Outlines of mediæval and modern history

Front matter

Glass

OUTLINES

MEDIEVAL AND MODERN HISTORY.

Part First. — Medieval History

FIRST PERIOD. — THE DARK AGES. chap. (From the fall of Rome, a.d. 476, to the eleventh century.)

I. Migration and Settlement of the Teutonic Tribes 13

II. The Conversion of the Barbarians 28

1. The Introduction of Christianity among the Different Tribes 28

11. Development of the Monastic System 43

III. Fusion of the Latin and Teutonic Peoples 49

IV. The Roman Empire in the East 61

V. Mohammed and the Saracens 77

VI. Charlemagne and the Restoration of the Empire in the West. . . . 107

VII. The Northmen 118

1. Introductory 118

II. The Danes in England 1 24

in. Settlement of the Northmen in Gaul 134

VIII. Rise of the Papal Power 136

SECOND PERIOD. — THE AGE OP REVIVAL.

(From the opening of the eleventh century to the discovery of America by Columbus, in 1492.)

I. Feudalism and Chivalry 147

1. Feudalism 147

11. Chivalry 161

II. The Normans 169

1. The Normans at Home and in Italy 169

11. The Norman Conquest of England 171 x CONTENTS.

CHAP. PAGE.

1. Introductory : Causes of the Crusades 1 79

II. The First Crusade (1096-1099) 187

in. The Second Crusade (1 147-1 149) 200

IV. The Third Crusade (1189-1192) 205

v. The Fourth Crusade ( 1 202-1 204) 208

vi. The Children's Crusade (121 2) 209

vii. Close of the Crusades : their Results 214

IV. Supremacy of the Papacy : Decline of its Temporal Power 222

V. Conquests of the Turanian or Tartar Tribes 234

VI. Growth of the Towns : the Italian City-Republics 245

VII. The Revival of Learning 260

VIII. Growth of the Nations : Formation of National Governments and

Literatures 277

I. England 278

II. France 303

III. Spain 317

iv. Germany 322

v. Russia 341

vi- Italy 342

VII. The Northern Countries 348

PART SECOND. — MODERN HISTORY. Introduction 349

THIRD PERIOD. — THE ERA OF THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION.

(From the discovery of America to the Peace of Westphalia, in 1648.)

I. The Beginnings of the Reformation under Luther 363

II. The Ascendency of Spain 382

1. Reign of the Emperor Charles V. (1519— 1556) 382

11. Spain under Philip II. (1 556-1 598) 395

III. The Tudors and the English Reformation (1485-1603) . . 400

I. Introductory 400

III. England severed from the Papacy by Henry VIII. (1509-

IV. Changes in Creed' and Ritual under Edward VI. (1574-

!553) 417

CONTENTS. xi

CHAP. PAGE.

v. Reaction under Mary (1553-1558) 419

VI. Final Establishment of Protestantism under Elizabeth

(1558-1603) 424

IV. The Revolt of the Netherlands : Rise of the Dutch Republic

(1572-1609) 437

V. The Huguenot Wars in France (1 562-1629) 457

VI. The Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) 473

FOURTH PERIOD. — THE ERA OF THE POLITICAL. REVOLUTION.

(From the Peace of Westphalia, in 1648, to the present time.)

I. The Ascendency of France under the Absolute Government of

II. England under the Stuarts: the English Revolution (1603-1714) 504

1. The First Two Stuarts 504

1. Reign of James the First (1 603-1 625) 504

2. Reign of Charles the First (1625- 1649) 511

II. The Commonwealth (1649-1660) 521

III. The Restored Stuarts 530

1. Reign of Charles the Second (1 660-1 685) 530

2. Reign of James the Second (1 685-1 688) 535

IV. The Orange-Stuarts 541

1. Reign of William and Mary (1689-1702) 541

2. Reign of Queen Anne (1 702-1 714) 545

III. The Rise of Russia : Peter the Great (1 682-1 725) 549

IV. The Rise of Prussia : Frederick the Great (1 740-1 786) 568

V. The French Revolution (1 789-1 799) 577

I. Causes of the Revolution; the States-General of 1789 ... 577

11. The National or Constituent Assembly (1 789-1 791) 585

ill. The Legislative Assembly ( 1 791-1792) 593

iv. The National Convention (1 792-1 795) 599

VI. The Consulate and the First Empire; France since the Second

Restoration 632

I. The Consulate and the Empire (1 799-1815) 632

11. France since the Second Restoration 651

VII. Russia since the French Revolution 656

VIII. German Freedom and Unity 669

IX. The Liberation and Unification of Italy 680 xii CONTENTS.

CHAP. PAGE.

