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A COMPLETE history of Germany, the common fa- therland of the western nations of Europe, has long been wanting in English literature, notwithstanding the great number of German historians of more than com- mon merit, whose works have met with a favourable reception in their own country, and are justly entitled to the notice of the foreigner. Among these histories, chat compiled by Wolfgang Menzel, now offered to the public, presents much that is well known under a novel aspect, and also contains much that could not find its way into the general histories of Europe, whence the English reader chiefly draws his knowledge of Germany, and of German affairs. A Protestant, and perfectly free from bigotry, this historian has, when treating of reli- gion and religious controversy, generally allowed facts to speak for themselves, thus leaving the inference to the sagacity of his peruser ; nor can he be charged with partiality, save in some few instances, when national vanity obscured his better judgment. Germany undeniably stands, at the present moment, on the eve of great political events. The errors and crimes of past and present governments have slow- ly, but surely, prepared a revolution which, whether iv THE TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. gradual and bloodless, or sudden and violent, coming years can alone prove. For the first time, a similar spirit, that of progression, of civilization, of the acqui- sition and maintenance of popular right, animates both the plebeian and the aristocrat ; the spirit, uow con- vulsing Italy, has long and silently brooded over Ger- many, the hour when the volcano may burst who can tell ! the issue let the tardy politician prognosticate, to the historian's pen is it alone given to trace that spirit's rise and fall, its struggles, and, it may be, ere long, its final triumph. Liberal as Menzel's political creed undoubtedly is, it is, nevertheless, far removed from the vulgar radical- ism of " Young Germany," with which the compilations of many of his brother historians, in every other respect highly commendable, are infected. He has, conse- quently, notwithstanding his well-merited popularity, numerous opponents, particularly during the present crisis, when party-spirit is liable to be mistaken for pa- triotism ; violence and excess, for zeal. The belief that moderation is, in politics more especially, essential in the historian, in order to enable him to steer clear of the errors and to overcome the difficulties that beset his path, formed therefore our guiding principle when se- lecting this work for publication, and induced the choice of this historian in preference to others, perhaps superior to him in depth and brilliancy, but unpossessed of this more valuable quality. Lichtenthal, 1848. HISTORY OF GERMANY. FIRST PERIOD. HEATHEN ANTIQUITY. PART I. ORIGIN AND MANNERS OF THE ANCIENT GERMANS. I. The primitive forests of Germany. BEFORE Germany was peopled, the country appears to have been almost entirely covered with primitive forests. When the Romans, not long before the birth of Christ, became ac- quainted with these regions, they already contained a numerous population, although at that period but little of the ancient forests seems to have been cleared away ; according to their account, the great Hercinian forest then extended from the Black forest across the whole of Germany, and the inhabitants, a mere hunter-race, only practised the arts of husbandry when driven by extreme necessity. The forests were held sacred, and temples were erected on consecrated lakes, hidden in their secluded depths unprofaned by the hand of man. Similar sacred groves were found by Herodotus in the country of the Budini to the north of the Black Sea, and they were intro- duced by Hyperboreans into Greece ; for instance, the sacred grove of Delphi, the famous Grecian oracle. In northern mythology, the ash tree (ygdrasill) is emblematical of the whole earth, and the first men, esche, ash, and erle, alder, also take their names from trees ; hence particular trees were held sacred throughout Germany, nor has this ancient veneration yet entirely passed away. B z THE PRIMITIVE FORESTS OF GERMANY. The Romans regarded the forests of Germany with super- stitious dread. There were said to be gigantic trees which, when hollowed into boats, held thirty men, and through the arches formed by their projecting roots a horseman could ride at full speed. The buffalo, the bison, and the elk, once nu- merous in these wilds, have now totally disappeared ; and the bears, whose skins were the chief article of the dress of our forefathers, the wolves, boars, and innumerable other large game, daily become more scarce. The counvry possessed neither towns, roads, nor bridges, and it is easily conceivable that, dissatisfied with their meagre forest fare, the people con- tinually migrated to and took possession of the fruitful lands of neighbouring nations. Solitude created a desire, or romantic longing, in the breast of the ancient inhabitant of these wilds, for what was distant and unknown, whilst the habits of the chace rendered him enterprising and hardy. The laws founded upon personal freedom, the virtuous manners and cheerful temperament of the ancient German, originated in those mighty wastes, where, forced to trust to his own re- sources, man necessarily became independent, and was secure from the corruption incidental to crowded communities. These wild forests also attached an idea of the marvellous, so novel to the Romans, to the character of the German, who, trained to war by the habits of the chace, associated piety with ferocity, and would still listen to the secret voice of Nature in the mysterious whisperings of the forest, now disposing him to deep musings, now creating strange forebodings, which were recognised as true prophetic inspiration in the women and maidens. When Germany was first christianized, the monks under- took to clear away the forests and to promote agriculture, and as the migrations had then ceased, those of the inhabitants who had remained in the country were gradually forced by necessity to exchange the life of the hunter for that of the peasant. Yet, notwithstanding this, and the great increase of population during succeeding centuries, a very considerable portion of these primitive forests still remains, and the stranger, who for the first time visits our country, still wonders at their extent ; nor have the great union of states and the customs of city life been able to eradicate the ancient forest freedom, the nature, and the loyal character of our ancestors. ORIGIN OF THE GERMANS. II. Origin of the Germans. WHO first trod the sacred forest? who for the first time rested beneath the shade of the German oak ? The earliest account of the German people is very obscure. Civilized na- tions, distinguished by mighty deeds,,had already long dwelt on the shores of the Mediterranean, whilst our northern land was still unknown. History, though still in its infancy, already recorded the vicissitudes of empires, whilst in our dark forests legendary lore still held its superstitious reign. Already had the sages of the East taught wisdom beneath the palm, the merchants of Phrenicia and Carthage weighed anchor and spread their purple sails on the distant ocean, the Greek beautified the earth with magic art, and the Roman founded his colossal and iron despotism, whilst the German, ignorant and naked, was still reigning undisturbed over the denizens of the wild. The first authentic account of the Germans dates scarcely a century before the birth of Christ, when the Romans first came in conflict with them. Before this period, their history is mere legendary fable, which, however, a pecu- liar character pervades. From this epoch the southern nations regarded them as a free and warlike nation. It has been attempted to unravel the genealogy of nations by referring them to the first book of Moses ; and sometimes Gomer, (Cimbri,) with his sons, Ashkenaz, (the Saxon Ascan,) Ri- phath, (the Frankish Ripuarii,) and Togarmah (Germanii) ; sometimes Aram, (Irmin, Hermiones,) with his sons, Uz, (the Asiatics,) Hul or Chul, (the Gauls,) Gethen, (Geten or Goths,) and Masch (Massagetae), have been supposed to be the an- cestors of the German tribes ; but these are mere nomen- clatory hypotheses, by which we can arrive at no certainty. To this class also belongs the derivation of the Nibilungen from Niphilim. There are clearer indications of an eastern origin, and traces of an affinity between our language and that of ancient India are still perceivable. Wodan, who was worshipped by the Germans as the father of the gods, is the Indian Buddha, the father of the twelve Diti, who, for a thousand years, fought against the Indian gods, and were driven into exile. Many are of opinion, that Buddha was the most ancient and the only B 2 4 ORIGIN OF THE GERMANS. god of the Indians, until the religion of Brahma, together with the division into castes, (hereditary privileges,) was introduced, and the Brahmins, or caste of priests, usurped the whole au- thority. It is certain, that after this, the lower castes rebelled against the priests, and chose a new Buddha for their god, who is still worshipped in some parts of India. From the warlike castes, who thence migrated northwards, may have sprung those brave and warlike nations, met with, at a later period, in the north, as worshippers of Wodan, or Odin, from whom the German tribes trace their descent.* In the oldest records of the German language, the An ten or Inten are often spoken of as an ancient nation, and particu- lar buildings and weapons are mentioned as " works of the Anten." The word is also traceable in the names of places and people, Ant, Ango, Ent, Eng, Int, Intto, Indo, and India, in the German of the middle ages, is written Endia. See Mone's Derivations. The Grecian fable of Deucalion. Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha alone survived the flood. They threw stones behind them, whence sprang a new race of men, the Heraclidian wanderers, who peopled the country to the west of the Caucasus. To this many German legends bear resemblance. Tacitus heard, from the Germans on the Rhine, that the common ancestor of their people was called Thuisko or Thuisto, and sprang out of the earth. His son, Mammus, had three sons, from whom the principal tribes of Germany, the Ingavones, Hermiones, and Istavones, sprang. According to Pliny, the Cauci, Chaubi, or Chauci, (from Caucasus,) whom we meet with later as the Saxons, belong to the first. But the ancient Saxons had a legend, that their nation, with their first king Ascan, (perhaps Asian Khan, or Prince of Asia,) originally sprang from the Harz mountains. Accord- ing to an old legend of the north, Buri, the father of the * The Grecian fable of the Titans is somewhat similar. Chronos and the twelve Titans fought against Jupiter and the younger gods, and were destroyed by the thunderbolts of Jove. Chronos fled to Boreas in the Caucasus, whose highest mountain still bears the name of Elboreas. Prometheus, the eldest of the Titans, who stole the fire from heaven, was chained by offended Jupiter, for a thousand years, to the rocks of the Caucasus. The nations, that, in the third century after Christ, under the name of Zenones, issued from the interior of Germany, and crossing the Danube overran Italy and Greece, were called by the Greeks, " The descendants of the Titans." THE DARK AGES. 5 Asiatics, was licked out of a rock of salt by the sacred cow. With this agrees the northern legend, mentioned by Snorri, concerning the migration of the Asiatics, whose progenitor, Buri, dwelt at Asgard (Boreas in the Caucasus). His son, Bor, had three sons, Wile, We, and Odin (Wodan). The last being driven by the gods out of the country, wandered through Gardaric (Russia) and Saxony to Sweden, where he founded Sigtuna, (Upsala,) as his new seat of government. Other accounts of migrations seem to own a diiferent origin. The chronicler, Hunibald, describes the Franks as fugitives, who wandered as far as the Rhine after the destruction of Troy, and who there founded Zante (so called from the Tro- jan river Zanthus). The old Saxon chroniclers ascribe the origin of the Saxons to deserters from the army of Alexander the Great, who fled to the country of Hadel. They have even discovered an affinity between the wanderings of Ulysses and of JEneas after the fall of Troy ana the god Odin, and between his son, the first Saxon leader, Ascan, and Ascanius, the son of ^Eneas. The legends of Hercules, who is said to have visited Germany, and to have been honoured there as a god, are even more obscure. III. The Dark Ages. THOSE tribes which, at a later period, were classed under the general name of " Germans," were formerly known under separate names, and it is now impossible to distinguish them exactly from each other. According to the earliest accounts of the Greeks, the Scythians, a simple-mannered and brave people, divided into several tribes, dwelt to the north of the Black Sea. It has been supposed, that their name signifies " marksmen," and that they were, if not all, at least partly, Germans. Neither the Persian kings, nor Alexander the Great, were able to subdue them. The Greeks named the northern nations, on the other side of the great chain of moun- tains extending from Caucasus, by Hasmus, to the Alps, and dividing the south from the north of Europe, Hyperboreans, i. e. people who dwelt beyond the abode of Boreas (the north wind). They also regarded them as " the most long-lived, and the most just among mankind." 6 THE DARK AGES. Somewhat later, we hear of the Celts. They were sup- posed to dwell to the west of the Scythians, and the inter- mediate nation was named Celto Scythian. Their name has been sometimes supposed to signify " Heroes," and they are described as being extremely brave. The most remarkable of the Celtic tribes were the Cimmerii or Cimbri, who, migrating from the far west, from England and Denmark, vhere traces of them have been discovered, invaded Asia Minor and Italy. Their name was supposed to signify " Warrior." I do not venture to quote the numerous legends of these northern tribes ; in the first place, because they are merely a confused heap of religious notions and historical facts ; in the second, because they have been only handed down to us by strangers, or by poets, those patrons of the marvellous ; and thirdly, because it is impossible to distinguish how much is essentially German in the legends of the Scythians, the Hy- perboreans, the Celts, and the Cimbri. Under the name of Scythian, are evidently comprehended not only the German, but also the Slavonian and Tartar races, now dwelling eastward of us. To the Hyperboreans apparently belonged, not only the German, 'but also the Finnish races in Lapland, Finland, Courland, Esthonia, Livonia, and Lithuania, who were driven by the Germans to the icy northern cape, and to the rocky inlets of the Baltic. Although there were many tribes that, notwithstanding their German origin, were generally comprised under the name of Celti, yet this name in reality belongs to another and a perfectly distinct nation, that migrated at an earlier period, and of whose peculiar language slight indications may still be traced in Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and Brittany. The Gauls, the Gaelic and Welsh tribes, are the people whom we now commonly designate Welschen, Italians. Along the course of the Danube there are places that still retain their ancient 1 Gallic names, none of which are to be met with further north. The Cimmerii who dwelt in England, the Ambrones on the Rhone, the Umbri in Italy, were all apparently of Gaelic ori- gin ; and yet the Cimbri, conjointly with the Teutones, who dwelt at the mouths of the Elbe, and migrated into Italy, were apparently of pure German descent, and the Sicambri are well known to have been German Franks. DIVISION OF THE GERMANS INTO TRIBES. 7 The Greeks never distinguished the German tribes from their neighbours by any particular name, and it was not until after the birth of Christ that they are mentioned under the new name of Germani by the Romans. The Latin word Germanus means, brother, but the word may also be a German one, and signify, a warrior, by which a number of secondary meanings are admissible, for instance, guerre, war ; ger, a lance ; heer, an army ; ehre, honour ; geivehr, security. These Latin names were again lost amid the migrations of nations, when the Roman empire fell. Then innumerable new names appear, but no general designation, so that it is matter of doubt whether several tribes belonged to the Ger- man or Slavonian natrons. After the great irruptions of the different tribes, many of the lesser ones disappeared, and were comprehended under the common designations of Goths, Franks, Bavarians, Germans, Thuringians, Burgundians, Lon- gobardi, Angli, Saxons, Danes, Swedes, and Norwegians. It was not until the reign of Charlemagne, that all these na- tions received the general denomination of Germans. The word Thiot, Diet, in the old German tongue, signifies, the people. Before the time of Charlemagne, the Germans did not compose one nation, but were divided into distinct com- munities, allied by common descent, but politically independ- ent of each other ; so that they could not be classed under one name until they formed one nation. IV. The division of the Germans into separate tribes. THE bond by which the different nations of Germany were united, was formerly, as now, of very frail tenure, and even when drawn closer, was ever liable to sever. The reason obviously lies in the national character, which, of too expan- sive a nature ever to be uniform, displays an infinite variety of striking peculiarities, differing according to the natural bias of the individual ; hence, in ancient times, the unalterable love of freedom, and the wild chivalric spirit which animated our forefathers, who, equally independent and regardless of their native country, achieved single-handed the most daring exploits ; hence, in our times, the extraordinary variety of 8 DIVISION OF THE GERMANS INTO TRIBES. talented individuals engaged in intellectual warfare as zealously as the German in times of yore in bodily combat. The con- sciousness of great physical strength produced a spirit of in- dependence and a naive indifference to danger, which struck the Romans with astonishment, and which, by inducing a blind reliance on their own strength, caused the Teutons to weaken themselves by internal feuds, or with listless apathy to view each other's destruction. None pitied the vanquished. If nine fell, the tenth was confident of gaining success by the prowess of his single arm. The greater the slaughter of his brethren by the enemy, the fewer the competitors for glory, and so much the greater honour to the victor. Thus, instead of a neighbour being assisted as a friend, he was only re- garded as a rival in heroic deeds ; so that the action that would now be considered as the vilest perfidy, was deemed by our forefathers the height of chivalric virtue ; and it was not until the Romans had taken great advantage of this error, that they discovered that their safety depended upon their acting in unison. But when danger no longer threatened, their ancient prejudices again produced disunion, and it was only when the evil was universally felt that they could be induced to enter into a bond of mutual protection. The forest life of the primitive Germans was one of the primary causes of this want of union ; all intercourse in those immense and savage tracts being restricted to the nearest neighbours, as neither roads nor commerce existed as a means of communication between the more distant tribes. In the first century after Christ, two Romans, Tacitus the historian, who makes honourable mention of our nation, and Pliny the great naturalist, wrote a genealogical account of the different tribes ; which, according to Tacitus, descended from Thuisko, whose son Mammus was the common ancestor of the Ingavones, Hermiones, and Istavones ; the first of whom are placed by Pliny on the North Sea ; the second, in the interior of Germany ; and the third, on the Rhine. He moreover mentions two great German nations, the Vendili on the Baltic, and the Peucini on the island of Peuce, at the mouth of the Danube in Hungary. Thuisko is evidently an epithet derived from Thuit, Thiot, the people ; like Mannisko, from Mann, a man, and no- thing further is discoverable beyond the subdivision of these DIVISION OF THE GERMANS INTO TRIBES. great nations into tribes. Whether Thuisko was also honoured as a god, and was identical with Wodan, is not of much im- port with regard to the genealogy of these nations. He haj been supposed to be the same as the Egyptian god Thoth- Hermes, to whom Odin bears much resemblance in his works of invention, and the Romans in fact assimilate him with Mercury or Hermes, a name resembling that of the German deity Irmin, and that of the Hermiones. About A. D. 1100, the monk Nestor, the earliest Russian chronicler, divided the Veragri or Scandinavians, who con- quered Russia, into Suiones, Urmanni, Inglani, and Gothi. Could he have intended under these names to designate the Swedes, the Normans, the inhabitants of Ingermanland and Gothland, or did he refer to the yet earlier division of all the German tribes, as recorded by Tacitus and Pliny? An old manuscript in the Vatican library mentions Ermenius, Ingo, and Esco, as the ancestors of the Germans, who in the 6th century are named by Nennius, the Englishman, Hisicio, Arraeno, and Mugio. These ancient names were soon lost amid the migrations of the tribes. In the north, the Ingavones gave place to the Saxons ; in the west, the Istavones to the Franks ; in the east and south, the Hermiones to the Goths, who, being the most considerable of the migratory tribes, gained the upper hand, and were consequently at enmity with each other. The hatred existing between the brother-nations is recorded in our old warlike legends, in which the Franks are called the Nibelungen ; the Saxons, the Hegelingen ; and the Goths, the Walfinger. Gaupp has very ingeniously sought to refer all the German tribes to two original sources, the Suevi and the Non-Suevi, or High and Low Dutch. Under the denomination of Suevi, he comprehends Suevi, Alemanni, Bavarians, Burgundians, Goths, Alani, Vandals, Gepidas, originally wandering shep- herd tribes attracted by the superiority of the country, and consisting of nobles, freemen, and slaves, who, when con- verted to Christianity, embraced Arianism, which formed a still stronger bond between them, and more broadly distin- guished them from the Non-Suevi, under which denomination he classes the Franks, Saxons, Lombards, Thuringians, and Frieslanders, who first practised husbandry, had settled dwell- 10 DIVISION OF THE GERMANS INTO TEIBES. ings, and were divided into only one class of freemen, and two classes of bondsmen, Lazzi and Slavi or Servi, and who professing Catholicism were united, by a common faith, against the Arian Suevi. The whole of these divisions are apparent- ly correct, nor are they contradictory. The Suevi collected into enormous masses, whilst the Non- Suevi separated, on ac- count of their having fixed habitations, into numerous and much smaller tribes, of which the Romans have specified an enormous number, which, taken in the aggregate, may for- merly have simply belonged to two great sources, the Istavones and Ingavones, who, at a later period, subdivided in a similar manner in Franconia and Saxony. Among the Hermiones, Tacitus first mentions the Suevi, to whom the Vendili or Peucini of Pliny doubtless belonged as Gothic tribes in the east. Thus the old account perfectly coincides with the modern. mode of division. Many of the tribes were totally exterminated by intestine wars or during migration ; many, on the contrary, raised themselves by their bravery from insigni- ficance to considerable power ; some incorporated themselves with nations to which they did not originally belong, as, for instance, the Lombards, who, severing themselves from the Suevi, united with the Saxons ; finally, an intermixture of races took place, as in the case of the New Thuringians, who were some of Prankish, others of Suevian (Varini) origin. The German tribes may with great justice be compared to a swarm of bees. The mere love of fighting occasioned con- tinual wars between them, either on the pretext of defending their frontiers from the aggressions of their neighbours, or for the purpose of extending them ; and they had the custom of sending the young men, whenever the population became too numerous for the soil, annually forth to seek an existence in foreign lands, so that the surplus of their warlike population was unceasingly pouring across the frontiers. The earliest and numerous migratory hordes, travelling from north to south, were apparently also German adventurers, such as the Cimmerii, Boii, and Senones ; and in later times, the Cimbri and Teutones ; the Suevi, under Ariovistus ; the Marcomanni, Quadi, Getas, and Bastarnae. The opposition they met with from the Romans appears to have turned them eastward ; a cir- cumstance which perhaps reveals the origin of the immense em- pire founded by the Goth, Hermauarich, between the Baltic and THE SUEVIAN TRIBES. H the Black Sea. These fierce nations again poured with irre- sistible fury from the north to the south and west ; opposition proved unavailing, and Goths, Alani, Vandals, Burgundians, Longobardi, Alemanni, Franks, Angli, and Saxons, spread like a torrent over the whole Roman empire. It was some time after this migration of these enormous multitudes before a large mass could again collect for a similar purpose in Ger- many, where they began to congregate into cities ; when the surplus population again took possession of the Slavonian countries, which were conquered in the times of the crusades, and colonized the shores of the Baltic. Since that period the destructive religious wars prevented a too great increase of population, and filled Holland and the distant colonies with thousands, who fled thither from persecution at home ; and within the last century several hundred thousands of German adventurers have gradually settled in America, on the Wolga, and in other parts of the world. In their native country, the Ancient Germans were dis- tinguished by the epithet of " Free," from the bondsmen, who apparently were not of German origin. These Sclavi, (Slavi, Slavonians or Servi, Serbi or Servii,) were doubtless prison- ers taken from our Slavonian neighbours in the east. The other bondsmen, who rented their property from and were protected by a freeman, were called Lazzi, Lati. or Liti, in Germany, and Aldi, among the Longobardi in Italy. It is still uncertain whether, like the Sclavi or Servi, they were originally a conquered people, or whether the name is derived from the word lassen, to let, (freigelassenen, those let free,) or from laz, the last or lowest. The Longobardian Aldi evidently signifies the ancient (alien) and conquered inhabit- ants of the country. V. The Suevian tribes. SNORRI Sturleson, the earliest historian of the north, who wrote in the German (Icelandish) tongue,, divides the ancient world into three parts, Asia, Suithiod, and Europe.* Tacitus also says that the Suevi possessed by far the greater part of * Suithiod, the extensive country of the Suevi, lay between Asia and Eurono 12 THE SUEVIAN TRIBES. Germany. Greek ships that visited the shores of the Baltic for the purpose of collecting amber, about three centuries B. c., brought back accounts of the Suiones in modern Sweden, of the mountain Sewo between Sweden and Norway, and of the Suevian Sea, the Baltic. The ancient name is still pre- served in those of Swabia and Switzerland. The Hungarians call all Germans Swabians. It is impossible to discover whether the name was taken from see, the sea, or from schioeifen, to roam about ; on account of their nomade mode of existence, or from the long hanging haar schweifen, tails of hair, worn by them tied together behind the head, and which formed part of their national costume. Fifty years B. c., when Julius Caesar for the first time led his legions to the Rhine, he found the western Germans (Non- Suevi) under great apprehension on account of the numerical superiority of their eastern neighbours, the Suevi. From them he learnt that they were divided into a hundred districts, each of which annually sent forth a thousand warriors, who migrated in one vast horde. A century later, Tacitus men- tions these hundred districts, but says that the Semnones, the most ancient and the most considerable tribe of the Suevi, was the only one so divided, exclusively of the numerous other Suevian tribes. The Semnones, and their allies the Boii, overran Greece and Italy at a much earlier period, settled in the north of Italy, and after a long and difficult struggle (the wars of the Sam- nites) were vanquished by the Romans. Their name resembles that of the royal race of Saming, the son of Odin, the Samingri, in Norway. The same may be said of Samland. Perhaps the name may also be traced in that of the Cenni, (Sens, Senn, shepherds in the Alps,) who, Anno Domini 300, joined the Catti and Hermunduri, and opposed the Romans. A remarkable accordance exists between the names of the places and of the nations situated on the extreme verge of the north and the south of ancient Suithiod. In the north, the Suiones or Swedes, the Samingri and Samlanders, with the Guttones or Goths, Danes, and Cimbri. In the south, the Swabians and the Swiss, the Semnones and Cenni, with the Getae as far as the Danube ; the Cimmerii, Umbri, etc. Besides these, there are the Gaelic names which are evi- dently anterior to the German migrations. Snorri relates, THE SUEVIAN TRIBES. 13 that Odin found Norway already peopled, and that a nation called the Vani gave place to the German Vandali, who in their turn were replaced by the Slavonian Vendi. Again, we find in the south the names of Noricum, (which may perhaps be also traced in those of Nordlingen and Nuremberg,) and Vindelicia, in Augusta Vindelicorum, now Augsburg ; also in Venice, the Vendian boundary. In the north, 'we find the worship of Thor, who was held in peculiar reverence by the Gaelic and Finnish tribes, and who is anterior to Odin ; and in the south, we meet with the Taurisci in the Alps, the Thurgau, etc. There also exists some similarity in name and language between the Lettish tribes in the north, and the Latins (whence the Latin or Roman tongue) in the south. Tacitus mentions all the Suevian nations by the general name of Hermiones, a name that again appears in that of the Herinunduri, who dwelt in modern Thuringia, and in that of Ariminum, (Rimini,) a city founded by the Samnites in Italy. The German deity, Irmin, and the celebrated column of Irmen, a relic of paganism, destroyed by Charlemagne, show the same connexion, and again call to mind the similarity be- tween Hermes, Thoth, and Thuisko. Besides the Hermunduri, other nations were said to belong to the Hermiones ; the Cherusci in the Harz mountains, the Catti in Hesse, the Longobardi on the Middle Elbe, the Mar- comanni and Quadi on the Danube, besides several petty tribes in the direction of the Oder and the Baltic, who are buried in complete obscurity. Pliny distinguished the numerous Gothic tribes by the generic names of Vendili on the Baltic, and Peucini on the Danube, from the more westerly Hermiones. The Peucini lay nearest to Asia, their native land, and took their name from an island supposed to have been held sacred, and which possibly may have had some connexion with that of Samo- thrace, where the religions of the north and of Greece inter- mingled, or with the oracle of Delphi in Greece, which was founded by Hyperboreans in the earlier ages of antiquity. Zamolxis, the sage, who first taught the doctrine of the im- mortality of the soul, dwelt, at a very remote period, among the Getas, the principal nation of the Peucini. These German tribes on the Danube were first subdued by Darius, the Persian king, and afterwards by Alexander the Great. They con- 14 THE TRIBES OF LOWER GERMANY. sisted of Getze, Daci, and Bastarnae, and were in alliance with the Marcomanni in Bohemia, Bohmen, or Bojenheim, the ancient birthplace of the Boii. The Quadi and Cenni defended the shores of the Danube against the Romans, who, at an earlier period, met with simi- lar opposition from the Boii, and their constant allies, the Senones. When the northern Vendili, consisting of Goths, Vandals, Burgundians, Alani, Gepidce, Heruli, Rugii, etc. migrated to the south, overspread the ancient Roman empire, gave new inhabitants to Italy, France, Spain, and even to the north of Africa, the whole of ancient Suithiod, from the Elbe to the Vistula, was left bare, until repeopled by fresh Slavo- nian settlers. The Suevi, who remained in Upper Germany, received the name of Alemanni, which is still preserved in that of the Swabian Almanden, public property, and evidently means, all, or all sorts of men. The French call the Ger- mans Allemands. The Bavarian Hessians, and a part of the Thuringians, were also originally Suevi, and Austria, when retaken by them from its Slavonian settlers, was again Ger- manized. Thus the whole of modern southern Germany is Suevian, and still makes use of the common High German or Dutch (oberdeutsch) tongue, though the long separation has rendered it very different to that spoken in the north of Swe- den, with which it was once nearly allied. VI. The tribes of Lower Germany. THE Istavones were the Franks on the Rhine ; the Inga- vones, the Saxons on the North Sea ; they always remained in their ancient dwelling-places, although they also sent forth immense hordes, which some centuries before Christ, under the name of Cimbri and Teutones, spread terror throughout Italy, and at a later period, repeopled France and England. To the Istavones, who afterwards appear as the Franks, be- longed, most particularly, the Sicambri, Teucteri, Usipetes, Ubii, Marsi, Ampsibari, Angrivarii, Chamavi, Mattiaci, etc., on the Lower Rhine. The other small tribes on the Upper Rhine, the Nemetes, Nangiones, Triboci, Latobrigi, Rauraci ; and on THE TRIBES OF LOWER GERMANY. 15 the Moselle and in the Netherlands, the Nervii, Treveri, (Triers,) and Belgse (Netherlands), to which the Menapii, Marini, Gugerni, Eburones, Caninefates, and Batavians also belonged ; all of which were certainly not of Suevian origin. To the Ingavones belonged the Cimbri and Teutones, who migrated to the south ; the Chauci, who afterwards appear as the Saxons ; the Frisii, Fasi, Dulgibines, Ambrones, Tu- bantes, etc. Snorri says, that Odin successively visited Saxony and Sweden. The most celebrated of his sons was Yngwi-Freyr, from whom the royal Swedish race, the Ynglinger, descended. According to this writer, Odin first founded in Sweden the sacred city of Sigtuna, (Upsala,) from Sigge, one of his own names, which leads us to the Sicambri, and to the legendary Frankish hero, Siegfried, who is also famous in the legends of the north, which in fact have generally originated from the Rhine. Odin is perhaps Ulysses of whom Tacitus says, that he founded Asciburgium, (Odin's Asgard,) on the Lower Rhine. Perhaps we must go back yet further. The Am- bi'ones and Sequani dwelt on the Rhone and Saone, where, according to the Gselic legend, king Ambigat reigned, and sent the two sons of his sister forth at the head of immense armies ; Bellovesus to Italy, where he founded Milan ; and Sigovesus across the Rhine, where, together with the Tecto- saga3, (quod sagis tegerentur,) he settled in the until then unpeopled Hercynian forest. The Frankish- Saxon Odin- Sigge is probably Sarnote, (Saxon Odin,) who, in the form of abjuration anciently pre- scribed to the German pagans on their conversion to Christ- ianity, is particularly mentioned after Wodan. In the temple at Upsala, the statue of the warlike Odin stood before a great golden sun, which was perhaps symbolical of the still more ancient Suevian-Gothic deity, Wodan (Guodan, God). The great annual festival in the north was called Sunarblot, Sonnen-blut, (blood of the sun,) Sonnen-opfer (sacrifice of the sun). Among the ancient Persians, Thaout meant sacred fire. Perhaps a more simple Suevian-Gothic adoration of the sun, (of the ancient Wodan,) preceded the more polished wor- ship of Odin. Perhaps the Franks learnt image worship in temples from the more civilized Gauls, or from the Grecian and Phrenician merchantmen, who visited those northern 16 THE GERMANS. coasts. The twelve Drotlar, whom Odin appointed supreme iudges over the Swedes, call to ruind the Druids or Gallic priests. VII. The Germans. THE character common to all the nomade tribes, or tribes of wandering hunters and shepherds, at the period of their settlement in Germany, soon obliterated all trace of difference in descent. There is an authentic account of the division of the land, by the Suevi, into Almenden, (public property,) be- longing to whole tribes or communities, not to single families, which, in course of time, was exchanged for the Allodium, or private property, a mode of division which had been intro- duced at an earlier period among the lower Germans. This gradual transition, however, does not prove the existence of any essential difference between the German tribes, in which man, not property, was the chief consideration. All the Germans were warriors. Irman, in the Persian tongue, signifies a guest or companion in arms ; Germanus, in Latin, a brother. They were all freemen and equal, united by a strong fraternal bond. The whole of the German tribes were early distinguished by their spirit of equalization from the other hordes to the north of the Caucasus, the Slavi and Tartars, as well as from those to the south, in Persia, Affghan- istan, and Arabia, all of which, with the patriarchal reverence of children to their father, submitted to a single supremacy, and when, through increase of population or by conquest, they had attained considerable power, always erected magnificent palaces for their sovereigns, whose magic splendour was the astonishment of the world, and realized the fairy dreams of eastern imagination in the wonders of Babylon, Delhi, Bag- dad, Ispahan, and Stamboul. The Germans, on the contrary, regarded each other as brethren and equals, and even when they had become numerous and powerful, and were united under great leaders, always asserted their equality, and de- fended their free constitution. Every one enjoyed personal freedom, and had an exclusive right over his own property. In the popular assemblies of each district, the eldest man present presided, and the majority decided. It was only during war, ANCIENT GERMAN FREEDOM. 17 that they obeyed a leader, whom they selected by raising him on their shields. Even after the great migration, when the Germans, for nearly a thousand years, had, with various for- tune, struggled against the Romans, and incessant warfare had consolidated the power of their leaders, we still find, wher- ever the German tongue was spoken, from Iceland and Norway to the Gothic settlements in Italy and Spain, their ancient division into districts and their free constitution, which con- tinued to exist long after the birth of Christ, and gave rise to the modern brotherhoods and societies of different orders of knighthood, and to the guilds and corporations of citizens. In England, Switzerland, and Holland, ancient German free- dom reigned almost uninterruptedly up to the present times, and in most of the other originally German or Germanized countries, it has been revived under new constitutions. The free intercourse between citizens, possessed of equal privileges and bound by the same duties, was the soul of the ancient German communities, and the foundation on which their whole history rests. Their liberty is of more ancient date than their servitude, for it owed its existence to the national character of the German, and though seemingly withered, still springs forth anew. " Liberty," said the Roman poet Lucanus, " is the German's birthright." " It is a privilege," wrote the Roman historian Florus, "which nature has granted to the Germans, and which the Greeks, with all their art, knew not how to obtain." Hume, the great English historian, says, " If our part of the world maintain sentiments of liberty, honour, equity, and valour, superior to the rest of mankind, it owes these advantages to the seeds implanted by those generous barbarians." "Liberty," observed Montes- quieu, " that lovely thing, was discovered in the wild forests of Germany." VIII. Ancient German heroism. THE Germans were distinguished from all other nations by their blue eyes, light hair, and gigantic stature. They are said to have been generally seven feet in height, far overtop- ping the Gauls and Romans. Bones of an enormous size have been found in the ancient burial-places of the Huns, and peo- c IS ANCIENT GERMAN HEROISM. pie of extraordinary stature are even now to be met with on the coasts of the North Sea and the Baltic, and among the German Alps. The gigantic shepherd of Sens braving the Alpine regions of Berne and Unterwalden presents the truest image of our forefathers, whose strength was a national in- heritance. Caesar said that the Gauls fled at the sight of the Germans, and the emperor Titus, when commending them, said, " Their bodies are great, but their souls are still greater ! " In the remotest ages, it was customary among the Germans to destroy weakly, sickly, or deformed children, to drown in the morasses men whose bodies had been mutilated, (corpore infames^) and when become useless from old age, voluntarily to deprive themselves of life. An existence devoid of strength and beauty appeared to them to be worthless, and according to their religion, the joys of heaven were only granted to those who fell by the sword. Valerius Maximus relates, that they sorrowed when dying on their beds, and rejoiced whilst expir- ing on the field of battle. In the north, the sick were, at their own request, pierced with a lance, in order that a wound, and not disease, might be the cause of their death. In Norway there was a rock, from which the old men threw themselves into the sea, after dividing their wealth among their children at a parting feast. The bodily vigour with which the Germans were endowed, was probably the result of the simplicity and purity of their manners, added to their continual exercise in the open air. War, the chace, and sometimes, though rarely, agriculture, were their only occupations. They despised, as effeminate, the refinements of civilized life ; and as every wall appeared to them a prison, they built no cities, and destroyed those of the countries they invaded. To the south of the Danube, in Switzerland and in Gaul, the Romans had built splendid cities, communicating with each other by means of military roads, all of which were razed to the ground by the Franks and the Alemanni, and before long replaced by the low hut of the free- born German, and the forest in which he loved to dwell. No towns, with the exception of a few sacred places, known by the name of Asenburgen, were to be found in Germany before the tenth century after Christ ; the frontier towns of the Boii, in the Southern Tyrol, which are mentioned two .centuries before Christ, having been merely built for defence during ANCIENT GERMAN HEROISM. 19 the wars, in imitation of those constructed by the Romans. With a mind free and bold, and a body inured to fatigue, the natural results of his wild forest life, the German was ever inspired with the almost hereditary ambition of distinguishing himself by heroic deeds : no danger could appal, no opposition deter him. A chivalric and unbending spirit pervaded the whole nation. " Who," asks Seneca, " is braver than the German ?" And Sidonius says, " Death alone subdues them, not fear ; they threaten even in death ; their courage survives them ! " They were, consequently, continually in arms. According to Libanius, they sat down to their meals in full armour, and slept helmeted. Weapons were the usual marriage gift be- tween a bridal pair, for the women also learnt to use them. They were even held so sacred that it was customary to swear by them. They are often mentioned in treaties of peace, and the old song of Wi eland in the Northern Edda has the words, " Thou shalt swear to me by the deck of the ship, and by the rim of the shield, by the withers of the horse, and by the point of the sword." They were also considered as proofs of illustrious descent, and were handed down from one generation to another. Over-population and famine, but still oftener their warlike propensities and thirst for adventure, seem to have been the causes that induced the Germans to abandon their forests ; and if we compare the expedition of Brennus to Delphi, with the crusades ; the irruption of Crocus, the destroyer of cities, with the venturous expeditions of the Normans to Winland (America) and Greenland, they will all be found to have been inspired by the same enthusiasm. In all, warlike customs preponderated over peaceful arts ; the people were always armed, carried on private feuds, and preferred the trial by single combat to the decision of the law. A malady, caused by superabundant health and strength, and unknown among other nations, was common among the Germans, and in the north was called the Berserkerwuth. Ber or bar signifies, without. Serk, like the Scotch sark, a gown or frock. In the mountainous Rhone country, a frock is still called sarg. This malady, or rather mad- ness, seized them when at the height of their strength, more particularly when excited by anger, when they spared neither friend nor foe, and would even rave against themselves. C 2 20 ANCIENT FELLOWSHIP IN ARMS. Hence arose the legend of the were-wolf, or of men who at certain hours were changed into wolves.* IX. Ancient fellowship in arms. THE civil institutions, the customs and superstitions, of an- cient Germany, arose from the peculiar and warlike form of government necessary for the guidance of a nation of free warriors, who owned no laws save those of chivalry and honour. This chivalric feeling is by no means sufficiently explained by ascribing it to the character common to all the wandering robber hordes, as it never rose in those of Asia to such a degree of sublimity. The cause must then be sought in the traits peculiarly characteristic of our race, which probably descended at a very remote period from some warrior caste of Northern India, from which they, in a degree, inherited a spirit of equality and fraternization, which, strengthened by the lapse of centuries, became at length indelibly stamped on the national character. The youthful warriors (Huns) generally took a mutual pledge as brethren in arms, and elected a leader from among their number, by raising him on their shields, being guided in their choice by superior skill or courage, instead of high birth. It sometimes happened that a chief, already famous for mighty deeds, collected the young men into an army, and placed himself at their head. The most implicit obedience was rendered to the chief, whom they were bound not to for- sake even if he fell on the field, and if vanquished, to die with him. It was a common custom for the survivors to kill them- selves, instead of seeking safety by flight, and it is authenti- cally recorded, that they even caused themselves to be buried alive in the tombs of their chieftains. Many proofs of the severity of the laws by which these barbarians were governed, were afforded during their wars with the Romans, and are still recorded by the traditionary chroniclers of the North. The same severity is also perceptible in the chivalric regulations of the knights of the middle ages, for the lists and in the field. The Cimbri, in their contempt * This lupomania is still prevalent in tie countries to the north and north-east of the Adriatic. TRANSLATOR. ANCIENT FELLOWSHIP IN ARMS. 21 for every stratagem of war, and for the Romans who defended themselves behind their intrenchments, always informed their opponents of the place and hour fixed for battle, exactly as was in later times the custom when a feudal combat took place, or as is now customary in duelling. The Germans rode without saddles, and ridiculed the Romans for making use of them. By an ancient Danish law, whoever fled from fewer than four foes forfeited his honour, and the Norman laws were still more severe. The Jomsvikinger band was only allowed to make use of blunted swords an ell long, with which they were expected to overcome every foe. There was an association of pirates in the north, who were obliged by their laws to hoist their sails on the open sea during storms, in defiance of the elements, even when shipwreck was the sure result ; and daring courage, allied with spotless honour and good faith, form the chief characteristics of all the heroes in the ancient legendary accounts ; in the old song of the Nibelungen, for instance. Every one was declared infamous who made use of stratagem, or took advantage of weakness ; all dishonourable and cowardly artifices, such as falling on the enemy's rear, laying treacherously in ambuscade, making use of poisoned weapons, in short, whatever might render the contest unequal, was condemned as Nidingswerk, and forbid- den under a heavy penalty. Before iron and steel were used by the Germans for the manufacture of coats of mail, they covered themselves with the skins of wild animals, wearing on their heads those of the bear, the horned buffalo, or the antlered stag, whence arose the custom of placing horns, wings, and other symbols on iron helmets and escutcheons. The shields, generally made long and narrow, in order to guard the whole person, were either painted, ornamented with figures, inlaid with gold or silver, adorned with armorial bearings, or, when highly finished, with a representation of some battle or famous exploit. The colours of the dresses worn by the warriors, varied according to those on their escutcheon. Iron rings placed round the body seem to have been the first approach to the use of ar- mour, which is, however, of very ancient date, and was called Brinne, from brehen, to shine. The name of Brennus, so common among the Boii, apparently signifies " a man in ar- mour." The Cimbri had numerous troops of mailed cavalry. 22 ARMED COMMUNITIES. Warriors, who fell on the field of battle, were burnt on funeral piles, together with their arms and the bodies of their enemies, and immense mounds, known as the tombs of the Huns, were raised over them. Naval chiefs were consumed with their ships, either on shore, or on the open sea. One of the heroes of the north, who had been brought on shore mor- tally wounded, ordered all the booty and the dead bodies of his enemies to be piled on the deck of his ship, placed himself on the summit as on a throne, and sailed into the midst of the ocean, where the whole was consumed. Warlike deeds were celebrated in verse at every public festival ; around every hearth resounded the praises of the fallen brave ; and song alone preserved the memory of past deeds. The singers, who accompanied this legendary verse with the music of the harp, were, in the south, called bards, in the north, scalds ; their songs were the forerunners of the more elaborate productions of the Nibelungen, the German legendary ballads, and the northern sagas. In the popular religion war was regarded as a sacred and imperative duty ; the gods were even supposed to ride daily on the plain of Ida, and to battle with each other, after which they held a joyous carousal in Walhalla, or " the hall of the dead," where the souls of warriors who had fallen honourably by the sword were received, and permitted, under the name of Einheriar, to join in the battles and drinking feasts of the gods. Thus a warrior's death was the aspiration of every German, as that alone could unlock for him the gates of that blessed abode. X. Armed communities. IN the early German settlements, the customs of war were preserved even during peace time. The land was considered as lawful booty, and equally partitioned among the people, who, nevertheless, preferred the sports of the chace to agri- culture. At stated times they assembled (in the open air and armed, as if encamped in a foreign land) in order to delibe- rate on their public affairs. The place of assembly was called Malstatt, (from mal, time, and zeichen, a signal,) or the Thing, or Dingstatt, (from dingen, to counsel,) and was ge- nerally distinguished by a great tree, either a sacred oak, ash, ARMED COMMUNITIES 23 or lime, or by enormous stones, which were sometimes used as sacrificial altars, and sometimes as seats for the audience and rostra for the orators. According to the popular belief, the gods held council, (Thing,) mounted on horseback, beneath the oak Ygdrasill. Even in the dark records of antiquity it is observable, that the centre of union, in the great alliances between nations, was not a king, but a popular assembly on some sacred spot. The different tribes appear to have been held together by a very frail federative system, and their chiefs seem to have merely represented our modern committee. As the authority was never vested in one individual, a plu- rality always existed, and the numbers three, four, and twelve, are generally found to predominate. In the north, Odin founded the government of the twelve Drottars ; a number which may have arisen from the Asiatic idea of the twelve months or gods. It is certain that the people had, either at the same time, the right of deliberating on the public affairs, or very soon gained it ; for the same Ynglinga-saga which speaks of the twelve Drottars, also records the meeting of the Swedish Bonden (free German peasantry) at Upsala, which decided all public questions, and was the exact counterpart of the meetings in the interior of Germany, as described by Taci- tus. The free Norwegians held similar assemblies at Thrond- heim. When the Galata?, or Gallogra3ci, who, B. c. 276, in- vaded Greece under Brennus, settled in Asia Minor, they chose a place of general assembly, called Drynaimet, and divided their nation into twelve tetrarchies, over each of which were set a tetrarch, who possessed either hierarchical or civil authority, a judge, and a war-chief, exactly as, in the interior of Germany, the civil and military authority was in later times divided between the landgrave and the duke. The Salic law was drawn up by four counsellors, chosen for that purpose out of a convocation of the whole Frankish nation, who even when ruled by kings and emperors retained the right of assembling in the Maifeld (Mayfield) in order to counsel the government. At the time of the Frankish conquest, the Saxons were divided into three tribes, in Westphalia, Enger, and Eastphalia ; each tribe numbering twelve districts. They were also divided into three classes, the nobles, the freeborn, and the freedmen. Each class in each of these districts sent a representative, altogether six and thirty, to the general as- 24 ARMED COMMUNITIES. sembly held at Marklo, who, during peace, deliberated for the public weal. In time of war, a duke was elected, who enjoyed unlimited pewer until peace was again concluded, when he resigned his authority. The Frisii were also divided into several districts, and held their annual popular assemblies at Upstalesbome, (Obergerichtsbaum, tree of judgment,) beneath a sacred tree. Until a very late period, the twelve freely elected representatives of the districts formed the deliberative assembly in Saterland. The number ten is elsewhere found predominant. The Suevi, or Semnones, had a hundred dis- tricts, each of which annually sent forth a thousand warriors ; and sixty thousand freeborn Nervii annually elected a com- mittee of six hundred, which managed all their affairs. The number ten also predominated in the great English Anglo-Saxon Wittenagemot, or assembly of wise or aged men. These assemblies were common to all the German nations, the Suevi and Alemanni, the Danes, Burgundians, Boii, Vandals, the Ostro and Visi-Goths, and an additional proof of their primitive nature is furnished by their having continued to exist, long after the introduction of Christianity, under a monarchical and feudal form of government. During the great migrations, the name of the leader is often the only one mentioned, so that the relation in which he stood to the people has become a matter of uncertainty ; but whenever his authority has been more fully spoken of, it is described as having been dependent on the will of the people : and even among those nations who wandered far and wide for many years, the power of whose chiefs became, consequently, more deeply rooted, as, for in- stance, among the Goths, the ancient division into districts and the free assembly of the people reappeared, as soon as they were permanently settled in any of the countries con- quered by them. The only points of union in these federative states, in which each of the districts was independent, consisted in the meeting of the representatives in the general state as- sembly, and in the election of a common leader in time of war. It is not unusual to find many very small tribes completely independent ; and even in the great states, the small district assemblies were co-existent with the diets. PUBLIC OFFICES AND POPULAR ASSEMBLIES. 25 XI. Public offices and popular assemblies. THE present representative assemblies of Schwyz, Unter- walden, Uri, Glarus, and Appenzell, give the truest idea of the ancient German mode of government, the clerk and trea- surer being the only modern additions. The Landamman, or magistrate, and the Landeshauptman, or captain-general of the country, correspond with the representatives of the primordial districts ; and the accounts of Tacitus and Snorri prove, that the power of the ancient rulers of the people did not surpass the limited authority of the modern Landamman, and Landhaupt- man. Tacitus says, " Germanos non juberi, non regi, sed cuncta ex libidine agere ;" and he makes Ambiorix, the leader of the Lower Germans, say, that amongst them the government was so arranged, that he had no more power over the people than they had over him. Snorri relates, that a Swedish king was forced, by the popular assembly, whose decisions he had opposed, to desist from an unjust war which he was carrying on against a neighbouring nation ; and that they threatened to throw him into a morass, where many of his predecessors had already been cast, on account of their opposition to the will of the people. Ulphilas, the Gothic bishop, who, in the fourth century, translated the Bible into German, says, that these people were governed by a Reiks, or judge, during peace, and by a Thiudans, or leader, in time of war, the former being chosen on account of his high birth, the latter on account of his illustrious deeds ; which agrees with the account given by Tacitus, " reges ex nobilitate, duces ex virtute sumunt ; nee regibus infinita et libera potestas ;" the people, however, al- ways retaining the highest authority, and the power of revok- ing their choice. The Reiks were always priests belonging to an ancient race, held sacred on account of its supposed descent from the gods ; as in the north, where many families derived their origin from Odin. The pre-eminence was al- ways ceded to the hereditary high priest, whose duty it was to preside over the public sacrifices and ordeals, but whose au- thority merely rested on the superstition of the people, who, dur- ing war, always elected the bravest man as their chief, whilst every freeborn man stated his opinion unreservedly and with- out respect to rank in the public council. The Burgundians 26 PUBLIC OFFICES AND POPULAR ASSEMBLIES. called their high priest, Sinist, or eldest, and their war-chiefs, Hendini. Other names have a similar origin. Furst, prince, princeps; Herzog, from heer, an army, and ziehen, to lead ; dux, a leader, duke. The word king is of later origin. The German Konig is derived from Chun, race, lineage, and was first used when families, distinguished from one generation to another by their illustrious deeds, united the double authority of judge and war-chief in themselves. The northern Logman, or lawyer ; the English Alderman, alter man, or old man ; the Swiss Amman, or magistrate ; the Bel- gian Ruwart, from ruhe, peace, and wahren, to preserve, denote the officers of a peaceful civil government. There are probably also titles still extant that bear traces of the ancient form of government during war. The state assemblies were generally convoked on the great festivals, and were attended by all the members of the confederated provinces ; besides this, on every fourteenth night, the customary unconvoked meet- ing was regularly held in each district, but when any urgent affair rendered a sudden convocation necessary, an arrow, (the symbol of war,) was sent from house to house, or one neigh- bour either shouted to the other, or sounded the horn through the wide forests. This meeting extraordinary was called a bidden council, (Ding,) or a cried council (Schreygeding). These assemblies were held at night, the moon, or Mana, being the protecting divinity of the council (Things). From Mana is derived the word man, which originally signified not only the male sex, but also the privileges of an acting citi- zen. Hence also the word mahnen, to cite before the tri- bunal ; Montag, Monday, or rather moon-night, followed by Dienstag, or day of council, (Thing,) Tuesday. The as- semblies were held in the open air during the crescent moon, when the people, armed as if for battle, offered sacrifices of oxen, on which they also feasted, drank beer, mead, or wine, and gave their opinions with perfect freedom. But it was not until the morning, that those who remained sober formed themselves into a circle, and deliberated over the councils of the night, " deliberant dum fingere nesciunt, constituunt dum errare non possunt." Every man had an equal right to speak, and the priest alone had the power of commanding silence, in the name of the gods, whenever the noise became overpower- ing 5 as at the present day in the Swiss assemblies, the waibel, PUBLIC PROPERTY, MERE AND GUILDS. 27 or beadle, -dressed in the colours of the country, calls out, " Peace by your oath ! " Applause, rattling of arms, or groaning, accompanied the words of the speaker : the majority decided. The affairs of the state were here debated upon, war was declared, peace concluded, and judgment given. When no affairs of importance had to be transacted, the peo- ple only feasted and drank, whilst they sang the praises of fallen heroes. XII. Public property, Meres and Guilds. THE Germans only gradually exchanged their restless no- made existence (in the Slavonic tongue, they are still called the Nemez, from ne mesa, without a boundary) for per- manent habitations. The Suevi, with their division into a hundred Gauen or districts, were also comprehended in this change, and notwithstanding their subsequent migrations, this mode of division was retained ; and even after their adoption of the Alemannic mode of subdividing the land into Allods, (allodium,} or private freehold estates, a considerable tract of common land, (almanden,) always remained for the benefit of the community. These tracts are at the present day frequent in Swabia, where they are in general used as sheep-runs. Meres were common to all the German tribes, and their origin is intimately connected with their free and military institu- tions. The largest tribes were divided into communities of a hundred men each, which were subdivided into tens. The whole of these communities were mutually bound by an offen- sive and defensive alliance, whilst the smaller divisions and the tens (Zehnmannerzahl, tien manna tola) were yet more closely united, by an obligation to assist each other in their private affairs, as if they were their own. Owing also to these communities being obliged to become sureties for each other, they were called Freiburgschaften, fromfrei, free, and biirgen, to bail ; corporations or guilds for mutual security, the mem- bers of which were called Gildebrlider, Congildones, Eidhelfer, from Eid, an oath, and helfen, to help, Conjurationes, who by law were accounted one and the same individual, whenever the actual criminal could not be discovered. The confeder- ation of ten times ten, or of every hundred freeborn men, 28 PUBLIC PROPERTY, MERES AND GUILDS. stood between the Friborg and the great community, and often held a particular assembly, as, for instance, the Hundredisthing in Norway. The chief man or president of a hundred was named by the Franks, Tunginus, by the Longobardi, Sculdais, and by the Anglo-Saxons, Hundredarius. In Swabia, the Hundreda appears at a later period under the name of Zent (decania). Even when the larger districts belonging to the Alemanni fell under the jurisdiction of the Frankish counts, many of the Zents in the mountainous country retained their freedom ; among others, the peasantry of Leutkirch. As ten denoted a Mere, and Zent, a canton, a thousand evidently stood for a district or Gau (pagits). The Suevi had a hundred Gauen, each containing a thousand men. The division into tens is most easily traced in the nation of the Visigoths, who named the president over tens, Taichunfath ; over hundreds, Hundafath ; and over thousands, Tiufath. The population of the Meres doubtless increased. The Allods, at first large, sufficed for the maintenance and settlement of the different families, which gradually became more and more numerous, and finally outgrew the land, especially in countries remark- able for fertility, or favourable for commerce. Each individual possessed a freehold within the limits of his Mere ; but high- way and by-way, forest and fell, fish and fowl, wood and water, were the equal right of all. These common tracts, however, have no connexion with those that surround our modern vil- lages, which in general grew out of some enormous private estate. The ancient Germans, whose institutions were always founded on the principle of fraternization, possessed several other free guilds, besides the armed band of warriors already mentioned, who, like young swarms of bees, were driven forth from the parent hive, in search of a country wherein to settle ; for instance, the Opfer guilds, consecrated to the service of some particular god (like the present Catholic brotherhoods, consisting of different gradations, from the superior to the servant, devoted to the service of some particular saint) ; the Singer guilds, scalds or bards ; the soothsayers, Wahrsager- gilden or Seidmanner, in the north. Probably also guilds of miners, armourers, and salt manufacturers (Halloren). The women also formed religious associations among themselves,, connected with the worship of the gods, and with prophesying. They also held festivals, at which no man was allowed to be THE ALLOD OR FREEHOLD PROPERTY. 29. present, which gave rise to the legend of the assembly of witches on the Blocksberg on May-day eve (Walpurgisnacht). There were also bands of female warriors ; and accounts of Amazons, or warrior-maids, called in the north, Schildjung- frauen, or maidens bearing shields, are frequently met with in the ancient records of Germany. XIII. The Allod or freehold property. IN whatever country the victorious Germans settled, the land was always equally divided among the freeborn warriors. The hereditary estates held by their descendants were termed Allods, from Od, an estate, and were so highly prized, that, in later times, small freeholders have been known to refuse to part with their property in exchange for a large fief, which obliged them to render feudal service to the king. These hereditary estates were usually called Sonnenlehen, because they were said to have been originally granted to their possess- ors by the sun, whence the formula of later times, " This estate received from God and the glorious element of the suns." As every freeborn man dwelt within the limits of his Allod, the habitations lay at scattered distances, and neither towns nor villages existed. The houses were built of wood, and usually consisted of one large apartment, called the hall or Saal, in the centre of which stood the hearth, the housewife's seat of honour. In wealthy families, the women had a separate house, the Frauenhaus (Frauenzimmer, Schrein, a shrine ; Gadem, a chamber) ; there were also a house for sacrifice, dwellings for attendants and slaves, cellars, barns, and stables. These houses were surrounded by gardens, cornfields, meadows, and forests. The boundaries of the Allods were carefully marked, and it was customary at the setting of a landmark, which was either a stone or a tree, to assemble all the children in the neighbourhood on the spot, and to box their ears, in order to impress the circumstance and the locality more deeply on their minds.* An Allod could only be alienated with the consent of the family. Whatever the crimes of a freeborn * Until very lately, a somewhat similar custom, called " the bumping of the boundary," the spectators being bumped together on the occa- sion, was still kept up in some parts of England. TRANSLATOR. 30 THE ALLOD OR FREEHOLD PROPERTY. man, the government could not deprive him of his estate, which was regarded as sacred, and as inseparable from the possessor, whose freedom, being derived from it, was alienable only with his property. It was illegal for any one to enter an Allod without the permission of the owner, who, if abused or maltreated by a stranger in his own house, or within his own limits, received, double or treble indemnification. The state had no right to seize the person of any individual, or that of his guest, in his own house, a spot more sacred in the eyes of the ancient Germans than our churches are in ours. Even if the culprit had become the object of public vengeance by his crimes, and had been declared out of the pale of the law, no one ventured to cross his threshold, but the house was set fire to from without. England now alone preserves this ancient privilege, and realizes the saying, " Every man's house is his castle." The Allods were only hereditary in the male line, females being excluded from the succession on account of their being unable to exercise the privileges and duties of a free- holder, but every member of the family had a right to live in the house, and to be maintained on the produce of the Allod, nor could a father disinherit his children. When the eldest son took sole possession of the estate, he was obliged to give to each of the other kinsfolk a portion of the personal pro- perty, and to apply part of his revenues to their mainte- nance. A family was called a Sippe, Sippschaft, or Magschaft, and was divided into Schwertmagen, kinsmen who carried swords, and Spillmagen, kinswomen, who busied themselves in spinning. The father being the legal representative of the whole family, the slaves included, spoke for them before the tribunal, and was their guardian, Mund, mouth mundium, to whom they owed implicit obedience, being under his juris- diction, bann bannum ; the kinsmen remaining under his bann until they entered foreign service, or married, when they became selbstmundig, independent, and were freed from the bann ; hence the word freien, to marry. The property received on these occasions was called Abban, appanage. Those who remained unmarried always continued under the bann of the paternal estate, the limits (Gehage) of which they were not permitted to quit ; hence the word Hagestolzer, old bachelor, from hag, hedge, and stolz, proud. The Spill- magen were always under tutelage ; the bridegroom purchasing THE DIVISION INTO CLASSES. 31 the right of guardianship from the parents of the bride, who henceforward submitted to his authority. XIV. The division into classes. THE Suevian nations, when in their half nomade state, re- cognised but one description of slaves, viz. the prisoners taken in war, who were bound to serve them. But when the allodial system was introduced, many of the slaves were manumitted by the Frankish Saxon tribes, and furnished with houses and land, on condition of performing certain services, and of pay- ing a certain tribute to their lord ; it also sometimes happened that the inhabitants of a conquered country were permitted to retain a part of their landed property, for which they en- gaged to perform certain duties ; thus a new class of bonds- men was created, distinct from the real slave, by their being merely dependent by their vassalage on the feudal lords. They were called by the Saxons, Lazzi ; by the Franks, Liti ; whence the German Leute, people; and their property, in contradistinction to the Allod, (freehold,) was called a Feod, or fief (fe-od, transferable property). The word fe comes from Vieh, cattle, as the Latin pecunia, from pecus, the only transferable property at first consisting of cattle ; hence also the people were called Feodales, Vassi, Vasalli, and thus simply originated the feudal system, which spread so widely at a later period. Tacitus speaks commendably of the treatment of the slaves in Germany. It is true that they were sometimes killed by their masters in moments of irritation, but it was illegal to strike or to ill-treat them. These slaves, at first few, gradu- ally increased in such number as at length to necessitate the division of the large estates into numerous fiefs, and the feu- dal system became general. The freeborn man was named Germanus, Arimannus, Herimannus, Baro ; and, among the Saxons, was distinguished by the designation of Friling from the Edeling or nobleman. It is not very clear in what nobility consisted in the pagan times ; that there were two kinds is however certain, one derived from mythical descent, which naturally was restricted to a few families ; the other, gained by conquest. When whole nations migrated, every man of whatever class received an Allod as his share of the newly 32 THE DIVISION INTO CLASSES. conquered land ; or when a horde overran a country, whose inhabitants they either could or would not completely reduce to submission, they tolerated them as subordinates, manumit- ted their former slaves, and promoting the freeborn to the rank of noble, created a purely political class of nobility far out- numbering that of the hereditary nobles. It is remarkable that the name Edeling, in the north, Oedling, is derived from Od, Allod, and therefore simply means the possessor of an estate. For the same reason, the Visigothic noble was entitled Garding, from the word Gards, which, according to Ulphilas, signifies an estate, as well as a garden. Perhaps the nobles were originally only the firstborn sons, or heirs to the estates, whilst the Frilinge denoted the portionless younger sons ; but no sooner did the word Friling denote a separate class, than pride of birth asserted its claims, and even the poor younger sons of the nobility were called Edelinge. Yet it is no where to be found that the Frilinge were oppressed or domineered over by the Edelinge ; among the Saxons, on the contrary, Edelinge, Frilinge, and even Lazzi, in equal numbers, and with equal right, conducted the public affairs ; and when the Franks declared a war of extirpation against the Saxons, the Edelinge attempted, by betraying the Frilinge and Lazzi, to make friends of the Franks, and to get the whole of the for- merly equally divided power into their own hands. Among the Germans, who acknowledged no law as bind- ing, in the framing of which they had not either assisted, or to which they did not voluntarily and individually assent, there always existed men, who, naturally fierce and stubborn, re- sisted every law, and were unfettered by any moral obligation. These men were called Wildfange, (wild animals,) and were treated as wolves or outlaws. They were in the north Barserkers, ravishers, or lawless Huns, whose wild daring caused them to be eagerly taken into foreign service. The owner of an Allod, who, through caprice, remained at home, and took no part in the state, was called Biesterfrei, Verbies- terte, bestialized, (or Versessen, possessed by a demon,) and was considered beyond the pale of the law, inasmuch as he recognised none ; and if he committed a crime, he was de- livered up to public vengeance ; his well was choked up, his house destroyed by fire, or unroofed, and then razed to the ground, but no one ventured to break open the door. SINGLE COMBAT AXD FIXES. 33 Singh combat and fines ( Wergeld). IT is a remarkable fact, that the ancient Germans had no public, but only a private law ; all their oldest laws merely referring to the mutual rights of the freeborn, and to those of the freeborn over the unfree ; the state assembly taking cog- nizance of and deciding all public and private affairs : beyond ' these decisions there was no law. The laws chiefly aimed at providing security and indemnity. To every individual they secured his life, his liberty, his hon- our, and his property ; or in case of injury and deprivation, an indemnity or commutation, of which there were only two kinds, single combat and fines. In the earliest times, every one avenged himself as he could, and it was the especial duty of a family, a member of which had been injured or murdered, to avenge him to the uttermost. Single combat, according to law, (and the ancient laws were very strict in this particular,) seems to have been intended as a check upon a custom con- ducing to so much disorder and bloodshed. According to the regulations, the advantages of ground, light, sun, and weapons, were to be equal on both sides ; no Nidingswerk or underhand means were to be used, and no further vengeance was to be sought, however the combat, which was regarded as the judg- ment of God, might terminate. The Wergeld or fine seems to have been introduced at a later period, as for instance, in cases where no single combat could take place, or for lesser injuries, when the injured person was compensated by the offender in cattle or weapons, according to the value of the injured object ; for this purpose, he could be deprived of all he possessed, except of his Allod, which, under all circum- stances, was inalienable. There were even cases where the offender, unable to make full restitution, was obliged to serve the person he had injured for twenty years, and yet was never deprived of his Allod. In course of time, this system became more definite, and the value of the injured object was esti- mated in eight different degrees. In the first place, according to the sex of the injured person. Injuries offered to women were not only estimated doubly or trebly higher than those offered to men, but the law in this respect also permitted private vengeance to be D 34 SINGLE COMBAT AND FINES. taken, and the offender to be deprived of his liberty or of his life. 2ndly, According to the rank of the injured person. The head-man of a district was estimated very highly, on account of the duties he had to perform. The noble was valued higher than the freeborn, the freeborn higher than the people, and they higher than the slaves. 3rdly, According to the value of the injured object. Honour and liberty were valued higher than life, person, or property. Also all attacks on the property or person of an individual, which in any way entailed dishonour, received a much higher compensation. Rape, injuries to guests, ambassadors, hostages, and especially to strangers, besides theft, robbing and insulting the dead, were doubly and trebly, nay, sometimes nine times more severely punished. In bodily injuries, every limb and every devisable sort of wound had its fixed value ; toes and teeth were especially and individually prized : and injuries done to property were as definitely regulated ; every article that could come under the head of goods and chattels having its comparative value. 4thly, According to the sex of the offender. A woman was punished more severely than a man, because she was considered less capable of the commission of a crime, and because, when injured, she received a higher indemnity. 5thly, According to the rank of the offender. When a Friling committed a crime, he paid more than a Laz, and a Laz more than a slave, according to the principle, that he who enjoys higher privileges has higher duties to perform. Gthly, According to the intention of the offender. An unintentional injury was only lightly rated, and sometimes, according to the circumstances, completely passed over, on which account the mere intention of committing an injury was almost as severely punished as if the injury had in reality been committed. 7thly, According to the mode of injury. For instance, who- ever killed another with an iron weapon was held less criminal than he who murdered another with a piece of wood or with his hands. Sthly, According to the place. Whoever injured another in his own house, had to pay doubly or trebly higher than if he had injured him elsewhere ; and the offence was considered COURTS OF JUSTICE AND LAWS. 35 equally bad when committed on holy ground, in the assembly of the people, or on the high road. During war-time, the Wergeld was trebled ; discipline and good order being then of still higher importance. However, notwithstanding the introduction of the Wergeld, single combat remained in full force in matters of honour and in doubtful cases ; when, by ordinary means, the truth could not be discovered, the decision was left to God. Besides the ordeal by single combat, customary between freeborn men, there was also that by fire and water, to which women and slaves were subjected ; the hand or the foot being held upon red-hot iron, or in boiling water. The mundium or guardianship of the free owner of an Allod over his family, his people, (the conditionally unfree,) and his slaves, (the personally unfree,) whose reciprocal obli- gations have already been explained, was also regulated by the laws. XVI. Courts of justice and laws. THE Germans had the axiom, " Where there is no accuser there is no judge." If the fine enforced by law were volun- tarily paid, the case was not brought before the court. The master of a house, or a whole Sippschaft, (kinsfolk,) or two, in cases in which both were concerned, judged all family matters. The Friborg, Hundreda, or Guild, took cognizance of all mat- ters relating to Meres and Guilds, and all affairs of higher importance came before the great general assembly, and were decided by the freeborn members. It was not until a much later period, when the Christian monarchs increased in power, that the people were deprived of the right of holding open courts of justice, and the judges, (Schoppen,} who were bound by oath to administer justice, were restricted to a limited number. In ancient times these courts were held in the open air, where all transactions were conducted by word of mouth, ana they formed a principal part of the business of each com- munity. The priestly j udge of peace sat in a chair, staff in hand, with his legs crossed in sign of impartiality and tran- quillity of mind, and his face turned toward the east during the new moon, in order to imply that the administration of D 2 36 COURTS OF JUSTICE AND LAWS. justice was as sure as the increase of that orb. On the right hand stood the accuser, on the left the accused, encircled by the armed community, who pronounced the verdict ; the kins- folk and confederates of the Mere, or Guild, to which the accused belonged, standing around him, as conjuratores ; i. e. they swore that they knew him to be an honourable man, and believed what he said. If the truth could not be discovered, the ordeal decided the point ; but if it were proved by wit- nesses, the sentence was pronounced and executed. Corporeal punishment was unheard of amongst them, " neque vincire ne verberare quidem permissum," Tac. Adam Von Bremen says of the ancient Saxons, "decollari malunt, quam verberari." Prisons were equally unknown, all injuries being expiated by the Wergeld, except such as were considered irreparable, which were punished by death. The priest alone had the power of passing sentence on the criminal in the name of God. Capital punishment was awarded to all traitors, deserters, thieves, and adulterers ; in a word, all crimes against man's honour or dignity, and against female chastity. Beyond the sentence of being burnt alive in his house, or decapitated, passed upon men, and that of being hanged, drowned, or buried alive, passed upon women and cowards, there was no other mode of public punishment of death, and these were only awarded in extreme cases. The laws appear to have been, like other ancient customs, originally handed down by word of mouth ; and in order the more easily to retain them in the memory, they were usually arranged in assonance and rhythm. Fragments of ancient versified laws are still extant, and a number of assonances are still made use of in our laws, such as Bank und Bett, bed and board ; Bausch und Bogen, in the lump ; braun und blau, brown and blue ; Dach und Fach er/ialten, to keep in repair ; dick und dunn, thick and thin ; Erb und Eigen, heir and inheritance ; frank und frei, frank and free ; gang und gitbe, current ; Gut und Bint, property and person ; Haus und Hof, house and land ; Haut und Haar, hide and hair ; Herz und Hand, heart and hand ; los und ledig, free and single ; Hulle und Fulle, plenty ; Kind und Kegel, child and toy ; Land und Leute, land and people ; Mann und Maus, man and mouse ; Nacht und Nebel, night and mist ; Rath und That, word and deed ; Ruh und Rast, rest and re- pose ; richten und schlichten, to judge and adjust; Schute HOSPITALITY. 37 und Schirm, shelter and defence ; Stein und Bein, stone and bone ; Stock und Block, stock and block ; Weg und Steg, highway and byway ; writ und breit, far and wide ; Wind und Wetter, wind and weather, etc. To these also belong the sig- nificant numbers, to summons three times, four roads, twelve confederates, fourteen nights, thirty days' respite ; besides a number of signs, as for instance, the right of fishing in a river extended as far as one could cast a hammer (the symbol of the god Thor) from the bank ; another right extended as far as one could see a white horse, or hear the blast of the hunts- man's horn. Indemnity for a wound was according to the distance the sound caused by the splintered bone taken from it, when thrown into a hollow shield, could be heard. The priestly judge held in his hand a staff, (hence the sceptre of a king,) whilst adjudicating, which he broke asunder when passing sentence of death. Grass and earth were emblemati- cal of submission. Whoever was charged with the debt of a deceased kinsman, which it was out of his power to pay, cleared himself by going to the four corners of his house, and throwing dust behind him. A form of oath among men was by touching their beards ; and among women, by touching their breast or plaited hair. A bargain was concluded by shaking hands, which was so commonly in use, that " the German shake of the hand" has become the proverbial sign of loyal cordiality. XVII. Hospitality. Tins virtue of ancient times was greatly esteemed by our forefathers, who regarded as a crime the dismissal of the peaceful wayfarer from their doors. A stranger no sooner appeared than he was invited to take shelter beneath their lowly roof, and offered food and a night's lodging ; and it was considered disgraceful first to inquire of him who he was, whence he came, or whither he was going. As long as he re- mained in the house, he was a guest, and any injury commit- ted against him was severely punished by the law, even though he were a fugitive criminal ; the master of the house was bound to defend him to the death, and as he was indemni- fied for every injury offered to his guest as if it were offered to himself, he was also liable to be punished in his stead if his 38 CUSTOMS AND ARTS. guest committed a crime whilst dwelling beneath his roof; no one could dismiss a guest unless forced to do so by poverty, when it was incumbent on him to accompany him to the near- est dwelling, and there procure for him the comforts which it was not in his own power to bestow. The guest was present- ed on his departure with a parting gift, and if able gave something in return. In later times, hospitality and many other good customs fell into disuse, although attempted to be enforced by law, by which it was ordained that no one was obliged to hai-bour a guest longer than three days, whence arose the saying, " A three days' guest is every where curst," for there is no doubt that, in later times, this good old custom was very much abused. The injurious treatment of a peace- ful wayfarer on the public road was punished with double se- verity than when the offence was committed on a native. Every foreign wayfarer might pluck, as he went along, three fruits from a tree, or take three sheaves from a field, or three fish from a pond, if driven by necessity ; whence came the saying, " Three are free." To deliver a man, who had fled for protection to a neighbouring tribe, to his pursuers, was con- sidered an indelible disgrace, and was unheard of among the Germans. The Gepidas preferred total destruction to the commission of such an execrable crime, as the violation of the rights of hospitality. A Norwegian queen once fled for safe- ty to Sweden. The Norwegians demanded her surrender, and the Swedish king even sent his warriors to take her by force ; but Hakon, one of his subjects, a wealthy peasant, with whom she had taken refuge, opposed them sword in hand, until she had reached a safer retreat. The customs of hospitality greatly conduced to sociability, friendship, and marriage ; and it was from the wayfarers, who carried intelligence of the occurrence of remarkable events from one district to another, that the people gained in- formation of the changes that took place in distant countries. XVIII. Customs and arts. As a numerous offspring was considered honourable, celi- bacy was consequently a mark of disgrace. As soon as the children were born, they were plunged into cold water ; their CUSTOMS AND ARTS. 39 education was severe and hardy ; they were taught swimming, wrestling, endurance of hunger, heat, and cold, the arts of the chace, and the use of weapons. It is recorded of a leader of the Teutones, that he was able to leap, with the greatest ease, over six horses. A favourite amusement of the Germans was the sword dance, in which the young men danced naked, with the most expert and curious movements, between sharp swords and the points of lances, without receiving the slightest injury.* As soon as a young man attained sufficient strength, he was allowed to take part in military expeditions, and was solemnly declared capable of bearing arms. Among the Catti, every boy wore an iron ring on his arm, which he durst not take off until he had slain an enemy. Tillage was performed by the slaves, and the domestic con- cerns were managed by the women, whilst the freeborn men thought only of war and wild adventure, which, in time of peace, were, in some degree, replaced by the chace, of which they were passionately fond, and for which their enormous forests, well stocked with game, afforded free scope. They tried their strength in the rough encounter with the bear and the wild buffalo ; and early introduced the more gentle art of falconry. The white falcon was held sacred, and was esteem- ed by its owner as his chiefest treasure. At home, the war- rior slept on the bear-skin ; hence, whoever remained at home so long as to acquire a distaste for exertion, was termed a Barenhauter (Ffaut, a skin). Tacitus expressly mentions that they whiled away their leisure hours with gambling, which they carried to such a pitch, that in the delirium of excite- ment they would stake their property and their persons on a throw of the dice. From the earliest down to the present times, the Germans have been reputed the greatest topers in the world. The present fashion of toasting arose from an ancient pagan custom. At every public banquet, the great Bragabecher was first drained, in honour of fallen heroes ; then the Minnebecher, in honour of deceased kinsmen and ladye loves. Passing the cup round, drinking to a person or for a wager, trials of superiority in the power of drinking, etc., are ancient customs of guilds, that met for the purpose of ca- rousing. Beer and mead were first made in Germany, where * The Scotch Highlanders and the natives of Hindostan still practise a sword dance, bearing great similarity to that above described. TRANS. 40 HONOUR OF WOMEN. the use of wine was, nevertheless, early introduced. AYhen Helico for the first time brought grapes across the Alps, the people rose en masse, and resolved to migrate to the land where grew this golden fruit, and many thousand Germans, on reaching Italy, fell victims to excess. The mother of the family ruled the entire household, and was treated with the greatest deference by the women, slaves, and children. She superintended the cleanliness of the house, the kitchens, the cellars, the table, and the beds ; the making of the clothes, and the brewing of beer and mead ; she was also acquainted with surgery, and busied herself with the preparation of balsams for the wounds of the men ; and finally, she was the family prophetess, and on important occa- sions held communication with the gods, by means of mysteri- ous signs, and the casting of lots. Whatever the German did, had merely reference to the present moment ; even their arts aimed no further, and all their care was expended on their clothing and armour. Noble warriors fabricated costly weapons, and noble ladies spun and wove cloth for themselves and their households, an art brought by them to a high degree of perfection. In the earlier ages, the armour, weapons, shields, and war-attire, drinking horns, and other articles, were skilfully and curiously ornamented with colours and various ingenious devices. In the north, the ships were built in the form of different animals, generally in that of dragons, and were adorned with golden images. Wealthy monarchs are said to have sometimes used purple sails. All these arts, however, merely conduced to temporary grandeur, and the Germans were totally unacquainted with works, such as pub- lic edifices, magnificent temples, and lordly palaces, calculated to immortalize their name. XIX. Honour of women. IN pagan times women were generally despised, and re- garded as beings of an inferior order, but among the Ger- mans, even in the earliest ages, they were considered as standing equal in point of honour to the men, and in many respects were even acknowledged to be superior (inesse quin- etiam sanctum aliquid et providum putant, Tac.). The honour in HONOUR OF WOMEN. 41 which women were held, exercised so great an influence over the customs and character of the Germans, and consequently over their arts and poetry, as to produce the romance by which their productions are mainly distinguished from those of the East, the Graeco-Koman or antique. The reverence in which women were held, depended on the purity of -their lives; hence by custom and by law they were judged, not only by the outward honour they received, but also by their inward innocence. Tacitus, when extolling the unbending severity of German manners, and the sanctity at- tached to chastity, says, "that much as the German merits praise, his morality, as being the foundation of all his other virtues, deserves the highest commendation ; nee ullam mo- rum partem magis laudaveris." Young maidens were brought up in the retirement of their homes, where they busied themselves in domestic employ- ments, and only associated with the men whenever a guest arrived at the paternal abode. They did not marry so early, nor did their constitutions develop so rapidly, as those of the more luxurious inhabitants of southern climes ; and it is still a fact, that the people of the north, especially those of the mountainous regions who have remained faithful to the hardy customs of their forefathers, do not arrive at puberty so soon as the inhabitants of cities. A German maiden seldom mar- ried before her twentieth year, or a man before his thirtieth, and it was to this custom that the Romans attributed the blooming health and robust strength of our hardy ancestors. An insult offered to female modesty or honour was deemed an unpardonable crime, and punished with death. The virginal wreath, worn by the bride on her wedding-day, was apparently an ancient German custom ; no maiden could wear it whose honour was not spotless. Slander, if proved, was punished with unusual severity ; rape, under whatever cir- cumstances, was punished by the most degrading death, and even late in the middle ages, we find decreed, (in Schwaben- spiegel's collection of laws,) that in the house in which such a crime had been committed, all it contained, even down to the cattle, should be deprived of life, and the house itself razed to the ground. The untamable ferocity of the men often occa- sioned the commission of this crime, for that reason the more strictly guarded against by the laws ; and the more ancient HONOUR OF WOMEN. their date, the more certainly is the punishment of death de- creed by them. But among the Frisii, the woman was placed between her parents and her ravisher ; if she turned towards the latter, the crime was forgiven ; but if she turned to the former, the criminal was condemned to death. One of the best and wisest customs was that of daughters being portionless, so that a woman's attraction was her virtue and beauty, and not her wealth. Tacitus relates, that the bride only brought some weapons, as a sign to the bridegroom that he must in future protect her ; and that he, on his part, paid to her father, brother, or guardian, a sum fixed by law, upon which the right of guardianship, or that empowering him to appear in her stead before the tribunal, was handed over to him. The affianced pair shook hands, and exchanged kisses and rings. In pagan times, it was usual to place a drawn and sharp sword, for three nights, between a newly married pair, from a religious superstition. The Hochzeit, or wedding, (from hohezeit, high time,) was regarded, as its name denoted, as the highest point in life, and was celebrated as publicly as possible, amid the shouts of the guests. The day after the wedding, the husband presented his wife with a gift, called the morning gift, of which she could not be deprived ; and if any one disputed her right, she proved it by placing her hand on her breast, and swearing it was her morning gift. It was also customary after the wedding, for the bride to ex- change the virginal wreath for a cap. Marriages between Frilings and Lazzi were illegal, and if they took place, the children lost caste, and were declared bondmen. A freeborn man could marry his slave after hav- ing given her her freedom ; but a freeborn woman who united herself to a slave, being unable, on account of being herself always under guardianship, to give him his freedom, became a slave ; and in order to render this dishonourable act impossible, it was punished with death. Adultery was deemed another inexpiable crime. If the husband did not kill the guilty wife with his own hand, she was turned, naked and with shorn head, out of the house, and whipped by the women from village to village, until she sank from fatigue ; a custom highly commended by Tacitus, and which, until a very late period, was in force among the Saxons (publicatae enim pudicitiae nulla venia. Nemo enim HONOUR OF WOMEN. 43 illic vitia ridet ; nee corrumpere et corrumpi seculum vocatur, Tac.). The ancient Germans did not think the indulgence of these so called weaknesses of the heart so urgent, as, for their sake, to relax public morals, and to cause the disorder of a whole nation. When better known to the Romans, and in- variably told that their laws against adultery were much too severe, and a sign of barbarism, the Burgundian legislators took notice of this reproach, by adding to the decree in which this crime was then, as formerly, unsparingly denounced as worthy of capital punishment, these remarkable words, " rectius est enim, ut paucorum condemnatione multitude corrigatur, quam sub specie incongruas incivilitatis intromittatur occasio, quas licentiam tribuat delinquendi ; " and it was even said of the Goths and Vandals, that they not only retained their own purity, but also reformed the corrupt manners of the Romans. The women were indeed held in such esteem, that the fine orWergeldfor any injury committed against them, was much higher than one committed against the men ; among the Ale- manni and Bavarians it was double the amount ; among the Franks and Thuringians treble, and still higher if the injured woman were pregnant ; among the Saxons, maidens and not married women were guarded against injury by a double fine. Every woman, possessed of sufficient strength, was free to carry arms. Women were also allowed to speak in council, and those noted for capacity and skill, often headed great and im- portant enterprises. Fidelity unto death was vowed in marriage, and, according to Tacitus, a woman never took a second husband ; " She can have but one husband, as she can have but one body and one life;" "sic unum accipiunt maritum quomodo unum corpus unamque vitam, ne ulla cogitatio ultra." Wela says of the Getas, and Procopius of the Heruli, that the women killed themselves on their husbands' bodies ; similar cases, but not as of common occurrence, are met with in the legends of the north, and it is an historical fact, that after bloody battles, the German women killed themselves in great numbers on the bodies of their slaughtered husbands. 44 WOLEN AND WALKYREN XX. Wolen and Walkyren. THE immense strength and vigorous nature of the German people, which, in the men produced an intense desire to dis- tinguish themselves by bold and daring exploits, and, when stimulated to excess, engendered the Berserkerwuth, a spe- cies of wolf-like madness, aroused in the maidens and wo- men that wonderful sort of inspiration, by which they be- came involuntarily intimate with the mysteries of nature. This inspiration, known in our times as animal magnetism, was, in all probability, of common occurrence in those ancient times, and evinced itself in a much higher degree. In the middle ages, this singular faculty was deemed witchcraft, and was condemned as a diabolical art, on account of the inability to explain it by natural means. There is now no doubt of its being caused by a peculiarly irritable condition of the nervous system, which sometimes appears in persons whose powers have been extremely reduced by sickness, sometimes in those possessed of a superabundance of health and strength. Clair- voyance, or the power possessed by a person in a mesmeric state of examining the whole of the internal organs of the body, and of involuntarily discovering the proper remedy, was, at that period, frequent among women, who were hence re- puted to be possessed of the gift of healing. This faculty also extended to that of seeing what passed in remote places, and of foretelling approaching events, and altogether bore a close resemblance to modern mesmerism ; hence the German women were believed to possess the gift of prophecy, and were re- garded as sacred, from a belief of their being inspired by the gods. The temple at Delphi, and, in fact, all the Grecian oracles, originated from these prophetesses, who, at a later period, were frequently met with by the Romans in the interior of Ger- many ; the most celebrated among whom, Velleda, was wor- shipped as a divinity by the whole German nation, whom she unceasingly excited against the Romans. These prophetesses were called Wolen, and when they foretold, or by their magic arts caused, evil, Hexen, in the north, Trollen, witches, who practised sorcery by means of certain songs and drugs. These songs or incantations were \VOLEN AND WALKYREN. 45 in existence long after the introduction of Christianity, and were known by the name of Neitharte. It was believed that by means of them the witch had the power of raising storms, and of causing plagues. Caracalla, the Roman emperor, is said to have been deprived of his senses by these German incantations. These rhymes were so well known and so numerous, that in later times the repetition of them was strictly and repeatedly forbidden by the church. Magic drugs or potions, especially love potions, were equally prohibited. The Walkyren, or celestial women, (from Wai, a dead man, and kiiren, to choose,) were believed to be heavenly maidens, who hovered over every field of battle, and chose expiring heroes for their companions in the eternal joys of Walhalla ; a belief which caused German warriors to look upon death as a nuptial festival in the skies. Earthly maidens were also regarded as Walkyren, when they girded on the sword and took part in the battle. The poetical relation between the pagan warrior and his celestial bride changed, in course of time, to that between the Christian knight and his ladye-bright, who also was not always an earthly dame, but the holy Virgin or some saint. Thus the romantic love, the enthusiastic service, vowed by knights in honour of a celestial being, or of an unknown, haughty, or eternally ungrateful dame, the Minnedienst and gallantry (in its noble sense) of the middle ages, all originated from the beautiful fable of the Walkyren. XXI. Ancient German poesy. IN writing, the Germans made use of singularly shaped letters, called Runic, that resembled little crossed bits of wood, or broken twigs thrown one upon the other ; which, in fact, they were originally intended to represent. It was, at first, customary to augur from the position of such bits of wood, each of which bore a different meaning, which was retained by the Runic characters when used in writing, with which magic was always associated. Paper being at that period unknown, the Runic characters were either engraved on stone or cut in wood. One of the Danish kings had a Runic writing, thirty ells in length, cut 46 ANCIENT GERMAN POESY. on a rock. Even in the present times, tombstones bearing Runic inscriptions are often met with. These characters were commonly cut in soft wood, particularly beech-wood, (Buche y whence is derived the word Buck, a book, and Buchstaben, (stab, a stick,) letters,) an art generally practised by the women, on account of their superior dexterity. Many of these pieces of inscribed wood or Runic sticks have been preserved. The laws were also inscribed upon wood in these characters, and, on account of their lengthy contents, sometimes covered whole beams (Balkeii) ; and, at the present day, the books containing the laws are, in the north, called Balken. Poetry was highly esteemed by the Germans, who, by reciting the noble deeds of their ancestors, kept up the national love of war and adventure. The bards, inspired by martial enthusiasm, transformed the fabled enterprises of the gods into legends recounting heroic exploits, in which the elements, the stars, and all the powers of nature, bore a part. Descriptions of great battles, prophecies of pending destruc- tion, the triumph of the victor, or the lament of the con- quered, form the subject of almost all the songs that have descended to us from days of eld. The harmony of two consonants, or alliteration ; or of two vowels, or assonance ; or that of the last syllable in a verse, or rhythm ; were peculiar to German poetry. All the ancient songs are also as remarkable for their proud and daring spirit as for their sublime and graphic brevity, which may be par- ticularly observed throughout the northern Edda. Metaphor was so general, that a ship was commonly designated by a snake or a bird, a sword was termed fire, and vice versa. Diodorus mentions the bold figures and hyperboles in use among the northern Catti, as he designates the Scandinavians. Tacitus also speaks of the poetical genius of the Germans. The northern Saga describe the extraordinary influence exer- cised by song over the sympathies of the ancient warriors. The Danes formerly thought the composer of the best poem alone worthy of the throne, and the whole nation assembled, in order to judge of its merits. The Icelanders once composed a song in ridicule of the Danes, who felt the insult so deeply, that a naval expedition was the result. Poetry was so all- powerful in exciting or in allaying the passions, that a cruel Swedish king is said to have been suddenly transformed, by PUBLIC WORSHIP. 47 a single song, from a depraved and licentious despot, into a just and valiant ruler. Love and hatred, grief and joy, were alternately swayed by the power of song. A celebrated Troll arriving at the court of a Swedish king, sang before him and his assembled nobles. The first song excited such excessive delight, that they danced and shouted for joy ; when he sang the second, they began to sorrow and weep ; but scarcely had he sang the third, than, frantic with rage, they drew their swords and slew one another. Although the ancient melodies of Germany and Sweden were essentially of a martial character, they possessed great force and variety of sentiment, as may be seen in the Edda, in which violent anger, heart-rending grief, and jocose de- light, follow in rapid succession. XXII. Public worship. THE gods were generally worshipped in sacred groves and forests, or on heaths, whence, zum Walde fahren, to go to the wood, wallfahren, to go on a pilgrimage, and the name of " heathen," applied to unbelievers in Christianity. Tacitus relates, that, at certain periods, all the tribes of the Semnones made a pilgrimage to a sacred grove, where human sacrifices were offered, and that whoever entered the groves wore chains in sign of submission to the deity. Public worship was also solemnized beneath the shade of gigantic and solitary trees, on whose branches trophies and the heads of sacrificed horses were hung. The Upstalesboom, the point of re-union for the whole of Friesland ; an aged nut tree at Benevento, held sacred by the Longobards ; the great oak at Geismar, in Hesse, which Saint Bonifacio cut down ; and the pear tree on the Malserheath ; were once sacred to the gods. The names of Altaich, (old oak,) Eichstadt, (oak city,) Dreieich, (three oaks,) Sieben eichen, (seven oaks,) etc., have a similar origin ; and, even at the present day, there is scarce- ly a village throughout Germany without its large tree, around which it was the custom, not long ago, for the young people to dance. The trees of liberty introduced during the French Revolution were merely fantastical repetitions of the long-for- gotten customs of antiquity. 48 PUBLIC WORSHIP. The gods were also worshipped on holy mountains, and. when Christianity was introduced, churches were generally built on heights. Even in our days, the mass is annually read, at the top of the Alps, to the assembled Senn shepherds. The procession of witches on the Blocksberg, the highest summit of the Harz mountains, is probably a superstition de- rived from the ancient worship formerly offered on that spot to the god of spring. Not very long ago, the Johannisfeuer, or fires of St. John, were still commonly lighted on the tops of hills. Ancient altars have been found on the Odilienberg in Alsace. There are several Donnersberge, mountains so called from the god of thunder. One of the highest points of the Priesengebirge, famous in story, the Reiftrager or Ring- bearer, is quite bare, and surrounded with a regular circle of enormous stones. The Groteberg, at Detmold, is encircled with two great stone rings, and is the same as the ancient Teutoburg in the wood, the burial-place of the legions of Varus. Lakes, rivers, and springs were also held sacred. Tacitus mentions a grove with a sacred lake, in an island, to the north of Germany, apparently Zeeland. The image of the goddess Hertha, in a chariot drawn by cows, was brought, in solemn procession, to this lake, and there washed by slaves, who, immediately after the ceremony, were drowned. There were also places of sacrifice on the Bodensee, in the vicinity of the falls of the Rhine, and near to Bregenz. Petrarch, the celebrated Italian poet, relates, that so late as the fourteenth century, the female inhabitants of Cologne bathed in the Rhine, on St. John's day, in order to wash away their sins ; and that the superstitious custom of drawing water at mid- night from holy wells was still practised. The custom of the Swiss, at a yet later period, of dipping their colours before battle into running water, and of unfurling them before they were dry, was without doubt an ancient heathen ceremony. The erection of temples is of later date ; they were only known in the northern countries ; as for instance, the great temples at Upsala in Sweden, and at Lethra in Denmark. The worship of images also dates later, and was only partial, although it extended to Upper Germany, as has been already seen in respect to the Bodensee. There were three high festivals in the year, which were PUBLIC WORSHIP. 49 held peculiarly sacred. On these occasions the whole nation assembled in order to offer sacrifice. They were all called Sunarblut, Sonnenopfer, sacrifice to the sun, or Suhnopfer, sacrifice of atonement, whence came the word Sinist, the title of the Burgundian high priest. But by far the holiest time was that answering to our Christmas, and the twelve darkest nights of the whole year, those during the winter solstice, after which the sun again approaches our hemisphere : during this period, the gods and spirits were supposed to descend upon the earth, whilst Wodan himself, (Hermes, who, accord- ing to the Greeks, was the conductor of the souls of the dead,) or in his place the chief goddess, Frau Hexe or Holle, led the midnight procession of spirits hovering in the air. Hence originated the legend of the wild huntsman. The great festi- val, held at this time throughout the northern countries, was called the Yule feast, traces of which are still to be met with in Scotland. The second festival was celebrated in the spring ; in the north, during Easter ; in the south, at Whitsuntide, or on St. John's day. The Franks held theirs at different times, having the great annual assembly, first in March, and at a later period, in May. Great fires were lit, (Easter fire, in the north; St. John's fire, in the south,) through which the cattle were driven by way of purification, and in order to guard them against the powers of evil. A festival was insti- tuted in honour of the first violet, around which they danced ; there was also a feast of flowers, the president of which was, in Sweden, called the Flower-king ; in Denmark, the May- king, etc. The image of Death, or Winter, was borne in solemn procession to the river. Many of these customs of olden times exist at the present day. The third festival was held in the autumn, at the time of our Kirchweih, or church consecration, and appears to have been particularly dedicated to Thor, by whose horn it is de- signated on Runic stones. On this day wheaten cakes, in the shape of horns, were baked in honour of the god, which now, in some parts of northern Germany, are baked, on the same day, in honour of St. Martin. St. Martin's goose also apper- tains to these ancient superstitions. The Swedes, every nine years, celebrated a peculiarly so- lemn feast, which lasted nine days, during which 99 men, 99 dogs, 99 cocks, and 99 hawks were sacrificed. A similar E 50 PUBLIC WORSHIP. sacrifice was customary in Denmark, which, A. D. 926, was abolished by the emperor Henry the First. That these festivals were bloody, is at once proved by the name Sonnenblut, and by the appellation of the priests, who, throughout the north, were called Blutmanner, men of blood. Warriors were held in high estimation who were also good Blutmanner, and could sacrifice beasts, a duty incumbent on every head of a family, when no priest happened to be pre- sent. The Blutmanner, whose office it was to assist the king whilst offering sacrifices, were always twelve free-born men, chosen from the people. They killed the beast, and sprinkled the sacred tree, the place of sacrifice, and all the by-standers, with the blood ; the flesh was then cooked and served at the banquet, the head of the animal being hung upon the tree. As they generally sacrificed and ate horses, the eating of horseflesh became a mark of distinction between the heathen and the Christian. A Christian king was forced by the pagan Swedes to eat horseflesh in sign of apostacy, and, at a later period, every one who ate horseflesh was regarded as a heathen, and was put to death. It is equally certain that human sacrifices, though of rare occurrence, were nevertheless offered. The great Swedish and Danish sacrifices have already been mentioned. Tacitus also speaks of human sacrifices. The Cimbri sacrificed their Roman prisoners ; and in times of dearth the Swedes sacri- ficed their king ; but these were extraordinary cases. Besides the great feasts and sacrifices, there were, occa- sionally, a number of other religious observances. During a storm, the Swedes shot arrows into the air, in order to assist the god of thunder in his combats with the giants. During an eclipse of the sun, the people crowded together and shout- ed, in order to scare the wolf attempting to eat the sun, which was supposed to be symbolical of the destruction of the world, when Odin would be devoured by the wolf Fenrix. In har- vest-time, a bunch of ears, tied up with ribbons, was left standing in the field for Odin's horse. On all important oc- casions divine counsel was sought by the examination of favourable or unfavourable omens. Jacob Grimm has, in his German Mythology, collected a number of these omens which were superstitiously observed long after the introduction of Christianity. PAGAN SUPERSTITIONS. 51 XXIII. Pagan superstitions. THE learned Grimm has, with his usual laborious research, proved that the religion of southern Germany was, in the time of Tacitus, essentially the same as that of Scandinavia, shortly before the time of Snorri, and that all the German nations, before their conversion to Christianity, called their superior gods by the same names, and had the same idea of nature, and consequently the same superstitions, fables, and legends. The religion of the north, however, appears to have been, at a later period, of a higher and more polished order, and certain religious differences seem to have attached themselves to various localities and tribes. The German religion, like all those of ancient times, gradually fell from the simple adora- tion of one invisible Deity to the worship of the sun, moon, .stars, elements, and other powers of nature, which, when the human race became more polished, were ingeniously and poeti- cally humanized ; a progression of the human imagination common to most nations, as may be proved by closely investi- gating the religions of Greece, Rome, and Asia. The worship of the stars, and of the elements, was common to the Swabian nations, whilst that of the heroes, in which gods were represented under the form of men, was already practised by the Frankish, Saxon, and particularly by the Scandinavian tribes. When Christianity, advancing step by step, uprooted pagan superstition, the worship of the heroes took refuge with the fugitive Norwegians, in Iceland, where were preserved the sacred books of the Edda, in which the purer natural religion, and even the first doctrine of the ex- istence of one invisible God, are again recognisable, among the ingenious fables of the heroes. According to these books, the most ancient god is Allfadur, (Allfater, Father of all,) the indivisible and eternal Creator and Preserver, the Father of the universe, and of the inferior gods, whom he will survive, and who will one day destroy both them and the pre- sent world, and create a new one in its stead. The three Nornen, or goddesses of fate, the past, the present, and the future, (beneath whose rule all temporal concerns stand fixed, and come but to pass away,) are regarded as continually pro- ceeding from him ; whilst the whole of nature's creations, both E 2 52 THE ANCIENT IDEA OF NATURE. gods and men, are regarded as merely temporary effluences from the one great and supreme Being. Allfater reigned alone over boundless void, which, by the power of his glance, split into two halves ; one, Muspelheim, the world of light ; the other, Nilfheim, or the abode of dark- ness. The spirit of Light was Surtur ; the spirit of Night, Hela. Then Allfater commanded them to mingle, in order to produce a third and middle world, and a fiery shower of sparks fell from Muspelheim into the damp, cold Nilfheim, and fire and water battled together, fizzing and boiling, until from this fearful ferment two monsters sprang ; first, from the dark and evil genius of Night came the giant Ymer, the symbol of brute force ; then, from the light and good spirit of fire, the divine cow, Audhumla, the symbol of nourishing and pre- serving power. Ymer looked upon himself as the monarch of the world, and from his right and left foot issued a six-headed son, the father of the Hrymthursen, or wicked ice-giants, who inherited the cold nature of their progenitor, Night. The cow licked the good god, Buri, out of a rock of salt, from whose son, Bb'r, descended the three brothers, Odin, Wile, and We. These good gods slew the wicked Ymer, and tear- ing his body into pieces, created the earth out of it. The giant's skull formed the vault of heaven ; his brains, the clouds ; his hair, the forests ; his bones, the mountains ; and his blood, the sea. But the gods made the first man and woman out of two trees, the oak and the alder. Henceforth men dwelt in the world, and good gods ruled over it; but the bad giants, of the race of Ymer, still existed, and the gods, foolishly in- termingling with them, allowed Loki, one of the sons of the giants, to take his seat amongst them as the god of evil, who was one day destined to allure them to destruction. Thus the principle of evil was not entirely subdued by the death of Ymer, but still continued to struggle throughout all nature against the spirit of good. XXIV. The ancient idea of nature. ALTHOUGH the whole of nature was thus supposed to have been created out of the body of the giant Ymer, it was re- garded as originally proceeding from the primary worlds of THE ANCIENT IDEA OF NATURE. 53 light and darkness, still existing beyond its limits. Muspel- heiin, the empire of Surtur, hung far above the heavens, and the sun, moon, and stars were merely streams of light flowing downwards from it. Far beneath the earth lay ancient Nilf- heim, the kingdom of Hela, or hell, whose abode was Helheim ; whose palace was Misery ; whose table, Hunger ; whose serv- ant, Delay ; whose threshold, Ruin ; whose bed, Sorrow ; and whose colour was Decay. Nine long nights must the dead ride through dark valleys, when they reached Gioll, the river of hell, and rode over the bridge into Nilfheim, where all went who, instead of falling by the sword, died like cowards on their beds ; all those also, who had been thieves, or liars, or had acted dishonourably ; but the deepest pit in Nilfheim was Huergelmir, completely built of snakes' heads, unceasingly spitting poison on the damned. Between the middle world and Muspelheim lay another, in- habited by the good spirits of nature, (Liosalfarheim, Licht- alfheim,) born of the elves of light ; the wise and tender genii of the elements, Fylgien, or guardian spirits ; and the Walky- ren, who were also the clouds, the messengers of Odin. Hence came the countless legends of elves and fairies, be- nificent towards mankind, especially towards the poor, and children ; hence also the stories of wood and water Nixen or nymphs ; of the fantastical loves of sylphs and Undinen, and of river and tree elves. The stars were sparks out of Muspelheim, directed by Odin : thus the sun was called Odin's eye ; the constellation of the Great Bear, Odin's chariot ; and Jacob's Staff, the distaff of the goddess Freya. Odin also created day and night, and gave to the former, the horse Skinfari, the golden-maned ; and to the latter, the horse Hrinfari, the mane of dew. Between the middle world and Nilfheim lay also another world, Schwartalfaheim, belonging to the black elves, who dwelt in the interior of the earth, particularly in mountains. These are the Kobolds, who watch over subterranean treasures and metals, and generally attempt to hurt and to corrupt men. The numerous legends of the Venusberg, Kyffhauserberg, Untersberg, Zobtenberg, Horselberg, etc., prove that the moun- tains were supposed to be hollow, and to contain treasures, or seductive spirits ; and at a later period, to be haunted by the souls of the dead. The legend of the Tannhauser, who 54 THE ANCIENT IDEA OF NATURE. entered the Venusberg, and there dwelt in joy and delight with the beauteous and mysterious mountain queen, is very old, and equally so are the stories of the mountain king, Rubezahl, who, under the form of a man, tempted maidens into the interior of the Priesengebirge. The water-spirits were also supposed to be generally wicked, though sometimes only sportive. The word necken, to tease, came from Neck, Nickel, Nixe, the appellation of the water-spirits ; whence the river Neckar also derived its name. Plants and animals were also connected in various degrees with the bright and black elves, by whom they were animated, and caused good or evil. The middle world, or earth, placed between these double worlds of light and darkness, was called Mannheim, the home of man, and was divided into an upper and a lower part ; the former of which was Asgard, the heaven of the gods, with the beautiful Walhalla, whose win- dows overlooked the paradise destined for pious women and children ; and the latter was the earth. The rainbow, the sign of union, was supposed to form a bridge called Bifrost, joining earth to heaven, by means of which the gods de- scended to the earth, and the souls of men mounted to Walhalla. The earth was believed to be round, and to be surrounded by the ocean, (Ymer's blood,) or by the great Mitgard snake, Jormungardur ; in the ocean dwelt the god (Egir, and innumerable sea-nymphs. As animals, plants, and metals were inhabited by elves and dwarfs, delicate and diminutive but powerful and cunning spirits, the mountains, seas, arid ruder features of nature were naturally the abode of the giant race of Ymer. The extreme north was full of Ilrymthursen or ice-giants. Niord, the god of the cold air, is especially the god of the north ; Uller, the god of winter ; Kari, the god of the wind, and his sons, frost, ice, and snow. The manner in which the giants were identified with natural phenomena is visible in the following poetical Saga. When Gerdha, the daughter of the giants, closed her house-door, heaven and earth were illumined by the reflection of her beautiful white arms ; signifying the Northern Lights. As Hvenilda, the daughter of the giants, carrying earth in her apron, was wading through the ocean, the apron tore, and the earth, falling into the water, formed the island of Hven. THE GODS. 55 XXV. The Gods. THE polytheism of the Germans arose from the intermix- ture of this original idea of the cause of natural phenomena, with those borrowed from history and domestic life, or pro- duced by their natural tendencies and lively imaginations. Allfater, primarily the one invisible God, afterwards became the visible source of light, the sun, and finally, a demigod, Odin. Thus, in the golden temple at Upsala, the supreme deity of ancient Germany, who, from the Gulf of Bothnia to the Bodensee, was worshipped as the Father of all, the eternal God, in a word, as God, was first imaged as a beam- ing sun, and was afterwards represented standing before this sun under the form of a human hero, Odin-Sigge. The wolf saga in the Edda is also twofold. A wolf swallows the sun, another swallows the hero, Odin, but both are one ; hence the name of the year, (as in the Greek, Xum/3ae,) Wolfgang, i. e. the sun passing before the wolf. The Saga relate much of Odin that merely identifies him with man, and renders him ridiculous, so that the ancient pure belief in Wodan, Guodan, God, was almost forgotten, like the idea of the supreme divinity among the Romans, effaced by the image of the sensual and capricious Jupiter. The idea of Allfater produced those of light and fire ; of Surtur, the sun, the Persian Ormuzd, who was perhaps identical with Irmin ; of Mannus, the father of all mankind ; of Thaut, Thuisko, peculiarly the god of the Germans ; and of Odin, the demigod, who, in the historical records, is spoken of as a man, the founder of kingly races, and from whom the Germans derived their customs, warlike habits, and arts ; hence he was the god of victory, (Sigge,) and, especially, that of war and weapons ; the god of wisdom ; the inventor of letters, sciences, and arts. The invention of poetry is also ascribed to his having, in the form of an eagle, devoured the honey containing the poetical inspiration ; but when flying back with it to Asgard, he was so closely pursued that he let a part of it drop from behind on the summit of the Asenberg, the tasting of which produced the bad poets, whilst the good ones were fed upon the honey that issued from his beak on the Himmelsberg. Drollery and sublimity thus go hand in hand throughout the Saga of Odin. 56 THE GODS. Odin's heavenly palace was the Walhalla, an enormous hall ornamented with golden escutcheons and lances, to which 540 doors led, each so wide, that 800 heroes could march through them abreast. Here came all the souls of warriors, Einheriar, (einig, ein ffeer bildende JVajfenbruder, singly composing an army of companions in arms,) who daily rode vrith the gods on the great plains of Ida, and battled with one another, in order to continue, after death, the heroic deeds they joyed in during life, and every evening returned to Walhalla, where, seated in a circle, they drank rich mead from golden goblet?, presented to them by the beauteous Walkyren, and fed upon the flesh of the bear, Sahrimriir, which always remained whole, whatever number of steaks were cut from him, and upon the apples of Iduna, which preserved them in eternal youth, whilst the scalds sang in praise of the gods, of the charms of the Walkyren, and of past glory ; Odin presiding over the feast, and rejoicing over his countless armies of heroes. The windows of Walhalla overlooked all the other heavens, which lay round about like beautiful castles, where the gods dwelt singly with their wives, and where the pious wives and chil- dren of mortals, who could not enter Walhalla, but might dwell in its vicinity, were transferred. Odin belonged to the world of light, his wife Frigga to that of darkness, but she was raised by her union with him to that of light. She was mother Earth, and stands in the same relation to the female black elves and Hela, as the goddesses of the earth, of Greece, Rome, and Egypt, did to the infernal powers ; and, in the superstitions of Christian times, she was styled Frau Holle (hell) or Frau Bertha, who, in her amiable character, was the prophetess of housewives and of households, and, in her fearful one, the leader of the night chace. In short, she personated the darkness of earth, and Odin the brightness of heaven ; and as Odin was always imagined to be riding on the eight- legged horse, Sleipnir, Frigga is represented as seated in a chariot drawn by cows ; horses being sacred to him, and cows to her. The image, washed in the lake, mentioned by Tacitus, was hers. She was also probably identical with Isis, of whom that writer says, that she was carried about in a ship. In 1133 a ship was drawn overland, in solemn procession, with dancing and music, from Aix-la-Chapelle to Maestricht, evi- dently a pagan custom, in which the procession accompanying THE GODS. 57 the chariot or ship was probably intended to represent the early migrations of the Germans. Freyr and Freya were connected in the same manner as Odin and Ffigga. Freyr was the son of Odin, in a stricter sense, the sun ; and consequently the guardian of all the white elves. Freya was the daughter of Niord, and there- fore belonged to the spirits of damp and darkness ; she was the moon, and the goddess of love ; and as Freyr, the sun, rode on a golden bear, she rode on a silver one, having in her train, Siotha, the first feelings of love, Lofna, happy love, Wara, true love, Snotra, shame, and Gefion, innocence ; and, although in this manner belonging to light, she appears, from the above-mentioned Saga of the Venusberg concerning love- charms and philters, to be in close connexion with the black elves, over whom she probably reigned, as Freyr did over the white ones. Thor or Dunar, the god of thunder, who was supposed to be drawn by black goats through the air, bearing in his hand Mib'lner, the hammer of destruction, and the great drinking horn with which he once nearly drained the ocean, thus caus- ing the ebb and flow, bears much similarity to Odin, and is apparently a Gaelic divinity of more ancient date, who con- tinued to be worshipped by the Galli under the name of Taranes, and by the Finns and Lapps under that of Tiermes, the supreme god. Tyr, the god of war, is also identical with him, as well as Widar, the god of locomotion, who walked through and crushed every thing with his iron shoes. The rest of the Asen are bright gods of light ; Wali, the spring ; Balldr, beauty ; Braga, the god of poetry ; Saga, the goddess of history ; Iduna, immortality ; Heimdall, the god of the three classes, the nobles, the free-born, and the slaves ; and Forsete, the god of peace and justice. The twelve Asen, Thor, Balldr, Niord, Freyr, Tyr, Braga, Heimdall. Widar, Wali, Uller, Forsete, and Loki, were chosen from among all these various deities, and, assembled around Odin, assisted in governing the world ; they also signify the twelve months of the year, and again appear in the seven days of the week : Wednesday, Odin's day ; Thursday, Thor's day ; Friday, Freya's day. 58 HISTORICAL IDEAS. XXVI. Historical ideas. As the outward frame of the earth was supposed to have been created out of the body of the giant Ymer, the ash -tree, Ygdrasill, was supposed to represent its external growth and internal life. This tree reached from the bottom of Nilf lieini far beyond all the heavens ; it had three roots, by each of which there was a source; Urdarborn, the source of time; Mimer's well, the source of wisdom ; and Huergelmir, the source of poison. Nidhbggur, the dragon, the father of all the snakes in Huergelmir, unceasingly gnawed the roots. The three Nornen or fates, the past, the present, and the future, sat around the source of time. Far above, at the top of the tree, perched an eagle, the symbol of perfection, per- haps as the fire eagle, the self-animating phoenix, whilst a squirrel ran busily up and down, making mischief between the dragon below and the eagle above. As soon as the dragon gnawed through the roots, the noble tree was to fall, and time and all earthly things were to cease. This beautiful world was not to endure for ever ; the gods, like men, mere creatures of Allfater, were subject to evil and destruction. All that was earthly would pass away, but Allfater would renovate earth and heaven. The ancient legends of the gods conclude with this doctrine, and this conclusion of the Edda is in extraordinary agreement with that of the old songs of the Nibelungen ; in the former, the gods are destroyed ; in the latter, men ; and both, in the true old German heroic spirit, in expiation of a crime, but courageously despising death and fighting to the last. Thus the heroes and warriors imagined that all things would end in the manner in which they aspired to die, sword in hand on the battle-field. The ancient no- tions of the Germans, with regard to the intention of history and the moral to be deduced from it, are most clearly ex- pressed by the symbol of the ash-tree, the first Saga that speaks of the destruction of gods and men ; nor can it be doubted that these ideas were continually present to the ima- gination of the Germans. The indifference with which they met death, nay, the eagerness with which they sought it, their high estimation of a virtuous and honourable life, and the un- faltering bravery with which they opposed irremediable de- HISTORICAL IDEAS. 59 struction, are characteristics whose source is easily traced in the spirit of their religion, the fundamental principle of which was to die nobly. To die on the battle-field was sufficient atonement for any crime of which they had been guilty. They allowed their gods to sin, but made them die like heroes, which rendered them worthy of a future and glorious resur- rection. But their gods were merely symbolical of themselves. Thus the oldest and first song of the Edda, the Voluspa, com- mences. A Wale advances into the circle of the gods, and in awful tones announces their fall and the destruction of the lordly Asgard, at the general conflagration of the world. This event will be caused by the gods, who will sin in common with the wicked of Ymer's ancient race, and will consequently be abandoned by the inward light which they derived from Muspelheim. However, the golden age is still of long dura- tion ; vengeance does not soon overtake their crime. Then the gods gamble in heaven, and, heated by play, do not per- ceive the approach of three daughters of the giants, who steal their golden Runic tables, upon which Allfajer had himself inscribed the laws of the universe. Then the golden age is at an end. Care and anxiety take possession of the gods, who, forgetful of their given word, kill Angurbode, one of the three giantesses. Loki finds her out-torn heart, and falls in love with her ; and as until now he was accounted one of the Asen, he goes over to the wicked giants in order to plot the destruction of his former companions. At the same time, a young wolf, Fenrix, which was brought up in Asgard, grows to such an enormous size, that the Asen begin to feel uneasy. In vain they bind him ; he breaks every chain. At length they try to bind him with a charm, but he does not allow the chain to be placed upon him, until they swear that it is not a charm. They forswear themselves, and Tyr has the courage to lay his hand, as security, in the wolf's mouth, who instantly bites it off on discovering the deception. The gods are no longer worthy of life. Iduna, or immortality, is tempted from them by a giant ; however, they still possess Balldr, or en- chanting beauty ; but the ugly quarrel with him, and his only brother, the blind Hodur, is unwittingly incited to kill him by Loki, and his wife, Nana, burns herself upon his funeral pile. Then the Asen take foul revenge on Loki, and sinning against sacred nature, bind him with the bowels of his only son to 60 HISTORICAL IDEAS. three pointed rocks, and suspend over his head a snake distil- ling poison. His convulsions produce the earthquakes. The end of all tilings is now at hand. The rage of the gods and the wickedness of men increase. Enmity and hate have universal rule ; then come fear and woe, the hatchet and sword age, the storm and wolf era. For three years there is unbroken icy win- ter, the frightful Fiinbul weather, during which every thing is buried in frozen sleep, before the awful end. The earth be- gins to shake ; the dragon has gnawed through the roots ; and the ash tree, Ygdrasill, will fall and crush the whole world. The wolf, Fenrix, madly struggles with his bonds, and bursts them. Loki also breaks away from the rocks. Across the sea, come the giants, the Hrymthursen, in the ship Nagelfar. entirely built of the nails of dead men fastened together, a proof of the antiquity of the world. The Mitgard snake rises from the ocean like a gigantic ghost, and they all besiege Asgard from below. The Asen and all the Einheriar are armed and fight their last glorious battle, nor do they despair of success, until Muspelheim opens from above, and Surtur issues in flames at the head of his fiery squadrons, beneath whom the rainbow bridge, the symbol of union, breaks asun- der, and every thing is lost. Heimdall and Loki kill them- selves ; Thor slays the Mitgard snake, but dies of his poisoned wounds ; Freyr is burnt by Surtur ; Odin is swallowed alive by the wolf Fenrix, whose open jaws reach from beneath the earth to heaven. Finally, the whole world is destroyed by the flames of Surtur, and becomes Ragnarok, or the incense of the gods. After this, Allfater will create a new world, de- void of evil. PART II. THE WARS WITH THE ROMANS. XXVII. The Romans. IN the eighth century before Christ, Rome was peopled by fugitives from different parts of the country. The city was at first governed by kings, who might almost be termed robber kings, on account of the depredations they committed against neighbouring nations. The Romans, however, strengthened by petty conquests, and rendered hardy and independent by continual warfare, soon drove out their kings, and founded a republic on the plan of the more ancient ones of Greece, whence they subsequently drew their refinement and arts, whilst from the brave Alpine nations, with whom they early came in collision, they acquired that heroic spirit which, at a later period, rendered them as formidable to the Greeks as their superior science and knowledge became to the Germans. Rome was yet in her infancy when, four centuries B. c., two immense German hordes, the Senones and Boii, crossed the Alps, and settled in the fertile plains of Italy. Rome was taken and burnt, but quickly recovered from this first attack, and the watchful cunning and steady courage of her inhabit- ants soon proved fatal to the warriors of the north, whose hardy habits had gradually degenerated in that luxurious cli- mate. Their impolitic division into small and independent tribes was another cause of their ruin, and, after a long and bloody struggle, part of them were, one after the other, exterminated, and the rest incorporated with the now aggrandized republic, whose warriors had exercised their martial spirit, and im- proved their military tactics during this long and difficult war. In the 2nd century B. c., when Rome bore sway over the 62 THE ROMANS. whole of Italy, as far as the Alps, and had even subdued the southern provinces of Gaul on the Rhone, fresh hordes of barbarians, the Cimbri and Teutones, crossed the Alps, and again threatened the Roman power with destruction ; but when, in their proud contempt of Rome, they again impru- dently divided, they fell a prey to the sagacity and prodigious efforts of the Romans, who, compelled by necessity, reformed the ancient republic, and by conferring on the plebeians the privileges, until now monopolized by the ancient and haughty patricians, gave an impulse to, and united the efforts of, every class ; a measure by which the safety of the mass could alone be secured, and which added more citizens to Rome, (for the inhabitants of neighbouring states became ambitious to gain that honourable distinction,) than she gained by the fame of her victories over the Cimbri. Thus Rome a second time owed the increase of her power to German influence. Her insatiable ambition fed by con- quest, she grasped at universal dominion, and after subduing all the countries in her immediate vicinity, boldly planned the reduction of the whole world. Greece, Asia Minor, the northern coasts of Africa, the whole of southern and western Europe, every Gallic and Celtic country, as far as Britain, submitted to the Roman eagle, which was alone defied by our elder brethren, the Persians, in the fastnesses of Asia, and by the Germans beyond the Danube and the Rhine. The fear- ful struggle between the Romans and the Germans, which lasted, almost unbroken, for nearly five centuries after the war with the Cimbri, extended along the shores of the Black Sea, and followed the course of the Danube, and of the Rhine as far as the Baltic. At one time, the Germans, quitting their wild forests, would lay waste the Roman frontier ; or at an- other, the Romans would march their well-disciplined and iron-clad legions to the Weser and the Elbe ; and in this manner the war was carried on, with various fortune, through- out whole centuries, until Rome, sated with the spoils of count- less nations, sank into the lap of luxury, and her citizens, raised by unjust wars to unjust dominion, lost their ancient love of honour and liberty. The legions, flushed with victory, ruled despotically over the helpless citizens, destroyed the ancient republic, and raised their generals to the throne, who, during successive centuries THE SENONES AND THE BOII IN ITALY. 63 turned the whole force of the mighty Roman empire against Germany. Millions of iron-clad men, picked from every part of the world, well disciplined and practised in every species of warfare, flexible and obedient to the will of their skilful leaders, thirsting for glory, or maddened by jealousy and re- venge, besieged Germany on every side, and fell upon the poor half-naked native, whose only defence lay in the dark forest depths and the untaught strength of his arm. The event speaks for itself. These half- naked tribes, after the longest and most glorious struggle for liberty recorded in the annals of mankind, after crushing the masters of the world. and shattering their boundless empire, now form a great and powerful nation, whilst the very name of Roman is vanishing from the earth. XXVIII. The Senones and the Boii in Italy. ON the upper Danube, in modern Swabia, dwelt the Senones, and in modern Bavaria, their neighbours, the Boii. In the fourth century B. c., Helico, a carpenter, came to them, bring- ing with him the juicy grapes and golden fruits of Italy, which they beheld for the first time, and greedily desiring to possess a land that produced such luscious fruit, they migrated in immense hordes, under a leader named Brennus, and climb- ing the snow-topped Alps, descended into the smiling valleys of the Po, whence they gradually reached Rome, whose in- habitants, at that period, still weak, and depending more on their cunning than their strength, begged for peace, which was granted ; but, when, breaking their oath, they suddenly fell upon the unsuspecting strangers, Brennus, justly enraged, severely chastised their perfidy, and after totally defeating them, took the city, [B. c. 389,] and burnt it to the ground. The aged senators, unwilling to survive the destruction of the city, had remained in the senate-house, seated in state in their white and purple robes, with sceptres in their hands ; and when the Germans, armed with sword and brand, rushed tumultuously into the hall, they were seized with awe on be- holding these venerable and motionless figures, which they imagined to be spirits or statues, until one of them, wishing to discover whether they were alive, took hold of the beard of 64 THE SENONES AND THE BOII one of the senators, who, resenting the insult, struck him to the ground with his sceptre. The illusion was instantly dis- pelled, and the senators were murdered. The Capitol, which was commanded by Manlius, and still held out, narrowly escaped being surprised by the Germans, who, during the night, had scaled the rock on which it was built, when the sleeping garrison was aroused by the cackling of the geese, disturbed by their approach. One thousand pounds of gold purchased the departure of Brennus, who, with the insolence of a conqueror, threw his sword into the scales, and bade them add its weight to the ransom. The Senones and Boii afterwards settled in the north of Italy, but did not long remain at peace with the Romans, with whom they were so continually at war, that every year pro- duced a fresh list of battles, victories, and defeats. In these perpetual struggles with their belligerent neighbours, the Ro- mans quickly acquired the military skill and discipline, which in course of time rendered them so formidable, and so supe- rior to their once dreaded opponents, who, had they united in the pursuance of one settled plan of warfare, might have crushed the Roman empire in the bud. XXIX. The Senones 'and the Boii in Greece and Asia Minor. IN the third century before Christ, the same nations, uniting with several others, migrated from the interior of Germany into Greece. They consisted of Senones, Boii, Cimbri, Teu- tobodiaci, etc., and had several leaders, among whom was another Brennus. Flushed with success, and greedy of plun- der, they attempted to seize the treasures in the sacred temple at Delphi. Their impious daring was speedily chastised. A fearful whirlwind and storm suddenly arose ; the earth quaked, the rocks fell, and struck with horror and dismay, the bar- barians fled. Vast numbers fell by the hands of the Greeks. Brennus was wounded, and the remainder of his army, being weakened by pestilence, and in danger of being captured, voluntarily burnt themselves alive, to the number of 20,000 men, together with their booty, in their encampment. The soothsayers foretelling disaster to another horde when on the point of giving battle, they resolved to die like warriors, and IN GREECE AND ASIA iiilNOR. 