Pictorial history of the middle ages

Front matter

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PICTORIAL HISTORY

OF THE

Chapter I

From the Death of Constantine to the Fall of the Western Empire .... Page 13 Successors of Constantine, 15; Julian, 16; Valentinian, 20; The Visigoths, 23; Theodosius, 25; Alaric, 29; .iEtius, Boniface, Genseric, 31 ; Attila, 33; Fall of the Western Empire, 35.

Chapter II

The Period of the Establishment of the Barbarians in the Western Empire . . . Merovaeus, 37; Clovis, 39; Kingdom of Italy, 47; Theodoric, 49; Successors of Clovis, 51; Thierry, 53; Childebert, 55; Belisarius, 57; The Avars and Turks, 63; Justinian, 65, The Lombards, 69 ; Sigebert, 73 ; Gondovald, 77 ; The Merovingian Kings, 81 ; Brunehaut, 85; Dagobert, 87; The Austrasians, 93; Pepin d'Heristal, 97; Pepin, 101; Affairs of Britain, 110.

CHAPTER III. The Rise and Establishment of the Saracenic Power 112

Mohammed, 113; War with Persia, 121; Heraclius, 123; Death of Othman, 125; Ommiyade Dynasty, 127; Abderame, 129; Abdalrahman, 133.

CHAPTER IV. Times of Charlemagne and his Successors 135

Charlemagne's E.xpedition into Italy, 139; AfTairs of the Eastern Empire, 143; Conquest of the Huns, 145 ; Coronation of Charlemagne, 149 ; Incursions of the Northmen, 151 ; PoHcy of Charlemagne, 155; Bernard, 157; Theophilus, 161; Lothaire, 163; Pope Leo IV., 165; Alfred the Great, 167; Charles the Bald, 171; Siege of Paris by the Northmen, 173; Rollo, 175; Hugh Capet, 179; Edred, 183; Canute, 185; William the Conqueror, 187; Affairs of Italy and Germany, 191; Otho the Great, 193; Affairs of the Eastern Empire, 195; Conquest of Sicily by the Normans, 197; Siege of Durazzo, 199; The Moors and Saracens, 201 ; Decline of the Caliphat, 203.

CHAPTER V. Inckease of the Papal Power 204

The Iconoclasts, 205; Hildebrand, 209; The Normans in Italy, 211 ; Persecution of the Secular Clergy, 213; Excommunication of the Emperor, 215; Submission of Henry IV., 217; Death of Gregory VII., 221 ; Henry V., 223.

CHAPTER VI. The Times of the Crusades 225

Peter the Hermit, 227; First Crusade, 229; Alexis Comnenus, 231 ; Siege of Nicaea, 233; Siege of Antioch, 235 ; Storming of Jerusalem, 239 ; Election of Godfrey of Bouillon, 241 ; Baldwin I., 243; Baldwin II., 245; Fall of Edessa, 251; Second Crusade, 254; Siege of Damascus, 257; Fall of Jerusalem, 259; Siege of Acre, 261 ; Battle of Azotus, 265; Siege of Jafi'a, 267; Richard Coeur-de-Lion, 269 ; Philip Augustus, 271; Enfranchisement of the Communes, 275; Henry II. — Louis le Jeune, 279; Thomas a Becket, 281; The Albigenses, 283 ; Magna Charta, 285 ; Affairs of Germany, 287 ; Latin Empire in Greece, 289; Frederic II. in Italy, 291 ; Death of King John, 293; Simon de Montfort, 295 ; St. Louis, 297 ; Death of St. Louis, 301 ; Affairs of Spain, 303.

Chapter VII

Suppression of the Templars, 306 ; Rodolph of Hapsburg, 309 ; The Swiss, 311 ; John of France, 313; Rienzi, 315; John Huss, 317; Battle of Halidon Hill, 319; Battle of Poitiers, 323; Charles the Wise, 325; Henry V., 327; Wars of the Roses, 328; Joan of Arc, 330; Ferdinand and Isabella, 331 ; Sweden, 337; The Turks, 339; Cosmo de Medici, 341 ; E.xpulsion of the Moors from Spain, 343.

