fii ILliultUiitiiiiitifHiiiir OPEAN HI STORY 1 111' HALL !i 1 . . liii j ' I 1, ! ! II iiiil iii A SHORT SKETCH OF EUROPEAN HISTORY FROM THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE TO THE REFORMATION A SHORT SKETCH OF EUROPEAN HISTORY BY H. E. MARSHALL Author of " An Island Story " FROM THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE TO THE REFORMATION CONTAINING TWELVE PAGE MAPS ' jA NEW YORK FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY PUBLISHERS Printed in fcf c PREFACE MANY European histories written for school use are too long for careful study by young pupils during the necessarily limited time allotted to the subject. Many of them are overloaded with details of battles and domestic politics which, although of importance in the thorough study of one country, have little or no influence on the general growth of Europe. It is very important that students should realize as early as possible that the history of our islands has at all times been influenced by the broader movements of European history, and in this book an endeavour has been made to give, succintly, the main factors which have gone to the forming and developing of the various European states from the fall of the Roman Empire to the Reformation, together with sufficient detail to enliven that dullness which is the almost inevitable accompaniment of great compression. As a good deal of time is generally devoted to the history of England in the ordinary school curriculum, it has seemed unnecessary to enlarge on it here. The history of England has therefore rarely been touched upon save when (as in the Hundred Years' War, for example) that country plays a prominent part in the politics of Europe. On the other hand, considerable space has been given to the period immediately following on the fall of the Roman Empire, V 4G5125 vi PREFACE that being a period somewhat neglected, but which yet gives the necessary key to future developments. To aid smooth reading the dates have been for the most part relegated to the margin. In the case of rulers the dates of the beginning and end of their reign have been given ; of all other personages those of birth and death. CONTENTS CHAP PAGE I. THE BARBARIANS INVADE THE ROMAN EMPIRE i II. THE RISE OF THE FRANKS 8 III. THE BARBARIANS RULE IN ROME n IV. THE RISE AND FALL OF JUSTINIAN'S EMPIRE THE R6LE OF THE EASTERN EMPIRE 15 V. GREGORY THE GREAT LAYS THE FOUNDATION OF PAPAL POWER 19 VI. THE RISE OF MOHAMMEDANISM 22 VII. THE CONQUEST OF SPAIN BY THE ARABS 27 VIII. THE DEFEAT OF THE SARACENS THE RISE OF THE CAROLINGIANS THE DONATION OF PEPIN 32 IX. THE REIGN OF CHARLEMAGNE THE BEGINNING OF THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE 37 X. THE TREATY OF VERDUN THE BEGINNING OF FRANCE, ITALY, AND GERMANY 43 XI. THE COMING OF THE NORTHMEN 49 XII. THE NORTHMEN IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND 54 XIII. THE BEGINNING OF RUSSIA 58 XIV. THE NORMAN KINGDOM OF SICILY 65 XV. THE BEGINNING OF SCANDINAVIA : DENMARK AND SWEDEN 68 XVI. THE BEGINNING OF SCANDINAVIA : NORWAY 76 XVII. THE FEUDAL SYSTEM 82 XVIII. TOURNAMENT AND FEUDAL WARFARE 87 XIX. THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE : SAXON EMPERORS 91 XX. THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE : THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN POPE AND EMPEROR 94 vii viii CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE XXI. THE PROGRESS OF FRANCE TOWARDS NATIONALITY 101 XXII. KNIGHTHOOD 107 XXIII. THE BEGINNING OF THE CRUSADES 113 XXIV. THE CRUSADES : THE CHRISTIAN KINGDOM OF JERUSALEM THE FOUNDING OF THE GREAT ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD 120 XXV. THE CRUSADES : THE LATIN EMPIRE OF CON- STANTINOPLE 125 XXVI. THE EFFECT OF THE CRUSADES THE FALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE 128 XXVII. THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE : STRIFE WITH THE POPES COMMERCIAL PROGRESS 132 XXVIII. FRANCE : THE CAPTIVITY OF THE POPES THE BEGINNING OF THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR 138 XXIX. FRANCE : THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR 146 XXX. GERMANY : CONTINUED STRUGGLES WITH THE POPE 152 XXXI. FRANCE : THE END OF THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR THE REIGN OF Louis XI 157 XXXII. THE MOORS DRIVEN OUT OF SPAIN SPAIN BEGINS TO COUNT AMONG THE NATIONS OF EUROPE 163 XXXIII CHANGES IN EUROPE CAUSED BY THE DISCOVERY OF THE NEW WORLD 169 XXXIV. THE PROGRESS OF RUSSIA 174 XXXV. THE RISE OF SWITZERLAND 178 XXXVI. THE BEGINNING OF ITALIAN UNITY SHATTERED 186 XXXVII. THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN FRANCE AND SPAIN FOR SUPREMACY IN ITALY 192 XXXVIII. THE RENAISSANCE 197 XXXIX. THE NEW ASTRONOMY 202 XL. THE BEGINNING OF THE REFORMATION 205 XLI. REFORMATION PERIOD : GERMANY 209 XLII. REFORMATION PERIOD : SWITZERLAND AND 215 FRANCE CONTENTS ix CHAP. PAGE XLIII. REFORMATION PERIOD : ENGLAND AND SCAN- DINAVIA 219 XLIV. REFORMATION PERIOD : SPAIN, PORTUGAL, THE NETHERLANDS, ITALY 224 SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER : THE EFFECT OF AMERICAN CONQUESTS ON SPAIN 228 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 231 INDEX , 239 LIST OF MAPS PAGE THE ROMAN EMPIRE 7 THE TREATY OF VERDUN AND THE MARCH OF THE ARABS 47 EUROPE ABOUT A.D. noo 63 ENGLAND AND THE NORTHMEN 69 FRANCE IN THE REIGN OF HENRY II OF ENGLAND 105 FRANCE IN THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY 151 GERMANY, A.D. 1254 TO I 5 J 55 FRANCE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY 159 THE WORLD, SHOWING THE VOYAGES OF DISCOVERY AND THE POPE'S LINE 173 SWITZERLAND, SHOWING THE GROWTH OF THE Swiss CON- FEDERATION 183 ITALY OF THE RENAISSANCE 187 EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 211 A SHORT SKETCH OF EUROPEAN HISTORY PART I. FROM THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE TO THE REFOR- MATION CHAPTER I THE BARBARIANS INVADE THE ROMAN EMPIRE IN the first centuries of our era the one great power of the world was Rome. All southern Europe bowed beneath the conquering sword of the Romans. Africa and Asia, too, owned their sway. For the Mediterranean, the great trade route of the then known world, was theirs, and the countries bordering upon it became mere provinces of Rome. Even the uttermost islands felt their might, and sailing beyond the " narrow seas," Caesar set his hand upon the island of Britain. From the Rhine and the Danube in the north, to the desert of Sahara in the south, from the borders of Wales in the west, to the Euphrates and the Tigris in the east, the empire stretched. Of this wide empire Rome was the capital. Secure upon A.D. her seven hills she sat, mistress of the world, a city without rival, until in A.D. 330 the Christian emperor Constantine the Great resolved to build a new Rome upon the shores of the Bosphorus. Constantine called his new city New Rome. I A 2 : A -SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY But o (0 ^ C on -rf- D 9^ S d o 6 fr 1 OO OO 1 d *& ^ C3 < S PM Tf ^ w oo ""^ 6 ^4 g w s " +- 43 W ^ 1"! s". ^-^ S Hi n *^ n S OO 'r4 H ^ U S H Charles M d rt -1 1 ^ -^ ^ ^ b "o o CD ^j so oj & P CX .sH w o3 oo ~ll rt oo U oo ^ I CO OO O* 1 c3 JI cfji, 4 2^ "ooo^ s * % C* w IH ^ (-T w Go? ^ M r ^ *o 43 9 f^ w ^ fi"^."" o w&0 J |^f THE TEUTONIC BEQUEST 49 audacious Teuton. And in the turmoil of these centuries it would seem as if the Teutons had brought nothing in their train but bloodshed and discord and the destruction of art and learning. But to the reforming of Europe out of the fragments of the shattered Roman Empire the Teutons brought something new. In Rome the state was everything, the individual nothing. There was a great gulf between the powerful wealthy and the powerless poor, between the slave and the slave-owner. The slave-owner was almighty, the slave a 1 mere chattel. But among the Teutons there were no slaves. They were a free people, and each man was conscious of his own personal worth in the community. The idea of this individual free- dom was the Teutonic bequest to future ages. But in the torn fragments of the Roman Empire out of which new nations were being hammered, side by side with this idea of personal freedom there grew up another power which was, to a great extent, to nullify it. This was the papal power. For many centuries in all the states of southern Europe the power of the Church was supreme. Only in the island of Britain, separated from the continent of Europe by the narrow seas, the power of the pope was never felt in its full force. It was there, therefore, that this idea of freedom was allowed to grow with least opposition, and at length developed fully. CHAPTER XI THE COMING OF THE NORTHMEN IN the last chapter we saw the dim beginnings of France, Italy, and Germany. But hundreds of years were to pass before these kingdoms really became settled. The period p 50 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY which followed the Treaty of Verdun was one of constant turmoil and bloodshed, for the kings were often feeble, sometimes bad, and their subjects were turbulent and re- bellious. Even a strong king had endless difficulties to face. First, there was the lack of roads. One of the first things the Romans did in a conquered country was to build roads. They knew that roads were great conquerors and great civil- izers. But the barbarians who split up the Roman Empire did not know the value of roads, so the wonderful Roman highways were allowed to fall into disrepair. In Saxony, which the Romans had never conquered, there were no roads at all. The difficulties, therefore, of travelling from one part of the kingdom to another were immense, the transport of an army extremely difficult. Without roads, too, com- merce languished. Secondly, the king was almost always poor, for the system of taxation was very imperfect. Being unable quickly to travel all over the kingdom himself, the king was obliged to depute much of his authority to dukes and counts. Having little money, he paid them for their services in land, and their possessions often became so great that they were really more powerful than the king himself, and rebelled against his authority. So civil wars were constant. Besides these and other internal disturbances, there were frequent attacks from without to be repelled, and these alone were enough to prevent Europe from settling into peace. Soon after the death of Charlemagne the Saracens seized the island of Sicily, overran a great part of the south of the Italian Peninsula, and even threatened Rome itself. Avars and Hungarians from the wilds of Asia swept over Germany and northern Italy, and reached even to the borders of France, and at length settled in the land which is now called Hungary. And lastly, there came the Northmen They were the last of the German tribes to attack the civilization THE HOME OF THE NORTHMEN 51 of Europe, and they left more impression on it than almost any other, although they themselves became absorbed in the peoples they conquered. The Home of the Northmen Of their early history we know little or nothing. For while in southern and central Europe new kingdoms were being hammered out of the old Roman Empire, Europe beyond the Baltic was a region unknown. Until the end of the eighth century we know almost nothing of Scandinavia. Nearly all the Teutonic tribes, it is true, who took possession of the Empire came, or had traditions of having come, from the far north. They came from beyond the sluggish sea where dwelt a mighty people well skilled in the building of boats ; they came " from the edge of the world." But little was known of this far-distant country. Those of you who have read the " Germania " of Tacitus may remember how he speaks of these northern peoples and their land. ' They live on islands in the sea/' he says. " Their strength lies not in military forces only, but also in their ships. . . . Beyond the islands there is another sea which is sluggish, and nearly always still. It is believed to encircle the earth, for here the light of the setting sun lasts until the sun rises again, and the light is bright enough to make pale the stars. Moreover, it is said that you can hear the sea hiss as the sun rises out of it and see the god's face, and the halo about his head. This is the end of the world, it is said, and it may well be so." The Northmen as Raiders Hundreds of years passed, and people knew little more about this strange northern country than they did in the time of Tacitus. At length, however, towards the end of the eighth century, driven by poverty and the necessity of finding new homes, or merely by the love of adventure, the heathen 52 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY Northmen began to sail forth from their bays and fiords, and attack the Christian kingdoms of Europe. They came from what are now Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, but in those days men called them all indiscriminately, Danes, Northmen, Vikings, or men of the bays and fiords. The English chronicles generally call them Danes, the French chronicles generally call them Northmen. But, by whatever name they were known, they made themselves for a hundred years the terror of seaboard Europe. For the attacks of the Northmen differed from those of any other barbarian people in that they came from the sea, and not from the land. They sailed in long, narrow vessels, capable of holding fifty or sixty men. Bow and stern were alike, so that the ship could be steered either way, and they were decorated with the head of a swan or dragon, or some other animal. But the dragon was the favourite. Rowers sat along the sides of the vessels, and there was also one large sail. Used as we are now to great sea-going monsters, the Viking ships seem the merest cockle-shells, and we marvel how men could venture forth upon the stormy North Sea in such frail craft. But venture forth they did, even upon the pathless ocean, and there seems now little doubt that five hundred years before Columbus the hardy Norsemen had landed upon the shores of North America. These dragon-ships became the pest of the seas and a terror to all seaboard dwellers. It was a new terror, too. For hitherto there had been peace upon the seas. Huns, Avars, Bulgars, Goths, Vandals, Franks, Lombards, and all the other lesser tribes which had swept over Europe in turn, had made their attacks by land. Except for Saracen or Vandal pirates, the seas had still remained the peaceful routes of trade. Now that was changed. War and blood- shed came from the sea, just when it seemed as if the be- ginnings of peace might dawn on land. NORTHMAN SHIPS AND WEAPONS 53 The sea was the Northman's element. Yet, born sailor although he was, he seemed equally at home on land, where he proved himself a skilful, cunning, and absolutely cold- blooded fighter. They were blue-eyed, fair-haired, tall, and sinewy men. They wore their hair in long plaits, and dressed in gay colours, scarlet being much loved by them. They wore coats of mail and great horned helmets, and were armed with bow and arrows, hatchet, spear, and sword. They loved war and the ways of war and the weapons of war. Their songs were all of war and the mighty blows of heroes, and in these songs they gave poetic names to their ships and weapons. But more than any other weapon they loved their swords, and to them they gave the most poetic names, such as " the lightning of war," " the thorn of shields," " the helmet biter." The hilts and scabbards of these swords were often beautifully inlaid with gold and studded with jewels, and were handed on from hero to hero, and prized as no other gift was prized. Armed, then, at all points, these joyous, blood-thirsty pirates set forth in their dragon-ships. Along the sides they hung their gaily painted shields, ringed and bossed with metal, and leaning upon their spears, they stood in the prow, while the short oars flashed, and the wind sang through the sail. When storm winds blew and others sought the shelter of the shore, the dragon-ship sped forth, spurning as if in joy the foaming waves. Then, as day dawned, some sleeping village would hear the Viking battle-cry. Then bright swords gleamed, and sparing neither man nor woman, these Northmen plundered at will. At length, their fury and their greed sated, they mounted into their ship once more and sped away as swiftly as they had come, leaving behind them only smoking, blood-stained ruins where, but a few hours before, peaceful homes had stood. The first of these attacks of which we have any record 787 was upon England, towards the end of the eighth century. 54 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY But soon England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Germany, Spain, and Italy all knew and dreaded the terrible North- men. Their coasts were dotted with ruins, the bones of the dead lay bleaching on a thousand battlefields, and a new petition was added to men's prayers, " From the fury of the Northmen, good Lord deliver us." CHAPTER XII THE NORTHMEN IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND The Northmen as Settlers * Ax the beginning of their raids the Northmen only came to plunder, and made no attempt to settle in the lands they attacked. But as time went on they came not only to plunder but to settle. And wherever they settled a change came over them. They were so adaptable that they lost their individuality and became merged in the native popula- tion. They settled in England and became Englishmen, they settled in France and became Frenchmen. Later, these Norman-French conquered England and again, in time, became Englishmen. But before they finally settled there the attacks of the Northmen on France were both many and cruel. It was not the coasts only that they left desolate, for in their narrow vessels they sailed up the rivers, and towns and villages far inland were laid in ruins. Even Paris itself was threatened by them more than once. The Carolingian line was by this time dying out in feeble- ness, and weak kings, unable to punish the impudent in- vaders, paid them gold to depart. The Northmen accepted * See map, p. 63. ROLLOjTHE^NORTHMAN 55 the gold, but they always returned again, each time in greater and greater numbers, ever more greedy, more bold, and more cruel than before. With sword and firebrand they laid waste the land until there were whole districts in the most fertile parts of France where it was said a man might wander for long days without seeing the smoke of a chimney or hearing the bark of a dog. " The heathen, like wolves in the night, seize upon the flocks of Christ," wails a writer of the time. " Churches are burned, women are led away captive, the people are slain. Everywhere there is mourning. From all sides cries and lamentations assail the ears of the king who, by his indolence, leaves his Christian folk to perish." Rollo settles in the North of France After a time, some of the Northmen, under their leader, Rollo, took possession of a part of France and settled there. And from this new base they launched even fiercer attacks on the rest of the country. At length, in the time of Charles 898- the Simple, the French saw that to buy the Northmen off 922 was worse than useless, and to expel them now that they were firmly rooted impossible. The only thing to do was to change lawless freebooters into law-abiding citizens. Charles, therefore, sent messengers to the rough, old sea- 911 king, offering him the undisputed possession of all that north-west portion of France in which he and his warriors had already settled. In return for this, he was to become a Christian, be baptized, and own himself vassal of the king. Rollo was not unwilling to listen to the king's proposal, but he was not content with the land offered to him. " The land is desolate and barren," he said, " there is not there the wherewithal to live." So he demanded more land. Thereupon the king offered him Flanders. For he had a grudge against the count of Flanders. But Rollo would have none of it. 56 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY "It is nothing but a waste of bog and marsh," he said, and he demanded Brittany. Now the part of France called Brittany had never really been in the possession of the kings of France. So all Charles could give Rollo was the right to conquer it, if he could. And this he readily gave. Matters being thus settled, Rollo had next to perform his part of the compact, and do homage as a vassal. Upon the appointed day the king seated himself upon his throne with his priests and courtiers about him, and to him came the rough old Northman and his warriors. The ceremony began, but when Rollo was told that he must kneel before the king and kiss his feet he started back in wrath. " No, by Heaven ! " he cried. " I will kiss no man's feet ! " " It must be," replied the priests, "in no other way can you hold your fief." " Then let one of my followers do it for me," replied the proud sea-king. And as nothing would move Rollo, Charles had to be content with that. So one of Rollo's followers was bidden to perform the act of homage for his master. But he had as little liking as Rollo for what seemed to him a piece of degrading foolery. He had never bent his knee to any man, and he did not mean to do it now. Striding, therefore, up to the throne, without even bending, he seized the king's foot and raised it to his mouth. So rough and sudden was his action that Charles fell backwards to the ground. And thus, amid the loud laughter not only of the rude Northmen but of the Prankish courtiers also, the strange ceremony of homage ended. After this Rollo was duly baptized, and received the Christian name of Robert, and many of his warriors followed his example and were baptized also. Their conversion was sudden. But this was nothing to the Northmen. For it was ROBERT, DUKE OF NORMANDY 57 said many of them made an annual practice of it, merely for the sake of the white linen robe which they received on the occasion. The land which was thus given to Rollo was already known as Northmannie. It soon became Normandy, and its people Normans. Very quickly they forgot their heathen religion and their northern speech and northern home. Normandy, strange to say, became the best governed part of France, and the exploits of Rollo the Ganger, the de- vastator of France, the pillager of monasteries, the slayer of women and children, were almost forgotten in the fame of Robert, Duke of Normandy, the builder of churches, and framer of righteous laws. Outwardly, wherever the Northmen settled they seemed to disappear and be merged in the native population. In reality they imbued these populations with something of their own spirit. They were filled with a great curiosity, they had a genius for order and government, they were fearless, energetic, and eager, always ready to adventure and to do. Civilized, they retained much of the old vigour which as barbarian heathen had made them such deadly and pitiless foes. Christianized, they became the passionate champions of the Catholic Church. And the descendants of those Vikings who had refused to bend the knee to any man, and laughed aloud at the discomfiture of their over-lord, became the great upholders of the feudal system, the im- passioned exponents of the orders of knighthood and chivalry. The Northmen in England England suffered from the Northmen even as did France. 871- Here, however, they were met and checked by a skilful 9l soldier and statesman, Alfred the Great. Yet even he, with all his courage and perseverance, could not altogether loosen the grip of the Northmen upon the island. At length he, too, like the king of France, was obliged to buy peace by 58 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY yielding part of his kingdom to the freebooters. And, by the 878 Peace of Wedmore, Alfred assigned to the Danes all the northern half of England. The conditions of this treaty were similar to those upon which Rollo acquired Normandy. Guthrun the Dane was baptized, receiving the name of Athelstane and owning Alfred as overlord. But with the Peace of Wedmore the' struggle in England did not cease. It was only abated. During the rest of Alfred's life and for more than a century after his death it continued, until in 1016 Knut the Dane became king of all England. This Northman domination lasted until 1042, ending only fourteen years before the conquest of England by William the Norman. CHAPTER XIII THE BEGINNING OF RUSSIA THE conquest of England by the Northmen and their settle- ment in France, out of which arose the second conquest of England, are the most important results of the " Northman Fury " for western Europe. In eastern Europe the most important result was the founding of Russia.* About the middle of the ninth century some Northmen, Swedes in all probability, sailed east, just as their brethren sailed west and south, upon a marauding expedition. They made a settlement on the shores of the Gulf of Finland, and laid the Slavonic tribes along the coast under tribute. After a time, however, the Slavs succeeded in driving out these invaders. But having got rid of them the Slavs fell to quarrelling among themselves. ' There was no more justice among them/' says an old chronicle. " Family dis- * See map, p. 63. THE FOUNDING OF RUSSIA 59 puted with family, so that they fell to war." At length the turmoil and bloodshed became so great that some among them were fain to confess that the domination of the North- men was more endurable than the misrule of their own princes. " Let us seek a prince," they said, " who will judge us according to the right." Therefore they sent messengers to the Northmen, begging them to return. " Our land is large and fertile," they said, "but it is filled with discord and clamour. Come, then, and rule over us." Rurick settles in Russia In answer to this petition the Viking Rurick, with his two 862 brothers, came to settle in what is now Russia. These Northmen were often called Varangians or Varingars. No one is sure how they got this name, but it is believed to be Arabian in origin. The Arabians, at least, called all the northern peoples Varangians, whether they invented the name or not. But the people who lived in Finland called them the Rousses, and soon the Slav subjects of Rurick came to be called Russians and their country Russia. Rous in Finnish to-day means a Swede. So it seems prob- able that the name of the greatest Slavonic people is of Finnish, and not of Slavonic origin. Rurick made his capital at Novgorod, and two years after his settlement there his brothers died, and he became sole ruler of the province. We know very little of his govern- ment or whether the people lived to regret having called in a foreigner to rule over them. But it is said that after a time two Viking warriors, one named Askold and one named Dir, became discontented with his rule. So, taking several companions with them, they left Novgorod, and set out to seek their fortunes at Constantinople. On their way they came upon a castle on the banks of the Dnieper, with a small town round it. 60 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY ' Whose castle is this ? " they asked of the inhabitants. " It was built by three brothers/' replied they, " but they are long since dead. We are their descendants, and pay tribute to the Khazars." Hearing that, Askold and Dir took possession of the town, which was called Kief. They were soon joined by other Northmen, and thus a second Viking settlement was made in Russia. This second settlement soon increased, and then, with true Viking audacity and love of adventure, they made up their minds to attack Constantinople. Dwelling far inland although they now were, these Northmen had not forgotten their skill as sailors. Soon two hundred dragon-headed boats went sailing down the Dnieper and out into the Black Sea, and ere long the terrified inhabitants of Constantinople 865 saw, for the first time, the gay sails and long narrow boats of the dreaded Northmen. The Greeks were paralysed with fear. Nothing but a miracle, it seemed, could save them from destruction. The miracle happened, for a sudden storm arose which shattered the Viking ships, only a miserable remainder of which, like wounded birds, crept slowly back to Kief. Prince Igor and Oleg For some time the two Northman settlements in Russia remained separate from each other. But after ruling for 879 fifteen years in the northern settlement Rurick died. His son, Igor, was only a boy, so Rurick left his kinsman Oleg as regent. Far more than Rurick, Oleg was filled with the desire of conquest, and he resolved to bring both the northern and southern settlements under one rule. He knew, however, that Askold and Dir were not likely to give up their kingship without a struggle, and he had recourse, therefore, to treachery. 880 With a great fleet of boats he sailed down the Dnieper. OLEG'S CONQUESTS 61 Then as they neared Kief, leaving his soldiers behind him, he went on with the young Prince Igor, and a few soldiers only, hidden in the bottom of his boat. Arrived at Kief, he sent messengers to Askold and Dir, saying that Northman merchants passing on their way to Constantinople desired to greet them in the name of the Prince of Novgorod. Askold and Dir, suspecting no treachery, at once hurried to the river bank, only to find themselves surrounded by Viking warriors, and led captive before Oleg. " You are no princes," he said to them, haughtily. " You are not even of noble birth. As for me, I am a prince." Then, taking Igor by the hand, he led him forward. " Behold the son of Rurick ! " he cried. It was the signal agreed upon, and at the words the Vikings fell upon Askold and Dir and slew them. Then, his hands still red with blood, Oleg marched in triumph into Kief. Everything that he saw there delighted the old warrior. It seemed to him, with the Dnieper flowing by, a splendid point from which to lead his warriors forth to conquest, and he resolved to make his capital there. " This town shall be the mother of all Russian towns ! " he cried. Such is the more or less legendary story of the founding of Russia by the Vikings, and for many a long day the rulers traced their descent to the sea-king Rurick. Meanwhile, more than twenty years passed during which Oleg extended his conquests all around, and added province after province to his kingdom. But he kept peace with the Eastern Empire, and a regular trade route was established from the shores of the Baltic to the Golden Horn. Along this route there came many a peaceful merchant, bringing furs from the snowy north, and carrying back with him in exchange the corn and wine of the south. Thus numbers of Russians came to know of Myklegaard or the Great City, as they called Constantinople. To these rude, northern giants the riches and luxury they saw there were a constant wonder 62 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY and amaze, and they carried home with them strange tales of its marvels. 904 So at length, either driven on by his peoples' envy of the riches of the Eastern Empire, or desirous of rinding a foeman worthy of his steel, Oleg decided to attack Constantinople, and gathering a great host of warriors, he set out. For many a mile the River Dnieper was covered with boats, two thousand in all, it is said, while vast squadrons of horsemen accom- panied them along the banks. Seeing them come in such force the Greeks fled within their city, put a chain across the harbour, and left the wild Northmen to plunder and burn at will in all the country around. The desolation they made was truly terrible, for in becoming Russian the North- men had lost none of their Viking fury. But Oleg was bent on taking the city itself. So he ordered his soldiers to make wheels, and placing his boats upon them, he brought them overland right up to the walls of Constanti- nople. When the Greeks saw this strange sight their last vestige of courage gave way, and sending messengers to the Russians, they begged for peace. " Spare our city," they said, " and we will give you all the tribute you demand." To this Oleg agreed, and having received an immense ransom, he made a treaty of peace with the emperor. As the emperor swore to keep the peace he kissed the Cross, but Oleg swore by his sword, for he was a heathen, as most of his people still were. Then, having hung his sword on the gates of Constantinople as a sign of his victory, he returned home, richly laden with booty. But peace between the Empire and Russia did not last. For Constantinople had proved a rich and easy prey, and four 'times at least in less than two hundred years the Rus- sians appeared before its walls, and forced the emperor to buy them off. With all their growing power the Russian rulers did not take the regal title, but called themselves Grand Dukes. In 64 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY 980- 980 Vladimir I became Grand Duke. He was a fratricide, 5 a heathen, and an evil liver. But he was a great soldier and a wise statesman. He desired, above all things to make his country great, and he believed that an alliance with the Empire would serve his purpose better than war. So he asked the emperors, Basil II and Const ant ine VII, to give him the hand of their sister Anne in marriage. But the emperors refused to give their sister in marriage to a heathen. " Be baptized," they said, " and you shall marry our sister." Vladimir immediately promised to do as they wished, whereat the emperors rejoiced. But the Princess Anne wept bitter tears. " You send me to slavery among a heathen people ! " she cried. " It is worse than death." " Not so, sister," replied the emperors, " it is by thee that God will lead the Russian nation to penitence, and thou wilt save the Empire from a cruel war." 988 So Vladimir was baptized, and the marriage between him and the Grecian princess was celebrated with great rejoicings and splendour. Then Vladimir caused every idol in Kief to be destroyed and cast into the river, and commanded all his people on pain of his displeasure to be baptized at once. Many obeyed him. " For," said they, " the religion must be good, or our prince would not have accepted it." The Greek Church Thus was Christianity introduced into Russia. For although many years before priests had come from Con- stantinople to teach the people about the true God, only few had listened to them. Thus, too, it comes about that the Russians, to this day, belong to the Greek and not to the Roman Church. After this time there was great intercourse between the Empire and Russia, and the emperors formed a bodyguard gi Northmen whom they called the Varangian guard. THE VARANGIANS 65 Varangians were bound to the emperor by a special oath. They lived in the palace itself, one of their special duties being to guard the door of the emperor's bedchamber. They were accorded many privileges, and it was considered a great honour to serve in the guard of Myklegaard. Besides this special guard many Northmen were to be found among the soldiers and sailors of the Empire, and many Vikings of fame came to serve the emperor. With Vladimir the Viking period of Russian history ends, and Russia begins to take a place among the Christian states of Europe. Besides the alliance with the emperor, the Grand Dukes of Russia soon made alliances with France and other of the great states of Europe. But the country was constantly torn asunder by civil wars. Rival princes claimed the title and authority of grand duke, little prince- doms sprang up, and were crushed out of existence again. So instead of consolidating into a kingdom the country remained merely a conglomeration of rival principalities, until in the thirteenth century the Mongols, taking ad- vantage of this disunion, conquered the country and held 1238- it in subjection for more than two hundred years. CHAPTER XIV THE NORMAN KINGDOM OF SICILY The Saracens in Sicily THE same restless energy which drove the Northmen out of their native country drove the Normans out of Normandy, and led them to seek adventures in other lands. And how, even before William of Normandy conquered England, a Norman adventurer made himself ruler of Sicily is one of the most picturesque chapters of European history. E 66 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY Sicily at this time was, in theory, still part of the Eastern Empire. In reality it had long been in the possession of the Saracens, who had also overrun the southern states of the Italian Peninsula. These states were, at the same time, full of internal unrest, their petty chiefs frequently quarrelling with each other. They were, as well, a bone of contention between the Emperor of the West and the Emperor of the East, who each claimed them as part of his Empire, while the pope also had his eye upon them. We find the Greeks now fighting against Saracens, now trying to subdue some native rebellious chief. Now Greek Emperor and German Emperor join against the Saracens, or again, Greeks and Saracens join in routing the Germans. In the general turmoil there was room enough for the adven- turous free-lance. Norman adventurers travelled far and were always ready to lend their swords to any side which would pay them, and just as ready to change sides. And ere,, long we find them taking part in the fray. Chief among these Norman adventurers were the sons of Tancred of Hauteville. They were " of middling parentage, neither very low nor very high." There were twelve brothers, among whom William of the Iron Arm, Robert Guiscard, or the Wily, Humphrey, and Roger are the most famous. There was no scope for their ardent and ambitious spirits in their native village, so they set forth to seek their fortune by their swords. They " journeyed through divers places, in military fashion, seeking gain, and at last, by God's providence, reached Apulia, a province of Italy." Robert Guiscard 1041 Soon we find Iron Arm and Humphrey, with their followers, in the service of the Greek Emperor, helping to rout the Saracens. But when the fight was over, and the spoil was divided, the Normans considered that they did not receive their fair share, They complained loudly, but instead of THE NORMANS IN SICILY 67 listening to their demands, the Greek general insulted their leader. Thereupon the proud adventurers determined to avenge the insult. And passing over to the mainland, they roused the Normans who had already settled there. In many battles they defeated the Greeks, and at length put an end to their rule. They won Pope Nicholas II to their cause, and at his hands Robert Guiscard received the 1060 title of duke. Thus a Norman adventurer " of middling parentage " became " Robert, by the grace of God and of St. Peter, Duke of Apulia and of Calabria, and future Duke of Sicily by their aid." It was Roger chiefly who carried out the conquest of Sicily. But it was a long and terrible struggle. Many towns were laid in ruins, and much blood was shed before Norman rule was established in the island. In 1072, indeed, Robert gave his brother Roger the title of Count of Sicily, but it was nearly twenty years later before the last town submitted to him. Long ere this Robert Guiscard was dead, and his son Roger Borsa ruled as duke. At the good age of seventy Roger the great count also died, and was succeeded by his son, also called Roger. This Roger made up his mind to unite all the Norman conquests in Sicily and Italy under one rule. But to do this he felt that he must have the title of king. At this time two popes, Anacletus II and Innocent II, 1130 were struggling for the papal throne. Roger supported Anacletus, and in return received from him the title of king. And on Christmas Day, 1130, he was crowned at Palermo with great magnificence. Thus Sicily began its long and chequered career as a kingdom. Yet although Roger was really the first Norman king of Sicily (his father having merely held the title of count), he is generally known as Roger II. Roger had attained his ambition, but it cost him ten years of war. All Europe seeined to gather against him. The 68 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY Emperor of the East began to fear the growing power of these upstart Normans who had wrested Sicily from the Empire. The German Emperor Lothaire, the King of France, Louis VI, the King of England, Henry I, and Pope Innocent II, all, for one reason or another, were against him, besides which there were rebels in Italy itself. For a time Roger suffered many defeats. But in the end he conquered, and he even induced Pope Innocent, after the 1139 death of Anacletus, to confirm him in his title of king. But- the dynasty he founded did not last long, and with the death of Tancred in 1194 Norman rule in Sicily came to an end. CHAPTER XV THE BEGINNING OF SCANDINAVIA DENMARK AND SWEDEN WHILE the Northmen were founding new kingdoms in Europe, the countries they had left were also taking shape. But save for a few remarks in the works of ancient writers, nothing is known of Scandinavia in early days. There are indeed many sagas or hero stories of far-off times. But although these are delightful reading, and give a wonderful insight into the habits and customs of the Northmen, they cannot be looked upon as serious history. After the North- men began to attack Europe, the chronicles of all the countries which suffered from them are full of their dreadful doings. But there are no Scandinavian chronicles of the same period. So we do not know what was happening in the countries whence these pirates came. The first mention we have of a king of Denmark is during Charlemagne's Saxon wars (see Chapter IX). Then more than once Siegfried, King of Denmark, sheltered Wittikind, ENGLAND AND THE NORTHMEN 70 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY the great Saxon hero, from the wrath of Charlemagne. But until the end of the tenth century Denmark and the kings of Denmark are of very little account. Up to that time it was the men who left their country in order to raid Europe, and found new kingdoms there, who mattered, and not the kings and country they left behind. So these countries come late into the story of Europe. From the time anything is known of them, they were small, and they were constantly being divided by civil wars. They seemed too insignificant to have any influence on the growth of Europe. Yet in the building up of France, England, and Russia the people of i these countries played a great part. Indeed, all Europe was their battle-field, and where they came they conquered, none daring to attack them in their northern strongholds. Only Germany cast a covetous eye on the northern peninsula, and Henry the Fowler crossed 919- the Eider, and reduced the south of Denmark to a mere QOG province of the Empire. The Germans would have pushed their conquests further still had not the Viking queen Thyra roused the people, and in three years caused a wall to be built against the in- vader. Part of this wall may still be seen, and the queen who caused it to be built is known to this day as Thyra Danebod or Dane's Defence. She died not long after the great work was finished, and over her grave the king raised a huge mound and placed a stone upon it with the descrip- tion, " Gorm the King raised this stone to the memory of Thyra, his wife. Denmark's Defence." Knut the Great In the reign of Sweyn Forkbeard, the kings of Denmark begin to be of some European importance. Forkbeard began the conquest of England and of Norway, and his son, Knut the Great, finished his work, and when he died was 1016- , , 10 35 ruler of a vast northern empire. KNUT, KING OF ENGLAND 71 When Knut first came to England he was a blood-thirsty pirate, burning and slaying with ruthless cruelty. But as with his countryman Rollo, with power came judgment, and the freebooter was changed into a righteous ruler, the slum- bering fires of his barbarian soul only bursting into flames once and again. Knut was a power in Europe. The greatest rulers of the time, the emperor Conrad II and the pope, he treated as 1024- equals, and neither as spiritual nor temporal superiors, and he induced the emperor to restore the land between the 1025 Eider and the Danework which had been conquered by Henry the Fowler. Thus the frontiers between Denmark and the Holy Roman Empire were restored as they had been in the time of Charlemagne, and as they were to be for 1064 more than eight hundred years. Then at length they were 18e swept away by Prussian aggression. But the empire of Knut, like the empire of Charlemagne, was held together merely by the will of one man. It could not endure, and when Knut died his empire fell almost immediately to pieces, and England, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden became separate kingdoms. After Knut the reigns of the kings of Denmark are full of civil wars. In these wars the German emperors constantly took part, for they were anxious to make Denmark part of the Holy Roman Empire. They had good hope of suc- ceeding, for Denmark was more than once divided between rival aspirants to the throne, and the many factions left the country open to the invader. But under Valdamar the Great, Denmark was again united, and became the most powerful of all northern states. Valdamar and Absalon In all his undertakings Valdamar was aided by the arch- bishop of Lund, Axel or Absalon. He was equally great as a soldier, a statesman, and a priest. When Valdamar came 72 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY to the throne Denmark was wasted by civil war, and made desolate by the attacks of the Wends or Slavs, who lived round the shores of the Baltic. They were a scourge and terror to Scandinavia just as the Northmen had been to the rest of Europe two centuries earlier. Absalon was deter- mined to clear the country of these pirates, and for ten years he fought them. After long struggle he seized their chief fortress, hewed the four-headed wooden god into firewood, and burned his temple. This struck such terror into the hearts of the pirates that the next fortress which Absalon attacked yielded without a blow. He and a few companions marched unscathed through mile-long ranks of Wendish warriors drawn up to receive them, cut the hideous seven- headed idol in pieces, and baptized the whole population at the point of the sword. 