Outlines of Universal History Part 28

IV. THE SCANDINAVIAN COUNTRIES.

THE BALTIC LANDS.--There are three divisions of Europe which neither Charlemagne's Empire nor the Eastern Empire included. The first is _Spain_, which had been comprised in the old Roman Empire. The second is _Great Britain_ and the adjacent islands. Only a portion of Britain was held as a province by old Rome. The third is the two _Scandinavian_ peninsulas,--Denmark, and Norway and Sweden, with the _Slavonic_ lands to the east and south, which may be said to have had a common relation to the _Baltic_. The _Scandinavians_ had their period of foreign conquest and settlement, but their settlements abroad remained in no connection with the countries whence they came. _Sweden_ was cut off from the ocean. "The history of Sweden"--as Mr. Freeman, to whom we owe a lucid exposition of this subject, has pointed out--"mainly consists in the growth and the loss of her dominion in the Baltic lands out of her own peninsula. It is only in quite modern times that the union of the crowns, though not of the kingdoms, of Sweden and Norway, has created a power wholly peninsular and equally Baltic and oceanic." The Germans and Scandinavians spread their dominion over the Aryan and non-Aryan tribes on the south and east of the Baltic. _Finland_, inhabited by a Turanian or Scythic people whose language is akin to that of the Hungarians, was long under Swedish dominion. Now Finland and the east of the Baltic are in Russia, while the southern and south-eastern sh.o.r.e of the Baltic is German. _Russia_, in modern days, having no oceanic character like Great Britain and Spain, has expanded her dominion westward to the Baltic, but mainly to the east over Central Asia. She has built up a _continental_, instead of a maritime and colonial, empire.

CONVERSION OF SCANDINAVIA.--In the earlier part of the Middle Ages, the two Scandinavian peninsulas are known only through the piratical expeditions which they send forth upon the two adjacent seas. By the way of the North Sea, the Northmen reached France, England, Greenland, and America; by the way of the Baltic, Russia. The conversion of _Denmark_ to Christianity was completed in the eleventh century, under _Canute_; that of Norway in the tenth, and of Sweden in the eleventh. After the foreign settlements were made, and with the introduction of the gospel, piracy ceased, and civilization began (p. 239).

DENMARK.--After _Canute VI._ (1182), _Waldemar II._, the Victorious, was the prominent personage in Danish history. He conquered _Holstein_ and _Pomerania_,--in fact, every thing north of the Elbe and the Elde. In 1219 he overran _Esthonia_, in a crusade for the forcible conversion of the pagans, when the Danish standard, the _Dannebrog_,--a white cross on a blood-red field,--began to be used. On his return, he was treacherously captured, and with his son was kept in prison in Mecklenburg for three years, by _Henry_, Count of _Schwerin_. _Waldemar_ was defeated in 1227, in the war undertaken to recover the conquests which he had given up as the price of his release. He was the author of a code of laws.

UNION OF CROWNS.--_Waldemar III._ (1340-1375) regained the conquests of Waldemar II. This brought on a general war, in which the _Hanseatic League_, as well as Sweden, were among his antagonists (1363). Denmark, having control of the entrance to the Baltic, and exacting tolls of vessels, was a second time involved in war with that great mercantile confederacy and its allies, and was worsted in the conflict (1372). Waldemar's second daughter, _Margaret_, married _Hakon VI._, King of Norway. Hakon's son _Olaf_ was a child at his father's death, and the regency was held by his mother. _Olaf_ (1376-1387) was elected by the Estates king of _Denmark_. His mother, now regent in both countries, became queen in both after _Olaf's_ death. In 1388 Margaret accepted the crown of Sweden; the Swedes having revolted against the king, _Albert_, who was defeated and captured at _Falkoeping_ (1389).

SWEDEN.--War existed for centuries between the _Swedes_ and the _Goths_, the inhabitants of the southern part of the peninsula.

Each race contended for supremacy. Political union began with _Waldemar_ (1250-1275), son of _Birger Jarl_ (Earl Birger).