CHAPTER VIII. India

Ancient India, 346 ; Chandra Gupta, 347 ; Vasco de Gama, 348.

Chapter IX

Ancient China, 349 ; The Chou-king, 350 ; The Hea Dynasty, 351 ; Tchoung Ting, 352 ; Confucius, 353 ; His Writings, 354 ; Lao-tseu, 355 ; Tartar Incursions, 356 ; The Huns in China, 357; Li-chi-min, 358; Kao Tsoung, 359; End of the Tartar Dynasty, 360.

VIGNETTE. A T O U a N A LI E N T

HEAD PIECE TO CONTENTS .

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UK AD PIECE TO LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

TAILPIECE. .■

13.SITE0FK0ME. 13. ORNAMENTAL LETTER

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36. HEADPIECE. ARMOUR. 36. ORNAMENTAL LETTER 38. ELEVATION OP KING CLOVIS 40. FRANK -WARRIOR BREAKING THE VA:

43. BATTLE OPTOLBIAC

44. INTERVIE-TO" OF ALARIC AND CLOVIS

46. BAPTISM OFCLOVIS

50. CLOVIS ENTERING TOURS.

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64. CHILPERIC DIVIDING UlS FATITEll'

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154. ORNAMENTAL LETTER.

162. LOUIS LE DEBONNAIRE

163. FRANK TVARRIOR OF THE TIME OP

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173. SIEGE OF PARIS

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CAPTIVITY OF JOUN, KING OF FRANCE RE TURN. OF KING JOHN TO FRANCE BATTLE OFAZINCOUR HENRY V. ENTERING LONDON.

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SITE OF ROME.

IlISTOHY or THE MIDDLE AGES.

Chapter I

HE period called the Middle Ages may justly be regarded as in many respects the most interesting and instructive in the history of the world. It witnessed the destruction of nearly every institution and art which distinguished the ancient world, and the gradual formation of the social, political, literary, and religious ^systems which are the pride and boast of modern times. The false notion that this period is to be considered as one of unmitigated darkness and barba-

now exploded. The opinion expressed by the liberal and enlightened some thirty years since, has now received the sanction of the most able

1 writers. In his lectures on the History of Literature, he says : " We rism, IS Schlegel historica

14 CTTARACTRR OF THE MIDDLE AGES.

often think of and represent to ourselves the middle age as a blank in the history of the human mind, an empty space between the refinement of antiquity and the illumination of modern times. We are willing to believe that art and science had entirely perished, that their resurrection after a thousand years' sleep may appear something more wonderful and sublime. Here, as in many others of our customary opinions, we are at once false, narrow-sighted, and unjust ; we give up substance for gaudiness, and sacrifice truth to effect. The fact is, that the substantial part of the knowledge and civilization of antiquity never was forgotten, and that for very many of the best and noblest productions of modern genius, we are entirely obliged to the inventive spirit of the middle age. It is upon the whole extremely doubtful whether those periods which are the most rich in literature, possess the o-reatest share either of moral excellence or of political happiness. We are well aware that the true and happy age of Roman greatness long preceded that of Roman refinement and Roman authors ; and I fear there is but too much reason to suppose that, in the history of the modern nations, we may find many examples of the same kind. But even if we should not at all take into our consideration these higher and more universal standards of the worth and excellence of ages and nations, and although we should entirely confine our attention to literature and intellectual cultivation alone, we. ought still, I imagine, to be very far from viewing the period of the middle ages with the fashionable degree of selfsatisfaction and contempt.

