The dawn of American history in Europe

Front matter

THE DAWN OF AMERICAN HISTORY IN EUROPE

MACMILLAN & CO, Limited

THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA Ltd

Preface

Eight years ago the author began giving to the pupils under his supervision the benefit of a European historical background before introducing them to their texts in American History. That the wider historical horizon greatly strengthened their later grasp of the history of our own country has been both evident and gratifying.

The available texts having been found unsatisfactory in many ways, the author resolved to try his hand, and had covered a part of the ground before the Report of the Committee of Eight of the American Historical Association was brought to his attention. Slight alterations in his plans have made them conform in general to the excellent recommendations of that Committee.

Since no judgment of a text is as searching and final as that formed from actual use in the classroom, neither labor nor expense has been spared in making this test. The pages of the following work were first stenciled on the typewriter, and with much labor more than a hundred copies of each page were run off on the duplicator. These were collected in books with notebook covers and placed in the hands of about a hundred sixth-grade pupils in our own schools and in selected classes of neighboring Chicago suburbs. The author not only taught a class, but closely observed the use of his chapters in the hands of a number of superior history teachers. This experience with the children coupled with the invaluable suggestions of those vi PREFACE

teachers, made possible great improvement in the second writing of the manuscript.

Only those who have undertaken to squeeze the history of twenty centuries into one short text, can comprehend fully the difficulties encountered. Many interesting subjects had to be eliminated in order that space might be afforded to make the remaining narrative live and dramatic.

The aim has been, above all things, to tell the story in such a way that the pupil may readily see how one event led to another, for even very young children enjoy the tracing of cause and effect when the subject matter is put before them in a proper manner. The problems and difficulties encountered and overcome by mankind in its upward progress have been kept in the foreground, stimulating the mind of the child to thought and judgment, and forcing into the background the mere memory facts.

The contents of this volume is largely the story of the achievements of the Teutonic peoples as they gathered up and wove together the chief threads of modern civilization. To the gifts of Greece and Rome and the Christian church, the Teutons added their own supreme contributions; and through the dark ages they gradually assimilated these elements, thereby raising themselves to the position of leadership in Europe. It was mainly the daughter nations of these Teutonic peoples that planted European civilization upon American soil. This explanation is offered for introducing the children at once to the old Teutons and for treating the Greeks and Romans in later chapters.

The author desires to express his deep gratitude to those splendid teachers who have tried out the text in their classes. The questions appended to the chapters are largely those of Miss Alice Louise Davis, an unusual teacher of history, as she used the chapters from day to

PREFACE vii

day with her pupils in the River Forest schools. To the author's wife is due the credit of pohshing off many rough edges and of aiding in that irksome task of putting the manuscript in form for pubUcation.

Our hearty thanks are tendered the following publishers : Messrs. Scott, Foresman & Co. for permission to use the illustrations from Harding's ' Middle Ages " that appear on pages 2, 8, 13, 157, and 273; Messrs. Ginn & Co. for the illustration on page 26, taken from Atkinson's " European Beginnings of American History " ; Messrs. Allyn & Bacon for the map on page 23, which is taken from West's '' Ancient History " ; and Messrs. D. C. Heath & Co. for the cuts on pages 29, 225, and 265, which are taken from Bourne & Benton's " Introductory American History."

WILLIAM LEWIS NIDA.

I

River Forest, September, 1912.

Contents

I. Our German Forefathers .

II. Rome conquering the World

III. How THE Romans Lived

Conclusion

329 340 348 356 360 365

MAPS

FULL-PAGE ^APS

• PAGE

Roman Empire {Colored) .... between 28 and 29 '

Alfred's England {Colored) facing 129

Palestine, Showing the Routes of the Crusaders . . .215'

Spain in the Days of Isabella {Colored) . . . facing 260

The First Voyage Around the World 304

French Explorations ........ 354'-

European Claims in North America at the Time of the Founding of the Last English Colony {Colored) . . facing 365

MAPS IN TEXT

Roman Dominion and Dependencies ..... 23

Map of Africa 277

ILLUSTRATIONS

Departure of Columbus on His Western Voyage

A Village of the Teutons .

