 54; coronation of, 56-57; ad- 
 ministration under, 57-58; revival of 
 learning under, 58-59; his empire dis- 
 solved, 61-62. 
 
 Charles I of England (1625-49)-, 276-277, 
 278-283,285-294; execution of (1649), 294. 
 
 Charles II of England (1660-85), 294, 296, 
 322-325. 
 
 Charles V of France (1364-80), 172-173. 
 
 Charles VI of France (1380-1422), 173, 
 
 175- 
 
 Charles VII of France (1422-61), 175; 
 crowned at Rheims, 177; 179. 
 
 Charles VIII of France (1483-98). 217. 
 
 Charles IX of France, 268. 
 
 Charles X of France (1824-30), 396 n., 
 459-461. 
 
 Charles IV, Emperor, 218. 
 
 Charles V, Emperor (1519-56), position in 
 regard to Luther, 235 ; and German Pro- 
 testants, 237-238; his relation to breach 
 between Henry VIII and Roman Church, 
 244; abdicated his power, 255. 
 
 Charles VI, Emperor, 350. 
 
 Charles II of Spain, 317. 
 
 Charles XI of Sweden, 343 n. 
 
 Charles XII of Sweden, 338-339- - 
 
 Charles Albert, of Sardinia, 471. 
 
 Charles Edward, the Young Pretender, 
 332 n. 
 
 Charles the Bald, Frankish king, 62, 64; 
 division of land, 65. 
 
 Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, 216. 
 
 Charles the Fat, Frankish emperor, 82. 
 
 Charles Martel, mayor of the palace (714- 
 
 74i)< 44- . ^ 
 
 Charles the Simple, Kmg of France, his 
 treaty with RoUo, 63. 
 
 Chartist movement (England), 512. 
 
 Chaucer, Geoffrey, English poet, 183. 
 
 Christian IV, of Denmark, 301. 
 
 Christianity, in the Roman Empire, 2; its 
 spread among the Germans, 54; its adop- 
 tion by the Anglo-Saxons, iii. 
 
XXll 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Christina, Queen of Sweden, 306 n. 
 
 Chrysoloras, famous Greek teacher, 210. 
 
 Church, early, sources of its wealth, 19-20; 
 organization of, 20-23; under the 
 Franks, 43; relation to feudalism, 67; re- 
 lation to State (1046), 79-80; relations 
 with Capetian kings, 85; life in (900- 
 1250), 135-137; its schools during the 
 Middle Ages, 137; relation of early Uni^ 
 versities to doctrine of, 204-205; condi- 
 tion in i6th century, 229; of Russia, 336; 
 English, under the Georges, 362; in 
 France on eve of Revolution, 385; legis- 
 lation by National Assembly (Irance), 
 401; Separation law (France, 1900), 527. 
 
 Clairvaux, St. Bernard of, 158-159. 
 
 Clarendon Code (1661-65), 324. 
 
 Classes of people in the Middle Ages, 127. 
 
 Clement V, Pope, 197. 
 
 Clement VII, Tope, 198. 
 
 Clergy, definition of, 20; secular and regu- 
 lar, 136. 
 
 Clermont, Church Council at (1095), 95. 
 
 Cleves, Anne of, wife of Henry VII 1, 243 ;;. 
 
 Clive, Robert, English general, 369. 
 
 Clovis, King of the Franks, 40-41; succes- 
 sors of, 43. 
 
 Cluny, monastery of, 80; reform move- 
 ment of, 153-154; Bernard of, 205 n. 
 
 Cnut, King of England (1017-35), 112-113. 
 
 Coalition against France, first, 407; second, 
 427; third, 431, 434; of 1813, 447-448. 
 
 Cobden, English statesman, 515. 
 
 Code Napoleon, 440. 
 
 Colbert, financial minister of Louis XIV, 
 
 314- 
 
 Coligny, leader of the Huguenots, 269. 
 
 Coloni, Roman serfs, description of, 4. 
 
 Columbus, Christopher, 222, 226. 
 
 Comitatus, German war band, 6. 
 
 Commerce, during Middle Ages, 127 «.; re- 
 vival in later Middle Ages, 149-150. 
 
 Committee of Public Safety, French Revo- 
 lution, 408-409; 414. 
 
 Common law of England, origin of, 122- 
 124. 
 
 Commune, media;val, 145; of Paris, 405; in 
 1871, 505 «., 524. 
 
 Compass, invention of, 212. 
 
 Compurgation, 123 11. 
 
 Conclave of cardinals, 197. 
 
 Concordat of Napoleon (1808), 440. 
 
 Conde, French general, 316. 
 
 Condottieri, 211. 
 
 Congress of Paris (1856), 483. 
 
 Conrad II of Germany, 78. 
 
 Conradin, grandson of Frederick II, 163. 
 
 Conservative party in England, 374, 534, 
 
 535- 
 Constance, Council of (1414-18), 199-200; 
 
 relation of University ol Paris to, 204. 
 Constantine, Roman Emperor, 2. 
 
 Constantine XII, last Emperor of Constan- 
 tinople, 223. 
 
 Constantinople, founding of, 2; civilization 
 of, 37; patriarch of, 55; attacked by Rus- 
 sians (865), 335; seizure by Crusaders 
 (1204), 104; taken by the Turks, 210; 
 fall of (1453), 223-224.^ 
 
 Constitution of France, first (1791), 399- 
 401, 402, 406; second (never enforced), 
 416; third (1795), 416-417; of 1848, 468; 
 of 1875, 525^26. 
 
 Continental System, 441. 
 
 Controller-General of France, 381. 
 
 Convention, legislative body of France, 
 406, 407, 413-414. 416, 417- 
 
 Convocation (Church) in England, 245. 
 
 Cook, Captain, explorer, 370. 
 
 Corn laws (English), repeal of, 514-515. 
 
 Corvee (forced labor in France), 384. 
 
 Cotton-gin, invention of, 367. 
 
 Council, church, description of, 21-23; 
 royal, in France, 380. 
 
 Coup d'Etat (1851), 475-476. 
 
 Covenant, Scottish, 283. 
 
 Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, 244- 
 245, 247, 250; death of, 251. 
 
 Crecy, battle of (i3-;6), 170-171. 
 
 Crimean War (1854-56), 477, 483, 540. 
 
 Cromwell, Oliver, 291-296. 
 
 Cromwell, Richard, son of Oliver, 296. 
 
 Cromwell, Thomas, minister of Henry 
 VIII, 244, 246. 
 
 Crusades, origin of, 93-94; leaders of, 95- 
 97; general description of, 97; Second, 
 102; Second set in motion by St. Bernard 
 of Clairvaux, 159; Third, 103-104; Philip 
 Augustus in, 88; Fourth, 104; later, 104- 
 105; results of, 105-106. 
 
 Custozza, battle of (1848), 471 ; second bat- 
 tle of (1866), 488. 
 
 Damascus, capital of Arabian Empire (661- 
 
 750), 32. 
 Danes in Ireland, 192. 
 Danish War (1864), 494. 
 Dante (1265-1321), Italian poet, 207. 
 Danton, French statesman, 405, 406; fall 
 
 of, 413, 414- 
 Darnley, Lord, husband of Mary, Queen of 
 
 Scots, 260. 
 Deacon, definition of, 20. 
 Decameron, by Boccaccio, 208. 
 Declaration of Rights (England, 1689), 330. 
 De Lesseps, promoter of Suez Canal, 518 
 
 w.; of Panama Canal, 526. 
 Denmark, in the Congress of Vienna (1815), 
 
 456; at war with Austria and Prussia 
 
 (1864), 494. 
 Derby, Lord, English statesman, 517. 
 Desiderius, King of the Lombards, 52-53- 
 Desmoulins, Camille, French Revolution- 
 ist, 397. 
 
INDEX 
 
 XXlll 
 
 Diet, German Imperial, in 1500, 219; of 
 German Confederacy in 1815, 456. 
 
 Diocese, definition of, 21. 
 
 Directory, French, 417, 423, 424, 425, 427. 
 