1168 Absalon also built a fortress of defence against the attacks of the Wends. This fortress was called Kaupmanna Havn, or Merchant's Haven. To-day it is Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, and near the spot where Absalon's castle stood his statue may now be seen. When Valdamar died he had united Denmark, and ex- tended his sway over many Baltic lands, and had earned for himself the title of liberator of his country and preserver Knut, of peace. His sons, Knut VI and Valdamar II followed 1202 m m ' s steps. They increased their conquests until the Valda- Baltic was little more than a Danish lake, and Denmark became important as it had not been since the days of 1241 Knut the Great. Even the Holy Roman Empire paid toll to Valdamar II, and his rule extended as far south as Liibeck and Hamburg. But at the height of his greatness a sudden change came over his fortunes and those of his kingdom. In 1223 he was treacherously seized by one of his German vassals, Henry of Schwerin, and carried away prisoner to the castle of Dannenberg in Germany. Here for two and a half years, in spite of all efforts towards his release, he THE END OF THE NORTHERN EMPIRE 73 pined, while his German vassals, following Count Henry's example, rose in rebellion. He only won his release at length by paying a huge ransom, and giving up his Baltic conquests, and the land lying between the Eider and the Elbe. As soon as he was free Valdamar tried to retrieve his 1227 fortunes by the sword, but in the battle of Bornhoved he was utterly defeated. This might be looked upon as one of the decisive battles of history, for it put an end to Danish rule in the Baltic and Danish hopes of a northern empire. After his defeat, with unusual wisdom, Valdamar thought no more of conquest but turned his attention to the better- ment of the land which still remained to him. Thus in the last years of his reign he introduced many reforms and codified the Danish laws. For a century after the death of Valdamar II Denmark was torn asunder by civil war, and half the kings died by violence " At the death of Valdamar II," says an old chronicle, " the crown slipped from off the head of the Danes. Hence- forward they became the laughing-stock of all their neigh- bours through civil wars and mutual fury, and the lands which they had honourably won by the sword were not only lost but caused great mischief to the realm and wasted it." Union of Calmar, 1397 When Valdamar IV came to the throne Denmark had 1340- sunk to the lowest point in its history. But under him it 1375 rose again for a short time to something nearer its past greatness. When he died he had recovered much of the territory which had been lost during the previous reigns. He was succeeded by his grandson Olaf , whose mother Margaret acted as regent. She was then but twenty-two, but she is one of the greatest figures in Scandinavian history. When in 1387 Olaf died, she adopted her grand-nephew Eric. Through her influence Denmark, Norway, and Sweden were united under him by the Union of Calmar. 1397 74 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY Sweden 993?- In Sweden serious history begins with the reign of Olaf 1021 Skettkonung the Lap-King. He received this name, it is said, because he was still a baby sitting in his mother's lap when his subjects came to do homage to him. He made an alliance with Knut the Great, and it may be that he joined Knut's army when first he invaded England. Olaf introduced Christianity into Sweden. But for a long time many of the people refused to accept the new religion, and nearly eighty years later we find a Christian king, Inge, being driven from his throne, because he would not sacrifice to heathen gods. " At a thing (parliament) which the Swedes held with Inge," so runs an old saga, " they offered him two things : either to follow the old faith or give up the king- ship. Inge answered and said, ' I cannot reject the faith that is truest/ Whereupon the Swedes raised a cry, pelted him with stones, and drove him forth." The king's brother-in-law Blotsweyne, so called from biota, a sacrifice, then usurped the throne, and once more set up the old heathen religion. But in less than three years Inge returned, slew Blotsweyne, and again took possession of the kingdom. With Blotsweyne's death the power of heathendom in Sweden was broken, although the worship of idols did not readily die, and in remote districts it was preserved still for many years. Indeed, Sweden was prob- 1150- ably not really Christianized until the reign of St. Eric. He carried his religious zeal as far as Finland, conquering a great part of that country, which remained a dependency of Sweden for six and a half centuries. During the following hundred years Sweden was cursed with tyrannical and incapable kings. Many of them came to the throne as children, and regents ruled some well but mostly ill. There were incessant wars, both within the country and without, and these helped to make the nobles THE UNION OF CALMAR 75 powerful and arrogant. They oppressed the people and coerced the king, who was often little more than their hench- man. In 1319 Magnus II was elected king. He was but three years old, and when his grandfather Hakon V of Norway died in the same year he became king of Norway also. But the union was one in name only. When he came of age Magnus utterly neglected Norway, and in 1355 the Norwegians chose his son Hakon as king. His wife was Margaret, daughter of King Valdamar of Denmark. The reign of Magnus was full of disaster. The Black 1350 Death swept Scandinavia, carrying off more than a third of the population. Magnus was involved in debt and disastrous wars, and at length some nobles who had been banished by Magnus offered the throne to his brother-in- law Albert of Mecklinburg. 1363 Then civil war raged. Albert filled the land with German favourites, who oppressed the people, and the people rose against them. German pirates swept the Baltic, and the ^ trade of Scandinavia was ruined. By this time King Hakon of Norway was dead, and his widow Margaret was regent of both Norway and Denmark. To her the Swedes now appealed for help, and in 1389 Albert was defeated and taken prisoner. But still the war continued, Swedes and Germans fighting with bitter hatred. " In Sweden at this time," says an old chronicle, " there were enemies on all sides, son against father and brother against brother." At length in 1395 peace was made, and Albert was released on condition of paying an enormous ransom. Then in 1397, by the Union of Calmar, Margaret's grand- nephew Eric of Pomerania was acknowledged king of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. 76 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY CHAPTER XVI THE BEGINNING OF SCANDINAVIA NORWAY Harold Haarfager NORWAY appears in history about the same time as Denmark and Sweden. Harold Haarfager, or Harold of the Splendid Locks, conquered the petty chiefs who ruled Norway and 872 made himself sole king. He extended his conquests far beyond Norway. Orkney and Shetland became Norwe- gian earldoms, and even the Isle of Man and Iceland owned his sway. " On a summer he sailed with his host west-over-sea, and came first to Shetland, and there slew all the Vikings who might not flee before him. Then he sailed south to the Orkneys, and cleared them utterly of Vikings. And thereafter he fared right away to the South isles, and harried there, and slew many Vikings who were captains of bands there. There had he many battles, and ever gained the day. Then he harried in Scotland, and had battles there. And when he came west to Man, the folk thereof had already heard what warfare King Harold had done on the land . aforetime, and all folk fled into Scotland, so that Man was a waste of men, and all the good things that might be were flitted away. So when King Harold and his folk went a-land they got no prey there " (Heimskringla). Harold was a fierce barbarian fighter, but he had some statesmanship also. " Whensoever swift rage or anger fell on him, he held himself aback at first, and let the wrath run off him, and looked at the matter unwrathfully." He had also what was wonderful in those days, some respect for his neighbour's rights. " Harold was the greatest king HAKON THE GOOD 77 in Norway, and he had to do with kings of the folk-lands, and broke them down under him ; yet he knew what was meet for him, and not to covet the realm of the Swede king, and for that reason the Swede kings let him sit in peace." He also laid a ban upon robbery in the land. Therefore, many restless malcontents left the country rather than sub- mit to the tyranny of such laws. France, Great Britain, and Ireland suffered accordingly. Among those who sailed in quest of new lands was Rolf or Rollo Wend-afoot. " Therefore, at a thing he gave out that he made Rolf (who would be ever a-harrying in the East-lands) an outlaw. . . . Rolf Wend-afoot fared therefor west-over-sea to the South isles. Thence west he went to Valland, and harried there, and won therein a mighty earldom, and peopled all the land with Northmen, and henceforth has that land been called Normandy." In the end Harold ruined his work of uniting Norway by giving lesser kingships to about twenty of his sons, and each of these sons determined in his own mind to be king after his father's death. So when at the age of seventy-three Harold died, the land was once more torn by civil wars, the 933 brothers slaying each other and wasting the realm in the contest for supremacy. Hakon the Good But at length Hakon the Good, Harold's youngest son, 934- got the better of all the others, and reigned in Norway for 961 twenty-seven years. He had been brought up at the court of Athelstane, and was therefore " a well christened man when he came to Norway." " So he was minded when he was set fast in the land, and had gotten all to him freely to hold, he would then set forth the Christian faith. And at the beginning he wrought in such wise that he lured such as were best beloved by him to become Christians, and so much did his friendship prevail 78 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY therein that very many let themselves be christened, and other some left off blood-offerings." But when Hakon tried to force Christianity on the whole people he failed. They not only refused baptism but com- pelled the king to take part in their heathen sacrifices. At this Hakon was so incensed that he determined to force Christianity upon the whole people at the point of the sword. He was only held back from this by the danger which threatened his kingdom through the attacks of his nephews, who had been disappointed of their heritage. Hakon had need of a united people to repel these attacks, so he made peace with his heathen subjects, and they joined their swords with his in defence of the realm. In one of these battles Hakon was slain. As he lay wounded he longed for Christian burial. * Yet/' he said, " if I die here amongst the heathen, then give me grave such as seemeth good unto you." So the first Christian king of Norway was buried with heathen rites. " Such words they spake over his grave as heathen men have custom, wishing him welfare to Valhall." Olaf Tryggvason 995- It was under one of Hakon's successors, Olaf Tryggvason, 1000 that Norway became Christian. In early youth he was a Viking as fierce and blood-thirsty as any. " He was a danger to the lives of the Gotland folk, and I hear he fought at Sconey. He hewed the mail coats with the sword in Den- mark, and south of Heathby he cut down the vulgar carcases of the Saxons for the steeds of the witches (wolves) . He gave the blood of many a Frisian to the night prowlers. He fed the wolves on the bodies of the Bretons of Gaul, and gave the flesh of the Flemings to the raven. The young king waged war against the English, and made a slaughter of the Northumbrians. He destroyed the Scots far and wide. He held a sword play in Man. The archer king brought NORWAY CHRISTIANIZED 79 death to the islander and to the Irish. He battled with the dwellers in the land of Wales, and cut down the Cumbrian folk " (Saga of Olaf). In 994 Olaf invaded England with Sweyn, king of Den- mark, and while there he became Christian. He promised Ethelred " that he would never more come to England with war," and he kept his promise. The year after this visit to England he suddenly appeared in Norway, and was received as king with acclamation. Like Hakon he determined to make his people Christian. With , those immediately about him he was successful. " Then fared the king into the north parts, and bade all men take christianizing, but those who gainsaid him he mis- handled sorely. Some he slew, some he maimed, some he drave away from the land." So through all his kingdom Olaf passed, and by persuasion, threats, or at the point of the sword, he forced the whole people to accept the baptism of Christ. And when the haughty Queen Sigrid, whom he wooed as his wife, refused to become a Christian, he struck her in the face with his glove and left her straightway. " This may well be the bane of thee," she cried, and there- after Sigrid the Haughty was King Olaf's greatest foe. She married King Sweyn of Denmark and induced him to join with Olaf of Sweden in a war against Norway to avenge her 1000 wrongs. The ships of the allies far outnumbered those of Olaf, but he disdained to flee, and after a desperate struggle off Stralsund the Norwegians were overcome. But rather than fall into the hands of the enemy Olaf leaped into the sea and was drowned. His people, however, could not believe that he was dead. So the legend grew up that he would return again, just as the legend of Arthur grew, and later that of Barbarossa. 80 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY Olaf Haroldson or St. Olaf In 1015 Olaf Haroldson made himself king of Norway by force of the sword ; but many of the people received him gladly, for it seemed to them that Olaf Tryggvason had come again, and in popular story many of the exploits of Olaf Tryggvason are ascribed to Olaf Haroldson. Among these is the Christianizing of Norway, and after his death Olaf Haroldson was named St. Olaf, and became the patron saint of Norway. In life, however, he was a vigorous statesman and warrior. " It was proof of his stern rule that the wardens of the land had the heads of many pirates cut short with keen weapons. . . . They that made armed trespass ofttimes offered gold to the stern king for ransom ; but he refused it and com- manded their heads to be chopped off with the sword. The blessed king maimed the race of robbers and reivers, thus he cut short theft, he made every chief lose hands and feet, so he bettered the peace of the land. Nor did treason thrive towards the king " (Olaf's dirge). Knut the Great For ten years Olaf reigned undisturbed. Then in 1025, when Knut the Great had firmly established his rule over England, he sent messengers to Olaf demanding that he should do homage to him as overlord. " Then answered King Olaf : ' I have heard it told in ancient tales that Gorm the Dane king was deemed to be a mighty enough king of the people, and he ruled over Den- mark alone ; but this the Dane kings that have been since deem not enough. And now it has come to this, that Knut rules over Denmark and over England, and, moreover, has broken a mickle deal of Scotland under his sway, yet now he layeth claim to my lawful heritage at my hands. He should wot how to have measure in his grasping in the end ; or is he minded alone to rule over all the North-lan^s ? Or OLAF RESISTS KNUT 81 does he mean, he alone, to eat all kale in England ? Yea, he will have might thereto or ever I bring him my head, or give him any louting soever. Now shall ye tell him these words of mine, that I mean to ward Norway with point and edge whiles my life days last thereto, and not to pay any man scat for my own kingdom." But Knut was minded to be emperor of the north. He was rich in men and money, so with gold and sword he invaded Norway. All those to whom Olaf's stern rule had caused discontent were easily bribed to join his foes against him, and after a short struggle he left his kingdom to the spoiler, and fled to Russia. Eighteen months later he returned to make a fight for his crown once more ; but at the battle of Stiklarstad he was slain. " The Danish men had then in 1030 Norway mickle mastery, and the folk of the land were right ill-content thereat." But on the death of Knut five years later the Norwegians made Olaf's son Magnus king and the connexion with Denmark ended. For nearly a century after this the land w r as more or less peaceful, then for another century, 1130 to 1240, there fol- lowed a period of civil wars, many would-be kings struggling for the crown. In 1240 the last of these claimants was killed, and better times began to dawn for the country. Then when Hakon VI, son of Magnus of Sweden, died, he was succeeded by his son Olaf, and Margaret his widow became regent, until all three Scandinavian kingdoms were united by the Union of Calmar. 1397 82 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY CHAPTER XVII THE FEUDAL SYSTEM WHEN in 911 the pirate king, Rollo the Ganger, was trans- formed into Robert, Duke of Normandy (see Chapter XII) he did homage to his superior, Charles the Simple. Although, as you remember, he refused to kiss the king's feet, in all probability he, or one of his followers for him, knelt before the king, put his hands in those of the king, and vowed to be his man. This is the original meaning of homage, the word being derived from homme, the French for man. We have no record of the exact ceremony performed by Rollo. But we know that some such ceremony must have taken place, for the feudal system was already in force in France. By this ceremony Rollo was installed as Duke of Normandy ; but the land did not become his in absolute possession. It still belonged, in theory at least, to the king, who be- stowed it on Rollo as a fief, and in accepting this fief Rollo became the vassal or servant of the king (vassalis}. To trace the rise of feudalism, or to explain all its various phases and modifications in various countries, would be impossible in a short space. Broadly, feudalism was the name given to a peculiar form of government founded on the holding of land by military service. It. was a result of the wild confusion into which all the countries of western Europe were thrown upon the break-up of the Carolingian Empire (see Chapter X), and was developed partly from old Roman custom, partly from new barbarian custom. The root idea was that all the land in a country belonged to the king, who held it from God alone ; but no one man, king although he might be, could farm the land of a whole country. Therefore he gave it to whomsoever he would ; but he did FIEFS AND AIDS 83 not give it outright, nor did he give it without recompense. The king as overlord merely gave to any man he wished to reward the use of the land during his lifetime. In return the subject promised to be faithful to his king, and to help him in his wars. This was done with solemn ceremony. Kneeling before the king the subject placed his hands within those of the king and vowed to be his man. The king then kissed and raised him to his feet, and the act of homage was complete. Next, with his hand upon some holy relic, or upon the Gos- pels, the vassal took the oath of fealty, and swore to be true to his overlord. This being done, the king gave his vassal a sod of earth and the branch of a tree as a sign that he was now in possession of the land for which he had done homage. It was only the great vassals or vassals-in-chief who received their land directly from the king. They, in their turn, divided their land, and granted it in fiefs to lesser lords, who did homage not to the king but to them. They again divided their land among still lesser lords. And so it went on, from highest to lowest, from the king who, in theory, possessed all the land down to the poor knight who did homage to some petty lord for a few acres. Besides undertaking to furnish him with a certain number of soldiers in time of war, the vassal had other obligations towards his lord. The chief of these were the aids. These aids were sums of money which the overlord had the right to ask on four occasions : namely, upon the knighting of his eldest son, upon the marriage of his eldest daughter, upon his departure for a Crusade, and for his own ransom, should he happen to be taken prisoner in battle. The vassal was also bound to come when called upon to help his lord with advice. In theory a vassal was put in possession of a fief for his life- time only ; but, as a matter of fact, fiefs descended from father to son. For when a holder died his eldest son did 84 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY homage for the fief and swore fealty to his overlord as his father had done before him. If, however, a holder died without direct heirs, then the fief returned into the possession of the overlord. Or should a vassal fail in his duty, or prove a traitor to his overlord, then the fief was forfeited, and the overlord took possession of it again if he could. The chief return which the overlord gave to his vassal for the military help and aids promised by his vassal was protection. And the rapid growth of the feudal system is due greatly to the need of this protection. In the lawless times which followed upon the break-up of Charlemagne's Empire the small landowners were at the mercy of the great. The land was full of marauding barons, and might was right. If a man was not strong enough to defend his life or his goods with his sword, another took it. It was easy enough for the baron, with twenty retainers at his back, to swoop down upon the poor knight who had but five, and having slain him, to take possession of all his goods and lands. So rather than lose both land and life, many of the lesser nobles who had held their lands in the old free way were glad to give them up to some powerful lord, and receive them again as fiefs together with the assurance of protection. In theory the feudal system was an excellent way of maintaining an army for the benefit of the state with little expense to the state. If the king wished to go to war (and in those days he nearly always wished to go to war against one or other enemy) he called upon his great vassals to supply him with men. They called upon their vassals,, they, in turn, upon theirs, and so on down the long line, until the lowest rank was reached, and a goodly company gathered to the royal standard. In practice the results were by no means so good. In the first place, only the vassals-in-chief paid homage direct to the king. All other vassals paid homage and swore fealty to their own particular lord, duke, or count. The king was FEUDAL SYSTEM IN ENGLAND 85 far off, he was but a name to many of his so-called subjects. The count or duke was near, he lived among his vassals ; they knew him and, in fear or affection, followed him to battle wherever he led them, even against the king himself. In practice thus the great vassals were often stronger than the king, and when they rebelled against his authority he found it hard, or even impossible, to subdue them. William the Conqueror and the Feudal System The feudal system made a strong central government impossible, and the lands in which it flourished most became little more than a collection of independent and tumultuous states, each one of which was a miniature kingdom in itself. In England this state of things was to a great extent avoided by the wisdom of William the Conqueror. He knew that as Duke of Normandy he was as strong, or stronger, in France than the king he owned as overlord. He deter- mined that in England no vassal should be as strong as he. So in rewarding his Norman vassals by giving them English land, he was careful not to give any one of them a large tract in one place. If a vassal's deserts demanded a great re- ward he received not one large estate but several small ones scattered widely over the country. This made it difficult for a vassal to gather all his men-at-arms together without the fact coming to the king's knowledge. Besides this, William made all vassals swear fealty to himself direct, whether they received their land as vassals-in-chief or held it merely as sub- vassals from some duke or count. Within his fief every feudal lord was absolute. He had the power of life and of death over his vassals. He was ruler and judge. He made war where and when he chose. For in those days private war was a common right. The pettiest baron might make war on his neighbour if he felt disposed, the only condition being that he must declare war with due 86 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY ceremony before beginning to fight. This was done by send- ing a gage, generally a glove, to the enemy. As war was a common right, every man rich enough not to require to work with his hands was a soldier. No other profession except that of a priest was open to a gentleman. Dignity did not allow the great lords to farm their own lands, ( and a life of idleness and a love of adventure drove them forth to fight on all and every occasion. So it came about that all the upper classes from the king to the poorest knight were soldiers. They were all gentlemen and idlers save for their profession as soldiers. Beneath them, and sharply cut off from them, came the workers. They were divided into several classes, the lowest of which were villains and slaves. They were part and parcel with the land. When a fief passed from one overlord to another they passed with it. In life and in death they were tied to the land. They were as much their lord's property as his cattle, and could neither marry nor take any other great step in life without his permission. Yet the villain was not a slave. He could not leave the land, it is true, but neither could his overlord take from him the small portion of land which had been granted to him, so long as he paid his dues. These dues generally consisted of a certain number of days' labour each year, and a certain proportion of his harvest and cattle. The slave, on the other hand, had no rights. He was absolutely in the hands of his overlord. He could be sold or even slain if his master so pleased. TOURNAMENTS 87 CHAPTER XVIII TOURNAMENT AND FEUDAL WARFARE BY the feudal system the world was divided into two great classes. The upper class was an aristocracy of soldiers, the lower class comprised all the workers. In both classes there were many grades, but between the richest peasant and the poorest squire there was a great gulf fixed which, in feudal times, it was almost impossible to cross. Labour was the portion of the lower classes, war was both the profession and the amusement of the upper classes. And if by any chance there was no real war to occupy and amuse them, they played at it and got up mimic battles called tournaments. These tournaments were generally fought in presence of the king or of some great noble and his ladies. Clad in full armour, as if for actual warfare, but armed with blunted weapons, the combatants rode at each other, each man trying not to kill but to unhorse his opponent. The knight who bore himself best, and brought the greatest number of opponents to the ground, was adjudged the winner, and received a prize. But often tournaments were of a much more informal character. Indeed, for the youths of those times they took the place of the Saturday afternoon games of cricket or football of to-day. A writer of the twelfth century tells us that the young men of London were in the habit of holding a tournament every Sunday afternoon in Lent. " A noble train of young men/' he says, " take the field after dinner well mounted on horses of the best mettle. The citizens rush out of the gates in shoals, furnished with lances 88 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY and shields, the younger sort with javelins, pointed, but disarmed of their steel. They ape the feats of war, and act the sham fight, practising the agonistic exercises of that kind. If the king happens to be near the city many courtiers honour them with their presence, together with the juvenile part of the households of the bishops, earls, and barons, such as are not yet dignified with the honour of knighthood, and are desirous of trying their skill. The hope of victory excites to emulation. The generous chargers neigh and champ the bit. At length when the course begins, and the youthful combatants are divided into classes or parties, one body retreats and another pursues, without being able to come up with them, whilst in another quarter the pursuers overtake the foe, unhorse them, and pass them, many a length." But although tournaments were meant merely as trials of skill, they were often more deadly than real battles, and many a knight, who had passed unscathed through frequent wars, met his death in the lists. For in the wars of the middle ages the nobles on opposing sides often tried, just as in tournaments, to unhorse and take prisoner their foes rather than slay them. This was not because of any tenderness to the foe, nor because of any desire to save life for in those days the taking of life sat lightly on a man's conscience ; it was merely a matter of business. War was the business of the nobles. It was necessary to make it pay. And although no noble would have stooped to work with his hands he was never averse to making a good bargain. For a living noble a large ransom could always be wrung out of the pockets of his vassals, while for his dead body they would pay nothing. There was little that was ennobling or fine about these feudal wars. They were not uprisings against tyranny, they were not struggles for liberty, they were not patriotic. They were simply wars of aggression and greed. A man won possession of his land by his sword. And if by the sword he THE CLERGY AND FEUDALISM 89 could not keep it, then another took it from him, and the weakest perished. It was the doctrine of the mailed fist. Every great noble knew that he must be prepared to resist the attacks of his neighbour, for every neighbour was a possible enemy. So every castle became a fortress, built not for pleasure and beauty but for strength Generally a high position, difficult of access and easy of defence, was chosen as a site. The buildings were defended by stone battlements of enormous strength and thickness, and surrounded by a moat crossed only by a drawbridge which could be raised at pleasure from within. So strong were they that before gunpowder was invented it was almost impossible to take them except by starving the defenders. In feudal wars, therefore, sieges bulk largely. Feudal Estates of the Clergy Many of the abbeys and monasteries, too, were fortresses. Like Durham they were " Half house of God, half castle 'gainst the Scot " or other enemy. The great among the clergy were also great feudal lords, and they were just as eager to increase the domains of their abbeys and monas- teries as were the secular lords to add to their manors and estates. We hear of a bishop, who, " not content with the dignity of his office, next anticipated in his mind how he might accomplish great and wonderful things. For he possessed a haughty speaking mouth, with the proudest heart. At last, having collected a band of needy and desperate men, he began his mad career, and became, like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord, forgetting that his office required him to be, with Peter, a fisher of men. Every day he was joined by troops of adherents, among whom he was con- spicuous above all by the head and shoulders, and like some mighty commander he inflamed their desires." For a time he was successful in all his undertakings, and became an object of terror even to the king ; but at 90 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY length he met his match in another bishop, " a man of singu- lar simplicity " who, when tribute was demanded of him, refused, and went forth to do battle against his marauding brother-bishop. " And by God's grace he threw a hatchet which felled his enemy to the earth as he rode in the van." At another time we hear of an abbot who rode to the siege of Windsor, " where he appeared in arms with some other abbots of England, and had his own standard. He had there also many knights at great expense." But, says his biographer, " we who were cloistered monks considered this course of action to be fraught with danger, fearing lest some future abbot might be compelled to go to war in person." The Truce of God But although there were many warlike churchmen, there were far more who saw, with grief, the awful devastation made by the constant wars between the nobles. At length, through their influence, the Truce of God was announced. By this Truce fighting was forbidden from Wednesday evening till Monday morning, so that the days upon which Christ suffered, died, and rose again should, at least, be kept free from strife. Besides this, war was forbidden altogether during Lent and Advent, and upon all great feasts and vigils. Thus, if the Truce of God had been fully enforced, only about a quarter of the year remained in which it was lawful to fight. This was, however, far too short a time for the tur- bulent nobles, and the Truce was many times broken. Yet the Church was so powerful that it often found means to punish those who broke the Truce, and bring them to submission. That the Church was able to pronounce the Truce of God at all shows how powerful it had become. It was the duty of kings to keep peace within their dominions. But they were unable to do it. So the Church stepped in and per- THE END OF THE CAROLINGIANS 91 formed the duty for them, and the Truce of God remained more or less in force until the thirteenth century. Then the power of the rulers increased, and in time the " King's Peace " took the place of that of the Church. CHAPTER XIX THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE SAXON EMPERORS THE fortunes of the three countries carved out of the Empire of Charlemagne, were widely different. France slowly, but surely, became welded into a nation, but Germany remained merely a conglomeration of independent states. For while France struggled towards unity, Germany chased after the phantom of world dominion, claiming with the title of emperor the right to rule over Italy. This claim brought great evil to Italy, it brought scarcely less evil to Germany. It produced endless wars and strife with the Church, it was a constant hindrance to the real progress of Germany, and for nine hundred years it prevented Italy from becoming a united nation. Feebleness of Later Carolingians The family of Charlemagne died out in feebleness. Of that feebleness we get some idea from the names borne by the last rulers of his house, such as " the Bald," " the Fat," " the Simple," " the Child." In Germany the line came to an end in 911 with Louis the Child ; in France it lasted a little longer, and came to an end in 987 with Louis the Faineant. In both countries upon the death of the last Carolingian the nobles met together and chose a successor from among their number. But whereas in France the monarchy at 92 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY once became hereditary, and remained so until the Revolu- tion, in Germany an elective monarchy continued, in name at least, until the eighteenth century. 