119894

READINGS IN EUROPEAN HISTORY

VOLUME I

READINGS IN"

EUROPEAN HISTORY

A collection of extracts from the sources chosen ivith

the purpose of il frustrating the progress of

ctilture in Western Europe since

the German, Invasions

BY

JAMES HARVEY ROBINSON

PROFESSOR OF HISTORY m COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

VOLUME I

FROM THE BREAKING UP OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE TO THE PROTESTANT REVOLT

GINN & COMPANY

BOSTON - NEW YORK - CHICAGO - LONDON

PREFACE

In preparing my Introduction to the JEfistory of IVestern Europe I was forced to forego all the amenities of historical narration, except those of clearness and order, in my anxiety to present a tolerably coherent sketch of the course of events and the development of institutions. In this and the suc- ceeding volume I hope that the reader, whether teacher or student, may find some of that life and reality without which historical study must remain arid and well-nigh profitless. I have accordingly made a special effort to select such pas- sages as might most readily conciliate the reader's interest. Yet they are not the less useful for being interesting. Indeed, I hope that they may prove to be like that river of which Gregory the Great speaks, which is both shallow and deep, "wherein the lamb may find a footing and the ele- phant float at large " ; for there are few among the excerpts that will not repay careful study and give the teacher abun- dant opportunity to test his own and his students* insight.

The rather long and elaborate bibliographies which follow the several chapters demand a word of explanation. They each fall into three divisions. The first section, -^, contains specific references to a collection of forty or fifty standard volumes which should be in any good high-school library. -£?, Additional readings in English, is especially designed for those who have a good college library at their disposal, although many of the volumes mentioned in this division

vii

viii Preface

might profitably be used by the high-school student. Lastly, under C9 the teacher and advanced university student will find the necessary guidance in carrying on his work as far as he may feel inclined.

In the preparation of the present volume I am under special obligations to Miss Ellen Scott Davison, who greatly aided me in the quest for suitable material and in the transla- tion, and to Miss Louise Ropes Loomis, Lecturer in Barnard College, who prepared portions of the bibliographies and also forwarded the translation. With the kind permission of my friends, Professors Cheyhey and Munro, I have used some of the extracts which have already appeared in the Translations and Reprints -, of which we three were the original editors. I have also included some of the pieces in Dr. Henderson's very useful Select Historical J3ocuments of the J^fiddle ^4.ges, but I have frequently preferred a different rendering from his. I am also indebted to the translations in the Bohn series, although here, too, I have freely modified the wording in the interests of accuracy and clearness. I owe most of all, perhaps, to the admirable Geschichtschreiber der deutschen Vbrzeit in clearing up the occasional obscurities of the mediaeval chroniclers. My indebtedness to a consid- erable number of translators and editors is acknowledged in the list of citations which follows.

J. H. R.

HIGH MOWING, JAFFREY, N.H., September i, 1904.

CONTKNXS AND LIST OF CITATIONS

VOLUME I

CHAPTER I — THE HISTORICAL POINT OF VIEW

CHAPTER II — WESTERN EUROPE BEFORE THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS

PAGE

I. Resemblances between Paganism and Christianity

1. Seneca on God's gifts to man 14

£>e bcnefictiS) Lib. iv, cc. 5—7, and Lib. if c. 2 ; ed. rlosius (Teubner, 1900) ; trans.i by Th. Lodge in the Temple Classics Series

2. Epictetus 15

dissertation es (or JSnchiiidion), Book I, Chaps. 30 and 9; trans, from the Greek of Arrian by G. Long in the Bohn Library

3. The Thoughts of Marcus Aurelius 17

Book II, Chaps. 1-3 ; trans, from the Greek by G. Long in the Bohn Library

4. Important contrasts between Christianity and paganism 18

LECKV, History of European Af orals., opening of Chap. IV

II. The Early Conception of a Universal Church

5. The Catholic Church as conceived by Cyprian ... 19

J2e ccctholicae ecclcsiae unxtafff^ cc. 3, 4, 5, 6, ro, and 14 : Cor- pus scriptorum ecclesiasticorum LatinoniTn, III ; trans, by R. E. Wallis in Library of Ante-Nicene Fathers, VIII

III. The Church and the Roman Emperors

6. Edict of Galerius (A.IX 311), which first granted toler-

ation to the Christians 21

LACTANTIUS. 2>e morti&its ^ersfcuioruyn^ c. 34: Corpus scriptr eccl. Lat. XXVII, Fas. ii ; trans, by \ViIliam Fletcher in the Library of Ante-Nicene Fathers, XXII

1 "While I have freely availed myself of the assistance offered by translations, I have not hesitated to modify, or even frankly desert in some cases, the renderings which I mention in this list.

< Contents and List of Citations

7. The edicts of Constantine and his successors relating to PAGB

the Church in the Theodosian Code 23

Codex Theodosiamts^ ed. Haenel, Lib. xvi : tit. i, 2 (A.D. 380) ;

tit. ii, 2 (A.D. 319), 6 (A.D. 326), 9 (A.D. 349), 24 (A.D. 377), 16 (A.D. 361), 5 (A.D. 323), 4 (A.D. 32l), 4I (A.D. 4I2) ; tit. V, I (A.D. 326), 3 (A.D. 372), 34 (A.D. 398), 66 (A.D. 435), 46 (A.D. 409)

IV. Comparison between the Lot of those within the Empire and those living among the Barbarians

8. Salvian's comparison of the Romans and barbarians . 28

£)e gubernatione Dei^ Lib. v, cc. 4 sq.^ Lib. iv, c. 14 : Mon. Ger. Hist., Auc. ant. I

9. Conversation of Priscus with a Greek living among the

barbarians (448) 30

PRISCUS PANITES, Historiaritmfragmenta, in Miiller, Frag- menta historicorum Graecorum, IV, 86sg>. ; trans, by Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire, I, 218 sqq.

CHAPTER III — THE GERMAN INVASIONS AND THE BREAK-UP OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE

I. The Huns force the West Goths across the Danube

10. Description of the Huns by Ammianus Marcellinus . . 35

jRerum gestarum llbri qui sitfersuntj Lib. xxxi, cc. 2-4 and 13; ed. Gardthausen (Teubner, 1874); trans, by C. D. \*onge in the Bohn Library

II. How the West Goths became Arlans and Alaric took Rome

11. Jordanes on the conversion of the Goths and the sack

of Rome 39

JORDANES, L>e origine actusque Geta-rum, cc. 25-31 ; ed. Mommsen, Mon. Ger. Hist., Auc. ant. V

12. St. Jerome on the destruction wrought by the barbarians 44

(a) Ep* ad Ageruc/iiam ; Migne, Patrologia Latina, XXII, cols. 1057 sq. ; (b) Commentaria in Ezechie2em^ Preface to Lib. iii ; Ibid. XXV, col. 79

13. Dill on the reports of the sack of Rome 45

Roman Society in the Last Century of the Roman Em^ire^ 309 sq.

III. Attila and the Huns

14. Priscus' description of the court of Attila 46

MiiLLER, Frag. hist. Graec. (as above, No. 9), IV, 85 and 91 sq.\ Bury, I, 217 sqq.

Contents and List of Citations xi

IV. How Pope Leo saved Rome from Attila PAGH

15. Prospers account of the meeting of Leo and Attila . . 49

PROSPER TIRO, Epitoma chronicon, ad an. 450: Mon. Ger. Hist., Auc. ant. IX

1 6. Later account of Leo's intervention 50

Vita S. Leonis Papae. Lib. i, c. 2 ; Acta sanctorum. April, II, 18

V. Clovis and the Franks

17. Gregory of Tours and his history of the Franks ... 51

JFfistoriae ecclesiasticae Francorum libri X, Lib. ii, cc. 27, 29-31 : Mon. Ger. Hist., SS. rer. Mer., I

CHAPTER IV — THE RISE OF THE PAPACY

I. The Bishop of Rome and the Headship of the Church

18. Irenseus' catalogue of the bishops of Rome 63

Contra haereses, Lib. iii, c. 3, §§ 2-3 -. Migne, Pat. Graec. VII, cols. 848^^.; trans, in Library of Ante-Nicene Fathers, V

19. Tertullian on the distinction of the Roman Church . . 64

(a) De praescri-ptione haereticoritm, c. 36 : Migne, Pat. Lat. II, cols. 9 soy. ; trans, in Library of Ante-Nicene Fathers, XV. (b) De Pitdicitia, c. 21 : Corpus script, eccl. Lat. XX; trans, in Library of Ante-Nicene Fathers, XVIII

20. Cyprian on the danger of appeals to Rome 66

Ad CorneHitm ; (Ep. 54 or, in some editions, 59) : Corpus script, eccl. Lat. Ill; trans, in Library of Ante-Nicene Fathers, VIII

21. Sixth canon of Nicaea 66

Mansi, Conciliorum. collectio, II, 669 sqq,

22. Decretal of Siricius 68

c. xv, § 20 : Mansi, III, 661, or Migne, Pat. Lat LVI, coL 554

23. St. Jerome on the equality of the bishops 69

A d Euangelum (Ep. 146) : Migne, XXII, coL 1194

24. Sermon by Leo the Great on Peter's headship .... 69

(a) Sermon.es •, IV: Migne, LTV, cols. 148 sgff. (b) Ad Ana- sfasium episcopwn Thessalonicensem (Ep. 14) : Migne, LIV, coL 676

25. Edict of Valentinian recognizuig the supremacy of the

bishop of Rome 72

Nwellae Cod. Theod. II, Lib, iii, tit. xvi

26. Pope Gelasius on the superiority of the spiritual power 72

Ad Anastasium imferatorem^ c. 2: Migne, LVI, col. 633.

xii Contents and List of Citations

II. Gregory the Great and his Times PAGB

27. Milman's appreciation of Gregory the Great . . . . 73

ffistory of Latin. Christianity -, Book III, Chap. 7

28. Conditions depicted in Gregory's letters 74

(a) Ad Leandrunt episcopum Hispalensem (Ep. Lib. i., 43) ; Migne, LXXVII, cols. 496 sq. (b) Homiliae in Evan- gelia, Lib. i, Homilia i; Migne, LXXVI, col. 1078.

29. How a monk dared to have gold in his possession . . 76

GREGORIUS MAGNUS, Dialogorum libri IV, de vita et miraculis patrum Italicorum, Lib. iv, c- 55 : Migne, LXXVII, cols. 420 sq.

30. Extracts from Gregory the Great's Moralia 77

Morali-um libri sive expositio in librum B.Job. (a) "Epis- tola Missoria," cc. 4 sq. : Migne, LXXV, cols. 514 sqq. (b) Lib. i, c. 16 : Migne, LXXV, cols. 537 sg.\ translated (very freely) in Library of the Fathers of the Holy Catholic Church, 3 vols., Oxford, 1844 sq.

31. Extracts from Gregory's Pastoral Ckarge 80

Regnlae pastorates liber, Pars ii, cc. 8 sq., and Pars iii, "Prologue": Migne, LXXVII. Good translation by Rev. H. R. Bramley, with Latin original on opposite pages, Oxford and London, 1874.

CHAPTER V — THE MONKS AND THE CON- VERSION OF THE GERMANS

I. The Monastic Attitude of Mind

32. St. Jerome's plea for a life of solitude 86

Ad Heliodorum monachum^ cc. 2 sq. (Ep. 14) : Migne, XXII, cols. 548 sq.

33. Ideals of monasticism described by a Spanish monk . 87 Saint Jean de la Croix, Vie et CEuvres, 1893, •"•*> 94» cited by

William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience, 304 sq.

34. A modern psychologist's analysis of asceticism . . , 88

JAMES, The Varieties of Religions Experience, 298 sq. and 296^.

IL The Devil and his Wicked Angels

35. The Pagan gods, devils in disguise 90

GREGORY THE GREAT'S Dialogites (as above, No. 29), Lib. iii, c. 7: Migne, LXXVII, cols. 229 sqq.

36. St. Gall and the demons 90

WETTINUS, Vita Galli conf Assorts, cc. 7 so.: Mon. Ger. Hist., SS. rer. Mer. IV.

37. Martin, a hermit, withstands the terrors of the devil . 92

GREGORY THE GREAT'S Dialogues (as above, No* 29), Lib. iii, c. 16: Migne, LXXVU, col. 257

Contents and List of Citations xiii

III. Purgatory, Hell, and Heaven PAGH

38. Description of purgatory, hell, and heaven 93

BEDA, ffistoria ccclestastica gentts Anglorum, Lib. v, c. 12; trans, by Giles' Beda, Complete Works in the origi- nal Latin u'xfA a nerw translation of the historical -works, 1843-1844

IV. The Conversion of England, as described by Bede

39. Arrival in Kent of the missionaries sent by Gregory the

Great 97

Bede (as above, No. 38), Lib. i, cc. 23 and 25

40. Instructions of Gregory the Great for the missionaries

in England 100

Ibid. Lib. i, c. 30

41. The conversion of North umbria 101

Ibid. Lib. ii, c. 13

42. Controversy between the Roman and Irish missionaries

over the date of Easter 103

Ibid. Lib. iii, c. 25

V. Boniface and the Conversion of Germany

43. Boniface's commission from the pope 105

*S. Bon-ifatii et Litlli epistoJae: Mon. Ger. Hist.. Epist. Ill, 258 : also in Jaffe, Bibliotheca rerum G«rmanicarum, III, 62

44. Gregory II appoints Boniface presiding bishop in Ger-

many 105

Ibid. Mon. Ger. Hist.t 292 ; Jafie, III, 103

45. Oath taken by Boniface to the pope 106

Ibid. Mon. Ger. Hist., 265 ; Jafte, 76 sq.

46. How Boniface destroyed the oak of Thor 106

WILLIBALD, Vita Sanrtt Bonifaiii^ c. 6: Jaffe, Bib. rer. Ger. Ill, 452

47. How the monastery of Fulda was founded 107

Vita Sancti Siurmis atoafis, cc. 4-14 : Mon. Ger. Hist., Pertz, II, 367 sgq.

CHAPTER VI — CHARLES MARTEL AND PIPPIN

I. The Koran

48. Passages from the Koran 116

Cc. i, 2, 78, and 56; trans, by STANLEY LANE-POOLE, The Speeches and Table Talk of the Prophet Mohammad. Chap. II is from The Qur^an^ trans, by E. H. Palmer, 2 vols., Oxford, 1880

xiv Contents and List of Citations

II. How Pippin became King of the Franks PAGE

49. Weakness of the later Merovingian kings ..... 120

EINHARD, Vita Karoti (as below, No. 53), c. i

50. Pope Zacharias authorizes the coronation of Pippin. . 121

Annales Laurissenses minores^ ad an. 750; Mon. Ger. Hist., Pertz, I, 139

51. Coronation of Pippin by the pope ........ 122

J, ad an. 753 sq. • Mon. Ger. Hist., Pertz,

III. The Lombards, Pope Stephen and Pippin

52. Letter of Pope Stephen to Pippin ........ 122

Codex Carolinus, Ep. 9: Mon. Ger. Hist., Epist. Ill, 498; Jaffe, Bib. rer. Ger. IV, 48 syg.

CHAPTER VII — CHARLEMAGNK

I. Charlemagne, the Man

53. Charlemagne's personal appearance and habits . . .126

EINHARD, Vita Karoli Magni, cc. 22—25 : Jaflfe, Bib. rer. Ger. IV, 509 sqg. : Mon. Ger. Hist., octavo edition

II. Charlemagne and the Saxons

54. Charlemagne conquers the Saxons in order to convert

them ................ 129

Vita Sancti Sturmis (as above, No. 47), c. 22

55. The Rebellion of Widukind ......... 129

EINHARD, Annales (as above, No. 51), ad an. 782

III. How Charlemagne was made Emperor

56. Charlemagne's coronation as emperor ...... 131

EINHARD, Ibid., ad an. 799-801

IV. Charlemagne's Way of raising Troops

57. The Heerbann, or fine for refusing to join the army . 135

Cajfotitlare Italicum. : Mon. Ger. Hist., Capitularia regum Francorum, denuo edidit Alfredus Boretius, I, 205, — a new edition much superior to that first issued in the Monumenta by Pertz ; trans, by Munro in Tr. and Rp. Vol. VI, No. 5

58. Wealthy landholders required to go to the army in person 135

Capitulars miss&rum de exercitu prommiendO) c. i : Boretius (as above, No, 57), 137 ; trans, by Mnnro in Tr. and Rp. Vol. VI, No. 5

Contents and List of Citatiotis xv

PAOB

59. Nature of the supplies for the army 135

Cajtitularc Aquisgraitense, cc. 9 sy. ; Boretius {as above, No. 57), 171 ; trans, by Munr'o in Tr. and Rp. Vol. VI, No. 5

60. Summons to Abbot Fulrad to join the army . . . .136

Karoli ad FulradittH abbatem efisiola ; Boretius (as above, No. 57), 168; trans, by Munro in Tr. and Rp. Vol. VI, No. 5

V. Charlemagne's Income from his Farms

61. Extracts from the Capitulary de Villis 137

Capitulare de villis: Boretius (as above, No. 57), 82 sqq. ; trans, by Munro In Tr. and Rp. Vol. Ill, No. z

VI. Charlemagne's Ideals of Government

62. Extracts from the capitulary for the missi 139

Capitulare missorum generate: Boretius (as above, No. 57), 91 sqq. ; trans, by Munro in Tr. and Rp. Vol. VI, No. 5

VII. Charlemagne's Anxiety to improve Education

63. Charlemagne's letter on the dangers of ignorance . . 144

JCaroli epistola de liiteris colendis: Boretius (as above, No. 57), 79; trans, by Munro in Tr. and Rp. VoL VI, No. 5

64. Charlemagne commands the establishment of episcopal

and monastery schools 145

Admonitio generalis, c. 72 : Boretius (as above, No. 57), 59 ; trans, by Munro in Tr. and Rp. Vol. VI, No. 5

CHAPTER VIII — THE DISRUPTION OF CHARLE- MAGNE'S EMPIRE

I. The Northmen

65. Apollinaris Sidonius describes the Saxon pirates . . .150

Epistulae, Lib. viii, Ep. 6 (close) : Mon. Ger. Hist., Auc. ant. VIII, 132 sq. ; trans, by HOIXSKIN, Italy and ker Invaders, II, 366 sg,

66. A Northman's baptism 151

MONACHUS SANGAULENSIS, De gestis Karoli imjteraioris, c. 19 ; Mon. Ger. Hislu, Pertz, II, 761 sy.

67. Opening of Tke Story of Burnt I&jal 1 52

The Story of Burnt Njal, translated from the Norse by Dasent, 2 vols., 1861

II. Struggles between Sons of Louis the Pious

68. Death of Louis the Pions 1 55

RUDOLFUS FULDENSIS, Annales^ ad an. 840 sq. : Mon. Ger. Hist., Pertz, I, 362 sgq*

xvi Contents and List of Citations

PAGE

69. The Northmen at Nantes 157

Annalium Bertinianontm pars sccitnda^ ad an. 843: Mon. Ger. Hist., Pertz, I, 439 sq.

III. A Melancholy Glimpse of the Conditions in the Ninth Century

70. An extract from the Annals of Xante n 158

Annales Xanienses, ad an. 844 sqq. : Mon. Ger. Hist.; Pertz,

II, 227 Sffff.

IV. How the Northmen harried Frankland and laid Siege to Paris

71. How the Northmen laid siege to Paris 163

Annales Vedastini, ad an. 882 sqq. : Mon. Ger. Hist., Pertz, I, 529 sqq.

CHAPTER IX — FEUDALISM

I. The Older Institutions which serve to explain Feudalism

72. Grant of immunity to a bishop 171

Roziere, Recueil generate des formules usitees dans 1'empire des Francs du Vft au X8 siecle, 3 vols. 1859-1871. No. 16; Vol. I, 17. Trans., — as well as the following numbers to 88 inclusive — by Cheyney, Tr. and Rp. Vol. IV, No. 3

73. Grant of a vill with immunity to a layman 172

Roziere, No. 147; Vol. I, 185

74. Land received as a beneficium from a monastery . . .173

Roziere, No. 350 ; Vol. I, 433

75. A Frankish formula of commendation 175

Roziere, No. 43 ; Vol. I, 69

76. Formal acceptance of a follower by his lord . . . .176

Roziere, No. 8 ; Vol. I, 8

II. The Granting of Fiefs

77. How an allodial tenure might be turned into a fief . .176

Quantin, Recueil de pieces du Xlllme Siecle, No. 631, pp. 310 sq.