 Dispensations by Pope, 197 n. 
 
 Disraeli, 517, 518, Prime Minister of Eng- 
 land (1874-80), 518-519. See Beacons- 
 field, Lord. 
 
 Divine Comedy, by Dante, 207. 
 
 Divine right of kings, with James I, 274; 
 with Louis XIV, 312-313. 
 
 Domesday Book of William the Conqueror, 
 116-H7. 
 
 Dominic, St., founder of Friar order, (1170- 
 1221), 165-166. 
 
 Dominican Order of Friars, 165-166; 229. 
 
 Donatello (13&6-1466), Italian sculptor, 
 211. 
 
 Donjon of mediaeval castle, 128. 
 
 Doryla;um, battle of (1097), 98. 
 
 Dragonnades, against Huguenots, 315. 
 
 Drake, Sir Francis, English seaman, 267. 
 
 Dreyfus, Captain, the case of (1899), 526- 
 
 527- 
 Duguesclin, Bertrand, general under 
 
 Charles V of France, 173. 
 Dunbar, battle of (1650), 294. 
 Dupleix, French general, 369. 
 DUcer (d. 1528), German artist, 213. 
 Dutch commerce, 270, 365. 
 Dutch Republic. Sec Netherlands. 
 
 Eastern Empire, repulsed the Saracens 
 
 (717). 33^35; authority in Italy before 
 
 800, 55. See Crusades, and Greece. 
 Eck, his disputation with Luther, 233. 
 Edessa, regained by Moslems (1144), 102. 
 Edict of Restitution (Germany, 1629), 301- 
 
 302. 
 Education, general, spread of, 555-556. 
 Edward I of England (1272-1307), 122; his 
 
 subjection of Wales, 181; in Scotland, 
 
 182. 
 Edward II (1307-27) and Scotland, 182. 
 Edward III (1327-77), his claim to crown 
 
 of France, 169; invasion of France, 170; 
 
 his reign, 185-186. 
 Edward IV (1461-83), 188. 
 Edward V (1483), 188. 
 Edward VI (1547^53). 248-249. 
 Edward VII (1901-09), 534. 
 Edward the Confessor, King of England 
 
 (1042-66), 113, 114; laws of, 118. 
 Edward, King of W'essex (901-25), 112. 
 Edwin of Northumbria, ill. 
 Egmont, Count of, Netherland nobleman, 
 
 262. 
 Egypt, British military occupation of 
 
 (1882), 519. 
 Egyptian Expedition (French,' 1798-99), 
 
 425-427- 
 Eighteenth century, character of, 348. 
 
 Einhard, biographer of Charlemagne, 49 n. 
 
 Elba, Napoleon at, 449. 
 
 Electorate in England before 1832, 376, 
 
 508-509. 
 Electors of mediaeval German Emperor, 
 
 2i8; and eighth created, 307. 
 Eliot, Sir John, English statesman, 280. 
 Elizabeth, Empress of Russia, 353. 
 Elizabeth, Queen of England (1558-1603), 
 
 252, 257-260; war with Spain, 266-268; 
 
 execution ol Mary, Queen of Scots, 266. 
 Elizabethan Settlement of English Church, 
 
 259- 
 Emigrants, of the Irench Revolution, 410, 
 
 459- 
 
 England, origin of, 108-125; '" later Mid- 
 dle Ages, 181-193; religious revolt in, 
 242-253; under Ll.zabeth, 257-260, 266- 
 268, 270-271; under the eaily Stuarts, 
 274-283; Civil War and Cromwell, 285- 
 297; in wars of Louis XIV, 316; under 
 the later Stuarts, 322-333; in Seven 
 Years' War, 353 ; under the Georges, 361- 
 376; industry and commerce of, 365-367; 
 colonial empire of, 370-371, 521-522; 
 war with France (1792-95), 407-408; 
 (1805), 431^433; 440-441; naval power, 
 424-427; Holy Alliance (1815) 457 «., 
 458; in 19th century, 507-522; 20th-cen- 
 tury problems of, 536-537. 
 
 English Pale, in Ireland, 192. 
 
 Entente cordiale, 534. 
 
 Erasm.i'S (d. 1536), scholar, 214. 
 
 Essex, Earl of, general in the Great Civil 
 War (England), 291. 
 
 Estates in France, local representatives, 
 380. 
 
 Ethelbert, King of Kent, his conversion to 
 Christianity (597), 11 1. 
 
 Ethelred the Unready, 112. 
 
 Eugenius IV, Pope, 201. 
 
 Exchequer, 118; Chancellor of, 118 «.; 
 Court of, 281. 
 
 Excommunication, results to individual, 21. 
 
 Expectatives, 197 n. 
 
 Falkirk, battle of (1298), 182. 
 
 Fawkes, Guy, Gunpowder Plot conspira- 
 tor, 275. 
 
 Fehrbellin, battle of (1675), 343. 
 
 Fenian Movement (Irish), 520. 
 
 Ferdinand I, Emperor, 255. 
 
 Ferdinand II, Emperor, 300, 301; in 
 Thirty Years' War, 302. 
 
 Ferdinand III (1637-57), Emperor, 306. 
 
 Ferdinand, King of Naples, 480-481. 
 
 Ferdinand of Aragon, 222. 
 
 Ferrara, city-state of, 206 n. 
 
 Feudal castle, description of, 127-128; life 
 in, 128-130. 
 
 Feudalism, origin of, 65; description of, 66- 
 69; effect of crusades on, 105; in Eng- 
 
INDEX 
 
 land, ii6; definition of terms, 128-131; 
 wars of, 131-133; living conditions un- 
 der, 133-135; effect of the invention of 
 gunpowder upon, 224-225. 
 
 Fichte, German philosopher, 444. 
 
 Fief, feudal holding, 67, 69 n. 
 
 Flanders, cities of, 147; Counts of, 147. 
 
 Florence, city-state of, 148-149; commerce 
 of, 206; republic of, 471, 472. 
 
 Fontenay, battle of (841), 62. 
 
 Fox, Charles James, English orator, 372 n. 
 
 France, rise of, 82-91; state of, at end of 
 Middle Ages, 216-217; under Henry IV, 
 268-270; in Thirty Years' War, 305-306; 
 in Treaty of Westphalia, 307; condition 
 at close of Thirty Years' War, 3 10-31 1; 
 under Louis XIV, 311-320; under Louis 
 XV, 349-350; in Seven Years' War, 353; 
 under Louis XIV, 357-358; in India, 369; 
 Revolution, causes of, 378-390; period 
 of, 391-418; in war with all Europe 
 (1792-95), 407-408; under Napoleon, 
 427-428, 430-431; extent of Empire 
 (1808), 438-439; under the Bourbons 
 (1815-30), 451-461 ; under Louis Philippe 
 (1830-48), 463-464; Second Republic 
 (1848-51), 467-468, 472-473; war of 1859, 
 484-489; Second Empire (1852-70), 476- 
 478; end of, 503; Third Republic, 503; 
 since 1871, 524-527; constitutions of, 
 first (1791), 399-401, 402, 406; second, 
 416; third (1795), 416-417; fourth, 428; 
 of 1875, 525-526. 
 
 Francis I of Austria, 446. 
 
 Francis I of France (1515-47), 217. 
 
 Francis II of France, 260, 268. 
 
 Francis II of Naples, 487. 
 
 Francis Joseph, Emperor of Austria, 485, 
 531-532. 
 
 Francis of Lorraine, 351. 
 
 Francis, St., of Assisi, 164-165. 
 
 Franciscan Order of Friars, 164-165, 229. 
 
 Franco-Prussian War (1S70-71), 500-505. 
 
 Franconia, German mediaeval duchy, 71.74- 
 
 Frankfort, Treaty of (1871), 504-505. 
 
 Frankland, extension of its borders, 46. 
 
 Franklin, Benjamin, 378. 
 
 Franks, Germanic race, 5; settlement of, 13; 
 the Merovingian, 40; relations with tiie 
 Romans, 43. 
 