Stockholm was founded in 1255. Private wars and judicial combats were suppressed, commerce was encouraged, and the condition of women improved. Large duchies were established, afterwards a source of discord. _Magnus I_. (1279-1290) was surnamed _Ladulas_, or _Barnlock_, for protecting the granaries of the peasants from the rapacious n.o.bles. His reign was succeeded by war between his sons. As the result of a popular revolt in 1319, _Magnus Smek_, an infant, became king, and during the regency succeeded, by right of his mother, to the crown of _Norway_, where he (1350) placed on the throne his son _Hakon_. But when _Magnus_ attempted to rule without the senate, he was deposed, and _Albert_ of _Mecklenburg_ was elected king (1365). But the n.o.bles were supreme: in 1388 they deposed _Albert_, and gave the crown to _Margaret_ of Norway and Denmark. _Albert_ was held a prisoner for six years, and then renounced his claim to the throne.

NORWAY.--_Magnus III_. (1095-1103), called from his Scottish dress _Barefoot_, united the _Hebrides_ and _Orcades_ into a kingdom for his son _Sigurd_, and invaded Iceland, where he died. _Sigurd_ inherited the spirit of _Harold Fairhair_ (860-about 933), through whom Norway had been made a united kingdom. He made a voyage to Jerusalem through the Mediterranean, and was a renowned crusader. After his death (1130), there were fierce contests for the throne, the more fierce as illegitimate sons had the same right in law as those born in wedlock. In 1152 a papal legate established a hierarchy in Norway, which interfered in the struggle. Conflicts arose between the clerical party and the national party, in which the latter at length gained the day. Under _Hakon VI_., _Iceland_ was conquered (1260). _Magnus VI_. (1263-1280) brought in an era of quiet, without stifling popular freedom. The cities engaged actively in manufactures and commerce. _Magnus_ strengthened and organized the military and naval force. By him the _Hebrides_ were ceded to Scotland. Under _Eric_ (1280-1299), called _Priest-hater_, there was a struggle to curb the power of the clergy and n.o.bles, in which the king was aided by the peasants. He was worsted in the conflict with the Hanse towns, and compelled to join their League. The accession of _Magnus Smek_, the son of his daughter, to the throne of Norway (1319), led eventually to the _Union_ of _Calmar_ (1397), in which Sweden, Norway, and Denmark were brought together.

"The situation of Norway, during the Middle Ages, might be shortly described as an absolute monarchy resting almost directly on one of the most democratic states of society in Europe." The greater families, by the part.i.tion of their estates, became a part of the cla.s.s of small land-owners. Between them and the king there was no intermediate cla.s.s.

AFTER THE UNION OF CALMAR.--After the death of _Margaret_, who governed the united kingdoms after the union, _Eric XIII_. of Pomerania succeeded. The union was shaken by the revolt of _Schleswig_ and of _Holstein_, and was dissolved on the death of _Christopher_ of Bavaria (1448), who had been chosen king. The Swedes broke off, and made _Charles Canutson_ king, under the name of _Charles VIII_. _Denmark_ and _Norway_ remained united; and under _Christian I_. of the house of _Oldenburg_, whom they made king, _Schleswig_ and _Holstein_ were again attached to Denmark (1459).

V. POLAND AND RUSSIA.

THE SLAVONIC TRIBES.--The settlement of the _Hungarians_ (Magyars) in Europe had the effect to divide the Slavonic tribes into three general groups. The _northern_ Slaves were separated from the Slaves south of the Danube,--the inhabitants of Servia, Croatia, Dalmatia, etc. The _north-western_ Slaves bordered on the Western Empire. The states of _Bohemia_ and _Poland_ grew up among them. On the east of this group of Slaves were the Russians. Both _Poland_ and _Russia_ became independent kingdoms. In the course of history, a part of the _north Slavonic lands_, those which are represented by Mecklenburg, Pomerania, Brandenburg, and Saxony, were Germanized. Lands in the _south-west_, as Bohemia and Moravia, remained predominantly Slavonic in speech. A _central_ region formed the kingdom of Poland. On the east were the Slavonic tribes which were the nucleus of modern _Russia_.