78. The count of Troyes grants a manor as a fief . . . .177

Ibid., No. 2, p. i

79. Record of grant of a fief to a knight 178

Historia Monasterii de Abingdon, II, ^35, Rolls Series So. The count of Champagne grants a fief to a bishop . .178 Brussel, Usage des Fiefs, I, 3, note

Contents and List of Citations xvii

PAGE

81. Pons of Mont-Saint-Jean becomes the man of the

countess of Champagne 178

Quantin (as above, No. 77), No. 220, p. 101

82. How a knight accepted a money fief from the king of

France 179

BOUTARIC, Institutions militaires dc la France, p. 121

III. Ceremony of doing Homage and swearing Fealty

83. How the count of Flanders received the homage of his

vassals , 179

GALBERT DE BRUGES, £>e mttltro^ traditione^ et occisione gloriost Karoli comitis Flandriarum ; ed. by Pinenne, p. 89 : Collection de textes

84. The viscount of Carcassonne does homage to the abbot

of St. Mary of Grasse 180

Teulet, Layettes du Tresor des Chartes, No. 39; Vol. IT p. 36

85. Rules for homage and fealty established by St. Louis . 182

Mtablisscments de St. JLottis^ II, c. 19 ; ed. by Viollet, 1 I, 395

86. How a prelate threatened his vassals with excommuni-

cation 183

Bouquet, Recueil des historiens des Gaules et de la France, X, 447 s#.

IV. Mutual Duties of Vassal and Lord

87. Fnlbert of Chartres explains the duties of lord and vassal 184

Bouquet (as above, No. 86), X, 463

V. Feudal Military Service

88. List of vassals summoned by the king of France in 1272 185

Bouquet (as above, No. S6), XXIII, 753 sq. and 759 sq.

VI. Failure of Feudalism to secure Order. The Truce of God

89. Bishop Stubbs' definition of ideal feudalism . . . .187

Constitutional History of England^ Chap. IX, § 93

90. The truce of God 187

Mon. Ger. Hist., Leges, II, 55 sqq* \ trans, by Munro in Tr. and Rp. Vol. I, No. 2

CHAPTER X — THE DEVELOPMENT OF FRANCE I. The Election of Hugh Capet

91. How Hugh Capet was chosen king 195

RICHER, Historiantm libri IV, Lib. iv, cc. n sy. : Mon, Ger. Hist., Pertz, III, 633 sq.

xviii Contents and List of Citations

II. King Robert and his Unruly Vassals PAGE

92. King Robert and his troubles with his vassals . . . .196

RAOUL GLABER, Francorum historiae libri V, in, c. 2 ; ed. by Prou in Collection de textes, 1886, pp. 56 sq.

III. How Louis the Fat consolidated his Power

93. Sugar's account of Louis the Fat and his vassals . .198

Gesta Ludwici regis cognomento grossi, cc. 2, 3, 8, 23—25 ; ed. by Molinier In Collection de textes

IV. Philip Augustus and his Vassals

94. Philip suppresses a rebellion and extends the royal

domain 206

RlGORD, Gesta Philip j>i II Attgusti rests Francorum, cc. 9, '26-28 ; ed. by Delaborde, Soc. de Fhist. de Fr.

V. Philip Augustus and John of England

94a. How Philip Augustus took Normandy from John . . 209 RIGORD (as above, No. 94), cc. 138, 140— 14^

VI. St. Louis

95. Extracts from Joinville 213

JEAN, SIRE DE JOINVILLE, Histoire de Saint-Louis, texte original accompagn6 d*une traduction, par de Wailly, 2d ed., Paris, 1874, cc. 15 sq. ; 47 $q. and 50 ; 6 and 12

CHAPTER XI — ENGLAND IN THE MIDDLE AGES

I. King Alfred's Interest in Learning

96. Alfred's introduction to his translation of the Pastoral

Care 222

King Alfred** West-Saxon Version of Gregory's Pastoral Care; ed. by Sweet (Early English Text Soc.), 1871, pp. 2 sqq.

II. The Battle of Hastings : English and Normans

97. Conduct of Harold and William in the battle of Has-

tings 224

WILLIAM OF MALMESBURY, De gestis regum Anglorum. libri V, Lib. iii, §§ 241 sqq. ; ed. by Stubbs, Rolls Series ; trans, by Stevenson in The Church Historians of Eng- land, 1854 ; also in the Bohn Library

III. Rule of William the Conqueror

98. William orders Doomsday Book to be drawn up ... 229

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, ad an. 1185 and 1187 j ed. with an introduction by Benj. Thorpe, Rolls Series, II, 186 and 188 sqq*

Contents and List of Citations xix

IV. How the Great Charter was Won PAGB

99. John and his barons 231

ROGER OF WENDOVER, Chronica sive Liber gui dicitur F lores historiarum^ ad an. 1215; ecL by Hewlett in Rolls Series ; trans, by Giles in the Bonn Library

V. Principal Provisions of the Great Charter

100. Principal articles of Magna Charta 233

Stubbs, Select Charters and Other Illustrations of English Constitutional History, 8th ed.T 296 sag. • trans, by Cheyney, Tr. and Rp. Vol. I, No. 6.

VI. Writs of Summons to the Model Parliament

101. Summonses to bishops, barons, and representatives of

the towns and shires 239

Stubbs, Select Charters, 484 sqq. ; trans, by Cheyney, Tr. and Rp. Vol. I, No. 6

CHAPTER XII — GERMANY AND ITALY IN THE TENTH AND ELEVENTH CENTURIES

I. The Times of Henry I and Otto the Great

1 02. Germany in the early tenth century 245

Contimtalio Reginonis Trevirensis, ad an. 907 sgy. : Mon. Ger. Hist., Pertz, I, 614 syq.

103. Election of Otto the Great 249

WIDUKIND, Res gestae Saxonieae, Lib. ii, cc. i jjp.: Mon. Ger. Hist, Pertz, III, 437 sy.

II. Rome and the Papacy in the Time of Otto the Great

104. Degradation of the papacy In the tenth centnry . . .250

BENEDICTUS SANCTI ANIDREAE MONACHUS, Chronicon.^ cc. 30 sqq. : Mon. Ger. Hist., Pertz, III, 7*4 S32-

III. Liutprand and his Book of Retribution

105. Liutprand explains why he wrote his book 256

Antajodosis^ Lib. I, c, i, and Lib. iii, c. r : Mon, Ger. Hist., octavo ed.

IV. Bruno, the Ideal of a Scholar in the Tenth Century

1 06. Extract from Ruotger's Life of Bruno 259

RUOTGER, Vita Brunonist selections from cc. 4-10 and 30 : Mon. Ger. Hist, Pertz, IV, 255 sqq.

xxii Contents and List of Citations

CHAPTER XV — THE CRUSADES

I. Pope Urban's Address at Clermont PAGB

123. Urban's speech at Clermont .......... 312

ROBERT us M ON AC H us, Hist or ia Iherosolytana, Lib. i, cc. i sq. : Recueil des historiens des croisades, Historiens occidentaux, III, 727 sgg. The extract in note is from FULCHER OF CHARTRES, Historia Iherosolytana, Lib. i, c. 3: Ibid. p. 324; trans, by Munro in Tr. and Rp. Vol. I, No. 2

II. The First Crusade

124. Ekkehard on the opening of the First Crusade . . .316

EKKEHARD (as above, No. 107), ad an. 1099: Mon. Ger. Hist., Pertz, VI, 211 sqq*

125. Anna Comnena on the bad manners of the crusaders . 320

Michaud, Bibliotheque des croisades, III, 393 sq.

III. Campaigns in Palestine, from the Letters of the Crusaders

126. Stephen of Blois to his -wife .......... 321

EPAchery, Spicilegium, ad ed., Ill, 430 sq. ; trans, by Munro in Tr. and Rp. Vol. I, No. 4

127. Godfrey of Bouillon and his companions to the pope . 325

Annales Sancti JDisidodi (to wit, the monastery of Disen- berg near Mayence),ad an. uoo: Mon. Ger. Hist., Pertz, XVII, 17 sffT; trans, by Munro in Tr. and Rp. Vol. I, No. 4

IV. St. Bernard and the Second Crusade

128. St. Bernard exhorts the people to take arms against

the infidel .............. 330

' (No. 363), ad orientates Franciae clerum et £optc- lum : Migne, CLXXXII, cols. 564 sqq. • trans, by EALES, Life and Works of St. Bernard, II, 906 sqq.

St. Bernard blamed for the outcome of the crusade . .334

GAUFRIDUS, Vita S. Bernardi Clarvaltensis* Lib. iii, c. 2 : Acta sanctorum, August, VoL IV, 298 ; Migne, CLXXX V, cols. 308 sq.

V. A Holy Pilgrim

130. The pilgrimage of Udalrich to Jerusalem ...... 336

Vita^rior S: Udalrici prieris Cellensis: Mon. Ger. Hist., Pertz, XII, 252 7

Contents and List of Citations xxiii

VI. Inducements offered to the Crusaders PAGH

131. Privileges granted by Eugenius III (1146) 337

OTTO OF FREISING, Gesta Friderici^ Lib. i, c. 35: Mon. Ger. Hist., Pertz, XX, 371 ; trans, by Munro in Tr. and Rp. Vol. I, No. 2

132. Privileges granted by Innocent III (1215) . . . , , 338

Mansi, Conciliomm collectio, XXII, 1057

VII. A Glimpse of the Court of the Eastern Emperor

133. Luitprand*s account of his reception in Constantinople , 340

sis, Lib. vi, cc. 5-9: Mon. Ger. Hist., octavo ed.

CHAPTER XVI — THE MEDIAEVAL CHURCH AT ITS HEIGHT

I. The Preeminence of the Church

134. The bull Unam Sanctam of Boniface VIII (1302) . . 346

Text based upon the papal register given by Mury, Revue des questions historiques, XLVJ, 255 sq.

II. The Seven Sacraments

135. An account of the seven sacraments by Eugenius IV

(1438) 348

From the bull Exultate Deo, Denzinger, Enchiridion sym- bolorum et definitionum, pjt. 201 sgq.

III. Tales illustrating the Miraculous Power of the Sacraments

136. Christ is seen in the hands of a priest 355

CAESAR OF HEISTERBACH, Dialogus miraculoruyn^ Dist. ix, c. 28 ; ed. by Strange, 2 vols., 1851, VoL II, 186 ; trans, by Munro in Tr. and Rp. Vol. II, No. 4

137. Bees construct a church for the host 355

Anecdotes historiques, Legendes et Apologues fires du Recueil inedit d^Etienne de Bourbon ; ed- Leooy de la Marche, 1877, No. 31 7, pp. 266 sq. (in the publications of the Soc. de Phist. de Fr.) ; trans, by Munro in Tr. and Rp. Vol. II, No. 4

'through confession a forgotten prayer is erased from

the devil's register 356

STEPHEN OF BOURBON (as above, No. 137), No. 176, pp. 155 s$.

xxiv Contents and List of Citations

PAGE

139. The Virgin saves the reputation of an erring matron

and monk 357

The Exempla of Jacques de Vitry ; ed. by T. F. Crane; pub. by the Folk Lore Society, 1890, No. cclxxxii, pp. 117 $qq. ; trans, by Munro in Tr. and Rp. Vol. II, No. 4

IV, The Privilege of Benefit of Clergy

140. How a clergyman might be saved from the gallows by

reading a line 359

Philobiblon of Richard of Bury, c. iv *, ed. and trans, by E. C. Thomas, 1889, PP- I73 sffff~

V. How the Churches and Monasteries were Sup- ported

141. The revenue of a parish church 361

Bibliotheque de 1'ecole des chartes, XXIV, 467

142. Manors given to the monastery of Zwifalt 362

ORTLIEB, JDe fundatione monasterii Zvuivilctensis, Lib. ii, c. 5 : Mon. Ger. Hist., Pertz, X, 74 sq.

143. The family of the monastery of Zwifalt 363

Ibid. Lib. ii, c. 9; Pertz, pp. 77 sq.

VI. Tales illustrating the Mediaeval Attitude towards Heretics

144. The body of a burned heretic turns into toads . . . 364

LUKE, bishop of Tuy, £>e altera vita, Lib. iii, c. 15: in Magna bibliotheca veterum patrum; ed. of 1688, XIII, 283

145. Two heretics work miracles with the devil's aid . . . 365

CAESAR OF HEISTERBACH (as above, No. 136), Dist. v, c. 18, Vol. I, 269 sqg. j trans, by Munro in Tr. and Rp. Vol. II, No. 4

CHAPTER XVII — HERESY AND THE FRIARS I. Denunciations of the Evil Lives of the Clergy

146. The Revelation of Golias the Bisshoppe 371

The Latinpoems attributed to Walter Mopes, ed. Thomas Wright (Camden Soc. Pub.), London, 1841, pp. 271 sqg.

147. Walther von der Vogelweide on the practices of the popes 37 5

Trans, by LEA, History of the Inquisition, Vol. I, Chap. I

148. A troubadour's description of the abuses in the Church 375

Ibid.

Contents and List of Citations xxv

IL Report of the Habits of the Norman Clergy PAGE

149. Habits of the Norman Clergy in the Thirteenth Century 378

EUDES RIGAUD, Regestntm visitationum archiepiscofi Rothomagensis, Rouen, 1847, 4to, pp. 35, 245, 305, and J59

III. The Waldensian and Albigensian Heretics

150. Waldo of Lyons 380

Ex chronico imiversali anonymi Laitdunensis^ s. a. 1173: Moa- Ger. Hist., Pertz, XXVI, 447 sq.

151. Description of the Albigenses 381

BERNARD OF GUI, Praiica inqitisitionis heretuc pravitatts ; ed. Douais, Pars V, c. i, § 4

IV. The Efficacy of the Sacraments in Polluted Hands

152. The efficacy of the sacraments in the hands of bad

priests 383

PILCHDORFFIUS, Contra Waldenses^ cc. xvi-xvii: in Max- ima bibliotheca patrum (1677), XXV, 281 sq.

V. Attitude of the Civil Government toward Heretics

153. Provisions of laws of Frederick II concerning heretics . 385

Historia dlplomatica Friderici seciindi ; ed. Huilliard-Bre- holles, Tome IV, Pt. I, pp. 5 sq.

VI. Life and Character of St. Francis

154. How St. Francis undertook his mission 387

THOMAS OF CELANO, Vita prima^ Book I, cc. ii-iv: Acta sanctorum, October, Vol. II, pp. 685 sqq.

155. St. Francis preaches to the birds 391

Ihid. c. vi, p. 669

156. The will of St. Francis 392

Acta sanctorum, October, Vol. IIt pp. 663 sq.\ trans, in Sabatier, Life of St. Francis of Assist, 337*??-

CHAPTER XVIII — THE PEOPLE IN COUNTRY AND TOWN

I. The Manor and its People

157. Official description of a manor belonging to Peter- borough Abbey 399

Liber niger monasterii S. Petri de Bur go, in Chronicon Peterburgense, pp. 160 sq. (Camden Soc. Pub.) ; trans, by Cheyney, Tr. and Rp. Vol. Ill, No. 5

xx vi Contents and List of Citations

PAGE

1 58. A manor in Sussex 4°o

Custumals of Battle Abbey, pp. 17 sqq. (Camden Soc. Pub.) ; trans, by Cheyney, Tr. and Rp. Vol. Ill, No. 5

1 59. Description of an English manor house 404

Historical MSS. Commission Reports, 9, 1, pp. 35 sq. ; trans, by Cheyney, Tr. and Rp. Vol. Ill, No. 5

1 60. Freeing a serf 4°5

DUGDALE, Monasficon, I, 394 ; trans, by Cheyney, Tr. and Rp. Vol. Ill, No. 5

II. The Mediaeval Town

161. Customs of the town of Chester 406

Domesday Book, I, 262, b : Stubbs, Select Charters, 83 sq. ; trans, by Cheyney, Tr. and Rp. Vol. II, No- i

1 62. Opening of charter granted to Lincoln 408

Rvmer, Foedera, I, 40: Stubbs, Select Charters, 158 sq.; "trans, by Cheyney, Tr. and Rp. Vol. II, No. i

163. Charter granted to Chester 408

GROSS, Gild Merchant^ II, 140; trans, by Cheyney, Tr. and Rp. Vol. II, No. i

164. Articles of the spurriers of London 409

RILEY, Memorials of London , pp. 226 sqq. ; trans, by Cheyney, Tr. and Rp. Vol. II, No. i

165. Rules of the guild of white-tawyers 411

Ibid. pp. 232 sqq.

III. The Hanseatic League

166. Otto II promises protection to the merchants of Mag-

deburg (975) 412

Hansisches Urkundenbuch, ed. Hohlbaum, Halle, 1876, I, i, No. i

167. Alliance between Miinster, Dortmund, Soest, and

Lippstadt (1253) 413

Ibid. I, 164 sq., No. 460

168. Agreement between London and Hans a towns (1282) . 414

Ibid. I, 308 sqq., No. 902

IV. Knights, Burghers, and Farmers

169. Knights and burghers in the thirteenth century . . .416

WOLFRAM VON ESCHENBACH, Wtlhelm -von Oratzge, mod- ern German version by San Mante, Halle, 1873

170. Farmer Helmbrecht 418

WERNHE^R, Helmbreckt^ Haupt's Zeitschrift fur deutsches Alterthum, IV; Freitag's version translated by G. L. Burr and privately printed

Contents a?id List of Citations xxvii

V. Maltreatment of the Jews PAGB

171. Expulsion of the Jews from France 426

RIGORD (as above, No. 94), cc. 6, 12, 13, 15, and 16

CHAPTER XIX — THE CULTURE OF THE MIDDLE AGES

I. The Development of Modern Languages

172.. An example of Anglo-Saxon 431

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (as above, No. 98), ad an. 1068

173. English of the thirteenth century 432

The Story of Genesis and Exodus • an early English song (ca. A.D. 1250), ed. by Morris (Early Eng. Text Soc.)

174. Comparison of the various stages in the development

of French 433

Histoire de /a langue et litterature francaise, publiee sous la direction de Petit de Julleville, I, Ixxvii

175. A few lines of Proven9al 434

From a metrical romance, Flamenco, written in the first half of the thirteenth century: LANGLQIS, La Socitte fran$aise an lyeme siecle^ p. 157

176. The ideals of the troubadours 434

SMITH, J, H., The Troubadours at Home, I, 150 sq.

177. A troubadour's song by Arnault de Maruelh .... 435

Ibid. I, 169 sq.

178. The troubadours' creed, from Sordel 436

Ibid. I, 269 sq.

179. A song by Vidal 43^

Ibid. I, 302

i So. A song by Bernard de Ventadorn 437

Ibid. II, 162

18 1. A song by Walther von der Vogelweide 437

Lays of the Minnesingers; ed. by Edg. Taylor, London, 1825, pp. 204 sg.

II, Mediaeval Natural Science

182. Extracts from Alexander of Neckam 439

De naturis rmttn, Lib. I, cc. 23 and 78 ; Lib. ii, c. 98 ; ed. by Thomas Wright (Rolls Series), pp. 71, 122 ^.,and 183

183. Mediaeval ideas of the earth and stars 44 *

Popular Treatises on Science witteri during the Middle Ages in Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Norman^ and English ; ed. by Thomas Wright, London, 1841

xxviii Contents and List of Citations

PAGB

184. The pelican and its habits 442

Ibid. pp. 115 sq.

185. Of fauns, cyclops, etc 443

BARTHOLOMEW ANGLICUS, De j>roj>rietatibus rewm, as selected and modernized by STEELE, Mediceval Lore, London, 1893, PP' I2& stf- and 134 sg-

III. Historical Knowledge in the Middle Ages

186. How the Merovingian kings sprang from the Trojans . 445

RIGORD (as above, No. 94)

IV. Abelard and the Universities

187. Abelard's popularity as a teacher 447

McCABE, Abelard^ New York, 1901, 82 sq.

