Mediæval and modern history

Front matter

.11*

'^- 4^

MEDIiEVAL AND MODERN HISTORY

Preface

The revised text of my Medieval and Modei'n History has already appeared in a two-volume edition under the titles of The Middle Ages and The Modern Age. It is here presented, somewhat abridged, in a single illustrated book designed as a companion volume to my revised Ancient History.

The lists of books for further reading and study appended to the different chapters are in the main a selection from the fuller bibhographies of the earlier revised edition. The series of maps includes all the more important ones of that impression, besides fifteen new colored maps, eleven of which have been engraved expressly for the present work. The two entitled respectively "The Danelaw" and "Angevin Dominions" are taken by kind permission from Professor Edward P. Cheyney's A Short History of England, while "Europe after 1815 " and "Europe at the Present Time " are through like courtesy drawn from Professor James Harvey Robinson's An Introduction to the History of Western Europe.

Since this volume, as already indicated, is practically only a slightly compressed edition of my Middle Ages and The Modern Age, it is fitting that I should here renew my expressions of gratitude to Professor George Lincoln Burr of Cornell University, Professor H. Morse Stephens of the University of California, and Professor George M. Dutcher of Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, for their scholarly and valuable assistance in the revision of the proofs of those texts.

V vi PREFACE

I would further make grateful mention of my indebtedness to my friend, Mr. Dudley Emerson, for the kindly loan of photographs from his choice collection, and to my former pupil and assistant, Miss Mary Louise De Luce, for aid generously given me

in the press of proof reading.

College Hill, Ohio February, 1905

Contents

Pagb

List of Illustrations xii

List of Plates xv

List of Maps xv

Chapter

I. General Introduction : the Chief Factors in European Civilization I

PART I — THE MIDDLE AGES FIRST PERIOD — THE DARK AGES (From the Fall of Rome to the Eleventh Century)

JI. The Barbarian Kingdoms 7

jtll. The Church and its Institutions 14

I. The Conversion of the Barbarians 14

II. The Rise of Monasticism 22

III. The Rise of the Papacy . 27

ly. The Fusion of Latin and Teuton 34

y^ The Roman Empire in the East 42

VI. The Rise of Islam 46

VII. Charlemagne and the Restoration of the Empire in the West 61

VIII. The Northmen : the Coming of the Vikings 71

SECOND PERIOD — THE AGE OF REVIVAL

(From the Opening of the Eleventh Century to the Discovery of America by Columbus in 1492)

IX. Feudalism and Chivalry 77

I. Feudalism 77

II. Chivalry = . 93

vii viii CONTENTS

Chapter Page'

X. The Normans i.oi

I. The Normans at Home and in Italy loi

II. The Norman Conquest of England 103

XI. The Papacy and the Empire 1 11

I. Preparation of Europe for the Crusades .... 121

III. The Second Crusade (11 47-1 149) - ^33

IV. The Third Crusade (II 89-1 192) 135

V. The Fourth Crusade (1202-1204) 136

VI. The Children's Crusades ; Minor Crusades . . . 138 VII. Crusades in Europe 141

VIII. Influence upon European Civilization of the Crusades « 143

XIII. Supremacy of the Papacy; Decline of its Temporal Power 148

XIV. The Mongols and the Ottoman Turks . 159

I. The Mongols 159

II. The Ottoman Turks 164

XV. The Growth of the Towns 169

XVI. The Universities and the Schoolmen 187

XVII. Growth of the Nations : Formation of National Governments and Literatures 198

I. England 199

II. France . . ■ 220

III. Spain 229

IV. Germany 233

V. Russia 242

VI. Italy 244

VII. The Northern Countries ' . . 249

XVIII. The Renaissance 251

I. The Beginnings of the Renaissance 251

II. The Renaissance in Italy 255

III. General Effects of the Renaissance 269

CONTENTS IX

Part II — The Modern Age Third Period — The Era Of The Reformation

(From the Discovery of America, in 1492, to the Peace of Westphalia, in 1648)