65 after killing their wives and children, rushed into the midst of the enemy, and fell at the point of the sword. A third horde had, meanwhile, crossed to Asia Minor ; the land pleased them, and, settling there, they founded a nation, named, by the Greeks and Romans, Gallo-Graacians, or Galatians ; the same to which St. Paul addressed one of his Epistles. They were distinguished by different names amongst themselves, and were divided into no less than 195 petty tribes, which were comprised under three heads within twelve districts, and had a general place of assembly, called Drynaimet. The twelve representatives of the districts, who formed the su- preme council, were assisted by three hundred men ; a hundred being chosen from each of the three heads or chief tribes ; a form of government perfectly similar to those met with, at a later period, in Germany. In course of time, however, some men contrived to get themselves elected perpetual dukes of Galatia, and, at the time of the birth of Christ, this nation had shared the fate of its Asiatic neighbours, and had fallen under the Roman rule ; but it always retained its original language, which, according to St. Hieronymus, was similar to the dialect spoken in the country round Treves. 1400 years after the settlement of these people in Asia, when the Ger- man crusaders passed through Galatia, they were astonished to find that the inhabitants spoke with the Bavarian accent. The greater part of the settlers were originally Boii. XXX. The Romans in the Alps. ROME gradually increased in power, and ere long threat- ened destruction to the Senones and Boii in Upper Italy, who consequently besought the assistance of their brethren on the other side of the Alps. Accordingly, 200,000 German war- riors, named Gaesatag, (guests, or geeiseten, iron-clad,) marched thence towards Rome ; their leader, Britomar, a Boii, vowing not to loosen his girdle until he had taken the Capitol. The Romans twice suffered defeat, but the whole of Italy rising in the common cause, an army, consisting of 700,000 infantry and 70.000 cavalry, was raised, and, commanded by the brave -ZEmilius, made head against the invading host, which it suc- ceeded in surrounding near the river Telamon, where, after a 66 THE ROMANS IX THE ALPS. desperate conflict, victory sided with the Romans ; 40,000 of the barbarians were slain, and their chief, Britomar, was taken prisoner [B. c. 225]. Another chief and all his followers killed themselves in despair ; and a third, Ariovistus, took shelter in the mountains, where for two years he was supported by 20,000 Cenomanni and Heneti, but was finally overcome by the Romans [B. c. 223]. In the following year, [B. c. 222,] Wiridomar led 30,000 Germans from the Rhine, who were also defeated by the Romans. Wiridomar fell by the hand of the consul, Marcel- lus. Hannibal, the great Carthaginian general, who, with his gigantic elephants and dark Africans, traversed Spain, Gaul, and the Alps, with the design of crushing the ambition of Rome, already threatening to enslave the world, was received with open arms by the Alpine tribes. Some of the Senones and Boii fought under his command at Ticinum, where Cryxus, a descendant of Brennus, lost his life. Ducarius, the leader of the Boii, avenged the death of Wiridomar, by killing the con- sul Flaminius in single combat at the battle of Trasimene, [B. c. 217,] on which occasion the Boii buried 25,000 Romans in a wood, and used the skull of the consul Posthumus as a sacri- ficial cup. Hannibal was, however, no sooner called to Car- thage on account of the invasion of Africa by the Romans, than fortune again sided with the latter, and after several desperate and bloody battles, in one of which 35,000, and in another 40,000, of their number fell, the Germans were forced to retreat. The Boii long and obstinately defended the for- tresses raised by them beyond the lake of Como, but were finally obliged to cede them, together with their strongest fort, Felsina, to the Romans, and to take refuge in the mountains, whence they carried on a desultory and destructive warfare, until betrayed by their allies, the Cenomanni and Heneti, whose knowledge of the country and of mountain warfare proved of infinite service to the Romans ; and at length, weak- ened by repeated losses, they were utterly annihilated in a bat- tle, in which 32,000 of them were slain [B.C. 191]. This victory placed the whole of the southern side of the Alps in the hands of the Romans, who, by skilfully exciting the mutual jealousies of the petty mountain tribes, some of which they took into their alliance and raised to the rank of Roman citizens, and by systematically exterminating others that offered resistance, quickly opened a route to the western side of the Alps, and, THE GET^: AND BASTARN.E. 67 taking possession of Gaul, made the beautiful country on the Rhone into a Roman province, whence is derived its present name Provence. XXXI. The Getce and Bastarnce. IT is uncertain whether the Budini, mentioned by Herodo- tus, inhabited the west or the north of Russia. Their name, blue eyes, light hair, and sacred forest lakes, indicate an affinity with the Goths of later times [B. c. 500]. The Getai dwelt near the mouths of the Danube, behind them, farther up the river, the Daci, and beyond them, the Pannonians, at the time of the invasion of Darius, king of Persia, who, cross- ing the river, narrowly escaped total destruction on the steppes lying northwards. His alliance was sought by the Panno- nians, who sent to him a tall and beautiful girl, bearing on her head a vessel filled with water, and spinning whilst she led a horse by a bridle on her arm ; on observing his surprise they informed him, that they were descended from the Teucri of Troy, and that all their women were as industrious and as useful as the maiden he beheld. On his penetrating deeper into the steppe, the Scythians (probably of Thracian or German, Tartarian or Slavonian origin) mockingly presented him with a bird, a mouse, a frog, and five arrows, signs that implied, "Unless you can hide yourself in the air like a bird, or under ground like a mouse, or in the water like a frog, our arrows will slay you before you reach our frontiers ;" a threat they almost succeeded in executing, for, enticing the Persian army farther up the country, it was surrounded, and only rescued from destruction by a successful stratagem. We learn from the Greeks, that the wise Zamolxis taught the doctrine of the immortality of the soul to the Getae, whose king, Diceneus, made him their legislator. Long after the disastrous expedition of Darius, towards the close of the fourth century before Christ, Alexander the Great, when attempting to extend his Grecian boundary as far as the Danube, over- threw the Getee, and drove the Triballi, one of their tribes, from the island of Peuce, which was probably held sacred by them. Pliny names all the German tribes of the Danube, Peucini, from this island. F 2 68 IRRUPTION OF THE CIMBRI AND TEUTOXES. The Romans had no sooner gained possession of the Alps, than they sought to extend their dominion farther eastward, over Illyria, and to bring the German tribes of the Danube, as well as the Greeks, into submission. The Illyrian queen, the brave Teuta, whose ships spread terror and desolation along the coasts of Italy, cut off the heads of their ambassadors and long bade them defiance, but being at length defeated, died of grief [B. c. 229]. Gentius, her third successor, struggled valiantly against them, and besought the assistance of Perseus, the Grecian king, who, influenced by avarice and indolence, left him to his fate, and he was forced to yield [B. c. 167]. The ambassadors sent on this occasion to negociate peace with the Romans were named Teuticus and Bellus. The wretched Perseus, when too late, sought to repair the consequences of his procrastination, and assembled the Getaa and their northern neighbours, the Bastarnae, in order to make head against the Romans. One of their leaders was called Teutagonus. The avarice of the king, however, proved stronger than his appre- hensions, and he refused the sum demanded by his allies ; one of whom, Clondicus, king of the Bastarnae, indignant at this baseness, devastated Thrace and returned to his own country, without offering any opposition to the Romans, who gradually subdued all the mountain tribes of Dalmatia and Croatia, one of which, the Stoeni, rendered desperate by defeat, preferred death to slavery. XXXII. Irruption of the Cimbri and Teutones [B. c. 113]. Ix the beginning of the second century before Christ, a torrent of wandering hordes, the Cimbri and Teutones, de- scended from the Danube to the Styrian Alps, giving out that a flood had driven them from the North Sea, and that they were in search of a country wherein to settle. During their advance, they were joined by several of the southern German tribes, among others, by the Boii, one of whose leaders was named Bojorix. Their progress was extremely slow, owing to their being accompanied by women and chil- dren, cattle, and an immense number of waggons laden with booty. The armed men alone mustered 300,000. The Cimbri had 15,000 horsemen, clad in polished steel armour, IRRUPTION OF THE CIMBRI AND TEUTONES. 69 and armed with broad swords and long lances, their helmets ornamented with the horns of wild beasts, wings, and plumes of feathers. These people were of gigantic stature, and their long flowing golden hair, and fierce blue eyes, increased the majesty of their appearance. The Romans, panic-struck at, their approach, despatched an army to oppose the passage of the strangers through the Alps, and to secure the allegiance of their newly-acquired Alpine subjects. The wanderers re- ceived the Roman deputation peacefully, and said that they were only going into Gaul. But being treacherously misled by Carbo the Roman general, who suddenly fell upon them during the night, whilst they were engaged in a narrow moun- tain pass, not far from the city of Noreja, a dreadful conflict took place, which terminated in the total discomfiture of the whole Roman army ; the few who escaped with the general owing their safety to a storm, which suddenly arose and rendered pursuit impossible. After this event, the wanderers remained for several years in the Alps, slowly advancing to- wards Gaul ; the sturdy mountaineers every where swelling their ranks. On reaching Helvetia they were joined by the inhabitants of two districts, the Tigurini (Zurichers) and the Toygeni, (Toggenburgers,) headed by the youthful Divico. The whole swarm now poured from the mountains into Gaul, and took possession of the country as far as the sea-coast, the inhabitants flying for shelter within the walls of their forti- fied cities, which were fruitlessly besieged. Their attempts to subdue the German tribes, or Belgae, inhabiting the Netherlands, proved equally futile. The Cimbri, either wearied by the protracted defence made by the cities, or per- haps merely incited by their roving and warlike habits, and attracted by the fertility of the southern countries, forgot their first intention, and, whilst the Teutones were busily engaged with the Belga?, resolved to quit Gaul. On reaching the country near Marseilles, they fell in with a Roman army guarding the frontier, and commanded by Silanus, from whom they demanded permission to settle in Italy, which being re- fused, a battle took place, in which the Romans were worsted. Another frontier army, stationed near the lake of Geneva, was attacked by Divico at the head of the Helvetians, and so com- pletely defeated, that all the Romans who escaped the slaughter were taken prisoners, and forced to crawl ignominiously under a lance, placed horizontally on two low posts. TO IRRUPTION OF THE CIMBRI AND TEUTONES. Another army, under Scaurus, sent to oppose them, was also defeated, and the general taken prisoner. He was after- wards slain by Bojorix, the youthful German chief, in a fit of passion, excited by hearing the captive Roman proudly fore- tell, that Italy would never become the prey of the German invader. Shortly after these successes, they were rejoined by the Teutones, and the Romans were only able to despatch against their now almost irresistible force, a single and dispirited army, commanded by two generals, Manlius and Caepio, who hated and finally abandoned each other. Caepio, by plundering Gaul, embittered the inhabitants against him, and venturing unaided an engagement with the Germans, was completely beaten, [B. c. 105,] and Manlius, who hastened to his succour when too late, shared the same fate. In this conflict, that took place on the banks of the Rhone, no quarter was given ; every Roman was put to the sword, and the immense booty that fell into the hands of the victors was consecrated to the gods, and cast into the river. The province now lay open and defenceless ; victory had abandoned the Roman eagle, and Rome, amazed and help- less, saw herself doomed to certain destruction ; one step more, and all Italy lay at the feet of the Germans, when suddenly renouncing their project, they poured across the Pyrenees into Spain, then inhabited by the warlike Celtiberi, with whom they waged a futile war of three years' duration, whilst the Romans seized the unlooked-for opportunity to make fresh preparations for defence. Marius, a renowned general, by birth a peasant, entrusted with the sole command, and armed with unlimited authority, raised, as if by magic, a fresh and immense army from the dregs of the populace, the slaves, and foreigners, which he daily exercised in military tactics, and accustomed to the en- durance of the severest hardships, in which he set them an example. On the return of the Cimbri and Teutones from Spain, [B. c. 102,] he was strongly intrenched on the Rhone, and firmly resolved to dispute the passage into Italy, which three years before lay free and open before them. The two hordes now judged it politic to separate, and whilst the Teu- tones attacked Marius, the Cimbri entered the Tyrol, by which country they intended to enter Italy. THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TEUTONES. XXXIII. The destruction of the Teutones. THE Teutones, presenting themselves before the camp of Marios, demanded land on which to settle in Italy, which was contemptuously refused ; and, after vainly challenging him to battle on the open field, they made a furious but ineffectual attack upon the camp, whose strong walls and ditches with- stood their irregular mode of assault, and the Romans soon became accustomed to the sight of their formidable opponents, who ere long, weary of the protracted siege, resolved to leave the camp in their rear, and to continue their route towards Italy. Their column was six days in defiling, nor did Marius obstruct their passage, although mockingly asked, whether he had any message for Rome. As soon as their last ranks had disappeared, he broke up his camp, in the hope, by making forced marches along by-paths, of overtaking and surprising them in some favourable spot. The Teutones, meanwhile, followed the course of an Alpine torrent, and marched up the country to Aix, already celebrated for its medicinal waters, where they encamped in the valley, and were amusing them- selves with bathing, feasting, drinking, and singing, when Marius suddenly appeared on the neighbouring heights. His soldiers, although fatigued with a long march, were instantly ordered to erect a fortified camp. Evening had already fallen, and Marius, anxious to avoid a night attack, which might prove disastrous to himself, strictly prohibited any one to go down to the river to slake his thirst, lest, by that means, an engage- ment with the Teutones should be brought on ; but some of the men, unable any longer to endure the thirst occasioned by a long day's march, disobeyed, and, descending to the river, were attacked by the Germans who were bathing. The alarm was instantly given, and Germans and Romans rushed eagerly to the spot. The Romans, dashing across the stream, attacked the waggoned encampment, which was bravely defended by the women, whilst the men rapidly assembled from the more distant parts of the camp, and almost succeeded in obstructing the retreat of Marius, who at length, though with great diffi- culty, regained the opposite bank. The Germans spent the night in drinking and gambling, and Marius, filled with horror as he listened to their wild shouts re-echoing along the moun- . 2 THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TEUTONES. tains, vowed to sacrifice his daughter to the gods, if they granted him victory. The following day was passed on both sides in tranquillity, the Germans remaining peaceably in the valley, and Marius awaiting more favourable omens from the gods, which no sooner appeared, than he prepared to attack the enemy on the following morning, and sent, under cover of night, a small chosen troop, commanded by his lieutenant, Marcellus, to take up a position to the rear of the barbarians. At sunrise, Marius issued from the camp, and drew up his army in battle-array, which was no sooner perceived by the enemy, than, eager for the fight, they crossed the stream and stormed the hill-side. The exertion of running so far, and their repeated slips on the steep, smooth surface of the hill, speedily rendered them weary and breathless, whilst the Ro- mans, stationed in impenetrable masses on the edge of the cliff, easily repelled every attempt made to dislodge them. The immense numbers of the Germans now proved an addi- tional source of disaster. Pressed upon from behind, unable to find a firm footing on the slippery ground, or to use their long lances and swords in the throng, their gigantic frames exposed to the short keen weapons of the Romans, who now pressed steadily down-hill, whilst Marcellus fell upon their rear and fearfully redoubled the massacre, as many dying of suffocation as fell by the sword, they sought to extricate them- selves from the fatal position into which their reckless daring and ignorance had hurried them, by flight. The Teuton women defended the waggons to the last, when they offered to capitulate on condition of their honour being respected, which being refused, they murdered all their chil- dren, and then killed themselves. Marius preserved the most valuable of the spoils to grace his triumph, and collecting the remainder into an enormous pile, burnt it in honour of the gods. The spot on which this battle took place, enriched by torrents of human blood and heaps of slain, in the following year produced wines, which afterwards became celebrated, and the gigantic bones of the Teutones were long used for fencing in the vineyards. The greater part of the fugitives were taken by the Gauls, and delivered to the Romans. Teutobach, the Teuton king, who was discovered and taken prisoner in a neighbouring forest, was of such gigantic sta- ture as to overtop all the other trophies in the triumphal THE DESTRUCTION OF THE CIMBRI. < 3 procession. He was the same who is said to have leaped over six horses. XXXIV. The destruction of the Cimbri. THE Cimbri, meanwhile, traversed the narrow passes lead- ing from the Tyrol into Italy, and viewed with delight the snow-capped mountains, which recalled to mind the winters of their northern home. Half naked and seated on their large shields, they slid down the glaciers, in those ancient times one of the favourite amusements of the Scandinavian mountaineers. The fertile vales of Italy, where they expected to meet their brethren, the Teutones, at length burst upon their view, and were greeted with shouts of joy. An army under Catulus, who had not ventured to oppose their passage through the Alps, fled, on their approach, as far as the river Athesis, where, throwing up intrenchments on both banks of the stream, they awaited the enemy, who, encamping opposite the fortifications, tore up trees and built enormous rafts, which they loaded with pieces of rock, and floated down stream in such huge masses, and so quickly one after the other, as to cause the bridge connecting the two embankments to give way, and the river to overflow ; whereupon they raised such a fearful war-cry, that the Romans intrenched on the farther bank of the river, deaf to t'ie entreaties of their commander, fled panic-struck ; whilst their countrymen on the opposite bank, imprisoned within their fortifications, defended them- selves with such persevering bravery, that the Cimbri, struck with admiration, gave them, unasked, peace and liberty. The wandering hordes, intoxicated with success, now spread them- selves over the rich country around Verona, and madly revel- ling in the luxuries of the South, carelessly awaited the arrival of the Teutones, instead of whom Marius appeared at the head of his victorious army, strengthened by that of Catulus. The Cimbri, unsuspicious of the truth, sent a deputation to demand land for themselves and the Teutones, to whom Ma- rius replied, "that their brethren had already land enough to rest upon," and in explanation of his words, showed them the Teuton king in chains. In silent wrath, the Cimbrian ambas- sadors returned to their encampment, and on the following 74 THE DESTRUCTION OF THE CIMBRI. day, the youthful Bojorix, seated proudly on horseback, ap- peared as a herald before the camp of Marius, according to German custom, to challenge him to fix the time and place for battle. With a sneer at their frank and loyal chivalry, Marius named the third day, and the dusty plain of Vercelli. The morning of the thirtieth of July, one hundred and one years before Christ, broke. A thick fog covered the whole country. The Cimbri were drawn up in a solid square, each side of which measured 7500 paces. The foremost ranks were fastened together with chains, in order to render it more difficult for the enemy to break through them; and as each man bore a shield that covered his body, the whole mass re- sembled a wooden wall. Marius on his side provided the long spears of his soldiers with grappling hooks, with which to drag away the shields, the only defence of the Germans against the Roman short sword. The battle commenced, and the Roman cavalry, deceived by the feigned flight of the Cira- brian horse, and blinded by the fog, were drawn between them and the mass of infantry. In this moment of danger, Marius entreated the gods for assistance, and the sun sud- denly beaming through the fog, which a high wind began to dissipate, the Romans discovered their perilous situation and retired, whilst Marius, joyfully exclaiming " The victory is ours!" made a vigorous charge upon the infantry, who, dazzled by the bright sun-beams which shone full in their faces, and suffocated by the clouds of dust, were speedily de- prived of their shields, and a terrible carnage ensued. Unable to extricate themselves from the chain that bound them to- gether, and fainting beneath the excessive heat and pressure, the living were dragged down by the dead. In this desperate situation, however, some contrived to stand their ground, and with impotent rage continued the struggle, until the shades of night veiled the scene of horror. Bojorix fell sword in hand, with 90,000 of his followers. 60,000 were taken prisoners, and numbers killed themselves in despair. The women, dressed in black, with their golden locks in disarray, long defended the waggons, and slew every Teuton who fled from the enemy. When all was lost, they killed their children and then destroyed themselves. The Romans even then did not gain possession of the booty without a third battle, with the dogs that guarded the baggage. The Helvetii, who had not quitted the narrow MITHKIDATES. 75 passes of the Alps, returned quietly to their own country on learning the disastrous fate of their allies. The bravery evinced by the Germans so deeply impressed the Romans, that the terror they had inspired became prover- bial, and created a dim foreboding that their empire was des- tined to fall by the hands of the sons of the North. From this time, the Romans considered the Germans, as next to themselves, the bravest people in the world ; a belief that was considerably strengthened during the subsequent wars, and rendered the Romans less confident in their own power. The wars with the Ciinbri were also one of the primary causes of the gradual decay of the Roman empire, on account of the opportunity they afforded for the usurpation of the chief au- thority by plebeians, foreigners, and soldiers. The Cimbri and Teutones may thus be said to have conquered even in death, and although without the participation of the rest of the Germans, and on a foreign soil, not to have fallen in vain for their country. XXXV. Mithridates. The insurrection of the Cimbrian slaves. The Suevic confederation. THE Alps remained long undisturbed after the occurrence of these memorable events. Rome, meanwhile, became a prey to anarchy. Marius, supported by the soldiery, attempted to seize the government, but, after a furious struggle, was at length forced to yield to the young and haughty Sylla. When imprisoned in the city of Minturnse, whither he had fled for safety, a Cirobrian slave, who was sent to cut off his head, was so struck by the countenance of the unarmed old man, that the sword dropped from his hand, and the citizens, moved by the incident, restored the aged general to liberty. About the same period, the Romans waged war with Mithridates, king of Pontus, who had boldly planned the deliverance of the nations subject to Rome. His youth had been spent among the Germans beyond the Danube, with whom he afterwards connected himself, by marrying his daughters to their chiefs, who assisted him in his enterprise against the Romans, and formed the chief strength of his army. But his brave and heroic spirit was destined to sink before the Roman eagle, and after 76 THE SUEVIC CONFEDERATION. losing three battles, being forced to seek safety by flight, a German, according to the custom of his nation, yielded to his desire, and deprived him of life [B. c. 63]. At the same time, a war of a far more fearful character was occasioned in Italy by the insurrection of the slaves, (who were prisoners, for the most part Germans taken in war,) under their leader, Spartacus. Gannicus commanded the Cimbri. For three years they successfully repelled the veterans of Rome, filled Italy with terror, and even threatened the imperial city. But at length, rendered incautious by their rapacity and rashness, and becoming disobedient to their sagacious leader, they were all destroyed before they could succeed in crossing the Alps [B. c. 71]. The migration of the Cimbri and Teutones, which was doubtless caused by pressure from the North, had occasioned great disturbances throughout Germany, where a new power had probably either formed in their rear, or after their de- parture, as may be inferred from the fact that, shortly after the Cimbrian wars, the Suevic confederation, which devastated every country in its vicinity, and annually sent forth a thousand warlike adventurers from each of its hundred districts, is, for the first time, mentioned. While yet buried in the depths of their wild forests, their name spread terror through the Rhenish provinces, and even reached the ears of the Romans. The Rhenish Germans also owned their inferiority to the Suevi, whom they considered superior to the rest of mankind, and only comparable to the immortal gods. Their separation from the western tribes, whom instead of succouring they attacked, and drove into the hands of the Romans, proved calamitous to Germany. Hemmed in on every side, they vainly sought to defend their liberty ; and the tribes on the Upper Rhine that had united under Ariovistus, with those on the Lower Rhine under Ambiorix, were forced to yield to the victorious legions of the great Caesar. XXXVI. Ariovistus. Two Gallic nations, the ^Edui and Sequani, dwelling on either side of the river Saone, quarrelled for supremacy, in- stead of uniting against the Romans, who had already taken possession of Provence, and were only watching for an oppor- C2ESAR ON THE RHINE. 1 1 tunity to seize the whole of Gaul. The Sequani, being worsted, called their neighbours from the Upper Rhine to their assist- ance, the Tribocci from Strasburgh, the Nemeti from Spires, the Vangiones from Worms, the Rauraci from Basil, the Tu- lingi from Tuttlingen, the Latobrigi from Breisgau, the Mar- comanni from the Danube, the Sedusii, Harudi, and Narisci from between the Neckar and the Maine, in all 15,000 men, under the command of Ariovistus, [B. c. 72,] who, uniting with the Sequani, at the first onset completely defeated the jEdui, when, instead of returning whence they came, they resolved to settle in Gaul, and inviting multitudes of their countrymen over the Rhine, ordered the Sequani to cede to them the third part of their land. The Gauls, alarmed at this demand, sought assistance from the Romans. Julius Caesar, the celebrated general, whose name descended to a long line of emperors, was at that period commanding in Provence, and delighted at the opportunity thus afforded for war and conquest, promised his aid, and ordered Ariovistus instantly to quit Gaul ; to which the German merely replied, " that the Romans were not concerned in his affairs." On marching up the country, Caesar was informed by his spies, that the German women having prognosticated evil to their nation on a certain day, the Germans would, on that day, either refuse to fight, or, if forced to do so, would be spiritless. Taking advantage of this circumstance, he attacked them on the day predicted, and they, imagining their gods to be against them, were easily put to the rout, and Ariovistus, whose two wives fell into the hands of the Romans, escaped across the Rhine [B. c. 58]. XXXVII. Ccesar on the Rhine. ARIOVISTUS was no sooner driven away, than the Gauls discovered their error, and found that they had only changed masters. Caasar, after subduing the Helvetii, made the whole of Gaul, notwithstanding the rebellious spirit of the inhabit- ants, into a Roman province, and taking advantage of an interval of peace, attempted to extend the Roman dominion as far as the Rhine, the left bank of which had, for a considerable period, been peopled by a multitude of German tribes, of greater or less importance. On the Moselle dwelt the Treveri 78 CAESAR ON THE RHINE. {it Treves ; farther down the Rhine the Eburoni and Tungri at Tungern ; the Gugerni between the Maes and the Rhine ; the Menapii to the south, and the Batavi to the north, of the mouth of the Rhine ; the Caninefati on the islands. Joining these, to the west were the Toxandri and Marini on the coast of the North Sea at Dunkirk ; to the south, the Atrebati, Atuatici (fugitive Cimbri) ; the Condrusi, Cosresii, Poemones, the Xervii, (a powerful people in Hennegau,) the Veromandui at Vermandois, the Ambiani at Amiens, the Bellovaci at Beauvais, the Suessiones at Soissons, the Velocassi, Caleti, etc. Although all these people were generally denominated Belgae, each was distinct from and independent of the other, nor were they even in alliance. They did not all belong to the Frankish nation, several of them having migrated from dif- ferent parts of Germany. Continually at feud with each other, they had only momentarily united in opposition to the Teutones. Fighting thus singly, their valour was powerless against so formidable an antagonist as Caesar, who gradually subdued them, and easily suppressed their subsequent attempts to shake off the yoke [B. c. 57]. Shortly after this, [B. c. 53,] two nations, the Teucteri and Usipetes, who had been driven out of their country by the Suevi, crossed the Rhine, and demanded land from Caesar, who, unwilling to tolerate so many warlike German tribes in Gaul, resolved to make a fearful example of them, in order to deter others from crossing the frontier, and treacherously seizing the German leader, who had come into his camp for the purpose of negociating with him, suddenly attacked his unsuspecting followers, and drove them into the narrow tongue of land at the conflux of the Maes and the Rhine, where the greater part were either slaughtered, drowned, or taken pri- soners. The remainder escaped to their native country. Throughout the Roman empire, there was but one man bold and honest enough to require that Caesar should, for this scan- dalous breach of faith, be delivered up to the Germans. This man was Cato. Not long after this, Caesar threw a bridge across the Rhine at Andernach, and marched into the country of the Sicambri, who had refused to deliver up the fugitive Teucteri and Usipetes. Unable to oppose him by force, the Sicambri laid their own country waste, and fled with their wives, children, and property, to the Wetterau, whence they AMBIORIX. 79 watched the movements of the enemy. The great Suevian confederacy, meanwhile, flew to arms, and Caesar, after an eighteen days' march through the silent forests, regained the Rhine without having seen a single enemy. XXXVIII. Ambiorix. DURING the winter preceding the year 54 B. c., a dangerous conspiracy was set on foot by the conquered Belgae, vyho hoped to regain their freedom by simultaneously murdering every Roman throughout the country. The plot was headed by an old man from Treves, named Induziomar, and by the Eburoni, Ambiorix, and Cativolcus. The Romans had four well-fortified winter camps in the different districts, which it was resolved to attack on the self-same day. The stratagem, however, was only partially successful, but one of the camps falling into the hands of the insurgents, and the brave In- duziomar was killed during the assault. The increased vigi- lance of the Romans rendered any other attempt abortive, and early in the spring [B. c. 54] Ccesar appeared, his ranks swell- ed by the Gallic tribes. The Ubii, a German tribe, dwell- ing among the hills on the right bank of the Rhine, being harassed by the Suevi, also joined him, and eventually proved themselves the firmest and trustiest allies of Rome, and the bitterest foes of their kindred tribes. It was a common event for the Germans to be at feud, but for a German tribe to shelter itself behind a more powerful ally, was deemed so deep a disgrace, that the name of Ubii became a term of reproach. Among the Treveri there were also several men belonging to wealthy families, who in the hope of being able to usurp the supreme authority in their country by the aid of Caesar, and of being created Roman governors or prefects, enrolled them- selves beneath his standard, headed by the unworthy nephew of the patriotic Induziomar. The Belgae no sooner came in sight of the immense army of the Romans led by their vic- torious general, than many of the tribes, panic-struck, quitted the confederacy, and laid down their arms, but Cassar, fearing lest the more powerful German tribes on the Upper Rhine might join the Belgae, unexpectedly crossed the river, and made an inroad up the country, which was again unsuccessful, 80 BOIREBISTAS. and after traversing uninhabited wilds, he hurried back to the forest of Ardennes, in order to destroy Ambiorix, who, un- aware of his approach, was peacefully seated with his friends in front of his solitary dwelling, when they were suddenly at- tacked by the Romans. With desperate fury, he fought his way through the forest, and the Belgae, believing him to be dead, and despairing of success, dispersed. His friend, Cativol- cus, unable to survive his loss, killed himself. The whole country was laid waste by fire and sword. The Sicambri, allured by the prospect of booty, now took advantage of the general confusion and fell upon the Romans, whom they strip- ped of some of their ill-gotten wealth. Ambiorix also reap- peared at the head of a small troop of patriots, which he had collected in the thickets of the Ardennes, and daily harassed and plundered the invaders. In the following year, [B. C. 53,] success at first attended the arms of the Belgian patriots, and the whole of Gaul rose against the Romans ; but Caesar was again victorious, Gaul was reduced into a Roman province, and the Belgae were rendered tributary, and obliged to furnish a contingent to Rome. XXXIX. Boirebistas. THE intestine feuds of the warlike tribes to the north of Mount Haamus, the Getae, Bastarnaa, and Daci, were of in- finite service to the Romans whilst engaged in subduing the Alpine tribes, Illyria, and Greece. King Boirebistas, crossing the Hoemus at the head of the chief tribes of the Getae, de- vastated Thrace, Macedonia, and Illyria ; but, instead of turning his arms against the Romans, attacked the Boii, and Taurisci, remaining on the frontiers of Austria and Hungary, and, after a bloody battle, defeated their king Critasiros, and laid the country waste. The mountain tribes of Illyria and Dalmatia, taking advantage of the quarrels that broke out between Caesar and Fompey, Antony and Augustus, rose en masse, but, after a desperate struggle, were again reduced to submission. Teu- timus, the Dalmatian chief, long defended the mountain fast- nesses ; and the Taurisci, taking possession of the narrow passes of the Tyrol, slew every Roman who attempted to pass into Switzerland, at that time a Roman province. At length, DRTJSTJS. 81 after a dreadful slaughter on both sides, the Romans advanced from the Bodensee into the mountains, and systematically exter- minated the inhabitants. Every man fell sword in hand, and the women, maddened by despair, flung their children into the faces of the enemy. The Roman historian turns with horror from the monstrous crimes that blacken the page in which the destruction of the ancient inhabitants of the Tyrol by Tiberius, afterwards emperor of Rome, is recorded. About the period when Rome was erected into an empire under Augustus, at the time of the birth of Christ, all the countries to the south of the Danube, and westward of the Rhine, were incor- porated with it. The petty German tribes of Frankish de- scent, on the Rhine, allured by the prospect of gaining wealth and distinction, enrolled themselves beneath the Roman stand- ard. The Alpine tribes preferred death to bondage, whilst othei % s awaited, in feigned subjection, an opportunity for re- volt. As a means of preserving subordination, Caesar loaded the Germans, who entered his army, with favours, and raised them to the highest honours. It was to the bravery of his German mercenaries that he owed his most brilliant victories over his rival Pompey. From this period, Germans were al- ways employed in the Roman armies. The sons of the Ger- man nobility were also sent as hostages to Rome, where they were educated, and becoming enervated by luxury, caused these frontier tribes gradually to relax from the hardy man- ners of their forefathers. For still greater security, Roman colonies were planted along the frontier, who raised cities and fortresses, and introduced their religious rites, their markets, their laws, and their luxuries among the inhabitants ; so that within a very short time, all the countries, whose inhabitants were at first merely tributary to or in alliance with Rome, were completely transformed into Roman provinces, with a new language, new customs, and a new form of government. XL. Drusus. AUGUSTUS, the first Roman emperor, dissatisfied with the limits of the Gallic frontier, and ambitious of extending his dominion beyond the wild forests on the right bank of the Rhine, which had offered an invincible obstacle to Si^o- 82 DRUSUS. vesus, the ancient Celtic king, and to the legions of Caesar, sent Drusus, his valiant step-son, at the head of a powerful army, to conquer Germany. Between the Lower Rhine and the Maine dwelt several petty tribes. The Mattiaci, north of the Maine, on the Taunus mountains ; further north, down the right bank of the Rhine, the Teucteri, Usipetes, Cattuanes, and Chamavi ; behind them, towards the interior of Germany, the Catti (Hessians) ; the Sicambri, who traced their descent from the gods, in Sauerland, between the Lahn, the Lippe, the Weser, and the Rhine ; the Bructeri, in Miin- sterland (not the Friesland Brockmen) ; the Marsi, in Osna- bruck ; the Fosi, on the Fuhse in Hildesheim ; the Tulgibini, in the Duhlawald ; the Ampsibari, on the Ems ; the Angri- varii, in Enger ; the Casuarii, in ancient Hasegau ; the Tu- bantes, around Twenter, in ancient Twentegau ; the Cherusci, in Harzgau, whose name belonged to a confederacy of several (gauen) districts, at the time of the Roman invasion, and who were bounded to the east by the Hermunduri, on the Saal ; the Longobardi, on the Elbe ; the Angli, Varini, etc., on the coasts of the Northern Ocean ; beyond the Belgas, the Frisii ; in the country of the Dithmarsi, the Chauci ; in Holstein, the Cimbri : all of which tribes were now attacked by Drusus, who, invading the country of the Frankish Usipetes, Teucteri, Mattiaci, and Sicambri, [B.C. 12,] laid them waste by fire and sword. The Catti, who, shortly anterior to these events, had separated from the Suevian confederacy, refused to assist their suffering brethren, who found equally powerful allies in the Saxon Bructeri and Chauci ; and Drusus, alarmed at their immense numbers, prudently withdrawing from their neigh- bourhood, took ship, and sailed to the country of the Frisii, who entered into alliance with him, and agreed to attack their neighbours the Chauci, with whom they were at feud, and saved the Roman fleet, which had stranded on the low coast. The autumnal fogs and rains, however, caused the Romans to accelerate their return southward, and the only advantage gained by both these expeditions, was the erection of a fort on the Taunus, and of another at the mouth of the Ems. In the following year, [B. c. 11,] the six allied tribes making an irruption into the country of the Catti, who had refused to assist them, Drusus seized the opportunity, and again devas- tated their now defenceless districts as far as the Weser, where DRUSUS. S3 meeting with the CheruscS, the most warlike of the tribes of Lower Germany, whose impenetrable forests barred his further advance, he again retired, harassed by the tribes, which had returned victorious from their expedition against the Catti. A great battle finally took place on the Lippe, in which the extraordinary discipline and courage of the Romans alone enabled them to keep the field. On the bank of this river, at the confluence of the Liese and the Gleene with the Lippe, Drusus erected the important fortress of Aliso, (Liesborn,) and extending thence a strong earthen wall across the morasses as far as the Rhine, secured a military road into the interior of Germany ; after which he recrossed the Rhine, and built about fifty fortresses and towers along its banks. The ensuing campaign was carried on in the country of the Catti, [B. c. 10,] where he succeeded in building some roads and bridges, which proved serviceable in his next expedition against this people, whose land he laid waste as far as the Siievian boundary ; when, fearing to offend that powerful state, he turned northwards, and pushed through the Cherus- cian forests as far as the Elbe, on whose opposite bank he beheld a prophetess of gigantic stature, who, with a threaten- ing gesture, exclaimed, "Ah! insatiable Drusus! to what do you aspire ? Fate has forbidden your advance through our unknown regions ! Fly hence ! " Terror-struck at the omen, Drusus again retreated, but, before reaching Aliso, his horse fell, and he was killed on the spot. He was buried at Mayence, beneath the Eichelstein (from the Roman eagle, aquila). To the present day the peasants of Lower Germany curse in the name of Drus, whom they imagine to be something worse than the devil. After his death, his brother, Tiberius, [B. c. 8,] invaded the country of the Usipetes and Teucteri, whom he subdued, and threatened with extermination, unless they per- suaded the Sicambri to yield. Upon this the chiefs of the Sicambri were sent to negociate conditions, but were trea- cherously seized by Tiberius, who suddenly attacked and subdued the whole nation, whose imprisoned chiefs killed themselves, according to the custom of their country. After committing this act of violence and fraud, Tiberius sought to gain the hearts of the Germans by peaceable means, and by deceptive arts. For this purpose, he invited the most influ- ential men from the neighbouring districts, and giving them G 2 84 VARUS IN GERMANY. posts of honour in his army, loaded them with gifts, and in- cited them to usurp the chief authority in their several dis- tricts, and to rule despotically over their fellow citizens. Few, however, attached themselves to him. Domitius, another Roman general, who shortly afterwards [B. c. 6] undertook an expedition to the Elbe, which he reached, rendered the Roman name feared by his boldness, and himself beloved by his gentleness and generosity. The Belgae, on the coast, soon after revolted, [A. D. 3,] but were again subdued, and, in the following year, Tiberius sailed with a numerous fleet from the Northern Ocean up the Elbe, on whose banks a sharp conflict took place with the Longobardi, Senones, and Hermunduri, [A. D. 4,] in which he was victorious. On this occasion, an aged warrior of the Senones, approaching Tiberius, cordially offered him his hand, rejoicing that in his old age he had beheld such a warlike people as the Romans, a worthy oppo- nent being the German's greatest glory. Sentius, who was afterwards prefect of the Rhine, treated the people with such humanity, that they voluntarily adopted the customs and acquired the useful arts of the Romans. XLI. Varus in Germany. SENTIUS was succeeded by Varus, a confidential friend of the emperor Augustus ; a man of high talent, and well ac- quainted with the systematic government of the subdued provinces. The remains of his magnificent villa, not far from those of his celebrated friends, Horace and Ma;caenas, the favourites of the great Augustus, may still be seen in the beautiful vale of Tivoli. This able and learned man, blinded by his enthusiastic desire for the introduction of the customs of Rome among the barbarous Germans, imagined that civil- ization must be welcomed with joy and gratitude, and forgot that liberty is beyond price. As long as he remained peace- ably in his head-quarters, which extended from the left to the right bank of the Rhine, enriched the natives with gifts, made them acquainted with the costly and luxurious articles of the South, erected markets, and took their sons into the imperial army, they loved and treated him as a guest; but when, imboldened by success, he extended his forces across the THE BATTLE IN THE TEUTOBURG FOREST. 85 Weser into the land of the Cherusci, and supported by Seges- tus, a treacherous chief of that nation, began to tyrannize over them, by rigorously enforcing the Roman laws, and chastising and executing the free-born Germans, their good- will changed into inveterate hatred, and they determined to rid themselves of the despotic stranger. Awed by the Roman army, which consisted of more than 30,000 picked men, en- camped in impregnable intrenchments, they long brooded in silence over their wrongs ; until a handsome athletic youth, named Armin, of the nation of the Cherusci, of noble descent and irreproachable life, skilled in the art of war, which he had learnt from the Romans, in whose armies he had served with such distinction as to gain the honours of knighthood, gifted with eloquence and inspired by an enthusiastic love of liberty, appeared among his dispirited countrymen, whose courage he quickly roused, and a general conspiracy was set on foot in Lower Germany against the Romans, whose destruc- tion was planned in midnight meetings in the silent depths of the forests, and Armin, whose brother and nearest relatives favoured the Romans, became the leader and the soul of the confederacy. Notwithstanding the secrecy with which these meetings were held, they were discovered by Segestus, who, in the hope of increasing his power, and of avenging himself upon Armin, who had deprived him of his beautiful and patriotic daughter, Thusnelda, instantly betrayed the designs of his countrymen to Varus, who, confiding in his own power, and despising that of the Germans, treated the matter with contempt and incredulity. XLII. The battle in the Teutoburg forest. AUTUMN had fallen, [A. D. 9,] bringing the long rainy season characteristic of the North, when Armin began to carry his long-cherished plan into execution. According to Dio Cassius, he first induced Varus to send a considerable number of troops into different parts of the country, in order to pro- cure a winter supply of provisions, or to keep watch over the neighbouring tribes, which had not submitted to the Romans, and then succeeded in drawing him with his whole force out of the fortifications, by secretly inciting a somewhat distant 86 THE BATTLE IN THE TEUTOBURG FOREST. tribe, whose name is not mentioned, to revolt. Dio Cassius, whose account is by far the most precise, particularly men- tions that Varus' road lay through the midst of apparently friendly tribes, who, by Armin's advice, joined him, in order to avert suspicion ; and as there were no tribes lying towards the interior of Germany who had yet been subjected by the Romans, Varus could not therefore have marched in that di- rection, nor was it likely that he would undertake an expedi- tion into those unknown regions at the commencement of the winter season ; it is, consequently, far more probable that the revolt broke out in the opposite direction, and obliged him to advance towards the Rhine. It was also evidently the Catti who attacked him on his march thither, whilst Armin fell upon his rear ; a supposition confirmed by the circumstance of his having quitted the camp at the head of the whole of his troops, accompanied by all the baggage, women, and children, which would not have been the case had he intended to main- tain his head-quarters on the Weser, whilst making an ex- pedition against a distant tribe. According to Clostermeier and Ledebur, the summer-quarters of the Romans lay below Minden in Prussia, in the vicinity of Reme, at the confluence of the Weser and the Werra, in the widest part of the valley of the Weser. Whilst marching thence straight upon Aliso, Varus was accompanied some distance by Armin, who, under pretence of taking a shorter path, beguiled him into the narrow mountain passes between the Weser and the cities of Herford and Salzufeln, and the instant the vanguard entered the forest, gave the signal for the general insurrection. The Roman soldiers, who had been distributed among the various districts, were simultaneously murdered. The ambushed Ger- mans poured in thousands from the surrounding forests, breath- ing death and vengeance on their foes, against whom heaven itself seemed to conspire. A dreadful storm arose ; the moun- tain torrents, swollen by the heavy rains, overflowed their banks ; and whilst the Romans, encumbered with baggage, and wearied by the toilsome march, passed in long and irregular columns through the narrow valleys, the fearful war-cry of the Germans was suddenly heard above the roaring of the wind and waters. They halted, panic-struck, and were in a moment assailed with stones, arrows, and lances, whilst the Germans rushed like a torrent from the heights, spreading THE BATTLE IN THE TEUTOBURG FOREST. 87 terror and destruction around. The well-disciplined Romans, quickly recovering from their surprise, formed into larger masses, and offered a determined resistance. The battle con- tinued until nightfall, when they gained a more open spot, where they intrenched themselves ; but surrounded by the enemy, and entirely without provisions, defence was useless, and their only safety lay in flight. Accordingly, at sunrise, after burning all their baggage, they commenced their retreat, and after passing through an open plain on the Werra in tolerable order, though not without considerable loss, re-enter- ed the forest-clad mountains at Detmold, where, bewildered in an impassable valley, an immense slaughter took place ; ac- cording to Tacitus, in the Teutoburg forest, " in saltu Teuto- burgiensi," probably in the valley where the Berlebeche flows beneath the Groteberg or Teut, whose summit is surrounded with a double Hunnish ring of stones, and at whose feet lies the Teutehof, the owner of which is named the Teutemaier. The survivors again succeeded in reaching an open spot, where a small encampment was hastily thrown up for defence during the night. On the following morning, when not far from Aliso, fresh tribes, probably the Catti, stopped their fur- ther progress, and they were completely surrounded and an- nihilated between Osterholz, Schlangen, and Haustenbeck. Varus threw himself upon his sword. A few of the Romans escaped to Aliso, but afterwards secretly abandoned that fort under the command of Lucius Casditius, and fqught their way to the Rhine.* Armin now offered sacrifices to the gods, to whom he con- secrated the booty, the slain, and the chief prisoners. He took bloody reprisals on the judges and lawyers, the chief ob- jects of his hatred ; " Viper, speak ! " was said to one of them, as his tongue was being pierced. The rest of the prisoners were made slaves. The news of this defeat quickly spread, and the Romans, fearful lest the enemy, pursuing their vic- tory, might cross the Rhine, hastily intrenched themselves, and sent to Rome for assistance. The terror formerly in- spired by the German name, by the memory of the wars of the Cimbri and Teutones, and of the revolt of the slaves, * Clostermeier's account : where Hermann overcame Varus. Lemgo, 1822, contains a full description of the locality of this celebrated defeat. 88 GERMANICUS ON THE RHINE. awoke afresh. The imperial German body-guard, and the Germans employed in the Roman service, were instantly sent into distant provinces, and recruits were raised in every part of the country, for the formation of an immense army destined for the protection of Gaul ; but so great was the universal terror, that the Romans refused to serve, until forced under pain of death. These preparations proved, however, unneces- sary ; the Germans, satisfied with effacing every trace of the Romans, by the destruction of the forts and the military roads as far as the Rhine, which again became the boundary of the Roman empire, remaining peaceably within their frontiers. XLIII. Germanicus on the Shine. PEACE reigned awhile. Tiberius was raised to the imperial throne, [A. D. 14,] and the son of Drusus, who afterwards received the surname of Germanicus, was placed at the head of the forces on the Rhine, in the hope of revenging the dis- comfiture of the Roman arms, and of reconquering Germany. In the course of the year he suddenly fell upon the Marsi, while they were holding a sacred feast, and lying around the temple of Tanfana,* intoxicated and asleep. Immense num- bers were slain, but the neighbouring tribes coming to their assistance, forced him to recross the Rhine. The following year, [A. D. 15,] when he was setting out on a campaign against the Catti, Sigismund, the son of Segestus, came to implore his aid against Armin, who was closely be- sieging his father, into whose hands Thusnelda had fallen, and Germanicus suddenly entering the country of the Che- rusci, freed Segestus and took possession of his daughter. The youthful wife of Armin was far advanced in pregnancy when led in the triumphal procession, and bore her miserable fate without a tear ;f her own father, whose treason had been rewarded, and whose avarice had been gratified by a gift of * A name that has had many derivations, the most probable of which seems to be, Fahne, or sacred standard, raised in Tann, or fir-wood. f Mariti magis quam parentis animo, neqne victa in lacrymas, neque voce supplex, compressis intra sinum manibus, gravidum uterum in- tuens. Tac. Ann. GERMAXICUS OX THE RHINE. 89 lands in Gaul, his life being no longer secure in his own country,* gazing unmoved on the wretchedness of his child. The news of this disaster soon reached Armin, who flew (volitabai) throughout Germany, rousing his countrymen to vengeance. Enraged at this insult to Thusnelda, the Ger- mans rose to a man, and even Inguiomar, the ancient friend of the Romans, joined Armin, who soon again found himself at the head of a formidable army. Germanicus, meanwhile, had prepared for war, and sailed with a numerous fleet from the Northern Ocean to the Ems, whilst an army was de- spatched to the coasts, and a third, commanded by Caecinna, advanced through the country of the Marsi. Armin and his Germans now retreated with their families and property, and the whole country was laid waste by the Romans, who ad- vanced unopposed as far as the recent scene of slaughter, where, with lamentations and cries for vengeance, Germanicus caused the bones of the legions of Varus to be buried. Mean- while, the Germans watched him from the mountains, intent upon destroying him in the same defiles in which Varus had fallen ; and when he entered the narrow valleys, whose sur- rounding heights afforded ambush for the enemy, Armin at the head of a small troop retreated before him, until the whole army had entered the pass and was hemmed in on every side. The signal was given, and a dreadful slaughter ensued, [A. D. 16,] but the cautious Romans, though defeated, escaped an- nihilation by making an orderly retreat to the ships. A part of the army that had been despatched to the coasts of Fries- land, was carried away by a flood on its march, and the whole narrowly escaped destruction. Caecinna fared still worse, being overtaken by Armin whilst retreating through the country by the long bridges leading across the deep morasses of Munsterland, which were fast falling to decay; and yet, although surrounded by dangers and apparently insurmount- able difficulties, shut up in a narrow dell f through which the * The popular legends of Thusnelda are still extant, one of which re- lates, how, when concealed in the old fort of Schellenpyrmont, a faithful bird warned her by his cries of the stealthy approach of the Romans. t Probably in the forest-clad mountains of Caresfelt, where the an- cient bridges of planks commenced, which in the 14th century still led across the morasses of Munsterland, in the country round Cologne, and were still called " the long bridges," as in the time of Tacitus. They have been now for the most part replaced by dams. 90 GERMANICUS ON THE RHINE. Germans had turned the course of a mountain torrent, and defending their camp whilst the water rose to their knees and the tempest burst furiously over their heads, the valiant Ro- mans succeeded in cutting their way through the enemy, and in escaping, though with considerable loss, to the Rhine. The winter months were employed by the Germans in besieging the fort of Aliso, but without success ; and in the follow- ing year [A. D. 17] Germanicus sailed with a thousand ships up the Ems, and landing his army, marched to the Weser, whose opposite banks were defended by the Germans. On reaching the river, Flavius, the brother of Armin, a Roman mercenary, stepping from the ranks, advanced to the river- side, and addressing his brother, described in glowing terms the advantage of being a Roman citizen, in the hope of in- ducing him to desert his people ; but Armin, cursing him for a traitor, attempted to cross the stream with the intention of killing him, but was withheld by his followers. The Romans now prepared for battle, and Armin, again retreating, suc- ceeded in surrounding and cutting to pieces the Batavian horsemen in the Roman service, who had ventured too far in pursuit. The next day the whole army advanced, but on reaching the pass, Germanicus separated the troops and pressed forward at the head of one division, leaving the other at some distance to the rear, and the Germans, rushing from their ambuscade, were consequently surrounded, and, after a desperate conflict, entirely routed. This victory was recorded by Germanicus on a magnificent monument raised on the spot, although his loss was so considerable as to oblige him to fall back on the Ems. Roused to frenzy at the sight of this monu- ment, and resolved to wipe off their shame, the Germans quickly rallied in pursuit and another battle ensued, so obstin- ately contested that night alone separated the combatants, and the slaughter had been so terrible, that when day broke neither armies were able to renew the fight, and Germanicus, hastily retreating to his ships, set sail. Disaster still pursued this ill-fated expedition ; a storm arose in which most of the vessels were wrecked, and when, shortly after this, Germanicus returned to Rome, the fort on the Taunus was the only one throughout Germany in the possession of the Romans. MARBOD. 91 XLIV. Marbod. WHILE these great events were taking place in the north of Germany, the south did not remain quiet. The tribes in the lower valleys of the Danube were continually at feud, thus rendering it easy for the Romans to subdue, one by one, those belonging to the Peucini, in the same manner that Deldo, king of the Bastarnas, was overcome by Crassus ; and Boirebistas, the exterminator of the Boii, the powerful ruler of the Getae and Daci, was defeated by Tiberius and Piso ; on which ac- count he was murdered by his subjects, the Getaa, by whom he had made himself hated ; but who, after this event, quar- relling among themselves, and being without a leader, fell an easy prey to the Romans. It was about this time, when Au- gustus was still emperor of Rome, that the Suevian confedera- cy, from which the Catti first separated themselves, was dis- solved. Armin had, it is true, united the Frankish and Saxon tribes of Northern Germany in a temporary defensive alli- ance, and they carefully guarded the Rhine ; but when the kingdom of the Getas fell, as well as the Suevian confederacy, the Danube seemed no longer tenable. It naturally followed that the inhabitants of the exposed districts on the southern frontier voluntarily united under one leader, who was entrust- ed with great authority, in order to give unity and strength to their councils, the Romans having taught them of what importance it was to keep together in the fight, and to obey one commander. Marbod, who, like Armin, had passed his youth amongst the Romans, united the remaining Suevi of Upper Germany, the Boii, and all the petty southern frontier tribes, and led them far from the vicinity of the Romans into Bohemia, a beautiful, fertile country, surrounded by a natural rampart of mountains, where he was joined by the Getas, who had fled from the East, and who aided him to subdue his Suevian neighbours on the Maine and the Saal, who had refused to league either with him or Armin. His people, collected from so many different Suevic and Gothic tribes, received the appel- lation of Marcomanni, (mark or boundary,) and he possessed the same power over them that was enjoyed by the Margraves of later times, that of commander-in-chief, with unlimited au- thority. He maintained a standing army of 70,000 foot and 92 MARBOD. 4000 horse, exclusive of the armed population. He had also a fortified castle in the interior of the country. The Romans beheld this newly-erected power with apprehension, and Ti- berius marched against it at the head of a formidable army : but on his way, hearing of the revolt of the Pannonians, he hastily concluded peace with Marbod, who, more intent on his own aggrandizement than concerned for ihe liberties of the people, abandoned his neighbours. Commanded by Pin- nes and Bato, they defended themselves with the courage of despair, against 200,000 Roman troops, until Bato, seduced by Tiberius, betrayed Pinnes, but not long after again opposed the Romans, and a second time yielding, the people shared the fate of the Taurisci, in the Tyrol. At Arduba, the women flung themselves and their children into the burning houses, and into the river, rather than fall into the hands of the ene- my. These horrors, and the heroic struggles of Armin, were beheld unmoved by Marbod, who now openly manifested his intention of allying himself with the Romans, by whose as- sistance he hoped to usurp supreme authority in Germany. In order to remind him of his duty, Armin had presented him with the head of Varus, as a mark of honour, but Marbod sent it with a condoling message to the emperor Augustus. The Lower Germans were embittered against him by his want of sympathy in the cause of liberty, whilst his very name was detested by the other tribes, over whom, not content with ruling despotically over the Marcomanni, he attempted to ex- tend his dominion, and, consequently, he no sooner attacked the Senones and Longobardi, than the tribes of Lower Ger- many flew to their aid, and a powerful league, headed by Ar- min, was formed against him. Both sides assembled all their forces, and a great battle ensued, in which almost all the Ger- man tribes took part. Armin gained a complete victory, and Marbod, retreating to Bohemia, sent to Rome for assistance ; but becoming intolerable to his own subjects, who elected the Goth, Catualda, for their king, he escaped across the Danube, and lived for eighteen years on the bounty of the Romans. THE DEATH OF ARMIN. 93 XLV. The death of Armin. THUS Armin had saved his country from internal as well as external clanger. For ten years he had heen general-in- chief of the people, and his fame had spread throughout the whole of Germany ; but as actions like his, before him un- known among the Germans, were the offspring of extraordi- nary circumstances, his fame naturally decreased in time of peace, and it became easy for those who envied his honours, to instil the suspicion that he aimed at sovereignty into the minds of a people so jealous of its freedom, a suspicion strengthened by the example of Marbod, which served as a pretext to his enemies ; and, at length, his own relations, who were most strongly influenced by envy, conspired against and murdered him [A. D. 21]. From this moment the Germans no longer acted with unity, a circumstance of which the Ro- mans, anxious to preserve peace on their northern frontier, did not take advantage. In the same year in which Armin was murdered, the Treveri, headed by Florus, revolted ; but the attempt failed, owing to their want of unity. Some years later, [A. D. 28,] the Frisii shook off the Roman yoke. The friendly manner in which this simple-minded people had re- ceived the Romans, had been ill-requited ; they were treated as a conquered nation, and a tribute of ox-hides imposed upon them, which was endured until Olennius became prefect of the Rhine, and in the insolence of power demanded not only common hides, but also those of the buffalo, rare in Friesland, and moreover placed a strong garrison in the country, in order to enforce payment. The wretched people were consequently forced to sell all they possessed houses, slaves, cattle, and even their children, in order to procure the hides in sufficient quantities from the neighbouring nations. At length, rendered desperate by necessity and suffering, they suddenly rose en masse, and drove the Romans out of their country ; an ex- ploit which, for the first time, made their name famous in history. Their country retained its freedom, the Romans taking no revenge, probably because the conquest of these poor people would not have repaid the expense and danger of the war. Not long after this, the Caninefati revolted, but without success. The Cherusci were ruined by internal dis- 94 THE DEATH OF ARMIN. sensions. The faithless relations of Armin attempted to in- troduce the Roman customs, and to usurp the whole authority, but were resisted by the people [A. D. 47]. The son of Flavius, surnamed Italicus, on account of his having been born and bred in Italy, was chosen king, but made himself so disliked by his Roman manners, that he was deposed ; but, aided by the Longobardi, he regained his throne, and the people gradually lost their ancient power and love of honour. The Catti made continual excursions across the Rhine, [A. D. 50,] until, ren- dered careless by success, they were attacked and cut to pieces by the Romans, when in a state of intoxication. In the same year, Agrippina, the daughter of Germanicus, led a great Roman colony to the Rhine, and erected an important for- tress on the frontier, called, after her, Colonia Agrippina, now Cologne. On the right bank of the Rhine, between the Roman and German frontier, was a narrow tract of country, which had long remained uninhabited, partly on account of the migra- tions, and partly on account of the wars. The Friedlanders, whose population, as has ever been the case in Germany, was too redundant for the land, coveted the possession of this empty tract, and in order to negociate the matter, sent Veritus and Malorix, two of their chief men, to Rome, where they were well received. The magnificence of the capital of the world did not tame the free and haughty spirit inspired by their forest homes. When, in the theatre, the seat of honour was not assigned to them, they took possession of it, saying, " The German nation is the bravest in the world, and therefore the highest honours are its due." Their request was refused. The petty tribe of the Ampsibari, driven out by the Catti, (who gradually sought to extend their limits,) wandered along the Rhine, and begged land of the Romans. Their request met with a haughty refusal ; and when rich possessions were offered to Boiocal, their chief, who had served in the imperial army, he nobly refused them, and, swearing to remain true to his people, exclaimed, " We may want land on which to live, but it is never wanting for those who die." He returned with his tribe to Germany, where being every where rejected, part of it dispersed among different nations, and the rest fell victims to hunger and misery. Soon after this, a great war broke out between the Catti and the Hermunduri, who dis- CIVILIS AND VELLEDA. 95 puted the possession of the salt-springs of the Saal, even at that period held in great estimation. The Hermunduri were victorious in a pitched battle, and sacrificed all their prison- ers to the gods. During this year, [A. D. 58,] a great subter- ranean fire broke out on the banks of the Rhine, with which the layers of peat found there may perhaps have some con- nexion. After the death of Nero, the Roman tyrant, who paid very little attention to Germany, several Roman generals strove for empire. Vitellius, who commanded in Cologne, was the first who made use of the Germans when attempting to seize the imperial crown. He favoured them so much, as to allow them, when enrolled beneath his standard, to wear the costume of their country. After causing himself to be proclaimed emperor in Cologne, he marched to Rome, where the appearance of his warriors created great astonishment. He always carried about with him a German prophetess, whose predictions were to warn him of future events. An unsuccessful speculation, as he was murdered. Vespasian became emperor. His son, Titus, when subduing Judea, had also Germans in his army, whom he praised highly, saying " that their souls were even greater than their bodies." But there still were noble hearts that throbbed with indignation at the baseness of their free-born countrymen, in thus selling themselves to the destroyers of their fatherland. XL VI. Civilis and Velleda. THERE lived a young man among the Batavians, who was called by the Romans Civilis, or the friend of the people, and who had lost an eye in their service. Becoming suspected on account of his love of freedom, he was thrown into prison, to- gether with his brothers, who were shortly afterwards be- headed. On his restoration to liberty, he swore eternal enmity against his oppressors, and vowed, according to the custom of his country, not to trim his beard or head until he had taken ample vengeance on them. Finding that his fellow country- men groaned secretly beneath the Roman yoke, which unity and energy on their part might easily cast off, he appeared among them during a sacred feast at midnight in a forest, and with enthusiastic eloquence excited them to open revolt. The 96 CIVILIS AND VELLEDA. standard of rebellion was raised, and the Romans were simul- taneously murdered throughout the country ; an example that was quickly followed by the Caninefati and Frisii. Victory followed victory, and one by one, every Belgian tribe, even the Treviri, encouraged by the success of their neighbours, joined in driving out the common enemy, or in besieging him in his strong-holds. The Germans also in the imperial service deserted in troops to the friends of liberty. The country of the Ubii was completely laid waste, and the most fearful vengeance was wreaked upon all who had been faithless to their fatherland ; the city of Cologne, which submitted to the conquerors, being alone spared [A. D. 69]. At this period, Vitellius and Vespasian were battling for empire, and consequently the whole strength of the Romans could not be poured upon Belgium, where the cause of free- dom speedily progressed ; and although the fortress of Vetera (Zante) was unsuccessfully besieged during the whole of the winter, the affairs of the allies prospered,* and several other German tribes evinced a disposition to make common cause with Civilis, whilst Velleda, a maiden prophetess who dwelt in a lonely tower in the Bructerian forest, and was regarded with veneration throughout Germany, announced victory to her people and destruction to the Romans. The most valu- able part of the booty was always sent to her in sign of honour, and she became as it were the inspiring genius of the Germans in their struggle for freedom. The Gauls also seized this opportunity to cast off the chain, and united their forces with those of the Belgse, who, unluckily for their cause, were persuaded by their new confederates to found a great Gallic empire, which excited the jealousy of the Germans on the other side of the Rhine, and cooled their zeal, whilst the steady alliance of the Gauls could not be counted upon, although for the present every thing prospered, and the flag of liberty ere long floated on the Alps, and the Roman arms again suffered defeat in Helvetia. The following year, [A. D. 70,] affairs took a different turn, Vespasian overcame Vitellius, and civil dissension ceased. Cerealis, a veteran general, whose name struck the Germans with terror, was despatched into Gaul at the head of a power - * The exact site is uncertain, but with great probability is placed, by Ledebur, on the Velsberg (Wellsaup) near Flaersheim. INTERNAL DISSENSIONS AMONG THE GERMANS. 97 ful army, and on reaching Treves, easily subdued the Gauls, who abandoned Civilis ; whilst the people of Cologne mur- dered all the Germans who were in their city, and delivered up to him the wife and child of Civilis, who had been in- trusted to their care. Notwithstanding these disasters, the Belga? were not yet disheartened, and in the first battle drove the enemy from the field. Another followed, in which so many of the Germans went over to the Romans, that Civilis was forced to retreat, and throwing himself into the Bataviau islands, opened the canals, and caused a great inundation, by means of which he long bade defiance to the enemy ; but finding opposition unavailing, and honourable conditions being offered, he at length concluded peace. His name was honoured by both friends and enemies. According to a short account by Statius, Velleda was taken prisoner by the Romans. XL VII. Internal dissensions among the Germans. THESE disturbances were followed by a long peace on the frontier. In the interior of Germany feuds broke out between the brother tribes, which afforded a delectable spectacle to the Romans. The Catti fell upon the Cherusci, and drove king Chariomer from the throne. There were also disturb- ances among the Suevi, and Masyus, a king of the Semnoiies, and the prophetess Ganna, who was almost as famous as Velleda, fled to Rome, where they were honourably received. Tacitus mentions the extermination of 60,000 Bructeri by their neighbours the Chamav. and the Angrivarii, while the rest of the Germans looked on with indifference, as a late and very remarkable event, and concludes his account with this exclamation, " May dissension ever reign among the Germans, and thus prevent the danger with which they threaten Rome ! " Similar disturbances, occasioned by military despotism and the discordant Gothic and Suevic tribes who composed the nation, prevailed in the kingdom of the Marcomanni. The Goths, under Catualda, the successor of Marbod, oppressed the Suevi, who, rebelling, drove them out and elected Vibilius, one of the Hermunduri, for their king. Catualda went over to the Romans, and assembled a great number of his adherents, to whom the Quadi, dwelling in Moravia behind the Daci, u 98 DEZEBAL. associated themselves, who were allowed to settle in Pannonia, which lay waste and uninhabited, on condition of aiding the Romans against their countrymen. Thus the new kingdom of the Quadi, on the right bank of the Danube, served as a guard against that of the Marcomanni, on the opposite bank. Catualda was succeeded by Vannius, who, evincing an in- clination to make terms with the Marcomanri, was, at the instigation of the Romans, seized by his own nephews, Sido and Wangio, who were assisted by the Jazyges, the first Sla- vonian tribe that crossed the Danube. Roman policy tri- umphed. The united Marcomanni and Quadi were beaten, Sido was rewarded with the throne of Vibilius, and Wangio with that of Vannius, for their devotion to the interests of Rome. But the hatred of the Roman rule was deeply rooted among the Germans, and their friendship was more apparent than permanent. No sooner was one nation subdued, or gained over by the enemy, than another instantly rose to re- new the struggle for the glory and liberty of their fatherland. XL VIII. Dezebal THE ancient Dacian-Getic kingdom, which had been dis- solved after the murder of Boirebistas, again rose. The king, Durias, voluntarily abdicated in favour of Dezebal, a brave and intelligent man, his superior in the art of government, who speedily united all the tribes, known earlier under the general name of the Peucini, beneath his command. Appre- hensive of the event, the emperor Domitian sent Sabinus with a numerous army across the Danube, which was annihilated by Dezebal, and the emperor, marching against him in person, was also beaten [A. D. 89]. The Marcomanni and Quadi, ashamed of assisting the Romans against their brethren, had, meanwhile, preserved a strict neutrality, and Domitian, ima- gining that he could subdue them more easily than the Daci, put their ambassadors to death, and invaded their country ; but, emboldened by the example of Dezebal, they offered him battle. A complete victory was gained, which at once put an end to their base alliance with the Romans, and uniting their forces to those of the Daci, they became so formidable, that Domitian sued for peace, and agreed to pay Dezebal a heavy JIOMAN PROVINCES ON THE RHINE AND DANUBE. 99 annual tribute [A. D. 90]. The weak Nerva succeeded Do- mitian, and Dezebal remained in undisturbed tranquillity un- til the accession of the warlike Trajan, when war once more broke out. Trajan, judging it to be as dishonourable to allow the discomfiture of the Roman arms in Dacia to remain unre- venged, as it was impolitic to tolerate so enterprising a neigh- bour, refused to pay the tribute, [A. D. 100,] and marching at the head of a strong army against the Dacians, conducted the war with such skill and energy, that Dezebal was finally overcome, and forced to conclude a shameful peace [A. D. 103]. Filled with mortification at his defeat, and with fears for his country, he once more attempted to arm the neighbouring tribes against Rome, setting before them the danger to which they were exposed, unless they united against their common enemy. His entreaties were vain, and he was forced to stem the torrent unassisted and alone [A. D. 106]. A long and obstinate struggle ensued, and at length, completely defeated and driven to desperation, he killed himself, after making a vain attempt to poison the emperor. His treasures, which had been secretly buried in the bed of the river, Sargetia, were betrayed to Trajan, who took possession of them, and Dacia became a Roman province. A stone bridge, the won- der of the times, was thrown across the Danube, in this part of immense width, and records, together with the bas-reliefs of the beautiful column still preserved at Rome, the name and warlike deeds of Trajan. XLIX. Roman provinces on the Rhine and Danube. HADRIAN, the prudent and pacific successor of the warlike Trajan, followed the plan commenced by Caesar, and continued to romanize the provinces lying on the frontiers of Germany, besides completing their defence, by erecting fortifications along the left bank of the Rhine, and the right bank of the Danube, virtually surrounding that frontier of the empire with a chain of castles. At the most important points, strongly fortified encampments, garrisoned by Roman legions, con- nected by straight, high, dam-like roads, and provided with watch-towers overlooking the distant country, were con- structed. The Rhine and the Danube generally marked the H 2 100 ROMAN PROVINCES ON boundary. Their banks were thickly studded with castles and fortified towns, and their streams were traversed by bridges, the remains of which may still be seen at Cologne and Mayence, besides the ruins of the one already mentioned, built by Trajan over the Danube. The Romans had thus already crossed both rivers, and had built two gigantic tetes-de-pont to bar the further progress of the Germans. After the expulsion of the Dacians, Trajan and Hadrian led powerful colonies into Msesia, (modern Mol- davia and Wallachia,) in order to repeople that country with Romans, and to prevent the Germans from crossing at the point where the Danube falls into the Black Sea. The corner where the Black Forest penetrates into Basil was a still more important position, on account of the obstinacy with which the Germans defended the mountains between the Danube and the Rhine, which at once hindered the junction of the Romans, and rendered them liable to surprise on either side. Neither labour nor expense were therefore spared in erecting the fortifications of the Black Forest, which were completed by Hadrian, who built a great wall that extended from Pfarring on the Danube to Mittenberg on the Maine, and is now known as the Teufelsmauer, the Heidenmauer, or the Pfahlgraben. It appears to have been completely fortified, and to have defended the whole of the country lying to its rear. The roads of communication between the forts were carried along the edge of the mountains, instead of running through the valleys, in order to secure the garrisons against ambush or sudden attacks in their route through the forests. Modern tacticians have been struck by the astonishing science displayed by the Romans in their choice of positions for en- campments, and lines for mountain military roads, etc. Ger- man liberty could not possibly exist within reach of these fortresses, and the whole frontier lay waste and desolate, until by slow degrees repeopled and cultivated by Roman colonists, or by poor German fugitives and deserters. These lands were called agri decumates ; it is uncertain whether on ac- count of a tenth paid by the cultivator, or from a Roman measure for marking out the fields, or from the usual plan of recruiting among the peasantry. When the emperor Henry the First raised the first fortresses in Germany, one out of every ten peasants was chosen to form the garrison of the THE RHINE AND DANUBE. 101 fort, whom the rest were obliged to maintain by their labour ; and it seems probable that these agri were, in like manner, intended for the maintenance of the Roman garrisons. As countless legions were continually quartered on the frontiers, the conquered tribes soon adopted the language, customs, and luxurious manners of their masters, and a number of Roman towns were either built behind the forts, or the latter gradually swelled into cities. All the large cities on both sides of the Rhine and the Danube were originally Roman ; the most considerable of which was Treves, the capital of the whole of the northern province, celebrated for its magnificent temples, palaces, amphitheatres, etc., the ruins of which still exist. The remains of an immense aqueduct are still to be seen at Mayence. Besides these, but few traces of the ancient splendour of the Roman cities are now visible above ground, but enormous foundations of walls, mosaics, single statues, and quantities of coins have been discovered beneath its surface. Numbers of old Roman towers, easily distinguishable by their stones, which exactly measure a Roman foot, still remain, and possibly owe their preservation to their inutility. They were formerly single watch-towers, around which, in later times, towns and cities sprang up. The whole of the conquered country was placed under the Roman form of government. The proconsul had unlimited power and authority in the province, and was ordinarily a general, on account of the continual war with the Germans. The government was, consequently, completely military, and as the regulations merely referred to the maintenance and re- cruiting of the legions, the civilization introduced by the Romans simply extended to the economy of the barracks and markets. During peace, the levying continued ; the feuds between the German tribes, idleness, and curiosity always sending a crowd of fugitives or adventurers to the frontiers, who entered into the Roman service and formed its bravest legions. Many of these deserters were attracted by the vanity of aifectiug Roman customs, which led them to despise their native simplicity ; others, by the hope of revenging themselves on their former foes in Germany ; but by far the greater number were instigated by mere love of fighting, whilst all seemed alike unaware of the guilt they incurred by aiding the 102 ROMAN PROVINCES. stranger to lay their country desolate. The division of the Roman frontier provinces was as follows : The right bank of the Danube was divided into four pro- vinces: 1st, Rhastia, which extended from the sources of the Rhine and the Danube to Salzburg and Ratisbon. The capital of this great province, which was connected with Italy by the Alpine passes, and with Helvetia and Gaul by military roads, was Augusta Vindelicorum, now Augsburg. The other considerable towns were, Brigantium, now Bregenz, on the Bodensee ; Campodunum, now Kempten ; Regina Castra, now Ratisbon, etc. At a later period, this province was divided into Upper Rhaetia, the Alps, and Vindelicia, the country of" the Lower Danube. 2nd, Noricum, to the east of Rhaitia, with the cities Juvavia, Salzburg ; Lintia, Linz ; Celeja, Cilly, etc. 3rd, Pannonia, which extended from the Enns in the direction of Hungary, where lay Vindobona or Juliobona, Vienna. 4th, Maesia, which stretched as far as the mouths of the Danube, and formed throughout its whole extent the line of boundary between the Roman empire and Germany. The left bank of the Rhine was also divided into four pro- vinces : 1st, Helvetia, now Switzerland. Here were built two magnificent cities, Vindonissa (the bridge on the Aar) and Aventicum, Wiflisburg, or Avenche ; Augusta Rauracorum, Basil. 2nd, Germania Prima, on the Upper Rhine, with its capital Moguntia, Mayence ; Argentoratum, Strasburg ; Ta- bernae, Rheinzabern ; Nojomagus, 'Spires ; Borbetomagus, Worms, etc. 3rd, Germania Secunda, on the Lower Rhine, with its capital, Colonia Agrippinaa, Cologne ; and Confluen- tia, Coblentz ; Bonna, Bonn ; Juliacum, Juliers ; Aquas, Aix- la-Chapelle, etc. ; Bacharach has been derived from Bacchi ara, a stone used as an altar to the Rhenish Bacchus. 4th, Bel- gica, with its capital, Augusta Trevirorum, Treves ; and many cities whose French names still betray their Latin origin, viz. Soissons, Augusta Suessionum ; Vermandois, Augusta Veru- manduorum ; Cambray, Cameracum, etc. A catalogue of the roads raised by the Romans in Germany during the earlier part of the third century, now known as the Peutinger Table, has been discovered. PART III. THE MIGRATIONS. L. Revolt of the whole German nation against Rome. THE conquest of Dacia turned the scale in the great struggle between the two nations, and victory quitted the standards of Rome for those of Germany. A whole century had passed since the destruction of Velleda, marked, on the western fron- tier, by no occurrences of more importance than a few incon- siderable incursions. The Dacian war had scarcely affected the southern frontier. In the far interior of Germany no Roman army had again penetrated, and the Germans, rapidly increasing in number, quickly regained their diminished strength. Rome, meanwhile, was fast falling to decay. The mighty empire tottered beneath its own weight. The union of the numerous and various countries and nations of which it was composed, could only be effected by the despotic extirpa- tion of their national characteristics, their courage, and their worth. Enslaved by luxury, and demoralized by a despotism based on the degradation of the people, these degenerate na- tions henceforward supplied weak and worthless troops, who, although superior in numbers and discipline, vainly sought to cope with the personal strength of their intrepid opponents, or to protect the sinking empire. To the increasing population of Germany, and the growing corruption of Rome, may be ascribed the great events which took place during the second century after Christ, when a sud- den and terrific irruption burst like a torrent from the interior of Germany, drawing after it fresh and countless hordes, before whose irresistible might Rome was at length forced to yield. This sudden irruption of the German nations was undoubtedly, like that of the Cimbri and Teutones, caused by 104 REVOLT OF THE WHOLE GERMAN NATION. movements in the north. The first impulse was apparently given by the Goths on the Baltic, whose descendants, at a later period, boasted of having gone, under the command of Berig, from the island of Skanzia (Schonen, the southern promontory of Sweden) to the south. But these northern Goths could not have been very numerous, and the enormous masses that poured in every direction across the Danube and the Rhine into the Roman provinces, must have issued from the whole breadth and width of Germany, whilst a very small portion could have come from the north. It is a circumstance of much greater importance, that from this period the countless minor tribes disappear, and are re- placed by the great German nations, the Franks, Alemanni, Saxons, and Goths, which could as easily have sprung from the air, as from the cold and impoverished north, and are the identical nations which, a century earlier, inhabited the countries already mentioned. During the long peace, they had increased in numbers, and had become more civilized in their form of government, their laws, and their religion ; and, after a long silence, are again mentioned in history as the same, but a more polished, people. All the tribes of the Lower Rhine were gradually known only as the Catti and the Sicambri ; all those on the Northern Ocean, as the Frisii, Chauci, and Angli ; all those of Southern Germany, as the Alemanni and Bojoarii ; all those of Central Germany, as the Hermunduri, Longobardi, and Burgundians ; all those of Eastern Germany, as the Goths, Gepidse, and Vandali. The Franks and Saxons soon afterwards appear in the place of the Sicambri and Chauci ; and all these changes prove, that the small districts, formerly separate from and independent of each other, had every where united, and had formed into large communities. For instance, it would not have been possible for the great nation of the Franks to have sprung from the Sicambri alone. A union of all the numerous minor tribes in the neighbourhood, mentioned at an earlier period, but whose names have since disappeared, must first have taken place. The cause of this alliance is extremely obscure, but may have been induced by several circumstances, such as common origin, the superiority of a powerful tribe over its weaker neighbours, and finally, the necessity of leaguing toge- ther on account of the renewal of the war with Rome. THE WAR OF THE MARCOMANNI. 105 LI. The tvar of the Marcomanni. IT is a remarkable tact, that the Roman empire was simul- taneously attacked, on the Rhine and Danube by the Germans, and in Asia by the Parthi or Persians [A. D. 162]. The Rhenish tribes first rose. The Catti, formerly so inconsider* able, suddenly invaded Rhastia in immense numbers, and ad- vanced as far as the Alps, where they were opposed, and after an obstinate battle, (several women being found among the slain,) defeated by Pertinax. About this time, the Chauci appeared on the Northern Ocean, and landing from their pirate vessels, devastated the coasts of Gaul and Britain. Shortly after these events, the Germans rushed in enormous masses across the Danube, headed by the Marcomanni, whose name was given to the war, accompanied or followed by the Quadi, Bastarnaa, and Hermunduri ; the Vandali and Goths, with numerous minor tribes, the Astingi, Narisci, Burii, etc. ; and probably also the Slavonian Jazyges, and Roxolani. These countless hordes first besieged Aquileia, [A. D. 166,] a large fortified town on the Adriatic. The brave defence of this place, and the sudden appearance of Marcus Aurelius, the wise and spirited emperor of Rome, returning at the head of his victorious legions from the Parthian war, induced the Germans to retire across the Danube, whence they soon re- turned, and again laid waste the Roman provinces. A dreadful plague at the same time ravaged the interior of the empire. The emperor, undismayed by these calamities, collected in- discriminately all who were capable of bearing arms, even slaves and thieves, and marched to the Danube. It had been foretold to him, that if he caused two lions to swim across that river, the enemy would flee ; and he accordingly did so, when the Germans, mistaking them for a couple of dogs, killed them with their clubs. Two migrating Vandal tribes were afterwards persuaded by the emperor to assist him against the other Germans, and after a desperate contest, he was victorious over the Marcomanni and Jazyges. The battle with the latter took place in the middle of the frozen Danube. They were completely routed, and from this single nation were regained no less than 100,000 Roman prisoners; a circumstance cal- culated to give an idea of the magnitude of the war. The 106 THE ALEMANNI. emperor followed up his victory by an attack upon the Quadi, who, retreating far into the interior, drew him gradually fur- ther into the vast wilderness, where his army was threatened with starvation from thirst, the long heats having dried up all the springs, and their fate seemed inevitable, when their fainting strength was revived by a sudden storm. A Chris- tian legion, said to have worked this miracle by their prayers, hence received the name of the fiery legion. The Quadi were afterwards forced to make peace, [A. D. 174,] and the emperor, taking advantage of the momentary tranquillity, restored the ruined fortresses on the banks of the Danube, built several others, and garrisoned them with 200,000 men. The Romans, presuming on their strength, now neglected to fulfil all the conditions of the peace, and began to annoy the Germans, who again revolted, and a battle was fought, which lasted an entire day. Before the war was concluded Marcus Aurelius died, and was succeeded by his son, Commodus, [A. D. 180,] a licentious youth, who, anxious only to continue his debauche- ries at Rome, instantly concluded a shameful peace with the Germans. LII. The Alemanni. THIS nation belonged to the ancient Suevi, and were the ancestors of the Swabians. The petty tribes dwelling to the south of the Catti and Hermunduri appear to have confede- rated with them, and in the commencement of the third cen- tury to have formed a mighty nation, which passed the Heidenmauer, destroyed the Roman cities and colonies, and made their name feared throughout the whole of the Black Forest as far as the Rhine. Although appearing under the name of the Alemanni as one distinct and individual nation, they were held by no firm political bond, and, as in earlier times, were divided into several districts, each completely in- dependent of the other, and governed by its own council, laws, judge, or duke. Even in war time they oftener fought singly than in unison, and only on particular occasions elected a temporary war-chief. They were bounded on the north by the Catti and Hermunduri ; on the east by the Cenni, (the ancient Senones, who had mingled with the Alemanni when pursued by the Burgundians, who, issuing from Silesia, gra- THE ALEMANNI. 107 dually advanced towards the west,) and the Boii Marcomanni, (from whom descended the Bojoarii or Bavarians). In front of them, behind the Rhine, lay Germania Prima, Helvetia, and Rhastia, against which they always, and with increasing bold- ness, directed their attacks. They first appeared in modern Swabia after the great war of the Marcomanni, when peace reigned on the frontiers. Caracalla, the Roman emperor, took them into high favour, wore their dress and a light-coloured wig in order to resem- ble them the more closely, and is said to have been deprived of his senses by the magical songs of the Alemannic women ; often telling the Germans that they ought to come over and destroy the Roman empire, and then putting the interpreters to death, lest the Romans should discover what he had said. This mad emperor, nevertheless, often ill-treated his German friends. On one occasion he sent for a number of the young Alemanni, under pretence of enrolling them in his army, and then, with a scornful laugh, ordered them to be put to death. A general insurrection, in which the Catti joined, was the immediate result. The emperor was victorious, and, after the battle, asking the captured women, " which they preferred, death or slavery ? " was answered by their murdering their children, and then destroying themselves [A. D. 213]. During the campaign of his successor, Alexander Severus, in Parthia, the Germans again crossed the Rhine, and occa- sioned such universal terror, that the emperor was obliged to hasten his return to Italy, where he was greeted with delight, but expired before the opening of the campaign [A. D. 234]. The name of the next emperor is traced in German history in characters of blood. Public spirit no longer existed in any part of the empire. The soldiers, numbers of whom were Germans, usurped the chief authority, and raised Maxi- min, a Goth, a man of extraordinary bodily strength, and ac- counted the bravest in the army, to the imperial throne. In order to prove to his subjects that he had renounced his former kindred, and was a thorough Roman, he instantly continued the Rhenish campaign with unusual vigour, and carried war and desolation into the very heart of his native country. At the head of an innumerable army, which he had himself con- ducted from the sands of Africa and the steppes of Parthia, he marched triumphantly about 400 miles in different clirec- 108 ALEMANNIC WARRIORS. tions through Germany, burning and destroying all before him. A great battle took place in a now unknown morass or lake, in which the emperor narrowly escaped with his life. He is a proof of the truth of the axiom, " that the renegade is ever his country's bitterest foe." The ingratitude of the Ro- mans fearfully avenged his crimes, and he* and his son, who is said to have been the handsomest youth of his time, and who was on the eve of wedding the noblest and most beautiful of the Roman maidens, fell by their hands [A. D. 235], LIII. Alemannic warriors. THE Alemanni invaded Gaul, A. D. 253. A young warrior inquiring of his mother how glory was to be gained, " There are only two ways," she replied, "one by creating grandeur, the other by destroying it." The latter possessed the higher attraction, and leading a large army across the Rhine, [A. D. 259,] he utterly destroyed more than sixty Gallic cities, of which not one stone was left upon the other. He subsequently fell into the hands of the Romans at Aries, and, imprisoned in an iron cage, was carried about the country, a fit object of contumely and scorn. Gallienus, who was then emperor, mar- ried Pipara, the beautiful daughter of a king of the Marco- manni. Roman history, the only one that touches upon these events, is neither graphic nor precise in respect to them, and merely speaks of a battle, near the lake of Garda, where 300,000 of the Alpine Alemanni were defeated by 12,000 Romans ; and records that not many years after, the same nation again swarmed from the Rhine and the Alps, until checked by the bravery and skill of Probus, the warlike Ro- man emperor, who even, for a short time, restored the Heiden- mauer, and the fortresses of Hadrian [A. D. 277]. Christianity, meanwhile, progressed. Crocus is said to have found some Christian clergy in Gaul, whom he obliged to sacrifice to the gods. According to the legend, the emperor, Maximian, caused a whole legion, named the Theban, with their leader, Mauritius, to be cut to pieces, [A. D. 287,] on ac- * To this emperor is ascribed the transplantation of 1 1,000 British maidens into Gaul, who, on their way, were killed by the arrows of the wild Saxons near Cologne, on the Rhine. Legend of St. Ursula. ALEMANXIC WARRIORS. 109 count of their profession of the Christian faith, with which he feared they might infect the rest of the troops. This event took place at Sitten, or Sion, in Valais, on the spot where the large monastery of St. Moritz now stands. About the same period, at Augsburg, then a Roman city, St. Afra, a dissolute female, who had been suddenly converted to Chris- tianity, which she zealously preached, suffered the death of a martyr, and was afterwards canonized. Maximian, unable to stem the torrent that threatened to overwhelm Italy, now shared the imperial throne with Diocletian, who invaded Swabia, whilst he opposed the Franks and Saxons on the Lower Rhine ; but so little was effected, that the civil feuds among the Germans alone protected the Romans from destruc- tion [A. D. 288], The Goths and Vandals pressed forcibly onwards, opposed by the Thuringi, Burgundians, and Aleman- ni. "Holy Jupiter !" exclaimed the Roman, Mamertius, "at length they bathe in their own blood ! " But the exultation of the Romans was only momentary ; Helvetia was before long again invaded by the Alemanni, who, during this irrup- tion, destroyed all the works of the Romans, particularly the magnificent cities of Vindonissa and Aventicum, [A. D. 303,] which were so completely razed to -the ground that, fifty years later, a forest, known as the Helvetian Wilderness, covered their sites. The Alemanni were in such force on the Upper Rhine, that Constautine the Great, the first emperor who professed Christianity, which he established throughout the empire, owed his elevation to the throne to their friendship, and par- ticularly to that of their leader, Crocus. Proclaimed emperor by the troops on the Rhine, [A. D. 306,] he defeated his rival by the assistance of the Germans, whose services were afterwards requited with ingratitude, as will hereafter be related. After waging a cruel war against the Franks, he erected a fortress, named after him, Constance, on the Bodensee, with such an hostile intention against the Alemanni, that they finally joined the Franks, but were defeated, and for some time after re- mained in tranquillity. Constantius, the son and successor of Constantine, being furiously attacked by his father's bitter enemies, the Franks, anxiously sought the alliance of the Alemanni, whose chief, Chnodomar, a gigantic warrior, aided him in subduing them and their leader, Magnentius ; but scarcely were they van- HO ALEMANNIC WARRIORS. quished, than the faithless emperor, uniting with a part of them, attacked his allies, [A. D. 353,] who revenged his treach- ery by devastating the Roman frontier. They were victorious on the Alps, but were afterwards defeated near the Bodensee by Arbetius, the Roman general [A. D. 355]. Shortly after this, the emperor Julian the Apostate, who commanded on the Rhine, and his lieutenant, Barbatius, simultaneously invaded Swabia, from opposite quarters ; upon which the Alemanni marched boldly between the invading armies as far as Lyons, destroyed several cities on their route, and then returning to the Rhine, suddenly attacked Barbatius, over whom they gained a complete victory, and retreated to their own country laden with spoil. Julian raised the fortress of Tres Tabernse, Zabern, as a rendezvous for the troops, and collected a numer- ous army, which induced the whole nation of the Alemanni to join the standard of Chnodomar, who, mounted on a fiery horse, his helmet adorned with red plumes, and an enormous lance in his right hand, crossed the Alps at their head, and solemnly demanded the cession of Alsace from the emperor, who dismissed his ambassadors, and gave him battle near Strasburg. An immense slaughter ensued. As soon as vic- tory began to side with the Romans, the infantry of the Ale- manni obliged their princes and nobles to dismount and to fight on foot, so that none could save themselves by flight. Chnodomar, becoming entangled in a morass, was taken pri- soner, and 200 of his companions in arms, who formed his body-guard, voluntarily yielded to the conqueror, in order to share his fate. He was carried to Rome, where he died of nostalgia. Julian then sailed up the Maine, wasting the coun- try of the Alemanni on the right bank as far as Spessart, whei'e the natives made a valiant defence behind an impene- trable abatis. The greater part of the nation was, however, forced to submit, and to deliver up 20,000 Roman prisoners, besides furnishing wood from their forests for the reconstruc- tion of the cities they had destroyed on the Rhine [A. r>. 357]. The Alemanni were now hard pushed by Julian, who, follow- ing up his victory, and contriving to render their leaders sus- pected, and to set them at variance, took some by stratagem, and made the rest submit by force. On their again meeting, as was their custom, for the purpose of planning a conspiracy, during one of their midnight festivals, he attacked them so ALEMANNIC WARRIORS. 1 1 1 suddenly that they escaped with great difficulty by flight [A. D. 359]. Vadomar, whom he invited to a banquet, and treacherously seized, afterwards served in Asia, and distin- guished himself as a Roman general in the Parthian war. After the departure of Julian, the Alemanni regained courage, crossed the Rhine on the ice, and devastated Gaul, but were surprised near Chalons, whilst bathing in the Marne, by Jovi- nus, who put them to the rout, and hanged their leader [A. D. 360]. The following year, they made another incursion under Rhando, and attacked the city of Mayence ; upon which the emperor Valentinian, assisted by Jovinus, invaded the Black Forest, [A. D. 361,] where he was skilfully opposed by Vitica- bius, the sickly but energetic son of Vadomar, and by Ma- crian, the equally sickly, but intelligent leader of the Catti ; the former of whom he caused to be murdered. The latter defied his attempts. The Alemanni and Catti made a desper- ate defence on a high mountain near Sulz [A. D. 368]. The emperor, unable to reduce them to submission, now incited the Burgundians against them, and a quarrel, similar to that be- tween the Catti and Hermunduri, arose between them, on ac- count of the salt-works on their frontiers, and the Burgundians marched against them to the number of 80,000 men. Upon this, Macrian prudently made terms with them, and avoided a battle ; and the Romans, afraid of their new guests, breaking the treaty, the Burgundians murdered the Roman delegates, [A. r>. 370,] and returned to their own country. The inde- fatigable emperor then incited the Franks against the Ale- manni, whilst Macrian, with equal perseverance, sought to confederate the whole of the northern Germans against him. The emperor, discovering some of his letters to Hortar, a con- quered Alemannic prince, tortured him to death, and nearly succeeded in capturing Macrian (in aquis Mattiacis) at Wies- baden, where he was lying sick [A. D. 371]. The repeated and bloody defeats suffered by the Romans on the Danube, in their war with the Goths, now forced them to withdraw from the Rhine, where the faithless Mellobaudes, who favoured the Romans, laid wait for Macrian, and murdered him. Two years after, [A. D. 375,] the Alemanni, under Priarius, in- vaded Alsace, but were defeated and cut to pieces at Colmar, by Mellobaudes. Although the power of Rome was for ever annihilated, the Alemanni were forced to quit Gaul, and 112 THE FRANKS. wandering southward, peopled the Alps, where their descend- ants, the Swiss, still dwell. In the fourth century, Ausonius, the Roman poet, whose works are still extant, immortalized the charms of Bissula, an Alemannic maid. LIV. The Franks. AMONG the low German tribes, who fought under Armin, appeal- the Catti and the Chauci, who, in the third century, although the names of the individual tribes were not yet entirely lost, were gradually included under the general de- nomination of Franks and Saxons. Frank signifies free, and the tribes that confederated for the preservation of their free- dom were distinguished by this name. The experience gained in the Roman war taught them the value of union, and their ancient book of laws boasts in its preface that the confederated Franks were powerful enough completely to cast off the galling Roman yoke (gens Francorum, firma pacis fosdere, qua? Ro- manorum jugum durissimum de suis cervicibus excussit pug- nando). Their name, although not mentioned by the Roman historians until the third century after Christ, may, with great probability, be ascribed to the time of Civilis, who roused all the Lower Germans in the name of Freedom, and, according to Tacitus, said expressly to the people of Cologne, " You will be free (J"rank) among the free " (franken) ; liberi inter liberos eritis. Nazarius, the panegyrist of Constantine, says, that all the Lower German tribes had formed a strong league (conspiratione fcederata? societatis exarserunt). The Franks, like the Alemanni, were for a long period a simple federatio of independent tribes, composed of the Sicambri, Chamavri, Bructeri, Catti, Cherusci, etc., and all the other petty Low German tribes, which, with the exception of a few that united with the Saxons, were, at a later period, included under two heads, as Salic and Ripuarian Franks. They had also among them many petty leaders or dukes, who were even oftener at feud with one another than those of the Alemanni. They are first mentioned as fighting against the emperor Gallienus, by whom they were defeated [A. D. 256]. They subsequently made a great irruption into Gaul, [A. D. 260,] and thence penetrating into Spain, (according to Aurelius Victor, who THE FRANKS. 1 1 3 merely mentions the fact,) destroyed the great city of Tarra- gona, and for twelve years maintained their position on the other side of the Pyrenees, whence they were driven by Posthumius. Their ships are said, even at that early period, to have visited Africa. Aurelian repelled a fresh irruption of the Franks into Gaul [A. D. 265]. After his death [A. r>. 273] they again invaded that country, and found a powerful oppo- nent in his successor, Probus, who defeated both them and the Alemanni, [A. D. 277,] repaired the old Roman fortresses, walls ; and roads, and subdued the Gothic Lygii and Arii, whose prince, Semnus, fell into his hands. He also reduced the Burgundians and Vandals, in the interior of Germany, to submission, took Igillus, the Vandal prince, prisoner, and settled the vanquished tribe in the country of Vandelsburg, in Britain ; his policy being to remove the Germans to distant countries, when he engaged them in the Roman service. He valued the Germans at a gold piece a head, and carried on a regular plan of kidnapping. He caused several thousand Frankish men and youths to be transported to Asia, where he settled them on the borders of the Black Sea. He remained for some time on the Rhine, fortifying the banks and adorning them with vineyards. The fortifications were afterwards de- stroyed by the Franks and Alemanni, who carefully preserved the vineyards from injury, and cultivated them with the great- est assiduity. These improvements were fatal to the emperor Probus, who was murdered by his own soldiers, impatient of the hard labour imposed upon them in the cultivation of these vineyards. At the same time, the Franks, who had been transported to Asia, being pressed beyond endurance, suddenly rose, and after murdering all the Romans in their vicinity, seized a considerable fleet, which lay at anchor in the Black Sea, sailed to the Archipelago, plundered the wealthy mari- time cities, and landed in Sicily, where they took the great city of Syracuse, and returned to their ships laden with booty. Landing in Africa, they battled with the Romans beneath the walls of Carthage, and being worsted, retreated to their ships, sailed unopposed through the Mediterranean, and coasting Spain and Gaul, as far as the Northern Ocean, returned laden with wealth to their native country. 114 PRANKISH UPSTARTS AND TRAITORS. LV. Prankish upstarts and traitors. AFTER the death of Probus, the Franks again crossed the frontier, and attacked the emperor Maximian at Treves, where he held his court, but were repulsed, and compelled to replace their prince, Genobaudes, whom they had driven away, on his throne. In the hope of winning them over, the emperor ceded the waste country lying on the frontiers, and entered into an alliance with them. This narrow-sighted policy produced most important results. The Franks, taking advantage of their central position, aided the Romans against the other Germans, or vice versa, as better suited their own projects of aggrandizement, whilst they imperceptibly increased in power and in political weight. Constantine the Great, although a Christian, was cruel, false, and treacherous, and the instigator of treason in others. When celebrating his victory over the Franks at Treves, he caused a number of the prisoners, among others, two Frankish princes, Ascar and Ragais, to be thrown to the wild beasts in the amphitheatre, where, smiling in scorn, they met their doom with the utmost intrepidity. The whole of the Ger- mans, Franks, and Alemanni, enraged at this act of cruelty and thirsting for revenge, united against the emperor, who, entering their camp in disguise, gave them false information of his departure, and of the place and time when he would be most open to attack. The stratagem succeeded, and the allied Germans were completely beaten [A. D. 310]. He now plotted their entire reduction, and pretending to be on the point of undertaking an expedition against the Alemanni, suddenly changed his course, and marching down the Rhine, unexpectedly attacked the Franks [A. D. 318]. The erection of a great bridge near Cologne, afforded him for the future free ingress into their country. (This bridge was standing until 955, when it was broken up by order of Archbishop Bruno, and the stones were used in building the monastery of St. Pantaleone.) Notwithstanding this ill treatment, the Franks again befriended the emperor, and flocking beneath his standard, aided in vanquishing Licinius, the competitor for the imperial throne. It was on this occasion that he in- voked the God of the Christians to grant him the victory, and PRANKISH UPSTARTS AND TRAITORS. 1 1 o in consequence of his success embraced their religion. The importance to which the Prankish nation had already risen, is clearly demonstrated by the circumstance of a soldier, named Magnentius, having set himself up as a candidate for the im- perial throne, in opposition to Constantius, the successor of Constantine. He was betrayed by Silvanus, one of his countrymen, who deserted to the emperor with part of his followers at the decisive moment. On the eve of the great battle of Mursa on the Drave, Magnentius entreated the gods for victory, and after sacrificing a maiden on the altar, mixed her blood with wine, which he distributed to the whole army. His defeat was decisive, and he killed himself. His brother. Deventius, who had remained in Gaul, defended himself for some time, but finding opposition useless, also deprived him- self of life [A. D. 353]. Silvanus, after assisting in driving his fellow countrymen back to the frontier, incurred the suspicion of having connived at a fresh and unexpected irrup- tion on their part, in which they destroyed forty cities, and Constantius lending an ear to the insinuations of his secret enemies, he was compelled to seek safety by flight, and re- joined his countrymen, who received him with delight, and solemnly proclaimed him emperor at Cologne. He was mur- dered by a certain Nosicius, [A. D. 356,] a pretended deserter, employed for that purpose by Constantius. The emperor Julian also combated the Franks, who, for thirty days, fruit- lessly besieged him in Sens, when dissension again broke out amongst them. The ancient Sicambri, who dwelt close to the Roman frontier, were pressed upon by their neighbours the Chamavi. Charietto, the leader of the Sicambri, aided by Julian, defeated the Chamavi, and took their chief, Neliogast. prisoner [A. D. 360]. The whole frontier of the Netherlands was afterwards held by the Sicambri as a Roman fief, and they are henceforward known as the Salic Franks. Charietto became their first prefect, and afforded great assistance to the emperor against the Alemanni. He was succeeded by Mellu- baudes, who was also in alliance with Rome. Somewhat later, the Franks were governed by three princes. Marcomir, Genobald, and Sunno ; and it appears that at that period a reaction took place in the feelings of the people, who once more began to feel ashamed of the treasonable part the}' enacted by thus affording assistance to the enemies of their i 2 116 THE SAXONS. country. Their countryman, Arbogastes, the zealous ally of Rome, was their most violent opponent during their heroic struggle for freedom. The emperor Maximus sent Quintinus at the head of a powerful force into their country, where they lay in wait for him in the forests, as is expressly related, armed with poisoned arrows, and he suffered a discomfiture as complete as that of Varus, but few of the soldiers escaping to bear news of the disaster. The conquerors followed up their victory by the in- vasion of Gaul, [A. D. 388,] when they were at first opposed by Arbogastes, who soon after, changing his plans, arbitrarily set up a new emperor, by name Eugenius, a rhetorician, and negociated for peace and alliance with the invaders, whom lie finally persuaded to lend their aid to Eugenius, upon which a destructive war broke out between them and the rival em- peror, Theodosius, who was supported by the Goths. A great battle took place between the two nations at Aquileia, in which the Goths were victorious. Eugenius was executed, and Arbogastes fled to the Alps, where he put an end to his life [A. D. 394]. The difference between the national character of the Franks and that of the Alemanni is visible even at this early period ; and to the close alliance that so long subsisted between the Franks and the Romans, may be justly ascribed the traits which, at a later period, distinguished the former, whose up- start warriors have ever been noted for treachery, ambition, and love of luxury. " Choose the Frank for a friend, but not for a neighbour," was even then a proverb. Salvianus says, " The Franks, instead of deeming perjury criminal, call it a mere fii^on de parler" " They laugh, and break their word," observes Vopiscus. A practice they had probably acquired among other Roman customs, and which was unknown to the other na- tions of Germany, who, uncontaminated by an alliance with the enemies of their country, ever retained their love of simplicity and truth. LVI. The Saxons. THE Saxons dwelt beyond the Franks, and consisted of the Chauci, Frisii, and the remnants of the tribes collected on the coasts of the Northern Ocean and the Baltic. Their name has THE SAXOXS. been variously derived from the ancient Sacae* on the Indus, from Sac/is, race, or from Sassen, freeholders. According to tradition, they came by sea (from the army of Alexander the Great) to Hadel, where they landed, and buying from the Thuringi, who at that period stretched far down towards the Northern Ocean, a gownful of earth, spread it over a large ter- ritory, to which they laid claim, and then inviting the Thu- ringian chiefs to meet them unarmed for the purpose of negociating the affair, murdered them during the banquet with knives worn for that purpose, concealed beneath their dresses. According to a legend somewhat similar to that of the Edda, the Saxons and their first king Ascan sprang from the rocks of the Harz mountains ; and the proverb, " There are Saxons wherever pretty girls grow out of the trees," is still in use. The ancient account of this people is very ob- scure. Odin went from Saxony to Scandinavia, and his de- scendants at a later period from that country to England. In the beginning of the third century, the Chauci were powerful by sea, and plundered the Roman coasts ; and some- what later, the Saxons were continually at war with the Nor- mans in Denmark and Norway. When the Roman empire was under the joint rule of Diocletian and Maximian, the former of whom defended the Danube, the latter the Rhine, the subjection of the Saxon pirates, who had long and unop- posed infested the northern seas, was planned, and towards the close of the third century, Carausius, an experienced sea captain, attacked and overcame them. He subsequently en- tered into a strict alliance with them, and set himself up as emperor, a title which he, for some time, maintained by their assistance. The connexion between the Saxons and the Vindili, or the Gothic tribes on the Baltic, is also buried in obscurity. When the latter, migrating in a body to the south, left their ancient place of abode completely unoccupied, they were succeeded by the Slavian tribes, who, settling there, became the eastern neighbours of the Saxons. It is only known for certain, that a part of the Saxons accompanied the Longobardi to Italy, but by far the greater number migrated to England. It was customary for the old men to remain at home, while the sur- * Probably the Siks. TRANSLATOR. THE GOTHS. plus population, consisting of young and hardy warriors, was annually sent forth to seek a settlement elsewhere, and to win a new country by their swords. Godfrey of Monmouth, the English chronicler, relates, that the first Saxons who visited England alleged this custom as the reason of their migration. An annual meeting of all the chiefs of the people was held at Marclo in Saxony, and the young men, chosen by lot, were, according to law, obliged to bid an eternal farewell to their native country. LVII. The Goths. TOWARDS the close of the second century, the great nation of the Goths, accompanied by countless other northern tribes, descended from the north to the coasts of the Black Sea. Tradition records that the ancestors of the Goths sailed in three ships, commanded by King Berig, from their ancient home, Gothland in Sweden, to the German side of the Baltic, and landed at Gothiscantzia (Dantzig). One of their ships arriving later than the rest, the men on board of it received the name of Gepidag, from the word gapan, to stare idly, to delay, to gape. Gradually spreading along the coast, they conquered the Ulmerugi and Vandali, but meeting with op- position from the Saxons in their advance towards the west, they turned southward, conquering the tribes or forcing them along with them on their route, and at length reached the Black Sea. Many of the Goths were, however, left in the north, in the part of Sweden that still bears the name of Gothland. The preponderance of the Gothic name over those of the other eastern German tribes, perhaps arose from an an- cient religious superstition, as well as from their intellectual superiority. The civilized manners of the Greeks and Ro- mans, and, in later times, Christianity, rapidly spread among them, and the regulations they introduced, during the peace consequent on the cessation of migration, were followed by all the other German tribes, and laid the foundation of a new era. In other respects, the Goths had the same form of government with the other Germans. Each tribe was some- times headed by an independent chief, who was either a judge, a duke, or a king ; sometimes several of these tribes obeyed a common head, or it happened that a king, who had gained GREAT IRRUPTION AGAINST ROME. 1 19 the upper hand, reigned over several minor and tributary chiefs ; but this sort of authority was never of long continu- ance, and the tribes became once more independent. At length, the chiefs of the most considerable tribes succeeded in retaining during peace the authority entrusted to them dur- ing war. and rendered their dignity not only perpetual, but also added to it a power which soon threatened the ancient liberties of the people ; the natural result of protracted war- fare and of encroaching military rule. In the great Gothic migrations, the Goths seem to have been the most consider- able nation, and appear after the Marcomanni, Quadi, Getae, Peucini, and Bastarnae, who must have been gradually incor- porated with them, as they also were generally denominated Goths, and were divided into Ostrogoths, of which the Gru- thungri formed the most considerable tribe, and Visigoths, the chief tribes of which were the Therwingri and Taiphali. Connected with the Goths, were the Gepidae, who are said to have accompanied them ; the Longobardi, from Denmark ; the Heruli, also from the Scandivanian north ; the Vandali, from the Baltic ; the Rugii, from the island of Riigen ; the Burgundians, from the Oder. The Alani, Hirri, and Scirri, are of dubious origin ; and the Jaziges and Roxolani, who joined the Goths in their march, were without doubt Sclavo- nians. LVIII. Great irruption against Rome, THE Goths were already known at the time of the war with the Marcomanni, to whose rear they had been long settled be- fore they made a direct attack upon the Roman empire. Dur- ing the discussion of this project in the popular assembly, three of their chiefs, were struck by lightning, and the un- lucky omen caused its renunciation [A. D. 192]. In the com- mencement of the third century, they had become extremely powerful, and compelled the emperor Caracalla to pay them an annual tribute ; and shortly after, Maximin, a Goth by birth, was raised to the imperial throne, who, however, was so devoid of patriotism, as to include his fellow countrymen in the fierce and cruel war carried on by him against the western Germans. After his death, the tribute was again ex- acted from the Romans, and the Goths invaded Greece under 120 GREAT IRRUPTION AGAINST ROME. Ostrogotha, Argaith, and Guntherich [A. D. 245], Ostro- gotha subsequently became a powerful monarch. Fastida, the great Vandal king, rendered insolent by his victories over the Burgundians, insisted upon the partition of the king- dom of Ostrogotha, who vainly represented the folly of the demand, and advised him to beware of attacking his brethren, but Fastida, deaf to reason, persisted in his ambi Jous schemes, and was overthrown. A formidable Gothic army under Cniva now invaded Mae- sia, [A. D. 250,] defeated the Romans in a great battle at Beraea, and took possession of Philippopolis, where 100,000 men were put to the sword. During their march towards Greece, the emperor Decius fell upon their rear and attempted to cut them off; a fierce struggle ensued, in which Cniva proved victorious. The emperor and his son were drowned in a lake, and Gallus, his successor, bribing him to make peace by the payment of a large sum of money, the Gothic chief departed, laden with booty. In 258, several hordes, under different chiefs, crossed the Black Sea, and after plundering and de- stroying the cities of Asia Minor, returned to their country ; and reappearing the following year, [A. D. 259.] stormed and sacked the city of Trapezus by night. The cities of Nicaea and Nicomedia were burnt to the ground during a subsequent incursion [A. D. 260]. In 266, they again crossed the Black Sea, under Respa, Veduco, Thuro, and Bato, and overran the whole of Asia Minor, plundering and devastating that rich and fertile country. On their return home laden with booty, they were attacked in the Euxine, and defeated, by a Ro- man fleet. In the following year, [A. D. 267,] a numerous horde, under King Naulobates, undertook a similar expedi- tion, plundered the Asiatic coasts, and afterwards landed in Greece, where they destroyed a number of magnificent cities. Athens, the seat of ancient learning, was taken, and the stupendous collection of Greek books contained in that city was on the point of being burnt, when an old man, rising up, advised them to leave the Greeks all their books, " for," said he, " so long as they use their pens with so much diligence, they will never understand the use of their swords." The emperor Gallienus, after attacking and defeating them on their return home over-land, entered into alliance with them, and since that period the Heruli were almost constantly en- GREAT IRRUPTION AGAINST ROME. 121 gaged in the imperial service. Two years later, [A. r>. 269,] two fresh expeditions were undertaken by the Goths. An enormous horde crossed the Black Sea with 6000 ships, and landed on the banks of the Danube, whence, being forced to retreat by the Romans, they sailed into the Archipelago, and laid waste the whole of Greece ; but, when attempting to re- turn over-land to the Danube, they encountered the emperor Claudius, and being defeated at Naissus, took refuge on Mount Hoemus, where, hemmed in on every side, they fell victims to hunger and pestilence. Another horde, after coasting along Asia Minor, landed in Cyprus, spreading desolation wherever they appeared, and destroying all the cities. It was by them that the celebrated ancient temple of Diana at Ephesus, reckoned one of the seven wonders of the world, was burnt. On their return home through Greece, they were also cut to pieces. These considerable losses for some time checked the inroads of the Goths, and several warlike emperors succes- sively mounting the throne, who personally conducted the war on the Danube, they were compelled to remain within their own limits. Aurelian, whose wars, although probably some of the most remarkable that took place, are only lightly men- tioned in history, gained several signal victories over them. Whilst the Goths, as usual, made an incursion into Greece, the Marcomanni and Vandali invaded Italy ; the former were de- feated with immense slaughter by Aurelian in Hungary ; the latter, meanwhile, advanced as far as Milan, and caused such terror in Rome, that extraordinary human sacrifices were of- fered, in order to appease the anger of the gods. Aurelian overtook the enemy at Placentia, where he suffered a defeat ; but the Romans, whose courage rose with the danger, fought on subsequent occasions with such intrepidity, that after winning the battles of Fano and Pavia, they forced the Mar- comanni to retreat. Aurelian's triumph was graced with sin- gular trophies ; besides the car of a Gothic king, drawn by six stags, there were several Amazons, who had been captured sword in hand, among whom, the youthful Hunilda, celebrated among the Romans for her wit, was particularly distinguished. She afterwards became the wife of a man of rank named Bonosus, who, aided by the Goths, aspired to the imperial throne, and, on discovering the inutility of his attempt, de- prived himself of life. Aurelian owed his victories over the 122 THE GREAT EMPIRE OF HERMANARICH. Gotlis to his German mercenaries, chiefly Franks, some of whose generals are mentioned by name, Hartmund, Haldegast, Hildomann, Cariovist. The emperor Probus watched the Da- nube as carefully as the Rhine, refortified the banks of both rivers, and introduced the vine into Hungary. The emperor Galerius valiantly opposed the Goths, and Constantine the Great did not belie the cunning he had practised on the Rhine, by his conduct towards them. When defeated and forced to seek safety by flight by their king Ararich, he incited the Sla- vonian Sarmatians against them [A. D. 331] ; but his project being foiled by the sudden revolt of the Slavi against their own nobles, whom they had no sooner driven out of the country than they concluded peace with the Germans, he induced the Vandals to attack the Goths, and upon the defeat of their king Vidumar by Geberich, the successor of Ararich, he took them under his protection and employed them in his service. At Constantinople, the new capital of the eastern empire, there were no less than 40,000 Varingians, or mercenaries, in his pay. Among the countless Roman prisoners carried by the Goths into the interior of their country, were several Chris- tians, who succeeded in converting a great part of the people to Christianity. The Goths in the imperial service were also, for the most part, Christians ; and when, on the conversion of Constantine, that religion was established throughout the em- pire, a grand convocation of the whole of the Christian clergy was held at Nice, in which the Catholic church was recognised as the only true one [A. D. 325]. Several Gothic bishops, present at this assembly, opposed this decision, from a conviction of the incompatibility of Catholicism with the pure doctrine of the Saviour. LIX. The great empire of Hermanarich. Origin of the Huns. PEACE was no sooner established with Rome, than internal feuds broke out among the Germans. The Ostrogoths under Ararich and Geberich had already subjugated the Burgun- dians, Alani, Vandals, and Gepidas. Geberich's successor, Hermanaricli, (the royal family of the Ostrogoths was called the Amali the immaculate ?) also subdued the Heruli and ORIGIN OF THE HUNS. 123 several Slavonian tribes, besides including the Visigoths be- neath his rule, although Athanarich, their prince or judge, was permitted to retain something of his independence, and was a viceroy, rather than a subject. The empire of Her- nianarioh spread from the Baltic to the Black Sea, and this great king, of whom there unfortunately exists but a very meagre account, entered into an alliance with Rome, and car- ried his victorious arms far to the north-east ; the treaty be- ing alone infringed by Athanarich, who waged a three years' war against the emperor Valens, whose rival, Procopius, was supported by the Visigoths. When Hermanarich was very old, his empire was threatened by the Huns, an immense swarm of misshapen barbarians, who gradually advanced from the depths of Asia towards Europe. The Slavonian tribes took advantage of the opportunity thus afforded to free them- selves from the Gothic yoke. The prince of the Roxolani went over to the Huns, and his wife Sanieth, being, by Her- manarich's command, torn to pieces by horses, her brothers attempted to revenge her death on the aged king, whom they grievously wounded, but did not succeed in depriving of life, and who, when he beheld his kingdom a prey to discord within, and threatened by the Huns from without, when, helpless from his wounds and the infirmities of old age, he was no longer able to ward off defeat, voluntarily put an end to his existence, in his 110th year. The Huns (Monguls, Calmucks, wandering shepherd tribes) were natives of the north of Asia, and inhabited the immense steppes lying between Russia and China. Divided into tribes and families, and unpossessed of either cities or houses, they wandered from place to place, seeking pasturage for their cat- tle, and dwelt in tents, in which they also stabled their horses. From being constantly on horseback, their legs were weak and crooked. They were short of stature, extremely broad- shouldered, with strong muscular arms ; had coarse protruding lips, small flat noses, yellow complexions, and thick short necks ; in a word, they were quite as hideous as the Cal- rnucks of the present day. Their horrid ugliness, immense numbers, activity on horseback, and skill in archery, struck terror even into the hearts of the brave Goths, who deemed them the descendants of wicked demons ; a superstition that greatly conduced to their success. Hermanarich had no 124 MIGRATION OF THE GOTHS sooner taken his seat among his ancestors in Walhalla, than his great empire was dissolved. Part of the Ostrogoths re- mained faithful to his son Hunimund, while the rest raised Winithar to the throne. The pagan Visigoths attached them- selves to Athanarich, who belonged to the ancient race of the Balti, but those who had embraced Christianity were ruled by their dukes Fridigern and Alavius (Olaf). Dissension, meanwhile, prevailed. Athanarich, accusing the Christian Goths of having abandoned the ancient manners and customs of Germany for those of Rome, fanatically persecuted them, and, on one occasion, had an idol carried in procession before their houses, and put all those to death who refused to fall down and worship it. Balamir, the great prince of the Huns, overcame Hunimnnd and marched against Winithar, who, after twice defeating him, fell in a third engagement, and the Ostrogoths were constrained to fly. Part of them subsequently submitted to the Hun, who had married the beautiful Waldamara, the widow of Winithar, whose son Widerich, together with Alatheus and Saphrax, two Ostrogothic chiefs, assembled the remnant of the people and fled. The Visigoths, who had beheld the defeat of their brethren unmoved, perceived, when too late, the danger to which their supineness exposed them, but boldly and resolutely taking the field, marched in a body to oppose the passage of the Huns across the Dniester ; the enemy, however, crossing the river at another point, surrounded and defeated them, and they were driven behind the Pruth, where, for some time, they valiantly defended themselves behind a long wall which they had hastily thrown up ; but, at length, finding opposition futile, they severally dispersed ; Fridigern and Alavius seeking refuge within the Roman frontier, whilst Athanarich, who viewed the Romans as the hereditary foes of his country and despised them on account of their being Christians, and who, moreover, had taken a solemn oath to his father never to set his foot on Roman ground, took shelter in the valleys of Transylvania. LX. Migration of the Goths into the Roman empire. ON reaching the Danube, Fridigern and Alavius sent Ulphi- las, (Wolflein, little wolf,) the pious and learned Gothic bishop, INTO THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 125 to entreat the emperor Valens for land on the Roman side of the Danube, as an asylum from the Huns. This bishop was the first translator of the Bible .into German. Part of this translation is still extant, and forms a curious record of the ancient Gothic language and state of civilization.* He per- suaded the emperor to allow the Goths to pass the frontier, on the ground of its being far more dangerous to repel them by force ; and his consent was at length gained, on condition of their delivering up their arms, and regularly paying for their provisions. The superintendent, sent for this purpose to the Danube, took advantage of their blind confidence in his honesty to cheat them in every way, and, when their money was spent, deprived them of their beautiful women and chil- dren ; in his rapacity overlooking the fact, that a great number of the Goths had, in their impatience, crossed the river with- out yielding up their arms. Deceit, ill-treatment, and the scanty allowance of food, ere long forced them, although the greater number were unarmed, to assume a threatening pos- ture, which caused the Romans to concentrate all the forces quartered on the Danube on one point. Whilst the banks were in this defenceless state, the Ostrogoths under Alatheus and Saphrax arrived, and crossed the river unquestioned and un- opposed. The Visigoths meanwhile advanced as far as the great city of Marcianople, where the governor, Lupicinus, in- vited the chiefs to a banquet. Their prolonged absence from the camp caused the people to suspect foul play, and they began to storm the closed gates of the city, upon which the treacherous Roman instantly ordered his guests to be put to death. In this strait, Fridigern, with great boldness and pre- sence of mind, calmly represented to him, that if he and his companions were murdered, the city would inevitably be * The so-called Codex Argenteus, an old Gothic translation of the Gospels, written in silver characters on a purple ground, now preserved at Upsala in Sweden, where it was brought in 1648 by General Konigs- mark, who had stolen it from Prague. It came originally from the mon- astery of Werden, to which it had probably been presented by some munificent Frankish chief, and doubtless fell into the hands of the Franks when they seized the empire of the Visigoths. The only question is, whether it is the genuine translation of Ulphilas. That he translated the Bible is most certain. Still, may not the silver characters be the invention of some other translator, and date about two centuries later ? It is possible ; but the fame of Ulphilas warrants its being at least a strict imitation of the original work. 126 MIGRATION OF THE GOTHS destroyed by their avenging countrymen, but that, if they were set at liberty, they would quickly be appeased. These reasons induced Lupicinus to allow them to quit the city, and Fridigern, true to his word, caused the Goths to retire. But suspicion and enmity had now replaced their former confidence, and they found themselves abandoned to misery and want. The Romans repented of having permitted the entrance of such a numerous horde into their territory. Lupicinus at length resolved to have recourse to arms, and marching with his whole force against them, suffered a complete defeat. This victory placed the country at the mercy of the Goths, who seized the weapons and the produce of the land. The Ostro and Visi-Goths united in one body, and were joined by the Varingi, or Gothic mercenaries, who had been in the Roman service since the time of Constantine, and were commanded bySueridus andColias. They had been quartered at Adrian- ople, and the Romans, apprehending their desertion, intended to have sent them to Asia Minor, but impolitically refusing the payment of their arrears, they quitted the imperial service and went over to their countrymen. The inhabitants of Mount Hoemus, and the rest of the population who groaned be- neath the heavy Roman yoke, hailed the Goths as their de- liverers, joyfully guided them through the country, and delivered up to them the concealed treasure and provisions. Their further advance was impeded by the city of Adrianople, which long withstood the attack of assailants ignorant of the mode of besieging fortified places. Whilst they were thus en- gaged, the emperor Valens returned from the Persian war, at the head of a great army, strengthened by innumerable Frankish auxiliaries under Richomer, Mellobaudes, and Fri- geridus. Even at that early period a hatred existed between the Franks and the Saxons, which until very lately remained unabated. Valens and the Franks were at first victorious, but when the defeated Goths entered into an alliance with the Alani and the Huns, who, at that juncture, poured across the Danube, an engagement such as Europe had never before witnessed, in which a million of men strove, took place on the plains of Adrianople. The Roman army was completely an- nihilated, and Valens, who had been carried wounded into a hut, was there burnt to death, 9th August, 378. The Romans, burning to revenge their defeat, now collected their whole INTO THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 127 force, and simultaneously murdered all the Goths that remained in Asia Minor, whether Varingians or private individuals. Theodosius the Great, the newly-elected emperor, a mighty warrior at the head of a numerous and exasperated army, aided by the Franks under Bauto and Arbogastes, wiped otf the disgrace that had befallen the Roman arms in the plains of Adrianople by several brilliant victories, and chased the invading hordes across the Danube, where they fell into the hands of the merciless Huns. In the confusion of the time, the brave Fridigern, who, until then, had kept the Goths united, is lost sight of; and the aged Athanarich was induced to quit his forest abode in order to form a rallying point for his dispersing countrymen. The Huns, whom a part of the Ostrogoths had already joined, appeared to him more danger- ous than the Romans, and, forgetful of his oath, he sought an alliance with the latter, and strove to assemble all the Visi- goths within their territory ; a proposal gladly assented to, as, by this means, the Visigoths became a bulwark against the Huns. Theodosius treated Athanarich with great honour, gave him a magnificent palace at Constantinople, and, at his death, which took place soon after these events, followed the aged warrior to his grave. The greater part of the Visigoths remained in Greece in close alliance with the Romans, and were again formed into a corps of mercenaries or Varingians, commanded by their own chiefs, and governed by their own laws. Capable of a higher degree of cultivation than the other German tribes, they ere long acquired all that was ele- vated and refined in the Roman manners, without becoming enervated by luxury, or losing their natural nobility of cha- racter, and were consequently so highly esteemed by the Ro- mans, as to be preferred, on account of their capacity, to the highest offices of state. The Roman historians of that time even acknowledge that the Germans were deemed men, and the Romans women. Their influence even extended to dress. The fops of that period wore alight-coloured wig, and the Ro- man senators did not disdain to adopt the Gothic furs in the place of the ancient toga. Saul, Gainas, and Alaric, are mentioned as warriors serving in the imperial army, whose prowess gained the important victory over Eugenius the rival emperor, the traitor Arbogastes, and the Franks. Christian- ity received a fresh impulse through the alliance of the Goths 128 ALARIC. with Rome. Fritigil. a prince of the Marcomanni, visited Milan, during the reign of Theodosius, in order to see St. Ambrose, the archbishop. The Ostro-Gothic Gruthungri, who had retreated across the Danube under Alatheus and Saphrax, alone refused to come to terms, and again making an incursion for the purpose of plunder, were defeated and driven back by Theodosius. Alatheus fell en the field of battle. The position of the empire, and the double danger to which it was exposed from the Danube and the Rhine, convinced Theodosius the Great of the expediency of dividing the go- vernment, and he accordingly willed that the empire should be divided after his death, which happened in 395, between his sons, Honorius and Arcadius, the former of whom reigned at Rome as emperor of the West, and the latter at Constanti- nople as emperor of the East. LXL Alaric. MANY of the Gothic chiefs in the Roman empire raised themselves to high distinction, more particularly Alaric, a descendant of the Balti, who, on being elected king by the majority of the Visigoths, instantly planned the most daring enterprises, and suddenly invading Greece, plundered and destroyed the most considerable cities, [A. D. 396,] sparing Athens alone, owing to a superstitious notion that he beheld Pallas, the patroness of the city, standing before the gates. Arcadius being unable to oppose him, Honorius sent Stilico, a Vandal, (who had been raised by Theodosius to the highest dignities of state,) to his assistance, who succeeded in en- closing Alaric within the mountains of the Peloponnesus, but afterwards allowed him to retreat from a desire of injuring Arcadius. A bitter jealousy had arisen between the eastern and western empires, of which Alaric skilfully took advantage, and fixed himself in Illyria, where, placed between Rome and Constantinople, he lost no opportunity of promoting his own interest in both quarters. At this time another Goth, named Gainas, who had gained considerable power in Constantinople, and was plotting the seizure of the imperial crown, happen- ing to absent himself on a recruiting expedition, the Romans ALARIC. 