1 88. Abelard's autobiography 447

ABAELARDUS, P., Otera ; ed. V. Cousin, Paris, 1849-1859, -2 vols.; Vol. J (first letter)

189. Abelard's Yea and JVay 450

PETRUS ABELARDUS Sic et Non; ed. Henke et Lindenkohl, Marburg, 1851. (Not complete as given in Cousin's Opera inedita of Abelard)

190. Privileges granted to students by Frederick Barbarossa 452

Habita of Frederick I: Mon. Ger. Hist., Leges, II, 114; trans, by Munro in Tr. and Rp. Vol. II, No. 3

191. The system of lecturing at Paris 453

McCABE (as above, No. 187), 79 sq.

192. Student life at Paris 454

JACQUES DE VITRY, Historia occidentals, Lib. ii, c. 7; trans, by Munro in Tr. and Rp. Vol. II, No. 3

V. Supremacy of Aristotle in the Mediaeval Univer- sities. Scholasticism

193. Averroes on Aristotle's greatness 456

AVERROES, introduction to his edition of Aristotle's Physics

194. Aquinas and his work 458

RASHDALL, History of i7ie Mediceval Universities, I, 365 and 367

VI. Roger Bacon and the Beginning of Modern Experi- mental Science

195. Roger Bacon's eulogy of Peter of Maricourt .... 460

O#vs Tertium, c. cxiii : Opera quaedatn hacten'us inedita ; ed. by Brewer in the Rolls Series, 1 859, pp. 46 sq.

Contents and List of Citations xxix

I AGE

196. Bacon prophesies marvelous progress in science . . . 461

Eftstola fratris Roger ii Baconzs tfe sec ret is of crib us art is £t naturae, et de nullttate magiae ; Brewer's ed-, 523 sqq.

CHAPTER XX — THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR

I. Froissart's Account of the Battle of Crecy

197. The great battle bet-ween the French and the English . 466

FROISSART, Ckronigues^ cc. 128 sqq,\ trans, based upon that of Lord Berners — made in the time of Henry VIII — given in the Globe ed. of The Chronicles of Froissart^ ed. by G. C. Macaulay, pp. 102 sqq.

II. How King John of France was captured at Poitiers

198. The capture of King John 470

Ibid. cc. 164 and 168 ; Globe ed., pp. 128 sq. and 131

III. Devastation wrought by the Hundred Years' War

199. Sack of Limoges (1370) 472

FROISSART (as above, No. 197), c. 283; Globe ed., p. 201

200. How the count of Arundel burned a town 474

(a) DENIFLE, La deso/nfion dcs egliscs, tnonast^res ct hopx- taitx en France, 1897, I, 27, No. 95. (b) Ibid. I, 275, No. 600

201. Conditions in the time of Charles VII 474

THOMAS BASIN, Histoire dc Charles VII et de Louis XI, in Denifle, op. cit. I, 514 sy^ No. 999

IV. The Vision of Piers the Plowman

202. Extracts from Piers Plowman 475

LAN GLAND, Vision of Piers Plowman^ passus vi, v. vii; done into modern English by Miss Kate M. Warren, Lon- don, 1899

V. Charles the Bold of Burgundy and the Swiss

203. Charles the Bold and the Swiss 477

PHILIP DE COMMINES, Memoires, Liv. viTc. 12, and Liv. v, c. 2 ; trans, in Bohn Library, II, 84 sq.^ I, 303 sqq.^ and 311 sq.

VI. Louis XI of France

204. Character and troublous death of Louis XI .... 481

* Ibid. Liv. vi, c. 12, and c. n ; Bohn trans. II, So sq.* 70 sq^ and 75 sqq.

xxx Contents and List of Citations

CHAPTER XXI — THE POPES AND, THE COUNCILS

I. Might the Civil Government tax the Church Prop- erty? PAGE

205. The bull Clericis Laicos 488

Rymer's Foedera (ed. of 1727), II, 706 sq*

II. Marsiglio of Padua and his Defender of Peace

206. Analysis of the Defensor pads 491

Defensor pacis^ Lib. iii and Lib. ii, c. 16 (end), in Goldast, Monarchia Romani imperil, etc.,*i6i 1-1614, Tom. II

III. Wycliffe's Attack on Pope and Clergy

207. Wycliffe on the evil state of the clergy 497

Select Rnglish Works of John Wycliffe ; ed. by Thomas Arnold, Clarendon Press, 1869-1871, 3 vols. : I, 208 sq. ;

II, 30 Sq.

208. Wyclijffe on auricular confession, etc 499

Ibid. II, 87 sq. and 169 sq.

209. Statement of the views of Wycliffe's followers , . . 500

Ibid. II, 457 sqq.

IV. The Popes at Avignon. Origin of the Great

.Schism

210. Letter of Petrarch's describing the papal court at Avignon 502

PETRARCH A Opera omnta, Basel, 1581, — " Epistolae sine titulo," V

211. Beginning of the schism in holy Church 504

FROISSART (as above, No. 197), cc. 326 sq.', Globe ed., 207 sqq.

212. Nicholas of Clamanges on the three chief vices in the

Church 508

Von der Hardt, Magnum Constantiense concilium, I, Pt. Ill, pp. 7 and 88

213. How corruption spread from the prelates to the lower

dergy 5x0

DIETRICH VRIE, Ibid. Tom. I, pp. 104 sy.

V. The Council of Constance

214. The decree Sacrosancta 511

Von der Hardt (as above, No. 212), Tom. IV, p. 98

215. The decree Prequens 512

Ibid. Tom. IV, p. 98 (1436)

216. List of abuses discussed at Constance 513

Ibid. Tom. IV (1452)

Contents and List of Citations xxxi

CHAPTER XXII— THE ITALIAN CITIES AND

THE RENAISSANCE I. The Italian Despots PAGE

217. Machiavelli's advice to despots ......... 516

// Princip^ cc. 13, 15, 17; trans., among other places, in Morley's Universal Library

II. Humanism

218. Dante and the great writers of Greece and Rome . . 520

Divine Comedy, canto iv (close) : trans, by C. Z. Norton

219. Dante's defense of Italian ........... 522

Conv&o, Lib, i, c. 1 1 ; ed. by Moore ; trans, (badly) in Morley's Universal Library ; better by Miss Katharine Hillard

220. Dante's account of his sad life ......... 524

Ibid. Lib. i, c. 3

221. Petrarch's description of himself ........ 524

JSjpistola, ad fosferos: Epistobxe de re&us farniliariirus et -variae; ed. by Fracassetti, VoL 1; trans, in ROBINSON AND ROLFE, Petrarch^ 59 $gq, and 63

222. Petrarch's wide reputation .......... 526

Ibid. JEjp. J?atn.f Lib. xiii, 7 : Robinson and Rolfe, 165 sg+

223. Petrarch copies a work of Cicero ........ 527

Ibid. Ep- Fam-, Lib. xviii, 12 : Robinson and Rolfe, 275 syg^

224. Founding of the Vatican Library by Nicholas V ... 529

VESPASIANO, Vvfe diitomini illustri del secolo ^ff^f Life of Nicholas V, cc. 25 sg. \ trans, by Whitcomb, Literary Source-Book of the Italian Renaissance

225. How Cosimo de* Medici founded a library ..... 530

Ibid. Life of Cosimo, cc.

III. The Artists of the Renaissance

226. Cellini and the art-loving pope, Clement VII .... 532

Vtta da fai ntedisimo scritia^ Lib. i, cc. 43 sq. and 51 ; trans. by Thos. Nugent, z vols., 1812 ; also by Symonds, Roscoe, and others

227. Remarkable versatility of Leonardo da Vinci .... 535

VASARI Vitede1 p& eccelenti pittor^ etc. ; trans, by Mrs. Fos- ter, Bohn Library, II, 366 sgq.

228. Kindly disposition of Raphael ......... S36

Ibid. Ill, 61 s$.

229. Michael Angelo and the popes : his character and aims 537

Ibid. V, 253, 257 sq.t 293, 312 sq., and 335

230. Michael Angelo's fiery impetuosity ....... 54 J

VIGNERO, as quoted by Mrs. Foster, V, 242, note.

READINGS IN EUROPEAN HISTORY

CHAPTER I THE HISTORICAL POINT OF VIEW

It is clear that all our information in regard to past events and conditions must be derived from evidence of some kind. This evidence is called the source. Some- times there are a number of good and reliable sources for an event, as, for example, for the decapitation of Charles I, or for the march of Napoleon into Russia. Sometimes there is but a single, unreliable source, as, for instance, in the case of the burial of Alaric in a river bed.1 For a great many important matters about which we should like to know there are, unfortunately, no written sources at all, and we can only guess how things were. For example, we do not know what the Germans were doing before Caesar came into contact with them and took the trouble to give a brief account of them. We can learn but little about the bishops of Rome before the time of Constantine, for few references to them have come down to us.

Few, however, of those who read and study history secondary ever come in contact with the primary, or first-hand sources'

1 See below, p. 43, j

2 Readings in Eiiropean History

sources ; they get their information at second hand. It is much more convenient to read what Gibbon has to say of Constantine than to refer to Eusebius, Eutropius, and other ancient writers from whom he gained his knowledge. Moreover, Gibbon carefully studied and com- pared all the primary sources, and it may be urged that he has given a truer, fuller, and more attractive account of the period than can be found in any one of them. His Decline and Fall of 'the Roman Empire is certainly a work of the highest rank; but, nevertheless, it is only a report of others' reports. It is therefore not a primary but a secondary source.

Most of the historical knowledge current among us is not, however, derived from even secondary sources, such as Gibbon and similar authoritative writers, but comes from the reading of text-books, encyclopedias, stories, dramas, and magazine articles. Popular manuals and articles are commonly written by those who know little or nothing of the primary sources ; they are conse- quently at least third hand, even when based upon the best secondary accounts. As a matter of fact, they are usually patched together from older manuals and articles, and may be four, five, or six removes from the original source of knowledge.

It is well known that the oftener a report passes from mouth to mouth the less trustworthy and accurate does it tend to become. Unimportant details which appeal to the imagination will be magnified, while fundamental considerations are easily forgotten, if they happen to be prosaic and commonplace. Historians, like other men, are sometimes fond of good stories and may be led astray by some false rumor which, once started into

The Historical Point of View 3

circulation, gets farther and farther from the truth with each repetition.

For example, a distinguished historian of the Church, Sad examp Cardinal Baronius, writing about 1600, made the state- ^f^Sfoi ment, upon very insufficient evidence, that, as the year the year io» 1000 approached, the people of Europe generally believed that the world was about to come to an end. Robertson, a very popular Scotch historian of the eighteenth cen- tury, repeated the statement and went on to describe the terrible panic which seized upon sinful men as the awful year drew on. Succeeding writers, including some very distinguished ones, accepted and even elaborated Rob- ertson's account. About thirty years ago, however, a French scholar pointed out that there was really no ade- quate basis for this strange tale. To the chroniclers of the time the year 1000 was clearly no more portentous than 997 or 1003. This story of the panic, which passed current as historical fact for some three hundred years, offers an excellent illustration of the danger of relying upon secondary sources.1

One of the first questions then to ask upon taking up an historical work is, Where did the writer obtain

his information ? Has he simply copied his statements where did

. , "*e writer

from the more easily accessible works in ms own Ian- obtain his guage, however unreliable and out of date they may be ; mformatk)n or has he, dissatisfied with such uncertain sources, famil- iarized himself with the most recent researches of the distinguished scholars in his field, in whatever language they may have been written ; or, still better, has he him- self made a personal study of the original evidence which

1 See an interesting account of this matter by Professor George L. Burr in The American Historical Review, Vol. VI, pp. 429 sqq*

4 Readings in European History

has come down to us of the events and conditions which he discusses ? *

For example, a little book or essay on Charlemagne might be written after reading Hodgkin's Charles the Great, West's Alcuiny and one or two other easily acces- sible books on the subject. On the other hand, the writer might turn to the great French and German treatises on Charlemagne's reign and acquaint himself with all the articles which have appeared on the subject in histori- cal magazines or in the transactions of learned societies. Every conscientious historian would wish, however, to go still farther and see the evidence with his own eyes and draw his own conclusions. He would turn to the sources themselves and carefully read the Annals of the Monastery of Lorsch, the life of Charlemagne by his secretary, Einhard, and the so-called Annals of Einhard. He would also scrutinize all the numerous laws passed in Charlemagne's reign and consult all the writers of the time who refer to the emperor or to public events. In this way he would master all that the past has handed down to us upon this subject and would know all that is to be known about the matter. The most reliable his- torian, therefore, is one who examines the sources for himself, but who at the same time takes advantage of the suggestions, criticisms, and explanations which have been made by other scholars who have also studied the original documents.

No improvement in the methods of historical instruc- tion in our high schools and colleges bids fair to produce better results than the plan of bringing the student into contact with the first-hand accounts of events, or, as they are technically termed, the primary sources.

The Historical Point of View 5

This term may perhaps call up in the minds of some the vision of a solitary stoop-shouldered, spectacled en- thusiast, engaged in painfully deciphering obscure Latin abbreviations on yellow parchment. But it is a mis- take to conclude that the primary sources are always difficult to get at, dull, and hard to read. On the con- trary, they are sometimes ready to hand, and are often more vivid and entertaining than even the most striking descriptions by the pen of gifted writers like Gibbon or Macaulay.

The best secondary authorities stand to the sources somewhat as the' description of a work of art or of a masterpiece of literature stands to the original. Just as we cannot afford to ignore the picture itself, or the great poem or drama, and confine ourselves to some one else's account of it, so in our historical Vork we ought to grasp every opportunity of examining for ourselves the foundations upon which history rests.

It may, of course, be urged that the trained historian, after acquainting himself with the men and the circum- stances of a particular period, can make better use of the sources than any relatively unskilled student. But, admit- ting the force of this argument, there is, nevertheless, so much to be learned from a study of the original accounts that cannot be reproduced by the most skilled hand, that no earnest student or reader should content himself with second-hand descriptions when primary sources are available.

The sources are unconsciously molded by the spirit of the time in which they were written. Every line gives some hint of the period in which the author lived and makes an impression upon us which volumes of

6 Readings in European History

second-hand accounts can never produce. The mere information, too, comes to us in a form which we do not easily forget. The facts sink into our memory.

One who actually talked with Attila, or who witnessed the capture of- Jerusalem by the crusaders, is clearly more likely to excite our interest than a writer of our own day, however much he may know of the king- of the Huns or of the first crusade. It makes no great impression upon us to be told that the scholars of Dante's time had begun to be interested once more in the ancient learning of the Greeks and Romans ; but no one can for- get Dante's own poetic account of his kindly reception in the lower regions by the august representatives of pagan literature, — Homer, Horace, Ovid, and Lucan, — people "with eyes slow and grave, of great authority in their looks," who "spake seldom and with soft voices."

Moreover, the study of the sources enables us to some extent to form our own opinions of the past, so that we need, not rely entirely upon mere manuals, which are always one, and generally two or three, removes from the sources themselves. When we get at the sources themselves we no longer merely read and memorize; we begin to consider what may be safely inferred from the statements before us and so develop the all-important faculty of criticism. We are not simply accumulating facts but are attempting to determine their true nature and meaning.

The power to do this is not alone necessary to schol- arly work; it is ef the utmost importance as well in deal- ing with the affairs of everyday life. To take a single illustration : one cannot fail to see from a study of the sources that Luther was exceedingly unfair to his

The Historical Point of View 7

enemies and ascribed their conduct to evil motives when they were acting quite consistently and according to what they considered the truth. His opponents, on the other hand, treated him with equal unfairness and pro- claimed him a wicked and profligate man because he refused to accept their views.

We meet precisely the same unfairness nowadays, as, for instance, in the case of a municipal election, where each party speaks only evil of the other. It is, however, not so hard to look impartially at the motives and con- duct of men who lived long ago as it is to be fair-minded in matters which interest us personally very deeply. By cultivating sympathy and impartiality in dealing with the past we may hope to reach a point where we can view the present coolly and temperately. In this way really thoughtful, historical study serves to develop the very fundamental virtues of sympathy, fairness, and caution in forming our judgments.1

Even as lately as a hundred years ago the path to the Former sources of European history was still a thorny one. The ?j theway manuscripts of historical importance were often scattered <& osbls

xruumscri|rt;

about in innumerable small collections, chiefly in the monasteries. The documents were stacked up in dark rooms, damp cellars, and dusty garrets. They were often carelessly transcribed, full of blunders, and illegible except to those specially versed in the art of deciphering ancient handwriting. There were usually no catalogues and nothing to guide the investigator to the material of which

1 A fuller discussion of this matter will be found in the excellent introduction to Historical Sources in Schools (a report drawn up by Professor C. D. Hazen and others for the New England Teachers Association), The Macmillan Company, 1902, 60 cents.

8 Readings in European History

he was in search. He was forced to travel from place to place and turn over masses of worthless or irrelevant matter in the uncertain quest for the little which might be useful to him.

But all this is changed. The scholar may now sit at a convenient desk in a comfortable, well-lighted library ; he has a clearly printed book before him, the text of which has been established by a comparison of all the known manuscripts of the work in question. These have been collated by an expert; errors have been elimi- nated, and difficult passages annotated. The work has been carefully analyzed and supplied with an index, so that one may discover in a few moments just those paragraphs which have to do with the subject in hand.

The task of rendering the sources available has been a long and painful one, and has been going on for three or four hundred years. As early as the sixteenth cen- tury scholars began to bring together the mediaeval chronicles and print them in convenient collections. In the time of Louis XIV a group of Benedictine monks in France won new distinction for their ancient order by publishing several admirable series and by preparing treatises to facilitate historical research.

The nineteenth century witnessed a development of the critical scientific spirit which has made it necessary to reprint many sources that had appeared previously in a defective form. Moreover, thousands of volumes of precious material hitherto available only in manuscript have been added to our resources.

The most notable of the many collections is that which has been in course of publication in Germany since 1826, — the Afonumenta G~erwaniae Historic^ Begun under

TJie Historical Point of View 9

the auspices of an historical society, it was, upon the death of Pertz, the original editor, placed under the super- vision of a government commission (1875). The volumes published since that date have established a standard of the highest excellence.1

In England many volumes of historical material have been issued since 1858 under the direction of the Master of the Rolls, and constitute the so-called " Rolls Series/' France, Italy, Austria, Belgium, and other European countries have each their series, great and small. Some of these enjoy the support of the government, but the greater part of them are due to the enterprise of his- torical societies or individual scholars.2

So rapidly are the sources being printed that it is no Research m longer necessary in most fields of historical research to j^J^a rely, as formerly, upon the manuscripts in the European '*&*'& libraries and archives. Some, at least, of our very best m the great university and public libraries now contain many of the tbe United great collections of printed sources, and it is possible to states. carry on satisfactory historical research in some fields in Boston or New York as well as in London or Paris.3

It would be useless to enumerate the names of these Examples of many series, even of the very important ones, for it is

impossible to infer from the general title of an exten-

r & . , calreseardu

sive set what particular works and documents it con-

tains. Moreover, the modern publication, investigation,

1 For a description of the Monumenta see below, pp. 262 sq.

2 See Bourne, The Teaching of History, Chapter II, for a brief account of the enterprises in this field. A fuller account is given by Wattenbach, Deutschlands GeschichtsqueUen^ " Einleitung," pp. 1-40.

8 Such collections of material, whether in the original languages or in English translation, as may be especially recommended for college libraries, will be found mentioned at the end of this volume.

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Readings in European History

Bibliogra- phies of sources.

Potthast's Wegweiscr.

Bibliogra- phies for particular countries.

and criticism of the sources have led to the preparation of a number of indispensable works of reference which do not aim to deal directly with history but to serve as a guide to those in search of the material upon which the historian must rely. A very few of the most noteworthy will be mentioned here as illustrations of the apparatus necessary in all professional historical study.

To learn what the sources are and where they may be found is the first requisite of historical investigation. A French writer, Langlois, has published a very useful bibliography of historical bibliographies,1 — a catalogue of the best lists of sources and of historical treatises.