Roman Soldiers Marching

Emperor Augustus .

German Homes

Teutons Crossing the Rhine

Arms of the Teutons

German Bodyguard

A Part of the City of Rome (Restored)

Hannibal Crossing the Rhone .

Temples of the Gods at Athens (Restored)

Caesar, the Greatest of the Romans

A Portion of the Roman Wall

Cross-section of a Roman Road

A Roman Bridge

Triumphal Procession in the Sacred Way, Rome

Roman Fleet in the Harbor

Arch of Constantine

The Fates

Victory ....

A Roman Mosaic Pavement

A Roman Wall Painting .

Reading a Roman Book .

An Old Roman School

Ruins of the Aqueducts, Rome

Interior of the Coliseum .

In the Arena .

A Roman Dining Room .

The Chariot Race .

Irene and Plutus

Constantinople and the Bosporus

Frontispiece

PAGE 2

IS

25 26 27 29 30

33 35 36 39 40 40

41 42

43 45 47 49 52 55 58 59

XIV

ILLUSTRATIONS

A Roman Goddess .....

Alaric in Athens .....

Victory of Samothrace ....

The Tomb of Emperor Hadrian at Rome

Temple of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, Rome

Ruins of the Roman Forum

The New Appian Way

St. Peter's, Rome .

St. Benedict ....

Cloister of the Monastery

Plan of an Abbey .

A Monk at Work .

Melrose Abbey

Saxon Ships ....

The Saxon Tool and Weapon .

The Residence of a Saxon Nobleman

The Viking Ships .

The Fiord in Norway

Ancient Boat found in Denmark

The Wise Men of Alfred's Time

King Alfred ....

Weapons of the Danes

A Viking Ship and an Ocean Liner

Charlemagne ....

An Old Castle

Tickell Castle ....

The Oath of Fealty to the Young Lord

Plan of a Castle

The Drawbridge

The Vigil ....

A Knight in Armor

Castle of Falaise ...

A Sport of the Day

A Tournament

Conferring Knighthood on the Field

Manor House and Village

Manor House ....

Costumes of That Day .

(Restored)

of B ttle

ILLUSTRATIONS

XV

PAGE

Conway Castle 170

A Ship of the Middle Ages

.

An Old Street in Worcester

.

The Merchants' Hall at Bruges

Old English Town Hall .

Camels of the Desert

. 189

A Barren Desert

Jerusalem as it Appears To-day

The Court of Lions, Alhambra

Arabian Horses

Minaret of Mosque of the Sultan Kalaun, Cairo

Pilgrims Entering Bethlehem on Christmas Day

Peter the Hermit Preaching to the Crusaders .

A Knight of the Cross ....

Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives

Richard I in Palestine

The Sacking of Jerusalem

Ancient Ships

Mariner's Compass

A Dutch Windmill

Norman Soldiers

Westminster Abbey

A Farmhouse formerly a Monastery

Early Cannon

Venetian Ships

•

Marco Polo

Finding the Latitude

Henry the Navigator

Christopher Columbus

Toscanelli .....

Columbus at the Court of Spain

Columbus' Fleet

The Landing of Columbus

Vasco da Gama and the Zamorin

Magellan . , . .

Cortez

Balboa Sighting the Pacific

De Soto's Discovery of the Mississip

>pi xvi ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

St. Augustine, Florida 317

The Vatican 319

Petrarch 321

Gutenberg's Press 324

Martin Luther 325

PhUip II of Spain 329

Duke of Alva 331

William the Silent . . . 333

Dikes of Holland 336

Queen Elizabeth 341

The Meeting of the English Ships with the Spanish Armada . 343

The Sovereign of the Seas , . 344

Cartier 349

Champlain 351

Quebec in the Early Days 351

Champlain Defeating the Iroquois 353

Half Moon on the Hudson 357

The Dutch in New Amsterdam 358

Sir Walter Raleigh 361

The Lost Colony 362

John Smith 363

The Ruins of Jamestown . 364

THE DAWN OF AMERICAN HISTORY IN EUROPE

THE DAWN OF AMERICAN HISTORY IN EUROPE

Chapter I Our German Forefathers

Roving Barbarians. — Many hundred years ago, in those northern countries of Europe that we know as Norway, Sweden, and Germany, Hved a race of rude barbarians. For a long time, no one knows how many centuries, these hardy people had been roaming about over Europe in tribes, carrying their families in rough oxcarts and driving their herds of cattle and swine. The men were bold and powerful, and they loved nothing so much as a battle. Most of their time was spent in fighting and in plundering other tribes.