X. England in the nineteenth century 694

1. Progress towards Democracy 695

II. Expansion of the Principle of Religious Equality. ... ... 701

in. Growth of the British Empire in the East 705

Conclusion : The New Age 714

OUTLINES

OF

MEDIEVAL AND MODERN HISTORY.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

Divisions of the Subject. — In a previous work we sketched briefly the affairs of men from the time that they first emerged from the obscurity of the past to the downfall of the Roman Empire in the West, a.d. 476. In the present volume we propose to continue the narrative there begun, and bring the story down to our own day. It will be our aim constantly to direct special attention to the state and progress of the arts and sciences, of learning, literature, and society, that our sketch may not be a recital simply of the outer circumstances, but a history of the real inner life of the European peoples — for with them we shall be almost exclusively concerned — during the period under review.

The fourteen centuries of history embraced in our survey are usually divided into two periods, — the Middle Ages, or the period lying between the fall of Rome and the discovery of America by Columbus in 1492, and the Modern Age, which extends from the latter event to the present time.

The Middle Ages, again, naturally subdivide into two periods, — the Dark Ages and the Age of Revival ; while the Modern Age also falls into two divisions, — the Era of the Protestant Reformation and the Era of the Political Revolution. We will indicate the limits and chief characteristics of each of these periods, in order that we may fix in mind the prominent landmarks of the vast region we are to traverse.

Chief Characteristics of the Four Periods. —The Dark Ages, which embrace the years intervening between the fall of Rome and the opening of the eleventh century, are so called by way of special distinction on account of the rude and benighted state of society during this time. The events that mark the period are. the migration and settlement of the Teutonic tribes ; their conversion to Christianity; the fusion of the Latins and Teutons; the fortunes of the Roman Empire in the East ; the rise of the Saracens ; the restoration of the Roman Empire in the West by Charlemagne ; the expeditions and settlements of the Northmen ; the growth of the Papacy ; and the origin of Feudalism.

The second period, the Age of Revival, begins with the opening of the eleventh century and ends with the ' discovery of America by Columbus in 1492. During all this time civilization was makingslow but sure advances ; social order was gradually triumphing over anarchy, and governments were becoming more regular ; the arts were being developed with increasing success ; trade and commerce were being gradually extended ; and knowledge was becoming more generally diffused. The last century of the period especially was marked by a great intellectual revival, by improvements, inventions, and discoveries, which greatly stirred men's minds and awakened them as from a sleep. It was the age of intellectual emancipation. Man came to know the truth about himself and the universe, and the truth made him free. The human spirit escaped from the thraldom of ignorance and superstition, than which there is no more degrading or cruel bondage. The chief matters that will occupy our attention are, the culmination and decline of the temporal power of the Papacy ; the enterprises of the Normans ; the Crusades ; the rise of the Free Cities ; and the revival of learning and the formation of national governments and literatures, which important political and intellectual movements heralded the approach of the Modern Age.

The third period, the Era of the Reformation, embraces the

CHIEF CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FOUR PERIODS. 3

sixteenth century and the first half of the seventeenth. It naturally followed the Age of Revival, for intellectual emancipation is sure to lead to religious reform and freedom. The period is characterized by the great religious movement known as the Reformation, and the tremendous struggle between Catholicism and Protestantism. Almost all the wars of the period were religious wars. The immediate issue of the Reformation was the freeing of Northern Europe from the despotic spiritual dominion of Rome ; its more distant result was or will be the securing of religious freedom to all the world ; that is, the recognition of the right of every man to hold, avow, and teach such views in regard to religious matters as may seem to him to be true. The chief events of the era are, the opening of the Western Hemisphere as the destined home of civil and religious liberty ; the great revolt under Luther against Rome ; the ascendency of the Catholic and despotic power of Spain ; the establishment of Protestantism in England during the Tudor period ; the struggle between the Protestant provinces of the Netherlands and their Catholic Spanish sovereigns ; the Huguenot wars in France ; and the Thirty Years' War in Germany, which was closed by the famous Peace of Westphalia in 1648. After this date the disputes and wars between parties and nations were political rather than religious in character.