LITHUANIANS AND PRUSSIANS.--Both _Poland_ and _Russia_ were originally cut off from the Baltic by other races. Such were the non-Aryan _Fins_ in Esthonia (Esthland) and Livonia (Livland). Such, also, were the Aryans of the _Lettic_ branch, of whom the _Lithuanians_ and the _Prussians_ were the princ.i.p.al divisions. The _Lithuanians_ formed at one time a strong state.

The _Prussians_ finally gave their name to the Teutonic kingdom in which they were absorbed.

THE POLES.--The _Poles_ derive their name from a word meaning _plains_. They were inhabitants of the plains. They were the strongest of a group of tribes dwelling between the Oder and the Vistula, and holding the coast between their mouths. Between them and the sea, on the east of the Vistula, were the _Prussians_.

POLAND: ITS CONSt.i.tUTION.--In the tenth century the _Lechs_, or _Poles_, on the Vistula, had acquired considerable power, and had a center at _Gnesen_, which remained the metropolis of Poland. There are legends of a first duke, _Piast_ by name. A dynasty which bore his name continued in Poland until 1370; in Silesia, until 1675. _Miecislas I_. was converted to Christianity by his wife, a Bohemian princess. He did homage to the Emperor _Otto I_.

(978). _Boleslav I_. (992) aspired to the regal dignity, and had himself crowned as king by his bishops. _Gregory VII_. excommunicated him, deprived him of the t.i.tle of king, and laid Poland under an interdict. _Boleslav III_., the Victorious (1102-1138), subdued the _Pomeranians_, and compelled them to receive Christianity. He divided his kingdom among his four sons. _Silesia_ became an independent duchy. A long crusade was carried on against the _Prussians_, a heathen people, who attacked the Poles, by the "Brethren of the soldiers of Christ," and the "Teutonic knights," two orders which were united (about 1226). The Teutonic knights at length became the enemies of the Poles. The savage _Lithuanians_ a.s.sailed them on the north. From the anarchy that reigned, Poland was rescued by _Casimir III_., the Great (1333-1370), who defeated the Russians, and carried his eastern boundary as far as the _Dnieper_. Prior to this time, Poland was an important kingdom. Casimir framed a code of written laws for his people, and gave an impulse to commerce. But in order to secure the election of his nephew, _Louis_ king of Hungary (1370-1382), he had to increase the powers and privileges of the n.o.bles. The accession of _Louis_ terminated the long rivalry of Poland and Hungary. He, like _Casimir_, died without children. The n.o.bles made _Jagellon_, the Grand Duke of _Lithuania_, his successor (1386), who took the name of _Vladislav II_. Under a series of conquering princes, _Lithuania_ had extended its dominion over the neighboring Russian lands, and become a strong state. _Vladislav_ was chosen on the condition that he should espouse the daughter of the last king, and, with his nation, embrace Christianity. This event doubled the territory of Poland. The _Teutonic Knights_, who ruled from the Oder to the Gulf of Finland, were now overcome. The treaty of _Thorn_ (1466) confined their dominion to _Eastern Prussia_. The misfortune of _Poland_ was its political const.i.tution. Although the monarchy was not yet completely elective, but hereditary in the house of _Jagellon_, the election of every king had to be sanctioned by the n.o.bles. They alone took part in the diet, and held the offices and honors. There was no burgher cla.s.s, no "third estate." Every man who owned and was able to equip a horse was counted as a n.o.ble. The burden of taxation fell on the peasants.

NATURAL FEATURES OF RUSSIA.--Russia in Europe comprises at present more than half the territory of that entire continent. Yet it has but a small share of seaboard, and of this a large part is frozen in winter. The surface of Russia is of a piece with the boundless plateaus of Northern and Central Asia. It has been defined as the "Europe of plains, in opposition to the Europe of mountains." The mountains of Russia are chiefly on its boundaries. It is a country subject to extremes of heat and cold. From the scarcity of stone, all buildings were formerly of wood, and hence its towns were all combustible. The rivers of Russia have been of immense importance in its history. "The whole history of this country is the history of its three great rivers, and is divided into three periods,--that of the _Dnieper_ with _Kiev_, that of the _Volga_ with _Moscow_, and that of the _Neva_ with _Novgorod_ in the eighth century, and _St. Petersburg_ in the eighteenth."