Such lists are very numerous and often voluminous. The most useful and scholarly is Potthast's Wegweiser, or "guide/' in two stout volumes.2 The compiler has, with infinite patience, sought to bring together in an alphabetical list the sources for the history of western Europe from the year 400 to 1500, and to state when and where they have been printed. One anxious to learn whether there has been a new critical edition of a partic- ular chronicle, or whether there are any lives of St. Boni- face, or Gregory VII, or Frederick Barbarossa, written by those who lived in their times, can obtain the desired information from Potthast, as well as a list of modern works relating to the topic under consideration.

Admirable guides exist for the study of particular coun- tries. German scholars have compiled a list 8 of all the

1 Langlois, Manuel de bibliographic historique^ Part I, " Instruments bibliographiques," 2d ed., Paris, 1901, 4 fr.

2 Wfgweiser durch die Geschichtswerke des Europaischen Mitttl- alters bis Jfoo, 2 vols., 2d ed., Berlin* 1895-1896, M. 26.50.

8 Dahlrnann-Waitz, Quelhnkunde der deutschen Geschichte, 6th ed., Gottingen, 1894, M. 12.

The Historical Point of View 1 1

important books and articles relating to the history of their own country from the time of Tacitus to the present day. A still better and more extensive work by Molinier and others is in course of publication for the history of France.1 Of course the history both of France and of Germany is so closely associated with that of other European countries that the above-mentioned guides are very valuable for the student of general Euro- pean affairs. A similar collection of titles has been prepared by Professor Charles Gross for England.2

After discovering the sources it is essential to deter- criticism <* mine their character and reliability. There are special thesources- treatises upon this important subject.3 The best and most generally useful is perhaps Wattenbach's Histori- cal Sources for Germany during the Middle Ages,4 in which the various writers and their works are thoroughly discussed. Molinier gives many useful hints in his great bibliography referred to above. A discussion of the his- torical writers of the Middle Ag,es is given in Early Chroniclers of Europe? I know of no other work of the kind available in English except that of Flint, who, in his interesting History of the Philosophy of History?

1 Les sources de Vhistoire de France^ des origines aux guerres d^Italie (1494); — to be continued to 1815 — 5 vols., Paris, 1901 sqq.t 5 fr. a volume.

2 Sources of English History, Longmans, 1901, $5.00.

8 For brief accounts of the results of modern criticism of the sources see the Introduction to Henderson's History cf Germany in the Middle AgeS) and Bury's Introduction to his edition of Gibbon, pp. 45 sqq.

4 Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen im Mittelalter bis stur Mitte des i^ten Jahrkundert, 2 vols., 6th ed., 1893-1894, M. 20. (Vol. I of a ;th edition appeared in 1904.)

6 England by Gairdner, France by Masson, and Italy by Balzani. Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, 3 vols., London, 1883-1888. 6 Charles Scribner's Sons, 1894, $4.00.

12

Readings in European History

Methods of historical research ; Bernheim's manual.

Du Cange's Dictionary of Medieval Latin.

Giry's Manual of Diplomatics.

takes up in turn the writers dealing with France, espe- cially in modern times. Bury, in the appendices which he has added to his edition of Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, mentions and criticises briefly many sources. Indeed, it is not at all uncommon in modern scientific histories to find similar discussions.

By far the most important treatise upon the use of the sources and the methods of historical investigation is that of Bernheim.1 Every one proposing to devote himself to historical research should be thoroughly familiar with this remarkable work. No other single volume contains such a wealth of valuable information in regard to almost all branches of knowledge which directly concern the historical student. Suggestive, but far less exhaustive than Bernheim's manual, is the Introduction to the Study of History by Langlois and Seignfcbos.2

For an explanation of the many troublesome terms and expressions used in mediaeval writings one should turn to the monumental Dictionary of Mediaeval Latin originally compiled by Du Cange and first issued in 1 678.8 In successive editions, later scholars have added many terms which Du Cange overlooked, but one is still often disappointed not to find words he would like to have explained.

For all matters relating to public and private docu- ments, decrees, papal bulls, methods of dating, etc.

1 Lekrbuch der historischen Methods und der Geschichtsphilosophie, mit Nackwets der urichtigsten Quellen und Hilfsmittel zum Studium der Gesckichte, 3d and 4th eds., Leipzig, 1903, M. 17.

2 New York, Henry Holt, $2.25. The French original, however, costs but 3 fr.

8 Glossarium mediae et infimat latinitatis, 7 vols., Paris, 1840-1850. This edition, which may be had for about $40, is preferable to a more recent reprint which appeared 1883-1887.

The Historical Point of Vieiu 1 3

Giry's Manual of Diplomatics1 is the most useful modern work.

Of the historical atlases the most generally used is Historical that edited by Droysen,2 but Schrader's 3 is excellent and atlases' contains a number of important special maps and plans as well as an index. A truly admirable and very inex- pensive collection of historical maps may be found in Putzger's cheap and unassuming Historical School Atlas* This is in many ways as useful as Droysen, and in some respects actually superior to the more elaborate work.

While but few of the aids to historical research are here given, those mentioned are of the utmost impor- tance by reason of the range and accuracy of the informa- tion which they furnish and of the ease with which they can be consulted. No really advanced work in history can be carried on without their aid. Many other useful works of the same class may be found in the lists given by Bernheim in the manual spoken of above.

1 Manuel de diplomatique* Paris, 1894, 20 fr.

3 Allgemeiner historischtr Handailas^ mit erlauterndem Text, Leipzig, M, 25.

8 Atlas de gtograpkie historique^ sous la direction de F. Schrader, Paris, Hachette, 35 fr.

The only really adequate atlas in English is the Historical Atlas ef Modern Europe, edited by R. L. Poole (Clarendon Press, $38.50), which is unfortunately far more expensive than the equally satisfactory German and French works of the same class.

* ¥\te%tf$>HistorisckerSchul-Atla5i edited by Baldanras and Schwabe. An American edition of this may be had, accompanied by an English translation of the German forms of the geographical names, New York, Lemcke and Biichner, $i .00. A new school Atlas if European History ^ edited by Professor Dow, is announced by Henry Holt.

CHAPTER II WESTERN EUROPE BEFORE THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS

I. SOME RESEMBLANCES BETWEEN THOUGHTFUL PAGANISM AND CHRISTIANITY

The philosopher and statesman, Seneca (d. A.D. 65), who lived in the time of Nero, in his little book on Benefits speaks thus of the bounty of God :

1. Seneca on Doth not God bestow all benefits upon us ? From whence God's gifts then hast thou all those things whereof thou art possessed ? oman- which thou givest ? which thou deniest ? which thou keep-

est? which thou takest unjustly? From whence come the infi'niteness of things that delight the eye, affect the ear, and please the understanding? . . . From whence have we so many trees, bearing sundry sorts of savory fruit, so many wholesome herbs, for the maintenance of our health, such variety of meats, strong for all seasons through the whole year, so that an idle sluggard may pick up without effort sufficient sustenance upon the earth to feed and nourish him ? . . .

If a man should give thee money, and fill thy coffer (for that seemeth a great thing in thy sight) thou wouldst term it a benefit. And thinkest thou it no favor, that God hath hidden so many metals in the earth, spread so many rivers on the sands, which floating, discover ingots of massy gold, silver, brass, and iron, which he hath hidden everywhere ; that he hath given thee means and knowledge to find it out, by setting marks of his covert riches on the upper face of the earth ? If a man should give thee a house enriched with marble pillars, if the cover thereof were re- splendent, and painted with gold and goodly colors, thou

14

Western Europe before the Barbarian Invasions 1 5

wouldst highly esteem this present of his : God hath builded thee a great palace, without any danger or fear of falling down, wherein- thou seest not little pieces, smaller than the chisel itself wherewith they were carved, but entire huge masses of precious stone, all fastened and fashioned after divers manners, the least piece whereof maketh thee wonder at the beauty of the same : the roof whereof shineth after one sort by day and after another by night : and wilt thou then deny that thou hast received any benefit at all ? ...

It is Nature, saith one, that communicateth and giveth me all these things. But understandest thou not that in speaking after this manner, thou only changest the name of God ? For what else is Nature but God, a divine being and reason, which by his searching assistance resideth in the world, and all the parts thereof ? . . .

To bestow a favor in hope to receive another, is a con- Seneca on m*- temptible and base usury. How badly soever thy former seffish &***£* favors have fallen out, yet persevere thou in bestowing others. They are best hoarded in the hands of the ungrateful, whom either shame, or occasion, or imitation, may at length fashion to be grateful. Persevere continually, and cease not to be bountiful : accomplish that good work which thou hast begun, and perform the duty of a good man. Relieve this man with thy goods, another with thy credit; that man by thy favor, this with thy good counsels and wholesome precepts.

Some idea of the resemblance between the beliefs of 2. the Stoics and those of the Christians may be obtained from the teachings of Epictetus, a slave who for many years belonged to a member of Nero's household. By some whim of his master's, Epictetus was given a good education, and after his master's death he taught phi- losophy at Rome. He himself wrote nothing, but a devoted pupil of his — Arrian — has left us a conscien- tious account of his teachings, which represent the most elevated form of stoicism.

i6

Readings in European History

Attitude of the Stoics toward the evils of life.

Like the Christians, Epictetus held that all men were brothers, for all were God's chil- dren.

The attitude of the Stoic towards the evils of life is clearly expressed in the following passage :_

When you are going in to any great personage, remember that another also from above sees what is going on, and that you ought to please him above all others. He then who sees from above asks you : In the schools what used you to say about exile, and bonds, and death, and disgrace? I used to say that they are things indifferent (neither good nor bad). What then do you say of them now ? Are they changed at all ? No. Are you changed then ? No. Tell me then what things are indifferent? The things which are independent of the will. Tell me, also, what follows from this. The things which are independent of the will are nothing to me, Tell me also- about the Good ; what did you hold it to be ? A will such as we ought to have and also a right use of things about us. And our aim, what is it ? To follow thee. Do you say this now also ? I say the same now also.

Then go in to the great personage boldly and remember these things; and you will see what a youth is who has studied these things when he is among men who have not studied them. . . .

If the things are true which are said by the philosophers about the kinship between God and man, what else remains for men to do than what Socrates did ? Never say, in reply to the question, To what country do you belong? that you are an Athenian, or a Corinthian, but that you are a citizen of the world. ... He who has observed with intelligence the administration of the world, and has learned that the great- est and the supreme and the most comprehensive community is that which is composed of men and God, . . . why should not such a man call himself a citizen of the world, why not a son of God, and why should he be afraid of anything which happens among men ? Is kinship with the emperor or with any other of the powerful in Rome sufficient to enable us to live in safety, and above contempt and without any fear at all ? - But to have God for your maker, and father, and guard- ian, shall not this release us from our sorrows and fears ?

Western Europe before the Barbarian Invasions 1 7

The Thoughts of the emperor Marcus Aurelius, a 3. The collection of notes which he made for his own private of Marcas use, is one of the most famous and stimulating books Aurelius- which Roman writers have handed down to us. It is easily obtainable and every one should possess a copy. A single extract will serve to illustrate its character :

Begin the morning by saying to thyself, I shall meet with the busybody, the ungrateful, arrogant, deceitful, envious, unsocial. These are so by reason of their ignorance of what is good and evil. But I who have seen the nature of the good, that it is beautiful, and of the bad, that it is ugly, and the nature of him who does wrong, that he is akin to me, not only of the same blood and origin, but that he participates in the same intelligence and the same portion of the divinity, I can neither be injured by any of those I meet, for no one can fix on me what is ugly, nor can I be angry with my kins- man, nor hate him. For we are made for cooperation, like feet, like hands, like eyelids, like the rows of the upper and lower teeth. To act against one another then is contrary to nature; and it is acting against one another to be vexed and to turn away. . . .

If thou workest at that which is before thee, following right reason seriously, vigorously, calmly, without allowing anything else to distract thee, but keeping thy divine part pure, as if thou shouldest be bound to give it back immedi- ately ; if thou boldest to this, expecting nothing, fearing noth- ing, but satisfied with thy present activity according to nature, and with heroic truth in every word and sound which thou utterest, thou wilt live happy. And there is no man who is able to prevent this.

It should not be forgotten, however, that there were a great many fundamental differences between the pagan religions and Christianity. These have been admirably stated by Mr. Lecky in his well-known History of European Morals.

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Readings in European History

4. Important

contrasts

between

Christianity

and the

pagan

religions.

Moral teach- ing the duty of the Christian priest.

The chief objects of Pagan religions were to foretell the future, to explain the universe, to avert calamity, to obtain the assistance of the gods. They contained no instruments of moral teaching analogous to our institution of preaching, or to the moral preparation for the reception of the sacra- ment, or to confession, or to the reading of the Bible, or to religious education, or to united prayer for spiritual benefits. To make men virtuous was no more the function of the priest than of the physician. On the other hand, the philosophic expositions of duty [such as those given above] were wholly unconnected with the religious ceremonies of the temple.

The high moral teachings of the philosophers, like Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius, had doubtless been brought to the attention of a considerable number of educated people through the discussions of the rhetori- cians. Some sects, like the Pythagoreans, recommended religious ceremonies for the purpose of purifying the mind, and among the Oriental religions (such as the worship of Mithras), which were introduced at Rome under the Empire, certain rites were to be found which closely resembled those of the Christians.

But it was the distinguishing characteristic of Christianity that its moral influence was not indirect, casual, remote, or spasmodic. Unlike all Pagan religions, it made moral teaching a main function of its clergy, moral discipline the leading object of its services, moral dispositions the neces- sary condition of the due performance of its rites. By the pulpit, by its ceremonies, by all the agencies of power it pos- sessed, it laboured systematically and perseveringly for the regeneration of mankind. Under its influence, doctrines concerning the nature of God, the immortality of the soul, and the duties of man, which the noblest intellects of antiq- uity could barely grasp, have become the truisms of the village school, the proverbs of the cottage and of the alley.

Western Europe before the Barbarian Invasions 19

II. THE EARLY CONCEPTION OF A CATHOLIC (I.E. UNIVERSAL) CHURCH

It was not unnatural that differences of opinion should develop among the early Christians in regard to particu- lar religious beliefs and practices. This led to the forma- tion of sects similar to the various denominations which exist in Protestant lands to-day. This want of agreement seemed a terrible thing to those who felt that there could be but one true faith handed down from Christ through the apostles, and consequently one Catholic or Universal Church outside of which there could be no salvation. They accordingly denounced all who departed from the generally accepted (i.e. orthodox) beliefs as heretics who were destroying the unity of the Church by their perversity.

This conception of one all-embracing Church to which all should be forced to belong was accepted by the Roman emperors after Constantine, and prevailed all through the Middle Ages. It was earlier clearly set forth by Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, who died in 258.*

The old enemy of mankind was vanquished and overcome 5. The at the advent of Christ's kingdom. He saw his idols for- Catholic «r saken and his fanes and temples deserted for the altars of ctot&as Christ ; so he devised new wiles by which he might deceive conceived the unwary Christian under the very name of Christianity ?7^pdaH itself. He invented heresies and schisms; and by these he units of hath overthrown the faith, corrupted the truth, and broken the unity of the Church. Those whom he cannot keep back in the darkness of the old way, he entraps and deceives by error in the new path. He snatches men from the Church

1 A description of the martyrdom of Cyprian, who was beheaded during a persecution of the Christians, may be found in Translations and Reprints, Vol. IV, No, I.

2O Readings in European History

herself; and while they think they have now drawn near to the light and have escaped the night of heathenism, he casts over them in their ignorance yet other shades, so that they call themselves Christians, and yet do not abide in the Gospel and the precepts and the law of Christ. They think they have the light, and yet walk in the darkness. . . .

Our Lord said to Peter : " I also say unto thee, That thou art Peter, and-upon this rock I will build my church ; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven : and what- soever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven ; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven/' He thus erected his Church upon one [founda- tion].1 And though after his resurrection he gave equal powers to all the apostles, saying, "As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. . . . Receive ye the Holy Ghost: Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them ; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained," nevertheless, that he might manifest unity he established one Church, and by his own authority determined that in its origin this unity should proceed from one [source or person]. . . .

He who holds not this unity of the Church, does he believe that he holds the faith ? He who struggles against the Church and resists her, does he believe that he is a member of the Church ? . * . The episcopate is one : it is shared among individuals, yet each possesses the entire authority.2 The Church also is one, though she is widely extended among the multitude. As there are many rays of the sun, but one light ; and many branches of a tree, but one strength lying in its tenacious root ; and since from one spring flow many streams, yet the unity is preserved in the source. Separate a ray of the sun from its body of light, its unity does not permit a division of the light ; break a branch from the tree, when broken it will not be able to bud; cut off the stream from its fountain, and that which is cut off dries up.

1 Super unum aedificat ecclesiam.

* Episcopatas unus est, cuius a singulis in solidum pars tenetur.

Western Europe before the Barbarian Invasions 2 1

Thus the Church sheds forth her rays over the whole world ; yet it is one light which is everywhere diffused. . . .

Whoever is separated from the Church is separated from Denuncia- the promises of the Church ; nor can he who forsakes the Church of Christ attain to the rewards of Christ. He is a stranger ; he is profane ; he is an enemy. He can no longer have God for his father who has not the Church for his mother. If any one could escape who was outside the ark of Noah, then he also may escape who shall be outside of the Church. . . . These heretics appoint themselves prelates without proper ordination, and assume the name of bishops, although no one gives them the episcopate. . . . They sit in the seat of pestilence, are plagues and spots of the faith, deceiving with serpent's tongue and artful in cor- rupting the truth, vomiting forth deadly poisons from pesti- lential tongues; whose speech doth creep like a cancer, -whose discourse forms a deadly poison in the heart and breast of every one. . . .

Though such a man should suffer death for confessing the name of Christ, his guilt is not washed away by blood, nor is the grievous and inexpiable sin of discord wiped out by suffering. He who is without the Church cannot be a martyr. He cannot reach the kingdom of heaven. . . . Though they are given over to the flames and burn in the fires ; though cast to the wild beasts, they lay down their lives, this shall not be a crown of faith, but a punishment of faith- lessness. Such a man may be killed, but not crowned. . . ,

III. THE CHURCH AND THE ROMAN EMPERORS

In spite of the fact that the Roman emperors per- e. Edict <rf mitted the greatest variety of worship within their vast GateriHS

realm and showed no disposition to compel their sub- first granted

toieratkm jects to think alike upon religious matters, they viewed to the

Christianity with the most cruel suspicion almost from OHfefcfea*- its first appearance. Christians were assumed to be

22 Readings in European History

hostile to the government, and were consequently treated with the utmost harshness. Even the wisest and best emperors, such as Trajan and Marcus Aurelius, ordered that any one should be condemned to death who was convicted of bearing" the name of Christian.1

Christians were first put upon a legal footing with adherents of the various pagan religions by Emperor Galerius in the year 3ii.2 His edict reads as follows:

Amongst our other measures for the advantage of the Empire, we have hitherto endeavored to bring all things into conformity with the ancient laws and public order of the Romans. We have been especially anxious that even the Christians, who have abandoned the religion of their ances- tors, should return to reason. For they have fallen, we know not how, into such perversity and folly that, instead of adhering to those ancient institutions which possibly their own forefathers established, they have arbitrarily made " laws of their own and collected together various peoples from, various quarters.

After the publication, on our part, of an order command- ing the Christians to return to the observance of the ancient customs, many of them, it is true, submitted in view of the danger, while many others suffered death. Nevertheless, since many of them have continued to persist in their opin- ions and we see that in the present situation they neither

1 Christians were not, however, to be sought out by the government officials and could only be tried when accusation was brought against them by some definite person. A series of extracts illustrating the extent and character of the early persecutions of the Christians is to be found in Translations and Reprints* Vol. IV, No. I.

2 A German scholar, Seeck, has pretty conclusively shown that the so-called Edict of Milan, by which Constantine was long supposed to have rescued the Christians frcfm persecution, was not really an edict at all, but a letter addressed by Constantine 's colleague, .Licinius, to some government official hi the East, commanding him to see that the edict o<£ Gaterras. was carried out in a thorough manner. See Zsit-

&*rcfccngescfaKkfe, VoL XIII, pp. 381 spg.