The fourth period, the Era of the Revolution, extends from the Peace of Westphalia to the present time. Though an age crowded with an infinite variety of events, and marked by the contention of many and diverse principles, it is nevertheless especially characterized by the great conflict between despotic and liberal principles of government, resulting in the triumph of democratic ideas ; that is, the doctrine that the people have a right to govern themselves, as against the doctrine that certain so-called royal families have a divine right to rule, through a commission from God, such, for instance, as had the Hebrew kings. The most noteworthy matters of the period are, the ascendency of France under the absolute government of Louis XIV. ; the despotism of the Stuarts in England and the English Revolution ; the rise of the great despotic power of Russia; the growth of Prussia; the war of American Independence; the terrible upheaval of the French Revolution; and the emancipation and unification of Germany and of Italy.

Having now made a general survey of the ground we are to traverse, having marked the successive stages of the progressive course of civilization, the three great steps in intellectual, religious, and political freedom which have carried mankind out of the darkness and bondage of the Dark Ages into the light and liberty of the present age, we must return to our starting-point, — the fall of Rome.

Relation to World-History of the Fall of Rome.— The calamity which, in the fifth century, befell the Roman Empire in the West is sometimes spoken of as an event marking the extinction of ancient civilization. The treasures of the Old World are represented as having been destroyed, and mankind as obliged to take a fresh start, — to lay the foundations of civilization anew. It was not so. All that was really valuable in the accumulations of antiquity escaped harm, and became sooner or later the possession of the succeeding ages. The catastrophe simply prepared the way for the shifting of the scene of civilization from the south to the north of Europe, simply transferred at once political power, and gradually social and intellectual preeminence, from one branch of the Aryan family to another, — from the Gra^co-Italic to the Teutonic.

The event was not an unrelieved calamity, because fortunately the floods that seemed to be sweeping so much away were not the mountain torrent, which covers fruitful fields with worthless drift, but the overflowing Nile with its rich deposits. Over all the regions covered by the barbarian inundation a new stratum of population was thrown down, a new soil formed that was capable of nourishing a better civilization than any the world had yet seen.

Or, to use the figure of Draper, we may liken the precipitation of the northern barbarians upon the expiring Roman Empire to

GRJECO-ROMAN CIVILIZATION. 5

the heaping of fresh fuel upon a dying fire ; for a time it burns lower, and seems almost extinguished, but soon it bursts through the added fuel, and flames up with redoubled energy and ardor.

Relation of the Mediaeval to the Modern Age. — We are now in a position to understand the real relation of the Mediaeval to the Modern Age. The first was to civilization a period of recovery from interruption and disaster, — interruption and disaster that were really disguised blessings. It was a sort of spring-time, a germinal season, a period during which the seeds of Greek and Roman civilization, scattered everywhere by the wide extension of Roman power during the preceding era, were taking root in the good soil of the hearts and minds of a new race.

During these centuries the arts, the sciences, the literatures, and the institutions that characterize the modern era took shape, and gave promise of what they were to become ; the leading modem nations grew into form, and the political divisions of Europe were more or less definitely outlined. In a word, the era bears the same relation to the Modern Age that the period of youth does to that of manhood. This conception of its real character as a germinal, formative period will tend to impress us with a proper sense of the importance of a careful study of its events and circumstances. It affords the key to modern history.

Elements of Civilization transmitted by Rome. — We must now notice what survived the catastrophe of the fifth century, what it was that Rome transmitted to the new race, the Teutonic, that was henceforth to be the guardian of the treasures of civilization. It was a rich bequest she made, a large part of which, however, had become hers through inheritance or through appropriation by conquest.

It will be convenient to consider what the northern or Teutonic nations received through Rome from the ancient world, under the following heads: i. Graeco-Roman civilization; 2. Christianity. We will speak of them separately.