 Frederick I (Barbarossa, 1152-90), 103, 
 159-160; estimation of, 160 n. 
 
 Frederick II (1212-50), 161-163. 
 
 Frederick I, King in Prussia (1688-1713), 
 343-344. 
 
 Frederick II (1740-86) 351; war with Aus- 
 tria, 352-354; division of Poland, 356; 
 fondness for French language, 379 n. 
 
 Frederick V, Elector of the Palatinate, 300, 
 301. 
 
 Frederick of Saxony, protector of Luther, 
 235- 
 
 Frederick William (1640-88), 342-343. 
 Frederick William I (1713-40), 344-346. 
 Frederick William II (1786-97), 403. 
 Frederick William III (1797-1840), 434, 
 
 436, 443, 461. 
 Frederick William IV (1S40-61), 469, 470, 
 
 492, 493- 
 Free press, 5^6-557. 
 Friedland, battle of (1807), 436. 
 Fronde, wars of the (France), 311 «. 
 
 Gaillard, Chateau, capture of (1204), 89. 
 Galileo (1564-1642), Italian scientist, 378. 
 Gambetta, leader of National Defense 
 
 Government (France), 504, 527 n. 
 Gardiner, Bishop, minister of Queen Mary 
 
 of England, 252 n. 
 Garibaldi (Italian patriot,) 472, 486-489. 
 Genoa, city-state of, 149 n.; medianal 
 
 tradt of, 101. 
 George 1 of England (1714-27), 332-333. 
 
 362-364. 
 George II (1727-60), 364. 
 George III (1 760-1 S20), 364-365. 370- 
 George IV (1S20-30), 365, 507. 
 Georgian Epoch, 362-376. 
 German Customs Union (1833), 462. 
 German Empire, mediaeval, 217-221; in 
 
 1871,505- 
 
 German kingdom, settlement of, 13. 
 
 German National Assembly (1848), 469. 
 
 German tribes, enumeration of, 4-5; de- 
 scription of, 5-6; political organization 
 of, 6; religion of, 7; conversion to Chris- 
 tianity, 46-47. 
 
 Germany, origin of the kingdom of, 71-80; 
 condition of the Empire at the end of the 
 Middle Ages, 217-221; protcstant revolt 
 in, 229-238; Thirty Years' War, 299-308; 
 growth of Prussia, 340-346, 351-354; 
 humiliation of Prussia, 434-436; Con- 
 gress of Vienna, 456; situation in (1815- 
 30), 461-462; revolution in (1848), 468- 
 470; 1848 to 1871, 491-505; since 1871, 
 
 528-531- 
 
 Ghent, in 15th century, 147. 
 
 Girondist party during French Revolu- 
 tion, 403, 406, 410, 411, 412, 416. 
 
 Gladstone, Prime Minister, first adminis- 
 tration, 517-518; second administration, 
 519-521; third administration, 521. 
 
 Godfrey of Bouillon, leader of First Cru- 
 sade, 95-96; ruler of Jerusalem, 100. 
 
 Golden Bull, by Charles IV of Germany, 
 218. 
 
 Gothic cathedrals, 138-139. 
 
 Gothic kingdom in Spain, 12. 
 
 Goths, treaty with Theodosius, 11. 
 
 Grseco-Roman civilization, 4. 
 
 Gramont, French Foreign Minister (1870), 
 501. 
 
 Grand Remonstrance (England, 1641). 289. 
 
INDEX 
 
 XXV 
 
 Gravelotte, battle of (1870), 503. 
 
 Great Britain, colonial empire of, 521-522. 
 
 Great Charter {Magna Charta), 120-121. 
 
 Greece, conquered by Turks, 224; revolt 
 against Turks (1821), 458, 540; since 
 1878, 541, 542; Balkan War, 544-546. 
 
 Greek fire, 34 n. 
 
 Gregory the Great, Pope (590-604), posi- 
 tion of the Papacy under him, 23-24, 
 III. 
 
 Gregory VII, Pope (1073-85), his humilia- 
 tion of Henry IV, 156-158. See also 
 Hildebrand. 
 
 Gregory XI, Pope, 197. 
 
 Gregory XII, Pope, 199 n. 
 
 Grey, Lady Jane (England), 250, 251. 
 
 Grey, Lord, Prime Minister of England, 
 
 510,511- 
 Guilds, mediaeval, 146; (i8th century), 
 
 French, 383 n. 
 Guillotine, what it was, 412 n. 
 Guise, Dukes of, 268. 
 Guizot, Prime Minister of France (1840- 
 
 48,) 464, 466. 
 Gunpowder, military revolution caused by 
 
 invention of, 224-225. 
 Gunpowder Plot (England, 1605), 274-275. 
 Gustavus Adolphus, of Sweden (1611-32), 
 
 302-305. 
 "Gutenberg, John, inventor of printing, 213. 
 Guy, King of Jerusalem, 102. 
 
 Haarlem, siege of (1572), 264. 
 
 Habeas Corpus Act (1679), 325. 
 
 Hague Peace Tribunal, 546-547. 
 
 Hampden, John, English statesman, 281 n.; 
 286, 289 n. 
 
 Hapsburg dynasty, beginning of, 217. 
 
 Hargreaves, inventor, 366. 
 
 Harold, King of England (1066), 114, 
 IIS- 
 
 Haroun-al-Raschid (Arabian Kalif, 763- 
 809), 35. 
 
 Hastings, battle of (1066), 115. 
 
 Hegira (flight of Mohammed, 622), 30. 
 
 Henry I of England (1100-35), 117-118. 
 
 Henry II (1154-89), 119; growth of the 
 judiciary under, 122-124; h's French 
 holdings, 87, 88, 89; "Angevin Prince," 
 88 «.; invasion of Ireland, 192. 
 
 Henry III (1216-72), 121-122. 
 
 Henry IV (1399-1413), 1S7. 
 
 Henry V (1413-22), 173-174, 175, 187. 
 
 Henry VI (1422-61), 175, 187, 188. 
 
 Henry VII (1489-1509), 189-90. 
 
 Henry VIII (1509-47), 242-245; the Eng- 
 lish Church under, 246-248. 
 
 Henry III of France (1575-1589), 268. 
 
 Henry IV (i 589-1610), 269-271. 
 
 Henry the Fowler, King of Germany (919- 
 36), 71, 72-75. 
 
 Henry II (1002-24), 78. 
 
 Henry III (1039-56), Emperor, 79-80, his 
 domination over the Papacy, 153. 
 
 Henry IV (1056-1106), 80; his rule of Ger- 
 many, 155-156; his struggle with Greg- 
 ory VII, 156-158. 
 
 Henry V (1106-25), Emperor, his treaty 
 with the Pope, 158. 
 
 Henry VI (1190-1197), marriage of, 160. 
 
 Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony and Ba- 
 varia (1129-95), 160. 
 
 Heptarchy, Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, 109 n. 
 
 High Commisson, Court of (England), 
 282, 288. 
 
 Hildebrand, his early life, 54-55. See also 
 Gregory VII. 
 
 Hohenlinden, battle of (i8oo), 428. 
 
 Hohenstaufens, German dynasty, 159; last 
 of, 163. 
 
 HohenzoUern dynasty (Prussia), 340. 
 
 Holbein (d. 1543), German artist, 213. 
 
 Holland, cities of, 147; wars of Louis XIV 
 against, 315-317- 
 
 Holies, Denzill, English politician, 286. 
 
 Holy ,'Mliance (1815), 457-458. 
 
 Holy Lance, at siege of Antioch, 99, 99 n. 
 
 Holy Roman Empire, founding of, by 
 Charlemagne, 57; revival by Otto I, 75- 
 78; at end of Middle Ages, 217-218; de- 
 stroyed by Napoleon, 429-430. 
 
 Homage (feudal), 68, 130, 131. 
 
 Home Rule for Ireland, 519-521, 535. 
 
 Honorius, Emperor of the West (395-423), 
 II. 
 
 Howard, Catherine, wife of Henry VIII, 
 243 n. 
 