Our Forefathers. — But we must think kindly of these fierce barbarians, for they were relatives of many of us — our far-away forefathers. Not only were they our ancestors, but they were also the ancestors of Englishmen, of the Dutch, the Swedes and Norwegians, and of the modern Germans. In fact, there is not a nation in all western Europe to-day that does not boast of having some barbarian blood in the veins of its people.

If these old Teutons, for such we call them, were living to-day, how proud they would be to see their children's children spreading over the earth and ruling in all western

Europe, in America, Australia, and South Africa! They would be proud of us, perhaps, but should we be proud of them? How should you like to entertain one of them in your home?

Their Early History. — Twenty centuries ago, before Christ was born, these barbarian forefathers of ours were

A Village of the Teutons.

somewhat like the American Indians as Columbus first found them. Being unable to read or write, they knew nothing at all of their own early history. Where they came from in the first place we do not know. But for long ages they lived in Europe, and scholars have learned a great deal about them from relics found in caves, sanddrifts, ?.nd graveyards. The most that we know of these early Germans, however, we have learned from the Romans of those days, who were their neighbors on the south and who waged many wars with them.

The Romans. — It was a custom of the Romans when they conquered a nation to make every man pass under a yoke formed of two spears stuck in the ground and slanted together at the top. To go under the yoke meant to obey Rome ever after, just as an ox obeys its driver. Rome had conquered nearly all the other great nations of the world

Roman Soldiers Marching.

and had forced them to obey her, but for two hundred and fifty years she had tried in vain to conquer the German barbarians.

A Bitter Lesson. — At last the great Roman emperor, Augustus, resolved to send his armies into Germany and to force the Teutons under the yoke of Rome. So he sent his famous general, Varus, with Rome's finest legions against the fierce Teutons. Varus crossed the Rhine River, which was the boundary, and fought his way to the very heart of the barbarian forests. But he never returned. His splendid army of twenty thousand men was trapped and slain almost to a man. The fierce Germans nailed some of the Roman officers to crosses ; others they buried alive ; and still others were turned over to the priests to be bled to death on the altar as a sacrifice to their heathen gods. When the aged Augustus heard the sad news, he cried out again and again in bitter sorrow, " O Varus, Varus! give me back my legions."

Many times after this, Rome undertook to master the

proud Teutons. But every time her legions advanced far into the German fatherland, they were either surrounded and cut to pieces amid the dark, pathless forests, or they were driven back pell-mell across the river boundary, glad to escape with their lives.

Explaining Defeat. — The Teutons were indeed mighty warriors. So rugged were they that they could bear the coldest winter weather with little clothing, they could endure hunger and great hardships without flinching, and they were braver than any other warriors of those days. The Romans declared that they feared no other nation on earth except these fierce Teutons. In order to explain their defeat, the Romans imagined that the Germans were more than men ; they were indeed a race of real giants with fierce, blue eyes and red hair. One Roman writer gravely said

Emperor Augustus.

that the Germans near the Baltic Sea had hoofs hke horses instead of human feet, and ears large enough to cover their bodies.

How Far the Teutons had Advanced. — While the Teutons knew nothing of reading and writing, still they were not savages. They had taken many important steps toward civilization that were unknown to the cave men. They knew, of course, how to make fire and how to catch fish for food. They had invented the spear pointed with flint, and the bow and arrow ; they made stone and bone tools. Some wise ancestor had learned how to weave baskets of cane and splint, and somebody had taught them how to weave cloth from grass and other fiber. They tanned leather, and made pottery of clay. They tamed all the domestic animals in use to-day — the horse, cow, sheep, pig, and goat. They raised patches of all the common field plants, such as wheat, oats, rye, and barley — all except Indian corn. What was still more important, they had found out how to smelt iron ore. How they came by all this knowledge nobody knows.