Grseco-Roman Civilization. — By the phrase " Graeco-Roman civilization," we mean that whole body of arts, sciences, philosophies, literatures, laws, manners, customs, ideas, and social arrangements, — everything, in a word, save Christianity (which we desire to speak of separately), that Greece and Rome, through the medium of the latter, gave to mediaeval and modern Europe. These things constitute what is called in history the classical element. Taken together, they were a valuable gift to the new northern race that was henceforth to represent civilization.

From among the varied elements of this rich legacy of the elder to the younger world, we will select for special mention here only three things, — the idea of the Empire, the Roman law, and Grceco-Roman art and literature.

The first of these may seem a very vague, shadowy thing ; but we shall see that this recollection of the great Roman State and its imperial glories had a most profound influence upon mediaeval and even later history. Men were constantly striving to set up in the world something like that old Roman Empire, whose memorials and legends had cast such a spell over them. Just as they strove to realize in their individual lives the ideal that Christianity held up, so did they in governmental matters strive to shape the world after the Roman model. The vast empire built up by Charlemagne, and the Holy Roman Empire of the later German princes, were simply attempted revivals of the old Roman Empire, — the fallen Dagon, as some one has said, set up again in his place. The Papacy, in the language of Hobbes, was but " the ghost of the deceased Roman Empire crowned and seated upon the grave thereof."

This historic ghost cannot be ignored any more than the ghost in Shakespeare's drama of Hamlet. Like the ghost of the play, it will explain many things going on upon the political stage of Europe which would otherwise be wholly inexplicable.

The Roman law-system, with its admirable principles and practical ideas, exercised from the very first a great influence upon the rude legal forms, customs, and practices of the barbarians. Throughout a large part of Europe it came to form the groundwork of all legislation and jurisprudence, and everywhere its influ-

CHRIST I AX IT Y.

ence was felt upon statesman and jurist. " No European lawyer," says Palgrave, " has failed to profit by Rome's written wisdom."

The stores of classical art and literature — such part of these as survived the disruption of the Empire — were destined to become a most important factor in the new civilization. It is true that the barbarian invaders of the Empire seemed at first utterly indifferent to these things ; that the masterpieces of the Greek artists were buried beneath the rubbish of sacked villas and cities, and the precious manuscripts of the ancient sages and poets suffered to lie neglected in the cellars and garrets of cathedrals and monasteries. Nevertheless Greece and Rome — we shall learn it later — were the instructors of the Middle Ages. It was they that taught the hand of the mediaeval builder its cunning, and imparted to the thought of the mediaeval schoolman its subtlety. And it was the relics of Graeco-Roman antiquity, drawn from their various hiding-places by curious scholars, that created, towards the close of the mediaeval period, that enthusiasm for classical art and learning which resulted in what is known as the Renaissance or New Birth, — the herald of the Modern Age.

It will appear hereafter, as we proceed with our narrative, how large a debt modern civilization owes to the preceding culture of ancient Greece and Rome.

Christianity.— The religion which Rome gave to her conquerors was quite different from that taught by Christ and his Apostles. But all we need to notice now is that in giving this religion to the Teutonic nations, Rome gave them something which was destined to produce a profound influence upon all their future. It shaped all the events of their history. It moulded all their ideas and institutions. It informed all their literatures, and ennobled their architecture, their painting, and their sculpture. It covered Europe with monasteries, cathedrals, and schools. It abolished servitude, inspired the Crusades, and aided powerfully in the creation of Chivalry. It added to mediaeval history the chapter on the Papacy, and to modern that on the Reformation. It cast upon the Middle Ages the darkest shadows, yet lighted them up with the most splendid radiance. It occasioned wars and persecutions without number, yet blessed Europe with the Truce of God.

In a word, it has so colored the whole life, and so informed all the institutions of the European peoples, that their history is very largely a story of the fortunes and influences of this religion, which, first going forth from Semitic Judaea, was given to the younger world by the missionaries of Rome.

The Teutons. — In the foregoing paragraphs we have named some of the chief elements of civilization which the ancient world through Rome gave to the mediaeval and modern. We must now see what the Teutons, who became the possessors of all these accumulations of the past, contributed to this world-treasure, to this ever-growing thing that we call civilization.

The Teutons were poor in those things in which the Romans were rich. They had neither arts, nor sciences, nor philosophies, nor literatures. But they had something better than all these ; they possessed the essential elements of a virtuous and robust manhood. And it was because of this, because of their personal worth, that unto them the promise had been given that their seed should become great nations — that the future should be theirs.