129 suddenly attacked and murdered all the Goths in the city, and Gainas being discomfited by another Gothic army under Fra- juta, that remained faithful to the imperial standard, fled across the Danube, and fell into the hands of Uldes, prince of the Huns, who put him to death. Shortly after this event, Alaric undertook a great invasion of Italy, and at the head of numerous German tribes and of his allies, the Alemanni, fell upon Aquileia, [A. D. 400,] whilst Stilico was engaged in withdrawing all the troops from Gaul in order to oppose him ; but, notwithstanding his exertions, Alaric, who continually received encouragement from Constantinople, pressed gradually onward. During the solemnization of Easter festival at Pol- lentia, the Goths were suddenly attacked by Stilico, and a battle ensued, in which Goth opposed Goth, [A. D. 403,] and Saul lost his life fighting on the Roman side at the head of his mercenaries. A second and not less bloody engagement took place at Verona, when Alaric, being forced to retreat, was again shut up in the mountains by Stilico, who once more allowed him to make terms. Radagais, at the head of an enormous horde of pagan Ale- manni and other German tribes, now rushed from the Upper Danube over the Alps, [A. D. 405,] swearing to offer all the blood of the Romans in one great libation to his gods, and ad- vanced as far as the Apennines, where, hemmed in by the whole army of Stilico, (who, by skilful treaties and promises, had succeeded in combining beneath his standard the Huns under Uldes, and a Gothic force under Sarus,) he and his fol- lowers were destroyed by famine, pestilence, and the sword, near Fiesole in Tuscany. Alaric did not long remain quiet. Stilico, his brave opponent, accused by Honorius of carrying on a secret understanding with him, and even of grasping at the purple, was put to death, together with the wives and children of 30,000 Germans in his service. The payment of the tribute, which had been agreed to at the treaty of peace, was also refused, and Alaric, burning for revenge, quickly seized the favourable moment afforded for the long-planned conquest of Italy, by the destruction of Rome's best general ; and being joined by the 30,000 widowers, marched straight upon the imperial city, whose possession he deemed would secure to him that of the whole of Italy, leaving Honorius, to his rear, shut up in Ravenna. Terror-struck and helpless, the Romans K 130 ALARIC. entreated for peace, which was granted by the invader on the payment of 5000 pounds' weight of gold, 30,000 pounds' weight of silver, and a proportionate quantity of the costly articles of commerce which, at that period, flowed into Rome from every quarter of the known world. Entreaties were un- availing. " What will be left us ? " asked they. " Life," was the stern reply. " We are still numerous," thay threatened. " Then come out," rejoined the Goth, " the thicker the hay the easier it is to mow ! " The terms were enforced ; the golden statue of Victory was melted to meet the demand, and the Romans, who still retained their heathen superstitions, fore- saw in its destruction the impending ruin of their city. Satis- fied with the booty thus gained, Alaric now left Rome in order to attack Ravenna, and conferred the imperial dignity on one Attalus, whom he sent to Africa to prepare for his arrival in that country, and whom he afterwards deposed for having, aided by the Romans by whom he was accompanied, attempted to assert his own independence. Honorius was aided in the defence of Ravenna, which was well fortified, by a part of the Goths under Sarus, the hereditary enemy of the Balti ; Alaric, meanwhile, ruled unopposed in the open country, and after annihilating the last Roman army, united his forces with those of Ataulph, his son-in-law, who had brought fresh tribes from Germany ; but failing in his attempts against Ra- venna, he resolved to wreak full vengeance upon Rome. He is said to have presented 300 youths to the wealthiest Romans for slaves, who secretly opened the city gates to him ; but, however that may be, it is certain that he took Rome by storm during the night of the 24th of August, 409. For the first time since the invasion of Brennus, the capital of the ancient world beheld the enemy who had so often been led in triumph through her walls, enchained, thrown to the wild beasts in her amphitheatre, or doomed to cruel slavery, now appear as a bloody and inflexible conqueror, armed with the sword of vengeance, repaying all the crimes committed by her against the liberties of nations, which, unatoned by her first punish- ment, were afterwards bitterly visited upon her. Yet, although murder mid pillage tilled the city, Rome was not destroyed, and the defenceless ones were spared. A Goth, who disco- vered some valuable golden vessels in the house of a pious maiden, when told that they had been left with her for safety ALARIC. 131 and belonged to the church of St. Peter, left them untouched, and gave information of the discovery to the other Goths, who came in multitudes to the spot, and bore the golden ornaments in a solemn procession, in which the people joined, to St. Peter's : the war-cry ceased ; the voices of the conquerors and conquered rose in unison, and the pillage terminated in hymns of devotion.* Leaving Rome, Alaric marched into Lower Italy with the intention of visiting Africa, but his fleet was wrecked off Messina, and he died suddenly, in his fifty-fourth year. The river Busentum (Baseno) was diverted from its course by prisoners, and the Gothic monarch was buried with an immense treasure in its bed ; after which, the stream was restored to its natural course, and the secret of his burial-place, which remained as unknown as the projects that died with him, was sealed by the murder of the labourers. LXII. The Vandals, Alani, Suevi, and Visigoths in Spain. AFTER the destruction of Radagais, the tribes from which his army had been raised, instead of invading Italy, moved towards Gaul, whence the troops had been withdrawn. The Vandals under Godegisel, the Alani under Respendial, and a horde of Suevi under Hermanarich, crossed the Rhine during the last days of the year 407, never to return, and, after plun- dering Gaul for some time and unsuccessfully combating the Franks, suddenly traversed the Pyrenees and entered Spain, where they were well received. The Basci, a remnant of the ancient Celts, and the Iberi in the mountains, offered no op- position, preferring poverty and freedom beneath the German rule, to the splendid tyranny of Rome. The Vandals under Gunderich, the successor of Godegisel, ruled at Hispalis, (Seville,) and gave name to the province of Andalusia. The Suevi inhabited Castile and Gallicia, and the Alani settled on the Ebro. The departure of these wild tribes from Gaul did not, however, relieve that province from the horrors of war ; a new emperor, Constantine, who had set himself up in * When Honorius was told at Ravenna that Roma was lost, he gave sijrns of the deepest despair, believing that a pet bird of his called Roma was alluded to, and was instantly consoled on discovering that it was merely the capital of the world. K 2 132 THE VANDALS, ALANI, SUEVI, Britain, crossed the Channel, and was supported by the Franks under Edobic, in opposition to Sarus, who, aided by the Ale- manni under Goar, and by the Burgundians under Gun- thachar, proclaimed Jovinus emperor [A. D. 412]. The dispute was settled by Constantine being deprived of his throne and his life. Honorius, desirous of freeing Italy from the Visigoths, dexterously seized upon these events as a pretext, and so- licited the aid of Ataulph, the successor of Alaric, against Jovinus, flattering him with the possession of Gaul and Spain, if he would quit Italy ; but the strongest motive for concili- ation between the Goth and the emperor was the passion cherished by Ataulph for Placidia, Honorius's beautiful and talented sister, who had been taken prisoner at Rome by Alaric ; he accordingly acceded to the emperor's proposal, and abandoning Italy at the head of his whole nation, marched against Jovinus and Sarus, whom he defeated ; and, after taking possession of the south of Gaul and of the north of Spain, celebrated his nuptials with Placidia at Narbonne [A. D. 414] ; the ceremony being performed by Sisegar, the Gothic bishop, whom the king also appointed preceptor to his children ; a proof of the civilization to which the Goths had already attained. A high bed was constructed, around which all the booty gained by Ataulph and his late father-in-law, Alaric, was heaped. Attalus, the deposed emperor, who was in his suite, composed songs for the occasion, in which he pointed out to him the events that might possibly result from the union of the mightiest of the German princes with the sister of the Caesars, and the foundation of a new Gothic- Roman empire on the ruins of the ancient one was conse- quently projected. But the time had not yet arrived, and it happened as was prophesied by Daniel : " In the end of years they shall join themselves together ; for the king's daughter of the south shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement ; but she shall not retain the power of her arm, neither shall he stand, nor his arm : but she shall be given up, and they that brought her, and he that begat her, and he that strengthened her in these times," chap. xi. 6.* A forest * According to Bishop Newton, this prophecy relates to the marriage of Berenice, the daughter of Ptolemy Philadelphia, the second king of Egypt, with Antiochus Theus, the third king of Syria. TRANSLATOR. AND VISIGOTHS IN SPAIN. 133 known as la selva Gothesca now covers the site of the ancient city of Heraclea, in the south of France, where Ataulph and Placidia held their splendid court. The Goth, Sarus, having been cruelly put to death by Ataulph, Dubios, a servant of the former, probably incited by Sigerich, the brother of Sarus, murdered him at Barcelona [A. D. 415]. Sigerich usurped the Gothic throne, and exterminated the whole race of the Balti. In pursuance of a policy completely contrary to that of his predecessor, he broke with Rome, perhaps with the in- tention of flattering the national pride of the Goths. The beautiful Placidia was sentenced to run on foot for twelve miles before the car of the usurper, who a few days after fell by the hand of Wallia, whom the Goths had raised to the throne, and who, renewing the alliance with Rome, sent Pla- cidia back to her native country, with 800,000 measures of wheat. He carried on a successful war in Spain, and subdued the Alani, whom he incorporated with the Goths, which gave rise to the Gothic-Alani nation, and to the name of the pro- vince of Catalonia. Toulouse became the capital of the Visi- gothic empire under Wallia, who left an only daughter, the mother of the celebrated Ricimer, who was closely connected with the family of the Caesars (continued by Placidia, who married Constantius, and gave birth to the emperor Valen- tinian the Third, and to the infamous Honoria). The brave Theodorich, who succeeded Wallia as king of the Goths, greatly extended his dominions, and defeated Rechiar, the king of the Spanish Suevi, but met with a powerful opponent in ^Etius the Roman general, who attempted to reconquer Gaul. Aries and Narbonne were vainly besieged by Theodorich, who, after a long war, was finally obliged to league with Rechiar against their common and far more formidable enemy, the Hun. In the south of Spain, the Vandals bade defiance to the attacks of both Goths and Romans, and rose to considerable importance under Geiserich, the brother of Gunderich. Gei- serich had married his son Hunerich to a daughter of Theo- dorich, whom, on mere suspicion, he deprived of her nose and ears, and, fearing the vengeance of the Visigoths for this act of barbarity, invited the Huns, who were already on their way thither, into Spain. 134 THE ALEMANNI IN SWITZERLAND LXIII. The Alemanni in Switzerland. The Burgundians in Alsace. TRANQUILLITY had, for a short period, once more visited the Alps, and ruins, scattered along the path of the devastating hordes, alone remained to tell the tale of bygone splendour. Helvetia no longer existed ; the green forest waved over heaps that were once cities, whilst the Alemanni, proud of their freedom, fed their flocks, and built their scattered cottages, in the sheltered valleys. Civilization and oppression had dis- appeared with the Romans, and Christianity was unknown to the savage Swabians, who remained faithful to their ancient religion and customs, in the new settlement. The lake into which the Rhine flows from the Alps, was probably again called by its ancient name, the Boden-see, from Odin, (Wodan, Buddha,) to whom a place of worship was erected on the shore. The Thurgau and Frickthal, from their deities Thor and Frigga, lay in its vicinity. The name of the Odenwald, between the Maine and the Neckar, has a similar origin, and the freedom so long preserved in Switzerland, is a proof that ancient German liberty co-existed with paganism. Inde- pendent war-chiefs or dukes also appear amid the obscurity of those times. The Alpine countries finally received the name of Schweiz, (Switzerland,) identical with that of Suevi or Swabia, whose inhabitants owned the same origin. The people of Schweiz, Uri, Unterwalden, and Hasli, have a tra- dition of their having been driven by famine out of Sweden, which agrees with that of the Longobardi, and the migration of the Goths ; and it is possible, that at the period of the commingling of different tribes, a Gothic or Longobardic horde, straying among these mountains, mixed with the Alemanni ; or perhaps the legend has been clothed in a new form, and originally referred to the earliest immigrations of the Suevi. The Burgundians (tribe of Bur ?) originally dwelt on the Riesengebirge, which was perhaps also an Asenburg, and con- nected the Caucasus with the North. Forced along by the advancing Goths, the Burgundians turned towards the west, and appeared to the rear of the Alemanni. At a later period they joined the Vandali, (originally Vindili,) and invaded Gaul, as has been already related, when Honorius, for the THE SALIC LA\V. 135 sake of peace, finally bestowed upon them Alsace, as a fief of the empire. Immense sacrificial altars, the remains of which are still to be seen, were erected by them on the Odilienberg, which was doubtless sacred to Odin, whose name was subse- quently changed to the Christian one of Ottilia. The name of Worms, which the Burgundians, on reaching the southern Alps, renewed in that of the city of Bormio, has also refer- ence to the ancient deity, Bor. This comparatively small tribe bore a high traditionary fame among the Germans, and holds a prominent place in the songs of the Nibelungen, which is probably owing less to its later history than to the religious veneration with which it was anciently regarded. LXIV. The Salic law. IN the beginning of the fifth century, the history of the Franks took a new and important turn ; the Roman armies were completely driven out of Gaul by Stilico, and the country fell a prey to the Vandals, Burgundians, Alani, and Suevi. The Franks, in order not to remain behindhand, took posses- sion of the neighbouring lands as far as the Moselle, and di- vided themselves into the Salii on the Moselle and the Meuse, and the Ripuarii on the Lower Rhine. All the an- cient and various names of the tribes disappear in these two, which are evidently derived from the Latin. Salii, leapers, from salire, had long been the appellation of the Frankish mercenaries in the imperial service ; a name not at all in unison with the ancient titles and nicknames of the Roman legions and mercenary troops. The Salii were the Franks who dwelt nearest to the Romans, whom they for a long period served, and who, very probably, made use of this name for the sake of a quibble, which may first of all have been derived from the Saal, (Yssel,) and the Saal-land, (Ober-Yssel,) in the Netherlands, where the Franks, tributary to the Romans, formerly dwelt. It has also been deduced from the Wurz- burgian Saalgau, (the subsequent Ostro-Franci,) and even from the Thuringian Saal, (on account of the ancient con- nexion between the Thuringians and the Franks,) or from the word Saal, a hall (Allod). The name of the Ripuarii is clearly Latin, from ripa, a bank, and was the general appellation 136 THE SALIC LAW. of the Franks who dwelt on the banks of the Rhine. The Salii, who affected the Roman party, were long at feud with the Ripuarii, who were more German in their customs, and it is probable that at that period the Bructeri, Cherusci, etc., tribes that dwelt further eastward towards the Weser, and that were formerly accounted Franks, formed a closer con- nexion with the Saxons, (with whom they subsequently in- termingled,) when forced to defend their ancient liberty and religion against the despotism and zealous Christian proselyt- ism of the Franks. The abandonment of Gaul by the Ro- mans necessarily occasioned a great change in the affairs of that country ; the Salii, no longer supported by Rome, be- came independent, and their newly-acquired possessions, which extended as far as the Moselle, afforded them an opportunity for remodelling their government. Long accustomed to the rule of a war-chief, and well acquainted with the advantages of union, as well as jealous of the splendour and fame of the great king of the Goths,* they elected a monarch after the demise of Genobald, Sunno, and Marcomir, instead of con- tinuing to be governed by various petty and independent princes, and raised Faramund, the son of Marcomir, to the throne [A. D. 420]. Before submitting to the authority of the new monarch, they solemnly guaranteed their ancient privileges, by the prescription of certain conditions, whence originated the Salic law, which was drawn up in writing. Up to this period, the laws had been merely traditionary, but when the new settlements within the Roman territory caused a wider extension of the people, ancient customs were endangered by new, their privileges seemed likely to be en- croached upon by the monarch, and a written code became necessary. Four elders, chosen by the people, were entrust- ed with the completion of this important work, as was after- wards set forth in the preface of Chlodwig, appended to this celebrated code. " The renowned nation of the Franks, the chosen of God, strong in battle, wise in council, mighty by their union, noble and virtuous, of surpassing stature, bold, vigorous, and firm, caused the Salic law to be drawn up, whilst they were yet pagans, by the chiefs by whom they * Sigebert of Gemblours says plainly, that they wished to follow the example of other nations ; " Franci in communi deliberant, ut et ipsi si- cut aliae gentes regnum habeant." ETZEL. 137 were at that period governed. Four men were chosen from among the elders, named, Wysogast, Bodogast, Salogast, and "Windogast, who came from the countries then called Salag- heven, Bodogheven, and Windogheven. These four men met three times in the Malberg, weighed the origin and pecu- liarities of all the laws, and then laid them down in writing. But when the long-haired, beautiful Chlodwig, the first of the Prankish monarchs who received Catholic baptism, lived, whatever seemed unfitting in this code was expunged. Vivat Christus, who chose the Franks unto himself, for this is the people that, by its bravery and power, cast off the oppressive yoke of Rome." Faramund was succeeded by Chlodis, (Louis,) whose successor, Merowig, was, according to the legendary account, suckled by a sea-monster, which attacked his mother on the shore. Chlodis introduced the custom of wearing long hair, which afterwards became a sign of royalty, and was adopted by his successors, hence named the long-haired kings. The descendants of Merowig were the Merovingians. LXV. Etzel ABOUT this period a powerful leader arose among the Huns, who was named by the Romans Attila, by the Germans, Et- zel ; the centre of whose kingdom was in Hungary, where his throne stood in an enormous wooden palace. He united be- neath his rule not only all the Huns, but also all the Ostro- Germanic tribes. The Ostrogoths, whose history is very obscure at this period, were forced to follow their example. They were governed by several leaders, and were continually at war with the Sarmatians (Slavi). Fidicola, one of their princes, had been defeated by the Sarmatians shortly before the appearance of Etzel, in whose train were Theodomir, the father of the celebrated Dietrich of Bern, Widimir and Wala- mir, at the head of the Ostrogoths, and Ardarich, king of the Gepidae. Etzel was one of those mighty spirits, who, like Csesar and Napoleon, were born to captivate every heart, to rule millions with a glance, and to use their giant strength in crushing a world. Adored by his followers, whom he led to victory, and a chieftain eagerly hailed by the warlike nations, which, habituated to battle and long estranged from their 138 ETZEL. homes, were inimical to peace, he was the cruel despoiler of all who opposed his despotic rule. Rome trembled at the approach of the destroyer, rightly termed, " The scourge of God," who seemed destined to mete out the reward of the crimes accumulated during the thousand years' reign of the ancient mistress of the world. The Eastern empire first suffered. The whole of Greece was laid waste, and Constantinople was alone delivered from destruction by the policy of Pulcheria, the mother of the helpless emperor, Theodosius, who bribed the Huns, by the payment of an im- mense ransom, to spare the capital, and to turn their course westward [A. D. 451]. The storm now burst upon Germany. Desolation, rapine, and slaughter marked its advance towards Gaul. Obscure legendary accounts of the horrors of that period are still extant. All the relics and jewels belonging to the church, still in its infancy, were saved at Andecks, on the mountain, from the rapacity of the invaders. Wimpfen owes its name to Wibpin, ( Weiberpein, women's pain,) all the women of this place having been cruelly murdered by Attila's command, and several Hunnenberge, Hunnengraben, (fortifi- cations against the Huns,) are still to be met with in Ger- many, although it is uncertain whether they ought not to be ascribed to the Hungarians of later date, who were also called Huns. History records but one attempt made to oppose the progress of Attila on the right bank of the Rhine, the heroic opposition of 10,000 Burgundians under Gunthachar, who fought and fell like a second Leonidas.* The Franks under * The circumstances attending this brilliant action are unknown, but evidently form the ground- work of one of the songs of the Nibelungen, in which they have received the following poetical embellishment. " Once upon a time, there lived a handsome Prankish warrior, named Siegfried, or the Horned Knight, on account of his whole body, with the exception of a small spot on his back, being as hard as horn and per- fectly invulnerable. This knight came to Worms, and wooed and won the beautiful Chriemhilda, the sister of Gunthachar. His wonderful strength and dauntless courage soon raised the jealousy of all the Bur- gundian knights, and one of them, Hagen the Grim, secretly encouraged by the king, murdered him, (one day when weary with following the chace, as he stooped to quench his thirst at a brook,) by running his sword through his back. Chriemhilda, inconsolable for his loss, became hateful to the Burgundians, who refused to restore to her the great trea- sure won by Siegfried in the Netherlands, and which Hagen sunk in the Rhine, where it still lies. Soon after this, Etzel, king of the Huns, at- ETZEL. 139 Merowig, and the Alani under Sangipfan, vainly strove to stern the torrent, and all the nations of the West, Germans and Romans, became at length aware that a great general confederacy could alone preserve them from destruction. Placidia, the experienced and strong-minded mother of the weak emperor, Valentinian, governed Rome, and JEtius, the famous warrior, then commander-in-chief of the Roman forces, collected the remaining strength of the empire and entered Gaul, where he was joined by the Visigoths under Theodorich, the Franks under Merowig, and the remnant of the Alani. Claudebald, the brother of Merowig, went over to Etzel with a part of the Franks. The protracted siege of Orleans, which was desperately defended by the Romans, long retarded the advance of the invader. At length, pressed by famine, the garrison resolved to capitulate, if their prayers for succour were unheard ; but before the prayer was ended, clouds of dust appeared on the horizon annunciatory of the approach of their allies, the Visigoths, and Etzel was compelled to retreat, in order to draw up his innumerable horse near Chalons, on the broad plains of the Marne, where the nations of the East and West arrayed their forces, and stood in momentary ex- pectation of an action decisive of the fate of Europe. Etzel was superior in the numbers, military skill, and confidence of his troops, whilst those of his opponents were inspired by the memory of their ancient fame, by zeal for the cause of Christianity, and by the danger which threatened their free- dom and their homes. In this contest, German opposed German, with the deadliest hate ; consequently whichever side might prove victorious, the German was sure to suffer. The battle at length commenced on both sides, with equal animosity. The death of the brave Theodorich was bloodily avenged by his son, Thorismund, and the Visigoths gained a decisive victory. After losing 200,000 men, Etzel retreated and the Western empire was saved. An enormous funeral traded by the fame of her great beauty, despatched ambassadors to Worms to ask her in marriage, with whom she returned into Hungary, and was made queen. But her heart remained constant to the memory of Siegfried, and demanded vengeance. Gunthachar, his brothers, Hagen the Grim, and a crowd of Burgundian nobles, were invited to the court of Etzel, where, at the instigation of the queen, they were put to the sword by the Huns and their German allies, headed by the youthful and valiant Dieterich, the Ostrogoth, who afterwards filled Europe with his fame. 140 ETZEL. pile, composed of horses' saddles, had been erected, on which Etzel had intended to burn himself alive, if unable to escape. Thorismund, raised on his reeking shield, was proclaimed king of the Visigoths amid the shouts of the victors. But prosperity speedily severed those whom adversity had united. -ZEtius, jealous of the glory and power of Thorismund, drew off his troops, and persuaded him to return to his country, giving him, as indemnity for the anticipated booty, a golden charger, weighing five hundredweight, set with precious jewels, sup- posed to have been the tablet of Solomon's table, taken by the Romans from the celebrated temple at Jerusalem. Etzel, invited by Honoria, the sister of Valentinian, who, for having offered to marry him, was imprisoned at Rome, crossed the Alps into Italy [A. D. 452]. For three months, Aquileia, ever the stumbling-block of the invader, detained him, but was finally taken and destroyed. Many of the Romans fled for refuge to the little marshy islands of the Adriatic, on which they founded the city of Venice. Etzel came in sight of Rome, whose destruction appeared inevitable, when an unlooked-for incident averted her fate. Leo, the bishop of Rome, an aged and dignified man, set forth to meet the savage and rapacious Huns, at the head of the Roman clergy, arrayed in priestly attire and chanting devotional hymns. None ventured to oppose the pious priests, and they presented themselves before the king, who, influenced by Leo's aspect and words, promised to spare the city and in- stantly to retire. According to the legend, the appearance of this saintly man so powerfully affected the mind of the Hun, that, in imagination, he beheld an enormous giant tower above the head of the bishop, and, with a threatening gesture, motion to him to retire. Etzel died on his way out of Italy, according to some accounts, by the bursting of a blood-vessel, according to others, by the hand of a maiden named Ilde- gunda, who may have been confounded with Chriemhilcla ; but the whole occurrence is involved in obscurity. He was buried with great pomp ; the whole army on horseback encir- cling his body, which was placed in a golden coffin within a silver one, and the whole enclosed in one of lead. Those who prepared his grave were put to death, in order to render im- possible the discovery of the locality. The sons of Etzel did not inherit the genius of their father ; bitter feuds, in which GEISERICH. 141 the Huns joined, arose between them, and the Germans speedily found means to throw off their yoke. Ardarich, king of the Gepidte, was the first who raised the standard of rebellion. He was followed by the Ostrogoths under the Amali, Walamir, Theodomir, and "Widomir. A victory was won on the river Netad in Hungary ; and another was gained by "Walamir at the mouths of the Danube, when the Huns were forced to retreat beyond the Black Sea. The Goths again threatened the Eastern empire. Theodomir, bribed by the emperor, sent his son, Theodorich, who was born on the day of the last victory won by Walamir, as an hostage to Constantinople, but still maintained his position on the Danube. Widomir was also persuaded, by means of a large bribe, to turn his course to the west, where his people intermingled with the Visigoths. LXVL Geiserich. GEISERICH, or Genserich, had placed himself on the Vandal throne by the murder of his brother Gunderich. Although lame from a fall from horseback, he was noted as being the most active of all the German leaders. Being driven from the Pyrenees by the Visigoths, and invited into Africa by Bonifacius, the faithless Roman governor, he resolved to quit the theatre of war in Europe, and to erect a new and splendid kingdom in the luxurious South. The whole of his subjects, together with some of the Alani and Goths, in all 80,000 men, had already assembled on the shore for the purpose of embarkation, when he was informed that Heringar, the king of the Suevi, was attacking him in the rear, and instantly re- turning, drove the enemy into a river, in which the king was drowned. In May, [A. D. 429,] Geiserich sailed to Africa, where he conquered the whole of the northern coast, and drove, out the Romans, who had invited him thither. The large and well-fortified city of Carthage became his capital, and all the other fortresses were demolished, lest they might serve as strongholds for the Romans. The natives were well treated, and public immorality was checked ; prostitutes being compelled to marry, and adultery punished by death ; morality was, in fact, so strongly enforced by Genserich, that it was 142 GEISERICH. commonly said, " The Romans are licentious when compared with the Goths, but they are worse when compared with the Vandals." Landed estates in the vicinity of the capital were hestowed upon the Vandals, with the view of hindering their dispersion during peace, and of facilitating their assembling in case of danger. With political foresight, Genserich, whose favourite title was that of Sea-king, sought to sway the Medi- terranean, named by his subjects the Vendilsee. The plans formed by Alaric, whose early death prevented their com- pletion, were now carried into execution by the Vandal mon- arch, who, as if by enchantment, created a powerful fleet, and, in 439, besieged Palermo with the intention of conquering Sicily, his vessels at the same time sweeping the Atlantic and plundering the coasts of Spain. Rome, at that period threat- ened by the Huns, offered little or no opposition to his schemes. The death of the gallant JEtius, her brave defender, who fell a victim to court cabals, hastened her ruin. Valentinian was murdered by Maximus, who forced the widowed Eudoxia to become his wife, and seated himself on the imperial throne. Eudoxia, animated by revenge, secretly invited Geiserich to destroy Rome and to carry her away, and, in 455, he sailed for that purpose with an enormous fleet to Italy, where he landed and took Rome by storm, but spared both the city and the inhabitants, and contented himself with a systematic pil- lage, which lasted fourteen days. The treasure was appro- priated to the maintenance and increase of his fleet ; and the splendours of Rome were transported to Africa to adorn her ancient rival, Carthage. The ships were laden with gold and jewels ; even the golden roofs were carried away. That the Vandals were not insensible to beauty and art, and that the term of Vandalism has been wrongly used in order to indicate coarse barbarity, the enemy of refinement, science, and civiliza- tion, are clearly proved on reference to history, which records their having deprived Rome of her finest marbles, and that a ship laden with them was wrecked ; had they not appreciated the value of these statues, as miracles of art, they would either have been wantonly destroyed, or passed by unheeded. Genserich, preferring his African kingdom to the possession of Italy, returned to Carthage, accompanied by the empress Eudoxia, whom he regarded as part of the booty. Her daugh- ter, who was also named Eudoxia, was given in marriage to ODOACHAR. 143 his son, Hunerich. The Vandals now ruled the seas, and annually devastated the coasts of Spain, Italy, and Greece. The Romans and Goths in Spain armed a great fleet against them, which Geiserich attacked when lying in the harbours, and carried away from the roads. Leo, emperor of the East, [A. D. 460,] manned a formidable fleet at Constantinople, and sent it, under the command of Basiliscus, against Carthage. Geiserich, instead of opposing it on the open sea, prudently retreated into the harbour, and as soon as the Greeks had drawn up their ships in a close circle round the entrance, suddenly sent fire-ships among them, which .destroyed the greater part, and put the rest to flight [A. D. 468]. Geiserich died, ten years after this event, in extreme old age [A. D. 478]. After the migration of the Vandals to Africa, the Roman peasants, headed by Merobaudes, the Roman poet, in whose honour columns were raised, revolted against the Suevi, who, numerically weak, and shaken by disaster, gradually sank, whilst the dominion of the Visigoths increased, and finally spread over the whole of Spain. LXVII. Odoachar. AFTER Geiserich's departure from Rome, Ricimer, the Sueve, grandson to Wallia, king of the Visigoths, and the hereditary enemy of the Vandals, held undisputed sway in Italy, and conducted all the measures taken against Geiserich by both the Western and Eastern empires. His authority, however, was not displeasing to the weak emperors of Con- stantinople, with whom he entered into alliance, because, satisfied with possessing the power without the title of em- peror, he bestowed it upon men whom he one after the other deposed, as soon as they disobeyed his injunctions. Majorian, Severus, Arthemius, whose daughter he married, but whom he soon after disagreed with, and finally, Olybrius, were suc- cessively proclaimed emperor, and kept in awe by his German troops, chiefly composed of Heruli and Rugii, who had settled in the Alps to the north-west of Italy [A. D. 472], His death left the throne defenceless. Odoachar, one of the Heruli, (of whom, when yet a youth, it had been foretold by St. Severinus, that he would exchange 144 ODOACHAR. his rough fui*s for the imperial purple,) was distinguished for his boldness and valour, and soon caused himself to be elected prince of his nation, and leader of the Roman mercenaries. He first united with Childerich, the Frank, against the Ale- manni, whose prince, Gibuld, he overthrew [A. D. 466]. He then planned the conquest of Rome, and easily succeeded in dethroning Romulus Augustulus, an amiable but weak youth, the last of the Roman emperors, when he caused himself to be proclaimed king of Italy, probably as much from a super- stitious dread of the fatal destiny which seemed attached to those who bore the imperial title, as from a desire of flattering his countrymen. A. D. 476. A. U. C. 1229. Order was quickly established throughout the kingdom. The Germans received a third of the landed property, and were distributed among the Romans, who were allowed to retain their customs and laws. Ravenna, which became the capital, kept the Tyrolean Rugii and Heruli in check. Thus was the fall of the Roman empire accomplished, after a struggle of eight centuries against the Germans, from the time of the first Brennus to that of Odoachar, by whom their colossal power was finally crushed. Order was restored ; but it was long before the ferment entirely ceased. After the fall of Rome, the Latin tongue and the refinements of the South greatly influenced its conquerors, and drew a broader line of distinc- tion between them and their brethren who still inhabited the wild and trackless forests ; Christianity also caused a still wider separation between the converted and the pagan nations. These circumstances, combined with the hereditary feuds and the restless, war-loving character of the Germans, were turned to advantage by their kings, who, influenced either by zeal for religion, or by ambitious motives, carried on the struggle, now terminated with Rome, amongst themselves. PART IV. THE TRANSITION FROM PAGANISM TO CHRISTIANITY. LXVIII. The propagation of the Gospel. IN the midst of the tumult of nations, rushing onwards in their migrations as madly as the raging waters of the lordly- Rhine beneath its black and aged cliffs, Christianity, the spirit of eternal peace, appeared, like the celestial bow hanging un- moved and calm, softly radiating through its misty veil, over the dark and foaming abyss. Whilst the Roman empire, in the decline of age, shaken to its very foundations by savage and invading hordes, was slowly sinking to decay, whilst those mighty hordes, solely intent on pillage, filled the world with horror and despair, a mild and gentle spirit of love and peace sought refuge in the hearts of a few, as in a sanctuary, uninfluenced by earthly power, gradually gained a mastery over the passions of mankind, and, by its invisible but benign influence, spread peace around. The gospel was preached and proclaimed in the East and West by the apostles and fol- lowers of the Saviour, who sealed their profession with a martyr's death. Small Christian communities disseminated themselves to the utmost verge of the empire, and although cruelly perse- cuted by the Roman emperors, Christianity rose again with renovated strength, like the phoenix from the pyre. Before its doctrines, replete with eternal truth, the dark fables of paganism fell ; whilst the firmness shown by its adherents in preferring a lingering death, torture, and the stake to a re- nunciation of their faith, impressed even their persecutors with a conviction of the truth of the religion they professed, and aided its diffusion. In the commencement of the fourth century, the new religion had taken such deep root in the em- pire, that the emperor Constantine deemed it politic to adopt it, and, by so doing, rendered it the religion of the state. L 146 THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTIANITY. Under the first Christian emperors, the German countries, lying within their jurisdiction, were entirely Christianized, and the heathen temples were either converted into churches, or new places of worship were erected. Before the conversion of Constantine, whilst war was raging on the Danube, a great number of the Goths were converted by their Roman prisoners, and Christianity spread so rapidly among them, that Gothic bishops were present at the great council of Nice, convoked by that emperor, and several dis- tinguished theologians shone among the earliest Gothic bi- shops, one of whom, Ulphilas, as has already been mentioned, produced a Gothic translation of the Bible. Jo the progress of the migrations, all the Gothic tribes, after their settlement in the Roman territory, embraced Christianity ; an example shortly afterwards followed by the Franks, who imparted its doctrines to the other nations of Germany. LXIX. The spirit of Christianity. THE fundamental doctrine of the Christian religion, "Love thy neighbour as thyself," was a command of love by which it was at once distinguished from the different religions, founded upon egotism, practised by the heathens. The Jews, Greeks, and Romans, like the ancient priest-castes of the East, that kept themselves apart from the rest of the people, regarded themselves as chosen nations, all others as barbarians, strangers, and enemies, whom they were not only permitted, but com- manded to treat with cruelty or to exterminate. Hence slavery was universally practised. The ancient Germans, who only respected the rights of those with whom they were in immediate alliance, and the laws of hospitality, were not free from a similar charge, and habitually treated every stranger, nay, even their own countrymen and nearest neigh- bours, as enemies, and made it their chief occupation to attack and oppress each other. Christianity first taught equality and fraternal love. The spirituality of its doctrines was also directly opposed to those inculcated by paganism, which, re- ferring merely to the external world, degraded men's minds by sensuality and superstition. To many of the nations of antiquity, the doctrine of the immortality of the soul was ut- THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTIANITY. 147 terly unknown, whilst others formed their notions of a future state on the same principle as the Germans, who imagined their heavenly Walhalla to be merely a more joyous continu- ation of their earthly existence. Christianity first taught the doctrines of the Divine origin, and of the eternal duration of the soul. Deeply impressed with the truth of these two great doctrines, whole nations renounced their ancient superstitions and customs, and egotism, so deeply rooted in the nature of man, alone opposed the fulfilment of the great injunction of universal love that has ever been so universally disobeyed. Nations continued to butcher each other, nay, they even car- ried on the butchery in the name of the very Saviour, who enjoined peace and love ; whilst slavery not only continued, but even gained ground among the Germans, who framed their excuse on the humility inculcated by the gospel. But the good seed had been sown, and gradually produced better fruit. Centuries passed away ; and, as the doctrine of mercy, the knowledge of the common rights of man, of the value of civilization and of peace, imperceptibly gained ground, an- cient barbarism disappeared. Although the precept of uni- versal philanthropy taught by Christ, found a slow and difficult reception among the conquerors of the earth, the second aim of Christianity, inward contemplation, met with universal encouragement ; souls oppressed by crime or mis- fortune, sought peace in the bosom of the church, or the egotism and pride of man led to a haughty contempt of the world, and immoderate mortification of the body. The Ro- man, whose sense of guilt was sharpened by the ever-recur- ring recollection of his ancient empire, now trampled beneath the foot of the savage invader, sought to expiate the past and to forget the present in the contemplation of eternity ; whilst to the German, hurried away by his fervid imagination and enthusiastic zeal, Christianity presented a bright and joyous view, and he regarded himself as a soldier of Christ, whose glory he must seek to promote on earth by fighting and con- quering in his cause. An inspiring and encouraging faitli also pervaded the doctrines of the first German theologians, recluses, and ecclesiastical orders, whose renunciation of the world, and disdain of its allurements, far from being the re- sult of sorrow or remorse, originated in religious enthusiasm, and an ecstatic contemplation of future and eternal joy. L 2 148 THE CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. LXX. The Catholic doctrine. THE false interpretation of the figurative expressions with which the Bible abounds, has ever been owing to ignorance or to wilful perversion. In the earlier times of Christianity, the new doctrine was tainted with paganism ard the ancient philosophy of Greece ; the former, in direct contradiction to the words of the Saviour, requiring many outward forms, whilst the philosophers sought to build some theory of their own imagining on some fancied interpretation of the gospel. Two of the religious sects, to which these various interpret- ations gave rise, whose animosity greatly influenced the his- tory of the world, and whose dispute was settled by the great council of Nice, convoked by the emperor Constantine, [A. D. 325,] may be more particularly remarked. The sect of the Arians, so named after their founder, Arius, maintained, that God only consisted of one person, and that Christ was not God himself; whilst the opposite party professed that Christ, the Son of God, was also God the Father, only appearing as a second person under his earthly form, but united to the God- head by the eternal Spirit. They also divided the Godhead into three persons, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, and named them the Holy Trinity. The latter sect triumphed, and took the appellation of Catholic or universal. The German bishops could not yet compete in learning with the countless clergy of Greece and Rome. One of them, named Theophilus, a Goth, distinguished himself at Nice in defence of Arianism ; two others, Sunnia and Fretela, asked the advice of St. Hieronymus on the subject. Unila, Nicetas, and Theotimus are also mentioned as celebrated Gothic bishops, but the only Gothic book extant is the Bible trans- lation of Ulphilas. It is merely known that all the Goths regarded Arianism as the simpler and better doctrine, and that their zealous profession of it gave rise to a Catholic alli- ance between the Greeks and Romans, (which the Franks, who, although Catholics, at first inclined to the simpler doc- trine, and objected to the worship of images, soon afterwards joined,) which ultimately proved too powerful for them, and greatly contributed to their calamities. An extraordinary multiplicity of doctrines and ceremonies was gradually intro- THE CATHOLIC DOCTRIXE. H9 duced into the Catholic church. At first, tradition had greater influence than dogma, or rather, examples were cited without the precepts they inculcated being much commented upon. Piety was demonstrated by actions of self-denial, of bold hero- ism, of fidelity unto death, etc., which were transcribed and held up for imitation, and with a little poetical embellishment were converted into legends, which, in the first centuries after Christ, had already become very numerous, and formed the chief literature of the times. The naivete and profound thought that distinguish the legends of Germany, prove that Christianity was originally in that country entirely practical, and free from subtle speculations. Their moral is ever noble and elevated, and they inculcate every Christian virtue through the medium of interesting and attractive tales, generally founded upon fact. At a later period, the legends became less natural, and the moral they inculcated more ecclesiastical. Simple practical Christianity was lost amid the artificial and complicated ceremonies of the church, which were chiefly introduced by the exaggerated and perverted practice of wor- shipping the saints, and men, instead of being roused by the example of the martyrs to emulate their piety and virtue, in- stead of seeking to live and to act in the same spirit by which they were animated, actually began to worship their dead bodies, their ashes, and their relics, to raise chapels and churches in their honour, and to invoke them, as the heathens formerly did their household deities, as the patrons and guardians of their country, their nation, their houses, and their families. Still, notwithstanding these heathenish prac- tices of the church and the subtlety of theologians, the living spirit of Christianity was not entirely lost, and long breathed in the simple and unadulterated forms of the church in Ger- many. A spirit of austerity and of reverential awe, modified by a faith of almost child-like simplicity, may be traced throughout our earliest legends. The strict morality prac- tised by the German while yet a heathen, was now ratified by the commands of the gospel, and more strictly enforced by religious zeal. The legends of this period chiefly record the pious fidelity of men, and the holy chastity of women, and clothe ancient German virtue, as in the beautiful legend of Genoveva, in a more religious garb. Christianity, while still in its infancy, presented a bright contrast with the dark reli- 150 COMMENCEMENT OF THE HIERARCHY. gions of antiquity, and inspired every mind with confidence. A light had burst upon mankind ; the dark clouds veiling futurity had passed away, and the brightness of heaven was disclosed to view. The combats of the gods and their carous- als in Walhalla were exchanged for the promises of Christian bliss, of spiritual glorification. The ferocity of the warrior was tamed ; for a while the clash of the weapon and the din of war ceased, whilst the iron-bound knee bent at the sound of the vesper bell. Rapine and bloodshed had devastated Europe for centuries, and the most sudden vicissitudes of fortune had become common during the great migrations ; to-day a slave, to-morrow an emperor ; now the ruler of the North, now dragged in chains to the far South, the land of the dark African ; and so general had been the suffering, that the first dream of the convert, the first hope of the Christian, was, that once again he might behold those from whom he had been so cruelly torn ; a hope that forms the ground-work of the interesting legend of St. Faustinianus, so deeply charac- teristic of the age, and of all the legends of those times, now so lightly esteemed, although valuable as historical documents, and replete with beauty. LXXI. Commencement of the hierarchy. THE only Christian communities were scattered and op- pressed ; and even when the whole Roman empire embraced Christianity, no spiritual superior was allowed by the emperor. Each community had its priest, a certain number of whom were controlled by a bishop. The bishops were all of equal rank, and formed a council, (concilium,} which was presided over by the emperor, and which deliberated upon and fixed the doctrines of faith, the forms of worship, and the ordinances of the church. The necessity of unity in the church, the division and gradual decay of the imperial power, afforded an opportunity for ambitious churchmen to increase their authority, and the bishops were ere long controlled by the patriarchs, or heads of the church, four of whom were created, viz. the patriarch for Western Europe, who resided at Rome ; for Eastern Eu- rope, at Constantinople ; for Asia, at Antioch ; for Africa, at COMMENCEMENT OF THE HIERARCHY. 151 Alexandria. The highest authority was, however, in reality still exercised by the councils. In the seventh century, the patriarchates of Antioch and Alexandria were destroyed by the Turks, by whom Mahomedanism, which speedily sup- planted Christianity in Asia and Africa, was introduced. The long and violent contest carried on between the patri- arch of Constantinople, whose power sank with that of the Eastern empire, and his Roman rival, naturally roused the sympathy and passions of the different nations that owned their supremacy, and whilst Rome was supported by Ger- many, the Eastern Romans, Greeks, Asiatics, and Slavi sided with Constantinople. A difference, at first hardly perceptible, in the dogma and form of the Greek church, gradually pro- duced a schism, which at length caused its complete separation from that of Rome, whose patriarch usurped the unlimited control of the church, and gave it a monarchical form. The entire West, including the whole of Germany and the northern countries, embraced the tenets of the Roman church, whose authority mainly rested on the interpretation of a certain verse in the New Testament, which it was alleged proved the inten- tion of the Saviour to found the new church upon St. Peter, as upon a rock ; as a logical sequel to this doctrine, this found- ation stone was the martyrdom of St. Peter at Rome, where he preached the gospel. The chair of the Roman patriarch was consequently called that of St. Peter, whom he was sup- posed to succeed, and, like whom, he was also supposed to hold the keys of heaven. The pontiff, or pope, (papa, father,) was at first subordinate to and protected by the temporal monarchs, and it was some time before he usurped any tem- poral power, or ventured to interfere in any great degree with the internal regulations of the German church, whose bishops, although subject to the decisions of the general council, held independent convocations in their own country, and having the first voice in the national assembly, were united in one common national interest, and had not yet become blindly submissive to Rome. The archbishops (among whom those of Mayence and Rheims were the first who extended their authority) had each several bishops under their control. The common clergy were always chosen by the people, and slaves were not allowed to enter into holy orders. In default of schools, the monasteries and the service under priests afforded 152 COMMENCEMENT OF THE HIERARCHY. the only means of spiritual tuition. The priests were obliged to be confirmed in their offices and to be ordained by the bishops, who, although chosen by the priests, were confirmed in their dignity by the people, the king, and the pope. In the same manner that the vote of the monarch became more influential, as democratic power gradually decayed, monarch- ical power at a later period yielded (in its tnrn) before the despotic vote of the pope, who was at first very irregularly chosen, his election being greatly influenced by the people of Rome, until its final regulation in the eleventh century. The pope was surrounded by a chosen number of dignitaries of the church, who, according to statute, consisted of archbishops and bishops, and who acted as counsellors, officers, and legates, and, under the title of Cardinals, elected his successor. As early as the eighth century, a similar regulation existed in some of the bishoprics, the bishops being elected by a num- ber of canons (canonici; Domherrn, from Dom, church). The popes, during their assumption of power, added their de- cretals to the laws or canons of the church, compiled by the council, and sanctioned by the monarch, which, gradually creeping into the civil law, influenced both public and private life. All pagan customs, with the exception of those incor- porated into the Roman ceremonies and belief, were inter- dicted by the church, not by the state, under penalty of public penance. Domestic life in Germany was also greatly affected by the laws laid down by the church concerning marriage be- tween relatives, which was merely allowed to be contracted by persons five or six degrees removed from each other, and which was denounced as incest Avhen contracted by persons more nearly allied by blood ; thus, many things which, until then, had been considered lawful, were now punished as cri- minal. By these means, the church acquired a fearful degree of influence, yet further increased by the sale of indulgences, or the remission of sin on payment of a certain sum of money. An additional hold was gained upon the people by means of the judiciary power exercised by the monastic orders, and by the higher church dignitaries over their dependants and slaves. The clergy were generally maintained by tithes. Every land-owner, in obedience to the old Jewish law, gave a tenth of his produce to the church, which was also enriched by gifts to the saints, or by pious offerings, either voluntary, or im- THE MONASTERIES. 153 posed by law. The churches and monasteries necessarily required land for their support, and as extensive and unculti- vated tracts were, at that time, every where to be met with, the clergy were at first remunerated with grants by the mon- arch or the people, and speedily vied with the laity in influ- ence and magnificence. The superior knowledge of the Roman priesthood, and more especially their improvements in agriculture, early disposed the governments of Germany in their favour, and it was to the priests and monks, who intro- duced the use of the plough, whilst they taught the gospel, that our rude forefathers owed the peaceful arts of tillage, and the knowledge of a Saviour. It was no unusual occurrence for pious or guilty men of rank to bestow their Allods or free- holds upon the church, whose dependants and slaves, secure from the ravages of war, were ever blessed with peace, which, added to the consideration in which the clergy were held on account of their knowledge of agriculture, and to their being every where in possession of the most productive soil, ren- dered it an enviable distinction to dwell beneath the shade of the crosier. LXXIL The monasteries. THE first hermits, or recluses, (men who, shunning society, and despising worldly pleasures and grandeur, dwelt in dark caves, fed upon roots, and passed their lives in prayer and meditation,) are met with in the vast deserts of Egypt, whi- ther they had either fled for safety during the bloody per- secutions of the Christians, or had resorted for devotional purposes. , St. Antony was the first hermit. Soon after him, St. Pachomius founded the first community of recluses, [A. D. 305,] who bound themselves to the observance of the severest rules. Women also formed similar communities ; and monas- teries and nunneries soon became numerous. About the fifth century, Benedict of Nursia founded a new and powerful monkish order in Italy, distinguished as the Benedictins, or Western monks, from the earlier Basilians, (who took their name from St. Basilius,) or Greek monks. Although the trinal vow, of obedience, poverty, and chastity, was common to all monkish orders, they were reasonable enough to per- ceive the impossibility of enforcing it, and it is expressly 154 THE CATHOLIC FORM OF WORSHIP. stated in the rules of the Benedictins, an order including all the monks and nuns of the West, that those who found the vow too severe might quit the cloister and return to the world; " Si non potes servare, liber discede." Benedict also ordained that the monks, instead of being idle, should work, cultivate the land, write useful books, etc. ; a law which proved ex- tremely beneficial, and greatly tended to spread the knowledge of agriculture, which received many useful improvements from the monks, and of the cultivation of useful plants, facilitated by the mutual intercourse between adjacent monasteries ; and it must be confessed, that whatever has been handed down to us of the science and literature of Greece and Rome, of the history of the world and of that of Christianity, is owing to the labours of the pious and learned monks of those times, who preserved and copied the manuscripts that escaped the destruc- tion caused by the migrations, and who penned the histories of their monasteries, or recorded the political events of their times. Rome was, at that period, the centre of the learned world, and the Latin tongue was, consequently, in general use in the monasteries. An attempt made, in later times, to replace it by the language of the country, failed, owing to the influence of the pope, whose power had already reached a dangerous height, and by whom the use of the Latin tongue was pre- scribed in all ecclesiastical matters as a means of increasing the dependence of the laity upon the priesthood, and of curb- ing the independent spirit of the Germans. The monasteries and convents, governed by abbots and abbesses, originally under the control of the bishops, were no sooner enriched by endowments of money or land, and rendered powerful by the number of their dependants, than they asserted their inde- pendence, in which they were upheld by the popes, who made use of these co-operative societies, whose influence extended throughout Christendom, as a check upon the ambition of the bishops. LXXIII. The Catholic form of ivorship. GOD, no longer adored on the mountain or in the forest, was now worshipped in temples consecrated to his service. The Christian or Byzantine style of architecture, so called from THE CATHOLIC FORM OF WORSHIP. 155 having been first introduced at Byzantium, (Constantinople,) was general throughout Germany until the middle ages, when it attained a higher degree of perfection, and was called the German or Gothic style. The introduction of pictures and images into churches early became a source of contention, and was as strongly censured by one party, who feared lest the veneration in which they were held might endanger the spiri- tual purity of the Christian faith, and degenerate into idolatry, as it was strongly upheld by another, who argued, that they were merely venerated as visible representations of the objects of their mental adoration, the Saviour, the holy family, the martyrs, and their sufferings, etc., and that the effect produced by an elevated style of architecture, by sculpture, paintings, music, illuminations, processions, and ceremonies, upon the senses, was highly conducive to devotion. The latter opinion prevailed, and the churches were gorgeously decorated. Vaulted roofs and lofty towers lent an air of imposing grandeur to the edifice, adorned within with columns, statues, and pictures. In simple but deeply stirring hymns, the priests chanted in the Latin tongue the praise of the Most High ; lamps and waxen tapers burnt day and night before the sacred pictures and images ; whilst holy water and incense, genuflections, folding of the hands, the sign of the cross, the measured and solemn movements of the richly attired priests before the splendid altar, placed to the east, where shone the natal star of Jesus, the harmony of the choristers, etc., added solemnity to the scene. In the cere- monies and in the dress of the priests much was borrowed from the pagan worship of ancient Rome, and from the Jewish ceremonial. All important affairs, for instance, those trans- acted in the national assembly, opened with prayer.* The elected monarch was solemnly anointed and crowned ; the ordeal was still retained in the laws ; in every important private affair counsel was sought of God or of a saint by prayer, and by the casting of lots ; much of the pagan belief in natural powers, omens, etc., was also retained by the Christians in their various superstitions, such as belief in magic, and witchcraft, etc. The ancient feasts of the heathens were now replaced by, or rather changed into, Christian festi- * As in the English houses of parliament at the present day. TRANSLATOR. 156 THE CATHOLIC FORM OF WORSHIP. vals, the chief of which, Passion "Week and Easter, in me- mory of the sufferings and resurrection of the Saviour, were partly borrowed from the ancient passover of the Jews, and partly from the spring festival of the ancient Germans. Whit- suntide, like Easter, was a moveable feast ; Easter always fall- ing on the first Sunday after the first full moon during the equi- nox, sometimes earlier, sometimes later ; Whitsuntide always falling forty-nine days after Easter. The church-ale, (Kirmess, consecration of the church,) corresponding with the autumnal festival of the ancient Germans, was of equal importance ; and lastly, Christmas, or the birth of Christ, fell in the middle of winter, and was a repetition of the great Yule feast. Many of the numerous other festivals, in honour of the Saviour, of the holy Virgin, and of the saints, corresponded with those of pagan times, to which several of the customs practised at those periods bear great resemblance ; for instance, the prac- tice of carrying palm branches and green boughs ; St. John's fire ; St. Martin's goose ; horns, etc. Sunday was a regular festival, on which, as on all others, peace, joy, and rest were enjoined. Fasts, or the prohibition of meat, although taken from a Jewish custom, accorded with the Christian spirit of self-denial, and fell on several feast days, on every Friday, and lasted several weeks before Passion Week. The institution of certain sacraments, or holy acts, such as baptism, the confirmation or consecration of adults, the marriage benediction, the last unction, and confession, which, under pain of eternal condemnation and excommunication, ordained that all crimes should be confessed to the priest, who, bound to secrecy, awarded penance or gave absolution, greatly influenced domestic life. The clergy, as they increased in im- portance, arrogated to themselves the right of excluding re- bellious members from the church, the most severe of all ecclesiastical punishments, which, formerly, consisted merely of penance within or without the church, corporeal chastise- ment, offerings, and fines. The supposed sanctity of certain localities to which pilgrimages were made, ( Wallfahrten, a name derived from the pagan custom of visiting distant sacred forests,) gave rise to another peculiar mode of worship. The saints, supposed to preside over these localities, were either invoked by people when in danger, who, on such occasions, vowed to make a pilgrimage to their sanctuaries, or they THE CHRISTIAN KINGS. 157 were visited by others in the hope of a miracle being perform- ed in their behalf, in order to free them from mental or bodily ailments. Some of the saints were held in such high estima- tion, that their admirers deemed it incumbent upon them to make a pilgrimage to their graves at least once during their lives, and sometimes imposed severe penance upon themselves, by going barefoot, or crawling the whole way on their knees. LXXIV. The Christian kings. THE struggle between the migratory nations and those among whom they attempted to settle, had, by necessitating implicit obedience to the dukes or chiefs, greatly increased their authority and gradually consolidated their power. The servility of the Italians, accustomed to the despotic rule of Rome, ere long inspired the German chieftains with a wish to tame the independent spirit of their followers. The example of a Jewish king, recorded in the Scriptures, at that period diligently studied, greatly tended to strengthen this wish, and while fierce and warlike kings coveted the purple of the Ro- man tyrant, gentle-minded and pious ones deemed themselves, like David, the anointed of the Lord, and the vicegerents of God upon earth. The ancient Jewish ceremony of anointing with oil was countenanced by the priesthood, on account of the opportunity it afforded of flattering royalty, and of increasing their own power, they alone having the right to perform this sacred function. These ideas, however, were not prejudicial to the ancient privileges of the people, the kings being still dependent upon them for their election, and presiding, not ruling, over the general assembly. When the throne became hereditary it was made so with the consent of the people, and was by no means granted from an inclination on their part to increase the royal prerogative, but with an intention of di- minishing it, by imposing fresh conditions on each successor to the crown. Nor was the person of the king considered inviolable ; the crime of murdering him being, in the Anglo- Saxon and Bavarian laws, merely punishable by a fine of con- siderable amount. The royal allotment of the conquered land was larger than that of any of the free-born warriors, and consisted of a large Allod (freehold) or domain, where the 158 STATE ASSEMBLIES, DUKES AND COUNTS. king had his palace (Hofburg) and held his court. He also possessed other Allods, of smaller extent, in different parts of the countiy, on which he had little Pfalzen (palaces) or country houses, (villas,) which served as resting-places for him and his household on his journeyings ; and on these occasions, in order to render the charge of his maintenance less burthensome to the people, the king and his court were supported by the revenues of these lands, to which royal dues, such as tolls, mines, fines, etc. were gradually added. Taxes and duties upon freeholds, private property, person, or commerce, were utterly unknown, the loyal nation presenting gifts of honour to their monarch on occasions of national festivity or of royal weddings, when a considerable tribute was often imposed upon the conquered nations. The kings, chiefly enriched by the pillage of the wealthy Roman provinces, expended great part of their wealth upon their numerous followers, the splendour of whose appearance contributed to their pomp and magnifi- cence, besides insuring respect for their authority when pre- siding over the general assembly, and also served as a means of alluring the youthful warriors into their service, to which, dazzled by courtly splendour, and lured by ambition, (the nobles and leaders of the army being chosen by the monarch from their number,) they willingly attached themselves. LXXV. State assemblies, dukes and counts. THE new kingdoms retained much of the ancient Germanic constitution ; for instance, the division of free-born men into tens and hundreds. The tens (decania) disappeared in course of time, and the hundreds (centend) became cantons, several of which formed a Gau or province. The popular assembly was, as in former times, held every fourteen days, but, instead of the president being a judge elected by the free voices of the people, he was a Graf or count, (comes,) who was nomi- nated by the king, and headed the contingent furnished by the Gau in time of war. Every post of honour, not only in the army and in the provinces, but also in the court and around the royal person, being filled by the Grafs, gave rise to different titles, such as, Pfalzgraf, Waldgraf, Landgraf, Markgraf, etc. The word Graf (gravio) has been falsely STATE ASSEMBLIES, DUKES AND COUNTS. 159 derived from grau (grey, old). Grimm has rightly deduced it from Ravo, (tectum,) and makes it synonymous with Geselle, a companion, (from Saal, a hall,) which also signified a com- panion in the house and in the field ; hence a Graf in Latin was always called Comes, and had sometimes a proxy called Vicecomes ; whence are derived the modern French and Eng- lish titles of comte, vicomte, count, viscount. The army consisted of the whole nation, headed by its Centners and Grafs. The great extent of the territory gained by con- querors, like Etzel, etc., who, in order to facilitate the govern- ment of their enormous kingdoms, allowed the subdued nations to retain their former rulers, on condition of their furnishing a contingent in the field, gave rise to the ducal dignity. The Frankish monarchs pursued a similar policy towards the sub- jugated Germanic tribes, either allowing them to be governed by their own princes, or setting dukes over them, but in either case allowing them to retain their native laws, whether Alemannic, Bavarian, Saxon, or Thuringian. All the Duke?, Grafs, Centners, and the higher dignitaries of the church, were bound to call all the freemen of the state to a general assembly, presided over by the monarch, once a year, and in extraordinary cases, more frequently. These assemblies took cognizance of the judiciary proceedings in which an appeal had been made to their tribunal from the lower courts ; framed and improved the laws ; elected and deposed the king, who was responsible to them for his actions ; declared war, and concluded peace, unless civil war happened to be raging. Each man's vote bore equal weight with that of the king ; each individual also possessed an equal right to state his opinion, and to lay petitions before the court, beyond which there was no appeal. The chief alterations in the laws re- lated to the confirmation of the royal, ducal, and ecclesiastical power, which affected the whole state, and was consequently decided by the assembly, which also regulated the particular laws relating to dukedoms and provinces. These state assem- blies were, under different names, common to all the Germanic kingdoms. The Anglo-Saxons named theirs the Witenage- mots, (council of wise men, elders, or grey-heads,) aged, wise, or distinguished men, being next in rank to the dignitaries of the church and state. The Franks, whose assemblies were 160 THE LAWS. held in the open air during the month of March, styled them the fields of March. The conduct of the war, as soon as declared, was entrusted to the king, who, on that occasion, received, as was the case with the ancient German leaders, a great accession of au- thority, and the strictest obedience was enforced to his bann or right of compulsion. The Arimannia, from mannire, to cite, were the armed community convoked to the national as- sembly during peace, which, in time of war, formed a Land- wehr, (militia,) called the arrier-ban (Heerbann, from ffeer, an army, and bannire, to summon). The monarch summoned the dukes ; they, the counts ; who, in their turn, summoned the centners ; and so on throughout the several degrees. Each man served the same chief in the field by whom he was governed in time of peace. Every canton, county, and duke- dom furnished its contingent, which was distinguished by a particular banner (Panner, Panier, a standard, whence comes the Banner-herr or banneret). Every man provided himself with arms and provisions until the conclusion of the campaign, which was settled beforehand. Non-appearance in the field, and the still graver crime of Ifeeresliz, or desertion on the field of battle, were severely punished. Obedience was strictly enforced by the king and the subordinate leaders, who had the right of inflicting instant and summary punishment on the person of the criminal, a right they durst not exercise in time of peace. The civil laws were also thrice as severe during war-time. LXXVI. The laws. THE example of the Romans, the increased extent of the states, and the novelty of many of the new laws imposed upon the people, gradually produced the necessity of possessing written codes, which were to a certain degree disadvantageous to the people, who were rendered unfamiliar with their con- tents as soon as the necessity of committing them to memory ceased, whilst the facility with which the number and in- tricacy of the laws could be increased, soon required them to be interpreted by lawyers or expositors of the law, whose power depended on their knowledge and capacity. The peo- THE LAWS. 161 pie were, consequently, on account of their ignorance, deprived of the right of judging in legal matters, upon which, in ancient times, every freeman had a right freely to state his opinion and to vote, but which were now decided by a select committee of the Rachimburgen, who, in difficult cases, referred to the opinion of a learned professor or Sagibaro, who had no casting vote. The Rachimburgen were members chosen from the national assembly. They were continually changed, until the reign of Charlemagne, by whom their office was rendered permanent, and they were entitled Schoffen, whose nomin- ation rested with the Grafs. The system of Wergeld, or fining, was retained in the new constitution, which was con- structed upon the ancient one, and which, owing to the con- stant insertion of new and often contradictory laws, became at length extremely intricate and confused. Many of the Roman civil laws were either entirely or partially adopted into the civil code, and the Mosaic ecclesiastical laws were mixed up with the ordinances of the church, until, at length, the erection of states into hereditary kingdoms, and the universal adoption of the feudal system, rendered a new constitution and new laws necessary. The most important alteration was the partial suppression of the ancient perfect and pure Wergeld system, which was replaced by the Roman laws regarding im- prisonment, corporeal and capital punishment, the latter of which was supposed to be upheld by the scriptural maxim of " An eye for an eye, anda tooth foratooth." Actions injurious to ducal, royal, or ecclesiastical dignity were especially punished by corporeal chastisement and death : new crimes punished by new laws. The old Wergeld system was still retained by the people, with this single alteration, that the Wergeld was now always paid in money. The highest coin current at that period was the shilling (solidus). The trial by single com- bat also still continued to be legal, and the other ordeals were merely altered to suit them to the more enlightened ideas of the age. As every thing modern originated from the South, and every thing ancient from the North, the codes of the southern nations, the Ostro and Visi-Goths, for the most part contain Roman laws imbued with the principles of Roman and biblical legislature, which exercised power over the life, person, free- dom, honour, and freehold property (Allod) of the criminal, M 162 THE LAWS. whilst the codes of the northern nations, particularly those of the Anglo-Saxons, still retain traces of their genuine German origin. The Salic is the oldest written law, and was first adapted to the new system by Chlodwig, almost all of whose successors either added to or modified it. The original manuscript was in German, but the only complete copy now extant is in Latin, and besides containing the oldest preface, records many of the barbarous customs of ancient Germany, which, at that period, were still practised. The antiquity of the Thuringian code is proved by its barbarity ; it is still per- fectly heathenish, and chiefly treats of revenge for bloodshed, and of trials by single combat. The contrast between the nations of Lower and Upper Germany, or the Prankish Saxons and Goths, is perceptible throughout the laws which have descended to our times ; those of the Franks, Thuringi- ans, and Longobardi, and those of the Saxons, Anglo-Saxons, and Frisii, forming two connected codes, widely differing from those of the Ostrogoths, Visigoths, and Burgundians, and those of the Alemanni and Bavarians. All the German nations anciently acted upon the principle of judging every man by the laws of his native country, for which reason, the Franks allowed the different tribes subdued by them, and in- corporated into their kingdom, to retain their national laws, merely introducing others referring to the church and state, and to the new situation of affairs in general. The Longo- bardi alone deviated from this principle. Under the Mero- vingian dynasty, the several codes of the Ripuarii, Alemanni. Thuringians, and Bavarians were transcribed. In the fifth century, Dietrich von Bern gave a code of laws to the Ostro- goths, and King Eurich one to the Visigoths, in both of which much was borrowed from the Roman law. The Burgundian code was drawn out during the reign of Gundebald, and when the Franks took possession of Burgundy, merely received some slight alterations. The first code of the Longobardi was drawn up in the seventh century, during the reign of King Rotharis, whose successors, and at a later period the Franks, added to it many new and Roman laws. Originally the laws of the Longobardi were essentially German, nor were any others at first tolerated in their country. The Saxons and Frisii were, at the end of this period, com- pelled by the Franks to commit their laws to writing with the THE FEUDAL SYSTEM. 163 addition of the new Frankish ordinances. In England, the Anglo-Saxon law, in which the spirit of the genuine old Ger- manic code has been faithfully preserved, was gradually intro- duced by the kings. Latin transcripts of all the codes of ancient Germany are still extant. LXXVII. The feudal system. FEUDAL tenure (or the manner in which slaves, emancipated slaves or freed-men, and poor freemen, held part of an Allod, for the use of which they rendered certain duties to the owner, who, if the feoffee failed in fulfilling his engagements, had the power of depriving him of the use of the property, which was only lent upon certain conditions, and not given away) was general among the Germans in pagan times. Tacitus men- tions, that the German slaves who cultivated a small parcel of land formed a class distinct from the household slaves. The wars, at a later period, introduced another description of feudal tenure among the subdued nations, who were con- strained to pay tribute and to swear allegiance to their con- querors, whenever the latter did not take immediate possession of the lands ; or, sometimes, a whole nation held its lands in fief from another on a system similar to that which bound the slave to the freeman. When the migrations had ceased, the feudal system was perfected by the Frankish monarchs, who divided the extensive lands they had gained in Gaul, as fiefs among their armed followers or dependants, who, by their services, had become their Angetrauten (confidants, Antrus- tiones) or Getreuen, (Jideles,) who, either on account of the royal fiefs being as large, and often larger, than the Allods of the freemen, or on account of their holding offices as Grafs, were not only admitted into the state assembly on an equality with the freemen, but were also estimated higher in Wergeld. By their success in war they gradually increased in wealth and influence, and were at length formed into a class of nobles, who bore precedence, as royal feudatories, over the ancient nobility merely composed of freemen, the majority of whom, either influenced by the ambition of shining at court, or anxious to escape from poverty and debt, made a voluntary cession of their Allods to the monarch, to whom they swore M 2 164 THE FEUDAL SYSTEM. allegiance as their liege lord, from whom they held their lands in fee, (feudum oblatum,) and were thus received into the class of nobles or vassals of the crown. In this manner the feudal system gradually gained ground, and the freemen, now the minority in point of numbers, bearing little weight in the state assembly, oppressed by the arrier-ban, which continually summoned them to the field, the whole of their little property either swallowed up by the necessary expenses, or ruined by neglect, compelled to endure contempt, tyranny, and poverty, and often deprived of their estates by cabals, became com- pletely subservient to the vassals, whom increasing wealth and power had rendered proud and insolent. Besides the crown vassals, there were also the church feudatories, who held their land on similar conditions, and the underfeudatories to the vassals, mesne-lords or valvasors. All the crown vas- sals were originally Comites, companions in arms ; but the other Comites, or Grafen, before long merely signified those who were distinguished by the offices they held from the crowd of dependants, whilst the immediate personal servants, or ministeriales, were distinguished from the indirect servants by their feudal tenure, which imposed certain duties upon them as vassals of the crown. The ministeriales originally consisted of the Mareschalk, or groom ; the Truchsess, he who set the Truke or dish upon the table ; the Mundschenk, or cup-bearer ; the Kammerer, or chamberlains ; the Kiichen- meister, or master of the kitchen ; the Kellermeister, or super- intendent of the cellar ; and the Hausmaier, or major domus, who, on account of the ministeriales being composed of the chief vassals and of the heads of the nobility, was naturally considered as the highest dignitary of the state, and being himself a noble, was the representative of his class on all state occasions. At first, all these ministeriales were merely common servants, and long after the introduction of Christi- anity these offices were performed by slaves ; as the royal prerogative increased, these offices gradually became of higher importance, and their titles being eagerly sought by men of distinction, became attached to the highest offices of state, to the ducal dignity, and to the great fiefs. The service rendered by the vassal was the only bond be- tween him and his lord. The fiefs, at first held only for a certain time, were afterwards held for life, and returned to the MIGRATIONS AND NEW LANGUAGES. 165 mesne-lord upon the death of the feoffee, a grievance that was speedily removed by the vassals, as soon as they became powerful enough to compel the monarch to make the fiefs hereditary. LXXVIII. Migrations and new languages. THE whole of eastern Germany, as far as the Elbe and Saal, had been depopulated by the migrations of the Germans, who were replaced by the Slavian nations, the Wendi, Sorbi and Bohemians, whilst the great hordes of the ancient Ostro- Germanic or Gothic nations spread over the south and west as far as Africa. The Saxons, Thuringians, and the Bavarians, whose name now suddenly starts from its long oblivion, the Alemanni in Swabia, Alsace, and Switzerland, and the Franks on the Rhine, retained their ancient positions in Germany until the migration of the Saxons to England ; of the Franks, to northern and central Gaul ; of the Burgundians, to the Rhone and the Alps ; of the Ostrogoths and Longobardi, to Italy ; of the Visigoths, to the Pyrenees and Spain ; and of the Vandals, to Africa. All the tribes that settled within the limits of the Roman empire at first formed a separate and warlike class of nobles, who governed the inhabitants in the despotic manner in which the Turks governed the Greeks, but ere long mixed with the Romans, and more or less adopted their language. This change was more rapidly effected in Italy, where Roman in- fluence was most powerful, on account of the memory of past grandeur and the policy of the popes, who sought to render the Latin tongue universal, in order to facilitate the subjection of the barbarians of the North to the crosier ; and, in fact, the Italian language retains more of the ancient Latin tongue, and has been less adulterated with German, than any other of Western Europe. In Spain, where the Germans formed the minority of the population, the Latin tongue, which had been orientalized by the Moors, who crossed over from Africa, was the common language of the country. In Gaul, the Franks retained the pure German tongue until the time of Charlemagne ; but, at a later period, when a separation took place between the Ro- 166 MIGRATIONS AND NEW LANGUAGES. man West Franks and the Ostro-Franks of pure Germanic descent, the Latin tongue was, through the influence of the Roman clergy, generally adopted by the former. Various dialects of the new French tongue sprang up in Burgundy, in the Visigothic South, in central Gaul, and in the North, where the population was partly composed of Britons, who had fled thither from the Saxons in England, and partly of Normans from Scandinavia (Brittany and Normandy). In England, which had never been entirely subdued by the Romans, the Latin tongue had not taken deep root, and was quickly sup- planted by that of the Angli and Saxons, who migrated to that country, which at once accounts for the great similarity that exists between English and German. I shall merely trace the steps of the migrating Germanic tribes until they mingle with the inhabitants of the country in which they settled, and touch upon the affairs of England and of the Scandinavian North in so far as they are illustrative of those of Germany, (whose influence has ever spread far be- yond her natural limits, and after affecting the histories of Italy, Spain, and France, after stamping an indelible charac- ter on the middle ages, has travelled with the Spaniard and the Englishman to the far West, and spread along the shores of the Mississippi, the La Plata, and the Ganges, and over the boundless plains of New Holland,) lest in following the wind- ing of the stream we may stray too far from the source. Our mother country, invigorated instead of weakened by the mi- grations, those great drains of her strength, has imparted a noble heritage of moral and physical power, (which in former times proved invincible to the assaults of Roman corruption,) to the remotest branches of the great nations she still fosters in her bosom. PART V. THE CONTESTS BETWEEN THE GOTHS AND FRANKS. LXXIX. Theodorich the Great. DIETRICH VON BERN, (Verona,) named by the Romans Theodorich the Great, was sent by his father, Theodomir, as an hostage to Constantinople, where, notwithstanding his Roman education, he retained the customs of his country, and, after his father's death, succeeded to the Gothic throne. On the fall of the Western empire, Zeno, emperor of Constantinople, set up a claim to the possession of Italy, but being too weak to reconquer that country, and being, at the same time, anxious to free himself from the Goths, proposed to Theodorich to make himself master of it in his name, to which the cunning Goth, who secretly intended to gain the prize for himself, easily acquiesced. On his line of march lay three nations ; a Slavonian race, under King Babai, then devastating Greece, whom he subdued ; the Gepida?, under King Gundarich, whom he defeated on the right bank of the Danube ; and the Rugii, in the mountains leading to Italy. Their king, Fava, had just been overthrown by Odoachar, and his son, Frederich, sought refuge and protection in the camp of Theodorich [A. D. 487]. The Ostrogothic army, encumbered with wo- men and children, and swelled by numbers of the Rugii and other Germans, slowly wound its way through the mountain passes, unopposed by Odoachar, who awaited its approach on the Isonzo, not far from Aquileia on the Adriatic, where a bloody engagement took place, which was followed by another near Verona, [A. D. 489,] in both of which Theodorich was victorious. Tufa, the commander of Odoachar's troops, de- serted his master, but both he and Frederich appear to have been disappointed in their expectations of reward, as before long they again suddenly changed sides, and Tufa betrayed a 168 THEODORICH THE GREAT. number of Gothic nobles into the power of Odoachar, who had taken shelter behind the fortifications of Ravenna, and who, a third time venturing a battle on the open field near the Adda, was once more compelled to retreat to the city, which, after enduring a three years' siege, was at length forced by famine to capitulate. Odoachar and his followers were mur- dered at a banquet by order of Theodorich, ^yho suspected them of treason [A. D. 493]. During this contest, the Bur- gundians, under Gundebald, crossed the Alps, and plundered the country to the rear of the Goths. Several thousand Ro- mans, who had fallen into their hands, were restored to liberty at the entreaty of St. Epiphanius, who begged for mercy for them in the name of Christ. The Burgundians were after- wards held in check by Theodorich, who fortified the Alpine passes, humbled the Gepidae, the Heruli, and the Rugii, pro- tected the Alemanni in the mountains opposite Graubiindten, whither they had fled from the Franks, and sent his general, Pitzia, to the assistance of Mundo, who had formed a small robber state, composed of people of every nation, and who was at feud with the Bulgarians, a powerful Slavonian tribe menacing Greece and Italy. The frontiers of his new king- dom thus rendered secure from attack, Theodorich now turned his thoughts to peace, and to the internal regulation of the state, and astonished the world, so long habituated to scenes of bloodshed and treason, with the unusual spectacle of a rude warrior transformed into the wise legislator of a new and flourishing empire. The population had been almost entirely swept away by the devastating wars, and the third part of the lands, which had already been seized by Odoachar for his fol- lowers, sufficed for the settlement of the Goths. The ancient laws and warlike constitution of Germany were retained. The army was composed solely of the Gothic population, (the rest being prohibited to carry arms,) commanded by the Grafs. The Goths, being Arians, had their separate church. They were recommended, by Theodorich, to imitate the pol- ished manners of the Romans, Avho retained two-thirds of the lands, and generally the cities. The prohibition to bear arms was the only change in their ancient privileges. The Catholic religion was protected. All theological disputes were put an end to by the practice of universal toleration ; and, on one occa- sion, when a Catholic, with the intention of flattering the king, THEODORICH THE GREAT. 169 professed Arianisra, Theodorich condemned him to death, "for," said he, " he who can betray his God will betray his king." The morality practised by the Goths was, on the other hand, recommended to the corrupt Romans. Protected by a thirty years' peace, agriculture, manufactures, and commerce flour- ished ; the devastated provinces regained their former pros- perity ; and the great work of draining the Pontine marshes was commenced, and personally overlooked by Theodorich from his fortress, part of which is still standing on the high rock of Terracina. In the year 500, during his visit to Rome, (where he did not fix his residence, probably owing to his desire to be within reach of the northern frontier,) he held public games, in imi- tation of the ancients, and adorned the city with public build- ings. His council was composed of the most learned men, among whom Cassiodorus, his historian and first minister, and the philosopher Boetius, are pre-eminently distinguished. The latter, however, with his father-in-law, the bishop Sym- machus, and the pope Johannes, happening to incur a strong suspicion of having abused the confidence of the king, by plotting with Justinus the Greek emperor against the Goths, the two former were executed, and the pope was thrown into prison, where he died. Dietrich, although a great war-chief and ruler like his predecessors, is manifestly the first German monarch who sought to unite these apparently dissimilar qualities with the attributes of a scriptural king, of a shep- herd chosen by God to lead his people. Many of his letters, and the records of the judgments pronounced by him, are still extant, and might serve as models for any sovereign. They also prove the zeal with which he strove to promulgate his conception of the duties of a monarch, among other royal families, and among other nations than his own ; and although the German monarchs continued to be elected by the people, and to be dependent on the state assembly, yet the belief of the divine majesty of kings, and of their being the represent- atives of God upon earth, may be traced to this period. Dietrich, in his abhorrence of the cold, stern despotism of im- perial Rome, had conceived a far more elevated project, which he deemed the noblest aim of every true-born German, viz. the union of the states of Germany. In pursuance of this scheme, he sought, by promoting intermarriages between the 170 THEODORICH THE GREAT. different royal families of Germany, to unite them in one common interest, and by this means to render peace general. For this purpose, he married his daughters, Theodicusa and Ostrogotha, to Alaric, king of the Visigoths, and to Sigis- mund, son of Gundebald, king of Burgundy ; his sister, Amal- freda, to Thrasimund, king of the Vandals ; and Amalberga, her daughter by a former husband, to Hermanfried, king of Thuringia ; all of whom he sought, by his letters, to incline to his project. The reverence he universally inspired, as the father of kings, was so great, that his fame spread even to the distant nation of the Aesthri on the Baltic, who sent him gifts. The union and pacification of the royal houses of Germany was prevented, and his great plan destroyed, by the jealousy of the Franks, who, although allied with him by his marriage with Audifleda, the sister of Chlodwig, the great Frankisli monarch, continued to cherish their ancient enmity against the Goths. The kingdom of the Visigoths was invaded by Chlodwig. The brave Thorismund, the conqueror of Attila, fell by the hand of his brother Theodorich, who, in his turn, was murdered by the third brother, Eurich, a prince famed for his valour and code of laws. Alaric, his son and successor, being defeated and killed by the Franks at the battle of Vougle, [A. D. 507.] Theodorich sent an Ostrogothic army, under the command of Ibbas, to the assistance of his daughter, the widow of Alaric, and of her young son, Amalarich. Ibbas defeated the Franks on the Rhone, and compelled them to subscribe to a treaty of peace, by which Gascony and Guyenne were ceded to them, and Languedoc was left in the possession of the Visigoths. Gasalricli, Alaric's natural son, who had caused himself to be proclaimed king at Barcelona, and had usurped the throne of Amalarich, was also defeated by Ibbas. Theodorich the Great is said to have died of fright, [A. D. 526,] at sight of a fish's head placed before him at table, which bore an imaginary resemblance to the countenance of the innocent bishop Symmachus, whom he had murdered. According to the popular tradition of Italy, the soul of this great king was doomed to suffer eternal torment amid the flames of .^Etna. CHLODWIG. 171 LXXX. Chlodwig. REMARKABLE events were, meanwhile, passing among the Franks, who still remained divided, Childerick, the son of Merowig, reigning over the Salii, and Sigismir, the son of Claudebald, over the Ripuarii, at Cologne. The Franks, out- raged in their domestic honour by the voluptuous and licen- tious Childerick, drove him from the kingdom and bestowed the crown upon JEgidius, the last Roman governor of Gaul ; a choice only possible among the Salii, who had long been accustomed to serve under Roman generals. The deposed monarch fled to his relative, Bisinus, king of Thuringia. The Thuringians appear to have been originally connected with the Franks, and at some later period to have mixed with the Saxons and their Gothic neighbours, the Varini and Angli. A faithful servant of the exiled king, named Wiomad, undertook to restore his master to the throne, and breaking a gold piece with him, half of which he was to send in token of the time having arrived for his return to his native country, insidiously attached himself to JEgidius. whom he persuaded to tax the Franks according to the Roman custom ; an innovation which he rightly judged would cause his expulsion. Childerick, meanwhile, repaid the hospitality of Bisinus, by debauching his wife, Basina, with whom he carried on a clandestine in- tercourse. The broken bit of gold was at length delivered to him by a trusty Frank, and he secretly returned to his coun- try, where he was gladly received and replaced on the throne by the discontented Salii. Basina, enslaved by passion, soon after escaped from Thuringia to the court of her lover, who made her his wife, and she became the mother of Chlodwig the Great. The Thuringians, enraged at this breach of hos- pitality, invaded and laid waste the country of the Salii, fearfully revenging on the subjects who tolerated such dis- graceful conduct in their ruler, the injury offered to their king. Two hundred Frankish maidens were crushed beneath their chariot-wheels, as an expiatory sacrifice to violated chastity. Childerick, aided by Odoachar, subdued the Ale- manni. His tomb, which was discovered at Tournay in 1653, contained a golden bull's head and several golden bees, evi- dently heathen symbols. 172 CHLODWIG. Chlodwig, brave, energetic, and warlike, turned his thought? to more ambitious projects than his father, and, taking advan- tage of the distressed state of the Ripuarii, at that time op- pressed by the Alemanni, imposed an oath of fealty on their king, Sigebert, the son of Sigismir, and reunited the whole Frankish nation. He then attacked Siagrius, the son of jEgidius, who still maintained an independent Reman govern- ment in central Gaul, and, after gaining a decisive victory at Soissons, took possession of the whole of Gaul as far as the Visigothic frontier. This success attracted the attention of his German neighbours, the Burgundians, Alemanni, and Visi- goths, all of whom he attempted to circumvent. Chlotilda, the daughter of Hilperich, king of Burgundy, who had been mur- dered by his brother Gundebald, was at that time living in retirement in a nunnery at Geneva. The fame of her beauty reached the ears of Chlodwig, who resolved to get her into his possession, and to set up a claim to the throne of Bur- gundy. He accordingly despatched the trusty Aurelian to Geneva, where, disguised as a beggar, his feet were washed by the royal nun. Dropping the monarch's ring into the water, he discovered himself to her, and she joyfully consented to wed the brave Chlodwig, upon which the beggar disappeared, and in due time a splendid embassy arrived at the Burgundian court to demand the bride. Chlotilda produced the token, and Gundebald, fearing the consequence of a refusal, gave his consent. She set out for the frontier in a chariot drawn by oxen, burning and destroying the dwellings of the Burgun- dians as she advanced, in revenge for the murder of her father, and being closely pursued by Gundebald, fled on a swift horse to the palace of Chlodwig. Her firstborn son died in his in- fancy. On the birth of the second, she entreated her husband to allow him to be baptized in the Christian faith, to which she belonged. He consented, and the life of the child was spared. The execution of Chlodwig's plans against Burgundy was delayed by the revolt of the Alemanni, who viewed the intro- duction of the feudal system into the provinces, and his armed followers, with suspicion and dislike, as indicative of a design upon their national liberty and independence. United under several leaders, they attacked the Franks, who had also united beneath the standard of Chlodwig, at whose side fought CHLODWIG. 173 Sigebert of Cologne. The battle of Zulpich decided the con- test [A. D. 496]. At one moment the enthusiastic spirit of the Alemanni threatened to overpower the superior discipline of the Franks, and Chlodwig, excited by the peril, invoked the God of his wife, and vowed to forsake the religion of his fathers if he proved more powerful than Odin, the war -god of the Alemanni. He was victorious, and the majority of his subjects, converted by the supposed miracle in their favour, were solemnly baptized with the king. The ceremony took place at Rheims. The legend relates, that the vial of oil with which St. Remigius anointed the monarch's head, was brought for that purpose by an angel from heaven, and that the saint exclaimed, whilst pouring the contents on the head of the king as he knelt before him, "Bow down thine head, O Sicamber, and adore what hitherto thou hast destroyed ; de- stroy what hitherto thou hast adored ! " The whole transac- tion was probably a wily invention on the part of Chlodwig, who hoping, by the assistance of the priests, to bring his wild Franks into subjection, seized this opportunity to convert them without endangering himself. From this period, the Roman bishops, or popes, and the Frankish monarchs mutually supported each other, either against the Arian Goths, the Greeks, or the German pagans. Ere long, the whole of the Frankish nation embraced Christianity, and the Alemanni gradually became converts to the God of victory. Chlodwig, urged by the revengeful spirit of his queen, and, moreover, anxious to secure the Alpine passes in Upper Bur- gundy, at length declared war with that country, but finding that Gundebald was too strongly posted for him to hope for success, contented himself with receiving his oath of alle- giance, and incited by the Catholic bishops, who impatiently desired the extirpation of Arianism in Gaul, turned his arms against the Visigoths, whom he expected to overcome with greater facility. Alaric, the unworthy son of the brave Eu- rich, fell in the battle of Poictiers by the hand of the victori- ous king of the Franks, [A. D. 507,] by whom he was justly held in contempt for the cowardice with which he had deli- vered up to them his guest, Siagrius, who had fled to him for safety. Theodorich the Great, king of the Ostrogoths, now took up arms in defence of the youthful son of Alaric, and a second engagement took place near Aries, which proved dis- 174 CHLODWIG. astrous to Chlodwig, who was forced to retreat, after leaving 30,000 of his men on the field of battle. Finding himself compelled to leave the Visigoths in peace, he fell upon Brit- tany, [A. D. 509,] and constrained the Britons, its new inha- bitants, who had been driven from England by the Saxons, to do him homage. It was a fortunate circumstance for Chlod- wig, that his neighbours, instead of uniting, fought singly, in self-defence. Had they confederated against the Franks, the rising power of that nation must have been completely checked. The ancient name of Gaul was changed by this monarch to that of France. Chlodwig, whose conquests and largesses had given him un- limited control over his troops, and had consolidated his power, now turned his attention to the internal regulation of his kingdom, and sought, by the removal of the subordinate kings, and by the more general adoption of the feudal system, to keep the nation united beneath his jurisdiction in time of peace as well as war. His treatment of his Merovingian rela- tives, the subordinate kings, was one tissue of treachery and cruelty. His ancient ally, Sigebert of Cologne, who was dis- abled by a wound received at the battle of Zulpich, was, at his instigation, murdered by his own son, Chloderich, whom he deluded by promises, and also caused to be put to death. He was stabbed in the back by an assassin, when in the act of bending down to look into a chest that contained his father's treasures, which he deluged with his blood. Ragna- char of Cambray, and his brother, two of the Merovingians, fell by Chlodwig's hand. Chararic of Flanders and his son, a little child, were condemned to the cloister. Whilst being deprived of their long hair, the symbol of royalty, the boy re- marked, " Our hair will soon grow long again ! " upon which, Chlodwig, provident of the future, caused them both to be murdered. By means of the imposition of feudal service, the discipline, habitual in war-time, was continued during peace, and shackled the freedom of the people. At the commencement of this reign, the Franks were extremely republican in their manners. It is related, that after the battle of Soissons, the booty had been equally divided among the troops. One of the men, a common Frank, had received for his portion a sacred jar. which he obstinately refused to restore when entreated to do GUNDEBALD. 175 so by one of the bishops, and upon its restitution being re- quested by Chlodwig, insolently replied, "that he was only bound to obey him during battle, and not afterwards," and broke the jar into pieces. Some time after this occurrence, the king, who had not forgotten conduct which he was legally unable to punish, took advantage of the army being drawn up in battle-array, to ride up to the insolent soldier and to cut him down under pretext of misbehaviour. The feudal system was universally adopted throughout France before the conclusion of this reign. During peace, Chlodwig was surrounded by his Antrustiones, or trusty fol- lowers, whom he rewarded with rich lands in the conquered provinces, and who formed a new order of nobles, from whom he selected the Grafs. This class of nobility ere long pos- sessed all the honour, all the influence, and, by means of the feudal system, all the wealth of the country, and leaguing with the priests, at length succeeded in crushing popular freedom. Thus Chlodwig, who died in 511, laid the groundwork for a complete revolution in the internal policy of Germany. LXXXI. Gundebald. WHILST the Burgundians, weakened by the destruction of Gunthachar, and pressed by the Huns, were driven to the banks of the Rhone, Alsace, with their capital, Worms, fell into the hands of the Alemanni. In their new kingdom, which, traversed by the Rhone, extended beyond Lyons, they founded the city of Bormio, (named after their ancient capi- tal, Worms,) on the other side of the Alps, where they bend towards Italy. The history of this new settlement is some- what obscure. The Burgundians are said to have been con- verted to Christianity by a bishop, who preached to them for seven successive days. They were, at one time, in alliance with ^tius, who granted the highlands to them. After the fall of the Western empire, they treated with Constantinople. In their new kingdom, two-thirds of the land was allotted to them, the remaining third to the Romans, and each nation was governed by its own laws. The land was divided into Gauen, or districts, under the jurisdiction of Grafs, whose authority was unlimited, whilst that of the king or chief did not exceed 176 THE EXTENSION OF FRANCE that of a duke. The first king of Upper Burgundy who suc- ceeded Gunthachar, was Gundioch, a descendant of the Visi- gothic Balti. At his death, the kingdom was divided between his four sons ; Hilperich, who reigned at Geneva, Godegisel, at Besan9on, Gundebald, at Lyons, and Godeinar, at Vienne. Harmony was not of long duration. Gundebald, a man of higher talent and enterprise than his brethren, grasped at sole dominion, (his daring invasion of Italy whilst Theodorich the Great was engaged with Odoachar, has been already men- tioned,) and quarrelling with Hilperich, defeated and cruelly murdered him, together with his family, with the exception of Chlotilda, one of his daughters, who subsequently married Chlodwig [A. D. 499]. After a short contest, he swore allegiance to the Frankish monarch, but, emboldened by the lenity with which he was treated, and trusting in the strength of his mountain fastnesses, he again attacked his brothers, and after destroying the kingdom of Godegisel, once more re- treated to his mountains on the approach of the Franks and the Ostrogoths from opposite quarters, who finally concluded peace with him, and Dietrich gave his daughter Ostrogotha in marriage to Sigismund, the son of the usurper. Gunde- bald was the reformer of his country. Gifted with more than ordinary talent, and with a mind highly cultivated for the age in which he lived, he saw the advantage, and incessantly aimed at the realization, of union in the state, and the increase of the royal prerogative, but, incautiously venturing too far, he was vehemently opposed in his projects by the Grafs of the districts, [A. D. 502,] who, on one occasion, at Geneva, forced him to withdraw his code of laws, which they re- placed by another, entitled the Lex Gundebada, which is still in existence, signed by thirty-six Grafs. Gundebald died in 516. LXXXII. The extension of France under the sons of Chlodwig. THE superiority of the Franks over the other nations of Germany was owing to both their natural and acquired ad- vantages. Ingenious, brave, and enterprising, trained to war, accustomed to victory, fired by ambition, and favoured by their UNDER THE SONS OF CHLODWIG. 177 position in the centre of the German states, they easily ac- quired and maintained a power with which, taken singly, none of the other states were able to compete, and which their religious zeal rendered peculiarly formidable to the Saxons, whilst their central position, between the Ostrogoths in Italy and the Visigoths in the Pyrenees, offered every facility for taking advantage of the want of unity between the two nations. Nor were these circumstances overlooked by the bishop of Rome, whose influence over the other bishops of the West, and the Catholic populations of Italy, Gaul, and Spain, was gradually increasing, and who accelerated the downfal of the Arian Goths by exciting the fanatical spirit of the Franks and their allies against them. Chlodwig divided France into four kingdoms, the largest and most important of which, the Rhine country, Austria or Austrasia, with its capital, Metz, was bestowed upon Theo- dorich, his eldest son ; and Neustria, with its capital, Orleans, on Chlodomir ; whilst Childebert reigned at Paris, and Chlotar at Soissons. The separation of Austria from Neustria was subsequently widened by the different manners of the two nations, the former remaining faithful to the ancient customs of Germany, whilst the latter adopted those of Rome. Each of the sons of Chlodwig bore the title and exercised the au- thority of king, although they were in a manner dependent upon each other, and were bound together by the union of the Frankish nation, the general state assembly, the laws, and their own interest. This strange and dangerous division of the kingdom of Chlodwig, destructive to the powej and unity of the state, arose from the political inexperience of the Franks, whose kings were of very recent date, and who had made no provision (beyond that of the law common among the Salii, by which the inheritance was equally divided between the sons) for the succession to the throne. This law was also in practice among the Thuringians and the Burgundians, and had, at a very remote period, been common to all the Scandi- navian nations. It was retained by the Franks for more than three centuries after the death of Chlodwig. The kings of Neustria and Austria extended their posses- sions by the sword. Chlodomir subdued the Burgundians, and strengthened his dominion in the West, whilst Theodorich and his son, Theobert, conquered Thuringia, drove the Ostrogoths FALL OF THE KINGDOMS OF from the Alps, and compelled the dukes of the Bqjoarii to take the oath of allegiance. Saxony, still as formidable as in ancient times, was the only German state left undisturbed by the Franks, notwithstanding the vicinity of their frontiers, which at some points ran parallel ; a circumstance highly obnoxious to France, which, before long, strove to crush the neighbouring state with an unremitting animosity, equalling that displayed by Rome in her attacks upon the free nations of Germany. LXXXIII. Fall of the kingdoms of Thuringia and Burgundy. THE origin of the Thuringii has been derived from the Hermunduri or from the Therwingi. The name bears a re- semblance to that of the god Thor. The derivation from the name given to the Cherusci, who, according to Tacitus, were called Thoren, fools, (stulti,) on account of the depravity of their manners, is a mere play upon sounds. They seem, at a later period, to have been connected with the Suevian Angli and Varini, (on the Werra,) the latter of whom maintained an independent monarchy until 595. Bisinus, to whom Childerich had fled for safety, was related to the Merovingians, and this part of the Thuringian nation appears to have been originally connected with the Franks. The kingdom of Bisinus was divided between his sons, Her- manfried, Berthar, and Baldrich ; the first of whom married Amalberga, the daughter of Dietrich the Ostrogoth. This wily princess contrived, by half covering his table, in sign of his only possessing half a kingdom, to rouse the ambition of her husband, who surprised and killed Berthar, and in order to strengthen himself against Baldrich, who was more on his guard, entered into an alliance with Theodorich, king of Austrasia, by whom Baldrich was subsequently defeated and slain. Hermanfried afterwards refusing to divide his ill-won kingdom with the Franks, they united with the Saxons and defeated him in a pitched battle near Scheidingen [A. D. 529]. A plot, laid by Iring, a cunning Thuringian, who attempted to sow discord between the allies by persuading the Franks to make peace with his nation and to deprive the Saxons of their share of the booty, was discovered by Hadegast, the old Saxon THURINGIA AND BURGUNDY. 179 duke, who instantly attacked and completely subdued the whole of Thuringia. Theodorich, under pretence of an ami- cable settlement of affairs, invited Hermanfried to Ziilpich, where, whilst engaged in conversation with him on the castle wall, on which they were walking, he had him suddenly push- ed, as if accidentally, down the precipice. Thus ended the unfortunate dynasty of the kings of Thuringia [A. D. 530]. The northern part of the country fell a prey to the Saxons, and the Franks seized that to the south of the Unstrutt, but during the subsequent disturbances in France, Thuringia re- gained much of her former independence, and was again go- verned by heathen dukes, who paid an annual tribute of 500 pigs to the Austrasian monarch. One noble and interesting character presents a bright con- trast with the coarse brutality that distinguished these royal dynasties, that of Radegunda, the daughter of Berthar, the only descendant of the royal house of Thuringia, who was celebrated for her extraordinary beauty, and whose possession was disputed by Theodorich of Metz and Chlotar of Orleans, the latter of whom gained the prize. Regardless of worldly splendour, Radegunda sought only to indulge in seclusion her grief for her murdered family, and to spend her days in prayer and in acts of beneficence. Chlotar, at length weary of her piety, repudiated and imprisoned her in a convent, where she was honoured as a saint. Venantius Fortunatus, the Latin poet, sang her praise in glowing verse. Nicetius, bishop of Treves, and Sidonius, bishop of Mayence, vainly emulated the attempts of this unfortunate princess to moderate the savage passions of the brother kings. Theodorich murdered Siwald, a descendant of a side-branch of the Merovingian race, but spared his son, Garibald, then a young child, and sent him to be educated at Rome. He afterwards made him duke of Ba- varia. Garibald was the father of the celebrated Theodolinda, and the founder of the Agilofingian dynasty. The Bavarians (Bajuvarii) evidently derive their name from the ancient country of the Boii, and date from the Gothic migration. They are first met with in history as seeking protection from the Franks and Alemanni against the Avari, who then de- vastated the country in their advance westward, and from whom they were no sooner delivered than they became inso- .ent and rebellious. The elevation of Garibald to the ducal N 2 180 FALL OF THE KINGDOM dignitv was probably occasioned by a fresb invasion of Ba- varia by the Avari. Siegmund succeeded his father, Gunde- bald, on the throne of Burgundy, and on the death of his Ostrogothic queen, married her waiting-woman, who, being mocked, on account of the awkwardness with which she moved in her royal robes, by her little step-son, Siegerich, revenged herself by persuading his father to murder him in his sleep. The Burgundians, horror-struck at the deed, re- belled ; the Franks, headed by Chlodomir of Orleans, invaded the country, and Siegmund, universally deserted by his sub- jects, fled to the monastery of St. Maurice in Valais. His retreat was discovered, and he was carried to Orleans, where he was murdered, and his wife and child were drowned in a well [A. D. 524]. His uncle Godemar, meanwhile, headed the Burgundians against the Franks, and Chlodomir was de- feated and killed. Chlotilda, undeterred by the fate of her son, continued to incite his brothers against Burgundy. The brave Godemar at length disappeared, after a last and despe- rate battle, and the country, which however still continued to be governed by its national laws, was annexed, by Childebert and Chlotar, to France. LXXXIV. Fall of the kingdom of the Vandals. AFTER the death of Geiserich, Hunerich, his son, mounted the throne, and instead of carrying into execution the anv- bitious projects of his father, instantly concluded peace with Rome. Conscious of the disgust with which he had inspired his subjects by his vicious propensities, and suspecting that they intended to depose him in favour of his brother, Theodo- rich, he caused him to be murdered, together with his wife and children. His father, although an Arian, had treated the Catholics with the greatest lenity, in the hope of winning them over. They were now cruelly persecuted by Hunerich, who condemned lodocus, the patriarch of Carthage, to be burnt alive in the market-place, closed all the monasteries and catholic churches, and sentenced the priests, monks, and nuns to be broken on the wheel or driven naked out of the country. His wife, the pious Eudoxia, the Roman captive, fled for pro- tection from his tyranny to the sepulchre at Jerusalem. At OF THE VANDALS. 181 length, the warlike Moors of Mount Atlas, taking advantage of his unpopularity, poured in thousands from their valleys, and carried on a war of extermination against the strangers of the North [A. D. 486]. Hunerich was succeeded by his nephews, Gundamund and Trasamund. Amalfrida, the sister of Theodorich the Great, became the wife of Trasamund, and brought over 5000 Gothic nobles to assist her husband against the victorious Moors. Trasamund was succeeded by Hilderich, the son of Hunerich, who imprisoned Amalfrida, put her Gothic followers to death, and entered into an alliance with the emperor Justinian, his hereditary foe. The Vandals before long discovered their folly, and deposing Hilderich, raised Gelimer, a distant branch of the royal family, to the throne. But treason was already at work. Godas the Goth, who had been entrusted by Gelimer with the government of Sardinia, went over to Justinian, who despatched Belisarius, his celebrated general, at the head of an army more than 100,000 strong, including numbers of Huns and Heruli, to Africa [A. D. 533]. Ammatas, Gelimer 's brother, fell a victim to his own impetuosity in the first battle, and the king, after bravely defending his brother's body to the last, was finally compelled to retreat to the mountains, instead of throw- ing himself into Carthage, which yielded at discretion. Too weak singly to face the enemy, Gelimer anxiously awaited the return of his friend, Tzazon, whom he had sent, at the head of a Vandal force, to Sardinia, where he was victorious over Godas. On his return, Gelimer once more took the field, and another battle was fought, in which Tzazon was killed, and the royal treasure fell into the hands of the conqueror. Accompanied by a few faithful adherents, Gelimer again fled to his mountain strong-hold. Pharos, a Herule in the imperial service, who was sent to persuade him to yield and to enlist beneath the imperial standard, vainly sought by bribe and flattery to bring him to submission. The Vandal king re- plied that he only wished for three things, a loaf, as it was long since he had tasted bread, a sponge, with which to bathe his eyes, scorched by the glare of the noontide sun on the bare rocks, and a lute, to soothe his sorrows, all which Pharos brought to him. At length his position became intolerable, and one day seeing one of his nephews fighting, as if for life, with another boy, for a small piece of dough, their last rem- 182 THE OSTROGOTHIC WAR. VITIGIS. nant of food, he was completely discouraged, and surrendered to Belisarius, who treated him with great respect, but made him grace his triumphal entry into Constantinople, bound with silver chains. The Vandal prisoners entered into the imperial service, and were employed against the Persians. Some thousands of their countrymen, who had scattered them- selves among the mountains, reassembled under Stotzas, and made common cause with the Moors against the Romans. A long and harassing war ensued, during which Stotzas was killed. He was succeeded in his command by Gontharis, who retook Carthage, where he maintained himself for some time. The Romans, at length, succeeded in putting him and the rest of the Vandals to the sword at a great banquet, when they were helpless from intoxication. LXXXV. The Ostrogothic war. Vitigis. THE downfal of the kingdom of the Ostrogoths in Italy was partly occasioned by similar causes. The death of Theodorich the Great, the signal for disunion between the Goths and Romans, was quickly turned to advantage by Jus- tinian on one side, and by the Franks on the other. Amalas- wintha, the learned daughter of Theodorich, and the widow of Eutharis the Goth, took possession of the kingdom in the name of her youthful son, Athalarich. Amalaswintha had been educated at Rome, and was consequently anxious to place her son beneath similar tutelage. A violent opposition was raised to her schemes by a party in the kingdom, which, under pretext of rescuing the young prince from the degrad- ing effects of Roman effeminacy, encouraged him in the grossest vice, and the queen, finding her life no longer secure, had already entreated the emperor Justinian for a place of refuge, when her son fell a victim to excess, and her opponents raised Theodatus, the son of Amalfrida, to the throne, who caused her to be suffocated in a bath. The Romans, op- pressed by the tyranny of the barbarous Gothic party, now recalled with regret the comparatively mild government of Theodorich, once deemed by them so intolerable, and anxiously sought assistance from the Greek emperor, who, elated by his recent victory over the Vandals, acceded to THE OSTROGOTHIC WAR. VITIGIS. 183 their petition, and, under pretext of avenging the murder of Amalaswintha, turned his arms against the Goths, who were doubly obnoxious, on account of their profession of Arianism, to the Catholic Romans, by whom he was zealously aided, whilst the Franks, from political motives, offered no opposition to his project. Theodatus, panic-struck at the arrival of Beli- sarius in southern Italy, offered to exchange his crown for a pension from the emperor : a proposal rendered null by his subjects, who, despising him for his cowardice, convoked a general state assembly at Regeta, near Rome, which deposed him and placed Vitigis on the throne, by whose orders he was put to death. Vitigis, in the hope of securing himself on the throne by an alliance with the last of the Amali, [A. D. 536,] forced Malasuntha, the daughter of Amalaswintha, to become his wife, and sent ambassadors into Asia with the intention of persuading the Persians to attack the eastern frontier of Greece. He also entered into alliance with the Alpine Ale- manni and Burgundians, who to the number of 150,000, al- most all mailed cavalry, advanced into northern Italy, where, instead of aiding him, they plundered and laid waste the country. Belisarius, meanwhile, approached, the Romans swelling his ranks as he advanced upon Rome, whose gates were flung open by the inhabitants to welcome his arrival, and to receive a Roman garrison. Vitigis instantly besieged the faithless city, at the head of the whole of his army. Wooden scaling towers, drawn by oxen, were placed close to the walls, which the Goths furiously attacked, but were re- pulsed with great loss by Belisarius, who, when all the com- mon stones were exhausted, flung several thousands of the marble statues, which at that time adorned the city, upon the heads of the besiegers, who fought with such extraordinary fury, that 30,000 of them are said, on one occasion, to have fallen in a skirmish that took place beneath the walls. Johannes, Belisarius' lieutenant, meanwhile, carried on the war to the rear of the Goths, and being invited by the injured Malasuntha to Ravenna, the Gothic capital, took Ariminum, and garrisoned Milan, whose gates opened to receive him on his passage to that city. News of these disasters quickly reached the Gothic king, who, setting fire to his camp, raised the siege of Rome, and marched in pursuit of Johannes ; but bein": unable to draw him out of the fortified walls of Arimi- 184 FALL OF THE KINGDOM num, he suddenly attacked Milan, with the intention of re- venging himself upon the inhabitants, and of attracting the procrastinating Burgundians and Alemanni beneath his stand- ard, by the hope of plunder. The city was soon taken by stratagem ; and Vitigis, allowing the garrison to march out unharmed, put 300,000 of the inhabitants to the sword, and yielded the city a prey to his Burgundian auxiliaries, who slew indiscriminately both Goths and Romans. Their king, Theodobert of Austrasia, who had been simultaneously applied to for assistance by the Greeks and the Goths, now invaded Italy with the intention of taking possession of it for himself. Although for some time professing Christianity, he afforded another striking proof of the ferocity of the times, by offering, according to pagan custom, a sacrifice of young children (those of the Goths) to the river-god, and casting their bodies into the Po. The Franks, armed with battle-axes, fell indiffer- ently upon the Romans and the Goths, both of whom had im- plored their protection. Johannes was defeated, but a pesti- lence, breaking out among them, so greatly reduced their number, that a retreat, became inevitable, and they quitted Italy at a moment when Vitigis was closely besieged by Beli- sarius in Ravenna, where he bravely defended himself, until at length worn out by the perseverance of the enemy, and hopeless of success, the Goths voluntarily offered to place the Greek general on the throne of Italy. The offer was accepted, and Vitigis was betrayed into the hands of Belisarius, who en- tered Ravenna, but, true to his allegiance, refused to be pro- claimed king. The Gothic women, indignant at the treachery and folly of the men, contemptuously spat in their faces. Vitigis and several other prisoners of distinction were taken to Constantinople, where the emperor, struck with admiration by their bravery, treated them with great honour. The ex- treme beauty of the Gothic women is highly extolled by a Greek writer of that age [A. D. 539]. LXXXVI. Totilas. Tejas. Fall of the kingdom of the Ostrogoths. BELISARIUS was, at this conjunctui'e, recalled from Italy, fortunately for the rest of the Goths, who, placing Ildebald on OF THE OSTROGOTHS. 185 the throne, took the field against the Heruli and Kugii, their hereditary foes, immense robber hordes of whom had joined the Romans. Ildebald defeated their two chiefs, Vitalus the Roman, and Wisand the Herule, but was shortly after- wards killed, at a banquet, by a Goth, whose jealousy he had excited. His head was cut off at one stroke and rolled upon the table. Eurarich, one of the Rugii, succeeded him on the Gothic throne and was also murdered. The Goths then elected Totilas, [A. D. 541,] Ildebald's cousin, who again attempted to drive the Greeks out of Italy. On his march southward, he is said to have encountered St. Benedict on the Casino mountains, who foretold to him the approaching down- fal of his kingdom. Undeterred by this prophecy, he at- tacked and took Naples, and captured the great Grecian fleet which had been sent to the assistance of the city, and which lay at anchor in the bay. His treatment of the famished Neapolitans was remarkable for a humanity rare at that period, and he superintended in person the distribution of small quantities of food to each person, in order to guard against the fatal consequences of eating too freely when in a state of starvation. A Goth who had abused a Roman maiden, was by his orders put to death, and he strove, by the practice of strict justice and of humanity, to conciliate the people. But this wise policy was adopted when too late for success. Belisarius again arrived from Greece at the head of a power- ful army ; and Totilas, who, meanwhile, had taken Rome by surprise, retreated northwards, after demolishing the walls, which were rebuilt by Belisarius, who placed the city in so complete a state of defence, as to enable it to withstand a three days' storming by the Goths, who, in the course of the pro- tracted siege, attacked and defeated the army of Johannes and murdered all the inhabitants of Tiber, (Tivoli,) in the vicinity of Rome, in revenge for their having supplied Belisarius with information of their movements. Belisarius, again recalled by the emperor, quitted Italy for the last time, and Totilas once more took possession of Rome. After defeating the allied army of the Greeks and Romans under Yerus, not far from Ravenna, he returned southward, made himself master of the whole country, built a fleet, con- quered Sardinia and Corsica, and plundered the Grecian coasts. Ancona alone remained in the hands of the Greeks. Em- 186 TOTILAS. TEJAS. boldenecl by success, he demanded the daughter of Theodobert in marriage, but met with a refusal, and the Franks again at- tempted to gain possession of Upper Italy. At the same time, the eunuch ISarses, who had succeeded Belisarius in the com- mand of the imperial troops, of which he had been deprived by the cabals of the jealous courtiers, entered Italy from the north, and, reinforcing his army with the Heruli and Gepidre under Philemuth, and with 6000 of the Longobardi, who for the first time entered Italy, attacked the diminished forces of the Goths at Taginas, near Ariminum. The battle raged for two days, when Totilas, mortally wounded by the arrow of a Gepide, fled from the field, followed by the remnant of his army, and, after riding 84 stadia, fell dead from his horse [A. D. 552]. His blood-stained robe was presented, as a trophy, to Justinian. The Goths now chose Tejas for their leader, who, resolving not to fall unavenged, marched sword in hand through Italy, murdering every Roman that crossed his path ; Narses, meanwhile, pursuing a similar plan towards the Goths, whom he hoped to exterminate. The Goths, in revenge for the surrender of Rome to the Greeks, murdered 500 children belonging to the first Roman families, whom they had taken as hostages. At length, closely pursued by Narses, Tejas fled for safety to the beautiful valley that extends from Salerno to the sea, where, strongly posted on the Monte di Latte, he for some time kept the enemy at bay. Barricading the entrance to the entrenchments with his body, the brave Goth defended himself with one hand whilst guarding himself with a long shield with the other, and, after a valiant defence, was killed when in the act of changing his shield, bristled with arrows and lances, for the third time. The Romans, struck with the bravery of their foe, granted free egress to the thousand Goths that alone survived the fight. The death of Theodobert took place about this period, and his son, Theo- dobald, remaining inactive, the Alemanni, who dwelt in the mountains, deemed the occasion favourable, on the dispersion of the Goths, for an invasion of Italy, and attempted to carry into execution the project that was shortly afterwards under- taken with such signal success by the Longobardi under more experienced leaders. They divided into two enormous hordes, commanded by Leutharis and Butilinus, the former of which coasted the Mediterranean, the latter the Adriatic. These ORIGIN OF THE LONGOBARD1. 187 hordes were composed of foot-soldiers, armed with shields and swords, and merely clothed with long trowsers, the upper part of the body being naked, from an idea that by that means they should suffer less from the heat of the climate. The army under Leutharis was destroyed by pestilence, and that under Butilinus was surrounded and cut to pieces by Narses, five men alone escaping the fate of their comrades [A. D. 554]. In the following year, Ragnaris, a Hun, headed 7000 Goths against Narses, whom he treacherously killed during a con- ference, a fate which not long afterwards awaited him at Conza. The tyrannical conduct of the Romans towards their former masters, the German land-owners, now scattered throughout the country, and the insolence of the German mercenaries, sufficiently account for the futile revolts of the Goths under "VVidinus and Amingus in Verona, [A. D. 563,] and of the Heruli under Sinduval, a man whose bravery had chiefly con- tributed to the victories gained by Narses, under whom he had served, and who ended his life on the gallows [A. D. 566]. According to the chronicle of Franke, some of the fugitive Goths crossed Mount St. Gothard, and settled in a wilderness on the spot where Uri now stands. LXXXVIL Origin of the Longobardi. Fate of the Heruli and Gepidce. THE legendary account of the Longobardi or Langobardi is as follows. A famine having been caused in Denmark by a great flood, the people assembled in order to deliberate on the best means of alleviating the general distress, and had already come to the resolution of putting all the old men and women to death for the sake of sparing the food for the young and able, when a wise woman, named Gambara, proposed that lots should be cast for the migration of a third of the popula- tion. Her advice was followed, and the chosen number of Danes, then known as Vinili, afterwards as Longobardi, on account of the prodigious length of their beards, departed, under the command of Gambara's two sons, Ibor and Ajo. Upon the Vandals refusing them permission to settle in their neighbourhood, war was declared. On the eve of battle, Gambara besought the aid of Freya, whilst the Vandals in- 188 ORIGIN OF THE LOXGOBARDI. voked Wodan, who promised to grant the victory to whom- ever he first beheld at sun-rise. At the appointed hour, the Danish women, with their long hair hanging over their faces, stationed themselves along the front of the army, drawn up in battle-array. The sun rose, and Wodan asked, " Who are these with long beards?" Thus Wodan gave them a new name, as well as victory. Their name has also been derived from the word Hellebard, a halbert. They are supposed to have formerly settled on the extensive corn-lands now sur- rounding Magdeburg. Although conscious of their common origin, they kept apart from the Suevian confederacy, and notwithstanding their numerical inferiority, maintained their independence among the Saxons (some of whom migrated with them to Italy) by means of their extraordinary bravery, which is justly praised by Tacitus. Their other legends are totally devoid of interest. Agelmund, one of their kings, chanced to be riding along the banks of a stream, into which seven boys, born at one birth, had been cast. He stopped, and plunging his lance into the water, drew out one who had grasped it. This boy became his successor, and founded a royal dynasty. The family of the Welfs claim a similar origin. After the cessation of the migrations, the Longobardi are first mentioned as a powerful nation in the neighbourhood of the Rugii, Scirri, arid Gepidas, and of the Slavian Bulgarians and Avari, in the mountains of Austria. The Rugii and Scirri, after their subjection by the Ostrogoths, are no longer met with in history, although there is great probability that the Bavarians descended from both these nations, and that the word Scirri may be traced in the name of Scheyer. Jornandes, the Gothic historian, mentions Edico and Wulfo, as princes of the Scirri during the fifth century, and the same names, Ethico and Welf, recur, at a later period, in the celebrated family of the Welfs. The Heruli were remarkable for their obstinate adherence to paganism, and for their extreme ferocity. As late as the commencement of the sixth century, they put all their old men to death, and the widows voluntarily burnt themselves alive. Rumentruda, the daughter of Tato, king of the Longobardi, fearing the revenge of the crippled brother of Rudolf, king of the Heruli, whom she had mocked, caused him to be murdered. Rudolf, burning for vengeance, attacked the Longobardi, at the head of the Heruli, who, like END OF THE HERULI AND GEPID.E. 189 genuine Berserkers, fought perfectly naked, and on being de- feated, were seized with such madness, that, coming in their flight to a field of flax in full bloom, they imagined it to be a lake and attempted to swim through. They afterwards entered into alliance with Constantinople, [A. D. 500,] where their king, Graitis, received baptism, and was consequently mur- dered on his return by his pagan subjects, who, in order to strengthen their party, sent to Thule, Scandinavia, their an- cient birth-place, [A. D. 528,] (which, according to an obscure tradition, was at that period inhabited by pirates, also Heruli, who devastated the coasts of France and Spain,) for a king of the ancient mythical race, whose arrival being delayed, the Christian party, aided by the emperor Justinian, gained the upper hand, and raised Swarta to the throne. At length Todat arrived from Thule at the head of 500 young men, and Swarta was deposed ; but the pagan part of the nation were unable to maintain their independence unassisted and alone, and finally became incorporated with their allies the Gepids. The Christian Heruli long served with distinction under the Greek emperors, as mercenaries against the Persians, Vandals, and Goths. The Gepidae boast of having been the first nation (under Ardarich, whose gold coins are mentioned in the Burgundian code) that threw off the yoke of the Hun, and what little has been recorded concerning them in history speaks greatly to their praise. Although continually at feud with the Ostrogoths, they maintained their independence ; and when Ildechis, the son of Tatus, king of the Longobardi, who had been murdered by his nephew, Wacho, fled for protection to their king Turisend, who put it to the vote in the national assembly, whether they ought not to avoid a contest with their powerful opponent and comply with his demand for the delivery of their guest, the people unanimously replied, " that annihilation was preferable to the violation of the laws of hospitality." This magnanimous resolu- tion was, notwithstanding, powerless to save the life of the un- fortunate Ildechis, who was murdered by his enemies. Wacho was succeeded by Audoin, whose son, Alboin, killed Thuris- inund, the son of Turisend, in battle, but, forgetting to carry away his arms and returning home without a trophy, was de- prived of his seat, as one unworthy of the honour, at his father's table. In order to repair his negligence, he went openly to 190 ALBOIX IN ITALY. Turisend and demanded the arms of his son. The aged king entertained him with the greatest hospitality, and even protected him from the anger of his subjects, whom he had treated with the utmost insolence. Turisend died, and was succeeded by his son, Kunimund, who was killed in battle by Alboin, (against whom he was seeking to revenge the seduction of his daughter, Rosamunda,) and the whole nation of the Gepidse was incorporated with that of the Longobardi [A. D. 566]. LXXXVIII. Alboin in Italy. IN 552, a number of the Longobardi accompanied Narses into Italy during his expedition against the Ostrogoths. Some time after this, the services of Narses, like those of the un- fortunate Belisarius, (who is said to have wandered over the scenes of his former exploits, blind and starving,) were re- warded with ingratitude. Being tauntingly advised by the Greek empress to carry a spindle instead of a sword, he re- plied, "that he would shortly spin her a thread, the end of which she would not easily find," and invited the Longobardi into Italy, that land ever coveted by the German, which was probably doubly attractive to Alboin, owing to the security afforded by the Alps against the increasing and encroaching Slavonian hordes. Their ranks swelled by 20,000 of their ancient allies, the Saxons, the Longobardi descended the lofty Alps, [A. D. 568,] and for the first time beheld the immense plain, to which they were destined to give the name of Lom- bardy, or the land of the Longobardi. Four years were spent in warfare with the Romans, who defended themselves within their fortified towns, which, at first, offered an insurmountable difficulty to these wild warriors, unacquainted with the mode of conducting a siege ; whilst the Burgundiansand their duke Mummulus, who beheld with apprehension the arrival of a numerous and warlike nation in the vicinity of the western Alps, continually harassed, and probably might eventually have succeeded in subduing them, had they been assisted by the Franks, who, fortunately for the Longobardi, were at that time too busily engaged in civil broils to be able to turn their attention to the affairs of their neighbours. The whole country of the Po and the fortified city of Pavia at length fell ALBOIN IN ITALY. 191 into the hands of Alboin, [A. D. 572,] who, warned by the fate of the Ostrogoths, occasioned by the dispersion of their forces in central and southern Italy, took up a strong position on the Po, and made Pavia his capital, whence he could watch the movements of the Burgundians, the Alemanni, and the Franks, whilst he kept the Bulgarians and the Avari in check by the erection of strong fortifications in the Frioul. Instead of treating the conquered Romans Avith the generosity they had met with at the hands of the Ostrogoths, he deprived them of the whole of the land, and reduced them to a state of servitude, to which they submitted without a struggle, al- though they had formerly disdained the equality offered them by their Gothic conquerors. Shortly after these events Alboin fell a victim to his own brutality. During a festival held at Pavia, when flushed with success and wine, he forced Rosamunda, the daughter of Ku- nimund, to drink from a cup formed from the scull of her father. In order to revenge this insult and to gratify her hatred against her father's murderer, Rosamunda, without hesitation, sacrificed her honour for the attainment of her purpose. One of her attendants had a lover, named Peredeo, a strong and active man, whom she unwittingly insnared, and then threatened to denounce to the king, unless he con- sented to deprive him of life. Peredeo, worked upon by the wily queen, was conducted by her into the royal chamber, where Alboin, unable to snatch his sword from the wall, to which it had been artfully fastened by the queen, defended himself for some time with a foot-stool against the attack of his murderer. He was no sooner dead, than Helmichis, Ro- samunda's confidant, married her, in the hope of gaining the crown, but the Longobardi, enraged at the murder of their king, attempting to seize their persons, they fled for safety to Longinus, the Greek governor of Ravenna, who, struck by the great beauty of the queen, offered her his hand. Rosa- munda, habituated to crime and detesting the tool of her re- venge equally with its object, now administered poison to Helmichis, who no sooner tasted the cup, than, discovering her treachery, he forced her to drain it to the dregs, and to share his fate [A. D. 573]. The Saxons, dissatisfied with the treatment they received from the Longobardi, quitted Italy, and being defeated during 192 THEODOLINDA their passage across the Alps by the Burgundians under Mumruulus, were constrained to purchase freedom with the sacrifice of their whole booty. A worse fate awaited them on their arrival in their native country on the Bode, (now Swabia,) which they found occupied by the Alemanni, who had been invited thither by the Franks, and whose peaceful offers being scornfully rejected, a war ensued, in which the Saxons were completely worsted, and 30,000 of them slain. LXXXIX. Theodolinda. AFTER the death of Alboin, the Longobardi raised Kleph to the throne, who fell, in 575, by the hand of one of his sub- jects, and an interregnum of ten years ensued, during which the thirty-six Gauen were governed by an equal number of independent dukes, who invaded France, in 576, and were defeated in the mountains by Mummulus. In the ensuing year, three of these dukes, Amon, Zadan, and Rodan, again invaded that country, but were defeated and obliged to aban- don their baggage on the Alps. They afterwards gained a victory over a Roman army under Baduarius [A. D. 577]. The dukes, apprehending a double invasion on the part of France and Greece, [A. D. 584,] now elected another king, Autharis, the son of Kleph, who restored peace to the king- dom and made a treaty with Smaragdus, the exarch of Ra- venna. In order to strengthen himself against France by an alliance with Bavaria, he demanded Theodolinda, the beauti- ful and pious daughter of Garibald, in marriage, and accom- panying the embassy in disguise, succeeded in gaining her affections. On quitting her father's court, he discovered his rank to her, by saying, as he struck his battle-axe into a tree, " Thus strikes the king of the Longobardi ! " Garibald, se- cretly influenced by the Franks, withdrew his consent to the marriage, upon which Theodolinda fled across the Alps to her royal lover, and the wedding was celebrated at Verona. The Franks, enraged at the failure of their scheme, accused Gari- bald of having connived at the flight of his daughter, and a war ensued, in which Autharis, protected by his fortresses, was victorious. The Franks, harassed by internal dissensions, deferred their revenge, and Autharis turning his arms against THEODOLINDA. 