911 Upon the death of Louis the Child the German nobles chose Conrad of Franconia as their ruler. But his power was visionary. The great princes ruled like kings in their own domains, quarrelling among themselves and flouting imperial authority. Still, small although his power was, Conrad kept the Empire from being broken up into absolutely independent states. He saw, however, how slight his influence was, and at his 918 death he prayed the princes to choose as his successor, not one of his own family, but Henry of Saxony. The Saxon Emperors 918- The nobles followed Conrad's advice, and Henry became qoc * the first of the Saxon emperors who held the regal power in Germany for more than a hundred years, 918-1024. For although the crown was elective in theory, it very often descended from father to son, the son being chosen and crowned as successor in his father's lifetime. Conrad kept the Empire from falling asunder. Henry gave it some sort of unity, the effect of which lasted long after his death. He wrought peace within the Empire, forcing the great princes to own him as overlord, so that before the end of his reign there was no German-speaking people who did not own allegiance to the Empire. He quelled the fierce Hungarians who were a constant menace to the German states. He built towns, encouraged industries and agri- culture, and colonized many parts of Germany which had before been almost bare of inhabitants. Henry gave his life to Germany, and did not trouble about Italy, or the phantom glory of the imperial title, and therein lay much of his success. Towards the end of his life, in- deed, when his work for Germany seemed done, he felt the OTTO I, THE GREAT 93 fatal lure, and made up his mind to go to Rome to be crowned. But he died before his purpose was accomplished. Henry was succeeded by his son Otto I, the Great. He was 936- only twenty-four when he came to the throne, and the power- 973 ful nobles who had bowed to his father refused to bow to him. So his reign began with civil war, the chief among the rebels being members of his own family. His reign, indeed, was full of wars at home and abroad, but in the end he was victorious everywhere. He subjugated the Bo- hemians, he forced the Danes to own him as overlord, and in the great battle of Lechfield in 955, he so thoroughly defeated the Hungarians that they ceased to be a menace to Germany, and began to settle down in a civilized manner in the country which is still called by their name. Otto I Dreams of World Dominion By all these w r ars Otto strengthened and consolidated his kingdom, and Germany took a first place among the states of Europe. But unfortunately for the future of Germany Otto's ambition did not end there. Germany was not every- thing to him as it had been to his father. His thoughts turned to world dominion, and when the Princess Adelheid of Italy prayed him to come and release her from the op- pression of King Berenger, he answered her call eagerly. Otto defeated Berenger, married the Princess Adelheid, and took the title of king of Italy. Then he marched to 962 Rome and received the imperial crown at the hands of the pope. For more than sixty years no German king had held the title of emperor, and during that time Germany had made strides towards unity. The title meanwhile had not lapsed, but it had been held by petty kings, who had little power and who were of no account in the politics of Europe. In theory the holder was the secular lord of the world, in theory he was overlord of every king or prince in Europe, but having 94 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY been held by princes of no real power, men had grown to regard it little. Now Otto, already a great and powerful ruler, pulled the imperial title out of the mud, and made it great again. From his reign, in fact, we may date the true beginning of the Holy Roman Empire. He revived the Empire of Charlemagne, with less territory indeed, but with no less splendour. But in doing this he linked the fortunes of Germany with those of Italy, to the lasting misfortune of both. To both the connexion was fatal. Instead of strengthening their own kingdom, henceforth the German kings, driven on by the baleful enchantment, dreamt of world-power, and for nine hundred years poured out blood and treasure in a vain endeavour to subjugate Italy, thus keeping Germany weak and Italy disunited. Meanwhile Otto ruled the Empire with a high hand. He even ruled the Church, for by the middle of the tenth cen- tury the papacy had fallen low, and the lives of the popes had become a scandal. Otto dethroned popes at will and imposed others of his own choosing on the Roman people, and so asserted his power that by the end of his reign he had pulled the papacy, even as he had pulled the imperial title, out of the mud in which he had found it. But the Church was under the state ; the popes had to bow to the emperor's will. CHAPTER XX THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN POPE AND EMPEROR THREE Saxon Emperors followed Otto. Then, with Henry II the line came to an end, and with Conrad II that of the HENRY III AND THE PAPACY 95 Franconian emperors began, and lasted for a hundred years. J9Sg~ With the second of these emperors, Henry III, the Empire 1Q39 _ reached the height of its power, and appeared more like a 1056 united whole than ever before. For Henry was one of the best and strongest rulers of the middle ages. In nothing, perhaps, did Henry show himself greater than in curbing private war in Germany. In neighbouring states the Truce of God had been proclaimed. Henry imposed upon his people the King's Peace. In this peace the land prospered as it had never done before. Peasants tilled their fields in safety, and merchants passeol from town to town unmolested. Henry III and the Papacy In the Church, too, Henry made his power felt. The papacy had again sunk into the slough from which Otto I had drawn it, and three popes struggled for the papal throne. Henry deposed all three and installed as pope a 1046 German, a member of the imperial house. Indeed, during his reign he installed no fewer than four popes, all of them Germans. Under them the papacy was raised from its degraded position. But in thus helping to purify and, in consequence, strengthen the Church, Henry, all uncon- sciously, laid the foundations of the great struggle between the Empire and the papacy. For the time, however, the Emperor's triumph over the Church was complete, and it seemed as if imperial supremacy was firmly and enduringly fixed. But in thus giving his time and thought to things papal and Italian, Henry lost much of his influence in Germany, and in the last years of his life troubles gathered thick about him. In the midst of these he died, leaving a child of six 1056 to succeed him. With a child upon the throne the bands by which Henry III had bound the Empire together loosened. The power 96 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY of the emperor became less, the power of the princes became far greater than it had ever been since the time of Otto I. The princes rose against the emperor, they fought among themselves, and the whole land was filled with strife. Henry IV and Gregory VII 1073 It was when the Empire was thus weakened that the monk Hildebrand, who had already become a great power in the Church was elected as pope. He chose the name of Gregory VII, and under that name he became even more powerful than he had been as Hildebrand. Between him and Henry IV a bitter struggle for supremacy began. Two years after his inauguration Gregory issued a decree declaring that henceforth bishops should not be chosen by the emperor nor by any lay person, but that the investiture should be entirely in the hands of the Church. Now emperor after emperor had tried to strengthen the clergy in order to curb the power of the nobles. And to do this emperor after emperor had given them lands to hold in fief, until at length a great part of the soil of Germany was in their hands. If, then, the pope alone had power to ap- point bishops, all these lands would pass into his control, and the imperial authority would be seriously lessened. Henry was at this time only twenty-five. He was passionate and ill-balanced, and little calculated to cope with a pope of overweening pride and terrible severity. He was in no mood to yield up any of his authority, and he deposed the pope. For had not his father elected and deposed 1076 popes as he would. But Gregory was no German pope, ready to bow to the commands of a German king. Instead of being cowed by this show of imperial power, he replied to it by excommunicating Henry and threatening to depose him if he remained impenitent. Never before had a pope dared to use such arrogance to- wards an emperor, and had Henry been surrounded by faith- HENRY IV AND THE PAPACY 97 ful vassals, had he ruled over a united people, the thunders of the pope might have fallen harmless upon him ; but because of that dream of world dominion Germany was not united. There was little German loyalty to a ruler who claimed the world as his dominion. Every prince of the Empire was constantly seeking an opportunity to become an independent ruler. Now many saw their opportunity, for the pope had set them free from their allegiance, and Henry found his empire filled with rebellion and his authority vanishing into thin air. Henry soon saw that only by submitting to the pope could he regain his authority over his rebellious subjects, and he made up his mind to submit at once. It was no 1077 repentance for his deed which urged him to this, but merely political necessity. In midwinter he crossed the Alps, and after incredible hardships reached Canossa, where the haughty pope awaited him. There, one bitter winter morning, while the snow lay on the ground, the proud emperor appeared before the castle gates of the still prouder pope. Clad in the garb of a penitent, with head and feet bare, he humbly knocked, begging admission. But the door remained closed. A second and a third day passed, and still Henry stood without the gates, waiting the pleasure of the stern old man within. At length Gregory relented. The penitent king was ad- mitted to his presence, and received absolution. Thus did the inexorable priest uphold before the eyes of all Christen- dom the papal right to judge kings. Thus did he make good his claim to loose and to bind in earthly as in heavenly matters, " to give and to take away empires, kingdoms, princedoms, and the possessions of all men." Without striking a blow, without even having an army behind him, this little, grey-haired priest had conquered " the lord of the world." < But the pope, by his haughty measures, had made an G 98 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY implacable enemy of Henry, and as soon as he felt himself strong enough he defied the pope anew. Again he was excommunicated, and again he replied by deposing the pope. This time he set up an anti-pope and marching to Rome 1081 beseiged Gregory there. After a siege of three years Henry entered the city and received the imperial crown at the hands of his own pope, 1084 Clement III. Gregory's day was over, and he fled to Salerno. 1085 There he died, but even in death he did not forgive the recreant emperor, and he died leaving his enemy still under the ban of the Church. Rebellion and civil war filled Henry's last days, and at 1106 length, deposed, betrayed, and beggared, he died. But the pope's curse followed him even beyond the grave, and not until five years later was the ban removed and the bones of Henry IV laid to rest in consecrated ground. Concordat of Worms Gregory VII was dead, Henry IV was dead, but the struggle over the investiture continued. For succeeding popes clung to the great powers Gregory had claimed, succeeding emperors resisted them. Henry V succeeded his father, Henry IV. He had rebelled against his father during his lifetime, and now the new pope, Paschal II, hoped to find in him an obedient servant ; but he was mistaken, and the struggle continued. At length, however, at the 1122 Concordat of Worms, Calixtus II being now pope, an agree- ment was come to. It was agreed that the pope should have the right to investiture with ring and crozier, but that bishops should be chosen with the consent of the emperor, and that they should do homage to him for their fiefs in the same way as laymen. Thus the struggle of fifty years ended. The pope was, in the main, victorious, for although he had not been able to make good all his claims, he had won much prestige, WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR AND THE POPE 99 whereas the emperor had lost much. But although the question of investiture might be settled, the rivalry between pope and emperor, each arrogantly claiming to rule the world, continued as before. More and more the popes strove to make good their claim to be not only the chief priests but the chief princes of Christendom. But it is not uninteresting to note the difference in the treatment meted out by them to Henry of Germany and William of England. In England the king was supreme in Church and state. There the people alone could give or take away the crown, there the king made and unmade bishops without reference to the pope. But in the hope of making England a fief of the Church the pope, Alexander II, blessed the enterprise of William of Normandy when he set forth to conquer the kingdom from Harold the Saxon. William, however, pious Churchman as he was, having conquered England, meant to rule there as sole master. Gregory VII also meant to rule there as elsewhere, and after some preliminary skirmishes in which William yielded nothing, he sent a messenger to demand from the king of England an oath Probably of fealty, together with the assurance that Peter's Pence 108 should be more punctually paid. William's reply was very short, very decisive. Bluntly he refused to own himself the pope's man. The kings of England who had gone before him had never sworn fealty to the pope ; neither would he. As to Peter's Pence, from ancient times it had been paid, and he would continue to pay it. What was lawfully due to the pope the pope should have. The respect due to the chief priest of Christen- dom he should also have, and nothing more. The right of investiture, over which pope and emperor quarrelled so fiercely, was never even mentioned, and whatever wrath Gregory may have felt at William's refusal of fealty, no thunders of the Church were launched at the recreant king. This was partly, doubtless, because Gregory was otherwise 100 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY 1137 occupied. His arch-enemy the emperor was again defiant, and had enthroned an anti-pope, and Gregory, gathering his forces to combat him, had little leisure to fight the king of England. But if the popes were unsuccessful in pressing their claims in England, in Germany they were more successful. During 1125- the reign of Lothaire the Saxon, who followed Henry V as ruler of Germany, their power increased. For Lothaire was weakly fearful of arousing the pope's wrath, and he even went so far as to acknowledge the pope as his overlord, in respect of some Italian lands, of which he might have claimed possession outright. THE SAXON AND SALIAN EMPERORS Henry the Fowler, 919-936. Conrad, Liutgarde. Duke of | Lorraine. | Otto. I Henry. I " Conrad II, 1024-1039. I Henry HI, 1039-1056, I Henry IV, 1056-1106. I Henry V, 1106-1125. 1 Otto I, 936-973. 1 i Henrv, Duke of Bavaria. i Henry. i Henry II, 1002-1024. 1 irde. Otto II, 973-983. Otto III, 983-1002. THE CAPETIANS '>'* 101 CHAPTER XXI THE PROGRESS OF FRANCE TOWARDS NATIONALITY The Capetians FOR more than a century after the Treaty of Verdun 843 (see Chapter X) the Carolingian dynasty struggled on in France and at length, with Louis the Faineant, it died out in feebleness. 98? The first king of the new dynasty was Hugh Capet, Count of Paris, and from him the dynasty is known as that of the Capetians. They ruled in France for nearly three and a half centuries. Hugh Capet came to the throne of France not by in- heritance but by election, and in spite of his title as king, he had little more power than he had had as count. His so- called vassals, the dukes of Normandy and Burgundy, the counts of Anjou, Flanders, and Champagne, might do homage indeed for their lands, but they ruled over these lands like independent sovereigns, paying little or no heed to the wishes or commands of their overlord the king. There was no awe or reverence for the king's majesty. If, in theory, by his grace they enjoyed the title of duke or count he, no less by their grace, enjoyed that of king. And the angry question which Hugh addressed to one of these turbulent nobles, " Who made you count ? " merely brought forth the sharp retort, " Who made you king ? " But weak although it was at first, the Capetian dynasty per- sisted. King followed king upon the throne without question or revolt. And this fact alone gave at length to the govern- ment a stability quite unknown to the neighbouring feudal state of Germany. 102 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY ' ' William the Conqueror The chief event of European importance during the reigns of the first Capetians was the conquest of England by William, 1060- Duke of Normandy, in the reign of Philip I. By becoming 1108 king O f E n gi an( j William became a far more powerful sovereign than his overlord the king of France, and the conquest of England by him had almost as great conse- quences for France as for England. For it laid the founda- tion of the English king's claim to French land, a claim which plunged both countries into war for hundreds of years. H08- It was during the reign of Philip Fs son, Louis VI, that the 1137 long struggle between English and French for supremacy in France began. Louis VI was the first king of France to make his power truly felt. As a young man he was known as Louis the Fighter, or Louis the Wide-awake, and he spent the first years of his reign in subjugating the turbulent princes of the realm. He fought them, imprisoned them, and threw down their great castles where they had lived in freedom, oppressing whom they would. And in the end he forced many of them to recognize the superior authority of the king, and to respect the King's Peace and the King's Justice. But while quelling the nobles Louis protected the villains and the serfs. It was with their help, indeed, that Louis subdued the nobles, and in return for that help he frequently granted them charters of freedom. Thus, from being slaves they became free men. They built towns and surrounded them with walls like the castles of the nobles, coming and going at will, working for whom they would, no longer being tied to the land and forced to serve their overlord. Thus the citizen or burgher class began to rise in France. The prince whom Louis VI found hardest to subdue was Henry I, king of England who, as duke of Normandy, was Louis's vassal. For Henry had the resources of a kingdom behind him, and when he rebelled against his overlord it LOUIS VI, KING OF FRANCE 103 was much more than the rebellion of a mere vassal. It was an invasion by a foreign king and the introduction of a foreign influence. Louis's task was therefore twofold. He endeavoured, first, to subdue the feudal power to the regal power ; secondly, he endeavoured to oust foreign influence and unify and nationalize his whole kingdom. These two endeavours form the groundwork of French history for hundreds of years. Henry II' s Angevin Kingdom Louis VI was, to some extent, successful in keeping his great vassal of England in check, but under his son Louis VII 1137- that vassal again became more powerful. For Louis VII 1 made the great mistake of allowing Henry, Count of Anjou and Duke of Normandy, to marry his own divorced wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine. By this marriage Henry became lord 1152 of the whole south-west of France which, added to Normandy, Anjou, and Maine, made him ruler of a domain larger than that of the French king. Two years after his marriage with Eleanor Henry became king of England. Thus strengthened, he began to dream of 1154 establishing a great Angevin Empire which would include the whole of France and England. But Henry II's ambi- tions were frustrated partly through the rebellion of his own sons. Philip Augustus Louis VII died in 1180 and was succeeded by his able, H80- brave, if not too scrupulous son, Philip Augustus. France 1223 for Frenchmen might have been his motto. It was certainly his aim, and to advance it he made use of the quarrels between Henry II and his sons, siding with these sons and making a great friend of Richard, But when Henry II 104 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY 1189 died, and Philip's one-time friend Richard became king of England, Philip fought him as he had fought his father Henry. He made, however, little headway against the superior military genius of the English king, and it was not until the infamous John Lackland came to the throne of England that the French king's moment arrived. 1199 With the advent of John the struggle entered on a new phase, and the end could not long be doubtful. For on the one side there was an indolent, vicious king, barely tolerated by an alienated people. On the other there w r as an energetic, calculating soldier-statesman, with behind him a people in whom the sense of loyalty and of nationality was fast awakening. Every advantage that was his Philip used with vigour. One b}^ one he wrested his French possessions from the Eng- lish king, until there was nothing left to him except Gascony. John, overwhelmed with troubles at home, fighting his own barons, and casting defiance at the pope, let his French possessions slip from him. But when he saw them gone he desired to have them back again. So he made an alliance 1198- with Otto IV, emperor of Germany, and together they made ' an attack on France. While John landed in the south- west the emperor invaded the north-east. But Philip had little fear of John. He left his son Louis to deal with him, and himself marched against the German emperor. Battle of Bouvines 1214 The two forces met at Bouvines, a few miles from Lille, and here one of the great decisive battles of the Middle Ages was fought. The emperor and his allies were utterly defeated. Otto, barely escaping with his life, fled back to Germany, to find himself disowned and rejected, while Philip returned in triumph to Paris, where the people greeted him with cheers and cast flowers in his path. Henceforth he was no longer merely the overlord of French barons, K//g of France I ' 1 Dependentonthe King of France. King of England Dependentonthe FRANCE IN THE REIGN OF HENRY II OF ENGLAND Io6 A- SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY he was king of the French people. The national spirit was awake. Philip's wars against John of England had brought him broad and fair lands, and had made him the greatest feudal overlord in France. By the battle of Bouvines, and his defeat of the German emperor he won not an inch of territory but he gained for France a first place among the nations of Europe. For from the thirteenth century France takes a leading place. England was still only England, not the United Kingdom, and the great Colonial Empire still un- dreamed of; Germany, pursuing the quest for world dominion, had already fallen from the high place won for it by Otto and by Henry III. Italy and Spain were without union or nationality ; Russia had not yet taken its place as a European nation. THE CAPETIAN DYNASTY Hugh Capet, 987-996 ; Robert, 996-1031 ; Henry I, 1031-1060 ; Philip I, 1060-1108 ; Louis VI, 1108-1137 Louis VII, 1137- 1180 I Philip II (Augustus), son of Louis VII. 1180-1223. i Louis VIII, 1223-1226. i Louis IX, 1226-1270. I Philip III, 1270-1285. I Philip IV, 1285-1314. i 1 Louis X 1314-1316, 1 Isabella, m. Edward II of England, 1 Philip V, 1316-1322. 1 Charles IV, 1322-1328. THE MAKING OF A KNIGHT 107 CHAPTER XXII 1 KNIGHTHOOD THE Middle Ages was a time of unrestrained lawlessness and greed. Yet out of this time there grew something fine in the ideas of chivalry and the orders of knighthood. We cannot tell when the idea of chivalry began, any more than we can say when feudalism began. It grew up out of the needs of the time. The word chivalry is of French origin, coming from cheval, a horse, and chevalier, a horseman ; and it was in France, perhaps, that chivalry found its truest home. As the nobles and gentlemen were the only horsemen of feudal times, it was with them alone that chivalry had to do. In time it entered into everything connected with the life of the nobles, softening to some extent the brutality of it, casting a glamour of romance over their deeds, and giving them a religious enthusiasm. Those who entered the orders of chivalry were called knights. The word comes from the Anglo-Saxon cniht, and originally meant boy or youth. All knights were made, not born. A man might be born a prince, but he could only become a knight after long years of probation and training. This training began as a rule when the boy was seven years old. He was then sent to the castle of some friendly lord where he became a page. He waited on his lady in her bower, and stood behind his master's chair in hall, learning the dignity of obedience and the beauty of gentleness. He was also trained in every knightly exercise, learning how to use sword and spear, to ride ,and to fly a falcon. Thus every feudal castle became a school where a boy might learn io8 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY everything which, in those days, it was thought necessary for a gentleman to know. When about the age of fifteen the page became a sqiiire. As squire he still had to perform many household and personal duties, such as carving at table, presenting the wine- cup to his master or chief guests, or attending upon his lady when she rode abroad. But more and more of his time was taken up with knightly exercises, and he learned to wear armour, to ride a war horse, and take part in tourna- ments. In time of war, too, he now rode forth with his master in battle, bore his shield, and helped him to don his armour. Besides all this the knight-aspirant, both as page and squire, was taught to reverence ladies, and to be courteous and gentle in his behaviour towards them. This showed a wonderful advance in civilization. For women were in those days of small account. They were looked upon as little more than possessions. They were weak, and therefore, under the rule of the mailed fist, might be taken advantage of. The laws of chivalry taught men to protect them and to fight for them if need be. Having for five or six years proved himself faithful in all his duties, and fearless in the face of danger, the squire received the honour of knighthood. This was conferred upon him with solemn ceremony. First of all a bath was taken with great formality. This was a sort of new baptism, a symbol that past sins were washed away. Then the knight-aspirant was clad in a white robe, the token of purity, over it was placed a red robe to signify the blood which he would have to shed in fulfilment of the vows he was about to take, and lastly, over all, a black cloak was thrown as a reminder that death would come to him as to all men. Thus purified and clothed anew the squire was led to the church. It was evening now, and the building was filled THE MAKING OF A KNIGHT 109 with dim, mysterious shadows, and here, before the altar, he was left alone to watch the long night through. This was called the vigil of arms. To sit down was forbidden to the aspirant, so standing or kneeling before the altar he spent the silent, lonely hours of darkness in prayer and thought. When day dawned the silence was broken by the coming of the priests. Mass was said, the squire confessed, and receiving absolution, partook of the sacrament. Then, in the presence of a joyous company, consisting of all the ladies, knights, squires, and pages which went to make up the household of a great noble, the most solemn part of the ceremony took place. First the squire was fully clad in armour. The most noble and gentle knights present bound on his spurs and signed his knees with the sign of the cross. Then his sword, after being blessed by the priest, was girded on. At length, fully clad in all the panoply of war, the squire knelt before the priest, vowing faithfully to serve the Church and the king, to shun no adventure of his person in any good cause, to protect widows and orphans, and women distressed or abandoned, to serve his ladylove in faith and honour, to be courteous and truthful, and, above all things else, to die a thousand deaths rather than break his word or deny his religion. These vows being taken, the squire was next led to the noble about to confer knighthood upon him, and again kneeling, he received on his neck a resounding blow from the flat of his sword. This was the accolade. "Be brave knight/' said the noble; or, "May God and St. George make thee good knight," and the ceremony was over. Then, springing up, the new knight leapt upon his waiting charger without touching the stirrup, and, lance in hand, rode off to demolish before an admiring no A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY crowd the dummy foes set up for the purpose. This being done, the rest of the day was spent in feasting and rejoicing. It was only by degrees that so much ceremony gathered about the making of a knight. At first it was a much simpler matter, consisting of little more than the accolade. It was only by degrees, too, that it took on its religious character, for at first it was purely military. As the ceremony and splendour of the occasion increased so did the cost. The fitting out of a new knight alone was costly, including as it did robes, armour, arms, horses, falcons, and many other things which were deemed necessary for the equipment of a noble. Besides this, money was distributed among the poor, rich presents were given to the minstrels who attended at the ceremony, new robes and furs were provided for the ladies of the household and often for the guests. Knights Errant For this reason, as you remember, the knighting of his eldest son was one of the occasions upon which an overlord had the right to call for an " aid " in money from his vassals. For this reason, too, many a poor gentleman in spite of great and valiant deeds, which would have en- titled him to become a knight, remained a squire all his life, not having the wherewithal to pay the expenses of being knighted. There was, however, another mode in which knighthood was conferred. This was on the battle-field. Here there was no expense and no ceremony save the accolade. Any knight of renown could make a knight, and the squire had but to kneel before him and receive the accolade. Knight- hood was thus conferred after a battle as a reward for bravery. But it was just as frequently conferred before a battle as an incitement to brave deeds. Indeed, there was KNIGHTS ERRANT in hardly a battle in the Middle Ages when no new knights were made either before or after. In this way many poor gentlemen who had no other fortune but their swords became knights. Having neither home nor land they wandered about the world seeking occasions upon which to show their prowess, and so win fame and at the same time wealth. These became known as . knights errant, and they figure largely in the Romances of the time. An errant knight Well liorsed, and large of limb, Sir Gaudwin hight, He, nor of castle nor of land was lord, Houseless he reaped the harvest of his sword. And now, not more on fame than profit bent, Rode with blithe heart unto the tournament. The knight errant was ready to fight for any cause however mad, so long as honour and loyalty did not forbid. For with the coming of chivalry there arose ideas of honour, faith, and courtesy, and any knight who transgressed against these ideas was liable to degradation many did, as a matter of fact so transgress, and go unpunished but retribution sometimes overtook^him. Then he was put to shame, and cast]out of the brotherhood of arms, with ceremony as solemn as that of his initiation. By the most noble knights of the district the recreant was clad in full armour, as if about to take the field. Then he was led to the church, where a high stage had been erected upon which he was made to mount. There thirteen priests said the prayers and psalms used for the dead, and at the end of each prayer one piece of his armour was taken from him and cast upon the ground. As each piece was so cast down the heralds cried aloud the reason for its removal. " This is the helmet of a disloyal and miscreant knight ! " they cried; " we cast it away, for ii2 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY it has sheltered traitorous eyes." Or again, " We take thy gauntlet, for it has covered a corrupt hand/' and so with each piece. Then the knight's sword was broken over his head, his spurs were hacked from his heels, and at last he stood before the eyes of the whole congregation, bare of all arms and armour. After this a basin of gold or silver full of water was brought, and the heralds cried aloud, " What is this knight's name ? " The pursuivants answered, giving his real name, whereupon the king-at-arms replied, " That is not true. For he is a mis- creant and false traitor and one who has broken the ordinance of knighthood." The priests then spoke. " Let us give him his right name/' they said. And the heralds sounded their trumpets and cried aloud, " What shall be done with him ? " Then the king replied. " Let him be with dishonour and shame banished my kingdom as a vile and infamous man that hath done offence against the honour of knighthood/' When the king had spoken the heralds cast the water on the degraded knight's face, as though he were baptized anew, and cried, *' Henceforth thou shalt be called by thy right name Traitor. ' ' Then the king, with twelve knights, put on mourning garments in token of sorrow, and coming to the degraded knight they put a rope round his neck, and threw him from the stage, not by the steps by which he had honourably climbed up but over the edge. Finally, with every imagin- able insult and ignominy he was led to the altar. There, while he lay grovelling on the ground a Psalm full of curses was read over him. Then all men turned from him, and left him for ever alone with his misery and degradation. Thus were the unworthy thrust out from the great and noble brotherhood of knights. KNIGHTHOOD AND THE CHURCH 113 In days when books were few, when few gentlemen even outside the monasteries could read or write, when therefore they had little occupation for their minds, and when occupa- tion for their hands was denied them, the effects of the train- ing of chivalry on the manhood of the times was great. It taught them, if fight they must, to fight for something more than mere lust of blood and plunder. It held before them great ideals, and if few attained to them, many were at least lifted above the brutal slough of utter selfishness. With the Truce of God the Church tried to curb the fighting instinct of the feudal lords : with chivalry it tried to consecrate it. The latter was less difficult and more successful. Under the influence of the chivalric ideals western Europe became flooded with a soldier aristocracy, embued with a passionate devotion for the Church, overflowing with a romantic and sublime enthusiasm seeking some adequate outlet This outlet the Church also was to supply. CHAPTER XXIII THE BEGINNING OF THE CRUSADES Pilgrimages to the Holy Land WE to whom the story of Christ has been familiar from earliest childhood can hardly realize with what force that story struck upon the hearts of the heathen peoples of Europe when first they heard it. They were fierce and savage men given over to war and bloodshed. And when they were told of the gentle Christ who not only loved his fellows but gave his life for them, their simple savage hearts were filled with amazement and adoration. With their wonder there grew up an intense desire to see for themselves the spot on earth where that marvellous story had been unfolded. So great H H4 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY grew that desire that in spite of all difficulties and dangers many set out to visit the Holy Land. Even in very early times, from the islands of the sea, from the forests of Ger- many, from the scattered villages of France, from the moun- tains of Italy, from every corner of Europe which Christian teachers had reached, pilgrims set forth. To-day the journey is easy, safe, and rapid. Then it was slow, difficult, and dangerous. To-day the journey is an affair of days. Then it was one of months and even years, and a man who set forth on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem said farewell to his dear ones as to those he might never see again. Many never returned: and some, indeed, set forth in such passionate exaltation that they prayed God to grant them the blessing of death in the holy place. Those who did return brought with them a kind of halo of saint ship. Their friends regarded them with veneration, for their feet had trodden the paths over which Christ Himself had passed, they had knelt at the Holy Sepulchre and stood upon the Mount of Olives. It seemed as if something of holiness must cling even to their garments, and pilgrims kept carefully the clothes they had worn on entering into Jerusalem, so that they might be buried in them. In time a pilgrimage to the Holy Land became a sort of act of grace, and the mere going there made a man clean of his sins however black they had been. So year by year the stream of pilgrims increased. Kings and emperors, princes and princessess, joined the throng. Splendid Christian churches were built in Jerusalem, a Patriarch or chief bishop of Jerusalem was appointed, and man}^ Christians took up their abode there. While Palestine still formed part of the Eastern Empire pilgrims came and went in peace. But in 637 it was con- quered by the Mohammedans. This, however, hardly checked the flow of pilgrims to the Holy City. For to the THE TURKS CONQUER PALESTINE 115 Mohammedan Christ was a prophet, one less great indeed than Mohammed, but still a prophet. The Christians were, it is true, forbidden to build any more churches, were ordered to remove the crosses from those already built, and to cease the ringing of bells. They were forbidden also to carry weapons or ride on horses, and were forced to wear a dis- tinctive dress. Otherwise they were left in peace to worship as they chose. So for more than three hundred and fifty years under Moslim rule Christian pilgrims still thronged to Palestine. There were, of course, constant dangers from robbers and other evil-doers by the way. At times, too, there were sudden waves of persecution and oppression, but for the most part pilgrims came and went in peace. Captured by the Turks At length, however, in the first half of the eleventh century a new and terrible enemy appeared. These were the Turks. Like so many other invaders of Europe the Turks came from the East. They were fierce and cruel, and being converted to Mohammedanism they were filled with a savage zeal for their faith. In conquering hordes they swept through Persia and enthroned one of their leaders as king. Soon Palestine also fell before them, and the streets of Jerusalem flowed red with the blood of Chris- 1076 tians. The holy places were profaned, the most solemn sacraments of the Church were made a cause of scornful laughter, while the aged Patriarch was dragged through the streets by the hair of his head, and cast into a loathsome dungeon, there to languish until a heavy ransom should be paid for his release. The Christians who escaped death or imprisonment fled back to Europe. Here they spread abroad the tale of woe and desecration until all Europe was shaken with wrath against the infidel. n6 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY Peter the Hermit and Urban II Among those who returned was a pilgrim named Peter the Hermit. Much of the story of Peter the Hermit is now looked upon as mere legend. It has even been said that he never visited Jerusalem at all. But whether that is so or not he undoubtedly helped to preach the first Crusade. He was a thin and wiry little man, and utterly insignificant save for his eyes, which burned with an almost mad en- thusiasm. He had, too, a marvellous power of speech. And as he passed through Europe riding upon an ass, clad in a rough hair shirt, his head and feet bare, and carrying a crucifix in his hand, people flocked to hear him. And wherever he spoke men felt their hearts uplifted by his glowing words, felt themselves impelled to fight in the name of God. They soon looked upon him as a saint, and were happy if they might touch his robe or even the ass upon which he rode. So from place to place they followed him, hanging on his words, weeping at the pictures which he drew of the miseries endured by the faithful. But alone Peter could have done little. A poor priest might indeed arouse the enthusiasm of the people. It needed a greater power than his to direct that enthusiasm. That greater power was ready to hand. The Eastern Empire had long been in a state of feebleness and decay. Now the emperor, Alexius Comnenus, saw with dismay territory after territory being reft from him by the infidel Turks, whose standards were planted almost within sight of the towers of Constantinople. Of himself he knew not how to stay their conquering march, so he sent messengers 1088- to the pope, Urban II, begging him for help. The pope was not unwilling to listen to him, for he, too, was eager to drive the Turks back to their Asian deserts, and free the Holy Land from their oppression. So he called the people together to a conference at Piacenza in Italy. URBAN PREACHES THE FIRST CRUSADE 117 But although an immense crowd gathered to listen to him no decision was come to. It was not in Italy but in France, the true son of the Church, that the first action was to be taken ; and crossing the Alps the pope held another con- ference at Clermont. 