How They Obtained Food. — These old Germans obtained food partly by hunting and fishing, partly from forest fruits and berries, and partly from scanty crops of field grains. But Caesar, who spent many years fighting in their wild country, tells us that their main food supply was obtained from great herds of cattle and hogs. Milk, butter, cheese, and meat, we know, make the best of food, but of these the barbarians had far from enough. They knew well how to preserve meat by smoking it. So excellent were their smoked hams that they were known and prized even in far-away Rome.

The Struggle for Food. — From morning until night the barbarians were busy keeping hunger from the door.

The women and slaves were caring for the herds of cattle and tilling the soil with rude, wooden tools. The men were, meanwhile, scouring the woodlands for game. When the population became crowded and the game grew scarce, or when disease killed off their cattle, the people were compelled either to migrate to a better region, plunder some neighbor, or starve. So we cannot blame them for fighting and plundering. With so much practice they became fierce and powerful warriors.

tlERMAN Homes.

Barbarian Dress. — The clothing of these people was chiefly made of the skins of animals, but they also wove a coarse cloth from grass and other fiber, and often colored this purple or red. This was worn by the women. Those nations that lived farther north clothed themselves in furs.

Village Life. — These barbarians had no cities, but lived in httle villages near a stream or a wood. Their rude dwelhngs were not built of stone or brick. They were low huts, circular in form, made of poles and thatched with straw, with holes in the tops to allow the smoke to go out. In these they lived, with little furniture, much as did the American Indians in their wigwams. The stable and cowshed were often under the same roof with the cabin. Their scattered huts formed groups that we might call villages. But we must not picture them as rows of houses along both sides of a street. They faced all ways, and there was a network of paths among them. Some of these villages were, perhaps, in clearings or open places, and others in the unbroken forests, where often the inmates of one hut could scarcely see the home of their nearest neighbors.

How They Divided Their Land. — Each household had a share of the cleared land and usually another section of woodland near by, where they fed their herds of cattle and swine. Then farther away was the large, rough district of common pasture or woodland, not claimed by anybody, where the cattle of all roamed for browsing and pasture, and the hogs for acorns and beechnuts.

The Boundaries. — Still farther away was a tract of woodland where they hunted wild game. This whole region they called the Mark. As each village had about it a wide stretch of vacant land, chiefly woods, so had each nation or tribe, in a wider sense, a great tract of country separating it from neighboring nations or tribes. The greater nations boasted of tliis wide, unoccupied land about them, sometimes eighty or a hundred miles wide, as proof of their bravery, for it showed that other nations were glad to keep their distance.

Iron was Precious. — Iron was very scarce among the Teutons, so it was highly prized. What little they had was probably smelted in rude hillside furnaces, or brought to them by Roman traders. So valuable was iron that it would surely have been used for money, if the Germans had known the use of money. Whatever iron they could get they used in making weapons. They could not afford to use it even to make their farm tools. Without money and with little iron, no nation could advance very rapidly toward civilized Ufe, because it could not carry on farming to any extent, or manufacturing, or trading.

What Their Riches were. — The wealth of the barbarians consisted of monstrous herds of cattle and swine. Money

Teutons Crossing the Rhine.

was unknown save a few Roman coins along the borders of the empire. They merely bartered, or exchanged articles in trade. A clay vessel was as precious in their eyes as a solid silver vase. Men did not own land, partly, perhaps, because they had to keep moving about to find pasturage for their flocks and herds. Land probably kept passing from tribe to tribe, for there was continual fighting. All the land of a tribe therefore belonged to the tribe as a whole, for the arms of the tribe were always needed to defend and hold it. Easy to Migrate. — Owning no land, it was easy for families to migrate and carry all their property with them.