193 the Romans, overran Italy, and raised a monument at Reggio. He died early, [A. D. 591,] and the Longobardi, wrought upon by the beauty and address of Theodolinda, entrusted her with the choice of a successor to her bed and to the throne. A handsome Thuringian, named Agilulf, whose political princi- ples coincided with her own, became the object of her choice, and on his bending to kiss her hand one day as she sat at table, she said with a blush, " You have a right to kiss my cheek, for you are my king !" The influence obtained by this queen over the minds of the people was so unlimited, that the same nation which, in 579, had murdered 400 Romans for refusing to sacrifice to their gods, embraced Christianity at her request. She was on friendly terms with the pope, Gregory the Great, and not only concluded peace with the Franks, but strengthened the alliance by promoting marriages between the two nations. Under her peaceful reign, the con- stitution of Lombardy was finally arranged. The warlike form of government, consisting of dukes and their subordinate chiefs or decani, who exercised the judiciary power in time of peace, was at first retained. The Romans, deprived of their freedom, managed the estates of their lords, and held a par- ticular office as Gastalden, ( Gast, guest ; aid, alt, old,* ) de- pendent, like that of the decani, on the dukes. The new kingdom extended from Savoy to the Frioul, and from the Southern Tyrol to Benevento. A part of Upper Italy, the cities of Ravenna, Rome, and Naples, with Calabria and Sicily, alone remained in the hands of the Greeks, and formed an exarchate, of which Ravenna was the capital. The church, meanwhile, supported by Theodolinda, increased in power, the pope exercising almost uncontrolled authority at Rome. Frioul and Benevento, on the eastern and southern frontiers, were governed by powerful and almost independent dukes. The republic of Venice, then in its infancy, already emulated Greece in the knowledge and practice of navigation, a science unknown to the Longobardi, whose invasion of the country had driven fresh fugitives to the little islands in the Lagune, first peopled by refugees in the time of Attila. Agilulf died, and Adelwald, his youthful son and successor, rendering himself obnoxious, was murdered by his subjects, * See chapter iv. The word Aldi. O 194 THE CRIMES OF THE MEROVIXGIANS. [A. D. 615,] who, in gratitude for the benefits conferred on them by Theodolinda, elected Ariowald, the husband of her daughter, Gerberga, as her successor on the throne [A. r>. 625]. XC. The crimes of the Merovingians. THE success of the Prankish kings of the race of Merowig, who by violence and fraud had risen from obscurity, and had become the most powerful monarchs in Europe, led to the indulgence of the deepest moral depravity. Their policy, widely differing from that of the enlightened and generous- minded Dietrich of Bern, was solely based on oppression and murder, and the bloody feuds between the numerous descend- ants of Chlodwig, each of whom, dissatisfied with his portion, grasped at the whole of the immense inheritance, equalled in treachery and cold-blooded cruelty the horrors they had already enacted in their wars with neighbouring nations. Some of these feuds may have arisen from an idea of the political unity of the nation being necessary for its protection against foreign aggression, whilst others may have been caused by a desire of gaining sole possession of the enormous treasure, composed of the booty taken from many nations, preserved at Paris, which is beautifully and truly designated in the Xibelungenlied as the source of all their corruption. On recurring to those olden times, when the Frank, poor, ignorant, and barbarous, suddenly came into possession of enormous wealth and power, the scenes of horror that ensued, one brother turning his hand against another, lest he should first fall a victim to treachery, may almost be anticipated. The tragedy was commenced after the deaths of Theodorich and Chlodomir, two of the four sons of Chlodwig, by their brethren, Childebert and Chlotar, who seized the inheritance of the sons of Chlodomir, whose mother, Chrodogilda, being offered the alternative of their death, or of their seclusion, with shorn heads, in a monastery, proudly replied, "Rather let them die than be deprived of their royal right ! " upon which they were instantly stabbed by Chlotar ; Childebert, moved to pity, when too late, vainly attempting to rescue them from his murderous grasp. On the death of Childebert, the whole authority was vested in Chlo- tar, the close of whose reign is marked by an incident which FREDEGUNDA. 195 proves that a nation cannot be rendered entirely and blindly subservient to the ambition of its rulers. During the inva- sion of Saxony, the Franks suddenly protested against the injustice of the war, and threatened to put their king to death, unless he desisted from it ; but it was not until his tent had been destroyed by the enraged multitude that Chlotar yielded and terminated the campaign. Chlotar was succeeded by his four sons, [A. D. 561,] who di- vided the kingdom ; Charibert reigning at Paris, Guntram at Orleans, Sigebert at Metz, and Chilperich at Soissons. The horrors committed by these four brethren cast the depravity of the four sons of Chlodwig into the shade. Never has one family amassed such a heritage of crime ! The nation, influenced by the changes consequent on the introduction of the feudal system, either beheld with indifference or favoured the dis- sensions between their rulers, of which they took advantage in order to obtain concessions and additional privileges in re- turn for their assistance, (the majority of the people having been deprived of their Allods, and the tenure of the fiefs de- pending on the will of the sovereign, and being alienable on the demise of the feoffee,) although in general they required no stronger incentive than the hope of booty ; whilst the clergy, ever on the watch for an opportunity of increasing the power of the church at the expense of that of the temporal sovereigns, participated in the guilt of this royal house by promoting disunion between its various branches. XCI. Fredegunda. THE disorders in the family of Chlotar were commenced by Charibert, king of Paris, who, in defiance of the interdict pronounced against him by Bishop Germanus, took unto him- self four wives, a crime to which, in the superstition of the times, his early death was attributed. Guntram, king of Orleans, followed his example and took three wives. This base polygamy was turned to advantage by Sigebert, king of Metz, who, after gaining a victory over the Avari in the east, raised himself above his brothers by an alliance with the princess Brunehilda, the daughter of Athanagild, king of the Visigoths, whose youthful charms and immense dowry filled o 2 196 FREDEGUXDA. all France with her fame, and the heart of Chilperich king of Soissons with envy. This wretch had already sacrificed his wife Audodeva and her two children to his mistress, Frede- gunda, a woman celebrated for her beauty and ferocity. Solely influenced by jealousy and avarice, he now demanded the hand of Galaswintha, Brunehilda's sister, whom, at the in- stigation of Fredegunda, he caused to be murdersd in her bed, soon after her arrival in Soissons and the reception of her rich dower, and a few days after the commission of this crime proclaimed his artful mistress queen. He then suddenly entered the territory of Sigebert, in the hope of gaining pos- session of it by surprise, but met with a sturdy opposition from the Austrasians, Sigebert's true-born German subjects. During this contest, letters were addressed by St. Radegunda from her convent to both the brothers, adjuring them to peace, and reminding them of the evils that had befallen her family, the bitter consequences of disunion ; but her voice was un- heard. The war proved disastrous to Chilperich. whose son, Theodebert, was killed in battle, and Sigebert had scarcely been seated by the Neustrians on the throne of Paris, than he was slain by assassins in the pay of his treacherous brother, [A. D. 576, j who, taking advantage of the consternation caused by this event, re-entered the city, placed himself at the head of the Neustrians, drove out the now chiefless Austrasians, took the unfortunate Brunehilda prisoner, and almost suc- ceeded in gaining possession of her son, Childebert, a child of three years of age, whose life was saved by a trusty servant, named Gundobald, who frustrated the search of the murderers by secreting him in a game-bag, by which means he contrived to escape with him to Austrasia, where he was proclaimed king. Brunehilda, now a prisoner and in the power of Fredegunda, the murderess of her sister and husband, had al- ready prepared for death, when a deliverer appeared in the person of Merowich, the son of Chilperich, who, happening to see the beautiful prisoner at Rouen, became deeply enamoured of her, and drew her from her prison. Influenced by grati- tude for this proof of devotion, the queen bestowed her hand upon him, and, aided by the faithful bishop Praetertatus, who pronounced the nuptial benediction, the lovers escaped to Austrasia, where the great vassals of the crown, unwilling to place their youthful sovereign under the guardianship of a FREDEGUNDA. 197 step-father, and unmoved by the tears and entreaties of Brune- hilda, refused to receive her husband, who was, consequently, compelled to return to Neustria, where, fearing his father's vengeance, he raised an army, and being defeated by a ruse de guerre, preferred receiving death from his companions in arms to the fate that awaited him, as a prisoner, at the hands of the hateful Fredegunda. This queen, whose propensities were as licentious as they were bloody, had, in the mean time, carried on a criminal in- tercourse with Landerich, her husband's major-domus, which was, by chance, discovered by Chilperich, who, one day enter- ing her room softly when she was dressing, heard her utter the name of Landerich, for whom she had mistaken him, but not daring to put her to death, was himself shortly afterward deprived of life by her adherents, when following the chace [A. D. 584]. Chlotar the Second, the only son of Fredegunda, who governed in his name, succeeded to the throne. The peace-loving Guntram of Orleans, struck with horror at the bloody deeds of this Megasra, sent ambassadors to Childebert of Austrasia, and an interview took place between them on a bridge, when the childless old man, tenderly embracing his nephew, declared him his heir, hoping, by this means, to save his kingdom from the bloody grasp of Fredegunda. The dotage of the aged king was, meanwhile, turned to advantage by the great vassals and the bishops of Neustria and Austrasia, who, during the minority of Childebert, frequently made the old man the umpire of their feuds, and found means to gain many great privileges. The brave Mummulus, the most powerful of the Burgundian chiefs, was, by the intrigues of his enemies, sentenced to death by his ungrateful master, and the whole nation became gradually infected with the egotism and cruelty characteristic of the race of Merowig. The increasing power of the great vassals for some time kept the authority of Fredegunda and of Brunehilda in check, but the latter at length succeeded in forming a party in Austrasia, by which she was placed at the head of affairs. The success attending her first enterprise, undertaken against the Longobardi, at once gained the confidence of her warlike subjects and confirmed her newly acquired power. With a heart hardened by former adversity, she bloodily revenged herself upon the nobles, the authors of her cruel fate, who, &tS BRUXEHILDA. after depriving her of her husband, Merowich, had compelled her to part with Lupus, her only faithful adherent. These occurrences are mentioned in the song of the Nibelungen as the revenge of Chriemhilda. Fredegunda, enraged at her success, attempted to assassinate her, but was frustrated in her scheme, and her emissaries were put to death. She then, in the hope of gaining the chief power in Neustria, secretly caused the nobles to be murdered one by one, but, neverthe- less, only reached her aim on the death of Guntram, [A. D. 595,] when she and her paramour, Landerich, set up a claim to the throne of Burgundy, in opposition to that of Brunehilda and her son, Childebert, who, after his first campaign against the Longobardi, had subdued the petty nation of the Varini and incorporated it with that of Thuringia.* This youthful monarch, basely deserted by the Burgundian nobles, whom Landerich had bribed, by lavishing upon them the accumu- lated treasure of the Merovingian kings, died shortly after his defeat at Soissons, not without suspicion of having been poi- soned by Brunehilda, who coveted the possession of the sole authority in order to reign undisturbed with her paramours. Childebert left two sons, Theudebert, who inherited Austra- sia, and its capital, Metz ; and Theuderich, who claimed Bur- gundy, and its capital, Orleans ; the possession of which was again disputed by Fredegunda. A second battle took place on the Seine, in which Brunehilda was victorious, whereupon Fredegunda, stimulated by revenge, stirred up the Avari and the Saxons, who invaded Thuringia, [A. D. 596,] but, before the contest was decided, her criminal existence reached its close. XCII. Brunehilda. THEUDEBERT, after repulsing the Avari and the Saxons, turned his arms against Chlotar, whom he defeated, after a * Radigis, king of the Varini, had deserted his Anglo-Saxon bride for a Prankish princess. The Anglo-Saxon, in revenge for this insult, landed on the coast of Germany, and after a long search, succeeded in taking her faithless bridegroom prisoner in a wood, when she compelled him to repudiate the Frank and to marry her. This little incident was ILii cause of the ruin of the whole nation, which was subdued by the avenging Franks. BRUXEHILDA. 199 desperate engagement, in which 30,000 Franks fell. Brune- hilda, deprived of one object of her hatred by the death of her old enemy, Fredegunda, now sought to revenge herself upon the Austrasian nobles by whom her influence had formerly been impaired, and after causing ^Egila, the major-domus, to be murdered, bestowed that office upon Protadius, the para- mour of her old age, whom she raised to the highest dignities of state. Enraged at the disapprobation of her tyrannical and licentious inclinations manifested by her grandson Theudebert, she remorselessly flung the brand of discord into her own family, by persuading Theuderich that his brother, instead of being the son of Chlotar, owed his existence to a miller, and a quarrel had already broken out between them, when Unce- lin, duke of Alemannia, raising a sedition among the Ger- mans, slew the Roman Protadius in his camp, and brought about a reconciliation. Brunehilda, furious at the restraint imposed upon her by Theuderich, caused the bishop Deside- rius, who had ventured to preach repentance to her, to be stoned to death, and revenged the reprobation with which the Irish saint, Columban, had denounced her crimes, by driving him out of the country. This artful wretch at length suc- ceeded in setting her grandsons completely at variance, by persuading the credulous Theuderich to deprive his brother, on the plea of his illegitimacy, of the beautiful province of Alsace. Two dreadful conflicts took place at Toul and Ziil- pich, the latter of which proved fatal to Theudebert, who fell into the hands of his unnatural grandmother and was confined in a monastery, where he was shortly afterwards murdered by her order, and the brains of his little son, Merowich, were dashed out against a rock [A. D. 612]. Theuderich, inspirited by this success, now invaded Neustria, and Brunehilda was gloating on the prospect of speedily sating her revenge on Chlotar the Second, whose mother death had placed beyond her reach, when the retribution so long delayed at length burst upon her head. Theuderich, struck by the beauty of Theutelana, the daughter of Theudebert, was on the eve of marrying her, when his grandmother, who dreaded the con- sequences of this alliance, contradicted her former assertion of Theudebert's illegitimacy in order to prove that the marriage was forbidden by the church. The fratricide, filled with re- morse at this avowal, drew his sword and threatened the life 200 BRUNEHILDA. of his hateful mother, who soon after revenged herself by ad- ministering poison to him. Theuderich left four sons, still in their infancy. Sigebert, the eldest, wae placed by Brunehilda, who intended to govern in his name, on the throne of Austrasia, but her expectations were frustrated by Pipin von Landen, who, at the head of a numerous party of discontented nobles, went over to Chlotar the Second^ who prudently convoked a general assembly of the Frankish nobility, to which he submitted his cause, and the means of putting an end to the feuds which for so long a period had desolated his family. Brunehilda, meanwhile, alarmed by this general desertion, fled from Metz into the interior of Germany, whence she attempted to rouse the jea- lousy of the Australians against the Neustrians. The fidelity of Warnachar, her major-domus, appearing to waver, she conspired against his life, but discovering her intention he counterplotted with Chlotar, and when she recrossed the Rhine at the head of a numerous army, and entered the broad cham- paign around Chalons on the Marne, (famous for the meeting of conflicting nations in the time of Attila,) where she en- countered Chlotar, her followers deserted her to a man, and she was delivered up to her adversary, who, after causing her to undergo the most excruciating torture for three days, had her placed on a camel's back and paraded through the camp ; the punishment being terminated by her being tied by the hair of her head, by one arm and one foot, to the tail of a wild horse. Thus miserably ended the life of the Visigothic princess, [A. D. 613,] whose arrival in France was attended with such splendour, and hailed with such universal delight. Her crimes were visited upon her descendants. Sigebert and his second brother, Corvus, were murdered by order of Chlo- tar ; Merowich, the third, being his godson, was spared ; and the fourth, Childebert, fled the country and was never heard of more. Frideburga, a noble maiden, daughter of Gunzo, duke of Alemannia, lost her senses on hearing of the death of Sigebert, to whom she was betrothed, and being restored to reason by St. Gallus, the disciple of St. Columban, he was, in reward, permitted to found the monastery of St. Gall, in the country of the pagan Alemanni, by whom St. Columban had a short time previously been driven away for having, ventured to throw three of their deities, (probably Wodan, Thor, and GRIMOALD. 201 Frigga, who gave name to the Bodensee, the Thurgau, and the Frickthal,) whose images stood on the banks of the Bodensee, into the lake. The use of carriages was introduced into France by Brune- hilda, during whose reign the roads were made, long known as the chaussees* de Brunehault, the only benefit she ever conferred on her subjects. With her the legitimate line of the Merovingians ceased, and the bastard brood of Fredegunda, Merovingians only in name, mounted the throne in the person of Chlotar the Second, whose slothful effeminacy, bigotry, and sensuality, were unredeemed by the energy which so emi- nently characterized the lineal descendants of Merowig. The great vassals of the crown and the bishops, anxious to obtain a confirmation of the privileges they had gained during these disturbances, now sought to establish peace throughout the kingdom, reunited beneath the sceptre of Chlotar the Se- cond, and convoking a general state assembly at Paris, [A. D. 625,] compelled him to render the feofs hereditary and to grant fresh privileges to the clergy, who henceforward shared with the people the right of electing the bishops, whose office was merely confirmed by the king. The power of the Hausmaier, or mayor of the palace, a post of great importance whenever the sceptre was in the hands of women and children, had also risen during these long dis- turbances, and had become, as will hereafter be seen, the ob- ject to which the nobility most ambitiously aspired. XCIII. Grimoald. THE Avari, a wild and savage race that had settled in Hungary, advanced under the command of their prince, Cacan, through the mountains of Illyria and Lombardy, [A. D. 611,] and after slaying Gisulph, the grand duke, and all his adhe- rents in battle, laid siege to the city of Frioul, where Ro- milda, the widow of Gisulph, had taken refuge. One day when gazing from the battlements, the duchess beheld the * On the Feldberg, the highest summit of the Taunus, a large mass of stones, called Brunehilda's bed, is still to be seen, whence this queen is said to have often gazed on the delicious prospect. 202 GRIMOALD. young khan, and becoming enamoured of his beauty, offered, regardless alike of honour and duty, to betray the city into his hands on condition of being made his wife. The compact was made and fulfilled. The city was delivered up, and Cacan took Romilda with her four sons and four daughters into Hungary, where the marriage was celebrated, but on the fol- lowing morning, with a perfidy worthy of the husband of such a woman, he caused her to be impaled alive. Her daugh- ters, Appa, who subsequently married a duke of Alemannia, and Gaila, who wedded a duke of Bavaria, preserved their honour by the singular precaution of polluting their persons with the putrid flesh of a fowl. The four sons found means to escape. Grimoald, the youngest, who was mounted behind his eldest brother Tafo, was thrown to the ground during the flight, and Tafo, fearing lest he might be taken alive by their pursuers, was in the act of transfixing him with his lance, when, moved by the entreaties of the boy, he changed his resolution, and replacing him on his horse, continued his flight. Grimoald again fell and was seized by an Avar, who mounted him on his horse with the intention of carrying him off, when the brave child, drawing a dagger from the man's belt, suddenly stabbed him to the heart, tossed him from the saddle, and gallopped after his brethren, whom he speedily rejoined. Tafo was hospitably received by Ariowald, king of Lombardy, and succeeded his father in the dukedom of Frioul. A certain Adalulf, whose criminal advances had been scornfully rejected by Queen Gundeberga, revenged himself by rousing the suspicion of the king against Tafo, whom he falsely accused of carrying on an illicit intercourse with the queen. Tafo was put to death. The innocence of the queen was afterwards fully proved, and, on the death of Ariowald, she was treated by the Lombards with the same respect that had formerly been shown to her mother, Theodolinda, her second husband being left to her choice, which fell upon Rotharis, a man distinguished for prudence. He bestowed an admirable code of laws upon Lombardy. On his death, [A. D. 643,] the Lombards, wishful to show their devotion to the memory of their beloved queen, Theodolinda, and of her virtuous race, raised her brother, the Bavarian Aribert, to the throne [A. D. 654]. His sons, Bertarit and Godebert, GRIMOALD. 203 disputed the succession, [A. D. 661,] and a struggle ensued between the rival parties, which terminated at Benevento in favour of the Lombards. The brave little Grimoald was adopted by Duke Arigil of Benevento, and became a famous warrior. He greatly dis- tinguished himself, under the command of his patron, against the Greeks in Lower Italy, and, on succeeding to the throne of Benevento, declared in favour of King Godebert. A man who was secretly in the pay of King Bertarit, succeeded, how- ever, in persuading the two friends, that each was plotting the other's destruction, alleging, in support of his assertion, that each wore armour beneath his dress, through fear of the other. The fear of assassination now induced them in reality to take this precaution, which Grimoald no sooner perceived, than, confirmed in his suspicions, he slew his supposed enemy, think- ing to save his own life. Bertarit still maintained his right, but the Lombards, persuaded of Grimoald's innocence, placed him on the throne. Constans, the Greek emperor, taking ad- vantage of the discord that prevailed in Lombardy, marched thither in person from Naples and laid siege to Benevento, which was, at that time, defended by Romuald, whose father, Grimoald, was engaged in the north, but who despatched Sesu- ald, his trusty adherent, at the head of some troops, to his assistance. Sesuald fell into the hands of the emperor, who promised to load him with honour and wealth, on condition of his giving Romuald a false account of the death of Grimoald, and of persuading him to capitulate ; but the faithful man, when led to the walls for that purpose, cried out, " Be firm ! Grimoald approaches ! " His head was instantly severed from his body and cast into the city. It fell at the feet of Romuald, who pressed it to his lips and deeply deplored his death. Instead of awaiting the arrival of Grimoald, the emperor re- treated upon Naples. He was pursued, and a battle was on the point of commencing, when Amalong, a gigantic Lombard, lifting a Greek from his saddle with his lance, held him poised in the air, and the rest of his countrymen, terror-stricken at sight of this feat, fled to Sicily. Bertarit at length, finding resistance futile, submitted to Grimoald, who, either mistrust- ing him or being again misled, laid a plan for murdering him in his bed, which was discovered by one of Bertarit's servants, who aided his master to escape, and placed himself 204 GRIMOALD. in his bed. Grimoald, struck by this proof of fidelity, at- tempted to attach him to his own person, but finding his endeavours unsuccessful, yielded to his entreaties, and restored him to his master, who had taken refuge in France. His cause was embraced by Chlotar the Second, who took up arms against the Lombards, and was defeated at Asti by Grimoald, who, feigning to desert his camp, which he left well stored with provisions, suddenly returned and put his feasting opponents to the sword [A. D. 665]. In the following year, he defeated the Avari, who also invaded Lombardy, by marching and countermarching his little army, each time dressed in different colours, within sight of the enemy, so as to give them a false impression of his numbers. Grimoald gave many new laws to his country. In his old age he was remarkable for his bald head and long white beard. After his death, [A. D. 671,] the Lombards recalled the ex- iled Bertarit, and Romuald contented himself witli the posses- sion of Benevento. Cunibert, the son of Bertarit, was greatly disquieted by the rebellious dukes, and his son, Liutprand, was set aside by Reginhart, a descendant of Godebert. Aribert the Second, his son and successor, in order to revenge himself upon Ansbrand, the guardian of Liutprand, who had taken refuge in Bavaria, deprived his son of his eyesight, and muti- lated his mother and daughter. Ansbrand being assisted by the Bavarians and joined by the Lombards, by whom Aribert was universally detested, in the first encounter the latter fled from his camp, but, unwilling to part from his treasures, loaded himself so heavily with gold, that, when crossing the river Etsch on horseback, he sank beneath the weight and was drowned [A. D. 711]. Ansbrand mounted the throne, and was succeeded by his son Liutprand, who gave laws to the Lom- bards favouring the emancipation of the slaves, in order better to dispose the ancient Roman inhabitants towards the Lom- bard rule. He also projected the conquest of the whole of Italy, where the Romans were attempting to make their ex- archate independent of the Greek emperor; but an insur- mountable obstacle presented itself at Rome, where the pope, Gregory the Second, who disdained to submit to a king of Lombardy, and was moreover desirous of dividing Italy into petty sovereignties, in order to increase his own independence, was powerfully supported by the Franks, who, forgetful of the FALL OF THE SUEVIAX AND VISIGOTHIC KINGDOM. 205 generosity of Liutprand in assisting them against the Moors, compelled him to restore Eavenna to the pope. Liutprand died in 744, and was succeeded by Eachis, whose brother, Aistulf, on coming to the throne, attempted to carry out the plans of Liutprand, and pressing hard upon Eome, was at- tacked and defeated by the Franks. XCIV. Fall of the Suevian and Visigothic kingdom in Spain. AFTER the death of Theodorich the Great, the protector of the Visigoths, Amalarich, their king, attempted to cement the friendship of the Franks by an alliance with Chlotilda, the daughter of Chlodwig, but the ancient hatred existing be- tween the two nations was too deeply rooted, and the haughty princess, ill-treated by her husband, sent a cloth stained with her blood as a token to her brothers, and Childebert, hasten- ing to avenge her wrongs, slew Amalarich near Narbonne [A. D. 531]. The Goths elected Theudis, and the Franks were way-laid on their return to France, and defeated by Theodisel, his general, who succeeded him on the throne, and was assassinated in consequence of his licentious habits. He was succeeded by JEgila, who was deposed by Athanagild, the father of the celebrated Brunehilda, whose successors were Liuba and Lowigild, a furious tyrant, against whom the Basques, in the Pyrenees, rebelled. His son, Hermenegild, married Jugundis, the daughter of Brunehilda, a pious, gentle princess, and zealous Catholic. Her husband had been reared in the same faith by his mother, Theodosia, who was a Greek Catholic. Goiswinda, his step-mother, an equally zealous Arian, enraged at the obstinacy with which her daughter-in- law adhered to her religious tenets, caused her to be thrown into a tun full of water, in order to baptize her according to the form of her church. Hermenegild, revolted by this treat- ment of his young wife, refused to embrace Arianism, and rebelling against his father, joined the ancient Eoman Catholic inhabitants of Spain, the Suevi and the Basques. The rebels were defeated ; Andeca, king of the Suevi, was confined in a monastery, and the whole nation reduced to submission. Hermenegild surrendered himself to his father, who con- demned and put him to death. The Catholics worshipped 206 FALL OF THE SUEVIAN AND him as a saint. Jugundis, whilst attempting to escape by sea into France, fell into the hands of the Greeks, and died in Africa [A. D. 585]. Fredegunda, delighted at this catastrophe, and hoping to gain the Visigoths over to her party in opposition to that of her arch-enemy, Brunehilda, offered her daughter, Rigundis, in marriage to Reccared, Hermenegild's brother, and the richly-dowered bride, sadly foreboding that the evil fate of Jugundia might prove her own, set out for Spain, but before she reached the Pyrenees, was despoiled and sent back by Guntram's vassals ; an insult which was afterwards bloodily revenged by Lb'wigild. Reccared, who succeeded his father, favoured the Catholics, and foreseeing that the Arian Visi- goths must finally yield to their antagonists and share the miserable fate of the Ostrogoths, made a public confession of the Catholic faith. He afterwards defeated a conspiracy formed against him by the Arians, [A.. D. 590,] headed by Goiswinda and her ally, Guntram, who had sent a Frankish army under Desiderius, duke of Toulouse, into Spain, and Goiswinda killed herself in despair. Reccared introduced several new regulations into the government, which, by low- ering the pride of the Gothic nobility, and by conferring great privileges upon the Romans, essentially contributed to the gradual extinction of the German language and free constitu- tion, and to the promotion of Italian ascendancy, which was materially assisted by the efforts of the Catholic clergy, whose influence had greatly increased during the long interregnum that occurred after the death of Alaric. The subsequent rapid change of sovereigns on the throne, and the schism in the church, had also added to the importance and pretensions of the bishops, who now held a casting vote in the diet or council, which promulgated both civil and ecclesiastical law, and formed among the Visigoths one and the same assembly. Reccared died in 601. His son, Liuba, was dethroned by Witherich, who. rendering himself obnoxious by his tyranny, was assassinated at a banquet. In this manner sovereigns rapidly succeeded each other, all of whom were unable to transmit the throne to their descendants without a violent struggle, were murdered by their rebellious subjects, or de- throned by a successful rival ; the ecclesiastical and temporal lords, meanwhile, taking advantage of the confusion that VISIGOTHIC KINGDOM IN SPAIN. 207 prevailed to gain a firm footing in the state. The Basques were in almost continual revolt, and the country lay open to the Franks, who, fortunately for their neighbours, were at that period busily engaged in their own civil dissensions. The most distinguished among the Gothic princes of that time, were Sigebert, who drove the Greeks from their last strong-holds in some of the maritime towns, and who died in 620 ; Chindasuinth, who, by putting 500 nobles to death, an- nihilated the power of the ancient aristocracy [A. D. 652] ; and Reccesuinth, who chastised the Basques, and restrained the hierarchical power by reinstating that of the dukes [A. D. 672]. After him, Wamba the Wise was unanimously chosen king. During his reign, the Moors, whom he successfully re- pulsed, first landed in Spain. He was projecting the imposi- tion of further restrictions on the power of the bishops, when he fell a victim to their treachery. A great rebellion of the Romans, under Paulus the Greek, which may be regarded as a Roman reaction against the declining Gothic empire, had been happily quelled, when Erwig, a young man whom he had loaded with benefits, administered a sleeping draught to him, and the priests, during his stupor, deprived him of his long hair, (a loss which, according to the Gothic custom, rendered him incapable of reigning,) and consigned him to the cloister. On regaining his senses, fearing lest the prosecution of his claim might occasion a civil war, he had the rare self-denial calmly to take the vow which separated him from the world. Erwig, struck with remorse, followed his example. He was succeeded by Egiza, [A. D. 687,] during whose reign, the Moors again invaded the coasts, but were repulsed by the brave duke, Theodorich. Witiza, the son of Egiza, succeeded his father, and imposed fresh restrictions upon the clergy [A. D. 698]. His unbridled licentiousness rendering him ob- noxious to the people, an insurrection broke out, and Roderick was elected in his stead, against whom the son of Witiza and Count Julianus conspired.* Roderick is said to have dis- * One day as King Roderick was beholding the sports of the maids of honour from a balcony of his palace, Cava, the daughter of Count Julian, accidentally lost her footing and fell. The king, struck with her remark- able beauty, became passionately enamoured of her, and, being unsuc- cessful in his suit, offered her violence. According to another legend, an ancient chest, which contained the destruction of Spain, was opened with 208 FALL OF THE SUEVIAN AND VISIGOTHIC KINGDOM. honoured the daughter of Julianus, who, in revenge, invited the Moors over from Africa. The whole of the north of that country was, at that period, in the hands of those zealous pro- pagators of the religion of Mahomet, who had put an end to the Greek dominion, which had been re-established there by Belisarius. Taric, the Moorish chief, landed with a great army on the celebrated rock, which forms the most southern point of Europe, and is named after him Gebel-al-Taric, Gib- raltar. Roderick marched against him, and although in the commencement of the battle his army was weakened by the desertion of Count Julian, who went over to Taric, the en- gagement lasted eight days, from the 19th to the 26th of July, A. D. 711. It took place near Zeres de la Frontera. The victory was, at length, decided on the eighth day in favour of the Moors, by the sudden disappearance of Roderick, whose horse and crown were found on the bank of a river. The flower of the Gothic nation strewed the field of battle. The bodies of the nobles were distinguished by the golden rings they bore, whilst those of the freemen bore silver ones, and those of the bondmen copper ones. At Sigonia, a brave de- fence was made by Egiza ; and, in Cordova, four hundred Goths sustained a siege of three months in a church with un- exampled bravery. At length Toledo, the capital, fell into the hands of the invaders, who soon became masters of the whole country. The numerous Jewish population, formerly cruelly oppressed by the Christians, now revenged their suffer- ings by acting as spies and auxiliaries to the enemy. The Goths, persuaded that the Moors, solely intent on plunder, would shortly evacuate the country they despoiled, did not exert their utmost energy in order to drive them out, and were only convinced of their fatal error when the enemy had settled in the land and opposition was unavailing. Fresh armies con- tinually crossed the Strait, repeopled the desolated provinces, built new cities, and plunged the majority of the inhabitants into slavery. Among others, thirty thousand Gothic maidens were carried away from Spain, as a present to the caliph. A number of Gothic warriors took refuge in the mountains of Asturia and Gallicia, and at a later period again emerged from their rocky fastnesses. bold curiosity by Roderick, and the instant that the lid flew up, the enemy entered and laid the country waste. MAHOMET AND THE ARABIANS. 209 XCV. Mahomet and the Arabians. THE Arabians, a people distinguished from the other Asiatic nations by superior elevation of character and fervour of ima- gination, were destined to play a part in Asia and Africa, after the fall of the Roman empire, similar to that enacted by the Germans in Europe. Christianity, although spread at an early period over Asia Minor and Arabia, became gradually less adapted in its doctrines and form of worship to the pecu- liar temperament of the Eastern nations. The various cha- racters impressed upon the Western and Eastern churches by the deeply-searching intellect of the meditative German, and by the subtle sophistry of the Greek philosopher, were lost amid the burning wastes of Asia. The Asiatic, unacquainted with the higher intellectual necessities of the European, with physical powers more rapidly and fully developed than his moral faculties, with an imagination warmer than the feelings of his heart, ignorant of liberty, whether in polity, religion, or science, accustomed to cringe beneath the despot's power, shackled in his religious creed by severe laws, which governed not only the actions but the thoughts of his every-day life, beheld Christianity in a very different light to the European. Deprived of vitality, its further development checked, to him it appeared a mere dead letter, a stern and inflexible law. The religion of love and liberty no sooner became one of passive obedience and hard necessity, than it lost its dominion over, the minds of the people, and its influence on government, society, manners, and daily life. Christianity was first imbued with an Asiatic character by the Arabians, the most imaginative of the Eastern nations. Mahomet, a man of energetic and creative intellect, who re- presented himself as the messenger and prophet of God, founded upon it a new doctrine, Islamism, or Mohammedanism, adapted to the temperament of his countrymen, and replaced the Bible by the Koran, which commands belief in one God, recognises Moses, Christ, and Mahomet, as his prophets, an- nounces the first duty of the true believer to be the promul- gation of tin's doctrine by fire and sword over the whole world, and promises voluptuous joys in heaven to those who fall in battle against unbelievers ; an idea probably drawn from the p 210 MAHOMET AND THE ARABIANS. AYalhalla of the North, as it is possible that the mythology of the Goths and Vandals may not have been entirely unknown 'in Arabia. After death, the Mahometan heroes, attended by houris, (exactly similar to the Walkyren,) caroused in eternal delight ; the only difference between the Arabian paradise and that of the North being the absence of warlike sports, the heroes being merely rewarded with sensual pleasures. In 622 the Mahometan war of proselytism commenced. The accordance of Islamism with the Asiatic character, the heroic deeds of Mahomet, the valour and enthusiasm of his followers, and the promises of celestial bliss, all conduced to the rapid propagation of the new religion, and involuntarily biassed the minds of their opponents in its favour, even whilst still op- posing them sword in hand. Islamism, consequently, speedily predominated throughout Asia, but was met by another spirit more powerful than its own in Europe, against which it vainly battled. Mahomet subdued the whole of Arabia, and became the caliph of the faithful. His successors followed in his steps, and after conquering Persia, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and the whole northern coast of Africa, shook Constantinople, Sicily, and Spain, every where compelling the conquered nations to embrace Islamism. During the reign of the great caliph, Walid, Spain was conquered by Taric. The foundation of a new and gigantic empire, animated by a spirit hitherto unknown, unlimited in its aspirations, and forcibly attempting to domineer the world, was not without its influence on Germanized and Christianized Europe. The appearance of the Moors and their new religion interrupted the civil contests of the Germans, and forced them to turn their attention and their arms to the South, in order to defend France and all Christendom from the destruction which threatened them from Spain. The long contests that ensued steeled the heroism of the Germans, elevated their minds, con- tracted by the petty feuds between kings and vassals, and fired them with religious enthusiasm ; nor did the benefit cease with the danger ; the sciences introduced by the Moors, more especially their natural philosophy, mathematics, and me- chanics, their knowledge and active pursuit of commerce, their wealth, refined sense of the enjoyments of life, and their fertile ;md vivid imagination, exercised a powerful influence over the arts and social existence of the Germans during several sue- THE ANGLO-SAXONS. 211 ceeding centuries. Their kings imitated in their courts the pomp and splendour of the caliphate, and the customs of chi- valry attained to a high degree of refinement, more particu- larly in Spain, where every action was inspired and sanctified by religious enthusiasm, and where the Moors emulated the Germans in the practice of every knightly virtue. XCVL The Anglo-Saxons. ABOUT the period of the migration of the Suevi and the Visigoths to Spain, of the Franks and the Burgundians to Gaul, of the Ostrogoths, the Heruli, and, later, of the Longo- bardi, to Italy, Britain was also newly peopled by Germans. The Romans had been obliged to quit this island, never en- tirely subdued by them, in order to defend their empire from the irruptions of the barbarians, and the ancient inhabitants, the Britons in the south and the Scots in the north, were dis- puting its possession, when Hengist and Horsa, two Saxon lead- ers, landed with a considerable force on the coast, [A. D. 450,] in search of a settlement, for which purpose they had quitted their country, under oath never to return, as was customary in Germany, whenever the population became too numerous for the land. Being well received by Vortigern, the British king, they entered into an alliance with him against his ene- mies, the Scots, whom they speedily compelled to retreat to their mountains. They settled in the country, and Vortigern contracted a marriage with Rowena, the beautiful daughter of Hengist. Their friendship, however, was not of long duration. The Saxons, coveting sole possession of the land, treacherously murdered the Britons during a conference, with knives concealed for that purpose beneath their dresses. Fresh hordes continually arrived from Saxony, and Hengist became king of Kent, [A. D. 455,] the first Saxon kingdom founded in Britain, where, notwithstanding the obstinate opposition of the Britons and Scots, seven kingdoms were gradually founded. The Saxons, who were accompanied in their migrations by numbers of the Angli, received the general appellation of Anglo-Saxons, and the name of Britain was changed to that of Angelland or England. Some of the Britons took shelter in the mountains of Wales, and others, escaping to the coast of p 2 212 THE ANGLO-SAXOXS. France, gave name to Brittany. The Britons, ennobled by misfortune, gathered strength in their fall, and the legends and poetry of that period celebrate their heroic deeds and wild chivalry, more particularly those of King Arthur and his knights. An incident, unimportant in itself, occasioned the introduction of Christianity into England. Two young Angli prisoners, who had been carried to Rome, were standing for sale in the market-place, and the Romans, attracted by their singular beauty, had collected around them, when Gregory the Great, then in a private station, chancing to pass, also stopped, and asked to what nation they belonged, and on being told that they were Angli, said, " They are not Angli, but Angeli, and we must endeavour that the praises of God be sung in their country."* Shortly after this incident, he was raised to the papal chair, and sent a number of mission- aries to England, where the gospel was willingly received ; and, as conviction, untainted by intrigue or violence, had alone induced conversion, the Anglo-Saxons became in consequence distinguished by their zeal and enthusiasm in the cause of re- ligion, above any of the other German nations, and the most celebrated preachers of the gospel went from England to Scandinavia, Germany, and France. The seven kingdoms retained the division into (Gauen) districts, the only change in the constitution being the greater power assigned to the king and his adherents. In 825, Egbert, king of Kent, united these seven states into one kingdom, that of England, notwith- standing which, the people still retained their ancient liberties, the inviolability of their homes, the right of electing the alder- men, (Alter mann, old man,) their public administration of justice, and their Wi ten agemot, or popular assembly, presided over by the king, the origin of parliament ; principles which have been to the present day preserved in the British consti- tution, the rock on which the strength and glory of England rest, whilst the internal and external decay of the power of Germany during past centuries, may be justly attributed to the gradual extinction of her freedom. Although recognising a brother nation in that of Britain, we must, in pursuance of our plan, here take our leave of that great people, and confine ourselves solely to the history of Germany. Still it ought never to be forgotten, whenever * Hume. THE AUSTRASIAX MAYORS OF THE PALACE. 213 the power and glory of England form the theme, that these proud islanders own a common origin with ourselves, and that the civil government of which they so justly boast, sprang from the ancient free constitution of our fatherland. PART VI. CHARLEMAGNE. XCVII. The Austrasian mayors of the palace. THE degenerate Merovingians, alike unworthy and incapable of ruling, weakened by family dissensions, by their effeminacy, and by the system of monkish education, gradually sank be- neath the sway of the mayors of the palace, who, as the hereditary representatives of the vassals of the crown, from whose number they had originally been chosen, and whose interests they consequently forwarded, found means to usurp the control of the state in time of peace as well as of war, and, by craftily surrounding the kings with the pomp and external show of the power they wielded in their stead, by freeing them from the burthen of government, and by favour- ing their love of idleness and pleasure, rendered themselves ever necessary to and generally beloved by their nominal sovereigns. Forbearing to place the crown on their own heads, from a fear of becoming obnoxious to the majority of the people, and of the security of their position being endan- gered by the vassals, their jealous adherents, whom such a step would inevitably change into ambitious rivals, it was not until the mayoralty had been gradually and firmly established, by dint of good fortune and of great talent, as an hereditary dignity, that they ventured by slow and sure means to prepare for its seizure. By countenancing the disputes for the succes- sion to the throne, and the murderous and treacherous pro- 214 PIPIN VON LANDEN. pensities of the Merovingians, whom they corrupted and weakened from their early childhood, both mentally and physically, by indulgence and religious superstitions, they succeeded in rendering them contemptible to their subjects, whilst they removed every suspicion of the existence of their ambitious projects by their apparent submission to their puppet sovereigns, and gained the hearts of the nation by flattering the vassals, by their impartial administration of justice, by their warlike deeds, the glory of which redounded to the honour of France, by their extension of the limits of the state, and by their promotion of the public weal. The supremacy of the Austrasians was closely bound up with that of the mayors ; both rising at the same time, and mutually assisting each other. The true-born German Rhen- ish Franks, Thuringians, Alemanni, and Bavarians, with whom the Burgundians at first coalesced, presented a vivid contrast, under the general denomination of Austrasians, to the more romanized Neustrians, who consisted of the West Franks, Romans, Goths, Basques, and Bretons. The Austrasians, gifted with all the energy of the genuine German character, and endowed with the valour and strength of their ancestors, whose customs and language they faithfully retained, despised and gradually became estranged from the Neustrians on ac- count of their weakness, licentiousness, and treachery, and as the difference between their character and language became more marked, a reciprocal and bitter hatred arose between them. The Austrasians, happily governed by able monarchs, covered themselves with glory and increased their skih 1 in warfare in their contests with the other nations of Germany. It was also their mayors of the palace who seized the supreme authority, which they alone held through the favour of their countrymen. XCVIII. Pipin von Landen. IN 622, Chlotar the Second made his son, Dagobert, king of Austrasia, and the brave Pipin von Landen, the first of the vassals who had rebelled against Queen Brunehilda, became his mayor of the palace. Pipin, whose family came from the Netherlands, was the founder of the powerful race of subse- quent mayors, which two centuries later mounted the imperial PIPIN VON LANDEN. 215 throne of Germany, and assumed the name of Carlovingian from Charlemagne, his most illustrious descendant. Chlotar was still alive when a war broke out between Dagobert and the Saxons, whose duke, Bertoald, is said to have wounded him in battle in the head, upon which he sent one of his blood- stained locks to his father, who instantly marched into Saxony and took a most fearful vengeance. Duke Bertoald fell in battle, and every prisoner who was taller than the length of Chlotar's sword was put to death. Peace was at length con- cluded on condition of their paying a tribute of 500 stallions. The Saxons were also much disturbed by the Normans. Sifrit, the Saxon duke, while solemnizing his marriage with Giritta, a beautiful Dane, was suddenly attacked and slain, and the bride carried off by the pirate Haldan, a Swedish sea- king. On the death of Chlotar, Dagobert became king of the whole of France [A. D. 628]. The wound he had received in the Saxon war had disgusted him with warfare, and he lived in voluptuous and splendid indolence at Paris, surrounded by his three queens and numerous concubines ; a mode of life he attempted to palliate by alleging the example of King Solomon, and by lavishing wealth and favours on the clergy. Among the numerous churches built by this king, that of St. Denis, whom he elected as the patron saint of his kingdom, is most remarkable. The incessant pilgrimages to the shrine of St. Denis soon attracted commerce, and a large market, the chief emporium of Europe, was erected in its vicinity. About this time, Samo, a Prankish merchant, who had gained great popularity among the Slavian Wendi, was elected their king, and succeeding in uniting them beneath his rule, repulsed the Avari. Some Prankish merchants happening to be killed whilst passing through his territory, Dagobert seized that occurrence as a pretext for attacking the new Slavian king- dom, and declared war against him ; but Samo offering a brave and determined resistance, and defeating the Franks in a great battle, near Wodgatisburg, which lasted three days, gained so much renown, that the Slavian Sorbi and their king, Dorwan, voluntarily submitted to him [A. D. 630]. Pipin, who, until now, had not taken part in the contest, proffered his services in this moment of necessity, and wisely releasing the Saxons from their tribute, besides yielding to the request 216 PIPIX VON HERISTAL. of the Thuringians, to place Radulf. their fellow countryman and a pagan, at their head, united the heathen and Christian Germans in a national war against the Slavi, in which he was victorious. Samo's kingdom fell as rapidly as it had been raised, and the Slavi were henceforward necessitated to seek assistance from the Germans against the Avari. Dagobert died, [A. D. 638,] and the kingdom was again divided among his sons ; Sigebert the Third reigning over Austrasia, and Chlodwig the Second over Neustria. On the death of Pipin, [A. D. 639,] who during these changes had re- tained his mayoralty in Austrasia, his son, Grimoald, was re- moved from his office, (the influence possessed by his family having already alarmed the jealousy of the king,) and Otto was created mayor in his stead ; upon this, the old party of Pipin, and the dukes, Radulf of Thuringia, and Fara of Bavaria, asserted their independence, and Otto, marching against them with Sigebert, slew Fara, but, being compelled by Radulf to retreat, lost his ascendancy over the vassals, and Grimoald was recalled. No sooner was Sigebert dead, than Grimoald, regardless of the warnings of an aged monk, ven- tured to place his son Childebert on the throne ; but it was still too early ; the mutual jealousies of the Merovingians and Carlovingians still presented too many advantages to the clergy and the vassals, and Grimoald fell, with his unfortunate son, beneath the poniards of the rivals his ambition had evoked. XCIX. Pipin von Heristal. DAGOBEKT the Second, the son of Sigebert, had been con- fined by Grimoald in an Irish monastery, where he was allowed to remain ; the clergy and the vassals agreeing to re- unite the whole of France under Chlodwig the Second, who had been driven out of his senses by remorse for having broken off the arm of St. Dionysius, in order to carry it about with him as a relic ; an action he was afterwards induced to regard as a deadly sin. Nanthilda, his mother, who governed in his name under the direction of Floachat, the mayor of the palace, swore to maintain all the clergy and the vassals (who were already powerful enough to carry on their machinations openly and in defiance of the people) in their dignities and PIPIX VOX HERISTAL. 217 lands during her life-time. The death of Chlodwig [A. D. 656] occasioned fresh disturbances, the kingdom being again di- vided among his sons. Chlotar the Second was placed on the throne of Neustria, where Ebroin, the mayor of the palace, afterwards raised himself to great power. Chlotar died early. Childerich, who became king of Austrasia, infringed the li- berties of the people by causing a freeman, of the name of Badillo, to be whipped, and was murdered by his exasperated subjects [A. D. 673]. Theodorich the Third, who had been destined for the cloister, inherited his brothers' kingdoms, over which Ebroin ruled in his name. The Austrasians re- belled against him, and drawing Dagobert the Second from his seclusion, attempted to place him on the throne, to which two Merovingians, both of whom were monks, disputed the succession. Ebroin was at first unsuccessful, but escaping from a monastery in which he had been imprisoned, was again victorious, and caused Dagobert to be put to death. Pipin von Heristal, the grandson of one of the daughters of Pipin von Landen, now placed himself at the head of the Austrasians, and Ebroin was defeated and killed. He was succeeded in the mayoralty by the brave Berchar, who had .in his camp Theodorich, the legitimate sovereign, and the only remaining descendant of the house of Merowig, against whom Pipin and the Austrasians were arrayed in open rebel- lion, in which they were countenanced by the people, who, weary of intestine feuds, and indifferent to legitimacy, were inclined to side with the party that gave proof of greater bravery and capacity, which explains the remarkable battle of Testri, in which victory sided with the Carlovingians [A. D. 687]. Pipin won this battle by stratagem. Setting fire to his own camp, he suddenly fell upon the Neustrians, who had hastened to pillage it under the impression of his having re- tired, and put them so completely to rout, that no further op- position was raised. Although universally recognised as the only man capable of reforming the state, he merely compelled Theodorich to acknowledge him as mayor of the whole of France, and, warned by the fate of Grimoald and Ebroin, per- mitted him to retain the shadow of royalty while he held the substance. Dating from this period, the Merovingians no longer intermeddled with the government. The monarch, a mere cipher, shut up in his palace, contented himself with 218 PIPIN VON HERISTAL. frivolous amusements, and showed himself occasionally to the people on the Marzfeld, where, sumptuously attired and wear- ing his long golden hair, he graciously received the gifts of his subjects, or nodded approbation to the transactions con- ducted by the mayor of the palace. Pipin survived two Merovingian kings, the successors of Theodorich, whose death did not lessen his power. His first care was the regulation of the interior economy of the state, and he again regulated the Marzfelder, or annual general state assemblies, which had been for some time neglected or irregularly held, and in which the ancient democracy (the freemen) was now completely over- ruled by the new aristocracy formed by the clergy and the vassals. The piety of the Bavarian Plectrudis, the wife of Pipin, secured to him the favour of the church. The period had also now arrived for confirming the external security of the state. The Franks, rendered powerful by their union, no longer deigned to tolerate the insolence of their neighbours and that of the rebellious tribes, and the consequent insurrec- tions of the Basques, Goths, and Bretons in France, were easily quelled by Pipin. The war on the frontier of Austrasia proved more difficult ; particularly that carried on in Fries- land against Rathod, the pagan king, who was vainly be- sieged in his impregnable peninsulas and islands, the capital of which was Heligoland, at that time a large island, now re- duced by the encroaching waves to a sea-girt rock. At the close of the sixth century, St. Faro and the two Ewalds, and in the seventh century, Suibert, vainly endeavoured to convert the Saxons. The Thuringians also obstinately resist- ed the introduction of Christianity by the Franks. Hetan, the son of Radulf, had married St. Bilihikla, but his son, Gozbert, was induced to apostatize by G-ailana, his brother's widow, whom by the ecclesiastical law he was prohibited to marry. This circumstance occasioned the martyrdom of St. Kilian, who was then preaching in Thuringia. An insurrection, se- cretly incited by Pipin, broke out against Gozbert, who was killed, and his whole race exterminated. Bavaria had been Christianized by Regintrudis, the Frank- ish wife of the duke, Theodo, and by the saints, Rupert and Emmeram, the former of whom destroyed the heathen altars at Allotting, where the seven deities or planets were wor- shipped, and founded the celebrated bishopric of Salzburg. CHARLES MARTELL. 219 At first the wild mountaineers would not listen to him, and said that the God of the Christians was poor, or he would not let his worshippers suffer so much from want, and jealous, as he would not tolerate any other god besides himself ; but they speedily altered their opinion when they saw the mines and salt-works progressing under the direction of the saint. It is related of St. Emmeram, who founded the bishopric of Ratis- bon, that being accused by Uta, the daughter of Theodo, as her seducer, in order to save the life of the real criminal, he meekly suffered the punishment from motives of Christian charity, and that his innocence was proved by a miracle after his death. To these legendary times belong St. Ottilia and St. Goar ; the former of whom was the daughter of Eticho, count of Alsace, who, being born blind, received sight at her baptism, and lived as a saint on the mountain near Strassburg, called after her, the Ottilienberg. St. Goar, towards the close of the sixth century, built a hut beneath the frightful rocks of the Lurlei, in the narrowest part of the Rhine, in order to save the shipwrecked, and to feed the starving wanderer.* Pipin's eventful life closed in 714, and in the same year his son, Grimoald, was murdered in a church at Liege, at the instigation of some of the jealous nobles. C. Charles Martell. THE deaths of Pipin and of Grimoald occasioned fresh confusion in France. Plectrudis, the widow of Pipin, who had found means to usurp the chief authority, being anxious to retain the mayoralty for her grandson, Theudoald, the son of Grimoald, kept Charles, a natural son of Pipin, in prison, fearing lest he might prove a dangerous opponent to her de- signs. The Neustrians, who had unwillingly brooked the au- thority of Pipin, now seized the favourable moment. * The little town of St. Goar retained, in memory of the hospitality of this saint, even to our times, the custom of placing a brass necklace around the neck of the passing stranger, with the inquiry, " whether he would be baptized with water or with wine ? " If with water, he was well besprinkled ; if with wine, he was offered a full golden goblet, which he emptied to the health of the emperor, and in return placed his alms in the poor's box. 220 CHARLES MARTELL. Theodorich the Third was succeeded by Chlodwig the Third, Childebert, and Dagobert the Third, [A. D. 715,] who was succeeded by Chilperich the Second in Neustria, where the nobles elected, in his name, Raganfried, as their mayor, and instantly attacked Austrasia. The youthful Theudoald was defeated, and shortly afterwards died ; and the Neustriaris, the better to secure their victory, entered into an alliance with' Rathod of Friesland. The harassed Austrasians now bethought themselves of the imprisoned Charles, who was no sooner set at liberty than he marched at their head against the Frisii, but owing to the numerical insufficiency of his troops suffered a defeat [A. D. 716]. The winter was spent by him in in- spiriting the Austrasians, and in collecting a fresh and power- ful army, with which in the ensuing spring he defeated the Xeustrians at Cambray, by making use of a curious stratagem. A single Austrasian rushing into the enemy's camp, ran straight through it calling them to arms, and whilst the aston- ished Neustrians were engaged in running after him, Charles fell unexpectedly on their rear. After the battle he hastened to Cologne, where, after depriving his proud step-mother of his father's treasure, he sent her back to Bavaria, her native country. Having secured the country to the rear, he now returned to Neustria, where he set Chlotar the Fourth, a de- scendant of a side-branch of the Merovingian family, up as king. Chilperich fled to Eudo, duke of Aquitania, whose Basques and Goths, stimulated by their ancient and hereditary enmity, marched in great numbers against the Franks [A. D. 719], but, being completely beaten at Soissons, concluded peace with Charles, to whom Eudo delivered Chilperich, whose life speedily drew to its close when in the power of his victor. Charles, nevertheless, remained true to the policy of his family, and deprived the jealous nobles of every pretext for revolt, by placing Theodorich the Fourth, a son of Dagobert the Third, on the throne. Thus were the hapless Merovingians raised and deposed at will. The Bavarians revolted against Charles, who was again victorious, and married the beautiful Sunichilda, the daughter of Grimoald, their duke, who, being killed by his own people, he made her brother, Huebert, duke. Freising was at this period founded by St. Corbinian. An immense army of the fanatical and hitherto invincible Moors, led by the brave Abderrahman, after destroying the CHARLES MARTELL. 221 Visigothic kingdom in Spain, poured across the Pyrenees into France ; a far more dangerous foe than Etzel and his Huns, who, merely greedy of conquest, sought not to enslave minds, like the enthusiastic children of the South, who, the sword in one hand, the Koran in the other, Allah and Ma- homet their war-cry, their aim the reduction of Europe and the extirpation of Christianity, marched beneath the Cres- cent, the standard of their prophet, against the hardy sons of the North. The frontiers of Spain were, at that time, guarded by Eudo, duke of Aquitania, who had long aspired to independence. Neustria and Austrasia were at feud. France, torn by internal dissensions, seemed on the point of sharing the fate of Spain, when the destruction with which Europe and Christianity were threatened was warded off by the intrepid Charles. Eudo, who had at first hoped to make use of the Moors in forwarding his designs against him, had given his daughter in marriage to Munuz, one of their princes. Abderrahman, struck with her beauty, indignantly asked Munuz, " how he had presumed to keep such a treasure for himself, instead of sending her to the caliph," struck off his head for having ventured to profane such beauty, and sent the noble lady to the caliph's harem at Damascus. Eudo attempted to revenge this insult, but was defeated on the Garonne, and compelled to fly for protection to Charles, beneath whose standard the whole arrier-ban of Austrasia, the Netherlands, the Rhine, Thuringia, Swabia, and Bavaria had assembled, whilst Luit- prand, at the head of his Lombards, crossed the Alps to aid in the defence of endangered Christendom. A battle took place between Tours and Poitiers, [A. D. 732,] in which the true- born German Austrasians, the flower of the North, who by their weight bore down the impetuous Moors, distinguished themselves by their unyielding valour. Abderrahman was slain, and 375,000 of his followers were left on the field. Europe was saved, and the Crescent driven beyond the Pyrenees. Charles, who at the head of his Austrasians had slain numbers of the enemy, striking them on the head like an iron hammer, was henceforward revered as the hero and defender of Christianity, and received the surname of Martell, or hammer, in memory of his prowess. Six years after this event, the ruinous contest was recommenced by the jealous 222 CHARLES MARTELL. Neustrians. Gothic Provence attempted to assert its inde- pendence under Maurontius, who called the Arabs to his aid against Martell, by whom their power was again and so com- pletely crushed at Narbonne, [A. D. 738,] that they never again ventured across the fatal Pyrenees, and Charles se- cured that frontier by incorporating the remaining Visigoths into his kingdom. Whilst he was thus engaged in the South, the heathen Frisii and Saxons invaded the northern frontier, but were defeated, and Rathod was at length reduced to sub- mission and compelled to embrace Christianity. Not long before this event, he had caused St. Wigbert to be put to death for having slaughtered some sacred oxen. Charles Martell now sent to him St. Wolfram, by whom he was at length persuaded to undergo the ceremony of baptism. A bath was accordingly prepared, and Rathod, plunging one foot into the water, was about to immerse his whole body, when, turn- ing to the saint, he inquired whether his ancestors were in heaven, and being answered, " No, in hell, for they were heathens," withdrew his foot and declared that he preferred remaining with them. It is related of another of the Frisii, that he had himself several times baptized for the sake of the gift bestowed, on the occasion, by the clergy on the convert. Religion must be ever and unavoidably desecrated when used as a political engine. Poppo, the successor of Rathod, fell opposing the Christians ; all attempts to extirpate paganism in Friesland proved, nevertheless, unavailing. Charles Martell, although the saviour of Christendom, was by no means remarkable for piety. The contempt to which his illegitimate birth had subjected him during his youth, ever inclined him, as if from a spirit of defiance, to side with bastards and younger sons, against rightful heirs and elder brothers. He formed them into a body-guard, made them his boon companions, and enriched them not only with temporal feofs, but also with gifts of bishoprics find abbeys. Before the commencement of the great war with the Moors, he had forced the clergy, under pain of forfeiting their possessions, to appear in person in the field, (in those times every man with- out distinction of rank or profession was bound to carry arms,) so that the clergy, enrolled in his service, were already habitu- ated to the licence of a camp, and to the pleasures of the chace. The feudal vassals and the clergy consequently inter- PiriN THE LITTLE. 223 mingled and formed one body. To these rough times belongs the touching legend of St. Genoveva of Brabant, the wife of Graf Siegfried, the lord of Andernach, who, when marching against the invading Moors, entrusted her to the care of Golo, his favourite. Inflamed by her beauty, and enraged at the failure of his attempts upon her virtue, Golo accused her of infidelity, and she was condemned to death. The execution- ers, moved to compassion, spared her life and that of her child, and she lived for a long time concealed in a forest, in naked- ness and solitude. The child was suckled by a doe, and her life was miraculously sustained, until Siegfried, one day, when following the chace, discovered her in her grotto, and her innocence was proved. She is still honoured as a saint at Andernach. CI. Pipin the Little. CHARLES MARTELL died in 714, leaving two sons, Carl- mann and Pipin, and a daughter, Chiltruda, by his first wife ; and by his second, the Bavarian Sunichilda, a son named Grippo, who was deprived of his share in the inheritance and imprisoned by his elder brothers. Sunichilda took refuge in a convent, and Chiltruda, influenced by affection for her step-mother, escaped from her brothers to Bavaria, where she married Odilo, the duke of that country, who, with Hunoald of Aquitania, the Alemanni under Theudewald, and the Sax- ons under Theodorich, simultaneously attacked the brave sons of Martell. They were defeated both collectively and separ- ately, Hunoald in 742, Odilo on the Lech, by the Franks, who crossed the river and attacked him during the night, in 743, the Saxons in 745, and the Alemanni in 746. Their duke, Theudewald, and many other prisoners of note, were executed by order of Carlmann, who passed sentence upon them at Cannstadt, but was subsequently haunted by such deep remorse for his cruelty, that, withdrawing to a monas- tery, he resigned the whole authority to his younger brother, Pipin, surnamed the Little, on account of the shortness of his stature. His strength was so prodigious, that on one occa- sion he cut off a lion's head with a single stroke of his sword. His first act, on the attainment of undivided power, was the liberation of Grippo, who, taking refuge among the Saxons 224 PIPIN THE LITTLE. and Frisii, induced them to take up arms against his brother. Finding himself unable to keep the field, he sought the pro- tection of Thassilo, the son of Odilo, who was then reigning in Bavaria, under the tutelage of his mother, Chiltruda. Lanfried, duke of Alemannia, and Suitzo, another powerful Alemannian, lent him their aid, but they were all defeated and taken prisoners by Pipin, who again pardoned his bro- ther. Grippo, discontented and restless, fled anew to Waisar, the son of Hunoald. of Aquitania, who refused to receive him, and he attempted to escape into Lombardy, but was inter- cepted in the Alps by Frederick, the Graf of the French frontier, and striving to force his way, fell, after a desperate struggle, with the whole of his followers [A. D. 750]. Pipin was, at the time of this occurrence, engaged in a second cam- paign against the Saxons, on whom he again imposed an an- nual tribute of 300 horses. No less prudent in his policy than fortunate in the field, Pipin now saw that the time had at length arrived for putting the long-cherished projects of his ancestors into execution. Four generations of the Merovingians, degraded by sloth, despised, neglected, and almost forgotten, had passed away, whilst the Carlovingians possessed the real authority and the popular esteem, and it became daily more evident which of the two families was the more fitted for the throne. Pipin, whose ancestors had consolidated their power by making com- mon cause with the vassals, now secured success by gaining over the pope and the clergy. The pope, Zacharias, at that time hard pressed by Aistulf, king of Lombardy, willingly countenanced plans that favoured his own interest, whilst Pipin, in order the more deeply to impress upon him the value of his support, designedly delayed his much wished-for assist- ance, and sending an ambassador to Rome proposed this ques- tion to the pontiff, "Whether he was king who sat carelessly at home, or he who bore the burthen of government?" The pope instantly replied, "that the latter alone merited the crown." Upon this, Pipin called a general state assembly at Soissons, and the whole nation assenting to the pope's verdict, Childerich, the last of the Merovingians, was torn from the throne of his fathers, consigned, with shaven head, to the cloister, and Pipin was unanimously proclaimed king. St. Bonifacius placed the crown on his head, and anointed him, PIPIN THE LITTLE. 225 according to ancient custom, like his predecessor Chlodwig, with the sacred oil.. At the same time the general state assembly, held in March, was transferred to May, [A. D. 752,] a change by which Bonifacius hoped to obliterate every remembrance of paganism, and Pipin, that of the Merovingians. After the death of Zacharias, Pipin still retarded the promised aid against the Lombards, in order to render Stephen, the new pontiff, as tractable as his predecessor. The pope at length, urged by necessity, crossed the Alps in person, and prostrating himself at the feet of the French monarch, humbly solicited his protection. Pipin, satisfied with this act of humility, marched, accompanied by the pope, into Italy, and forced Aistulf to accept the most disgraceful terms of peace [A. D. 754]. The Lombards, however, fully alive to the danger with which they were threatened by the increasing power of the pope, and by his alliance with France, resolved to struggle to the last, and Aistulf, breaking the treaty, again besieged Rome. Pipin again marched to the relief of the city, [A. D. 756,] and the Lombards, after suffering a com- plete defeat, were reduced to submission. Aistulf was killed by the falling of his horse. Desiderius, a court official, be- came king of Lombardy through French influence. His son Adelgis married a French princess, and his daughter Desider- ata was wedded to the youthful Charles, afterwards Charle- magne. Pipin, anxious to erect a strong power, in opposition to that of the Lombards, in Italy itself, gave the then existing exarchate or great territory of Ravenna and Rome in fief to the pope, who, in return, named him patrician and guardian of Rome. Thus commenced the temporal power of the pope, whose spiritual authority was, at the same time, subservient to that of the monarch ; an alliance, whose influence could not be long resisted by any of the states independent of the empire, or by any power still possessed by the people. Pipin was also successful in his wars against the Saxons, whom he again rendered tributary, and in that undertaken against Waisar, duke of Aquitania, whom he pursued so long and un- remittingly in the Pyrenees, that his subjects, the Basques, at length put him to death for the sake of peace. Thassilo, the youthful duke of Bavaria, impatient of the yoke imposed by Q 226 ST. BONIFACIUS. Pipin, refused to render feudal service in the field against Waisar ; a conduct which Pipin prudently overlooked. Pipin died, shortly afterwards, in 768. CIL St. Bonifacius. THE co-operative policy of the Frankish rulers and the Roman bishops laid the foundation to what may be termed the body of the church, while her spirituality was solely fostered by the independent, free, and pure zeal of the Anglo-Saxon and Irish monks. In the British isles, far beyond the influ- ence of the Roman hierarchy and of the feudal aristocracy of France, Christianity had taken a democratic form, and, un- polluted by the new spirit of political conquest and of feudal tyranny, had blended with the ancient spirit of popular free- dom. Here were no imperious and covetous feudal church- men, too fully occupied with the pastime of the chace, with war and politics, to be interested in the promulgation of the gospel, but humble, pious teachers of brotherly love, who, instead of shutting themselves within their abbey walls, in- stead of accumulating wealth or seeking to extend their temporal power, went forth, like the first apostles, to guide their erring brethren, and to enlighten the yet unconverted heathen, to whom, far from imposing Christianity upon them with the bigoted zeal of conquering despots, they preached the doctrine of eternal peace, compelling no one to embrace the mild religion of Jesus, but gently persuading them by precept and example of its truth and beauty. The first Anglo-Saxon apostles strongly reprobated the political corrup- tion of the Frankish church, and the arrogant pretensions of the pope, against which St. Columban wrote, and consequently fell into disgrace with the Frankish court. The mayors of the palace, however, perceived at length that the pious, dis- interested Anglo-Saxons were calculated, far better than the Franks, to succeed in converting the heathen inhabitants of eastern Germany, on account of their enthusiastic zeal and superior religious knowledge, added to the circumstance of their being, in their character of foreigners, less obnoxious to the Frisii, Saxons, Thuringians, Alemanni, and Bavarians, who regarded the Franks in the light of oppressors and de- ST. BONIFACIUS. . 227 ceivers ; they therefore countenanced the foreign monks, and repeatedly invited them into the country. During the seventh century, St. Fridolin founded the mon- astery of Seckingen on the Upper Rhine;* St. Columban destroyed the pagan images at Bregenz on the Bodensee ; St. Gallus founded a hermitage, afterwards the celebrated monas- tery of St. Gall, in the depths of the forests, where he was served by a bear ; St. Amandus destroyed the image of Odin at Ghent ; St. Eligius converted the Saxon prisoners ; the saints, Wigbert, Walfram, Willebrand, (the first bishop of Utrecht, A. D. 799,) preached among the Frisii ; the saints, Suidbert and Sturmio, (a Bavarian by birth, and first abbot of the great monastery of Fulda,) among the Hessians ; St. Mag- noald founded Fiissen in Swabia ; St. Theodore, Kempten ; St. Ofib, Offonszell ; St. Landolin, (who, for cutting down a sacred fir tree and forming a cross out of it, was murdered by the heathen Alemanni,) Ettenheimmiinster ; and St. Pirmin, Reichenau. Besides these, in Thuringian East Franconia and in Bavaria, St. Kilian suffered martyrdom at Wurzburg ; St. Sebaldus (according to tradition, a Danish prince who fled on his wedding night and abandoned earthly for heavenly love) died at Nuremberg ; St. Corbinian founded Freising ; St. Emmeran, Ratisbon ; and St. Rupert, Salzburg. The foundation of the celebrated monasteries in Alsace, Altaich, Benedictbeuren, Tegernsee, Prum, and Lorsch also date during the eighth century. Winfried, an Anglo-Saxon, better known by his monkish surname of St. Bonifacius, distinguished himself above all these apostles, by his energy, zeal, and success. Zealously imagining that the temporal and spiritual rule of the church ought to be universal, and that the power of the Romish- Frankish church might consistently blend with the Christian zeal and brotherly love of the Anglo-Saxon monks, he no longer contented himself, like his predecessors, with convert- ing the heathen and with founding hermitages in the forest solitudes, but aiming at the reformation of the existing Frank- ish church, intermeddled with the proceedings of the bishops and with the policy of the state. Pipin, who had just con- * The people of Glarus made pilgrimages and paid contributions to it at an early period, and the arms of that canton still retain the figure of Fridolin, in the dress of a wandering hermit. Q 2 228 . ST. BONIFACIUS. eluded his alliance with the pope [A. D. 755] with the inten- tion of placing the Carlovingian dynasty on the throne of Merowig, found a strenuous supporter in Bonifacius, the enemy of schism under whatever form. The unity of the kingdom of God upon earth, the fraternization of all mankind gathered beneath the care of one shepherd, the pope, Christ's vicar upon earth, was his visionary scheme, and, in his enthusiasm, entirely overlooking the diversity of nations and languages, he sought to obviate that difficulty by rendering the Latin tongue the only one authorized by the church. This new and unna- tural tyranny met with vehement opposition. Virgilius, bishop of Salzburg, the most enlightened man of the age, who had gained great and merited fame by the peaceable conversion of .the Slavi, in the mountains of Carinthia and Carniola, and who on account of his scientific and astronomical knowledge was denounced as a sorcerer* by the pope and his confederate, Bonifacius, [A. D. 742,] inquired mockingly of the latter, " whether the senseless form made use of in baptism by a German priest ignorant of the Latin tongue, 'Baptize te in nomine Patria et Filia et Spiritus Sancti,' was efficacious ?" and was answered, "Yes, because faith ought to be blind!" In Thuringia, Dortwin, Berthar, Tanbrecht, and Hunred, and in Bavaria, Ariowulf, Adelbert, and Clemens, distinguished themselves in opposition to Bonifacius, who condemned them as heretics, and, supported by Pipin and the pope, succeeded in his hierarchical schemes. Bonifacius, moreover, zealously applied himself to the con- version of the heathen, which was formally organized by a synod, held at Lestines, [A. D. 742,] and a form of abjuration f was drawn up, by which the German pagan renounced his former religion and the specified superstitious customs. He went personally among the heathen, preaching and converting with the energy and zeal that rendered him so famous. He it was who cut down the great Donnereiche (oak of thunder) at Geismar, in Hesse. Zealously upholding the institutions * The fame of Virgilius the sorcerer spread into Lombardy, and at a later period, the Italians, ignorant of the existence of a bishop of Salz- burg, made Virgil, the Roman poet, the hero of the legend. f Ek forsacho diabole end allum diabol gelde end allum diaboles werkum end wordum, Thunaer ende Woden ende Saxnote, end allum them unholdum, the hira genotas sint. CHARLEMAGNE. 229 of his predecessors, he sent fresh preachers to the flocks aban- doned by their pastors. With the intent of especially pro- moting the conversion of the women, he sent for pious nuns from England ; among others, St. Thecla, the foundress of Kitzingen ; St. Lioba, that of Bischofsheim ; and St. Wal- purgis, that of Heidenheim. The bishoprics of Wurzburg, Freising, Eichstadt, Salzburg, and Ratisbon, were organized under his direction, he being, as archbishop of Mayence, the head of the German church. In his 70th year, being anxious to convert the pagans of Friesland, he visited that country, where the Frisii, who viewed him as a deceitful Frank, put him to death [A. D. 755]. CIII. Charlemagne. PIPIN left two sons, Carloman and Charles, the former of whom inherited Neustria, the latter Austrasia. Charles had already distinguished himself in the last wars of Pipin, and the legends record the most extraordinary proofs of his wonderful strength of mind and body when still a child. Pipin, unwilling to allow the pope the supremacy in Italy, upheld the now powerless Lombards, and gave the daughter of Desiderius in marriage to Charles, in defiance of the anger of Pope Stephen, who had said, " That the noble Frank should not defile him- self with the unclean Lombard." Charles, not finding Desi- derata to his taste, divorced her. His brother Carloman being accidentally killed, he seized Neustria, and Gilberga, the widow of Carloman, and her two sons sought refuge at the court of Desiderius, who was highly offended at the treatment of his daughter. By this act of treachery to his nephews, Charles became, in 771, master of the whole of France. Urged by uncontrollable ambition, he burst through every barrier that opposed his entrance into the great and brilliant course he was destined to run ; his fame, like the sun at early morn, obscured by rolling clouds, shone forth again with undimmed lustre. His energetic and creative intellect, ever actively and simultaneously employed in conducting his wars abroad, and in improving the internal condition of his empire, changed, during the forty-three years of his reign, the aspect of affairs, not only throughout Germany, but throughout the whole of 230 CHARLEMAGNE. Europe, and laid the foundation, as will be seen in the course of this history, to a new and important era. With him the history of ancient Germany closes. All the ancient free Ger- man states and kingdoms were united within the limits of his immense empire, whose erection impressed a new character on the different nations of Germany. Antiquity sank into oblivion, and the middle age commenced with the grand and brilliant reign of Charlemagne, by which, however, we must not allow ourselves to be blinded to the fault he committed in failing to secure the national freedom, as well as the external grandeur of Germany. True to his father's policy, he rooted the imperial power in the feudal system, and increased the privileges of the nobility and clergy at the expense of those of the people. His policy might possibly have taken an oppo- site bias had he met with firm support from the people, but, at that period, the nations of Germany were still at enmity with each other ; the Goths, Lombards, Alernanni, Bavarians, and Thuringians, hated the French as their tyrants, and the pagan Saxons were struggling, as if for life, against French dominion and the imposition of Christianity. The unity of the empire could therefore only be achieved in despite of the people, and Charles found his sole support in the vassals at- tracted by his victories and largesses, and in the bishops and monks, who by representing the unity of the empire, to the refractory nations, as a necessary consequence of the unity of the church, and as one of the intentions of the Christian re- ligion, rendered themselves indispensable. Had the people been more advanced in knowledge, had they been able to com- prehend the idea of unity, Charles probably would not have given so great a preponderance to the vassal lords and clergy, a preponderance which was only too soon and too severely felt by his successors on the imperial throne. Without having recourse to violent measures, he could never have succeeded in uniting the nations of Germany, in guaranteeing the empire from the attacks of its foreign foes, the Moors, Slavi, Norsemen, Avari, and Hungarians, or in extirpating the barbarous customs of heathen antiquity. The different German nations, at feud with one another, partly pagan, partly Christian, would in course of time have exterminated each other, whilst the Hun garians, aided by the pagan Saxons, would probably have re- newed the savage times of Attila. The unity of the empire FALL OF THE KINGDOM OF LOMBARDY. 231 was a boon required by the exigency of the times, and that by means of it Charlemagne preserved Christendom from the encroachments of paganism at that time still prevailing in the East, and from those of Mohammedanism equally powerful in the South, besides refining the barbarous manners of the age by the introduction of the arts of civilization and of scho- lastic learning, forms his great and all-sufficing exculpation. The Anglo-Saxons in England certainly attained to a con- siderable degree of cultivation without sacrificing their free- dom, but, enclosed within the narrow limits of their fortunate island, they had fewer difficulties to encounter than Charles, who, placed in the midst of the broad continent, was sur- rounded by open enemies and doubtful friends. CIV. Fall of the kingdom of Lombardy. THE attempt made by Desiderius to force the pope to anoint the two sons of Carloman kings of France, served as a pretext for Charles to cross the Alps and to annex the whole of Italy to the empire. He accordingly crossed by Mount Cenis, and his uncle, Bernard, by Mons Jovis, which, from this circum- stance, received the name of the great St. Bernard ; Desiderius, meanwhile, closely guarded the Alpine passes, and checked the advance of the invading army : at length a secret path that led into Lombardy was discovered to Charles by a traitor, who, it is recorded, was permitted, in reward, to sound a horn, and to each passer-by who replied in the affirmative to his demand of whether he had heard it, to give a box on the ear, in sign of vassalage. The mountain passes were no sooner forced than opposition ceased. Charlemagne's presence insured victory. The common herd, awed by the greatness of his fame, were rendered powerless before the contest commenced, by their belief in his invincible prowess, which worked more wonders in favour of his cause than that prowess itself. The Lombards trembled at the mere aspect of the hero, whose achievements lay yet concealed within the bosom of futurity. Numbers deserted to the Franks, and Desiderius, shut up in Pavia, his capital, was driven by famine to capitulate, after a siege of seven months' duration. An ancient chronicle relates, that Desiderius, when gazing from the battlements upon the FALL OF THE KINGDOM OF LOMBARDY. French squadrons, in expectation of perceiving Charles as each advanced, and at length beholding him ride forward armed cap-a-pie, conspicuous by his stature amid the sur- rounding multitude, and mounted on an iron-clad charger, was struck with such amazement at his awful aspect, that he mournfully exclaimed to those around him, " Let us descend and hide ourselves beneath the earth from the angry glance of such a powerful enemy," and forthwith yielded the city to his opponent, who, judging him unworthy of a throne he was unable to defend, secluded him in the monastery of Corvey. His son, Adalgis, a brave man worthy of a better fate, fled to Constantinople, and Charles placed the ancient iron crown of Lombardy himself on his own head. The people were per- mitted to retain their national privileges. The same year [A. D. 774] he visited the pope at Rome, confirmed him in the possession of the gifts of Pi pin, received like him the title of patrician, and renewed the alliance that had already been formed by his father with the pontifical chair. Mean- while the free-spirited Lombards revolted against the severe yoke imposed upon them, and Adalgis, returning, made another but fruitless attempt to regain his throne [A. D. 775]. Paul Warnefried, (Paulus Diaconus,) the celebrated historian of Lombardy, laboured zealously in his cause, and having on that account been sentenced to lose his eyes and hands, Charles indignantly exclaimed, " Where shall we again find hands able to record the events of history so beautifully as his ? " [A. D. 776.] Two subsequent insurrections in Lombardy, [A. D. 786,] excited by the dukes of Friuli and of Benevento, were suc- cessively quelled by Charles, who, although engaged in a winter campaign in Saxony, suddenly quitted that country and fell upon Radogund, duke of Friuli, in the high moun- tains at Tarvis, where he was celebrating the Easter festival. Aregis, duke of Benevento, Charles's brother-in-law, (his wife, Amalberga, being daughter to Desiderius,) was compelled to deliver up his sons as hostages. The only article in the treaty of peace that he insisted upon was, " that he should not be forced to see his hated relative." On his death Charles sent his son, Grimoald, back to his native country, and gave him the dukedom of Benevento to hold in fee. Grimoald op- posed the Greeks in Lower Italy. The empire extended to THE SAXON WARS. 233 the south as far as the island of Sardinia, which had been conquered by Graf Burkhard. Pipin, the son of Charlemagne, [A. D. 807,] was compelled to relinquish his attempts upon Venice, and the island city proudly maintained her liberty. CV. The Saxon wars. IN earlier times the Romans had incessantly attempted the subjugation of their free neighbours, the Germans, by whom their empire was threatened from without, while it was at the same time endangered within by the contrast between their free constitution and the despotism of the Roman government. The Franks, equally despotic with their ancient masters, were also ceaseless in their endeavours to crush the Saxons, who still retained their ancestral independence, and the breach was still further widened by the national hatred, which from time immemorial had been cherished between Frank and Saxon, and which in later times had been strengthened by difference of religion, the Frank in his proselyting zeal attempting to enforce the conversion of the Saxon to Christianity, whilst the Saxon, who naturally regarded the new religion as sub- versive of freedom, remained the more obstinately attached to that of his fathers. Continual feuds had deluged the banks of the Rhine with the blood of the contending nations under the Merovingians. A short peace took place under Dagobert, but the war was kindled afresh, and its extinction baffled the most strenuous exertions of Bonifacius. The physical strength, great endurance, and enthusiastic valour of the Saxons, who were inspirited by the love of their liberty, their country, and their religion, aided by the dissensions that convulsed France, had up to this period rendered the issue of their ancient strug- gle doubtful. The Saxons, although often constrained by the warlike mayors of the palace to pay a dishonourable tribute, had never been more than temporarily subdued. Affairs bore this aspect on the accession of Charles, who speedily turned his chief attention to the subjection of his warlike neighbours, the first necessary step in the furtherance of his plans for the future protection of France against their aggressions, for the union of all the nations of Germany, for checking the pro- gress of the Slavi in the East, and for the erection of one 234 THE PROGRESS OF THE SAXON WARS. vast empire in the heart of Europe, whence civilization and Christianity were to radiate as from one bright centre, and calling the whole physical strength of his kingdom to the aid of his genius, undeterred by the obstinacy with which he was opposed, by the dread of obscuring his fame by the commis- sion of monstrous acts of cruelty, by the numerous wars in which he was constantly engaged, or by his paternal concern for the internal welfare of the state, he was at length re- warded, in his old age, with success, after a murderous and unremitting war of two and thirty years, in which his perse- verance, power, exalted genius, and noble aim cast into shade the heroic fortitude of the Saxons, who, worthy of their an- cestral fame, valiantly struggled, during more than a quarter of a century, in defence of their ancient liberty and religion, and crowned their very fall with glory. Wittekind, duke of Westphalia, the brave Saxon leader, may not unfelicitously be compared with Armin. Animated by a kindred spirit, he fought on the same ground for a similar object and with equal glory. His followers, inspirited by his enthusiasm, were ever ready for fresh revolt, after each bloody defeat and each extorted treaty ; success attended their attempts for freedom during the absence of Charles, whose return ever reimposed a yet more galling chain, until at length, humbled by the pro- tracted struggle, they voluntarily submitted and embraced Christianity. CVI. The progress of the Saxon wars. IN 772, Charles convoked a general state assembly at Worms, in which the war with Saxony was unanimously voted. Religion served as a pretext. The urbanity and elo- quence of St. Lebuin, who had previously been commissioned to preach to the Saxons during their great national festival at Marclo, having proved ineffectual, fire and sword were the next means resorted to for their conversion. This decision had been purposely committed to the nation by Charles, who sought, by giving the war a national and religious character, to render it popular. At the head of the great arrier-ban of the French Charles crossed the Rhine, and marched victori- ously as far as the Weser. His greatest achievement, during THE PROGRESS OF THE SAXON WARS. 235 this campaign, was the capture of the Eresburg, where he destroyed the sacred column of Irmin.* Charles's absence in Italy, necessitated by the revolt of Eotgaudus, the Lombard duke of Friuli, whom he reduced to obedience, was instantly turned to advantage by the Saxons, who broke into open insurrection, headed by Wittekind of Westphalia, the soul of the war, whose activity was emulated by that of Alboin, duke of Eastphalia [A. D. 773]. A second invasion of Saxony ensued, and the triple alliance of the two Phalias and of Enger was successively defeated by Charles. The coasts alone remained unsubdued. No sooner, however, was his presence again required in Italy by a fresh revolt of the duke of Friuli, than Wittekind recommenced the struggle ; a general levy took place, whole forests were thrown down in order to form abattis throughout the country, and every man stood to arms. Charles reappeared, and all again yielded be- fore him. He remained encamped in the heart of the country until a royal residence was erected at Paderborn, whither he summoned the vassals of the crown and the ambassadors from foreign states, among whom appeared a number of Moorish princes from Spain, who had thrown off their allegiance to their mother-country, and came to implore the aid of the mighty sovereign of France. The Saxons also sent delegates to Paderborn, promised peace and submission, and resigned their Allods and their freedom to their conqueror. Witte- kind alone, despising the favour of the monarch, fled to Den- mark, where, protected by Siegfried, the pagan king, he awaited an opportunity to recommence the struggle for liberty : accordingly, Charles had no sooner led his arrier-ban across the Pyrenees in order to awe the Moors than Wittekind returned, and the Saxons, forgetful of their newly-imposed allegiance, again rebelled and laid the country waste up to the * An old rhythm is still extant in Westphalia, which, by some, is ascribed to the period of this invasion, by others, to the more ancient one of the wars of Armin against the Roman emperors. Hermen, sla dermen, Sla pipen, sla trummen, De kaiser will kummen Mit hamer und stangen, Will Hermen uphangen. The Eresburg occupied the present site of Stadtbergen on the Diemel, in the district of Paderborn. 236 THE PROGRESS OF THE SAXON WARS. walls of Duits and Cologne [A. D. 778]. Charles returned, and the following year directed his whole force against them. Two great battles took place on the Eller and in the Buch- holz, in which the Saxons were worsted, and Charles, fixing himself in the country, erected numerous fortresses on the Elbe, in which he placed strong garrisons of the French, and endeavoured at the same time to gain over the people, more especially the nobility, by kindness, affability, and promises. The hostages taken from the Saxons during his previous cam- paigns had been purposely educated in monasteries, and, on their return to their native country, they peaceably forwarded the work of conversion. Affairs seemed to prosper, and Charles deemed himself as securely master of Saxony as Varus had formerly done in the same country and under precisely similar circumstances. But he was equally deceived. En- forced subjection ever produces dissimulation, and the Saxon, still mindful of his ancient freedom, beheld with secret rage the fortresses he had been compelled to aid in erecting, and which he merely awaited an opportunity to destroy. Taught hypocrisy by necessity and injured pride, he lulled his conqueror to repose, in order to take a surer and more deadly aim. Whoever conscientiously embraced Christianity was secretly branded as a traitor, and destruction to the Frank was vowed in the silent depths of the forest, in the name of the ancient deities of Germany. The form of oath ran thus : Hilli kroti Woudana ilp osk un osken Pana Uitikin ok Kelta of ten oiskena Karleui ten slaktenera. Ik tif ti in our un ton scapa un tat Rofe. Ik slacte ti all tranca up tinen iliken Artis beka. Charles, far from suspecting the true state of affairs, again quitted Saxony, and, with perfect confidence, commissioned his generals, Geil and Adalgis, to strengthen the army under their command by an immense levy of Saxon troops destined for the invasion of the territory of the Slavi on the other side of the Elbe and Saal, who then threatened France. The Saxons obeyed the call with great alacrity, and soon out- numbered the French troops, who, in the commencement of the campaign, [A. D. 782,] while carelessly crossing the Sun- del mountain on the Weser, (Hausberg between Minden and Rinteln,) were unexpectedly attacked by their companions, by THE PROGRESS OF THE SAXON AVARS. 237 whom the slaughter in the Teutoburg forest was renewed, Geil and Adalgis, with the greater part of their troops, being left on the field. When the news of this terrible catastrophe, by which his plans upon Slavonia and Saxony were at once rendered null, reached Charles, he vowed to wreak a fearful revenge on the rebels, and to regain by cruelty and severity the kingdom his mildness had lost. Crossing the Rhine, he laid waste the country by fire and sword, and exterminated all who refused to embrace Christianity. Thousands were driven into the rivers to be baptized or drowned. On the Eller at Verden 4500 Saxons, taken in arms, were beheaded. Destruction marched in the van. Desolation, carnage, and flames marked the path of the conqueror. Undismayed by the danger, the Saxons rose to a man in defence of their national liberties. Every deed of cruelty was doubly repaid, and victory began to waver. At Detmold, Wittekind headed the enthusiastic patriots against Charles's superior forces, and a dreadful battle was fought, in which the victory remained undecided. In petty warfare, the Saxons proved invincible, and it was not until they again hazarded a general engagement on the Hase that Charles's superior tactics prevailed against them. When at length he was once more securely fixed in the interior of the country, prudence counselled milder measures, and whilst he still devastated the northern districts, his subjects in the Binnenland were treated with a gentleness which, seconded by the exhaustion consequent on their numerous defeats, at length induced a general submission. Wittekind and Alboin, the staunch defenders of their country's rights, with implicit confidence in the honour of their conqueror, came to Attigny in France, and were there voluntarily baptized [A. D. 785]. According to the legendary account, Wittekind went, disguised as a beggar, into the church at Wolmirstadt, (so called from Charles's once exclaiming, " Wohl mir ! " Good luck to me ! when victorious there over the Saxons,) where a shining white child appeared to him in the host, and con- vinced him of the truth of Christianity. 238 TERMINATION OF THE SAXON WARS CVII. Termination of the Saxon wars. EVEN this peace proved but of short duration ; and that nation must be justly deemed worthy of admiration, which, after such experience in suffering, still retained sufficient courage and pride to persevere in the struggle for the pre- servation of their ancient liberties and honour, and to prefer misery, nay, annihilation, to the stain of subserviency. Charles, deeming the North submissive, turned his attention south- ward, and whilst he was engaged in forcing the powerful Avari to retreat into Hungary, and in preserving a communi- cation between the Adriatic and the Danube, his fertile genius conceived the project of bringing the whole of southern and northern Germany into yet more direct communication, by cutting through the country lying between the Rednitz, whose waters flow through the Maine into the Rhine, and the Alt- miihl, which falls into the Danube. Had this canal been completed, a communication by water would have been opened throughout Germany, which must not only have greatly fa- cilitated the internal traffic of the different provinces, but also have given a powerful impulse to general commerce, by opening a line of communication between the Black Sea and the Baltic. A canal 300 feet broad had already been carried some distance, when the work was destroyed by violent storms of rain, and the war with Saxony again breaking out, caused it to be entirely abandoned ; nor was it undertaken again until our times, a thousand years later. The Saxons, in the hope of receiving support from the Avari, suddenly rose in arms in every part of the country, but, hearing of Charles's approach at the head of a formidable army, and the Avari remaining quiet, they as suddenly disbanded, and Charles, on his arrival, finding the country tranquil and being unable to discover the authors of the revolt, contented himself with taking hostages from them, and with establishing his seat of government at Aix-la-Chapelle [A. r>. 794]. For the future, however, he kept a vigilant watch over their movements, and caused the country to be continually patrolled by his troops. The Nord- Albinger, northward of the Elbe, (modern Holstein,) alone obstinately refused to submit, and incessantly harassed the troops sent to inspect the country. Many thousand Saxons were torn from their homes and transplanted into Brabant and TERMINATION OF THE SAXON WARS. 239 Flanders as well as to Sachsenhausen, now a suburb of Frank- fort on the Maine. The remainder still defended themselves in their fastnesses on the coast, and again roused the anger of the emperor, by putting his ambassadors to the Danish court to death, when passing through their country. Anxious to insure their complete subjection, Charles entered into alliance with the Slavian Obotrites, a Vendian race, at Mecklenburg, whose prince, Thrasico, aided by the Franks, attacked the northern Saxons, 4000 of whom were slain at Suintana [A. D. 798]. Submission was now inevitable, and Charles, in order to confirm his conquest, made use of the nobles, whose Wer- geld he trebled, and whom he loaded with favours, against the Frilings and Lazzi ; by which means he created an aristocracy similar to that of the grand feudatories of France, which acted as a sure check upon the people. In commemoration of this victory, a magnificent palace was erected at Paderborn, [A. D. 799,] whither flocked all the great vassals of the crown and many a ladye fayre. The beautiful daughters of Charlemagne daily graced the chace. Pope Leo came from Rome to sup- plicate for aid against his rival Hadrian and the Antifrank party. The pope and the emperor embraced each other near a spring once sacred to a heathen deity, in the sight of the astonished and enraged Saxons. A monk from Jerusalem brought holy relics. The great caliph of the East, Haroun- al-Raschid, Charlemagne's worthy contemporary, whom dis- like of the petty Moorish usurpers of Spain had rendered his ally, presented him with a costly tent, a curious clock, fine cloth the produce of the Eastern loom, spices, and an elephant. Four years later, after Charles's coronation at Rome, he revi- sited Saxony, and finally regulated the affairs of that country by the treaty of Selz, (Konigshofen on the Saal,) [A. D. 803,] by which he ratified the ancient laws, the privileges of the no- bles, and declared the Saxons on an equality with the Franks. Wittekind was killed in a border fray by Count Gerold of Swabia, [A. D. 807,] a proof of the insincerity of the concili- ation. The murder might, possibly, have been politically designed, Charles's aim being to deprive Saxony of her tem- poral rulers, and to place her beneath the pastoral staff of the church.* * Geroldus dux Sueviee percussit Witekindum Angrarorum regem, cujus terrain Carolus divisit in 8 episcopatus. Corneri Chron. 240 THE WARS IN SPAIN. CVIII. The wars in Spain. DISSENSION was rife among the Moors in Spain. The last descendant of the caliphs of the house of the Omaijades fled from Africa to that country, where the Moors still adhered to him, and there founded the kingdom of Cordova. Some of the emirs, however, who aimed at asserting their own inde- pendence, refused their allegiance, and, uniting with Ibnal- arabi, lord of Saragossa, opposed his authority and implored the assistance of Charlemagne, who, finding the opportunity favourable for another display of the superiority of France, for annihilating the power of the Mahometans by dissolving their union, for irremeably averting the danger with which the empire might be threatened from that quarter, and for extending the boundary of his dominions, speedily led his arrier-ban across the Pyrenees [A. D. 778]. The legends that refer to this war are replete with strange adventure, and re- count the glorious deeds of the famous Roland, who was first in command under Charlemagne. The emperor had rein- stated Ibnalarabi at Saragossa, had erected Catalonia, with its metropolis, Barcelona, into a dukedom, (that province being included within the French boundary,) and had received the oath of fealty from Alonzo, a petty Gothic king, who dwelt in the mountains of Galicia and Asturia, when the revolt in Saxony again required his presence in Germany, and com- pelled him to relinquish his projects upon Spain. Whilst re- crossing the Pyrenees, the Basques, faithful to their ancient enmity against the Franks, fell upon his rear, and a great slaughter took place in the narrow mountain passes near Ron- ceval, where Roland the Brave was slain ; his death was avenged by that of Lupus, the Basque duke, who was executed by order of Charlemagne. Roland has been celebrated by the poets of both olden and modern times, and appears to have been the favourite hero of the Franks, who long retained the custom of singing the famous song of Roland, now unfortunately lost, when marching to battle. The so-called pillars of Roland seen in different towns, are falsely supposed to refer to him. In 799, Charlemagne undertook a naval expedition against the Moors, and deprived them of the Balearic islands, Ma- jorca and Minorca. He might possibly have succeeded in THASSILO. 241 driving them out of Spain, had he not been called away by the aftaira of Saxony. CIX. Thassilo. THE ancient Agilofingian dynasty enjoyed considerable eminence, and retained the ducal dignity in Bavaria until the reign of Thassilo, who, cowardly, false, and base, justly in- curred the contempt of his subjects, and caused the downfal of his house, by his unworthy conduct. Although the hus- band of Luitberga, a daughter of Desiderius, and, even in the time of Pipin, the avowed enemy of the Carlovingians, he deserted the Lombards at the most critical moment, and only ventured to attack Charles when he had suffered defeat in Saxony. After refusing to perform feudal service in the field, he declared himself independent and slew the French count, Chrodbert, who was sent to oppose him. Charles, upon this, taking advantage of the first moment of tranquillity in Saxony, marched into Bavaria, and surrounded him in the valley of the Lech. The cowardly duke, instead of defend- ing himself with spirit, basely took a false oath of fealty to the conqueror, and expressly recommended to his subjects be- forehand, " whilst they were swearing allegiance to think the contrary." Charles pardoned his treachery, took one of his sons as an hostage, and permitted him to retain the ducal throne [A. D. 787]. The following year he plotted with the Avari, aided by whom, he hoped to surprise Charles, but having delayed openly to declare hostilities, on account of the emperor being then at peace and holding a great diet at Ingelheim, at which he had the audacity to appear, his plans were detected, and he was tried in full court and condemned to death. The sentence was commuted by Charles to imprisonment in a monastery. His fate was shared by his son, and Bavaria was subsequently governed by French counts, to whom the Bavarians, who had not even pretended to take part with the ruler they despised, and who had remained firm in their allegiance to the empe- ror, auietlv 242 THE WARS WITH THE SLAVI. CX. The wars with the Slavi. THE country eastward of the Elbe and Saal, abandoned by the Gothic tribes, had been repeopled by the Slavi, one of whose most noted tribes, the Wendi, took possession of north- ern Germany, where they first endured a severe struggle with the Saxons, and afterwards with the Franks. This tribe com- prised the Obotrites, who lay generally to the west in Meck- lenburg, and the Wilzi, who lay generally to the east on the coasts of Pommerania. The latter already possessed large commercial towns, one of which, on the mouth of the Oder, the wealthy Wineta, the Venice of the North, was destroyed as early as the eighth century, partly by the ravages of the Norsemen, partly by those of the sea, and was replaced by Julin (Wollin). The sacred towns of Arcona on Riigen and Rhetra on the Priegnitz, were celebrated among these north- ern nations. South of the Wendi, on the Saal and the Upper Elbe, dwelt the Sorbi, of which the Daleminzii were the chief tribe. The name coincides with that of the Serbii, who dwelt in the vicinity of the Bulgarians, in the north of Greece. Yet the Slavi in the Austrian mountains were known from Trient to Venice as Wendi ; hence Venice or the Windian boundary. The names of Croatia and Carinthia were merely provincial. The ancient name of the Vindelicii possibly reappears in that of these southern Wendi, in the same manner that the Bohe- mians took their name from the ancient Boii, (Bojenheim,) although they are named in their own language Tschechen. To the rear of the Wendi and the Sorbi dwelt the Lechen, (Poles,) and Tschechen, (Bohemians,) two kindred tribes. In the eighth century Crocus reigned in Bohemia. His daughter, Libussa, a prophetess, having, as the legends relate, to make choice of a husband, commanded search to be made for a man eating off an iron table, and Przmisl, a peasant, being found eating bread on a plough, became her husband and king of Bohemia. He founded the city of Prague. After Libussa's death, her maid-servants, instigated by Wlasta, re- belled, built the city of Diewin, (Magdeburg,) and put every man, who fell into their hands, to death. After a desperate struggle they were finally subdued by Przmisl. This war of the THE WARS WITH THE AVABI. 243 Bohemian maidens is detailed at greater length in some of the finest of the ancient legends. History is silent on the sub- ject, and merely records that the wars, commenced at an earlier period against the Slavi who dwelt to the east of Germany, were continued hy Charlemagne and increased in animosity after the subjection of Saxony, which brought the whole eastern frontier of the French empire every where in close contact with the confines of the Slavian territory, where the want of union among the Slavian tribes rendered their num- bers powerless against the collective force of the whole Ger- man empire, wielded by a single arm. The Saxon war for some time delayed the execution of the emperor's projects against the Slavi, and it was not until A. D. 789, that he invaded their territory and defeated the Obotrites and Wilzi, who being only momentarily intimidated, did not long remain in a state of submission. Their destruction, how- ever, was speedily caused by their disunion. The Obotrites who lay nearest to the frontier were disliked by the other tribes, and Charles, sensible of the advantages offered by their posi- tion for the furtherance of his designs, entered into close alli- ance with them, and loaded them with favours. He also made use of them against Saxony, and rewarded their services with its eastern districts, the ancient country of the Angli, now Mecklenburg. In 805 and 806, he marched against the Sorbi, defeated their kings, Samela and Misito, rendered them tributary, and laid the first stones of the towns of Halle and Magdeburg, which latter place is supposed to have received its name from the circumstance of his having there destroyed the images of the goddess of love and her attendant nymphs. At this period, he also subdued the Bohemians, on whom he imposed a tribute of 120 fatted oxen, and the Poles, whose king, Lecho, is said to have fallen in battle. CXI. The wars with the Avari. THE Avari, a wild Tartar race, had followed the Longo- bardi, and had settled in Hungary and Austria as far as the Enns. They were incessantly at war with the Slavian Bohemians and with the dukes of Friuli. Thassilo, uniting with them against France, invaded and laid waste that country B 2 244 THE WARS WITH THE AVARI. [A. D. 789]. 'In 791, the emperor descended the Danube with a fleet and a powerful army, defeated them, drowned 10,000 men in the river, and devastated their country as far as the Raab. At the same time, his son, Pi pin, made a suc- cessful inroad from Friuli into Hungary. Charlemagne, not venturing to advance, now merely sought to retain his newly- acquired domain, and, true to his maxim of ever watching over a dubious possession in person, besides anxious to im- press the people with awe by a display of his power and magnificence, held a synod at Ratisbon, [A. D. 792,] in which he caused the doctrine of Felix, the Spanish bishop, to be condemned as heretical. Close upon the frontier of Bohemia and not far from that of Hungary was he thus pleased to show himself as the defender of Christianity, in order to impose upon his dangerous enemies by the united pomp of church and state. Soon after this, the war with the Avari broke out anew. Dissensions arose between their princes or khans. Tudun, one of their number, visited Charlemagne at Aix-la-Chapelle, and there received baptism. The rest bade him defiance, but were, in the midst of their broils, attacked by young Pipin and by Erich, the brave duke of Friuli, assisted by the Slavi. In Hungary, the Avari had erected circular fortifications, one within the other, which they deemed impregnable, but which after a long and indecisive struggle were, at length, carried by torm by Duke Erich [A. D. 796]. The enormous booty, found by the Franks, heaped up within them, was carried to Aix-la-Chapelle by order of Charlemagne, who presented a moiety of it to the pope. In this war, Graf Gerold and his Swabians distinguished themselves so greatly, as to gain from the emperor the honourable distinction of marching first in order in every war for the future undertaken by the state. Among these Swabians was a man from Thurgau, who spitted seven Avari at once on his enormous lance, and who, on ac- count of his gigantic strength, was named Einheer, one of the Einherier or companions of Odin in Walhalla, according to the yet unforgotten pagan belief. The Avari, however, re- mained still unsubdued, and vigorously carried on the war. Tudun deserted the imperial cause. Gerold was killed in battle, and Tudun was captured and put to death. At length, weakened by continual disaster, the Avari submitted, [A. D. THE WARS WITH THE AVARI. 245 799,] some of them to the Germans, the rest to their neigh- bours the Slavi. Had Charlemagne been less continually occupied with Sax- ony, he would have extended his dominions by the conquest of the Avari beyond the Raab, and might possibly have reached Constantinople. A communication between the West and the East, by the already-mentioned union of the Maine with the Danube, might then have been carried into execu- tion. For the present, he contented himself with making Croatia, the country recently torn from the Slavi, the eastern boundary of the empire, and with settling several Swabian and Bavarian colonies in modern Austria, whence the name, Bavarian frontier, or Astarrichi. The inhabitants of these boundaries were in an extremely peculiar position in regard to each other ; the Slavi had long found themselves perplexed between Avari and Bavarians, heathens and Christians ; at length the nobles sided with the former, and the people with the latter ; the war carried on with their enemies abroad was consequently accompanied by revolutions at home. The peaceful conversion of the Slavian peasantry was at first due to the humane exertions of Virgilius, bishop of Salzburg, in the eighth century. Graf Gerold, already mentioned as one of the ablest servants of Charlemagne, afterwards undertook the regulation of these mountainous districts, aided the peasants in exterminating the pagan nobility, granted them great privi- leges, and planted fresh German colonies among them. Only one, probably a Gothic tribe, the Gotscheer, had preserved its independence among the Slavi, in the mountains of Croatia. The celebrated ceremony which attended the election of the duke in Carinthia, and was observed for centuries, dates from this period. The Furstenstein, or prince's stone, is still to be seen at Karnburg near Clagenfurt. A peasant, seating him- self upon this stone, commanded the newly-elected duke to be brought before him : " Who is he that so proudly prances along?" asked the peasant, and the people shouted in reply, " Our country's prince." " Is he also a righteous judge, an increaser of the land, a defender of Christianity, of widows, and orphans?" again asked the peasant, and the people re- plied, " He is and will be ! " The peasant then bade the duke assume his dignity, and giving him a box on the ear yielded his seat to him. This privilege was obtained by the pea- 246 THE WARS WITH THE NORSEMEN. santry, when they first embraced Christianity, and, after driving away their own nobility, accepted German rulers. CXII. The wars with the Norsemen. NORSEMEN, or men of the North, was the general term for all Scandinavians, who quitted their native country to seek for adventure, or to plunder by sea or by land. In ancient times all the German nations had migrated for these purposes. Christianity put an end to the migrations in the South, and the Scandinavians, the last of the pagan German tribes, alone retained this ancient custom. Until now, Saxony had proved a sufficient bulwark against the Norsemen, but that country was no sooner conquered by Charlemagne, than the robbers and warriors of the North threatened France herself. The Danes, the allies of the Saxons, afforded Wittekind both shel- ter and support. Their king, Gottfried, attacked the Obo- trites, and was, with difficulty, repulsed by the Franks. As a security against invasion, he separated the Danish peninsula from Germany by a great wall and moat, called the Dane- wirk, that had only one outlet. In 810, he sailed with 200 ships to Friesland, where he landed and threatened Aix-la- Chapelle, the capital of the empire. The arrier-ban was in- stantly summoned, and the emperor took the field against the invading horde, but learning, on his march, that they had slain their king for his arrogance and tyranny, and had re- treated to Denmark, he concluded peace with Hemming, Gott- fried's successor, and made the Eyder the northern boundary of the empire. Graf Odo, in Itzehoe or Hamburg, and the Waldgraf Liderich, in Flanders, guarded the northern coasts, but Charlemagne, being unpossessed of a fleet, was unable to keep the bold Norsemen in check at sea, probably from his unwillingness to trust the Saxons with so much power, and these northern pirates even infested the Mediterranean. The sight of their vessels, as they crossed on the ocean, is said to have drawn tears from the eyes of this great emperor, as he sat watching their movements from his castle at Narbonne, in the south of France, and foretold their future devastation of his empire. CHARLEMAGNE THE FIRST GERMAN CAESAR. 247 CXIIL Charlemagne the first of the German Ccesars. SUCH were the warlike achievements of the greatest of the Prankish monarchs, whose empire extended from the Ebro to the Raab, from Benevento to the Eyder. Every German race, except the English and the Scandinavians, were, for the first time, united under one sovereign ; all the western Ro- mans, with part of the Slavi and Avari, owned the same alle- giance. The discordant component parts of this gigantic empire, held together by a social compact whose strength was doubled by the pressure from without, were scarcely influ- enced by the distinction that certainly still existed between the Romans and the Germans, the conquered and the con- queror, the adherents of royalty and the advocates for the ancient democracy. The exclusive sway of the Catholic re- ligion, now that of the state, the enthusiasm of its votaries, its spiritual power, its character, well adapted to impress the minds of the illiterate, and its well-regulated papal government, all tended to promote concord, whilst the danger with which Mohammedanism threatened Christendom from the South, united Romans and Germans in one common cause, nay, even caused the ancient hereditary feuds among the latter to be forgotten amid the general enthusiasm, which rendered them equally zealous, whether arrayed in opposition to the Grecian empire or to the pagan Slavi and Norsemen. England, natu- rally and politically insulated, alone stood aloof, but mani- fested her sympathy, by sending forth her missionaries to aid in the work of conversion carried on by the Franks in the East. The distinctive peculiarities of the different tribes of Ger- many, who were, thus suddenly and for the first time, united, became gradually and naturally less prominent, whilst a simi- larity in their national characters began to develope. Their common hatred of the Moors, the Greeks, and the Slavi, added another link to their bond of union. A state exclu- sively German was also by no means the idea of the times, the Romans having kept pace with the Germans, and the church, far from being satisfied to rule within the narrow limits of a German empire, aspired to universal dominion ; still it must be conceded, that the spirit of fraternization that 248 CHARLEMAGNE THE FIRST GERMAN C.ESAR. at this period prevailed throughout Germany, chiefly con- duced to the internal harmony of the state, the extension of whose limits, the wars and conquests, naturally recalled the ancient Roman empire to remembrance, whose still unforgot- ten splendour kindled anew a desire for pomp and pageantry, and swelled alike the heart of the ruler and the subject with the proud consciousness of power. The resemblance of the new empire with that which had passed away, and the ancient reverence attached to the name of Rome, facilitated their con- nexion, and the new empire received the name of Roman. This combination of ch'cumstances produced the idea of an empire whose temporal power and mode of formation should be a vivid image of that of ancient Rome, and whose spiritual power should extend over the whole world, and fraternize all nations, by uniting them in one faith and under one sovereign. Thus originated the Holy Roman empire, which contained within itself two separate powers, the church and the state, each of which owned a visible head, the representative of God upon earth ; the spiritual head being the pope, and the temporal head the emperor. " God," it was said, " had given two swords wherewith to govern the world, the one to the pope, the other to the emperor." The spirit of the times favoured this transformation in the affairs of Europe. Charle- magne was in fact but the outward and visible instrument destined to carry into effect the gradual and hidden work of centuries. His greatness solely consisted in his having com- prehended and acted up to the spirit of the times, by forcibly producing a union whence sprang a new spirit, a new life, to which he gave free scope. For the sake of unity, he cer- tainly sacrificed the ancient liberties of the people, which, until his time, had been upheld by the independence of the several petty tribes and states. He gave them unity, but de- prived them of freedom ; but Germany was not then fitted for the simultaneous enjoyment of these two great advantages. Charlemagne, whilst engaged in these bloody wars, pre- served a strict friendship with the pope, Hadrian, whom he supported in his measures for the government of the church, and who, in return, assisted his schemes by converting the heathen, and by placing his wild followers under spiritual subjection. When the threats of the sovereign were disre- garded, the eloquence of the churchman often prevailed. THE EMPIRE UNDER CHARLEMAGNE. 249 Hadrian died, and his relatives, conspiring against his suc- cessor, Leo the Third, ill-treated him in a tumult, upon which he fled to Paderborn to sue the emperor for aid [A. D. 799]. The restoration of the Roman empire was there concerted be- tween them, and, in the ensuing year, Charlemagne appeared with a numerous retinue in Rome, where, on Christmas eve, the crown, which for one thousand and six years after repre- sented the union and supremacy of Germany, was placed upon his head by the pope, whilst the assembled multitude shouted, " Charles Augustus, crowned by God, great and pacific Caesar ! Life and victory to the Roman emperor ! " [A. D. 800.] Charlemagne's ambition soared still higher. In the hope of gaining possession of the imperial throne of Greece, he sent the bishops, Hatto of Basle and Hugo of Tours, to Constantinople, to sue for the hand of Irene, the empress widow, who, meanwhile, was deprived of the throne by Xicephorus. This usurper, enraged at the ill-timed embassy, ill-treated the bishops, a disgrace that was repaid by the con- tempt with which his ambassadors were treated at Selz, where Charlemagne finally concluded peace with Saxony ; at least so says the loquacious monk of St. Gall. CXIV. The empire under Charlemagne. THE feudal system, which was first planned by Chlodwig, who raised the armed adherents, immediately attached to his person, above the free-born Franks, was perfected by Charle- magne, whose whole power rested upon it. The authority of the mayors of the palace of the Carlovingian dynasty was founded on the favour of the vassals, and their policy chiefly consisted in converting freehold property into fiefs and in ren- dering the fiefs heritable. The feudal system had by this means already become so general as materially to lessen the numbers and weaken the influence of the Frilings, and Charle- magne was consequently enabled without difficulty to bring it to full maturity, and, after his coronation as emperor, to exact from every subject within his empire, without distinction, an oath of allegiance, similar to that by which the vassal (homo, Lent, vasall, servitor) bound himself to his lord. By this step, he declared himself universal sovereign, whom every vassal 250 THE EMPIRE UNDER CHARLEMAGNE. of the empire was bound to serve in person, and also possessor of the land and universal liege. Whoever still remained free and retained possession of an Allod was at least bound to ap- pertain, both person and property, to the empire, to be subject to the supremacy of the emperor and to the authority of the counts, (Grafen,) whose election now rested with the crown in- stead of with the people, and who were now exclusively termed comites, or royal followers. The Frilings became Frilings of the empire, over whom the protection of the emperor was as compulsory as his feudal right over his vassal. The treat- ment these Frilings received was, however, such as to lead them to prefer feudality to freedom ; they were, in fact, so arbitrarily oppressed by the Grafs and the already powerful vassals of the crown, that Louis the Pious, Charlemagne's successor, visited the different parts of his empire for the especial purpose of checking this injustice, but in vain. Many of the Frilings were compelled to convert their Allods into fiefs, whilst others did so voluntarily, in order to free them- selves from the arrier-ban, in which they were obliged to serve as long as they retained their freedom. According to the old custom, the Frilings were forced to join the arrier-ban whenever war broke out, and as Charlemagne was perpetually in the field, those who remained at the conclusion of the war were ruined by the neglect into which their property had fallen, whilst the vassals in the personal service of some great lord, or in that of the church, were either not summoned, or were indemnified for their service by their spiritual or tem- poral lieges ; such oppressive freedom was naturally often gladly exchanged for the more agreeable species of servitude. Still, in the interior of Germany, many of the Frilings proudly maintained their independence, and in Saxony and among the Alemanni there were whole districts or tithings of free pea- sants of the empire. These Frilings refused to serve in the field under the customary Graf, on account of his ever at- tempting to usurp feudal power in his district, and demanded a Sendgraf, a Graf specially commissioned on extraordinary occasions for a short period, immediately from the emperor. Partly in order to replace the deficiency in the arrier-ban, and partly to provide for the better security of his person by the formation of a body-guard, Charlemagne raised the Scaren, so called from Schaaren, troops, bands of mercenaries, paid from THE EMPIRE UNDER CHARLEMAGNE. 25 J his private revenues, and clothed in red, whence the word "scarlet," Schnr, a troop, and Lack or Laken, cloth. The new method of administering justice was an additional fetter upon ancient popular freedom. The Germans were no longer permitted to appear armed before the tribunal ; and the judiciary power, formerly exercised by the assembled com- munity, now rested solely with the Grafs elected by the crown. The numerous new laws, or Capitularies of Charlemagne, compiled in Latin, being, independent of the unknown lan- guage in which they were written, of too circumstantial a nature for the people to be able to retain them, like their ancient laws, in their memories, rendered necessary the form- ation, in each community, of a species of guild, composed of men who had made the law their chief study, and who, under the title of aldermen, (scabini,) were always present, and sat next to the Graf, during the administration of justice. Charle- magne had permitted the Franks, Goths, Longobardi, Burgun- dians, Alemanni, Thuringians, Bavarians, Saxons, and Frisii, to retain part of their national laws, after expunging those that referred to their ancient liberties, and adding new feudal and ecclesiastical ordonnances, which also contained the separ- ate contracts, donations, and privileges of each bishopric, monastery, and temporal fief, and thereby produced a mass and a perplexing variety of laws, which being too intricate for the comprehensions of the commonalty, consequently caused their total exclusion from the administration of justice. Popular freedom, nevertheless, received its death-blow from Catholicism, more especially in the interior of Germany, where the new religion had taken firm root before the intro- duction of the feudal system, which the Frankish lords did not venture to enforce among the Swabians and Saxons, among whom monasteries and bishoprics had met with an easy reception. Never did the Germans voluntarily bend the knee to any save to their God, in their zeal for whose service they bound themselves as vassals to, and held their lands in fief from, the church ; ere long, richly-endowed houses of God enthralled the free community, and even the Frilings, who refused vassalage to the church, were by law compelled, under pain of death, to pay tithes. The ancient liberties of the people and the insolence of the nobles, who like Thassilo aspired to independence, were 252 THE CHURCH UNDER CHARLEMAGNE. equally suppressed by Charlemagne, who, putting an end to the dukedoms, governed the empire by means of Grafs, who, being less powerful, less endangered its unity, and by Send- grafs, (missi domenici,) travelling envoys, who were charged with the inspection of the provinces. Foreseeing that the as- semblies of the nobles might frustrate his projects, he separated that body, by holding especial ecclesiastical synods and special assemblies of the vassals, (Hoflager placifa,) by which aristo- cratic two-chamber system, the third class or commoners were totally excluded from any share in the government, and it was only at the Field of May, or great original assembly of the states, that the Frilings were admitted, when their votes merely confirmed decisions already determined upon. He also took the precautionary measure of holding any extraordinary meeting of the bishops and vassals at different places and seasons, by which means he was apparently ever present, and hindered conspiracies being laid in unguarded parts of the country. His Capitularies frequently mention the conjura- tions, conspiracies, or fraternities, and their severe punish- ment ; among them, the secret confederacies of the Saxons are most particularly pointed out, whose prevention, requiring his presence in the country or in its vicinity, caused him generally to convoke thither the assemblies of the vassals. CXV. The church under Charlemagne. CHARLEMAGNE, habituated to command, was no less abso- lute in ecclesiastical than in temporal matters, and never again has the church, since her assumption of authority, been so completely under the control of a temporal sovereign. In order to guard equally against the convocation of general ecclesiastical assemblies independent of the laity, and the union of the clergy and the people against the crown, he pre- sided as a layman at all ecclesiastical meetings, which he con- voked separately from the Fields of May and the Placitis. He consequently arbitrarily governed their decisions, in which the voice of the people was necessarily unheard. In the ecclesiastical assemblies, held in 792, at Ratisbon, in 794, at Frankfurt, and in 815, at Mayence, he laid down new regula- tions for the internal management of the church. His word THE CHURCH UNDER CHARLEMAGNE. 253 was law. Pope and clergy bent submissively before him, and his rules of moral discipline were strictly enforced among the monks and secular priests. As a check upon the disorder in- troduced by Charles Martell, and left unremedied by Boni- facius, he forbade the clergy to carry arms, to keep falcons, dogs, or fools, but, aware of their invincible predilection for the chace, permitted them to retain this amusement on condi- tion of their converting the skins of the animals they killed into binding for books, which he hoped by these means to render more general. Moderation, decency, and gravity of demeanour, were enjoined upon all priests, and the monks were obliged to find employment in the fields and schools. He also interfered in doctrinal matters. It was not the pope, but the emperor, who condemned Bishop Felix and his sect of Adoptians, [A. D. 792,] who simply confessed the existence of two natures in the Godhead, and regarded Christ as a man adopted by God as his son. It was the emperor who, in op- position to the pope, condemned the worship of images and pictures, [A. D. 794,] and interdicted, throughout his empire, the adoration of the saints. The interest of the church, moreover, induced her to sub- mit to the decisions of the crown. Charlemagne, although in name merely a layman, acting in reality as if he were him- self pope, and only intent upon her welfare, immeasurably added to the power of that dignitary and to her unity. The dangerous influence of the Lombards was for ever destroyed; the donations of Pipin were confirmed, and secured to the pope by the power of the empire, whilst the esteem in which he was held by the emperor, the closeness of their alliance, his influence over the numerous clergy spread throughout the empire, and the recognition of his sanctity, which empowered him to bestow the crown and a new title, in the name of God, on the emperor, at once raised him next in rank to that sove- reign, to whose temporal power his spiritual power alone ceded, nay, his authority ere long rose so high, as, during succeeding centuries, to render it questionable whether pre- cedence was not his due. Charlemagne also widely extended the influence of the church, by the conversion of several mil- lion heathen to Christianity, and by the erection of powerful bishoprics in the interior of Germany ; among others, that of Paderborn, one of his favourite places of residence, and Bre- 254 THE STATE OF LEARNING men, distinguished as the outpost by which Christendom was guarded against the pagan North. The jealousy that existed between the conquered Saxons, Thuringians, Hessians, Bavarians, and Swabians, and, in fact, between all the Germans and the Franks, cautioned Charle- magne against placing Frankish Grafs over these provinces, and he, accordingly, set over them bishops, whose spiritual and apparently gentle rule bound them in fetters stronger than those imposed by force. Upon these spiritual lords he conferred the greatest possible temporal prerogatives and power, in order to render their authority equal to that of the Grafs, and to enable them to act as a check upon the native Grafs, whose allegiance appeared doubtful. Penal judicature, the power of life or death within their dioceses, was, for these reasons, one of their prerogatives ; it was even exercised by abbots, as for instance, those of Fulda and St. Gall, who thus united in their persons -not only the authority of the ancient judges of peace, but, in their capacity of feudatory lords over their armed vassals, that of the ancient dukes. These mea- sures, calculated to meet the exigency of the times, at a later period greatly endangered the empire, by giving a prepon- derance of wealth, prerogative, and power to the church. Alcuin, an Anglo-Saxon monk, Charlemagne's spiritual guide, a man of comprehensive intellect and deep learning, was his agent in the most important ecclesiastical affairs, and particularly in the management of the academies, whose foundation gave a fresh impulse to German civilization. CXVI. The state of learning under Charlemagne. THE academies founded beneath the despotic rule of Char- lemagne in aid of the church, were the means of raising Ger- many from her ancient barbarous state. A kind of academy, composed of the most learned and talented men of the age, was established at the imperial court ; among the number, were Alcuin, the Anglo-Saxon, whose numerous letters and other writings are still extant ; Paul Warnefried, the cele- brated historian of Lombardy ; Angilbert, Peter of Pisa, Pau- linus of Aquileia, Theodolfus, the pious bishop Turpin, and young Eginhart, the two biographers of Charlemagne, Riculf, UNDER CHARLEMAGNE. 255 Theodulf, Adelhard, Wala, "Wigo, Arno, Sigulf, Fredegis, and Richbod. Alcuin generally resided at Tours, where he founded a classical academy, which produced most of the above-mentioned scholars, and, at a later period, many more. The society of these men was the favourite relaxation of the emperor, whenever a pause occurred in war. Each branch of science became, in turn, the theme of conversation ; etiquette was thrown aside, and each of the academicians was distin- guished by a name taken from the Bible or from the Greek and Roman classics, which at that time were carefully col- lected and diligently studied. Charlemagne was named King David ; Wala, Jeremiah ; Fredegis, Nathaniel ; Alcuin, Ho- race ; Angilbert, Homer ; Tlieodulf, Pindar ; Eginhart, Cal- liopius ; etc. Refinement and learning long distinguished the family of the emperor, one of whose grandsons, Nithard, be- came celebrated as an historian. Charlemagne was also the patron of poetry. By his direction, a number of the ancient legends and ballads of Germany were collected and committed to writing, some of which were probably retouched at a later period, and are those that have reached our times in fact, are all that remain of ancient legendary lore ; the Gothic legends, for instance, particularly those of Dietrich, and those of the Burgundians, of Etzel and Gonthachar, which, in the Nibelungenlied, were connected with those of the Franks and of the North. The deeds of Charlemagne became the theme of many later German and French poets. Charlemagne also founded several monastic schools for the diffusion of useful knowledge among the commonalty, and more especially among the clergy. The most celebrated were, *ihose of Fulda, Mayence, St. Gall, Reichenau, and Weissen- imrg, which produced a crowd of distinguished scholars. The emperor sometimes assisted in person at these academies, and one day, perceiving the superior intelligence and industry of the commoners over the nobles, vehemently expostulated with the latter, possibly foreseeing in this circumstance the future downfal of the class for whose establishment he had so zeal- ously laboured. Masters for writing, arithmetic, singing, and music, were brought from Italy, where Latinity and art had been preserved by the clergy. At Paris, a concert was given by the emperor, which decided the superiority of the Italian over the French singers. A grammar of the German Ian- 256 STATE OF LEARNING UNDER CHARLEMAGNE. guage was composed. The first bell was cast at St. Gall by a monk named Tancho, who is said to have received a hundred- weight of silver from the emperor, for the purpose of founding a second one, but who kept the silver for his own use, and made a bell of common metal, at whose first peal, by the decree of Heaven, he fell dead. Charlemagne, besides being a distinguished patron of learn- ing, was, for the times in which he lived, a great promoter of agriculture, trade, and commerce. He improved the calendar, and his Capitularies contained separate regulations for each class. Notwithstanding the disinclination of the Germans for commercial pursuits, he attempted to encourage them by grant- ing extraordinary privileges to merchants. The Jews, who, after the . destruction of Jerusalem, had been carried away captive by the Romans, and scattered over the face of the earth, had, since Rome had fallen under the dominion of Germany, busied themselves exclusively with commerce, and Charlemagne, uninfluenced by the prejudices of the Christians, rewarded their skill and industry by granting them every pri- vilege demanded by humanity and consistent with the advan- tage of the state. Roads were built, and travelling merchants were protected by severe laws. An alliance was formed with the commercial towns of the Slavi on the Baltic, and with the Greeks, the former of which carried on a traffic in slaves and furs, the latter in precious stones, rich stuifs, and fruits. New markets, open to foreign merchants, were erected in the interior of Germany, at Bardewyk, Magdeburg, Erfurt, Forchheim, Ratisbon, and Lorch. The imperial palaces, more particularly Aix-la-Chapelle, Heristal, Nimwegen, Diedenhofen, Reuse, Andernach, Prlim, Ingelheim, Worms, Tribur, Paderborn, and Salzburg, whose gardens, fields, vineyards, arable lands, and forests were cultivated and managed by the emperor's servants under his own superintendence, afforded proof of his acquaintance with husbandry, by serving as models to the whole empire for economy and good management. It was here that he carried into practice the knowledge he had acquired from the Romans and the Slavi, who were far in advance of the Germans in the arts of husbandry, that he cul- tivated the fruits and reared the animals of foreign countries, and made experiments for the improvement of agriculture. To the inhabitants of these demesnes he gave a particular CHARLEMAGNE. 