1095 Conference of Clermont Here such an immense crowd gathered that no room could be found for them in the town, and winter though it was, a vast city of tents sprang up all around. No building was large enough to contain the vast assemblage, and the con- ference was held in the open air. The pope, clad in gorgeous robes, and surrounded by his cardinals, sat upon a throne erected in the market-place. And when he rose to speak deep silence fell upon the gathered thousands. Urban was a Frenchman, and he spoke not in Latin, the language of the learned and the Church, but in French, so that even the humblest who heard him could understand. As the burning words of the great pontiff fell upon their ears the people wept and cried aloud, and their hearts glowed within them. Urban pictured to them the fury and the pride of the infidel, he reminded them of the great and glorious deeds of Charles the Hammer and of Charle- magne, and bade them go forth as they did against the foe. He bade them cease from warring against each other, and turn their swords upon the despoilers of the holy places. 11 Let all hatred depart from among you," he cried. " Let your strife cease, let war be no more. Enter upon the path which leads to the Holy Sepulchre, wrest the land from the people of sin, and make it your own. For this spot the Saviour of mankind has made glorious by His birth, has made beautiful by His life, has made holy by His passion and re- deemed by His death. Take, therefore, this journey eagerly for the remission of your sins, sure of the reward of eternal glory in the kingdom of heaven." n8 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY And when the pope had ceased speaking all the people cried out, " God wills it ! God wills it ! " Then with frenzied eagerness they crowded round the pope to receive at his hands the cross which was to be their badge as soldiers of Christ. From this badge the expeditions which, during nearly two hundred years, were to change the face of Europe took their name of Crusades. A new word was thus given to language, and now any enthusiastic cam- paign against evil we call a crusade. With the Crusades something new was brought into the idea of war. First, there was the idea of God. For every man who took the cross felt that he had enlisted under the banner of God Himself. Secondly, there was the idea of combat for a noble and unselfish end. Hitherto men had waged war for selfish ends and personal gain. But the Cru- sader sallied forth not to add broad acres to his land but to fight for the honour of God, and that the poor and unarmed pilgrim might visit the Holy Land in safety and peace. Thirdly, there was an element of freedom introduced. For the Crusader went forth, not at the command of his overlord to fight because he was bound by oath to follow his lord when he called he went of his own will, to fight in a cause of his own choosing. There were, of course, many who did not take the cross in this spirit of sacrifice or devotion. Some went merely for the love of adventure, some in the hope of enriching them- selves through plunder or trade. Others, with few or no lands -at home, went in the hope of founding principalities abroad. Criminals went to escape justice, debtors to escape payment of their debts, for the pope announced that every man who took the cross was free of his debts until his return. But although the reasons which men had for taking the cross were many and varied, the moving spirit, the one which overbalanced all others, was one of religious de- votion and sacrifice THE FIRST CRUSADE 119 Never before had a war been undertaken by the people of Europe in such a spirit. Chivalry, it is true, had already given to knighthood something of a holy character, and had set before the true knight ideals other than those of mere plunder and bloodshed. But even so the influence of re- ligion had been but little felt amidst the violence and blood- shed of feudal wars. Even the romantic knight errant had fought for gain, and had been willing to sell his sword to the highest bidder. The Early Crusades . The Crusaders did not constitute an army in our sense of the word. They were merely a conglomeration of armed and unarmed bands who travelled together towards the Holy Land. They were drawn from every country of western Europe, but for no country was the first Crusade a national enterprise. Many Frenchmen it is true joined the expedi- tion, for these romantic adventures appealed to the French more than to any other nation in Europe, and the Cru- sades had more effect on the national growth of France than on that of any other nation. But in no sense was the first Crusade a national enterprise, and no king took part in it. At the time of the first Crusade Philip I, the fourth king of the Capet ian dynasty, was on the throne of France, and like those of his line who had gone before him he had little power, and no taste for great adventures. William the Red, who had small care for religion, ruled in England. Henry IV, emperor of Germany, was under the ban of the Church, and with the whole Empire in confusion it was not wonderful that neither the emperor nor any great German prince took part in the expedition. The soldiers from any one country did not march under a national leader. Neither was there any commander-in- chief. There was no discipline, no commissariat, nothing, 120 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY in fact, which goes to make an army in the modern sense of the word. Only a wonderful faith and enthusiasm could have set such an army in motion. Only wonderful faith and ignorance could believe in its success. The Crusades did not succeed, and the story of them is the story of one of the most sublime and picturesque failures in all history. But the story of the Crusades themselves hardly belongs to European history. It is the effect upon Europe which matters chiefly, and the fact of success or failure made little difference to this effect, which was very great. CHAPTER XXIV THE CRUSADES: THE CHRISTIAN KINGDOM OF JERUSALEM THE FOUNDING OF THE GREAT ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD IT was not until the autumn of 1096 that the first great Crusading army set out, and it did not reach Jerusalem until June 1099, nearly three years later. It had indeed been preceded by an unarmed and motley crowd under Peter the Hermit and Walter the Penniless. But these nearly all died of hunger and disease, or by the swords of the enemy, long before they reached Palestine. Jerusalem yielded quickly to the Crusaders, and a terrible slaughter of the unbelievers took place. The streets ran red with blood, and were piled high with dead. Then, their vengeance satisfied, the Christian knights put off their blood-stained armour, and dressed in white robes, carrying palm branches in their hands, marched to the Church of THE KINGDOM OF JERUSALEM 121 the Holy Sepulchre to give thanks to God for their great victory. Kingdom of Jerusalem A Christian monarchy was then established in Jerusalem, and Godfrey of Bouillon, one of the bravest and wisest of the Crusaders, was chosen king. But he refused to take the 1099- regal title, or to wear a crown of gold in the city where the 1 Saviour of the world had worn a crown of thorns. He called himself merely baron and defender of the Holy Sepulchre. Having enthroned their king, and leaving with him a few hundred knights to keep his kingdom from again falling into the hands of the Turks, most of the Crusaders took their way home again.* The new kingdom of Jerusalem was modelled upon the feudal states of western Europe. To set up such a kingdom in the midst of enemies, and so far away from Christian aid that months must elapse before a cry for help could be answered, was a wonderful act of faith. Yet as long as the Crusades lasted the Christian kingdom continued, although at times it was little more than a name. It was perpetually in a state of siege. For although the Crusaders might, from time to time, come in numbers large enough to defeat the Turks, they never remained in numbers large enough to hold the country securely. The Christian kingdom, therefore, depended for its existence chiefly on two powerful orders of knighthood to which the Crusades gave rise, the orders of the Knights of St. John and the Knights Templars. Knights of St. John or Hospitallers The Crusades offered many opportunities for the develop- ment of chivalry, and of the spirit of devotion. This de- votion showed itself in a new way, and brought still another element into war. This new element was chivalry to the * See map, p. 63. 122 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY wounded. Hitherto men had thought little of the sufferings of those who fell in battle. No knight, at least, would have thought of giving his life to tend the sick. The knight's business was to fight. Yet now there arose an order of knighthood the members of which gave their lives to the nursing of the sick and wounded. Already some years before the Crusaders took Jerusalem an Italian merchant had founded a hospital there for the benefit of poor and sick pilgrims. It was not indeed a hos- pital in the modern sense of the word, but rather a guest- house and place of rest for pilgrims. The word comes from the Latin hospitium, the place where in a Roman house the guests were received. In this hospital many wounded Crusaders found a refuge, and one of Godfrey's first actions after he became king was to visit the hospital. He was so touched by what he saw there that he presented his estates in Brabant to the hospital. Many of his knights following his example gave money and lands to it, and even joined the ranks of its servers. Very soon the abbot of the house proposed that they should form a community, and thus the order of the Knights of St. John was founded. The members of this order took a threefold vow of celibacy, poverty, and obedience. They were both monks and knights. Their life was henceforth to be spent not in the causing but in the binding up of wounds, and they took as a habit a plain black robe marked with a white cross of eight points Before long, however, this peaceful order changed into a militaiy one. For it was hard for men who had been fighters all their lives suddenly to transform into careful nurses. So the knights took a new oath binding themselves to shed the last drop of their blood in the defence 01 their faith, but never 1120 under any circumstances to draw sword in any other cause. They were also now divided into three classes, nobility, clergy, and serving brothers. KNIGHTS OF ST. JOHN AND TEMPLARS 123 Into the first class only he could enter who could show that his family had for two generations at least been noble, arid the highest of every land became eager to send their sons to the Hospital of St. John to receive their knightly training. But although the order became a military one, the motive which had originally inspired it was not forgotten. The care of the wounded was still their first duty, and all over the world they became known as the Hospitallers. The order quickly became wealthy. For every noble who joined its ranks, unable because of his vow of poverty to possess wealth himself, gave all he had to the order. Many others, in gratitude for restored health, bestowed riches upon it, others again, in penance for their sins, bequeathed to it lands and manor houses. With this wealth the order built hospitals in every part frequented by pilgrims or Crusaders. They bought fleets of ships, and owned whole towns, and at length became so powerful that even kings began to fear them, and be jealous of their wealth and power. Knights Templars A little later than the order of St. John another order of monkish knights, the order of the Knights Templars, was founded. They devoted themselves not to the tending of the sick but to protecting unarmed pilgrims on their way to the Holy Land, and were first known as the Poor Soldiers of Christ. But after they were given a house near the Temple of Solomon, they became known as the Knights of the Temple. They took the same monkish vows as the Hospitallers, and wore a white robe marked with a red cross. From this they were also given the name of Red Cross Knights. They were, it was said, " Lions in war, lambs in the house, fierce and unforgiving to the foes of Christ, but kind and gracious to all Christians." Like the Hospitallers the Knights Templars soon became 124 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY rich. Soon, indeed, they far surpassed the earlier order in wealth, and forgetting that their first duty was to serve they became the most insolent and proud of all the orders of knighthood, and also the most avaricious. The name of Templar, indeed, almost became a synonym for greed and pride. Long after the Crusades were over both these orders of knighthood continued to exist. But early in the fourteenth century the Templars were accused of heresy and all manner of evil living, and were crushed out of existence with great 1307 cruelty by Philip IV of France. The history of the Hos- pitallers was much longer than that of the Templars, con- tinuing until disbanded by Napoleon on his way to Egypt in 1798. With that the history of the order really ends, but many attempts were made to reconstitute it. Out of one of these attempts has grown the St. John Ambulance Association, whose special care is for the wounded in war, thus carrying on the first ideals of the parent society, founded more than eight hundred years ago. The Teutonic Order In the time of the third Crusade another similar order was founded, and as the members were chiefly German it became known as the Teutonic Order. They took as their habit a white robe with a black cross, and like the order of St. John, this order had its beginnings in a hospital founded by some German merchants. Like the other similar orders, it soon became a great military and trading organization, with fleets and lands, and almost regal power. But the Teutonic Knights played a much greater part in the ex- pansion of Germany than in the conquest of Palestine. Their presence had little influence on the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem, whereas without the support of the Hospitallers and the Templars it could not have continued to exist. THE THIRD AND FOURTH CRUSADES 125 CHAPTER XXV THE CRUSADES : THE LATIN EMPIRE OF CONSTANTINOPLE THE second Crusade set out about fifty years after the first. 1147- Since Urban had preached the first enthusiasm for the 1149 Holy War had spread so that even sovereign rulers had be- come infected by it, and now Louis VII, king of France, and Conrad III, emperor of Germany, became the leaders of the new venture. But this Crusade accomplished nothing. The Third Crusade The third Crusade was called forth by the recapture of 1189 _ both Acre and Jerusalem by the Turks. This time three 1192 kings led the armies, Richard Coeur de Lion, king of England ; Philip II, king of France ; and Frederick Red Beard, or Barbarossa, emperor of Germany. Frederick, however, died long before he reached the Holy Land. Philip and Richard went on, and after a siege of nearly two years, they recovered possession of Acre. Then Philip and Richard quarrelled, and Philip went home. Richard lingered on in Palestine, but he could not regain possession of Jerusalem, and at length, after signing a truce of three years with the Sultan, he, too, returned home. Fourth Crusade The fourth Crusade had far more effect on Europe than on 1202- Palestine. For instead of going to Jerusalem the Crusaders 1204 turned aside and took Constantinople. Isaac II, a weak and degenerate emperor, had been deposed and blinded by his brother Alexius, who caused .himself to be crowned as Alexius III. But Isaac's son, a 126 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY boy of twelve, also named Alexius, escaped from Constanti- nople, fled to Italy, and there and in other European states begged for help against the usurper. He received it at last from the Crusaders gathered to fight for the city of God. - These Crusaders had already turned from their first pur- pose, and had helped the Venetians to recover the City of Zara which had revolted from the Republic of Venice, and placed itself under the protection of the king of Hungary. They had done this, too, in spite of the thunders of the pope, who forbade them to touch the city. For the king of Hun- gary had taken the cross, " and he who attacked a city belonging to him made himself an enemy of the Church," said the pope. 1202 By the time Zara was taken it was too late in the year to go on to Palestine, so the Crusaders passed the winter there. And here came young Alexius to entreat their aid. In return he promised to pay a large sum of money, and in his own and his father's name, swore to put an end to the di- vision between the Greek and the Roman Church, and bring the whole Eastern Empire under the sway of the pope. That, surely, thought the Crusaders, would be a righteous deed, and in spite of some opposition among their ranks, they promised Alexius the help he craved. The Crusaders attack Constantinople So in April 1203 the Crusaders set sail. A great company of Venetians joined them also, and Constantinople was attacked both by land and sea, and the great city which had so often withstood the onslaught of heathen and infidel, fell before the host of Christian brigands. Alexius fled, the feeble and now blind emperor Isaac was restored to the throne with his son Alexius IV as co-emperor. But two such emperors, one blind and decrepit, the other young and utterly frivolous, were ill-fitted to rule the Empire in troublous times. When Alexius tried to fulfil his promise THE CRUSADERS TAKE CONSTANTINOPLE 127 to bring the Empire under the sway of the pope the people rose in rebellion. During the turmoil the old emperor Isaac died, and Alexius also was slain, his reign having lasted only six months. A new emperor, Alexius V, was placed upon the throne, but the Crusaders took up arms against him. Constanti- nople was sacked and burned, and Alexius V fled for his life. Then from among their own number the Crusaders chose another emperor, Baldwin, Count of Flanders. 1204 In the Eastern Empire the feudal system was unknown. The emperors might be despotic or corrupt, but at least their subjects had not to fear the rapine of their fellow- subjects. Now its Latin conquerors endeavoured to intro- duce the feudal system. The Empire was parcelled out among them, and the emperor became merely a feudal chieftain The Greek clergy were driven from their churches, and a host of priests and monks were imported from Rome in order to convert the people. For, although the Greeks were Christians, because they did not acknowledge the pope as head of the Church, they seemed to the narrow-minded Crusaders to be infidels, almost as much as the Mohammedans, and in sore need of conversion. But the task of turning the Eastern Empire into a feudal state, and the Greek Church into an obedient daughter of Rome, proved a task too great for the Latins. There was no sympathy between the rulers and the ruled. The Greeks were worn out arid effete, but their learning and culture were far beyond that of their western conquerors. Their ideas of civilization were altogether different. Yet for fifty- seven years the Latin Empire struggled on. Then one day, with a mere handful of soldiers, a Greek general surprised 1261 and took Constantinople. The Frankish emperor, Baldwin II, fled away, a Greek emperor (Michael VIII) was once more proclaimed, and the Latin domination of the Eastern. Empire came to an end. 128 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY Fifth Crusade 1228- The only Crusade after the third which brought any relief 1229 to pilgrims to the Holy Land was the fifth. That, strange to say, was followed, not by the pope's blessing but by his curse. For Frederick II, emperor of Germany, who led it, was under the ban of the Church when he set out. That an excommunicated man should dare to fight for the Lord's Tomb seemed a mockery and an insult, a cause not for rejoicing but for sorrow and anger. Yet Frederick succeeded where others had failed. He fought little, but by diplomacy he won a ten years' truce from the sultan, and also the assurance of a safe passage for pilgrims through Palestine to the Holy Places. Other Crusades followed but they did little for the cause. The passionate enthusiasm which had made the first possible died down. One by one every town which the Crusaders had conquered was again taken from them by the Moham- medans until only Acre was left. At length that, too, fell before the Turks, and in 1291 the Christian kingdom of Jerusalem came to an end. CHAPTER XXVI THE EFFECT OF THE CRUSADES THE FALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE FOR two centuries the Crusades had filled Europe with unrest. The lives of millions of men had been sacrificed, and in the end the Holy Land remained in the possession of the unbeliever. The Crusaders had accomplished nothing of what they had set out to do. But they had wrought great changes in Europe. For one thing they had caused a, CHANGE WROUGHT BY THE CRUSADES 129 redistribution of wealth and power. They had helped to weaken the power of the great feudal lords, and they had strengthened that of both kings and peoples. When the great nobles wanted money to enable them to set out on a Crusade they sold or mortgaged their lands and everything they possessed. To such an extent was this so that King Richard of England declared that he would sell London if he could find a suitable purchaser. In this way many great ^states changed hands. Some were bought by churchmen, thus the Church grew stronger. Others came into the hands of the kings, either by purchase, or because the vassal to whom they had been granted never returned from the Holy Land, and they naturally fell to the king as overlord. Thus the kings became stronger. But most of all the people benefited. In return for money supplied the feudal lords were obliged to grant many privi- leges to the towns. The burghers began to have new ideas of freedom, manufactures and commerce increased, guilds and corporations were founded, and soon became powerful. For the mere equipment of the great hosts which every now and again took their way towards Palestine necessitated a. certain amount of trade and manufacture. The trans- porting of these same hosts across the seas encouraged shipbuilding. New plants and fruits, such as lemons, apricots, maize, and sugar-cane, were introduced into Europe, through which both agriculture and manufactures were given an impetus. The villains and slaves, too, profited. For in the absence of the constantly warring nobles they could sow and reap in peace, and life for them became both happier and easier. A few also bought their freedom by following their lord's example and taking the cross. Everywhere thus the bands which had bound society began to loosen, and the great gulf which had separated the upper and the lower classes began to be bridged. 130 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY In the nobles themselves changes took place. They had gone forth to fight the infidel, scorning him as a barbarian. Everywhere in the east, both in the Eastern Empire and in Mohammedan lands, they had found a culture and civiliza- tion far greater than their own. Science, especially that of medicine, was far more advanced in the east than in the west. Even in the science of war the Crusaders found that they had something to learn from the despised infidel. In the west it had required a knightly vow to make a man courteous and gentle. Everywhere in the east the Crusaders found a refinement of manners to them undreamed of. They found a love of art and letters, and graces of life, of which before they had had no conception. And although they affected to despise these things they were not without their influence. Added to this the mere act of travel broadened their minds. Many who joined the Crusades had never before left their own village. They had no consciousness of other lands or peoples. Now, as for weeks they marched through strange countries, their ideas of the world became enlarged. They heard of yet other lands far beyond Palestine. The desire to know more of them was awakened and a great impulse was given to the study of geography and of history. Poetic literature, too, received an impulse, and many of the finest mediaeval romances have to do with the story of the Crusades. These changes only came gradually. They were changes which were bound to come, and if the Crusades had never taken place they would have come in time. But the Cru- sades undoubtedly hastened that time. The Ottoman Turks One other office the Crusades performed. That was keeping the Turk out of Europe. For while they were en- gaged with the Crusades they had no energies to attack the THE OTTOMAN TURKS ATTACK EUROPE 131 Eastern Empire. And when the Crusades came to an end the Empire of the Seljukian Turks was also tottering to its fall. But its place was soon taken by that of the Ottoman Turks, who had been driven westward by the great Gendhis Khan and his successors. They were at first only a small tribe of pastoral warriors. But they increased rapidly in power, and before the end of the thirteenth century they had become a menace to the Eastern Empire. Bit by bit they wrested from the Greeks what little remained of their possessions in Asia, then they passed into Europe. On and on they came, farther and farther west. Nothing it seemed could stay their conquering march, and all Christian Europe trembled. Then once more the pope called upon Christian warriors to defend the Church of Christ against the infidel, and the kings of France, Germany, and Hungary, uniting their forces, marched to check the terrible foe. But at the battle of Nicopolis in Bulgaria the Christian army was 1396 cut to pieces, and the victorious foe vowed that he would not stay his march until he had stabled his horses in the Church of St. Peter at Rome. Fall of Constantinople But before he had time to fulfil his threat the Turk was called back to fight another foe and defend his conquests against the attacks of the terrible Mongol, Tamerlane. The 1402 Turks in their turn went down before this fierce conqueror, and the Ottoman power was humbled to the dust. But in a wonderfully short time the Ottomans recovered themselves, 1453 and fifty years after their defeat by Tamerlane they, for the last time, laid siege to Constantinople. This time the capital of the Eastern Empire, which had withstood their onslaughts for so many hundred years, fell. The last emperor, named Constantine, like the founder of the Eastern Empire, died fighting for his capital, and the great 132 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY sultan, Mohammed II, rode in triumph into the Church of St. Sophia. Thus the Crescent triumphed over the Cross, and an Asi- atic and alien people took their place among the nations of Europe. They held sway over a huge territory, including parts of what are now Austria, Hungary, Russia, Greece, Servia, Rumania, and Bulgaria, besides many other lesser provinces. From the Black Sea to the Adriatic, from the Dniester and the Bug to the Mediterranean, the Crescent flew victorious. Added to this the Ottomans had a great Empire in Asia and Africa, and the Sultan boasted " that he was master of many kingdoms, ruler of three continents, and lord of two seas." The Ottoman Turks were the last barbarian tribe to settle upon European soil. They did not disappear like the Huns, they were not driven forth like the Saracens, they have in no way become Europeanized like the Hungarians or Magyars, they have remained Asiatic and alien, a blot upon the map of Europe to this day. CHAPTER XXVII THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE STRIFE WITH THE POPES COMMER- CIAL PROGRESS THE Saxon line of emperors came to an end with Henry V (see Chapter XX), and under the Hohenstaufens the bitter struggle between popes and emperors continued. Emperors, too, still strove after world dominion, while their power over Germany was yet unstable. At length both Germany and Italy became divided into two great parties. In Germany the factions were known as FREDERICK I, BARBAROSSA 133 Welfs and Waiblings, in Italy as Guelphs and Ghibellines. The Welfs or Guelphs were followers of the pope, the Waiblings or Ghibellines were followers of the emperor, Waibling being a sort of surname given to the Hohenstaufens from their castle of that name. Frederick I, Barbarossa In the tremendous struggle between pope and emperor the Empire was to succumb, but for a time the inevitable end was staved off by the genius of a great man. This was 1152- Frederick I, Barbarossa. Strong and just, a great statesman 119C and a great soldier, he was, perhaps, the best emperor who has ever ruled over Germany. Under him once again the warring states were united. Even he could not entirely put down private warfare but he greatly reduced it, and in the comparative peace the country became more prosperous and united than ever before. It would have been well for Germany had Barbarossa been content with his work there. But once again the desire for world dominion and the fatal connexion with Italy brought ruin. The Normans were by this time firmly established in Italy, and the south was thus practically lost to the Empire. In the north the great cities had grown powerful, and taking advantage of the quarrels between pope and emperor had wrung themselves free and formed republics. The em- perors' quarrels with the pope were bitter and frequent, and in these struggles the popes sometimes sought help from the Normans, sometimes from the Lombard cities. They used their spiritual powers against the emperor also, and like some of his predecessors, Barbarossa was excommuni- cated. But the thunders of the Church did not affect him as they had affected Henry IV. For Barbarossa ruled Germany with a strong hand, and the German bishops were emperor's men rather than pope's men. They did homage 134 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY to the emperor for their fiefs, and rode with his army. Had the German Church always been thus true to the emperor the fate of the German Empire might have been other than it was. Italy and the Empire 1158- Soon after his coronation Frederick entered Italy and in ' several campaigns reduced the Lombard cities to submission. It was done with not a little cruelty, Milan being razed to the ground. He placed German rulers over the cities and pro- vinces and laid upon the people such a burden of taxes that the record of them was called " The book of pain and mourning." Frederick's first papal quarrel was with Adrien IV, the 1157 only Englishman who ever sat upon the papal throne. It began over a very small matter. Adrien wrote a letter to Frederick in which he seemed to claim that the Empire was his (the pope's) gift and the emperor merely his vassal. At this assumption the imperial wrath blazed furiously. The pope was roused to equal fury, and only his death saved 1159 the emperor from excommunication. But his death, far from ending the quarrel, only added more fury to it. For two popes were now elected, the emperor's party choosing Victor IV, the pope's party Alexander III. Each pope, as soon as he was enthroned, excommunicated his rival, and Alexander III also excom- municated the emperor. Barbarossa cared little for the thunders of the Church. But Alexander was a formidable foe. It was he who later threatened Henry II of England with excommunication for the murder of Thomas a Becket. Against such a pope the emperor needed all his strength, and soon his cause was 1164 endangered by the death of his own pope. But nothing daunted, he elected another, Paschal III, and marching 1167 on Rome, he took the city, and triumphantly enthroned his pope there, while Alexander fled in dismay. BARBAROSSA'S POLICY 135 The emperor had conquered, but in the very moment of his triumph disaster overtook him. Pestilence wasted his army, and the Lombard cities, joining hands with Pope Alexander, rose in revolt. Frederick sent to Germany for reinforcements, they were refused, and in the battle of 1176 Legnano he was defeated by the Lombards. This battle was a turning point in Frederick's reign. After it he saw that it was useless longer to struggle against the growing spirit of freedom which had grown up among the cities of Italy. So he made peace with the Lombards, 1177 keeping only a vague suzerainty over them. He also gave up the cause of the rival pope, and made peace with Alex- ander, who removed the ban of excommunication from him. Even after this, however, his dealings with the popes were never altogether smooth. A few years later Frederick made peace with Sicily also, H86 and arranged a marriage between his son Henry and Con- stance the heiress of Sicily. Thus at length Sicily became a fief of the Empire. The pope, however, was ill-pleased with this last stroke of policy on Frederick's part. For with Sicily a fief of the Empire he lost an ally in his struggles with the emperor. Yet angry although he was he did not renew the ban of the Church. Three years later Barbarossa set out with the third Crusade, and died somewhere in Asia Minor. But he had 1190 impressed himself so thoroughly on the German people that they did not believe in his death. So a legend arose that he was only resting after his great labours, and that he would come again. He sits, it is said, within a cave in the heart of the Kyffhausen Mountains, waiting till his country has need of him. The emperors who succeeded Barbarossa were all in- volved in the same old round of struggle with angry popes, with rebellious German states, with revolting cities in northern Italy and to all was added the struggle to conquer 136 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY Sicily securely for the Empire. At length, under the weight of all these evils the Empire was crushed to the dust. H98- In the days of Otto IV the land was rilled with strife. 1214 First Otto disputed the crown with Philip of Swabia, and after he was accepted as emperor, Frederick of Hohen- staufen, king of Sicily, appeared as his rival. In this quarrel foreign nations also became involved, King John of England allying himself with Otto, and Philip of France allying himself with Frederick. This was the first international war in the history of Europe. It ended in the triumph of 1214 France at the battle of Bouvines (see Chapter^XXI). 1215- Otto rode from the field a fallen emperor, and Frederick 1250 jj -took his place. He, at first sustained by the pope, was soon involved in quarrels with him. During his reign four popes ruled in Rome, but his bitterest quarrels were with the two last, Gregory IX and Innocent IV. He was excommuni- cated more than once, but he was unbending in his defiance, and, to prove his contempt for the pope's authority, while still under the ban of the Church, he insolently undertook the 1228 fifth Crusade. Yet this was the only one of the later Crusades which produced the result for which it was initiated. Frederick was brilliant and learned, a lover of science and art, and his ideas of statesmanship were far before his times. But he was far more a Sicilian than a German, and during his long reign of thirty-five years, although he ruled Sicily well, he neglected Germany and spent little of his time there. Indeed, during the last thirteen years of his reign he never crossed its borders. The German nobles taking advantage of this neglect once more did as they would, and the land was filled with private wars and bloodshed. Yet out of this time of confusion a great trade organization arose in the Hanseatic League. GERMAN TRADE EXPANSION 137 THE EMPERORS FROM HENRY V Henry V, 1106-1125. Frederick of Hohenstaufen. Lothaire II of Saxony, 1125-1137. Conrad III, Frederick of Swabia. 1138-1152. | Frederick I (Barbarossa), 1152-1190. Henry VI, 1190-1197. i Frederick II, 1215-1250. I Conrad IV, 1250-1254. Philip, 1197-1208. [Otto IV, son of Henry the Lion of Saxony, was a rival emperor, 1197 -1214.* He was deposed after the battle of Bouvines.] Hanseatic League During his reign Barbarossa had greatly encouraged the towns with their trade and commerce, and had made many of them free cities owning allegiance to none but the emperor. Now these towns had no mind to lose their freedom and their trade through the depredations of robber knights. So for protection they banded themselves into leagues, of which the Hanseatic League soon became the chief. It grew to such importance that all the trade of the Baltic, and most of the trade of the North Sea, was soon in its hands. It owned armies and fleets, and even kings were forced to bow to its power. Much of the trade of England was carried on by the Han- seatic merchants. The English called them Easterlings, or men from the East. They were probably even allowed the 138 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY privilege of coining English money. From this we have our word sterling, used still in connexion with British coinage to express its genuineness and good quality. Thus early the German people, as distinct from the German nobles, showed their aptitude for peaceful commerce. And once again history seems to show that if the emperors had been content to forget their wild dream of world dominion, and advance their country in the ways of peace, the fate of the Empire might have been very different. As it was, because of this dream and the wars with the Popes which were one of its consequences, both the House of Hohenstaufen and the Empire were brought to ruin. CHAPTER XXVIII FRANCE: THE CAPTIVITY OF THE POPES THE BEGINNING OF THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR UNDER Philip Augustus, France began to take a great place among the nations of Europe (see Chapter XXI). It was 1285- another Philip Philip IV who broke the power o' the pope. The Hohenstaufen dynasty had been brought to utter ruin through its constant and fierce struggles with the popes. The popes had triumphed. But they had not come forth from the battle altogether unwounded, and in time the papacy declined even as its great rival the Empire declined. The power of the Hohenstaufens had fallen before the power of the papacy because it had no solid foundation. It was not rooted in nationality. But when the papacy PHILIP IV AND THE POPE 139 came in contact with the strong and growing nationality of France it fell beneath the yoke. During the first half of the thirteenth century under Inno- 1198- cent III and his immediate successors the papal power was at 1216 its highest. Then the pope acted not merely as the spiritual head of all Christendom but as the overlord of every temporal ruler and as the supreme potentate in Italy. Innocent interfered with the temporal affairs of Europe from Norway to Spain, from England to Hungary. Weak King John of England cowered beneath his wrath, and even Philip Augustus of France, the strongest ruler in Europe at the time, had to bow to his will. Merely by the force of his tremendous claims, aided by the visionary authority which still surrounded the name of Rome, the pope compelled the submission of mighty kings and princes, without drawing a sword, with indeed no army to back him. Boniface VIII and Philip IV But among the growing nationalities of Europe a desire for political independence of the papacy began gradually to make itself felt. When, however, Boniface VIII came 1294- to the papal throne he was blind to this fact. He was 1303 formed rather to be an emperor than a priest. No pope ever made greater cla'ms to power, and with all the arro- gance of his predecessors he plunged into strife with Philip the Fair of France. It began nominally over a question of money. As the king's power increased, as his activities multiplied, he became always more and more in need of money. But financial science was slow in developing. Indeed, the whole business of government, the best and most equitable means of ruling a people, and binding it together in common interests, had still to be learned. There was no regular system of taxation, and when a king wanted money he 140 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY raised it how he could, often enough using vile and despotic means. Now Philip IV, in want of money, laid a tax upon the clergy. This seemed to the pope a usurpation of his rights, 1296 and he issued a bull forbidding the clergy to pay any tax to a temporal ruler without his consent. But Philip was not to be thus browbeaten, and he replied by forbidding the 1296 export of gold from France, thereby cutting off the pope's revenues from French clergy. At this the pope, proud although he was, gave way, and for a time peace between the two arrogant rulers was patched up. But the quarrel soon broke out again, this time the pope threatening Philip with excommunication. Philip, however, was no German emperor. He publicly 1302 burned the pope's bull, sent him an insulting reply, and called the States General together. This was a great step towards freedom for the people of France. Ever since the advent of the Capetians parlia- ments had been held. But they were little more than courts of justice, and to them only the nobles and clergy had been called. Now Philip called to his parliament not only nobles and clergy but the third estate also, that is, burghers, and deputies from the large towns and cities. Philip was the most absolute monarch who had ruled over France up to this time, and it is possible that in calling the third estate to his parliament he had no thought but of showing his own power. He would show the pope that he could do as he liked within his own kingdom, and that his people were with him. So he called representatives from the towns to " hear, receive, approve, and do what should be commanded them by the king." He felt that for the moment the support of the people was needed to save him from the fate which had overtaken the German emperors who, without their people's support, had been crushed under the power of the pope. THE BABYLONISH CAPTIVITY 141 He did not foresee that beneath the power of the people, whose help he now invoked, the French monarchy would one day go down in the dust. Babylonish Captivity The support which Philip expected from the people he received. Strong in their strength his defiance of the pope continued, and he even went so far as to make him a prisoner. 