Western Europe before the Barbarian Invasions 23

duly adore and venerate the gods nor yet worship the god of the Christians, we, with our wonted clemency, have judged it wise to extend a pardon even to these men and permit them once more to become Christians and reestablish their places of meeting ; in such manner, however, that they shall in no way offend against good order. We propose to notify the magistrates in another mandate in regard to the course that they should pursue.

Wherefore it should be the duty of the Christians, in view of our clemency, to pray to their god for our welfare, for that of the Empire, and for their own, so that the Empire may remain intact in all its parts, and that they themselves may live safely in their habitations.

When under Theodosius II a collection of the laws 7. The of the Roman Empire was published (438), the edicts which had been issued by Constantine and the succeed- ing emperors in regard to the Christian religion, — the privileges of the clergy, the status of heretics, etc., — were conveniently brought together in the last book of &*ian Ce§e, the new code. The very first title, On the Catholic Faith9 makes it clear that the government would tolerate no one who disagreed with the particular form of Christian belief which the state chose to sanction.

We desire that all those who are under the sway of our The Roman clemency shall adhere to that religion which, according to his own testimony, coming down even to our own day, the on* t blessed apostle Peter delivered to the Romans, namely, the the view of doctrine which the pontiff Damasus [bishop of Rome] and ^^^ Peter, bishop of Alexandria, a man of apostolic sanctity, tbeOaadl accept. According to the teachings of the apostles and of the Gospel we believe in one Godhead of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, the blessed Trinity, alike in majesty.

We ordain that the name of Catholic Christians shall apply to all those who obey this present law. All others we judge to be mad and demented; we declare them guilty of the

Readings in European History

The clergy to be exempted from public burdens j but only the poor in this world's goods to be

admitted to the clergy.

infamy of holding heretical doctrine ; their assemblies shall not receive the name of churches. They shall first suffer the wrath of God, then the punishment which in accordance with divine judgment we shall inflict [A.D. 380].

The emperors showed themselves ready to exempt the orthodox clergy from the various taxes and other public burdens imposed by the state, but upon condition that only poor men should become clerics. No decurion, that is to say one who was rich enough to assume the heavy responsibilities which the government threw upon the wealthier class in the cities, might join the clergy.

Those who exercise the functions of divine worship, that is to say those who are called clerics {_deriri^, shall be exempt from all public burdens, lest otherwise they might be called away from their sacred duties through some one's malicious interference [A.D, 319].

Immunity from public burdens is to be granted neither by custom nor upon any one's plea that he is a clergyman ; nor may persons join the order of the clergy easily or in too great numbers. But when a cleric dies another shall be chosen in his stead. He shall not be of decurion rank by descent, nor possess sufficient means easily to bear the public burdens. Should doubt arise between a city and the clergy in regard to any candidate, if justice indicates that he should bear the public burdens and he should appear, either by descent or owing to his patrimony, to.be suitable for the rank of decurion, he shall leave the clergy and be turned over to the city. For it is proper that the rich should bear the burdens of the world and that the poor should be sup- ported by the wealth of the Church [A.D. 326].

From public burdens and from every disquietude of °^ °^ce al* caries shaM be free» and their sons shall continue *n the Church If they are not subject to public responsibilities [A.D. 349].

Western Europe before the Barbarian Invasions 25

We decree that all priests, deacons, subdeacons, exorcists, Exemption lectors, and doorkeepers, likewise all who are in higher orders, from shall be free from personal taxes1 [A.D. 377].

In every city, in every town, hamlet, and burg, whoever, The power of according to the spirit of the Christian law, shall have the empire sincerely striven to bring home to all its supreme and ^^ined peculiar merits shall enjoy permanent protection. We ctergy. should rejoice and be exceeding glad in the faith, knowing that our empire is maintained more by religion than by officials or by the labor and sweat of the body [A.D. 361].

Inasmuch as we have learned that certain clergymen and Christians others who minister to the Catholic faith have been corn- nottobe pelled by men of other religions to celebrate the lustral sac- observe rifices, we hereby ordain that, should any one maintain that heathen rites. those who keep the most holy law should be forced to observe the rites of another's superstition, such an one shall, if his station permits, be beaten with rods. If his rank forbid this punishment, he shall be condemned to a heavy fine which shall fall to the state [A.D. 323].

Every one shall have the right, when he is dying, to leave Bequests to so much of his goods as he will to the holy and Catholic Church . . . [A.D. 321].

It is right that clerics, whether they be bishops, priests, Judicial deacons, or those of lower rank, ministers of the Christian law, should be accused only before a bishop — unless there is some reason why the case should be considered elsewhere [A.D. 412].

Minor civil cases and those where church rites were involved were also to be tried by ecclesiastics. These provisions were the beginning of benefit of clergy and of the vast jurisdiction of the mediaeval Church.

1 Church lands were, however, by no means to be exempted from the land tax, nor were the clergy to engage in trade on any considerable scale without paying the tax to which lay tradesmen were subject.

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None but the orthodox clergy to enjoy privileges.

Manichaeans to be' prose- cuted.

Privileges which are granted on religious grounds should be confined to those who observe the law. We will that heretics and schismatics should not only be excluded from such privileges, but that they should be subject to various burdens [A.D. 326].

Whenever an assembly of Manichseans1 is discovered, let their teachers be heavily fined. Those who are in attend- ance should be cast out from among their fellow-men as infamous and discredited. The houses or dwelling places in which their profane doctrines are taught should be con- fiscated by the government [A.D. 372],

Clerics adhering to the Eunomian or Montanist super- stition shall be excluded from all intercourse with any city or town. Should any of these heretics sojourning in the country attempt to gather the people together or collect an assembly, let them be sent into perpetual exile. . . .

We command that their books, which contain the sub- stance of their criminal teachings, be sought out with the utmost care and burnt with fire under the eyes of the magis- trates. Should any one perchance be convicted of conceal- ing, through deceit or otherwise, and of failing to produce, any work of this kind, let him know that as the possessor of harmful books written with criminal intent he shall suffer capital punishment [A.D. 398].

Various dis- Here we find the same spirit of active and cruel rei^ous intolerance which appears in the mediaeval laws, notably the thirteenth century. Other edicts pro- vide that certain heretics — e.g. the Manichaeans — should lose the right to bequeath and inherit property. Illegal bequests of heretics were to revert to the public treasury. Heretics were to be heavily fined, and in some cases were excluded from the army. Slaves might be

Heretical books to be sought out and burned.

1 This Manichsean heresy was revived in the later Middle Ages, See the account of the Albigenses in History of Western Europe, p. 221.

Western Europe before the Barbarian Invasions 27

beaten into the orthodox faith. One edict (407) deprives convicted Manichseans of the right of buying, selling, or entering into any contract, on the ground that " this kind of man has nothing in common with other men, either in customs or laws/' Even the dead, if they be proved to have been tainted with Manichsean heresy, are to have their wills invalidated. In 409 the following edict was issued :

Lest the Donatists and other deluded heretics and those Laws against who, like the Jews and the Gentiles (commonly called heretics to be " pagans "), cannot be brought into the communion of the ^^ed. Catholic religion, should conclude that the force of the laws formerly directed against them had declined, let all the magistrates take note that those provisions of the law are to be faithfully observed, and that they should not hesitate to enforce all that we have decreed against the heretics.

A later title of the Theodosian Code is devoted to Provisk»s "pagans, sacrifices, and temples." The temples were ^J^^f6 first ordered to be destroyed in the towns, later in the to pagans, country. Heavy fines were to be inflicted upon those who dared to offer sacrifices to the old heathen gods. Pagans were excluded by law from judicial and adminis- trative offices, although it seems impossible that this measure could have been strictly carried out. In 423 we find a law declaring that, although pagans deserved to suffer capital punishment, they were required only to surrender their property to the government and go into exile. It is noteworthy, however, that far less attention is given to the pagans than to the Manichseans and the various Christian sects, like the Arians, Montanists, Donatists, and others, who ventured to differ from the theological opinions sanctioned by the government.

28

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8. Sarvian's comparison of the Romans with the barbarians (e«. 440).

IV. COMPARISON BETWEEN THE LOT OF THOSE WITHIN THE EMPIRE AND THOSE WHO LIVED AMONG BARBARIANS

It was inevitable that thoughtful observers should be struck with the contrast between the habits and govern- ment of the Romans and the customs of the various barbarian peoples. Tacitus, the first to describe the manners and institutions of the Germans with care, is frequently tempted to compare them with those of the Empire, often to the obvious disadvantage of the latter.1 We have two other notable comparisons of a much later date : the first by a fervid Christian, the other by a judi- cious writer, who was probably a pagan.

Salvian, a Christian priest, writing about 440, under- took in his book Of God's Government to show that the misfortunes of the time were only the divinely inflicted punishments which the people of the Empire had brought upon themselves by their wickedness and corruption. He contends that the Romans, who had once been vir- tuous and heroic, had lapsed into a degradation which rendered them, in spite of their civilization and advan- tages, far inferior to the untutored but sturdy barbarians.

In what respects can our customs be preferred to those of the Goths and Vandals, or even compared with them ? And first, to speak of affection and mutual charity (which, our Lord teaches, is the chief virtue, saying, " By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another"), almost all barbarians, at least those who are of one race and kin, love each other, while the Romans per- secute each other. For what citizen does not envy his fellow- . citizen ? What citizen shows to his neighbor full charity ?

1 The very important little work of Tacitus on Germany, the Ger- m&nia, has been published in Translations and Reprints, Vol. VI, No. 3.

Western Europe before the Barbarian Invasions 29

[The Romans oppress each other with exactions] nay, not each other : it would be quite tolerable, if each suf- fered what he inflicted. It is worse than that ; for the many are oppressed by the few, who regard public exactions as their own peculiar right, who carry on private traffic under the guise of collecting the taxes. And this is done not only by nobles, but by men of lowest rank ; not by judges only, but by judges' subordinates. For where is the city — even the town or village — which has not as many tyrants as it has curials ? . . . What place is there, therefore, as I have said, where the substance of widows and orphans, nay even of the saints, is not devoured by the chief citizens? None but the great is secure from the devastations of these plundering brigands, except those who are themselves robbers.

[Nay, the state has fallen upon such evil days that a man why Roman cannot be safe unless he is wicked] Even those in a position objects to protest against the iniquity which they see about them ^^g^^ dare not speak lest they make matters worse than before, barbarians. So the poor are despoiled, the widows sigh, the orphans are oppressed, until many of them, born of families not obscure, and liberally educated, flee to our enemies that they may no longer suffer the oppression of public persecution. They doubtless seek Roman humanity among the barbarians, because they cannot bear barbarian inhumanity among the Romans. And although they differ from the people to whom they flee in manner and in language ; although they are unlike as regards the fetid odor of the barbarians' bodies and garments, yet they would rather endure a for- eign civilization among the barbarians than cruel injustice among the Romans.

So they migrate to the Goths, or to the Bagaudes, or to some other tribe of the barbarians who are ruling every- where, and do not regret their exile. For they would rather live_/r<?<? under an appearance of slavery than live as captives under an appearance of liberty. The name of Roman citi- zen, once so highly esteemed and so dearly bought, is now a thing that men repudiate and flee from. . . .

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It is urged that if we Romans are wicked and corrupt, that the barbarians commit the same sins, and are not so miserable as we. There is, however, this difference, that if the barbarians commit the same crimes as we, yet we sin more grievously. ... All the barbarians, as we have already said, are pagans or heretics. The Saxon race is cruel, the Franks are faithless, the Gepidae are inhuman, the Huns are unchaste, — in short, there is vice in the life of all the bar- barian peoples. But are their offenses as serious as ours ? Is the un chastity of the Hun so criminal as ours ? Is the faithlessness of the Frank so blameworthy as ours? Is the intemperance of the Alemanni so base as the intemper- ance of the Christians? Does the greed of the Alani so merit condemnation as the greed of the Christians ? If the Hun or the Gepid cheat, what is there to wonder at, since he does not know that cheating is a crime ? If a Frank perjures himself, does he do anything strange, he who regards perjury as a way of speaking, not as a crime ?

9. Conver- About the time that Salvian was writing, the imperial discus* government at Constantinople dispatched an embassy to

with a Attila, the king of the Huns. One of the imperial mes- Greek living ^ . n - - . . .

among the sengers, Pnscus, has left a very interesting account of

barbarians j^js experiences. He tells, among other things, of a con- versation that he had with a former inhabitant of the Roman Empire who declared that life among the bar- barians had many advantages. As Priscus was waiting for his audience with Attila, he says :

A man whom, from his- Scythian dress, I took for a bar- barian, came up and addressed me in Greek, with the word " Hail ! " I was surprised at a Scythian l speaking Greek. For the subjects of the Huns, swept together from various lands, speak, beside their own barbarous tongue, either Hun- nic or Gothic, or — as many as have commercial dealings

1 Prisons seems to use this term " Scythian " as almost synonymous •with barbarian.

Western Europe before the Barbarian Invasions 3 1

with the western Romans — Latin ; but none of them speak Greek readily, except captives from the Thracian or Illyrian seacoast ; and these last are easily known to any stranger by their torn garments and the squalor of their head, as men who have met with a reverse. This man, on the con- trary, resembled a well-to-do Scythian, being well dressed, and having his hair cut in a circle after Scythian fashion.

Having returned his salutation, I asked him who he was and whence he had come into a foreign land and adopted Scythian life. When he asked me why I wanted to know, I told him that his Hellenic speech had prompted my curi- osity. Then he smiled and said that he was born a Greek and had gone as a merchant to Viminacium, on the Danube, where he had stayed a long time, and married a very rich wife. But the city fell a prey to the barbarians, and he was stripped of his prosperity, and on account of his riches was allotted to Onegesius [a Hunnish leader] in the division of the spoil, as it was the custom among the Scythians for the chiefs to reserve for themselves the rich prisoners. Having fought bravely against the Romans and the Acatiri, he had paid the spoils he won to his master, and so obtained free- dom. He then married a barbarian wife and had children, and had the privilege of partaking at the table of Onegesius.

He considered his new life among the Scythians better than his old life among the Romans, and the reasons he urged were as follows : " After war the Scythians live at leisure, enjoying what they have got, and not at all, or very little, disturbed. The Romans, on the other hand, are in the first place very liable to be killed, if there are any hos- tilities, since they have to rest their hopes of protection <m others, and are not allowed, by their tyrants, to use arms. And those who do use them are injured by the cowardice o£ their generals, who cannot properly conduct wan

" But the condition of Roman subjects in time of peace is far more grievous than the evils of war, for the exaction of the taxes is very severe, and unprincipled men inflict injuries on others because the laws are practically not valid against all classes. A transgressor who belongs to the wealthy

Advantages of living among the barbarians.

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Priscus defends the Roman government.

classes is not punished for his injustice, while a poor man, who does not understand business, undergoes the legal penalty, — that is, if he does not depart this life before the trial, so long is the course of lawsuits protracted, and so much money is expended on them. The climax of misery is to have to pay in order to obtain justice. For no one will give a hearing to the injured man except he pay a sum of money to the judge and the judge's clerks."

In reply to this attack on the empire, I asked him to be good enough to listen with patience to the other side of the question. " The creators of the Roman Republic," I said, " who were wise and good men, in order to prevent things from being done at haphazard, made one class of men guardians of the laws, and appointed another class to the profession of arms, who were to have no other object than to be always ready for battle, and to go forth to war without dread, as though to their ordinary exercise, having by prac- tice exhausted all their fear beforehand. Others again were assigned to attend to the cultivation of the ground, to sup- port themselves and those who fight in their defense by contributing the military corn supply. ... To those who protect the interests of the litigants a sum of money is paid by the latter, just as a payment is made by the farmers to the soldiers. Is it not fair to support him who assists and requite him for his kindness ? . . .

"Those who spend money on a suit and lose it in the end cannot fairly put it down to anything but the injustice of their case. And as to the long time spent on lawsuits, that is due to anxiety for justice, that judges may not fail in passing accurate judgments by having to give sentence offhand; it is better that they should reflect, and conclude the case more tardily, than that by judging in a hurry they should both injure man and transgress against the Deity, the institutor of justice. . . .

"The Romans treat their slaves better than the king of the Scythians treats his subjects. They deal with them as fathers or teachers, admonishing them to abstain from evil and follow the lines of conduct which they have esteemed

Western Europe before the Barbarian Invasions 33

honorable ; they reprove them for their errors like their own children. They are not allowed, like the Scythians, to inflict death on their slaves. They have numerous ways of con- ferring freedom ; they can manumit not only during life, but also by their wills, and the testamentary wishes of a Roman in regard to his property are law."

My interlocutor shed tears, and confessed that the laws and constitution of the Romans were fair, but deplored that the officials, not possessing the spirit of former generations, were ruining the state.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The books here mentioned are selected with a view to explaining A. Refer- those conditions in the later Roman Empire some conception of which is essential to an understanding of the Middle Ages. Almost all the accounts of Roman society deal with the period of the later Republic and the early Empire.1

Conditions upon the Eve of the Barbarian Invasions: For these the best work in English is, DILL, Roman Society in the Last Century of the Western Empire. See especially Book II, "Society of the West**; Book III, " The Failure of the Administration and the Ruin of the Middle Class as revealed in the Theodosian Code." See also BRYCE, The Holy Roman Empire, Chapter II, " The RomjRi Empire before the Invasions of the Barbarians."

Relations between Paganism and Christianity: DILL, Book I, "The Tenacity of Paganism," and GIBBON, Chapter XXVIII (BURY'S edition, Vol. Ill, pp. 188-215), "The Final Destruction of Paganism."

Literature and the Text-Books which the Middle Ages inherited from the Later Empire: DILL, Book V, "Characteristics of Roman Education and Culture in the Fifth Century." See also references to Taylor, in section B, below.

Economic Conditions: CUNNINGHAM, Western Civilization, Vol. I, Book III, Chapter III, u The Roman Empire."

BURY, A History of the Later Roman Empire, A .D. 395-800, Book I, B. Add* Chapters III-IV, " The Elements of Disintegration within the Roman Empire" and ** The Administration of the Empire."

1 The most notable of these is Friedlander, Darstellungen aus der Sitten- geschichU Roms in. der Zett von Augustus bis zum Ausgang der 2 vols., 7th ed., Leipzig, 1901.

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For the religious conditions : HATCH, The Influence of Greek Thought upon the Christian Church; REN AN, The Influence of Rome on the Devel- opment of the Catholic Church ; FARRAR, Seekers after God, for the teachings of Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius ; BURY, Book I, Chapters I-II, " Christianity and Paganism " and " The Influence of Christianity on Society "; LECKY, History of European Morals from Augustus to Charlemagne, Vol. II, Chapter IV (opening) ; TAYLOR, Classi- cal Heritage of the Middle Ages, Chapter II, gives an admirable account of the passing of the antique man into the mediaeval man.

For the general intellectual and moral transition, see, above all, TAYLOR, Chapters II I- V, " Phases of Pagan Decadence," " The Antique Culture," and " Pagan Elements Christianized in Transmission.'* The bibliographical notes at the end of Taylor's volume are very full and useful in this field. See also GLOVER, Life and Letters in the Fourth Century, Cambridge, England, 1901.

C. Materials A remarkable account of the general conditions, especially in Gaul, f&r advanced immediately preceding the barbarian invasions maybe found in FUSTEL DE CouLANGES, Histoire des institutions de Vancienne France (Paris, 1891), Vol. II, «• L'invasion germanique," pp. 1-244. Histoire de France depuis les origines jusqifa la Revolution, edited by LAVISSE, Vol. I, Part II, also describes Gaul under the Roman Empire. A shorter account is given in LAVISSE ET RAMBAUD, Histoire Generate, Vol. I, Chapter I, " Le Monde remain* For the religious situation : BOISSIER, La Fin du paganism, 2 vols., Paris, 1891, and MARTHA, Les Moralists sous r empire romain, Paris, 1894.