257 law, the Capitulare de Villis, which contained a complete set of rules for the agriculturist, and served as a manual for the rest of his subjects. The only artificers at this period were women and servants. The daughters of Charlemagne and the daughters of the peasants were equally engaged in weaving, embroidery, and housekeeping. The Capitularies prescribed rules to the arti- sans, and were an evidence of the zeal with which Charle- magne endeavoured to introduce the refinements of the South into Germany, and the variety of trades, from that of the jeweller to that of the shoemaker, mentioned in them, prove how greatly he had already contributed to the comfort and elegance of domestic life. The use of richly-worked and embroidered dresses, gay coats and flags, devices, carved wainscoting, ornamental furniture in gold and silver, sculp- tured drinking cups, splendid arms and coats of mail, glass windows and musical instruments, ere long gave indication of a love of splendour and of a higher degree of civilization and social intercourse. Architecture was still neglected, owing to the dislike of the Germans to the erection of cities or even castles. The emperor's palaces at Aix-la-Chapelle were con- sidered so wonderful in the North, that the people compared them to the papal "residence, and named them " Little Rome." At Ingelheim, on the Rhine, stood another palace, the remains of whose ruins fell not many years ago. Some of the elegant columns that once formed part of it may still be seen near the old well in the court of the castle of Heidleberg. Among other treasures, Charlemagne is said to have possessed one golden and three silver tables, the latter of which bore repre- sentations of ancient Rome, modern Rome, and the globe. CXVII. Charlemagne. CHARLEMAGNE is said to have been seven feet in height. His crown, preserved at Vienna, is of gigantic size. Strong and active in his person, he was a perfect adept in the tourna- ment and in the use of weapons. His arm was as irresistible as his commanding genius. The ponderous iron lance was wielded like a toy in his powerful grasp. In swimming he was unequalled. By never indulging in excess or luxury, his s 258 CHARLEMAGNE. strength, maintained by daily exercise, endured to extreme old age. Warlike and majestic in his deportment, every heart throbbed higher, every head bent with deference and awe, at his presence. Wisdom and nobility sat enthroned on his broad, open brow ; every eye sank beneath his piercing and com- manding glance. His dress, generally simple and warlike, consisted of a doublet composed of the fur of the otter. When his courtiers first began to wear sumptuous silken dresses, he led them one day mockingly into the heavy rain, which quickly spoilt their gay attire. On public and solemn occa- sions, he wore a short golden gown, fastened with a girdle ; gay-coloured ribbons placed crossways over his trowsers and stockings, uncut diamonds on his shoes, and a mantle, gene- rally either white or green. The handle of his enormous sword bore his seal, and he was wont to say, " With my sword I maintain all, to which I affix my seal." He was married five times, and had five concubines. Beauty and virtue guided his choice of a wife more than high birth. It is related of Hildegarde, the Swabian, whom he wedded shortly after his divorce from the Lombard princess, that a servant, named Taland, enraged at the contempt with which she treated his criminal advances, accused her of infidelity to the emperor, who divorced her also ; upon which she retired to Rome, where for some time she led a life of great sanctity, and devoted herself to the care of the sick, until happening to meet with Taland, wandering about blind, she restored him to sight, and the wretched man, struck with remorse, confessed his crime and led her back to her husband. The legends also mention the beautiful daughters of Charlemagne, who some- times accompanied him to the field of battle. His secretary, young Eginhart, became deeply enamoured of his daughter Emma, and the youthful lovers, fearing his anger should he discover their affection, only met at night. It happened, that one night, whilst Eginhart was in the princess's apartment, a fall of snow took place. To return across the palace court must lead to inevitable discovery by the traces of his foot- steps. The moment called for resolution ; woman's wit came to the assistance of the perplexed lover, and the faithful and prudent Emma, taking her lover on her back, bore him across the court. The emperor, who chanced to be gazing from his window, beheld this strange sight by the clear moonlight, and CHARLEMAGNE. 259 the next morning sent for the young couple, who stood before him in expectation of being sentenced to death, when the generous father bestowed upon Eginhart his daughter's hand, and the Odenwald in fief. The tomb of Eginhart and Emma is still to be seen at Erbach. The counts of Erbach claim from them their descent. Eginhart became a celebrated his- torian, and it was chiefly through the medium of his pen that the deeds of his great father-in-law were handed down to posterity. Bertha, the second daughter, carried on a similar intrigue with young Engelbert, and without being formally married, became the mother of Nithart, who distinguished himself as an historian. Odoin the brave is named as the lover of the third daughter. Lewis, Charlemagne's successor, no sooner mounted the throne, than he imprisoned his sisters in a convent, and persecuted their lovers. Odoin, too proud to flee, stood firm and fought bravely to the last against his assassins. The lenity with which Charlemagne treated his daughters and their lovers unquestionably arose from a politi- cal motive. Had he wedded them to men of distinction be- longing to the old ducal families, the empire must ere long have been partitioned between his sons-in-law. In order to avoid this, and to preserve the unity of the state, by rendering rivalry impossible, he consequently refused his daughters any share in the heritage or legal marriages. Charlemagne had three sons : Charles, who died early. Pipin, a young man of talent, who, after serving in several campaigns, particularly in those against the Avari and the Lombards, rebelled against his father and died in prison. His history is extremely obscure. Lewis, the third son, unfortu- nately of weaker parts than his brethren, was the only one who survived him. This great emperor died in 814. He lies, or, more pro- perly speaking, sits, buried at Aix-la-Chapelle, where, on his tomb being opened by the emperor Otto the Third, he was found sitting upright as on a throne, attired in his imperial robes. So great was his renown, so great were the love and veneration he inspired, that he was canonized, and pilgrimages were made to his grave. The eifect of his genius, far from ceasing with his life, shed a lustre over succeeding centuries. Radiant with majesty and sanctity, the founder of the new empire stood, as it were, on the threshold of that great and s 2 260 ODIN. brilliant era, his creation, the middle age, then opening on the world. His fame, unsurpassed and unequalled by that of succeeding emperors, dazzled posterity, and the memory of his glory bestowed imperishable dignity on the imperial crown, though subsequently placed on such unworthy brows. Hence the great emperor, his warriors, his sages, and their mighty exploits, naturally formed the inexhaustible subject of the poetry of the middle ages, and his reign has been immor- talized by German, French, and Spanish poets, in whose pro- ductions the great events of later times, and the results of more modern civilization, are ascribed to it as the concentrating point of all that is sublime, glorious, great, and beautiful. The Capitularies and letters of Charlemagne himself, the nu- merous writings of Alcuin, the historical work of Eginhart, a manuscript chronicle at Paris, and the romantic account of the monk of St. Gall, are the only sources of information concerning this emperor now extant. The romance of Tur- oin and the Weaver are mere fables. PART VII. THE HISTORY OF THE NORTH. CXVIII. Odin. THE North, or Scandinavia, separated from Germany by the Baltic, stretched far into the frigid zone. Denmark lay to its extreme south. From time immemorial the fertile low- lands were cultivated by a hardy population. Steep Alps separate Sweden from Norway. Ages ago, along the exten- sive rocky coasts, called the Scheeren, and along the streams flowing through the valleys, dwelt tribes of Fins, who, at an unknown period, were driven into Finland, and amid the eternal snows of Lapland, which they still inhabit, by Ger- ODIN. 261 mans, who crossed the Baltic and took possession of the coun- tries lying to the North. The most ancient sources of Northern history are the le- gendary accounts of celebrated royal dynasties, which, as is usually the case in these sort of legends, drew their origin, in the fabulous ages, from the supreme deity, and became the first rulers over the people. Thus the Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, and Anglo-Saxon kings, claim as their common an- cestor, the great god, Odin, who is said to have subdued the whole of Northern Germany and Scandinavia, which he di- vided between his sons, giving Eastern Saxony to Vegdeg, Western Saxony to Balldr, Franconia to Sigge, Denmark to Skiold, Norway to Saming, and Sweden to Yngwi-Freyr. With his own hands he raised the great temple at Upsala in Sweden, where he was represented under the figure of a war- rior standing before an enormous flaming sun. Here was his earthly throne, whence he gave laws to the whole North, and to him are ascribed the invention of religious ceremonies, magic, the Runic letters, poetry, the institution of the popular assembly or Thing, and of the administration of justice, hero- ism, the regulations of the warriors or warlike retinue, which he composed of Berserkers, and every important popular in- stitution. For some time after the death of Odin, his sons appear to have shared his divine attributes. They were called Drottar or lords, a word, in its full meaning, signifying God-kings, who possessed power equalling that of Odin. The whole of Sweden was under the jurisdiction of the temple- court at Upsala, the seat of government of the Ynglinger (from Yngwi-Freyr) ; the whole of Norway under that of the sacred city of Thrandheim, where the Saminger sat enthroned ; and Denmark, under that of the great temple of Lethra, which was guarded by the Skioldunger. So far extend the ancient traditions of the gods, which soon after assume a more worldly tone, and treat of men. The laws and institutions of ancient Germany appear to have spread over the North as well as the South. The Swedish legends record, thatDygwe, the seventh Ynglinger after Yngwi-Freyr, was the first Avho exchanged the title of Drottar for that of king. 262 THE KINGS. CXIX. The kings. THE lineal descendants of Odin maintained their authority at Upsala, Thrandheim, and Lethra, and even after the ex- tinction of their race, the ancient veneration for these sacred cities gave to the districts to which they belonged, and to their kings, a sort of pre-eminence over the other districts and their kings, which usually simply consisted in the honour of pre- siding at the national festivals, except in cases when this dig- nity chanced to be attained by some great warrior, who made use of the superstition of his countrymen to increase his au- thority. Besides these sacred monarchs, there arose numerous petty Fylker-kings, so named from the independent Fylker or districts over which they reigned. These kings were, at first, side-branches of the race of Odin, and united in their persons the offices of Lagmenn or guardians of the laws, of Hofdin- giar, presidents of the popular assembly and administrators of justice, (chiefs of the Thing,) and of Blotmenn, high priests of the altar ; they were also Heerkonige, or kings of the army by land, and sea-kings by water. The people consisted of free peasants or Bonden, who pos- sessed a heritable and unalienable Allod or Odol, freehold. They had the right of electing the king, and of holding their public councils or Things under his presidency. Wealthy Bonden had their vassals or feudal tenants, (Lendinnenn,)and servants or slaves (Tralle). Individual warriors, who as- sembled followers and practised piracy, received the title of sea-kings, or, when they fixed their abode on a small island or rock, (Naes,~) that of Naes-kings. Other warriors formed a republic of pirates, each of whom enjoyed equal privileges and was subject to the same regulations, which were often ex- tremely severe. War and piracy were the daily occupation of the people. The kings were ever at feud. Sometimes a king was murdered for attempting to tyrannize over the people ; or some mighty warrior was, for a short time, successful in his attacks upon neighbouring kings ; or part of the people mi- grated to the South. The state of the North, about the middle of the first cen- tury after Christ, is thus described in numerous legends, in which, in the midst of the universal confusion, its three great THE DANES. 263 causes, the love of war, the attempts of the Tralle to escape from thraldom, and the sturdy opposition of the Bonden to the arbitrary rule of the kings, may ever be traced. This con- tinual struggle necessarily produced a new order of things ; war was preferred to peace, the military ruled the civil power, and the warriors tyrannized over the Bonden, whose Allods were alienated by the kings, and the feudal system was intro- duced. Superstition gave the sacred kings the upper hand over the minor rulers, and, finally, the introduction of Chris- tianity tended to bring the people into subjection and to fix the throne on a firmer basis. It is remarkable, that the change in the government of the three kingdoms proceeded from totally different causes. In Denmark, where war was the ruling passion, the people crowded beneath the banner of their kings, who easily ex- tended the authority they thus acquired. In Sweden, the people were enthralled by superstition, and the kings, unaided by the sword, exercised supreme power in Odin's sacred tem- ple. In Norway, the authority rested with the people, and the Bonden, whose warlike deeds surpassed those of their monarchs, held royalty in check ; and it was only after a long and cruel struggle, which, like a pestilence, swept away half the population, that they at length fell beneath the arbitrary rule of one warrior king. CXX. The Danes. THE Danes bear a prominent part in the history of ancient Germany. As early as a century before Christ, they appeared on the other side of the Pyrenees and Alps, under the deno- mination of Cimbri, and at a later date, sent forth the hardy Longobardi. Invincible in their own country, they spread their conquering arms, at different periods, over the whole of the North, where their power for some time equalled that at- tained by the Franks in the South. Frotho, the second king after Skiold, is said to have subdued upwards of a hundred of the minor kings who dwelt along the shores of the Northern Ocean and the Baltic. He is described in the legends as a great lawgiver, and as so beloved by his subjects, that, de- spairing to find his equal, they bore his body about the country 264 THE DANES. for three years ; at length they resolved to elect as his suc- cessor on the throne whoever composed the best poem in his honour, and one Hiarne obtained the prize. The sixth king after him was Dan Mykelati, who gave his name to the country. Several new regulations are ascribed to him, among others, the abolition of the burning of the dead and the in- troduction of tumuli, in which the dead bodies were placed unconsumed, and which gave name to the subsequent age, that anterior to this king being known as the Brandalter, or age of burning. The power of the race of Odin appears to have ceased with him. His tenth successor was Hrolf, surnamed the Dwarf, on account of his diminutive stature. His com- manding intellect insured the respect of his subjects. At his decease the state was divided among several minor kings, who preserved their independence until their subjection by Irar Widfadmi (the far-spreading) and his warriors, who also con- quered many other countries. This king drove the Ynglinger out of Sweden, and placed his brother on the throne of Up- sala. After his death, the kingdom became a prey to faction, and brethren and sons strove for dominion. In the eighth century Gorm the Old seized the supreme authority. During his reign the first attempt to convert the Danes to Chris- tianity was made by a traveller, named Thorkill, who had embraced that religion during his stay in France, and who, on his return to Denmark, produced such an effect by his preaching on the mind of the aged king, that he died of re- morse for having spent his long life in error and idolatry. The new doctrine was rejected by the people. Gottrik, or Gottfried, the son of Gorm, aided Wittekind and the pagan Saxons, and was on the point of attacking Aix-la-Chapelle, when he was murdered by his subjects. Hemming, his suc- cessor, made peace with the emperor. After fresh disturb- ances Regnar Lodbrok came to the throne. He was one of the greatest of the Danish warriors, and his fame formed the theme of numerous legends. His prowess was celebrated throughout the whole of the North. His expedition against Ella, the Saxon king in England, proved fatal to him. He was captured by that prince, to whom he was unknown, and imprisoned in a tower full of snakes, where with undaunted courage he recounted his deeds in song until life was extinct. He was a zealous heathen, and expelled his brother, Harald THE DANES. 265 Klak, for his attachment to the new doctrine. Harald fled to the emperor of Germany, Lewis the Pious, the son of Charle- magne, and was baptized at Ingelheim. In the same year, [A. D. 826,] St. Anscar, a pious monk, afterwards known as the apostle of the North, visited Denmark, and soon after- wards Sweden, where he preached the gospel at the peril of his life. In 834 the bishopric of Hamburg was founded as a means of accelerating the conversion of the North. The history of this period is very obscure. The kings strove for supremacy, some of them favouring Christianity from in- terested motives, whilst the rest defended their ancient gods. Christianity, cruelly persecuted, spread but slowly, and the German priests, in order to curry favour with the people, either omitted part of the Catholic doctrine or assimilated it with paganism. Thus the conversion was always commenced with the primsignung, or first mark with a cross. Whoever was marked in this manner could live as he chose, either as a Christian or a heathen. The majority of the people and their rulers still adhered to the worship of Odin, and Hamburg was again destroyed during their destructive inroads into the German empire. In 931, Gorm the Grim ruled Denmark, and persecuted the Christians. His son Harald Blauzahn (blue tooth) favoured them, but, making himself hated by his despotism, was mur- dered by a peasant.* His successor, the pagan Svend, carried on extensive wars, particularly against the lomsburger, a re- public of warriors and pirates on the island of Wollin near Pomerania, and against the Wendi. In his reign, another piratical horde, the Ascomanni or Schachtelmanner, (box-men,) assembled and greatly endangered Saxony. They were so numerous, that the Saxons killed 20,000 of them in one battle. Canute the Great, the most celebrated of the kings of the North, the conqueror of Norway and England, was the pro- moter of Christianity, which took firm root in Denmark. He left new laws, extended the royal prerogative, and was the founder of a new era, that of the middle ages, in the North. * Named Toki. The circumstances of this murder correspond mi- nutely with those of the murder of Gessler, the Swiss governor, by Tell. Even the name is the same ; Toki and Tell signifying, like the Latin Brutus, a simpleton. Saxo Grammaticus. 266 THE SWEDES. Towards the close of the twelfth century, the history of Denmark was written in Latin by an erudite Dane, named Saxo Grammaticus. CXXI. The Swedes. DYGWE, the seventh Ynglinger, first assumed the title of king. During the reign of his tenth successor, Eigill, a civil war broke out ; the Tralle, headed by Tunni, one of their class, revolted, and were in eight bloody battles victorious over the Bonden. whom they completely expelled, together with their king, and Tunni became sole sovereign. Eigill fled to the court of Frotho, the great king of Denmark, and the con- queror of the North, who, lending him his aid, overran Sweden at the head of his veteran warriors, and, after nine battles, in the last of which Tunni and the majority of the brave Tralle were left dead on the field, restored Eigill to the throne. The petty Fylker-kings subsequently asserted their inde- pendence. Eigill's sixth successor, Ingialldr, desiring to re- gain the supreme authority, invited six of these kings to a banquet, and, after inducing them to carouse deeply, set fire to the house in which they slept. His punishment did not tarry long. Ivar Widfadmi, the Dane, marched victoriously through the North and arrived in Sweden. Ingialldr, sensi- ble of the futility of opposition, but too proud to yield, invited all his followers to a great banquet, and when they were help- less from inebriety, set fire to the palace in which they sat, and was destroyed with them. His son, Olaf, meanwhile, accompanied by numbers of the people, took refuge in the northern mountains, and discovering a fertile and uninhabited country, settled there, and named it Wermeland. Soon after their settlement, a famine, occasioned by the bad cultivation of the ground, broke out among them, and they offered up their king as an expiatory sacrifice to the gods. The descend- ants of Olaf, by their bravery and by their intermarriages with the noblest families of Norway, rose ere long to great power, and finally seized the monarchy. Sweden was, meanwhile, long governed by kings of Danish origin, during whose reigns Christianity was first introduced from Denmark. In 829, St. Anscar visited the country, but THE NORWEGIANS. 267 the new doctrine met with violent opposition. In 865, St. Rimbert made another short but useless attempt, and paganism was not eradicated until 930, when Unno, bishop of Bremen, who was succeeded in his pious mission by other Germans, visited Sweden for that purpose. The last pagan king of Upsala was Eric the victorious. About the year 1000, Olaf, surnamed the Schoos, or bosom king, on account of his having been proclaimed and raised in the arms of the people, was the founder of a new era in Sweden. He was unanimously elected by the Fylker-kings as their common sovereign. During his reign, Christianity was firmly established throughout his dominions. CXXII. The Norwegians. NORWAY was subdivided amongst a crowd of Fylker, army, sea, and Naes kings, who strove with each other by sea and land. The independent spirit of the Bonden was long an in- vincible obstacle to union ; in no other country has the people been possessed of so much power, in no other has it been so difficult for the kings and the military to bring the free pea- santry into subjection. In the ninth century, one of the petty kings, Harald Schb'nhaar, (with the beautiful locks,) who is said to have been a descendant of the expelled Ynglingers, suc- ceeded, after a long and desperate struggle, in usurping do- minion over the whole of Norway. His proffered love being treated with contempt by Gyda, the most beautiful and the proudest of the maidens of Norway, who had vowed that she would alone bestow her hand on him who presented her with the whole of her country as a morning-gift, he swore that he would not comb his beautiful hair, until he had gained the sole sovereignty, and, assembling a crowd of youthful warriors be- neath his standard, unexpectedly attacked and subdued his neighbours, one by one. The fame of his irresistible prowess quickly spread, and some of the provinces voluntarily sub- mitted to him. One of the petty kings, rather than incur disgrace by flight or by defeat, buried himself alive with his dependants and friends. At length, the kings who still re- mained unsubdued, made common cause, and a great battle was fought, in which Harald was victorious. Subsequent re- 268 THE NORWEGIANS. bellions proved vain ; Harald's power became gradually more firmly secured, and, after the lapse of a few years, he grasped the sceptre of Norway. He now combed his locks, and espoused the beauteous Gyda. His throne, raised upon ruin and bloodshed, could alone be supported by treachery and violence, and whilst he caused the nobler and more resolute of the petty kings to be murdered, he cajoled the more cowardly with rich gifts, and high but empty honours. He deprived them of their thrones and their independence, placed them, in the capacity of Stadtholders or Jarls, over the provinces they formerly governed, and by his despotic violence obtained for them far greater power over the Bonden, whom he transformed into vassals, and richer revenues, than they had hitherto enjoyed. Popular freedom was annihilated at a blow ; every Odol (freehold) was declared crown property, and for the future held in fief by its original possessor. This destruction of the old German Allod and Gau system was unprecedentedly sudden and violent, and the more astonishing from its happen- ing to the German tribe most jealous of its freedom ; nor was this revolution in any way aided by the obedience inculcated by the precepts of Christianity, Harald and the Norwegians being still idolaters. Unwearied by the ceaseless warfare, Harald ever pursued his aim with unremitting perseverance. Rebellion was foreseen and crushed in the bud, and flight alone secured the rebel from death ; hence it naturally re- sulted, that the continual migrations gradually reduced the population of Norway to half its original number. On the death of Harald, his empire, erected at the cost of so much bloodshed, fell to pieces, but the people were too enfeebled by tyranny to raise themselves entirely from their state of sub- jection. The Bonden assembled for the purpose of electing a new king, and strife was about to ensue, when Hakon, sur- named the Good, the son of Harald, who had been bred up as a Christian in England, appeared, and peaceably addressing them, promised to revoke the tyrannical impositions of his father, and especially to restore to each man the free tenure of his Odol. Pleased with these promises, the people elected him at Thrandheim, and he was subsequently proclaimed king throughout the Fylker. A new source of contention arose from his attempting to introduce Christianity, which the Bonden successfully resisted, and forced their king to pre- THE NORWEGIANS. 269 side at their sacrificial feast, and to eat of the flesh of the sacred horse. In the latter part of the tenth century, Olaf Tryggvason, who had been a bold pirate in his youth, and had become a convert to Christianity, was elected king, and undertook the work of conversion with a zeal worthy of Charlemagne. At the great Things or assemblies, the Bonden, headed by their Blotmenn, and sometimes by their idols, now confronted the monarch, surrounded by the Christian bishops, and his bril- liant train of warriors. The debate upon religion usually lasted several days, and terminated in violence. Olaf finally had recourse to arms, and the most dreadful scenes of slaughter ensued. He would sometimes unexpectedly invade secluded valleys, or isolated tracts, whose inhabitants obstinately re- jected Christianity, and lay them waste by fire and sword. The Bonden, meanwhile, were not idle ; the arrow, the signal for a general rising, flew through the country, and Hakon, one of the most powerful of the Jarls, who was scarcely infe- rior to the king in talent and bravery, placed himself at their head ; but his success was rendered null by his ambition, arro- gance, and licentiousness. The Bonden, deeply injured by his forcible abduction of their wives and daughters, or offended by his haughty demeanour, revolted against and murdered him ; an event that proved little favourable to Olaf, who, be- ing defeated by Eiric, the son of Hakon, and by his allies, the Danes and Swedes, in a great sea-fight, threw himself, to- gether with all his followers, into the sea, rather than incur the disgrace of captivity. Norway was partitioned by the victors, but, in the beginning of the eleventh century, was again united under the sceptre of Olaf the Holy, who was canonized on account of his zeal in the work of conversion. His first attempts for the conversion of his heathen subjects, by means of instruction, failing, he had recourse to persecu- tion, and emulated his predecessor, Olaf Tryggvason, in cru- elty, laying whole villages of unbelievers waste with fire and sword. At length, a casual occurrence was the means of effecting a general conversion. A great Thing was being held at Thrandheim, as usual, by moonlight. The Bonden stood, in immense numbers, forming a half circle, armed and with threatening aspect, opposite the king and his warriors. Olaf exerted his utmost eloquence in the cause of Christianity, 270 CHRISTIANITY AND THE FEUDAL but the Bonden replied to his arguments by saying, " A God whom we can neither see nor touch, is no God," and pointing to a gigantic wooden image of Thor, richly ornamented with gold, called upon the monarch to show them his god. The king mocked the wooden god, which had not the power of motion, and must be carried by his worshippers. At that moment, the rising sun illumined the eastern horizon. " Be- hold ! " exclaimed the enthusiastic monarch, " Behold ! our God approaches ! " as he uttered these words, one of his fol- lowers split the image with one blow of his battle-axe, and snakes and mice, which had nestled inside, came rushing out, and the Bonden, mute with awe, turned from the prostrate idol to bend in adoration to the sun, which that day shone upon a Christian land. Olaf was the founder of a new era in Norway, but did not escape the punishment he merited for his numerous deeds of cruelty. At that period, Canute the Great undertook the conquest of the North, and some of the Norwegians, thirsting to revenge their slaughtered brethren, some ambitious Jarls, and all, in fact, who hoped to profit by a revolution, invited him into their country. Olaf, after be- ing defeated in a great sea-fight, fell a victim to treachery, and Norway became a Danish province. Snorri Sturluson, the great Norwegian historian, compiled his work in the Icelandic tongue, in the earlier half of the thirteenth century. CXXIII. Christianity and the feudal system in the North. SUBSEQUENTLY to this period, the history of the North presents little worthy of remark until the time of the Reform- ation, and will for the future be merely referred to in this work when in relation with the affairs of Germany. The three kingdoms, or generally two of them, appear to have been sometimes forcibly united under one sovereign, at others again ruled by independent kings, and a long list of bloody broils between monarchs, and of contentions for the succession to the throne, blacken the page, which is alone rendered in- teresting by the repeated attempts made by the peasantry, at different periods, in each of the three kingdoms, to rescue their privileges from the deadly grasp of their kings or stadt- SYSTEM IN THE NORTH. 271 holders, to abolish the tithes exacted by the clergy, and to check the rising power of the vassals of the crown, and the growing importance of the cities ; but, although these revolu- tions often proved fatal to the monarchs, the authority of the state, the church, and the nobility, was already too firmly based on the superstitious belief of the middle ages, to be shaken by the futile attempts of a body of peasants for the restoration of the ancient German system of government, which, however, still pervaded the constitution of the three kingdoms, founded upon that of the Franks. The divine right of kings was the more easily recognised from its accord- ance with the legendary superstition anciently attached to the Drottars, the descendants of Odin. A brilliant court, com- posed of a noble band of scalds or bards, and of a warlike retinue, added splendour to royalty. The monarch nominated his Jarls as stadtholders over the Fylker, and subordinate Herses over lesser tracts ; the former of whom corresponded to the Grafs, the latter to the Centners, of the Franks. Some- times it happened that a more powerful Jarl was placed over several others, and eventually received the Frankish title of duke. At the side of the temporal governor or Jarl stood his spiritual colleague, the bishop. The Fylker still retained the privilege of holding popular assemblies, which the king, the Jarl, or the bishop, attended in person. At a time when the royal prerogative was still held in check by these assem- blies, the Lagmann, or guardian of the national laws and privileges, confronted the monarch at the head of the Bonden, by whom he was chosen as the representative of their class ; a dignity at once sacred and formidable. The formation of a new class of nobility, composed of the vassals of the crown, and the gradual rise of cities and com- munities, greatly checked the power of the Bonden, and a struggle naturally ensued, in which the peasantry, although vanquished, finally retained, through their brilliant exploits and unwearied perseverance, an honourable position in the state. The great council of state, which in each of the three kingdoms replaced the general popular assemblies, and greatly diminished the authority of the sovereign, was composed of deputies, the representatives of the clergy, the nobility, the communities, and the peasantry ; a prerogative that was never enjoyed by the peasantry of the German empire. 272 ICELAND AND GREENLAND. CXXIV. Iceland and Greenland. DURING the reign of Harald Schdnhaar, [A. D. 863,] the island of Iceland, with its snow-capped mountains, one of which, Hecla, was at that time vomiting fire, was discovered by a Norwegian vessel, driven northwards out of its course, which bore news of the discovery to Norway, where it was hailed with delight by the people, who, oppressed by tyranny, were at that period quitting their homes in thousands to seek elsewhere an asylum for their threatened liberty. The first settler, Ingolf, was speedily followed by such crowds of fugi- tives, that the island, notwithstanding its size, seemed likely to be over-populated, and it was accordingly enacted, [A. D. 873,] that each new comer should receive the portion of land covered by the smoke arising from a burning heap of faggots. At first each tribe was headed by its own chief or elder, (Godar,) but at a later period they were all included in four Gauen, or provinces, independent of each other, according to the ancient German system, and answering to the four cardinal points in their position on the island. The fraudulent plans of Olaf Tryggvason, for the posses- sion of the island, were foiled by the decided refusal returned to his flattering proposals by the national assembly. Chris- tianity was first introduced in 981, by a Saxon priest named Frederich, and in the year 1000 it had already become so widely diffused, that the Christian party succeeded in causing their religion to be proclaimed in the public assembly, that of the state ; this led to the dissolution of the Gau system, and to the union of the island into one state, governed by a Lag- mann, whose dignity was not hereditary, and who presided over the general assembly or Althing. This simple republican form of government continued until 1261, when the union of the island with Norway was managed by the clergy and the Norwegian kings, with the concurrence of the people, who were allowed to retain their own laws. Since this period the island has sunk into insignificance. The ancient German system of government was maintained for a longer period and in greater purity in Iceland, whilst she retained her inde- pendence, than in any other part of Europe, and her historical importance now alone consists in her possessing the only re- ICELAND AND GREENLAND. 273 cords in existence of the language, (which is still spoken by the inhabitants,) the poetry, religion, and legends of the an- cient North, by which the obscurity of its history can be elucidated. The influence and fame of Rome, which spread over Germany, casting into oblivion remote and pagan times, scarce echoed to that distant shore, whose hardy sons and cold ungenial clime alike disdained the culture of the South, and where whose gods, now no longer adored, still live in song. Shortly after the discovery of Iceland, Greenland, the north-eastern part of the continent of America, was discovered by the Norwegians, who thus claim the honour of the dis- covery of America about five centuries earlier than that, of Columbus. Greenland, so named on account of the verdure of the land and forests, must, at that period, have been a fine country. The Norwegians who had settled there in great numbers, were carrying on a great traffic with Norway, and the Jarls, placed over the new country by the Norwegian monarchs, had become great and powerful,* when sudden de- struction fell upon the colony ; a fearful frost spread from the north pole, and covered the country with snow and ice, as it is to be seen at the present day. The land, deserted by the Norwegians, was soon completely forgotten, and entirely dis- appeared from history, until the second discovery of America. The Norwegians also sailed to the south-west of Iceland and Greenland, and landed in a new country, which they named Winland, from the vine which there grew wild. They afterwards made several expeditions to this coast, which, doubtless, formed part of that of America, and returned richly laden with its natural productions. The Shetland, Orkney, and Faro Islands were, in the ninth century, cultivated by the Norwegians, and governed by Jarls. The Faro Islands are said to have been long retained in pa- ganism, by the cunning of old Trund of Gote, a sorcerer of legendary fame. The distant expeditions undertaken by the Norwegians prove their naval skill. They were the first who ventured into the open sea. Other nations, until then, were only ac- quainted with the navigation of the coasts. It is also evident, from their bold and distant voyages, that they possessed a * Snorri gives a detailed account of these facts T 274 THE NORSEMEN. sort of compass. The Northern navigators who penetrated the Mediterranean, and settled in Greece and Italy, taught their art to the Southerns. All the terms made use of in navigation at the present day by all the nations of Europe may also be traced to a German origin. CXXV. The Norsemen. THE daring expeditions and armed fraternities of the an- cient Germans were common to all the northern nations, and ceased only with the ancient system of government. They were continued to a much later period among the Scan- dinavians, and figure in history as the expeditions of the Norsemen, the general appellation for all the Scandinavian nations among the people of more southern latitudes. The whole of the North swarmed with sea and Naes kings, and piratical republics, who attacked alike foreign and native ships, and landed indiscriminately on any coast for battle or for plunder ; nor was the authority of either the monarch or the Fylker-kings respected by their subjects, until some great and piratical expedition had added lustre to their name. These warlike and piratical expeditions received an addi- tional impulse, when the monarchical power in each of the three kingdoms became almost despotic, and drove the peo- ple, wild as the element with which they strove, to seek re- fuge from tyranny at home on the ocean wave. During the reign of Harald Schonhaar, half the population of Nor- way fled at times for safety to their ships. Immense numbers of these pirates wandered about the Northern Ocean, striking their native shores with terror, whilst others, as has been al- ready related, colonized the northern islands and Greenland. Others, again, devastated the coasts of Saxony and France, ventured up the rivers, and fought many a hard battle with the Germans and Neustrians. A great multitude of this de- scription, led by Rollo and flying from Harald Schonhaar, took possession of the northern coast of France, hence named Normandy, and voluntarily embraced Christianity. Rollo re- ceived the name of Robert, and took the oath of allegiance to the French monarch as first duke of Normandy, [A. D. 911,] whilst his followers, a mere armed multitude, naturally THE NORSEMEN. 275 adopted the feudai system. Similar hordes and the Danish kings, at the head of immense armies, invaded, and, at differ- ent times, took possession of the whole of England, peopled some of the provinces, and, although finally obliged to yield to the ancient Anglo-Saxons, made a deep and lasting im- pression on the British language, manners, and constitution. At a later period, a duke of Normandy conquered and reigned over England, where he introduced the feudal system [A. D. 1066]. Other hordes ventured into the Mediterranean, and opposed the Moors. Adventurers from the North also founded a state in Sicily, and shortly afterwards the powerful king- dom of Naples. The expeditions of the Norsemen to the East are equally remarkable. The Danish and Swedish kings waged bloody wars with the Wendi, whom they often sub- dued and rendered tributary. All the Finnish races, on either side of the Baltic and within the Gulf of Finland, were also subdued by the Swedes. Indications of solitary expeditions having been made into Russia, even in pagan times, for the purpose of discovering ancient Asgard, or Caucasus, still exist ; the body-guard of the Greek emperors was also formed from similar wanderers who reached Constantinople, and who, like the Gothic body-guard of earlier times, in the same city, were named Varingians, and were always recruited by fresh ad- venturers, who traversed Russia or the seas. The Russians, at that period the most barbarous of the Slavonian nations, became, by these means, acquainted with the brave Norsemen ; and their history, according to the Nestorian Chronicle, com- mences with a unanimous resolution, on the part of the people, to elect a Knaes or ruler, but as none of the nation was deemed worthy of the elevation, they invited the Norsemen into the country, and elected a gigantic warrior, named Ruric, a hea- then, for their Knaes, who in this manner became the founder of the Russian empire. Like the rest of his countrymen throughout ancient Russia, he was named a Warager, a term synonymous with that of Varingian. T 2 PERIOD IL THE MIDDLE AGES. Zwei swertliez Got in ertriche zu beschirmene dy cristenheit, dem papste das geistliche, dem keiser das werltliche. SACHSENSPIEGEL. SECOND PERIOD. THE MIDDLE AGES. PART VIII. THE CARLOVINGIANS. CXXVI. Louis the Pious and his sons. THE middle ages commenced with the German empire. The struggle between paganism and Christianity ceased, and the church of the new era, which, for seven succeeding centuries, has imposed its mysteries upon the nations of Germany, was triumphantly raised by the newly-acquired power of the em- peror and the pope. The period immediately subsequent to the reign of Charle- magne was troubled and gloomy. The sceptre wielded by the Carlovingian monarchs, who had ever proved themselves the greatest men of their times, was now held by the feeble hand of Louis, the youngest, the most incapable, and the only surviving son of the great emperor, who long and deeply de- plored the loss of Charles and Pipin. Pipin left a son, named Bernhard, to whom Charlemagne intrusted the government of Italy, and in whose favour, as successor to the imperial crown, a strong party was formed at court by the most influential among the nobility, headed by Wala, a descendant of Charles Martell ; but Charlemagne, equally unbiassed by their wishes as he was unmoved by his own inclination, declared his son, Louis, his heir. This emperor no sooner mounted the throne than he revenged himself on Bernhard's party, confined Wala in a monastery, caused Odoin the Brave, his sister's lover, to be assassinated, and replaced his father's gay and witty courtiers with devotees, by whom he was led to favour the inter- ests of the pope. The guiltless Bernhard, perceiving the danger with which he was momentarily threatened, at first showed a 280 LOUIS THE PIOUS AND HIS SONS. disposition to rebel, but instantly submitted on receiving, through the Empress Irmingarde, an assurance of pardon, and a safe-conduct from Louis, and came unarmed to Chalons in order to do homage to the faithless emperor, who caused his eyes to be torn from their sockets in so barbarous a manner that he expired within a few days. No sooner, however, had Louis thus glutted his revenge than, struck with remorse for his crime, rendered doubly poignant by grief for the death of Irmingarde, [A. D. 818,] he evinced a desire to abdicate his throne, and to seclude himself within a cloister, but was dis- suaded by the priests. The pope, Stephen, who had insti- gated him against Bernhard, presented him with a crown, in return for which he ihrice humbly prostrated himself at the feet of the pontiff, whose successor, Pasqual, encouraged by this act of humility, caused himself to be elected without re- ceiving the ratification of a sovereign before whom both he and the clergy deemed it no longer necessary to cringe, and who, bending deferentially before them, implicitly yielded to their tyranny and imposed penances, from a superstitious be- lief that the salvation of his soul depended on an unconditional submission, and on unlimited grants to the church. Wala said that the emperor took too deep a concern in spiritual, and the pope, in temporal, matters. Louis resembled his father in the gigantic size of his per- son, and in his skill in warlike sports and exercises, but the narrowness of his mind and his pusillanimity contrasted strikingly with the genius of his great progenitor. Hence arose the aversion manifested towards him by the laity, and the arrogance of the clergy. Devoid of intellect, irresolute, and weak, he was ever swayed by passion or prejudice to do the wrong he dreaded, which was ever followed by remorse, whose stings he sought to allay by a mean submission to his spiritual advisers, who, far from favouring his desire for se- clusion, surrounded him with the most beautiful of the daugh- ters of the nobility, and at length induced him to wed the Bavarian, Jutta, of the race of the Welfi, [A. r>. 819,] who, by her skill and beauty, gained unbounded influence over him, and whose policy being to render herself universally beloved, conciliated Bernhard's adherents, and recalled Wala, who, meanwhile, had been chosen abbot of Corvey, to court, Louis, on his part, performing a solemn penance at Altigny, [A. D. LOUIS THE PIOUS AND HIS SONS. 281 822,] and making a public protestation of repentance for the murder of his relative, before the assembled Diet. A trait, strongly characteristic of the times, recorded by the Saxon annalist, strikingly demonstrates the objection prevail- ing among the upholders of ancient German liberty to the imposition of the new feudal system. Ethico, the Alemann, the father of Jutta, forbade his son Henry to hold any lands in fee from the Frankish monarch ; but Henry allowing him- self to be persuaded by his sister to hold as much land in fee as he could drive over with a golden plough during the empe- ror's sleep, the old man's ancestral pride and love of the ancient rights of his family were so deeply wounded, that he concealed himself for the remainder of his life in the Schwarzwald. Whilst these events were taking place at court, the rebel- lious Bretons and Basques, the Norsemen, Obotrites, the Cro- atian Slavi, and Bulgarians* were successfully driven from the frontiers. Harald, the Danish king, came to the court of Louis and was baptized, f He was afterwards expelled by his subjects. St. Anscar, regardless of danger and opposition, continued to carry on the work of conversion in the North, and became the first bishop of Hamburg [A. D. 834] . In Spain, the Moors made unopposed an inroad into the French territory ; and Graf Bonifacius of Corsica undertook an expedition against Africa, whence, after fighting five battles near Carthage, he returned, crowned with glory. Louis travelled through the empire, in order to visit the churches. It was on this occasion that he founded the bishop- ric of Hildesheim4 Several new monasteries were also founded during his reign, the most noted of which were those of Corvey, [A. D. 822,] Hervorden, Murhard, Schwar- zach, Hirsau, Gandersheim, Quedlinburg, etc. At a synod * Balderich, duke of Friuli, was deprived in 827 of his dignity, on account of his incapacity ; the dukedom was dissolved, and divided amongst Granzgrafen, or governors of the frontier. f Archbishop Ebbo of Rlieims was the first and most active of the missionaries in Holstein. His attempts, however, failed. Two of his disciples who were by chance passing Windbergen in the country of the Dithmarsi on Wodan's day, were struck by lightning, and the people imagining this occurrence to be a sign of the wrath of their ancient god, Ebbo lost all his followers. J According to the legend, Louis found a blooming rose-tree in the midst of the snow, on the spot on which he afterwards caused the cathedral of Hildesheim to be erected. 282 LOUIS THE PIOUS AND HIS SONS. held at Paris he also reintroduced the worship of images and pictures, [A. D. 825,] which had been prohibited by Charle- magne. Louis had three sons by Irmingarde, Lothar, Pipin, and Louis, between whom he divided his empire before his second marriage, in the manner they were to possess it after his death. Lothar was to be invested with the imperial dignity, and to possess Italy and the Rhine country as far as the sea, whilst Pipin was to reign to the westward over France, and Louis to the east over Germany. Jutta, however, bore a fourth son, Charles, surnamed the Bald, who became the favourite of the old emperor, and a new division of the empire, [A. D. 829,] by which the eldest sons were wronged, was made in his favour. An unnatural spectacle, that of the sons rebelling against their father, was now beheld by the people, who, although horror- struck at the cause of the war, willingly lent their aid against a sovereign they despised. Temporal power decayed, and the popes took advantage of the universal confusion, to increase their influence and to extend their dominion over the minds of the people. Wala, who resided with Lothar in Ttalv, equally opposed the worthless old emperor, and the division of the empire. The union of the empire under one energetic sovereign was his most ardent wish, and he sought to rouse Lothar to emulate the great deeds of his grandsire ; but this prince, although fond of power, was too spiritless for any undertaking demanding intellect and energy, and Wala's grand plan degenerated to wretched intrigues. The three brethren leagued together, took their father prisoner at Compiegne, and accused their stepmother, Jutta, of adultery with the Markgraf Bernhard of Barcelona, and of having blinded the emperor by her magical arts [A. D. 830]. Pipin and Louis, however, quickly deserted Lothar, who grasped at sole sovereignty, and leagued with their father against him [A. D. 831]. A negociation took place between the contending parties at Aix-la-Chapelle, at which Lothar had the weakness to sue for pardon, and the perfidy to condemn his friends and his faithful adviser, Wala, to death, with his own mouth. Wala escaped with his life, but was dragged by the emperor, who feared his talents, from one cloistered prison to another. Jutta was solemnly declared innocent, and Graf Bernhard was compelled to quit the court. LOUIS THE PIOUS AND HIS SONS. 283 No sooner had Jutta gained this victory than she attempt- ed to secure the chief part of the immense inheritance to her son Charles, a project which again induced Pipin and Louis to league with Lothar for the exclusion of their half-brother. The pope, Gregory IV., foreseeing that the life of the em- peror was drawing to its close, and that it was to the interest of the church to favour the stronger party, became their ally. Pipin was the first to quarrel with his father, who deprived him of Aquitania, which he bestowed upon Charles, and the three brethren marched against their parent at the head of a powerful army, which encamped on the Sigwaldsberg, near Colmar. The emperor was at Worms. Long negociations took place, and even the pope hesitated to give the signal for attack, when Wala arrived on the scene of action, and decided the affair. The pope was sent to the emperor to demand his submission, whilst the allegiance of the imperial army was attempted to be shaken ; and before Louis had come to a deci- sion, his followers deserted him to a man, during the night of the 29th of June, 833, and he was obliged to yield himself pri- soner to his sons. The field where this took place, was known until a very late period, as the Field of Lies (Liigen- feld). Public opinion condemned both father and sons, but the clergy and the great vassals found (as at an earlier pe- riod under the Merovingians) these family dissensions profit- able, and on that account encouraged and augmented the dis- cord that prevailed. The emperor was carried to a monastery at Soissons, where Lothar caused him to do penance, kneeling on a hair cloth, and in that position to read a paper in which he accused him- self of perjury, murder, and theft, of having been deceived by Jutta's witchcraft, etc. He was also deprived of his arms, in order to render him unworthy of bearing the imperial dig- nity, but in spite of every threat he could not be induced to take the vow that separated him from the world, from a se- cret hope of a second release,* which did not long tarry : the jealousy of Pipin and Louis was again roused by Lothar's superior power, and they once more leagued against him, un- der the pretext that they could not countenance the ill-treat- * Bishop Drogo, of Metz, a natural son of Charlemagne, ever evinced such fidelity to the emperor, that he made him his confidant and con- fessor, and died in his arms. 284 LOUIS THE PIOUS AND HIS SONS. ment of their father, whom Lothar was forced to restore to liberty and to the throne [A. r>. 834]. The released emperor now divided the empire between Pipin, Louis, and Charles, to the exclusion of Lothar. The Normans attacked Fries- land with fire and sword,* and the Moors crossed the Spanish frontier, whilst a Moorish fleet landed in Provence and plundered Marseilles ; occurrences by which the emperor, whose thoughts were solely occupied in providing an inherit- ance for his favourite son, by a new division, remained un- moved. For this purpose he attempted to bribe the Germans by a gift, deemed in those times of inestimable value, the relics of St. Vitus, which he caused to be borne, in 836, in a solemn procession from Paris to the monastery of Corvey, founded by St. Anscar, in 826, in Westphalia. f Countless multitudes accompanied the procession in its progress through the empire ; the Parisians wept at the departure of the sacred bones, whilst the Saxons hailed their arrival with festive joy. The sons of Louis, however, were not disturbed in their plans by this occurrence. Lothar, who had withdrawn to Italy, and whose adviser, Wala, was dead, had an interview at Trient with his brother Louis, (surnamed the German, or the Ba- varian, in order to distinguish him from his father,) probably with the design of warning him against Jutta's fresh pro- jects. Jutta instantly accused Louis of conspiring with Lo- thar, and established an alliance between Pipin and Charles, who agreed to divide the empire into two equal parts, and to force Lothar and Louis to submit. Shortly after this, Pipin died, and Jutta, perceiving her inability to support the claims she had arrogated for her son, entered into a negociation with Lothar, who, with characteristic perfidy, consented to divide the empire with Charles to the exclusion of Louis, and of his nephew Pipin, the son of his deceased brother. "Whilst these * The exiled Harald had received Riistringerland from the emperor in fee, but was killed by the Frisii, who believed that he had invited the Danes into their country. Helgoland was also at this period taken by the Danes. f This saint, at a still later period, greatly conduced to the conversion of the Slavi, by the same honours being paid to him which were formerly a part of the worship offered to Swantewit, their ancient deity ; and so late as a century ago, the peasants in the country around Ratisbon an- nually offered cocks on the altar of St. Vitus, as had been their custom a thousand years earlier, when pagans, to offer them on that of Swantewit. LOUIS THE PIOUS AND HIS SONS. 285 wretched intrigues were being carried on, the emperor expired, [A. D. 840,] on an island in the Rhine, near Ingelheim, shouting with his latest breath, like the huntsmen, " Hutz ! Hutz ! " in order to scare the devil from his bed-side. Louis was no sooner dead, than Charles discovered that Lothar, instead of placing him on an equal footing, would merely tolerate him as an inferior ; he accordingly deserted him, and entered into a compact with Louis the German, with whom he thought more easily to divide the empire, as Louis laid no claim to the title of emperor. The new con- federates now took up arms against Lothar and young Pipin, who were defeated in a great battle, that took place on the 2oth of June, 841, near Fontenay, in Burgundy. One hundred thousand men fell in this worthless cause, and the nobility was so thinned, that for long after, it was deemed ne- cessary when a freeman wedded a noble lady, to raise him to her rank, in order to repair the loss. Lothar fled to Aix-la-Chapelle, turned the great silver ta- bles of Charlemagne into coin, and proclaimed throughout Saxony that all the Edelings should be deprived of their lands, and that the Frilings and Lazzi, who since the time of Charlemagne had been subordinate to them, should be restored to their ancient privileges. The Saxons rose in crowds, form- ed the Stellinga (restorers) confederacy, and expelled, not only the Edelings, but also the priests, paganism being still rife among the commonalty. Victory, nevertheless, still fa- voured the arms of Louis and Charles, who on the 14th of February, 842, took a federative oath at Strassburg, which was loudly repeated by their respective armies ; by that of Louis the German, on the right bank of the Rhine, in the German language, and by that of Charles, on the left bank, in the Roman tongue. At the same time, the two confede- rates had the cunning to call a synod of bishops, before which they accused their brother Lothar of protecting paganism ; and, as the Stellinga was naturally held in abomination by all the temporal lords, who feared lest the example of the Saxon peasantry might influence their vassals and endanger the feud- al system, they flocked in crowds beneath the standard of the two brothers ; and'Lothar, finding himself solely upheld by the Saxons, deserted them with his usual perfidy, and made his treacherous betrayal of them a means of reconciliation with 286 LOUIS THE PIOUS AND HIS SONS. his brothers. Whilst he was carrying on this negociation with them in France, Louis suddenly marched into Saxony, and after defeating the confederates, treated the chiefs of the Stel- linga with unexampled cruelty, causing fourteen of them to be hanged, one hundred and forty to be beheaded, and innumera- ble others to have their hands chopped off. Thus terminated the first great struggle of one class against the others, of the nobility against the peasantry. The treaty of Verdun, [A. D. 843,] concluded between the three brethren, rewarded Lothar' s treachery with the imperi- al crown, and an extensive territory, including the Netherlands, the Rhine country, Burgundy, and Italy, which received the name of Lothringia (Lotharingien, Lotharii regnum). Lou- is the German received, as his portion, all the country lying to the right of the new empire, and the title of a German king ; and Charles the Bald was created king of France. Whilst these negociations and the war with Saxony were being carried on, the Norsemen re-appeared and plundered the coasts of the Baltic ; at the same time, the Moors landed in the south and sacked the town of Aries ; the Bretons also again rebelled. Bernard, Markgraf of Barcelona, was seized and ex- ecuted by order of Charles the Bald,* under pretext of disloy- alty, but more probably on account of his former intercourse with the empress Jutta. Lothar died in 855, and divided Lothringia among his three sons, who did not long survive him. The only one of any importance was the second son, Lothar II., who, by divorcing his wife Thietberga, and wed- ding the beautiful Walrade, afforded an opportunity to the pope, Nicholas I., to exert his authority. The marriage with Walrade was, by his influence, annulled by the council at Metz, [A. D. 863,] and Hugo, the son of Walrade, was de- clared incapable of succeeding to the crown. Lothar, upon this, divorced Walrade, but shortly afterwards remarried her. His brother, Louis II., protected Benevento (which at that time was divided into the three little dukedoms of Benevento, Salerno, and Capua, and had greatly sunk in importance) against the Moors, who had taken possession of Rome, and had converted the church of St. Peter into a stable. * According to another account, Charles is said *to have stabbed him with his own hand, and to have spurned the corpse with his foot, al- though they resembled each other so strongly that every one believed them to be father and son. LOUIS THE PIOUS AND HIS SONS. 287 Louis the German was, meanwhile, fully occupied in re- pelling the attacks of the Slavi, who took advantage of the internal dissensions in the empire, to rise en masse on all sides. The Obotrites set the example in the North. Louis put their prince, Gozzomvil, to death, [A. D. 844,] and placed an able man, named Tachulf, as Markgarf in Thuringia. This brave man long waged war with the Slavi, and it is related of him, that once, although desperately wounded, he gave audience to the Slavian ambassadors, seated on his war-horse, without betraying a symptom of the pain he suffered. The Germans, mistrusting him on account of his attempts to conciliate the neighbouring Sorbi, [A. D. 849,] ventured a battle without him, and were defeated. The flying Thuringians are said to have been welcomed by their wives with blows. So intense was the hatred between the two nations, that when Chiztibor, the prince of the Sorbi, wished to make terms with the Germans, he was murdered by his subjects [A. D. 858]. Tabamzivil, prince of the Obotrites, submitted, 862. In the South, the Bulgarians attained considerable power after the complete destruction of the kingdom of the Avari, and advanced into the mountains of Croatia. The Mark- graf, Berthold, was defeated by them [A. D. 818] ; the Mark- graf, Rathod, succeeded in expelling them, but afterwards rebelling, was deprived of his government. The Slavian Maharanen, or Moravians, also rose under their prince, Rastiz, and began to spread over their confines ; they and their allies, the Bohemians, were, however, so bravely resisted by the Mark- graf Ernst, who completely routed them, that Carlmann, the son of Louis the German, wedded his daughter Luitswinda. In 858, Carlmann had conceived the project of a nearer alli- ance between the Slavi and the Germans, for which a good foundation had been laid in the mountains by Graf Gerold and the bishop Virgilius, and for this reason attempted to render himself independent of his father, who overcame him, and removed the Markgraf Ernst [A. D. 863] : upon this, Carl- mann allied himself with Rastiz of Moravia, but was again defeated by his father, who nominated Gunthachar Markgraf of Austria ; but this Markgraf making common cause with Rastiz, Carlmann sought to make amends for his former dere- lictions, by marching against them on his father's behalf. He was victorious, killed Gunthachar, and caused Rastiz, who 288 LOUIS THE PIOUS AND HIS SONS. was betrayed into his hands by his nephew, Suatopluk, to be deprived of sight [A. D. 870]. Suatopluk was kept in hon- ourable confinement at Ratisbon, where he lived in luxury and appeared to be perfectly resigned to his fate. Meanwhile, the German Markgrafs, Wilhelm and Engelschalk, treated the Moravians so arbitrarily that they rebelled, and Suatopluk. under pretext of appeasing them, went among them, but no sooner found himself once more among his countrymen, than, loading the Germans with imprecations, he caused his escort to be assassinated. Two Bavarian armies, sent into Moravia, were defeated, and Suatopluk not only preserved, but also extended his dominion [A. D. 872]. In the mean time, Louis the Younger, the second son of Louis the German, formed an alliance in Saxony and Thurin- gia, with Rathulf the son of Tachulf, similar to that between Carlmann and Ernst, and kept the Sorbi and Bohemians in check on this side of the empire. On one occasion he sur- prised the Bohemians when engaged in a great wedding pro- cession, and carried off the bride ; whence arose the saying, " No one knows who may lead home the bride." The Bohe- mians again arose, during a fresh incursion of the Norsemen into Germany, but were repulsed by Poppo, Rathulf's suc- cessor. Louis the German died in 876, leaving three sons,* Carlmann, who inherited Bavaria and Carinthia, Louis the Younger, who succeeded to the throne of Saxony and Thurin- gia, and Charles the Thick, who reigned over Swabia. Carl- mann died in 880, and left an illegitimate son, named Arnulf, who became Markgraf of Carinthia. The race of Lothar no sooner became extinct than a quarrel arose for the Lothringian inheritance, between Charles the Bald of France and Louis the Younger of Germany, and a bloody engagement took place near Andernach on the Rhine, f which proved disastrous to Charles, who died during the fol- lowing year, [A. D. 876,] leaving an only son, Louis the * And two daughters, Hildegarde, who in her 21st year became ab- bess of the convent founded by her father at Zurich, and Bertha, who succeeded her in that dignity. According to the legend, they dwelt in the castle of Baldern, whence they were led by a stag bearing lighted candles on his antlers, to the spot where the convent now stands. Their father is also said to have resided at times at Baldern on the Albis. f Besides the gateway and other Roman remains, the fine ruins of an ancient castle of the Australian kings are still to be seen at this town. THE INCURSIONS OF THE NORSEMEN. 289 Stammerer, who died in 879, and left three sons, of whom the youngest, Charles the Simple, ere long only remained. The natural result of these repeated and manifold divisions was, that the Norsemen and Arabians redoubled their daring attacks upon the empire ; that in the East a powerful Slavian kingdom, unopposed by Germany, arose ; and that in the in- terior of the empire, the power of the pope on the one hand, and that of the great vassals on the other, steadily and surely increased, to the detriment of the imperial prerogative. CXXVII. The incursions of the Norsemen. THE bold Norse pirates continued to disturb the empire ; their insolence surpassed all belief, for not content with plun- dering the coasts, they advanced in their small vessels up the rivers, and suddenly appeared far up the country before an alarm could be given. Their path was marked by heaps of dead and ruins. They unhesitatingly attacked even fortified cities, of which they took and destroyed several in France, and many a hard contest was fought by them against armies greatly their superiors in number. They always fought on foot, and with such extraordinary activity as easily to over- come the heavy cavalry of the French. If defeated, or in dan- ger of being so, they hurried to their ships, which they rowed with such rapidity as to render pursuit impossible. So greatly and universally were they feared, that public prayers were read in the churches for deliverance from them. In 841, headed by Ascar, they burned Eouen. In 843, they advanced up the Loire, but were repulsed in their attempt upon Tours. Undeterred by this check, they continued their depredations under their savage leader, Hasting, along the northern coasts of France, after which they ventured up the Garonne in order to plunder the south, and defeated Totila, duke of Gascony, but were surprised at Tarbes by the pea- santry of Bigorre, and for the most part slain. Notwithstand- ing this disaster, a Norse fleet ventured further south in the following year, plundered Lisbon, advanced up the Guadal- quivir into Andalusia, took Seville, and returned laden with booty. The Moors believed them to be evil wizards. Em- boldened by this success, they reappeared in the Seine, and 290 THE INCURSIONS OF THE NOBSEMEN. their leader, Regnar, took possession of Paris, whence Charles the Bald bribed him to depart on payment of 7000 pounds of silver [A. D. 845]. The Norsemen then turned eastward towards Germany, and devastated Friesland. The emperor, Lothar, had the folly again to give up Riistringerland, together with the fortress of Dorstad, to Rorich, a son cf Harald, who had formerly held them, on condition of his guarding the country against the inroads of his countrymen. The treaty was speedily broken. Gottfried, Rorich's brother, again plundered Friesland, and advanced up the Loire as far as Tours, followed by the dreaded Hasting, who once more took Paris, marched into Burgundy, laid waste the whole country, and finally took possession of Tours, [A. D. 853,] where much treasure had been carried for safety, and which had formerly been the aim of those pirate hordes. No energetic opposition was made to his advance, and his departure was purchased by Charles the Bald with 685 pounds of gold, and 3250 pounds of silver. Rome, ever clothed in fabled splendour by the ima- ginative pagans, now became the aim of the enterprising Hasting, who sailed with a hundred ships through the Straits of Gibraltar and plundered the coasts of Spain and Africa. On arriving in the harbour of Lucca, at that period a city of considerable importance and strongly fortified, which he mis- took for Rome, he found the inhabitants engaged in the cele- bration of the Christmas festival, and sending a deputation of his followers into the city, under pretext of demanding an honourable burial-place for their chieftain, whom they assert- ed to be dead, the unsuspecting Lombards permitted him to be carried in solemn procession to the church, where, spring- ing from his coffin, he stabbed the officiating bishop to the heart, and at the head of his supposed mourners, all well-armed freebooters, sacked the city and retreated to his ships, heavily laden with booty, and accompanied by a crowd of prisoners, consisting of the most beautiful of the women and maidens, whom lie afterwards had the barbarity to throw into the sea, together witli the plunder, in order to lighten his vessels dur- ing a storm, a loss he repaired shortly after by sailing up the Rhone, and laying the country waste on both sides. Other Norse hordes also continually Devastated the north of France, and forced Charles the Bald to purchasj their departure with ^000 pounds of gold [A. D. 830]. In the year 860, Hasting THE INCURSIONS OF THE NORSEMEN. 291 consented to be baptized, and to swear allegiance to Charles on condition of receiving the title of Count of Chartres. Two German warriors who undertook to guard the coasts are particularly remarkable. Baldwin, Count of Flanders, with the iron arm, seduced Judith, the youthful daughter of Charles the Bald, who, nevertheless, was the widow of two of the monarchs of England, of the father of Ethelwolf, and of the son of Ethelbold. The discovery of their intercourse at first greatly enraged the French king, who was, however, finally induced to accept him as his son-in-law, and to place all the other minor Grafs in his neighbourhood beneath his jurisdiction. Robert, surnamed the Strong, a native of Saxony, who had become Count of Maine, equally distinguished himself against the Norsemen. He was the ancestor of Hugh Capet, who gave a dynasty to France. He fell in a bloody engagement in which the Norsemen were worsted, not far from Anvers, in 866. For some time after this, the country re- mained undisturbed, the pirates having turned their attention to England, where Alfred, the wise king of that island, anxious for their departure from his coasts, at length found means to persuade their leader Hrolf (Rollo) to re-embark for Germany, where, after defeating Count Reinbold of Friesland, and tak- ing Count Reichard of Hennegau prisoner, in 876, he laid the French territory waste, until bribed by Charles to depart with a gift of 5000 pounds of silver [A. D. 878]. Another Norman horde under Gottfried settled at Ghent, and took possession of the castle of Haslau. Gottfried formed an alliance with Hugo, the bastard of Lothringeu, the son of Walrade, and married his sister Gisela. Hugo had, until now, vainly aspired to the possession of Lothringen, and had dwelt like a robber in the forests. The Slavi appear to have been also drawn into the plot. Some time before this, Ludolf had been nominated Graf of Saxony in order the better to defend the coasts against the Norsemen; his brother, Bruno, the founder of Braunschweig, (Bruno's Wyk,) Brunswick, marched at the head of the Saxon arrier-ban against Gottfried, but suf- fered a bloody defeat near Ebbekesdorf, in which he fell, together with two bishops and twelve Grafs. This battle Avas followed by several others, in which the Germans were victorious. Adam von Bremen relates that the Frisii, incited J>v their bishop, Rembert, fell upon the victorious Norsemen u '2 292 RISE OF THE GREAT VASSALS and slew upwards of 10,000 of them. According to the ac- count of the monk Regino, the German emperor, Louis the Younger, gained a great victory at Thimiun, (Thuin on the Sambre,) [A. D. 879,] but did not follow up his advantage, owing to his anxiety if possible to save the life of his illegiti- mate son, Hugo, whom he believed a prisoner, but who was afterwards discovered among the slain. According to other chroniclers, this battle took place in 880, and the victor men- tioned is Louis of France, the son of Louis the Stammerer.* Both of these monarchs died in 882. The Slavian nations, the Sorbi, Daleminzii, and Bohemians, who, after the battle of Ebbekesdorf, had risen en masse and had made an inroad in- to Germany, were successfully repulsed by Poppo, duke of Thuringia. Unable to settle in Germany, the Norsemen, whom tyranny at home, as has already been mentioned, had driven from their native land, visited other countries, where they founded colonies and new kingdoms. CXXVIII. Rise of the great vassals and of the popes. CHARLEMAGNE had arbitrarily removed the great dukes from office, whilst he favoured the lower orders of the nobility, but under the weak rule of Louis the Pious, and during the subsequent partition of the empire among his descendants, their favourites took advantage of the discord that prevailed among them to revive the title of Duke, and to arrogate to themselves such exorbitant power, that the kings were forced to purchase the fidelity of their vassals by valuable gifts. The dukes and Markgrafs, moreover, who defended the frontiers against the Norsemen, the Moors, and the Slavi, attained con- siderable power by their military achievements. The dukes of Lombardy were almost independent of the emperor. The national hatred of the Italians, and the am- bition of the popes, supported them against Germany. They * Adam von Bremen clearly distinguishes the German Louis as victor shortly before his death from the French Louis, who was at first victorious, but finally defeated. Luthewicus Imperator (the Younger) cum paganis dimicans victor exstitit et paullo post obiit. Luthewicus Franciae rex, (the son of the Stammerer,) victor et victus exstitit. In the Annals of Fulda, under the year 881, the latter is merely mentioned. Regis Hludowici nepos Hludovicus cum Nordmannis dimicans nobiliter thriumphavit. AND OF THE POPES. .293 had, however, to endure many desperate encounters with the Moors. The dukes of Saxony and Thuringia became powerful and insolent as soon as they had rendered themselves neces- sary to the emperor by their exploits against the Norsemen and the Slavi. Ludolf,* duke of Saxony, pronounced his dignity hereditary, and was succeeded in it by his son Otto. Thu- ringia also retained its dukes, although they were not all of the same race. Not long before this, Count Baldwin, with the iron arm, had firmly rooted his family in Flanders, where then, as now, the language was half Gallic (Walloon, Neustrian) and half German, although the country was a Neustrian or French fief.f In Swabia, the house of the Welfs had already attained considerable importance, although they enjoyed no dignity under the empire. In Bavaria, Count Arbo aspired to independence, and entered into an alliance with the Mo- ravian Suatopluk, (also named Zwentibold,) who [A. D. 884] greatly extended his territory. He was, however, forced to submit. Burgundy, now possessed by the Lothringians, now by the French Carlovingians, asserted her independ- ence after the death of Louis the Stammerer, and raised one of the native Grafs, Boso, (who had seduced Irmen- garde, the daughter of Louis II., by whom he was invited to aspire to that dignity,) at Montaille to the throne. His popularity with his countrymen rendered the attempts of the weak Carlovingians to dispossess him of his crown, un- availing, and he was succeeded by his son Louis. He was also upheld by the clergy, whose unity was strengthened by each division of the power of the temporal rulers. * This duke, and his wife Oda, visited Rome, where he was highly favoured by the pope ; he founded the convent of Gandersheim, of which, in 853, he made his daughter, Hademoda, abbess. These were the first greetings of the newly-rising powers, the hierarchy and the feudal aris- tocracy, behind the back of the emperor. t The German and French languages are, even at the present day, bounded by a line running between two ranges of cities. Those on the German side are : Gravelingen, Winnoxbergen, Cassel, Belle, Meessene, Meenen, Cortryc, Audenarde, Rense, Gerardsbergen, (Grammont,) Edingen, (Enghien,) Hal, Brussels, Lyons, Thienen, (Tirlemont,) St. Truyden, Tongern, Maestricht, Aix-la-Chapelle, Eupen, St. Vith, Reu- land, Vianden, Diekirch, Arlon, and Luxembourg. Those on the French side are : Calais, St. Omer, Lille, Tournay, Ath, Nivelles, Wawre, Jodoigne, Hannut, Liege, Verviers, Limburg, Malmedy, Houffalize, Bastoigne, Etalle, Virton, and Longwy. 204 RISE OF THE GREAT VASSALS Vice and unbounded insolence already marked the first triumphs of the church. The history of the infamous Pope Joan belongs to this epoch. She is said to have been a Ger- man, named Jutta, Gerberta, (several other names are also ascribed to her,) who was born at Ingelheim, and received an excellent education from her father, a man of deep learning. Becoming enamoured of a monk at Fulda, she disguised herself in male attire, took the oath of celibacy, and joined her lover in his monastery. They subsequently travelled together as far as Greece, and Jutta appeared at Athens in the character of a public teacher. Here her lover died. She, however, gradually rose from one dignity to another, and was finally elected pope, when she took another lover. During her pregnancy, ac- cording to the legend, an angel promised her forgiveness for her crime if she would consent to publish her shame before the assembled people, and she was accordingly delivered during a great and solemn procession. She was named Pope John VIII. Nicolas L, who filled the papal chair in 858, greatly ex- tended the already firmly-rooted power of the church. His annulment of the marriage of Lothar II. and Walrade, and his declaration of the illegitimacy of their son, proved the supe- riority of the authority of the pope over that of the emperor. As a means of placing the papal power on a firmer basis, he either fabricated or sanctioned the fabrication of the false de- cretals which issued from Mayence, a city which, since the time of St. Bonifacius, had remained in close alliance with Rome. It was one of the principal repositories of theological learning, and it was hence that the German deacon, Benedictus Levita, promulgated a collection of church ordinances or decretals, which declared the pope the absolute sovereign of the church, set him above the councils, made the nomination of all the bishops to depend upon him alone, reserved to him the de- cision in all clerical matters, and even in all trivial affairs left the appeal open to him. In order to furnish these decretals with a respectable antiquity, and to give them the validity of laws more venerable than the imperial dignity, their original composition was falsely ascribed to St. Isidorus, a Spaniard, who lived in the 7th century, and their authenticity was asserted by Nicolas, who founded upon them the universal dominion of the papal tiara. He died in 867, and was sue- AND OF THE POPES. 295 ceeded by Hadrian, who pursued the policy of his predeces- sor. The po.pes, his successors, were weak and licentious. There were, besides Benedictus Levita and his popish party, several other German theologians, far more distin- guished for learning, who were not all subservient to Rome The school founded by Alcuin had the reputation of being free in its opinions and spirit. His disciples taught at May- ence, Fulda, Corvey, St. Gall, Reichenau, Priim, "Weissen- burg, etc., and in the monastic academies, and a dispute arose between those most noted among them, which may be re- garded as the germ whence sprang the controversy of later times between Catholicism, Lutherism, and Calvinism. Pas- chasius Radbert, for instance, a monk of Corvey, an enthu- siastic and imaginative man, defended the real presence of Christ in the eucharist, the worship of the Virgin Mary, and that of images and pictures, in a word, all that influenced the senses in the worship of God ; his doctrine became the pre- vailing one in the middle ages ; he it was who first aroused that romantic enthusiasm which rendered the mother of the Saviour the ideal of beauty, the mystic deity of every heart. Rhabanus Maurus, archbishop of Mayence, the most famous and the most learned of Alcuin's disciples, sought, on the contrary, to develope the minds of his followers instead of ex- citing their imaginations, and demanded, like Luther, not only free inquiry, and the free use of reason and philosophy, but also the introduction of the German language into the church service. Gottschalk, finally, a monk of Fulda, as- serted, like Calvin, the predestination of each individual to salvation or damnation, and completely denied the existence of free-will and of meritorious deeds. Rhabanus opposed both sectarians, but only succeeded in overcoming Gottschalk. This poor monk, a native of Saxony, with an imagination still fired by enthusiastic feelings, roused by his late conver- sion to Christianity, obstinately adhered to a doctrine for which he pined twenty-one years in prison. Radbert's po- etical belief, on the other hand, gained, in union with the false decretals, the victory over the free-spirited efforts of Rhaba- nus, and although several distinguished disciples of the latter continued to assert the right of free inquiry, and to demand the introduction of the German language into the church ser- vice, they were unable to stem the popular current, or t< 296 CHARLES THE THICK AND ARNULF. oppose the increasing power of the popes, who alone tolerated a blind belief and the use of the Latin tongue. Among the last champions of mental freedom, Walafried Strabo, abbot of Reichenau, distinguished himself, like his master, Rhabanus, by a glossary in the German language, and by manuals on general knowledge ; Atfried of Weissenburg, by the composition of an evangelical harmony in German, the History of Christ in verse, which however does not possess the poetical merit of "der Heliand," "the Saviour," a poem that not long ago became known ; Notker Labeo of St. Gall, by his German Psalms, and Willeram, abbot of Ebersberg, by a Paraphrase of the Song of Solomon. Rhegino, abbot of Priim, wrote an universal chronicle, and besides Eginhart, who has already been mentioned, an unknown monk from St. Gall, and the so-called Saxon poet, (poeta Saxo,) recorded the deeds of Charlemagne. Theganus, bishop of Treves, was the biographer of Louis the Pious, and the dissensions of his sons were chronicled by Nithard, the grandson of Charlemagne. The Annals of Fulda are also a celebrated German historical work of the ninth century. There are, moreover, several biographies of different saints and churchmen, for instance, that of Wala. It was at this period that the prophetess, Theoda of Con- stance, who announced the near coming of Christ, was sen- tenced by the council of Mayence to be beaten as an impostor with stripes ; whilst the hermit Meinhard, who was murdered by robbers* "in the dark forest," was canonized by the church, and the celebrated monastery of Einsiedeln in Swit- zerland was raised over his tomb. CXXIX. Charles the Thick and Arnulf. CHARLES the Thick, the youngest of the sons of Louis the German, inherited in 882, on the death of his childless bro- ther, Louis the Younger, all the German and Lothringian territory, with the exception of Burgundy ; and in 884, also France, properly the inheritance of Charles the Simple, whose two elder brothers were dead, but who being the issue * They were betrayed by ravens, as the murderers of Ibycus were by cranes. CHARLES THE THICK AND ARNULF. 297 of a marriage pronounced illegal by the pope, and on account of his imbecility, being recognised by the French themselves as incapable of succeeding to the throne, Charles the Thick easily took possession of the country, and before long re- united France with Germany, in which he was greatly assisted by the pope, to whom he secretly made great concessions, in order to be acknowledged by him as legitimate heir to the crown. Charles the Thick was good-natured and indolent. His fa- vourite project, the restoration of the empire as it stood under Charlemagne, he sought to realize by means of bribes and promises, treaties of peace and other transactions, perfectly in conformity with his character, in which he ever unhesitatingly sacrificed honour to interest. The same means that had suc- ceeded with the pope he imagined would prove equally suc- cessful in treating with the Norsemen, who, after the death of Louis the Younger, renewed their depredations under Gott- fried, and laid the Rhine country waste. The palace of Char- lemagne at Aix-la-Chapelle was converted by them into a stable. Bishop Wala fell bravely fighting at the head of an unequal force before the gates of Metz. The cities on the banks of the Rhine were burnt to the ground, and the whole country between Liege, Cologne, and Mayence, laid desolate. At length Siegfried, the brother of Gottfried, was induced to withdraw his ravaging hordes by the gift of 2000 pounds of gold, and for the additional surn of 12,000 pounds of silver (to defray which Charles the Thick seized all the treasures of the churches) consented to a truce of twelve years. Gottfried was, moreover, formally invested with Friesland as a fief of the empire. The Norsemen, however, notwithstanding these stipulations, continued their depredations, advanced as far as the Moselle, and destroyed the city of Treves, but were sud- denly attacked in the forest of Ardennes, by the charcoal- men and peasants, and 10,000 of them cut to pieces [A. D. 883]. Charles now became anxious to free himself from his troublesome vassal in Friesland, and the Markgraf Henry, who guarded the frontier at Grabfeld against the Sorbi, bro- ther to Poppo, duke of Thuringia, the confidant of the em- peror, invited Gottfried to a meeting, at which he caused him to be treacherously murdered. Gottfried's brother-in-law, the bastard Hugo, was also taken prisoner and deprived of sight. These acts of violence and treason were no sooner perpetrated 298 CHARLES THE THICK AND ARNULF. than the Norsemen, glowing with revenge, rushed like a tor- rent over the country and laid it waste on every side, forcing their way in immense hordes up the Rhine, the Ma?se, and the Seine. On the Rhine they were opposed by Adalbert, of the race of Babenberg (Bamberg). The horde, meanwhile, that had advanced up the Seine, quickly reached Paris, encamped upon Montmartre, and besieged the city for a year and a half, when Charles at length marched to its relief at the head of a numerous army, but instead of trying the issue of a battle, agreed to a most shameful treaty of peace, paid the Norsemen a large sum of money, granted to them free entry into Paris and the navigation of the Seine, besides confirming them in the possession of Friesland [A. D. 887]. In the east, he also allowed the Slavi to gain ground, and neglected to sup- port his nephew Arnulf, who could with difficulty defend him- self against Suatopluk, who continued to extend his dominions ; at the same time, the sons of the old Markgrafs Engelschalk and Wilhelm declared war against each other, and Aribo, a son of the former, went over to the Moravians. Suatopluk was victorious on the Danube, and laid the country waste, until Charles appeared in person to beg for peace, which was con- cluded in 884 on the Tulnerfeld. This monarch proved himself as weak and despicable in his private as in his public character, by carrying on a scandalous suit against his wife Ricardis, whom he accused of an adulterous connexion with his chancellor, Bishop Luitward, and who proved her inno- cence by ordeal, by passing unharmed through fire in a waxen dress. The great vassals of the empire, some of whom beheld in the fall of a sovereign they justly despised that of the Carlo- vingian dynasty and their own aggrandizement, whilst others were influenced by their dislike of the treaties entered into with foreign powers, the pope and the Norsemen, and by an anxiety to make reparation for the loss of their national honour, convoked a great diet at Tribur in the valley of the Rhine, near Oppenheim, and deprived Charles of his crown, [A. D. 887,] a degradation he survived but one year. The Anti-Carlovingian party was partly successful. The French made choice of Odo, Count of Paris, as successor to the crown, whilst the Lower Burgundians in the Nether- Rhone-land (Arelat) elected Baso, the son of Louis, and the CHARLES THE THICK AND ARXULF. 299 Upper Burgundians in the Western Alps, Count Rudolf, a descendant of the Welfs. In Italy the Dukes Guido of Spoleto and Berengar of Friuli made themselves so independ- ent, that they even set themselves up as competitors, through the favour of the pope, for the imperial crown. The Germans alone remained faithful to the Carlovingian house, and elected, to the exclusion of Charles the Simple, who was still alive, Ar- nulf, the young and energetic, but illegitimate son of Carlmann, a brother of Charles the Thick, who had greatly distin- guished himself as duke of Bavaria against the Slavi. The consideration in which he was held was so great, that Odo came to Worms to do homage to him as emperor, a ceremony with which Arnulf contented himself, the Norsemen and Slavi af- fording him no opportunity for recalling his rebellious sub- jects to their allegiance. Fresh hostilities instantly broke out on the part of the Norsemen, who made an irruption into Lothringia, and after a bloody engagement defeated the Germans near Maastricht, where the archbishop of Mayence, who had hiarched against them at the head of his vassals, fell. Arnulf now took the field in person, and a dreadful battle ensued near Lyons, where the Norsemen had encamped, in which Arnulf, perceiving that the German cavalry were unable to cope with the Norse foot-soldiers, who fought with unexampled dexterity, was the first to spring from his saddle ; all the nobles of the arrier-ban followed his example, and the contest became a thick fray, in which the combatants strove hand to hand. Victory sided with the Germans. Siegfried and Gottfried fell on the field of battle, with several thousands of their followers, whose bodies also choked up the course of the Dyle, across which they had attempted to escape. Arnulf, in gratitude for this deliverance, made a great pilgrimage, and ordained that this day, St. Gilgentag, the 1st of September, should be kept as an annual festival. The Norsemen, panic-struck by this fear- ful catastrophe, henceforward avoided the Rhine, but made much more frequent inroads into the west of France. Arnulf had also fresh struggles to sustain against the Slavi ; the Obotrites crossed the frontiers and laid the country waste. The loyalty of Poppo and of the house of Babenberg, who had been in such close alliance with Charles the Thick, and 300 CHARLES THE THICK AND ARNULF. who now found themselves neglected, became more than doubtful,* and Arnulf was constrained to remove the former from his government. Engelschalk the younger also proved faithless, seduced one of Arnulfs daughters, and then took refuge in Moravia. He was subsequently pardoned, and ap- pointed to guard the Austrian frontier. As a means of securing the eastern frontier of his empire, Arnulf made peace and entered into an alliance with Suato- pluk, prince of Moravia, who was a Christian, in the hope that the foundation of a great Christian Slavian kingdom might eventually prove an effectual bulwark against the irruptions of their heathen brethren in that quarter. The Slavian Ma- haranen or Moravians had been converted to Christianity by St. Cyril and St. Methodius, who had visited them from Greece. Borzivoi, prince of Bohemia, being also induced to receive baptism by Suatopluk, his pagan subjects drove him from the throne, and he placed himself (with his wife, St. Ludmilla) under the protection of Suatopluk and Arnulf. Arnulf now gave Suatopluk Bohemia to hold in fee, and unlimited com- mand on the eastern frontier. As a proof of their amity, Suatopluk became sponsor to Arnulf's son, to whom he gave his name, Suatopluk, or Zwentibold ; their friendship proved, nevertheless, of but short duration. The Moravian, perceiving that he could not retain his authority over the Slavi so long as he preserved his amicable relations with Ger- many, yielded to the national hatred, whilst at the same time he gave fresh assurances of amity to the emperor [A. D. 892]. He was also supported in his projects by a great conspiracy among the Germans. The thankless Engelschalk again plotted treason, in which he was upheld by Hildegarde, the maiden daughter of Louis the German, the last of the legitimate de- scendants of Charlemagne, whilst the Italians, who dreaded Arnulf's threatened presence in their country, were not slow in their endeavours to incite the Moravian to open rebellion. Arnulf, however, discovered the conspiracy, caused Engels- * The murder of Arno, bishop of Wurzburg, is perhaps connected with these circumstances. Arno joined Poppo at the head of his vassals against the Slavi, but was, it appears, deserted by him when reading mass in the open air, and cut to pieces with all his followers by the pagan Slavi. Hence arose the deadly feud that so long existed between the Babenbergers and the Wurzburgers. CHARLES THE THICK AND ARNULF. 301 chalk to be deprived of sight, and imprisoned Hildegarde at Chiemsee, but afterwards restored her to liberty. An unexpected ally now came to Arnulf 3 assistance against Suatopluk. At that period there appeared in ancient Panno- nia, first peopled by the Longobardi, and at a later date by the Avari, a nation named in their own language Magyars, or Hungarians, (strangers,) from whom the country derived its name, or Huns, as they were at that time termed by the Ger- mans, who imagined that they again beheld in them the Huns of former times. They were pagans, wild and savage in their habits, and extraordinary riders. Leo, the Grecian emperor, had called them to his assistance against the Bulgarians, and they at first settled under seven leaders, (among whom the most distinguished was one named Arpad,) each of whom erected a fort or Burg, in the country known from that cir- cumstance as Siebenburgen, but not long after turned west- ward and threatened Moravia. Arnulf formed an alliance with them, but never, as he has been accused, invited them into Germany, and Suatopluk, perceiving himself pressed on both sides, gladly remained at peace [A. D. 894]. In Italy, Guido of Spoleto was victorious over Berengar of Friuli, and in 891 was crowned emperor by the pope, Stephen V. He died in 894, and his son, Lambert, also received the imperial crown from Pope Formosus. Arnulf had been ac- knowledged emperor throughout the North, but not having been anointed or crowned by the pope, his right was liable to be disputed by Guido, and being entreated by both Beren- gar and Formosus. the latter of whom was held in derision by the insolent Spoletan, he resolved to march at the head of a powerful force into Italy. He has been blamed for quitting Germany, at that period not entirely tranquillized, and ex- posing himself and his army to the hot climate and diseases of Italy, and to the treachery of the inhabitants, which might easily have been turned upon themselves, and never could have endangered him on this side of the Alps. Arnulf 's visit to Italy, the first so termed pilgrimage to Rome, which was undertaken with the double aim of having the ceremony of an imperial coronation performed and of receiving the oath of fealty from his rebellious vassals, has been regarded as a mis- fortune, because visits to Rome became from this period cus- tomary, and ever proved disastrous to the empire. But 302 CHARLES THE THICK AND ARNULF. judgment ought to be given according to the difference of times and circumstances. The union between the people of Lom- bardy and of Rome was not so close at that time as it became at a later period ; no Italian national interest had as yet sprung up in opposition to that of Germany ; the Italians were uninflu- enced by a desire of separating themselves from the empire, as in later times, but were rather inclined to assert their right over it. Guido, who was connected with the Cai'lovingians, attempt- ed to turn the separation that had taken place between the northern nations to advantage, and appropriated to himself the title of emperor; and, as far as these circumstances are concerned, Arnulf 's visit to Italy appears to be justified. The visits undertaken at a later period to Rome were, on the other hand, unjustifiable in every respect, by their imposing, as will hereafter be seen, a foreign ruler on Lombardy and Rome, whose union had become gradually stronger, and whose erec- tion into an independent state, to which they were entitled by their geographical position and by their similarity in lan- guage and manners, was ever prevented by fresh invasions. Arnulf crossed the Alps, A. D. 894. Ambrosius, Graf of Lombardy, closing the gates of Bergamo against him, he took the city by storm, and hanged his faithless vassal at the gate. His further progress was impeded by the trea- chery of Odo, the French king, who took advantage of his absence to arm against him, whilst Rudolf of Upper Burgundy actually marched to the assistance of the Spo- letans, and Arnulf was thus reluctantly forced to retrace his steps. He undertook a second expedition across the Alps in 896, and advanced into Tuscany, Avhere he was amicably received by Adalbert, the faithless Markgraf,* and by Berengar, who no sooner found themselves deceived in their expectation of making him subservient to their own in- terest and of easily outwitting him, than they assumed a threatening attitude. Arnulf, undismayed by the dangers with which he was surrounded, instantly marched upon Rome, whose gates were closed against him by the Spoletans, who successfully repelled every attack on the walls, and the em- * Bertha, the wife of Adalbert, (who was blindly guided by her,) a woman of an intriguing disposition, was the daughter of Lothar II. and of Walrade. Her lirst husband was Theobald, Count of Aries, by whom she had Hugo, afterwards king of Italy. Sigonius relates the manner in which all the intrigues of those times in Italy and Burgundy were con- ducted bv this worn. " CHARLES THE THICK AND ARNULF. 303 peror was on the point of retreating, when his soldiers, en- raged at the sarcasms of the Italians who maimed the walls, rushed furiously to the attack, and carried the city by storm. Lambert's adherents fled, and the rescued pope placed the im- perial crown on Arnulf's head. A mode of vengeance to which the Italians have in every age had recourse was now but too successfully attempted against the life of the German hero ; slow poison was administered, and he expired at CEttingen, on his way back to Germany. He was buried at Ratisbon. On Arnulf's death, Lambert regained the sovereignty of Italy, and again reduced Berengar and Adalbert to submis- sion.* He was assassinated in 898, and his adherents in- vited Louis, the son of Boso, into Italy. This prince was a Carlovingian, and grandson to Louis II., and at that time reigned over Burgundy. Bertha, the ambitious wife of Adal- bert, who was residing at Lucca, and whose pride could not brook the idea that her son Hugo was merely Count of Aries, and Louis's vassal, plotted his destruction. In order to lull his suspicions, she gave him a friendly reception, but no sooner beheld him entirely in her power than she betrayed him to Berengar, who caused him to be deprived of sight, A. D. 905. Hugo then made himself master of Lower Burgundy, (Arelat,) and after the assassination of Berengar, 925, was placed by his mother on the throne of Italy. This country seemed destined to be governed by women ; after the death of Bertha, a wealthy Roman, named THeodora, seized the reins of government, revived the ancient spirit of paganism, and drew all in her licentious train. One of her lovers she caused to be elected pope, as John X. Her daughter Marozia. who surpassed her mother in lewdness, married successively two of the sons of Bertha, first Guido, and then King Hugo, with whom she lived in the most profligate manner. She kept lovers, and he a harem of mistresses, to whom he gave the names of different heathen goddesses. Her son, Octavian, who became pope, as John XL, died suddenly, and Hugo was driven from his throne [A. D. 947] by his step-son, Alberich, the son of Guido and Marozia, who made Rome his * He took the latter prisoner in a stable, and said to him, " Your wife would have made of you either a king or an ass, now you have become the kuter." 304 THE BABENBERG FEUD. seat of government, whilst a grandson of Berengar, Beren- gar II., reigned in Upper Italy. Hugo's former inheritance, and the Arelat or Lower Burgundy, were united with Upper Burgundy under Rudolf II., and even his Italian kingdom seemed for ever lost to his remaining son, Lothar, whose wife, the beautiful Adelheid, was destined to decide the fate of Italy. CXXX. The Babenberg feud. The Hungarians. ARNTJLP had, during his lifetime, placed his son, Zwentibold, on the throne of Lothringia, in order to guard the frontiers of the empire against the Norsemen. This young prince entered into alliance with Odo of Paris, whose daughter he married, and by his insolence drew upon himself the dislike of the clergy. His ill treatment of Rathod, archbishop of Treves, also rendered him unpopular with the commonalty. A re- bellion broke out in Lothringia, and he lost both his crown and his life in a battle that took place on theMaese, A. D. 900. Odo's reign in France was also of short duration. Charles the Simple was replaced on the throne by the bishops and the vassals, who found their advantage in the imbecility of their monarch. Charles created Regingar duke of Lothringia, and was forced to acknowledge Rollo, duke of Normandy. In Germany, the great vassals, and the bishops also, usurped the direction of affairs. Louis, the second son of Arnulf, surnamed the Child, on account of his being at that time only in his seventh year, was, by the intrigues of Otto, duke of Saxony, and of Hatto, archbishop of Mayence, who sought to reign under his name, placed upon the imperial throne. The power of the bishops had become exorbitant without the aid of the popes, whose licentious conduct threatened at this period to endanger the church. Hatto, a man of daring courage and deep cunning, unprincipled and cruel, bore unlimited sway in France and in southern Germany, in which he was upheld by Otto, who sought to strengthen himself in Saxony, and to ag- grandize his house by the aid of the church. Adalbert, the opponent of the Norsemen, Henry and Adelhart, the sons of Henry of Babenberg, finding themselves neglected, and pressed from the north by the Saxons, from the west by the bishops, set themselves up in opposition. Rudolf, bishop of Wurzburg, THE HUNGARIANS. 305 who was supported by Hatto, having obtained a considerable fief for his family by the abuse of his spiritual authority, Adalbert had recourse to arms, upon which Hatto, probably favoured by the ancient hatred of the rest of the vassals to the house of Babenberg, succeeded in having him put out of the ban of the empire. Henry was killed, and Adelhart was taken prisoner and executed. Adalbert, meanwhile, made a vigorous resistance, and slew Graf Conrad, Bishop Rudolf's brother,' but was, ere long, closely besieged in his fortress of Bamberg. Hatto, finding other means unavailing, treacherous- ly offered his mediation, and promised him a free and safe re- turn to his fortress, if he would present himself before the assembled diet. Trusting to the word of the wily priest, the Graf issued from his fort, at whose foot he was met by Hatto, who, in the most friendly manner, proposed their breakfasting together within the fortress before setting off on their journey. The Graf assented, and returned with him to the fort ; he then accompanied him to the diet, where Hatto declared him- self exempted from his promise by his having restored the Graf unharmed to his fortress for the purpose of taking his breakfast, and that he now was free to act as he deemed proper. The assembled vassals, upon this, unanimously sentenced Adalbert to death, and he was beheaded. Conrad, Bishop Rudolf's nephew, was created duke of Franconia.* This family of the Wurzburg bishop was surnamed the Rotenburgers, from Rotenburg on the Tauber ; their descendants acquired, at a later period, far greater celebrity under the name of the Saliers. The treacherous policy of Bishop Hatto, however, made a deep impression upon the minds of the commonalty, among whom loyalty was still held in higher honour than the sacred head of the churchman, and historians relate that, whilst the dukes overlooked the conduct of the bishop and yielded to the outbreak of the popular dissatisfaction, Hatto's name and the memory of his infamy were execrated and derided in popular ballads throughout Germany. His name represented the idea of hierarchical lust of power and avarice, and hence arose the legend that records his miserable death. It is said that, during a famine, a number of peasants who came to the * But simply missus super exercitum, the bishop assuming the civil authority, and afterwards arrogating to himself the whole ducal power. 306 THE BABEXBERG FEUD. bishop and begged for bread, were by his order shut up in a great barn and burnt to death. From the ruins there issued myriads of mice, which ceaselessly pursued the wretched bishop, who vainly attempted to elude them, and who at length, driven to despair, fled for safety to a strong tower standing in the middle of the Rhine near Bingen, but here also the mice continued their pursuit, swam across the water, and devoured him. The tower is still standing, and is known at the present day as the Mausethurm or mouse-tower.* This example is a manifest proof that the popular fictions were founded upon fact, and clearly express the spirit of those times. Salomon, f bishop of Constance, who made a similar attempt to gain possession of an extensive feudal territory, was abbot of twelve rich monasteries, and equalled a prince in the number of his feudal retainers ; he fell into a feud with the most powerful of the temporal lords of Swabia, Erchanger and Berthold, who then exercised the ducal authority as Kammer- boten, or financial officers, which proved as deadly as that carried on by the bishop of Wurzburg against the house of Babenberg. In the Netherlands, Graf Baldwin of Flanders being opposed by Falko, the powerful archbishop of Rheims, he caused him to be assassinated.. The wild Magyars maintained possession of Hungary. After the death of Suatopluk, the kingdom of Moravia com- pletely fell ; the Bohemians again severed themselves from the German empire and divided the possessions of Suatopluk with the Hungarians, who, although governed after the death of Arpad by a boy thirteen years of age, their king, Zoldan, continually made fresh conquests along the Danube Under their numerous and valiant leaders. Suatopluk the younger fell in battle ; his brother Moymir fled for protection to Duke * Miisshusz is synonymous with Zeughaus (arsenal). Hence also the word musket. This tower may have been an old store-place for weapons, and the legend may merely have given a different interpretation to the original name. f This bishop had a very beautiful and learned daughter, (aliquantis per literata,) who was educated in the convent at Zurich, and of whom the emperor Arnulf became enamoured. She, however, scorned to be an emperor's mistress, and married a nobleman in Thurgau. Salomon was a handsome, dignified man, extremely popular, and eloquent and impres- sive in the pulpit. Church History. THE HUNGARIANS. 307 Luitpold, the stanch defender of the German frontiers. Cussal, the leader of the Hungarians, was defeated in two great battles on the Enns and near to Vienna, and was left on the field [A. D. 900]. Undismayed by these disasters, the Hungarians attacked the Carinthian Alps, whilst the Obotrites under Crito made an inroad into Saxony ; but being again repulsed, they made an incursion into Italy and laid that country waste [A. D. 902]. For a third time they appeared in such force, that Luitpold, the son of Ernst, the former Markgraf, and the brother of Aribo, was defeated and killed near Presburg, and Louis, who was present in this battle, narrowly escaped being taken prisoner. They next invaded Thuringia, [A. D. 907,] where the new Markgraf, Burkhard, after making a valiant defence, also fell. The following year [A. D. 909] they entered Franconia, where the Markgraf Gebhard vainly attempted to stem their progress, and was killed. The death of these leaders at once proves the obsti- nate resistance made by the Germans, and the numerical superiority of the enemy. The Hungarian was irresistible in the fury of his onset, invincible in battle by his contempt of death, untiring in pursuit, or secured from it by the rapidity of his horse. His bloodthirstiness, his inhuman treatment of the unarmed and helpless, his destructive and predatory habits, astonished and terrified the milder German, who regarded him in the light of an evil spirit, as the Goth had formerly regarded the Hun, until he became habituated to him. The suddenness with which these mounted hordes appeared in the heart of the country and again vanished, greatly strengthened the belief in their supernatural powers. They also acted with a sort of religious fanaticism, from a belief that every enemy they slew would be their vassal in a future state. They were so bloodthirsty, that they would make use of the corpses of their opponents as tables during their savage feasts. They bound the captured women and maidens with their own long hair, and drove them in flocks to Hungary.* * One of the touching stories of the times relates, that Ulrich, Graf of Linzgau, being taken prisoner by the Hungarians, his beautiful wife, Wendelgarde, believing him to be dead, devoted the remainder of her life to prayers and almsgiving. One day when distributing her da ; .'y alms to a crowd of beggars, one of them fell on her neck and kissed her. Her attendants interposed, but the criminal said, smiling, " Forbear. I x 2 308 CONRAD THE FIRST. Louis the Child, dismayed by these repeated disasters, con- cluded a treaty of peace with these people, and consented to pay them a ten years' tribute. The Enns was declared the boundary of Hungary, and the wild Arpads erected their royal castle on the beautiful mountain on the Danube, on which the splendid monastery of Molk now stands. The Germans were deeply sensible of the dishonour incurred by this ignominious tribute, of the danger of their internal dissensions, and of the misfor- tune of being governed by so imbecile a monarch. It was even publicly preached from the pulpit, " Woe to the land, whose king is a child ! " The youthful monarch died [A. r>. 911] before he had even reigned, and with him ended the race of Charlemagne in Germany. CXXXI. Conrad the First. THE extinction of the Carlovingian line did not sever the bond of union that existed between the different nations of Germany, although a contention arose between them concern- ing the election of the new emperor, each claiming that pri- vilege for itself; and as the increase of the ducal power had naturally led to a wider distinction between them, the diet convoked for the purpose represented nations instead of classes. There were consequently four nations and four votes : the Franks under Duke Conrad, whose authority nevertheless could not compete with that of the now venerable Hatto, arch- bishop of Mayence, who may be said to have been, at that period, the pope in Germany : the Saxons, Friedlanders, Thu- ringians, and some of the subdued Slavi, under Duke Otto : the Swabians, with Switzerland and Elsace, under different Grafs, who, as the immediate officers of the crown, were named Kammerboten, in order to distinguish them from the Grafs nominated by the dukes : the Bavarians, with the Tyrolese and some of the subdued eastern Slavi, under Duke Arnulf the Bad, the son of the brave Duke Luitpold. The Lothrin- gians formed a fifth nation, under their Duke Regiugar, but were at that period incorporated with France. The first impulse of the diet was to bestow the crown on the have endured blows and misery enough during my imprisonment ; I am Ulrich, your Lord." CONRAD THE FIRST. 309 most powerful among the different competitors, and it was ac- cordingly offered to Otto of Saxony, who not only possessed the most extensive territory and the most warlike subjects, but whose authority, having descended to him from his father and grandfather, was also the most firmly secured. But both Otto and his ancient ally, the bishop Hatto, had found the system they had hitherto pursued, of reigning in the name of an im- becile monarch, so greatly conducive to their interest, that they were disinclined to abandon it. Otto was a man who mistook the prudence inculcated by private interest for wisdom, and his mind, narrow as the limits of his dukedom, and solely intent upon the interests of his family, was incapable of the comprehensive views requisite in a German emperor, and in- i different to the welfare of the great body of the nation. The examples of Boso, of Odo, of Rudolf of Upper Burgundy, and of Berengar, who, favoured by the difference in descent of the people they governed, had all succeeded in severing them- selves from the empire, were ever present to his imagination, and he believed that as, on the other side of the Rhine, the Frank, the Burgundian, and the Lombard, severally obeyed an independent sovereign, the East Frank, the Saxon, the Swabian, and the Bavarian, on this side of the Rhine, were also desirous of asserting a similar independence, and that it would be easier and less hazardous to found an hereditary dukedom in a powerful and separate state, than to maintain the imperial dignity, undermined as it was by universal hostility. The influence of Hatto and the consent of Otto placed Conrad, duke of Franconia, on the imperial throne. Sprung from a newly-risen family, a mere creature of the bishop, his nobility as a feudal lord only dating from the period of the Babenberg feud, he was regarded by the church as a pliable tool, and by the dukes as little to be feared. His weakness was quickly demonstrated by his inability to retain the rich allods of the Carlovingian dynasty as heir to the imperial crown, and his being constrained to share them with the rest of the dukes ; he was, nevertheless, more fully sensible of the dignity and of the duties of his station than those to whom he owed his election probably expected. His first step was to recall Regingar of Lothringia, who was oppressed by France, to his allegiance as vassal of the empire. 310 CONRAD THE FIRST. Otto died in 912, and his son Henry, a high-spirited youth, who had greatly distinguished himself against the Slavi, ere long quarrelled with the aged Bishop Hatto. According to the legendary account, the bishop sent him a golden chain, so skilfully contrived as to strangle its wearer. The truth is, that the ancient family feud between the house of Conrad and that of Otto, which was connected with the Babenbergers, again broke out, and that the emperor attempted again to separate Thuringia, which Otto had governed since the death of Burkhard, from Saxony, in order to hinder the over-pre- ponderance of that ducal house. Hatto, it is probable, coun- selled this step, as a considerable portion of Thuringia be- longed to the diocese of Mayence, and a collision between him and the duke was therefore unavoidable. Henry flew to arms, and expelled the adherents of the bishop from Thu- ringia, which forced the emperor to take the field in the name of the empire against his haughty vassal. This unfor- tunate civil war was a signal for a fresh irruption of the Slavi and Hungarians. During this year the Bohemians and Sorbi also made an inroad into Thuringia and Bavaria, and in 913, the Hungarians advanced as far as Swabia, but being sur- prised near CEtting by the Bavarians under Arnulf, who on this occasion bloodily avenged his father's death, and by the Swabians under the Kammerboten, Erchanger and Berthold, they were all, with the exception of thirty of their number, cut to pieces. Arnulf subsequently embraced a contrary line of policy, married the daughter of Geisa, king of Hungary, and entered into a confederacy with the Hungarian and the Swabian Kammerboten, for the purpose of founding an in- dependent state in the soutli of Germany, where he had already strengthened himself by the appointment of several Markgrafs, Rudiger of Pechlarn in Austria, Rathold in Ca- rinthia, and Barthold in the Tyrol. He then instigated all the enemies of the empire simultaneously to attack the Franks and Saxons, at that crisis at war with each other, [A. D. 915,] and whilst the Danes under Gorm the Old, and the Obotrites, destroyed Hamburg, immense hordes of Hungari- ans, Bohemians, and Sorbi laid the country waste as far as Bremen. The emperor was, meanwhile, engaged with the Saxons. On one occasion, Henry narrowly escaped being taken pri- CONRAD THE FIRST. 311 soner, being merely saved by the stratagem of his faithful servant, Thiatmar, who caused the emperor to retreat by falsely announcing to him the arrival of a body of auxiliaries. At length a pitched battle was fought near Merseburg be- tween Henry and Eberhard, [A. D. 915,] the emperor's bro- ther, in which the Franks* were defeated, and the superiority of the Saxons remained, henceforward, unquestioned for more than a century. The emperor was forced to negociate with the victor, whom he induced to protect the northern frontiers of the empire whilst he applied himself in person to the re- establishment of order in the south. In Swabia, Salomon, bishop of Constance, who was sup- ported by the commonalty, adhered to the imperial cause, whilst the Kammerboten were unable to palliate their treason, and were gradually driven to extremities. Erchanger, relying upon aid from Arnulf and the Hungarians, usurped the ducal crown and took the bishop prisoner. Salomon's extreme popularity tilled him with such rage that he caused the feet of some shepherds,f who threw themselves on their knees as the captured prelate passed by, to be chopped off. His wife, Bertha, terror-stricken at the rashness of her husband and foreseeing his destruction, received the prisoner with every demonstration of humility, and secretly aided his escape. He no sooner reappeared than the people flocked in thousands around him : "Heil Herro ! HeilLiebo!" ("Hail, master ! Hail, beloved one ! ") they shouted, and in their zeal, attacked and defeated the traitors and their adherents. Berthold vain- * So great a slaughter took place, that the Saxons said on the Occasion " ' T were difficult to find a hell, Where so many Franks might dwell !" f It appears that he aimed, like the bishops of Mayence and Wurz- burg, at the possession of great temporal power, and became on that ac- count the hated rival of the Kammerboten, several . 919, by the major- ity of votes, and, according to ancient custom, raised upon the shield.* The archbishop of Mayence offered to anoint him according to the usual ceremony, but Henry refused, alleging that he was content to owe his election to the grace of God and to the piety of the German princes, and that he left the ceremony of anointment to those who wished to be still more pious. Before Henry could pursue his more elevated projects, the assent of the southern Germans, who had not acknowledged the choice of their northern compatriots, had to be gained. Burk- hard of Swabia, who had asserted his independence, and who was at that time carrying on a bitter feud with Rudolf, f king of Burgundy, whom he had defeated [A. D. 919] in a bloody en- gagement near Winterthur, was the first against whom he di- rected the united forces of the empire, in whose name he, at the same time, offered him peace and pardon. Burkhard, seeing himself constrained to yield, took the oath of fealty to the new- ly-elected king at Worms, but continued to act with almost his * This custom appears to have been discontinued at a later period. Wittekind Chron. t His wife, Bertha, was celebrated as a good housewife. Seals of hers are still extant, on which she is represented seated on a throne spinning. She was long regarded among the people as the protectress of domestic economy, and of industrious maidens, and the memory of " the good old times when Bertha span," continued to a late date. In 1818, her coffin was discovered at Peterlingen (Payerne) in Waadtland, and was solemnly borne by young maidens to the town church, where it was entombed. Meyer von Knonau. 314 HENRY THE FOWLER. former unlimited authority in Swabia, and even undertook an expedition into Italy in favour of Rudolf, with whom he had become reconciled. The Italians, enraged at the wantonness with which he mocked them, assassinated him.* Henry be- stowed the dukedom of Swabia on Hermann, one of his rela- tions, to whom he gave Burkhard's widow in marriage. He also bestowed a portion of the south of Alemannia on King Rudolf, in order to win him over, and in return received from him the holy lance, with which the side of the Saviour had been pierced as he hung on the cross. Finding it no longer possible to dissolve the dukedoms and great fiefs, Henry, in order to strengthen the unity of the empire, introduced the novel policy of bestowing the dukedoms, as they fell vacant, on his relations and personal adherents, and of allying the rest of the dukes with himself by intermarriage, thus uniting the different powerful houses in the state into one family. Bavaria still remained in an unsettled state. Arnulf the Bad, leagued with the Hungarians, against whom Henry had great designs, had still much in his power, and Henry, re- solved at any price to dissolve this dangerous alliance, not only concluded peace with this traitor on that condition, but also married his son Henry to Judith, ArnulPs daughter [A. D. 921]. Arnulf deprived the rich churches of great part of their treasures, and was consequently abhorred by the clergy, the chroniclers of those times, who, chiefly on that ac- count, depicted his character in such unfavourable colours. In France, Charles the Simple was still the tool and jest of the vassals. His most dangerous enemy was Robert, Count of Paris, brother to Odo, the late king. Both solicited aid from Henry, but in a battle that shortly ensued near Soissons, Count Robert losing his life and Charles being defeated, Rudolf of Burgundy, one of Boso's nephews, set himself up as king of France, and imprisoned Charles the Simple, who craved assistance from the German monarch, to whom he promised to perform homage as his liege lord.f Henry, meanwhile, contented himself with expelling Rudolf from * He had said, " If I do not make every Italian, \vho wears spurs, ride a mare, my name is not Burkhard." Sigonius. t Se et Franciam Henrico regi submittit, says "Vincentius Bellova- ccnsis. In testimony of the sincerity of his promise, he sent the hand of St. Dionysius, the patron saint of France, set in gold and precious stones. ORIGIN OF THE MIDDLING CLASSES. 315 Lothringia, and after taking possession of Metz, bestowed that dukedom upon Gisilbrecht, the son of Regingar, and reincor- porated it with the empire. These successes now roused the apprehensions of the Hungarians, who again poured their invading hordes across the frontier. In 926, they plundered St. Gall, but were routed near Seckingen by the peasantry, headed by the country people of Hirminger, who had been roused by alarm-fires ; and again in Elsace, by Count Liut- fried : another horde was cut to pieces near Bleiburg, in Carinthia, by Eberhard and the Count of Meran. The Hungarian king, probably Zoldan, was, by chance, taken prisoner during an incursion by the Germans, a circumstance turned by Henry to a very judicious use. He restored the captured prince to liberty, and also agreed to pay him a yearly tribute, on condition of his entering into a solemn truce for nine years. The experience of earlier times had taught Henry that a completely new organization was necessary in the management of military affairs in Germany, before this dangerous enemy could be rendered innoxious, and as an undertaking of this nature required time, he prudently re- solved to incur a seeming disgrace, by means of which he in fact secured the honour of the state. During this interval of nine years he aimed at bringing the other enemies of the em- pire, more particularly the Slavi, into subjection, and making preparations for an expedition against Hungary, by which her power should receive a fatal blow. In the mean time, Gisilbrecht, the youthful duke of Loth- ringia, again rebelled, but was besieged and taken prisoner in Ziilpich by Henry, who, struck by his noble appearance, re- stored to him his dukedom, and bestowed upon him his daughter, Gerberga, in marriage. Rudolf of France also sued for peace, being hard pressed by his powerful rival, Hugo the Great or Wise, the son of Robert. Charles the Simple was, on Henry's demand, restored to liberty, but quickly fell anew into the power of his faithless vassals. Peace was now established throughout the empire, and afforded Henry an opportunity for turning his attention to the introduction of measures in the interior economy of the state, calculated to obviate for the future the dangers that had hither- to threatened it from without. The best expedient against 316 HENRY THE FOWLER. the irruptions of the Hungarians appeared to him to be the circumvallation of the most important districts, the erection of forts and of fortified cities. The most important point, how- ever, was, to place the garrisons immediately under him, as citizens of the state, commanded by his immediate officers, in- stead of their being indirectly governed by the feudal aris- tocracy, and by the clergy. As these garrisons were intended, not only for the protection of the walls, but also for open war- fare, he had them trained to fight in rank and file, and formed them into a body of infantry, whose solid masses were calculated to withstand the furious onset of the Hungarian horse. These garrisons were solely composed of the ancient free-men, and the whole measure was, in fact, merely a reform of the ancient arrier-ban, which no longer sufficed for the protection of the state, and whose deficiency had long been supplied by the addition of vassals under the command of their temporal or spiritual lieges, and by the mercenaries or body-guards of the emperors. The ancient class of free-men, who originally com- posed the arrier-ban, had been gradually converted into feudal vassals ; but they were at that time still so numerous, as to enable Henry to give them a completely new military organ- ization, which at once secured to them their freedom, hitherto endangered by the preponderating power of the feudal aristo- cracy, and rendered them a powerful support to the throne. By collecting them into the cities, he afforded them a secure retreat against the attempts of the Grafs, dukes, abbots, and bishops, and created for himself a body of trusty friends, of whom it would naturally be expected, that they would ever side with the emperor against the nobility. This new regulation appears to have been founded on the ancient mode of division. At first, out of every nine free-men (which recalls the decania) one only was placed within the new fortress, and the remaining eight were bound (perhaps on account of their ancient association into corporations or guilds) to nourish and support him ; but the remaining free-men, in the neighbourhood of the new cities, appear to have been also gradually collected within their walls, and to have committed the cultivation of their lands in the vicinity to their bonds- men. However that may be, the ancient class of free-men completely disappeared, as the cities increased in importance, ORIGIN OF THE MIDDLING CLASSES. 317 and it was only among the wild mountains, where no cities sprang up, that the centen or cantons, and whole districts or gauen of free peasantry were to be met with. Henry's original intention in the introduction of this new system was, it is evident, solely to provide a military force answering to the exigences of the state ; still there is no rea- son to suppose him blind to the great political advantage to be derived from the formation of an independent class of citizens, and that he had in reality premeditated a civil as well as a military reformation, may be concluded from the fact of his having established fairs, markets, and public assemblies, which, of themselves, would be closely connected with civil industry, within the walls of the cities ; and, even if these trading war- riors were at first merely feudatories of the emperor, they must naturally in the end have formed a class of free citizens, the more so, as, attracted within the cities by the advantages offered to them, their number rapidly and annually increased. The same military reasons which induced the emperor Henry to enrol the ancient free-men into a regular corps of in- fantry, and to form them into a civil corporation, caused him also to metamorphose the feudal aristocracy into a regular troop of cavalry and a knightly institution. The wild dis- order with which the mounted vassals of the empire, the dukes, grafs, bishops, and abbots, each distinguished by his own ban- ner, rushed to the attack, or vied with each other in the fury of the assault, was now changed by Henry, who was well versed in every knightly art, to the disciplined manoeuvres of the line, and to that of fighting in close ranks, so well cal- culated to withstand the furious onset of their Hungarian foe. The discipline necessary for carrying these new mili- tary tactics into practice among a nobility habituated to licence, could alone be enforced by motives of honour, and Henry accordingly formed a chivalric institution, which gave rise to new manners, and to an enthusiasm that imparted a new character to the age. The tournament, from the ancient verb turnen, to wrestle or fight, a public contest in every species of warfare, carried on by the knights in the presence pf noble dames and maidens, whose favour they sought to gain by their prowess, and which chiefly consisted of tilting and jousting either singly or in troops, the day concluding with a banquet and a dance, was then instituted. In these tourna- 318 HENRY THE FOWLER. merits the ancient heroism of the Germans revived ; they were in reality founded upon the ancient pagan legends of the heroes who carried on an eternal contest in their Walhalla, in order to win the smiles of the Walkyren, now represented by earth's well-born dames. The ancient spirit of brotherhood in arms, which had been almost quenched by that of self-interest, by the desire of ac- quiring feudal possessions, by the slavish subjection of the vassals under their lieges, and by the intrigues of the bishops, who intermeddled with all feudal matters, also reappeared. A great universal society of Christian knights, bound to the observance of peculiar laws, whose highest aim was to fight only for God, (before long also for the ladies,) and who swore never to make use of dishonourable means for success, but solely to live and to die for honour, was formed ; an innova- tion which, although merely military in its origin, speedily became of political importance, for, by means of his knightly honour, the little vassal of a minor lord was no longer viewed as a mere underling, but as a confederate in the great uni- versal chivalric fraternity. There were also many free-men, who sometimes gained their livelihood by offering their services to different courts, or by robbing on the highways, and who were too proud to serve on foot ; Henry offered them free pardon, and formed them into a body of light cavalry. In the cities, the free citizens, who were originally intended only to serve as foot soldiery, appear ere long to have formed them- selves into mounted troops, and to have created a fresh body of infantry out of their artificers and apprentices. It is certain that every free-man could pretend to knighthood. Although the chivalric regulations ascribed to the emperor Henry, and to his most distinguished vassals, may not be genuine, they offer nevertheless infallible proofs of the most ancient spirit of knighthood. Henry ordained, that no one should be created a knight who either by word or by deed in- jured the holy church ; the Pfalzgraf Conrad added, "no one who either by word or by deed injured the holy German em- pire;" Hermann of Swabia, "no one who injured a woman or a maiden ;" Berthold, the brother of Arnulf of Bavaria, " no one who had ever deceived another or had broken his word;" Conrad of Franconia, "no one who had ever run away from the field of battle." These appear to have been, in CONQUESTS IN THE SLAVIAN NORTH-EAST. 319 fact, the first chivalric laws, for they spring from the spirit of the times, whilst all the regulations concerning nobility of birth, the number of ancestors, the exclusion of all those who were engaged in trade, etc., are, it is evident from their very nature, of a much later origin. CXXXIII. Conquests in the Slavian north-east. Defeat of the Hungarians. THE systematic reduction of the Slavian north of Germany beneath his rule, was one of the great projects of the em- peror; and, when the recollection of the unfortunate Slavian nations, thinned by bloody defeats, deprived of their ancient privileges, forcibly converted to Christianity, and obliged to adopt the German language, strange and unfamiliar to them, recurs, the barbarity of these measures would naturally rouse indignation ; still, the inquiry whether they were not induced by necessity or for safety, is but just. The Slavi had long made common cause with the Hungarians, whom they assisted in their predatory excursions against the Germans, whom they attacked in the rear, whilst engaged in defending them- selves against their dreaded foe, and the consequent peril in which the empire stood, together with the alternative of de- stroying or of being destroyed, rendered victory necessary at whatever price. The whole of the empire, as far as Lothrin- gia and Bremen, was laid waste by the repeated invasions of the lawless Hungarians and their Slavian allies. The whole of Austria, as far as the Enns, had been severed from the state by the conquering Hungarians, whilst the Slavi attempted to spread themselves northwards as far as the Weser. Had the emperor spared the Slavi, and neglected to disarm them during his truce with the Hungarians, they would certainly have assisted them in their first irruption, and might possibly have brought the empire to the brink of destruction. The subjection of heathen nations was, moreover, regarded in those times as a meritorious work, inasmuch as they were, by that means, forced to embrace Christianity. The ancient Obotrites maintained themselves in Mecklen- burg, protected by their forests and lakes, and by their oft- tried valour, whilst the disunited Serbian tribes, the Hevelli 320 CONQUESTS IN THE SLAVIAN NORTH-EAST. on the Havel, the Daleminzii on the Middle Elbe, and the Redarii on the Priegnitz, whose territory chiefly consisted of open country, and who, in the moment of danger, were aban- doned by their fellow tribes, could offer but a feeble resist- ance. It was, therefore, upon them that Henry first turned his arms. In 926, he marched against the Hevelli, seized their capital, Brannibor, (Brandenburg,) converted their country into a frontier of the empire, placed it under the ju- risdiction of a Saxon Markgraf, colonized it with Christian Germans, and left no means untried in order to Germanize the inhabitants. In the following year [A. D. 927] he entered Bohemia, and took possession of Prague, where, after the fall of the Mo- ravian kingdom of the Christian Borziwoi, his son, Spigni- tew, who had relapsed into paganism, maintained himself with the aid of the Hungarians, whom he assisted on every occa- sion against the Germans. He was succeeded by his bro- ther Wratislaw, who wedded Drahomira, a pagan Hevellian princess. Drahomira, inspired by her hereditary enmity against the Germans, caused all the Christians, among others her mother-in-law, St. Ludmilla, to be assassinated, and Henry entered the country under pretext of avenging their martyrdom. Drahomira sought safety in flight. Her son, Wenzel, afterwards surnamed the Holy, took the oath of alle- giance to the emperor, and was enabled, by the successes of the Germans, to make use of peaceable means for the conver- sion of his terror-stricken subjects. The subjection of the Hevelli and of the Bohemians now placed the Daleminzii at the mercy of the conqueror. Henry invaded their country, [A. D. 928,] took Grona, their metro- polis, and built the fortress of Meissen on the Elbe. It ap- pears that the Slavian Parathani, (inhabitants of Baireuth,) who are mentioned in the history of St. Emmeran, had, at an earlier period, been converted by the monks of Ratisbon and Nuremberg. The fortresses of Saalfeld, Orlamiind, Rudol- stadt, Leuchtenburg, Lobeda, Dornburg, Naumburg, were erected on the Saal, now become the line of demarcation be- tween the Germans and the Slavi. Weimar also received its name from Wenden Mark, or the Wendian frontier. The Redarii had driven away their chief, Bernhard, who, there is no doubt, had embraced Christianity. This brave CONQUESTS IN THE SLAVIAN NORTH-EAST. 321 warrior was sent by Henry against his countrymen, who, well aware of the fate that awaited them, made such a desperate resistance at Lunkin, (Lenzen,) that their whole army, with the exception of 800, who were made prisoners, fell on the field of battle [A. D. 930]. Numbers flung themselves in despair into a lake. This terrible defeat filled the neighbour- ing Slavian tribes with consternation. The truce had now [A. D. 933] expired, and ambassadors were sent from Hungary to demand the payment of the an- cient tribute. According to the legendary account, Henry caused a mutilated mangy dog to be thrown before them, and declared a deadly war with their nation. The Hungarians instantly crossed the frontier in two enormous hordes, the lesser of which, 50,000 strong, was encountered by the arrier- ban of Saxony and Thuringia near Sondershausen, and entirely routed. The other and more numerous body advanced along the Saal in the vicinity of Merseburg against the emperor, and laid siege to the fortress of a certain Wido, who, according to "VVittekind's account, had married a natural daughter of the emperor, and possessed immense treasures. Henry, mean- while, intrenched himself on a mountain, since known as the Keuschberg, or mountain of chastity, owing to the circum- stance of no woman being permitted to enter the camp of the Christians, who strengthened themselves for the coming con- flict by devotional exercises. The news of the defeat of their countrymen at Sondershausen soon reached the Hungarians, who instantly kindled enormous fires along the banks of the river, as signals of recall to those of their number who were engaged in plundering the country, and the battle commenced with the coming morn. Henry addressed his troops, who unanimously swore to die on the field or to annihilate their foes. The picture of St. Michael, the defender of heaven, was borne in the van, as the banner of the empire. A murderous struggle commenced, the Hungarians shouting, " Hui ! Hui!" the Germans, " Kyrieleison ! " Victory long wavered, but was at length decided by the discipline and enthusiastic valour of the Germans. 30,000 Hungarians remained on the field of battle ; the remainder fled. An immense number of Christian slaves were restored to liberty. After the victory, Henry knelt, at the head of his troops, on the field, and returned thanks to their patron saint. The Hungarians appear to have been 322 OTTO THE FIRST. every where cut down as soon as they were overtaken. Only seven of their most distinguished chieftains were sent back alive to their country, deprived of their hands, noses, and ears, with the injunction, for the future to remain peaceably at home. The terror of the Hungarians now equalled that with which they had formerly inspired the Germans. In the be- lief that the angel Michael, whose gigantic picture they ever beheld borne in the van of the German army, was the god of victory, they made golden wings similar to those with which he was represented, for their own idols. Germany remained undisturbed in this quarter during the rest of this reign. An annual festival, held in the village of Keuschberg, still cele- brates the memory of this great victory.* Henry now turned his victorious arms against the Danes, who had secretly invaded the empire. He pursued them as far as the Slie, on whose banks he erected the fortress of Schleswig, in which he placed a German garrison, and forced [A. D. 934] Gorm the Old to abolish the horrid national sacrifice, in which 99 men were offered on the altars of the pagan deities. The following year, [A. D. 935,] a friendly meeting took place between him and the kings of France and Burgundy on the Char, a tributary of the Maas. Henry afterwards planned a visit to Rome, but died without accomplishing that project, [A. D. 936,] when at the height of his splendour and renown. He was buried at Quedlinburg, his favourite residence. CXXXIV. Otto the First. OTTO, the son of Henry, was unanimously elected as suc- cessor to the throne. The feeling of respect which the newly- acquired greatness of the state instilled into the minds of his subjects, conspired with his own love of magnificence and dis- play to render the coronation of this youthful prince a scene of more than ordinary solemnity. The choice of Aix-la- Chapelle as the theatre on this grand occasion, demonstrated the high expectations universally inspired by this new sove- * The hand of the emperor, and, underneath, a horse-shoe, are still to be seen there cut in the rock, a sign of victory, as may also be seen in other places, for instance, on the battle-field of VVolfisholz. OTTO THE FIRST. 323 reign, on whom the spirit of Charlemagne seemed to rest. The entire nation, the clergy, and the nobility, vied with each other in surrounding their monarch with a splendour equalling that with which the first emperor had been environed. The gigantic crown of Charlemagne, the sceptre, the sword, the cross, the sacred lance, and the golden mantle, now became objects of still deeper devotion. The archbishop of Mayence held precedence, by the ancient respect attached to his dignity, in the ceremony of anointing ; the temporal lords performed their various offices in person ; Giselbert of Lothringia filled that of chamberlain. Eberhard of Franconia, that of carver, Hermann of Swabia, that of cup-bearer, Arnulf of Bavaria, that of master of the horse. These new and honourable offices were henceforward retained by the dukes. Editha, Otto's wife, the daughter of Edmund, king of England, was also crowned. Although Otto worthily maintained the dignity he inherited from his father, he scarcely merits the title of Great. He was not endowed with the winning frankness with which his more simple-minded father had gained every heart. His manner was cold and haughty ; he surrounded himself with etiquette, and, although by no means wanting in personal bravery, owed his success more to his craftiness and good fortune than to his generosity and magnanimity.* The death of Henry was the signal for a general insurrec- tion among the Slavians and Hungarians. The Redarii re- volted, [A. D. 936,] but were again reduced to submission by a Saxon army sent against them by the emperor, under the command of Hermann Billung, f a brave and skilful leader. In the following year the Hungarians made an inroad into Saxony, but were defeated by Otto in an unknown spot, and pursued as far as Metz ; the rapidity of their movements during their predatory incursion having led them across the Rhine almost to the French frontier. * Wittekiiid says : " His demeanour was replete with majesty. His white hair waved over his shoulders. His eyes were bright and spark- ling, his beard of an extraordinary length, his breast like that of a lion, and covered with hair." f According to the popular legend, Hermann was tending sheep near Stubekeshorn, when the Emperor Otto chanced to cross the field. Her- mann stopped the carriage and refused to allow it to be driven over his father's meadow. The emperor, pleased with the gigantic stature and high spirit of the shepherd boy, took him into his service. Y 2 324 OTTO THE FIRST. These events were followed by disturbances in the interior of the empire, and by family disputes. Henry had, by his first marriage with the princess of Hatburg, a son named Thankmar, (or Tammo,) to whom the succession rightfully belonged, but, becoming enamoured of the beautiful Ma- tilda, he divorced his wife, under pretext of her having been destined for the cloister. He had three sons by Matilda, Otto, Henry, and Bruno, the first of whom he named as his successor on the throne, which Matilda coveted for her hand- some and favourite son, Henry. Great family dissensions arose from these circumstances, not dissimilar to, and as odious, although more fortunate in their result to the emperor, as those that disturbed the reign of Louis the Pious. The fate of the luckless Thankmar excited a feeling of commiseration equalling that with which Bernhard, the grandson of Louis the Pious, had formerly been viewed. Not content with having deprived him of the imperial throne, Otto also seized his large maternal inheritance in Saxony, and bestowed it upon the Markgraf Gero, who, together with Bil- lung, guarded the Slavian frontier. Thankmar rebelled, and was upheld by the Saxons. He was also joined by Eberhard, duke of Franconia, the same who, at the desire of his brother, the Emperor Conrad, transferred the crown to the Saxon Henry. On the death of that emperor, he attempted to assert his claim to the imperial dignity, being partly influenced by the hatred he bore to Otto, by whom he had been injured.* The rebels also attempted to gain over Henry, Otto's younger brother, whom Thankmar contrived to carry off from his castle of Badliki on the Ruhr. The emperor marched against the insurgents ; Thankmar was besieged in the Eresburg, and slain at the foot of the altar, whither he had fled for safety ; Eberhard, abandoned by the greater part of his fol- lowers, fell at the feet of the imprisoned Henry, whom he be- sought to intercede in his behalf with the emperor. To his surprise, Henry replied, that he was willing to join with him * B riming, a Saxon vassal of the Franconian duke, was induced by his hereditary and national dislike, to rebel against his liege, who, in re- venge, razed his castle of Elmeri to the ground, and put all the inha- bitants to the sword. In order to punish this cruelty, Otto laid a heavy fine upon the duke, and condemned the perpetrators of the dreadful deed (Eberhard's most trusty vassals) to carry dogs. OTTO THE FIRST. 