1303 And when overcome with wrath and shame the aged Boniface VIII died, Philip found means to have a Frenchman set upon the papal throne. This pope of Philip's choosing was Clement V. He was entirely under Philip's influence, 1305- and that he should remain so Philip made him take up his 1314f residence at Avignon instead of at Rome. Avignon was a possession of the pope. It was, however, surrounded by French territory, and during the seventy years that Avignon remained the abode of the popes the policy of the Holy See was directed by Frenchmen. This time came to be known as the Babylonish Captivity 1306- of the popes, and the fact that such a captivity was possible 1376 decreased to an enormous extent the power of the papacy over the nations of Europe. From this time the glory of the papacy was at an end. It was a shock to the world to find that the great pontiff, who claimed jurisdiction over all princes, could be made the ser- vant of one. A pope living almost in France lost the pres- tige and the glamour borrowed from the name of Rome. Nation after nation began to realize its capability for inde- pendence, and became disinclined to recognize any power beyond the limits of its nationality. The chief European powers, after long struggles, had at last won some unity and solidarity. Factions were disappearing, kings were becoming more powerful, and all classes were growing more obedient to them. Being able to command obedience from their own subjects, 142 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY kings and princes cared the less for the mandates of the pope. They obeyed him just as far as they wanted and no farther. Thus with the birth of nationality the power of the pope in secular matters was bound to decrease. In spiritual matters, however, the whole world still acknow- ledged the pope as supreme. Throughout his reign Philip not only combated the power of the pope, but also the power of the feudal nobles, and with terrible cruelty he broke up the order of the Knights Templars. But he supported the burgher classes. He was a hard, unlov- able man, but his reign was a great one for France. The Later Capetians 1314- Philip was succeeded by his son Louis X, who after a short ' reign of eighteen months died, leaving only a daughter to succeed him. Many of the French thought that if this daughter were allowed to reign she would inevitably be sought in marriage by the king of some neighbouring state, and by such a marriage a foreigner would become king of France. The French people were already too much awake to surfer this. So the States General was called together, and an old 1316 law of the Salian Franks which decreed that no woman might inherit land was brought to light. This old law had really nothing to do with the succession to the crown, but it served the purpose. It was decided that because of this law no woman might sit upon the throne of France, and because it was supposed to date from the days of the Salian Franks it was called the Salic Law. Philip By right of this law then, Philip V succeeded his brother 1316-22 L OU J S X, and as both he and a third brother, Charles IV, 1322-28 died without male heirs the Capetian dynasty in direct succession died out. During the three hundred and fifty years that the Capets had ruled they had done much for France. Out of a mass of EDWARD III CLAIMS THE FRENCH THRONE 143 warring feudal states they had made a compact kingdom. All the great fiefs except Flanders, Brittany, Burgundy, and Guienne had been absorbed by the crown, and with this absorption the power of the feudal nobility was practically put an end to. The capital, after being moved from place to place, was finally fixed at Paris, and a real, if elementary, system of government was established. Upon the death of Charles IV, in accordance with the newly adopted Salic Law, the crown devolved upon Philip of Valois, 1328- nephew of Philip IV, and cousin of the last three kings. But 135 these three kings, Louis, Philip, and Charles, had a sister Isabella, who had married Edward II, king of England. Her son, Edward III, now claimed the throne of France, on the ground that even if his mother Isabella could not her- self be queen of France, she could transmit the title to a male heir. Therefore, he as grandson of Philip IV, claimed to have a better right to the throne than Philip of Valois, who was merely a nephew. The Hundred Years' War Out of this claim there arose what is known as the Hundred Years' War. As a matter of fact, although not altogether continuous, the Hundred Years' War covered a period of a hundred and seventeen years 1336-1453. Its effect, both on England and on France, was so great and enduring that it ranks as one of the great events in the history of the end of the Middle Ages. It continued throughout the reigns of five French and five English kings. Edward Ill's claim to the French throne was, however, not the sole cause of the war, it only served as an excuse. So far as the English were concerned the war was not simply a barons' war waged in the interests of regal power. It was for them linked with commerce and the business life of the people. 144 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY Flanders was one of the French fiefs which was still out- side the French king's influence. Indeed, the Flemish, grown rich by their own industry, had bought large liberties, and many of the towns of Flanders were practically republics. And in trying to amalgamate Flanders with the rest of his kingdom the king of France was forced into war with the haughty and freedom-loving weavers and wool merchants of these communes. The Flemish resisted the French king's efforts to incor- porate them with France because they had no common interests. The interests and fortunes of Flanders and of England were, on the other hand, closely bound together. For it was English wool which kept the Flemish looms busy, and English wool-growers depended for their livelihood almost entirely on the Flemish markets. The French king's victory over the Flemish merchants would constitute a menace to English trade. For the Eng- lish, therefore, this war appeared not merely a struggle for kingly power but one with which the interests of the people were bound up. And the memorable victories gained by the English were victories of the people and not of the nobles. Edward's army was, it may also be noticed, mainly com- posed not of feudal vassals but of paid soldiers drawn from the lower classes. This was, no doubt, partly from necessity. For a vassal was only bound to serve his lord during a stated number of days. He was often not bound to serve him at all beyond the seas. And as, wearied by his long wars, Edward saw more and more of his nobles turn homeward, he was obliged to fill their places by paid foot soldiers, either volun- teers or forced levies. Added to this, English leaders had already, through their frequent wars with Scotland, begun to learn the value of archers and foot soldiers, and they became actually desirous of having them in their army. But these English-Scottish " A CONTEMPTIBLE LITTLE ARMY ' 145 wars, which had taught the English so much, were of a local character. Little was known of them on the Continent. The French knights knew nothing of the value of archers, and to them Edward's force, deficient as it was in knightly splendour, must have seemed a contemptible little army. Flemish trade was as much in the balance as English trade. But at first the Flemish communes declared themselves neutral. When, however, the position of armed neutrality became untenable they flung the last vestige of loyalty to the French king to the winds and openly declared their alliance with Edward. This alliance was of great advantage to the English, as it threw the Flemish ports open to them and made the landing of an army much easier that it would otherwise have been. EDWARD IIFS CLAIM TO THE FRENCH THRONE Philip III, d. 1285. Philip IV (the Fair), Charles, d. 1314. Count of Valois, d. 1314. I Philip VI, 1328-1350. Louis X, Isabella = Ed. II, Philip V, Charles IV, d. 1316. | King of d. 1322. d. 1328. | I England. f~ ~~j Edward III. Jeanne. John, | d. 1316. Charles. K 146 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY CHAPTER XXIX FRANCE : THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR Crecy and the Siege of Calais 1346 THE first important victory of the Hundred Years' War was that of Cregy. There the hungry, ragged English archers and foot soldiers, rough men of the people, laid low the chivalry of France. Cregy was more than a victory, it w r as the beginning of a military and social revolution. It showed that the feudal army was hopelessly behind the times, hopelessly inefficient when confronted with science. The superb courage of the French noble was of no avail when confronted with the superior arms and skill of the English peasant. The French at Cregy never got within striking distance of the English, they could not show their prowess with sword or spear, for the arrows of the common soldier laid them low, and their splendid but weighty armour was of no avail against steel- pointed shafts sped with the force of iron muscles. Hitherto war had been the profession and the pastime of the great. The knight or noble, superbly mounted and clad in glittering steel, had alone counted in battle. To him had been all the honour and glory. The poor man's part had been but to suffer, to see his crops laid low, his cattle slaughtered or driven off, his home laid in ruins. And of his suffering no man took note. He was there to suffer. Cregy was one of the turning-points in the lives of great and humble alike. Henceforth the gospel of the nobilit}^ of the sword was no longer received with perfect faith. From Crecy Edward marched his victorious little army to Calais, to which he straightway laid siege. From the com- mercial side of the campaign Calais was a most important THE FALL OF CALAIS 147 place : for it was from this port that the French corsairs sailed which did so much damage to English trade. Archers, however, deadly though they were in a pitched battle, were useless against the enormous stone walls of a mediaeval fortress. The clumsy engines of assault made to sling stones were hardly of more avail. Gunpowder, in- deed, had lately been discovered, and the English dragged two or three cannons about with them ; but they were small and quite powerless against the tremendous masonry of the walls. The only means then of taking the town was by starvation. With dogged determination the English set about it, and after eleven months Calais yielded. 1347 Edward at once turned Calais into an English colony, settling it with several thousand English merchants and their families. It very quickly became of immense importance, both from a military and a commercial point of view. It was henceforth through this town that English armies were poured into France, and being on the borders of Flanders it became also the centre of distribution for the wool trade. For two hundred years it remained an English possession in spite of strenuous efforts on the part of the French to recover it. When at length it was regained, the loss made little difference to England. It was only of value to them during the aggressive and wholly unjustifiable wars of the Middle Ages. For some years the pope, Clement VI, had been trying 1342- to mediate between the kings of France and England. But 1352 he had joined with his efforts an endeavour to extend his power over the English Church, and Edward had received his advances coldly. Now, however, pleased with the result of his campaign, he listened to Clement, and a nine months' truce was signed. But no lasting peace could come of it. For Edward, flushed with victory, was not in a mood to resign any of his claims ; he still called himself king of France and denied Philip's right to the title. 148 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY But the truce was destined to last longer and men were to have little heart for war. In 1348 a pest, more baneful even than the sword, swept over Europe from the East. This dreadful pestilence, known as the Black Death, wiped out in France and England nearly a half of the population. Battle of Poitiers In 1350 Philip VI died and was succeeded by his son John. Under him the war continued, and ten years after Cregy 1356 the battle of Poitiers was fought. Except that the pride of chivalry suffered an even greater defeat it was but a re- petition of Cregy. At Poitiers King John of France had one of the most magnificent of feudal armies about him. All he had to do was to surround the little English army brought against him, and starve it into surrender. But that was not the chivalrous manner of waging war. The nobles were anxious to wipe out the shame of Cregy in brilliant fashion. Merely to starve an army into surrender could bring no renown. So once again the chivalry of France pitted itself against the English peasantry. Once again the uselessness of unscientific courage was proved, and the knight went down before the churl. The flower of French nobility lay dead upon the field. The king himself was taken prisoner to England, there " to enjoy the insolent courtesy " of his captors. But in spite of Cregy, in spite of Poitiers, the conquest of France was as far off as ever. Every feudal castle was a fortress, and the development of the art of fortification had far outdistanced the invention of siege machines. Almost the only means of reducing a fortress was by starvation or by treachery. An army might sit down for months before a fortress, and when at last the endurance of the defenders was exhausted and they yielded, the conquerors only found themselves master of a few more miles of territory, and the business of reducing the next fortress had to be begun. TREATY OF BRETIGNY 149 Even had it been possible by siege after siege to win the country it would have been impossible to hold it. After a time then, weary of sieges, the English left the cities alone and ravished the land, making it a desert. For four years they marched up and down practically unhindered, burning, plundering, and destroying, until the once rich country was a wilderness of ashes and blood-stained ruins. The Black Death had already carried off hundreds and thousands, and added to this the land was torn by civil wars, the nobles fighting among themselves, and the peasants, driven mad by misery, rising against the nobles, Treaty of Bretigny The unhappy people, pushed at length to desperation, i860 yielded to Edward's demands, and by the Treaty of Bretigny half of France south of the Loire was given up to the English. It was given, too, not as a fief but to be held outright " in the manner in which the kings of France had held it." On his side Edward resigned his claim to the throne of France, and for a time there was peace. It was, however, only exhaustion which had made France yield to the English yoke. Nine years later, when the country had to some extent recovered from that exhaustion, Charles V, who had succeeded his father in 1364, found an excuse for rejecting the Treaty of Bretigny, and the Hundred Years' War broke out again. It now entered upon a new phase. Edward III had to a great extent lost his Flemish allies, he was old, and his great general and son, the Black Prince, was ill. On the French side Charles V, the politic and not over-chivalrous king, was aided by the military genius of Du Guesclin. So, for a time, all went well with France, and misfortune after misfortune pursued the 1374 English, until at length little of Edward's conquests remained save Bordeaux, Bayonne, and Calais. But Charles V died at the age of forty-six, leaving his son, 1380 150 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY a child of twelve, to succeed him, and France fell once more on evil days. During the minority of Charles VI the country was torn by strife between the nobles, who quarrelled for the power of regent. Then he, scarce grown to manhood, became insane, and once more the country drifted fast into civil war. Renewal of the War by Henry V It w r as then that Henry V, the young and ambitious king of England, determined to reassert the English claim to the 1415 crown of France. Once again at Agincourt the story of Cregy and of Poitiers was repeated, and fifteen thousand English archers defeated an army of fifty thousand knights and nobles. After this prodigious victory Henry's army was, however, loo exhausted to do more, and he led it back to England. In spite of the English menace civil war continued in France. When Henry returned with a fresh army he was encouraged by the rebels, and in 1420 the poor, mad king was forced to sign the Treaty of Troyes. By this Treaty Charles VI gave his daughter Catharine in marriage to Henry, and acknowledged him as his heir, thus disinherit- ing his own son Charles, and making a gift of the French crown to a foreigner. 1422 Henry, however, never became king of France, for he died in 1422 a little less than two months before his father- in-law. And although upon the death of Charles VI the baby king of England, Henry VI, was proclaimed in Paris as in England, many of the French rejected him.* The Dauphin also was proclaimed as Charles VII, and the miser- able war dragged on. * See map, p. 159. KEY ':- Reign of Edward M (1327-137 Territory tost by England after the Treaty of Bret/gny BH Territory held in 13 77 BBS French Frontier Possessions of (he D.of Burgundy mmm^mm^ DUCHY II I OF! BI1JRGUN I X Navarette (Naiera) 1367 FRANCE IN THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY Treaty of Bretigny (1360). HI Territory gained by England 152 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY CHAPTER XXX GERMANY: CONTINUED STRUGGLES WITH THE POPE 1250 WITH the 'death of Frederick II (see Chapter XXVII) the Mediaeval Empire may be said to end. After him came 1250- Conrad IV, the last of the Hohenstaufens, and the Great 1254 interregnum, when for a space of nineteen years there was no real emperor, and the crown was bandied about among foreign princes. Then followed a period of a hundred and sixty-four years, when the crown passed from one house of nobles to another, in all ten emperors. During this time the borders of the Empire shrank considerably. Italy was entirely lost. In the north the great trading cities became independent republics, the middle was held by the pope. In the south the kingdoms of Sicily and Naples were con- 1266 quered by Charles of Anjou. He was called in by Pope Urban IV to crush the Hohenstaufens, and by him Conradin, 1268 the last of the German-Norman kings, was put to death. Poland became an independent monarchy and rendered no more allegiance to the German crown. Denmark and Hungary also became free of the Empire. To the emperors there remained only Germany itself. It was a Germany more hopelessly divided than ever. While every other kingdom in Europe had been moving steadily towards united nationality, Germany had moved in the opposite direction and now contained two hundred and seventy-six independent states. The rulers of these states were constantly at variance with each other. They were always ready to fight each other, but never to combine and fight a foreign foe. There was no sense of nationality among them, and their loyalty to their THE POWER OF THE ELECTORS 153 overlord the emperor was of the slightest. These overlords still regarded themselves as emperors, but for two centuries few went to Rome to receive the crown at the hands of the pope, and after the middle of the fifteenth century none did so. As kings they had little power, they had no capital, and no government worthy of the name. Thus striving for world dominion the emperors ceased even to rule in Germany. During this time the power of the electors who chose the emperor grew rapidly. In early days the emperors had been elected by the whole of the nobles. But by degree most'of them lost this right, which was at last usurped by seven men only, three churchmen and four nobles. The churchmen were the archbishops of Mainz, Cologne, and Treves. The nobles were the King of Bohemia, the Margrave of Brandenburg, the Duke of Saxony, and the Count Pala- tine. In the seventeenth century the princes of Bavaria and of Hanover were added, making the number of electors nine. As time went on the power of these electors increased enormously, until at length they claimed to be the seven pillars upon which the Empire rested. They forced the emperor of their choice to agree to any conditions they liked to impose. If he tried to go his own way they waged war against him, and sometimes even deposed him. And in this they always found a friend in the pope, to whose advantage it was to have a weak emperor on the throne. Lewis IV In 1313 the electors could not agree and two emperors were elected, Lewis IV and Frederick the Handsome. In consequence the land was torn with civil war for many years. The popes were by this time living in Avignon, little more than vassals of the French king. Yet Pope John XXII 1313- still tried to impose his will upon Germany. He more or 1334 less took the part of Frederick and commanded Lewis 154 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY to give up the crown in three months under pain of ex- communication. Lewis replied with fury. The election of a German king he declared lay with the German people only and needed no sanction from the pope. As to the quarrel between the two rival emperors, that should be settled by the sword and not by the pope's decree. It was so settled, and after long years of warfare Lewis became reconciled to Frederick 1325 and agreed to share the throne with him. 1328 Lewis then marched to Rome, deposed John, and en- throned an anti-pope of his own choosing. At first the Roman people received him with joy. But soon their mood changed, and anti-pope and emperor alike fled for their lives. In 1330 Frederick died, and three years later Lewis, weary of the long conflict, tried to make peace with the pope. He declared himself willing to be recrowned by the rightful pope, and do any penance that he should lay upon him. 1334- But Benedict XII, who had now succeeded John XXII, 1342 asked too much. He demanded that Lewis should give up the imperial title until the Church should decide whether he had a right to it or not. At this both the emperor and the 1338 electors were filled with wrath, and they issued a solemn manifesto in which they declared that the emperor took his rank and crown from them, and that there was no need whatever for confirmation from the pope. Thus the in- dependence of the Empire from all papal interference was made legal. Charles IV But although the princes of Germany had by this mani- festo at last shown some dawning loyalty the popes clung obstinately to their powers, and in 1346 Clement VI deposed Lewis and called upon the electors to choose another em- peror. By this time the electors were weary of Lewis, A PRIEST'S KING " 155 and they obeyed the pope and chose Charles the son of the blind king of Bohemia. This happened in July. In August the battle of Crey 1346 was fovrht, and in it both King John and his son Charles House ofrlaosburg Ecclesiastical States Imperial Cities Dominions of Charles the Bold ['''' Boundary of German) Hansa Towns underlined- Bremen Other States no shading GERMANY, A.D. 1254 To I 5 fought on the side of France. King John was killed, and Charles fled back to Germany. Here once again the land was torn with civil strife. For Charles was not the choice of the people. They felt that he had been imposed by the pope, and called him " a priest's king," and would have nothing to say to him. Then in 1347 Lewis died, and the crown went begging. 156 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY It was offered to Edward III of England, refused by him and one German prince after another, and finally by dint of enormous bribes secured by Charles. During his reign Germany, like the rest of Europe, was 1348 devastated by the Black Death, which carried off nearly half the inhabitants. It was followed by a terrible per- secution of the Jews who, according to the superstition of the times, were believed to have caused the plague. But " Germany," said a later emperor, Maximilian I, " never suffered from a more pestilent plague than the reign of Charles IV." He utterly neglected Germany, but did everything in his power to aggrandize his own kingdom of Bohemia. 1356 On the other hand he issued a great document, which from the colour of its seal has come to be known as the Golden Bull of Charles IV. It was a document almost as important for Germany as the Magna Carta for England, forming as it did the groundwork of the laws for more than four hundred years. One of its chief aims was to put an end to strife over the election of the emperor. By it the electors were made still more important. They were given full sovereign rights in their own lands. They could coin money, levy taxes, and make war as they chose. From their courts of justice there was no appeal even to the emperor, and the smallest crime against their persons was punishable as high treason. They were thus raised far above all other princes of the realm. Taken together they were far more powerful than the emperor himself. In the whole Bull there was no mention of the pope and his claims, or even of Italy. THE " KING OF BOURGES " 157 CHAPTER XXXI FRANCE : THE END OF THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR THE REIGN OF LOUIS XI Ax the beginning of the fifteenth century France was in a pitiable state. The horrors of the Civil War (see Chapter XXIX), the crimes it had induced, seemed to have crushed out all national spirit. So much so was this that the noxious Treaty of Troyes aroused little opposition. Few realized the national humiliation it involved, and at first it was re- ceived almost everywhere with something like satisfaction. Yet from the degradation of the Treaty of Troyes and its consequences France was to awake to true nationality. In 1422 two kings held sway over France. In Paris, John Duke of Bedford ruled in the name of his baby nephew, Henry VI of England. At Bourges Charles VII of France established himself. The latter seemed far the weaker of the two. Only a small portion of France in the valley of the Loire was true to him, his army consisted chiefly of foreign hired troops, and the English contemptu- ously called him king of Bourges. They feared him not at all, but they determined to wrest from him all that he had, and they laid siege to Orleans. 1428 Charles was vacillating and weak, and while Orleans x struggled in the toils of the foe he idled uncertainly at the castle of Chinon. But now at length France found its soul as a nation. Patriotism awoke. A few years before one part of France had not greatly cared if another part had been devasted. One town had not greatly cared if another was besieged. Now Orleans was besieged, and all France cared, under the yoke of the foreigner although it was. The people of France cared, and in their cottages the peasants 158 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY wept for the sorrows of their king and country, and armed only with their scythes and axes, they rose against the hated foreigner. Joan of Arc In the village of Domremy on the borders of Burgundy and Lorraine, there lived a simple peasant girl named Joan of Arc. All her short life she had heard of war and disaster, of divisions among the nobles, of invasion by a foreign foe. Now she heard how the rightful king of France was an out- cast in his kingdom, denied his just inheritance by that foe. She thought and dreamed of all these things, until at length she seemed to hear the voices of the saints calling her to go forth to save her country and her king. At first she feared to listen to these voices. Then, greatly daring, she determined to obey what seemed to her a heaven-sent command. So she set forth on the long and perilous journey across the war-ridden land. God protected her and she reached the castle of Chinon in safety. She found it hard at first to make the king believe in her mission ; but she was so filled with holy enthusiasm and devotion that none who came in contact with her could long remain unbelieving. Joan of Arc therefore was accepted as a soldier and a leader, and set forth for Orleans. All that the awakened patriotism of France required was a leader who could command unquestioning obedience and direct its disunited efforts. Only a miracle was needed, and the miracle happened. Under the leadership of a girl of eighteen the undisciplined herd of nobles and their followers became a fighting machine. Men brutalized by long warfare became gentle as doves and fierce as lions. They swore no 1429 more, but they fought as if inspired. Before long Orleans was relieved, Charles VII was crowned at Reims, and the Maid's work was done. But she was not allowed to go back KY:-Temtory held by Henry V B Dominions of Charles the Bold of Burgundy K4MKOR French Frontter *Z.^.'t 1467- 1477 FRANCE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY Map illustrating Treaty of Troyes 160 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY to her peaceful village life as she desired, and in May of 1430 she fell into the hands of the enemy. By them she was cruelly burned as a witch. This brutal act availed them nothing. The English and their Burgundian allies might kill the Maid, they could not kill her glorious work. For little more than a year only she had led France, but she had led it successfully to nationality and victory. The English cause was dead from the moment Joan of Arc carried her white banner into Orleans. So, in spite of weakness, divisions, intrigues, and even civil war, the English were, by slow degrees, driven out of France. At length only Calais remained to 1453 them, and the Hundred Years' War was at an end. Earlier in this same year, Constantinople had fallen before the Turks, and they had laid hold of a great part of eastern Europe. That they were able to do so was due greatly to the enfeebled state of the Holy Roman Empire, and in part to the exhausted state of France. The emperor did little to stay the triumphant march of the Turks. France, which all through the Crusades had taken a leading part in combating their power, was too stricken and exhausted now to attempt a crusade against their aggression. This was a misfortune for eastern Europe, but it was well for France. Instead of frittering away strength upon foreign warfare, she turned to the work of national recon- struction and of regaining her high place among the powers of Europe. France had suffered much during the Hundred Years' War, but it had gained much. It gained more than it lost, for out of the necessity of combining against a common foe a nation was born, and the nation redeemed itself. But its redemption was not due to monarchical power. It was due to the people who, during the long struggle, had begun to assert themselves. Without their awakened patriotism Charles, vacillating and mediocre as he LOUIS XI, KING OF FRANCE 161 could have accomplished nothing. He has been given the surname of the Victorious, but also that of the Well Served. The latter is, perhaps, the better name. He was well served by his people. But the great strength of the French monarchy was only latent, and when peace was restored that strength awoke. Under the weight of it the dawning liberties of the people were blotted out, and from this time onward the kingly power in France increased until at length it became an intolerable tyranny against which, at the bitter end, the people revolted. Louis XI Under Charles VII France wrung itself free from a foreign 1461- yoke. Under his son, that sinister genius, Louis XI, it 1483 became a great monarchy. Louis XI may be called the first king of modern France. The kings who had gone before him had been mediaeval. Louis was modern. There was no mediaeval glamour about his court, and although he ruled like a tyrant, it was with the cool-headed tyranny of a lawyer, and not with the brutal arrogance of a feudal lord. Louis was brave, but he never fought an enemy openly if he could gain his end in any other way. That many of his ways were tortuous mattered little to him. " He who does not know how to deceive does not know how to reign^" was the sole maxim which he was at the pains to teach to his son the Dauphin. To him war was a clumsy weapon, to be used only in the last resort. Money, and the power of a fair, if false, tongue, he esteemed much more. He was always ready to pledge his word, and unscrupulous in breaking it if he could gain thereby. He thought that every one had his price, and ' was willing enough to pay the price in order to win him to his side. Government was a science to Louis, and he determined that there should be no power in France save the king's power. So he crushed the feudal nobles, both great and L 162 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY small, out of existence, and took possession of their lands. He taught them, by severe measures, that no man had the right to disturb the peace of the realm, or make alliance with the king's enemies. He laid upon the people a burden of taxes hardly to be borne, but he granted to the burgher classes many privi- leges. This he did through no love of them, but merely that he might make use of them. To him men were but pawns in his great game, and he did what he would with them. Wily, perfidious, and cruel, he went his way alone, the States General being called together only once throughout his reign. He was feared by all, loved by few, but he left France united, and with her borders defined and secured as they had never been before. With him the Middle Ages may be said to end. THE HOUSES OF VALOIS AND BURGUNDY Philip VI, 1328-1350 I John, 1350-1364. Charles V, 1364-1380. Philip, | Duke of Burgundy, d. 1404, | | m. Margaret, heiress of the Charles VI, Louis of Orleans. Count of Flanders. 1380-1422. | | | Charles of John the Charles VII, Katharine, Orleans. Fearless. 