They followed river valleys mainly, because of the need of water and pasturage for their cattle. But they were not on the march all the time. When they found some favored region where the soil was fertile, the pasture good, and the surrounding woods plentifully stocked with game, they remained there for years, or until some stronger tribe drove them out.

Plowland Changed Hands Annually. — Small patches of land were cultivated, mainly by the women, the old men, and the slaves ; enough grain was raised to piece out their scanty food supply through the winter. The plowland was divided anew every year, so no family was sure of having the same patch of ground for two successive years. This was a bad plan, because no one cared to improve his land by taking especially good care of it, since this would merely benefit some one else. The result was that the soil was abused and was soon worn out. It had to lie unused for a few years to regain strength. For this reason the barbarians divided their cleared land into three tracts : one was used for pasture, one for raising crops, and one was allowed to rest. Orchards and meadow lands were unknown.

No Chance for the Clever Farmer. — Not only must each farmer take whatever patch of ground was assigned to him, but he was told what crops he might raise and when and how he must plant the seed. This left no chance for the more clever farmer to improve upon his neighbors. Since all tilling was left to women and slaves with rude tools, no progress whatever was made in agriculture.

German Love of Liberty. — These early Germans loved liberty. An arbitrary king they would not endure. They were willing to obey only those laws that they had a voice in making. If they became dissatisfied at home, they could lo DAWN OF AMERICAN HISTORY IN EUROPE

easily migrate with their herds and families and set up a government to their liking. For two thousand years their children have shown the same love of liberty. Every few years we now hear of some daughter nation that has put aside her king and set up a republic like ours.

How They were Governed. — The Teutons had a simple form of government. As soon as a youth reached the age of manhood, he was introduced to the village meeting of his countrymen. Here he was solemnly presented with a wooden shield and a spear, and made full member of the tribe. The village meeting, which was called together several times a year under some sacred oak, made all the laws. It punished lawbreakers, elected the magistrate, and settled the great questions of peace and war by shouts or a loud clashing of shields.

Magistrates Could Only Advise. — Like Indian chiefs, the barbarian magistrates might urge the people and try to persuade them to do certain things, but the final decision was always left to the warriors themselves. So they often voted for foolish and wicked measures because it suited their present fierce tempers. When their magistrates urged them to be careful lest they suffer from their rash acts, the warriors shouted " No! " But when one proposed to take vengeance upon an enemy by some act of danger and glory, there was a loud clashing of spears and shields, by which the warriors meant " Yes."

How the Women were Treated. — The German men bought their wives like slaves, but they treated their women much better than did the Greeks or even the Romans. In their great invasions into Roman territory, the camps of the barbarians were filled with a multitude of women, who remained cool and firm amidst the sound of battle and the wounds of their sons and husbands. When the German

OUR GERMAN FOREFATHERS ii

warriors were put to rout, their women still fought on to defend their camp and baggage. They dreaded death much less than slavery among the Romans. If the day was hopelessly lost, many of these brave women did not hesitate to take their own lives by hanging themselves on the horns of the oxen rather than fall into the hands of the enemy.

Their Strange Religion. — The wild Germans had strange ideas of religion. They worshiped the sun, the moon, fire, and the earth. They believed, too, in unseen gods, to whom they often sacrificed human beings. They built no temples or churches because they were unskilled in architecture and had no thought of trying to make anything beautiful. The dark and ancient groves were their only temples of worship. Their idols were rough and shapeless. Rude and unlearned priests worked with cunning magic or sly trickery upon their simple minds.

The Sacred Grove. — Somewhere between the Elbe and the Oder stood the most sacred grove of all Germany. Here the Germans believed the great god of all the Teutons had been born — Odin, the god of war. To him alone of all the German gods human sacrifices were offered. And they were offered in this most sacred grove. It was so holy a place that none might enter it but with a chain around his neck, to show his obedience to Odin. If a man fell down in the wood, he might not rise again ; he must crawl out on his hands and knees. The Germans also worshiped Thor, the god of storms and tempests, who caused thunder by hurling his hammer through the heavens, and showed his anger by blasting the mountain trees with lightning.