Chapter Page

XIX. Geographical Discoveries and the Beginnings of Modem

Colonization 275

XX. The Beginnings of the Reformation 292

XXI. The Ascendancy of Spain ; her Relation to the Catholic

Reaction 318

I. Reign of the Emperor Charles V (1519-1556) . . 318

II. Spain under Philip II (i 556-1598) ...... 326

XXII. The Tudors and the English Reformation (i 485-1 603) . . 334

I. Introductory 334

II. The Reign of Henry VII (148 5-1 509) 335

III. England severed from the Papacy by Henry VIII

(1509-1547) 337

IV. Changes in Creed and Ritual under Edward VI

(1547-1553) •. 347

y. Reaction under Mary (i 553-1 558) 349

VI. Final Establishment of Protestantism under Elizabeth (1558-1603) 351

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

(1572-1609) • 363

XXIV. The Huguenot Wars in France (i 562-1629) 376

XXV. The Thirty Years' War (1 61 8-1 648) 387

FOURTH PERIOD — THE ERA OF THE POLITICAL REVOLUTION

(From the Peace of Westphalia, in 1648, to the Twentieth Century)

L THE AGE OF ABSOLUTE MONARCHY : THE PRELUDE TO THE POLITICAL REVOLUTION (1648-1789)

XXVI. Introductory : the Doctrine of the Divine Right of Kings

and the Maxims of the Enlightened Despots .... 396 XXVII. The Ascendancy of France under Louis XIV (1643-1715) 403

X CONTENTS

Chapter Pagb

XXVIII. The Stuarts and the English Revolution (1603-1689) . 420

I. The First Two Stuarts 420

II. The Commonwealth and the Protectorate (1649-

1660) 434

III. The Restored Stuarts 443

IV. Reign of William and Mary (i 689-1 702) . . . 450

XXIX. The Rise of Russia. Peter the Great (1682-1725) . . 454

XXX. The Rise of Prussia: Frederick the Great (i 740-1 786) . 469

XXXI. England in the Eighteenth Century 480

I. The Reign of Queen Anne (1702-17 14) . . . 480

II. England under the Earlier Hanoverians . . . 484

XXXII. Austria under the Benevolent Despot, Emperor Joseph II

(1780-1790) 497

11. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND THE NAPOLEONIC ERA (1789-1815)

XXXIII. The French Revolution (i 789-1 799) ....... 500

I. Causes of the Revolution ; the States-General

II. The National or Constituent Assembly (June 17,

III. The Legislative Assembly (Oct. i, 1791-Sept.

19. 1792) 519

IV. The National Convention (Sept. 20, 1792-Oct. 26,

1795) 523

XXXIV. The Consulate and the Napoleonic Empire (1799-18 15) 543

I. The Consulate (i 799-1 804) 543

II. The Napoleonic Empire (1804-18 15) ; the War of

Liberation 551

IIL THE RESTORATION OF 181 5 AND THE DEMOCRATIC

REACTION : THE SEQUEL TO THE REVOLUTION

(181 5-1904)