1422-1461. m. Henry V of Louis XI, 1461-1483. i England. I Philip the Good. I Charles the Bold, d. 1477. Charles VIII, 1483-1498, Jeanne = Louis XU, ^498-1515. SPAIN CONSOLIDATED 163 CHAPTER XXXII THE MOORS DRIVEN OUT OF SPAIN SPAIN BEGINS TO COUNT AMONG THE NATIONS OF EUROPE EARLY in the eighth century the Arabs overran Spain and took almost complete possession of it (see Chapter VII). But although Arabia was the birthplace of Mohammed, the Arabians were less fanatical than any other of the followers of the Prophet. They did not insist on a wholesale conver- sion of the conquered people. For they loved the Christian's gold more than his conversion. So on condition of paying a tax Christians were allowed to follow their own religion. Nearly all the nobles accepted this condition, but many of the people also became Mohammedan, especially the slaves. For by professing Mohammedanism a slave earned freedom. But although nearly all Spain came under the domination of the Arabs, a small portion did not. In the extreme north- west, among the Asturian mountains,* a few of the in- habitants held out against the invaders. Mountains have always been the last resort of a conquered people, and the Mohammedans were never able to dislodge this remnant from their strongholds. As years passed, indeed, these Spaniards, as we may now call them, strengthened their hold upon the north. Bit by bit they drove the Saracens southward, and at length several little kingdoms were formed, such as Navarre, Leon, Aragon, and Gastile, the last taking its name from the many castles built to defend it against the Saracens. These kingdoms were all small, and all disunited, but by * See map, p. 47, 164 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY degrees, through marriages between the various royal families and in other ways, several became united in the twelfth century into the kingdom of Aragon, and in the thirteenth century eight little states were united into the kingdom of Leon and Castile. In the twelfth century also, under Alfonso I, Portugal became a kingdom with a territory less than half its present size. But both Alfonso and his successors fought persistently against the Saracens, and in 1250 Alfonso III conquered what is now the southern portion of Portugal from them, so that from the middle of the thirteenth century the boundaries of Portugal have been very much what they are to-day. After the union of the various small Spanish states into kingdoms the conquest of Spain from the Moors went on rapidly, and by 1265 all that was left to them was Granada in the extreme south. And even that was not a free king- dom, for the king of Granada owned the king of Castile as overlord. For more than two hundred years from this time the king of Aragon and the king of Castile ruled over Spain side by side. But as yet there was little sense of Spanish nationality. The two kings were rivals and often enemies. Their kingdoms were merely a conglomeration of small states, the inhabitants of which spoke different languages and had little in common with each other. There were among them Moriscoes or converted Saracens, Marranes or converted Jews, and Mozarabes, Spaniards who had become Mohammedans. To reconcile all these and make them into one nation was no easy matter, yet slowly Spain moved towards nationality. Ferdinand and Isabella At length in 1469 Isabella of Castile married her cousin * Ferdinand of Aragon, and thus the two crowns were united. * See genealogical table, p. 215, SPAIN AND THE INQUISITION 165 But the union of the crowns alone did not satisfy Ferdinand and Isabella. They desired true national union, and they became persuaded that the only way to ensure this was to unite all their peoples into one national Church. In order to do this the Inquisition was introduced into 1481 Spain. The Inquisition was a tribunal of the Church called into being to find out and punish all heretics. It grew up gradually, and was not instituted with all its cruel methods until the thirteenth century. It was a terrible institution, and one from which there was neither appeal nor escape. Every one accused before the tribunal was presupposed guihy, and those who would not at once confess their guilt were tortured until they did. Fines and imprison- ment, the forced undertaking of pilgrimages, or the wearing of opprobrious garments were the lightest punish- ments to which the guilty were condemned, while hundreds and thousands were burned to death with horrible cruelty. Until the Inquisition was introduced, Spain, with its strangely mixed population, had been more tolerant in the matter of religion than any country in Europe. In their day of power the Moors and Saracens had been tolerant. When their day of power came, the Christians also were tolerant and allowed both Jews and Mohammedans to follow their own religion in peace. Zealous religious fervour was not at this time a character- istic of Spain. The Spaniards took no part in the Crusades, and none of the rulers of the many little Spanish states appeared before the walls of Jerusalem. This was partly due to the fact that during the period of the Crusades the Spaniards were busy fighting the Saracens at their own doors, reconquering Spain from them. But these wars between Spaniards and Saracens were national rather than religious. The Spaniards desired to 166 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY free Spain from the usurper rather than to convert the infidel. So when the Saracens were conquered they were left more or less in peace to follow their own religion. The rulers, indeed, openly recognized the religious rights of their Mohammedan subjects, and one of the kings of Castile took the title of Emperor of all the Spains and of the Men of the Two Religions. But the popes had long looked upon this tolerance as wicked laxness, and at length Isabella, who was deeply and earnestly religious, was persuaded to allow the Inquisition to be set up in Castile. In everything else Isabella was a great and wise ruler. But in the eyes of later generations this one act has dimmed the splendour of her reign. She must, however, be judged not as a ruler of to-day but as a ruler of the fifteenth cen- tury. All Europe was full of religious fanaticism. To the noblest and purest of Churchmen persecution seemed a glorious work for Christ. How then should a mere woman set her tender heart in opposition to their wisdom. So for the glory of God, and for the exaltation of the Catholic Faith, Isabella signed the deed by which the fires of perse- cution were lit in Spain fires which were not to be extin- guished for hundreds of years. Even in the beginning of the eighteenth century the " question by torture " was still in use, and only in 1834 was the Inquisition finally and utterly abolished. Besides uniting all Spain into one Church, Ferdinand and Isabella determined to wrest the last inch of the soil from the 1482 Mohammedans, and they declared war against the king of Granada. The queen threw herself heart and soul into this war. She appeared in the field fully dressed in armour, encouraging the troops with brave words and reviewing them frequently. She visited every part of the camp, and saw that the soldiers were provided not only with necessaries but with comforts. Above all, she cared for the sick and the wounded. THE FALL OF GRANADA 167 By her orders large tents known as the Queen's tents were set up in the camps. These were furnished with nurses and medicines, at her expense, and there the sick and wounded could find rest and care. This is believed to be the first attempt at a camp hospital. Fall of Granada For ten years the war with the Moors dragged on, the Spaniards often meeting with reverses. But at length civil war broke out in Granada itself. Weakened by strife within as well as w*ar without, the Moors could no longer stand their ground, and on November 25, 1491, Granada yielded. The last Moorish king gave up the keys of the Alhambra Palace to the conquerors. Then, mounting his horse, he rode away. Upon a hill above the city of Granada he drew rein, and with tears in his eyes turned to look for the last time upon his lost capital. " Yea," cried his mother scornfully, as she watched him, " weep like a woman for the loss of thy kingdom, since thou couldst not defend it like a man." Crushed by his foes, despised by his friends, the Moor bowed his head, and rode forth into exile. The long struggle between Moors and Spaniards which had lasted for nearly eight hundred years was thus ended. Spain from the Pyrenees to the Mediterranean was now under Christian rule, and for their zeal in the cause of the faith the pope bestowed upon Ferdinand and Isabella the title of the Catholic Kings. This title is to-day still borne by the king of Spain. Up to this time, because of the continual warfare with the Moors, Spain had entered but little into the life of Europe. It had been untouched by the great movements which had helped to develop the other great states of western Europe. The feudal system had never gained a footing there ; as a nation it had never taken part in the Crusades, and had 168 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY remained unmoved by the tremendous religious enthusiasm which had swept over other countries. Now late in the day that enthusiasm awoke in the Spanish rulers, and was turned to religious fanaticism and intolerance. With the passing of years this fanaticism increased until, from being the most liberal, Spain became the most intolerant of Catholic states. Persecution began with the Jews. 1492 They were offered the hard choice of denying their faith or of leaving the country, and many chose the latter course. 1502 Next came the turn of the remaining Moors, they being offered the same hard choice ; most of them, like the Jews, chose to go into exile rather than deny their faith. The departure of both these peoples was a loss to Spain. For they were clever and industrious, and much of the trade and any manufactures there were lay in their hands. This was all the greater loss as now Spain began to be of importance in Europe. The royal family was allied by marriage with other ruling houses of Europe, and Ferdinand is said to have been the first monarch to send resident ambassadors to the courts of other states. By this means friendly intercourse with neighbouring countries was estab- lished and maintained, international trade was encouraged, and as the custom increased, quarrels which before could only have been wiped out in blood were settled by negotia- tion. And however much the maintaining of ambassa- dors at foreign courts has been abused in later times, in the beginning it was a step towards international understanding and towards lessening the frequency of wars. MARITIME EXPANSION 169 CHAPTER XXXIII CHANGES IN EUROPE CAUSED BY THE DISCOVERY OF THE NEW WORLD IN the fifteenth century Spain and Portugal were, so to speak, new countries. They had only newly been admitted into the family of Europe. Their own constant wars with the Moors had left them no time to join in the wars and politics of Europe. Their religious toleration had kept them free from papal influences. They had not even joined to any great extent in the commerce of Europe. For of all the countries of western Europe they w r ere in the least advantageous position for trade. They were, as it were, at the end of the world. All trade was with the East. The Mediterranean was the great trade route. Ports near the centre of this route with good water-ways and roads behind them, by which goods could be distributed throughout Europe, were likely to prosper. Thus Genoa and Venice grew into wealthy and powerful merchant republics. Spain, at the extreme west end of the route, with water-ways short and of little use commercially, cut off, moreover, from the rest of the con- tinent by the Pyrenees, in spite of a Mediterranean seaboard, shared little in its commerce. Aragon, indeed, to some ex- tent, did take part in the commerce of the world, and the ships of Barcelona carried many a rich cargo. But Castile, even after the union of the crowns of Castile and Aragon, did not benefit by this at all. For although it had some Mediterranean seaboard it had no good port. Portugal, having no Mediterranean seaboard, and the ports of the North Sea and the Baltic being for the most part in the hands of the Hansa merchants, was almost entirely cut off from the trade of the world. But in the fifteenth century, vigorous in their new-found 170 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY nationality, both Portuguese and Spaniards began to seek outlets for their energies. Such outlets were not easy to find. For Venice controlled the ports of Syria and of Egypt, and the route to India by way of the Red Sea. Since the fall of Constantinople Christian traders had been driven from the Black Sea and the trade routes to Asia in that direction. Indeed, as years went on, the Turks hampered more and more all expansion of Christian trade eastward. Henry the Navigator The Portuguese, therefore, were obliged to seek an outlet in another direction. The idea occurred to some of the more daring spirits that it might be possible to reach India by sailing round Africa. So they began, timidly at first, and then more boldly, to explore the west coast of Africa. The way to India was not discovered, but a lucrative trade in negroes and gold-dust rapidly grew up. Year by year in their gay little boats the Portuguese ventured farther and farther afield. The Canary Islands, Madeira, and the Azores were all discovered, or rather rediscovered, for they had been known to the ancients. Soon they were to some extent colonized, and their products, such as honey, maize, and fruits, were added to the growing trade of Portugal. 1394- In all these discoveries and adventures in colonization the ' Portuguese were encouraged and helped by Prince Henry of Portugal who, because of his enthusiasm in these matters, has been given the name of Henry the Navigator. His great ambition was to find the way to India by rounding Africa. But headland after headland along the coast was passed, and still there seemed no end to it, and Henry died with his dream unfulfilled. 1488 At length the new way to India was discovered by accident. Driven by a storm Bartholomew Diaz rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and sailed some way up the eastern coast of Africa. As it was a storm which had led to his discovery THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA 171 Diaz called the Cape the Cape of Storms. But when he returned home with his news, and men became assured that at last the new way was found to India and the lands of spice, they changed the name to the Cape of Good Hope. Ten years, however, passed before the attempt to reach India by that route succeeded. Then Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape, steered across the Indian Ocean, reached 1498 India, and returned to Lisbon in triumph with a rich cargo. But before this a still more wonderful voyage had been made. Christopher Columbus had sailed across the Atlantic, 1492- discovering, as he thought, yet another way to India. Christopher Columbus The ancients had believed that the world was flat. But gradually many people had come to think that it was round. Among these was Christopher Columbus, the Genoese sailor. 1445?- This being so, it must be possible, he argued, to reach India 1506 by sailing west just as easily as by sailing east. If this way could be found all the dangers from Mohammedan pirates, all the difficulties of land transport across the desert, from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, would be avoided, and great fame and fortune would accrue to the people who should find and make use of the new way. Columbus was filled with a passionate belief in his theory. But he was only a poor man, and had neither the power nor the money needed to fit out an expedition of discovery. So he spent long years in a fruitless endeavour to enlist the sympathy of those who were wealthy and powerful. He carried his great idea first to the court of Portugal and then to that of Spain. But everywhere he was met with prejudice and disbelief. Kings and courtiers alike looked upon him as a crazy adventurer. At length, however, he gained the ear of Queen Isabella. She became fired with something of his own enthusiasm, and promised him the aid he needed. So at last, on August 3, 1492, Columbus set out on his 172 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY perilous adventure. TcT most people, indeed, the adventure seemed not only perilous but mad, and they never expected to see any of those who took part in it again. But in little more than seven months Columbus returned triumphant, having proved the truth of his theory, and found, as he thought, a new way to India. He had done something much more wonderful. He had discovered a new world. But although Columbus made several voyages across the Atlantic, and even landed on the continent of South America, he never discovered his mistake. He died believing that his great title to fame was in having discovered a new way to India. New Trade Routes The exploration of the west coast of Africa, the discovery of the route to India by way of the Cape of Good Hope, and the discovery of the lands beyond the Atlantic, completely changed the face of Europe. The ocean and not the Mediter- ranean became the chief trade route, and the merchant cities such as Venice and Genoa lost their importance. The countries fronting the Atlantic were no longer at the end of the world, but in its centre. Spain, Portugal, the Nether- lands, and England became the great sea-going and, there- fore, the great commercial nations of Europe. Spain and Portugal, indeed, tried to shut out all other lands from a share in the new commerce. Soon after Columbus returned from his first voyage the Spanish per- 1493 suaded Pope Alexander VI to issue a bull which gave to them all heathen lands which had been, or might be, dis- covered west of an imaginary line drawn from pole to pole, west of the Azores and Cape Verde Islands. All lands dis- covered east of this line were to belong to Portugal. But powerful although the pope was, other lands were not 1496 easily persuaded to allow Spain and Portugal to reap all the rich harvest of the seas. In 1496 Henry VII of England sent Cabot across the Atlantic to claim for England any 174 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY lands he might find. The French, too, disregai ded the pope's bull. " I fain would see Father Adam's will," cried King Francis of France, " wherein he made you the sole heirs of so vast an inheritance," and he, too, sent out explorers to claim lands for France. But in the new prosperity which resulted in this sea- going activity the Netherlands for a time took the lead. For Spain and Portugal were busy strengthening their hold on the Indies, England had its domestic troubles, and France was wasting its energies on a dream of dominion in Italy. So most of the carrying trade fell to the share of the Nether- lands, and Antwerp for a time took the place which Venice had once held as the centre of the world's co.nmerce. Soon among the sea-going nations there grew up a keen rivalry for possession of the new lands which every day were being discovered, and wars arose out of this rivalry. Nations fought in Europe for supremacy in the New World. Politics and commerce became strangely mixed, and it is hard to know sometimes where the ambition of kings ends and the enterprise of commerce begins. CHAPTER XXXIV THE PROGRESS OF RUSSIA IN all the new activity and expansion which was taking place in Europe at this time three powers took no part. These were Russia, Italy, and Germany. Italy and Germany, by reason of their wars and discord, Russia because it had not yet risen above the horizon. After the foundation of Russia by the Northmen (see Chapter XIII) it had, in the thirteenth century, been conquered by the fierce Tartar horde ^ho swept into, RUSSIA FREED FROM THE TARTARS 175 Europe from Asia. For more than two hundred years these Tartars held Russia in subjection, and the proud princes, who traced their descent from Rurick the Northman freebooter, were forced to pay tribute to their Asiatic conquerors. But at length the Tartar rule began to weaken, a spirit of resistance awoke among the Russians, and after a 1361 - fierce and long struggle they threw off the yoke of Asia. The princes of Moscow were the first to break the domina- tion of the Tartars. Moscow, in consequence, became the capital, and the whole of Russia took the name of Muskovy. Then, having broken the power of the Tartars, the princes of Moscow set themselves to unite Russia under one sceptre. This was done by Ivan III the Great, his son Basil III, and his grandson Ivan IV the Terrible, their three reigns stretch- ing over a period of a hundred and twenty-two years (1462- 1584). So much of this work of union was done by Ivan the Great 1462- that he received the name of Binder of the Russian Lands. 1505 But in order to bind the land together he crushed out lesser rulers with an utterly ruthless hand, and indeed deserved the name of Terrible almost as much as his grandson. Basil III followed in his father's footsteps, although he 1505- was neither so brilliant nor so ruthless. He consolidated his 1533 dominions, and added to them. All he did he did as an autocrat, throwing into prison, and cutting off the heads of any who dared to question his will or authority. And when he died, leaving a child of three to succeed him, the land was once more given over to anarchy and confusion. Ivan IV, the Terrible While the great nobles fought for power the future 1533- terrible czar wandered about neglected and forsaken. He was clothed like a beggar, and often knew what it was to be hungry as well as cold and lonely. But utterly neglected though he was he learned to read, and his favourite books, 176 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY were the Bible and books of history. In all the books he read the Jewish kings, the rulers of Babylon and Egypt, the emperors of Rome and Greece, were called czars, and little Ivan determined that he also should be called czar. So he read, and thought, and bided his time. Then when he was seventeen he ordered preparation for his coronation to be made, and insisted on being crowned not as Grand Duke 1547 but as Czar of all the Russias. It was already a large territory over which this first of all the czars now began to rule. But it had one great defect. It was almost entirely an inland country. Save for the Arctic Ocean, it had no seaboard at all. All the shores of the Baltic were in the hands of Swedes, Poles, and of the Brothers of the Sword, a German military order founded to convert the heathen of the Baltic, but which, at the same time, carried on constant wars of aggression against Russia, and played a great part in the expansion of Germany eastwards. In the south, Russia was shut out from the Black Sea and the Caspian by the Mongols. Here we see the reason why Russia took no part in the great seafaring adventures which were stirring western Europe. Hemmed in from the sea on every side by jealous neighbours, and at the same time struggling towards unity, the nation had no energy for ex- ploration. Russia was shut out from the family of Europe. It was indeed hardly in any sense a European country at all. Struggles for a Seaboard But Ivan IV desired to enter into the family of Europe. In that way alone he saw he could make his country great, and he determined to " open a window into Europe." To do that he knew he must have a seaboard. So he fought the Mongols on his southern borders and conquered Astrakan. Thus, by way of the Volga and the Caspian, he opened up a trade route to Persia and the East. But for a Baltic port he fought in vain. The Brothers of the Sword, indeed, were RUSSIAN EXPANSION 177 dispersed, but Poland and Sweden remained masters of the Baltic shores. Not until a hundred and fifty years later, under a greater czar than Ivan, was Russia to obtain the coveted seaboard on the Baltic. But although, through Teutonic jealousy, the Baltic was closed to their traders, the Russians had a seaboard to the north. The entrance to it lay indeed within the Arctic Circle, and for many months of the year it was closed by ice. But English sailors were busy seeking new passages to the East " by the high way of the seas," and while in search for a north-east passage to China they found Russia. Very soon, by way of this icy northern route a brisk trade grew up between England and Russia. Dutch, Spanish, Italian, and French merchants followed them, but the English, who had been first in the field, kept the bulk of the trade. Thus, in spite of the jealousy of Germans, Poles, and Swedes, " a window was opened into Europe." Had it not been for this jealousy Russia would have developed much faster than it did. But all these nations feared lest Russia should become powerful, and did their best to shut her out from the commerce, the learning, the industries, and the weapons of warfare of western Europe. It is even said that the king of Sweden threatened with death the English sailors and adventurers who tried to trade with Russia. So in her struggle towards civilization Russia was hindered and thwarted, and remained for long years to come what the Tartar domination had made it, an Asiatic Empire. Yet, in spite of every hindrance Ivan the Terrible left his Empire stronger and more advanced than he had found it. He was a strange mixture of savagery and greatness. As a statesman he was far ahead of his times, and he understood the needs of his kingdom better than any man. But he was cruel and vicious, and had an ungovernable temper. An Englishman who lived in those days has described him as " a M 178 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY goodlie man of person . . . full of readie wisdom, cruell, bloudye, merciles." For the first fourteen years of his reign Ivan showed his " readie wisdom " well and wisely. It was towards the end of his life that he proved himself " bloudye " and "merciles" and earned his surname of the Terrible. Then he crushed the great nobles with a pitiless hand, massacring them and their families, and laying waste the land with brutal fury. After the death of Ivan the Terrible Russia 'again fell on troublous times. His dynasty soon died out, and in 1613, 1613- after a great uprising of the people, Michael Romanoff who, through a female side of his family, traced his descent from Rurick, was chosen czar. He had no great talent or ability, but he was the first of the house which was to rule over Russia until the abdication of his descendant Nicholas in 1918. CHAPTER XXXV THE RISE OF SWITZERLAND IT was during the fight for the Empire between Lewis IV and Frederick the Handsome (see Chapter XXX) that the Swiss struggle for freedom began. From the eleventh century the land now known as Switzerland had been part of the Empire. As a nation it did not then exist, but was divided into cantons.* One of these cantons was called Schwyz, and in time it gave its name to the whole country. The mountaineers who lived in these cantons were a brave and freedom-loving people, but they paid a loyal, if somewhat shadowy, allegiance to the emperor. Now the Hapsburgs, who were dukes of Austria, tried to convert these cantons into a mere family possession. This the Swiss resisted with * See map, p. 183. THE SWISS STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM 179 all their strength, and three forest cantons, Schwyz, Uri, and Unterwarden, formed themselves into a league for national protection and defence. William Tell Of the beginning of this resistance, in the early part of the fourteenth century, William Tell is the hero. Tell has been proved to the satisfaction of most people to be a myth. But the story, at least, illustrates how irksome the servile homage, demanded by a feudal overlord, had become to men who had grown to respect themselves, and had ceased to look upon themselves as mere chattels. The first great battle for Swiss freedom was fought at Morgarten between the League and the Austrians in 1315. The Austrians were led by Leopold, duke of Austria, fighting in the interests of his brother Frederick. His army was filled with the flower of Austrian knighthood, but it went down before the untrained mountaineers fighting for free- dom. This first great victory had two results. It checked the rule of Austria over the three forest states, and it bound them closer together. Lewis was not ill-pleased to see the House of Austria thus defeated, and he rather favoured the League, which during his reign grew considerably stronger. What the Swiss fought for was not severance from the Empire, but freedom from the oppressions of the House of Austria. The dukes of Austria, however, were by no means minded to lose their pow r er over these mountaineers and cowkeepers. So, save when they were too deeply engaged with schemes in other parts of the Empire, they carried on a fairly constant warfare against the Swiss. These wars availed Austria little, while the Confederation grew constantly stronger. At length, seventy-one years after Morgarten, in the reign of Wenceslaus, the besotted 1386 son of Charles IV, the Austrians were again utterly defeated i8o A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY at the battle of Sempach. In this battle, as at the battle of Morgarten, they were again led by a Leopold of Austria, a nephew of the former duke. Arnold von Winkelried It was at Sempach that the patriot Arnold von Winkelried is said to have laid down his life for his country. The Austrian nobles stood a firm and glittering mass, and in spite of all their bravery the Swiss were unable to break through their lines. Seeing this Winkelried determined to force a way through. " Comrades," he said, "I will make a way for you." Then spreading his arms wide and crying aloud, " Make way for Liberty," he ran upon the bristling spears, and gathering as many as he could to his breast, sank dying to the ground. The wall of steel was broken, and through the breach thus made the Swiss marched to victory. 1388 Two years after Sempach the Swiss won another victory at Nafels. By these two battles the power of Austria over the Confederacy was shattered. The Hapsburgs resigned their claims, and signed a peace for seven years. This peace was renewed from time to time, and for many a long day the brave mountaineers were left to themselves, and gradually grew stronger as more towns and cantons joined the League. In 1439 Albert, duke of Austria, was elected emperor. From that date until 1806, when Francis II resigned his empty title, in spite of a show of election, the title remained with hardly a break hereditary in the Hapsburg family, Charles V and Francis I being the only emperors not of the House of Austria. Zurich and Austria During the reign of Albert's son, Frederick III, the Swiss were involved in civil war. Zurich, one of the cantons, con- cluded a separate alliance with Austria. This caused such THE SWISS RECOGNIZED AS A NATION 181 anger in the Confederacy that they made war against Zurich. The emperor then made an alliance with France, and in spite of the fact that France was still in the throes of the Hundred Years' War, obtained from him an army of thirty thousand soldiers under the Dauphin Louis. This army was little more than a rabble of hungry adventurers, but it was twice as large as the Swiss army, and at St. Jacob's, near 1444 Basle, the Swiss were defeated. Yet although the Swiss lost the battle they had made such a brave fight that it counted as one more step towards freedom. The war continued, and five years later Zurich gave up its alliance with Austria and was again received into the Confederacy. Twenty-six years after the battle of St. Jacob's the Swiss made an alliance with Louis XI, who, as Dauphin, had de- feated them. Secretly encouraged by the wily Louis, they became embroiled in war with his great enemy Charles of Burgundy. In two great battles, one at Granson and one at Morat, they utterly defeated him. The following year 1476 Charles was killed in a battle near Nancy. These victories welded the Confederates still more closely together, and from now onward they began to be looked upon as a nation, and received the name of Swiss. This new nation was still in name part of the Empire, but it was, in fact, quite independent. The Swiss had not fought against the Empire but against the House of Austria. The emperors were now, however, continuously drawn from the Hapsburgs, and showed an inherited desire to subdue Switzerland. This the Swiss resisted. They were now so strong that they had no need of pro- tection from the Empire, which, indeed, was in no condition to give protection, and had itself become a feeble shadow. They were able, by their own authority, to keep the peace within their own borders, and they had no need to have the king's peace thrust upon them. 182 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY Yet the emperors still obstinately regarded the country as part of the Empire, and in 1499 tne Emperor Maximilian I again tried to force the Swiss to acknowledge his sway and began a campaign against them. But in this war he got little aid from the Empire as a whole, for most of the states regarded it as a purely Austrian quarrel. The Swiss, on the other hand, fought with the glorious courage which comes to a small nation fighting for its very existence against the overweening pride of mili- tarism. And they won. After eight months of bitter struggle Maximilian was defeated and forced to conclude the Peace of Peace of Basle. J^lg 6 After this Switzerland was practically independent, but this independence was not openly acknowledged until the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. The many victories which the Swiss had won over their powerful foes had gained for them a great reputation as fighters, and from the time of their wars with Charles the Bold onward all the rulers in Europe, but especially the French, became eager to have Swiss soldiers in their armies. In consequence, Switzerland became a sort of " market of men," and in almost every great campaign Swiss mercen- aries were to be found fighting on one side or another. It was not until the nineteenth century that many of the can- tons forbade foreign enlistment. Yet, strange to say, in spite of fighting thus on any side for which they were paid to fight, the Swiss kept their own nationality, and amid the broils of Europe the little republic has remained safe and intact. 1440- In the reign of Frederick, under whom the Swiss practi- cally secured their freedom, the Empire sank to its lowest. It was shorn of its dependencies, war raged everywhere throughout the land, the great princes each struggling to increase their power and wealth while the Empire was re- duced to the last stage of beggary. Yet the lower the 184 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY Empire sank the greater grew the arrogance of the Emperor, and Frederick took for his motto the letters A.E.I.O.U., which stood for the Latin Austria Est Imperare Orbi Universe, or in German, Alles Erdreich 1st Oesterreich Unter- than. But while the wearer of this proud motto sat upon the throne Constantinople fell before the Turks. They overran Europe, reaching even to the borders of Austria, and the emperor raised no finger to stay their course. It was left to the Poles and the Hungarians to sweep back the Moslem tide which threatened to overwhelm the Western even as it had overwhelmed the Eastern Empire. While Frederick arrogantly proclaimed the subjection of all the realms of earth to Austria, dauntless adventurers were sailing unknown seas, revealing new and undreamed of lands. But Germany without unity or nationality had no part in these discoveries, and neither then nor later did she share the heritage of Europe in the New World. Maximilian I In 1493 Maximilian, the son of Frederick III, succeeded his father as emperor. He was the first who took the title of emperor without waiting to go to Rome to be crowned by the pope. Up to this time the German overlord had only been styled king of the Romans until crowned by the pope. But Italy was at this time full of war, and the journey to Rome was one of difficulty and danger. So in 1508 Maximilian announced that he intended to take the title of emperor. 1503- The pope, Julius II, was anxious to have Maximilian on his 1513 gjde m hjs Italian wars, so he gave his consent. After this all the emperors took the title on their election, and only one (Charles V) went to Rome to be crowned. In his own time Maximilian was one of the best loved of German emperors. Yet he never did anything for the Em- pire. He was constantly at war, and nearly always defeated. THE LAST OF THE KNIGHTS 185 He has been called the last of the knights, yet he did more than any other Continental ruler to kill knighthood, for he was one of the first to follow the example of England and organize foot soldiers for his army to take the place of the splendid but useless mounted knights. He was vainglorious and vacillating, and succeeded in little. Yet through him great European complications were to arise. In 1477, long before he became emperor,* he married Mary of Burgundy, the daughter of Charles the Bold, who fought the Swiss. Through her he became possessed of Burgundy and the Netherlands. When Maxi- milian became emperor he gave the government of the Netherlands to his son Philip. This son married Joanna, the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, and thus Spain and the Netherlands became united. All this had important results for Europe. LIST OF EMPERORS Rudolf I of Hapsburg, 1273-1291. Albert I of Hapsburg, 1298-1308. Henry VII of Luxemburg, 1308-1313. (Lewis IV of Bavaria, 1314-1347. (Frederick the Fair of Hapsburg, 1314-1330, Charles IV of Luxemburg, 1347-1378. Wenzel of Luxemburg, 1378-1400. Rupert of the Palatinate, 1400-1410. Sigismund of Luxemburg, 1410-1438. Albert II of Hapsburg, 1438-1439. Frederick III of Hapsburg, 1440-1493. Maximilian I of Hapsburg, 1493-1519. * See genealogical table, p. 215. i86 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY CHAPTER XXXVI THE BEGINNING OF ITALIAN UNITY SHATTERED ALL the states of which we have so far heard had, by the end of the fifteenth century, passed through the formative stage. They had all consolidated into nationality except Germany, which was still a conglomeration of states, and Italy, which was yet without nationality, unity, or central government. This was chiefly due to the efforts of Germany to impose German rule upon the Italians. Frederick II, who was Italian rather than German, was the last, and almost the only, German emperor who had in this any chance of success (see Chapter XXVII). He failed, and after him the emperors interfered little, and always with disastrous results, in the affairs of Italy. Yet Italy found no peace, and until the middle of the fourteenth century it was torn by civil wars. Princely families rose and fell, while more than one despot schemed in vain to draw the whole country under his rule. The rival factions were still called Guelph and Ghibeline, but the real struggle was no longer between pope and emperor. It was rather between feudalism and commerce, between inaction and progress. Out of this welter of warfare there arose in Italy, towards the middle of the fifteenth century, five chief powers. The largest of these was the kingdom of Naples. This included the whole southern portion of the peninsula as well as the island of Sicily. Then, like a wedge across the centre of the peninsula la}' the papal states. North of these were the republics of Florence and of Venice and the Duchy of Milan. States of the Church... Venice Milan Othfr States and Republics 9s named. Cities of the Lombard League underlined:- Milan ITALY OF THE RENAISSANCE i88 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY Florence and Venice were termed republics, but the rule in them, as in all Italian states, tended to despotism. And despotism brought in its train the usual crop of plots and murders. Yet, in spite of this tendency towards despotism Italy had made some advance towards freedom and nation- ality in that her despots were all Italian, and not imposed upon her by an alien power. Even Alfonso, king of Naples, a Spaniard by birth, was Italian in his sympathies. The five states, moreover, had a common language, a common literature, and love of art, and through these there began to dawn among them a feeling of common nationality. Thus in Italy it was through a love of learning and of art that the sense of nationality awoke, and not as in other nations through war and a necessity for combining against a common foe. Politically, however, in the fifteenth centuty there were as yet no Italians. There were merely Venetians, Floren- tines, Genoese, Neapolitans, and so on. Still for a time there was a sort of peaceful federation among the five greatest states, and between the years 1447 and 1492 Italy was more free, and more at rest from foreign domination, than it had been for many generations. Had this time of peace been allowed to last, had the country been left free from per- nicious alien interference, unity might have been attained much earlier. As it was Italy was still centuries away from unity. It was still for centuries to be torn to pieces, and subjected to the tyranny of foreign princes. In 1266 Charles of Anjou, on the invitation of the popes Urban IV and Clement VI, had taken possession of the kingdom of Naples, which included Sicily. The French domination was very irksome to the Sicilians, and in 1282 the rebellion known as the Sicilian Vespers broke out. The French were massacred wholesale, and driven from the island. Then the Sicilians called Peter of Aragon, who A PAGEANT EMPEROR 189 had married the daughter of Tancred (see Chapter XIV) to the throne. After this the house of Anjou ruled in Naples, the house of Aragon in Sicily. But in 1435 the Angevin dynasty died out with Joanna II, and the kingdom passed, not without bloodshed, to the king of Sicily, Alfonso of Aragon, surnamed the Magnanimous. Thus Spanish domination on the main- land was begun. Charles Vm. The French in Italy When Louis XI, king of France, died in 1483 he was succeeded by his son Charles VIII, a boy of thirteen. Charles was a throw-back into mediae valism. He was full of ro- mantic ideas, sighing for picturesque wars and victories, and all the splendours of an outw r orn feudalism. As an Angevin he claimed the throne of Naples, and when invited to invade Italy by a w r ould-be duke of Milan, Ludovico the Moor, he joyfully accepted. Like a knight of old, he laid his lance in rest, and with banners waving in the breeze and trumpets sounding, he rode into Italy surrounded by all the pomp of a feudal army. Yet this apparently feudal pomp was purely theatrical. Charles, however much he wished it, could not turn back the hands of time, and in reality his army was mostly made up of mercenaries. His progress was a pageant rather than a campaign, and without drawing a sword he passed through Italy to Naples. Alfonso fled at his coming, and almost without opposition Charles was crowned, assuming, besides that of King of Naples, the empty titles of Emperor of the East and King of Jerusalem. But while in Naples Charles played at Empire, Ferdinand, King of Spain, Maximilian I, Emperor of Germany, together with some of the Italian princes (among them that same Duke of Milan who had invited him to invade Italy), joined A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY in a league against him. Hurriedly then the pageant emperor beat a retreat. But at Fornova he found the armies of the allies barring the way. With the courage of 1495 desperation he faced his foes. The result was a bare victory for the French, but it secured their return to France. Having reached his own land again in safety all recollec- tion of his short-lived triumph in Italy seemed to pass from the mind of Charles, and he never renewed his claim to the throne of Naples. At first sight this campaign seems of small importance. Charles had done little but ride through Italy and ride back again. But it had great results. It meant the discovery of Italy by the rest of Europe, and a French writer declares that this discovery of Italy had more effect on the sixteenth century than the discovery of America. With it began a long and disastrous interference of France in the affairs of Italy, an interference prejudicial alike to both countries. The folly of France, in thus wasting her energies in an unjust war of aggression, prevented her from taking a higher place among the nations of Europe, and shattered the beginning of Italian unity. Rodrigo Borgia and Savonarola Meanwhile, although the French were driven out of Italy, there was no peace for the unhappy land. The infamous 1492- Rodrigo Borgia was pope. He had taken the title of Alex- 1503 ander VI, and never had Italy more cause to be ashamed of her pontiff and her priesthood. For Alexander was one of the worst popes who ever sat upon the papal throne. Courteous, magnificent, and a great lover of art, he was yet wicked and cruel, and so greedy of wealth and power, both for himself and his family, that he cared not if he plunged the whole of Italy into war to gain his ends. He cared nothing for his sacred office, and never did the Church sink so low as under his rule. But already the day of SAVONAROLA AND ITALIAN FREEDOM 191 reform was dawning. In Florence a monk named Girolamo 1452- Savonarola raised his voice against the evil living of the great 1498 prince of the Church. He was austere as a Hebrew prophet, and spoke with such fierce eloquence that the pleasure- loving Florentines were shaken out of their careless paganism. At his bidding they made bonfires of their works of art, and all such " vanities " ; they cast away their splendid garments of silk, their ornaments of gold, and dressed with the simplicity of monks and nuns. Savonarola was a reformer before the -Reformation. But he was not a reformer as we have come to understand the word. He preached not schism but righteousness, and to the day of his death he believed with all his heart in the teach- ing of the Church. It was the coming of Charles VIII that brought Savonarola to the front in Italian politics. It seemed to him that Charles was the instrument of God's vengeance upon Italy for her sins. To resist him was to resist God, and out of his own enthusiasm he endowed the frivolous French monarch with all the attributes of a divine messenger and minster of justice. Yet, when the tyrant Piero de Medici had been expelled from Florence, it was Savonarola who persuaded Charles to move southward, and leave the republic in peace to reframe her constitution. Savonarola took a great part in the reframing of this constitution, and for a time the Florentines followed him whither he led them with a passionate devotion. But if Savonarola saw in Charles Italy's great hope others regarded him and his army merely as barbarians, to be driven from the land as speedily as might be. Many of the northern states, therefore, joined with the king of Spain and the emperor in the League of Venice against France. Florence, 1495 however, under Savonarola's guidance, refused to join. This refusal roused the wrath of the pope, for he, more than all the other princes, wanted to be rid of Charles. And as 192 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY Savonarola would not yield, he swore his downfall. First, however, he bribed him with the promise of a cardinal's hat. Savonarola refused it scornfully. He would have no red hat, he said, save the red crown of a martyr. As this pestilent friar would not hear reason Alexander VI excommunicated him. Gradually then troubles thickened about him. He lost influence, his beloved Florentines fell away from him, his enemies increased in number and power. At length he was seized and condemned to death for schism and heresy. On May 23, 1498, he was hanged, and his body was afterwards burned. Savonarola was a great, pure-minded man, hating sin and loving with a great tenderness the sinful and the weak. Whether he was a perfect patriot can scarcely be decided without a perfect knowledge of the troublous times in which he lived. It was not possible for him to be a great reformer and a great politician at one and the same time. So, pas- sionately earnest, fiercely righteous and noble-minded al- though he was, he failed. His chief failure, it may be, lay in that he trusted to outside aid, instead of bidding his people be strong in themselves. Yet for good or evil his spirit lived after him, and no one can think of the struggles of Italy at this time without taking Savonarola into account. CHAPTER XXXVII THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN FRANCE AND SPAIN FOR SUPREMACY IN ITALY THE same year in which Savonarola was put to death Louis XII succeeded Charles VIII upon the throne of France. Under him the history of France is little more than the his- THE FRENCH IN ITALY 193 tory of Italian campaigns. For Louis XII laid claim not only to Naples but to the Duchy of Milan. Warned, how- ever, by the fate of Charles VIII, before entering upon his campaign he arranged for the concurrence of the other chief rulers in Europe. Louis was supported by the pope, who was not unwilling to increase the papal states at the expense of the rest of Italy, and with little trouble he conquered Milan, and made 1499 it a province of France. Then he turned his thoughts to Naples. Here he feared the opposition of Spain, so he made an alliance with Ferdinand, King of Spain, who promised him 1500 aid in return for a share of the spoils. The conquest of Naples was an easy matter, but when it 1501 was accomplished the royal robbers quarrelled over the division of the spoil. Louis found that he had been merely Ferdinand's cat's-paw r and was obliged to resign to him the whole of Naples, and content himself with Milan, which he had conquered without his aid. 1503 While Louis and Ferdinand were quarrelling, the pope, Alexander VI, used them in turn for his own ends. He cared not at all for Italy but desired to increase the papal states in the hope of bequeathing them to his cruel and unscrupulous son, Caesar Borgia. So while the north and the south of the peninsula were given over to foreigners, he tried to make a solid kingdom in the centre. Alexander seemed to be succeeding admirably when he suddenly died. Then all the states which he had gathered 1503 with such guile and wile reverted to the Church, and not to Borgia, who soon fell from power and shortly left Italy. Julius II and the Papal States The next pope, Julius II, set himself also to strengthen the papal states. He did this, however, to increase the power of the Church rather than that of his own family.