325 in his designs against Otto, in order to deprive him of the crown, which he coveted for himself. For the present the two confederates dissembled their projects, and Eberhard made his submission to Otto with expressions of the deepest contrition for his guilt. Henry, meanwhile, strengthened the conspiracy by gaining over to his party the sons of Arnulf of Bavaria,* who had died not long before, Eberhard, Arnulf, Hermann, and Louis, the archbishop Frederick of Mayence, who aimed at the at- tainment of a pre-eminence in the state, similar to that for- merly enjoyed by Hatto, and Gisilbrecht of Lothringia. Louis, surnamed " Over the Sea," a son of Charles the Simple, who, in his early youth, had taken refuge in England, whence, after the decease of Rudolf of Burgundy, [A. D. 936,] he had been recalled by Hugo, Count of Paris, surnamed the Great, or the Wise, and placed on the throne of France, was also invited to join the rebels, but refused, and sought to strengthen himself by an alliance with Otto. The conspirators now contrived to draw the emperor to the Rhine, whilst Gisilbrecht gave the first signal for revolt, by rising in open rebellion, and at the moment when a division of Otto's Saxon army had crossed the Rhine at Zante, Henry, who, under colour of aiding his brother, had marched thither at the head of his vassals, sud- denly declared in favour of Gisilbrecht, and fell upon them sword in hand. In this extremity, Otto fell upon his knees before the sacred lance, and invoked the aid of heaven. A Saxon, meanwhile, shouted in Italian, " Run, run ;" and the Italian mercenaries in the Lothringian army, being seized with a sudden panic at the cry, instantly ran away. A terrible slaughter ensued. Eberhard and the archbishop of Mayence, terrified by this unexpected disaster, did not venture to de- * He is said to have despoiled Ulrich, bishop of Augsburg, to whom, when in return he threatened him with the vengeance of heaven, he sent a goblet filled with wine from his table in proof of his welfare. The bishop said to the vassal who bore it, " Return whence you came, your master is dead :" and so it proved. According to another popular account, the devil broke his neck and threw his body into the lake at Scheyern. An ancient manuscript preserved at Tegern, records, " This is Arnulf duke of Bavaria, Who still lies in the lake at Dscheiren, Whose neck the devil broke For his evil deeds." 326 OTTO THE FIRST. clare themselves, and Henry, who had been wounded in the melee, fled to Merseburg, whither the emperor was enticed in order to relieve Gisilbrecht in his quarters on the Rhine. At the same time, the Slavi were secretly instigated to revolt. The plot was, however, betrayed to the Markgraf Gero, who invited thirty of the Slavian princes to a banquet, at which he caused them to be assassinated when in a state of intoxica- tion, [A. D. 938,] and the Slavi attempting to revenge this act of treachery, Otto was forced to raise the siege at Merseburg, and to march to G-ero's assistance. He, at the same time, pardoned Henry, in the hope of separating him, by gentle and conciliatory measures, from Eberhard and Gisilbrecht. The Hungarians, who, at this time, made a fresh irruption into the empire, suffered two bloody defeats in the Harz mountains, near Stetternburg and in the Dromling, a marshy forest, whence their horses, weary with the heavy rain and the nature of the ground, were unable to extricate them. Whilst Otto was engaged in opposing the Slavi, who had entirely cut to pieces a Saxon army under Haika, and again succeeded, after several severe engagements, the details of which have not been recorded, in reducing them to submis- sion, Gisilbrecht won over the French monarch. This intel- ligence no sooner reached the ears of Otto, than he hastened to besiege Gisilbrecht in the castle of Chevremont. Gisilbrecht secretly escaped, and Otto, being forced by the state of affairs in Saxony to return to that country, intrusted the defence of the western frontier to Immo, the Lothringian Graf, and to the duke of Swabia, who had remained firm in his allegiance. Louis crossed the frontier at the head of a numerous army, invaded and wasted Elsace, which was bravely defended by Hermann, who finally compelled him to retreat. Eberhard, meanwhile, seized Breisack. Immo was closely besieged.* Eberhard was on the point of being proclaimed and anointed king at Metz. These events quickly recalled Otto from Saxony in order to lay siege to Breisach, upon which the archbishop of Mayence, who, until now, had pretended to favour his party, and who was in his camp, suddenly threw * The legend relates, that Immo, being besieged by Gisilbrecht, ordered beehives to be thrown among the besiegers, who were put to flight by the enraged insects. OTTO THE FIRST. 327 off the mask, and went over with hi? numerous adherents to the enemy, whose principal force was assembled near Ander- nach, and was merely opposed by a small body of troops com- manded by the Graf Conrad Kurzbold, and by Udo, brother to Hermann of Swabia, the former of whom, perceiving that his opponents were spread carelessly feasting on the banks of the Rhine, suddenly fell upon them. A fearful slaughter en- sued ; Eberhard fell after a desperate struggle ;* Gisilbrecht was drowned in the Rhine ; Otto's party triumphed ; Breisach surrendered ;f the archbishop of Mayence was taken prisoner ; and Henry, who had infringed the treaty and again joined the rebels, fled into France. The rebellion was no sooner crushed, than Otto carried his plans into effect. Louis of France had found means, before the emperor was able to succour Lothringia, to seduce Gerberga, the widow of Gisilbrecht, whom he married, in order to insure the posses- sion of the country. The emperor, however, set up Graf Otto, who, in his quality of guardian to Henry, the young son of Gisilbrecht, governed Lothringia, in opposition to him. Al- though Eberhard's nearest of kin, and consequently his heir in Franconia, was his nephew, Conrad the Red,| Otto divided the dukedom, and bestowed a part of the land upon his vassal, Graf Udo of Swabia. Berthold, the brother of Arnulf, was also created duke of Bavaria, to the exclusion of his three nephews. * Eberhard, the monk of St. Gall, says, Conrad, surnamed Kxirzbold, on account of his strength and shortness of stature, surprised the two chiefs when engaged in a game of chess ; with a single blow with his lance he foundered the boat in which Gisilbrecht sought to escape across the river, and slew Eberhard on the bank. Conrad was a woman-hater. His deeds are recorded in the popular ballads of that period. f The poetical legend of the Eberstein belongs to these times. Otto besieged Graf Eberhard in the castle of Eberstein in the valley of the Murg, and being unable to carry the fortress by force, had recourse to artifice, and invited the Graf to a banquet, secretly intending to surprise the fort during his absence. Eberhard accepted the invitation, but, dur- ing the dance, being informed of the plot by Hedwig, the emperor's sis- ter, he stole away from the scene of festivity, and repaired to his castle, where he had again armed himself before the arrival of the emperor's troops. Otto, delighted with this trait of courage, pardoned the Graf, and, as a pledge of his favour, bestowed upon him the hand of the beau- tiful Hedwig. J Conrad was the son of a Count Werner and of a daughter of the emperor, Conrad I. 328 OTTO THE FIRST. Gero, meanwhile, continued to oppose the Slavi, and again took firm footing in Brandenburg after the assassination of the last prince of the Hevelli by the traitor Tugumin, who had been bribed to commit the deed by Gero, A. D. 940. Otto invaded France in person, drove Louis as far as the Seine, and made a treaty with Burgundy. After the death of Rudolf II., king of that country, his son Conrad, who was still in his minority, was placed in his hands. Henry and the archbishop of Mayence sought and received pardon ; never- theless, when, in 941, Otto again took the field against the Slavi, and his troops mutinied on account of the difficulty of their position, Henry and his coadjutor, the archbishop, placed themselves at the head of a fresh conspiracy against the emperor, whom they intended to assassinate during the celebration of Easter at Quedlinburg. The plot was disco- vered ; Henry fled, but threw himself in penitential garb shortly afterwards at the feet of his injured brother, who once more pardoned him. A short peace ensued. A personal meeting took place (A. D. 942) at Vouzieres between Otto and Louis of France, and peace was concluded. In 944, the emperor bestowed Lothringia, on the death of Henry, the son of Gisilbrecht, and that of his guardian, Otto, on Conrad the Red, together with the hand of his daughter Liutgarde ; an alliance which united the Franconian party to his family, and Lothringia to the empire. The old duke, Hermann of Swabia, expired in the course of the same year, and Ludolf, the emperor's eldest son, who had married Ida, the duke's only child, became duke in his stead. In the following year the death of Berthold of Ba- varia also took place, and Henry, who had already wedded Judith, Arnulf s beauteous widow, was named as his successor, to the exclusion of the sons of both Arnulf and Berthold. The emperor was, by these means, himself duke of Saxony ; his son, duke of Swabia ; his brother, duke of Bavaria ; his son- in-law, duke of Franconia and Lothringia ; and Conrad, the young king of Burgundy, remained a hostage at his court. A. D. 944, war again broke out ; the Hungarians invaded the empire, but were defeated in Carinthia by Duke Berthold, who died shortly afterwards. France was also disturbed by the struggle between the unfortunate Louis and the great Count Hugo of Paris, who was aided by the Normans, for the OTTO THE FIRST. 329 possession of the crown. Hugo had, up to this period, been on friendly terms with Otto, whose sister, Hedwig, he had received in marriage. Otto, under pretext of rescuing Louis from the imprisonment in which he was held by Hugo, to whom he had been delivered by the Normans, invaded France,* [A. D. 947,] but was unsuccessful in his attacks against Paris or Rouen, the capital of Normandy. Peace was at length established between the contending parties by Conrad of Franconia. Hugo voluntarily submitted, and Lothar, the son of Louis, succeeded to the throne on the death of his father, A. D. 954. Both of the emperor's sisters had married a com- petitor for the throne of France ; Gerburga, Louis ; and Hed- wig, Hugo. The son of the latter, Otto's nephew, the cele- brated Hugh Capet, was raised to the throne on the extinction of the Carlovingian dynasty. The war with the French Normans was scarcely concluded than a fresh one arose between Otto and their brethren, the Danes, whose king, Harald Blaatand, or Blue Tooth, con- quered Schleswig, and restored the Danewirk. A sanguinary battle took place, in which Otto was victorious. He after- wards marched in triumph through Jutland as far as the Ottensund, which received its name from him. Harald was forced to submit to the rite of baptism, and to take the oath of allegiance to the emperor, who restored the frontier, and erected Schleswig, Biepen, and Aarhus into bishoprics, under the jurisdiction of the archbishopric of Hamburg, A. D. 948. A victory was, during the same year, gained over the Hun- garians by Henry of Bavaria, who, [A. D. 950,] for the first time, invaded their territory, whence he returned laden with immense booty, and with the wives and children of the chiefs. It was about this time that Otto founded new bishoprics as a means of increasing his power in the conquered territory of the Slavi, Havelberg in 946, and Brandenburg in 948, within the march of Gero ; in 946, he also founded Oldenburg in Wagria, which country had just been reduced to submission by Hermann Billung, who had taken advantage of the feud that had broken out between Selibur, Prince of the Wagrians, and Mistevoi, Prince of the Obotrites. The latter was per- * Hugo having said, Tauntingly, that he would swallow seven Saxon bolts at a gulp, Otto replied, that he would strew the whole of France with the straw hats worn by his soldiers when not in action. 330 THE REINCORPORATIOX OF ITALY suaded to embrace Christianity, and wedded the sister of Wage, bishop of Oldenburg. His son, Wislau, relapsed into paganism. After having thus succeeded in extending and securing the frontiers of the empire, Otto turned his attention upon Italy. CXXXV. The reincorporation of Italy with the empire. BERENGAR II. had seized the government of Italy. Adel- heid, the widow of Lothar, fell into his hands. The preten- sions of this princess to the crown, which were upheld by a strong, although, at that period, suppressed party, and her extraordinary wit and beauty, induced Berengar to offer to her the hand of his son, Adalbert, who, being refused, Beren- gar imprisoned her in a fortress on the lake of Como,* whence she contrived to escape to the castle of Canossa, where she concealed herself. Otto had, at this time, not long become a widower ; he sought, moreover, to place the imperial power on a firmer basis, by the addition of great feudal possessions, and by family alliances. In pursuance of this policy, he had only set governors, who were chosen from among his trustiest vassals,f over Saxony, over which he reigned as hereditary sovereign, and insured the allegiance of Franconia, Swabia, and Bavaria, by the strict connexion that subsisted between his family and those of their dukes. An extensive and hereditary feudal tenure in Italy had long been an object of his ambition. The earnest solicitations of Adelheid for assistance met, therefore, with a favourable reception, and [A. D. 951] he hastened across the Alps to the relief of Canossa, at that time closely besieged, and was rewarded with the hand of the lovely Adelheid at Pavia. His son, Ludolf, fearing to share a fate similar to that of the unfortunate Thankmar, quarrelled with his un- wished-for step-mother,^ and suddenly quitted his father, ac- companied by the archbishop of Mayence, who again plotted * She is said to have escaped through a hole that was bored through the wall by a priest, and during her flight, was so closely pursued, as to be compelled to conceal herself in a field of standing corn. f The church bells of Magdeburg having been rung in honour of Her- mann Billung, by order of the archbishop, Adalbert, the emperor sen- tenced him to furnish the imperial stables with as many horses as there had been bells rung on that occasion. J She was nineteen years younger than the emperor. WITH THE EMPIRE. 331 treason. Otto, suspecting their designs, and anxious to prevent mischief, returned upon this to Germany, and in- trusted the conduct of the war with Berengar to Conrad of Lothringia, who, fully aware of the immense sacrifice necessary for the maintenance of the emperor's prerogative in Italy, offered terms of peace, and promised a full pardon and the possession of his lands to Berengar. These terms offended the pride of the emperor, who refused his compliance, and threatened again to invade Italy in person ; but his indigna- tion was speedily mollified by the submissive behaviour of Berengar, who repaired to Germany, took the oath of alle- giance at Augsburg, and was permitted to retain undis- turbed possession of his lands. A fresh and alarming con- spiracy was, meanwhile, secretly ripening ; Ludolf, whose pride had already been deeply mortified, was now still more aggrieved by the conduct of his uncle, Henry of Bavaria, who had entered into a close connexion with Adelheid, through whom he governed the emperor. A dispute that arose be- tween the uncle and nephew concerning the boundaries of their lands was decided in favour of the former, by the em- peror, who, in addition to the extensive dukedom of Bavaria, which already comprehended Carinthia, bestowed upon him the meres of Verona and Aquileia. Ludolf's sister, the wife of Conrad the Red, to whom Adel- heid was greatly obnoxious, espoused the cause of her brother, who also found an ally in her husband, whom the emperor had irremediably offended by his invalidation of the promise made by Conrad to Berengar. The scheme of the conspirators, neither of whom, at first, dreamt of open revolt, merely ex- tended to the exclusion of Henry, to whom, as the tool of Adel- heid, they ascribed every evil design, from the imperial coun- cil. This they openly declared to the emperor at Ingelheim, and threatened to imprison Henry if he came thither. Otto, unable to oppose them on the Rhine, where Conrad and Ludolf ruled in their right as dukes, made no reply, but, on his re- turn to Saxony, gave full vent to his rage, and deposed the ungrateful nobles [A. D. 953]. The Lothringians instantly rebelled, and attempted to throw off the German yoke, but were defeated by Conrad on the Maas : the battle lasted a whole day. Flushed by this victory, Conrad turned against the emperor, who had advanced as far as the Rhine, and 332 THE REINCORPORATION OF ITALY who, aided by Henry of Bavaria, laid siege to Mayence, whose archbishop favoured the rebels, and which was for some time defended by Ludolf and Conrad against the united imperial forces. Terms of reconciliation were at length proposed ; the two princes came forth, and threw themselves at the feet of their indignant parent, but refusing to deliver up their adher- ents, whom Otto wished to bring to execution, not so much from revenge as from political motives, in order to weaken their party, they returned to the city without any thing being concluded. Immediately after this, the Bavarians, in- cited by Arnulf, the son of the late duke, rose tumultuously in the camp against Henry, and declared in favour of Ludolf and Conrad, who again quitted Mayence, and took the field with this new addition to their force, which received a fresh acces- sion of strength by the desertion of a part of the Saxons under the command of Ekbert, a nephew of Hermann Billung. A fresh body of troops, despatched from Saxony by Hermann Billung, to the assistance of the emperor, was waylaid and de- feated by Ludolf and Conrad. Their commander, Wichmann, another of Hermann's nephews, also joined the rebels. Otto, with characteristic prudence, sought to weaken his opponents by separating their forces, and, with that intent, created his bro- ther Bruno, the archbishop of Cologne, duke of Lothringia. Conrad took the bait, and instantly withdrew across the Rhine in order to dispute the possession of that country. Hermann, meanwhile, drew Ekbert and Wichmann towards Saxony, in order still more to weaken Ludolf and Arnulf, who suffered a defeat before Augsburg, which city was valiantly defended by Bishop Ulric, and his vassals [A. D. 954]. The conspirators now invited the Hungarians, who, headed by their king, Pulz- ko, (Bulgio,) spoliated both friend and foe, into the country, under pretext of aiding Conrad, who seized and plundered Metz. He was violently opposed by Bruno's adherents, and at length became so obnoxious to the people for having caused this new inroad of the Hungarians, and so terrified at the cruel- ties practised by them, that he voluntarily quitted his unna- tural allies, who, after vainly besieging Kammarich, returned to their native country through France and Italy, burning and plundering as they advanced. The Germans, alarmed by these disasters, and fearful of the event, now abandoned the leaders of the rebellion, and WITH THE EMPIRE. 333 crowded around the emperor, who held a diet at Cinna, (Zenn,) where Conrad and Frederick, archbishop of Mayence, made their submission. Ludolf and Arnulf, nevertheless, obstin- ately continued to defend Ratisbon, where, after a desperate resistance, Arnulf was killed when heading a sally against the enemy, and Ludolf, finding it useless to resist, took refuge in Swabia. Ulrich, bishop of Augsburg, attempted to bring about a reconciliation between the emperor and his now peni- tent son, who, one day, when the former was hunting, suddenly fell at his feet and begged for pardon. He met with a favour- able reception, but was deprived of the government of Swabia. He was afterwards sent into Italy and intrusted with the command of an army against Berengar, who had again revolted. He there met with an early death. The dukedom of Swabia was bestowed upon Burkhard, the son of the elder Burkhard, and a relative of Bishop Ulrich. The new duke, who had just attained his majority, wedded Hedwig, the daughter of Henry, who was reinstated in the dukedom of Bavaria. Con- rad was deprived of Lothringia, which was partitioned between the Grafs Gottfried and Frederick, the former of whom governed the upper, the latter the lower country, but were subordinate to Bruno, the archbishop of Cologne, the first no- ble who bore the title of archduke. He was also the first churchman who exercised such great temporal authority, so adverse to the spirit by which the first preachers of the gos- pel were guided ; but Bruno was the emperor's brother, and Otto had learnt from experience the importance of intrusting the ducal power solely to his nearest relatives and best-tried friends. In 954, Bruno crowned his nephew Lothar, the son of Louis Over-the-Sea who had just expired, king of France. A powerful party in Bavaria headed by the Count Werner, brother to the fallen Arnulf, were induced by the hatred they bore to Henry to have recourse to the Hungarians, whom they invited into the country. Confident of success on account of their enormous numerical strength, the arrogant barbarians boasted that their horses should drain every river in Germany. Augsburg, whose supposed treasures attracted their cupidity, was besieged by them, but made a brave defence under the command of Burkhard of Swabia.* Their king, Bulzko, was * The chiefs drove the people into the trenches with long whips. One, named Lehel, bore an enormous horn, -whose note was the signal for the 334 THE REINCORPORATION OF ITALY encamped at Giinsburg. Otto instantly assembled the arrier- ban of the entire empire ; the Bohemians united their forces with his ; the Saxons, at that time engaged in opposing the Slavi, alone failed. The two armies came within sight of each other on the Lech, near Augsburg. Before the battle com- menced, Otto addressed his troops, as his father had done on a similar occasion, and vowed, when referring to the victory won by Henry, to found a bishopric at Merseburg, if God granted him success. It was the 10th of August, 955. The sun poured with intense heat upon the plain. The Hungari- ans rapidly crossed the Lech, fell upon the rear of the German army, dispersed the Bohemians, and were pressing hard upon the Swabians, when the fortune of the day was again turned by Conrad, who, anxious to retrieve his fault and to regain the confidence of his master, performed miracles of valour at the head of the Franconians. The emperor struggled sword in hand in the thickest of the fight. A vast number of the enemy were drowned in attempting to escape across the river. Conrad was mortally wounded in the neck by an arrow aimed at him by one of the fugitives, when in the act of raising his helmet in order to breathe more freely. A hundred thousand Hungarians are said to have fallen on this occasion. Two of their princes, Lehel and Bulcs, were, by the emperor's com- mand, hanged on the gates of Augsburg. According to some writers, King Bulzko and four of the war-chiefs were hanged before the gates of Ratisbon.* Werner was killed by the en- raged Hungarians, but few of whom escaped to their country, almost the whole of the fugitives being slain or hunted down like wild beasts by the Bavarian peasants. The adherents of the adverse party were mercilessly punished by Henry of besiegers to assemble. During a sally made by the weavers of Augsburg they gained possession of the shield of the Hungarian king, which has ever since been borne by their guild. * Dollinger, a citizen of Ratisbon, greatly distinguished himself on a former occasion, by overcoming, in single combat, a gigantic Hungarian, whom no one ventured to attack. The memory of his valour has been handed down to our times by a monument and by the popular ballads. The city of Lauingen also boasts a similar incident. A shoemaker of Lauingen is said to have killed a gigantic Hungarian, whom the Marshal of Calatin had refused to meet in single combat. For this valiant deed, the Emperor Otto caused the black Moor's head, borne by the family of Calatin, to be inserted in the arms of the city of Lauingen, and merely allowed the Calatins to bear the figure of a female Moor on their shield. WITH THE EMPIRE. 336 Bavaria, who caused them to be buried alive, or burnt in beds of quicklime. Herold, bishop of Salzburg, was, by his orders, deprived of sight, and the patriarch Lupus of Aqui- leia met with a still more wretched fate. This was the last inroad attempted by the Hungarians, who, for the future, re- mained within their frontier, on their side equally undis- turbed by the Germans. The booty was so enormous that a peasant is said to have had a silver plough made out of his share. The innumerable Hungarian horses taken on this occasion also gave rise to the establishment of the Kef'erloher horsefair. Henry of Bavaria, Otto's brother, died in 955, and was succeeded in the government of Bavaria and Carinthia by his son Henry, surnamed the Wrangler. Burkhard, who had succeeded Ludolf in the command of the Italian army, also expired shortly after, and was succeeded in the dukedom of Swabia by his widow, Hedwig, Otto's niece, who was cele- brated for her beauty and learning. This is the first exam- ple of an office relating to the empire being filled by a woman. At Hohentwiel, her residence during her widowhood, she passed her days in study, and read Virgil with her chancellor Eckhard, who afterwards became chaplain and counsellor to the emperor Otto II., and also served the empress Aclel- heid. Franconia remained partitioned between Otto, the son of Conrad, and his cousin Henry, Markgraf of Swein- furt, who was also grandson to the emperor Conrad I., through his father Count Bardo, a son of Burkhard of Thu- ringia, who had wedded one of that emperor's daughters. The Slavi were again humbled. Ekbert and Wichmann, Hermann Billung's nephews, had, after Ludolf's defeat, taken refuge among these people, and incited them to open rebellion. In 954, the Uchri were reduced to submission by Graf Gero, but in the following year almost every Slavian tribe in the country revolted under Nakko and Stoinef, descendants of the ancient royal Hevellian dynasty. Hermann Billung was surrounded and besieged at Gartz, and although promised an unmolested retreat, the garrison was cut to pieces* [A. D. 955]. This event called the emperor from the Lech, and the Slavi were quickly repelled. Stoinef was assassinated * Because a Saxon bestowed a box on the ear on a Wend, for at- tempting to force from him his wife, who was also a Wend. 336 THE REIXCORPORATION OF ITALY whilst attempting to flee. His head was, by the emperor's order, placed upon a stake, and seventy Wends were be- headed in a circle around it. Nakko was also taken prisoner and beheaded. Gero, meanwhile, zealously laboured to con- firm Germanic rule and Christianity simultaneously in the Slavian territory, where, besides the tithes, the Grafs exact- ed the Wogewotinza, the bishops, the Biscowotmza, two op- pressive taxes ; to which was added soccage, the cruel right of the conqueror over the conquered, so contrary to the doc- trine of Christian love and equality : hence the hatred with which the clergy were beheld by the Wends. The manner in which these wretched people were treated is best described by Ditmar of Merseburg, who remarks in his Chronicle, " The submissive slave must eat hay like an ox, and be beaten like an ass." In 957, Wichmann again incited the Rhedarii to revolt, but without success. Whilst these events were taking place in Germany, Beren- gar remained unmolested in Italy, more particularly since the death of Ludolf, by whom he had been narrowly watched. Berengar aimed at the independent sovereignty of Italy, in which he was upheld by the majority of the people, whose national pride ill brooked the despotic rule of either the clergy or the Germans. The Lombard bishops, enraged at the restriction imposed upon them by Berengar, sought the protection of the pope, who applied for aid to the emperor. The family disputes that had so lately troubled Otto's domes- tic peace, the struggle with the Hungarians and the Slavi, had at this juncture been brought to a favourable termina- tion, and the reincorporation of Italy with the empire again became the object of his ambition ; accordingly, after causing his son, Otto II., to be crowned king of Germany at Aix-la- Chapelle, and intrusting the government of the empire to his brother, Bruno, archbishop of Cologne, and to his illegiti- mate son, William, who had succeeded Frederick in the arch- bishopric of Mayence, he crossed the Alps, [A. D. 961,] ex- pelled Berengar, and for the first time entered Rome, where the pope, John XII., (a son of Alberich,) was compelled to crown him emperor, and an oath was imposed upon the Romans rendering it illegal for them to elect a pope without the consent of the emperor, who no sooner quitted the city than the pope declared the oath null and void, aud retracted his former WITH THE EMPIRE. 337 professions. Otto upon this returned, convoked a Concilium, and deposed the pope, who was convicted of the most disgrace- ful vices.* A popular commotion was the immediate result, and Otto was alone saved by the intrepidity of his troops. The pope was taken in adultery and struck dead on the spot by the injured husband. The Romans, without referring to the emperor, elected a new pope, Benedict V., whom Otto cited to appear before him, with his own hand broke his crosier, banished him to Hamburg, and raised Leo VIII. in his stead to the papal chair. About the same time, Beren- gar, after long and valiantly defending the mountain fort of St. Leo, was compelled to surrender. He was exiled to Bamberg, where he died. His son, Adalbert, fled to Corsica. In 965 Otto returned to Germany, and held Whitsuntide at Cologne, where he was attended by all the German princes, among whom appeared Lothar of France. Peace and security reigned throughout the empire. Graf Wichmann, to whom the emperor had extended the pardon granted to his brother Eckbert, alone sought to disturb the general tranquillity, and again joined the pagan Danes, who were attempting to gain a settlement in Pomerania, where, in the time of Harold Blaat- and, the infamous pirates' nest, the Jomsburg, near Wollin, had been built. He may possibly have inspired the Wends with fresh courage. The Lusicri and Selpuli in the Lausitz commenced a sanguinary war against Gero, by whom they were reduced to submission. The deep affliction of this Graf, occasioned by the death of his nephew and of his youthful son, both of whom fell in battle, induced him on the termination of this war to resign his office, and to make a pilgrimage to Rome, where he laid his sword, whose notches bore witness to many a fight, at the foot of St. Peter's shrine, and ended his days within the cloister [A. D. 966]. He was the founder of the convent of Gernrode. The emperor pursued his ancient policy in his treatment of tliis new conquest. The Lausitz was converted into a new * This pope bestowed the sacred vessels, belonging to the church of St. Peter, upon his mistresses, violated the most beautiful of the pilgrims who visited Rome, drank publicly to the health of the devil, and, whilst gambling, invoked the pagan deities. His grand-uncle, King Hugo, had the same inclination towards paganism. Marozia and her mother, Theodora, were descended from an ancient Roman family, and, at that period, Rome still possessed countless monuments and relics of antiquity. THE REINCORPORATION OF ITALY frontier, Eastern Saxony, and placed under the jurisdiction of Hermann Billung. The bishoprics of Merseburg and Zeiz were also founded, and, in common with all the other bishop- rics, rendered dependent on the great archbishopric of Mag- deburg, a city greatly beautified by the emperor, with whom it was a favourite residence. Bishop Bucco (Burkhard) of Halberstaclt, imagining himself injured by the erection of this new archbishopric, [A. D. 968,] rebelled ; he was taken pri- soner; but seizing the opportunity of pronouncing a sen- tence of excommunication against the emperor, who chanced to pass his prison window, the latter ordered him to be set at liberty. Otto preserved amicable relations with Bohemia, where, A. D. 936, St. Wenzel was assassinated by his pagan brother, Boleslaw I., at a baptismal festival, to which he had been in- sidiously invited. Boleslaw declared war against Germany, and began to build fortified cities, for instance, Bautzen.* He was defeated, and compelled to embrace Christianity, by Her- mann Billung. f Poland, at that time oppressed by the Danes and by Wichmann, also entered into alliance with Germany. Miseko, king of Poland, wedded Dobrowa, [A. D. 966,] the daughter of Boleslaw of Bohemia, who introduced Christianity among the Poles. Wichmann joined Selibur, the pagan prince of the Obotrites, who was defeated, and Rethel, a great Slavian sanctuary, demolished, with all the heathen deities contained in it, by Hermann Billung. Wichmann was also de- feated by the Poles, into whose hands he fell during his flight, completely worn out with fatigue and hunger ; he expired amid their insults, after slaying several of his pursuers. His death confirmed the alliance between Poland and Germany, and Miseko founded the bishopric of Posen, which was subordin- ate to the archbishopric of Magdeburg. Otto revisited Italy, [A. D. 966,] where Adalbert, the son of Berengar, had raised an insurrection in Lombardy ; he was defeated on the Po by Burkhard of Swabia. Pope Leo VIII. was dead ; the new pope, John XIII., the emperor's crea- * The Bohemian nobles showing an unwillingness to assist in building, Boleslaw struck off the head of the first who ventured to refuse. t According to Hageck, he fell at the feet of the emperor and begged for mercy. The punishment awarded to him was, to hold the field-kettie, when they encamped, over the fire, and to bear it in his escutcheon. WITH THE EMPIRE. 339 ture, who had been expelled from Rome by an adverse party, had been reinstated by Pandolf, the valiant prince of Beneven- to, the last Lombard who preserved his ancestral bravery and fidelity amid the vices of Italy. Otto's first act, on his arrival in Rome, was the infliction of a severe chastisement on the refractory Romans ; thirteen of the most distinguished citi- zens were hanged. A fresh and closer treaty was concluded between the emperor and the pope, to whose dominions the territory of Ravenna, which had been severed from them, was restored, in return for which he solemnly placed the imperial diadem on the head of Otto II., an incident of rare occurrence during the life-time and in the presence of the father. All opposition to the irresistible power of the emperor had now ceased the whole of Upper and Central Italy lay in silent submission at his feet. His first step was the imposition of a new form of government upon Lombardy. He replaced the great dukes, with the exception of his ally Pandolf, by nu- merous petty Markgrafs, the majority of whom were Ger- mans by birth. He also settled a considerable number of Germans in the different cities, and thus created a party * fa- vourable to the imperial cause that counterpoised the rebel- lious spirit of the Lombards and Romans. Pandolf of Bene- vento, surnamed Ironhead, and the petty duke, Gisulf of Salerno, whose imbecility rendered him ever inconstant to his allies, defended the frontiers of Upper and Central Italy against the Greeks, who still retained possession of Lower Italy, and the Saracens, who had already settled in Sicily. Otto and his empress, Adelheid, visited Pandolf, [A.. D. 968,] who en- tertained them with great magnificence. During his resi- dence at Benevento, Otto undertook the conquest of Lower Italy. Bari, the strongly-fortified Grecian metropolis, offer- ing a valiant and successful resistance, he had recourse to his favourite policy, and despatched his confidant, Luitprand, the celebrated historian, to the court of Nicephorus, the Grecian emperor, in order to demand the hand of the beautiful prin- cess, Theuphano, daughter to Romanus the late emperor, for his son Otto II., probably in the hope of receiving Italy as her dowry. His suit being contemptuously refused, Otto undertook a second campaign, during the following year, and * In Florence, known as the Schiatte, from the old German word Schiacht, race, family. z 2 340 THE REINCORPORATION OF ITALY chose with great judgment his line of march along the Alps that separate Lower Italy into two parts, and thus command Apulia to the east and Calabria to the west. Having thus opened a path, he returned the same way, leaving the con- quest of the low country to Pandolf, who having the misfor- tune to be taken prisoner before Bovino, and to be sent to Constantinople, the Greeks, under the patrician Eugenius, crossed the frontier, laid waste the country in the neighbour- hood of Capua and Benevento, and treated the inhabitants with great cruelty. Otto, who was at that juncture in Upper Italy, sent the Grafs Gunther and Siegfried to oppose them ; a splendid victory was gained, and the victors, animated by a spirit of revenge, deprived the Greek prisoners of their right hands, noses, and ears. In 970, the Sicilian Saracens invaded the country, but were defeated at Chiaramonte by Graf Gunther. At this time, the emperor Johannes, who, after the assassination of Nicephorus, had ascended the throne of Greece, restored Pandolf Ironhead to liberty, concluded peace with Otto, and consented to the alliance of Otto II. with the beautiful Theuphano, who was escorted from Con- stantinople by the archbishop Gero of Cologne, Bruno's suc- cessor, at the head of a numerous body of retainers. She was received in the palace of Pandolf at Benevento by the emperor and the youthful bridegroom. Her extraordinary beauty attracted universal admiration.* The marriage cere- mony was celebrated with great magnificence at Rome, A. D. 972. This princess created an important change in the man- ners of Germany by the introduction of Grecian customs, which gradually spreading downwards from the court, where her influence was first felt, affected the general habits of the people by the alterations introduced in the monastic acade- mies. The German court adopted much of the pomp and etiquette of that of Greece. The number of retainers in- creased with increasing luxury, and the plain manners of the true-hearted German were exchanged for the finesse and adulation of the courtier. The emperor also adopted the * The trappings of the horse on which she rode were ornamented with feathers and gold, her Grecian dress was resplendent with jewels and pearls, and her hair was confined in a golden net. Yet all this splendour was outshone by the beauty of her features and the brilliancy of her eyes. WITH THE EMPIRE. 041 Grecian title of Sacred Majesty (Sacra Majestas). Lower Italy remained in the hands of the Greeks. The emperor returned to Germany, [A. D. 972,] and besides his lovely daughter-in-law, brought with him a vast quantity of relics, with which he adorned the churches, most parti- cularly that at Magdeburg, for which he had a peculiar pre- dilection, and which he intended to honour with his own re- mains. He held a great court at Quedlinburg, where he received the homage of the different nations over whom he ruled, and, after beholding in peace the fruits of his long and busy reign, expired, A. D. 973, at Memleben. He was buried, according to his desire, at Magdeburg. He left the affairs of the empire, whose frontiers he had considerably extended, in a most prosperous condition. Christianity was zealously dis- seminated amid the Scandinavians to the north by the arch- bishopric of Hamburg, and amid the Slavi to the east by that of Magdeburg. Bohemia was transformed into a German dukedom. Poland and Denmark owed allegiance to the em- pire. The sovereignty of Lower Italy was in reversion. In the interior of the state, the power of the sovereign was firm- ly based. The government of the most important provinces, the dukedoms and Margraviates, was intrusted to the trustiest adherents of the reigning house; and by the appointment of Pfalz-grafs, who managed the imperial allods, royal dues and revenues, in every part of the empire, the dukes could, in case of necessity, be watched and kept in awe. The office of Pfalz-graf dates from an earlier period, it merely received additional importance during this reign. The cities had aleo increased in number and wealth. The discovery of the rich silver mines of the Harz greatly promoted commerce. A nobleman, when riding through the forest, perceived a piece of silver ore that had been uncovered by his horse's hoof: the spot was investigated, and, [A. D. 938,] the first mine was opened in the interior of Germany. CXXXVI. Otto the Second and Otto the Third. OTTO II. was short of stature, but strong and muscular, and of an extremely ruddy complexion ; his temperament was fiery, but modified by the refined and learned education he had received, and for which he was indebted to the care of 342 OTTO THE SECOXD his mother, Adelheid ; his wife, Theuphano, also sympathized in his love of learning. Still, the Italian blood that flowed in his veins estranged him too much from Germany, and excited in him so strong an inclination for the south, that it became as impossible for his mind to be completely absorbed by care for the empire, as it was for his rough, but honest German subjects to adopt the pomp and refinement of his court. Swabia, on the death of the pious Hedwig, was inherited by Otto, the son of Ludolf, between whom, and Henry the Wrangler, of Bavaria, the ancient feud that had arisen on ac- count of the extent of their frontiers between their fathers, was still carried on. The emperor decided the question in Otto's favour, and the quarrelsome Henry instantly attempted to rouse the ancient national hatred of the Bavarians, and to stir them up to open revolt. He also entered into alliance with Boleslaw of Bohemia, but was anticipated in his designs by Otto, who threw him into prison, bestowed Bavaria on Otto of Swabia, and Carinthia on a Graf, Henry Minor, the son of Berthold, probably a Babenberger ; this Graf sided with Henry of Bavaria, revolted, and was deposed, A. D. 974. Carinthia was, consequently, also bestowed upon Otto. In the following year, Harald, king of Denmark, suddenly in- vaded Saxony, whence he was successfully repulsed. Shortly after this event, Henry escaped from prison, again raise I the standard of rebellion, and was joined by the Bohemians,* but again suffered defeat, and was retaken prisoner, A. D. 977. A. D. 978, war again broke out in the west, where Charles, the brother of Lothar, king of France, attempted to gain possession of Lothringia, but was repulsed by Otto, who advanced as far as Paris, and burnt the suburbs. The city, nevertheless, withstood his attack ; f and on his return home- wards, being surprised by the treacherous Count of Hennegau, he was compelled to come to terms with his opponents ; Charles was permitted to hold Lower Lothringia in fee of the empire, and Upper Lothringia was granted to Frederick, Count of Bar. * A number of Bavarians, who were bathing not far from Pilsen, were suddenly attacked, when naked and defenceless, and cut to pieces by the Bohemians. t Otto had vowed that he would cause the Parisians to hear a Te Deum, such as never had been heard before, and he, accordingly, assem- bled all the clergy of the vicinity upon Mont Martre, where he compelled them to sing. He is said to have struck his lance into the city gate. AND OTTO THE THIUD. 343 Otto, whose natural inclinations led him to Italy, was speedily called there by the affairs of that country. Crescen- tius had usurped the government in Rome, and attempted to revive the memory of ancient times, by causing himself to be created consul. The pope, Benedict VII. was assassinated by his orders, and replaced by a creature of his own, Boni- facius VII., in opposition to whom the Tuscan imperialists raised Benedict VIII. to the papal chair. Otto's presence in Rome [A. D. 980] quickly restored order. Crescentius was pardoned. Otto was visited during his stay in Rome by Hugh Capet, Lothar's secret competitor for the throne of France, whose claim was countenanced by the emperor, on account of the ingratitude displayed by the French monarch for the services formerly rendered to his ancestors by the im- perial house of Saxony. Lower Italy next engaged the attention of the emperor, who attempted to take forcible possession of his wife's portion. The Greeks, until now unceasingly at war with the Arabs, instantly united with them against their common enemy. Naples and Tarentum were faken by Otto, and the allies were defeated near Cotrona [A. r>. 981] ; Abn al Casern, the terror of Lower Italy, and numbers of the Arabs, were left on the field of battle. The following campaign proved disastrous to the emperor, who, whilst engaged in a conflict with the Greeks on the sea-shore near Basantello, not far from Taren- tum, was suddenly attacked in the rear by the Arabs, and so completely routed, that he was compelled to fly for his life, and owed his escape entirely to the rapidity of his horse. When wandering along the shore in momentary expectation of being captured by the enemy, he caught sight of a Grecian vessel, towards which he swam on horseback, in the hope of not being recognised by those on board. He was taken up. A slave recognised him, but instead of betraying him, passed him off as one of the emperor's chamberlains. The Greeks made for Rossano with the intention of taking on board the treasures of the pretended chamberlain, who, the instant the vessel ap- proached the shore, suddenly leaped into the sea and escaped.* * This adventure has been variously related. According to one writer, he slew forty Greek boatmen, with the assistance of a soldier, named Probus, whom he met with on the shore : another version records, that he enticed the Greeks, to whom he was personally known, to the shore, by requesting them to take on board their vessel his wife and treasures, 344 OTTO THE SECOND Lower. Italy remained in the hands of the Greeks, and was governed by an exarch. The Arabians also retained pos- session of Sicily. Otto, duke of Swabia and Bavaria, dying during the campaign in Italy,* the emperor bestowed the ducal crown of Swabia on Conrad, the son of Udo, who was the brother of Hermann of Swabia, and to whom Otto I. had given the Rhinegau and the Wetterau to hold in fee. Bavaria was re- stored to Henry Minor, and Carinthia was given to Otto of Franconia, the son of Conrad the Red, who had fallen valiantly fighting against the Hungarians. Henry the Wrangler re- mained a prisoner. Hermann Billung had been succeeded in Saxony by his son, Bernhard. The Slavian frontiers were, however, divided into several petty Markgraviates, that of Zeiz or Northern Thu- ringia being governed by Gunther, that of Northern Saxony or Brandenburg by Dietrich, that of the Lausitz by Ditmar, and that of Meissen by Riddag. Violence and pillage had be- come so frequent as to be considered legitimate in this country. A certain Graf Dedo assembled a force in Bohemia, surprised and plundered Zeiz, and carried off Oda, the daughter of Die- trich of Brandenburg, the affianced bride of Miseko, king of Poland. Dietrich emulated Gero in the cruelty with which he treated the conquered Slavi. Mistevoi, the valiant prince of the Obotrites, favoured the Christian religion, followed the banner of Otto II., and served which had been placed for safety in Rossano ; that he sent young men disguised as his wife's female attendants on board the vessel, which they speedily seized. Every account however agrees, that Theuphano jeer- ingly inquired of the emperor whether her countrymen had not put him into deadly fear ; for which the Germans never forgave her. The fable- loving historian, Vincentius, makes a naval engagement, in 983, take place between the emperor and the Greeks, in which they fought with such animosity, that the whole sea was stained with blood, and the em- peror was victorious, but received a mortal wound. According to other accounts, he died at Rome, not of his wound, but of grief. He is also said to have been whipped to death on Mount Garganus by the angels, among whom he had imprudently ventured whilst they were there hold- ing a conclave. It is impossible to unravel the meaning of this strange fable. These examples will, however, suffice to give an idea of the inac- curacy of the chronicles of these times. * It is said that, during this campaign, one of the emperor's daughters eloped to Alba in Montserratwith her seneschal, Graf Alram of Saxony, who was afterwards pardoned and created the first Markgraf of Montser- rat. The celebrated golden altar, an invaluable work of art, that, in 1698, was stolen and melted by the robber Nicolas List, was, during this campaign, taken from the Arabs, and sent to Liineburg. AND OTTO THE THIRD. 345 under him in Italy ; on his return to his native country, he sued for the hand of Mechtildis, the sister of Bernhard of Saxony, and on being insulted by the jealous Dietrich, who called him a dog and unworthy of a Christian or of a German bride, replied, "If we Slavi be dogs, we will prove to you that we can bite." The pagan Slavi, who were ever ripe for revolt, pbeyed his call the more readily, on account of the death of Ditmar, who, with many others of their tyrannical rulers, had fallen in the Italian war. An oath of eternal enmity against the Germans and the priests was taken before their idol, Radegast, and suddenly rising in open rebellion, they assassinated all who fell into their hands, [A.. D. 983,] razed all the churches to the ground, and completely destroyed the cities of Hamburg and Oldenburg, besides those of Branden- burg and Havelburg. The lands of Dietrich became one scene of desolation. Sixty priests were flayed alive. The rebels were, nevertheless, completely beaten by Dietrich and Riddag in a pitched battle near Tangermiinde. The emperor, however, more just than his father had been, deprived the cruel Dietrich of his government, and bestowed it on Hodo. Riddag and his cousin, the above-mentioned Graf Dedo, re- mained in Meissen, whence Riddag was afterwards expelled by the Bohemians. It was regained by his cousin and suc- cessor, the brave Eckhart, whose exploits were equalled by those of Bernhard Billung, who had returned from Italy in order to oppose the Obotrites on the western frontier. The obstinacy with which the Slavi, notwithstanding their terri- ble defeats, still held out, is proved by the fact of Bran- denburg having been first retaken in 994. The peaceable conversion of the Bohemians and Poles chief- ly contributed to the gradual but complete subjection of the Slavi on the frontiers. The independence of Bohemia and Poland was only possible so long as the powerful Slavian pagan states existed to their rear. This support was now lost. Poland was already Christianized, and the bishop of Prague, Adalbert, was a celebrated Bohemian saint. It was also about this period that Christianity took firm footing in Denmark, although not without tierce struggles. Harald Blaatand, whom Otto I. had compelled to receive baptism, was, when past his eightieth year, expelled by his son, Swein Gabelbart, who favoured paganism. He died of his wounds, 346 OTTO THE SECOND A. D. 986.* Swein conquered the mere of Schleswig, and caused the Graf Siegfried of Oldenburg, and several other knights whom he had taken prisoners, to be deprived of their hands and feet. Saxony and Poland, aided by the Christians of Scandinavia, under the guidance of St. Poppo, a zealous preacher, rose in arms against him. Erich, king of Sweden, one of Poppo's disciples, greatly aided them, in the hope of gaining possession of Denmark by means of the Christian party : this project was realized, f and Poppo baptized count- less numbers of the Danes in the Hilligbek, (heiligen Bach,) sacred fount,! between Schleswig and Flensburg. After the death of Erich, his son, Olaf Sehooskonig, who completed the peaceable conversion of Sweden, deemed it more politic to treat amicably with Swein, and not only bestowed on him the hand of his mother, Sigrida, but also restored him to the Danish throne, and united with him against the great north- ern hero, Olaf Tryggvason of Norway, whose successes [A. D. 995] over Hakon Jarl and the pagan party had roused the jealousy of his neighbours. His bitterest enemies were the pirates of Jomsburg and their other northern brethren, the * Compare Dahlman's History of Denmark. The legendary account relates, that Swein of Palnatoke or Toko, the celebrated chief of the Jomsburgian pirates, was the son of Harald, by whom he was not ac- knowledged, his mother having been a common slave. Toko, imagining himself injured by this conduct, became the monarch's mortal enemy. Harald took him prisoner, and compelled him to show his skill, for which he was celebrated, as a marksman, by shooting at an apple placed on the head of his son. " "Why didst thou conceal another arrow about thee ? " demanded the king. " In order to have killed thee," replied Toko, " had I struck my child." The king then placed him in chains in his boat, but, during a storm that arose on the lake, unbound him, in or- der to be saved by his well-known skill as an experienced boatman. Toko steered against a rock, sprang on shore, and pushed the boat back into the lake. He afterwards waylaid the king and shot him. Saxo Grammaticus. t Swein is said to have been taken prisoner three times. He twice ransomed himself by paying his weight in gold, and double that weight in silver. On the third occasion, he obtained his liberty by the cession of the Danish crown. J Erich was merely primsignet, or provisionally signed with the cross, as was then the custom before initiating the converts in the tenets of the church. Erich believed that the God of the Christians resembled all other gods, and was merely somewhat stronger than those of the pagans, whom it was, nevertheless, also necessary to worship. The zealous Poppo, re- solving to convert the king by the performance of a miracle, passed un- harmed, in a waxen shirt, through a fiery furnace, upon which the terri- fied people flocked in multitudes to the font. AND OTTO THE THIRD. 347 Ascomanni, (so named from their great boats, or Aschen,) with whom the kings of Denmark and Sweden entered into alliance, and defeated Olaf Tryggvason in a naval engage- ment.* Great changes took place also, at this period, in France. Lothar died, A. D. 986, and, in the following year, his only son, Louis V. Charles of Lothringia, Lothar's brother, as- pired to the throne, but was excluded by the Capetian party. The disesteem in which he was held on account of his licen- tious habits, and the refusal of assistance from Germany, where the emperor, dissatisfied with the conduct of Lothar, no longer favoured the Carlovingians, rendered him defenceless ; he fell into the hands of his rival, Hugh Capet, and died in prison, A. D. 993. His son, Otto, the last of the Carlovingian race, died, neglected and despised, A. D. 1004. The death of Otto II., which was occasioned by the hard- ships he had undergone at Basantello, took place in Italy, A. D. 983. His son, Otto III., a child three years of age, was named as his successor, under the joint guardianship of Theu- phano and Adelheid, who gave him such a learned education, that he received the appellation of the " Wunder-kind," on account of the precocity of his intellect. Henry the Wrangler, who aspired to the throne, and seized the person of the young monarch, had already, by his conduct, estranged from himself his countrymen the Saxons ; the me- mory of the cruelties practised by his father also rendered him unpopular in Bavaria, and he was speedily reduced to submis- sion by the Franconian party, at whose head stood Willigis, the learned archbishop of Mayence. He was the son of a wheel- wright, and adopted a wheel for the arms of the archbishopric, with these words, " Willigis, Willigis, remember thy origin." Next in rank to this spiritual head of the empire, stood Con- rad, duke of Franconia and Swabia, and Henry, duke of Bavaria. Henry the Wrangler was compelled to deliver up the emperor, and to take the oath of allegiance to him, in con- sideration of which he was restored to the dukedom of Bavaria, qn the death of Henry Minor, which was shortly afterwards followed by that of Conrad, who was succeeded in Franconia by his son Conrad, and in Swabia by his nephew Hermann. The mere of Austria was granted to Leopold I., grandson to Adalbert of Babenberg, whom Hatto had betrayed. This * See chapter cxxii. 348 OTTO THE SECOND brave Markgraf displayed so much activity, that in 983, he had driven the Hungarians from the Enns, taken their royal castle of Molk, and compelled them to keep within the limits of modern Hungary. Their king, Geisa, followed the ex- ample of the sovereigns of Bohemia and Poland, and received baptism frpm the hands of Pilgerin, bishop of Passau ; he also sought to preserve peaceful relations with the Germanic empire ; Christianity, nevertheless, first became the national religion during the reign of his son, St. Stephen, who ascend- ed the throne A. D. 997, and died A, D. 1038. This monarch married Gisela, the daughter of Henry the Wrangler, a union that strengthened his alliance with Germany. Leopold planted numerous German colonists in Lower Austria, the country regained by him from the Hungarians, which was visited by fresh missionaries, who there left im- perishable records of their zeal. In the mountains, St. Wolf- gang performed his miracles on the shores of the lake that still bears his name ; and a monastery, in which the relics of St. Colomannus, a Scotch missionary, who was murdered by the pagans, were preserved, was raised over the ruins of the royal castle of Molk. The sceptre of Germany was no sooner again held by a child, than the clergy and the great vassals of the empire sought to regain the power of which they had been deprived during the preceding reigns. The youthful emperor, guided by his mother and grandmother, who greatly favoured the clergy, bestowed upon them rich lands and benefices. Peace was, certainly, maintained throughout the empire, the dukes contenting themselves with confirming their power in the in- terior of the state, unopposed by the emperor. War was, however, still carried on on the Slavian frontier, where Otto was occasionally allowed to appear in person, in order to gain his first spurs. Graf Arnold of Holland, at that period, [A. D. 993,] also attempted the subjugation of the Western Frisii, by whom he was defeated and slain. Theuphano and Adelheid, whose thoughts were ever di- rected towards Italy,* their native land, had not been idle in their endeavours to rouse the ambition of the youthful Otto, * Adelheid fixed her residence in her widowhood at Pavia, where she was visited by Theuphano when returning from a pilgrimage to the holy sepulchre at Jerusalem. They separated after a bitter quarrel, and Theuphano died shortly afterwards at Nimwegen. AND OTTO THE THIRD. 349 who, on attaining his majority, aspired to the sovereignty of that country, where, after the death of Otto II., the Italian party again rose in opposition to that of the emperor. Cres- centius, who had usurped unlimited power in Rome, caused the pope, John XIV., to be assassinated, and expelled his suc- cessor, John XV.. -who convoked an extraordinary council at Rheims [A. D. 995]. Hugh Capet, the new French monarch, who planned the foundation of a Gallican church, independent of that of Rome, had deposed Arnulf, archbishop of Rheims, a nephew of Charles of Lothringia, for his zealous exertions in fa- vour of his unfortunate Carlovingian relatives. The German bi- shops and the pope, enraged at this conduct, unanimously con- demned him at the council at Rheims, and he was compelled to yield. The pope expired during the following year, and the empe- ror marched into Italy for the purpose of regulating the affairs of the church. Crescentius was speedily overcome and pardoned. Otto, fired by youthful enthusiasm, imagined that the future happiness of the world was to be secured by a closer union of the imperial with the papal power, and with his own hand, al- though himself scarcely out of his boyhood, placed the tiara on the head of Bruno, the son of Otto of Carinthia, who was then in his four-and-twentieth year, and who received the name of Gregory V. Bruno was grandson to Conrad of Franconia, the hero of the Lech, who had married Luitgarde, daughter to Otto III. St. Adalbert, who had come from Prague, [A. D. 996,] in order to witness the ceremony, was enraptured at the sight of these two noble youths. By his side stood Gerbert, Otto's preceptor, one of the most profound reasoners of the age, and the energetic Bishop Notker of Liege, both of whom earnestly sought to re-establish the fallen power of the church, whilst the youthful pope, strong in his native purity, caused even the Italians, in despite of their moral depravity, to fore- see the height to which the church might attain if governed by German virtue. His first step was to lay France under an interdict until the reinstalment of Arnulf into his arch- bishopric, which had been purposely delayed by Hugh Capet, whose son Robert, his successor, evinced greater submission to Rome. St. Adalbert visited Prussia, in order to preach the gospel to the heathen inhabitants, by whom he was mur- dered, A. D. 997. His death was a bad omen, for scarcely had the emperor quitted Rome, than Crescentius again raised 360 OTTO THE SECOND the banner of insurrection, inflamed all the dark and fiendlike passions of the Roman populace, already indignant at the as- sumption of the tiara by a stranger, and elected another Italian wretch, John XVI., pope. The emperor instantly re- turned, and re-entering Rome, where his presence alone suf- ficed to calm the uproar, caused the pretender to the popedom to be deprived of sight, and to be led through the city mount- ed on an ass. Crescentius, who had vainly thrown himself into the Engelburg, was executed, A. D. 998. The well- founded hopes of the German party were, however, doomed to be frustrated by Italian wiles, and it is only left for us to imagine what Europe might have become, had these two noble-minded youths been intrusted, for a longer period, with her temporal and spiritual welfare. Gregory V. expired sud- denly, A. D. 999. His death was, with great justice, ascribed to poison. Gerbert became his successor, under the name of Sylvester II. His deep science and learning caused him to be generally regarded as a wizard. The death of Gregory, the friend of his youth, caused a deep dejection to prey upon the mind of the emperor, which was still more worked upon by the approach of the year 1000, the period popularly fixed for the end of the world, and by the exhortations of two Italian enthusiasts, the saints Romuald and Nilus, 'who gain- ed great power over him, and who, being the fellow-coun- trymen of Crescentius, reproved him most particularly for the severity with which he had treated that traitor, which they denounced as a crime, and he was at length induced to do penance for fourteen days in a cavern, sacred to the archangel Michael, on the Monte Gargano, in Apulia, and to perform a pilgrimage to the bones of St. Adalbert at Gnesen, in Poland. He, nevertheless, reappeared here in his character as emperor, by more strongly cementing the amicable relations that al- ready subsisted between Germany and Poland. Besides con- secrating there a church to St. Adalbert, and founding the archbishopric of Gnesen, on which the bishoprics of Breslau, Cracau, and Colberg, (at a later period, Kamin,) were ren- dered dependent, he bestowed the title of king on Boleslaw Chrobry, the son of Miseko and of the Bohemian Dobrowa, and gave his niece, Rixa,* to his son Mieslaus, in marriage. * She was the mother of Casimir, with whom she afterwards took refuge in France, where she caused him to be educated as a monk. He AND OTTO THE THIRD. 351 He also, during the same year, visited Aix-la-Chapelle, where he caused the tomb of Charlemagne to be opened. That monarch was discovered seated on his throne. On his return to Rome, he announced his intention of making her the ca- pital of the modern, as she had been that of the ancient world, but the Romans were incapable of either comprehending his grand projects, or of perceiving the advantage that must have accrued to them had their city once more become an imperial residence. The senseless and brutal populace again rose in open insurrection. On one occasion, Otto, addressing them from a tower, upbraided them for their folly, and induced them to disperse. His death, which took place in 1002, was ascribed to poison,* but was more probably caused by small- pox. In the following year, Pope Sylvester also expired, and with him every hope that had been raised for the reformation of the church, which again fell under Italian influence, and the weak-minded successor to the throne of Germany became her slave instead of her protector. CXXXVIL Henry the Second, the Holy. OTTO dying childless, the succession to the throne was again disputed. Henry of Bavaria, the son of Henry the Wrangler, claimed it as the nearest of kin, and was supported by the clergy on account of his piety, and his munificence to- wards the church. The next competitor was Hermann of Swabia, who, although of Franconian descent, was nearly al- lied to the imperial house. He was, moreover, the wealthiest was recalled, and placed upon the throne in his monkish garb. The Poles shaved their heads in order to resemble him, a custom that afterwards became a sign of rank. * Several chronicles relate that Stephania, the beautiful widow of Crescentius, whom Otto had taken for his mistress, caused his death by means of poisoned gloves. But her name was Theodora, and she was, moreover, at that time a grandmother. It is related of this emperor, that his wife, Mary of Arragon, was faithless to him, and having vainly at- tempted to win the affections of a handsome Italian count, falsely accused him to the emperor, who condemned him to death. The widow of the injured count appeared before his throne, and offered to prove the inno- cence of her husband by undergoing the ordeal. She passed through it unharmed, and the emperor, convinced of his injustice, sentenced his wife to be publicly burnt, A. D. 996. 352 HENRY THE SECOND, THE HOLY. and most considerable of the German dukes, and enjoyed far more popularity among the laity than his rival, Henry. The third claimant was Eckhart of Meissen, who, for the first time, made use of the unlimited power he enjoyed as governor of the Slavian marches, where the population was reduced to complete servitude, whilst the dukes or governors of the Ger- man provinces were ever circumscribed in their authority by the free spirit of the people. Henry's party was considerably strengthened by the adhe- rence of Willigis, the pious archbishop of Mayence. Eckhart, his most dangerous opponent, lost his life before he could carry his projects into execution. His indecorous treatment of So- phia and Adelheid, (the sisters of Otto III., who actively for- warded the interests of his rival, Henry,) into whose dining apartment he forced his way, and destroyed their meal, was avenged by the Saxon Grafs of Nordheim, who attacked him during the night at Polde, [A. D. 1002,] and succeeded in de- priving him of life after a valiant defence. Henry, thereupon, repaired to Aix-la-Chapelle, where he was crowned. Her- mann resigned his pretensions, and submitted to the new em- peror. He died shortly afterwards, leaving Swabia to his son Hermann, who did not long survive him. He was succeeded by Ernst, the son of Leopold of Austria, and husband to Gisela, his sister, the daughter of Gerberga, and grand- daughter of Rudolf III. of Burgundy. Ernst was killed when hunting, and left the dukedom to his son Ernst, whose mother, Gisela, married Conrad, Graf of Franconia, who afterwards ascended the imperial throne. His cousin, the Markgraf Henry of Schweinfurt, demanded, immediately after the coronation of the emperor, the dukedom of Bavaria, which had become vacant by Henry's accession to the throne, and which was also aspired to by Bruno, the emperor's brother. Both compe- titors met with* a refusal from Henry, who bestowed Bavaria upon his brother-in-law, Henry, Count of Luxemburg, upon which the two rivals entered into a conspiracy against him with Boleslaw II. of Bohemia, who had not inherited the peaceable disposition of his father. They were defeated by the emperor near Creusen, [A. D. 1003,] and pardoned. Lothringia, on the extinction of the Carlovingian race, fell to Gottfried of Verdun, the nephew of Gisilbrecht, and Brabant to Lambert of Lyons, the husband of Gerberga, the sister of Otto, the last of the Carlovingians. HENRY THE SECOND, THE HOLY. 353 Affairs also wore a different aspect in the East ; Boleslaw Chrobry of Poland, a great conqueror, reduced Kiow in Russia beneath his rule. In Bohemia, Boleslaw had broken his oath of allegiance to the empire. The ancient race of Crocus had degenerated. A rival race, that of the Wrssowez, was at the head of the democratic and pagan party, but could merely offer a weak opposition, by dint of petty stratagems, to the more powerful Christian party. At length the assassina- tion of one of the Wrssowez, by the order of Boleslaw, occa- sioned the formation of a conspiracy against him ; Boleslaw was enticed into Poland, where he fell into the hands of the enraged Wrssowez, who deprived him of sight, and placed Bo- hemia, Moravia, and Silesia in the hands of Boleslaw of Po- land. A great reaction ensued. Boleslaw, at the head of the united Poles and Bohemians, invaded the Lausitz and Meissen. After several severe campaigns, the emperor at length suc- ceeded in separating Bohemia from Poland, and in placing Othelrich or Ulrich, the brother of the blind Boleslaw, on the throne of that dukedom. Othelrich was faithless and tyran- nical. In order the more firmly to secure the possession of the crown, he deprived his second brother, Jaromir, of sight. Boleslaw of Poland attempted to win him over, and sent his son, Miseko, to negociate with him. Othelrich delivered him up to the emperor, who instantly restored him to liberty. The war, nevertheless, was still carried on. The emperor suffered a defeat, [A. D. 1015,] probably on the Bober, the half of his army that had crossed the stream being suddenly attacked by the enemy. Miseko, inspirited by this success, attacked Meissen : the castle was set on fire, but the conflagration was extinguished by the women, who poured mead on the spread- ing flames. The emperor afterwards undertook a fresh expe- dition into Silesia, where he laid siege to the city of Nimptsch,* but without success. Peace was finally concluded with Po- land at Bautzen [A. D. 1018]. In Meissen, the house of * This city was named Nemezi, on account of its having been founded by Germans. It is supposed to have been an ancient German sanctuary prior to the times of the Slavi. Mone's Pagan Antiquity. In the middle of the valley lying in the vicinity is the Zobtenberg, with its pagan monuments. The country round about was called Silensgau, and was, in fact, the heart of Silesia. Ditmar of Merseburg. This chronicler also mentions, at that period, the city of Breslau, (Wrozislawa,) a name de- rived from a Wratislau or Brzetislaw. 2 A 354 HENRY THE SECOND, THE HOLY. Wettin was raised to the Markgravial dignity, in the person of Dedi I., the brave opponent of the Slavi. A war of ex- termination was also waged against the Obotrites and the Wilzi by Bernhard II. of Saxony, and Bernhard, Markgraf of Brandenburg, the son of the deposed Dietrich. Mistevoi, prince of the Obotrites, whose sway extended over the whole of the Slavian north, weary at length of the havoc of war, and anxious to secure peace for his people, embraced Christianity. He was, in consequence, expelled by his subjects. He died at Bardewik. In order to strengthen himself against the Slavi, the emperor courted the friendship of the Danes, to whom he gave permission to found, for the first time, an inde- pendent archbishopric in Lunden. Up to this period, [A. D. 1004,] Denmark had been dependent on the archbishopric of Hamburg, whose prelate, Liemar, had excommunicated king Erich, on account of his cruelty. The Italians, unwearied in their struggle for independence, had, upon the death of Otto, again raised a king of their own, Harduin, Markgraf of Ivrea, to the throne of Italy. The bishops, who favoured the claims of Henry, from the same motive which caused them to be upheld by their brethren in Germany, alone opposed him. Henry marched into Italy, where he overcame every opponent, and was crowned [A. D. 1005] at Pa via. This powerful city rebelled against the foreign invader, and the citizens so closely besieged the im- perial palace, that Henry was compelled to spring from a window, and lamed himself for life. A dreadful revenge was taken by his German troops. The emperor, who now beheld Italy with feelings of disgust, was shortly after recalled into Germany by the outbreak of the Slavian war, and Harduin again caused himself to be proclaimed king. The audacity of the pretender once more drew Henry into Italy ; the rebels were this time completely reduced to submission, and he visited Rome, [A. D. 1013,] where the pope confirmed his claim to the empire, and placed the crown on his head, and on that of his wife, the pious Cunigunda. It was on this occa- sion that the pope bestowed upon the emperor the golden ball, the emblem of the globe, over which he was destined to rule. It was also at this period that Henry created Berthold, Graf of Walbek, (who was supposed to be a descendant of the an- cient race of Wittekind,) Graf of Savoy. Henry revisited HENRY THE SECOND, THE HOLY. 355 Italy, [A. D. 1021,] for the purpose of reducing the Greeks in Lower Italy to subjection. Melo of Lombardy, who had re- sisted their tyranny at Bari, was constrained to flee. At the same time, the Arabs attacked Salerno, whose duke, Waimar, was unexpectedly saved by a ship manned by forty Normans, who were returning from the Holy Land. They were sent away laden with costly gifts, and invited to return. Many of their countrymen afterwards emigrated to Lower Italy, under the command of Drengot and his four brethren, who joined Melo against the Greeks and Arabs. Drengot fell in battle. His brother, Rainulf, settled at Aversa, between Capua and Naples. Pandulf, duke of Capua, however, leagued with the Greeks, but was taken prisoner by Henry, whose presence alone seemed to insure victory. An epidemic, at length, which broke out in his camp, compelled him to return to Ger- many, A. D. 1022. Disturbances had, meanwhile, arisen in the Netherlands. A robbery, committed upon some merchants by the Frisii, had occasioned a feud between Dietrich, Graf of Holland, and Gottfried of Lothringia, the latter of whom suffered a heavy defeat at Merwe, A. D. 1018. Adalbero, a descendant of the house of Luxemburg, which was highly favoured by the em- peror through the influence of the empress, had, moreover, seized the archbishopric of Treves ; * he was deposed by the emperor, who, on the other hand, created Henry, the brother of Cunigunda, duke of Bavaria. Another Adalbero, Graf of the MUrzthal, was nominated to the government of Carinthia. Otto, the son of Conrad of Franconia, had inherited both Franconia and Carinthia, which were divided between his sons, Henry and Conrad, each of whom had a son, named Conrad, who, displeased with the emperor's verdict, opposed Adalbero and beat him at Ulm out of the field, but found themselves unable to drive him out of his mountain fastnesses. Conrad, the son of Conrad, retained the dukedom of Franconia. Conrad, the son of Henry, who merely enjoyed the title of Graf, wedded Gisela, through whom he had a claim upon Burgundy, whose king, Rudolf, had solemnly sworn that his * The rightful archbishop, Megingod, had, during the usurpation of Adalbero, received the bishopric of Coblentz by way of indemnification. After his restoration, this bishopric still remained attached to Treves. 2 A 2 356 HENRY THE SECOND, THE HOLY. dominions should be incorporated, on his demise, with the em- pire, A. D. 1018. Henry was extremely devout, and was consequently idolized by the clergy.* He held five councils in Germany, improved and corrected ecclesiastical discipline, rebuilt the churches that had been destroyed by the Slavi, and raised a magnificent monument to his own memory by the foundation of the bi- shopric of Bamberg, "J" which he enriched at the expense of the neighbouring landowners, among whom was the bishop of Wurzburg, who obstinately resisted his innovations, until ap- peased by numerous gifts. The pope, Benedict VIII., visited Bamberg, A. D. 1020, for the purpose of consecrating the new establishment. The empress, Cunigunda, was equally pious. The imperial pair had mutually taken the vow of chastity, and remained childless. Cunigunda's virtue, however, did not escape slander, and she voluntarily underwent the ordeal by fire, and walked unharmed over glowing iron. Henry, when on his death-bed, named as his successor Graf Conrad, the husband of Gisela, on account of his being the ablest descendant of the most powerful race that remained in Ger- many after the extinction of that of the Ottos, thus repaying, with equal magnanimity, the generous conduct of Conrad L, when dying, towards the house of Saxony. He expired A. D. 1024, and was interred at Bamberg.J CXXXVIII. Immunities. Increasing importance of the churches and cities, and consequent decrease of the ducal power. CHARTERS and franchises had been lavishly distributed by the Saxon emperors, for the purpose of creating a multitude * It is related of him that he even wished to become a monk at Stras- burg, but had no sooner taken the oath of implicit obedience, than he was commanded by Bishop Werner to resume his crown. f It is supposed that he sought to expiate the criminal action of his ancestors against Adalbert of Babenberg, by the consecration of the lands unjustly seized by them, to the service of God. An idea in which he was upheld by Cunigunda. It was on this account that the privileges granted to Bamberg were called Cunigunda's silken threads, by which, it was said, the city was defended better than by towers and walls. J On his tombstone stands a figure of Justice with a pair of scales, the index of which inclines a little to one side. As soon as the poise shall become equal, the world will be at an end. IMMUNITIES. 357 of minor nobles and corporations, independent of the dukes, against whose power they served as a counterpoise. This po- litical motive had induced Charlemagne to favour the bishops : their power was still more increased by the Ottos, who did not yet foresee the danger to which it might, at some future period, expose the state. The popes were, moreover, too busily engaged with Italy and too powerless, to excite the jealousy of the emperors, in whose hands the church was a mere tool. The numerous armed vassals subservient to the bishops and abbots necessarily diminished the number of those who owed allegiance to the dukes and Markgrafs ; and the greater the extent of the lands beneath the sway of the crosier, so much the less could, consequently, be under the control of the temporal lords. To these motives may be ascribed the enormous donations to the church, the endowment of churchmen with temporal rights and power, the union of the imperial office of Graf with the ecclesiastical dignity of bishop, and the immunity or affranchisement from the su- preme authority of the dukes. The Sendgrafs, or commissioned officers of the crown, cre- ated by Charlemagne, had, under the Ottos, been converted into Pf alzgrafs, or administrators of the crown lands, revenues, etc., in the different dukedoms, who, at the same time, in some measure controlled the dukes. Besides them, Markgrafs, who acted independently of the dukes, were placed in the newly- conquered frontier provinces, and the elevation within the dukedoms of powerful Grafs, who, although nominally subser- vient to the dukes, equalled them in wealth and influence, and could even compete with them in political power, was also encouraged by the Saxon emperors, who thus blindly laid a mine destined to shake the imperial throne. The dukes, whose power merely arose from the office they held under the crown, and the independent spirit of the nations to which they belonged, far less endangered the power of the emperor, than did the great families of later date, who were hereditarily possessed of immensely extensive lands. And whilst the emperors were thus endeavouring to hasten the de- cay of the ancient dukedoms, and to consign the very names of the ancient nations to oblivion, they were far from fore- seeing that the time might arrive when new names, that owed their origin to some unnoted fort, would lay the whole em- pire at their feet. 358 INCREASING IMPORTANCE OF The ancient division of the empire into dukedoms and pro- vinces (gaue) gradually gave place to one more complex, caused either by the formation of ecclesiastical and temporal feudal territories within the provinces and dukedoms, or by the en- croachment of one enormous feudal territory on several of the provinces and even of the dukedoms, whilst the ancient uni- formity of condition was every where destroyed by charters and franchises or immunities. The last remnants of the ancient free-men, who had not been gathered into the cities, had formed themselves into communities of free peasantry, who, although recognising a duke or Graf in his judicial capacity as a delegate of the crown, or a bishop as their spiritual guide, retained their ancient privileges in all other respects. The repeated at- tempts of the nobles to reduce them to a state of vassalage, were, nevertheless, generally successful, and liberty at length sought refuge amid the peasantry of Lower Saxony and Switzerland. In A. D. 922, the western Frisii had already been reduced to vassalage by Dietrich of Holland, who also made a similar attempt upon the liberties of the free eastern Frisii, but met with armed resistance, and was re- pulsed in several campaigns. The eastern Frisii consisted of seven petty republics, called the Seelands, united in the ancient German manner ; they held their general assemblies at the Upstalesbome, (Obergerichts baum, tree of justice,) and were governed by their own laws, merely recognising the arch- bishop of Bremen as their patron, the only bond that united them to the empire. Saxony also still preserved much of her ancient freedom. The Saxon Grafs, who still, as in times of yore, held their provincial courts of justice in the open air, with the elected aldermen or Schbppen, in the presence of all the free-men of the province, were distinguished by the epi- thet of Free-grafs, their courts of justice were also called free courts, the aldermen, free aldermen or Freischbppen, and the seat of justice, the Freistuhl or free seat. There were also numerous free peasantry in Switzerland and in Swabia, and, under Otto III., a bloody feud arose in the Thurgau, owing to the attempts of the nobility and clergy to reduce the peo- ple to a state of vassalage. The peasants, headed by one of their class, Heinz von Stein, rose in open insurrection, and [A. D. 992] a battle was fought near Diessenhofen, which al- THE CHURCHES AND CITIES. 359 though the nobles were victorious, taught the Alpine shep- herds caution, and was merely a prelude to the great struggle for freedom that arose at a later period. Radbot, the founder of the Habsburg, may be said to have inoculated his race with hatred to freedom by the violent reduction of his free peasantry to a state of vassalage,* A. D. 1018. Whilst territorial wealth and influence were thus usurped by the clergy and the nobility, the ancient free-men, collected within the cities, strained every nerve, not so much, however, in order to protect, as in order to extend their privileges, and to manifest their importance as the third power in the state. The emperors, perceiving that the most efficient remedy against the ascendency of the dukes lay in the flourishing state of the cities, greatly aided their endeavours by the grants and charters freely lavished upon them, and a number of new cities consequently sprang up, into which all the free- men, harassed by the feudal lords, quickly thronged. These cities were liberally chartered by the Ottos. For instance, they granted to townships, that had gradually grown into cities, and were situated on the territory, and within the ju- risdiction of either spiritual or temporal lords, the rights be- longing to free imperial towns, and placed them beneath the imperial jurisdiction ; they also granted privileges to the larger cities, such as the right of coinage, and that of exact- ing customs, which were formerly alone conceded to the bishops and the dukes. The internal government and legislation of the cities were equally favoured by the charters granted to them by the Ottos. The governor, nominated by the crown, only no- minally held the supreme direction of affairs, and seldom even resided in the town, but was generally one of the neighbour- ing Grafs, who, contenting himself with receiving the gifts of the citizens, and with being entertained by them, left them com- pletely at liberty. Whenever the emperor chanced to visit a town, the citizens vied with each other in paying him honour, in return for which he conferred additional privileges upon them. The imperial governor or Reichsvogt, ( Waltbot, Ge- * Aided by his brother the influential Bishop Werner, of Strassburg, who built the monastery of Muri with the wealth gained by the subjec- tion of the peasantry. Their grandfather, Guntram the Rich, had already collected vast treasures. 360 INCREASING IMPORTANCE OF waltbote, messenger of power, in Latin, potestas, in Italian, po- desta missus regius, Sendgraf, royal messenger, Sendschalk or seneschal,) generally called the Burggraf or Burgvogt, commanded the city troops in war time, and exercised the judicial office in the name of the emperor : these offices were sometimes separate, but usually devolved upon one person. The twelve aldermen or Schoppen, elected by the citizens, were next in rank. Their president, the mayor or Schultheiss, at first merely took cognizance of petty civil matters, but finally either filled the office of the governor, when absent, or was empowered to replace him by means of an imperial charter. The mayor and aldermen also formed the town council, to which was committed the management of the public affairs. In the great cities each parish had its separate aldermen, who met in a general town council. All the cities that had originally been governed by an imperial officer re- mained immediately under the crown, and were distinguished as free imperial towns. Other cities, which had sprung up around the imperial palaces, as for instance, Ulm, finally be- came imperial towns, although their citizens were originally merely royal bondmen. Ducal and episcopal cities arose by means of vassals who had settled in the vicinity of a bishop's cathedral, or around the castle of a duke. These also became gradually free towns, without being immediately under the crown, and were therefore merely distinguished as free towns. The citizens every where consisted of the proprietors of houses or of land, part of whom were the oldest Burgenses, or burgesses, who had divided the ground on which the town or city was to be raised among themselves, and had built their houses on it ; or the proprietors of land in the vicinity of the city ; or else the free landowners who withdrew into the cities at a later period, and who still retained their landed property. The ancient Burgenses, now cives or free citizens of the empire, possessed all the power, and formed a class superior to, and distinct from, that of the bondsmen, who either acted as per- sonal servants under the patronage of the different burgher families, or were people who had placed themselves under the protection of the community, such as artificers, journeymen, porters, sailors, etc. The tyranny of the petty landowners drove multitudes into the cities ; hence it necessarily happened THE CHURCHES AND CITIES. 361 that the bondsmen were ten or twenty times superior in num- ber to the ancient burghers, who, being the sole proprietors of the privileges and wealth of the city, treated the second class with all the pride attached to free and noble birth, care- fully avoided any connexion with them, denominated them- selves, by way of distinction, houses or people of gentle blood, formed themselves into an aristocratical association united by intermarriage and general commercial undertakings, and also reserved to themselves the right of holding public meetings or Hic/ierzeche, (corporations of the rich, Reichen, or of the free citizens of the empire, Reichsburger ?) whilst they strictly forbade the formation of any kind of association among the lower classes. The earlier the period, the more distinctly are two different classes of city families to be distinguished, in which the ancient distinction that existed between the Edelings and the Frilings is still clearly recognisable. There was also a third class of knights, probably settlers of a later date, whose knighthood conferred upon them nobility and freedom, but who had not as yet intermixed with the old families. The artificers, however, as they increased in numerical strength, and distinguished themselves in the feuds that arose between the different cities, gradually obtained greater privileges. They divided themselves into guilds, and the assembly of the heads of the different guilds, under the presidency of a burgo- master, ere long threatened the burghers and their mayor with civil broils, which, at a later period, actually broke out between them. The ancient burghers, before taking the entire management of the city affairs into their hands under the direction of their mayor, had formed themselves into a mercantile corporation or guild, endowed with peculiar privileges (under Henry II.). Even in later times, the city government retained its mercan- tile spirit, and the civil and commercial polity generally re- mained inseparably united. Even in cases where the burgh- ers appear as landowners distinguished from the merchants, whose wealth merely consisted in their floating capital, their interests were ever united, and the merchants seem to have been the younger sons of the landowners, who sought a re- spectable employment, or immigrants, who settled in the towns, from whom the inhabitants acquired their knowledge of com- merce. The emperor and the princes appear often to have 362 INCREASING IMPORTANCE OF been induced to favour the civil liberty of the towns merely on account of commercial advantage. Commerce made a rapid progress in Germany. It is said that the city of Co- logne, in the llth century, numbered upwards of five hun- dred mercantile men within her walls. Cologne, Hamburg, Schleswig, and Bremen, were staple-towns, and as soon as the piracy of the Norsemen, after their conversion to Christi- anity, ceased, their ships and those of the Frieslanders visited the northern seas. The ships of Friesland touched at Green- land. The cities traded with all the northern countries, most particularly with England. The intermarriage, by which the imperial house of Germany was allied with that of Greece, had rendered the emperors doubly solicitous to open a line of commerce from the south. In 996, Otto III. gave the Jews, Lombards, and French permission to traverse Germany with their wares : the most remarkable among these traders were those of Cahors in Guyenne, the Caorsini or Italian pedlars. The age in which the Saxon emperors reigned is remark- ably devoid of men of science and learning. The schools of Alcuin and of Rhabanus Maurus had disappeared, whilst the refinement borrowed from Italy and Greece had been only partially adopted. The higher ecclesiastical dignities were always held by the brothers and relatives of the highest and most influential families, so that the elevation of Willigis, a man of low birth, to the archbishopric of Mayence, naturally gave rise to much surprise and discontent. These dignitaries, moreover, merely interested themselves in increasing their pos- sessions, and preferred war and the chase to study and learn- ing. The people were, naturally, still more ignorant than the clergy, and rendered wild and uncivilized by the covetousness of the nobility, who sought to reduce them to a state of vas- salage, similar to that imposed upon the conquered Slavi. The natural inclinations of each individual are necessarily stronger whenever the intellect is neglected; the warlike Gero, who laid down his sword and became a monk, is but one example of the manners of the times, when men, the greater portion of whose lives had been one continued scene of violence and bloodshed, were driven by remorse to expiate their crimes in seclusion and by prayer. The celebrated Gerbert, Pope Sylvester II., exercised but little influence on his times ; that of the Grecian princess, THE CHURCHES AND CITIES. 363 Theuphano, was equally limited, although ancient authors were" studied in some of the monasteries, and it is probable that, at that time, several manuscripts were brought from the south into Germany. For instance, the nun, Roswitha, of Gandersheim, [A. D. 980,] discovered a manuscript copy of the comedies of Terence, in which she took such great delight as to translate them elegantly into Latin. She also composed a song in praise of the Ottos. The monk Eckehard of St. Gall sang in Latin verse the adventures of Walther of Aqui- tania, the first example of heroic poesy. Eather, the Dutch- man, who became bishop of Verona, distinguished himself by some writings, in which he decried the ignorance, lewdness, and vice of the monks, for which he was grievously persecuted. Besides these writers, the tenth century could only boast of three great chroniclers ; Luitprand, bishop of Cremona, [A. D. 946,] who, being attached to the embassy sent by Otto I. to Constantinople, recorded its fate, and described the man- ners of the Grecian court ; he also wrote a chronicle and biography of the popes. Wittekind of Corvey [A. D. 973] wrote an excellent history of Saxony. Ditmar, bishop of Merseburg,* a descendant of the Salic race, wrote [A. D. 1015] an equally famous account of the Saxon emperors, and particularly mentions the Slavi, among whom he dwelt. The alliance of the Ottos with Italy and Greece was more favourable to the development of art than to the progression of science. By their erection of numerous magnificent churches in the Byzantine and Roman style of architecture, they gave an impulse to art, which, in the following century, produced the true German or Gothic style, the transition to which is exemplified in the celebrated cathedral at Strasburg, founded in 1015 by Bishop Werner, and afterwards finished on more extensive plans. Nor does painting appear to have been un- patronized. Luitprand asserts, that the victory won by Henry I. in the vicinity of Merseburg, was represented with such truth, that the beholder imagined himself present on the field * He thus describes himself with the pious simplicity of the times : " I am but a little man. My left jawbone and the whole side of my face are disfigured with an incurable fistula. In my childhood I broke the bridge of my nose, which gives me a comical appearance. Nor are my qualities of heart and mind superior. I am a miserable creature, given to anger, obstinate, envious, and, notwithstanding the ridiculousness of my own person, apt to deride others, a glutton, a hypocrite, a miser, &c." 364 CONRAD THE SECOND. of battle. Kugler, in his History of Art, says, that sculpture progressed more rapidly in Saxony than in Italy. Music also was cultivated by Notker and other ecclesiastics. PART X. THE FRANCONIAN, SALIC EMPERORS. CXXXIX. Conrad the Second. ON the death of Henry II., the last of the Ottos, a general assembly of the different nations belonging to the empire was convoked. They gathered from every quarter, and encamped in countless multitudes on the great plain between Worms and Mayence, on either side of the Rhine, A. D. 1024. The dukes appeared in person, their banners followed by the Markgrafs, Grafs, and minor nobles, besides an innumerable throng of vassals. With equal state came the archbishops, bishops, and abbots of the realm, with their haughty retainers ; the broad land scarcely sufficed for the number of noble-born Germans, met for the purpose of electing a successor to their deceased monarch. On the right bank of the Rhine were stationed the Saxons under their duke, Bernhard, the Swabians under Duke Ernst, the Bavarians under Duke Henry, the Carinthi- ans under Duke Adalbero, and the Bohemians under Duke Othelrich. On the left bank were seen the Franconians under Duke Conrad, the Upper Lothringians under Duke Frederick, and the Lower Lothringians under Duke Gottfried (Gozilo). The house of Franconia, which, through the favour of Bishop Hatto, had first enriched itself during the Babenberg feud, and from which the emperor Conrad I. descended, had fallen to the brave Conrad, (who lost his life when opposing the Hungarians,) by his marriage with a daughter of that emperor. The fidelity he had evinced towards the house of Saxony was repaid to his son Otto, who was created duke of CONRAD THE SECOND. 365 Franconia and Carinthia, and both of whose grandsons now set up a claim to the imperial throne ; Graf Conrad, the husband of Gisela, the younger in years, but the son of the elder brother, and moreover the one recommended by Henry II.. when on his death-bed, as his successor, and the Duke Conrad, the elder in years, but the son of the younger son, and less distinguished for talent. The family of these two competitors for the crown was so illustrious, that a still more ancient origin was, by way of flattery, ascribed to it, and it was deduced from the Merovingians, and named the Salic race. The election of one of the Conrads was unanimously re- solved upon by all the great vassals of the empire, and both of the competitors, on the declaration of this decision in their favour, magnanimously agreed, for the sake of the state, to yield submissively to the verdict about to be pronounced. The Graf, accordingly, held a private conference with the duke, and it was amicably stipulated between them, that the ex- cluded one should be the first to swear allegiance to his elect- ed rival. The electors met, and the first vote, that of Aribo, archbishop of Mayence, was given in favour of Conrad the elder ; all the bishops added their suffrages, and Conrad the younger was the first among the temporal lords who rose and gave his vote in favour of the, Graf, who was with one joyous acclaim elected emperor by the rest of the vassal princes, and the new sovereign, seating himself at the side of his loyal- hearted cousin, was proclaimed emperor by the shouting mul- titude. Frederick of Lothringia and the archbishop of Co- logne, the only malcontents, silently quitted the assembly. Their departure was perceived by the Duke Conrad, who, hurrying after them, led them amicably back. How could they withstand the entreaties of a man who had just sacrificed his ambitious hopes for the weal of the state ? Nor were the expectations of the nation in their elected monarch deceived ; Conrad of Franconia was one of the noblest sovereigns who ever swayed the sceptre of Germany. By his first decree, still preserved at Aix-la-Chapelle, he rendered the fiefs of the petty vassals (the lesser nobility) hereditary, a deeply calculated measure, by which he aimed at creating a counterpoise in the state to the great vassals.* * Militum animos in hoc multum attraxit, quod antiqua beneficia pa- rent! nemini posterorum auferri sustinuit. Wippo. 366 CONRAD THE SECOND. He visited the different provinces of the empire, in order to arrange its internal economy, every where dealing impartial justice. He was, however, speedily recalled by affairs re- lating to the Burgundian succession, King Rudolf having re- fused to fulfil the promise he had made to Henry, to the newly-elected sovereign, who was fully aware of the import- ance of reincorporating Burgundy with the empire. His persuasions, and those of Gisela, Conrad's wife and Rudolf's granddaughter, were at length successful, and the aged king renewed his plighted word. On the decease of Henry II. the Italians asserted that the hereditary right of the emperors to Italy had expired, and offered the crown to Hugh, the son of Robert, king of France. Robert refused it, and a friendly interview took place between him and the emperor, on the little river Cher, at that time the boundary of the empire. The Italians next made choice of a son of William, duke of Aquitania, who, in reply, upbraided them for their treachery, so greatly did the French still fear to irritate the German emperor. Conrad crossed the Alps, A. D. 1026, and planted the banner of the empire in the valley of Ronceval, near Piacenza. Rainer, Markgraf of Tuscany, refusing to do homage, the emperor bestowed his lands upon Bonifacius, the lord of Mantua, Mo- dena, Ferrara, and Reggio, who thus became the most pow- erful of the Italian princes. Pavia rebelled and was vainly besieged by Conrad, and riots, which were suppressed and punished, took place in Ravenna and Rome during his pre- sence in those cities. A splendid court was held by him at Rome, where he and his wife Gisela were solemnly crowned. He was also visited here by two kings, Rudolf of Burgundy and Canute the Great, who had succeeded his father Swein on the thrones of Denmark and of England, and had conquer- ed Norway. This powerful monarch * had visited Rome in order to see the wonders of the South. He married his daughter, Cunihilda, to Henry, the son of Conrad, who be- came duke of Bavaria on the extinction of the house of Lux- emburg. Canute held Schleswig in fee of the empire. After re-establishing peace in Lower Italy, Conrad extended the lands held by the Normans on condition of their protecting the * His usual body guard was composed of 6000 men bearing gilt halberds. CONRAD THE SECOND. 367 frontier. He was shortly afterwards recalled by a melancholy occurrence to the other side of the Alps. The whole of Swabia was in an uproar. The Duke Ernst, as the elder son of Gisela by her first marriage, believed him- self justified in claiming Burgundy as his inheritance, in op- position to his step-father Conrad, although Rudolf, instead of bequeathing his kingdom to the Salic family, had merely re- incorporated it with the empire. With him were united two Swabian Grafs of ancient race, Rudolf Welf, or Guelph,* the hereditary enemy of the Salic family, and Werner of Kyburg. During Conrad's absence in Italy, Ernst, Welf, and Werner attacked the adherents arid invaded the lands of the Salic family, which they laid waste without opposition, and took possession of Solothurn. These events caused Conrad to hasten his return, and to convoke a great Diet at Ulm, at which Ernst appeared at the head of his armed Swabians. In vain did Gisela entreat him to submit, and to return to his al- legiance. His rebellious spirit, however, was not shared by * In the 5th century, Edica and Wulfo appear as princes of the Scirri. Under Charlemagne there flourished a Warin, Count of Altorf, whose son and successor, Isenbart, caused St. Otmar of St. Gall to be put to death in prison. He saved the life of Charlemagne, who was attacked by a wild ox, when hunting, and was rewarded with the hand of his sister Irmentraut. The legend relates, that one day chancing to meet with an old woman, who had given birth to three children, he declared such an occurrence unnatural, and accused her of adultery. The injured woman, in reply, entreated Heaven that the Countess Irmentraut might be de- livered of as many children as there were months in the year. Her prayer was heard, and Irmentraut bare twelve boys. Fearing her hus- band's severity, she ordered a female attendant to cast eleven of them into the river. The maid obeyed, but on her way thither was met by the Graf, who inquired of her what she was carrying in her basket. " Wei- fen," " puppies," replied the frightened girl. Isenbart then lifted the cloth from off the basket, and seeing that the children were fine and healthy, acknowledged them for his own, and had them secretly brought up. When they were grown up, he presented them to their mother. It was owing to this circumstance, that this family received the name of Welf, or Guelph. Welf I., one of the twelve, was Isenbart's successor ; his grand- daughter, Jutta or Judith, married the emperor Louis the Pious. Her father, Eticho, (see chap. 126,) succeeded to the family honours. Since his time, the Welfian house dwelt generally in retirement, on the Boden- see, at Altorf. It is probable that the ancient enmity between this house and that of Saxony, caused it to side with the Babeubergers. Duke Ernst, the descendant of the ancient house of Babenberg, now stood again opposed to the reigning imperial family. 368 CONRAD THE SECOND. his vassals, who, when the matter came to an issue, unanim- ously declared that the oath of allegiance which bound them to their duke, in no wise released them from that which bound them to the emperor and to the state, and that, if the duke were at feud with the empire, it was their duty to aid the lat- ter ; and with one accord they abandoned their rebellious chieftains. Ernst, thus left at the mercy of his opponents, was arrested and imprisoned, on a charge of high treason, in the fortress of Giebichenstein in Saxony. Welf was exiled. Werner of Kyburg [A. D. 1027] valiantly defended his castle for several months against the imperial troops, but finding it at length untenable, contrived to make his escape. Three years later, [A. D. 1030,] Conrad restored his step-son to liberty, and, in the presence of his mother Gisela, promised to replace him on the ducal throne of Swabia, on condition of his betraying the secret of Werner's retreat. " How can I betray my only true friend ! " replied the unfortunate duke. In consequence of this refusal he was declared by his peers guilty of misprision of treason, placed out of the ban of the empire, and reduced to complete beggary. Driven to despair, he took refuge with his friend Werner in the Black Forest, where they led a robber's life, and were aided by Adalbert of Falkenstein, who gave them his castle for a stronghold, whence they laid the whole country under contribution. The Swabians, headed by Graf Mangold of Veringen, besieged the fortress, surrounded the garrison during a sally, and, after an obstinate struggle in which Mangold fell, succeeded in cutting them to pieces. Hermann, Ernst's younger brother, succeeded him as duke of Swabia, A. D. 1037. The valour and wretched fate of Duke Ernst* made a deep impression on the imagination of the people, and he became the hero of * In the following century, the adventures of Duke Ernst were ingeni- ously and poetically intermixed with the oriental ideas introduced by the Crusades, and were detailed at length in a legend still extant among the popular ballads of those times. The hero is there conducted into the East, where he is opposed by all the most terrific creatures, men and beasts horrible to behold, intended as allegorical representations of his actual misfortunes. Each monster personifies an enemy or a betrayer. He reaches a black mountain, which signifies his prison. He is borne by an old man aloft amid the clouds ; thus was he carried away by his ambition. His ship is wrecked on the Magnet mountain ; his collision with the emperor. The nails fly out of his ship, and it falls to pieces ; his abandonment by his vassals. These legends are not unworthy of note, CONRAD THE SECOND. 369 many a ballad. The emperor was used to say of him, " Mad dogs never increase their race ! " Other cares, meanwhile, divided the attention of the em- peror. Boleslaw had been succeeded on the throne of Poland by his son, Miseko, who again refused to take the oath of allegi- ance to the empire, and invading Saxony, laid the country waste, and carried off an immense number of women and maidens. The seat of the bishopric of Zeiz, which was most exposed to the inroads of the Poles, was, on that account, at this period removed to Naumburg. Conrad invaded Poland, vainly besieged Bautzen, and wandered fruitlessly in the vast un- peopled forests, A. D. 1029. In the following year, Miseko again invaded the empire, and exercised unheard-of cruelties on the Elbe and Saal ; his chief victims were the wives of the nobility and other ladies of high birth, whose only refuge was death.* Othelrich of Bohemia, and also Stephan of Hungary, invaded the empire, but were successfully repulsed by Conrad, who also drove Adalbero out of Carinthia,f and bestowed that dukedom on his cousin and noble-minded rival, Conrad, as his paternal inheritance. The fortress of Enns, on the Hun- garian frontier, was intrusted to Graf Ottocar, who erected the fort of Steyer, in the country that afterwards took thence the name of Steyermark, or Styria, A. D. 1031. Shortly after these occurrences, Miseko was deposed by the Poles, and, seeking protection from Othelrich, was treacherously seized inasmuch as they prove the interest felt by the people in the fortunes of their chiefs, and in themselves record the popular poetical taste. * Matronas religiosas et nobiles armata manu sibi vindicavit. Solum tantorum fuit levameii malorum exoptata mors. Annalista Saxo, A. D. 1030. f To this epoch belongs the legend of St. Hemma, a relative of the emperor Henry II. Her husband, William, Graf of Friesach, being slain by Adalbero, she lived in widowed retirement in the castled fort of Purgstall with her two sons, William and Hartwig. Her castellain be- came enamoured of her, and caused an insurrection of the miners of Zey- ringen, by whom her young sons were murdered at his instigation, from an idea that he should be able to get the mother by that means the more easily into his hands. St. Hemma left the castle secretly, in a carriage drawn by oxen, which she allowed to go whither they would. They stood still, at length, on the spot where she afterwards caused the convent of Gurk, of which she became abbess, to be erected, A. D. 1042 : at a later period, it was converted into a bishopric. The castellain sank, to- gether with the castle of Purgstall, into a morass. Hoomayr's Taschen- buch o/1821. 2 B 370 CONRAD THE SECOND. by his host and delivered up to the emperor, who generously restored him to liberty, saying, " I will not buy an enemy from an enemy." The Poles again accepted him for their king ? and, won over by the unexpected generosity with which he had been treated, he concluded a permanent peace with the emperor, A. D. 1034. Othelrich again rebelled, and was again reduced to submission. His son, Brzetislaw, carried off the beautiful Jutta, a relation of the emperor, from a con- vent at Ratisbon, and made her his wife ; an adventure that at first roused the emperor's displeasure, but which afterwards produced a reconciliation. About this time, Udo, the son of Mistevoi, was assassinated by the Saxons. His son, Gottschalk, who had been sent to a German monastery for his education, made his escape, and placing himself at the head of his people, bloodily revenged his father's death. But one day, when passing through the wasted country, he was struck with remorse for the misery he had caused, and voluntarily gave himself up to the Saxons, A. D. 1036. The emperor, convinced of his sincerity and of his anxiety for the confirmation of peace, restored him to liber- ty ; upon which he attempted the conversion of the Slavi, and consequently drew down upon himself their bitterest hatred. Whilst these events were passing, he became the son-in-law of Canute the Great, and the town and fortress of Ratzeburg in western Poland being yielded to the duke of Saxony, he acquired sufficient influence to found the bishoprics of Ratzeburg and Mecklenburg. The Liutizii, the head tribe of the Wilzi, in Pommerania, were alone refractory. It was finally agreed between them and the Saxons, to leave the de- cision of their quarrel and the choice between their different religions to the issue of single combat. Victory sided with the pagan Liutizii; and when the Saxons, regardless of the stipu- lated terms, continued their system of oppression, their oppo- nents cried shame upon the God of the Christians, and muti- lated the figure on a crucifix. This sacrilegious act was speedily avenged by the enraged emperor, who laid their country waste with fire and sword, and mutilated the prison- ers, but was unsuccessful in his attempt to penetrate as far as the coasts through their wild forests and deep morasses. The death of Rudolf [A. D. 1032] was the signal for feudal strife in Burgundy. Odo, the French count of Champagne, CONRAD THE SECOND. 371 the son of G-isela's elder sister, set up a claim to the throne in right of primogeniture, whilst Conrad claimed Burgundy, not as a family inheritance, but as a state lapsed to the crown, and caused himself to be crowned king of Burgundy at Ge- neva, A. D. 1033. The whole of the country lying to the south of Lothringia, along the Saone and the Rhone as far as the sea, belonged to the kingdom of Burgundy ; viz. the duke- dom of Lower Burgundy, (Bourgogne, ) with its capital Tischaw or Dijon ; the county of Upper Burgundy, (Franche Comte, free county,) with the free imperial city of Bisanz or Besanc.on; the county of Walsh-Wien (Vienne) or the Delphinat, so call- ed on account of the surname of Delphin borne by its counts, with its capital Graswalde or Grenoble ; the county of Savoy, formerly divided from Alemannia by the river Aar, and, at a later period, by the Reuss, when Humbert the White-handed, count of Savo^, extended his domains, and rendered himself almost an independent sovereign during the reign of the weak Rudolf of Burgundy ;* further to the south, the county of Provence, with its capital Aries, whence the whole of Lower Burgundy received the name of the Arelat. Besides these were the archbishopric of Walsch-Leyden, (Lyons,) and the bishop- rics of Walsch- Aachen, (Aix,) Parantaise, Valence, Marseille, Avignon, Toulon, Chalons, Orense, Lausanne, Sion, etc. A campaign was carried on in the depth of winter by the em- peror, and notwithstanding, as Wippo relates, the horses' hoofs * There is an apparent connexion, since the treaty of Verdun, between the frontiers that separate Burgundy from Alemanuia, and the line traced by similarity of language. The Burgundians, at that period, had adopted the Italian tongue, whilst the Alemanni remained faithful to that of their fathers. This latter line (that distinguished by similarity of lan- guage) may, at the present day, be traced westward from Solothurn across the Jura to the Bieler lake, to Thiel and Broy, leaving Miirten, the eastern part of the city of Freiburg, Biirglen, Gifl'ers, Passelb, Jaun, Sauen, to the left, touches the frontiers lying between Berne and Valais, runs into the latter as far as Siders, keeping the valleys of Leuk-Turt- mann and of M alter to the left, and mounts the chain of the Rothhorn, that separates Lysthal from Val di Challant. Eastward of this line, the Alemannic and German tongues prevailed and are still in use, although Savoy for some time claimed the country of the Alemanni as far as the Reuss. Westward of this line the Burgundian-Italian still prevails, ex- cept in the villages to the south of Monte Rosa, whose inhabitants speak a peculiar German dialect, and are, without doubt, the only remaining descendants of the ancient Burgundians. Albert Schott. '2 B 2 372 CONRAD THE SECOND. were sometimes frozen into the ground, he laid the whole of Champagne waste. The Italians, discontented with the despotic rule of the emperor, sought to strengthen their cause by an alliance with the rebellious Odo, to whom Heribert, archbishop of Milan, offered the throne of Lombardy. A second expedition into Italy, on the part of the emperor, was the immediate result. During his absence, Odo again invaded Lower Lothringia, but was completely routed in the battle of Bar-le-Duc, by the duke Gottfried, (Gozilo,) A.. D. 1036. In Italy, the emperor had gained fresh adherents in the Valvasors,or lower nobility, who were grievously oppressed by the spiritual and temporal lords, and rose, sword in hand, [A. D. 1035,] to claim the privileges granted by the emperor Conrad to the German vassals at Aix-la-Chapelle. It chanced that Heribert, arch- bishop of Milan, the most tyrannical of the petty princes of Italy, who, up to the present period, had been the most zealous partisan of the emperor, counted for that reason on his pro- tection ; but Conrad, faithful to his system of supporting the lower nobility against the great vassals, threw him, contrary to his expectation, into prison. A. D. 1037, he gave the new feudal code to his Italian vassals, by which the estates of the petty vassals were rendered hereditary, the alienation of a fief by the feudal lord without the consent of the feoffee was for- bidden, and the right of being judged by their peers, and of an appeal to the emperor in disputes between them and their lieges, was secured to the petty vassals. The concession of these privileges to the German nobility explains their adher- rence to his cause, particularly in the affair between him and Duke Ernst. His successors, nevertheless, were ignorant of the art of forming the minor nobility into one great mass, and they, consequently, remained uninfluenced by any common bond, under the rule of the great vassals, who gradually re- gained the power over them of which they had been deprived by Conrad. The emperor lengthened his stay in Italy, in order to confirm his authority in that country. Parma rebel- led, and was, by his order, almost entirely demolished. His most active adherent was the Markgraf Bonifacius, who had wedded Beatrix, the daughter of Frederich of Lothringia. He entertained the emperor sumptuously at Marengo and CONRAD THE SECOND. 373 Vivinaja. Wine was drawn in buckets attached by silver chains from the fountains, etc. These festal scenes were in- terrupted by the breaking out of the plague, which carried off almost the whole of Conrad's army. Hermann of Swabia, Conrad, duke of Carinthia, the emperor's cousin, Cunihilda, 4ie bride of Henry, the youthful heir to the crown, were mong the victims [A. D. 1038]. The feuds carried on between the Grafs and the other great vassals in Burgundy now called the emperor into that coun- try. Reinhold, count of Franche Comte, who was at enmity \\ith him, was reduced to submission by Louis, count of Miimpelgart, the emperor's stanch adherent. The right of private warfare was upheld even more in France and Bur- gundy than in Germany, and the clergy alone possessed the power of checking the martial spirit that prevailed. An abbot of Clugny, at length, declared himself commissioned by Heaven to announce a universal and holy peace, which was to be kept weekly, from Wednesday evening until Monday morning, and again from Advent Sunday until the eighth day alter Epiphany, from Septuagesima until the eighth day after Easter, under pain of excommunication. During these inter- vals, feuds were thus strictly prohibited. The truth of this pretended mission was gladly recognised by both the tempo- ral and spiritual lords, first in France, A. D. 1027, in Bur- gundy, A. D. 1032, and on two separate occasions, in A. D. 1038 and 1041, by the emperor, by whom this holy and universal peace was passed into a law,* the benefit of which was ere long felt throughout Germany. Conrad expired at Utrecht, [A. D. 1039,] during the solemnization of the Whit- suntide festival. He was interred at Spires, where [A. D. 1030] he had laid the foundation-stone of the cathedral. His son and successor, Henry, accompanied the funeral procession, and, whilst passing through the town, assisted in bearing the coffin. * Conrad, nevertheless, unlike his predecessor Henry II., was no slave to the church. When the pope, without referring to him, as to his su- perior, raised the abbot of Reichenau to the episcopal dignity, he prohi- bited its acceptance, and caused the brief to be burnt. 374 HENRY THE THIRD. CXL. Henry the Third. EDUCATED by a father as intelligent as he was ener- getic and warlike, and by a mother whose noble intellect had been strengthened by misfortune, Henry early developed the qualities befitting a statesman and a soldier. The popes even were awed, and the power of the dukes completely re- duced, by this emperor, whose iron despotism surpassed that of any of his predecessors. * Had his life been lengthened, the ducal dignity, so greatly had he succeeded in depressing it, would probably have been entirely abolished. He allowed the ducal throne of Swabia to remain for some time unoccupied, and finally bestowed it on Otto, Markgraf of Schweinfurt, in Eastern Franconia, a man of an inert disposi- tion. The nomination of Welf, the son of Welf the elder, to the dukedom of Carinthia, conciliated the feudal animosity of that house. Welf died [A. D. 1055] without issue, and his family was continued, in default of heir male, by Welf, the son of his sister Cunigunda, who had espoused Azzo, an Italian Markgraf. The crown of Bavaria was presented by Henry to his wife, the empress Agnes. At that time Graf Berthold, a nephew of Radbot of Habsburg, distinguish- ing himself in the Breisgau, Henry promised him the rever- sion of the ducal crown of Swabia on the death of Otto. Bernhard of Saxony, although the only one who maintained his ancient independence, made himself respected by the emperor, who sought to diminish his power by creating a counterpoise to him in the neighbouring states, and accord- ingly made Thuringia independent, and nominated Louis the Bearded as her Landgraf. He also supported Adalbert, the talented archbishop of Bremen, who had twelve bishoprics under his jurisdiction, and, during his residence in Germany, always fixed his seat of government at Goslar, in the heart of Saxony, in order to keep that dukedom under his own eye. He also humbled the haughty and dreaded archbishop of Mayence, by giving precedence to the archbishop of Co- logne, when solemnizing the coronation of his youthful heir. The Bohemians were the first to rise in open warfare. * " Omnia 'Caesar erat," was the graphic expression of Godellus, the monkish historian of Limoges. HENRY THE THIRD. 375 Brzetislaw again attempted to regain his independence, in which he was supported by Severus, bishop of Prague. After a struggle that lasted for two years, he was finally reduced to submission, [A. D. 1042,] and compelled to swear fealty to the emperor on his bended knees at Ratisbon. His son Spignitew, on mounting the throne, immediately expelled all the Germans, even his own mother, Jutta, from Bohemia. In the following year, the discontented Burgundians rose in open insurrection, but were again subdued by Henry, who, by his marriage with Agnes of Poitou, [A. D. 1044,] who was closely connected with the most powerful of the Burgundian families, at once settled all differences. This was followed by disturbances in Hungary. Stephan the Holy, having died without issue, Gisela, his German queen, placed his nephew, Peter, on the throne. The crimes of this monarch, and the favour in which the Germans were held at court, gave rise to a popular tumult. Peter was de- posed, and Aba was elected king in his stead. A battle took place between him and the emperor at Menfew, A. D. 1044. The Germans had already been put to flight, when a storm of wind suddenly arose, and whirling the sand of the plain into the faces of the pursuing Hungarians, caused such confusion, that the Germans rallied and gained the victory. Peter was re- placed upon his throne at Stuhlweissenburg, and Aba was as- sassinated. The Hungarians again revolted on Henry's depar- ture, deprived Peter of sight, and raised Andreas to the throne. This induced a second expedition into Hungary on the part of the emperor, whose army was surrounded, when in a dan- gerous position, by the enemy, and, after suffering dreadfully from famine, was finally enabled, by the dexterity of his manoeuvres, to retreat across the frontier, with the loss of all the sick, whom he was compelled to abandon, and who were cut to pieces by the enraged peasantry. He returned [A. D. 1051] at the head of a more numerous army, and although he recognised Andreas as king of Hungary, compelled him to do him homage, and to accept the Bavarian constitution, by which Hungary was, as at the present day, divided into comitate or counties. The country between the Calenberg on the Danube, in the vicinity of Vienna, and the Leitha, was also permanently severed from Hungary, and united to the mere of Austria. 376 HENRY THE THIRD. The greatest confusion, caused, on the present occasion, by a schism or disunion of the church under several contemporary popes, reigned, meanwhile, in Italy. Benedict IX., who had given way to the most unbridled licence, was opposed by an anti-pope, Sylvester VII. Benedict, becoming enamoured of a beautiful girl of high birth, abdicated the pontifical chair, in the hope of obtaining her in marriage, but, being disappointed in his purpose, retook his dignity and remained pope, although he had sold his right to the triple crown to a third pope, Gregory VI. These three heads of the church reigned simultaneously in Rome ; Benedict in the Lateran, Gregory in the Vatican, and Sylvester in St. Maria Maggiore. In order to terminate this scandal, the emperor visited Rome, A. D. 1046, and held a great ecclesiastical convocation at Sutri, by which he caused the three popes to be deposed, and a German, Suidger of Meyendorf, bishop of Bamberg, to be placed in the pontifical chair, under the name of Clement II. All the imperial pre- rogatives, by the exercise of this right of election on the part of the emperor, received fresh confirmation. Henry after- wards visited Apulia, and extended the Norman fief, held by the twelve brave sons of Tancred, one of whom, named Drogo, who [A. D. 1039] had defeated a numerous body of Grecian troops, he created duke of Apulia. The revolt of the Lom- bards against the new rulers of Lower Italy was the imme- diate result, and Drogo was murdered. His brothers, Huni- frid and Guiscard, nevertheless, maintained their authority in Apulia, and Raimund, a descendant of the earlier Xorman settlers, was equally successful in Aversa. Henry returned to Germany with the three popes in his train. Their German successor, Clement II., died A. D. 1049, probably from poison, and another German, Poppo, bishop of Brixen, who was sent by the emperor to replace him as Pope Damasus II., did not survive his elevation to the pontifical chair three weeks. The emperor next elected one of his own relatives, Bruno of Dachsburg, bishop of Tull, as his success- or, who, under the name of Leo IX., distinguished himself by the force of his intellect, and by his comprehensive plans for the reformation of the church, in which he was zealously aid- ed by a young man named Hildebrand, the son of a black- smith of Siena, who had accompanied Gregory VI. to Ger- many, and whom the new pope, attracted by his high talents, HENRY THE THIRD. 377 had taken into his service. It has been asserted that Leo was merely a tool in the hands of this monk ; this could not be : the actions of Leo originated in himself, and instead of owing his fame to Hildebrand, the contrary was the fact, it was he who first raised Hildebrand from obscurity. The principal evil in the church, besides the irregular election of the popes in Rome herself, was the simony* carried on throughout the provinces. Each ecclesiastical dignity, from the highest to the lowest, had its price, and, consequently, fell into the most unworthy hands ; bribery and corruption every where pre- vailed. In order to put a 'stop to these evils, Leo, besides rendering them liable by law to the severest punishments, visited the different countries for the purpose of strictly and personally investigating the conduct of the clergy. The awe- struck French clergy yielded implicitly to his commands at a council convoked by him at Rheims. He met alone with op- position from his own countrymen at another held by him at Mayence ; and a year later, when he again hastened north- wards, in order to promote peace between the Hungarians, who had already embraced Christianity, and the Germans, he was mocked in the German camp. Was the emperor jealous of the interference of a pope on whose head he had himself placed the tiara ? Heavily was Germany destined to atone for her disrespect towards a German pope ! Not long after this Leo fell at variance with Robert Guiscard, on ac- count of his having laid the papal dominions waste ; seven hundred Swabians, the pope's body-guard, were slain at Cive- tella, and the pope quitted the burning city and gave himself up to the Normans, who fell weeping at his feet, A. D. 1053. This excellent pope expired in the following year. He was canonized by the church, and became the guardian saint of the city of Benevento. On his demise, Hildebrand hastened to Germany, in order to entreat the emperor to elect a suc- cessor. His choice fell upon Gebhard, Graf of Calw, bishop of Eichstadt, Pope Victor II., who, at a council held at Flo- rence, promised the world that he would continue the reform commenced by Leo. A petty war for the succession to the dukedom had, in the mean time, broken out in Lothringia. Dietrich, the son of * Simony, or the purchase of ecclesiastical benefices, so named in re- ference to Simon the magician, in the Acts of the Apostles, viii. 378 HENRY THE THIRD. Frederich, duke of Upper Lothringia, died without issue, A. D. 1043. The succession was claimed by Gottfried the Bearded, duke of Lower Lothringia, who, on the donation of the dukedom by the emperor to Adalbert, an Alsacian count, took up arms against him and slew him in battle. Gerhard, Adalbert's nephew, was upon this appointed to succeed him by the emperor, who defeated the contumacious duke, but, struck with admiration of the valour with which he had de- fended himself, pardoned his aggression, and sent him to Italy, to watch over his interests in that country. Gottfried's allies, Baldwin V. of Flanders, and Dietrich IV. of Holland, who were necessarily sacrificed by this arrangement, contrived to make head against the emperor during the summer months behind their morasses, but were speedily reduced to submis- sion on the setting in of winter, [A. D. 1048,] when the rivers and canals were frozen over. Baldwin, notwithstanding his having burnt down the imperial town of Nimwegen,* was freely pardoned, and permitted to hold Ghent, the Ottogau, CElsterland, Allost, Wars, and Southern Seeland, in fee of the empire. This country was henceforth distinguished as Impe- rial Flanders from the rest of Flanders, which was a French fief. The emperor hoped, by this clemency, to attach these powerful frontier Grafs to the empire, and to increase the dis- taste felt by the German Flemings towards their foreign rulers. His system was unfortunately unheeded by his suc- cessors on the imperial throne, by whom the Flemings were rarely supported against France. Dietrich of Holland fell [A. D. 1049] in a senseless and sanguinary feud with Cologne, | which proved equally fatal to Florens I., his brother and suc- cessor. It is remarkable to what an early date the disunion in the German Netherlands may be traced. * Dietrich, Graf of Cleve, surnamed the Flier on account of his extraordinary activity, on one occasion saved the emperor's life during this feud, and received in recompence, the city and revenue of Nim- wegen, on condition of paying an annual tribute of three pieces of scar- let cloth, each fifty ells in length, to the emperor. This tribute being discontinued by his successors, Frederich Barbarossa deprived them of both the city and its revenue. Knapp's History of Cleve. t This feud was occasioned by the death of a brother of the archbishop of Cologne, who was slain by Dietrich at a tournament. He also cut to pieces 400 of the Cologne nobility and their allies at Dordrecht, where he was himself slain by a poisoned arrow. Florens was murdered in his sleep during a night attack. HENRY THE THIRD. 379 Gottfried of Lower Lothringia, unmindful of the clemency with which he had been treated, proved faithless to his trust in Italy, where he joined the malcontents, and after wedding Beatrix, the widow of Bonifacius, made use of the influence and wealth bestowed upon her family by the emperor, against their common benefactor. Henry, consequently, recrossed the Alps, and after defeating the refractory duke, and taking Beatrix prisoner, returned with her to Germany, where his presence was again required by the renewed pretensions of Henry, king of France, upon Burgundy and Lothringia. His departure was instantly turned to advantage by Gottfried, and his son, Gottfried the younger, who regained their influence in Italy. During an interview between Henry and the French monarch at Ivois, A. D. 1056, the former threw down his glove in token of challenge : it was refused by the French king, who took refuge within his own dominions. Another and more dangerous enemy now attacked the em- pire. The Liutizii, notwithstanding the valiant defence made against them by Bernhard of Saxony, William of Brandenburg, the son of the elder Bernhard, and Gottschalk, the Christian prince of the Obotrites, succeeded in gaining the upper hand. William fell in a battle near Prizlawa. All the Christians taken prisoners on this occasion being drowned, the Saxon princes, in reprisal, compelled their Slavian prison- ers to throw themselves into the river.* During the same year Germany was visited by earthquakes, plague, and famine, the forerunners of a still worse evil, the death of the emperor, who fell sick and expired at Bothfeld, in the Harz mountains, in the vigour of life, A. D. 1056. He left the empire in the hands of the empress Agnes, and of his son Henry, a child five years of age. Thus the manage- ment of affairs that demanded the utmost energy and sagacity, devolved upon a woman and an infant. A number of monks, who devoted their lives and talents more to the promotion of learning and to the welfare of the state, than to upholding the hierarchical schemes of the pope, had been invited over by Henry from the British Isles, and had founded numerous Scotch monasteries, f Agnes, Hen- * Alle de se venghen, mosten sich sulven drenken. Old Saxon Chro- nicle. f The miracle performed by one of these Scottish saints is character- 380 HENRY THE THIRD. ry's learned empress, and his chancellor and historian Wippo, also greatly assisted him in carrying his plans for the reform- ation of the Romish priesthood into effect. Agnes was regent of the empire during her son's minority. She was a virtuous, pious woman, with a mind highly cultivated indeed, but totally deficient in the energy befitting hei % station, the possession of which would have rendered her the heroine, instead of the victim of her times. Gentleness, love, persua- sion, and the most disinterested sacrifice of herself, were the means by which she sought to rule the wild and daring spirits of the age. "Well aware of the impossibility of bearing despotic sway, like her deceased husband, over the distant and exten- sive provinces of the empire, without the intermediate aid of dukes, and moreover anxious to convert the enmity of those whose pretensions had been neglected into friendship, she raised one after the other, the bitterest enemies of her family, to the vacant ducal thrones. Another aim of her short-sight- ed policy was, by means of the dukes to keep the haughty archbishops in check. Rudolf, the insolent Graf of Rhein- felden, by whom her daughter Matilda had been violated, received not only pardon for his crime, but also Swabia and Burgundy in fee of the empire. The turbulent Swabian no- bles, ever at feud with one another, required a master. A Graf of Hohenzollern is at this period, A. D. 10o8, for the first time mentioned in history as an actor in one of these feuds. In order to satisfy the just pretensions of Graf Ber- thold, Agnes bestowed upon him the dukedom of Carinthia, and the county of Verona in Italy, A. D. 1060 ; besides which he possessed the Breisgau. His descendants received the surname of the Zahringer,* from Zehring, a province above istic of the reaction produced by the contrast of their temperance and sobriety with the luxurious habits of the Roman clergy. Marguard, the first abbot of the Scotch monastery at Wurzburg, is said to have changed the wine of the carousing clergy into water. * The legendary origin of the Zahringer is thus related in the ancient Freiburgian Chronicle. Their ancestor was a charcoal burner in the Black Forest, who, discovering by chance some silver in the earth with which he covered the smouldering wood, gradually collected an immense trea- sure. An emperor who had taken refuge on the Kaiserstuhl mountain in the Breisgau, fell into great distress, and promising to bestow his daughter's hand on the person who would come to his aid, the charcoal burner laid his ponderous riches at his feet, wedded the princess, was created duke, and built the castle of Zahringen and the city of Freiburg. ECCLESIASTICAL GOVERNMENT. 381 Judenburg. She also bestowed Bavaria on Otto, the brave Graf of Nordheiro, and restored Lothringia to the son of her hereditary enemy Gottfried, Gottfried the Hunchback, a no- ble-minded man, who was afterwards almost the only one who served the Salic family with fidelity. Besides Lothringia, he also possessed the extensive Tuscan margravate in right of his wife Matilda, the daughter of his own step-mother Beatrix. The Friedlanders again figure in history during this period. Bernhard of Saxony, and Adalbert, archbishop of Bremen, enraged at the insubordination of these brave peasants, who resisted their attempted imposition of a tax, marched at the head of a numerous army into their country, but were com- pletely put to the rout, and the camp of the nobles was sacked by the victors, A. D. 1060. Henry, the pious bishop of Augs- burg, and Guibert, the talented archbishop of Ravenna, were the empress's counsellors. The mildness of her government, however, did not shield her character from the imputations which the opponents to the imperial throne cast upon her and her counsellors in order to hasten their downfal. CXLI. Ecclesiastical Government of the Empire. VICTOR II. died A. D. 1057, and the Italians placed the tiara on the head of Stephen IX., the brother of Gottfried the Hunchback, who also expired in the following year. Their choice next fell upon Benedict X. This election caused deep displeasure to Hildebrand, who still continued his endeavours to raise the church to her former level by means of the em- pire. He therefore earnestly petitioned the empress to no- minate another pope, and Gerhard of Burgundy, bishop of Florence, was accordingly sent by her to fill the pontifical chair. This pope entered into Hildebrand's views for the aggran- dizement of the church. The time had arrived for the pope- dom to rise again from her impotent obscurity, and for the Maddened by prosperity, he longed for human flesh, and caused a boy to be killed and roasted. Whilst feasting on this unnatural food, he was seized with remorse, and, in atonement for his crime, erected the monas- teries of St. Ruprecht, and of St. Peter in the Black Forest. 382 ECCLESIASTICAL GOVERNMENT realization of the gigantic idea of universal ecclesiastical rule ; so intense was the devotional feeling of the times, that the church merely required an energetic head, and the empire a weak ruler, for the temporal power of the latter to pass into the hands of the former. This head appeared in the person of the monk Hildebrand, at a time when the imperial sceptre was swayed by a child. The character and virtues of Hilde- brand fitted him for the hero of the church and of his age. His irreproachable life and morals, his entire renunciation of all worldly pleasures, rendered him universally venerated. His mind, formed in monastic seclusion, was firm and strong, and, inspired by his deep devotional feelings, he cherished a lofty view of the destinies of the world. Early recommended to the notice of the great and powerful by the superiority of his talents, he was an adept in transacting worldly affairs, had been actively engaged in promoting the interests of the church, and, during his residence in Germany, had taken a just and comprehensive view of the state of Christendom. Worldly knowledge, pliability, and even dissimulation, unholy means for the attainment of a design, the offspring of a pure and lofty mind, were his chief characteristics, in common with the rest of his countrymen. His surpassing eloquence, another of his numerous gifts, did not equal in effect the indomitable sternness which empowered him singly to enter the lists against the whole world. Even during his life-time, his nu- merous enemies, created as much by the earnestness of his zealous endeavours as by the harshness with which circum- stances often compelled him to act, attempted to lower his fame ; and in later times, the despotic rule usurped by a church whose power was due to him, has caused him to be reproached as the originator of crimes which, in the purity of his zeal for the reformation of the church, and through her of the reform- ation and improvement of the universe, he could not have foreseen. His great work commenced under Nicolas II., whose ap- probation was the more readily secured, on account of its having originated with the German popes, and on account of the necessity of preserving peace and order, the continuation of which was at this period endangered by the minority of the emperor. Two men, his steady coadjutors, Petrus Da- miani, whose religious zeal and strict morality rendered him OF THE EMPIRE. 383 the idol of monks and devotees, and Lanfranc, the celebrated theologian, his equal in learning, must also not remain unno- ticed. Two important acts passed by a council at Rome, A. r>. 1059, were the first-fruits of Hildebrand's long-planned en- deavours. By the former, the election of the pope was declared for the future to be independent of the emperor, and to be solely dependent on the votes of the cardinals, or eccle- siastics of the highest rank, whose dignity arose from the number of chapters or canonships attached to their sees. By the latter, the pope was declared, like the emperor, lord paramount over the feudatories in his dominions, and the Normans were ac- cordingly solemnly declared feudatories of the pontifical chair, and freed from their allegiance to the ernperor. The inde- pendent spirit of Robert Guiscardof Apulia, and of his brother Roger of Sicily, caused them willingly to league with -the pope in freeing themselves from the shackles imposed upon them by the emperor. The Greeks, Arabs, and Lombards in Lower Italy, were also at that period reduced by them to submission. It is worthy of remark, that Nicolas carefully avoided any interference with heretics, in order not to be hin- dered in his more important operations for the aggrandize- ment of the church. Berengar, a canon of Tours, although compelled to abjure his heretical doctrine against transubstan- tiation, that is, against the belief that the wine and bread made use of in the sacrament was the real body and blood of Christ, was treated with great lenity. Nicolas II. died A. D. 1061. The election of Alexander II. by the cardinals roused Agnes to a sense of her infringed dignity, and declaring the election null and void without her consent, she caused Honorius II. to be elected pope by the German bishops at Basle. One of the most distinguished men of that period, was An- no, archbishop of Cologne, (a Graf of Pfullingen,) a man of an ambitious mind and stern temper, more fitted to bear the sceptre or the sword than the crosier. The precedence given to him by Henry III. over the haughty archbishop of May- ence, had only served to inflame his ambition, and unsatiated by the power he possessed, he even grasped at the regency of the empire. He has for that reason been unjustly accused of attempting to separate the German church from that of 384 ECCLESIASTICAL GOVERNMENT Rome ; the accordance of his views with those of Hildebrand clearly demonstrate the contrary. It is true that he filled several important bishoprics with his adherents. His brother Wezilo (Werner) was created archbishop of Magdeburg ; his grandson Cuno, (Conrad,) archbishop of Treves, and his other grandson, Bucro, (Burkhard,) bishop of Halberstadt. The adherence of these prelates, however, merely contributed to his temporal power. His principal object, the only one worthy of his powers, but for the attainment of which he had recourse to ignoble and barbarous means, was to snatch the helm from the powerless hand of the weak woman who guided the state. The life of the youthful emperor had been already attempted. Otto, the brother of William of Branden- burg, had been passed over in the succession, and Udo, Graf of Stade, had been created Markgraf in his stead. An insur- rection ensued. Numbers of the Saxons, to whom Henry III. had made himself obnoxious, entered into a conspiracy with Otto, whom they intended to raise to the throne, against the emperor's life. A duel that took place between Otto and Ekbert, Graf of Brunswick, a zealous partisan of the imperial family, in which both combatants fell, crushed the hopes of the Saxon conspirators, A. D. 1057. Anno pursued a safer and more certain plan. He hated Agnes and the bishop of Augsburg, and viewed her government with contempt. His project of ruling the empire in the name of the youthful mon- arch was shared by Otto of Nordheim, the greatest general, and by Ekbert, Markgraf of Meissen, the most valiant knight of the age, who were moreover by their Saxon blood the here- ditary foes of the reigning dynasty. These three men formed a plot to gain possession of the person of the emperor. The empress and her son were invited by them to pass the Easter festival at Kaiserswerth, A. D. 1062. After the banquet, under pretence of showing the child a fine boat, he was taken to the Rhine, put on 'board a vessel, and taken away. The courageous boy no sooner perceived the intention of his con- ductors to separate him from his mother, than he sprang into the water, but was instantly followed by Ekbert, who over- took and bore him back to the vessel. The entreaties of the unfortunate empress for the restoration of her child were un- heeded by the treacherous vassals, who, although pursued for some distance on both sides of the river by the country people, OF THE EMPIRE. 385 succeeded in reaching Cologne with their prisoner. The broken-hearted mother resigned the regency and retired to an Italian convent. Her counsellor, Henry, bishop of Augsburg, was tortured to death.* In order to place his undertaking under more favourable colours, Anno caused a decree to be passed by the assembled vassals of the empire, empowering the bishop within whose diocese the young emperor resided, to act as regent of the state ; a title he instantly assumed on account of the enforced resi- dence of his prisoner at Cologne. He caused him to be strictly educated, compelling him to learn Latin like a chorister, and to undergo the severest discipline. The dispute between Honorius II. and Alexander II. called Anno, as regent of the empire, into Italy ; in this character he, at first, strongly opposed Hildebrand, but the interests of the church ere long reconciled their differences ; Anno also rejected the pope nominated by the empress, lent his counte- nance to the one elected by the cardinals, and Alexander re- tained the tiara. During the absence of Anno, Henry had fallen into other hands, and the ambitious primate of Cologne, at a later period, merely guided the affairs of state at two short and different times. The city of Cologne, meanwhile, fully occupied hi.s attention. In 1063, or, according to other accounts, later, a violent feud sprang up between him and the merchants, afford- ing an example of the struggle between rival interests, which speedily broke out in several other episcopal cities. Anno'.s servants insolently took possession of a merchantman that lay close in shore, heavily laden, and after lightening it of its cargo, laid an embargo upon it as a pleasure-boat for the arch- bishop. The son of the merchant to whom the vessel belong- ed hastened with his men to the spot, and compelled the archbishop's servants to retire. Anno ordered peace to be preserved, but harshly refused to pass judgment on the of- fenders ; the people of Cologne, well aware of his despotic temper, resolved to oppose violence by violence, and rising en masse, stormed the episcopal palace, which they utterly de- stroyed, and laid siege to the church of St. Peter, within whose walls the archbishop had taken refuge. Anno escaped by night, assembled a numerous army, and shortly appeared * Coleis ligneo palo pcrtusis. 