If we should analyze this character of the Teutonic peoples which we praise so highly, we would find in it at least three prominent traits of which we ought at this time to take special notice ; namely, capacity for civilization, love of personal freedom and independence, and reverence for womanhood. We will say just a word respecting each of these, in order to place them distinctly before our minds.

Their Capacity for Civilization. — We cannot better illustrate the capacity for civilization of the Teutonic nations than by contrasting them with the Turanian peoples, 1 as for instance the

1 This intimated incapacity for culture of the Turanian race finds two marked exceptions in the case of the Accadians of ancient and the Magyars or Hungarians of modern times. Nevertheless, the verdict of general history is, that the Turanians, as a race, are without political, scientific, or literary capacity.

THE TEUTONS' LOVE OF PERSONAL FREEDOM. 9

Turks. These last-named folk have been in contact with European civilization for centuries, but have shown themselves utterly incapable of profiting by such association, being wholly insensible to the influence of the superior culture of the European nations.

The Teutons fortunately belonged to a progressive and civilizable race. They came of good stock. They had back of them the push of a strong and noble ancestry. In the process of time their open and susceptible nature appropriated whatever was good — and unfortunately much that was not good — in the civilization they had overthrown. It was this quality in the Teutonic conquerors, this boundless capacity for growth, for culture, for civilization, which saved the countries of the West from the sterility and barbarism reserved for those of the East that were destined to be overrun and taken possession of by the Turanian hordes.

Their Love of Personal Freedom. — The love of the Teutons for personal freedom is noticed by the old Latin writers. They could not even bear to have the houses of their villages set close together. "They dwell scattered and separate," says Tacitus, "as a spring, a meadow, or a grove may chance to invite them." The walled cities of the Romans they regarded as prisons. There were no towns in Germany before the eighth century, save a few places founded by the Romans along the Rhine and Danube. This same feeling of independence appears again in the relation sustained by the German warriors to their chief. They followed their chosen leader as companions and equals. The chief's power was extremely limited. " The general," says the Latin writer just quoted, " commands less through the force of authority than of example." And again we see the same independent spirit expressed in their assemblies of freemen, in which meetings all matters of public interest were debated, disapproval being manifested by a general murmur, and approval by the clashing of javelins and spears.

This sentiment of the Teutons determined in a large measure the nature of the institutions which they established upon the soil of the conquered Empire. It was this element in their character which led them, influenced, however, by Roman customs and forms, to set up, in all the countries of which they took possession, that peculiar form of government known as Feudalism, — an organization allowing a great amount of personal independence among its members. In this same trait of the Teutonic disposition lay also the germ of representative government ; for from the general assemblies of the free Teutonic warriors beneath the forests of Germany may probably be traced the origin of the parliaments of modern Europe. Furthermore, in this characteristic of the Teutonic spirit, in this sentiment of individualism, this idea that a man has a right to himself, lay hidden the germ of Protestant (or Teutonic) Christianity.

Their Reverence for Womanhood. — A feeling of respect for woman characterized all the northern or Teutonic peoples. Tacitus says of the Germans that they deemed something sacred to reside in woman's nature. This sentiment guarded the purity and sanctity of the home. In their high estimation of the sacredness of the family relation, the barbarians stood in marked contrast with the Romans. All students, ancient as well as modern, of the declining Roman Empire admit that Rome fell because of her vices, and that most prominent among these were those which, degrading woman, destroy the sanctity of the family life. But the Teutons had preserved religiously those ideas and sentiments which ruled the early Aryan home, which traditions the Romans, as well as the Greeks before them, had undervalued and lost. Now in bringing among the peoples of the corrupt and decaying Empire the sentiment of which we speak, the barbarians contributed a most important element to European civilization. Strengthened by Christianity, 1 it aided powerfully in giving birth to Chivalry, an institution which, as we shall see, colored all the events of the later mediaeval centuries and gave to modern civilization some of its loftiest ideals. It is only among the Teutonic nations, or among peoples that have felt their influence, that the family is the actual unit of society, and woman the real compan-

1 Although monasticism certainly degraded woman, it cannot be doubted that the general influence of Christianity has been to elevate and dignify her.