XXXV. The Congress of Vienna and Mettemich 580

XXXVI. France since the Second Restoration (1815-1905^ . . . 589

CONTENTS xi

Chapter Page

XXXVII. England since the Battle of Waterloo (i8i 5-1905) . . 599

I. Progress towards Democracy 600

II. Extension of the Principle of Religious Equality 605

III. England's Relations with Ireland 609

XXXVIII. Spain and the Revolt of her American Colonies . . . 614

XXXIX. The Liberation and Unification of Italy 619

XL. The Making of the New German Empire 634

XLL Austria-Hungary after 1866 . 650

XLII. Russia since the French Revolution 654

XLIII. European Expansion in the Nineteenth Century . . . 664 I. Causes and General Phases of the Expansion

Movement 664

II. The Expansion of England 669

III. The Expansion of France 678

IV. The Expansion of Germany 680

V. The Expansion of Russia 682

VI. The Expansion of the United States .... 685 VII. Situations and Problems created by the European

Race Expansion .......... 687

XLIV. The World State : .... 697

Conclusion — The New Age: Industrial Democracy . . . 705

Supplementary Chapter— The World War (1914-1918) . . . i

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Fig. Page

1. Tomb of Theodoric at Ravenna 8

2. St. Martin's Church, Canterbury 1 6

3. The Ruins of lona 17

4. The Ruins of Whitby 18

5. The Ruins of the Church of St. Simeon Stylites, near Antioch,

Syria 24

6. The Simopetra Monastery of Mount Athos 25

7. A Monk Copyist 26

8. Trial by Combat 38

9. Wager of Battle between a Man and Woman 39

10. The Kaaba at Mecca 47

11. The Mosque of Cordova 58

12. A Viking Ship .' 72

13. The Ceremony of Homage 82

14. Typical Mediaeval Castle 88

15. Group in the Manor House 92

16. Arming a Knight 95

17. A Tilting Match between Two Knights 96

18. Degradation of a Knight 97

19. Landing in England of William of Normandy loi

20. Battle of Hastings 104

21. Domesday Book 107

22. The Spiritual and the Temporal Power 112

23. Investiture of a Bishop by a King 116

24. Reception of Crusaders by the King of Hungary 128

25. The Horses of St. Mark's 137

26. A Mediaeval Windmill 144

27. Hut- Wagon of the Mediaeval Tartars 160

28. The Taj Mahal at Agra 163

29. Ruins of the Great Mosque at Samarkand . 168

30. The Amphitheater at Aries in Mediaeval Times 170

31. A Count and his Wife granting a Charter to a City 171

32. State Barge of Venice used in the Ceremony of " Wedding the

Adriatic " 180

23. A Canal in Venice 181

xii

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xiii

Fig.