2 c 386 ECCLESIASTICAL GOVERNMENT before the gates of Cologne. The citizens, already struck with remorse for their daring, and unable to contend on equal terms with their old master, now sued for mercy, and Anno, who, with his customary sternness, reserved judgment for him- self, was permitted to enter the town. The merchants justly fearing his anger, six hundred of their number left the city during the night, carrying with them all their moveable goods. The son of the merchant whose opposition to his tyranny had given rise to the tumult, fell into the hands of the arch- bishop, who caused him and his adherents to be deprived of sight. Anno greatly improved the city of Cologne, and adorned it with churches. He was canonized after his death, and a song in his praise, one of the best examples of the versification of the middle ages, is still extant : the extreme tenderness and pathos of this poem strikingly contrast with the real character of its hero, whose stern inflexibility seems to have imparted a similar character to Cologne, perceptible even in her glorious attempt for the reformation of the church. During the absence of Anno in Italy, Henry had fallen into the hands of Adalbert, archbishop of Bremen, Anno's rival for the regency, to which the favour with which he had been be- held by Henry III., and the decree passed by Anno, furnished him with a title ; independently of this, he regarded himself as the most polished and learned man of the times, as the only one capable of ruling the empire and of rearing the monarch. A lineal descendant of the noble house of Wettin of Slavonia, handsome and dignified in person, learned and witty, he re- garded the gloomy sternness of Anno and the coarse manners of the nobles with the contempt natural to a man of refined taste and high birth, and by the gentleness of his treatment, ere long caused the youthful monarch to rejoice at his good fortune in having fallen into his custody. Henry was, how- ever, entirely corrupted by his new guardian. The sudden change from the severity with which he had been treated by Anno, to the unlimited liberty he enjoyed under Adalbert's roof, was of itself pernicious. The gravity and study to which he had been inured were now suddenly exchanged for the thoughtless gaiety of a licentious court, where affairs of state were treated as lightly as a jest. The most unbridled simony was practised by the archbishop, who thus sought to fill the OF THE EMPIRE. 387 most important benefices with his partisans, and by means of a new toy, or the caresses of beautiful courtesans,* or a fresh amusement, the invention of the ready brain of his favourite, the handsome Graf Werner, he easily obtained the letters, signatures, and donations requisite for the success of his plans. The worst result of the influence gained by Adalbert over the mind of the young monarch, was the contempt with which he studiously inspired him for the dukes, and more especially for the stupid German people, to whom Adalbert imagined him- self to be so superior, as well as a dislike of the Saxons, which he only too speedily imbibed. During the reign of Henry III. the Saxons and the archbishop had been at feud, and it was therefore of consequence to him to have the monarch on his side, and Henry thus unwittingly acquired an antipathy as unbecoming to him when emperor, as it in the sequel proved dangerous. In 1063, Henry accompanied Adalbert in a campaign against Hungary, where Bela, after rebelling against and assassinat- ing Andreas, had expelled his son Salomo, the affianced bridegroom of Jutta, the emperor's sister. Adalbert restored Salomo to the Hungarian throne, on condition of his holding it in fee of the empire, and bestowed upon him the hand of Henry's sister. Hildebrand's anger was greatly roused by this proceeding ; Hungary, according to him, being a papal fief. During the same year, Henry beheld at Goslar the struggle for precedence in church during divine service, be- tween the bishop of Hildesheim and the abbot of Fulda, on which occasion several men lost their lives, so lawless were, at that period, the manners of the clergy, who were equally unchecked by both Adalbert and Anno, the former of whom cherished an ambitious hope of elevating the see of Bremen to the patriarchate of the North, and, in the name of the emperor, of rendering the temporal lords submissive to his authority, an attempt which drew upon him universal hatred. In 1065, Henry was solemnly declared capable of bearing arms. Scarcely was his sword girded on than he drew it jestingly upon Anno, who was present ; an action at once in- dicative of dislike and levity. * Among whom were abbesses and nuns of high birth. 2 c 2 388 HENRY THE FOURTH. CXLII. Henry the Fourth. HENRY IV., ever accompanied by Adalbert and Werner, held his imperial court with his habitual splendour near Gos- lar, at the Harzburg. The Saxons were treated with the ut- most scorn. The country people in the vicinity were oppressed with taxes and enforced labour, and the dislike with which the Saxons were viewed by the monarch, ere long became as unbearable to them as his licentious habits, which were, with reason, a scandal and a shame to the whole empire. His mis- tresses were seen in public adorned with gold and precious stones, taken from the consecrated vessels of the churches, etc. The jealousy with which the vassals of the empire be- held Adalbert was, nevertheless, the chief motive of the con- spiracy. Anno again suddenly intermeddled with state affairs, and convoking a general assembly at Tribur, cited Henry to appear before it. On his refusal, the conspirators surrounded the palace, and seized his person ; Adalbert narrowly escaped being taken prisoner, and remained for three years in conceal- ment, whilst the Saxons laid his lands waste. Werner was slain. The courtiers were dispersed, and Henry was com- pelled to abjure his mode of life, and to wed Bertha, the daughter of the Italian Markgraf of Susa, to whom he had, some time earlier, been affianced ; a noble-spirited woman, who alone wanted beauty in order easily to supplant the mis- tresses of the young emperor, who returned with her in ex- treme displeasure to Goslar, A. D. 1066. Anno was again at the head of affairs, but the whole em- pire still presented a scene of anarchy ; the temporal and spi- ritual lords disputed the possession of feudal territories, and offices of church and state. Cuno, archbishop of Treves, who owed his elevation to the intrigues of Anno, was precipitated down a mountain by the enraged citizens. The dissensions that prevailed throughout the empire, and the freebooting ex- peditions of the Saxon chiefs into the archbishopric of Bre- men, induced a fresh insurrection among the northern Slavi, and the heathen party, headed by Plasso, Gottschalk's brother- in-law, extirpated Christianity. The vain attempts of Ordulf, the son of Bernharcl, and, after his death, those of his son Magnus, to oppose the inroads of the Slavi, merely added to HENRY THE FOURTH. . 389 the misery of the Saxons, and imbittered their hatred of their inactive and licentious emperor. Hamburg and Mecklenburg were destroyed by the pagans, who sacrificed John, bishop of Mecklenburg, to their deities, stoned St. Ansverus, the abbot of Ratzeburg, and twenty-eight monks, to death, assassinated the noble Gottschalk at Lenzen, at the foot of the altar, and turned his Danish wife out naked. Plusso was murdered by his own followers, [A. D. 1066,] but Cruco, princfe of the Ru- gii, who succeeded him in his dominions, attained to consider- able power, being entirely unmolested by the Saxons, whose attention was fully occupied by their contests with the em- peror. In this year important changes took place in the North. Canute the Great, king of Denmark, Norway, and England, had espoused Emma, the princess of Normandy, the widow of Ethelred and mother of Edmund Ironside, the last of the Anglo-Saxon dynasty. She became the mother of Hardica- nute, who, on the death of Canute, [A. D. 1036,] succeeded to the thrones of Denmark and Norway ; Harold Harefoot, the son of Canute by a former marriage, inheriting that of Britain. On the death of these princes, [A. D. 1041,] a general revolution took place, and Denmark alone remained in the possession of a nephew of Canute the Great, Suen Estridsen, whose daugh- ter, Siritha, wedded Gottschalk, the pious prince of the Obo- trites. Harald Haardrade, (the Hard,) a half-brother of Mag- nus the Good, was raised to the throne of Norway. The youth of this soldier of fortune had been spent in search of adven- ture ; he had commanded the Warin^eS_jit_Cpjist^Jino|)le i had served with great gallantry against the Turks and the Ser- vii, had refused the hand of Zoe, the Greek empress, for which he had been thrown into prison, whence he escaped, married Elisifa, the daughter of Jaroslaw, the Russian czar, and finally returned to the North, to mount the throne of Norway, where his brother Magnus had already made terms with Hardicanute. The throne of England was occupied by Edward the Con- fessor, a son of Ethelred and of Emma, who was, consequently, half-brother to Hardicanute, whose birth excited in his breast such unnatural hatred towards his mother, that he openly accused her of having a bishop for her paramour, and con- demned her to undergo the ordeal by fire. She was accordingly compelled to pass over nine red-hot ploughshares. Edward 390 HENRY THE FOURTH. was childless. His brother, Edmund Ironside, had left two sons, who had been sent by Canute into Denmark, whence they had escaped to Hungary, where they had been kindly received by the king, Salomo. One of these sons, Edward, had several children born to him in Hungary, among whom was Edgar Atheling, the last scion of the ancient Anglo-Saxon dynasty. Edgar was invited by his great-uncle, Edward the Confessor, to England, but proving incapable of governing, Harold, the sou of Goodwin, a powerful Anglo-Saxon noble, was raised to the throne, and Edgar, on the death of Edward the Confessor, sought the protection of William, duke of Normandy, his ma- ternal relative. Harold Haardrade, of Norway, meanwhile took advantage of the disturbances in England, to attempt the conquest of that country. Toste, the brother of Harold the Saxon, had, through envy of his brother's accession to the crown, joined Harold Haardrade, who landed in England at the head of a powerful army, and a bloody engagement took place between him and the English near Stamford,* in which both Harold Haardrade and Toste were slain, and the Nor- wegian army was almost annihilated. The losses of the Eng- lish were also so considerable in this engagement, that Wil- liam of Normandy took advantage of their weakness to make a descent upon England under pretext of reinstating Edgar, but, in reality, with the intention of taking possession of the country for himself. The independent spirit of the Anglo-Saxon clergy had been long beheld with uneasiness by the pope, who, in the hope of increasing his influence in England, greatly favoured the Norman expedition. The emperor also permitted the duke to raise soldiers within his states, and crowds of Germans flocked beneath his standard. He also promised to make an inroad into France, in the event of an attack upon Normandy during the absence of her duke, by the king of that country, whom William greatly feared. Thus arose the first treaty between England and Germany against France. William sailed for England at the head of a gallant and numerous army, and * The Norwegians, who consisted entirely of foot-soldiers, formed into a phalanx on landing from their ships, and with their shields presented an impenetrable front to the attacks of the Saxon horse, who being put to flight, the Norwegians set off in pursuit, and breaking their serried ranks, became an easy prey to the English, who turned and cut them to pieces. HENRY THE FOURTH. 391 was opposed by Harold with more courage than prudence. The celebrated battle of Hastings, A. D. 1066, in which Ha- rold, after an obstinate struggle, was defeated and slain, de- cided the fate of England. William, with a perfidy equalling that of Harold, consigned the claims of Edgar to oblivion, placed the English crown on his own head, and, after either expelling or assassinating the Anglo-Saxon nobility, replaced them by those among his own followers who had distinguished themselves in the field, among whom were adventurers from almost every nation in Europe.* The feudal system, intro- duced by William the Conqueror and his new nobility, re- placed the ancient Anglo-Saxon Germanic commonwealth ; the Anglo-Saxon language also became intermixed with nu- merous French words, which the Normans had learnt from their neighbours. The imbecile Edgar did homage in person to the new sove- reign. His sister, Margaret, acted with greater spirit, and, with a vast number of followers, emigrated into Scotland, where she was well received by the king, Malcolm, the son of Dun- can, who was murdered by Macbeth. Malcolm made her his queen, and the Saxon tongue and customs introduced by her followers were partially adopted by the wild and hardy Scots. Margaret was canonized. Her daughter, Matilda, wedded the son of her enemy, Henry I. of England, and from her descends, in an unbroken line on the female side, the present queen of England, whilst from Margaret, upwards, the race of the ancient Anglo-Saxon kings is, by the old chroniclers, carried as far back as Odin. Whilst the North was thus convulsed, the imperial court presented a continued scene of petty dissension. The em- peror, still influenced by the prejudices of his youth, was alternately swayed by conflicting passions, but at length, not- withstanding the opposition of Anno and Bertha, recalled Adalbert to court, A. D. 1069. The fidelity and patience of * Numbers of the Flemings accompanied "William of Normandy to England; Gilbert of Ghent, a near relation of Balduin, Graf of Flanders, was endowed with the Barony of Gaunt, so named after him, and of Folkingham, Walter Bee le Flamand, Lord of Eresby, Drogo de Beverer, Lord of Holderness, Cheebodle Flamand, created Earl of Ches- ter, who fell in battle and left no issue, Walcher, Earl of Northumber- land, who was murdered by the people, and many others mentioned by Gautrel in his Nouvelles Archives Historiques. 392 HENRY THE FOURTH. the wretched empress merely contributed to increase the dis- like manifested towards her by her husband, and to strengthen his resolution to free himself from the tie that bound him to her. Siegfried, archbishop of Mayence, offered to assist him in procuring a divorce, on condition of receiving in return the tithes of Thuringia, to which he had laid claim, and which had been hitherto steadily refused by the Thuringians ; and Henry made a public declaration at a diet held at Worms, of his unconquerable aversion to his unoffending wife, from whom he demanded a separation on the plea of the marriage having remained unconsummated. His plan being frustrated by the arrival of Damiani, the pope's legate, in Germany, whose elo- quence even impressed his versatile mind, he attempted to gain his end by still more unjustifiable means, by exposing Bertha to the seductions of his courtiers. He caused the most beautiful women and maidens to be carried from their homes, and imprisoned within his palace, whilst he surrounded the empress with the companions of his profligacy, to the hand- somest of whom he promised large sums of money, if successful in insnaring Bertha, who, nevertheless, escaped their wiles, and a chronicler of the times relates, that she and her maidens on one occasion, when the emperor and his wicked companion were listening to their conversation in the dusk of the evening, suddenly attacked and beat them with rods ; an incident that seems to have instantly given her a place in Henry's affection, and which is far from improbable, for, de- spite his deep depravity, his heart was made of far too soft materials not to be eventually touched by her invincible fide- lity. Bertha bore him several children, and shared his sub- sequent misfortunes. Henry belonged to that class of men whom sanguine, lively, generous dispositions render truly amiable, when uninfluenced by misguided passion, but who, unfitted by nature, are ever unsuccessful when required to govern themselves or others. The actions of such men, dependent upon the impulse or ca- price of the moment, must necessarily be indifferently good or bad. Impatient of calm thought, or cool judgment, their impetuous nature renders them incapable of follow- ing the dictates of their reason or of their conscience. Dis- positions of this kind are rarely understood, and are usually attributed to want of character, and yet those who at one mo- HENRY THE FOURTH. 393 ment condemn them for the crimes induced by the abuse of their weaknesses, are, in the next, struck with admiration at traits of the most extraordinary magnanimity, if not of real he- roism ; royal qualities, indeed, but still unfit for the throne, where justice and equanimity should reign, and where the sudden change in the sovereign from good to bad, and vice versa, is more to be feared than if he remained true to his vices. That the character of Henry IV. was a compound of sensuality, insolence, levity, choler, malice, revenge, treachery, and mean cowardice, strangely intermingled with real piety, generosity, the most devoted affection, the noblest sympathy, bold resolve, and heroic bravery, may be clearly traced, when the insolence of fortune, total abandonment in misfortune, the wickedness or the success of his enemies, roused his evil pas- sions, or when, swayed by remorse for his own crimes, by the consciousness of possessing nobler and better qualities, by compassion for the sufferings of his enemies, or of those whom he had ill-treated, and by the fidelity of his friends, he sud- denly inclined to virtue. The dangerous and extreme severity with which he treated the dukes appears to have arisen more from his youthful propensity, the love of displaying his power, than from the lessons of Adalbert, or his father's example ; and this was evidently strengthened by a desire of avenging his abduction from Kaiserswerth and his imprisonment at Tribur, which, as a monarch, and in the consciousness of his guilt, he ought to have consigned to oblivion. Urged by his hatred of the Saxons, he treated the Duke Magnus and the Margraves, as well as the bishops who adhered to Anno's party, with the greatest scorn, imposed heavy taxes on the people, encouraged the Wendi in their attacks upon the country, as thereby doing him service, entered into a secret alliance with the Danes under pretence of securing himself against an inroad of the Saxons, and continually threatened to render Thuringia de- pendent on the archbishopric of Mayence. The Saxons, impa- tient of being thus treated like a conquered nation, rested their hopes upon Otto of Nordheim, duke of Bavaria, who was sud- denly accused, by a man named Egino, of havmg hired him to assassinate Henry, whose knavery at that time was so well known as to induce a suspicion of his having himself fabricated the plot. The matter was adjudged to be decided by single 394 HENRY THE FOURTH. combat, but Otto, justly fearing treachery, absented himself, upon which Henry declared him guilty, placed him out of the ban of the empire, and taking possession of his dukedom of Bavaria, gave it in fee to the Welf. This Welf, who had been educated in Italy, and was a master in Italian wiles, was the most ignoble of the princes of those times, and proved as great a scandal to Henry's choice as he was ungrateful to him for his favours. With genuine cowardice, ever joining the stronger party, he had the meanness to send back his bride, the daughter of Otto, in disgrace to her father, who went into Saxony, and confederating with Magnus, raised a rebellion. Both were, however, under pretext of arranging terms of peace, seized, and Magnus was thrown into prison. Otto was allowed to remain at liberty by the emperor, either from a feeling of the injustice with which he had treated him, or from a political motive. The death of Adalbert, which, fortunately for the empire, took place during this year, once more threw the reins of go- vernment for a short period into the hands of Anno. Henry, imboldened by his late success, now attempted to reduce the rest of the dukes to submission. His first attack was made upon the weakest, Berthold, whom he deprived of the duke- dom of Carinthia, in order to bestow it upon Ludolf, the son of the former duke. Rudolf of Swabia was protected from a similar fate by his superior power, and by his being doubly and closely connected with the emperor by his marriage with Matilda, after whose death he had espoused the sister of Ber- tha ; Agnes, who had purposely quitted Italy for Germany, was enabled to bring about a reconciliation between the con- tending relations. Great disturbances also broke out in Flanders. The count, Balduin VI., died in 1071, leaving his widow, Richilda, with two infant sons, Arnulf and Balduin. Richilda governed in the name of the former, but, rendering herself hated by her tyranny, she was abandoned by her subjects, who transferred their allegiance to Robert the Friscian, her husband's brother. Richilda now implored the aid of her feudal liege, Philip I. of France, who accordingly entered Flanders at the head of a numerous army, but was completely routed at Castel (Casselj by Robert, who was backed by the whole of the German po- pulation. Richilda was taken prisoner, and her unfortunate son was put to death. Robert, whilst too hotly pursuing the HENRY THE FOURTH. 395 retreating French, falling into their hands, Gottfried, bishop of Paris, intervened between the contending parties, and peace was concluded. Robert was restored to liberty, and received the ducal crown of Flanders. Richilda was also set at liberty, and Hennegau was bestowed upon her second son, Balduin, A. D. 1072. A second attempt on her part to regain possession of Flanders proved abortive, and her party suffered a bloody defeat at Brogneroy. Henry, meanwhile, excited the hatred of the Saxons by his insolence and tyranny. The country was kept in awe by the strongly fortified Harzburg, and by numerous minor fortresses, garrisoned with Franks and Swabians, who were supported by the pillage of the neighbouring villages. A synod, held by the emperor at Erfurt, in which he imposed the tithes de- manded by the archbishop of Mayence on Thuringia, effec- tually imbittered the minds of the Saxon bishops against him, and [A. D. 1073] a conspiracy, planned by Otto of Nordheim, was entered into by the Saxons. The chiefs in this conspiracy were, Graf Hermann, the brother of the captive Duke Magnus, Udo von Stade, Margrave of Brandenburg, Egbert, Margrave of Meissen, and Dedo, Margrave of the Lausitz, the two sons of the Ekbert who had formerly seized the person of the monarch, Louis, Landgrave of Thuringia, the son of Louis the Bearded, Frederick, the Pfalzgrave of Saxony, the Grafs of Holstein, Wai- deck, Suplinburg, and numerous others. Among the spiritual lords were, Wezilo, of Magdeburg, Bucco, of Halberstadt, whose pursuits were rather those of a warrior than of a bishop, Anno's nephew, and Henry's most violent opponent, and Ben- no of Meissen, a peaceful missionary, a planter of the fruit- tree and the vine,* besides all the other Saxon bishops, with the exception of those of Bremen, Zeiz, and Osnabriick, who sided with the emperor, and were consequently expelled from the country. Adela, the wife of the Margrave Dedo, an am- bitious and rancorous woman, was also ceaseless in her en- deavours to incite the Saxons, whose complaints against their emperor, although just in the outset, were purposely exag- gerated. The object of the conspiracy of the princes, instead of be- * He first introduced the vine into Thuringia. He was also a patron of music, and the author of the melody, " Ein Kindelein so lobelich." See Ease's Palaologus. 396 HENRY THE FOURTH. ing the relief of the people, merely aimed at securing their own independence, a project that was, however, defeated by the reciprocal jealousy between the rulers of Northern and Southern Germany. The Saxon league at first laid its com- plaints before Henry at Goslar, in the form of a petition for redress, and the noble-spirited Otto of Nordheim offered to be imprisoned in the place of his brother Magnus, on condition of his being restored to his dukedom. The deputation, after being allowed to remain during a whole day in the ante-room, was at length scornfully dismissed by Henry. The Saxons, provoked to violence by this conduct, were still more excited by Otto of Nordheim, who loudly called upon them to revenge the insult, and suddenly assembling to the number of sixty thousand, they besieged the emperor in the Harzburg. Over- come by fear, Henry sought safety by secret flight, in which he was assisted by Berthold of Zahringen, who accidentally happened to be present. The Harzburg was taken by the Saxons, who, nevertheless, did not venture to destroy it ; several other forts also fell into their hands ; the rest were gallantly defended by the imperial garrisons. Magnus was set at liberty in exchange for seventy Swabians, who were cap- tured in a fort by his brother Hermann ; a circumstance that gave rise to the Saxon proverb, " One Saxon is worth seventy Swabians." Henry fled to Hersfield, where, finding the Upper Ger- mansj whom he had shortly before summoned for the pur- pose of invading Poland, assembled, he resolved to make head with them against the Saxons, and called a meeting at Gerstungen. in which, although the Upper German princes declared their unwillingness to enter into a contest with Saxony, the Saxon party attempted to work upon the pas- sions of Rudolf of Swabia, by means of a person named Re- gingar, whom they caused to make the false assertion of his having been hired by the emperor to assassinate him. Ulric of Cosheim, Henry's true and valiant adherent, challenged the accuser to single combat, which never took place, Regingar being deprived of his senses before the day appointed for the trial. The princes, meanwhile, withdrew their allegiance from Henry, who, seeing himself universally abandoned, took refuge in Worms, where the brave citizens, jealous of their new privileges, had, at that period, just followed the example HEXRY THE FOURTH. 397 of their Cologne neighbours, by expelling from their city Adal- bero, their bishop, a man of inordinate corpulence. The em- peror was received with every demonstration of delight, the cities, as well as the free peasantry, supporting him against the pretensions of the princes and minor nobility ; and had Henry understood how to make use of the means thus voluntarily put into his power, the victory would have easily been his : but ignorant of the strength of his new adherents, and influenced by an undue fear of that of the dukes, his cowardly behaviour ere long cooled the zeal of the citizens. He again suddenly appeared in the assembly of the Upper German princes at Oppenheim, and throwing himself at their feet, at length drew from them a lukewarm promise of assistance against the Saxons. His troops, however, refusing to attack the enemy on the Werra, he was compelled to sign a treaty of peace at Goslar, in which he granted all the demands of the Saxons. The tithes were abolished ; every fortress, even that of the Harz, which Henry vainly entreated might be spared, was razed to the ground. The Saxons had even the barbarity to drag the remains of a brother and of a son of the emperor from the grave, in order to bestow upon them every mark of in- dignity [A. D. 1073] ; an act of sacrilege, so revolting to the feelings of the times, that every prince of the empire, those of the Rhine country, and of Upper Germany, nay, even the Bohemians, joined in a crusade against them, and Henry quickly found himself at the head of an immense army. The contempt with which the Saxons treated their brother nations, and the petty hatred that had ever subsisted between the Upper and Lower Germans, greatly contributed to the universal exasperation. The Saxons, fearing the event, offered to yield to any terms, even to the reconstruction of the Harzburg ; but Henry, inspirited by revenge, had sworn their ruin, and suddenly attacked them near Langensalza, on the Unstrutt. A bloody battle ensued, which was decided by the valour of the Swabians, under Rudolf. The Saxon nobles turned their horses and fled ; the infantry, deprived of every means of escape, were cut down by thousands, and thus, whilst the Saxon peasants alone suffered, numbers of the nobility in the impe- rial army fell on this occasion ; among others, Ernst, of Ba- benberg, Margrave of Austria. The ancient privilege of the Swabians to head the imperial army was again confirmed to them on the field of battle. 398 GREGORY THE SEVENTH. Rudolf, "Welf, and Berthold, after this, fearing the rising power of the emperor, withdrew ; but notwithstanding the consequent diminution of his forces, Henry succeeded in re- ducing the Saxons (who had become a prey to internal dis- sension, the peasantry being unable to forget the late dastardly conduct of the nobility, and who were, moreover, threatened by the Danes and Wends) to submission, A. D. 1076. They laid down their arms at Spira, in Thuringia ; all the princes gave themselves up, and were thrown into prison, with the excep- tion of Otto of Nordheim, who, although Henry's bitterest enemy, had ever been viewed by him with more admiration than dislike. He was nominated duke of Saxony. CXLIH. Gregory the Seventh. ALEXANDER II. died, A. D. 1073, and Hildebrand, now ad- vanced in years, deemed it necessary, for the success of his plans, to place the tiara on his own brows, under the name of Gregory VII. The Saxon war favoured his projects. At first he sought to gain Henry's friendship, and Agnes offered to use her influence in his favour, but he quickly perceived how little dependence could be placed on the caprices of that monarch, and resolved to act in future for himself alone. This pope evinced the most extraordinary degree of acti- vity. Although unsuccessful in Germany, he rendered the papal authority respected throughout Spain, France, and Hungary. He then proceeded to carry out his favourite pro- jects for the reformation of the church, by punishing simony, encouraging morality, and depriving the laity of the right of interference in spiritual matters. For this purpose he pub- lished two edicts, which will ever be memorable on account of their influence, not only on the ensuing century, but also on our own times. His next step was to decree the celibacy of all the clergy. Up to this period, A. D. 1074, the monks alone had practised celibacy, the bishops and priests having wives and children. Piety, and the renunciation of worldly joys, had arrived at such a pitch of enthusiasm, that chastity seemed to have be- come a necessary quality in a priest, more especially since the introduction of the worship of the Madonna, whose supposed eternal virginity presented an idea of purity and sanctity, GREGORY THE SEVENTH. 399 which swayed Christian minds the more powerfully on ac- count of the contrast it presented to the tenets of the Ma- hommedan religion, founded alone on licence and sensual gratification. The sufferings of Christ and those of the martyrs were eternally cited, as proofs that the highest aim of the Christian was, to suffer and to practise self-denial ; the priests were, consequently, expected to set the first and highest example. They were (during their earthly pilgrimage) to personate the saints and the holy angels. By this means Gregory also hoped to strengthen the unity of the church. As long as the bishops were allowed to marry, their families took hereditary possession of the bishoprics, and sought, like the nobility, to render themselves alike independent of both pope and emperor. Celibacy at once controlled the ambition of the clergy, and dissolving every tie between them, their country, and their kindred, rendered them the servants of the pope and of the church, and formed them into a class distinct from the rest of mankind ; but Gregory falsely reckoned when founding this great institution. He expected too much from human nature. Celibacy is at variance with laws both human and divine, and nature vindicated herself by broken vows, hypocrisy, and dark and secret crimes. The priests, particularly those in Germany, strongly opposed this decree, and when Siegfried of Mayence proposed the measure in an assembly of the German bishops at Erfurt, it was opposed with such violence that his life was in danger. Altmann. bishop of Passau, Gregory's most zealous partisan, was ex- pelled by his own chapter.* Gregory upon this raised a popular feeling against the uxorious clergy, by placing them under excommunication, and by forbidding the people to at- tend mass. His policy proved successful. It was in vain that Otto, bishop of Constance, andUlrich, of Ratisbon, justi- fied the marriage of the clergy, by the citation of passages from the Epistles of St. Paul, and from other parts of the Bible ; it was in vain that they appealed to the laws of nature ; the priest, in the opinion of the people, was to be as free from earthly taint as an angel of light ; and natural affection * Gregory rewarded him by placing his own mitre on his head, at Rome. Altmann built the monastery of Gottweich, afterwards celebrated for the erudition of the monks, on a lofty rock, as a sign that God is higher than all the potentates of earth. 400 GREGORY THE SEVENTH. was denounced by them as a culpable and sensual weakness. The German clergy were, before long, compelled to obey the decree of their superior. A second decree of equal importance followed. The pope forbade the election of the bishops by the laity, and by thus rendering the possession of benefices no longer dependent on the caprice of the monarch and his courtiers, effectually pre- vented simony. This decree further declared the church in- dependent of the state, and the extensive lands, which, up to this period, had been held as feofs of the crown through the monarch's right of election, the property of the church. The clergy alone were invested with the power of electing the bishops, who were confirmed by the pope, the temporal sove- reign being without a voice in the matter. Gregory also confirmed without delay the interdiction for- merly pronounced against the doctrines of Rantram and of Berengar, of Tours, and laid down as an eternal truth, that the body and blood of Christ were really present in the sacra- mental bread and wine, and that the priest alone, in fact, every priest indifferently, whether personally worthy or un- worthy, was enabled, merely by virtue of his office, to transform the host into the real body of the Saviour (tran- substantiatio). Moreover, in order to place the church, now powerful and independent, under one head, Gregory bestowed upon himself, and all future popes, unlimited authority over the councils, and declared every assembly of the clergy invalid unless convoked by the pope. Like Charlemagne, who, when he had firmly rooted his power, governed his extensive terri- tory by means of Sendgrafs, Gregory despatched his legates, who, acting in his name, were infallible like him, to the va- rious European courts. He declared, "the pope is through God and instead of God on earth, therefore all powers, whether temporal or spiritual, are subject to him. The pope is the sun, the emperor the moon that shines with borrowed light." The Saxons had not failed to lay their complaints against their sovereign before the pope, and Henry, by thoughtlessly complaining to him of his rebellious subjects, gave him an op- portunity of setting himself up as umpire. Gregory, well aware of the weak nature of the emperor and of his own power, treated him without reserve, and openly accusing him of si- GREGORY THE SEVENTH. 401 mony, haughtily commanded him to come in person to Rome, and excommunicated those among the bishops who had been guilty of a similar crime. Henry, unacquainted with Gregory's character, took the matter lightly, and held a convocation of the German bishops at Worms, [A. D. 1076,] by which Gregory was deposed. This called forth a still more decisive step on the part of the bold pontiff, who placed the emperor under an interdict, released his subjects from their oath of allegiance, and declared him deprived of his dignity. Henry at first treated the acts of the proud monk with scorn, but was quickly struck with terror on perceiving their instantaneous effect. With the exception of the inhabitants of the cities, whose commercial habits, and the free peasantry, whose ancient Germanic con- stitution, had ever been opposed to papacy, Henry was de- serted to a man by his subjects, who avoided him as one in- fected with the plague. The Saxons, led by Otto of Nordheim, instantly flew to arms. The foreign garrisons were driven out of the country. Several of the imprisoned princes escaped. The remainder, after a touching appeal from Henry for peace and aid, were restored to liberty : but his evil hour had at length arrived ; all his enemies, even Welf, who owed him such a debt of gratitude, found an excuse for their treason, their revenge, or their rapacity in the papal interdict, and Henry, abandoned by all, was, notwithstanding his earnest en- treaties, declared, in a diet held at Oppenheim, deprived of his dignity, until he had freed himself from the interdict, and the pope was invited to visit Augsburg during the following year, in order to settle the affairs of Germany. The election of Rudolf in Henry's stead was next attempted, and in order to render it impossible for the unfortunate emperor to free him- self from the interdict, he was assigned a close residence at Spires, and deprived of any mode of communication with Italy. In this desperate situation he found that his only chance of safety lay in being beforehand with the rebellious princes, by escaping to Italy, and imploring the pope at any price to raise the interdict ; and he accordingly secretly set off with that in- tent, accompanied by Bertha, his infant son, and a solitary knight, who, it is not known upon what grounds, is said by the Swabian chronicler, Crusius, to have been Frederick of Biiren, the ancestor of the Hohenstaufen family. The winter 2 D 402 GREGORY THE SEVENTH. of this year [A. D. 1076] happened to be colder than had been known within the memory of man, and the Rhine remained frozen over from St. Martin's day until the April of 1077. It was in this dreadful weather, about Christmas time, that the imperial pilgrims, each moment dreading discovery from Ru- dolf's spies, crossed the pathless Alps, and reached Vevey on the Lake of Geneva in safety. Here they were forcibly de- tained by Bertha's mother and by her brother Amadeus, Graf of Savoy, from whom they purchased a free passage by the cession of five Burgundian bishoprics. They crossed the St. Bernard during the depth of winter, and Bertha, whom neither danger nor distress could separate from her husband, was drawn over the ice seated on an ox -hide, whilst the most Christian emperor climbed like a chamois hunter along the rocky, dangerous paths. On entering Lombardy he was unexpectedly met by num- bers of the Italian princes and bishops, by whom he was de- ferentially greeted as emperor. Those among the Italians who had at that time faUen under the papal interdict, particularly the bishops of Milan and Ravenna, joined Henry, and exhorted him to place himself at their head for the purpose of dethroning the pope ; but, still influenced by his awe of the German princes, the dispirited emperor refused, and resolved to remain faithful to his original intention of imploring Gregory's pardon. The pope, who happened at this moment to be on his way to Augsburg, was not a little alarmed on receiving the news of Henry's arrival in Italy, and for the better security of his per- son, threw himself into the fortress of Canossa, whose gates were opened to him by his ally, the Countess Matilda, who shortly before had become a widow. Gottfried the Hunch- back, Henry's most faithful adherent, was secretly assassin- ated,* and Gregory, on account of his intimacy with Matilda, who bestowed her wealth on the church, was accused by his enemies of the crime. The accusation of an improper inter- course between him and Matilda is, there is no doubt, false ; Gregory's natural inclinations rendered him no admirer of the sex, nor could any temptation have induced him to cast the * At Antwerp, A. D. 1076. The young Count Dietrich of Holland lias been accused of this murder, because, on the death of Gottfried, he took possession of Holland, of which his uncle had been deprived. GREGORY THE SEVENTH. 403 slightest stain on his sacred character. Superstitious zeal and piety bound Matilda to his cause, and he fully appreciated the value of so powerful an adherent. Henry now entreated Matilda to intercede in his behalf, and Gregory, at first surprised at his penitence when backed by a body of armed partisans, quickly understood his position, and assumed the greatest severity, commanding him to come alone and as a penitent to Canossa. Henry obeyed, and was allowed to enter the castle. The gates closed behind him, and for three days and three nights he remained bare-headed and bare-foot, without food, exposed in a woollen garment to the severe cold, between the double walls of the fort, until the pope, moved by the earnest supplications of those around him, especially by those of Matilda, called him into his presence, and released him from the interdict, on condition of his leav- ing to him the final settlement of affairs in Germany, and of not resuming the title of emperor until permission was granted so to do. A solemn mass was then performed, and Gregory, tak- ing the holy wafer into his hands, broke it in half, saying, " If the crimes of which you accused me at Worms be true, may the host that I now eat cause me instantly to die." He then swallowed it, and turning to the emperor, said, " Now eat the other half, and make a similar protestation of your innocence of the charges I make against you." Henry refused, and after undergoing every species of humiliation was dismissed by the triumphant pope. The Italians, indignant at his weak and cowardly conduct, now openly deserted him. Unable to endure their scorn, he resolved to break the oath he had just taken, and shut up Gre- gory so closely in the castle of Canossa, as effectually to put a stop to his further progress to Augsburg or his return to Rome ; at the same time the interdicted bishops * and Henry's partisans among the German laity, among whom Eberhard, Graf of Nellenburg, may be chiefly distinguished, flocked be- neath his standard. * Among them, Benno of Osnabruck particularly distinguished him- self as Henry's most faithful friend and counsellor. He had also done penance at Canossa, but on a different occasion. Vide Moser's History of Osnabruck. Another Benno, bishop of Meissen, favoured the papal party. 2 D 2 404 THE PAPAL KINGS. CXLIV. The Papal Kings. THE German princes, meanwhile, vainly awaited the arrival of the pope. At length came the news of Henry's unexpected re-establishment, and Rudolf, yielding at once to the press of circumstances, and to his ambition, threw off his allegiance, and caused himself to be proclaimed emperor at Mayence, where he was crowned by the archbishop. The citizens of Mayence, Henry's partisans, viewed the ceremony for some time in en- forced silence, but a quarrel breaking out during the tournament that followed, a general rise took place, and, after a desperate affray between them and the Swabian troops, Rudolf was com- pelled to quit the city ; he then proceeded to Worms, with the intention of securing himself within the fort, but found the city gates closed against him. This was the prelude to a general struggle throughout Germany between his party and that of Henry, which was rendered the more desperate by the refusal of the interdicted bishops of Henry's party to cede their bishoprics to the bishops who had been nominated to supersede them by Gregory. Henry found numerous adhe- rents in the mountains, and although "\Velf had seized the passes, and laid the country of the Grisons, where the em- peror's party was upheld by Dietmar, bishop of Chur, waste, Sieghart, the patriarch of Aglar, ( Aquileia,) opened Carniola to him ; Marquardt, the son of the lately expelled duke, Adal- bero, drove Berthold of Zahringen out of Carinthia. Henry also found an ally in Wratislaw of Bohemia, and received great accessions to his party from Welfs numerous enemies among the Bavarian nobility. On reaching Ulm, he held a public court, and put Rudolf and his adherents out of the ban of the empire. The whole of Germany was divided into two parties, that of the emperor, and that of St. Peter, which gave rise to the great division in the German nation, which, at a later period, attained such melancholy celebrity as the strife between the Welfs and the Waiblinger, or Guelphs and Ghibelliues. Swabia, where the people fluctuated between the duke and the emperor, was in up- roar. The nobility and the bishops favoured both sides ; the cities and free cantons all pronounced in favour of the emperor. In Augsburg, Matthias Corsang preached against, and Geroch, THE PAPAL KINGS. 405 in favour of the pope ; the latter was driven by the citizens out of the town. AViirzburg made a desperate defence against Rudolf, and twelve thousand peasants from the cantons swell- ed the ranks of the imperial army. Franconia [A. D. 1078] was laid waste, and became the seat of war. A pitched battle was fought between the contending parties near Melrichstadt, in which the victory remained undecided, one wing of the imperial army, commanded by Henry, routing the enemy, whilst the same part was performed on the other side by Ru- dolf's Saxon adherents, headed by Otto of Nordheim. Sieg- fried of Mayence, the wicked bishop of Worms, and the papal legate, fell into Henry's hands ; Wezilo of Magdeburg was killed during his flight. The brave Eberhard of Nellenburg, and the Swabian peasants, were, on the other hand, cut to pieces by the Saxons ; a dreadful fate awaited every peasant who was taken prisoner by the nobles, who had resolved, at whatever price, to crush these dangerous defenders of liberty. For a while either party rested. Berthold of Zahringen died of grief, [A. D. 1078,] for the losses he had suffered in this battle, into which he had been driven against his will. His son, Berthold, favoured Rudolf, whose daughter, Agnes, he married. Rudolf was, nevertheless, superseded in the dukedom of Swabia by Frederick of Hohenstaufen, a Swabian noble, who had given striking proofs of fidelity to the emperor, and by whom he was further raised by the gift of his daughter Agnes in marriage. Frederick's name was von Biiren, until the building of the castle of Staufen, (on which the whole glory of the German empire was destined to rest,) at the out- let of the Swabian Alp. Gregory, greatly disconcerted by this turn in affairs, tem- porized, in order to see on which side victory would declare herself. The Saxons, irritated by this conduct, and, moreover, incited by Gebhard, archbishop of Salzburg, who had been de- posed by Henry, addressed three letters to him, which received the nickname of " the cock-crowing," being intended, like the voice of St. Peter's cock, to move his successor to remorse. A whole year passed in fruitless negotiations. In the winter of 1080, Henry again attacked Rudolf, and a second engagement took place near Fladenheim in Thuringia, in which the invin- cible Otto of Nordheim again proved victorious. This success decided Gregory in Rudolf's favour, and he not only confirmed 406 THE PAPAL KINGS. him in the title he had usurped, but, as the genuine crown jewels of Charlemagne, and of Otto the Great, were in Henry's possession, also presented him with a new diadem, for which he was to hold the empire as a papal fief: the inscription it bore ran thus, " Petra dedit Petro, Petrus diadema Rudolpho." He then again solemnly excommunicated Henry, who, on the other hand, convoked a German concilium at Brixen, by which Gregory was for a second time deposed, and the arch- bishop of Ravenna was nominated in his stead, as Pope Cle- ment III., A. D. 1080. During the same year, Henry invaded Saxony, burnt Erfurt, and a third engagement took place near Grona on the Elster, in the great plain lying between Merseburg and Leipzig, fa- mous for the victory gained by Henry the Fowler over the Hungarians, and, at a later period, the scene of many a hard- fought battle. Otto of Nordheim was again victorious ; Ru- dolf was mortally wounded, and in the struggle was deprived of his right hand by Gottfried, a cousin of Gottfried the Hunchback, whom he succeeded in the dukedom of Lower LothSngia ; he afterwards acquired great celebrity under the name of Bouillon, his maternal inheritance. When dying, Rudolf exclaimed as he looked at his mutilated limb, " This is the hand by which I swore allegiance to Henry." He was buried with regal honours at Merseburg. On the capture of this city shortly after by Henry, he was advised to destroy his tomb, to which he replied, " Would to God that all my enemies were as splendidly entombed." The death of Rudolf left his party without a leader, and rendered their late victory useless. Henry gained daily fresh adherents, and was ere long enabled to leave the conduct of the war in Germany to Frederick of Hohenstaufen, and to visit Italy in person, for the purpose of humbling his old an- tagonist, Gregory. He quickly crossed the Alps, overthrew Matilda's party near Parma, and pushed on to Rome, to which he laid siege for three years without success ; at length, Wi- precht von Groitsch, a Saxon knight, mounted the walls, and took the city by storm, A. D. 1083. Gregory, who had shut himself within the Engelsburg, secretly escaped to Saler- no, where he was joyfully received by the Normans. Henry, meanwhile, placed Clement III. in the papal chair, and, after being solemnly crowned emperor, returned to Germany. THE PAPAL KINGS. 407 Gregory instantly returned to Rome at the head of the wild Normans, who took the city, and, deaf to his remonstrances, began the work of pillage. The Romans, rendered desperate, collected in vast multitudes, drove the enemy beyond the walls, and compelled the pope again to seek shelter in Salerno, where he died, A. D. 1085. His last words were worthy of his life ; " Because I have loved justice," exclaimed he, " and punished injustice, I die an exile !" In Germany the Saxons had proclaimed Hermann of Lux- emburg their king, at Eisleben. He received the nickname of " the garlic king," on account of the quantity of garlic that grew around Eisleben. He was a man of mean intellect, and completely subservient to Welf, Berthold von Zahringen, and Leopold of Austria. Otto von Nordheim was killed by a -fall from his horse. Welf was beaten by Frederick of Swabia at Hochstadt, and Leopold of Austria and Altmann, bishop of Passau, by Wratislaw of Bohemia at Mauerberg. The free peasantry of Friesland, headed by the archbishop of Bremen, fought on Henry's side ; they were put to the rout and cut to pieces by the Saxon Count von Mansfeld, and the nobles again betrayed the hatred they bore them by leaving their dead bodies unburied on the field. In 1085, the emperor returned from his Italian expedition, and, after several fruitless attempts at negotiation, again in- vaded Saxony, and rapidly reduced his opponents, the newly elected king, Hermann, Hartwig, the new archbishop of Mag- deburg, and his oldest and bitterest enemy, Bucco, to sub- mission. The two latter fled into Denmark, and, on Henry's departure from Saxony, instantly returned thither to plot anew against him. In 1086, Hermann marched upon Wiirzburg, in the design of uniting his forces with those of Welf in Upper Saxony, but being beaten at Pleichfeld by the em- peror, he resigned his crown, [A. D. 1087,] from a conviction of the inutility of opposition. He was despised even by his own menials. He was shortly afterwards accidentally killed by a woman, when storming his own castle by night, in order to test the vigilance of his men. The rebellious Saxons, who were still headed by Ekbert von Meissen, and by Bucco von Halberstadt, proclaimed the former king. After the death of the brave Otto von Nord- heim, Ekbert, the powerful governor of the Slavian frontier, 108 THE PAPAL KINGS. the descendant of the house of Wettin, whose wealth and power was founded on rapine and oppression, was Henry's most dangerous opponent ; nor did he present a solitary in- stance of the boundless ambition of the Slavian Markgrafs, whose absolute sovereignty over their enslaved subjects caused them insolently to grasp at the imperial crown. But his at- tempt proved vain ; Welf, actuated by jealousy, abandoned him in order to win for himself a kingdom in the south of Italy. He married his youthful son to the aged Countess Matilda, in the hope of annexing her possessions in Lombardy to Bavaria. On the death of Gregory, his party elected Vic- tor III., and, on his death, Urban II., pope. Clement III. was expelled ; Gregory's plans were carried out ; and the emperor was continually excommunicated. Henry suffered a fresh defeat at the castle of Gleichen in Thuringia, notwithstanding which, fortune favoured him. Bucco was surprised and assas- sinated by the citizens of Goslar, and Ekbert was killed by the servants of the Princess Matilda, (Henry's sister, the ab- bess of Quedlinberg, a woman of great power and influence,) who discovered him in a mill, A. D. 1088. Berthold, the son of Rudolf, also died, and Welf, discontented with the Coun- tess Matilda, who had bestowed her rich possessions on the pope, entreating for peace, the empire once more tasted its blessings, A. D. 1093. The contending parties retained their former possessions, Welf remaining duke of Bavaria, Mag- nus, duke of Saxony, Frederick von Staufen, duke of Swabia, Berthold von Zahringen, duke of Upper Aletnannia, or Swit- zerland, Ludolf, duke of Carinthia, Gottfried de Bouillon, duke of Lower Lothringia, whilst the Margrave Udo retained Brandenburg, the Margrave Leopold, Austria, and the Land- grave Louis, Thuringia. Hermann, a nephew of Berthold von Zahringen, was nominated to the Margraviate of Baden, and the important march of Meissen was bestowed upon the gallant Wiprecht von Groitsch, who was, moreover, confirmed in the possession of the Lausitz, which he had seized with the aid of Bohemia. Wratislaw of Bohemia was raised to the dignity of king, and his brother Conrad was created Mar- grave of Moravia. Boleslaw of Poland also took the title of king, and made the important acquisition of Pomerania. Cruco, prince of the Rugii, after besieging Buthue, (the son of the unfortunate THE PAPAL KINGS. 409 Gottschalk, who had attempted the restoration of the kingdom of the Obotrites,) in Plon, and causing him to be murdered, fell himself by the hand of Buthue's brother, the Christian Henry. Cruco's beautiful wife, Slavina, who was deeply enamoured of the youthful Henry, entered into the plot, and Cruco was deprived of his head at the banquet table, by a single stroke of his adversary's sword, A. D. 1105. The pagan Slavi united and made a determined resistance against Henry on the one side, who, as the vassal of the Saxon duke Magnus, received his aid, and against the Poles on the other. Henry gained a decisive victory at Smilow, and another at the mouth of the Trave, A. D. 1106. Pomerania was annexed to Poland. In Denmark, Sueno the Pious had been succeeded by his son, Canute the Holy, who preserved peace with Ger- many. His opposition to the pretenders to the imperial crown, and his severity towards his subjects, caused them to revolt. He was besieged and assassinated in a church, whither he had fled for refuge, A. D. 1086. He was succeeded by his brother Olaf, and, in 1095, by his second brother, Erich Evegod. Charles, the son of Canute, fled into Germany, and was created Count of Flanders. His virtues caused him, at a later period, to share his father's fate. He was murdered by his faithless vassals. Canute and Charles were canonized as martyrs. All opposition had now ceased within the empire ; the pope, Urban the II., alone proved refractory, and Henry, in order to punish his insolence, once more appeared in Italy. Ma- tilda's army was speedily vanquished, and Clement III. rein- stated in his dignity. Henry then returned to Germany, leaving his son Conrad at the head of affairs in Italy. This young man was incited to rebel against his parent by the Countess Matilda, the ex-pope Urban, and Roger of Sicily, who bestowed upon him the hand of his daughter, lolanta. Love, ambition, the dread of being excommunicated, and of forfeiting the imperial crown by fidelity to his father, led to this rash and guilty determination, and, in 1095, he caused himself to be solemnly crowned at Milan. His father, after vainly attempting to win him from his purpose, disinherited him, and he was constrained to limit his ambition to Italy, where he was at the mercy of his adherents, who acted solely with a view to their own aggrandizement. The consciousness 410 THE CRUSADES. of his weakness and his remorse for his guilty conduct, brought him early to the grave, A. D. 1101. CXLV. The Crusades. IT was about this period that an immense movement, caused by the agitation of men's minds, took place throughout Eu- rope, and produced a second and enormous migration. Fired by religious enthusiasm, countless multitudes collected from various parts of Europe, in order to combat the infidels, and in these crusades the spirit of the middle ages stood fully de- veloped, freed from the petty feuds that marked the times. As early as the reign of the Ottos, pilgrimages to the holy sepulchre at Jerusalem had become frequent ; a black gar- ment, a long staff, a broad-brimmed hat ornamented with the muscle shells found on the coasts of Palestine, and a rosary from Jerusalem, formed the garb worn by the pilgrims. The Arabs, the possessors of the holy city, respected these peace- able wayfarers, and granted them permission to build churches and an hospital* in honour of John the Baptist. The Arabian empire was, at that period, on the brink of destruction, and the caliphate was divided. The Ommaijadas reigned in Spain, the Fatimites in Egypt, and the Abassidae at Bagdad ; the two last dynasties had already fallen beneath the rule of the Turks, who had at first served under them as mercenary troops, whose sultans acted in the same capacity to the caliph as the majordomo to the kings of France. The great afflu- ence of Christian pilgrims roused the jealousy of the Jews, who until now had monopolized the whole of Eastern com- merce, which they feared might gradually pass into the hands of the Christians. ' The suspicion of their having persuaded Hakim, the caliph of Egypt, to destroy the church erected over the holy sepulchre, and to expel all the Christians from Jerusalem in 1010, occasioned a general persecution of the Jews in France. Daher, the son of Hakim, restoring matters to their former state, and insuring the safety of the pilgrims, and the freedom of commerce, the holy sepulchre became an An hospital for pilgrims was built as early as the ninth century, on Mount Cenis, and another during the following century, on Mount St. Bernard. THE CRUSADES. 411 object of still deeper interest, and the number of pilgrims greatly increased. St. Colomannus, a Scotch pilgrim, being hanged in company with two robbers, at Stockerau in Austria, the tree on which he hung began to blossom, and the people, recognising him by that sign as a man of God, carried him to Mb'lk and treated his remains with the greatest honour. The fame of this pilgrim was henceforward reflected upon all who bore the staff, and before long not only the commonalty, but princes also became humble wanderers. Robert of Nor- mandy was the first who visited Palestine, A. D. 1033. He was followed by Litbert, bishop of Kamerich, A. D. 1054, and by St. Helena of Sweden, A. D. 1060. The first great expe- dition was undertaken [A. D. 1064] by Siegfried, archbishop of Mayence, and the bishops of Bamberg, Ratisbon, and Utrecht, at the head of seven thousand pilgrims, of whom two thousand alone returned. Their path was surrounded with danger. On one occasion they were attacked by a body of twelve thousand Arabs, one of whose sheiks came into the house in which the bishops had taken refuge, and attempted to molest them, upon which Gunther, the gigantic bishop of Bamberg, felled him to the ground with one blow. The Christians, after a valiant defence, were at length rescued from their perilous situation by a tribe of friendly Arabs. Gunther died whilst on his return to Germany.* Altmann performed the pilgrimage on foot, before his elevation to the bishopric of Passau, and Robert the Friscian also, in order to do penance for his sins, A. D. 1082. On the advance of the Turks upon Jerusalem, of which they took possession, a dreadful persecution commenced, [A. D. 1086,] which roused the whole of Europe. Rage and conster- nation filled every bosom, and one idea, that of invading the Holy Land, and of freeing the sepulchre from pollution by dint of arms, pervaded all classes. The spirit infused into the church by Gregory VII. was one great motive of this general enthusiasm, whilst the example of the Spaniards in- fluenced the whole body of Christian chivalry. The valiant descendants of the Visigoths had, since the commencement of the eighth century, been engaged in ceaseless warfare with the Moors, at first in defence of their liberty and their reli- gion, and at a later period, for the recovery of Spain. It was * Marianus Scotus. 412 THE CRUSADES. exactly at this conjuncture that Henry, count of Burgundy, the son-in-law of Alfonso, king of Leon, the most powerful of the petty Christian monarchs in Spain, conquered Portugal. The appearance of a remarkable French pilgrim, Peter of Amiens, named the Hermit, however, chiefly contributed to hasten the event. On his return from Palestine with a peti- tion from the persecuted patriarch of Jerusalem, he asserted that he had also been commissioned by Christ himself to save the holy sepulchre. Attired in his travel-soiled pilgrim's garb, and mounted on an ass, having in one hand the letter, in the other a crucifix, he passed through France and Italy, summoning, with enthusiastic eloquence, people of every class and of every nation to unite against the infidels. Multitudes obeyed. Urban II. placed himself, as pope, at the head of the faithful, and, not venturing to appear in Germany, con- voked a great meeting of the clergy, first at Piacenza in Italy, and afterwards at Clermont in France, where he addressed the people in a broad green field, graphically depicturing the sufferings of the church in the East, the desecration of the sacred precincts, the temple converted into a Turkish stable, the holy sepulchre of the Saviour defiled by dogs, his followers scorned, tortured, and slain ; and concluded by divulging the command from heaven to revenge the cruelties practised by the infidels, and to rescue the sanctuary. Scarcely had he ceased, than a deafening shout of " It is the will of God ! it is the will of God !" arose from the innumerable throng, and numbers dedicated themselves to the service of Christ, in sign of which, they wore a red cross on one shoulder. The lower classes, who in France were suffering from a famine, occasioned by the failure of the crops for several suc- cessive years, and who, moreover, may have beheld in this general arming in honour of God, a means of escaping from the tyranny of the nobility, were first seized by the spirit of religious enthusiasm ; and shortly afterwards, if not at the same time, every serf who volunteered to serve in the Holy Land, was declared free and capable of bearing arms. The first armament, consisting of fifteen thousand men, marched, under the guidance of the knight Walt her de Perejo, and his nephew, Walther Sensavehor, or Havenought, (who had spent the whole of his fortune on the expedition,) from the north of France, [A. D. 1096,] and solemnized Easter festival at THE CRUSADES. 413 Cologne ; on reaching Hungary, disputes arose concerning their supplies, and they were almost entirely cut to pieces in Bulgaria. The elder Walther died ; the younger reached Constantinople with the remnant of his followers. Peter the Hermit followed with forty thousand men, among whom were several Germans, took Semlin by storm, forced his way through the Bulgarians, was attacked and beaten by them at Nissa, and, after losing ten thousand men, appeared before the gates of Constantinople with the remainder of the pilgrims, bearing green palm branches in their hands. The spirit of religious fanaticism, the seeds of which had been so zealously sown by Peter the Hermit, spread, mean- while, throughout Germany. Signs were beheld in the hea- vens, and it was currently reported that Charlemagne had risen from his grave, in order to place himself at the head of the crusaders. Gottschalk, a priest from the Pfalz, marched with fifteen thousand men into Hungary, and, after laying the country waste, had the stupidity to allow himself to be persuaded by Kolmany, the Hungarian king, to deliver up his arms, on condition of receiving a free passage, which was no sooner complied with, than the faithless Hungarians attacked and cut to pieces the whole of the defenceless Germans, at Meszburg (Mosony ? ). This expedition was succeeded by another of still greater magnitude, which, proceeding from France, passed through Germany, like the rude Lawine, gain- ing strength and volume on its course. Without a leader to guide its movements, this senseless multitude followed in the direction taken by a goose and a goat which were driven in advance. William, surnamed the Carpenter, a French knight, was the only person of any note among the number ; but when the Germans began to join them, Volkmar the priest, and the Count Emicho von Leiningen, who was influenced by remorse for the sins of his youth, placed themselves at the head of this fresh body of crusaders, who, acting on the notion that the infidels dwelling in Europe should be exterminated before those in Asia should be attacked, murdered twelve thousand Jews. In Treves, many of these unfortunate men, driven to despair, laid violent hands on their children and on themselves, and multitudes embraced Christianity, from which they lapsed the moment the peril had passed. Two hundred Jews fled from Cologne and took refuge in boats ; they were overtaken 414 THE CRUSADES! and slain. In Mayence, the archbishop, Rudhart, took them under his protection, and gave them the great hall of his castle for an asylum ; the pilgrims, nevertheless, forced their way in, and murdered seven hundred of them in the arch- bishop's presence. At Spires the Jews valiantly defended themselves. At Worms they all committed suicide. At Mag- deburg the archbishop, Ruprecht, amused himself by attacking them during the celebration of the feast of tabernacles, and by seizing their property. The pilgrim band, which is said to have consisted of two hundred thousand souls, chiefly wo- men, priests, and unarmed rabble, advanced into Hungary, but suddenly, whilst engaged in the siege of Meszburg, was, without any known cause, seized with a panic, put to the rout, and almost entirely cut to pieces. Emicho fled, covered with shame, to his native country. But, notwithstanding this dis- aster, part of the pilgrims reached Constantinople by other roads through Italy. A number of Italians had also set off for the same place by sea ; the republics of Pisa, Genoa, and Venice favouring the crusade from motives of commercial advantage, as well as from piety ; and thus by degrees an army of one hundred thousand pilgrims collected beneath the walls of Constanti- nople, under the banner of Peter the Hermit. The emperor Alexius, weary of supplying their wants, sent them over to Asia, where Peter intended to have awaited the arrival of the great body of knights, which was to have quickly followed on his track ; but the French, impatient for war, and greedy of booty, made predatory incursions on their own account into the Turkish territory ; and the Germans, animated by their example, pillaged the country and garrisoned the fort of Xerigordon, where they were ere long surrounded by the Turks, to whom they were betrayed by their leader, Reinold, and three thousand of them slain. The French and Italian pilgrims were also cut to pieces, with the exception of three thousand, who made such a valiant defence in an ancient fort, that the Greeks spared their lives at Peter's earnest request. Peter escaped, but Walther Sensavehor was slain. This unsuccessful attempt of the lower orders among the people was succeeded by a much more brilliant armament, composed of chivalry, and led by princes. Godfred, duke of Lower Lothringia, (Brabant,) surnamed Bouillon, from his THE CRUSADES. 41 o castle of that name, the ancient ally of the emperor, Henry IV., and the successful antagonist of Rudolf, the pretender to the crown, raised a body of ten thousand horse, and seventy thousand infantry. He was accompanied by his brothers, Eustace and Baldwin, his cousin, Baldwin de Bourg, Count Baldwin von Hennegau, etc. ; besides being joined by Count Robert of Flanders, the son of the Friscian, afterwards known as Robert of Jerusalem ; Hugh de Vermandois, the brother of Philip, king of France ; Robert Shortshank, duke of Nor- mandy, the son of William the Conqueror ; and the aged one- eyed Count Raimund of Toulouse. The Netherlander under Godfred marched in excellent order and unmolested through Hungary, whilst the French took the route through Italy [A. D. 1096]. The latter were joined en route by the fair- haired Bohemund, the son of Robert Guiscard, a man of gigantic stature, and by his cousin Tancred, the most warlike among the Normans of their times. Ademar, the venerable bishop of Puy, accompanied them as legate from the holy see. The French went by sea, and consequently were the first to reach Greece, where Hugh de Vermandois no sooner landed than he was seized and thrown into prison by the emperor Alexius, who only restored him to liberty on condition of his doing homage to him as his liege lord. Alexius, filled with in- quietude for the safety of his own empire, left no means untried to effectuate the conquest of the holy land in his own name, in order to reduce it to its former state of dependence, as a pro- vince of the ancient eastern empire. Godfred, on his arrival, learnt with rage and astonishment, that the brother of the French monarch had taken the oath of allegiance to the Greek emperor ; but quickly perceiving the necessity of gaining him as an ally, he submitted to the same ceremony, and his exam- ple was followed by all the other princes. Godfred was in return adopted by the emperor as Caesar, that is, as his son. The whole of the crusaders (whose numbers, said to have amounted to six hundred thousand men, are probably exag- gerated) crossed over to Asia, and found the country around Nicaea covered with the yet unburied remains of their un- fortunate predecessors. NicaBa was taken by storm with con- siderable loss, and given up to the Greeks. Here the Nor- mans separated from the main body, and taking a line to the left, again divided, in order the more conveniently to procure 416 THE CRUSADES. supplies ; in this condition they were attacked by the Turks,* and with great difficulty rescued by Godfred. Desert tracts, and burning wastes, destructive alike to the warriors and their steeds, now obstructed the advance of the crusaders. The path was strewn with the dying and the dead. Numbers of the pilgrims turned back in despair. Godfred was dreadfully torn by a bear, from whose claws he bravely rescued one of the unarmed pilgrims. His brother Baldwin, who had been joined by a number of Dutch, Friscians, and Flemish pirates, who for eight years had infested the Mediterranean, marched in advance of the main army, and took the important town of Edessa, where he was met by a procession of Armenian Chris- tians, bearing crosses and banners, who, filled with astonish- ment at his prowess, sank on their knees before him. The main body meanwhile reached the celebrated city of Antioch, of which, thirteen years before, the Greek emperor had been deprived, and which still retained its ancient splendour. Its walls long resisted the untaught valour of the warriors of the West, three hundred thousand of whom are said to have laid siege to it. Hunger and pestilence, however, gradually di- minished their number, and, in the beginning of 1098, seven hundred horses were all that remained within the Christian camp. These were mounted by seven hundred knights, who attacked and overcame a body of the enemy's cavalry, twenty- five thousand strong, and captured one thousand horses. God- fred continued to fight in advance, and is said, on one occa- sion, to have cut a Turk so completely in half with a down- ward stroke, that whilst one half of his body fell to the ground, the other was borne away by his horse. The Mahomedans made great preparations in order to raise the siege of Antioch. The means of retreating upon Constantinople were cut off, and the Danish prince Sven and his bride Fiorina,! the daughter of Duke Eudo of Burgundy, with one thousand five hundred Danish knights, were cut to pieces. The great sultan of Bagdad levied the whole force of the Mahomedan East, and * A great number of ladies who accompanied this expedition, fell with the camp into the hands of the Turks. Albert von Aix observes, that they should instantly have adorned themselves, in order to have enslaved their captors by their beauty. t She intended to have married him at Jerusalem. She bravely de- fended herself to the last, although pierced by seven arrows. THE CRUSADES. 417 despatched his vizir, Kerbugha, at the head of an immense army, to the relief of Antioch, but, before his arrival, the city was betrayed to the Christians, in the June of 1098. The pilgrims were now in their turn suddenly besieged by Ker- bugha, whose troops covered the whole country, and rendered it impossible for them to bring supplies into the already famished city. The distress soon became unbearable ; and numbers of the pilgrims secretly let themselves down by ropes from the city walls, and fled to the sea-shore, spreading a re- port that the city was already lost, and inducing the captains of the Genoese ships, the last hope of the crusaders, to return home ; upon which the emperor Alexius, who was marching to their relief, in order to take possession of Antioch in his own name, also turned back. The situation of Godfred and the pilgrims now appeared desperate, hunger daily thinned their numbers, and the survivors wandered up and down the city, wan, weak, and spiritless; but, just when they were driven to the last extremity, a priest of Provence, one Peter Barthelemy, announced that the apostle Andrew had appear- ed to him, and revealed the spot in Antioch where the real holy lance, with which Christ had been pierced when hanging on the cross, lay buried ; that they were to seek for it and to bear it before them to victory. The rusted head of a lance was found in the place indicated, and the confidence of the pilgrims once more returned. Peter the Hermit went into Kerbugha's camp and threatened him with destruction, unless he instantly embraced Christianity. Kerbugha treated him as a mad-man, and being, in his contempt of the pilgrims, willing to spare unnecessary bloodshed, resolved, instead of storming the city, to continue the blockade. Whilst he was carelessly engaged in a game of chess, the crusaders planted a black banner on the highest tower in Antioch, and marched in procession out of the gates, headed by the bishop Ademar, bearing on high the holy lance. They advanced in battle- array singing hymns, and attacked the Turks with such fury, that half of the besiegers were already put to the rout before their comrades became aware of their peril. The starving Christians took the immense camp, killed one hundred thou- sand of the enemy, flung themselves upon their Turkish horses, and pursued the fugitives to a considerable distance. After a public thanksgiving, Bohemund was created Prince 2 E 418 THE CRUSADES. of Antioch, and it was declared to the emperor Alexius, that no further conquests should be made in his name, unless he speedily afforded them the promised aid. Hugh of France was sent with this message, as ambassador to Constantinople ; but instead of returning to the camp, proceeded to France, being discontented with the treatment he had received from the rest of the crusaders, by whom he was held in slight esteem. The second ambassador, Baldwin, count of Hennegau, was attack- ed near Nictea by the Turks, and all traces of him were lost. The Mahomedans, terrified at this unexpected disaster, no longer opposed the advance of the pilgrims, who were joyfully greeted by the Syrian Christians ; and the Arabian emirs, who until now had groaned beneath the Turkish yoke, offered to enter into a friendly alliance with them. But dis- sension broke out among the pilgrims themselves. Raimund of Toulouse envied Bohemund the possession of Antioch, and now, rather ungratefully it must be owned, Peter Barthelemy was accused of having invented the fable of the holy lance, (which was now said to be a common bit of iron,) in order to answer the exigency of the moment. Peter, in order to prove his innocence and the authenticity of the weapon, under- went the ordeal by fire ; with the lance in his hand, he ran between two flaming piles of wood, and, although he came forth again alive, died shortly of the effects. A strong rein- forcement, among which were Alain Fergent, duke of Brit- tany, and Edgar Atheling, the last scion of the Anglo-Saxon dynasty, here joined the crusaders ; a remarkable coincidence, Robert, the son of William the Conqueror, the destroyer of the Saxon race, being in the same camp and fighting in the same cause. The caliph of Egypt sent costly gifts to the crusaders, with an offer of permitting the free exercise of the Christian religion in Jerusalem. He would gladly, with the aid of the crusaders, have driven the dreaded Turks out of Syria ; but the crusaders had now almost reached the termina- tion of their long and wearisome pilgrimage, and the con- quest and actual possession of the holy sepulchre were re- garded by them as indispensable duties. The emir of Tripoli again took up arms and was defeated. The hermits and the ancient Christians descended from Mount Lebanon to wel- come the pilgrims. Nicopolis was at length reached, and as every one was anxious to be the first to behold Jerusalem on THE CRUSADES. 419 the following morning, they continued their march during the whole night. It so happened that an eclipse of the moon took place during this night, which caused great joy among the pil- grims, who beheld in it an omen of the fall of the Mahometan empire (whose emblem is the crescent moon). At break of day on the 10th of June, 1099, they reached the heights of Emaus, and suddenly beheld the holy city, the long-wished-for object of their toil, and with one accord sinking on their knees, they kiss- ed the sacred soil, which they only ventured to tread barefoot. The greatest difficulties had still to be overcome. The number of the crusaders had diminished to one thousand five hundred horse and twenty thousand foot ; the country around Jerusalem was an arid waste ; the city was strongly garrisoned, and the harbour of Joppa, where a Genoese fleet had just landed troops, was strictly blockaded by the Egyptians. All communication with the sea was consequently cut off; the Genoese, however, abandoned their ships and advanced as far as Jerusalem, where their skill and handicraft materially as- sisted the knights in their rough attempts at scaling the walls. They manufactured different machines, particularly high tow- ers, consisting of several stories, mounted on wheels, which were pushed close to the walls upon which the warriors were to mount. Most of these machines were destroyed by the in- extinguishable " Greek fire." The pilgrims, in their enthu- siasm, now recalled the fate of Jericho, and, ranged in solemn procession, chaunting hymns, marched around the city, from whose walls they were, meanwhile, treated with every mark of indignity by the garrison. Peter the Hermit preached on the mount of Olives, and the city had sustained a two days' storm, when a knight, clad in white armour, was beheld stand- ing on the mount of Olives, like an angel of God, encouraging them to battle in his cause. The general enthusiasm now rose to fury, and two brethren, Ludolf and Engelbert, closely fol- lowed by Duke Godfred, were the first to mount the battle- ments; and the pilgrims rushing into the city, a deadly struggle took place in the streets, in which seventy thousand of the Mahomedans were slain. The Jews were burnt alive in their synagogue ; no quarter was given. Every infidel, of whatever nation, age, or sex, was mercilessly killed. In the midst of this disorder, Godfred, in penitential garb and with unsan- daled feet, threw himself on his knees before the holy sepul- 2 E 2 420 THE CRUSADES. chre, and the rest of the crusaders, imitating his example, threw away their blood-stained weapons, and chaunting peni- tential hymns, marched in procession through streams of blood to the grave of the Saviour of mankind. Jerusalem was taken on the 15th of July, 1099.* The joy of united Christendom at this glorious liberation of the holy sepulchre was still further increased by the dis- covery of the wooden cross on which Christ had suffered. This cross owed its first discovery to St. Helena, the mothef of Constantine the Great ; it was afterwards concealed durin^ times of danger, and ultimately again lost. Godfred, th faithful hero of the church, was unanimously proclaimed king of Jerusalem ; but, although he accepted the dignity, he re- fused to wear the golden diadem that was offered to him, saying, " that it was not for him to wear a crown of gold in the place where the Christ had worn one of thorns." His brother Baldwin became prince of Edessa. His other brother, Eustace, returned to Lothringia. Bohemund was already prince of Antioch ; Tancred became count of Galilee. Rai- mund of Toulouse, who coveted the possession of Antioch, remained in Palestine, and aided the emperor Alexius in his attempts to undermine the power of the rest of the crusaders. Robert of Normandy returned home, and, falling into the hands of his faithless brother, Henry, ended his days in prison. Robert the Frisciaa also returned to his native country, but, whilst engaged in a feud, fell from his horse and was trodden to death. Tola, the wife of Baldwin von Hennegau, who had disappeared, made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and, after wan- dering in fruitless search of him over the half of Asia, reached her home in safety. After giving laws, known as the ordonnances of the sepul- chre, to his new kingdom, Godfred marched against his nearest and most threatening opponent, the caliph of Egypt, whom, although 1m superior in number, he defeated near Ascalon, which, but for the treachery of Raimund, would also have fallen into his hands. The city of Arsuf, on the sea-shore, was shortly afterwards taken,f and he received a fresh rein- * William of Tyre relates in one of his legends, that all the spirits of the crusaders who had fallen on the way, appeared in the city on this oc- casion, and fulfilled their vow at the same time with their living comrades. f Gerhard d'Avesnes, a Flemish knight, whose descendants reigned THE CRUSADES. 421 forcement of twenty thousand Italians, who were led thither by Dagobert, archbishop of Pisa, who was probably secretly commissioned by the pope, as he was nominated patriarch of Jerusalem, and before long asserted the supremacy of the church over the throne. Bohemund, too weak to cope with his antagonists in Antioch, and betrayed by Raimund and the Greeks, was imprisoned by the sultan of Iconium ; and shortly after these events, Godfred expired, A. D. 1100. He was suc- ceeded on the throne of Jerusalem by his brother Baldwin, who resigned Edessa to his cousin Baldwin de Bourg. The patriarch wished to place Bohemund, who had just been cap- tured by the sultan of Iconium, on the throne, and Baldwin, opposed by intestinal factions and beset by the Turks,* with difficulty retained the sceptre in his grasp. The glowing de- scriptions of the pilgrims who had returned from the Holy Land during the previous year to Germany and France, and the sacred relics they bore, had again roused the enthusiasm of the people to such a pitch that fresh crusades on a still more ex- tensive scale, having for aim the extirpation of Islamism from the earth, were undertaken. Bagdad, the Turkish capital, was marked as the first object of attack. The first great armament consisted of Lombards under Anselmo, archbishop of Milan, of French under Stephen of Blois, and of a little troop of Germans under Conrad, who is mentioned by the historians of the times as master of the in Flanders, was here taken prisoner, and suspended on a cross over the walls, where he was exposed to the bolts of his besieging countrymen, whom he entreated to desist in their attempt ; but being exhorted by Godfred to suffer martyrdom in honour of his Lord, who likewise suf- fered on the cross, he prepared for death, and was pierced by ten ar- rows. Some time after the conquest of Arsuf, he suddenly re-appeared, alive and well. His wounds had not proved mortal, and his life had been saved by some compassionate Arabs. Some of the wandering Arab tribes, attracted by the report of his extraordinary strength, visited God- fred, who, on one occasion, yielded to their importunity, and deprived some of their camels of their heads with one stroke of his sword ; and on their expressing surprise at finding him, although a king, humbly seated on the bare ground, he replied, " The earth will be my tomb when I am dead, why then should it not serve me for a seat whilst I am alive ? " * The conquest of Csesarea put the Genoese, who were among the crusaders, in possession of the emerald dish, supposed to be the identical one made use of by the Saviour at the last supper, and which, under the name of the Holy Graal, plays so important a part in the poetry of the middle ages. THE CRUSADES. horse (stabiilarius) to the emperor, Henry IV. This army reached Asia Minor in safety, and was joined by Raimund of Toulouse, who hoped by their aid to get possession of Antioch, which was defended by Tancred in the name of the imprisoned Bohemund ; but Anselmo, impatient to carry out his plans for the reduction of Bagdad and the destruction of the Turkish empire, incautiously led his army, amounting to two hundred and sixty thousand men, into the burning deserts and amid the pathless mountains, where their footsteps were dogged by all the Mahomedan princes of Asia Minor, who suddenly, when their numbers and strength were reduced by the heat and by famine, fell upon and cut them to pieces. Rai- mund, who had been nobly rescued from the Turks by Corurad, fled the moment he beheld his benefactor in danger. His ex- ample was followed by the Lombards and the French, who, in order to hinder pursuit, left their camp and women unpro- tected and at the mercy of the Turks, who thus added up- wards of a thousand females to their harems. A second French crusade, under William, count of Nevers, consisting of fifteen thousand men, and an incredible number of women, followed on their footsteps, and, falling into a Turkish ambuscade, shared a similar fate. William of Nevers escaped and returned half naked to Antioch. A third and still more numerous body of French followed, commanded by Hugh, the king's brother, who was anxious to retrieve the dishonour of his former flight, and by William of Poitou, duke of Aquitania, a celebrated troubadour (Minnesinger} and defender of the sex, who drew in his train immense numbers of women of every rank. This crusade was joined on its passage through Germany by Reinhold, duke of Burgundy, the old Duke Welf of Bavaria, Dietrich, (Thiemo,) archbishop of Salzburg, the Margravine Ida of Austria, and numerous other Germans, among whom were many noble-born dames and maidens in the Margravine's suite. This immense but helpless multitude reached Asia Minor, suffered the same hardships as their pre- decessors, and when about to rush into the river Halys in order to assuage their thirst, was suddenly assailed by a shower of arrows ; a dreadful confusion ensued, which termin- ated in flight. William of Poitou, the poet and defender of the sex, fled timidly away and abandoned his fair followers to their fate, whilst Hugh of France fought gallantly until THE CRUSADES. 423 wounded in the knee by an arrow. He escaped only to die of his wound. The archbishop, Thierao,* was taken prisoner and tortured to death for refusing to embrace Islamism. Welf and Reinhold of Burgundy escaped, and the poor Mar- gravine Ida and her women, abandoned by all their knights, were captured by the Turks. It is said that Ida afterwards espoused a Turkish prince, and became the mother of the celebrated Zengis, the terror of Christendom,f A. D. 1101. Reinhold of Burgundy died of a pestilence, and the aged "Welf expired at Cyprus on his way home. The rest of the cru- saders collected under the standard of Raimund of Toulouse, and took the city of Tortosa, where Raimund fixed himself. Conrad was almost the only one among the pilgrims who reached Jerusalem and fulfilled his vow. Thus disastrously terminated this great expedition, intended for the destruction and conquest of Asia. Baldwin I. of Jerusalem was now [A. D. 1102] thrown upon his own resources. A battle took place between him and the Egyptians, near Rama, in which he was defeated, and the noble-hearted Gerhard d' A vesnes, who had so courage- ously resigned himself to a martyr's fate, lost his life. The king and the remainder of his army took refuge in Rama, where they could not long maintain themselves. Baldwin was saved by a grateful Arab, an emir, whose wife had fallen into Baldwin's hands, and, being taken in labour on the march, had been treated with the greatest care and kindness. The rest were either slain or taken prisoners. Conrad, who had prepared for his return home, could not refrain from joining the expedition against Rama; when that city was taken by the Arabs, he performed such prodigies of valour, * He was celebrated as a sculptor and modeller. f Itam comitissam, matrem Leopold!, marchionis orientalis unus de principibus Saracenorum rapuit et impurissime sibi matrimonia copulavit, ex eaque sanguinem ilium sceleratissimum, ut ajunt, progenuit. Monachus Weingartensis. Other chroniclers record a similar legend. Ida, nevertheless, could not have been Leopold's mother, but merely his step-mother, as he was thirty years old at the time of this crusade. It is further certified by Eastern writers, that Zengis was seventeen years of age, and his father, Casimeddaulah Acsonker, was dead at this very period. See Hormayr, The Bavarians in the East. Otto of Freysingen said in his seventh chronicle, " a pilgrim, who was present recorded the disas- trous defeat of the crusades in an epic poem." 424 THE CRUSADES. that the infidels, struck with wonder and admiration, offered him their hands in token of peace.* He was most honourably treated, and finally restored to liberty. The Egyptians did not follow up the advantage they had gained ; fresh misfor- .tunes were, however, in store for the Christians ; a fleet, brought by the troubadour, William of Poitou, was shattered by a storm, and Baldwin was dangerously wounded with a lance, by a Moorish spy. A quarrel broke out between Bo- hemund, who had escaped from prison ;f and the Greeks, who wanted the possession of Antioch, causing a report of his death to be spread, he had himself borne in a coffin through the Grecian fleet that was on the watch, and collected a great army in the West for the conquest of the Grecian empire, in reality the only means of securing that of the Holy Land, but wasting his time and strength before Durazzo, a town he was unable to carry, his army disbanded, and he died broken-hearted, in his native city of Tarentum, A. D. 1105. The enterprising citizens of Genoa and Pisa, who, with the view of getting the whole of the trade of the East in their hands, had assisted the crusaders in the conquest of the maritime cities of Syria, (anciently those of Phoenicia,) were far more active and successful. In 1104, the Genoese already possessed the important town of Accon (Ptolemais). The siege of Tripolis, which had been commenced by Raimund of Toulouse, lasted for nearly ten years. In 1105, Raimund was besieged by the Turks in his castle on the Pilgrim's Mountain, and was suffocated by the smoke of the burning houses. His son, Bertrand, swore to revenge his fate, and, assisted by the Genoese and Pisanese, laid siege to Tripolis, which finally fell into their hands in 1110; and an enormous library contained in this city was barbarously burnt by the victors. J In the same year Sidon also fell. In this siege the crusaders were * Albertus Aquensis. t By the secret aid of a princess, who had become deeply enamoured of him. Another account is, that he was exchanged for a princess who had been captured. J The destruction of the great Christian library at Alexandria, by the caliph Omar, caused a great outcry among the Christians, who, on taking Tripoli, finding that the first room in the library merely contained Korans, burnt the whole library, which contained three hundred thousand books, without inquiring what the rest of the rooms contained. It is probable that many ancient Greek works lay here concealed. THE CRUSADES. 425 assisted by Sigmund Jorsalafar, ( Jerusalemfahrer, the traveller to Jerusalem,) a youth of seventeen, of remarkable beauty, great grandson of Harald Haardrade, (who fell at Stamford,) at the head of ten thousand gigantic Norwegians, armed with battle-axes.* The Christians suffered repeated defeats in the interior of the country. The Turks of Bagdad now rose up against them, as the Egyptians had formerly done. Bohemund had scarcely escaped from prison, when Baldwin of Edessa was taken prisoner. Tancred defended Antioch and Edessa with wonderful perseverance and bravery. He died in 1112: on his death-bed he placed the hand of his wife, Cecilia, a daughter of the French king, in that of the youthful Pontius, who had succeeded his father Bertrand in the government of Tripolis. The following year Baldwin suffered a fresh defeat, but was rescued by Roger of Sicily, who governed Antioch in the name of the youthful Bohe- mund, the son of Bohemund I. Peace, only interrupted by slight disturbances, endured for a while. Baldwin I. died in 1118, and was succeeded by Baldwin de Bourg, his cousin, formerly prince of Edessa, who had not long before been re- stored to liberty. In 1119, Roger fell, opposing the Turks; in 1123, Baldwin II. was again imprisoned by the Turks ; in 1124, a great Venetian fleet arrived, and seized the beautiful harbour and city of Tyre, which the Venetians coveted on ac- count of its commercial advantages. Bohemund II. fell in battle. Baldwin regained his liberty upon certain conditions, but was no sooner free than he broke his oath, and was ceaselessly engaged in petty warfare until his death, in 1131. During his reign, two orders of knighthood were formed in Jerusalem ; the Hospitallers of St. John, who at first merely devoted them- selves to the care of the sick, and the knights of Solomon's temple, or Templars, who were bound by the vow of celibacy, exercised a spiritual office, and devoted themselves to un- * The Norwegians still retained so strong an impression of their an- cient religion, that, on entering the hippodrome at Constantinople, they believed that the Grecian statues, with which it was adorned, were in- tended to represent their Asen and legendary heroes. Snorri. Shortly before this, Erich the Good (Evegod) made a pilgrimage to the holy sepul- chre ; he expired at Cyprus, A. D. 1105. The origin of his pilgrimage was curious : a singer, who had the power of rousing every passion by his art, had excited him to such a pitch of fury, (Verserkerwuth,) that he slew several people, whose death he afterwards resolved to expiate. 426 HENRY THE FIFTH. ceasing warfare against the infidels, in which they were after- wards imitated by the knights of St. John. Both of these orders were filled by Italian knights, the Germans taking but little part in them. Unfortunately for the Holy Land, by far the greater part of the foreign settlers were French, the Germans merely making a crusade thither, and returning to their native country. The French proved, even at that period, by their conduct, how little adapted they were for colonists, their ideas merely extending to pillaging the country, taking castles and cities, and giving way to the most unbridled licence. The knights of St. John were even tainted with Mahomedanism.* Nor were the crusades without influence in Europe ; the power of the pope, the earthly representative of the God be- fore whom all the kings and nations of the West bent in humble adoration, and that of the church founded by Gregory VII., were rendered absolute by their means ; whilst the church was enriched by the immense wealth of those who fell in the East : still, the change they gradually wrought, by the introduction of new plants and animals, new modes of dress, luxuries and manners, the novel and surprising tenets and writings of the Greeks and Arabs, tended so greatly to en- large and enlighten the ideas of the western nations, as, at a later period, to endanger the authority assumed by the popes. CXLVI. Henry the Fifth. THE dispute between Henry IV. and the pope meanwhile continued, and a sentence of excommunication was again pronounced against him by Pasqual II., who had succeeded Urban on the pontifical throne. Henry declared war against Robert of Flanders, on account of his adherence to the papal party, which had the majority of the nation on its side, but * By the sect of the Ismaelites, whose chief, Hassan Sabah, or the old man of the mountain, who acted, from his mysterious castle of Alamut, at first in favour of the Egyptian Fatimites, the real descendants of Mahomet, and afterwards in furtherance of his own ambitious projects. His sub- jects were the assassins, who, actuated by their religious veneration of him, smilingly met death, and murdered all those designated by him as victims. Their secret belief was, " Nothing is true, and every thing is lawful." Hammer's History of the Assassins. HENRY THE FIFTH. 427 was at length driven to seek a reconciliation with the pope, whose favour he attempted to propitiate, by setting on foot another crusade, which, however, did not take place. Far behind the times in which he lived, arid which required a much more energetic leader, Henry's high position was but the means of accumulating disgrace and misery on his head. In 1104, Henry, his youngest and most beloved son, followed Conrad's example, and rebelled against him. This young man inherited the strong and manly intellect of his grand- father, Henry III., and his later deeds prove that he pursued a noble aim, the restoration of the imperial authority ; but the means whereby he sought to insure success, and the heartlessness with which he removed the first obstacle in his path, his old grey-headed father, reflect eternal shame on his memory. His rebellion was countenanced by the pope, and he was joined by all the princes, who were either animated by their ancient enmity towards Henry, or by a hope of gaining something by a change of masters. The Duke Frederick, Henry's most devoted adherent, expired [A. D. 1105] at the moment when his assistance was most needed ; he left two sons, minors, Frederick and Conrad, and Prince Henry gained Swabia by wedding Frederick's widow, his own sister, to Leopold, Margrave of Austria, who united with Bohemia in favour of his cause. Wratislaw, the emperor's ally, was dead. His son, Brzetislaw II., was assassinated by the Wrssowez, who, notwithstanding the endeavours of Borzivoi II., Wra- tislaw's brother, and of th'e brave Wiprecht von Groitsch, succeeded in placing a relation, named Suatopluk, a friend of Prince Henry, on the throne of Bohemia. The touching appeals of the emperor to his son being disregarded, he put himself at the head of his troops and marched against him. The cities remained faithful to their allegiance, and closed their gates against the rebellious prince, with the exception of Nuremberg, which was betrayed to him by the Jews, and almost entirely destroyed. Both armies met not far from Ratisbon, and the emperor, discovering that he was betrayed by his own followers, fled, perhaps too hastily, in the sorrow of his heart. He had still numerous ad- herents in the Rhine country, and his son, finding force unavailing, attempted by cunning to oblige him voluntarily to abdicate the throne, and proposed a conference at Coblentz. HENRY THE FIFTH. The emperor came ; but struck to the heart at the sight of his ungrateful child, flung himself at his feet, exclaiming, " My son, my son, if I am to be punished by God for my sins, at least stain not thine honour, for it is unseemly in a son to sit in judgment over his father's sins." The prince, with assumed remorse, entreated his forgiveness, and, under pre- tence of accompanying him to the diet at Mayence, found means to separate him from his attendants, and to shut him up at Bingen, where he was required by the archbishops of Mayence and of Cologne, and the bishop of Worms, to give up the crown jewels. The aged emperor, finding his entrea- ties vain, placed the jewels worn by Charlemagne on his own person, and, appearing in state before the bishops, defied them to touch the ornaments worn by the ruler of the world. The bishops quickly recovered from their astonishment at this un- expected scene, and, after depriving him of the jewels by force, adorned the person of his son with them at Mayence. Henry, nevertheless, had not yet abdicated. This was re- quired by the diet. The emperor was desirous of visiting Mayence, but his son, rightly fearing lest he might be rescued by the citizens, merely permitted him to advance as far as Ingelheim, whither he and the dukes also repaired, and, by means of violent threats, which caused him to throw himself in despair at the feet of his unnatural son, he was compelled to sign his abdication. Henry V. was instantly proclaimed emperor, and his father, who still remained under the inter- dict, was condemned to pass the remainder of his days at Ingelheim. The cities of the Upper Rhine, firm in their allegiance to their ancient master, meanwhile revolted, and Henry V., who had marched to attack them, suffered a complete defeat before Ruffach in Alsace. This success emboldened his father to seek at least a more secure asylum, and, for that purpose, he entreated Gebhard, bishop of Spires, whose cathedral he had formerly richly endowed, to grant him a prebendaryship, in order that he might die in peace. The meek request of the excommunicated and fallen monarch was scornfully refused, and he was at length compelled to sell his boots in order to procure the means of subsistence. He afterwards escaped into Lothringia, where his old friends, the citizens of Cologne, Bishop Albert of Liege, and Henry, count of Limburg, who, HENRY THE FIFTH. 429 on the demise of Godfred of Bouillon had become duke of Lower Lothringia, offered him a refuge. Henry V. invaded Lothringia, but was defeated on the Maas. During his sub- sequent unsuccessful siege of Cologne, the emperor expired at Liege, after solemnly pardoning his son, in token of which he sent to him his sword and his ring. He was buried by Bishop Albert in an island, A. D. 1106, and an aged pilgrim from Jerusalem watched for several years over his tomb. In 1111, he was freed from the interdict, and solemnly interred at Spires at the side of his faithful Bertha. His favourite saying was, " Men have much and various knowledge, but no one is thoroughly acquainted with himself." Henry's old enemy, Magnus, the last of the Billung family, also died in 1106, leaving two daughters, Eilika, who married Otto, count of Ballenstadt, and bore Albrecht the Bear, and Wulfhilda, who married Henry the Black, brother to the Welf, and bore Henry the Proud. The emperor, in order to divide the power of the Saxons, bestowed the ducal dignity formerly borne by the Billungs on Lothar, count of Supplinburg, his former partisan. Lothar married Nixa, the daughter of Henry the Fat, count of Nordheim, who in 1106 was defeated by the Friscians, when attempting to subdue them. Henry also estab- lished peace, and partitioned the government in Lothringia ; Henry von Limburg was created duke, and Godfred von Ld- wen, the emperor's favourite, was raised to the ducal throne of Brabant.* Henry V. next attempted to establish his authority on a firmer footing in the Slavian East. The Wrssowez, who made common cause with Poland, and planned a Slavian re- action against Germany, had become intolerable to Suatopluk, whom they narrowly watched ; and he, it may be by Henry's advice, caused the whole of that family, one alone excepted, to be exterminated, to the number of one thousand. He then united with the emperor against Poland, and laid siege to Glo- gau, but, being assassinated in the emperor's tent by the last of the murdered Wrssowez, all the Bohemians instantly quitted the camp. The emperor was afterwards defeated by Bolislaw of Poland, on the ground now occupied by the town of Hunds- feld, which derived its appellation from the dogs that fed on * He was the founder of the house of Hesse, and related to the last Carlovingians in Lothringia. 430 HENRY THE FIFTH. the unburied bodies, A. D. 1109. Wiprecht von Groitscli in- terposed, and peace was agreed to on condition of his brother- in-law Borzivoi being made king of Bohemia. He may possibly have not been altogether innocent of Suatopluk's assassination. When his son, Wiprecht the younger, entered Prague in company with Borzivoi, the emperor ordered them to be seized, and compelled Wiprecht the elder to ransom his son's life by the cession of the Lausitz, which he bestowed upon Hoyer von Mansfeld, his gallant commander-in-chief. Bohemia fell to Borzivoi's brother, Wladislaw, who appears to have betrayed him, and to have paid a large sum to the em- peror. Leopold of Austria, filled with remorse for his in- fidelity to the late emperor, sought to atone for his guilt by the erection of several monasteries, among others that on the Leopoldberg near Vienna. The church, fully sensible of his worth, canonized him. He left three sons, Leopold, Henry Sammirgott, and Otto, bishop of Freysingen, the celebrated historian. The vigour of Henry's government ere long estranged from him his late papal partisans; the Roman hierarchy, by mak- ing use of him as a tool in their designs against his father, had, as it were, morally annihilated him, and could not brook his elevation. The pope, Pasqual II., was weak, and in the hands of a fanatical party, headed by Guido de Vienne, archbishop of Lyons, who, without asking his permission, caused the em- peror to be excommunicated by a synod held at Vienne, on account of his refusal to cede his right of investiture, A. D. 1112. The emperor, without noticing the proceedings of this synod, marched to Rome and left the settlement of the matter to his chancellor, Adalbert, who proposed the strictest divi- sion between the power of the state and that of the church ; the state never to intermeddle with ecclesiastical affairs, and the church to remain unpossessed of lands and worldly wealth. A wise, but impracticable counsel, for, as might clearly have been foreseen, the church would never voluntarily surrender her possessions. The emperor at length cut the matter short by seizing the person of the pope, and compelling him to dis- claim the right of investiture. Guido de Vienne raved, and scarcely had the emperor withdrawn from Rome, than the pope declared the transaction void, the terms having been forced upon him, and Adalbert, to whom the emperor had HENRY THE FIFTH. 431 promised the archbishopric of Mayence, fearing the pope's refusal to confirm him in his dignity, and moreover, foreseeing that the church would prove victorious, went over to Guide's party, for which he was rewarded by the pope with a cardinal's hat, and the supreme direction over the whole of the German clergy. A party, inimical to the emperor, was, at the same time, formed in Saxony. The Pfalzgrave Siegfried, a relation of Lothar, who had been deprived of his dignity by the emperor on an accusation of treason, claimed the rich inheritance of the counts of Orlamiind, whose family had become extinct. By the concurrence of Lothar, the young Henry von Stade, whose heritage had been sold by the emperor to his guardian Fre- derick, had also been reinstated, and the assistance of the Saxons against the Bohemians and the Poles had been ex- tremely lukewarm. Lothar, who had been declared by the emperor out of the ban of the empire, now found himself backed by almost the whole of Northern Germany, more par- ticularly by Wiprecht the elder, and Louis of Thuringia, and by the great ecclesiastical party, at whose head stood Adal- bert, the emperor's ungrateful chancellor. His capture by the emperor, which shortly afterwards took place, deprived the confederates of their leader, and the emperor, suddenly enter- ing Saxony, surprised his opponents near Warnstadt. Hoyer's impetuous charge bore all before it. Siegfried was slain ; Wi- precht the elder was taken prisoner; A. D. 1113. After re- establishing peace throughout the North, Henry solemnized his marriage with Matilda, the daughter of Henry I. of Eng- land, with great splendour, at Mayence, A. D. 1114. It was here that Lothar and Louis of Thuringia, barefoot arid in beg- garly attire, threw themselves at his feet and begged for mercy. Louis was thrown into prison. Henry's unrelenting severity, his open suppression of the power of the great vassals of the empire, and his assumption of despotic rule, raised a fresh conspiracy, at the head of which appeared Frederick, arch- bishop of Cologne. This city was vainly besieged by the emperor, who was defeated before the gates, and Berthold III. of Zahringen was taken prisoner. This signal success infused fresh spirit into the Saxons, whilst the emperor, with his usual decision, declared the whole of Saxony out of the ban 432 HENRY THE FIFTH. of the empire, created Count Hoyer von Mansfeld* duke of Saxony in place of Lothar, and marched in person with his whole force against the rebels. Hoyer, too impatient to grasp the ducal coronet, ventured singly too far in advance, and was killed in sight of both armies, by Wiprecht von Groitsch the younger, in the battle of Welfisholz in the county of Mansfeld. The loss of this commander threw the imperial army into con- fusion, and the victorious Saxons left the bodies of their fallen opponents unburied on the field, as being under the interdict of the church. The emperor wandered in his flight among the Harz mountains. On the same day Otto von Ballenstadt gained a victory at Kothen over the rebellious Wends, [A. D. ,1115,] and the Saxons once more gained the palm of glory. This disastrous day was fatal to every hope that had been entertained for the preservation of the integrity of the state by the emperor, and inflicted an almost deadly blow on the nation, which saw itself henceforward doomed to disunion and exposed to foreign (papal and French) influence. Blinded by the provincial hatred between the Saxons and the Franks, f the nation showed no inclination to favour the rise of the im- perial power, and seemed insensible to the manner in which their honour and their most sacred interests were betrayed to the foreigner. It was exactly at this period that the celebrated Countess Matilda expired in Italy, and bequeathed her rich possessions to the church. | Henry's late defeat by the Saxons, and the * Hoyer's mother died before his birth ; hence his motto : Ich Graf Hoyer ungeboren, Hab niemals eine Schlacht verloren. Which may be rendered, I Count Hoyer, the unborn, Was never in a fight forlorn. f The Saxons were flattered at the expense of the Franks, and yet the result of this victory gained by the former, deprived the common Saxon of many of his ancient privileges, and rendered him, now that he was no longer under the protection of the crown, gradually more and more sub- servient to the nobility. St'iive The Westphalian Archive of Wigand. % Her grandfather, Bonifacius, owed his rich fief of Tuscany, etc., to the favour of the emperor ; but the pope had long coveted its possession, and it is therefore easy to understand why Matilda's first marriage with her step-brother was permitted by the church, and her second marriage with the youthful Welf so soon annulled. HENRY THE FIFTH. 433 renewed interdict laid upon him by the pope, rendered the preservation of this important territory to the state, a task of no common difficulty ; but, with his usual fertility in re- sources, he despatched a nobleman, Dietrich von der Aare, by whom he had formerly been beaten before Cologne, but who had afterwards become his friend, to negotiate with Lothar, and to represent to him that that they must all inevit- ably become slaves to the pope unless they united for the preservation of their temporal rights. At the same time, he set the imprisoned princes at liberty.* But scarcely was Adalbert of Mayence free, than, glowing with revenge, he contrived to work upon Lothar, frustrated Henry's attempts at reconciliation, and opened an assembly of the princes at Cologne without the emperor. Even the emperor's ambas- sador, Erlung, bishop of Wiirzburg, went over to Adalbert's party. Upon this, the ernperor abandoned Northern Germany for a while, and intrusting Southern Germany to the guard- ianship of the brave Hohenstaufen, hastened into Italy. Frederic the Old, the first of the Hohenstaufen who bore the title of Duke of Swabia, had left two sons, Frederic the One- eyed, who succeeded him in Swabia, and Conrad, who, on Erlung's defection, was created duke of Franconia. The policy pursued by Henry V. in Italy was noted for prudence ; he every where favoured the cities whose love of independence caused them to dread the supremacy of the pope, should he succeed in gaining possession of the lands of the Countess Matilda. He consequently met with a favourable reception at Venice, and even found a strong party in his favour in Rome, headed by the count of Tusculum, to whom he gave his ille- gitimate daughter, Bertha, in marriage, and by the Frangipani, a family then coming into note. Pasqual was compelled to flee ; and the imperial crown was placed on Henry's head by * Louis of Thuringia is said to have escaped from Giebichenstein by taking a wonderful leap across the Saal. One day, when following the chase, he came to a beautiful mountain, which not being within his terri- tory, lie caused earth to be carried thither, into which twelve knights plunged their swords and swore that the earth was his. As he did not possess the means of building a fortress on it, he exclaimed, " Warte Burg!" ''The fortress must wait!" He finally erected one on this spot with the money he gained by the sale of wheat during a season of scarcity. This fortress was the celebrated Wartburg. Rohte, Chronicle of Thuringia. 2 F 434 HENRY THE FIFTH. a Portuguese archbishop, who chanced to be in Rome, the only prelate who could be found to perform that ceremony [A. D. 1116]. The principal aim for which Henry had visited Italy, that of taking possession of the lands of the Countess Matilda in the name of the empire, was, however, gained, and he prolonged his stay in that country in order to keep a watch upon Rome. On the death of Pasqual in 1118, he nominated Gregory VIII., to whom the Romans opposed another pope, Gelasius II., whom they had previously elected. This pope was treated with great violence, and expelled by the Frangi- pani ; he expired in the following year. The papal party then placed Guido de Vienne, the emperor's most formidable antagonist, on the pontifical throne, under the name of Calixtus II., A. D. 1119. This pope instantly renewed the alliance with the Saxons and Adalbert, and openly opposed the emperor. In Germany, the Hohenstaufen, notwithstanding their en- deavours to keep the field for the emperor, had been alone successful on the Rhine. The troops of Adalbert were de- feated by them under the walls of Mayence, and their com- mander, Emicho von Leiningen, was slain. The citizens of Mayence rebelled against Adalbert, who caused numbers of them to be executed. The Saxons marched to the assistance of Aschaffenburg, his usual residence, and besieged Limburg, which was, however, relieved by Frederick of Swabia, who continued to retain the superiority on the Rhine. The same fortune did not befriend the imperial party in Northern Ger- many. Frederick von Putelendorf, whom Henry had created Pfalzgrave of Saxony, was compelled to make terms with the rebels at Naumburg, and the great and imperial castle on the Kyffhauser was burnt down. Adalbert, emboldened by the admonitions of Calixtus II., again excommunicated Henry at a council held at Cologne, and the project of electing a new emperor was being discussed, when Henry V. returned, called a diet at Tribur, and, for the last time, attempted to negotiate terms of peace with the rebellious party. The pope also came to Rheims, on an intimate and secret understanding with the French king, Louis VI., who loaded him with flattery. The emperor, closely pressed by his enemies, found himself compelled to resign the right of investiture, but scarcely was the matter concluded with the pope, than a still greater con- cession was required, the pope pretending to include in the HENRY THE FIFTH. 435 right of investiture, or the right of being the sole elector of the bishops, also that of the irapropriation of church lands, and of the royal clues, which until now had been in the gift of the crown. The cession of these rights being steadily re- fused by the indignant emperor, the treaty was again broken off, and Calixtus II., after once more excommunicating him, visited the king of France at Paris, and proceeded thence in triumph to Rome, whence he expelled the unfortunate Gre- gory VIII., whom he shortly afterwards took prisoner at Sutri, and caused to be exposed to public derision, mounted on the back of a camel. Whilst Germany was thus insulted by the pope and his French ally, the Germans continued senselessly to dispute, and the emperor was alone upheld in this great national affair by the citizens of the towns,* which would have found them- selves entirely deprived of the protection of the crown, had all the church property, which included the episcopal cities, become papal fiefs. Cologne and Minister were, at that period, the most zealous supporters of the rights of the state against the church, and of those of Germany against Rome. Cologne opened her gates to the emperor ; Munster expelled her bishop, but was in consequence besieged and burnt by the Saxon princes, A. D. 1121. The only one among the princes who returned to his allegiance to the emperor, was Wiprecht von Groitsch the elder; but when the emperor, in 1122, stood before Mayence, and the Saxons marched against him to Adalbert's relief, they became ashamed of the opprobrium with which they were viewed by the nation, and with which their names would be handed down to posterity ; and the emperor, on his side, being urged by the fear of utter destruc- tion, if fortune again favoured the Saxons, it was resolved that each party should send twelve representatives to Wiirz- burg, there to negotiate terms of peace ; and at length, not- withstanding the opposition of Adalbert, a reconciliation was accomplished. The emperor, at the same time, made terms with the pope, to whom, by the treaty of Worms, he con- ceded the impropriation of church property, with the excep- * The emperor at this period declared a number of the city serfs free citizens, and capable of bearing arms, although they still remained in- capable of taking part in the government, and subordinate to the (Gesch- lechter) ancient burghers. 2 F 2 436 HENRY THE FIFTH. tion of the royal dues, a point of great importance for the cities and townships. He was now for the first time freed from the interdict, A. D. 1122. Disputes, nevertheless, appeared interminable. Gundobald, bishop of Utrecht, plotted against the emperor's life, and on Henry's attempting to seize Utrecht, in order to punish the traitor, he was again opposed by Lothar, who also aided young Henry von Eilenburg in the conquest of Meissen, and in the expulsion of Wiprecht the elder, whom the Bohemians sought to aid ; but Lothar, shut up between the two, deceived both, and forced them to retreat. On the other side, Adalbert was propitiated by the Thuringian tithes, which were granted to him by the emperor, but which he never received, the people rising en masse against him. War now broke out between England and France, and the death of Prince William, the emperor's brother-in-law, the only son of Henry I., who was drowned when crossing the Channel, placed the emperor next in succession to the throne of England. When called upon to support England against France, he left no means untried to persuade the German princes to aid in carrying out the great idea of a union be- tween Germany and England ; but in vain, the faithless vas- sels merely beholding the decrease of their individual import- ance in the increasing power of the state and that of the crown, which it was ever their aim to weaken, if not com- pletely to annihilate, in order to raise themselves in the fallen state, like mushrooms on the overthrown oak. It was in vain that the emperor bestowed the Lausitz, on the demise of Wi- precht the elder,* on Albrecht von Brandenburg, the Bear, and Meissen on Conrad, f the cousin of the deceased Henry von Eilenburg. He was not supported. His attempt to raise funds for the prosecution of the foreign war by the imposition of a general contribution towards the exigencies of the em- pire, was treated with contempt ; and he expired, in the prime of life, with the bitter consciousness of the defeat of all the * He died in consequence of wounds he received when attempting to extinguish a fire that broke out in the night with his bare feet. t Conrad having spread a report that young Henry was a suppositions child, and the son of a baker, Henry imprisoned him in a narrow iron cage in the well-known Fuchsthurm at Jena. Conrad, notwithstanding, survived, and succeeded him. LOTHAE, THE THIRD. 437 schemes for the sake of which he had acted so criminally to- wards his parent. A bad son, but a great emperor, whom misfortune might destroy, but could not bend. He left no issue, and bequeathed the whole of his inheritance to the faithful Hohenstaufen. CXLVII. Lothar the Third. THE third great dynasty of the emperors of Germany had terminated with the life of this last scion of the Salic race, and the nations over which he had reigned again collected in countless thousands, as on the previous occasion of the elec- tion of Conrad, on the shores of the Rhine, between Mayence and Worms. The encampment was arranged in the form of a cross, each of the four nations being placed in its natural position, the Saxons to the north-east, the Franks to the north-west, the Bavarians to the south-east, and the Swabians to the south-west. Each nation elected ten princes, who in their turn elected one, and to these four was intrusted the election of a monarch. The choice of the Saxons fell upon Lothar, duke of Suplinburg ; whilst the Franks elected Charles, count of Flanders ; the Bavarians, Leopold, Margrave of Austria ; and the Swabians, Frederick, duke of Hohenstau- fen. Adalbert of Mayence was president of the diet, and naturally was in favour of Lothar, the ancient ally of the pope. The Hohenstaufen were deceived,* and the interest of the Welfs was secured by the marriage of Gertrude, Lothar's daughter, with Henry the Proud, of Bavaria, the son of Henry the Black. Lothar, in order to get rid of the Hohenstaufen, his most dangerous rivals, instantly laid claim to the possessions of the Salic family as fiefs of the empire, and demanded their cession from Frederick, although he had himself, at an earlier period, defended the hereditary right of the princes against the feudal right of the emperor, in the case of the lands pertaining to the * Adalbert having, with, his usual cunning, previously demanded an oath from Frederick to the intent that he would not, under any pretext, oppose the election, Frederick's suspicion was roused, and he refused to take the oath ; an incident which was afterwards misrepresented by Adalbert. 438 LOTHAR, THE THIRD. families of Orlamiind and Stade. On Frederick's refusing to comply, he was put out of the ban of the empire. He long defended the town of Nuremberg, against the united forces of Lothar and of the "Welfs. The siege was raised by his bro- ther Conrad on his return from a crusade, which he had vowed to join during an eclipse of the moon, which filled him with superstitious dread. The Hohenstaufen, supported by the faithful Swabians, courageously maintained their inherit- ance during several years, and the Upper Rhine country was again laid desolate by the feuds between her native princes. Conrad, a noble-spirited man in the vigour of life, formed the bold resolution of seeking aid from the Salic party in Italy, and, on crossing the Alps, received the crown of Lombardy ; but the over-preponderating influence of the pope, Honorius II., who favoured the Welfs, quickly compelled him to retrace his steps. The bloody feud was, meanwhile, carried on with unabated vigour. Frederick was forced to take refuge in the cities, [A. D. 1128,]] which, notwithstanding the extraordinary bravery displayed in their defence, fell, one after the other, into the hands of his opponent. Agnes, his second wife, de- fended Spires with such skill and perseverance against Lothar, that he allowed her to retire unmolested. With unflinching valour Conrad defended himself in Hohenstaufen, and after- wards in Rotweil. Frederick was surprised by the Welfs during the night at Zwiefalten, where he took refuge upon the tower of the burning church. Lothar, in order to flatter the pope, bestowed the dignity of duke of Franconia on the bishop of Wlirzburg. Among those who were put out of the ban of the empire, was Reinhold, count of Burgundy, the faithful ally of the Saliers and Staufen. The power of the Hohenstaufen was now humbled, and Lothar, delivered from apprehension on that score, visited Rome, where, since the demise of Honorius II., two popes, Anacletus II. and Innocent II., disputed the possession of the tiara. Lothar paid homage to the latter as pope, and, in re- turn, demanded from him the immediate cession of the lands of the Countess Matilda ; but the remembrance of his former zeal as a papal partisan in opposition to the emperor, deprived him of the power of braving the church, now the crown was placed on his own brow ; and the dread of sharing the fate of his predecessor, who .had vainly attempted to free himself LOTHAR THE THIRD. 439 from papal interference, compelled him to consent to the humiliating condition of holding them as a papal fee. The ceremony of swearing fealty was painted by order of the pope, who wrote beneath the picture these words : " Rex homo fit Papoe."* As Lothar had no male heir, he bestowed the lands on his son-in-law, Henry the Proud, of Bavaria. On Lothar's return from Italy after the completion of this project, which materially added to his wealth and power, Frederick von Hohenstaufen entreated for pardon, which was granted to him at Bamberg in 1134, the delinquent humbly kneeling at his feet. Conrad also was shortly afterwards per- suaded to follow his example by St. Bernhard, the abbot of Clairvaux, who preached to the temporal princes unity and peace, in the hope of uniting them in another crusade against the infidels in the East. Lothar now turned his attention to the long-neglected affairs of the North. In Denmark, St. Canute, the son of Erich Evegod, had been deprived of his throne and life by his cousin Magnus, whom Lothar now at- tacked, compelled to sue for peace, and to do him homage. It was during the performance of this ceremony that the sword of state was for the first time borne before the emperor. Sobieslaw of Bohemia also took the oath of fealty, in order to secure peace. Adela, the widow of Canute, a daughter of Robert the Friscian, fled with her little son, Charles, to her relations in Flanders. Her father had died in 1093, and his son, Robert of Jerusalem, who had accompanied the first crusade to the Holy Land, and had supported the pope against Henry IV., was killed in a petty feud, in which he aided the French monarch, by a fall from his horse, A. D. 1111. He was suc- ceeded by his son, Baldwin with the axe, (Boudewyn Apkin,) who always bore a battle-axe, and was distinguished for his love of justice and order. He made himself greatly feared by Henry, king of England, who had unjustly usurped the duchy of Normandy, whence he had expelled his nephew. During Henry's stay at Rouen,* he subjected him to every species of annoyance. He died of a badly-healed wound, A. D. * Homo, man vassal. f Whilst the king was in this city, Baldwin advanced boldly to the gate, into which he thrust his lance, in proof of his having been there. He turned all the deer in the king's park loose for a frolic. 440 LOTHAE, THE THIRD. 1119. Being without issue, he named as his successor, his friend and cousin, Charles the Good, the exiled son of St. Canute of Denmark. Charles rendered himself greatly be- loved by the people by his piety and benevolence, and by his support of the low-born and of the poor against the oppres- sions of the nobility and of the rich. During a great famine in 1126, he acted nobly, but with rigid severity. He daily distributed with his own hands several thousand loaves to the poor, and on discovering the excessive extortion practised in the sale of corn by a powerful family at Brugges, whose chief representatives were the provost Bertulf and his nephew Burkhard, he ordered their great magazines to be thrown open : this proceeding drew upon him the hatred of this great and influential family, and although he treated them with the greatest lenity, and even, when they took up arms against him, forgave them, he was attacked at Brugges, when en- gaged in giving alms, by Burkhard, who, advancing towards him disguised as a beggar and backed by several other con- spirators, deprived him with one blow of the arm which he extended towards him with a gift. He died of the wound, A. D. 1127. He was canonized by the church. His murder was fearfully revenged by the people. Burkhard, who had fled in the disguise of a monk, was discovered and put to the rack, and several of the other conspirators were mutilated, and cast headlong from towers. The degree of power gained by the commonalty in Flanders dates from this period, and Charles appears as the first citizen prince who took part with the people against the aristocracy. He left no issue. Baldwin von Hennegau, whose family had formerly been deprived of Flanders by Robert the Friscian, now sought to regain posses- sion of that country ; but the king of France, its feudal lord, deeming it more politic to bestow it upon William, duke of Normandy, (who had been expelled from his duchy by his uncle, Henry I. of England,) in the hope of his being able to regain Normandy, and to do him good service against Eng- land, to which he unwillingly saw Normandy annexed, he was refused. Baldwin, who, moreover, ravaged Flanders and had burnt a hundred people alive in a church at Oudenarde, was supported in his claim by the valiant Count William von Ypern, Count Godfred von Lb'wen, and by the English, who, on the invasion of the country by the king of France and LOTHAR THE THIRD. 441 William of Normandy, retired. William quickly made him- self unpopular by the imposition of heavy taxes with the view of raising funds for the conquest of Normandy, and, it may be, also for that of England. Lille, St. Orner, and Ghent revolted, and the flame of sedition rapidly spread throughout the whole country, and, as in the days of Richilda, the national animosity of the Germans against their French liege broke out with re- doubled violence. The German party, at whose head in former days stood Robert the Friscian, was now led by Dietrich, count of Alsace, whose mother, Gertrude, being daughter to Robert the Friscian, gave him a right, equal to that formerly possessed by Charles the Good, against the French. Dietrich came into the country with merely three followers, but the people flocked around him in such numbers that he quickly found himself at the head of an army. Louis, king of France, marching to the assistance of the Normans, Dietrich was com- pelled to take refuge in Allost, where he was besieged by Wil- liam. The death of this prince, who was shot in 1128, dissipated the hopes of the French monarch, who contented himself with receiving the homage of Dietrich, whom he ac- knowledged as duke of Flanders. Dietrich pursued a system similar to that of Charles the Good, only on wider principles, and rendered himself universally beloved. During his long reign of forty years, he laid the groundwork of the popular rights and privileges which, at a later period, rendered the Dutch so justly celebrated. It was to him that the cities were indebted for their Keuren, or charters, which brought in their train commerce and art, and rendered Flanders the most flourishing of the German states. Dietrich visited the Holy Land four times, as much for the sake of entering into commercial relations with the East, as for the purpose of com- bating the infidels and of wedding Sibylla, the daughter of Fulco, king of Jerusalem ; and Flanders was, in consequence of her relation with the East, for which she was in the com- mencement indebted to Dietrich, and which long endured, the first western state that introduced the arts and manufactures of Greece and of the Orient into Germany. During Dietrich's absence in the Holy Land, Baldwin von Hennegau again in- vaded Flanders, but was repulsed by Sibylla, A. D. 1149. Dietrich revenged this aggression in the following year by overrunning his territory, but, after gaining a bloody victory, 442 LOTHAR THE THIRD. peace was secured by the alliance of his daughter Margaret ha with Baldwin, the son of his opponent. He was, some time after this occurrence, once more compelled to take up arms in defence of free trade against his restless neighbour, Count Florens III., of Holland, whom he defeated, took prisoner, and compelled to sign a commercial treaty. In 1136, Lothar revisited Italy, in order to curb the inso- lence of Roger, who, besides inheriting the whole of the ter- ritory held by the Normans, had taken the title of king of Apulia and Sicily. One of the petty lords of the country blocking up the mountain pass, Lothar stormed his rocky fast- ness, and put the garrison to the sword. The plan of this cam- paign was to avoid the siege of the large cities, and to march directly against Roger. The emperor and Conrad von Hohen- staufen, who, in his right as duke of Swabia, bore the banner of the empire, turned to the left, Henry the Proud to the right, and, marching on both shores of the sea, reunited their forces at Benevento. Amalfi, where the Pandects, (laws of ancient Rome) were discovered among the booty, was taken, but Sa- lerno, Roger's seat of government, and Naples, which was still under that of Greece, were vainly besieged, and the Ger- man soldiery, weary of the protracted campaign, their term of service having expired, became impatient to return home, and even conspired against the life of the pope, Innocent II., whom they regarded as the only obstacle against the conclusion of peace. Lothar's sickness also conduced to hasten his return to Germany, which he was fated never again to behold, being overtaken by death at Breitenwang, in the Oberinnthal, where the low peasant's hut in which he expired may still be seen by the traveller. He was buried at Konigslutter, a town in Brunswick, that owed its rise to him. He also built Kaisers- lautern on the Rhine, so named owing to that circumstance, A. D. 1137. Lothar's policy in regard to the great vassals of the crown, was as little worthy of an emperor as his condescension to the pope. In order to secure the succession to the ducal throne of Saxony to his son-in-law, the duke of Bavaria, he passed a law to the effect that fiefs rendered vacant by the extinction of the family by whom they were held, should, for the future, instead of lapsing to the crown, fall to the next of kin. The gain was entirely on the side of the aristocracy. The house LOTHAR THE THIRD. 443 of Zahringen, which, after the degradation of the Hohenstau- fen, came into note in the South, gave a duke, Conrad, to Burgundy. A Count Ulrich von Ortenburg was created duke of Carinthia, where the perpetual change of dukes had afford- ed an opportunity to the petty counts of asserting their inde- pendence. Around the fortress of Steyer, which had been erected by a Count Ottocar, during the reign of Conrad L, the frontier of Steyer or Styria had gradually formed ; around Cilly, where a family of Thuringian counts, connected with that of Weimar and Orlamiind, had settled, spread the Win- dian frontier ; around the fortress of Grain, that of Carniola ; around Gortz, (Gorice, Goritzia,) the county of the same name. The Babenbergers still flourished in Austria. The most powerful of that family was Henry the Proud, the Welf, who, besides Bavaria, held the lands of the Countess Matilda, and, on the demise of the emperor, inherited Saxony. The house of Wiirtemberg also, at this period, owed its rise to the favour of the Hohenstaufen.* The Slavian frontiers had ac- quired still greater importance, and were united under two noble houses, that of Ballenstadt (the present house of An- halt) and that of Wettin (the present house of Saxony). The house of Ballenstadt was also named that of the Ascanier, from Esico, their ancestor, in the tentl century, or from Ascharia-, (Aschersleben,) their place of execution. The ancient, but now far more extensive, frontier of Gero, was then exclusively known as the march of Brandenburg, which, after the extinc- tion of the noble house of Stade, (whose last descendant, Count Rudolf, inherited the county of Stade, but was killed in 1145, during an insurrection of the free peasantry in Ditmarchen,) was bestowed upon Count Conrad von Plotzke, who, dying in 1133, without issue, the mere was granted by Lothar to Al- * Frederick von Stauffen, the One-eyed, sent one of his vassals, Jo- liann von Wiirtemberg, a young man whom a handsome person and lively parts rendered a general favourite, to Rudolf von Zahringen, in order to demand his daughter in marriage for his son Frederick, afterwards the emperor Barbarossa. Rudolf jokingly asking the handsome ambassador " Why he did not court the damsel for himself?" Frederick took the matter seriously, and found another bride for his son, upon which Johann actually received the hand of the Princess Anna, an alliance that pro- moted the future greatness of his house. See Crusius, Steinhofer, etc. This fact has been treated as fabulous by later authors, but without due grounds. 444 LOTHAR THE THIRD. brecht, Count von Ballenstadt, his relative, surnamed the Handsome, or the Bear, on account of his wild valour. Meis- sen remained in the possession of Conrad von Wettin. The broad lands to the East were thus united under two chiefs, [A. D. 1136,] in whose immediate neighbourhood was Louis, Landgrave of Thuringia and Hesse, on whom the emperor bestowed, in 1130, Thuringia in fee, independent of Saxony, to which she had been, for a considerable period, annexed, as a subordinate county. The Wends, at this period, still retained their freedom, Henry, the Christian prince of the Obotrites, having merely exacted tribute from them during his expedition to the island of RUgen. They were, moreover, still pagans. Henry's sons striving for the sovereignty, and being both deprived of life, Lothar gave the Obotritan crown in fee to Canute the Dane, whose fall was greatly contributed to by Adolf, count of Hoi- stein, of the house of Schauenburg, who aimed at independence, and (justly) refused to countenance Danish influence in Ger- many. Przibizlaw, a son of Butue, Gottschalk's brother and Henry's uncle, seized the country in the vicinity of Liibeck, and Niclot, another Wend, took possession of Mecklenburg, where his descendants reign at the present day. In Pome- rania, Wratislaw, who had been taken prisoner in his youth and baptized by the Saxons, headed the people against the Poles. From him descended the future dukes of Pomerania. After a long struggle, he submitted to Boleslaw of Poland, and the whole of Pomerania was christianized. Peter Wlast, the Dane, the possessor of immense trea- sures,* who became the minister of Boleslaw, the aged and valiant king of Poland, settled at this period in Silesia, where he was the first who introduced German arts and civilization. He built a castle on the Zobtenberg,f which stands in isolated grandeur in the midst of the apparently interminable plain, and several churches. He retained his office under Wladislaw, the son and successor of Boleslaw, but having, by an incon- siderate speech, drawn upon himself the enmity of Agnes, Wladislaw's German wife, the daughter of Leopold of Austria, * His father, Count William, is said to have seized the treasures of the Danish king. Peter -was, probably, a rich pirate. t Gora sobotka, the holy mountain, which, even in pagan times, was probably considered sacred, Sobutky signifying " sacred fire." CONRAD THE THIRD. 445 he was by her order suddenly seized and deprived of his tongue and his eyesight, whilst solemnizing the marriage of his daughter with a Serbian prince. PART XL THE SWABIAN DYNASTY. CXLVIII. Conrad the Third. THE great struggle between church and state, the pope and the emperor, had now commenced, and centuries were to pass away before its termination. On the one side stood the pope, supported by France and by an ungerman faction in Germany, which up to this period had been the Saxon one, but, since Saxony had fallen to the Bavarian Welf, was denominated the faction of the Welfs, or, as they were called in Italy, Guelphs. On the other side stood the emperor, who, besides defending the prerogatives of the state against the encroach- ments of the church, sought more especially to uphold the interests and honour of the German nation against the Italians and the French, in pursuance of which he was but too often treacherously abandoned by his own party in Germany. After the extinction of the Salic dynasty and the short reign of Lothar, the Staufen mounted the throne, on which they long sat, and, naming their race after the Allod of Waiblingen in the Remsthal, which they had inherited from the last of the Salic emperors, the name of the Waiblinger, or, in Italian, Ghibelines, was gradually fixed upon the imperial faction. The election of a successor to the throne was appointed to take place at Mayence, A. D. 1138; the Waiblinger, how- ever, anticipated the Welfs, in the most unconstitutional man- ner, and proclaimed Conrad von Hohenstaufen emperor at Coblentz. Handsome in his person, and replete with life and 446 LOTHAR THE THIRD. vigour, of undaunted and well-tried valour, Conrad stood superior to all the princes of his time, and seemed by nature fitted for command. His election was, moreover, favoured by the decease of Adalbert of Mayence, and by the dread with which the princes of the empire beheld the rising power of the Welfs, which it was Conrad's first aim to break. His faint-hearted opponent, staggered by his unexpected attack, delivered up the crown jewels ; the Saxons, and even Lothar's widow, submitted to him ; but, on his demanding from Henry the cession of Saxony, under pretence of the illegal union of two duchies under one chief, the duke rebelled, and was put out of the ban of the empire, Bavaria was given to Leopold of Austria, and Saxony to Albrecht the Bear. The ancient feud was instantly renewed [A. D. 1139]. The Welfs pos- sessed numerous Allods and fiefs in Swabia and Bavaria, which, supported by Welf, Henry's brother, defended the cause of their liege, whilst Henry himself carried on the struggle in Saxony. Conrad von Zahringen, at the same time, rose in favour of the Welfs, and the emperor, sending against him his nephew, Frederick Barbarossa, (the son of Frederick the One-eyed,) who succeeded in getting possession of Zurich, took the field in person, and invaded the lands of the Welfs. It was in 1141, when besieging the Welf in Weinsberg, that the Germans for the first time changed their war cry, " Kyrie Eleison," for the party cries of " The Welf!" " The Waiblinger ! " After enduring a long siege, Welf was compelled to surrender, Conrad granting free egress to the women, with whatever they were able to carry. The duchess, accordingly, took her husband, Welf, on her shoulders, and all the women of the city, following her example, they proceeded out of the city gates, to the great astonishment of the emperor, who, struck with admiration at this act of hero- ism, permitted the garrison to withdraw, exclaiming to those who attempted to dissuade him, " An emperor keeps his word ! " * The feud was put an end to by the deaths of Henry and Leopold, who, amongst other places, had destroyed Ratisbon. The son of the former, Henry the Lion, received Saxony, which Albrecht was, consequently, compelled to cede ; * According to the oldest chroniclers, St. Panteleon, (Eccard I. 931,) and the Chron. Weingart. bei Leibnit. scr. rer. Brunsw. I. 789, Welf and his duchess were, at that time, not at Weinsberg. LOTHAR THE THIRD. 