 Huguenots, Protestants in France, 268, 
 310 n., 311; persecution of, 314-315; 
 settlement in Brandenburg, 343. 
 
 Humbert I of Italy (1878-1900), 531. 
 
 Humboldt, German statesman and scholar, 
 
 443- 
 
 Hundred Years' War (1338-1453), 168-179. 
 
 Hungarians. See Magyars. 
 
 Huns, their advance westward, 10; inva- 
 sion of Gaul (451), 14. 
 
 Hus, John (Bohemian reformer), 199-200. 
 
 Hussites, church of, 200; Luther's sym- 
 pathy with, 233. 
 
 Immunity (feudal), 66 w. 
 
 Intendants, in France, 380. 
 
 Incivism, meaning of, during Reign of 
 
 Terror, 411. 
 Inclosures, in England, 252-253. 
 Independents,Puritan party in England, 292. 
 India, won by England, 369-370. 
 Indulgences (Church), sale of, 231. 
 Industrial Revolution, in England, 509; 
 
 on the Continent, 552-554. 
 Industry and commerce, revival of, in later 
 
 Middle Ages, 150-151; growth of, in 
 
 England, 365-367- 
 
XXVI 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Innocent III, Pope (1198-1216), 120, 160- 
 161; his attitude toward the Franciscan 
 Order, 165. 
 
 Inquisition, Spanish, 261-262; its effect on 
 Spain, 271. 
 
 Inslilules of the Christian Religion, by Cal- 
 vin, 239. 
 
 Inventions at close of Middle Ages, 378. 
 
 Investiture (Church), struggle over, 156- 
 158. 
 
 Inland, attempted conquest by England, 
 191-193; union with Great Britain 
 (1800), 376; Home Rule for, 519-521, ^35. 
 
 Irene, Empress of the Eastern Empire 
 (780-802), 56. 
 
 Ironsides, Cromwell's, 291. 
 
 Isabella of Castile (1469-1504), 222. 
 
 Islam(Mohammedanism), doctrines of, 30- 
 32; threatens Gaul (721), 45. 
 
 Italy, end of German domination in, 163; 
 attempts of French kings to conquer, 217; 
 Napoleon's campaign in (1796-97), 421- 
 423; how treated at Congress of Vienna, 
 (1815), 456; situation in (1815-48), 462- 
 463; revolution in (1848), 471-472; after 
 1848, 480-4S9; Prussian alliance with, 
 495, 496; since 1870, 531. 
 
 Itinerant Justices (England), 118, 123. 
 
 Ivan IV of Russia (1534-84), 336. 
 
 Ivry, battle of (1590), 270. 
 
 Jacobins (French Revolutionary party), 
 404, 405 «., 406, 409, 410, 411, 412; re- 
 volts against, 412-413; heirs of the old 
 (1830), 460. 
 
 Jacobites (party for exiled English Stuarts), 
 332 «., 374 n. 
 
 James I of England (1603-25), 260, 274- 
 278. 
 
 James II (1685-88), 325-329; attempts to 
 regain throne, 330; death of (1701), 
 331- 
 
 James III, the "Old Pretender," 332 n. 
 
 Janizaries (Turkish bodyguard), 224 «., 
 317- 
 
 Japan, war with Russia (1904-05), 537 «., 
 538. 
 
 Jeanne d' Arc (Frencli heroine, active ca- 
 reer, 1429-31), 1 76-1 78. 
 
 Jeffreys, Lord, English judge, 327. 
 
 Jena, battle of (1806), 434. 
 
 Jerusalem, taken by the crusaders (1099), 
 99-100; Christian Kingdom of, 100-102; 
 taken by Saladin (1187), 102. 
 
 Jesuits, founding of the Order of, 240. 
 
 John, King of England (i 109-1216), 88, 89, 
 119. 
 
 John, King of France (1350-64), 172 
 
 John XII, Pope (955-64), 75-76; deposed 
 by Otto I, 77. 
 
 John XXIII, Pope (1410-15), 199. 
 
 John George, Elector of Saxony, 304. 
 
 Joseph II of Austria (actual rule, 1780-90), 
 
 354-355- 
 Josephine, wife of Napoleon, 446 n. 
 July Ordinances (France), 460. 
 Jury, growth of, in England, 124. 
 Justinian, Emperor (527-565), his recovery 
 
 of the Western provinces, 16. 
 
 Kara Mustapha.Turkish vizier, 317. 
 
 Karlman, son of Charles Martel, 46. 
 
 Kerbogha, Emir of Mossul, 99. 
 
 King's Peace in England, 117. 
 
 Kirk-Kilisseh, battle of (1912), 544. 
 
 Knight, life of mediaival, 102. 
 
 Knights of the Hospital, 102; of the Temple, 
 
 102. 
 Knox, John, Scotch reformer, 260. 
 Koniggratz, battle of (1S66), 497, 499. 
 Koran, Mohammedan bible, 31. 
 Kosciuszko, Polish general, 357. 
 Kossuth, Hungarian leader, 470. 
 
 La Hogue, battle of (1692), 316. 
 La Vendee (France), revolt of, 413. 
 Laborers, Statute of (England), 186. 
 Lafayette, French general (1757-1834), 
 
 393 «- 398, 402. 
 Laity, as defined in the Middle Ages, 20. 
 Langside (Scotland), battle of (1568), 261. 
 Laon, Kings of (France), 82-83. 
 Latimer, Bishop (England), 251. 
 Laud, William (1573-1645), Archbishop 
 
 of Canterbury, 281, 282, 288. 
 Lavoisier (1743-94), French scientist, 378. 
 League, the, clerical faction opposed to 
 
 Henry IV of France, 269-270. 
 Leboeuf, French Marshal (1870), 502. 
 Lech, battle of (955), 75; Passage of (1632), 
 
 305- 
 Legislative Assembly of France (1791), 403. 
 Legitimacy, supported by Metternich, 454, 
 
 458, 461, 550. 
 Legnano, battle of (1176), 160. 
 Leicester, Earl of, English general, 259 n. 
 Leipzig, battle of (1813), 447. 
 Leo III, Pope, 56. 
 Leo VIII, Pope, 77. 
 Leo IX, Pope, 80. 
 Leo X, Pope, 229; his early attitude toward 
 
 Luther, 232. 
 Leo the Isaurian, Eastern Emperor (716- 
 
 41), 34- 
 Leopold, Duke of Austria, 88 «. 
 Leopold II of Austria, Emperor (1790-92), 
 
 401,403. 
 Leopold I of Belgium (1831-65), 458. 
 Leuthen, battle of (1757), 354 n. 
 Leyden, siege of (1574), 264-265. 
 Liberal party in England, 374, 515, 517, 
 
 518, 519. .535- 
 Ligny, baitle of (1815), 451. 
 Little Englanders, 517-518. 
 
INDEX 
 
 xxvu 
 
 Llewelyn, Prince of Wales, i8i. 
 
 Lloyd-George, English statesman, measures 
 introduced by, 535-536. 
 
 Lodi, battle of (1796), 423. 
 
 Lollards, English followers of VViclif, 184- 
 185. 
 
 Lombard, League, the, 160 n. 
 ' Lombards, invasion of Italy by (568), 16; 
 downfall of, 52-53. 
 
 Lombardy, city-republics of, 160; revolt 
 against Frederick n, 162 
 
 Longbow, English, 169; use of, 225 n. 
 
 Lorraine, origin of, 71, 74. 
 
 Lothaire, (nominally Emperor 840-870), 
 62; shares division of land, 65. 
 
 Louis VI (the Fat), of France (1108-37), 86. 
 
 Louis VII (1137-80), 86. 
 
 Louis IX (St. Louis) (1226-70), 89-91, 105. 
 
 Louis XI (1461-83), 216. 
 
 Louis XII (1498-1515), 217. 
 
 Louis XIV (1643-1715), 311-320; his pen- 
 sion to Charles II of England, 322. 
 
 Louis XV (1715-74), 319-320; 349-350. 
 