RUSSIANS AND POLES.--The Russian Slaves in the ninth century occupied but a small part of what is now Russia. There was probably little difference then between them and the Poles; but the one people were molded by the Greek Church and Greek civilization, the other by the Latin Church and by the collective influences of Western Europe.

RUSSIAN HISTORY.--The Northmen under _Rurik_ had founded their dominion in Russia. _Novgorod_ was their center. Thence they pushed their conquests to the south. Their descendants made _Kiev_, on the Dnieper, their capital. In Russia, as elsewhere, the Scandinavians quickly blended with their native subjects. Under _Vladimir I._ (980-1015), who was converted to Greek Christianity, with his people, and _Iaroslaf I._ (1019-1051), they attained to considerable power; but the custom of the sovereigns to divide their dominions among their sons, broke up their territory into a mult.i.tude of petty princ.i.p.alities. The result was a monotonous series of fierce contests, without any substantial result. In the midst of the b.l.o.o.d.y and profitless civil wars occurred the great invasion of the _Mongols_, who destroyed the princ.i.p.ality of _Kiev_, and made that of _Vladimir_ tributary. For two centuries the Russians continued under the yoke of the "Golden Horde,"

which the Mongols established on the Volga. They were obliged to pay tribute, and the Russian princes at their accession had to swear fealty to the _khan_ on the banks of the river _Amoor_. At the time of the Mongol conquest, _Novgorod_ was the center of Russian dominion. Towards the end of the thirteenth century, _Moscow_ became a new center of Russian power. From _Moscow_ comes the name _Muscovy_. "Muscovy was to Russia what France in the older sense was to the whole land which came to bear that name."

In the fourteenth century, while _Lithuania_ and _Poland_ were absorbing by conquest the territories of earlier or _Western_ Russia, the Duchy of _Moscow_ was building up a new Russia in the East, out of which grew the Russia of to-day. _Ivan I._, regarded as the founder of the Russian monarchy, made Moscow his capital in 1328. Most of the other princes were subject to him. _Demetrius_ (or _Dimtri) I_. gained two great victories over the Mongol horde (1378 and 1380); but in 1382 they burned _Moscow_, and slew twenty-four thousand of its inhabitants. It was not until the reign of _Ivan III_., Ivan the Great (1462-1505), that _Novgorod_ submitted to _Moscow_, and Russia was wholly delivered from the control and influence of the Mongols.

VI. HUNGARY.

THE ARPAD DYNASTY.--The chiefs of the Turanian _Magyars_, about 889, elected _Arpad_ as successor of the leader under whom they had crossed the Carpathian Mountains. They overran Hungary and Transylvania, and terrified Europe by their invasions (p. 249). After their defeats by the emperors _Henry I_. and _Otto the Great_ (p. 261), they confined themselves to their own country. The first king, _Stephen_,--St. Stephen,--was crowned, with the consent of Pope _Sylvester II_., in the year 1000. He divided the land into counties, organized the Church, and founded convents and schools. He conferred on the bishops high offices. He established a national council, composed of the lords temporal and spiritual, and of the knights, out of which sprung the _diets_. _Ladislaus I_. conquered _Croatia_ (1089), and a part of the "Red Russian" land of _Galicia_ (1093). Coloman, "the Learned," a brave and able man, annexed _Dalmatia_, which he wrested from the Venetians (1102). In the reign of _Andrew II_. (1205-1235), the "Golden Bull" was extorted by the n.o.bles, which conferred on them extraordinary rights and privileges, including exemption from arrest prior to trial and conviction, and the control of the diet over appointments to office. It even authorized armed resistance on their part to tyrannical measures of the king,--a right that was not abrogated until 1687. Hungary was devastated by the great Tartar invasion (1241-42) (p. 283). The kings of Hungary supported the cause of _Rudolph_ of Austria against _Ottocar_ of Bohemia (p. 332).