Page

34. The Cologne Cathedral 184

35. Town Hall of Louvain 185

36. University Audience in the Fifteenth Century 190

37. The Murder of Thomas Becket 201

38.. Carnarvon Castle 205

39. Coronation Chair in Westminster Abbey 207

40. Charge of French Knights and Flight of English Arrows . . 213

41. Joan of Arc 214

42. Plowing Scene 218

43. In the Land of the Troubadours — the Castle of Foix .... 228

44. Recumbent Effigy of Queen Isabella 232

45. The Electors' Seat 236

46. Savonarola 248

48. Petrarch 257

49. A Block-Printed Page from the " Biblia Pauperum " . . . . . 263

50. The Printing of Books 264

51. Case of Chained Books 265

52. Tomb at Tours of the Children of Charles VIII 267

53. A Chinese Magnet Figure 277

54. Christopher Columbus , • • 279

55. "The Antipodes in Derision " 284

56. Erasmus 296

57. Martin Luther 3^2

58. John Calvin 3^9

59. Ignatius of Loyola 3^2

60. Emperor Charles V . 3^8

61. Philip II 326

63. Sir Thomas More 346

64. Queen Elizabeth 352

65. Mary Queen of Scots 355

66. Mary Stuart as Queen of France 355

67. Spanish and English War Vessels of the Sixteenth Century . . 358

68. Melrose Abbey 362

69. Typical Dutch Scene 3^3

70. William of Orange (The Silent) . 3^7

71. Coat of Arms of William, Prince of Orange ....... 375

72. Henry IV, King of France 381

73. Cardinal Richelieu 384

74. Gustavus Adolphus . . . ' « 389

75. Louis XIV 405

76. Duke of Marlborough 4^2 xiv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Fig. Page

77. View of Versailles 416

78. Charles I 426

79. Execution of the Earl of Strafford 429

80. Westminster Hall 433

81. Oliver Cromwell 438

82. Charles II 445

83. Peter the Great . 456

84. Catherine II of Russia 466

85. Frederick the Great of Prussia 475

86. John Wesley 488

87. William Pitt, Earl of Chatham 489

88. Voltaire 506

89. Mirabeau 513

90. The Lion of Lucerne 521

91. The Guillotine 528

92. Robespierre 532

93. Napoleon Bonaparte 543

94. William Pitt, Son of William Pitt, Earl of Chatham .... 555

95. Baron vom Stein 572

96. The Kremlin of Moscow 574

97. Prince Metternich 585

98. Napoleon III 593

99. Queen Victoria as a Young Woman 599

100. Lord Beaconsfield (Disraeli) 608

loi. William Ew'art Gladstone 611

102. Victor Emmanuel II 624

103. Count Cavour 625

104. Garibaldi 628

105. Pope Pius X 631

106. An Incident of the Franco-Prussian War: General Lapasset

burning his Flags 645

107. The Parliament Building at Budapest 651

108. Henry M. Stanley 667

109. The Imperial Regalia of Japan 688

no. Field Marshal Oyama 694

III. The Christ of the Andes 702

LIST OF PLATES

Facing Plate Page

1. The Field of the Cloth of Gold. (From the painting in the Royal Collection at Hampton Court Palace) Frontispiece

II. St. Mark's Square, Venice. (From a photograph) .... 148

III. View of Florence, Italy, about the Year 1490. (From a con-

temporary woodcut) 182

IV. Milan Cathedral. (From a photograph) 186

V. Canterbury Cathedral. (From a photograph) 200

VI. Ruins of Fountains Abbey, Yorkshire, England. (From a

photograph) 3Af4

VII. Section of Old London Bridge. (From a contemporary

drawing) 444

LIST OF MAPS

COLORED MAPS

Based in the main on Kiepert, Schrader, Droysen, Spruner-Sieglin, Poole, and Freeman. Many of the maps have been so modified by additions and omissions that as they here appear they are practically new charts. Facing

Page

1. Europe in the Reign of Theodoric, about a.d. 500 8

2. Greatest Extent of the Saracen Dominions, about a.d. 750 . . 52

3. Europe in the time of Charles the Great, a.d. 814 . « . . . 64

4. The Western Empire as divided at Verdun, a.d. 843 .... 68

5. The Danelaw 74

6. Hitchin Manor, England, about 1 816 . « , 84

XV xvi LIST OF MAPS

Facing Page

7. Europe and the Orient in 1096 132

8. Lands of the Holy Roman Empire under the Franconian

9. Angevin Dominions 202

10. France about 1180 220

11. Spanish Kingdoms in 1360 230

12. Globe de Martin Behaim, 1492, and Globe Dore vers 1528 . , 280

13. Explorations and Colonies of the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Sev-

enteenth Centuries 286

14. Europe at the Accession of the Emperor Charles V, 151 9 . . 320

15. Europe after the Peace of Westphalia, 1648 392

16. Central Europe in 1660 406

17. The Baltic Lands, about 1701 . . . .' 458

18. The Partition of Poland 466

19. Prussia under Frederick the Great, 1740-1786 472

20. Central Europe in 1780 ^ . . . 498

21. Central Europe in 1801 546

22. Central Europe in 1810 568

23. Europe after 1S15 582

25. Europe at the Present Time 646

26. Distribution of Races in Austria-Hungary 652

27. Southeastern Europe in 1914 . 658

28. The Partition of Africa 668

30. The Far East 688

SKETCH MAPS

Page

1. Italy under the Lombards 11

2. The Roman Empire under Justinian 43

3. Discoveries of the Northmen jt,

4. The Mongol Empire under Jenghis Khan and his Immediate

Successors (thirteenth century) 161

5. The Empire of the Ottoman Turks about 1464 167

6. The Hansa Towns and their Chief Foreign Settlements . . . 174

7. Russia and the Scandinavian Countries at the Close of the Middle

Ages 243

8. Italy about the Middle of the Fifteenth Century 246

9. The Netherlands at the Truce of 1609 -,73

MEDIEVAL AND MODERN HISTORY

Chapter I General Introduction: The Chief Factors In European Civilization

1. Preliminary Survey. — In an earlier volume we sketched briefly the affairs of men from the time that they first emerged from the obscurity of the past to the break-up of the Roman Empire in the West.-^ In the present work we propose to continue the narrative there begun, and bring the story down to our own day.

The fourteen centuries of history embraced in our survey are usually conceived as forming 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, as we shall view it, also falls into two divisions, — the ^^^ of the Protestant Reformation and the Era of the Political Revolution.

2. Chief Characteristics of the Four Periods. — The Dark Ages, which embrace the years between the fall of Rome and the opening of the eleventh century, are so called for the reason that the inrush of the barbarians and the almost total eclipse of the

1 Our Ancient History practically ends with this great revolution of the fifth century of the Christian era, although in order to meet the requirements of some schools there is given in concluding chapters a brief resume of events down to the Restoration of the Empire by Charlemagne, a.d. 800.

I

2 GENERAL INTRODUCTION

light of classical culture caused them to contrast unfavorably, in enlightenment and social order, as well with the age which preceded as with that which followed them. The period was one of origins, — of the beginnings of peoples, and languages, and institutions. During this time the Holy Roman Empire and the Papacy, institutions embodying two of the great ideals of the mediaeval ages, grew into shape and form.