The Chief Goddess. — The goddess Nerthus, or Mother Earth, whom the Germans worshiped, was thought to dwell upon an island of the Baltic Sea. Every year she was brought out of this secret place and ferried over to the mainland, but no one save her priest was allowed to look upon her. In a covered car, drawn by white oxen, she passed through the lands of all the tribes ; and the ignorant beheved all that the priest told them of their unseen goddess. During this time the sound of war was hushed, quarrels and arms were laid aside, and the restless Germans had an opportunity of tasting the blessings of peace and good will.

Priests Encouraged Wicked Deeds. — Rehgion was not used to instill into the savage hearts of these people the ideals of love and peace, but rather to stir up their fierce and ugly passions. The priests often urged them on to daring and wicked deeds. They had sacred banners, on which appeared the heads of wild beasts. In battle these were placed in front of the warriors, who vowed that they would defeat their enemies and turn them over to the angry gods of war and thunder.

Cowardice was the unpardonable sin. The wretch who lost his shield was banished from the religious and civil meetings of his countrymen. All agreed that a life spent in arms and a glorious death in battle were especially pleasing to their god Odin, and that in this direction lay the surest path to a happy hereafter.

Heaven. — The Germans believed that, after death, all warriors who had fallen while bravely fighting were welcomed by Odin to his divine halls. Here the heroes ate, drank, and fought all day long, only to begin anew on the morrow.

The Warriors in Peace. — The warrior's business, like that of the Indian brave, was to hunt and to fight. All kinds of manual labor were beneath his dignity, save one. The trade of the blacksmith was held in high honor, for it was he who made the battle-axes, spears, and other weapons. After a successful hunt or plundering raid, the lazy warriors alternately slept and gorged themselves while the food lasted. They idled away their days and nights in gambling and drunkenness. Their liquor was a strong beer made from wheat or barley.

Friends and relatives were often slain in their drunken quarrels. So reckless were they in betting that they would stake even their Kberty on a game. If they lost, they gave themselves up to be sold as slaves.

Germans Rejoiced in Battle. — After a time these restless warriors became tired of such dull days of peace, or perhaps food became scarce.

Then war and pillage were resolved upon. Nothing suited their fiery tempers so well as fighting. They rejoiced at the call to battle, for they thought it unbecoming in brave warriors to labor or to trade for food that they might easily take by force. The provinces of the Roman empire, with their orchards and fields of grain, seemed to invite plunder. Roman lands were especially tempting, because in the warmer climate of Italy choice grapes were raised and made into wine, a Roman liquor of which our forefathers were very fond. The first Latin word that they learned from the Roman traders was "wine."

Arms of the Teutons.

The Great Chiefs. — The young men joined themselves by oath to some famous chief whom they followed in war. They strove to outshine one another in battle, so as to obtain a high place in the esteem of their leader. Each chief tried to join to himself the greatest number of brave followers, for in this way only could he be honored in peace and powerful in war. So the young men flocked by tens, hundreds, or even thousands to the most renowned chiefs, and foreign nations courted their friendship eagerly. Even the Romans were glad to buy their friendship by bestowing upon them gifts or titles of honor such as " Citizen " or " Friend of the Romans."

Men Loyal to Their Chief. — In battle it was thought shameful for a chief not to equal his followers in bravery, while for them to remain ahve after their cliief had fallen was an everlasting disgrace. It was their sacred duty to protect him and to add to his glory by their own brilliant deeds. The only reward they claimed from their chief was a war horse or a bloody spear. But it was their privilege also to sit at his table and to enjoy the fruits of plunder.

Fighting Their Business. — Whenever their own country was at peace and their days seemed dull, the noblest chiefs led their followers to distant nations to win glory by fighting on one side or the other ; it mattered little which side. The fame of the chief often brought victory to the party he joined with his band. Thousands of Germans were often brought into the Roman army to fight for pay against their own countrymen. '

Music. — The Germans enjoyed a sort of rude music. In the hour of battle or at the feast of victory, singing bards excited the men by war songs celebrating the heroes of ancient days. They sang also of the glory of their living warriors, who loved to hear their own praise.