A clear and most excellent analysis of the literary works in the West from the third centary to the time of Charlemagne may be found in Vol. I of EBERT, Allgemeine Geschichte der Literatur des Mittelalters im Abtndlande, 3 vols., Leipzig, 1880-1889. There is a French translation of this admirable work, Histoire gtnlrale de la literature du moyen &ge> Paris, 1883-1889,

For the economic conditions, see, especially, LEVASSEUR, Histoire des classes owrtires want iffy (2 vols., 2d ed., Paris, 1901, 25 fr.), Boole I, especially Chapter III, on slaves and the villa,

References for the highly important history of the law will be found at tfee enjd of Chapter III; those for the development of the Christian Ch*rc& oader the Roman Emnire, at the close of Chapter IV.

CHAPTER III

THE GERMAN INVASIONS AND THE BREAK-UP OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE

I. THE MOVEMENTS OF THE HUNS FORCE THE WEST GOTHS ACROSS THE DANUBE INTO THE ROMAN EMPIRE, A.D. 376

The retired soldier, Ammianus Marcellinus, writing not more than ten or fifteen years after the battle of Adrian ople, thus describes the Huns and the passage of the Goths into the Empire.

The people called Huns, barely mentioned in ancient records, live beyond the sea of Azof, on the border of the Frozen Ocean, and are a race savage beyond all parallel. At the very moment of birth the cheeks of their infant children are deeply marked by an iron, in order that the hair, instead of growing at the proper season on their faces, may be hindered by the scars ; accordingly the Huns grow up without beards, and without any beauty. They all have closely knit and strong limbs and plump necks ; they are of great size, and low legged, so that you might fancy them two-legged beasts, or the stout figures which are hewn out in a rude manner with an ax on the posts at the end of bridges.

They are certainly in the shape of men, however uncouth, and are so hardy that they neither require fire nor well fla- vored food, but live on the roots of such herbs as they get in the fields, or on the half-raw flesh of any animal, which they merely warm rapidly by placing it between their own thighs and the backs of their horses.

They never shelter themselves under roofed houses, but avoid them, as people ordinarily avoid sepulchers as things

35

10. Descrip- tion by

Kaicelliatis of the HUBS and of the movements of the Goths,

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The Goths decide to cross the Danube.

not fit for common use. Nor is there even to be found among them a cabin thatched with reeds ; but they wander about, roaming over the mountains and the woods, and accustom themselves to bear frost and hunger and thirst from their very cradles. . . .

There is not a person in the whole nation who cannot remain on his horse day and night. On horseback they buy and sell, they take their meat and drink, and there they recline on the narrow neck of their steed, and yield to sleep so deep as to indulge in every variety of dream.

And when any deliberation is to take place on any weighty matter, they all hold their common council on horseback. They are not under kingly authority,1 but are contented with the irregular government of their chiefs, and under their lead they force their way through all obstacles. . . .

None of them plow, or even touch a plow handle, for they have no settled abode, but are homeless and lawless, perpet- ually wandering with their wagons, which they make their homes ; in fact, they seem to be people always in flight. . . .

This active and indomitable race, being excited by an unrestrained desire of plundering the possessions of others, went on ravaging and slaughtering all the nations in their neighborhood till they reached the Alani. . . .

[After having harassed the territory of the Alani and having slain many of them and acquired much plunder, the Huns made a treaty of friendship and alliance with those who survived. The allies then attacked the German peoples to the west] In the meantime a report spread far and wide through the nations of the Goths, that a race of men, hitherto unknown, had suddenly descended like a whirlwind from the lofty mountains, as if they had risen from some secret recess of the earth, and were ravaging and destroying everything which came in their way.

And then the greater part of the population resolved to flee and to seek a home remote from all knowledge of the new

1 The Huns in AttHays time had a king and appear to have lived in bouses aad huts. See account given by Priscus below, pp. 46 sqq.

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37

News of the ioo¥€ incuts of the Goths reaches the

barbarians; and after long deliberation as to where to fix their abode, they resolved that a retreat into Thrace was the most suitable for these two reasons : first of all, because it is a district most fertile in grass ; and secondly, because, owing to the great breadth of the Danube, it is wholly separated from the districts exposed to the impending attacks of the invaders.

Accordingly, under the command of their leader Alavivus, they occupied the banks of the Danube, and sent ambassa- dors to the emperor Valens, humbly entreating to be received by him as his subjects. They promised to live quietly, and to furnish a body of auxiliary troops if necessary.

While these events were taking place abroad, the terrify- ing rumor reached us that the tribes of the north were planning new and unprecedented attacks upon us ; and that over the whole region which extends from the country of Roman go*- the Marcomanni and Quadi to Pontus, hosts of barbarians enunent composed of various nations, which had suddenly been driven by force from their own countries, were now, with all their families, wandering about in different directions on the banks of the river Danube.

At first this intelligence was lightly treated by our people, because they were not in the habit of hearing of any wars in those remote districts till they were terminated either by victory or by treaty.

But presently the belief in these occurrences grew stronger and was confirmed by the arrival of ambassadors, who, with prayers and earnest entreaties, begged that their people, thus driven from their homes and now encamped on the other side of the river, might be kindly received by us.

The affair now seemed a cause of joy rather than of fear, according to the skillful flatterers who were always extolling and exaggerating the good fortune of the emperor. They congratulated him that an embassy had come from the farthest corners of the earth, unexpectedly offering him a large body of recruits ; and that, by combining the strength of his own people with these foreign forces, he would have an army absolutely invincible. They observed further that the

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WithValens1 permission great num- bers of Goths pour into the Empire.

The Goths

are misused by the

payment for military reinforcements, which came in every year from the provinces, might now be saved and accumu- lated in his coffers and form a vast treasure of gold.

Full of this hope, he sent forth several officers to bring this ferocious people and their carts into our territory. And such great pains were taken to gratify this nation which was destined to overthrow the Empire of Rome, that not one was left behind, not even of those who were stricken with mortal disease. Moreover, so soon as they had obtained permission of the emperor to cross the Danube and to culti- vate some districts in Thrace, they poured across the stream day and night, without ceasing, embarking in troops on board ships and rafts and on canoes made of the hollow trunks of trees. . . .

In this way, through the turbulent zeal of violent people, the ruin of the Roman Empire was brought about. This, at all events, is neither obscure nor uncertain, that the unhappy officers who were intrusted with the charge of conducting the multitude of the barbarians across the river, though they repeatedly endeavored to calculate their numbers, at last abandoned the attempt as hopeless. The man who would wish to ascertain the number might as well (as the most illustrious of poets says) attempt to count the waves in the African sea, or the grains of sand tossed about by the zephyrs. . . .

At that period, moreover, the defenses of our provinces were much exposed, and the armies of barbarians spread over them like the lava of Mount Etna. The imminence of our danger manifestly called for generals already illus- trious for their past achievements in war ; but nevertheless, as if some unpropitious deity had made the selection, the men who were sought out for the chief military appointments were of tainted character. The chief among them were Lupicinus and Maximus, — the one being count of Thrace, the other a leader notoriously wicked, — both men of great igooraace and rashness.

:, Jtod tfeeir treacherous oovetousness was the cause of all oar disasters. „ . . For when the barbarians who had been

The German Invasiojis

39

conducted across the river were in great distress from want of provisions, those detested generals conceived the idea of a most disgraceful traffic $ and having collected dogs from all quarters with the most insatiable rapacity, they exchanged them for an equal number of slaves, among whom were several sons of men of noble birth. . . .

After narrating the events which led up to the battle of Adrianople, and vividly describing the battle itself, Ammianus thus records the death of the emperor Valens:

So now, with rage flashing in their eyes, the barbarians Battfeof pursued our men, who were in a state of torpor, the warmth of their veins having Heserted them. Many were slain with- out knowing who smote them ; some were overwhelmed by the mere weight of the crowd which pressed upon them; and some died of wounds inflicted by their own comrades. The barbarians spared neither those who yielded nor those who resisted. . . .

Just when it first became dark, the emperor, being among a crowd of common soldiers as it was believed, — for no one said either that he had seen him or been near him, — was mortally wounded with an arrow, and, very shortly after, died, though his body was never found. For as some of the enemy loitered for a long time about the field in order to plunder the dead, none of the defeated army or of the inhabitants ventured to go to them.

II. How THE WEST GOTHS BECAME ARIAN CHRISTIANS; HOW ALARIC TOOK ROME IN 410

The following account is by Jordanes,^ himself a Goth, 11. j«a»a but unlike most of his people not an Arian, but an ortho- dox Christian. He wrote about 551, nearly a century and a half after the events which he here narrates :

The West Goths [terrified by the victories of the Huns ity. over the East Goths] requested Emperor Valens to grant

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them a portion of Thrace or Moesia south of the Danube in which to settle. They promised to obey his laws and commands and, in order still further to gain his confidence, they engaged to become Christians if only the emperor would send to them teachers who knew their language. When Valens heard this he readily agreed to a plan which he might himself have proposed. He received the Goths into Moesia and erected them, so to speak, into a sort of rampart to protect his empire against the other tribes.

Now, since Valens was infected with the heresy of the Arians and had closed all the churches which belonged to our party [i.e. the orthodox], he sent the Goths preachers of his own infection. These missionaries poured out for the newcomers, who were inexperienced and ignorant, the poison of their own false faith. So the West Goths were made Arians rather than Christians by Emperor Valens. Moreover, in their enthusiasm they converted their kinsmen, the East Goths and the Gepidae, and taught them to respect this heresy. They invited all nations of their own tongue everywhere to adopt the creed of this sect.

We have seen how, according to Ammianus Marcel- linus, the forces of the emperor maltreated the poor Goths and drove them to revolt.

When news of this reached the emperor Valens at Antioch, he hastened with an army into Thrace. Here it came to a miserable battle in which the Goths conquered. The emperor fled to a peasant's hut not far from Adrianople. The Goths, according to the custom of the raging enemy, set fire to the buildings, having no idea that there was an emperor hidden in the little hut, and so he was consumed in his kingly pomp.1 This was in accordance with God's

1Zosimas, a pagan historian, probably of the fifth century, also reports that Valens perished in a hamlet which had been set on fire bytibe enemy. Jordanes* tone in speaking of the death of Valens is but <*fce^ tfee fiKwiy indications of the bitterness of feeling with which the €a*beik ChxisBans viewed the Arians,

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judgment that he should be burned with fire by them, since when they asked for the true faith he misled them with false teaching and changed for them the fire of love into the fire of hell.

After the great and glorious victory, the West Goths set themselves to cultivate Thrace and the Dacian river valley as if it were their native soil of which they had just gained possession.

[There they remained, hostile to the Empire, and a per- petual menace. Finally Theodosius the Great, the brave and stern, the wise and liberal, ended the war between the Goths and the Romans by a treaty. By his presents and his friendly bearing, he won the friendship of Athanaric, king of the West Goths, and invited him to go to Constanti- nople.]

When the West Goth entered the royal city he was astounded. " Now I see what I have often heard without believing — the glory of this great city/' Looking here and there, he admired the site of the city, and the number of ships, and the magnificent walls. He saw people of many nations, like a stream flowing from different sources into one fountain. He marveled at the martial array of the soldiers and exclaimed, "Doubtless the emperor is a god of this earth, and whoever has raised his hand against him is guilty of his own blood."

A few months later, Athanaric, upon whom the emperor heaped his favors, departed from this world, and the emperor, because of his affection for Athanaric, honored him almost more in death than he had done in life, gave him worthy burial, and was himself present beside the bier at the funeral.

After the death of Athanaric, all his army remained in the service of the emperor Theodosius, submitted to the Roman power, and formed, as it were, one body with its soldiers. They resembled the allies whom Constantine had had, who were called FocdtratL

After Theodosius, who cherished both peace and the Gothic people, had departed this life, his sons [Honorius and Arcadius], through their lives of indulgence, began to

The king of the West Goths visits Constanti- nople.

Alaric leads the West Gofosiatoo Italy,

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bring ruin down upon their empires and withdrew from their allies, the Goths, the accustomed gifts. The Goths soon grew disgusted with the emperors, and since they were fear- ful lest their bravery in war should decline by too long a period of peace, they made Alaric their king. ... So, since the said Alaric was chosen king, he took counsel with his fellows and declared to them that it was preferable to conquer a kingdom through one's own force rather than to live in peace under the yoke of strangers.

He thereupon took his army and advanced, during the consulate of Stilicho and Aurelianus, through Pannonia and Sirmium into Italy. This country was so completely deprived of forces that Alaric approached without opposition to the bridge over the Candiano, three miles from the imperial city of Ravenna. . . .

The Goths sent messengers to the emperor Honorius, who was at Ravenna, requesting that they might be per- mitted to settle quietly in Italy. Should they be allowed to do this, they would live as one people with the Romans ; other- wise they would try which people could expel the other, the victor to remain in control. But the emperor Honorius, fearing both suggestions, "took counsel with his senate how they might rid Italy of the Goths. He at last concluded to assign the distant provinces of Gaul and Spain to the West incorrect Goths.1 He had, indeed, already nearly lost these districts, for they had been devastated by an incursion of Genseric, king of the Vandals. If Alaric and his people could succeed in conquering the region, they might have it as their home.

[The Goths agreed to this, but on their way thither were treacherously attacked by Stilicho, the emperor's father-in- law (402). The Goths, however, -held their own in the battle

1 The brief account which Jordan es here gives of the eight or ten years that Alaric spent in northern Italy before finally marching upon Rome is probably incorrect. Historians naturally prefer to rely upon tfee pagan historian Zosimus, who probably lived a generation or two eaz&et ttsaa Jordanes and who gives a very detailed account of the mcmsneatsof tfee West Goths. He says nothing of the emperor's offer- ing GaaL and Spain to the barbarians-

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43

which followed. They turned back, full of wrath, towards Italy, and wasted the northern part of the peninsula during the following years ; then moved south into Tuscany.]

Finally they entered the city of Rome and sacked it at Alaric's command. They did not, however, set fire to the city, as is the custom of the wild peoples, and would not permit that any of the holy places should be desecrated. They then proceeded in'to Campania and Lucania, which they likewise plundered, and came then to Britii. . . .

Alaric, the king of the West Goths, also brought hither the treasures of all Italy which he had won by plunder, and determined to cross from here over to Sicily and thence to Africa, which would offer him a final abode. But a number of his ships were swallowed up by that fearful sea, and many were Injured ; for man is unable to carry out his wishes when they are opposed to God's will.

While Alaric, discouraged by this misfortune, was con- sidering what he should do, he was struck down by an early death and departed this world. His followers mourned the loss of him they had so dearly loved. They diverted the river Busento from its ordinary bed near the town of Con- sentia — this river, it may be added, brings salubrious water from the foot of the mountains to the town — and had a grave dug by captives in the middle of the channel. Here they buried Alaric, together with many precious objects. Then they permitted the water to return once more to its old bed. Moreover, in order that the place might never be found, they killed all those who had helped dig the grave.

The Goths transferred the rule to Atavulf, a relative of Alaric's, and a man of fine figure and lofty spirit, who, although he was not distinguished for his size, was remarkable for his figure and face. When Atavulf had assumed the rule he turned back again to Rome, and what had been left there from the first sack was now swept clean away, as a field might be devastated by grasshoppers. He robbed not only individuals of their wealth in Italy, but he also took that of the state, and Emperor Honorius was able in no way

Sack erf Rome by the West Goths, 410.

Jordanes telk of the death and burial of Alaric.

44

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12. St.

tements

tion wrought by tte bar- barians.

to restrain him.1 He even led away prisoner from Rome Placidia, the sister of Honorius, and daughter of Emperor Theodosius by his second wife.

[Later he married Placidia and strengthened the Gothic cause by this royal alliance. He then moved on to Gaul, where he engaged in a struggle with the other barbarians.]

The deep impression which the influx of barbarians

and t'ie SaC'C °* R°me ma^e uP°n One °* t'ie most ^s"

tinguished scholars of the time is apparent from several passages in the writings of St. Jerome (d. A.D. 420).

Nations innumerable and most savage have invaded all Gaul. The whole region between the Alps and the Pyre- nees, the ocean and the Rhine4 has been devastated by the Quadi, the Vandals, the Sarmati, the Alani, the Gepidae, the hostile Heruli, the Saxons, the Burgundians, the Ale- manni and the Pannonians. O wretched Empire ! Mayence, formerly so noble a city, has been taken and ruined, and in the church many thousands of men have been massacred.- Worms has been destroyed after a long siege. Rheims, that powerful city, Amiens, Arras, Speyer, Strasburg,2 — all have seen their citizens led away captive into Germany. Aquitaine and the provinces of Lyons and Narbonne, all save a few towns, have been depopulated; and these the sword threatens without, while hunger ravages within. I cannot speak witlj- out tears of Toulouse, which the merits of the holy Bishop Exuperius have prevailed so far to save from destruction. Spain, even, is in daily terror lest it perish, remembering the invasion of the Cimbri ; and whatsoever the other provinces have suffered once, they continue to suffer in their fear.

* This alleged second sack of Rome is probably a gross exaggeration, as will appear below. Jordanes is our sole authority for the strange burial of Alaric, and there is no particular reason to suppose that he is any nearer the truth in this matter than in the many instances where he can be shown to be in contradiction with more trustworthy writers.

* Tfee names of modern cities here used are not in all cases exact equivalents for the regions mentioned by Jerome.

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I will keep silence concerning the rest, lest I seem to despair of the mercy of God. For a long time, from the Black Sea to the Julian Alps, those things which are ours have not been ours ; and for thirty years, since the Danube boundary was broken, war has been waged in the very midst of the Roman Empire. Our tears are dried by old age. Except a few old men, all were born in captivity and siege, and do not desire the liberty they never knew. Who could believe this? How could the whole tale be worthily told? How Rome has fought within her own bosom not for glory, but for preservation — nay, how she has not even fought, but with gold and all her precious things has ransomed her life

Who could believe [Jerome exclaims in another passage] that Rome, built upon .the conquest of the whole world, would fall to the ground? that the mother herself would become the tomb of her peoples? that all the regions of the East, of Africa and Egypt, once ruled by the queenly city, would be filled with troops of slaves and handmaidens ? that to-day holy Bethlehem should shelter men and women of noble birth, who once abounded in wealth and are now beggars ?

In regard to the conflicting impressions which we 'derive from the writers of the time, Mr. Dill in his Roman Society makes the following sensible observations:

It is probable that the slaughter and material damage inflicted by Alaric have been exaggerated. The ancient authorities give very different accounts of the marten According to some, there was wholesale massacre, and sena- tors were tortured and put to death in large numbers ; the city was ravaged with fire, and most of the great works of art were destroyed. On the other hand, Orosius,1 writing only a few years after the sack, states that, while some buildings were burned down, Alaric gave orders to his sol- diers to content themselves with plunder and to abstain

i See below, p. 58.

13. DiH's criticism of our isfeff- matiaera regard ta tfcesacfc of Rome.

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from bloodshed. Jordanes even asserts that the Goths did not set fire to any buildings, and that by Alaric's command they confined themselves to pillage. The probabilities of the case are all in favour of the less tragic view of the catas- trophe. The three days, during which the Goths remained within the walls, were short enough for the collection of the enormous spoil which Alaric carried off in his southward march. . . . Even if Alaric had not been restrained by policy from a wholesale and wanton destruction of great masterpieces of art, his Goths could not have wrought such havoc in so short a time.

Rubhus But the most convincing argument is derived from the

Namatianus, poem of Rutilius Namatianus, who, as he r^ids a reluctant Lrty fifth*1"5 farewell [six years after Rome's sack by Alaric] to the city century, says which he regards with a passionate love and reverence, sees °£*jng of only the crowded monuments of her glory, and has his eyes tionoTRome dazzled by the radiance of her glittering fanes. . . . The by the Goths, temples of the gods are still standing in their dazzling radi- ance under the serene Italian sky. The cheers of the spec- tators in the circus reach his ears as his ship still lingers in the Tiber. He feels a passionate regret at quitting " this fair queen of the world," so mighty, so merciful, so bounte- ous, whose visible splendour is only the faint symbol of her worldwide and godlike sway. Certainly there is here no querulous and faint-hearted lamentation over a crushing and appalling disaster. The troubles of the time, referred to in a few vague phrases, are treated as merely vicissitudes of fortune, such as Rome has known before, and from which she has always risen with renewed vitality.