447 in return for which, Brandenburg, which had formerly, like Thuringia, been annexed to the duchy of Saxony, was de- clared independent. Leopold's brother, Henry Sammir Gott, a surname he derived from his motto, married the widow of Henry the Proud, the mother of Henry the Lion, and became duke of Bavaria. Welf, the only malcontent, leagued with Bela, king of Hungary, and Roger of Naples, and continued to carry on a petty feud. Leopold was defeated, A. D. 1146, by the Hungarians on the Leitha. In the same year, Conrad made an unsuccessful inroad into Poland, for the purpose of restoring the duke, Wladislaw, who had been expelled by his subjects on account of his German wife, who continually in- cited him against his brothers, and treated the Poles with contempt. Geisa II., king of Hungary, probably with the view of protecting his southern frontiers, and at the same time of accustoming his wild subjects to German manners and cus- toms, allowed Saxon emigrants to settle in Siebenbiirgen. In 1160, they founded Hermannstadt, and have, to the present day, preserved their ancient language, customs, and privileges. In 1222, king Andreas granted them great privileges ; they remained separate as a Saxon nation from the natives, paid merely a small tax, which they laid upon themselves, and elected a count of their own nation, who, in sign of his newly- imposed rank, was presented with a banner, a sabre, and a club. Their provincial diets were held in the open field. About this time, the religious enthusiasm, which the cru- sades had so greatly tended to rouse, rapidly spread ; the German prophets, nevertheless, found a greater number of followers in France than in Germany. Ulrich of Ratisbon became the reformer of the .celebrated monastery of Clugny, the pride of the monkish world, and the pattern after which all other monasteries formed, or rather reformed themselves. St. Bruno of Cologne founded the severe order of the Car- thusians,* who bound themselves by the strictest vow com- pletely to renounce the world ; and Norbert of Xanten,f the * Near Grenoble, in a wilderness, known before this period as the Carthause. f A knight in the army of the emperor Henry IV., who was converted by a stroke of lightning, which struck him from his horse. Other celebrated enthusiasts of this age were, Eberhard, brother to Count Adolf 448 LOTHAR THE THIRD. equally strict order of the Pramonstratenser, in the wild vale of Premontre. Whilst these pious Germans promulgated the doctrine of worshipping God in solitude to the mountaineers of France, Count Hugo von Blankenburg, a Saxon, the abbot of the convent of St. Victor, in Paris, known as Hugh de St. Victoire, 1140, formed this doctrine into an ingenious philo- sophical system, and invented scientific mysticism, or Divine mysteries, which were further amplified by Honorius of Augst near Basel, (Augustodunensis,) and by Rupert abbot of Duiz, near Cologne. With these three fathers of mysticism, who gave utterance to the spirit with which the middle ages were so deeply imbued, was associated Hildegarde, countess von Sponheim, and abbess of Bingen, who was the oracle of the pope and of the emperor. She died at a great age, A. D. 1198. She and her sister Elisabeth had visions, during which they appeared to be influenced by a sort of poetical inspiration. Whilst the Germans were thus buried in poetical mysticism, the French and Italians constructed a new system of scho- lastic divinity, the result of a comparison of the doctrines of the ancient Greek philosophers, for instance, those of Aristotle, with the received tenets of the church, all whose ordinances were defended by philosophical subtleties, which the free- thinkers laboured to confute. Abelard, the freedom of whose opinions was quickly adopted by the heretics (Ketzer, Kath- arer, purifiers) in Germany, flourished at this period in France. He was the most celebrated among the free-thinkers of his times. The Roman Church endeavoured, from the commencement, to divide the heretics into different sects, and to give them different names, as if they, in opposition to the united church, could merely have confused and contradictory notions, but the von Altena, and Mark, who was outlawed by Lothar as a partisan of the Staufen, and being struck on the forehead with a battle-axe whilst fighting with the count of Limburg, instantly changed his opinions, and fled, dis- guised as a serf, to France, where he was afterwards discovered as a swineherd. In the country around Treves, Rochelin the hermit dwelt for fourteen years naked in the forest. The Countess Ida von Toggen- burg attained still greater celebrity in Switzerland. A raven flew away with her wedding ring, which was found and worn by a huntsman. The count perceiving the ring, believed his wife to be unfaithful to him, and cast her from a window down a precipice. She escaped unhurt, and lived long after in seclusion. LOTHAR THE THIRD. 449 heretics were, from the commencement, extremely simple, and united in their views, which aimed at nothing less than the restoration of Christianity in its original purity, genuine piety, not merely the mock devotion of church ceremonies, real brotherly love in Christ, not the slavish subordination in which the laity was held by the despotic priesthood, whose moral cor- ruption unfitted them for the sacred office they filled. This was the doctrine taught by Tanchelin at Antwerp, and at Bonn, and for which he was put to death, his conversion having been vainly attempted by St. Norbert, who had been presented with the arch- bishopric of Magdeburg, A. D. 1126. This heresy afterwards took a political character in Italy. The Romans, who had long struggled against their chains, revolted against Innocentius II., who had entered into an offensive alliance against them with their ancient enemy, the neighbouring town of Tivoli. In the heat of the insurrection, Arnold of Brescia, a monk, the disciple of Abelard, promulgated his heretical doctrines, which threatened to hurl the tiara from the pontiff's brow. This man preached a universal reform, the reduction of the church to its primitive state of simplicity and poverty, and the restora- tion in the state of the freedom and equality of the ancient Grecian and Roman republics, at the same time that St. Bern- hard was raising a crusade, in which the religious enthusiasm of the age was carried to its highest pitch ; and thus did the adverse opinions of so many centuries meet, as it were, in the persons of these two men. Arnold expelled the pope from Rome, and restored the ancient republican form of government. A Roman, Jordanus, was elected consul. The pope, Eugene III., after vainly entreating for assistance from Conrad III., who was sufficiently acquainted with Italy to be well aware of the futility of an expedition to Rome, fled into France, to St. Bernhard, in order to aid him in the more important scheme of raising a general crusade. He returned to Rome, whence he contrived to expel Arnold, in 1149. Heresy spread also throughout Switzerland. Arnold of Brescia resided for some time at Constance and Zurich. The shepherds of Schwyz carried on a long dispute with the insolent abbot of Einsie- deln, who attempted to deprive them of a pasturage, the an- cient free inheritance of their fathers, in defence of which they were aided by the neighbouring herdsmen of Uri and Unterwalden, and although, in 1144, excommunicated by the 2 G 450 THE CRUSADE OF abbot, by the bishop of Constance, and put out of the ban of the empire by the nobility, they refused to yield, (being pro- bably infected with Arnold's free and bold opinions,) and, for eleven years, asserted their independence, without the priests or nobles venturing to attack them in their mountain strong- holds ; a foretoken of the Swiss confederation of more modern times. About the same date, [A. D. 1139,] the inhabitants of Grbningen in East Friesland were at feud with the bishop of Utrecht, whose pretensions endangered their freedom. They were defeated, but, notwithstanding, defended their li- berty against Henry the Lion, whom they beat from the field. The Ditmarsi belonged to the county of Stade, and, like the West Friscians, had fallen under the temporal government of the dukes. The death of Rudolf, the last of the counts of Stade, whose crown cost him his life, happened during this ' heretical outbreak, A. D. 1143. After this, the Ditmarsi maintained their independence, and for the space of five years, but, less protected, like the more fortunate Swiss, by their mountains, they were defeated and reduced to submission by the imperial forces, A. D. 1148. They afterwards fell succes- sively under the rule of the bishop of Bremen, the counts of Holstein, and the king of Denmark, against all of whom they repeatedly rebelled. CXLIX. The Crusade of Conrad the Third. THE bad state of affairs in the East, meanwhile, necessitated another crusade. The crown of Jerusalem had passed from the house of Lothringia to that of Anjou. The settlers in the Holy Land chiefly consisted of French, who, merely intent upon plunder and conquest, neglected the cause of religion. They had, moreover, married Arabian and Turkish women, and their descendants, the Pullanes, devoid of their fathers' energy, and inheriting the soft effeminacy of their mothers, were educated amid the intrigues of Eastern harems. These Pullanes, at the present period, formed the nobility of the kingdom of Jerusalem, and of the principalities of Antioch and Tripoli, and, as they had never visited the West, the new crusaders, by whom they feared to be deprived of their CONRAD THE THIRD. 451 possessions, became objects of general suspicion ; and to this cause may be attributed the failure of this crusade. Baldwin II. had been succeeded by his son-in-law, Fulke d'Anjou, an old and incapable prince.* Edessa had been governed by the wicked Joscelin, who was thrown into prison. The noble-spirited Pontius of Tripoli had been killed, and Raimund, the valiant son of the dastardly Troubadour, Wil- liam of Poitou, who had seized the sovereignty in Antioch, was the only one who, since 1136, continued to honour the banner of the cross. Fulke, defeated by the great sultan Zengis, was for a short time assisted by Dietrich of Flanders, who, like the rest of his countrymen, soon returned to his na- tive country, A. D. 1138. Fulke was thrown from his horse when hunting, and died, A. D. 1143. He was succeeded by his son, Baldwin III., a boy twelve years of age, and, during the following year, [A. D. 1144,] Zengis took the important city of Edessa, which had long served Jerusalem and Antioch as a bulwark against Bagdad. The city was at first spared, but an insurrection taking place among the Christian inhabit- ants, thirty thousand of them were cut to pieces. A fearful storm that burst over Jerusalem, during which the church of the holy sepulchre was struck with lightning, was also viewed by the devout as a visitation from heaven on account of the sins of the Pullanes. The fall of Edessa filled the whole of Christendom with consternation, and the loss of the holy sepulchre was every where prognosticated. The pope, Eugene III., a haughty and ambitious man, formed the scheme of assembling the emperor, the kings, and princes of Europe beneath the banner of the church, and of placing himself as a shepherd at their head. St. Bernhard travelled through France, emulating his predecessor, Peter the Hermit, in the warmth of his appeal to the people. On the Rhine, a priest, named Radulf, again incited the people against the Jews, who were assassinated in great num- bers in almost all the Rhenish cities. St. Bernhard, on his arrival in Germany, opposed Radulf, whom he compelled to return to his convent, and, aided by St. Hildegarde, the Velleda of the times, persuaded multitudes to follow the cru- sade. The people, in their enthusiasm, tore his clothes off, in * In order to conceal the bad shape of his feet, he wore long pointed shoes, which before long became the fashion. 2 G 2 452 THE CRUSADE OF order to sew the pieces on their shoulders in the form of a cross. At Frankfort on the Maine he was so closely pressed, that the emperor was obliged to carry him away from his admirers like a child on his arm. At first Conrad was un- willing to visit the Holy Land, on account of the unsettled state of his authority in Germany, but he was forced to yield to circumstances, and, whilst presiding over the diet at Spires, was presented with the cross by St. Bernhard, the sign of his vow, in which he was also joined by his nephew Frederick, Henry Sam Mir Gott, the rebellious Welf, Ladislaw of Bohe- mia, Berthold, count von Andechs, Ottocar of Styria, and several bishops, among whom was the emperor's brother, Otto, bishop of Freysingen, to whom posterity is indebted for an account of this crusade. Henry the Lion, Albrecht the Bear, all the Saxon nobility, and Conrad von Zahringen, who had no inclination to accom- pany the emperor to the Holy Land, turned their arms, aided by their Danish allies, against the pagan Wends. A recon- ciliation had shortly before taken place between them and Adolf of Holstein. Niclot attacked and destroyed Liibeck, but spared all the Holsteiners, and, after gallantly defending his fortress of Dubin on the Sea against the superior Saxon forces, was at length induced to embrace Christianity. Adolf, a prince equally wise and valiant, was attacked by his neigh- boui's, the jealous Danes, whom he had the good fortune to repel, A. D. 1148. Denmark was, at this period, governed by three brothers, Valdemar, Sueno, and Canute, the last of whom leaguing with Adolf against Sueno, Etheler the Dit- marsch, the hereditary foe of the counts of Holstein, joined Sueno. Adolf was victorious, and Etheler was slain. A quarrel afterwards broke out between Adolf and Canute, and the latter was also beaten. The Ascomanni, a piratical horde in the Baltic, composed of people of every nation, took advan- tage of the confusion to carry on their depredations. The greatest anarchy prevailed. Canute a second time defeated Sueno, who in his turn defeated the Ascomanni. Germany no longer viewed Denmark with apprehension. Henry the Lion, after making peace with Niclot, contented himself with the destruction of the pagan temples at Rhetra and Ol- denburg. He invested the bishop Vicelin with the latter place, bestowing it upon him in fee, as if he united in his own per- CONRAD THE THIRD. 453 son the prerogatives of both the emperor and the pope. He also invested the Count Henry with Ratzeburg,* after com- pelling Przibizlaw, who was less warlike than Niclot, to sur- render his lands. Albrecht the Bear took Brandenburg, which was desperately defended by Jatzco, one of Przibizlaw's nephews, by storm ; and the whole of the territory beneath his jurisdiction took henceforth the name of Brandenburg. In Spain the religious war against the Moors was carried on with great fury. In 1147, a great fleet bearing Friscian, Flemish, and Colognese crusaders headed by Arnulf von Aerschott, landed, when crossing the sea to Palestine, on the coast of Portugal, and understanding that Alfonso the Great, king of Spain, was, at that conjuncture, laying siege to the city of Lisbon, which was then densely populated by Moors, they instantly offered him their assistance, and histo- rians relate, that the Spaniards had already retired from be- fore the city walls when the Germans appeared, and bearing all before them, soon made themselves masters of the place. Alfonso, in the excess of his gratitude, divided the enormous booty taken in ransacking the city among the crusaders, who continued their voyage and reached the Holy Land in safety. In the spring of 1147, Conrad III. assembled an immense multitude at Ratisbon, and marched them along the Danube into Greece, where, notwithstanding the friendly reception of the emperor, Manuel, many untoward events took place. Some Germans who were carousing in the suburbs of Philip- popolis were joined by a juggler, who, seating himself among them, placed a snake which had been taught tricks on one of the cups. The Germans, imagining him a sorcerer and skilled in the black art, instantly killed him, upon which a desperate fray ensued between them and the Greeks, and the whole country was laid waste. In the beautiful vale of Chorobacha, the German camp was suddenly inundated in the middle of the night by a rain-spout, which washed the tents and num- bers of the men into the sea. In Constantinople, the Germans destroyed a pleasure-garden belonging to the emperor, and the perpetrators of this wanton act of mischief were cut to pieces * This Count had, some time previously, been set up in opposition to Adolf of Holstein, who, retaining his position, it became necessary to make compensation to Henry. The county of Ratzeburg comprised the whole of western Poland. 454 THE CRUSADE OF by the mercenaries, without any attention being paid to the circumstance by Conrad. On reaching Asia Minor, the army divided, Otto von Freysingen marching to the left along the sea-coast whilst the emperor led the main force inland. The scarcity of provisions caused great suffering to both armies ; the Greeks on their approach fled into the fortified towns, and the starving pilgrims were merely able to procure scanty and sometimes poisoned food at an enormous price. The Greeks even confess that the emperor Manuel permitted them to sell poisoned flour. It was no unusual practice for them to take the gold offered in exchange for their provisions by the honest Germans, and to run off without giving any thing in return. Conrad, nevertheless, continued to push on, but was treach- erously led by the Greek guides into a Turkish ambuscade. During the previous year Zengis had been murdered by an assassin ; but the petty princes of Asia Minor combined against the Germans, and Conrad's army, after wandering for three days without food amid the pathless mountains around Iconium, was suddenly attacked and routed by the Turks. The horrors of this dreadful day, October 26th, 1147, were still further increased by an eclipse of the sun. Conrad, who had received two severe arrow wounds, now attempted to res- cue the remainder of his army from their perilous situation by an orderly retreat, but the brave Count Bernard von Plotzke, who brought up the rear, was deprived of the whole of his men by the arrows of their Turkish pursuers. The arrival of Louis VII. of France, at this critical moment, was of little avail. The French merely mocked the unfortunate Germans, and Conrad, racked by ridicule and disappointment, lay sick at Constantinople. The French, however, did not escape. Their army was, as usual, encumbered with a number of women. The pious king had brought with him his young wife, Eleonore,* or Alienore, and a numerous suite. Notwith- standing the politeness of their reception by Manuel, they no sooner reached Asia Minor than a fate similar to that that had befallen the Germans awaited them. The Greeks closed the gates of their cities against them, poisoned the provisions, * One of these dames, who rode in golden boots, and who probably was Eleonore, or as she was called, " hot Alienore," herself, particularly struck the Easterns, by whom she is mentioned as " the golden-footed fair one." CONRAD THE THIRD. 455 and treacherously delivered them to the Turks. Weary, starving, and faint, they were easily dispersed and slain, and Louis, after defending himself on a rock against the whole Turkish army, was taken prisoner. He was afterwards set at liberty. Otto von Freysingen reached Antioch with the remnant of his weakened forces, whilst the Germans who marched under Conrad, and the French under Louis, merely found their way to Atalia on the sea-coast, a desolate abode, where hunger and pestilence alone awaited them. The leaders went by sea to Antioch. The common soldiery were, for the greater part, starved to death ; three thousand of the French went over to the Turks and embraced Mahomedanism, and the plague spreading among the treacherous Greek inhabitants, the city, completely deserted, sank in ruins.* Antioch was, at that time, governed by Raimund, Eleonore's uncle, by whom she and her husband were received with great magnificence. The manners of this half oriental court com- pletely corrupted this beautiful and unprincipled princess, who, forgetful of the sacred object of the crusade, and heedless of the sufferings of the people, wantonly sported with young cavaliers, (a handsome Turk is mentioned as one of her most favoured lovers,) and, protected by Raimund, openly braved the authority of her husband. Louis at length succeeded in secretly carrying her off to Accon, where the emperor Conrad, who had arrived by sea from Constantinople, had, with the remainder of the German pilgrims, been received by the young king, Baldwin III. Edessa being irreparably lost, it was con- certed in a council held by all the princes present, that an expedition should be undertaken against Damascus, which, it was further agreed, should be bestowed upon Count Dietrich of Flanders, who had just arrived ; and, after paying their devo- tions at the holy sepulchre, the whole body of the pilgrims took the field, and a brilliant victory was gained at Rabna, Conrad and his Germans forcing their way through the re- treating French, and falling with irresistible fury on the now panic-struck enemy. Conrad is said to have cut a Turk so * The Greeks, whilst thus aiding the downfal of the Christian empire in the East, unconsciously paved the way for their own. Assisted by Conrad and Louis, Manuel might long have kept the Turks at bay ; by his narrow-minded policy and treachery, he deprived himself of his sole support. 456 CRUSADE OF CONRAD THE THIRD. completely asunder at one blow, that his head, arms, and the upper part of his body fell to the ground. The Pullanes, jealous of the fortune of the count of Flanders, now prince of Damascus, were easily bribed * by the Turks to betray the pilgrims, whom they persuaded to abandon their safe position, and then broke their plighted word ; upon which the emperor Conrad, and Louis of France, justly enraged at their treachery, raised the siege of Damascus and returned to their respective dominions-! And thus was another brilliant enterprise doomed to terminate in shame and dishonour. The Pullanes, like the Greeks, hastened their own ruin. Blind to their own interests, they senselessly neglected the opportunity that now presented itself, on the death of Zengis, their most formidable foe, and during the minority of Saladin the Great, for extending and fortifying the kingdom of Jerusalem, whose downfal now rapidly approached. Welf, who had hurried home before the rest of the pilgrims, had again conspired, with Roger of Naples, against Conrad ; and Henry the Lion, deeming the moment favourable, on ac- count of the recent discomfiture of the emperor, openly claimed Bavaria as his own. Conrad hastened back to Germany and held a diet at Spires. His son Henry reduced the Welf to submission, but shortly afterwards expired in the bloom of youth. The emperor did not long survive him ; he died at Bamberg, (according to popular report, of poison administered to him by Roger,) when on the point of invading Poland for the purpose of replacing Wladislaw on the throne, A. D. 1152. The double eagle was introduced by him into the arms of the empire. It was taken from those of the Greek emperor, by whom it was borne as the symbol of the ancient Eastern and Western Roman empire. * The money they received was afterwards discovered to be of base metal, a fitting reward for their treason. t Louis divorced Eleonore, on account of her repeated infidelities, and she instantly married Henry Plantagenet, king of England and duke of Normandy, as had been previously arranged between them. Incessant domestic broils imbittered the last days of this monarch. Eleonore was the mother of Richard Cceur de Lion. FREDERICK BARBAROSSA. 457 CL. Frederick Barbarossa. THE claim of Frederick, Conrad's nephew, to the crown, was received without opposition. The jealous vassals of the empire seemed under the influence of a charm. Even the insolent Welf's bent in lowly submission. There was little union between the heads of this inimical and illustrious house, Welf the elder of Upper Swabia, and Henry the Lion ot Saxony, the latter of whom was, moreover, at variance with his step-father, Henry of Babenberg, who withheld from him his paternal inheritance, Bavaria. In 1152, Frederick was elected emperor at Frankfort on the Maine ; and crowned with ancient solemnity at Aix-la-Chapelle. This election was the first that took place in the presence of the city delegates. 'Frederick publicly swore to increase justice, to curb wrong, to protect and extend the empire. On quitting the cathedral, a vassal threw himself at his feet in the hope of obtaining pardon on this solemn occasion for his guilt, but the emperor, mindful of his oath, refused to practise mercy instead of justice. Frederick was remarkable for the handsome and manly appearance, and the genuine German cast of countenance, which distinguished the whole of the Staufen family, and powerfully conduced to their popularity. Shortly cropped fair hair, curling closely over a broad and massive forehead, blue eyes with a quick and penetrating glance, and well-curved lips that lent an expression of benevolence to his fine features, a fair white skin, a well-formed and muscular person, com- bined with perfect simplicity in dress and manners, present a pleasing portrait of this noble chevalier. His beard, that in- clined to red, gained for him the Italian soubriquet of Barba- rossa. Ever mindful of the greatness of his destiny, Frederick was at once firm and persevering, a deep politician and a wise statesman. To guarantee the internal unity and the external security of the state, was his preponderating idea ; and regard- less of the animosity with which the German princes secretly sought to undermine the imperial authority, he directed his principal forces against his most dangerous enemy, the pope, and rightly concluded that he could alone overcome him in Italy. Those who. charge him with having neglected the 458 FREDERICK BARBAROSt .. affairs of Germany, and with having devoted himself entirely to those of Italy, on the grounds that he would have acted more wisely had he confined himself to Germany, forget the times in which he lived. The pope would never have suffered him to remain at peace in Germany, he would ever have stirred up fresh enemies around him, and Frederick had no other choice than, as a good general, to carry on the war in his adversary's territory, and to direct his whole force against the enemy's centre. The peaceful government *f Germany was alone to be secured by the imposition of shackles on the pope. By giving the crown of Denmark in fee to Sueno, Frederick at once terminated the strife between him and his two brothers, Canute and Waldemar, and secured the northern frontier of the empire. The allegiance of Henry the Lion being con- firmed by a promise of the duchy of Bavaria in reversion, he dismissed, without further ceremony, the papal legates, who interfered in the election of the bishops, over the Alps, and assembled a powerful army, with the intention of quickly fol- lowing in their footsteps. When he was encamped on the Bodensee, the ancient cents or cantons of Schwyz, Uri, and Unterwalden, inarched under the banner of the Count von Lenzburg, their governor, to do him feudal service in the field. Whilst the emperor was assembling his forces at Constance, ambassadors from the city of Lodi threw themselves at his feet, complaining of the oppression of their city by Milan, whose inhabitants affected the papal party. Frederick com- manded the Milanese to make restitution to their neighbours, but they tore his letter in sign of contempt. Frederick now crossed the Alps, and, planting the standard of the empire in the vale of Ronceval, near Piacenza, [A. D. 1154,] summoned all the Italian vassals to do their bounden service as royal body-guard in the field, and declared all who refused to ap- pear to have forfeited their fiefs. The Ghibellines obeyed the summons ; the Guelfs treated it with contempt. Milan sent an open defiance, but Frederick, too prudent to attempt the subjugation of this well-fortified and densely populated city by force, sought to weaken her by gradually occupying the towns with which she was in league. The importance of the cities in Upper Italy had been greatly increased by the cru- FREDERICK BARBAROSSA. 459 sades, by the consequent extension of their commercial rela- tions with the East, and also by the absence of the ruling family since the reign of the Countess Matilda ; the warlike nobility of the country had, moreover, assumed the right of citizenship in the cities. The richest commercial cities were Venice, Genoa, and Pisa, whilst Milan, situated in the heart of Lombardy, was far superior to them all in military power, and had become the focus of the papal faction. The cities of Rosate, Cairo, Asti, fell one after another into the hands of the victorious emperor, who, in order to strike terror into his opponents, reduced the strongly fortified city of Tortona, which had long resisted the siege, to ashes, and levelled the ground on which it had stood. At Pavia he seized the iron crown of Lombardy, and entered into a negotiation with the pope, Hadrian IV., for the performance of the ceremony of coronation. Rome was still convulsed by two rival factions, one in favour of the pope, the other composed of the here- tical republican disciples of Arnold of Brescia. The dread with which the success and popularity of Arnold impressed the pope, rendered him more docile towards the emperor, who little foresaw of what a powerful weapon he voluntarily de- prived himself, by persecuting Arnold, a man as truly great as he was unfortunate, instead of aiding him to the utmost in carrying out his plans for the complete reformation of the church. When the ambassadors from the citizens of Rome entered his presence, and spoke to him of ancient Roman virtue, he replied to them contemptuously, " Ancient Rome and ancient Roman virtue no longer dwell with you, her effeminate and perfidious children, but with us, her hardy and true-hearted sons." The enthusiasm created by Arnold of Brescia appeared to him merely an Italian comedy, the con- temptible shadow of a temporal republic, instead of, as in fact it was, the germ of a great ecclesiastical reform. He, conse- quently, permitted Arnold's execution, and this luckless re- former was burnt alive at sunrise before the gates of the city, to whose inhabitants he had preached religious and civil li- berty. Rome trembled before the emperor. The pope solemnly placed the crown upon his brow in the church of St. Peter, and the emperor, in return, held his stirrup, an action, the symbolical interpretation of which signified that spiritual power could not retain its empire without the aid of the tem- 460 FREDERICK BARBAROSSA. poral. Frederick also caused the picture, representing Lothar's acceptance of the crown in fee from the pope, which was pub- licly exhibited in the Lateran, to be burnt, and expressed his displeasure at the artful method by which the church falsely sought to extend her authority, in the following remarkable words : " God has raised the church by means of the state ; the church, nevertheless, will overthrow the state. She has commenced by painting, and from painting has proceeded to writing. Writing will gain the mastery over all, if we permit it. Efface your pictures and retake your documents, that peace may be preserved between the state and the church." The Romans, in the mean time, unable to forget their long- hoped-for republic, were maddened by rage, and the ceremony of the coronation was scarcely over, when an insurrection broke out, and Frederick, whose horse fell beneath him, was alone saved by the courage of Henry the Lion. A horrid tu- mult, in which multitudes were butchered, ensued, but was finally quelled by the Germans. In order to punish the inso- lence of the Normans, Frederick took the field against Wil- liam, the son of Roger ; but his army being wasted by pesti- lence, he was forced to retreat through his enemies, who in different places barricadoed his path. Spoleto was reduced to ashes for refusing the customary contribution (fodrum). The passage of the Etsch was defended by the Veronese, whom he evaded by the rapidity of his movements, and the pass through the mountains being guarded by a fortress, it was carried by storm by Otto von Wittelsbach, his bravest adherent, who reached it over almost inaccessible rocks, and the Veronese nobles, captured within its walls, were condemned to hang each other. On his return, A. D. 1156, the emperor held a diet at Ratis- bon, in which he rewarded Henry the Lion for the succour he had afforded him during the Italian campaign with the duchy of Saxony.* Henry Sam mir Gott was compensated with the * The old chronicle by Leibnitz, -written in rhyme, thus praised the affection subsisting at that time between the emperor and the Lion. Henry was wounded, and Frederick tended him himself. De Keyser sulven mit der Hant Vorleit den Knop unde den bant Sines helmes blotvar, He nam der wunden gude war FREDERICK BARBAROSSA. 461 duchy of Austria, which remained henceforth independent of Bavaria. Welf was confirmed in the duchy of Tuscany ; Frederick von Rotenburg was created duke of Swabia, the emperor disdaining the title of duke in addition to his own ; Berthold von Zahringen was compelled to resign the govern- ment of Burgundy, which his father Conrad had held. This province presented a scene of the direst anarchy. Its affairs had been almost entirely neglected by the emperor, and the difference between the language spoken by the inhabitants and that of Germany, had gradually estranged them from the Germans, a circumstance which the French monarchs took advantage of in order to gain over the Burgundian nobles, whom they occasionally supported against Germany. It was just at this conjuncture that William, count of Burgundy, (Franche Comte,) imprisoned Beatrix, the only child of his brother, Count Reinold, in a tower, and deprived her of her rich inheritance. The emperor, mindful of the fidelity with which her father had served him in a time of need, hastened to procure her liberation, and to raise her as his empress to the throne, which her beauty, talents, and virtues were well fitted to adorn. The marriage was celebrated at Wiirzburg. Five sons were the fruit of their happy union. The whole province of Burgundy (of whose fidelity she was the pledge, and which is traversed by the Rhone till it falls into the sea) swore fealty to the emperor at Besan^on, where Otto von Wittelsbach attempted to cut down the Cardinal Roland, who maintained that the emperor held the empire in fee of the pope. Frederick built a palace at Dole.* In 1157, assisted Unde -wesede ome mil flite Dat blot van deme antlize. When, shortly after this, Henry the Lion was at feud with the refractory bishop of Freysingen, whose town of Vehringen he destroyed, the neigh- bouring village of Munich, which until now had been thrown into the shade by the prosperity of Vehringen, came into notice. * The county of Burgundy, or, as it was called, " Franche Comte," was, like the duchy of Burgundy or Bourgogne, merely a part of the ancient kingdom of Burgundy, the whole of which belonged to the Ger- man empire, Franche Comte alone at that period becoming hereditary ia the house of Staufen. Frederick's son, Otto, who was created hereditary Count of Burgundy at Dole, left a daughter, Beatrice, whose husband, Otto de Meran, inherited the county. Their daughter, Alice, brought it in dowry to the Counts de Champagne, from whom it afterwards de- scended to the French dukes of Burgundy. 462 FREDERICK BARBAROSSA. by Henry the Lion and by Bohemia, he opened a campaign against Poland, and compelled Boleslaw, the king of that country, once more to recognise the supremacy of the German empire, and barefoot, his naked sword hanging around his neck, to take the oath of fealty ; after which, the royal dignity was bestowed by the emperor upon his obedient vassal, Wla- dislaw of Bohemia. The feuds, so common throughout Germany, were sus- pended by force ; as an example to deter others, he condemned the Pfalzgrave Hermann, who persisted in carrying on a feud with the archbishop of Mayence, to carry a dog, a disgrace so bitterly felt by the haughty vassal, that he withdrew into a monastery. The Pfalz was bestowed upon Conrad, the emperor's brother. The introduction of the different orders and customs of chivalry, and the warlike notions inculcated by the crusades, had greatly tended to foster the natural pre- dilection of the Germans, the love of arms, and there were many knights who supported themselves solely by robbery and petty feuds, or, as it was called, by the stirrup. Their castles were mere robbers' nests, whence they attacked and carried off their private enemies or wealthy travellers, the higher church dignitaries and merchants, whom they com- pelled to pay a ransom. Frederick destroyed a considerable number of these strongholds. It is about this period that the oppression under which the peasantry groaned comes under our notice. The magnificence and luxury introduced from the East, and the formation of different orders of nobility, had multiplied the necessities of life, and consequently had in- creased the rent of land, and feudal taxes. Numbers of the peasants claimed the right of burghership in the towns as Ausbiirger, absentees, or Pfahlburger, citizens dwelling in the suburbs ; and by thus placing themselves under the protection of the cities, occasioned numerous feuds between them and the provincial nobility, who refused to give up their serfs. Some of the princes protected the peasantry, and became in consequence extremely popular. The Landgrave Louis of Thuringia was long ignorant of the misconduct of his no- bility. One day having wandered from the track when pur- suing the chace, he took shelter for the night in the house of a smith at Ruhla, without discovering his rank to his host. The next morning the smith set to work at his forge, and, as FREDERICK BARBAROSSA. 463 he beat the iron, exclaimed, " Become hard, Luz ! Become hard, Luz ! " and, on being demanded his meaning by the landgrave, replied, that " he meant that the landgrave ought to become hard as iron towards the nobles." The hint was not thrown away upon his listener, Louis henceforward adding to his own power by freeing the peasants from the heavy yoke imposed upon them by the nobility. The nobles made a brave defence in the battle of Naumburg, but were finally defeated, and yoked in turn by fours in a plough, which the landgrave guided with his own hand, .and with which he ploughed up a field, still known as the Adelacker (the nobles' acre). Louis received thence the soubriquet of " the Iron." His corpse was borne from Naumburg to Reinhartsbrunn, a distance of ten miles, on the shoulders of the nobility. The policy pursued by the emperor was imitated by several of the princes, who sought to keep their vassals in check by means of the cities. Henry the Lion bestowd great privi- leges on his provincial towns, LUbeck,* Brunswick, etc. Berthold von Zahringen, who, in 1113, founded Friburg, followed his example. Albrecht the Bear sought to amelio- rate the condition of his Slavian frontier, by draining and cultivating the marshes, and by bringing numerous colonists from the Netherlands, whence came the name of Fleming that is still given to the frontier tracts of country filled with dikes and marshes, more especially in the vicinity of Magdeburg. Having thus given peace to Germany and extended his empire, the emperor was once more at leisure to form his plans upon Italy, where the pope had again ventured to men- tion the empire as a gift bestowed by him upon the emperor, who no sooner menaced him than he declared that he had in- tended to say bonum factum not feudum. In 1158, Frederick crossed the Alps, preceded by his zealous adherent, the valiant * Henry at first envied the freedom enjoyed by the citizens of Lii- beck, and when, on its being burnt down, the merchants refused to re- build their houses, unless he granted them still greater privileges, he erected a new city, which he named Lowenstadt, in their vicinity ; but, finding that it possessed no harbour for large shipping, and, moreover, was incapable of being rendered impregnable to the assaults of the ma- rauding pagans, he yielded to their importunities, and bestowed great privileges upon the rebuilt city. Detmar Chro. 1157. He was two years afterwards repulsed by the Eastthringiaii Friscians, whom he had under- taken to reduce to submission. 464 FREDERICK BARBAROSSA. Otto von Wittelsbach, who every where spread the terror of his name. The Milanese, who, in revenge, had laid the cities of Lodi and Crema in ruins, opposed the emperor at Cassano and were defeated. He received their ambassadors in the ruins of Lodi, and said to them, " You have destroyed the emperor's city, and with the same measure with which ye mete, shall it be measured unto you again." He, nevertheless, treated Milan with great lenity, on her surrender in the au- tumn, in the hope of winning her over to his side, and when, on the 6th of September, the nobles of Milan delivered to him the keys of the city, and came into his presence bare- footed, with their naked swords hanging around their necks, he forgot his revenge, and contented himself with an oath of fealty, and a promise of the restoration of Lodi and Crema. Frederick, true to his policy of legally regulating the af- fairs of the country as a prince of peace, not as a powerful conqueror, convoked a diet of the native princes of Lombardy in the fields of Ronceval, where the great feudatories of Italy appeared in person. The cities were each represented by two consuls. And, in order to avoid any misunderstanding, and to settle differences, he summoned thither four of the most noted doctors of the law from the Italian universities, to act as impartial judges, Martinus Gosia, Bulgarus, Jacob and Hugh de Porta Ravegnana. The study of the ancient Roman law, to which the discovery of the Pandects at Amalfi had greatly conduced, had, not long before this period, come into vogue in Italy. In the inimical position in which Italy stood in regard to Germany, may be perceived the chief cause of her predilection for the study of her by-gone times, whilst the confusion between her ancient and modern privileges, naturally caused the clear, precise, and conclusive laws of ancient Rome to be rigidly examined and consulted. The university of Bologna, in particular, applied herself to the study of the Roman law, which she undertook to explain, and to adapt to the present state of affairs. Frederick, in common with the rest of his contemporaries, acted upon the idea of the intimate connexion of the German empire with that of ancient Rome, and therefore discovered no hesitation in re- viving all the ancient privileges, which were, in fact, more conformable with his policy, no mention being made of hier- archical power in the old Roman law, which merely propounded FREDERICK BARBAROSSA. 465 the temporal and unlimited authority of the emperor, and thus provided him with a powerful weapon not only against the pope, but also against his unruly vassals, with which he will- ingly armed himself.* The new Italian code delivered by the diet held at Ronce- val, was founded partly on the German, partly on the Roman legislature. It was decided that all the royal dues usurped by the dukes, margraves, and townships, should relapse to the crown, and that the nomination of all princes and counts, as well as city consuls, was invalid unless confirmed by the em- peror. This was an old German prerogative. It was fur- ther resolved, that the great fiefs should be unalienable and indivisible, in order to put an end to the feuds caused by their conferment and division. The universities were endowed with additional privileges, slavery being antipathetical to the progress of intelligence. A general tax, a most unpopular novelty, was deduced from the Roman law, and now for the first time imposed. When Otto von Wittelsbach attempted to enforce this tax on the Milanese, an insurrection ensued, and he was driven out of the city ; and, at the same time, the majority of the cities declared against the deputies, their re- presentatives at the diet, who had been chiefly induced to vote with the emperor by the hope of being confirmed by him in their consulates. Hadrian IV. also protested against the diet. Henry the Lion then attempted to negotiate matters ; the cardinals sent to him for that purpose, being seized and im- prisoned in Tirol by the lawless counts of Eppan, Henry, in his right as duke of Bavaria, punished them by destroying their castles.f On the decease of Hadrian, in 1159, there * One day when riding at Bologna with two professors, the emperor inquired of them whether he could justly ascribe to himself the title of " master of the world." One of them, Martinus, replied, " Yes, for all the people and things in the world were his : " the other, Bulgarus, said, " No, for the emperor merely governs, hut does not possess." This say- ing pleased the emperor ; but, on dismounting, he presented his horse in gift to Martinus, upon which Bulgarus exclaimed, " Dixi sequum, amisi equum, quod non est ffiquum ! " f The counts of Eppan, probably the descendants of the ancient Ba- varian frontier counts in Botzen, were the daring rivals of their neigh- bours, the counts of Tirol. Their castles touched upon each other in the beautiful vale between Botzen and Meran, at the confluence of the Etsch and the Eisach. At the present day may be seen there the ruins of twenty castles ; the ancient ancestral castle of the counts of Tirol, above 2 H 466 FREDERICK BARBAROSSA. was a schism among the cardinals, the Ghibellines electing Victor IV., the Guelphs, Alexander III. Frederick's first attack was directed against the cities, his nearest and most dangerous foes. After a dreadful siege, such as no German had ever yet been doomed to stand, he took Crema, the ally of Milan [A. D. 1160]. Four times did the enraged Milanese secretly attempt his assassination with- out success. Milan defied him, and, during the winter, when most of the German princes returned as usual to the other side of the Alps, the Milanese defeated him during an inroad into the province of Carnaro. In the spring of 1161, strong reinforcements arrived from Germany, and the siege began with increased fury, the emperor swearing that his head should not again wear the crown until he had razed Milan to the ground. The contest lasted a whole year without in- termission, and terminated on the 6th of March, 1162, in the capitulation of the proud city, which hunger alone had forced to yield. The starved citizens marched out of the city ar- rayed in sackcloth, a rope around their necks, a taper in their hands, and the nobles with their naked swords hanging around their necks. In this state they remained some time exposed to the heavy rain, until the emperor, who was at table, came forth and saw them deliver up their weapons and badges of honour, whilst their Palladium, a tall tree bearing a cross, was cut down with a German axe. He then ordered a part of the city wall to be thrown down, and rode through the opening into the city. He contented himself, notwithstand- ing, with the total destruction of all the walls, towers, and fortifications ; the city and the lives of the inhabitants were spared. A considerable booty was gained by pillage. Among others, Reinold, archbishop of Cologne, took possession of the three kings, whose costly relics he carried to Cologne, where, even at the present day, they are objects of great Meran; ill-famed Maultasche; horrid Greifenstein, from whose bristling rocks the Eppans fell like vultures on their prey ; Siebeneichen, the ancestral castle of the most trusty knight, Boimond ; Altenburg, Korb, Wart, Festenstein, Payrsberg, Altenberg, Formigar, Neuhaus ; with the modern fortresses of Freudenstein, Fuchsberg, Gandeck, Gleif, Haslach. This valley is one of the most beautiful in the world, and is more thickly studded with castles than any other in Germany. Ulrich, the last of the Eppans, marched, in 1241, against the Tartars, after endowing the bishop- ric of Brixen with the whole of his possessions. FREDERICK BARBAROSSA. 467 veneration.* Frederick henceforth ruled Italy with a rod of iron. He created Reinold, the austere archbishop of Cologne and Count von Dassel, archchancellor and regent of Italy, and gave him subordinate officers, who filled the country with rapine and oppression. The extortion thus practised was known as little as it had been enjoined by the emperor, the intention of whose regulations was merely the enforcement of strict justice and the maintenance of order ; the unhappy results, however, fell upon his head. During the absence of the emperor, feuds had broken out anew in Germany. In 1160, the citizens of Mayence had killed their archbishop, Arnold, for having expelled his pre- decessor, Henry. Frederick severely punished them, and levelled the city walls. In Swabia, a robber knight, one of Welfs vassals, having been harshly treated by Hugo, Count von Tubingen, Welf and his allies, the Zahringers and Habs- burgers, attacked Tubingen, which was succoured by Fre- derick of Swabia and the Count von Hohenzollern, by whom the Welfs were completely defeated, A. D. 1164. These dis- turbances hastened the emperor's return from Italy, and in order to preserve his good understanding with the Welfs, which was at that time necessary, he compelled the innocent Count von Tiibingen to surrender to Welf the elder, and peace was again made. : Frederick at the same time in- duced Boleslaw, king of Poland, to restore Silesia to the three sons of his long exiled brother Wladislaw, in consequence of which Boleslaw the Long received Breslau and the central part of the province, Conrad, Lower, and Mieslaw, Upper Si- lesia. The German education they had received from their mother, Agnes, inclined them more in favour of German than Polish manners, and they greatly contributed to the gradual annexation to the empire of the fertile valleys watered by the Oder, and bounded by the forests of Poland, and by the Eie- sengebirge (giant mountains). * According to the legendary account, Milan was totally destroyed by the emperor, the ground on which she stood was levelled, and a plough driven across it. The Milanese were said to have taken the beautiful empress Beatrice prisoner; to have placed her on a female ass with her face to its tail, and to have led her in mockery through the streets. For this insult, all the inhabitants of Milan, in rotation, were sentenced to take a fig, placed beneath the tail of a female ass, away with their mouth ; an occurrence with which the Milanese were ever afterwards derided. '2 H 2 468 FREDERICK BARBAROSSA. The emperor's attention was now recalled to Italy. The pope, Victor, expired in 1164. The recognition of Alex- ander III. by the emperor remained dubious. This pope, a man of energy and cunning, had withdrawn to Genoa, and thence to France, where he sought to form a league against the emperor, in which he was encouraged by the republics of Venice and Genoa, which began to view with dread the supre- macy of the emperor in Italy. A reconciliation would indubi- tably have been proposed by Frederick, had not Henry, king of England, exactly at that conjuncture declared against Alex- ander, with whom he was at variance concerning some eccle- siastical affairs, and Henry the Lion, being that monarch's son-in-law, and the alliance with the Welfs being of greater moment to the emperor than the reconciliation with the pope, he recognised the new pope, Pasqual III., and invited him to Germany, where, in 1165, he canonized Charlemagne at Aix- la-Chapelle. This decision on the part of the emperor put the finishing stroke to Alexander's projects. The insolent behaviour of the Germans had naturally excited the hatred of the Italians. The regent, Reinold, when humbly counselled by Count Blandrate to remember the precepts of wisdom, replied, " What do we want with wisdom ? we want gold, and nothing but gold ! " Gozzo, the governor at Seprio, arbitrarily confis- cated property, and burnt the deeds, if it happened to be mort- gaged or encumbered with debts. Pagano, the governor of Padua, committed violence on the beautiful Speronella Dales- mani, etc. These governors were Italians, but the horrors they perpetrated were countenanced by the Germans. Mark- wald von Grumbach, the governor of Milan, had tax-gather- ers in his pay who were natives of Lombardy, and whom he fixed at Pavia and in the country round about for the pur- pose of discovering those possessed of wealth. The confis- cated estates were entered by these men in the book of pain, as it was called. The rape of the beautiful Paduan was the signal for open revolt. The Germans, although few in num- ber, successfully defended their lives, but were unable to hin- der Alexander's triumphal entry into Rome, A. D. 1165, and the interdict laid upon the emperor. Notwithstanding this, they maintained their ground and continued their attacks upon the pope. Christian of Mayence, the emperor's steady HENRY THE LION. 469 adherent, a man equally distinguished as an archbishop, a statesman, and a general, besieged Ancona ; but was compelled to raise the siege in order to succour the Archbishop Reinold of Cologne, who was hard pushed by the Romans, thirty thousand of whom were defeated by Christian with merely fifteen hundred men. The Lombards in Upper Italy, mean- while, remained masters of the field. On the 7th of April, 1167, the league between the cities of Lombardy was estab- lished, and Milan was rebuilt on a handsome scale, and more strongly fortified, the women giving all their jewels to the churches that had been plundered of their decorations by the Germans. In the same year, the emperor undertook his third expedi- tion against Rome, and invested Pasqual with the tiara. But before he could attack the cities, his fine army was almost en- tirely swept away by a pestilence ; the Archbishop Reinold, Frederick of Swabia, the only son of the aged Welf, and numerous other German counts and bishops, were among the victims. At Pisa, the emperor threw his glove into the air as he pronounced the whole of the Lombard league out of the ban of the empire. He then retreated with the remainder of his army beyond the Alps. On being closely pursued, he ordered the hostages that accompanied his retreat to be hanged on the trees on the road-side. In Susa he narrowly escaped falling into the hands of the Italians ; the knight, Hermann von Siebeneichen, who had placed himself in the emperor's bed, whilst the latter fled under cover of the night, being seized in his stead. CLI. Henry the Lion. As long as the good understanding between the Waiblingers and the Welfs subsisted, Henry the Lion lent his aid to the emperor during his Italian expeditions, and was, in return, al- lowed the free exercise of his authority in the north of Ger- many, where, although already possessed of Saxony and Bavaria, he ceaselessly endeavoured to extend his dominion by the utter annihilation of the unfortunate Slavonians. The aged and brave prince, Niclot, was treacherously induced to quit his castle of Werle, and assassinated. His son, Wratislaw, 470 HENRY THE LION. was granted a petty territory, but becoming suspected, was thrown into prison. His second son, Pribislaw, and his ally, Casimir, prince of Pomerania, placed themselves at the head of the Slavonians, who fought with all the energy of despair, and gained a glorious victory over the Saxons at Demmin, A. D. 1164; upon which Henry the Lion invaded the country, hanged the unfortunate Wratislaw, and was on the point of laying the land waste by fire and sword, when a similar at- tempt was made on his northern frontier by the Danes. In order to protect himself from their attacks, he concluded peace with the Wends, deeming himself more secure in the vicinity of the petty Wendian princes than in that of the powerful Danish monarch. Tetislaw on Riigen, Casimir in Pomerania, and Priczlaw (a third and Christian son of Niclot) in Meck- lenburg, became Henry's vassals. The county of Schwerin was alone severed from the ancient country of the Obotrites and given to the gallant Saxon, Count Guntzel. The de- scendants of Priczlaw reign at the present day over Mecklen- burg. He founded, in 1171, the great monastery of Dobberan.* Benno, the first bishop of Mecklenburg, was his worthy con- temporary. In Pomerania, Christianity had been already introduced under the late Duke Wratislaw. The inhabitants of Stettin, the ancient city of the Wends, obstinately refusing to be converted, Boleslaw of Poland suddenly attacked them in the winter-time, and murdered eighteen thpusand men, A. D. 1121. This defeat, and Wratislaw's project of securing his authority over his wild subjects by the imposition of Chris- tianity, greatly aided the endeavours of St. Otto, bishop of Barnberg, who ventured into the country for the purpose of converting the heathen inhabitants. One of the earlier mis- sionaries, Bernard, had been placed in a boat at Wollin, and sent forth " to preach to the fish." Wratislaw, and numbers of his subjects, were baptized at Pieritz by Otto. The people of Stettin and Wollin still murmured, f and at length revolted, * Now a celebrated bathing-place. The Holy Dam, as it is called, by which the town is protected from sea-storms, is said to have been made in one night in answer to the prayers of the Christians, who were exposed to great danger. This dam is now used as a race-course. TRANSLATOR. f Se leten sick diinken, dat me eren Christendhom so engstlick begerde, were men de orsake, dat me se vnder denstparicheit vnd beschattinge desto beter hebben mochte. Kantzow. Stettin possessed HENRY THE LION. 471 but were reduced to submission, and a new bishopric was erected in Wollin.* In Denmark, the dispute between the three brethren still continued. Sueno, although recognised king by the emperor, was continually harassed by Canute and Waldemar, the former of whom he succeeded in assassinating at a banquet, to which he and Waldemar had been invited under pretext of recon- ciliation. Waldemar escaped with a severe wound, placed himself at the head of the discontented populace, whom a bard incited to vengeance, and triumphed on the Grathaer heath, and Sueno, who received thence the posthumous surname of Grathe, was deprived of his head by a peasant, A. D. 1157. Waldemar, now sole sovereign, visited the emperor [A. D. 1162] at Metz, and besides being allowed to hold Denmark in fee, was granted the reversion of the still diminishing lands of the Wends, for the purpose of balancing the power of Henry the Lion. Waldemar undertook a great expedition against Riigen, under pretext of destroying the last resort of pagan- ism, the great temple of the idol Swantevit on Arcona ; but, in reality, with the intention of gaining possession of that commodiously situated island. This step excited the jealousy of Henry the Lion, who sent a Saxon reinforcement. Pome- rania, now converted to Christianity, also afforded her aid. Arcona fell, A. D. 1168. The banquet given in honour of the victory, was prepared upon the fragments of the gigantic wooden idol. Waldemar took possession of Riigen in his own name, seized the maritime city of Wollin, and fixed himself four pagan temples and a sacred oak. The triple-headed idol, Triglaf, was sent by Otto to Rome. * The pope declared this bishopric independent of the archbishoprics of Magdeburg and of Gnesen, and took it under his immediate protec- tion. This attempt of Rome to found an ecclesiastical power to the rear of Germany, is repeated at a later period in reference to the bishopric of Breslau and the archbishopric of Riga. The indulgence shown on this occasion to the Slavian pagans, as in former times to those of Scandina- via, by the introduction of heathen symbols into Christian ceremonies, is remarkable. St. Otto marked a Christian relic with the figure of the black cock, held sacred by the Slavi. See Barthold's History of Pome- rania, i. '231. This is connected with the weather-cock placed on Chris- tian churches. These cocks were originally pagan sacrifices, which were placed on the tops of trees, as a preventative to bad weather ; they after- wards became the symbols of Christianity, messengers of the morning light in a spiritual sense. i72 HENRY THE LION. boldly on the coasts of the Baltic ; upon which Henry invaded Denmark, and compelled the proud Waldemar, with whom he held a conference on the bridge of the Eider, to give up to him half of the treasures gained in the pillage of Arcona, and to accept of him as colleague in the government of Riigen. Henry afterwards busied himself with the regulation of his northern state, where, with the same right with which he had formerly nominated and invested the bishop of Olden- burg, he now created a new margraviate, that of Schwerin, dependent upon him alone, which he bestowed upon the gal- lant Count Guntzel. He also rapidly increased the prosperity of Liibeck, by inviting thither numerous colonists, and be- stowing upon her great privileges. Count Florens III. of Holland was, in 1169, defeated by the West Friscians. He afterwards visited the Holy Land, where he died, A. D. 1188. The landgrave of Thuringia and Bernhard von Anhalt were at feud with one another, and carried fire and sword into each other's territory, A. D. 1166. The aged Welf died at Memmingen, where, surrounded by boon companions, he held a luxurious court, squandered his revenues, and loaded himself with debt, A. D. 1169.* Henry the Lion had never assisted him ; the emperor's treasury, on the contrary, was ever open to him, and as he left no issue, he bequeathed his Swabian allods and the lands of the Countess Matilda in Italy to his benefactor. The loss of the Welfic inheritance estranged Henry the Lion from the emperor, and he lost no opportunity for seeking for revenge. The Italians treated the election of Calixtus III. by the Ghibellines with indifference, and remained firm in their alle- giance to Alexander III., in whose honour they erected the formidable fortress of Alexandria, as a bulwark against the Germans. Christian of Mayence, the only imperialist who still kept the field in Italy, again vainly besieged Ancona. This distinguished statesman and general spoke six languages, and was, moreover, celebrated for his knightly feats of arms. A golden helm upon his head, armed cap-a-pie, he was daily beheld mounted on his war-steed, the archiepiscopalian mantle * For weeks at a time the whole of the Swabian and Bavarian no- bility would feast and dance on the Lechfeld near Augsburg, at the ex- pense of the aged Welf, who at length became blind. HENRY THE LION. 473 on his shoulders, and a heavy club, with which he had brained thirty-eight of the enemy, in his hand. The emperor, whose arrival in Italy was urgently implored, was retained in Ger- many by his mistrust of Henry the Lion, who, in order to furnish himself with a pretext for refusing his assistance in the intended campaign without coming to an open breach, undertook a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, A. D. 1171; whence, after performing his devotions at the holy sepulchre, without unsheathing his sword in its defence, he returned to his native country. During his stay in the Holy Land, the papal par- tisans in the East, who at an earlier period had treacher- ously refused their assistance to Conrad, the Ghibelline, loaded him with attentions on account of his Guelphic origin. This crusade has been adorned -in the legends of the time with manifold wonders. On his return, he caused a lion, carved in stone, the symbol of his power, to be placed in the market-place at Brunswick, A. D. 1172; an occurrence that gave rise to the fable of the faithful lion, by which he is said to have been accompanied during his pilgrimage. At length, in 1174, Frederick Barbarossa persuaded the sullen duke to perform his duty in the field, and for the fourth time crossed the Alps. A terrible revenge was taken upon Susa, which was burnt to the ground. Alexandria withstood the siege. The military science of the age, every ruse de guerre, was exhausted by both the besiegers and the besieged, and the whole of the winter was fruitlessly expended without any signal success on either side. The Lombard league meanwhile assembled an immense army in order to oppose Frederick in the open field, whilst treason threatened him on another side. It is uncertain what grounds he had for fear- ing the old Duke Henry Sam Mir Gott of Austria, whose son, Leopold, had wedded Helena, the sister of Geisa, king of Hungary, and he has been charged with having incited against him Duke Hermann of Cariuthia, and Count Ottocar IV. of Styria, who invaded Austria, and burnt three hundred men alive in a church at St. Veit. Sam Mir Gott revenged this unprovoked aggression, by making an inroad into Styria and laying the whole country desolate. The Venetians also embraced the papal party, and defeated Ulrich, the patriarch of Aquileia, who held Carniola in fee 474 HENRY THE LION. of the empire.* Henry also at length acted with open dis- loyalty, and declared to the emperor, who lay sick at Chia- venna, on the lake of Como, his intention of abandoning him ; and, unshaken by Frederick's exhortation in the name of duty and honour to renounce his perfidious plans, offered to pro- vide him with money on condition of receiving considerable additions to his power in Germany, and the free imperial town of Goslar in gift. These unjust demands were steadily refused by Frederick, who, embracing the Welf 's knees, en- treated him, as the honour of the empire was at stake, not to abandon him in the hour of need before the eyes of the enemy, with the flower of the army. At this scene, Jordanus Truch- sess, the Welf 's vassal, laughed and said, " Duke, the crown, which you now behold at your feet, will ere long shine upon your brow ;" to which one of the emperor's retainers replied, " I should rather fear that the crown might gain the ascend- ency." The emperor was at length raised by the beautiful empress, Beatrice, who said to him, " God will help you, when at some future time you remember this day, and the Welf s insolence." The Welf withdrew with all his vassals. Frederick, reduced to the alternative of either following his insolent vassal, or of exposing himself and his weakened forces to total destruction by remaining in his present position, courageously resolved to abide the hazard, and to await the arrival of fresh reinforcements from Germany ; the Lombards, however, saw their advantage, and attacked him at Legnano, on the 29th of May, 1176. The Swabians (the southern Germans still remaining true to their allegiance) fought with all the courage of despair, but Berthold von Zahringen f was taken prisoner, the emperor's horse fell in the thickest of the fight, his banner was won by the " Legion of Death," a chosen Lombard troop, and he was given up as dead. He escaped * He is said to have been taken prisoner together with twelve canons, and to have been only restored to liberty on condition of paying to the Venetians a yearly tribute of a fatted ox and twelve fat pigs. f The necessitous circumstances of the emperor at that time explains why, in 1175, he bestowed the ducal title upon the Count von der Teck, a son of Conrad von Zahringen, to which he laid claim as heir to Rudolf of Swabia, the opponent of Henry IV. These dukes were, however, merely counts in point of authority, and unknown to fame. Their pos- sessions, on the extinction of their name, fell to Wiirtemberg. HENRY THE LION. 475 almost by miracle, whilst his little army was entirely over- whelmed. In this necessity the emperor had recourse to subtlety, and ingeniously contrived to produce disunion among his opponents. Evading the Lombard league, he opened a negotiation with Venice and with the pope, to whom he offered to make atonement ; nor were his proposals rejected, the pope hoping to turn the momentary distress of the emperor to advantage, by negotiating terms before the arrival of the reinforcements, which he foresaw would be sent to his assist- ance from Germany, and Venice being blinded by her jealousy of the rising power of the cities of Lombardy. An interview took place at Venice, when peace was concluded between Frederick and Alexander III., A. D. 1177. Guelphic histo- riographers relate that on the emperor's kissing the pope's feet, the latter placed his foot on Frederick's neck, uttering these words of holy writ, " Thou shalt tread upon the adder and the lion ;" to which the latter replied, " Not unto thee, but unto St. Peter be this honour ! " The letters of the pope that relate to these times are silent in regard to this occurrence, whilst there are many proofs, on the other hand, that several conversations took place between the pope and the emperor, each of whom treated the other with respect and esteem, as the most intelligent men of their age. It is true that the emperor sacrificed Calixtus, and that he bestowed upon the Lombard cities the privilege of electing their own consuls ; but it is also true that these concessions on the emperor's part were balanced by those made by the pope, who released the emperor from the interdict, and confirmed all the power- ful archbishops and bishops,* the stanch adherents of the em- peror, in their dignity, thus relieving him from any apprehen- sion on the side of the church, the most dangerous rival of his temporal power, f * Among others, Henry, bishop of Liege, who, in 1150, overcame the count of Namur in a feud, and took four hundred and thirty of his knights prisoners ; he accompanied the emperor to Milan, and was ever his faithful vassal. f The story of the humiliation of Barbarossa by the pope, has been preserved at Venice by inscriptions and paintings, and another story equally fabulous has also been handed down in Italy by means of a popu- lar festival. It is said that Otto, the emperor's son, attacked Venice by sea, but was defeated, and brought a prisoner to the city ; and that in order to perpetuate the memory of this victory, the pope, Alexander, bestowed 476 HENRY THE LION. The death of Albrecht the Bear, in 1170, and the partition of Brandenburg between his sons Otto and Bernard, dimin- ished the number of Henry's dangerous rivals in the North. The insolence with which the neighbouring bishops, who re- lied upon the emperor for aid, opposed him, particularly Rein- hold, archbishop of Cologne, Wichmann of Magdeburg, and the bishops of Halberstadt and Miinster, nevertheless, kept him fully occupied. Unintimidated by the influence and power of these " bald-pates," as he scornfully termed them, he boldly attacked them in turn, and gained possession of Halberstadt, when Bishop Ulrich died in consequence of the ill-treatment he received, and a thousand persons were burnt alive in the cathedral. On the emperor's return from Italy, he summoned the Lion to appear before the supreme tribunal, and on the third public summons being unattended, pro- nounced him out of the ban of the empire. The bald-pates triumphed. All his ancient foes, all those who hoped to rise by his fall, joined the Ghibelline faction against the last of the Welfs, to whose cause Saxony alone adhered. The Lion, driven at bay, proved himself worthy of his name, and almost obliterated the stain upon his honour, the treason of which he had been guilty, by his valorous feats. Aided by his faithful adherents and vassals, Adolf III. of Holstein, Bernard, count of Ratzeburg, Giintzel, Margrave of Schwerin, and Bernard von der Lippe, he gained a decisive victory on the Halerfeld, A. D. 1180. He maintained the contest for three years, and even took the Landgrave of Thuringia prisoner ; but his sus- picion and pride at length estranged from him the vassals by whom he had so long been upheld, and he was closely be- sieged by the emperor in Stade, where he was abandoned by all except Bernard von der Lippe, (who, after the remarkable defence of Haldersleben * had been forced to quit his country upon the doge the privilege of making an annual excursion into the sea, in a magnificently decorated ship, the Bucentaur, and solemnly to espouse the sea by casting a ring into her bosom, thus metaphorically asserting the rule of the city of Venice over the waves. This festival continued for several centuries, but its historical origin is unknown. * Archbishop Wichmann, whose lands he had laid waste, besieged him, dammed up the little river Bever, and directed its waters, which had collected for several months, into the town, which was quickly flooded. The citizens took refuge beneath the roofs of the houses until the water had disappeared, and refused to surrender. Shortly before HEXRY THE LION. 477 and his connexions,) and the city of Lubeck, which refused to surrender to the emperor, until commanded to do so by their benefactor, the Lion. An interview took place at this period between the emperor and Henry's ancient rival, Wal- demar of Denmark, whose daughter, Christina, was, on this occasion, affianced to the young prince, Conrad. Frederick declared Jarimar, prince of Riigen, a Danish feoffee, and bound Bogislaw and Casimir, the princes of Pomerania, to do him feudal service in the field as dukes of the empire. Henry, seeing that all was lost, sent Louis, Landgrave of Thuringia, whom he had restored to liberty, to sue for peace, and threw himself at the emperor's feet at Erfurt. Frederick no sooner saw his treacherous vassal at his feet, than, with a generous recollection of their former days of friendship, he raised him from his knees, and affectionately embracing him, shed tears of joy at their reconciliation ; but, sensible of the danger of permitting the existence of the great duchies, he remained inflexible in his determination to crush the power of the Welfs, by treating Bavaria and Saxony as he had for- merly done Franconia and Lothringia. Their partition was resolved upon, and Henry was merely permitted to retain Brunswick. The duchy of Saxon-Lauenburg, to the east of the Elbe, was bestowed upon Bernard,* the brother of Otto of Brandenburg, and Westphalia on the archbishop of Cologne. Other small portions of territory fell to Thuringia, and into the hands of the " bald-pates." The counts of Holstein and Oldenburg were declared independent. Bavaria was given to the trusty Otto von Wittelsbach,j - in whose family it hence- this, Bernard had set fire to the heath on which the archbishop had pitched his camp. * Bernard, on one occasion, accompanied the emperor to Italy. One day, whilst resting on the march, the emperor threw the square cap he had worn on his head on account of the heat, by chance, on Bernard's shield, on which the cross beams, the arms of Ballenstadt, were painted, and allowed the young duke afterwards to bear this cap in the arms of Saxony. Bernard was the younger son of Albrecht the Bear ; his elder brother, Otto, inherited Brandenburg. The power of this great family was weakened by the partition of the inheritance between the descend- ants of Bernard, whose two sons, Albrecht I. and Henry, reigned severally over Saxony and Little Anhalt. Albrecht's sons subdivided Saxony into Saxon-Wittenberg and Saxon-Lauenberg. A subdivision also took place among the petty princes of Anhalt. f The ancient house of Scheyern, whose name has been deduced 473 HENRY THE LION. forth remained. Styria and the Tyrol were, however, severed from it. Tyrol, or Meran,* was granted to a Count Berthold von Andechs. And for the better security of this new order of things, Henry the Lion was exiled for three years. On his way to England, accompanied merely by a small retinue, the citizens of Bardewik, his own town, closed the gates against him, and treated him with every mark of indignity. Bohemia met with severe treatment at the hands of the emperor. The aged Wenzeslaw had secretly intrigued with the Italians, and, without obtaining the consent of the em- peror, had proclaimed his son, Frederick, his successor on the throne. Barbarossa deposed both father and son, and be- stowed the crown on one of their relations, whom he drew for that purpose out of prison ; but this prince proving equally unruly and hostile,f he deprived him of his crown, which he restored to Frederick on payment of a sum of money [A. D. 1180]. Barbarossa granted the greatest privileges to the cities, with the intention of still further diminishing the power of the great vassals ; and it is, consequently, to him that a number of the most considerable cities are indebted for their com- plete affranchisement, and for their elevation to the rank of free imperial cities under the immediate protection of the crown ; for instance, Ratisbon, Esslingen, Ravensburg, Reut- lingen, Eger, Spires, Hagenau, Memmingen, Altenburg, Rotenburg on the Tauber, Nuremberg, etc., which were severally affranchised from the authority of the reigning bishop or duke. Berthold von Zahringen, who had named the city founded by him, Freiburg, and had greatly favoured from the Scirri. It long retained its possessions and its influence in Ba- varia. Otto, when duke, built the castle of Landshut, as Hut, or protec- tion, to the Land, or country. * According to Hormayr, the counts of Andechs descended from the Huosier race, one of the oldest on record in the Bavarian code. These counts guarded the frontier of the empire as far as the shores of the Adriatic, whence they are said to have been denominated Counts von Meran (Meer an, Meer, sea). The castle of Tirol, whence the whole family afterwards derived its name, belonged at that period to another family, and fell, in 1240, by inheritance to that of Meran. f Hagech relates that he gained a victory of trifling importance over the Germans, and caused a German knight to be buried alive, mounted on horseback, each of his Bohemian followers pouring a helmet full of earth over him. HENRY THE LION. 479 its rise, nevertheless opposed the affranchisement of the serfs. On attempting, during his government of the bishopric of Sitten, to reduce the peasantry of Upper Valais to submission, they attacked and drove him out of their mountains, pursuing him so closely, that his life was in jeopardy [A. D. 1180].* On the death of Pope Alexander, Frederick preserved good relations with his successor Urban, and concluded a fresh treaty of peace and amity at Constance with Lombardy, to which, although it still remained annexed to the empire, he granted the privilege of electing their own governors, and of forming alliances. The Whitsuntide holidays were celebrated at Mayence, in 1184, with unwonted magnificence.! Forty thousand knights, the most lovely women, and the most distinguished bards in the empire, here surrounded Frederick Barbarossa, who seem- ed now to have attained the summit of his power ; and the memory of the splendour that was displayed on this occasion was long celebrated in song. The emperor's four sons, Henry,J his successor on the throne, Frederick, duke of Swa- bia, Conrad, duke of Franconia, Otto, duke of Burgundy, and the youthful Philip, who was still an academician, were * The Alpine herdsmen had been free from time immemorial. When Conrad II. reannexed Burgundy to the empire, the lower part of French Valais was comprehended in the earldom of Savoy, the upper part in the bishopric of Sitten, which consisted of seven free cantons, Combs, Brig, Visp, Raron, Leuc, Syders, and Sitten or Sion, each of which had its own court of justice. These courts and the bishop elected the cap- tain-general of the country. The ancient German constitution was still in force among them, the bishop filling the office of the ancient priestly judge, the captain-general that of the war-chief. The Friscians and Dit- marses stood in similar relation with the bishops of Utrecht and Bre- men, and the freemen of Schwyz with the monastery of Einsiedeln, those of Uri with the abbey of Zurich and the monastery of Wettingen. The peasantry, whose rights were safe beneath the crozier, defended them against their arbitrary temporal rulers, as in earlier times the Schwyzers against Knsiedeln, in the twelfth century the Wallisers against the Zah- ringer, the Friscians against the counts of Holland, the Ditmarses against the counts of Holstein and Oldenburg, and, at a later period, the people of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden against the house of Habsburg, which gave rise to the Swiss confederation. f Henry von Beldeck mentions it in his poem, the Eneidt. J In the same year a hall in which he was holding a council, at Erfurt, fell in. He was saved by the arch of a window. The ducal dignity bestowed upon the bishop of Wurzburg was re- stricted to his diocese. 480 HENRY THE LION. present. A violent storm that arose in the night and over- threw the tents in this encampment of pleasure, was, how- ever, regarded as an omen of future ill. In the following year the emperor carried a great project into execution. The difficulty he had experienced in keeping the cities of Lombardy in check, and, notwithstanding the en- deavours of the archbishop, Christian, in retaining the papal dominions without the possession of Lower Italy, drew his at- tention thither, and he succeeded in obtaining the hand of Constantia, the daughter and heiress of Roger the Norman, king of Apulia and Sicily,* A. D. 1 185. But scarcely had he crossed the Alps, than Cnud, the new king of Denmark, in- fringed the treaty, and, uniting his forces with those of Jari- mar of Riigen, gained a naval victory over Boleslaw of Pomerania, whom he compelled to do him homage. The princes of Mecklenburg, Niclot, the son of Wratislaw, and Borwin, the son of Priczlaw, met with a similar fate.f The emperor, whom the affairs of Italy fully occupied, deferred his revenge ; but his son Frederick, Louis III. of Thuringia, and a Thuringian count, Siegfried, sent back their brides, the three daughters of Cnud, to Denmark. Jarimar, at this pe- riod, greatly improved the island of Rugen, whose inhabit- ants were fully converted to Christianity during his reign. He built several churches and monasteries, and gave great encouragement to German settlers. The German city of Stralsund was at this time also built on the island opposite.^ A fresh contest now took place between Flanders and France. Dietrich, count of Alsace, the great legislator, the upholder of popular liberty, and the promoter of commerce and manufactures in Flanders, died, A. D. 1 169, and was succeeded by his son, Philip, who inherited the county of Vermandois in right of his wife. He had no children. In 1177, he un- dertook a crusade to the Holy Land, with the intention of placing the crown of Jerusalem on his own brow. His mother, * He said, " Italy, like the eel, even when held fast by the head, the tail, and the middle, still threatens to slip from our clutches." Constan- tia is said to have been shut up in a convent, and forced to take the veil, it having been foretold that she would cause the ruin of her whole race. Her brother, William I., left a son, William, the last of the family. f From Borwin and Matilda, a natural daughter of Henry the Lion, descend the two reigning houses of Mecklenburg. 1 See Berthold's Pomerania. HENRY THE LION. 481 Sibylla, was daughter to Fulke of Jerusalem, the power 01 whose descendants, who still reigned in Palestine, had fallen to decay. With the hope of aiding his relatives and Christ- endom, and with the expectation of never returning to his native country, he secured the possession of Flanders to his sister, Margaret, and to her husband, Baldwin von Hennegau, and thus made amends for the injustice with which the sons of Richilda had formerly been treated. His plan, however, failed, and he returned, bearing for the first time on his shield the black lion, which he had substituted instead of the various badges by which his troops had been hitherto distinguished in the field when combating the Turks. Faithful to his love of peace and concord, and anxious to secure the possession of Flanders and Hennegau to his brother-in-law, Baldwin, he affianced his niece, Elisabeth, to Philip Augustus, the son of Louis VII. of France, to whom he promised Artois in dowry. The youthful prince's education was confided to him, but scarcely had he mounted the throne on the death of his father, in 1180, than, with true French impudence,* he demanded the cession of the county of Vermandois. The aged Count Philip, enraged at this behaviour, instantly took up arms, and even refused to cede Artois. The whole of the Netherlands espoused his cause, and Philip Augustus, finding himself worsted, revenged himself on the innocent Elisabeth, whom he sent back in disgrace to her father, Baldwin von Hennegau, who happened at that moment to be at variance with Godfred of Lyons on account of an insignificant law-suit, which being declared against him by Philip of Flanders, so roused his anger, that he abandoned the league and again made terms with France ; a step that was probably greatly induced by the hope of restoring his daughter to her royal spouse. Philip of Flanders, struck with sorrow at this proof of ingratitude, was at length persuaded to sign a treaty of peace at Amiens, [A. D. 1186,] by which he bequeathed Vermandois to France, after which he undertook a second crusade to the Holy Land, whence he never returned. * Conati semper sunt Galli Flandris prsecidere alas, detrahere quid- quid possent. Meyerus Annal. 1180. 482 BARBAROSSA'S CRUSADE AND DEATH. CLIL Barbarossas crusade and death. THE situation of the Christians in the East became gra- dually more perplexing. The treachery practised by the Greeks and the.Pullanes during the last crusade towards the emperor, Conrad III., and Louis VII., gradually met with its fitting reward, although the disputes that arose among the Mahomedans were at first in their favour. Zengis the Great had been succeeded by his son Nurreddin, who was opposed by the Egyptian caliphs, and whose son was deprived of his throne by a new aspirant, named Salaheddin, who, uniting Syria and Egypt beneath his rule, subdued the Assassins, the most dangerous enemies of the sultans, and attacked the weak and demoralized Christians, whose strength had been spent in intestine feuds. After the departure of Conrad III. and Louis VII., whose fruitless expeditions had ended in anger and disappointment, Baldwin III., the youthful king of Jerusalem, besieged his own mother, Melisenda, Fulke's widow, who refused to ab- dicate the sovereignty, in the city of David. The knights, however, still possessed sufficient zeal and courage to repel an attack made by the Turks on the holy city, and even to gain possession of Ascalon [A. D. 1153]. Raymund of Tripolis, the son of Pontius, fell, meanwhile, by the hand of an assassin, but was well replaced by his gallant son, Raymund. Raymund of Antioch had also fallen, and his widow, Constantia, had espoused the savage knight, Reinald de Chatillon, who shame- fully ill-treated the patriarch of Antioch. The patriarch of Jerusalem, with whom the different orders of knighthood were at variance, found it impossible to maintain his authority ; the knights of St. John sent a flight of arrows among the people in the church of the Holy Sepulchre. Baldwin, breaking his plighted word with a peaceable Arabian tribe, was severely chastised for his insincerity by Nurreddin, by whom he was so closely pursued, after losing a battle, as barely to escape Avith his life. At this conjuncture, Dietrich of Flanders for- tunately revisited the East, and Nurreddin was defeated. Bald- win was poisoned, A. D. 1159. He was succeeded by his brother, Amalrich, who undertook a predatory excursion, in which he was successful, into Egypt, and, aided by Dietrich, BARBAROSSA'S CRUSADE AND DEATH. 483 was victorious over Nurreddin, by whom he was, however, defeated in a second engagement. Reinald had, some time before this, been taken prisoner, and his step-son, the son of Raymund and Constantia, Bohemund III. of Antioch, shared a similar -fate, A. D. 1163. Amalrich now leagued with the Fatimite caliphs in Egypt against Nurreddin, and was at first successful, but turning against his allies, and attempting to seize Egypt, Adad, caliph of Cairo, a youth of nineteen years of age, entreated the sultan Nurreddin for aid, sending to him in token of extreme necessity, the hair of all the women in his harem. Amalrich was again attacked by the united Mahomedan forces, and disgracefully put to flight. His sub- sequent attempt against Damietta, although seconded by a Grecian fleet, failed ; Nurreddin, meanwhile, fixed himself in Egypt, and reduced the Fatimites, like the Abassidae in Bag- dad, beneath the Turkish yoke. His vice-regent, Salaheddin, afterwards seized the sovereignty in Egypt, and put the un- fortunate Adad, the last of the Fatimites, to death. Henry the Lion, who visited Jerusalem in 1171, might have saved Egypt, but merely contented himself with paying his devotions at the sepulchre, and returned home without drawing his sword against the infidels. The other troops of pilgrims that arrived singly and few in number were utterly powerless. In 1174, Henry, bishop of Hildesheim, made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, but all his followers were lost at sea, and he alone escaped on a plank. Amalrich died in 1175. His youthful son and successor, Baldwin IV., defeated Salaheddin, (who, on the death of Nurreddin, had usurped the sovereignty,) although abandoned by Philip of Flanders, who, disappointed in his project of placing the crown of Jerusalem on his own head, had returned home with his forces, A. D. 1177. Reinald, who had been restored to liberty, now regained courage, and boldly marched against Mecca, with the intention of destroying the Caaba, the object of Mahomedan adoration, but was repulsed with great loss, A. D. 1182. Salaheddin swore to punish his insolence, sacri- ficed all the Christians belonging to Reinald's army, who had fallen into his hands, on the Caaba, and strengthened his au- thority in Syria, in order to surround the Christians on every side. At that time the patriarch of Jerusalem, Heraclius, was to be seen surrounded by courtesans, on whom he lavished 2 i 2 484 BARBA'ROSSA'S CRUSADE AND DEATH. the gifts offered by the pious pilgrims at the shrine. Vice and folly paved the way to ruin. Baldwin IV. became blind and died ; his son Baldwin V., a child five years of age, was probably murdered, and Guido de Lusignan, a man of weak intellect, who had wedded Sibylla, the sister of Baldwin IV., was placed on the throne, whose possession was disputed by Raymund of Tripolis, the bravest of the Christian knights in the East. This dispute was turned to advantage by Salahed- din, who defeated and almost annihilated the Templars and Hospitallers. A pitched battle took place, A. D. 1187, be- tween him and the Christian princes, near the Lake of Ti- berias, in which he was again successful.* In this battle the holy cross was irretrievably lost. King Guido, Reinald the Wild, the aged Margrave William of Montserrat, (by origin a German, and vassal to the German emperor,) the grand- master of the Templars, several bishops and knights, fell into the hands of the enemy. Reinald was put to death. Sala- heddin, quickly following up this advantage, seized all the cities of Palestine, except Antioch, Tripolis, and Tyre. Je- rusalem was for some time valiantly defended by the queen Sibylla, but finally surrendered. A German knight greatly distinguished himself during this siege, by the valour with which he resisted the Turks when storming the city. The Christians were granted a free exit ; Salaheddin beholding them as they quitted the city in mournful procession, from a lofty throne, Oct. 30th, 1187. All the churches, that of the Holy Sepulchre alone excepted, were reconverted into mosques. And thus was Jerusalem lost by the incapacity of her French rulers, and the whole of Palestine would in- evitably have again fallen a prey to the Turks, had not Con- rad of Montserrat, the son of the captive Margrave, encouraged the trembling citizens of Tyre to make head against Sala- heddin. William, bishop of Tyre, the most noted of the historians of his times, instantly hastened into the West, for the purpose of demanding assistance. The pious emperor, then in his seventieth year, joyfully took up the cross for the second time, and with him his son, Frederick of Swabia, Philip of Flan- ders, Hermann of Baden, Berthold von Meran, (a renowned * He set fire to the dry grass under the feet of the Christians. BARBAROSSA'S CRUSADE AND DEATH. 485 crusader, the father of St. Louis, and grandfather of St. Elisa- beth,) Florens of Holland, Engelbert von Berg, Ruprecht of Nassau, the Counts von Henneberg, Diez, Saarbriick, Salm, Wied, Bentheira, Hohenlohe, Kiburg, Oettingen, all men of note, Leopold of Austria, and the flower of German chivalry, in all, one hundred thousand men. Barbarossa, after sending a solemn declaration of war to Salaheddin,* broke up his camp, A. D. 1188; met with a friendly reception from Bela, king of Hungary, held a magnificent tournament at Belgrade', hanged all the Servians, whose robber bands harassed him on his march, that fell into his hands, as common thieves, and advanced into the plains of Roumelia. The Greek emperor, Isaac, who was on friendly terms with him, and had promised to furnish his army with provisions, broke his word, and, be- sides countenancing the hostility with which the crusaders were treated by his subjects, threw the Count von Diez, whom Frederick sent to him, into prison. Barbarossa, upon this, gave his soldiery licence to plunder, and the beautiful country was speedily laid waste. The Cumans, Isaac's mercenaries, fled before the Germans, who revenged the assassination of some pilgrims, by destroying the city of Manicava, and by putting four thousand of the inhabitants to the sword. The large city of Philippopolis, where the sick and wounded Ger- mans who had been left there had been mercilessly slaughtered by the inhabitants, shared the same fate. These acts of retri- butive justice performed, Barbarossa advanced against Con- stantinople, where Isaac, in order to secure his capital from destruction, placed his whole fleet at his disposal. The cru- saders no sooner reached Asia Minor, than the Greeks re- commenced their former treacherous practices, and the sultan of Iconium, who, through jealousy of Salaheddin's power, had entered into a friendly alliance with the emperor, also attacked * Norunt haec reges et tu quidem 'in ipsa rerum experientia intelliges, quid nostrae victrices Aquilee, quid cohortes diversarum nationum, quid furor Teutonicus, etiam in pace arma capcscens, quid caput indomitum regni, quid juventus, quae nunquam fugam novit, quid procerus Bavarug, quid Suavus astutus, quid Francia circumspecta, quid Albania, quid Cimbria, quid in gladio ludens Saxonia, quid Thuringia, quid West- phalia, quid agilis Brabantia, quid iiescia paeis Lotharingia, quid inquieta Burgundia, quid Frisonia in annento praevolans, quid Boemia suis feris ferior, quid Austria, quid partes Illyricae, quid Lombardia, denique quid dextera nostra possit. Thus powerful was Germany when united. 436 BARBAROSSA'S CRUSADE AND DEATH. him. Barbarossa defeated all their attempts. On one occasion, he concealed the flower of his troops in a large tent, the gift of the Hungarian queen, and pretended to fly before the Turks, who no sooner commenced pillaging the abandoned camp, than the knights rushed forth and cut them down. A Turkish prisoner who was driven in chains in advance of the army, in order to serve as guide, sacrificed his life for the sake of misleading the Christians amid the pathless mountains, where, starving with hunger, tormented by thirst, foot-weary and faint, they were suddenly attacked on every side. Stones were rolled upon their heads as they advanced through the narrow gorge, and the young duke of Swabia narrowly escaped, his helmet being struck off his head. Peace was now offered by the Turks on payment of a large sum of money ; to this the emperor replied by sending them a small silver coin, which they were at liberty to divide amongst themselves, and pushing boldly forwards, beat off the enemy. The sufferings of the army rapidly increased ; water was no where to be discovered, and they were reduced to the necessity of drinking the blood of their horses. The aged emperor encouraged his troops by his words, and was answered by the Swabians, who raised their native war-song. His son, Frederick, hastened forwards with half of the army, again defeated the Turks, and fought his way to Iconium, entered the city with the retreating enemy, put all the inhabitants to the sword, and gained an immense booty. Barbarossa was, meanwhile, surrounded by the sul- tan's army. His soldiers were almost worn out with fatigue and hunger. The aged emperor, believing his son lost, burst into tears. All wept around him ; when suddenly rising he exclaimed, " Christ still lives, Christ conquers ! " and heading his chivalry to the assault, they attacked the enemy and gained a complete victory. Ten thousand Turks were slain. Several fell beneath the hand of Barbarossa himself, who emulated in his old age the deeds of his youth. Iconium, where plenty awaited them, was at length reached. After recruiting here, they continued their march as far as the little river Cali- cadnus, (Seleph,) in Cilicia, where the road happening to be blocked up with beasts of burden, the impatient old emperor, instead of waiting, attempted to cross the stream on horseback, and was carried away by the current. His body was recovered, and borne by his sorrowing army to BARBAROSSA'S CRUSADE AND DEATH. 487 Antioch, where it was entombed in St. Peter's church, A. i>. 1190. The news of the death of their great emperor was received with incredulity by the Germans, whose dreamy hope of be- ing one day ruled by a dynasty of mighty sovereigns, who should unite a peaceful world beneath their sway, at length almost identified itself with that of Barbarossa's return, and gave rise to legendary tales, which still record the popular feeling of the times. In a deep, rocky cleft, in the Kylf- haiiser Berg, on the golden meadow of Thuringia, still sleeps this great and noble emperor : his head resting on his arm, he sits by a granite block, through which his red beard has grown in the lapse of time ; but, when the ravens no longer fly around the mountain, he will awake and restore the golden age to the expectant world. According to another legend, the emperor sits, wrapped in sleep, in the Untersberg, near Salzburg ; and when the dead pear-tree on the Walserfeld, which has been cut down three times but ever grows anew, blossoms, he will come forth, hang his shield on the tree, and commence a tremendous battle, in which the whole world will join, and the good shall overcome the wicked. The attach- ment which the Germans bore to this emperor is apparent in the action of one solitary individual, Conrad von Boppard, who bestowed a large estate on the monastery of Schonau, on condition of masses being read for ever for the repose of the soul of his departed sovereign. The little church on the Ho- henstaufen, to which it was Barbarossa's custom to descend from the castle in order to hear mass, still stands, and over the walled-up doors may be read the words, " hie transibat Ccesar" Excellent portraits of Frederick and Beatrice may still be seen to the right of the door of the church at Welz- heim, which was founded by their son, Philip. But the great palace, 710 feet in length, which he built at Gelnhausen, in honour of the beautiful Gela, who is said to have been the mistress of his youthful affections, and who renounced him against his will and took the veil, in order not to be an ob- stacle in his glorious career, lies in ruins. 488 LEOPOLD OF AUSTRIA CLIII. Leopold of Austria and Richard Coeur de Lion. BARBAROSSA'S mighty army had, on its arrival in Antioch, dwindled to less than six thousand men ; the rest had fallen victims to war, hunger, and pestilence. The young duke of Swabia led them into the Holy Land, where Conrad of Mont- serrat defended Tyre* with such signal valour, that Salahed- din was finally compelled to relinquish the siege. Antioch held out, whilst Bohemund III. sued Salaheddin for peace. Tripolis was defended by a fleet, sent by William, king of Sicily. A reinforcement of crusaders being expected, Sala- heddin feared lest Conrad might gain possession of the crown of Jerusalem ; and, in order again to weaken the Christians by reawakening their mutual jealousy, he restored King Guido to liberty, and Conrad's claim was consequently set aside. In 1189, Guido undertook the siege of Accon, (Ptolemais,) which, notwithstanding the assistance he received from fresh troops of pilgrims, lasted full two years. This city being the key of Palestine from the sea, and extremely important in a commercial point of view, its possession greatly interested the Pisanese. The besieging army, at first numerically weak, was one day thrown into great terror by the arrival of an enormous fleet, which to their delight proved to be composed of Flemings, Dutch, Friscians, Danes, and English, com- manded by Jacob d' Avesne and the archbishop of Canterbury. Count Adolf von Schauenburg (Holstein) and the count of Guelders were also on board. The Landgrave Louis of Thu- ringia, his brother Hermann, the lords of Altenburg, Arn- stein, Schwarzburg, Heldungen, Beichlingen, Mansfeld, etc., arrived at the same time at Tyre, and marched with them to Accon, and a furious contest took place between them and the garrison of that place on one side, and with Salaheddin, who had advanced to its relief, on the other. Louis of Thuringiu was nominated commander-in-chief, and valiantly headed his troops against the enemy, his superior in number. In the following year, A. D. 11 90, some French arrived under Henry, count of Champagne, and a part of the great German army * When Salaheddin threatened to expose his captive father to his fire, he replied, " It will be an honour for me to have descended from a mar- tyr." He craftily led the Egyptian fleet into the harbour and destroyed it. AND RICHARD CCEUIl DE LION. 489 under Leopold of Austria, who had hastened in advance, ac- companied by Berthold von Meran and the nobles of the upper country. Louis of Thuringia, whose health had given way, now departed, but expired during the voyage home. Fre- derick of Swabia and the rest of the German army soon after also arrived, and took an active part in the siege ; every at- tempt, nevertheless, failed ; the city, supported from without by Salaheddin, continued to hold out, and a pestilence broke out in the Christian camp, to which Frederick of Swabia fell a victim. The Hospitallers, who chiefly consisted of French, disregarding the rules of their order, and neglecting the sick and wounded Germans, some citizens of Bremen and Lubeck founded the order of Teutonic knights, who were distinguished by a black cross on a white mantle, who vowed to tend the sick, to practise holiness and chastity, and to combat the infi- dels. They were termed the Marians, in honour of the holy Virgin, and at first excited little notice. Their first grand- master was Waldpot von Bassenheim. Waldpot signifies " nobilis civis;" the citizens, by whom the order was founded, were partly ancient burghers and partly common merchants. It was afterwards entirely composed of nobles, as may be seen in an inscription on the town-house at Bremen : " Vele Christen van groter hitte sin krank geworden, Datt gaff eene Ohrsake dem ridderliken diidschcn Orden, De van de Bremern und Liibschen ersten befenget, Darnach hefft sick de Adele dar ock mede angehenget. Dorna sind se ock in Liefland gekamen, So dat de Orden is grohter und Machtiger geworden. Averst nemand mag gestadet werden in den Orden Behalven de van Adel geboren, he sy groot oder kleen Sunder Borger van Bremen und Liibeek alleen." It is further remarkable, that the house belonging to this order in Bremen was founded by the Cordovan (Spanish leather) makers. The second grand-master of the Marians was Otto von Carpen, also a citizen of Bremen ; the third was Hermann Earth, who had formerly been the Danish warden at Liibeek, and who was led by remorse for the cruelty with which he had, during a dreadfully bitter winter, refused alms to a woman and her sick child, whom he afterwards found frozen to death, to undertake a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, where he entered the Teutonic order. LEOPOLD OF AUSTRIA On the death of Frederick, Leopold of Austria took the command of the German forces. Once, when storming a town, his white coat of arms was so completely soaked in blood that the middle beneath the girdle alone remained white. This bloody coat of arms, represented by a white bar on a red field was adopted by him instead of the escutcheon he had hitherto borne, that of Babenberg, an eagle or a lark, and has been re- tained by Austria to the present day. The knights at this time generally wore scale armour, whence they were compared by Arabian writers to glistening snakes. At an earlier period they used a more simple style of armour, composed of small rings, and at a later period plate-armour. The scale armour thus formed the transition from one to the other. Conrad of Montserrat again attempted to place himself at the head of affairs in the East, and espoused Isabella, the sister of Sibylla, who had been removed by death. The imbecile king, Guido, who was to have abdicated in his favour, being upheld by the French, refused compliance. Conrad, on account of his German descent and vassalage to the emperor, was backed by the Germans. Richard Coeur de Lion, king of England, and Philip, king of France, arrived at this crisis ; the former at the head of a powerful force, the latter accompanied by the aged Philip of Flanders, who died before Accon of the plague. Richard, who had taken the island of Cyprus from the Greeks on his way to the Holy Land, arrogated to himself the chief command of the allied crusaders. Accon, exhausted by the long siege, at length surrendered, A. D. 1191. Richard and Philip garrisoned the citadel ; the services of the Germans, who were inferior in point of numbers, were forgotten ; and they were excluded, and Leopold was reduced to the necessity of borrowing money from the wealthy English monarch in order to procure provisions for his troops. Philip Augustus, king of France, unable to tolerate the insolence of the English monarch, returned home. The Germans, however, remained, with patient endurance, and aided in gaining the great victory of Arsuf over Salaheddin, in which Jacob d'Avesne fell, gal- lantly fighting. Leopold was, notwithstanding, unable to re- press his displeasure on Richard's attempt to make use of the Germans in rebuilding Ascalon, which had been completely destroyed by Salaheddin, replying to the haughty and over- bearing monarch, that " he was neither a mason nor a carpen- AND RICHARD CCEUR DE LION. 491 ter." Richard, enraged at this retort, cast Leopold's banner forth from his camp, and, as Leopold still delayed his de- parture, ordered his colours to be torn down and dragged through the streets. Leopold, too weak to avenge the insult, quietly withdrew. Richard carried on the contest with Salaheddin, but, not- withstanding the valour for which he was so justly famed, all his efforts proved ineffectual, on account of his unwillingness to attack Jerusalem, which arose either from an idea of its invincible strength, or from his indisposition to increase the power of the king Guido, who now solely depended upon him. He was even suspected of being implicated in the murder of Conrad of Montserrat, whom the Pullanes were desirous of electing in the place of their imbecile monarch, and who had been stabbed by two assassins. Henry de Champagne, vrho espoused Conrad's widow, became king of Jerusalem, and Guido, in compensation, received the crown of Cyprus, A. D. 1192. Richard's obstinate refusal to advance on Jerusalem at length so enraged the remaining German and French cru- saders, that they marched off under the command of Hugh, duke of Burgundy, after a stormy dispute with the English. Hugh expired in a fit of rage before reaching the coast ; the report of his having been poisoned was currently believed. Richard now concluded peace with Salaheddin, who granted him permission to visit Jerusalem with his followers, divided into small companies, in order to pay his devotions at the Holy Sepulchre. In the winter of 1193, Richard departed for England, taking his way by land through Germany, and traversing Austria. His endeavours to conceal himself were unavailing, and he was discovered when sitting in a kitchen cooking a fowl in the village of Erdberg, near Vienna. He was arrested at Leopold's command, and imprisoned in the castle of Duren- stein on the Danube ; an unknightly action, but fully deserved by Richard. But although the manner in which he was cap- tured was ignoble, the emperor Henry VI., Barbarossa's son and successor, was justified in bringing him as a criminal be- fore the tribunal of the empire. He, accordingly, ordered him to be carried to Worms for the purpose of interrogating him in the diet. The principal crime of which he was ac- cused was the murder of a prince of the German empire, the 492 LEOPOLD OF AUSTRIA, ETC. gallant Conrad of Montserrat, of which he endeavoured to clear himself. He was then accused of having withheld from the Germans their share of the booty gained at Accon, and was condemned to make compensation for the loss. It should also be remarked, that besides not protesting against the ju- dicial power exercised by the emperor, he performed homage to Henry VI. as a vassal of the holy Roman empire in the presence of several English nobles ; nor was this proceeding deemed irregular, the emperor being universally regarded as the actual liege of every monarch in Christendom. Richard also did not afterwards protest against this act, and the Eng- lish vote was given at the election of the emperor Otto IV. Whilst the ransom of one hundred and fifty thousand silver marks was being collected in England, and Richard was re- tained in honourable imprisonment at Mayence, his mother Eleanore, now seventy years of age, carried her complaints through Europe. The pope, jealous of his supremacy, en- joined the emperor to renounce his judicial power, and in- stantly to restore Richard to liberty, but Henry treated even his threat of excommunicatiou with indifference, and when the king of France was on the point of invading Normandy, during the absence of her sovereign, he instantly notified to him that he should consider himself aggrieved in the person of his captive. This manly and decisive conduct on the part of the emperor effectually repelled all further attempts at ag- gression on the side of either the French monarch or of the pope, and on payment of the ransom, A. D. 1194, Richard was restored to liberty. This humiliation of the brutal English monarch before the diet, was a just retaliation for the affront offered by him to the arms of Babenberg, and the heavy ran- som levied upon his people rendered them sensible that the majesty of Germany was not to be offended with impunity.* The emperor acted well and nobly, but Leopold, the cowardly captor of an unarmed foe, was deservedly an object of general scorn ; the pope vented his rage by placing him under an interdict, and his being shortly afterwards thrown from horse- back and breaking one of his legs, was universally regarded as a visitation of Providence. At that time the art of sur- gery was unknown. Mortification took place ; the duke * It seems then that the majesty of Germany had its price. TRANSLATOR. HENRY THE SIXTH. 493 seizing an axe, held it above the broken part of the limb, whilst his attendant struck upon it with a mallet and severed it from his body. The consequences proved mortal. Styria, whose reigning counts were extinct, was annexed in his time to Austria, and the walls of Vienna were raised with the ran- som of England's king. CLIV. Henry the Sixth. FREDERICK Barbarossa had no sooner departed for Asia, than Henry the Lion returned to Germany and attempted to re-conquer his duchy of Saxony. In the general confusion, the Ditmarses, dissatisfied with the government of the arch- bishop of Bremen, severed themselves from the empire and swore fealty to Denmark. The rights of Adolf III. of Hoi- stein, who had accompanied the crusade, were defended by Adolf von Dassel, brother to Remold, archbishop of Cologne, and by the young Count Bernard von Ratzeburg, against Henry, who was upheld by Bernard's father, and by Giintzel von Schwerin. The Imperialists were defeated by the Welfs at Boitzenburg, and the Lion destroyed the city of Bardewik, in reward for the insolence with which he had been formerly treated by its inhabitants, whom he mercilessly put to the sword. Henry VI., then regent of the empire, revenged the fate of Bardewik by burning down the city of Hanover, which favoured the duke. Brunswick withstood his attack, and on learning the death of his father, he concluded a truce and hastened into Italy, in order to receive the imperial crown from the hands of the pontiff. This consideration also induced him to leave the Landgrave Hermann, the brother of the ill- fated Louis of Thuringia, in undisturbed possession of that duchy, to which he had at first laid claim as a fief lapsed to the crown. This Landgrave held a peaceful and stately court on the Wartburg, whither he invited all the best and noblest bards of Germany. A complete reconciliation took place between the Hohen- staufen and the Welfs on the emperor's return from Italy. Frederick Barbarossa, during his earlier days of friendship, bad affianced Agnes, the lovely daughter of his brother Philip, the Rhenish Pfalzgrave, to Henry, the eldest son of Henry 494 HENRY THE SIXTH. the Lion. This betrothal had been forgotten during the sub- sequent feud that arose between Henry and the emperor, and Agnes had been proposed in marriage to Philip Augustus, king of France. The youthful bridegroom, meanwhile, visited the castle of Stahlet, where Agnes dwelt with her mother, in disguise, gained her affections, and secretly married her.* Philip, on discovering this affair, was at first greatly offended, but afterwards pardoned his daughter and her husband, and interceded for them with the emperor and Henry the Lion, who, notwithstanding the complaints of the French court, consented to the marriage. Henry the Lion expired in the course of the same year, [A. D. 1195,] at Brunswick, where he amused himself during the last period of his life in col- lecting and perusing old chronicles. His memory was greatly revered by the Saxons. Brunswick, now the only patrimony of the Welfs, was divided between Otto and William, the younger sons of Henry the Lion, whose eldest son, Henry, suc- ceeded his father-in-law, Philip, in the Rhenish Pfalzgraviate, and remained true to his allegiance to the emperor. In Meissen, Otto the Rich had discovered large mines, and founded the mining town of Freiberg. Towards the end of his life [A. D. 1189] he was thrown into prison, where he died, by his ungrateful son, Albrecht the Proud, for having refused to disinherit his younger son, Dietrich the Oppressed. Dietrich was driven into exile by his brother, and marrying the daughter of Hermann of Thuringia, who was famed for her ugliness, was enabled, by his father-in-law's aid, to retain possession of Weissenfels. He afterwards made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Albrecht and his Bohemian wife, Sophia, were poisoned by order of the emperor, who coveted the rich mines of Meissen, and a plot was laid to assassinate Dietrich * Stahlet, a fine castle with sixteen towers, whose ruins still command the little town of Bacharach. The legend relates that the Pfalzgrave had imprisoned his beauteous daughter in the Pfalzgrafc-nstein, a small tower standing in the middle of the Rhine near Bacharach, where Henry, whose love was favoured by her mother, contrived to hold intercourse with her under the disguise of a pilgrim. Philip's only alternative, on finding that they were united in indissoluble bonds, was to ride over to Spires, in order to propitiate the emperor. He ordained, in memory of this event, that every future Pfalzgravine should spend the term of her lying-in in this little tower, which should thus become the birth-place of every future Pfalzgrave. HENRY THE SIXTH. 495 in Palestine ; but his suspicions being aroused, he had himself carried on board a vessel, concealed in a cask, and escaped, A. D. 1195. The emperor's absence in Italy, where he shortly afterwards expired, insured his safety, and with it the con- tinuance of the house of Wettin.* Henry VI. inherited his father's energy, but was devoid of his nobler qualities. He made use of ignoble means for the attainment of his purposes, was cold-blooded, and cruel. True to his father's principles, he sought to lower the authority of the pope in Italy itself. William, king of Apulia and Sicily, died without issue, A. D. 1190. His aunt, Constantia, Henry's consort, being next in descent, he instantly claimed the in- heritance ; but being at that time at open war with Henry the Lion, Tancred, count of Lecce, a natural grandchild of Roger, seized the opportunity to be crowned king at Palermo, in the hope that the cities of Lombardy would bar the ad- vance of the emperor ; they were however, as usual, at feud with one another, and on Henry's unexpected arrival in Italy, in the autumn of 1190, many of them fell into his hands, and the pope was induced, through dread of his power, to crown him during Easter at Rome, A. D. 1191.f With the view of gaining the favour of the Romans, who had ever evinced the gn-atest antipathy to the German emperors, Henry treacher- ously delivered up to them the neighbouring town of.Tivoli, which had rendered great services to his father, whose cause it had strongly upheld. The Romans instantly destroyed the town and murdered the inhabitants. Henry then advanced upon Naples, but his army being attacked by pestilence, his numbers were greatly diminished ; his consort, Constantia, was delivered up to Tancred by the citizens of Salerno, and he was compelled to return to Germany in order to recruit his forces. Tancred, meanwhile, was equally unsuccessful. A faction forming in Constantia's favour, he voluntarily re- stored her to liberty ; an evident proof of his inability to cope with the emperor. He died in 1194. His widow, Sibylla, * One of his cousins, Dido von der Lansitz, was extremely corpulent, and in order to reduce himself in size, had the fat cut out of his body. He died under the operation, A. D. 1190. f Roger of Hoveden, the English historian, relates that Cclestin III. placed the crown on the head of the kneeling emperor with his feet, and then cast it to the ground with his foot, in sign of the power he possessed of bestowing it upon him, and of depriving him of it. 496 HENRY THE SIXTH. and his young son, William, were left helpless, and on the emperor's return during the same year to Italy, Naples threw open her gates to him, Salerno was taken by storm and plun- dered, and Sicily submitted after a battle gained by Henry von Calatin, (Kelten,) the bravest of the emperor's followers, (the founder of the house of Pappenheim,) at Catanea, at the foot of Mount Etna. The emperor, in order to get William out of the hands of the wretched Sibylla, fraudulently pro- mised to bestow upon him his patrimonial inheritance of Lecce and Tarentum ; but no sooner had him under his guardian- ship, than he caused him to be deprived of sight and muti- lated, for a pretended charge of conspiracy, the 26th of Dec., 1194. The empress Constantia was delivered of a son* at the very time this crime, which was repaid doublefold on him and his descendants, was committed. William was imprisoned in the castle of Hohenemb in Swabia, where he shortly after- wards expired. The most cruel torments were inflicted upon every partisan of the ancient Norman dynasty. A Count Jordan, who was supposed to be secretly favoured by Constantia, was placed upon a throne of red-hot iron, and a red-hot crown was nailed upon his head. Richard, one of Tancred's brothers-in-law, was dragged to deatli at a horse's tail. It was in vain that the pope, Celestin III., who beheld Henry's increasing power in Lower Italy with dread, placed him under an interdict; he was treated with contempt ; every malcontent was either exe- cuted or dragged into Germany, and the lands of the Countess Matilda were bestowed on Duke Philip, with the view of re- ducing Upper Italy to a similar state of subserviency. Philip, who had originally been destined for the church, was, more- over, presented with the hand of a beautiful Grecian princess, Irene, the youthful widow of Roger, (who died early,) the son of Tancred, with whom she had been captured in Sicily. Her father, Isaac, the Greek emperor, was deposed and de- prived of sight by his brother Alexius, who was called to ac- count for this crime by Henry, and threatened with an invasion on the part of the Germans, " who had angry eyes instead of shining diamonds, and, instead of pearls, brows trickling with * This child, who afterwards ascended the throne as Frederick II., is said to have been born at Esi, in the district of Ancona, and to have been christened at Assisi. HENRY THE SIXTH. 497 the sweat of battle." Alexius paid a considerable tribute. Henry, nevertheless, had a serious intention of annexing Greece, of which Irene was the only rightful heir, to the German empire, and a crusade was set on foot as a means of carrying this project into execution, A. D. 1196. It was headed by the archbishop of Mayence, the chancellor, Conrad, who was accompanied by the dukes of Austria, Carinthia, Meran, Thuringia, Brandenburg, Brabant, and by the arch- bishops of Cologne and Bremen. Conrad, on reaching Cyprus, received the oath of fealty from the king of that island in the name of the emperor. The king of Armenia afterwards also swore allegiance to the em- pire. In Crete, the Swabian Count von Pfirt had raised him- self to the throne, which he afterwards exchanged with the Venetians for that of Thessalonica. The extension of the empire over the whole of the Christian East, with Constan- tinople to his back in Asia Minor, formed the scheme Henry now sought to realize. The sons of Salaheddin, who had expired in 1193, were striving with one another for the sove- reignty. Bohemund III. of Antioch had been taken pri- soner by the Old Man of the Mountain. Henry de Cham- pagne, king of Jerusalem, visited this assassin king, arid soli- cited his friendship.* He shortly afterwards fell out of his palace window down a precipice. The Germans under Con- rad arrived simultaneously with a Dutch fleet from Bremen, Friesland, etc., which had on its way taken the city of Silves in Portugal. At this period, as it was not birth, but bravery and skill, that caused a man to be elected commander-in-chief, that office was delegated to Walram von Limburg, a younger brother of the Brabanter, and to Henry von Kelten, (Pappen- heim,)who had already distinguished himself in a former cru- sade, and in Sicily. Sidon, where a great victory was gained, was quickly taken ; Berytos and other cities fell into their hands ; Thoron was soon the only one on the sea-coast held by the infidels, and the systematic plan on which the recon- quest of the Holy Land was now conducted, favoured by the weakness and disunion of the Turkish government, seemed on the point of succeeding, and the crusaders were engaged in * In order to prove to his visitor the extraordinary obedience of the assassins, the old man ordered two of them to throw themselves headlong from the rocks, and was instantly obeyed. 2 K 498 HENRY THE SIXTH. the siege of Thoron, when the news of the death of the em- peror arrived. The German camp was instantly in commo- tion, and part of the crusaders returning home, the rest were too much weakened to continue the war, and followed their example. Frederick of Austria died in the Holy Land. Thus ended the vast projects of Henry VI., beneath whose sceptre the power of Germany founded by Barbarossa would have been confirmed and extended. He expired suddenly, [A. D. 1197,] in the prime of life,- at Messina. His death was occa- sioned by an iced beverage or by poison. The pope, Celestin III., a man of weak ability, died during the same year, and was succeeded by Innocent III., whose powerful intellect hum- bled the power of the proud Hohenstaufen, which was upheld in Germany by the last of the sons of Barbarossa, Philip the Gentle, against the great faction of the Welfs, and in Italy by Henry's young son, Frederick, against the pope and the Guelphs. Philip, after a toilsome struggle, succeeded in asserting his independence in Germany, to which he was com- pelled to limit himself, whilst Frederick and the whole of Italy fell under the rule of the pope. Constantia plainly perceived that her son was lost unless she threw herself into the arms of the pontiff, who spared the royal child, from whom he had nothing to dread, with the idea of setting him up, at some future period, as a pretender to the imperial crown, in oppo- sition to any emperor who might prove refractory ; besides which, Constantia's voluntary submission conferred upon him an appearance of right, which he could otherwise have only gained by force. Frederick was, in 1198, crowned king of Apulia and Sicily ; his kingdom was, however, held in fee of the pope, to whom he paid an annual tribute. Constantia also bestowed the duchies of Spoleto and Ravenna on the pope, besides the district of Ancona, which was annexed to the State of the Church, after the expulsion of the German go- vernor, Marquardt von Anweiler. These grants were con- firmed by Constantia, who expired in the course of the same year, in her will. A German general, Diephold, who had been created Count d'Acerra by Henry, was the only one who still offered any opposition ; he was opposed by Walther, count de Brienne, who had married a sister of the murdered William, and in her right laid a claim to Lecce and Tarentum. A pitch- ed battle took place between Diephold and Walther, [A. D. PHILIP, AND OTTO THE FOURTH. 499 1205,] in which, although the former was victorious, he was compelled, through want of aid from Germany, to make terms with the pope, and went to Palermo, where he entered the service of the young monarch. Rome also submitted to the pope. The Lombard Guelfs hailed their deliverance from the German yoke with delight, and thus the whole of Italy became a papal province. Innocent III., by his masterly management of his power, founded upon the superstition of the people, gradually placed nil the temporal sovereigns of Europe beneath his guidance. In Germany the emperor and his rival courted his favour, and e inulated each other in their concessions. In France, Philip Augustus, who had attempted to impose restrictions on the clergy, was quickly humbled by the interdict. John of Eng- land received similar treatment, and the monarchs of Spain, Norway, and Hungary, the princes of Poland, Dalmatia, and even of Bulgaria, bent in lowly submission to his decree. CLV. Philip, and Otto the Fourth. DURING the prolonged absence of the emperor in Italy, feuds had again become general throughout Germany. The attempts made by the bishops to increase their power and to extend their authority produced violent contests between them and the nobility or the people ; hence arose the feuds between Mayence and the Thuringians, Utrecht and the Friscians, Passau and the Count von Ortenburg, Salzburg and Ratisbon and Louis of Bavaria. The ambition of the princes gave rise to similar disputes between themselves; the Count von Hen- negau was at feud with the duke of Brabant, and the two brothers, Dietrich and William of Holland, with each other.* Even Conrad, the emperor's brother, duke of Swabia, resus- citated the ancient feud that had formerly been carried on be- tween him and his neighbour Berthold von Zahringen. He * The sons of Florentia, who expired in the Holy Land. Dietrich's heroic wife, Adelheid, fought at his side on horseback against William, who was defeated at Alkmar, and afterwards seized during an interview to which he had been invited under pretence of bringing about a recon- ciliation. He escaped, gained a complete victory at Hiisgen, and threw his brother into prison, where he expired. Ada, the daughter of Dietrich, married a Count von Loon, who was also captured. 2 K 2 500 PHILIP, AND OTTO THE FOURTH. was taken in adultery at Durlach, and killed, A. D. 1197. His brother Philip succeeded to Swabia and to the imperial throne. The princes of Bavaria, Austria, Carinthia, Meran, and Bo- hemia, remained true to their allegiance to the Hohenstaufen, and even Berthold von Zahringen, sensible of the advantage of being on good terms with his powerful neighbour, was con- ciliated. Philip, who, in 1198, was elected emperor at Miihl- hausen,* was also upheld by the bishops of Northern Germany and by the Slavian Margraves, in fact, by all who had gained in wealth or power by the fall of the Welfs. Otto, the son of Henry the Lion, also pretended to the crown, but the faction of the Welfs being extremely weak in Germany, he sought the alliance of England and Denmark, (to whose king, Wal- demar II., he wedded his daughter, and resigned Holstein, Hamburg, Lubeck, Mecklenburg, and Pomerania,) and the favour of the pope, whose policy it was to create a counter- poise to the power of the Hohenstaufen. Otto IV. was, con- sequently, elected emperor by his faction at Cologne, which city he took by force, the pope declaring at the same time to the princes of Germany that the election depended on him alone, kings reigning over separate countries, the pope over the universe ; and in virtue of this self-arrogated right be- stowed the imperial title on Otto, who, in return, recognised him as his liege, and took the oath of unconditional obedience, which was received in the pope's name by the cardinal-legate, Guido, who, on this occasion, introduced the ceremony of the elevation of the host (during the celebration of mass) before the prostrate congregation. The Rhenish bishops, who had primarily declared in Philip's favour, were induced by Henry the Pfalzgrave, by means of promises and bribes, to counte- nance his brother Otto. Among other things, he resigned the government of Treves, which he held from the crown, to the archbishop, who thus became the master of the city. The church lost no opportunity, however trifling, of increasing her authority at the expense of the temporal lords. The feud between the emperors was carried on on the Rhine. Strass- burg was besieged by Philip, A. D. 1199, and Otto, when ad- * Two years earlier he had celebrated his nuptials with Irene at Aujrs- burg. His gentle manners and Irene's beauty won every heart. An account of the court held at Magdeburg by this amiable pair has been handed down to our times in the verse of Walther von der Vogehveide. PHILIP, AND OTTO THE FOURTH. 501 v?mcing to her relief, was defeated. Ottocar of Bohemia,* Philip's partisan, gave no quarter on the Lower Rhine ; a popular insurrection headed by Curt von Arloff was the re- sult ; his army was surprised at Nesselroth in the Wupper- thal, after a night passed in revelry, and was almost anni- hilated ; Philip, nevertheless, forced his antagonist to retreat into his own territory, and, supported by the Saxon bishops, f besieged him in Brunswick. Otto was successful in a sally, and by means of a fresh intrigue received a considerable addi- tion to his forces ; Hermann of Thuringia | rose in his favour, and Ottocar of Bohemia went over to his side ; but being forced to retreat from the vicinity of Erfurt, where he exer- cised the most horrid barbarity, by the peasantry headed by Otto von Brenen, he listened to the persuasions of the Wit- telsbacher of Bavaria, with whom he was connected by mar- riage, and returned to his allegiance. Philip, after twice defeating Bruno of Cologne, Otto's most powerful partisan on the Rhine, invaded Thuringia, upon which Hermann threw himself at his feet and abandoned Otto's now hopeless cause. The pope also was induced by this turn in affairs to recog- nise Philip, an act of condescension for which he was repaid by the sacrifice of Italy, and the humble recognition of his supremacy. An interview at length took place between Phi- lip and Otto at Cologne, where terms of peace were agreed to. The Wittelsbacher in Bavaria, who owed their elevation to the Staufen, had ever repaid their debt of gratitude by the * The Bohemians seem to have still retained some of their ancient barbarity, and to have imbibed but scant respect for their new religion. They made horse-cloths of the altar-covers, stripped the captive nuns bare, tarred and feathered their bodies, and sent them swimming down the Rhine. Montanus. t Who dreaded a Saxon emperor more than one of Upper Germany ; the Rhenish bishops, on the contrary, promised themselves greater inde- pendence and credit under a Saxon one. J He has been accused of the murder of Conrad, bishop of Wiirzburg, Philip's most active adherent. According to others, this bishop was as- sassinated by the nobles for having condemned two young noblemen to death for dishonouring a burgher's daughter. The pope inflicted such a mild punishment on his assassins, that the enraged populace levelled their castles with the ground. Count Adolf von Berg fought at one time against Philip, and, at an- other time, in his favour. So suddenly at that period did men change sides. 502 PHILIP, AND OTTO THE FOURTH. services they rendered. Otto was succeeded by his son Louis,* whose cousin, Otto, became Philip's most inveterate foe. Philip had promised to bestow upon him the hand of one of his daughters, but afterwards refused to fulfil his engagement, partly on account of Otto's licentious manners and guilt, (he- had already committed murder,) and partly because he had higher matches in view for his daughters (in particular, an alliance with the Welfs as a means of conciliation). Otto then sought the hand of a daughter of Henry the Bearded of Silesia, and being inconsiderately charged by Philip with a letter of warning to his intended father-in-law, he broke the seal on his way to Silesia, and on reading "the contents in- stantly returned, and hastening to Bamberg, (old Babenburg,) where the emperor was then holding his court, entered his apartment and ran him through with his sword as he sat at chess, A. D. 1208. He escaped after wounding Henry von Waldburg, the imperial Truchsess, who attempted to seize him, in the face. Irene of Greece, Philip's mourning widow, was conducted by Louis of Wurtemburg to the ancestral castle of the Hohen- staufen, where she died before long of grief. On her death, her youthful daughter, Beatrice, threw herself weeping at the feet of her father's former competitor, Otto IV., and implored his protection and vengeance on her father's murderer. Her entreaties were listened to. The murderer was slain at Ebrach on the Danube, his memory was cursed, and his castle of Wit- telsbach reduced to ruins. Frederick of Palermo, the young king of Sicily, was now the only male heir of the Hohen- staufen, and Otto the Welf, dreading lest he might succeed in attaching the partisans of that house in Germany, to whom he was still a stranger, to his person, by a marriage with Bea- trice, affianced himself to her, the celebration of the nuptials being delayed on account of her extreme youth. His position was, notwithstanding, extremely critical. Ruin was inevita- ble, if the pretensions of young Frederick were brought for- ward by the pope. His whole anxiety was consequently to * Louis one day promised marriage to Ludmilla, the widow of the wild robber knight, Albrecht von Berg, taking in witness of his oath three knights whose figures were portrayed on the tapestried walls, when three living knights suddenly came forth from behind the figures and compelled him to keep his word. PHILIP, AND OTTO THE FOURTH. 503 win the pontiff's favour. In 1209, he accordingly paid him a visit, humbled himself before him, confirmed him in the possession of the lands of the Countess Matilda, the right of investiture, even the induction of the bishops independently of the right of election possessed by the chapters, and took the oath of unconditional obedience. The imperial crown was his reward. The presence of the Germans, however, again roused the passions of the Roman populace ; an insurrection took place, and the Germans were driven out of the city. The non-interference of the pope, on this occasion, at length roused the emperor's sense of honour, and he ventured to offer some opposition, by withholding from him Tuscany and the district of Ancona, which he bestowed upon Azzo d'Este. Innocent retaliated by a short but sure measure, by excommunicating his weak opponent, and by commanding the princes of Ger- many to elect his protege, Frederick, emperor, A. D. 1211. Otto, in the intention of first disencumbering himself of his rival, marched quickly into Lower Italy, and was on the point of crossing over to Sicily, in order, with the assistance of the treacherous Diephold, to seize Frederick in Palermo, when he received the news of the obedience of the German princes to the pope's mandate, and of the election of Frederick by a diet held at Bamberg, and hastily recrossing the Alps, stoutly attacked his adversai'ies. He laid the archbishopric of Mag- deburg waste, put the king of Bohemia out of the ban of the empire, and would in all probability have reinstated himself, had not Frederick suddenly made his appearance in Germany. Beatrice, Otto's beauteous and youthful bride, whom he had espoused at Nordhausen, and by whose means he had hoped to gain over the whole of the Hohenstaufen faction in Germany, expired a few days after the solemnization of the nuptials, it was said, of poison administered to her by his mistresses, A. D. 1212. The Swabians and Bavarians instantly quitted his camp and returned home. Innocent III., who in his boundless ambition sought to ex- tend his sway over the East as well as over the West, inces- santly stirred up the people for the formation of crusades. In 1198, Otto of Brandenburg had made a solitary pilgrimage to the sepulchre. In 1202, a large army of crusaders assembled under Baldwin, count of Flanders, Boniface de Montserrat, Conrad, bishop of Halberstadt, etc. On reaching Venice, they 504 PHILIP, AND OTTO THE FOURTH. were retained by the doge, Dandolo, who proposed the conquest of Greece before that of the Holy Land. His object was to deprive Constantinople of the commerce with the East ; Bald- win, however, coveted the imperial crown. The rage of the pope, on this intelligence, was extreme, and he instantly placed the whole of the crusade under excommunication, which occa- sioned the more piously-inclined among the Germans to quit the army, the majority of which pronounced in favour of Bald- win and of the Venetians, and to set out alone for the Holy Land. The greatest anarchy prevailed at that time in Con- stantinople ; the father contended with his son, the servant with his lord, one emperor supplanted the other. The city, nevertheless, defended by her strong fortifications, and by the immense number of her inhabitants, resisted every attack, and the crusaders were compelled to create a party in their favour by embracing that of the emperor Alexius Angelus, in whose name they succeeded in taking possession of the city for the first time, A. D. 1203. This emperor being assassinated by his competitor, Alexius Ducas, they conquered Constantinople a second time, but for themselves, A. D. 1204. The circum- jacent country was quickly reduced to submission ; each leader took possession of a city or a castle for himself; new counties and principalities were founded in ancient Hellas. Baldwin of Flanders, who had placed the crown of the Byzantine em- perors on his own brow, did not long enjoy the elevation to which he had attained ; John, king of Wallachia and Bulgaria, invaded his empire, carried all before him, and took him pri- soner, A. D. 1205. The Wallachian queen became enamoured of her husband's captive, and offered to restore him to liberty on condition of sharing his throne as empress. On Baldwin's refusal, she persuaded her husband to order his hands and feet to be struck off.* Baldwin's fidelity to his wife, Maria, was equalled by hers ; she followed him to Greece with the Flem- ish fleet, and had the good fortune to die before him. Boniface de Montferrat also fell in the battle. Henry, Baldwin's brother, * Vide Raumer. Baldwin's daughter, Johanna, surnamed of Jeru- salem, ordered an impostor, who gave himself out as her father and demanded the cession of Flanders, to be cruelly tortiired and hanged. Her conscience afterwards smote her for this deed, and being tormented with the idea that he might in reality have been her father, she erected a large hospital at Lille, whose walls, windows, furniture, and curtains, were covered with gallows. PHILIP, AND OTTO THE FOURTH. 505 mounted the imperial throne, but was poisoned by a Bulgarian princess, whom he had married. His brother-in-law and suc- cessor, Peter d'Auxerre, was thrown into prison, where he died, by the Greeks, who regained courage and ere long re- conquered their metropolis. The German crusaders, who, influenced by the dread of excommunication, had refused to accompany Baldwin, and had set off as common pilgrims for the Holy Land, were conducted by their leader, the Abbot Martin, an Alsacian, to Accon, where the Flemish fleet also arrived, under the command of John de Neele, the bailiff of Briigge, who insolently refused to join Baldwin at Constantinople, although his consort, the Countess Maria, was on board. This lady had awaited her accouchement in Flanders, and then hastened after her hus- band. She died at Accon. These pilgrims effectuated nothing. Amalrich of Cyprus, who by his marriage with Isabella, the widow of Conrad and Henry, had seated himself on the throne of Jerusalem, instead of aiding the Flemings, increased their difficulties, from a dread of being deprived, like the Greek emperor, of his crown. Bohemund of Antioch was incessantly at feud with the Christian Armenians. The pilgrims, on dis- covering the futility of their endeavours, returned home. Amalrich died. lolantha, Isabella's daughter by the gallant Conrad de Montferrat, espoused, in 1210, Count John de Brienne, who became king of Jerusalem. He resided at Accon, unpossessed of wealth or power. Innocent, undeterred by these mishaps, still continued his exhortations for the formation of fresh crusades, but the princes, engaged at home with their own affairs, and warned by the ill success of those that had already been undertaken, either refused, or made promises they did not intend to fulfil. The preaching of the crusades, the zeal of the clergy, and the delay on the part of the princes, had, meanwhile, excited the imagination of the multitude, more especially that of the young people of both sexes, to the highest pitch of frenzy. At Co- logne, a boy, named Nicolaus, announced that Christ would alone bestow his promised land on innocent children, assem- bled a multitude of children, and led seven thousand boys and girls across the Alps. Several of these children, of noble families, were retained at Genoa, and became the founders of different races of Genoese nobles. In Italy, this extraordinary 506 PHILIP, AND OTTO THE FOURTH. crusade (which would certainly have never been generally countenanced had it not been viewed by the papists as a means * for the attainment of their design) broke up. Numbers of these children remained in Italy ; others set sail for the Holy Land, whence they never returned ; very few retraced their steps to Germany [A. D. 1212]. Not long after this, a still more numerous multitude of French children of both sexes arrived ; twenty to thirty thousand ; part of whom were shipwrecked, the rest were sold by two French slave merchants to the Turks. The religious enthusiasm of the times, excited to the utmost by the pope, now threatened to overturn his authority. The notion that every action ought to tend to the glory of God, led to the question whether the church walked in his ways, ami to the discovery of the difference between her despotism and ambition, and the humility of the Founder of Christianity. The Catharers, or the pure, from whom the name of heretic, that afterwards attained such celebrity, was derived, first came, as their Grecian name attests, from the East, spread over Italy and Provence, where they received the name of Albigenses, from the city of Albi. Their aim was the restoration of such a pure evangelical mode of existence that they even rejected the Old Testament. The crusades and the alliance with Greece had infected them with some of the ideas of the ancient Greek- Christian philosophers, the Gnostics, which had been con- demned by the church, and probably with some of the doctrines of Islamism ; many of them also rejected the Trinity. Some remains of ancient Arianism may also have been preserved among them ; the Burgundians and Goths, its most zealous supporters, having been compelled to turn Catholics by the Franks. During the reign of Charlemagne, Bishop Claudius energetically protested at Turin against the worship of images. Thus an anti-catholic feeling might have been easily preserved among these mountaineers. The Waldenses, in the mountains and at Lyons, were freer from oriental philosophy than the Albigenses on the coast ; their founder, Peter, was surnamed " the Vaudois," probably on account of his being a native of * The father of Nicolaus was afterwards executed for imposture at Cologne ; and the pope, instead of releasing these children from their vow, merely granted them permission to delay its performance until they were of age. PHILIP, AND OTTO THE FOURTH. 507 the Waadtland, or of some part of Vaud. They also denomin- ated themselves the " poor people" of Lyons ; taught practical Christianity, humility, and brotherly love ; rejected all eccle- siastical tenets and denounced all ecclesiastical power ; regard- ing the church, drunk as it were with despotism, luxury, and ambition, as the kingdom of Satan upon earth, the great Ba- bylon cursed for her sins ; and the pope, as antichrist. The necessity of strong measures for the suppression of these heresies was clearly perceived by the church, which, in- stead of justly estimating the causes whence they had arisen, instead of reforming her own internal abuses and limiting the power she had seized, blind to the future, and regardless of the universal law, that excess ever defeats its aim, condemned the heretics unheard, and sought to extirpate them by violence and bloodshed. Innocent prohibited the study of the Bible and the investigation of spiritual matters by the laity, and, instead of teaching those whom he professed to believe in error, instantly had recourse to violence. In 1.178, the bloody persecution of the heretics commenced ; and in 1198, tribunals, composed of monks, who arbitrarily trod law and justice beneath their feet, were established by the pope for the trial of his disobedient children. The tortures anciently made use of by the Romans were reintroduced, and the church, founded upon the doctrine of universal love and brotherhood, first inflicted the punishment of the rack. Those whom pain induced to confess their guilt were condemned to the perform- ance of severe penance ; those who refused to confess were burnt alive. The whole property of the criminal was confis- cated, and served to swell the coffers of the church. There was no appeal beyond this tribunal. The number of heretics, and that of the Albigenses, notwithstanding, increased to such a degree, that Innocent caused a crusade to be formally preached against them, A. D. 1209. The heretics, at whose head stood Raimund, count of Toulouse, were favoured by the nobility of the country, and stoutly resisted every attack, de- fending themselves with unflinching heroism against the fanatical multitudes that poured upon them from every side,* * The German fanatics were led by Leopold the Younger of Austria, Count Adolf von Berg, and the Cardinal, Conrad von Urach. At the storming of Bezieres, sixty thousand of the Albigenses of every age and of both sexes were murdered. Adolf was touched to compassion and 508 PHILIP, AND OTTO THE FOURTH. until finally overpowered by numbers. Their heresy, never- theless, was continued in secret from one generation to another, and the utter inability of the perplexed and weak emperor to offer any aid to the ancient kingdom of Burgundy, which, after the suppression of the heresy, he was compelled to leave under papal and French influence, may justly be deplored. The Beguines in Liege owed their origin to peculiar cir- cumstances. The licence of the ecclesiastics in this town reached such a pitch, that during Easter and Whitsuntide the most beautiful of the priests' mistresses were placed publicly as queens upon thrones and were paid homage, the night con- cluding in debauchery and riot. The obscenity of the priests produced a popular reaction.* The burgher Lambert founded a society of chaste maidens and virtuous widows, who were bound by certain rules, and who before long gained great cre- dit by their care of the sick,f A. D. 1176. A general council was convoked by Innocent, A. D. 1215, at Rome, for the purpose of reforming the most grievous abuses in the church, and severe penalties were adjudged as a check upon the immorality and the avarice of the clergy, which had now overstepped every restraint, and ever emained the de- plorable and inseparable result of the immense wealth they had gained ; although there were not wanting men among their order, who viewed the profligacy of their brethren with hor- ror and regret. Two may be particularly mentioned as import- ant reformers of the monastic orders. Francisco d'Assisi, an Italian, founded, in 1210, the order of the Franciscans, who were also denominated Minorites, or lesser brothers ; and Domingo Guzman, a Spaniard, in 1215, that of the Domini- cans. These monks vowed to practise the most rigid austerity, to remain in utter poverty, never to possess or even to touch gold, and to content themselves with the mere necessaries of life, the most homely diet and clothing. 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