 Louis XVI (1774-92), 357-3*58; summon- 
 ing of States General, 391, 393, 395; 396, 
 397. 398-399, 401-402, 405; death of, 
 406-407; effect of his death, 407. 
 
 "Louis XVII" (nominal reign, 1793-95), 
 417 «. 
 
 Xouis XVIII (1814-24), 396 n., 448, 449, 
 458 w., 459- 
 
 Louis Philippe (1830-48), 461, 463-464, 
 466-467. 
 
 Louis the German (843-876), 62, 64; share 
 in division of land, 65. 
 
 Louis the Pious, Emperor (814-840), 61. 
 
 Louvois, War Minister to Louis XIV, 315. 
 
 Loyola, St. Ignatius de, founder of Jesuit 
 Order, 240. 
 
 Liibeck, city-state of, 219. 
 
 Luneville, Peace of (i8ox), 429. 
 
 Luther, Martin (1483-1546), tlerman re- 
 former, early career, 230-231; Theses of, 
 231-232 ; summoned before Cajetanus 
 (1518), 232-233; disputation at Leipzig 
 (1519), 233; at Worms (1521), 234-235; 
 at Wartburg (1521-22), 235-236; mar- 
 riage of (1525), 236 n.\ death of, 236; 
 Zwingli compared with, 239. 
 
 Lutheranism in England, 242, 243. 
 
 Liitzen, battle of (1632), 305. 
 
 Luxembourg, Duchy of, 500. 
 
 Lyons, Council of (1245), 162; uprising 
 against the Jacobins, 413. 
 
 Mack, Austrian general, 433. 
 
 MacMahon, French general (1870), 503. 
 
 Magdeburg, captured (1631), 304. 
 
 Magellan, navigator, 226. 
 
 Magenta, battle of (1859), 484-485. 
 
 Magna Charta, 120-121. 
 
 Magyars (Hungarians), 73; description of, 
 
 74; defeated by Henry the Fowler, 74; 
 
 defeated by Otto I, 75; revolution of 
 
 Austria-Hungary, 470-471. 
 Mainz, Archbishop of, his connection with 
 
 the sale of indulgences, 231 n. 
 Marches (Marks), mediaeval, definition of, 
 
 54 «• 
 Marco Polo, Italian explorer, 225. 
 Marengo, battle of (1800), 428. 
 Maria Louisa, wife of Napoleon, 446 n. 
 Maria Theresa of Austria (1740-80), 350- 
 
 351; war with Prussia, 352-354; division 
 
 of Poland, 356. 
 Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, 357, 
 
 396, 396 «., 398 «., 401, 403; death of, 
 
 411. 
 Markgrafs (counts of frontiers), 58. 
 Marlborough, Duke of, English general, 
 
 318. 
 Marston Moor, battle of (1644), 291. 
 Marseillaise, the (French National hymn), 
 
 404. 
 Martin V, Pope (1417-31), 199. 
 Marx, Karl (1818-83), 558. 
 Mary, Queen of England (1553-58), 250- 
 
 252. 
 Mary, Queen of Scots (lived 1542-87), 
 
 252, 260-261; execution of, 266. 
 Mathias, German Emperor (1612-19), 300. 
 Matilda, daughter of Henry I of England, 
 
 119. 
 Maurice, Elector of Saxony, 237-238. 
 Maximilian, Duke of Bavaria, 300-301, 
 
 302. 
 Maximilian, German Emperor (1493-1519), 
 
 218. 
 Maximum, law of (French Revolution), 
 
 409-410. 
 Mayors of the Palace (Frankish kingdom), 
 
 43-44- 
 Mazarin, Cardinal, French statesman, 310, 
 
 311 n. 
 Mazzini, Italian patriot (1805-72), 463. 
 Mecca, holy city of Mohammed, 31; capi- 
 tal of Arabian Empire, 32. 
 Mediaeval view of life, 205-206. 
 Medical science in the Middle Ages, 134 n. 
 Mendicant Orders of Friars, 166 n. 
 Merovingian dynasty (Frankish), 43. 
 Methodist Church, founding of, 362. 
 Metternich (1773-1859), Austrian Prime 
 
 Minister, 446, 447, 454, 456, 457-458, 
 
 461, 468, 469. 
 Metz, capitulation of (1870), 504. 
 Mexico, invaded by Napoleon III, 478. 
 Michael Angelo, Italian artist, 211, 229 n. 
 Milan, destroyed by Frederick I (1162), 
 
 160; rebuilt, 160 w.; city-state of, 206 n.; 
 
 decree of (1806-07), 441. 
 Military system (general), since 1789, 557. 
 Mirabeau, French revolutionary statesman, 
 
 395- 
 
XXVIU 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Missi dominici, of Charlemagne, 58. 
 
 Modena, city-state of, 206. 
 
 Mohammed, Arabian prophet, 29-30. 
 
 Mohammed II, Turkish sultan, 223-224. 
 
 Mohammed V, 542-544. 
 
 Mohammedanism, doctrines of, 30-32. 
 
 Mohammedans, learning of, 35-36; threat- 
 ened Gaul (721), 45; divisions among, 
 during First Crusade, loi; expelled from 
 Spain, 221-222. 
 
 Monasteries, dissolution of, in England, 246. 
 
 Monasticism, rise of, 25-28.' 
 
 Monk, English general, 296. 
 
 Monk, life of, 25, 136. 
 
 Monmouth, Duke of (English), 326. 
 
 Monroe Doctrine, 458 n. 
 
 Montenegro, 541, 544. 
 
 Montfort, Simon de, mediieval warrior, 121 . 
 
 More, Sir Thomas, English statesman and 
 author, 245-246. 
 
 Moreau, French general, 428. 
 
 Moscow, campaign of (1812), 444. 
 
 Municipal Reform Act (England, 1835), 
 512. 
 
 Mutiny Act (England, 1689), 331. 
 
 Nana Sahib, rebel leader in Sepoy Rebel- 
 lion, 516. 
 
 Napoleon (reign of, 1804-14), 418, 420- 
 436, 438-452. 454- 
 
 Napoleon II, 446 11., 474 n. 
 
 Napoleon III (Louis; reign, 1852-70), 472, 
 473-478 ; intervention in Italy (1859), 483- 
 489; war with Germany, 499-503; death 
 of, 503 n. 
 
 Nantes, Edict of (1598), 270, 310 n.; repeal 
 
 of, 315- 
 Narva, battle of (1700), 339. 
 Naseby, battle of (1645), 291. 
 National Assembly (France), 394, 396, 398, 
 
 399-401, 402. 
 National Defense Government of France, 
 
 503, 504- 
 
 National Cjuards (France), 397. 
 
 Nationality, new consciousness of (gen- 
 eral), 555. 
 
 Navarino, battle of (1827), 458 ». 
 
 Navarre, kingdom of, 222 n. 
 
 Necker, French financier, 391, 393; dis- 
 missal of, 396. 
 
 Nelson, Admiral (175S-1805), 424, 426. 
 
 Nepotism, in Church, 197 «. 
 
 Netherlands, the cities of, 148; condition of, 
 in timeof Philip II, 261 ; independence of, 
 265; formation of the Kingdom of (1815), 
 
 455- 
 Neustria (West Frankland), 64; end of, 
 
 82, 83. 
 New Learning, at end of Middle Ages, 209- 
 
 210. 
 New Zealand, settlement of, 370. 
 Newton, Sir Isaac (1642-1727), 378. 
 
 Ney, Marshal of France, 449. 
 
 Nicsea, Council of (325), 22. 
 
 Nicholas I of Russia (1825-55) his attitude 
 
 toward Turkey, 540. 
 Nicholas II (1894—), 538. 
 Nicholas V, Pope (1447-55), 202. 
 Nile, battle of the (1798), 426 n. 
 Noblesse, French, 381-382, 389. 
 Nonconformists, English, 323 n.; 376 n. 
 Norman Conquest of England (1066), 113- 
 
 iiS- 
 
 Normandy, founding of Duchy of, 62-63; 
 lost to England, 119. 
 