III. ATTILA AND THE HUNS

14. PriacTia A description has already been given of the Huns when they first drove the Goths into the Empire.1

Seventy years after the battle of Adrianople, Priscus,2

ita$. wfeo actually visited the Huns and conversed with Attila,

1 See above, pp. 35 sff. *See above, p. 30.

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received a very different impression of the people from that given by Ammianus Marcellinus. We may how- ever infer that the Huns had been a good deal changed by their contact with the European peoples.

Priscus and a companion, Maxim, were sent by the Ro- man government with messages to Attila in 448. Priscus first tells of their long journey from Constantinople to Scythia, the territory then occupied by the Huns north of the lower Danube. After some difficulty the mes- sengers obtained a first interview with Attila. Then, as the king of the Huns was about to move northward, he and his companion determined to follow him. After de- scribing the incidents of their journey and their arrival at a large village, Priscus continues:

Attila's residence, which was situated here, was said to Attila's fine be more splendid than his houses in other places. It was house- made of polished boards, and surrounded with wooden inclosures, designed not so much for protection as for appearance* sake. The house of the chieftain Onegesius was second only to the king's in splendor and was also encircled with a wooden inclosure, but it was not adorned with towers like that of the king. Not far from the inclos- ure was a large bath built by Onegesius, who was the second in power among the Scythians. The stones for this bath had been brought from Pannonia, for the barbarians in this district had no stones or trees, but used imported material

The next day I entered the inclosure of Attila's palace, bearing gifts to his wife, whose name was Kreka, She had three sons, of whom the eldest governed the Acatiri and the other nations who dwell in Pontic Scythia. Within the inclosures were numerous buildings, some of carved boards beautifully fitted together, others of straight planed beams, without carving, fastened on round wooden blocks which rose to a moderate height from the ground. Attila's wife lived here ; and, having been admitted by the barbarians at

48 Readings in European History

the door, I found her reclining on a soft couch. The floor of the room was covered with woolen mats for walking on. A number of servants stood round her, and maids sitting on the floor in front of her embroidered with colors linen cloths intended to be placed over the Scythian dress for 'ornament. Having approached, saluted her, and presented the gifts, I went out and walked to the other houses, where Attila was, and waited for Onegesius, who, as I knew, was with Attila. . . .

I saw a number of people advancing, and a great com- motion and noise, Attila' s egress being expected. And he came forth from the house with a dignified strut, looking round on this side and on that. He was accompanied by Onegesius, and stood in front of the house ; and many persons who had lawsuits with one another came up and received his judgment. Then he returned into the house and received ambassadors of barbarous peoples. . . . A banquet at [We were invited to a banquet with Attila at three Attila's. o'clock.] When the hour arrived we went to the palace, along with the embassy from the western Romans, and stood on the threshold of the hall in the presence of Attila. The cupbearers gave us a cup, according to the national custom, that we might pray before we sat down. Having tasted the cup, we proceeded to take our seats, all the chairs being ranged along the walls of the room on either side. Attila sat in the middle on a couch ; a second couch was set behind him, and from it steps led up to his bed, which was covered with linen sheets and wrought coverlets for ornament, such as Greeks and Romans used to deck bridal beds. The places on the right of Attila were held chief in honor ; those on the left, where we sat, were only second. . . .

[First the king and his guests pledged one another with the wine.] When this ceremony was over the cupbearers retired, and tables, large enough for three or four, or even more, to sit at, were placed next the table of Attila, so that eadi could take of the food on the dishes without leaving its seat Tbe attendant of Attila first entered with a dish

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49

full of meat, and behind him came the other attendants with bread and viands, which they laid on the tables. A luxurious meal, served on silver plate, had been made ready for us and the barbarian guests, but Attila ate nothing but meat on a wooden trencher. In everything else, too, he showed himself temperate ; his cup was of wood, while to the guests were given goblets of gold and silver. His dress, too, was quite simple, affecting only to be clean. The sword he carried at his side, the latchets of his Scythian shoes, the bridle of his horse were not adorned, like those of the other Scythians, with gold or gems or anything costly.

When the viands of the first course had been consumed, we all stood up, and did not resume our seats until each one, in the order before observed, drank to the health of Attila in the goblet of wine presented to him. We then sat down, and a second dish was placed on each table with eatables of another kind. After this course the same ceremony was observed as after the first. When evening fell torches were lit, and two barbarians coming forward in front of Attila sang songs they had composed, celebrating his victories and deeds of valor in war.

IV. How POPE LEO THE GREAT SAVED ROME FROM ATTILA

Prosper, a Christian chronicler, writing about' 455, gives the following simple account of Leo's famous inter- view with the king of the Huns three years before :

Now Attila, having once more collected his forces which 15. Pn»- had been scattered in Gaul [at the battle of Chalons], took ^^"^ his way through Pannonia into Italy. ... To the emperor meeting af and the senate and Roman people none of all the proposed keo tfee plans to oppose the enemy seemed so practicable as to send ^ttaatS*) legates to the most savage king and beg for peace. Our most blessed Pope Leo — trusting in the help of God, who never fe^ls the righteous in their trials — undertook the task, accom- panied by Avienus, a man of consular rank, and the prefect

Readings in European History

16. Later account of Leo's inter- mention. (Somewhat condensed.)

Trygetius. And the outcome was what his faith had fore- seen ; for when the king had received the embassy, he was so impressed by the presence of the high priest that he ordered his army to give up warfare and, after he had promised peace, he departed beyond the Danube.

In a life of Leo the Great by some later author, whose name is unknown to us, the episode as told by Prosper has been developed into a miraculous tale calculated to meet the taste of the time :

Attila, the leader of the Huns, who was called the scourge of God, came into Italy, inflamed with fury, after he had laid waste with most savage frenzy Thrace and Illyricum, Macedonia and Moesia, Achaia and Greece, Pannonia and Germany. He was utterly cruel in inflicting torture, greedy in plundering, insolent in abuse. ... He destroyed Aquileia from the foundations and razed to the ground those regal cities, Pavia and Milan ; he laid waste many other towns,1 and was rushing down upon Rome.

Then Leo had compassion on the calamity of Italy and Rome, and with one of the consuls and a large part of the Roman senate he went to meet Attila. The old man of harmless simplicity, venerable in his gray hair and his majestic garb, ready of his own will to give himself entirely for the defense of his flock, went forth to meet the tyrant who was destroying all things. He met Attila, it is said, in the neighborhood of the river Mincio, and he spoke to the grim monarch, saying: " The senate and the people of Rome, once conquerors of the world, now indeed vanquished, come before thee as suppliants. We pray for mercy and deliver- ance. O Attila, thou king of kings, thou couldst have no greater glory than to see suppliant at thy feet this people before whom once all peoples and kings lay suppliant. Thou hast subdued, O Attila, the whole circle of the lands which it was granted to the Romans, victors over all peoples, to

1 Tlas is, of course, an exaggeration. Attila does not seem to have destroyed the buildings, even in Milan and Pavia,

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conquer. Now we pray that thou, who hast conquered others, shouldst conquer thyself. The people have felt thy scourge; now as suppliants they would feel thy mercy."

As Leo said these things Attila stood looking upon his venerable garb and aspect, silent, as if thinking deeply. And lo, suddenly there were seen the apostles Peter and Paul, clad like bishops, standing by Leo, the one on the right hand, the other on the left. They held swords stretched out over his head, and threatened Attila with death if he did not obey the pope's command. Wherefore Attila was appeased by Leo's intercession, — he who had raged as one mad. He straightway promised a lasting peace and withdrew beyond the Danube.

V. CLOVIS AND THE FRANKS

The history of the Franks was written about a cen- n. Gregory tury after the time of Clovis by Gregory, bishop of Tours.

The following extracts give some notion of this valuable Mstoryof source, upon which a great part of our knowledge of the Merovingian period rests l :

At this time [A.D. 486] the army of Clovis pillaged many The incident churches, for he was still sunk in the errors of idolatry. The of thfi. vase soldiers had borne away from a church, with all the other * 1SSOnS* ornaments of the holy ministry, a vase of marvelous size and beauty. The bishop of this church sent messengers to the king, begging that if the church might not recover any other of the holy vessels, at least this one might be restored. The king, hearing these things, replied to the messenger: " Follow thou us to Soissons, for there all things that have been acquired are to be divided. If the lot shall give me this vase, I will do what the bishop desires."

When he had reached Soissons, and all the booty had been placed in the midst of the army, the king pointed to this vase, and said : " I ask you, O most valiant warriors, not to refuse to me the vase in addition to my rightful part"

1 See below, p. 60.

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Those of discerning mind among his men answered, " O glorious king, all things which we see are thine, and we our- selves are subject to thy power ; now do what seems pleasing to thee, for none is strong enough to resist thee." When they had thus spoken one of the soldiers, impetuous, envious, and vain, raised his battle-ax aloft and crushed the vase with it, crying, " Thou shalt receive nothing of this unless a just lot give it to thee." At this all were stupefied.

The king bore his injury with the calmness of patience, and when he had received the crushed vase he gave it to the bishop's messenger; but he cherished a hidden wound in his breast. When a year had passed he ordered the whole army to come fully equipped to the Campus Martius and show their arms in brilliant array. But when he had reviewed them all he came to the breaker of the vase, and said to him, " No one bears his arms so clumsily as thou ; for neither thy spear, nor thy sword, nor thy ax is ready for use." And seizing his ax, he cast it on the ground. And when the soldier had bent a little to pick it up the king raised his hands and crushed his head with his own ax. " Thus," he said, " didst thou to the vase at Soissons."

The conver- [Clovis took to wife Clotilde, daughter of the king of the sionofCtovis Burgundians. Now Clotilde was a Christian. When her first son was born] she wished to consecrate him by bap- tism, and begged her husband unceasingly, saying, "The gods whom thou honorest are nothing; they cannot help themselves nor others; for they are carved from stone, or from wood, or from some metal. The names which you have given them were of men, not of gods, — like Saturn, who is said to have escaped by flight, to avoid being deprived of his power by his son ; and like Jupiter himself, foul perpe- trator of all uncleanness. . . . What power have Mars and Mercury ever had? .They are endowed with magical arts rather than divine power.

"The God who should be worshiped is he who by his word created from nothingness the heavens and the earth, tfee sea and all that in them is ; he who made the sun to

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shine and adorned the sky with stars ; who filled the waters with creeping things, the land with animals, the air with winged creatures ; by whose bounty the earth is glad with crops, the trees with fruit, the vines with grapes; by whose hand the human race was created ; whose bounty has ordained that all things should give homage and service to man, whom he created."

But when the queen had said these things, the mind of Clovis was not stirred to believe. He answered: " By the will of our gods all things are created and produced. Evi- dently your god can do nothing, and it is not even proved that he belongs to the race of gods."

Meantime the faithful queen presented her son for bap- tism. She had the church adorned with tapestry, seeking to attract by this splendor him whom her exhortations had not moved. But the child whom they called Ingomer, after he had been born again through baptism, died in his white baptismal robe. Then the king reproached the queen bit- terly. " If the child had been consecrated in the name of my gods he would be alive still. But now, because he is baptized in the name of your god, he cannot live." . . .

After this another son was born to him, and called in baptism Clodomir. He fell very ill. Then the king said : " Because he, like his brother, was baptized in the name of Christ, he must soon die." But his mother prayed, and by God's will the child recovered.

The queen unceasingly urged the king to acknowledge the true God, and forsake idols. But he could not in any wise be brought to believe until a war broke out with the Alemanni. Then he was by necessity compelled to confess what he had before willfully denied.

It happened that the two armies were in battle, and there was great slaughter. Clovis1 army was near to utter destruction. He saw the danger ; his heart was stirred ; he was moved to tears, and he raised his eyes to heaven, say- ing : ** Jesus Christ, whom Clotilde declares to be the son of the living God, who it is said givest aid to the oppressed, and victory to those who put their hope in thee, I beseech the

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glory of thy aid. If thou shalt grant me victory over these enemies and I test that power which people consecrated to thy name say they have proved concerning thee, I will believe in thee and be baptized in thy name. For I have called upon my gods, but, as I have proved, they are far removed from my aid. So I believe that they have no power, for they do not succor those who serve them. Now I £all upon thee, and I long to believe in thee — all the more that I may escape my enemies."

When he had said these things, the Alemanni turned their backs and began to flee. When they saw that their king was killed, they submitted to the sway of Clovis, saying: " We wish that no more people should perish. Now we are thine/' When the king had forbidden further war, and praised his soldiers, he told the queen how he had won the victory by calling on the name of Christ.

Then the queen sent to the blessed Remigius, bishop of the city of Rheims, praying him to bring to the king the gospel of salvation. The priest, little by little and secretly, led him to believe in the true God, maker of heaven and earth, and to forsake idols, which could not help him nor anybody else.

But the king said : " Willingly will I hear thee, O father ; but one thing is in the way — that the people who follow me are not content to leave their gods. I will go and speak to them according to thy word."

When he came among them, the power of God went before him, land before he had spoken all the people cried out together: "We cast off mortal gods, O righteous king, and we are ready to follow the God whom Remigius tells us is immortal,"

These things were told to the bishop. He was filled with joy, and ordered the font to be prepared. The streets were shaded with embroidered hangings ; the churches were adorned with white tapestries, the baptistery was set in order, the odor of balsam spread around, candles gleamed, all tl*e temple of the baptistery was filled with divine

... Tihen th** Irincr r-rfc-nf^ccprl f-K** C±r\A ^m-nii-w-vtia.*-**- ;*-»

The German Invasions. .55

the Trinity, and was baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, and was anointed with the sacred chrism with the sign of the cross of Christ. Of his army there were baptized more than three thousand.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

General Accounts: ADAMS, Civilisation during the Middle Ages* A. Refer pp. 65-88 and 137-146; BRYCE, Holy Roman Empire* Chapter III, ences. pp. 1 4-33 j HENDERSON, Germany in the Middle Ages, pp. 15-40; DILL, Roman Society, Book IV, Chapter I, pp. 285-302, " The General Char- acter of the Invasions " ; Chapter II, pp. 303-345, " Roman Feeling about the Invasions"; Chapter III, pp. 342-382, "Relations of the Romans with the Invaders."

The West Goths : EMEB.TON, Introduction to the Middle Ages* Chapter III, pp. 22-34; GIBBON, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (BURY'S edition), Vol. Ill, Chapter XXVI, pp. 69-132, " Cross- ing of the Eastern Frontier and Battle of Adrianople"; Vol. Ill, Chap- ters XXX-XXXI, pp. 240-356, on the Invasion of the West.

The Huns: EMERTON, pp. 41-47; GIBBON, Vol. Ill, Chapters XXXIV-XXXV, pp. 416-479.

Odoacer: EMERTON, pp. 48-52 ; GIBBON, Vol. IV, Chapter XXXVI, pp. 1-56 ; OMAN, European History, from 476 to grS, Chapter I, pp. i-iS.

The Ostrogoths : EMERTON, pp. 52-57; GIBBON, Vol. IV, Chapter XXXIX, pp. 170-203; OMAN, Chapter II, pp. 19-32.

Justinian : GIBBON, Vol. IV, Chapter XL, pp. 205-267, "Character and Policy"; Vol. IV, Chapters XLI and XLIII, pp. 270-338 and 388-431, on the Conquests in the West ; OMAN, Chapters V and VI, pp. 65-1 10.

The Lombards: EMERTON, pp. 57-59; GIBBON, Vol. V, Chapter XLV, first part, pp. 1-30 ; OMAN, pp. 180-198 and 272-288.

The Franks: ADAMS, Growth of the French Nation, pp. 22-38; EMERTON, pp. 60-72 ; GIBBON, Vol. IV, Chapter XXXVIII, pp. 98-120; OMAN, pp. 55-64, "Clovis"; pp. 111-127 and 158-180, "The Mero- vingians"; pp. 256-271, "Mayors of the Palace."

German Laws and Customs: ADAMS, Civilization, Chapter V, pp. 89-106; EMERTON, pp. 12-21 and 73-91 ; GIBBON, Vol. IV, Chapter XXXVIII, pp. 122-140; HENDERSON, Short History of Germany, pp. 1-21.

The Germania of TACITUS, Translations and Reprints* Vol. VI, No. 3. Selections from, in COLBY, Sources of English History* pp. 9-1 1 ; KENDALL, Source Book of English History, pp. 4-11.

56 Readings in European History

The Salic Law: HENDERSON, Historical Documents of the Middle Ages, pp. 176-189.

Formulae for Trials and Ordeals : HENDERSON, Historical Documents, pp. 314-319 j Translations and Reprints, Vol. IV, No. 4, pp. 3-22.

B. Addi- tional read- ing in English.

English ver- sions of the

HODGKIN, Italy and her Invaders, 8 vols. The fullest and most scholarly treatment in English, with many valuable extracts from sources. Dynasty of Theodosius and Theodoric the Goth. Two useful books by the same author, giving in brief form some of the results reached in his larger work.

VILLARI, The Barbarian Invasions of Italy, 2 vols. An animated and graphic narrative of events down to Charlemagne, with extracts from the sources, intended to interest the general reader.

GREGOROVIUS, History of Rome in the Middle Ages, Vols. I and II. An able discussion of the period, particularly as regards the city of Rome.

BURY, History of the Later Roman Empire, 2 vols. The best sur- vey of conditions in the Empire, especially in the East.

McCABE, St. Augustine, His Life and Times. An attractive and sympathetic sketch of the great church father and his contempo- raries.

AMMIANUS MARCELLINUS, History of Rome?- translated by Yonge (I?ohn Library).

ST. AUGUSTINE, The City of God.

Examples of the charming letters of Apollinaris Sidonius are given by Hodgkin, Vol. II, pp. 304-373 (see below, pp. 58 sqq.).

The Letters of Cassiodorus? translated by Hodgkin, London, 1886.

Materials ' advanced

WlETERSHElM, Gcschichte der Vblkerwanderung^ 2 vols., Leipzig, n. d. (1880?). This second edition has been completely recast and revised by Felix Dahn, who has devoted his life to this field of history.

Volume I deals with the Romans and barbarians before the coming of the Huns. The second volume, which takes np the invasions of the Goths, Franks, etc., with its critical notes and exhaustive bibliography, is certainly the best guide to the period for the advanced student.

DAHN'S own voluminous Urgeschichte der germanischen und romani- schen Volker^ vols., 1881-1889 (Oncken's series), covering the early his- tory of the Germans and their movements to the death of Charlemagne, is in general parallel to Hodgkin. It is supplied with illustrations and

The German Im'asions

57

GEBHARDT, Handbuck derdentschen Geschichte^ 2 vols., 2ded., 1901,15 a very condensed history of Germany, — a species of elaborate syllabus prepared by a number of specialists, who give full references to the latest monographs and discussions. It devotes a good deal of space to the Germans before and during the invasions.

FUSTEL DE CoULANGES, Histoire des institutions politiques de ?an- cienne France^ Vol. II, " L'invasion germardque et la fin de Temp'tre," Paris, 1891. A brilliant statement of fresh investigations by which the author sought to prove that France owed much more to the Romans and much less to the German barbarians than German scholars had admitted.

Histoire de France depziis Us origins* jusqifa la Revolution, edited by LAVISSE, Vol. II, Part I (1903), is the most recent and readable gen- eral review of the Merovingian period.

The laws of the various German peoples — Franks, West Goths, Burgundians, Lombards, etc, — which were written down during the invasions and afterwards, throw a great deal of light upon the customs, institutions, and ideals of the barbarians. The most complete but not very critical texts of these laws are to be found in the Monumenta.

Of the histories of law and institutions which make use of this mate- rial, the clearest and most available are : ESMEIN, Cours ilementaire d*histoire du droit fran$ai$, 4th ed., Paris, 1901, 10 fr,; R. SCHRODER, Lehrbuck der deutschen Rcchtsgesckickte, 4th ed., Leipzig, 1902, M. 22 ; VlOLLET, Histoire des institutions politiques et administratiz'es de la France^ 3 vols., Paris, 1890-1903. Pleasantly written and supplied with plentiful references. In these works one finds incorporated such inves- tigations as those of Waltz and Brunner, who have written exhaustive works on the institutions of the Frankish period.

The sources of information for the long period of four hundred years which elapsed between the battle of Adrianople and the accession of Charlemagne are very meager and unsatisfactory.