* * See map, p. 187. N 194 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY He was a statesman and a soldier more than a pastor, and was eager to drive the barbarians out of Italy. But he wanted to be sure that when they were gone the papal states would be stronger than any other state in Italy. To secure this he desired to crush Venice first. So in 1508 he persuaded the Emperor Maximilian, Louis XII of France, and Ferdinand of Spain to join him in the League of Cambray against Venice. In the ensuing war Louis was again merely a cat's-paw, and when with his help Venice was sufficiently crushed, the pope made peace with the republic. He then 1511 formed a new League called the Holy League. This was much the same as the League of Cambray, only now the place of France was taken by Venice, and King Henry VIII of England was also included. The armies of this League were 1512 soon tuined against Louis, and the French were driven beyond the Alps. Julius would now willingly have turned the Spaniards out of Italy also. But with this he was not so successful, and in 1513 he died, leaving them still strongly entrenched in the south. Louis also did not lightly give up his ambitions, and shortly after the death of Julius he became reconciled to the Venetians, and with their aid once more made an effort to conquer Milan. But the campaign ended in disaster, and the French were once more driven from 1513 Italy. Under these repeated defeats France seemed crushed, and it appeared to her many enemies the moment to attack her. The Swiss invaded the east, Spaniards threatened the south, while Henry VIII landed with twenty thousand men at Calais. He was soon joined by the Emperor Maximilian, 1513 and the French were defeated at the battle of Guinegate. Louis was now utterly weary of the wars which had filled his reign. He longed for peace, and made overtures to the pope. Fortunately for France Leo X had none of the war- like ambitions of Julius or Alexander, and he became re- RESULT OF FRENCH WARS IN ITALY 195 conciled. By degrees the League was dissolved, and peace made with its various members. In 1515 Louis XII died. In spite of the many foreign wars during his reign, and that of Charles VIII, France had progressed. For the wars for the most part had been carried on without her borders, and the nobles had no longer the right of private war wherewith to disturb the public peace. Feudalism had disappeared, and the feudal lords had been transformed into courtiers. The king's authority was greater than it had ever been, and he was more able to enforce obedience to his will. And in the short periods when he was not absorbed in his wars of aggression, Louis had used his power well. He had protected the people, encouraged agriculture and commerce, so that the general wealth of the nation was increased. Francis I and Charles V Francis I succeeded Louis XII, and he, too, was bitten with desire of conquest in Italy, and almost at once began to make preparations for an invasion. By the victory of 1515 Marignano he regained Milan. It was, however, now no longer a question of conquering the Italians, but of fighting the Spaniards. It was, in fact, a Franco-Spanish war fought in Italy, and in 1525 at Pa via Francis was utterly defeated. He lost everything which France claimed in Italy, and was himself taken prisoner, and Italy became the prey of Spain. Before this a great change had taken place in the balance of power in Europe. For in 1516 Ferdinand of Spain died. He was succeeded by his grandson Charles, the son of his daughter Joanna. Through her Charles inherited all Spain,* and all the Spanish conquests in Italy, as well as the vast Empire which Spain now claimed in the New World. In 1519 the Emperor Maximilian died. Charles was also * See genealogical table, p. 215. 196 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY his grandson, his father being Philip, the son of Maximilian and Mary of Burgundy.* From his grandfather Maximilian he inherited all the Austrian possessions of the Hapsburgs ; from his grandmother Mary he inherited the Netherlands, comprising roughly the present kingdoms of Holland and Belgium. Added to this Charles was elected emperor with the title of Charles V. So apart from his actual possessions he was suzerain of the German states and claimed with the title of emperor a vague lordship over the whole of Italy. He held Europe, it was said, by the four corners ; and in days when wars of aggression were the right of the strong, the accumulation of so much power in the hands of one man threatened the freedom and peace of the continent. To France especially his power seemed a menace. For France was enclosed by his possessions save where the sea laid her open to attack by her ancient enemy England. It was hardly wonderful then that France should endeavour to lessen his power and dispute his possession of Italy. But besides this real menace there was personal enmity between Francis I and Charles. For Francis I had hoped to be chosen emperor ; that he was not was a bitter disappointment to him, and throughout the rest of his life he kept a jealous wrath against Charles. He was constantly at war with him, and Italy was the battle-field upon which these wars were fought. But the defeat of the French at Pavia and the captivity of their king brought no peace to Italy. As emperor, Charles claimed a vague suzerainty over the whole of Italy, but it was rather by right of conquest and as king of Spain that he enforced his claim. In resisting it the country was filled with confusion, every petty prince struggling for his own advantage. Thirty thousand marauding imperial troops, half German, half Spanish, seized and sacked Rome. Turkish pirates harried the coasts, carrying off both men and women * See map, p. 211, THE RENAISSANCE 197 to be sold into slavery, while their French allies devasted the land. But in the end Spain triumphed. Italy was carved into states and parcelled out as Spain desired, her princes obeyed Spain's will. Then for more than two hundred and fifty years Italy could hardly be said to have a history of her own. She was tossed about from one ruler to another, and her fair plains were the battle-fields for quarrels not her own. CHAPTER XXXVIII THE RENAISSANCE WE use the word Renaissance to indicate the term of years between the Middle Ages and modern times. No exact dates are possible. Roughly, it began in Italy towards the end of the fourteenth century, with the revival of learning there, and gradually spread to the rest of PJurope. The word Renaissance is also used to mean, not merely the term of years between mediaeval and modern times, but the new manner in which men began at this period to look at life, in the way of moral conduct and of learning. It was in one aspect a revolt of man against the accepted order of things, an awakening in man of the desire to think his own thoughts and to live his own life. It was a many- sided and complicated movement, touching and transforming all life. It was an advance ; but in order to make this ad- vance men retired backward to the learning of the ancients. During the years when nations had been forming, when the business of life was war, learning had been neglected. Greek was a forgotten language in Western Europe. Plato was unknown, Homer and Aristotle known only in Latin translations. The books of these and other great writers 198 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY might indeed be found in libraries. But they lay there un- opened, for no one could read them, and there were neither dictionaries nor grammars from which the language might be learned. Only in Constantinople, the eastern outpost of Christian Europe, did the old learning survive. Italy and the Humanists As the Turks encroached upon the Grecian Empire many Greeks sought new homes in Italy. There they were warmly welcomed by the young writers of the day, such a Petrarch Petrarch and Boccaccio. Petrarch, indeed, could never I3?t~ l earn Greek at all, Boccaccio never learned it thoroughly, yet Boccaccio they were the forerunners of the Renaissance. They set 1313- Italy on the right road, and awoke a desire in the heart of the Italians for the beauties of the old Greek learning and culture. This return to Greek and Greek art was a revolt against priestly authority and a return to nature. The whole treasure, therefore, of Greek and Latin literature which was now discovered, came to be called the Humanities litterce humaniores. The men who advanced the movement came to be called the Humanists, and Petrarch, it has been said, was the first of the Humanists. Italy had shown itself ready to imbibe Greek learning and Greek art. So it was naturally to Italy that most of the learned fled for refuge, when in 1453 Constantinople was taken by the Turks. These refugees brought with them their books and pictures as well as their love of art and learning. They found, as it were, the soil ready for them, and there the new-old learning took fresh root and blossomed. Soon the fame of this learning spread abroad. It was not unhelped by war. For invading armies came. Italy was crushed between the upper and nether millstones of warring princes. Yet because of her art and learning she was not wholly crushed. Through them she conquered the con- querers, and scholars came from every part of Europe to sit THE DISCOVERY OF GUNPOWDER 199 at the feet of her learned doctors. Returning home they carried to the universities of France, Germany, and England perfect literary models, and opened treasures of long- forgotten knowledge to them. From Italy, too, there spread a new love of art. Francis I carried back to France with him pictures by great artists such as Michael Angelo, Raphael, and Leonardo da Vinci. He induced Leonardo and other great artists to come to France, there to build for him splendid castles and churches. Taught by his example great architects soon arose in Spain and the Netherlands. To all the nations of Europe indeed there came a new conception of building. As art and learning began to fill a part of life which had hitherto been given only to war, the gloomy feudal castles began to disappear and noble pleasure houses took their place. In this connexion the discovery of gunpowder changed the world enormously. There has been much discussion as to who first discovered it in Europe. But whether it was a German monk, Berthold Schwartz, or Roger Bacon, Bacon in any case it began to be used in the middle of the fourteenth ^94 ? ~ century. Its use changed the art of war, and struck a fatal blow at feudalism and chivalry. Henceforth the knight on horseback was of little use in the field. His prowess with lance and sword availed him little, when death could be dealt from a distance, leaving him never a chance of a hand- to-hand fight with his equals. The cloth-yard arrows of the English archer had wounded him sorely, the leaden bullet of the low-born arquebusier was his death-blow. As the knowledge of the power of gunpowder increased, the stone -battlement ed castles of the nobles were rendered useless as places of refuge. For walls strong enough to resist the heaviest of battering-rams crumbled before cannon- balls. And the consciousness that these formidable piles were useless helped the spread of gracious architecture. Gunpowder was a great reformer and leveller, but printing 200 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY was a greater, and it did more than anything else to en- courage the spread of learning. The art had been known to the Chinese long before it was invented in Europe, and, as with gunpowder, there is doubt as to the first European discoverer. It may have been Janszoon Coster of Haarlem Gutenberg who first discovered it, or it may have been Johan Gutenberg of Mainz. But whoever discovered it, it came into use about the middle of the fifteenth century. The art very quickly spread through Italy, France, and the Netherlands, and thence was brought by Caxton to England. By the end of the century printing-presses were busy in every country in Europe. Nothing changed the world so much as this invention. Without it the new learning might have remained the privi- lege of the few. Without it man's dawning sense of individ- uality might never have come to the full light of day. As it was, printing made a gift of learning to the many. At the very outset, too, its influence was increased by the dis- covery of new, cheap ways of making paper. So with a quickness never surpassed, books, from being the luxury of the few, became the everyday necessity of all. The New World In the fifteenth century, in these and many other ways, the old world changed rapidly. Then, as if that were not enough, men discovered a new world. Christopher Columbus showed the way across the Atlantic.* Vasco da Gama doubled the Cape of Good Hope. Magellan's expedition sailed round the world. In the wake of Columbus many other great sailors followed, until it was at length established beyond a doubt that his first voyage had led him not to India, as he believed, but to the shores of a mighty, and till then undreamed of, continent. All these voyages made plain several matters. They * See map, p. 173. DISCOVERIES AND HERESY 201 made plain the fact that the world was round, that it was inhabited on the other side, that it was much larger than had been supposed. Now the first two facts revealed were " heresy." The Church had taught that the world was flat or concave. To believe in the Antipodes and to believe that the Antipodes were inhabited was pronounced sinful. For had not the Apostles been commanded to go forth to preach the Gospel to the whole world ? They never went to the Antipodes. Therefore, there was no such place. But the daring sailors who sailed forth now almost daily, had proved beyond all possible contradiction that the world w r as round, and that the Antipodes were inhabited. This was a sfiock not only to men's preconceived ideas of the world's geography but to their faith. The Church was proved wrong in one dogma, might it not, they asked themselves, be wrong in others ? Thus the discovery of the New World encouraged men to think for themselves, and decide for themselves in matters of religion. The discovery of the New World opened a crack for doubt. It also, as it were, changed the axis of the old world. Hence- forth the Mediterranean was no longer the centre of trade and commerce.- In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries almost the entire trade and commerce of Europe had been in the hands of the Italians. They were very often all called Lombards (hence Lombard Street in London). They were not only the merchants but the bankers, manufacturers, and carriers for Europe. Upon this trade cities such as Venice grew great and splendid. With the discovery of America this w r as changed. Trade drifted away from Italy and the Mediterranean ports to those countries opening upon the Atlantic. Many Italian ports were utterly ruined, many others fell from splendour to insignificance, merely because their geographical position as regards the New World, and the new ways to the old world, was disadvantageous. 202 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY The New World became the heritage of the people who united a good geographical postion with grit, daring, and love of adventure. Spain, Portugal, England, France, and the Netherlands all shared the good geographical position, and all started fair in the race. But in the end Britain out- distanced all rivals. Germany, because of geographical posi- tion and want of political unity, took no part in it whatever, and has never since been able to make up for lost oppor- tunities in the beginning. Italy, tied to the wheels of German ambition, shared her misfortune. CHAPTER XXXIX THE NEW ASTRONOMY Nicolas Copernicus WITH the discovery of the New World the axis of the old world was changed. With the spread of individual thought men's ideas of the entire universe changed also. The old astronomy had taught that the earth was the centre of the universe, and that the sun and all the planets revolved round it in a proper and humble manner. 1473- Now Nicolas Copernicus, a Polish astronomer, published 1543 a book in which he explained that the sun, and not the earth, was the centre of the universe, and that the earth revolved round the sun like any other planet. This was another shock to man's faith. Such an idea was considered by the Church as heretical and contrary to Scripture. Had not Joshua commanded the sun to stand still ? And had not the sun obeyed him ? To the ignorant theologians of the day it seemed that Copernicus was attacking the very foundations of religion. To them he was not an eager seeker after truth but a wicked ' YET STILL IT MOVES " 203 man who must be silenced and punished for his wickedness. Copernicus escaped any persecution, as he died almost as soon as his book was published. His theory, however, did not die with him. Others carried on his work, just as others had carried on that of Columbus. They were the men, it had been said, who did more than any others to alter the mental attitude of humanity. Yet it was nearly a hundred years after the death of Copernicus that Galileo Galilei, an 1564- Italian astronomer, began openly to spread his teaching. Galileo Then once again the blind defenders of orthodoxy were in arms, and Galileo was threatened with the Inquisition, and forbidden to teach a theory which was " expressly contrary to Holy Scripture." He promised obedience, and was left in peace. But sixteen years later he forgot his promise, and wrote a book in which he supported the teaching of Copernicus. At once the thunders of the Church were launched against him. He was by this time an old man of seventy. But that did not save him from torture and imprisonment, and under the threat of death by fire his courage gave way, and he retracted. He acknowledged his errors, and declared that the earth was stationary. But, it is said, that as he rose from his knees after making his confession, he was heard to murmur, " Yet still it moves." This recantation saved Galileo from death. He was, however, condemned to imprisonment during the pleasure of the Inquisition. But after a short time he was practically released, and allowed to live in his own house not far from Florence. Here, eight years later, he died, still nominally the prisoner of the Church. But in spite of suppression and persecution the world moved on. The inquiring spirit of man once awakened could not be put to sleep again. An intense desire to know all that there was to know increased daily. 204 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY Giordano Bruno 1548- One of the great leaders in this fight for liberty of thought 1600 anc i speech was Giordano Bruno, a Neapolitan monk. Persecuted and hunted from place to place, he was at last seized by the Inquisition, and after eight years' imprisonment was burned as a heretic. r< The earth/' he said, " only holds her high rank among the stars by usurpation. It is time to dethrone her. Let this not dispirit man as if he thought himself forsaken by God. For if God is everywhere, if there is in truth an un- numbered host of stars and suns, what matters the vain distinction between the heaven and the earth ? Dwellers in a star, are we not included in the celestial plains set at the very gates of Heaven ? " Sayings such as these cost Bruno his life. Not un- worthily has he been named " a hero of thought." He dared to break the bonds of " authority," to think for himself, and follow truth even to death. As can be seen the new birth was accomplished only through much pain. The new day dawned on Europe slowly and stormily. But in spite of the hindering hand of superstition, in spite of dark dungeons and the rack, in spite of the stake and its cruel fires, the movement increased until at length the old order vanished, and the new took its place all over Western Europe. In every country, on all subjects, men fought for and won the right of private judg- ment, the right of individual freedom. EARLY REFORMERS 205 CHAPTER XL THE BEGINNING OF THE REFORMATION EVERYTHING in the Renaissance did not make for good. It led towards freedom, but it also led towards godlessness and licence. But born of the same desire for truth, led by the same spirit of liberty, helped by the printing-press, even as the new learning was helped, another movement grew and spread. This was the Reformation. The Reformation was not a revolt against the Renaissance but its natural accompaniment. They acted and re-acted upon each other. In everything men had begun to think for themselves. By new discoveries on the earth and in the heavens old beliefs had been shaken. It was not wonderful then that men should claim the right of freedom in religious thought as in all others. Early Reformers As the Renaissance had its forerunners, so also had the Reformation. At the beginning of the thirteenth century the Albigenses in the south of France had been crushed out of existence because they dared to worship God in their own way. In the middle of the fourteenth century in Eng- land John Wycliife had preached against the doctrines of 1324?- the Church, and had made the first translation of the Bible 138 ' into P^nglish. He was persecuted but not silenced, and after his death his followers, the Lollards, continued to teach and preach until they were suppressed by force. Wycliffe's teaching, however, was not killed, and it spread over Europe even as far as Bohemia. Here in the beginning of the fifteenth century John Huss began to 14145 206 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY preach his doctrines. He was burned at the stake, a crusade was declared against his followers, and for fifteen years they were hunted and persecuted. But in the end these and other movements like them 'had all been crushed. None of them had the aid of the printing- press, therefore they remained more or less local, and left little impression on the world as a whole. In spite of these occasional risings against its authority, the pretension of the Church increased as time went on, until the pope claimed absolute authority over every country and every king, in secular as well as in spiritual matters. Kings, said the pope, in effect, could reign only by his will and favour. And if any displeased him he claimed the right of deposing him, and of giving his lands to another. But as in each country the sense of nationality and the royal power grew greater, both kings and people began to chafe at this foreign interference. As the papacy became less spiritual and more and more secular, as the pope him- self became less and less a pastor and more and more a ruling prince and warrior, this dissatisfaction increased. Kings grudged more and more the constant stream of gold which, flowing from their countries in the shape of tithes and other ecclesiastical fees, went, not to spread the Gospel of Christ, but to swell the exchequer of the pope as a temporal prince and possible political enemy. On the political side, then, the world was ready to break with the pope. On the religious side it was also ready. For there came the new learning and the printing-press. Bibles were soon sown broadcast in the tongues of every nation in Europe. Men were no longer content to be told that such and such a doctrine was taught by the Church ; they wanted to know why and upon what grounds the Church taught its doctrines. The Reformation was thus both a political and a. religious movement. For in the. INDULGENCES 207 Middle Ages Church and state had become so bound to- gether that it could not be otherwise. More than any other land Germany had felt the power of the pope. Because of the fatal connexion between the Holy Roman Empire and the Holy See it had been kept from nationality, and had remained a collection of states great and small, held together by the slightest of bonds. Now, more than any other land, it was ready for revolt. The gunpowder was ready, the train was laid ; it needed but a spark to fire it. The spark which caused the explosion was the sale of Indulgences. The Sale of Indulgences An Indulgence meant that by paying a sum of money a man could buy forgiveness of any sin he had committed. The selling of them was no new thing. It was closely con- nected with the practice of doing penance, many people preferring to pay money than do penance in other ways. But in early days no Indulgence had been given except upon the promise of repentance. By the end of the fifteenth century the sale of them had become a scandal. The most vile and wicked, who had neither the desire nor the intention of repentance, could buy them freely. When an Indulgence seller set forth upon his rounds he did so in splendour, with a gay train of followers. Coming to a city he entered it with pomp. The Bull declaring the Indulgence was carried on a cushion of cloth of gold or of crimson velvet. Priests swinging censers and carrying lighted candles and banners followed after, and thus to the sound of chants and songs, and the ringing of joy bells, the procession passed along the streets to the church. Here, before the altar, the vendor spread forth his wares, and declaring that the gates of heaven were open, invited the people to come and buy, 208 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY 1513- When Leo X became pope he found his exchequer almost 1522 em pty. He needed money sorely for his many projects, among them the building of St. Peter's at Rome. To get the money he fell back upon the fruitful expedient of selling Indulgences. Martin Luther The man who had charge of their sale in Germany was a Dominican monk named John Tetzel. He was vulgar and blasphemous. He cried his wares in the church like a cheap- jack in the market-place, making unseemly jokes by the way. This manner of selling Indulgences shocked many people who before had found no harm in the custom. Among these 1483- was the monk Martin Luther. Luther was the son of a poor miner, and his childhood had been one of bitter poverty. But poor although he was, Hans Luther had managed to send his son to school and afterwards to the university of Erfurt, at that time the most famous in Germany. His son repaid him by working hard, and it seemed as if he had a great career before him, when suddenly he threw all 1505 his brilliant prospects to the winds and became a monk. Martin took this step, he said, to save his soul. For he was one of those who had begun to think for themselves on matters of religion, and his thoughts had thrown him into an anguish of doubt. In time, however, he found some sort of peace, and when Tetzel came to Germany he was teacher of theology in the university of Wittenberg. For various reasons many of the rulers in Germany dis- liked the selling of Indulgences, and the Elector of Saxony had forbidden Tetzel to enter his dominions. But Tetzel would not willingly forgo the harvest of gold which might be gleaned from Saxony. So, without actually entering its borders he came as near to them as he could, and set up his booth in Magdeburg. And as he had foreseen, many people crossed the frontiers to buy Indulgences. LUTHER'S HAMMER 209 At this Luther's heart was filled with sorrow and indigna- tion. He could not but feel that these poor people were being deceived and exploited. At length he wrote out, in Latin, ninety-five theses, or articles, against the sale of Indulgences, and on November i, 1517, he nailed them to the door of the castle church at Wittenberg. The chief idea in these theses was " that by true sorrow and repentance only, and not by payment of money, forgiveness of sins can be won." CHAPTER XLI REFORMATION PERIOD GERMANY WHEN Luther nailed his theses to the door of Wittenberg Church he had no idea of what a great thing he did. He had no idea that he had begun a vast world-shaking movement. He had merely, in the fashion of the day, invited any who liked to debate the matter in public with him. But soon all Germany rang with his challenge. For the theses said openly and clearly what many had thought in secret yet dared not give voice to. They were quickly translated into German and sown broadcast throughout the land. From Germany they spread all over Europe, until all Europe was filled with disputations. At first the pope thought little of the matter, and looked upon it as a mere monkish squabble. But soon he saw that it was more than that, and he issued a Bull of excommunica- 1520 tion against Luther. By this time, however, Luther had become aware of what a great mass of opinion he had on his side. And instead of trembling at the pope's wrath, he publicly burned the Bull. o 210 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY Charles V Eighteen months before this the Emperor Maximilian had died, and after much intriguing his grandson Charles had been chosen emperor. As emperor his rule was so wide- spread that it is hardly an exaggeration to say that the future of the Reformation was in his hands. And so far as European history is concerned the chief point of interest in his reign is his attitude towards the movement. The very extent of Charles V's dominions saved the Re- formation. For at the beginning of his reign as emperor, he was so much occupied with the complicated politics of his varied possessions, that he could not give his whole mind to the suppression of heresy in Germany. Not till eighteen months after his election as emperor, more than three years after Luther had nailed his theses to the door of the castle church at Wittenberg, did Charles pay his first visit to his German dominions. There in January 1521 he held his first Diet at Worms. And to this Diet Luther was summoned to answer for his heresy. During the three years which had passed since his first bold deed, Luther had become strengthened in his con- victions. Now he refused to retract anything that he had 1521 said. So the Ban of the Empire was pronounced against him. Henceforth he might be hunted or slain like a beast of prey, and his books were ordered to be confiscated and burned. Excommunication and Ban alike fell harmless. Luther had now so many powerful friends that none dared to lay hands upon him, and his books were openly bought and sold in far greater numbers than before. Charles was a Catholic not from conviction but from heredity. The religious aspect of the Protestant revolt interested him not at all. The political aspect interested him much. He desired to make sure of the pope's help 212 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY against his arch enemy Francis I in his Italian wars, and by condemning Luther he procured this help. But he also produced war in his German domains. For, condemned by the pope and the emperor although he might be, not only many of the German people but many of the German princes supported Luther. Had the em- peror's interests been undivided he would have crushed these Protestant princes with an iron hand. But as it was he dared not. For he had two great enemies, the French and the Turks. The Turks were constantly threatening his Haps- burg possessions, the French were constantly opposing him in Italy. To keep these two enemies in check Charles had need of German help. Protestants So in spite of all efforts against it the heresy spread. At 1529 length, however, the Diet met at Spires, and passed a decree forbidding any -change of religion, and commanding mass to be said in all churches. Against this decree the Protestant princes issued a protest. And from this all those who then, or later, broke away from the Church of Rome, received the name of Protestants. During all this time Charles had not again visited Germany, for the difficulties of his Spanish dominions kept him in Spain. But in 1530, finding himself at peace for the moment, he attended the Diet of Augsburg prepared to force his will upon the Protestants. The Protestant princes, however, refused to be coerced, and Melancthon, Luther's gentle and wise friend, drew up a Protestant Creed, and laid it before 1530 the Diet. From this it is called the Confession of Augsburg, and is still the accepted Creed of the Lutheran Church. The Protestant leaders now, too, fearing that Charles would try to enforce his will by arms, banded themselves into the Schmalkald League, and prepared to resist force by force. But for the time Charles forbore to coerce them. CHARLES V AND THE PROTESTANTS 213 For the Turks besieged Vienna, and he had need of the sup- port of the Protestant as well of the Catholic princes to guard 1532 his possessions. In order to gain this help he signed the religious Peace of Nuremberg. By this Protestants were granted full freedom to worship God as they would, until a General Council should be called to discuss and settle the matter. Then, having defeated the Turks, Charles once more left Germany, to turn his sword against his other great enemy, Francis I. Between 1521 and 1544 Charles fought at least four distinct wars against Francis I for the possession of Italy. Again and again Francis was defeated. He signed treaties and truces, and broke them ; he was taken prisoner and released ; and finally, to the horror of Europe, he allied himself with the infidel Turk against the emperor. But even this did not save him from defeat, and at length the long struggle came to an end in 1544 with the Treaty of Crespy. This treaty left Francis little better off as regards Italy than he had been at the beginning of his reign, it also bound him to aid in the suppression of heresy. The following year Charles signed a long truce with the Turks, and being thus free of his two chief enemies, he set out for Germany, determined to crush the Schmalkald League, and force all German}/ to return to the old religion. In 1546 the Schmalkald War broke out. At first Charles was successful, and it seemed as if at last he would be able to enforce his will on Germany. He had gained his early successes by the help of Maurice, duke of Saxony. But in the hour of his triumph Maurice turned against him; the war ended in disaster for Charles, and he was obliged to give up his design of forcing all German}/ to think alike on matters of religion. By the religious Peace of Augsburg in 1555 a religious toleration of a very limited kind was established. It gave to the ruler of each state power to decide what should be the 214 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY religion of its people, and power to do as he liked with those who refused to conform to his religion. Thus the great revolt which had been awakened by the blows of Luther's hammer came to an end. The emperor and the pope had lost, and had been forced to give Tip their claim to be the keepers of the general conscience of mankind. But the people had not won. They had merely changed masters. Their princes were to be the keepers of their conscience, they were to be bishops as well as rulers. This was no real settlement. The strife was only ended for a time ; later it was to break out more seriously than before. The Abdication of Charles V While the Peace of Augsburg was being concluded Charles V abdicated. He tried, but tried in vain, to make the electors choose his son Philip as emperor. They refused, and elected his brother Ferdinand instead. So to Philip Charles could only bequeath the Netherlands, the Italian provinces, and Spain, with all her vast possessions in America. That Charles was able to leave the Italian provinces and the Netherlands to Philip without question is a signal proof of the ascendency of Spain in Europe at this time. For Italy had always been looked upon as a part of the Empire. Throughout centuries streams of German blood had been shed to acquire and hold it But Charles, disregarding the fact that he had made his conquests by German aid, claimed Italy by right of conquest, and not by right of the ancient imperial claim. And as a Spanish possession he left the country to his son Philip. The loss of Italy to the Empire was merely imaginary. It was, indeed, no real loss but a gain. A very real loss, and one which was to be felt in modern times, was the loss of the Netherlands. For centuries the northern part of the Netherlands, that part which is now Holland, had been in- cluded in the Empire. Now, by the will of Charles, it was ULRICH ZWINGLI 215 severed from it without question or protest. And to this day the great German river, the Rhine, flows to the sea through a foreign country. Thus Charles V sowed the seeds of future warfare. CHARLES V Ferdinand = Isabella Maximilian = Mary of of Aragon, 1474-1516. of Castile, Emperor, 1474-1504. 