 Normans, fusion with Saxons in England, 
 124-125. 
 
 North German Confederation, 498. 
 
 Northmen (Scandinavians), in Gaul, 62- 
 63; 74; attack on Paris (885), 82; inva- 
 sion of England, 111-112. 
 
 Northumberland, Duke of, English politi- 
 cian, 248. 
 
 Novara, battle of (1849), 472. 
 
 O'Connell, Daniel, Irish leader, 519. 
 Odo (or Eudes), Count of Paris, 82. 
 Odo, Duke of Aquitaine, 45. 
 Odoacer, deposed Romulus Augustulus 
 
 (476), 14. 
 Olmiitz, Conference at (1850), 492. 
 Old Regime in France, 379-387, 459. 
 Ollivier, Prime Minister of France (1870), 
 
 502. 
 Ommiad Dynasty of the Arabs, 32, 33. 
 Ordeal, description of, 8; in England, 122. 
 Orleans, Duke of (French Regent), 349. 
 Orleans Monarchy (France), 463-464, 467. 
 Orleans, siege of (1429), 177. 
 Orsini, Italian conspirator, 483-484. 
 Ostrogoths, 5; enslaved by the Huns (350), 
 
 10; in Italy, blotted out by Justinian, 16. 
 Otto I, German Emperor (936-973), his 
 
 power in Germany, 75 ; his revival of the 
 
 Holy Roman Empire, 75-78. 
 Otto II, 78. 
 Otto III, 78. 
 Otto IV, 89, 161. 
 
 Oxenstierna, Chancellor of Sweden, 306 n. 
 Oxford, University of, 213. 
 
 Palace School of Charlemagne, 58. 
 
 Panama Canal Company (French), 526. 
 
 Papacy, rise of, 23-24; condition of, in loth 
 century, 75; claimants (1046), 79; leader- 
 ship in crusades, 94; domination of, by 
 Henry III, 153; supremacy of, as formu- 
 lated by Innocent III, 161; final era of 
 mediaeval, 201-202; relations of Louis 
 XIV with, 314 n.; temporal power since 
 1870, 489 n. 
 
 Papal Court, corruptions during time of 
 Babylonian captivity, 197 «.; condition 
 in 16th century. 
 
INDEX 
 
 XXIX 
 
 Paris, Commune of, in 1792, 405; in 1871, 
 505 n., 524: Congress of (1856), 483; 
 Peace of (1856), 540; siege of (1870-71), 
 503-504; University of (medieval), 204, 
 
 213- 
 
 Parliament Act (England, 1909), 535. 
 
 Parliament of England, make-up of, 121 ».; 
 Model, 122; under James 1, 277; first 
 three under Charles I, 279-280; Short 
 (1640), 285; Long (1640-60), 285-294, 
 296; Rump (1649-53), 294-295; alliance 
 with Scots (1643), 291 ; under William 111 
 331-332; unreformed, 507-509. 
 
 Parliament of Paris (French High Court), 
 91. 313. 380-381. 
 
 Parnell, Irish leader for Home Rule, 520. 
 
 Parr, Catherine, wife of Henry Vlll, 243 n. 
 
 Patrician, title given Charlemagne, 53. 
 
 Pavia, capital of Lombard kingdom, 16. 
 
 Peace Conference, First Hague, 547. 
 
 Peasants, general condition about 1000, 
 141-144; revolt of, in England (1381), 
 184, 186-187; revolt of, in Germany 
 (1524-25), 236; French, 383-384, 389- 
 
 Peel, Sir Robert, English statesman, 514- 
 
 515. 
 Pepin, crowned king of the Franks (752), 
 
 46; descent into Italy, 47. 
 Pepin of Heristal, Prankish mayor of the 
 
 palace, 44 n. 
 Pepin the Short, Prankish king (741-68), 
 
 45-46. 
 Peter the Great, Russian czar (1689-1725), 
 
 338-339- 
 
 Peter the Hermit, preaches crusade, 95. 
 
 Petition of Right (England, 1628), 279-280. 
 
 Petrarch (1302-74), Italian poet and 
 scholar, 207-208, 209. 
 
 Philip 1 of France (1052-1108), 86. 
 
 Philip IV of France (1285-1314), his con- 
 flict with Boniface VIII, 195-196; se- 
 cures withdrawal of Papal Court from 
 Rome, 197. 
 
 Philip II of Spain (1555-98), 253-257; his 
 marriage with Mary of England, 251, 
 252; his war with England. 266-268; re- 
 volt of the Netherlands, 261-265; rela- 
 tions with France, 270; death of, 270. 
 
 Philip V of Spain (1700-46), 317, 318. 
 
 Philip Augustus of France (1180-1223), 
 87-89, 119, 120; leader in the Third Cru- 
 sade, 103. 
 
 Philip of Valois, claimant for French 
 throne, 169; VI of France (1328-50), 170. 
 
 Pisa, Council of (1409), 199; relation of the 
 University of Paris to, 204. 
 
 Pitt, William ("The Elder"), Lord Chat- 
 ham (1708-78), English statesman, 375. 
 
 Pitt, William (1759-1806), English states- 
 man, 353 »., 375. 
 
 Pius Vll, Pope, 438 «. 
 
 Pius IX, Pope (1846-1878), 471, 480, 488. 
 
 Plassey, battle of (1757), 369. 
 
 Podesta, Italian magistrate, 146. 
 
 Poitiers, battle of (1356), 172. 
 
 Poland, divisions cf, 340, 355-357; 'n Con- 
 gress of Vienna (1814-15), 456. 
 
 Pollentia, battle of (402), 11. 
 
 Poltava, battle of (1709), 339. 
 
 Pompadour, Madame de, favorite of Louis 
 XV, 350, 353. 
 
 Pope, election of, 155. 
 
 Pope, Alexander, English poet, 362. 
 
 Portugal, kingdom of, 222. 
 
 Pragmatic Sanction, 350. 
 
 Prague, Peace of (1866), 497. 
 
 Presbyterianism in England, 292. 
 
 Pressburg, Peace of, 433. 
 
 Preston, battle of (1648), 293. 
 
 Pride's Purge, Great Civil War (England), 
 294. 
 
 Priest, definition of, 20; parish, 136. 
 
 Prime Minister (English), description of, 
 374 n. 
 
 Primogeniture, principle of, 381 n. 
 
 Printing, invention of, 212-213. 
 
 Private warfare, 131. 
 
 Protectorate (Englanil), 295-296. 
 
 Protestantism, origin of the name (Ger- 
 manv), 237; in England, under Henry 
 VIIl", 246-248; under Edward VI, 248- 
 249; under Elizabeth, 258-259; under 
 James 1, 274-275; in France, 268-269; 
 in Germany after 1600, 299 «.; growth 
 of, in Netherlands, 261; in Scandinavia, 
 
 239- ... 
 
 Prussia, Kingdom of, origm of, 343-346; 
 war with France (1792-95), 404, 407- 
 408; war with France (1806-07), 434- 
 436; the regeneration of, 442-444; upris- 
 ing against Napoleon (1813), 445-446; 
 treatment at Congress of Vienna (1814- 
 15), 456-457; joins Holy Alliance (1815), 
 457; constituent assembly proclaimed 
 (1848), 469; after 1848, 491-499. See 
 also Germany. 
 
 Prynne, William, English Puritan, 282. 
 
 Puritans (English religious party), 274; 
 migration of, 280 «.; opposition to 
 Charles I, 281 ; persecution under 
 Charles II, 323-324. 
 
 Pym, John, English statesman. 286, 289 n. 
 
 Railroads, general effect of their use on in- 
 dustry, 554-555. 
 
 Raleigh, Sir Walter, English statesman and 
 navigator, 259 «., 276. 
 
 Ramillies, battle of (1706), 318. 
 
 Raphael, Italian artist, 211, 229 n. 
 
 Raymond, Count of Toulouse, leader in the 
 First Crusade, 97. 
 