INVASIONS OF THE TURKS.--The last king of the _Arpad_ dynasty died in 1301. There was a division of parties in the choice of a successor. Pope _Boniface VIII_. and the clergy supported the claims of Count _Charles Robert of Anjou_, who was related to the former reigning family. Under the son of _Charles Robert, Louis,_ who also succeeded _Casimir III_. as king of Poland (1370), Hungary became a very powerful state. _Galicia_ was regained, _Moldavia_ and _Bulgaria_ were conquered. After the death of _Louis_, his daughter _Maria_ reigned from 1386 conjointly with _Sigismund_, afterwards emperor, and king of Bohemia. He established his supremacy over _Bosnia_. From this time the invasions of the _Turks_ begin. There had been a party in favor of raising to the throne _Vladislaus_, king of Poland; and after the death of Sigismund's successor, _Albert II_. of Austria (1437), and the death of the queen, he gained the crown (1442). He was slain at _Varna_, in the great battle in which the Hungarians were vanquished by the Turks (1444). _John Hunyady_, who had several times defeated the Turks, and who escaped on the field of Varna, was made for the time "governor;" but on the release of the son of Albert, _Ladislaus Posthumus_, who had been kept from the throne by the Emperor _Frederick III_., he was recognized as king (1452). _Hun-yady_ was made general-in-chief. _Frederick_ had also retained in his hands the crown, which had been intrusted to his care, and which Hungarians have always regarded with extreme veneration. A little later, great advantages were gained over the Turks, to be lost again in the sixteenth century.

VII. THE OTTOMAN TURKS.

OSMAN: MURAD I.--Towards the end of the thirteenth century, the _Osman_ (or _Ottoman_) _Turks_, warlike nomad hordes, in order to escape from the _Mongols_, moved from the region east of the Caspian Sea, and conquered in Asia Minor the remnant of the kingdom of the Seljukians (p. 270). Impelled by fanaticism and the desire of booty, _Ottoman_ (or _Osman_), their leader, advanced into _Bithynia_, and took _Pruse_, or _Broussa_, one of the most important cities of Asia Minor. The Greeks, with their Catalonian auxiliaries, were not able to dislodge him from his new possession. The Byzantine court was disabled from making an energetic effort for this end, by the partisan rancor, and mingled lethargy and cruelty, which characterized the old age of the Greek Empire. _Nicomedia_, _Nicoea_, and _Ilium_ were conquered by the Sultan (or _Padishah_). _Murad I_. (1361-1389) founded the corps of _janizaries_, composed of select Christian youth chosen from the captives for their beauty and vigor. These became the most effective soldiers,--sometimes dangerous, however, to the sultans themselves. _Adrianople_ was taken by _Murad_, and made the seat of his authority. The Christian princ.i.p.alities of _Thrace_, and the ancient but depopulated cities founded by the Greeks and Romans, were overrun. The Servians and Bulgarians made a stand against the fierce Ottoman warriors, but were beaten in the battle of _Kosovo_, where _Murad_was slain.

BAJAZET.--_Bajazet_, the son and successor of _Murad_, outdid his predecessor in his martial prowess. He conquered _Macedonia_ and _Thessaly_, and _Greece_ to the southern end of Peloponnesus. The Emperor _Sigismund_ and _John of Burgundy_, with one hundred thousand men, were utterly defeated in the sanguinary battle of _Nicopolis_ (1396). _Sigismund_ escaped by sea; the French counts and knights had to be redeemed from captivity with a large ransom; and ten thousand prisoners of lower rank were slaughtered by _Bajazet_. _Bosnia_ was now in the hands of the victor. _Constantinople_ had to pay tribute, and seemed likely to become his prey, when a temporary respite was obtained for it by the coming of a host even more powerful than that of _Bajazet_.