1493-1519. Burgundy. Katherine = Henry VIII, Joanna = Archduke Philip King of England. of Austria. I I Charles V, Emperor Ferdinand, 1519-1556. Emperor, 1556-1564. Philip II, King of Spain, I556-I59 8 - CHAPTER XLII REFORMATION PERIOD SWITZERLAND AND FRANCE VERY quickly the new religion spread to other lands. Yet, save that it was Luther who, with unconscious courage, first showed the way, the Reformation in other countries had little connexion with that of Germany. In Switzerland the Reformation was led by Ulrich Zwingli. 1484- At this time the position of Switzerland was different from 1531 that of any other country in Europe. It had wrung itself free from the Empire and from the house of Austria, but 216 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY it had not yet become a consolidated nation. Each of the thirteen cantons of which it was now composed had its own government, these governments varying considerably one from the other. There was thus not even the shadow of a central government, such as Germany had through the emperor, or Italy through the pope. They had not even a common language. But in fact Switzerland was far more united than either Germany or Italy. Each canton was independent, yet each was a member of a federal league. They used a common flag, a white cross on a red ground, and a common motto, " Each for all, and all for each." Since their war of independence the Swiss had had few wars of their own. Yet in nearly all the wars of Europe the Swiss took part, even at times a decisive part. For since their victorious struggle the Swiss had earned the re- putation of being the best foot soldiers in Europe. And when by degrees paid soldiery took the place of feudal armies, warring kings and princes were eager to hire Swiss soldiery to fight for them. The sense of nationality was still feeble ; one nation had as yet little sense of another nation's rights. It shocked none to find the men who had won their own liberty selling their swords and fighting a tyrant's battles. The pope was one of the chief hirers of Swiss soldiery, and besides fighting in his army they formed his bodyguard, so that intercourse between Rome and Switzerland was constant. But this intercourse was purely commercial, and so far as religion was concerned Switzerland was singu- larly free from papal interference. The Swiss Reformation began in the canton of Zurich, and soon spread to Berne. It began as in Germany with an attack on the sale of Indulgences. But although the move- ment spread rapidly, many in the Forest Cantons clung to the Romish faith. Soon the controversy between the two parties became so bitter that it led to civil war. JOHN CALVIN 217 In 1531 the battle of Kappel was fought, in which the Protestants were defeated and Zwingli himself killed. After this a treaty was drawn up between the cantons, which left each free to settle its own religious matters. John Calvin Now that Zwingli was dead John Calvin became the leader 1509- of the Reformation in Switzerland, and Geneva took the place of Zurich as the centre of the movement. Calvin was a young Frenchman who had become a Protestant, and had been forced to flee from France to escape persecu- tion. After Luther he was the greatest of the reformers, and his influence was far more wide reaching. The French Protestants and the English Puritans alike looked to him as their guide. John Knox was his follower, and taught his doctrine to the Scottish people, and the Pilgrim Fathers carried it across the Atlantic to the New World. Calvin was himself a scholar, and he gathered many other scholars to Geneva, making it the stronghold of Pro- testantism and the centre of its teaching. It was from Geneva that the first trained teachers and pastors went forth to teach and preach the new faith. But the doctrine they taught was cold and narrow. For Calvin, although a learned man, was harsh and severe. He had none of the human kindliness of Luther, nor the open-mindedness of Zwingli. Persecution of Protestants in France In France the new religion met with terrible opposition. Yet there it was never a national movement, the Protestants always representing a minority, although a strong one. One reason for this was that the movement was not so much with them a political revolt against secular interference by the Pope as it was with other peoples. For ever since the " Babylonish Captivity/' when the popes had been more or 218 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY less subject to the French king, France had been more free than other nations from papal interference, and the headship of the French Church had belonged more to the French king than to the pope. So it came about that not being a national movement, in time opposition and persecution were able practically to wipe out the Protestants of France. By the Treaty of Crespy Francis I had bound himself to crush heresy within his dominions. Far less than Charles V had he himself any religious convictions, and was personally inclined to tolerance. But his complicated alliances drove him into many inconsistencies. So while he had not hesi- tated to ally himself with the Protestant princes of Germany against his enemy Charles, and even with the infidel Turk, to ingratiate himself with the pope he entered upon a cruel persecution of the Protestants of Provence. 1545 These unoffending, devout, and loyal people were de- nounced as heretics and barbarously slaughtered. Neither age nor sex was respected, and three thousand men, women, and children were put to death. Others were sent to the galleys, and their villages laid in ruins. In 1547 Francis died. Throughout his reign he had been stable in one thing in his hatred of the house of Austria. In that he had shown wisdom. For the menace of Austria was a menace to all Europe, and not to France alone. In combating the desire for world dominion Francis had, in a sense, fought for Europe. He left France, moreover, actually increased in territory, stronger and more compact than before. He left her also more beautiful and advanced in culture. For he was the patron of both artists and men of letters, and many of the splendid castles which are still the glory of the Loire valley date from his reign. 1547- Francis was succeeded by his son Henry II. He was a 1559 mediocre and feeble prince, and allowed himself to be guided by ambitious counsellors, chief among them the Guises. Before long he was in league once more with the Protestant HENRY VIII AND THE REFORMATION 219 princes of Germany against his father's old enemy Charles. But now fortune had forsaken Charles, and from the walls of Metz he retired beaten. 1553 During this reign the Reformation made great progress in France. Men high in office, and even princes of the royal blood, joined the movement. Growing bolder in consequence, many who formerly had only worshipped in secret openly confessed their adherence to the new faith, and in 1555 the first Protestant church was established in Paris. Henry looked upon the spread of the new faith with fear and anger, and once more persecutions began. But these persecutions only made the Protestants cling more firmly to their faith. CHAPTER XLIII REFORMATION PERIOD ENGLAND AND SCANDINAVIA IN England the Reformation ran a different course from that in France or Germany. In these countries Protestantism spread in spite of the strenuous opposition of the rulers. In England it was aided by the ruler, King Henry VIII. When Martin Luther first published his theses Henry VIII denounced him loudly, and as loudly upheld the head- ship of the pope. He even wrote a book called " The Defence of the Seven Sacraments," a copy of which, sumptuously bound, he sent to the pope. In return, Leo X bestowed upon him the title of Defender of the Faith. 1521 A few years after this Henry desired to divorce his wife Katharine of Aragon, in order to marry Anne Boleyn. He professed a fear that he had sinned against heaven in marry- ing Katharine at all, as she was the widow r of his elder 220 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY 1527 brother Arthur, and he asked the pope, now Clement VII, to grant him a divorce. Now Katharine was the daughter of Ferdinand and Isa- bella of Spain, and the aunt of the Emperor Charles V. So Henry's demand placed Clement in a difficult position. If he refused to grant Henry's request he would offend him. If he granted it he would offend Charles V. He dared not offend Charles, so he temporized. But Henry grew weary of awaiting the pope's pleasure, and he induced Archbishop Cranmer to pronounce the divorce without further appeal to 1533 Rome. Henry VIII Supreme Head of the English Church Upon this the pope ordered Henry to take back his wife upon pain of excommunication. Instead of obeying, Henry replied by cutting the Church of England free from Rome, 1534 Acts of Parliament were speedily passed declaring that the king of England, and not the pope of Rome, was the supreme head of the English Church, and forbidding the payment of any moneys to the pope. It was also declared that the bishop of Rome had no more jurisdiction in the kingdom of Eng- land than any other foreign bishop. Mass was ordered to be said in English instead of in Latin. Masses for the dead, pilgrimages, adoration of relics and images, were for- bidden, and the Doctrine of Purgatory was denied. Beyond this Henry made little alteration in the teaching or services of the Church. 1536- He, indeed, suppressed monasteries and convents. But 1539 this had nothing to do with religious conviction. He was in need of money, the religious houses were rich in land and money ; therefore he suppressed them and took their wealth to himself. Henry needed an excuse for doing this. His excuse was that the monks and nuns led wicked and idle lives, which were a disgrace to religion. In many cases this was true. ENGLISH PEOPLE AND THE REFORMATION 221 Henry, however, did not distinguish between the houses of good or ill repute, but treated all alike. But the monasteries and convents were the hospitals, almshouses, and schools of the day, and the closing of them brought misery on the people. The land, too, was soon filled with homeless, beggared monks, and a rising known as the Pilgrimage of Grace took place. But the rebellion was put down, and 1536 Henry continued his suppressions. Although England was thus separated from Rome not by the zeal of a reformer but by the ^command of a selfish and stubborn king, king and people were at one. The king's action in breaking with the pope coincided with the wishes of the people ; they both girded at papal interference, and both clung to the old theology. But besides this there was a real desire for reform, and to many it seemed that the king's reform was not radical enough. For many of the people had become imbued with the doc- trines of Luther and Calvin, and wished to see England a Protestant country. This was not the king's will. He would brook no opposition to his will, and he put to death impartially Catholics who denied his supremacy as head of the Church, and Protestants who held Calvanistic theories about the Holy Sacrament. So in England, no more than in other countries, was the Reformation accomplished without bloodshed and persecu- tion. The new English Church persecuted those who re- fused adherence, but not till Mary Tudor came to the throne 1553 did the fires of persecution burn fiercely. She was an ardent Catholic, yet as queen of England she was supreme head of the Anglican Church, a church that she was bound to hate. In her fervent devotion to Rome she endeavoured to bring back England to its allegiance. But in spite of cruel persecution she failed. Henry VIII had been able to impose his religion on the people of England, because they themselves desired to break 222 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY with Rome. Mary failed to impose her religion on them, because her will was not theirs. In her blind fealty to Rome she plunged her country into blood. She repealed all the religious legislation of her father and of her brother Edward VI. But all her efforts were in vain. The awakening in- tellect of England became more and more Protestant and national, and no laws of princes could prevent its final severance from Rome. John Knox In Scotland, also, the new religion took root. The great 1505- reformer there was John Knox, a follower of Calvin. The 1572 success of the Reformation in Scotland was of great import- ance to the history of Europe. The young queen of Scots, Mary, brought up in France, was heart and soul with the Roman Church. If she had had a united country behind her she might with the help of Rome and France have made good her claim to the throne of England. Then in England the Protestant religion might have been wiped out for ever, even as it was destined to be in France. At least, so it seemed to the politicians of the day. Looking back, it seems very doubtful if the awakened spirit of liberty in Eng- land could have been so coerced. As it was, Scotland was divided between the old religion and the new. English Protestants and Scottish Protestants made common cause against the French and the Catholics, and the allied Protestants triumphed. In this first union of religion may be seen the beginnings of united Britain. Sweden, Denmark, and Norway The Reformation spread even to Scandinavia and the far north. There, at first, it was imposed by the rulers somewhat after the manner of the English Reformation. But there, too, the people were ready for reform, and the countries soon became entirely Protestant. GUSTAVUS VASA AND THE REFORMATION 223 During the centuries when the countries of south-western Europe had been rising to importance, Scandinavia had had little effect on them, and had been little effected by them. Its history is chiefly a record of internal struggles between the three kingdoms of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark for supremacy. In 1397, by the Union of Calmar, these three kingdoms were at length united under one ruler. But still, although they had only one ruler, there was no real union among them. The Swedes especially hated the domination of Denmark, and more than once tried to regain their independence. Then, in 1520, Christian II of Denmark, in the hope of for ever crushing Swedish independence, massacred all the nobles at Stockholm in cold blood. This horrible deed was called the Stockholm Bath of Blood, and instead of crushing Sweden's desire for independence it roused the national spirit as it had never been roused before. The Swedes threw off all semblance of allegiance to Den- mark, and chose a young noble named Gustavus Vasa for their leader. In 1523 there was a revolution in Denmark. Christian II was driven from the throne, and Gustavus Vasa became king of Sweden, and Frederick I of Holstein king of Denmark and Norway. With the reign of Gustavus Vasa the history of Sweden 1523- as an independent kingdom may be said to begin. But 156 meanwhile the kingdom was wasted with war. The royal treasury was empty, and Gustavus knew not where to turn for money. But although king and people were poor the Church was rich, and Gustavus determined to take the Church revenues for state purposes. At a meeting of the Diet in 1527 he made clear his inten- tions. He was met with fierce opposition on the part of the bishops who were present, and finding he could not bend the Diet to his will he rose in anger. " Then I will no more be your king," he cried, " and if 224 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY you can find another who will please you better I will rejoice. Pay me for my possessions in the land, give me back what I have spent in your service. Then I shall go. And I swear solemnly I shall never come back to this de- based and ungrateful country of mine." And with that he left them. But the Swedes could not do without Gustavus. It was he alone who held the country together, and in three days they yielded to his demands. Thus by the will of one man the Reformation was established in Sweden. A little later the Reformation was established in Den- mark. Christian II had been attracted to the new religion, and had intended to introduce it, when his subjects had rebelled and driven him from the throne. His successor, Frederick, was a Protestant, and favoured the religion, 1536- but it was not until the reign of his son Christian III that it 1559 was fully established in the country. During his reign also the new religion was established in Norway. For unlike Sweden, Norway had failed to assert her independence, and had even lost her old status as a separate kingdom, and become a mere dependency of the kingdom of Denmark. CHAPTER XL1V REFORMATION PERIOD SPAIN, PORTUGAL, THE NETHER- LANDS, ITALY IN Charles V's own kingdom of Spain the Reformation made little impression. This was partly because there was not so much need of it. For the Church there was more alive, and many of the worst abuses rampant in other countries had I NETHERLANDS AND THE REFORMATION 225 been removed. But chiefly it was due to the fact that in Spain heresy was promptly and severely suppressed by the terrible Inquisition. Portugal, too, was hardly touched by the Reformation. For there also the Inquisition was in force, and all individual thought was quickly stamped out by it. Very shortly, too, while Europe was being torn by religious wars Portugal was to become for a time a mere province of Spain. For in 1580 Henry I of Portugal died without heirs, and Philip II of Spain claimed the throne as the heir of his mother Isabella of Portugal. Then for sixty years the kings of Spain ruled Portugal also. The Inquisition and the Netherlands In the Netherlands, which were at this time not an in- dependent country but merely the private possession of Charles, the Reformation brought bloodshed, persecution, and war. There the struggle for religious freedom was combined with the struggle for political freedom. In the end both were won. Holland became independent of Spain, and one of the strongest Protestant powers in Europe. But that day had not yet dawned. In the meantime Charles determined to do what he liked with his personal property. The Reformation had taken a great hold upon the Nether- lands. Even from quite early days the people had never been very submissive to the pope. Heresy easily took root there, andin spite of horrible persecutions grew and flourished. Long before the Reformation the land swarmed with Wyclif- fites, Hussites, Waldenses, and adherents of many other dissenting sects. When at length the great Reformation came, with its ally the printing-press, it took root in the Netherlands and spread more rapidly than in any other place. But Charles was a politician. He well understood that religious liberty was the forerunner of political liberty, and p 226 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY he determined to stamp out the new religion. So the Inquisition was introduced. The reading of the Bible was forbidden, as were also all gatherings for devotion or re- ligious discussion. But the stolid, industrious people resisted. Hundreds and thousands were tortured and put to death. Still the adherents of the new religion increased, persecution only making them more determined to walk in the way upon which they had set their feet. It was left for the heirs of Charles to reap the harvest he had sown, and Holland was lost alike to Spain, to the Empire, and to the pope. Italy and the Reformation In Italy, divided as it was at this time between the rule of the pope and the rule of Spain, the Reformation made considerable headway. Italians lived beneath the shadow of the papacy, they were nearer than others to the fountain of evil, and many devout men longed to see the Church made pure and holy. There was, too, a great deal of intercourse between Germany and Italy. Both scholars and merchants constantly crossed the Alps, and Luther's doctrines soon found many sympathizers among Italians. But in Italy, as in Spain, the reform movement was rigorously repressed. The Inquisition did its work thoroughly, and Italy remained within the fold of the Church. Broadly speaking then, when the Reformation had worked itself out, the whole of north-western Europe, the half of Christendom, was lost to the papacy. England, Scotland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, northern Germany, and part of Switzerland had adopted the new religion in one form or another. Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, and, in the long run, France, with portions of southern Germany, clung to the old religion. The Reformation did not bring complete freedom' of re- ligious thought or real toleration. For the reformers merely THE COUNTER-REFORMATION 227 changed an infallible Church for an infallible Bible. Each reformer, Luther, Zwingli, or Calvin produced his own dogma, and would admit of no salvation for those who differed from him. So there arose countless divisions among the Protestants, divisions which did much to check their further progress. The reformers fought and died for freedom of conscience. But they permitted no freedom to those who differed from themselves, and one Protestant sect, when it had the power, was as ready to persecute another as the older church had been. Still, the principle of the right of private judgment had been admitted. It could not again be denied, and even more than in what it did the value of the Reformation lies in the fact that it made possible, and prepared the way for, modern toleration. The Counter-Reformation : Ignatius Loyola. It also reformed and purified the Church of Rome. As country after country revolted, the ancient Church awoke from her sloth of centuries, resolved to make an end of the evils which had made her a reproach and a byword, and the Counter-Reformation began. In 1545 the Council of Trent was called, and a plain restatement of the Church's doctrines was made. Many causes of stumbling to devout Catholics were removed, and henceforth no man of evil life has sat upon the throne of St. Peter. This Counter-Reformation stayed the force of the reformers even more than the dissensions among Protestants. To remain at peace within the Church purified was all that many a devout Catholic asked. And soon the Church found a powerful helper in Ignatius Loyola, a Spaniard, who, in 1540, founded the Society of Jesus. The aim of this society was to defend the Church and spread its doctrines. Soon its well-disciplined, scholarly, and devoted members were to be found all over the world. And 228 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY to them the Church owed much of its re-established authority. After the Reformation the borders of the ancient Church were doubtless narrowed. Yet in a sense it was stronger than it had been for centuries. Once again its prelates showed to the world the beauty of holiness, and by godly living made for the Church a bulwark against further assaults from without or from within. Yet religious freedom was by no means won. Europe was divided into two hostile camps. Neither side had as yet learned toleration of the other, and for long years the wars which shook the continent were wars of religion. SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER THE EFFECT OF AMERICAN CONQUESTS ON SPAIN THE reign of Charles V was the age of Spanish conquest and domination in America. This conquest had a great effect first on Spain and ultimately on Europe. For Spain was the first European nation to found an overseas empire. Yet it was no empire in the modern sense of the word. Mexico, Peru, and Chili were explored and exploited, but they were not colonized as we understand the word. The conquerors did not reclaim or cultivate the land. Indeed, they were actually forbidden to grow vines or grain in the conquered countries, lest Spanish trade in wine and corn should be injured. They were also forbidden to emigrate and settle there. For Spain, far from requiring an outlet for superfluous population, was already too thinly populated, foreign wars being a constant drain upon its manhood. Emigration, THE SPANIARDS AS COLONISTS 229 therefore, instead of being a necessity, was an actual menace. The Spaniards, at the same time, were intensely jealous of their overseas trade. They tried to keep it entirely for themselves, and shut out not only all other European nations but even all Spain except Castile. This produced smuggling and piracy on an enormous scale. And soon the proud galleons of Spain, which at one time could sail the seas in safety, were obliged to go in companies to avoid the attack of pirates. All the Spaniards did then was to procure as much gold and silver from these lands as they could. And this they procured not by their own toil but by the forced labour of the natives whom they had enslaved. Soon gold and silver poured into Spain. It was from America that Charles drew much of the wealth which enabled him to carry on his many wars. With that wealth at command he might have succeeded in dominating Europe, and in founding the world empire he desired to found, but for one thing which wrecked all his plans. This was the Reformation. By it his policy was divided, his alliances complicated, his great ambitions baffled. Thus, for him, in a manner the conquest of America and the Reformation annulled each other. But although gold and silver poured into Spain from the New World, Spain became no richer. For the Spaniards spent this easily won wealth like water. Most of it went out of Spain again to pay for the hire of foreign soldiers, and for foreign luxuries, which the Spaniard could no longer do with- out. For Spain had no manufactures, and as its population constantly lessened in numbers even agriculture was neglected. At length the country could not grow enough corn and wine to supply the demand of its own people, and foreign merchants supplied these things. So the enormous wealth of America profited Spain not at all. The country gradually 230 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY grew poorer. Noble beggary became the fashion. The Spaniard, born generous and grown proud, disdained to toil, and the labour in field and workshop was left to foreigners. Their labours again brought Spain no profit, for having made their fortunes they returned home carrying their wealth with them. Thus once again seeking to dominate Europe a great ruler cast his own kingdom down from the high place she had won. With both hands the Spaniards flung away the golden prize which their daring seamen had wrested from the ocean, and the New World became the heritage of another race. While the mother-country declined the colonies could not prosper. Under the inhuman treatment of their conquerors the native populations of these colonies dwindled, and a bitter hatred grew up between them and their masters. Charles, indeed, took some interest in his American posses- sions, and even tried to make good laws for them. But he was too much preoccupied by his efforts to dominate P^urope to make much headway. He knew little of the principles of commerce, and he was utterly ignorant of the modern ideas of colonization, the Cortes, or parliament, equally so. Consequently the dealings of Spain with her overseas possessions is a record of mistakes and lost opportunities. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE CEN- TURY BRITISH CONTINENTAL CHAP. IOO B.C. A.D. IOO Caesar's invasion of Britain, 55-54 Social War in Rome, 90-89 Jerusalem taken by Pom- pey, 63 Conquests of Caesar in Gaul, 58-51 Invasion of Brit- ain by Aulus Plautius, 43 Heroic revolt of Boadicea, 61 Final conquest of Britain by Agri- cola, 78-85 Claudius, Emperor at Rome, 41 Nero, Emperor, 54 Destruction of Jerusa- lem, 70 Roman Occupation of Britain 200 Hadrian, Emperor, 117 300 Defeat of the Goths by Claudius II, 269-270 Maximian, Joint Em- peror with Diocletian, 286 1 4OO Alban, first Chris- tian martyr, 304 Beginning of Raids of Picts, Scots, and Saxons, c. 350 Constantine the Great (sole Emperor), 324 Goths imploring protec- tion, allowed by Valens to cross the Danube, 376 Theodosius the Great (sole Emperor), 393 i 231 232 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY CEN- TURY BRITISH CONTINENTAL CHAP. Emperor Honorius Alaric in Italy, 400-404 ; i abandons Brit- Rome taken, 410 ain, 410 Goths in Spain and Gaul, 414 Vandals in Africa, 429 in Hengist and Hor- Attila defeated at i CJ sa land in Bri- Chalons, 451 3 tain, 449 Nominal reunion of the in Empires under Zeno, B 476 *o Odoacer governs Italy as 4-> Patrician, 476-493 O Clovis, King of the ii 0< Franks, 481-511 a o Reign of Theodoric in in u Italy, 493-526 5OO co CUO 4) Battle of Mount Justinian, Emperor, 527- IV Badon, 520 565 H Belisarius and Narses re- cover Italy, 536-555 Lombard settlements in V Italy, 568 Birth of Mahomet, 569 VI Arrival of St. Au- Gregory the Great be- V 6OO gustine, 597 comes Pope, 590 X Preaching of Ai- Death of Mahomet : Abu vi and S OT dan, 634 Bekr, Caliph, 632 VII ^ > Saracen Conquest of VII > '$.4 Syria and Palestine, d (632-639) o ri Synod of Whitby, Of Persia, (632-651) XXIII d r S i 664 Of Egypt and Africa, VII 700 11 (638-709) o Saracen Conquest of VII a) ^ Spain, 711-713 *3bl Iconoclast controversy IX || in Italy, 726-775 Rule of Charles Martel VIII Battle of Tours, 732 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 233 CEN- TURY BRITISH CONTINENTAL CHAP. 800 Struggle for supremacy between Northurnbria, Mercia, and Wessex First Danish Raid, c- 787 Pepin, King of the Franks, 752 Saracens driven out of Gaul, 759 Charles the Great defeats the Lombards, 774 ; crowned Emperor of the West, 800. The beginning of the Holy Roman Empire VIII VIII IX QOO Egbert overlord of Britain, 829 Alfred, 871-901 Treaty of Wed- more, 878 Edward the Elder, 901-924 Lewis the Pious, Em- peror, 814 Saracen Conquest of Sicily, 827-878 Treaty of Verdun, 843 Rurick settles in Russia, 862 Paris besieged by North- men, 885 X xi and XIV X XIII XII S IOOO Athelstan, 924- 940 Edgar, 959~975 Ethelred the Un- ready, 978-1016 Settlement of Rollo in France, 911 Otto the Great, 936- 973 ; defeats Hungari- ans at Lechfield, 953; crowned Emperor, 962 Vladimir's rule in Rus- sia, 980-1015 XII XIX XIII 1 100 Massacre of Danes, IOO2 Knut, 1016-1035 Restoration of English Line, 1042 : Edward the Confessor, 1042-1066 Norman Conquest, 1066 William I, 1066- 1087 Conrad II, King, 1024 ; Emperor, 1027 End of the Ommiad Dy- nasty in vSpain, 1031 Burgundy becomes a fief of the Empire, 1033 Henry III, King, 1039 ; Emperor, 1046 Henry IV, King, 1056 ; Emperor, 1085 Henry's great strife with Pope ; first ex-com- municated, 1076 . XX XX XX Norman Kings 234 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY CEN- TURY BRITISH CONTINENTAL CHAP. William Rufus, Norman Conquest of xiv and 1087-1100 Sicily, 1060-1090 XXVII Gregory VII, Pope, 1073- 1085 Henry IV at Canossa, XX 1077 IIOO The First Crusade, 1096 xxin and bO XXIV 5 Henry 1, 1 1 oo-i 135 Henry V, King, 1106; XX a Battle of Tenche- Emperor, mi a brai, 1106 Alfonso the Battler takes XXXII g Zaragosa from Moors, 1118 o Concordat of Worms, XX 1122 Lothaire of Saxony, King, XX 1125 ; Emperor, 1133 Lothaire does homage to the Pope in respect of Italian lands, 1133 Stephen of Blois, Norman Kingdom of XIV II35-H54 Sicily, 1130 Second Crusade, 1147 XXV Henry II, 1154- Frederick Barbarossa, 1189 King, 1152 ; Emperor, Constitutions of 1 155 ; defeated by Lom- XXVII Clarendon, 1164 bards, 1176 Strongbow's in- Lombard League founded vasion of Ire- 1167 land, 1171 Saladin overthrows the XXIII CO 60 Murder of Becket, Fatimite Dynasty, 1171 1 1170 Philip Augustus, King of XXI K> France, 1180 V Saladin takes Jerusalem, XXIII 3 CD 1187 00 Third Crusade, 1189 xxiv and XXV d Teutonic Order of XXIV S Knights founded 1189 Richard I, 1189- Henry VI, Emperor, 1199 1190-1197 Capture of Acre, Conquest of Sicily by the XIV 1191 Emperor, Henry VI, John Lackland, 1194 1199-1216 Innocent III, Pope, XXVII I2OO 1198-1216 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 235 CEN- TURY BRITISH CONTINENTAL CHAP. Double Election : Philip XXVII of Swabia, 1198-1208; Otto IV, 1198-1215 Loss of Normandy Latin Conquest of Con- XXV 1204 stantinople, 1204 Otto IV of Brunswick, XXVII Emperor, 1208-1214 awe? xxx Battle of Bou- Crusade against the Albi- XL vines, 1214 genses, 1208 MagnaCarta, 1215 Rise of Ottoman Turks XXVI Henry III, 1216- Fifth Crusade, 1228 1272 Frederick II crowns him- xxv and self King of Jerusalem, XXVII 1228 Battle of Lewes, Teutonic Order conquers 1264 Prussia, 1230-1283 5) Simon de Mont- Interregnum, 1254-1273 XXX 00 a fort's Parlia- Conquest of Sicily by xxx and 3 ment, 1265 Charles of Anjou, 1266 XXXVI +j Edward I, 1272- Gregory X, Pope, 1271 v d 1307 Rudolf I of Hapsburg, | Conquest of Wales 1273-1291 J 1283 Sicilian vespers, 1282 XXXVI 1 Model Parliament, Hapsburgs become over- E 1295 lords of Austria, 1282 Baliol resigns his Beginning of the Swiss XXXV crown to Ed- League, 1291 1300 ward Scots revolt under Popes resident at Avig- XXVIII Bruce, 1306 non, 1306 Edward II, 1307- The Swiss defeat the XXXV 1327 Austrians at Morgar- Battle of Bannock- ten, 1315 burn, 1314 End of the Capetian Dy- XXVII Edward III, 1327- nasty in direct line, *377 1328 Beginning of Hun- Spread of Greek culture XXXVIII dred Years' in Italy by Petrarch War, 1338 and Boccaccio I^OO Battle of Cre9y, 1346 The Golden Bull, 1356 xxx 236 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY CEN- BRITISH CONTINENTAL CHAP. TURY Black Death, 1348 Return of the Popes to Battle of Poitiers, Rome, 1376 1356 The Swiss defeat the XXXV Treaty of Bre- Austrians at Sempach tigny, 1360 1386 ; at Nafels, 1388 Richard II, 1377- John Huss, 1370-1414; XL 1399 preaches reform in Peasants' Revolt, Bohemia 1 38 1 (Wat Tyler) Henry IV, 1399- Union of Calmar, 1397 xv and 1400 1413 XVI Henry V, 1413- Madeira discovered by XXXIII 1422 Portuguese, 1418 VJ tUO Battle of Agin- Turks besiege Constanti- G r-j JU court, 1415 nople, 1422 M i Treaty of Troyes, Standing army estab- 4J pH Siege of Orleans, Battle of St. Jacob, near XXXV o ft 1428 Basle, 1444 fi Burning of Joan of Arc, 1431 Invention of Printing Turks capture Constanti- xxvi and End of Hundred nople, 1453 XXXIX Years' War, Louis XI, 1461-1483 XXXI 1453 established a strong Beginning of the Central Government Wars of the in France Roses, 1455 Prince Henry of Portu- XXXIII gal, 1394-1460, en- Edward IV, 1461- courages navigation 1483 Ivan the Great, 1462- a 1505 (Progress of Rus- XXXIV 1 Battle of Barnet, sia) Q 1471 Union of Castile and Ara- & Edward V, 1483 gon, 1469 XXXII 3 O Richard III, 1483- BartholomewDiaz rounds 1485 the Cape of Good XXXIII Battle of Bos- Hope, 1486 worth, 1485 Christopher Columbus Henry VII, 1485- discovers America, XXXIII 1509 1492 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 237 CEN- TURY BRITISH CONTINENTAL CHAP. Conquest of Granada, XXXII 1492 Charles VIII, 1483-1498 ; XXXVI Battle of Fornova, 1495 Italy and the Borgias XXXVI and Savonarola Switzerland practically XXXV independent ; Peace I5OO of Basle, 1499 Henry VIII, 1509- Maximilian I, takes the XXXV 1547 title of Emperor, 1508 Pope Julius II drives the XXXVII French out of Italy, 1512 O Christianll, King of Den- XLIII a mark and Norway, a 1513 |H O Francis I, King of France XXXVII T? 1515 9 H Franco-Spanish War in XXXVII Italy, Battle of Marig- nano, 1515 Charles V, King of Spain, XXXVII 1516; Emperor, 1519 Field of the Cloth Martin Luther nails his XL of Gold ; 1520 theses on the door of the CasJe Church of Wittenberg, 1517 Francis I defeated at Pa via, 1525 Reformation established XLIII in Sweden by Gustavus Vasa, 1527 Henry acknow- Nicolas Copernicus, 1473- XXXIX ledged Head of J 543> teaches the new the Church of astronomy England, 1531 Protestant Creed laid be- XLI Pilgrimage of fore the Diet of Augs- Grace, 1537 burg, 1530 Death of Zwingli, 1531 XLII John Calvin commences XLII his mission in Switzer- 1600 land, 1532 2 3 8 A SHORT EUROPEAN HISTORY CEN- TURY BRITISH CONTINENTAL CHAP. Ivan the Terrible, 1533- XXXIV 1584, Czar of All the Russias, tries to obtain a seaboard 35 Luther, Martin, 208, 210, 227 MAGELLAN, 200 Magnus, king of Norway, 81 Magnus II, king of Norway and Sweden, 75 Margaret of Denmark, 73, 75, 81 Marignano, battle of, 195 Mary, queen of England, 221 Mary, queen of Scots, 222 Maurice, Byzantine emperor. 20, 21 Maurice, duke of Saxony, 213 Maximilian I. German emperor, 182, 184, 189, 195 Mayfield, 39 Mayors of the palace, 32 Mecca, 23, 26 Medici, Piero, 191 Michael I, Byzantine emperor, 44 Michael VIII, Byzantine emperor, 127 Missi Dominici, 39 Mohammed, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 Mohammed II, sultan, 132 Morat, battle of, 181 Morgarten, battle of, 179 Muskovy, 175 Myklegaard, 61 NAFELS, battle of. 180 Narses, 16, 17 Nations, battle of, 5 Nicholas II, pope, 67 Nicopolis, battle of, 131 Norse discovery of America, 52 Nuremberg, peace of, 213 ODOACER the German, 12, 13 Olaf Skettkonung, king of Sweden, 74. 79 Olaf Tryggvason, king of Norway, 78,79 Olaf Haroldson (Saint Olaf), king of Norway, 80 Oleg, 60, 61, 62 Orleans, siege of, 157, 158 Ostrogoths, 3, 17 Otto I, German emperor, 93, 94 Otto IV, German emperor, 136 Ottoman Turks, 130, 131 Pages, 107 Papal States, founded, 37 Paschal II, pope, 98 Paschal III, pope, 134 Pa via, battle of, 195, 196 Pepin, king of the Franks, 34, 35, 36, 37 Peter's Pence 99 Peter of Aragon, king of Sicily, 188 Peter the Hermit, 116, 120 Petrarch, 198 Philip I, king of France, 102, 119 Philip Augustus, king of France, 103, 104, 136, 138 Philip IV, king of France, 138, 139, 140, 141 Philip V, king of France, 142 Philip VI, king of France, 143, 148 Philip II, king of Spain, 225 Philip of Swabia, German emperor, 136 Pilgrim Fathers, 217 Poitiers, battle of, 148 Protestants, 212 Queen's tents, 167 RAPHAEL, 199 Renaissance, 197 Richard I, king of England, 103 Riparian Franks, 8 Robert, duke of Normandy, 57 Robert Guiscard, 66, 67 Roderick, king of the Goths, 29, 30 Rois Faineants, 32 Roger, count of Sicily, 66, 67 Roger Borsa, duke of Sicily, 67 Roger II, king of Sicily, 67, 68 Rollo the Northman, 55, 56, 57, 77 Romance languages, 46 Romulus Agustulus, Roman em- peror, 12 Rurick, 59, 60 ST. AUGUSTINE, 21 St. Jacobs, battle of, 181 St. John's Ambulance association, 124 Salian Franks, 8 Salic Law, 142 INDEX 243 Savonarola, Girolamo, 190, 191, 192 Saxons, conquest of, 38 Schmalkald League, 212, 213 Schwartz Berthold, 199 Seljukian Turks, 131 Sempach, battle of, 180 Sicilian Vespers, 188 Siegfried, king of Denmark, 6S Sigrid, Queen, 79 Silvester, pope, 42 Slaves, 86, 129 Society of Jesus, 227 Squires, 108 States General, 140, 162 Stephen II, pope, 35, 36 Stockholm Bath of Blood, 223 Strasburg, Oath of, 44, 45 Sweyn Forkbeard, king of Denmark, 70,79 TACITUS' " Germania," 51 Tamerlane, 131 Tancred of Hauteville, 66 Tancred, king of Sicily, 68, 189 Tarick, 29 Teias, king of the Ostrogoths, 16 Tell, William, 179 Tetzel, John, 208 Theodoric, king of the Visigoths, 5 Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, 12, 13, 14 Theodosius, Roman emperor, 2 Thomas a Becket, 134 Thyra, queen of the Danes, 70 Tiberius II, Byzantine emperor, 19 Tolbiac, battle of, 9 Tours, battle of, 33 Trent, council of, 227 Troyes, treaty of, 150, 157 Truce of God, 90 URBAN II, pope, 116, 117 Urban IV, pope, 152, 188 VALDAMAR the Great, king of Den- mark, 71, 72 Valdamar II, king of Denmark, 73 Valdamar IV, king of Denmark, 73 Vandals, 3, 4 Varangians, 59 Varangian Guard, 64 Verdun, treaty of, 46, 101 Vassals, 82 Victor IV, pope, 134 Villains, 86, 129 Vinci, Leonardo da, 199 Vladimir I, grand duke of Russia, 64 WAIBLINGS, 133 Waldenses, 225 Walter the Penniless, 120 Wedmore, peace of, 58 Welfs, 133 Wenceslaus, German emperor, 1 79 Westphalia, peace of, 182 William the Conqueror, 58, 85 William Rufus, 119 William of the Iron Arm, 66 Winkelried, Arnold von, 180 Wittikind, Saxon hero, 68 Worms, Concordat of, 98 Diet of, 210 Wycliffe, John, 205 Wycliffites, 225 XERES, battle of, 29 ZACHARIAS, pope, 34 Zeno, Byzantine emperor, 12 Zwingli, Ulrich, 215, 227 PRINTED AT THE COMPLETE PRESS WEST NORWOOD, LONDON, S.E. 14 DAY USE RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED LOAN DEPT. 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