" If we consider literature in its widest sense, as the voice which gives expression to human intellect — as the aggregate mass of symbols in which the spirit of an age or the character of a nation is shadowed forth ; then, indeed, a great and accomphshed literature is, without all doubt, the most valuable possession of which any nation can boast. But if we allow ourselves to narrow the meaning of the word literature so as to make it suit the limits of our prejudices, and expect to find in all literatures the same sort of excellencies, and the same sort of forms, we are sinning against the spirit of all philosophy, and manifesting our utter ignorance of all nature. Everywhere, in individuals as in species, in small things as in great, the fulness of invention must precede the refinements of art, — legend must go before history, and poetry before criticism. If the literature of any nation has had no such poetical antiquity before arriving at its period of regular and artificial developement, we may be sure that this literature can never attain to a national shape and character, or come to breathe the spirit of originality and independence. The Greeks possessed such a period of poetical wealth in those ages (ages certainly not very remarkable for their refinement either in literature, properly so called, or in science) which elapsed between the Trojan adventures and the times of Solon and Pericles, and it is to this period that the literature of Greece was mainly indebted for the variety, originality, and beauty of its unrivalled productions. What that period was to Greece, the middle age was to modern Europe ; the fulness of creative fancy was the distinguishing characteristic of them both. The long and silent process of vegetation must precede the spring, and the sprinir must precede the maturity of the fruit. The youth of individuals has been often called their spring-time of life ; I imagine we "may speak so of whole nations with the same propriety as of individuals. They also have their seasons of unfolding intellect and mental blossoming. The age of crusades, chivalry, romance, and minstrelsy, was an intellectual spring among all the nations of the west."

In treating this period of history, we commence with the reign of the immediate successors of Constantine the Great, under whose auspices the Roman empire had embraced Christianity, and a new element of political power had sprung into existence, which was destined to become the most striking characteristic of the middle ages.

The tomb had not received the mortal remains of Constantine the Great, when a plot was laid for the destruction of some of the objects of his regard. The great emperor had permitted his unambitious brothers, Julius Constantius, Dalmatius, and Hannibalianus, to enjoy the most honourable rank and the most affluent fortune that could be consistent with a private station. Besides these three brothers, several sisters of the emperor were living in the married state, and ten or twelve males, w^ho would in modern phrase be called princes of the royal family, appeared destined to inherit or support the throne of Constantine. The emperor had been instigated to murder his eldest son, Crispus; and after his death, he invested with the title of Csesar his three sons, Constantine, Constantius, and Constans, and the son of Dalmatius, who bore the name of his father. The brother of the young Dalmatius, who was named Hannibalianus, was clothed in a robe of purple and gold, and honoured with the title of JYobilhsimus. These five young men had all been carefully educated, and fitted both for the fatigues of war and the pursuits of science. The emperor himself instructed them in the art of government, and the knowledge of mankind, and at his death he shared the empire amongst them.* A zealous intrigue was commenced immediately after his death, which resulted in a loud and unanimous declaration of the troops that they would allow none but the sons of the late emperor to reign over the Roman Empire. The fate of the young Dalmatius and his royal brother was suspended until the arrival of Constantius, who governed the East, residing at Constantinople.

The first care of that prince was to remove the apprehensions of his kinsmen by an oath which he pledged for their security : the second to procure a pretext for their murder, at a time when their fears should be allayed. Such a pretext was furnished by the Bishop of Nicomedia ; and Constantius caused the murder of his two uncles, seven of his cousins, among whom were the deposed princes, and others who were considered dangerous, either on account of their degree of relationship to Constantine, or because of their wealth and influence.

* Gibbon.

IG THE SUCCESSORS OF CONSTANTINE.

This massacre was followed by a new division of the empire, each of the brothers receiving the title of Augustus. (A. D. o37.) Constantine governed, by a kind of pre-eminence, over his brothers, the new capital of the Empire ; Constantius ruled Thrace and the countries of the East ; and Constans received Italy, Africa, and Western Illyricum for his portion.

Constantius found his patrimony menaced by Sapor, or Shahpoor, the monarch of Persia, who had splendidly commenced a career of conquest in the East. Dread of the power and genius of Constantine the Great had held him in check ; but on the death of that monarch, he poured his troops into Mesopotamia ; and for some years, the Roman annals had only to tell of armies defeated and towns captured by the Persian warrior. Constantius met him in a ninth battle, and half gained it ; but his soldiers neglected to guard well their camp in the night, and the brave Sapor led his weary troops to a briUiant and decisive victory. Having subsequently failed three times in besieging the important city of Nisibis, he turned his arms against the Massagetae, who had invaded the regions about the Oxus, and concluded a peace with the emperor. (A. D. 350.)