MONGOLIAN INVASION.--_Timur_, or _Tamerlane_, a descendant of _Genghis Khan _(p. 283), revived the fallen Tartar kingdom. At the head of his wandering _Tartars_, which grew into an army, he left _Samarcand_, where he had caused himself to be proclaimed sovereign, and, in a rapid career of conquest, made himself master of the countries from the Wall of China to the Mediterranean, and from the boundaries of Egypt to Moscow. Everywhere his path was marked with blood and with the ruins of the places which he destroyed. At _Ispahan_, in Persia, seventy thousand persons were killed. At _Delhi_, one hundred thousand captives were slain, that his relative, the "Great Mogul," might reign in security. It was his delight to pile up at the gates of cities pyramids of twenty or thirty thousand heads. Later (1401), at _Bagdad_, he erected such a pyramid of ninety thousand heads. He gained a great victory over the "Golden Horde" in _Russia_ (p. 283), conquered the unsubdued parts of _Persia_, entered _Bagdad_, _Ba.s.sorah_, and _Mosul_, vanquished the khan of _Kaptchak_, and penetrated _Russia_ in his devastating progress, as far as _Moscow_ (1396). Then followed the conquest of _Hindustan_.

TAMERLANE AND BAJAZET.--The two powerful monarchs, _Tamerlane_ and _Bajazet_, now measured their strength in combat with one another. Trembling amba.s.sadors of the Greek emperor, and of certain Seljukian princes, had waited on _Tamerlane_ in _Gengia_ at the foot of the Caucasus. On the 16th of June, 1402, the two armies--four hundred thousand Turks, and eight hundred thousand Mongols, if one may credit the reports--met at _Ancyra_. The Ottomans were defeated, and _Bajazet_ was taken prisoner. Led into the presence of _Tamerlane_, he found the Mongol quietly playing chess with his son. Asia Minor submitted to the conqueror, who penetrated as far as _Smyrna_. An old man, he was looking towards _China_ as another field for invasion, when he died (1405). _Bajazet_ died soon after his defeat.

TURKISH CONQUESTS: THE GREEKS AND LATINS.--The grandson of _Bajazet_, _Murad II._ (1421-1451), took up anew his projects of conquest. The empire of _Tamerlane_ quickly fell to pieces. His course had been like that of a hurricane, terrible in its work of destruction, but soon at an end. The Byzantine dominion was soon confined to _Constantinople_ and small districts adjacent. On all sides the Ottoman power was supreme. The Greek emperor, _John VII._ (_Palaeologus_), now endeavored, in imitation of previous attempts, to bring about a union of the Greek and Latin churches, and thus remove a princ.i.p.al obstacle to the obtaining of military help from the West. He went to Italy, attended by the patriarch and many bishops. After long debates and conferences on the abstruse points of doctrinal difference, a verbal agreement was reached between the two parties (1439). But the result was received with so much disfavor and indignation in Constantinople, that the effort to bring the sundered churches together came to naught. The Pope, however, stirred up the Christian princes to engage in war against the Turk. The defeat of _Vladislav_, king of Hungary, and of _Hunyady_, at _Varna_ (1444), caused by the rash onset of the king upon the janizaries, was succeeded by another Turkish victory at _Kosovo_, four years later.

FALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE.--_Murad II._ was succeeded by his ambitious and unmerciful son, _Mohammed II._ (1451-1481), who determined that _Constantinople_ should be his capital. The city had seven thousand defenders, comprising two thousand Genoese and Venetians, who were commanded by an able man, the Genoese _Justiniani_. The Emperor _Constantine XII._ wors.h.i.+ped according to the Roman rites; while his court observed the Greek forms, and spurned a union with the hated Latin Christians, whose help the emperor was to the end anxious to obtain. The city was stoutly defended for fifty-three days; and when it could be held no longer against the furious a.s.sault of the Turks, the gallant _Constantine_, casting aside his golden armor, fell, bravely fighting with the defenders on the ramparts (May 29, 1453). Constantinople became the capital of the Turks. The crescent supplanted the cross, and the Church of _St. Sophia_ was turned into a mosque.

TURKISH GOVERNMENT.--The _Sultan_, or _padischah_, among the Turks is absolute master, and proprietor of the soil. There is no order of n.o.bles, and there are no higher cla.s.ses except the priests (_imams_) and the religious orders (_dervishes_). In the seraglio of the Sultan, with its palaces and gardens, the harem is separated from the other apartments. The _grand vizier_ presides over the council of ministers (_divan_). The provinces are governed by _pashas_ with large powers. Beneath them is a gradation of inferior rulers in the subdivisions of the provinces. The _mufti_ with his subordinate a.s.sociates is a high authority on questions of religion and law.