The Age of Revival begins with the opening of the eleventh century and ends with the discovery of the New World. During all this time civilization was making slow but sure advances; social order was gradually triumphing over feudal anarchy, and governments w^ere becoming more regular. The last part of the period especially was marked by a great intellectual revival,

— a movement known as the Renaissance, or "New Birth,"

— by improvements, inventions, and discoveries which greatly stirred men's minds and awakened them as from a sleep. The Crusades, or Holy Wars, were the most remarkable undertakings of the age.

The Era of the Reforniation embraces the sixteenth century and the first half of the seventeenth. 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 last great combat was the Thirty Years' War in Germany, which was closed by the celebrated Peace of Westphalia, in 1648. After this date the disputes and wars between parties and nations were dynastic or political rather than religious in character.

The Era of the Political Revolution extends from the Peace of Westphalia to the present time. The age is especially characterized by the great conflict between despotic and liberal principles of government, resulting in the triumph of democratic ideas. During this period, in all the countries of Europe save Turkey and Russia, government by the people has taken the place of government by one or the few. This is one of the most important revolutions that history records. The central event of the epoch was the terrible upheaval of the French Revolution.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE FALL OF ROME 3

Having now made a general survey of the region we are to traverse, and having marked the three successive stages of the progressive course of European civilization, the intellectual, the religious, and the political revolution, we must turn back to our starting point, the fall of Rome.

3. 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 obhged to take a fresh start, — to lay the foundations of civihzation anew. It was not so. All or almost 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 in the West 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 race to another, — from the Roman to the Teuton.

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 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.

4. The Three Chief Elements of European Civilization. — We must now notice what survived the catastrophe of the fifth century, what it was that Rome transmitted to the new Teutonic race. This renders necessary an analysis of the elements of civilization.

4 GENERAL INTRODUCTION

European civilization is mainly the result of the blending of three historic elements, — the Classical^ the Hebrew^ and the Teutonic.

By the classical element in civilization is meant that whole body of arts, sciences, literatures, laws, manners, ideas, social arrangements, and models of imperial and municipal government — everything, in a word, save Christianity — that Greece and Rome gave to mediaeval and modem Europe. Taken together, these things constituted a valuable gift to the new northern race that was henceforth to represent civilization. It is true that the barbarian invaders of the Empire seemed at first utterly indifferent to these things ; that the masterpieces of antique art were buried beneath the rubbish of sacked villas and cities ; and that the precious manuscripts of the old sages and poets, because they were pagan productions and hence regarded as dangerous to Christian faith, were often suffered to lie neglected in the libraries of cathedrals and convents. Nevertheless, classical antiquity, as we shall learn, was the instructor of the Middle Ages.

By the Hebrew element in history is meant Christianity. This has been a most potent factor in modem civilization. It has so colored the life and so molded the institutions of the European peoples that their history is very largely a story of this religion, which, first going forth from Judea, was given to the younger world by the missionaries of Rome. Among the doctrines taught by the new religion were the unity of God, the brotherhood of man, and immortality, -^ doctrines which have greatly helped to make the modern so different from the ancient world.

By the Teutonic element in history is meant the barbarian peoples of Indo-European speech, the Goths, Franks, Danes, Angles, Saxons, and kindred tribes, who at the time of the break-up of the Roman Empire dwelt in central and northwestern Europe or had pushed into the Roman provinces and taken part in the overthrow of the Imperial Roman government. These folk had no arts or sciences or philosophies or literatures, but they and their later kin were destined to play a great part in the history of mediaeval arid modern times,

CELTS, SLAVS, AND OTHER PEOPLES 5

5. The Relative Importance in European History of the Classical, the Christian, and the Teutonic Element. — The question as to the influence which each of these great historical factors has exercised upon the development of European civilization is a very important one for the historical student, for the reason that his whole conception of history will be colored by the answer he gives to it. Gibbon, for instance, exalted the classical element and depreciated Christianity, representing this religion rather as a retarding than as a helpful force in the hfe of the European peoples. This misconception of the real place in history that Christianity actually holds is a chief fault of Gibbon's great work. The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

On the other hand, some Church historians so represent history as to give Christianity credit for almost all the progress made by the European peoples since the advent of Christ. This is to undervalue the other historical factors.