The three sons of Constantine had already displayed their eagerness after territories which neither of them was able to govern. Constantine was dissatisfied with his share of the spoils of his murdered kinsmen, and he demanded of his brother Constans the cession of Africa. A negotiation followed, in which Constantine became exasperated by the insincerity of his brother, and he suddenly invaded his dominions. But Constans was an able and prudent general ; and his plans for the prosecution of the war were w^ell laid and successfully executed. Constantine was surprised, surrounded, and slain, by an ambuscade into which he had been ensnared. (A. D. 340.) His provinces all refused to acknowledge the rule of Constantius ; so that the youngest brother now possessed two-thirds of the whole empire. Ten years afterwards, however, he was punished for the murder of his brother by the traitor Magnentius, who revolted and assumed the purple. (A. D. 350.)

The troops in Illyria forced their aged leader, Vetranio, to accept the title of Augustus, and to form an alliance with his fellow-usurper. They proposed terms of accommodation to Constantius, who indignantly rejected those of Magnentius, while he commenced an artful negotiation with the frank and simple Vetranio. In the end that general found that his soldiers had been bought over by the emperor, and he gladly accepted his life and the government of the city of Prusa, in exchange for the dangerous sceptre.

At the head of the united armies, Constantius now marched against the remaining usurper, who was so successful in the commencement of the war, that the haughty emperor offered him peace. But he imprudently continued the struggle, and was defeated in a bloody battle at Mursa. He conducted bravely in the action, and of the fifty-four thousand men that were slain, the greater number fought on the side of Constantius. His army was totally ruined in a defeat near Mount Seleucus, in the following year, and he anticipated the vengeance of his enemies by falling on his own sword. (September 28, 351.)

JULIAN.

Constantius, however, sunk in effeminacy and debauchery, and surrounded and governed by eimuchs, was unable alone to sustain the weight of government ; he therefore took to his assistance his cousin Gallus, who had hitherto been a state prisoner, and whose father he had previously slain. Gallus was created Caesar, and sent into the East to defend that quarter of the empire from its enemies. The new Caesar was in every way unfit to rule. Brought from his prison to a throne, he gave way to his naturally violent and tyrannical temper. By the instigation of his wife Constantina, he retaliated upon his courtiers and subjects the injuries he had himself experienced : thus depriving himself of the affections of the people, and furnishing a pretext for his destruction to the emperor, who could not abide a rival even in cruelty.

Constantius, thinking that he would become dangerous, recalled him, deprived him of his dignity, and caused him to be banished to Pola, in Istria, where he was secretly beheaded. (December, 354.)

His brother Julian, from whom the suspicious Constantius believed he had nothing to fear, was promoted in his place, created Cffisar, and sent to defend the frontiers on the Rhine. Although Julian passed suddenly from the Vol. n. 3 quiet pursuits of study to the toils and dangers of war, he not only fought the Germans with success, but also made a deep inroad into their country. Cffisar crossed the Rhine twice ; but Julian crossed over that river three times, and on each invasion his arms were attended with signal success.

The emperor meanly claimed for himself the honours won by his unaided lieutenant. His generals had been beaten by the Persians, and he was preparing an expedition to chastise that enemy under his own direction. This circumstance afforded a pretext for withdrawing the troops from Gaul, and leaving Julian to certain destruction. But most of the soldiers had stipulated on entering the service that they should not be taken from their native country beyond the Alps, and the faith of Rome and the honour of Julian had been pledged for the observance of this condition. The commands of the emperor, however, were so explicit, that the Ceesar could only obey. He endeavoured to alleviate the sufferings of the oppressed soldiers by granting a sufficient number of post wagons to transport their wives and families; but the grief of the army became changed into rage against its cause ; they loved Julian and hated Constantius ; they called to mind the virtues of the one and the vices of the other ; they listened in profound silence to the charge of the Caesar to conduct themselves with honour in the service of the emperor ; they retired from his presence to indulge in licentious festivities; which were ended by the forcible seizure of Julian, who was guarded with drawn swords through the streets of Paris, and saluted as emperor.