TURKISH LITERATURE.--The literature of the Ottoman Turks is in merit below the literature of other Mohammedan peoples. It lacks originality, being based on _Persian_ and partly on _Arabic_ models.

CHANGES IN THE MIDDLE AGES.--We have seen great changes gradually taking place in the Middle Ages. One is the _centralizing of political authority_ by the subjection of the local rulers, or lords, to the will of the king. Another is the _enfranchis.e.m.e.nt of the serfs_, and the growing power and self-respect of a middle cla.s.s. The invention of gunpowder took away the superiority of the mail-clad and mounted warrior. The peasant on the battle-field was a match for the knight.

CLERGYY AND LAITY.--There was a change from the time when the _clergy_ were the sole possessors of knowledge, and the exclusive guides of opinion. In the _lay_ part of society, there was an awaking of intellectual activity and a spirit of self-a.s.sertion.

A brief sketch of important ecclesiastical changes, some of which have been adverted to, will be here in place.

POPES IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY.--From _Gregory VII_. to _Boniface VIII_., or from near the end of the eleventh to the beginning of the fourteenth century, the highest authority was claimed and exercised by the popes. _Frederick Barbarossa_, the greatest of the German emperors, held the stirrup of _Hadrian IV_., and humbled himself before _Alexander III_. _Innocent III_. compared the authority of _popes_, in contrast with that of _kings_, to the sun in relation to the moon. He excommunicated _Philip Augustus_ of France, _John_ of England, and other monarchs. He claimed the right to refuse to crown the emperor if he should judge him not worthy of the imperial office. The papacy continued to exert these lofty prerogatives until _Boniface VIII_. He a.s.serted that "the two swords," the symbols of both secular and spiritual rule, were given to St. Peter and to his successors: the temporal authority must therefore be subject to the spiritual. The body of _canon law_ was framed in accordance with these views. It embraced the right of the Pope to depose kings and princes. To the sovereign pontiff was accorded the right to dispense from Church laws. With the growth of ecclesiastical jurisdiction in the different countries, the Pope, as the supreme tribunal in all matters affecting the clergy and covered by the canon law, gained a vast increase of judicial prerogatives.

THE BABYLONIAN EXILE: THE GREAT SCHISM.--During the residence of the popes at _Avignon_, there was great complaint on account of the dependence of the papacy on France, as well as on account of the heavy taxes levied for the support of the pontifical court, and of the immorality which at times prevailed in it. _Gregory XI_., to the joy of all good men, returned to Rome (1376). But at his death, two years later, a majority of the cardinals elected an Italian, _Urban VI_., in his place. The adherents of the French party made a protest, and chose the Cardinal of Geneva, under the name of _Clement VII_. England, Germany, Hungary, Bohemia, Holland, and almost all Italy, acknowledged _Urban_. France, Spain, Scotland, Savoy, and Lorraine obeyed _Clement_. This great schism of the West created sorrow and alarm among well-disposed Christian people. It tended strongly to diminish the reverence felt for the papal office, and to weaken its influence.

THE REFORMING COUNCILS.--The first important effort to terminate the division was made by the _University of Paris_. Its rector, _Nicolas de Clemangis_, was prominent in the movement. _Gerson_ and other eminent scholars and ecclesiastics took part in it. Three great councils were held; the first at _Pisa_ (1409), the second at _Constance_ (1414), and the third at _Basle_ (1431). At these a.s.semblies, the French theologians proceeded upon the "Gallican theory" of the const.i.tution of the Church, according to which supreme authority was held to reside in a general council,--not in the Pope, but in the collective episcopate. At the Council of _Constance_, where it is a significant fact that the votes were taken by nations, there were gathered not only a throng of prelates and inferior clergy, but also the Emperor _Sigismund_, and a mult.i.tude of princes, n.o.bles, and spectators of every rank. "The whole world," it was said, "was there."