Still others, again, represent the Teutonic race element as the chief force in modern civilization, and rest their hopes for the future of the world largely upon the Anglo-Saxon spirit of enterprise, freedom, and progress.

It is certain that we should allow the exclusive claims of none of these schools of interpreters of history. Modern civilization, as we have already intimated, is a very composite product. It has resulted from the mixing and mutual action and reaction upon one another of all the historical elements and agencies that we have mentioned — and many minor • ones besides. Civilization cannot spare the treasures of Greek and Roman antiquity; it cannot spare the religious doctrines and moral precepts of the great Hebrew teachers ; it cannot spare the earnest and masterful spirit of the Teutonic race. If any one of these elements were taken from modern civilization, it would be something wholly different from what it is.

6. Celts, Slavs, and Other Peoples. — Having noticed the Romans and the Teutons, the two most important of the peoples that present themselves to us at the time of the fall of Rome, if we now name the Celts, the Slavs, the Persians, the Arabians, and

6 GENERAL INTRODUCTION

the Mongols and Turks, we shall have under view the chief actors in the drama of mediaeval and of a large part of modern history.

At the commencement of the mediaeval era the Celts were in front of the Teutons, chnging 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 Slavs 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, backward in civilization, will play only an obscure part in the transactions 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 ^f 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 enthusiasm, issue from their peninsula and begin a contest with the Christian nations which, in its varying phases, was destined to fill a large part of the mediaeval period.

The Mongols and Turks 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 Islam standard carried forward by these zealous converts of another race, and finally, in the fifteenth century, we shall see the Crescent, the adopted emblem of the new religion, placed by the Ottoman 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— The Middle Ages

FIRST PERIOD — THE DARK AGES

(From the Fall of Rome to the Eleventh Century)

Chapter II The Barbarian Kingdoms

7. Introductory. — In one of the concluding chapters of our

Ancient History, as a part of the story of the break-up of the Roman Empire in the West, we gave some account of the migrations and settlements of the Teutonic tribes. In the present chapter we shall indicate briefly the political fortunes, for the two centuries and more following the fall of Rome, of the principal kingdoms set up by the Teutonic chieftains in the different parts of the old Empire.

8. Kingdom of the Ostrogoths (a.d. 493-553). — Odoacer will be recalled as the barbarian chief who dethroned the last of the Western Roman emperors.^ His feeble government in Italy lasted only seventeen years, when it was brought to an end by the invasion of the Ostrogoths (Eastern Goths) under Theodoric, the greatest of their chiefs, who set up in Italy a new dominion known as the Kingdom of the Ostrogoths.

The reign of Theodoric covered thirty-three years (a.d. 493- 526), — years of such quiet and prosperity as Italy had not known since the happy era of the Antonines. The king made good his promise that his reign should be such that " the only regret

1 See Ancient History, sec. 560.

THE BARBARIAN KINGDOMS of the people should be that the Goths had not come at an earlier period." ^

Notwithstanding his generally humane and tolerant disposition, Theodoric stained the last years of his reign by various acts of cruelty and persecution. Among the victims of his injustice was the-renowfied Boethius, one of the most distinguished scholars of that time, who was put to death on what seems to have been an unfounded charge of disloyalty. During the months of imprisonment which preceded his execution, Boethius wrote his Philosophice. Consolatio, or " Consolation of Philosophy," a work that ^ possessed a most

remarkable attraction for a certain class of minds throughout the Middle Ages.

The kingdom established by the rare abilities of Theodoric lasted only twenty-seven years after his death. It was de-

Fig. I.

Tomb of Theodoric at Ravenna (From a photograph)

stroyed by the generals of Justinian, Emperor of the East (sec. 50); and Italy, freed from the barbarians, was for a time reunited to the Empire (a.d. 553).

9. Kingdom of the Visigoths (a.d. 415-7 it). — The Visigoths (W'^estern Goths) were already in possession of Southern Gaul and the greater part of Spain when the line of Western Roman emperors was brought to an end by the act of Odoacer and his companions. Driven south of the Pyrenees by the kings of the Franks, they held their possessions in Spain until the beginning of the eighth century, when their rule was brought to an end by