 Reform Act (England), the first (1832), 
 509-511; the second (1867), 516-517; 
 the third (1884), 519. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Reformation, the, in Germany, 229-238; 
 in Switzerland, 238-240; in England, 
 242-253; in Holland, 261; in France, 
 268-269; in Scotland, 260. 
 
 Reichstag (Germany), 498. 
 
 Reign of Terror (French Revolution), 390, 
 410-416. 
 
 Remigius, St., Bishop of Rheims, 41. 
 
 Renaissance, the, 204-214. 
 
 Rheims, St. Remigius, Bishop of, 41; Arch- 
 bishop of, 84. 
 
 Richard I of England (1189-99), 88, 103, 
 119. 
 
 Richard II (1377-99), 186. 
 
 Richard III (1483-85), 188-189. 
 
 Richelieu, Cardinal (1585-1642), French 
 statesman, 306, 310 n. 
 
 Right of the Dove-Cots (i8th century, 
 France), 382. 
 
 Ritters (Germany), feudal holding, 219. 
 
 Robert of Normandy, leader in the First 
 Crusade, 97. 
 
 Robespierre (French revolutionist), 405, 
 411, 414-416. 
 
 Rohan, Cardinal de (France), 387. 
 
 Roland of Britanny, Count, 54. 
 
 Rollo (Norse chieftain), his treaty with 
 Charles the Simple, 63. 
 
 Roman Empire, extent of, i ; government 
 of, 3; ta.xation in, 3; army of, 3; slavery 
 in, 3; final division of (395), 11; results 
 of German invasions into, 13. 
 
 Roman Republic (1848), 471. 
 
 Rome, population of, in time of Roman 
 Empire, 2 >/.; sacked by Visigoths, 11; 
 early Bishops of (Popes), 23; Charle- 
 magne at, 52, S3, 55 «., 56; Otto I 
 marches to, 75-77; mob at, cause of 
 Great Schism, 197; center of a "Repub- 
 lic" (1848-49), 470-471 ; seized by Ital- 
 ian Government, 488-489. 
 
 Romulus Augustulus, deposition of (476), 
 14- 
 
 Ronccsvalles, retreat through (778), 54. 
 
 Rossbach, battle of (1757), 353. 
 
 Roumania, 541, 546. 
 
 Roundheads (English Puritans), 291 w. 
 
 Rousseau (1712-78), Franco-Swiss author, 
 388-389.^ 
 
 Royal Session (French Revolution), 395. 
 
 Rudolf of Hapsburg (1273-91), 217. 
 
 Runnymede, conference at (121 5), 120. 
 
 Rupert, Prince (nephew of Charles I of 
 England), 291. 
 
 Russell, Lord John, English statesman, 515. 
 
 Russia, growth of, 335-340; war with 
 France (1812), 444; joins Holy Alliance 
 (1815), 457; its part in the Austrian Re- 
 volution (1848), 471; the evolution of, 
 537^539; Crimean War (1854-56), 540; 
 war with Turkey (1877), 540. 
 
 Ryswick, Treaty of, 316-317. 
 
 Sadowa, battle of (1866), 497 n. 
 
 St. Bartholomew's Day, Massacre of 
 French Huguenots, on, 269. 
 
 St. Helena, Napoleon at, 451. 
 
 St. Peter, church of, 211. 
 
 St. Sophia, church of, 227. 
 
 Saladin, Mohammedan leader in the Third 
 Crusade, 102-103. 
 
 Salerno, University of, 204. 
 
 Salic law (France), 169. 
 
 Salisbury, Lord, English statesman, 521. 
 
 Salisbury Oath (England), 117. 
 
 San Stefano, Treaty of, 541. 
 
 Saracens, use of, in army of Frederick II, 
 162 n. See also Arabs. 
 
 Saxons, their invasion of England, 108- 
 109; their kingdoms in England, iio- 
 III; their fusions with the Normans in 
 England, 124-125. 
 
 Saxony, Charlemagne's wars against, 51- 
 52; stem-duchy of, 71, 72; Henry the 
 Fowler, Duke of, 74; condition of, in 
 1500, 219. 
 
 Scandinavia, Protestantism in, 239. 
 
 Scharnhorst, Prussian War Minister, 443. 
 
 Schism, the Great, in the church (1378- 
 1415), 197-199; relation of the Univer- 
 sity of Paris to, 204. 
 
 Schleswig-Holstein question, 494, 497. 
 
 Schmalkaldic League (1531), German Re- 
 formation, 237. 
 
 Scholastic learning, 205. 
 
 Schurz, Carl (German Liberal), 470. 
 
 Scotland, conditions in the time of Edward 
 I of England, 181-182; effect of struggle 
 with England, 183; Reformation in, 260- 
 261; union with England, 332. 
 
 Scots, revolt of (1637), 282-283, 285; their 
 part in English Civil War, 292, 293, 294. 
 
 Sedan, battle of (1870), 503. 
 
 Sedgemoor, battle of (1685), 326. 
 
 Senlac, battle of (1066), 115 n. 
 
 Sepoy Mutiny (India, 1857-58), 515-516. 
 
 Servetus burned at Geneva, 239. 
 
 Servia, conquest by Turks, 223, 224; war 
 with Turkey (1876), 540; became inde- 
 pendent (1878), 541; war with Bulgaria 
 (1885), 542; Balkan War, 544-546. 
 
 Settlement, Act of (England), 332. 
 
 Sevastopol, siege of (1854-55), 540 n. 
 
 Seven Years' War (1756-63). 353-354- 
 
 Seymour, Jane, wife of Henry VIII, 243 «., 
 
 , 245- 
 
 Shakespeare, English poet, 271. 
 Ship-money (English impost), 281, 288. 
 Sieyes, Abbe (French Liberal), 393, 428 ». 
 Simony, reform of, in the Church, 153. 
 Slavery, in the Roman Empire, 3; abolition 
 
 of, in British colonies, 512. 
 Sobieski, John, King of Poland, saves 
 
 Vienna, 317. 
 Social Contract, The, by Rousseau, 388-389. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Socialism, in France, 467-468; in Ger- 
 many, 529; in general, 558-559- 
 
 Solferino, battle of (1859), 485. 
 
 •Soliman the Magnificent, Turkish Sultan, 
 224. 
 
 Somerset, Duke of, English politician, 248. 
 
 Spain, invasion of, by the Visigoths, 12; by 
 Charlemagne, 54; beginnings of the king- 
 dom of, 221-223; under Philip II, 256, 
 271 ; relations with England under James 
 I, 276-277; condition at close of Thirty 
 Years' War, 311; wars of Louis XIV 
 against, 315-318; war with France 
 (1808), 441-442; in Congress of Vienna 
 (1814-15), 456; revolution in (1870), 
 500-501. 
 
 Spanish Succession, War of (1701-13), 317- 
 318. 
 
 Spenser, English poet, 271. 
 
 Spinning-jenny, the invention of, 366. 
 
 Spires, Diet of, 237. 
 
 Squire (feudal), 128-129. 
 
 Stadtholder (Netherlands), 265. 
 
 Stahremberg, Count, Austrian general, 317. 
 
 Star Chamber (England), 189, 282, 288. 
 
 States General (France), history of, 391- 
 392; of 1789, summoning of, 391; elec- 
 tion to, 392; meeting of, 393-396. 
 
 Steam engine, invention of, 366. 
 
 Steamboats, general effect of their use on 
 industry, 554. 
 
 Stein, German statesman, 443. 
 
 Stem-duchies (Germany), description of, 
 71- 
 
 Stephen, King of England (1135-54), 118- 
 119. 
 
 Stephen II, Pope, 47. 
 
 Stilicho, Prime Minister to Honorius, 11 n. 
 
 Strafford, Earl of, trial of, 286-288. Sec 
 also Wentworth, Sir Thomas. 
 
 Sub-infeudation, 131. 
 
 Suez Canal, 518. 
 
 Supremacy, Act of (England, 1534), 245. 
 
 Sutri, Synod at (1046), 79. 
 
 Suzerain (feudal), 66; relation to his vas- 
 sals, 130-131. 
 