Three popes, each of whom claimed to be legitimate, were deposed; and under the auspices of the council, which affirmed its own sovereign authority, another pope, _Martin V._, was elected in the room of them. The results of the two councils of Pisa and Constance, as regards the reformation of the Church "in head and members," disappointed the hopes of those who were disaffected with the existing state of things. The Council of _Basle_ exhibited the same spirit as that of _Constance_, and pa.s.sed various measures in the interest of national churches, for the restriction of papal prerogatives, and for practical reforms. The council, however, broke into two parts; and the hopes connected with it were likewise, to a great extent, frustrated. In 1438 the French synod of _Bourges_ issued "the Pragmatic Sanction," containing a strong a.s.sertion of the rights and immunities of national churches,--a doc.u.ment which gave occasion to much controversy down to its repeal under King _Francis I_.

Had it been practicable for good men in the _fifteenth_ century to unite in wholesome measures for promoting the purity and unity of the Church, the religious revolutions of the _sixteenth_ might have been postponed, if not avoided.

CHAPTER III. THE COUNTRIES OF EASTERN ASIA.

I. CHINA.

THE TANG DYNASTY (618-907).--The confusion in China, after the establishment of the three kingdoms, was brought to an end by the _Sui_ dynasty, which, however, was of short duration. Between the _Hans_ and the new epoch beginning with the _T'angs_, diplomatic intercourse was begun with _j.a.pan_; Christianity was introduced by the Nestorians; a new impulse was given to the spread of _Buddhism_; the first traces of the art of printing are found; and the Yang-tse and the Yellow Rivers were connected by a ca.n.a.l.

EVENTS IN THIS PERIOD.--Under the _T'angs,_ the empire was united, peaceful, and prosperous. One of the most remarkable occurrences was the usurpation (649) and successful reign of a woman, the Empress _Wu_. Her policy was wise, and her generals were victorious. The Emperor _Hiuen Tsung_ had a long reign (713-756), and was an ardent patron of literature, but in his later years fell into immoral ways, as was seen in the character of the poems written under his patronage. Under this dynasty, there were productions in poetry of an excellence never surpa.s.sed in China. Buddhism, although resisted by the Confucianists and Taouists, gained ground. A bone of _Buddha_ was brought into China with great pomp and ceremony. Early in the reign of the T'angs, _Mohammedanism_ first appeared in China. In the transition period before the accession of the next dynasty (900-960), the art of printing came more into use. The practice of cramping women's feet is said by some to have originated at this time.

THE SUNG DYNASTY (960-1280).--In the early part of this era, China was prosperous. But the _Tartars_ began their invasions; and it was finally agreed that one of their tribes, which had helped to drive out another, should retain its conquests in the North. These Tartar conquerors, the _Kins_, were invaded by the Mongol Tartars under _Genghis Khan_ (1213). After a long struggle, both the _Kins_ and the _Sungs_ were conquered by the _Mongols_, and the empire of _Kublai Khan_ (1259-1294), the ruler of nearly all Asia except Hindustan and Arabia, was established. Under the _Sungs_, a system of military drill for all the citizens was ordained. Literature flourished; Buddhism and Taouism concluded to live in peace with one another; and the system of compet.i.tive examinations and literary degrees was more fully developed. After the complete conquest of China, the dominion of _Kublai Khan_ lasted for about a century. The celebrated Venetian traveler, _Marco Polo_, visited his court. In this period, mathematics was more studied, and romances were first written. Three out of the "Four Wonderful Books," which are leading novels, were then composed. The Grand Ca.n.a.l was finished by _Kublai Khan_, and thus _Peking_ was connected with Southern China. His great naval expedition against j.a.pan failed.

THE MING DYNASTY (1368-1650).--_Hung-wu_, the son of a Chinese laborer, shook off the Mongol yoke, and founded a new dynasty with its capital at _Nanking;_ whence it was afterwards transferred by the third emperor, _Yung-lo_ (1403-1425), to _Peking_. He conquered and annexed _Cochin China_ and _Tonquin_, and even portions of Tartary. The Tartars continued their attack; and in 1450 _Ching-tung_, the emperor, was taken prisoner, and held until he was released in consequence of a Chinese victory.