Julian opposed their wishes at first, but accepted the empire when they declared that he must either reign or die.* (A. D. 361.) On the next day he assembled the troops and informed them that if the emperor of the East would acknowledge him, they should remain quiet in Gaul. He wrote to Constantius, excusing what had occurred, and requiring the confirmation of his dignity, but offering to acknowledge the supremacy of the elder emperor, and to supply him annually with Spanish horses and barbarian recruits. While waiting for the result of this application to his cousin, Julian strengthened his army. Before commencing the civil war, he crossed the Rhine a fourth and a fifth time, and forced the Germans to make peace.

Constantius returned a haughty answer to the letter of Julian, charging the Csesar with ingratitude, and requiring him to renounce his usurped title, and accept a pardon on certain conditions. The charge of ingratitude aroused the resentment of Julian, who had been engaged for more than twenty years in constant dissimulations, that he might save his life from the jealousy and fears of the murderer of his father and his brother. He had a few weeks before celebrated i)ul)licly the Christian festival of the Epiphany ; but he now as publicly renounced the religion and friendship of Constantius, by committing the care of his safety to the heathen gods. From this circumstance, he was

''^ Gibbon.

DEATH OF JULIAN. 19

afterwards called the Apostate. The Gauls, who had revolted from Constantius when he required them to leave their native province, now took an oath to follow Julian wherever he should lead them, were it even to the ends of the earth.

Julian was well aware of the importance of activity in the commencement of the anticipated struggle. He divided his army into three parts, at the head of one of which he plunged into the Black Forest, reached the Danube, and passed down that river in boats. By this movement he succeeded in capturing the important city of Sirmium, where he was joined by the other division of his army. He then seized the pass of Succi, in Mount Hsemus, which separates the provinces of Thrace and Dacia. Constantius left the prosecution of the war with the Persians, to combat for the throne. But on his way he was attacked by a fever, and died at the little town of Mopsucrenae, in the forty-fifth year of his age.*

Julian the Apostate began his reign with the reformation of the luxurious habits of the court. His abjuration of the dominant religion, which he wished gradually to annihilate, was an error in policy which he must have discovered to his cost, had his reign been prolonged. But though he gave a preference to his fellow-believers, in civil and military employments, and forbade the Christians from becoming schoolmasters, he proclaimed a general toleration ; the pagans were obliged to open their temples and offer victims, and the different sects of Christians were conunanded to abstain from harassing and tormenting each other.

Julian might now have indulged his philosophic disposition to an unlimited extent ; but he had been smitten with a thirst for military renown, and aspired to the conquest of the East. He refused peace to Sapor, and marched into Asia at the head of a formidable army. He w-as at first successful ; but he allowed himself to be misled by a deserter, was surrounded by Sapor, and fell mortally w^ounded, three years after his accession to the throne. (June 26, A.D. 853.)

Jovian, a fervent Christian, now assumed the purple, with the consent of the officers and soldiers. He endeavoured to effect a retreat, but the persevering energy of the Persians prevented him from advancing further than Dura, a hundred miles from the province of Corduene. Jovian there concluded a treaty of peace with Sapor, by which he restored to the Persians all the territory that had been conquered from them since the year 297. By this treaty the five provinces beyond the Tigris, with the cities of Nisibis, Singara, and the Moor's camp, were given up, and a truce was concluded for thirty years. The emperor who made this most inglorious treaty, the first by which the Roman empire had abandoned conquered territory to an enemy, did not long survive his disgrace. Whilst hastening towards the capital, he

* Gibbon — Keightley — Heeren.

20 SUCCESSORS OF CONSTAN TINE.

was one morning found dead in his bed, at Dadastana, a little town on the frontiers of Eithynia. He was but thirty- three years- old, and had only reigned eiffht months. Of the manv causes which are assioned for his death, the most probable is that which ascribes it to his having slept near a large charcoal fire in a newly-plastered room.*