 Swabia (Germany), 71, 74. 
 
 Sweden, in Congress of Vienna (1814-15), 
 456. 
 
 Swiss Cantons, 239 n. 
 
 Taille (French tax), 384. 
 
 Tartar hordes in Russia, 335-336. 
 
 Tassilo, Duke of Bavaria, 53. 
 
 Taxation, under German Empire, 219; in 
 
 France previous to 1789, 384-385; mod- 
 
 ern, 557-558. . 
 Tennis-court oath (French Revolution), 
 
 395- 
 Test Act (England, 1673), 324. 
 Tetzel, John, seller of indulgences, 231-232. 
 Teutonic Order of knights, 342. 
 
 Tewkesbury, battle of (1471), 188. 
 
 Theodosius, Roman Emperor (379-95), 11. 
 
 Theodoric, reign in Italy (493-526), 14. 
 
 Third Estate (France), 392, 393, 394-395- 
 
 Thirty Years' War (1618-48), 299-308. 
 
 Thuringia (Germany), 71, 72, 74. 
 
 Tilly, German Catholic general, 304, 305. 
 
 Tilsit, Peace of, 436. 
 
 Torstenson, Swedish general, 306 n. 
 
 Tory party (England), 326, 332, 374, 511. 
 See Conservative party. 
 
 Tournaments, mediaeval, 129. 
 
 Tours, battle of (732), 44-45. 
 
 Towns, rise of, 144-145; charters granted 
 to, 144, 145; mediaeval government of, 
 145-146; description of, 146-147; effect 
 ol the crusades on the growth of, 105; 
 growth of in England, 253 w., 365, 367. 
 
 Trafalgar, battle of (1805J, 433. 
 
 Trent, Council of, 240. 
 
 Triple Alliance, 532-534. 
 
 Triple Entente, 534. See Entente cordiale. 
 
 Truce of God, 131. 
 
 Turenne, French general, 316. 
 
 Turgot^ French statesman, 358. 
 
 Turks, a cause of the crusades, 94; in Eu- 
 rope, 223: siege of Vienna by (1683), 317; 
 war with Russia (1876-78), 518-519, 541; 
 war with Italy (1911-12), 531 «., 544; 
 decay of, 539-544- 
 
 Tyler, Wat (England), 186 n. 
 
 Tyndale, William, translator of the English 
 Bible, 247 n. 
 
 Ulfilas, Gothic Christian, his missionary 
 work, 7. 
 
 Ulm, surrender of (1805), 433. 
 
 Unam Sanctam (papal bull), 196 «. 
 
 United States, its opposition to the Holy 
 Alliance (1815), 458; an example of de- 
 mocracy, 551-552. 
 
 Universities, origin of medi;eval, 204; Ger- 
 man, 213. 
 
 Unstrut, battle of (933), 74. 
 
 Urban II, Pope (1088-99), 95- 
 
 Urban VI, Pope (i378-."9), 198. 
 
 Urbino, city-state of, 206 n. 
 
 Utopia, by Sir Thomas More, 246 n. 
 
 Utrecht, Peace of (1713), 318. 
 
 Valens, Emperor of the Eastern Provinces 
 
 (375). 10, II. 
 Valmy, battle of (1792), 407. 
 Vandals, in Africa, 13; succumb before 
 
 Justinian, 16. 
 Vane, Sir Harry, English statesman, 286. 
 Va-ennes, flight of Louis XVI to, 401-402. 
 Vasco da Gama, Portuguese navigator, 226. 
 Vassal (feudal), 66; relation to his suzerain, 
 
 130-131- 
 Vatican (Papal residence at Rome), 197, 
 
 489 n. 
 
XXXll 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Venice, its mediaeval trade, loi ; city-state 
 of, 148; leadership in the revival of com- 
 merce, 206; how treated in the Treaty of 
 Campo Formio (1797), 424; Republic of 
 (1848), 471, 472. 
 
 Verdun, Treaty of (843), 62, 64-65. 
 
 Verona, city-state of, 206 n. 
 
 Versailles, palace of Louis XIV at, 313- 
 314- 
 
 Virtue, meaning of word in the Renaissance 
 period, 209. 
 
 Victor Emmanuel II of Italy, 472, 472 n.. 
 482-489; death of, 531. 
 
 Victor Emmanuel III, 531. 
 
 Victoria, Queen of England (1837-1901), 
 512-513; death of, 522. 
 
 Victorian Age, 513-514. 
 
 Vienna, attacked by the Turks (1529), 224; 
 siege of (1683), 317; Congress of (1814- 
 15), 454-457- 
 
 Villafranca, Peace of (1859), 485. 
 
 Villeins (mediaeval serfs), 67, 142 n. 
 
 Villeneuve, French admiral, 433. 
 
 Visigoths (Germanic tribe), 5; driven south- 
 ward by the Huns, 10; sack Rome (410), 
 11; settle in Spain, 12; destroyed by the 
 Arabs, 33. 
 
 Voltaire (French philosopher, 1694-1778), 
 379. 388. 
 
 Von Moltke, German general, 494, 495, 
 497. 501, 502. 
 
 Wager by battle, 8, 122. 
 
 Wagram, battle of (1809), 442. 
 
 Wales, holds out against the Saxons, 109; 
 brought under English supremacy by 
 Edwartl I, 181. 
 
 Wallace, William, Scottish patriot, 182. 
 
 Wallenstein, Albert von (Bohemian gen- 
 eral), 301, 302, 305. 
 
 Walpole, English statesman, 375. 
 
 Walsingham, Sir Francis, English states- 
 man, 257. 
 
 Wars of the Roses (1455-85), 188-189. 
 
 Waterloo, battle of (i8i5),"45i. 
 
 Watt, James, English inventor, 366, 378. 
 
 Wellesley, Sir Arthur, English general, 442. 
 
 Wellington, Duke of, 451; Prime Minister 
 
 of England, 509-510, 511. See also Wel- 
 lesley, Sir Arthur. 
 
 Welsh Church, bill for the disestablish- 
 ment 01, 535. 
 
 Wentworth, Sir Thomas (after 1639, Earl 
 of Strafford), English statesman, 282. 
 
 Wesley, John (1703-91), Enghsh religious 
 leader, 362. 
 
 West India Islands, annexation by Eng- 
 land, 370. 
 
 Whig party (England), 326, 332, 374, 510. 
 
 White Hill, battle of (1620), 301. 
 
 Whitney, Eli, American inventor, 367. 
 
 Wiclif, English Church reformer, 184; re- 
 lation of Hus to, 200. 
 
 William I of England (1066-87), 86, 113- 
 117. 
 
 William II of England (1087-1100), 117. 
 
 William III of England (1689-1702), 330, 
 331- 
 
 William IV of England (1830-37), 507, 509. 
 
 William I of Prussia (1861-88), 493-505, 
 528. 
 
 William II of Prussia (1888—), 528-529. 
 
 William of Orange, 316; in England, 329. 
 
 William the Silent, Dutch liberator (1533- 
 84), 262-265. 
 
 Witan, Anglo-Saxon great Council, 114. 
 
 Wittekind, Saxon leader (785), 52. 
 
 Wolsey, Cardinal, English statesman, 243, 
 244. 
 
 Women, under feudal conditions, 130. 
 
 Worcester, battle of (1651), 294. 
 
 Worms, Concordat of, 158. 
 
 Worms, scene of trial of Luther, 234-235; 
 edict against Luther, 237. 
 
 Worth, battle of (1870), 503. 
 
 Xeres, battle of (711), 43-44- 
 
 Yeoman archers (English), 169. 
 
 "Young Turks" (Turkish party), 542, 544. 
 
 Ypres, in 15th century, 147. 
 
 Zalacca, battle of (1087), 94. 
 
 Zollverein (German "customs union") 
 
 462 H. 
 Zwingli, Swiss reformer (1484-1531), 23Q. 
 
^•^ 
 
0° Longitude iO' Easl IVuui 40' Greenwich 00' 80' 100' 120 1