CELTS, SLAVONIANS, AND OTHER PEOPLES. 11

ion and equal of man. Our own sacred word home, as well as all that it represents, comes from our Teutonic ancestors.

Celts, Slavonians, and Other Peoples. —Having noticed the Romans and the Teutons, the two most prominent and important of the peoples that present themselves to us at the time of the downfall of Rome, if we now name the Celts, the Slavonians, the Persians, the Arabians, and the Turanian or Tartar tribes of Asia, we shall have under view the chief actors in the drama of mediaeval and modern history.

At the commencement of the mediaeval era the Celts were in front of the Teutons, clinging to the western edge of the European continent, and engaged in a bitter contest with these latter peoples, which, in the antagonism of England and Ireland, was destined to extend itself to our own day.

The Slavonians were in the rear of the Teutonic tribes, pressing them on even as the Celts in front were struggling to resist their advance. These peoples, progressing but little beyond the pastoral state before the Modern Age, will play only an obscure part in the events of the mediaeval era, but in the course of the modern period will assume a most commanding position among the European nations.

The Persians were in their old seats beyond the Euphrates, maintaining there what is called the New Persian Empire, the kings of which, until the rise of the Saracens in the seventh century, were the most formidable rivals of the Emperors of Constantinople.

The Arabians were hidden in their deserts ; but in the seventh century we shall see them, animated by a wonderful religious fanaticism, issue from their peninsula, and begin a contest with the Christian nations of the East and West which, in its varying phases, was destined to fill a large part of the mediaeval period.

The Tartar tribes were buried in Central Asia. They will appear late in the eleventh century, proselytes for the most part of Mohammedanism ; and, as the religious ardor of the Semitic Arabians grows cool, we shall see the Crescent upheld by these zealous converts of another race, and finally, in the fifteenth century, placed by the Turks upon the dome of St. Sophia in Constantinople.

As the Middle Ages draw to a close, the remote nations of Eastern Asia will gradually come within our circle of vision ; and, as the Modern Age dawns, we shall catch a glimpse of new continents and strange races of men beyond the Atlantic.

Part I. MEDIEVAL HISTORY

FIRST PERIOD. — THE DARK AGES.

(FROM THE FALL OF ROME, A.D. 476, TO THE ELEVENTH CENTURY.)

Chapter I. Migrations And Settlements Of The Teutonic Tribes

Kingdom of the Ostrogoths (a.d. 493-554). — As soon as Odoacer, the leader of the Herulian mutiny, had dethroned Augustulus, the last of the Western Roman Emperors, he seized upon, and divided among his followers, the estates of the wealthy Italian nobles. His feeble government lasted seventeen years, when it was brought to a close by the invasion of the Ostrogoths (Eastern Goths), under Theodoric, the greatest of their chiefs.

The Ostrogoths came from Pannonia, on the upper Danube. They were, at this time, nominal allies of the Eastern Emperor, and had been assigned the duty of guarding the Danubian frontier. But they were very troublesome and costly friends ; the Emperor being obliged to purchase their good-will with constant gifts of land and money. At last Theodoric asked of the Emperor permission to lead an expedition to the conquest of Italy. " If I fall" — thus he urged his suit — "you will be relieved of a troublesome friend ; if, with the divine permission, I succeed, I shall govern in your name, and to your glory, the Roman senate, and the part of the republic delivered from slavery by my victorious arms."

The Emperor granted the permission sought; and the entire Ostrogothic nation — warriors, women, and children — set out for Italy. It was a migration rather than a military expedition. Italy was not simply to be plundered, as when Alaric led the Visigoths over the Alps, but to be occupied as a permanent possession ; so the trains of the migrating nation were lengthened by their flocks and herds, and by clumsy wagons loaded with such property as make up the riches of a roving people.

From their seats on the Danube to the northern plains of Italy was a long and broken march of seven hundred miles. The snow and cold of a winter of unusual severity, and hostile bands of Burgundians and Sarmatians, impeded and harassed their march. But the genius and daring of Theodoric, who animated his followers with his own intrepid spirit, and encouraged them with prospects of the rich booty that awaited them, surmounted every obstacle ; and in the spring, a,d. 490, the inhabitants of Italy were again startled by the apparition of a Gothic host issuing from the defiles of the Alps.