Gibbon, after recounting the first great victory of the Goths over the Roman army, as described by Ammianus Marcellinus, says : " It is not without the most sincere regret that I must now take leave of an accurate and faithful guide, who has composed the history of his own times with- out indulging the passions which usually affect the mind of a contem- porary. Ammianus Marcellinus, who terminates his useful work with the defeat and death of Valens, recommends the more glorious subject of the ensuing reign to the youthful vigour and eloquence of the rising generation. The rising generation was not disposed to accept his advice or to imitate his example ; and in the study of the reign of Theodosius

Unsatisfac- tory charac- ter of the sources for the barba- rian inva- sions.

Gibbon OQ Ammiaaus

Readings in European History

Augustine's City of God.

Orosius and his History directed against the Pagans.

Salvian's Government of God.

ApoHinaris Sidontas and. hislattos.

we are reduced to illustrate the partial narrative of Zosimus 1 by the obscure hints of fragments and chronicles, by the figurative style of poetry or panegyric, and by the precarious assistance of the ecclesiasti- cal writers who, in the heat of religious faction, are apt to despise the profane virtues of sincerity and moderation. Conscious of these disad- vantages, which will continue to involve a considerable portion of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, I shall proceed with doubtful and timorous steps." 2

Instigated by the capture of Rome by Alaric and the West Goths, ST. AUGUSTINE composed his famous work, The City ofGod^ to prove that the disaster could not, as the pagans urged, be reasonably attributed to the anger of the heathen gods who had been deserted for the God of the Christians.

OROSIUS, a disciple and ardent admirer of Augustine, undertook further to confound the pagans by reviewing the whole history of the past with the aim of showing that mankind had in all ages suffered from terrible calamities and disasters. Human trouble was no new thing ; so it was absurd, he maintained, to cast the blame for the dis- orders of the time upon the Christians and their religion. His Seven Books of History directed against the Pagans was one of the most popu- lar books of the Middle Ages and greatly affected later writers. The facts were, however, selected and presented with the purpose of proving his gloomy thesis, and only the latter chapters of the work, which closes with the year 417, have any historical value, for they relate to the writer's own time, about which little is known.

There is a cheap and excellent edition of Orosius published by Teub- ner, 1889. The work is to be found in MIGNE, Patrologia Latina, Vol. XXXI, and, better, in the Corpus scriptorum ecclesiasticorum Lati- norum, Vol. V.

A specimen has already been given (see pp. 28 sqq. above) of SALVIAN'S Eight Books on the Government of God, written about 450. This is not a history, nor an impartial description of the social conditions of the time, since the writer is tempted to paint them in too dark 'colors, and, conversely, to give too cheerful a view of the habits and conduct of the barbarians, whom he believed God had sent to punish the civilized world for its monstrous iniquities.

APOLLINARIS SIDONIUS, an amiable contemporary of Salvian's, took a much less gloomy view of the situation than he. The ancestors of

* See above, p. 42, note.

* Bqry>s edition, VoL III, p. 122. An amusing but none the less valuable deatrnciation «f tfee sources for the period of the invasions may be found in

N, Italy axd her Invaders, VoL II, pp. 299-305.

The German Invasions

59

Sidonius had held high offices under the Roman emperors. He was born in Lyons about 430. He received a good education, made many friends, became bishop of Averni, died of a fever about 489, and left to posterity a great number of letters which give a lively idea of the world in which he lived.

«' Sometimes we think of the hundred years between Theodosius and Theodoric as wholly filled with rapine and bloodshed. Sometimes we carry back into the fifth century the thick darkness which hung over the intellectual life of Merowingian France or Lombard Italy. In both these estimates we are mistaken. A careful perusal of the three volumes of the letters and poems of Sidonius reveals to us the fact that in Gaul, at any rate, the air still teemed with intellectual life, that authors were still writing, amanuenses still transcribing, friends complimenting or criticising, and all the cares and pleasures of literature filling the minds of large classes of men just as though no empires were sinking and no strange nationalities were suddenly rising around them" (HoDGKiN, Italy and her Invaders, Vol. II, p. 305). For an extract from a letter of Sidonius, see below, pp. 1 50 sg,

The numerous Lives of the saints, although a very uncritical kind of biography, are sometimes helpful to the historical student. The best known of those for the fifth century is the Life of Severinus (d. 482), a missionary who labored in Noricum among the Germans on the Danube. His biography was prepared by his disciple Eugisippus in 511. (Text in the Afonumenta Germaniae Historica. New edition in the octavo edition of the Monumenta; translation in the Geschichtschreiber der deut- schen Vorzeit?)

CASSIODORUS (ca. 477-ra. 57o),Theodoric's minister, was the chief liter- ary promoter of the sixth century. He edited a Tripartite History made up of extracts from three ecclesiastical historians, — Sozomenus, Socrates, and Theodoret, — who had written in Greek a hundred years before. This compilation comes down to 441. Cassiodorus also wrote a history of the Goths, which has unfortunately been lost. But most important of all is his own vast correspondence, which forms an invaluable source for the period. (Text of the Letters, Variorum (fpistalarvm) L&ri JT/7, edited by Mommsen in the Monumenta. Hodgkin has published a condensed English translation.)

We have an abridgment of Cassiodorus' lost History of the Gotks made by the illiterate Jordanes about 551. Here for the first time the ancient religious legends of the Germans and the tales of their heroes found their way into Latin. (See above, pp. 39 sqg.)

i For a description of the Monumenta and its various divisions and offshoots, see below, pp. 262 sq.

Lives of the saints, especially that of Severinus.

Cassiodoms,

Hisforia

Trifarttia.

Jordaaes.

6o

Readings in European History

Procopius and his history of the -wars of Justinian.

Gregory of Tours and his Ten Books of Prankish History.

One historical work at least was produced in the sixth century which possesses some of the fine traits of the classical Greek writers. PROCO- PIUS had little in common with the crude and unlettered Jordanes. In his History of his Own Time, which closes with the year 559, he gives an excellent account of Justinian's wars with the Persians, Goths, and Vandals. (See Bury's Gibbon, Vol. IV, p. 5 1 3.) (Procopius is rather inac- cessible. It is published with a Latin translation in the Corpus scrip- torum historiae Bysantinae, Bonn, 1833-1838. A new edition of the Gothic wars may be had with an Italian translation by Compare tti, Rome, 1895 '•*?•* a complete edition, edited by Haury, is announced by Teubner.)

As Cassiodorus was spending his last days in a monastery of southern Italy, where he brought his long life to an end, GREGORY OF TOURS (540-594) was beginning his celebrated history of the Franks, without which we should know practically nothing of Clovis and the earlier Merovingian period. Gregory's position as bishop of Tours gave him a very important place in the Frankish kingdoms, and he had ample opportunity to become acquainted with prominent men, to familiarize himself with public affairs, and to talk with the many pilgrims who flocked to the revered shrine of St. Martin of Tours.

The first of his Ten Books of Prankish History hastily reviews the history of the world down to the death of St. Martin of Tours in 397. The two following books deal with Clovis and his successors. The remaining books, constituting the great body of the work and bringing the story down to 591, are really a history of his own time. Here Gregory made use apparently almost altogether of oral tradition and his own observations, for he himself must have witnessed, or had personal knowledge of, many of the things which he narrates.

Gregory had little knowledge of the ancient writers, as he himself freely confesses; his language is grammatically very incorrect, but is simple and direct, and is supposed by some to have nearly approached the spoken Latin of the period. As an ardent orthodox churchman, he hated the Arian Burgundians and West Goths, and too freely condoned the treacherous and bloody deeds of Clovis and others, whom he held to be God's instruments for the extension of the true Church. Yet in spite of his ignorance and his enthusiasm for his particular form of Christianity, Gregory's book remains the chief and almost sole historical monument of the Merovingian period. Moreover, he rarely fails to gain his readers' confidence by his unmistakable sincerity and his directness and freedom from artificiality. (Editions in the Monumenta Gemianiae ; also in the Collection de Textes pour servir b Fltude de

The Gentian Invasions

61

Fkistoire, 1886-1893. Translation in Gcschichtsckreiber. The text with a French translation is published by the Societe de 1'histoire de France.)

The only historical work dealing with the Franks in the seventh century which has come down to us is that which passes for convenience under the name of FREDEGARIUS THE SCHOOLMASTER, although there is no reason to suppose that a man of that name wrote it. Indeed, three writers who probably lived in Burgundy would seem to have been responsible for the only valuable part of the work, which covers the period from Gregory of Tours to the year 660. In the following century, under the inspiration of the brother of Charles Martel, the chronicle of Fredegarius was continued by three other successive writers, who brought it down to the year 768. (Text in the JTonu- menta, in Geschichtschreiber^ and Guizot, Collection de Jlemoires.)

The Lombards found their historian in PAULUS WARNEFRIDI, com- monly called Paul the Deacon, bom about 725 in northern Italy. He was teacher and friend of the Lombard princess Adelperga and became so distinguished as an historian that Charlemagne summoned him to join the literary circle of his court. His history of the Lombards closes with the year 744. (In the Monument* ; also in the octavo edition of the Monumenta and in the Geschichtschreiber^

Full accounts of the sources mentioned above and of the other materials will be found hi Wattenbach and in Molinier (see above, p. n). For BEDE'S History of the English Church 'and The Lrves of the Saints which throw light on the conversion of the Germans, see close of Chapter V.

The imagi- nary school- master Fredegarius and his chronicle.

Faulus Dia- conus (d. fa. 800;, and his history erf the Lom- bards.

CHAPTER IV

Threefold nature of the papal claims.

Peter's sojourn at Rome.

THE RISE OF THE PAPACY

I. THE BISHOP OF ROME AND THE HEADSHIP OF THE CHURCH

The claim 6f the bishop of Rome to be the divinely ordained head of the Christian Church has always rested upon three main assumptions : (i) that Peter was desig- nated by Christ as the chief of the apostles, (2) that Peter was the first bishop of Rome, and lastly (3) that he handed down to succeeding bishops of Rome the powers which he himself enjoyed. The following extracts illus- trate the nature of these claims and the arguments adduced in support of them.

In the New Testament there is indirect evidence of Peter's sojourn in Rome. The First Epistle of Peter closes with the words, " The church that is at Babylon . . . saluteth you," Since there is no reason to think that a Christian community existed at Babylon, it has generally been assumed that Rome is here meant. This appears to be a justifiable interpretation, for the early Christians were wont to denounce Rome as a very Babylon of wickedness.1

Very little has been preserved which casts any light on the position of the bishop of Rome for a century

1 Further evidence for Peter's presence in Rome is adduced from the "New Testament. See, among other writers, LANGEN, Geschichte der remischen. &trche, pp. 40 sqq.

62

The Rise of the Papacy 63

after Peter's death, which probably occurred during the persecution of the Christians under Nero (A.D. 64) or not long after.1

Irenaeus, who became bishop of Lyons in 177 and who died about 202, in a work directed against the vari- ous heresies which prevailed, emphasizes the purity and %tof the authority of the beliefs handed down in the Roman Rome. Church. He would put to confusion all those who dis- sented from the orthodox belief

by bringing forward that tradition derived from the apos- tles of the very great, the very ancient, and universally known church, founded and organized at Rome by the two most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul. This is the faith preached to men which comes down to our own times through the succession of the bishops. . . . And it is a matter of neces- sity that every church should agree with this church, on* account of its preeminent authority.2 . . .

1 About the year 95 a letter, ascribed to Clement — who, according to later tradition, was bishop of Rome — was dispatched from the Roman Church to that at Corinth. This speaks of the martyrdom of Peter and Paul, in enumerating the noble examples of Christian heroes tv furnished in our own generation." It also reproves the Corinthian Church for deposing certain churchmen, and so seems to assume a species of supe- riority. A few years later (probably in 107) Ignatius of Antioch wrote to the Church at Rome that he was on his way to the capital to suffer martyrdom. His letter begins : " To the church which is beloved and enlightened by the will of Him that willeth all things, . . . which presides in the place of the region of the Romans, worthy of God, worthy of honor, worthy of the highest happiness, worthy of praise, worthy of obtaining her every desire, worthy of being deemed holy, presiding in love, is named from Christ, and from the Father," etc. To some scholars these passages seem to indicate the early supremacy of the Roman Church. To others they appear too vague to prove more than a natural preeminence of the Christian community of the capital, -which had num- bered Peter and Paul among its many martyrs.

2 This rather vague and much discussed passage reads, Ad kanc enim ecdesiam propter potiorem principalitatem necesse est omnem eon- venire ecdesiam.

64.

Readings in European History

19. Tertul- Kan (ca.n5o-

CO. 220}

dwells upon tfee special

of the apos- tle ckorch

The blessed apostles, having founded and built up the church, committed the office of bishop into the hands of Linus. Of this Linus, Paul makes mention in the Epistles to Timothy. To him succeeded Anacletus ; and after him in the third place from the apostles, Clement was assigned the bishopric. This man, since he had seen the blessed apostles and had been conversant with them, might be said to have the preaching of the apostles still echoing in his ears and their traditions before his eyes. Nor was he alone in this, for there were still many remaining who had received instruc- tions from the apostles. In the time of this Clement, no small dissension having occurred among the brethren at Corinth, the Church in Rome dispatched a most powerful let- ter to the Corinthians,1 exhorting them to peace, renewing their faith, and declaring the tradition which it had lately received from the apostles. . . .

To this Clement succeeded Evaristus. Alexander fol- lowed Evaristus; then, sixth from the apostles, Sixtus was appointed ; after him Telesphorus, who was gloriously mar- tyred; then Hyginus; after him Pius ; then after him Ani- cetus. Soter having succeeded Anicetus, Eleutherius does now in the twelfth place from the apostles hold the inherit- ance of the episcopate. In this order and by this succes- sion, the ecclesiastical tradition from the apostles and the preaching of the truth have come down to us, and this is most abundant proof that there is one and the same vivify- ing faith which has now been preserved in the Church from the apostles until now and handed down in truth.

Tertullian, presbyter at Carthage, a vigorous writer of the second and early third century, thus speaks of the churches founded by the apostles :

Come now you who would profitably direct your curiosity toward the interests of your salvation, run over the apostolic churches in which the chairs of the apostles still preside in

3 See note i on preceding page.

The Rise of the Papacy 65

their places, where their own authentic letters are still read, bringing back their voice and the face of each. If you hap- pen to be near Achaia, you have Corinth ; if you are not far from Macedonia, you have Philippi and Thessalonica. If you can turn toward Asia, you have Ephesus. If you live near Italy, you have Rome, from whence comes the authority in our own case.

How happy is this church on which apostles poured forth all their teachings along with their blood! where Peter endures a passion like his Lord's! where Paul wins his crown in a death like John's, where the Apostle John was plunged — but uninjured — into boiling oil, and then sent to his island exile ! See what she has learned and taught and the fellowship she has enjoyed with even [our] churches in Africa.

Later Tertullian joined the sect of the Montanists, who Later Ter- were regarded as heretics by the Roman Church. In his

treatise "On Modesty" he protests scornfully against claims of the powers claimed by the bishop of Rome. He learns, of Rome, he says, that " the sovereign pontiff, that is, the bishop of bishops," has issued a certain edict of which he can in no way approve. He then proceeds to inquire whence the bishop of Rome "usurps" this right.

If because the Lord said to Peter, " upon this rock will I build my church,1' " to thee have I given the keys of the heavenly kingdom," or " whatsoever thou shalt have bound or loosed on earth shall be bound or loosed m the heavens," you, therefore, presume that the power of binding and loos- ing has come down to you, that is, to every church akin to Peter, what sort of man are you, subverting and wholly changing the manifest intention of the Lord, who conferred this right upon Peter personally. " On /to," he says, " will I build my church," and **I will give to thee the keys," not to the church ; and "whatsoever thou shalt have loosed or bound," not what they shall have loosed or bound.

66

Readings in European History

20. Cyprian on the danger of appeals to the bishop of Rome (252).

21. The Council of Nicsea mentions the bishop of Rome among the archbishops.

The attitude of Cyprian toward the bishop of Rome and the bishops in general has already been shown.1 There are, however, certain interesting passages in his letters in regard to the matter in hand. For example, certain persons having withdrawn from' the unity of the Church and set up a bishop of their own, Cyprian says of them :

They dare to appeal to the throne of Peter, and to the chief church whence priestly unity takes its source. . . . But we have all agreed — as is both fair and just — that every case should be heard there where the crime has been com- mitted; and a portion of the flock has been assigned to each individual pastor, which he is to rule and govern, hav- ing to give an account of his deeds to the Lord. It certainly behooves those over whom we are placed not to run about, nor to break up the harmonious agreement of the bishops with their crafty and deceitful rashness, but there to plead their cause, where they may be able to have both accusers and witnesses to their crime.

It was almost inevitable that the bishops in the vari- ous great cities of the Empire should be conceded a cer- tain preeminence over the bishops about them. In this way the office of archbishop, or metropolitan, developed. The first distinct, legal recognition of the rights of the archbishops is found in the famous sixth canon of the Council of Nicaea (325).

The old custom in Egypt, Libya, and the Pentapolis shall continue to be observed, so that the bishpp of Alexandria shall exercise authority over all these regions, for the bishop of Rome enjoys a similar right Similarly in Antioch and in the other provinces the churches shall retain their preroga- tives. Moreover let it be known that should any one have

1 See above, pp, 19 sqq.

The Rise of the Papacy 67

become bishop without the approval of the metropolitan, this great council has ordained that such an one shall not be regarded as a bishop. . . .

The council says nothing of a single head of the Distinction Church having jurisdiction over all the other bishops. JJ^J^ ** And here it is necessary to notice a very important but the bishop often neglected distinction between (i) the moral and religious supremacy accorded to the bishop of Rome, and (2) the recognition of his right to be the supreme of the director of the whole church government. As the head Church- of the venerated church at Rome, and as the successor of the two most glorious of the apostles, who had con- firmed with their blood the teachings which they had handed down to their successors, the bishop of Rome doubtless seemed to the prelates assembled at Nicaea, as he had seemed to Irenasus and Cyprian, chief among the bishops. Yet there is no indication in the acts of the Council of Nicaea that as an officer in the Church the bishop of Rome enjoyed any greater or wider jurisdic- tion than other metropolitans, such as the archbishop of Alexandria or of Antioch.

Nevertheless, the bishop of Rome was destined to be The Council recognized in the West both as spiritual and govern-

mental head of the Church. The Council of Sardika, condemned

bishops to

eighteen years after the Council of Nicaea, decreed that appeai to should any bishop believe that he had been unjustly condemned and deposed by a synod, he should have the privilege of appealing to the bishop of Rome, If the latter decided that the case should be reconsidered, he should order a new trial by other judges.

There is evidence that the Roman church and its bishops had from the earliest times been consulted by

68

Readings in European History

22. The decretal of

the first authentic example of a papal decree.

The bishop of Rome assumes his right to issue decrees bind- ing upon other bishops.

other churches when dissension arose, and that the rulings of Rome enjoyed the greatest authority. But the earliest extant example of an authoritative order addressed to the Church in general by a bishop of Rome is the famous " Decretal JJ1 of Pope Siricius, issued sixty years after the Council of Nicsea.

A bishop of Spain had submitted a number of ques- tions to the bishop of Rome. These Siricius decides in detail, and then closes his letter as follows :

I believe that I have now given a sufficient answer to the various questions which you have referred to the Roman church as to the head of your body. Now we would stimu- late you, our brother, more and more carefully to observe the canonsand adhere to the decretals l which have been ordained. Moreover, we would have you bring to the attention of all our fellow-bishops those things which we have written in reply to your questions, not only to those bishops who are within your dioceses, but to all the Carthaginians, Bseticans, Lusitanians, and Gallicians,2 as well as to those in the neigh- boring provinces. Let all the matters which have been duly settled by us be transmitted to them through letters from you. For although no priest of God is likely to remain in ignorance of the decrees of the Apostolic See and the vener- able decisions of the canons, it will be more expedient and more to the glory of the ancient station which you occupy if those general orders which I have addressed to you individu- ally should be brought through you to the attention of all our brethren. In this way those things which have been ordained by us with the utmost circumspection and caution, after due

1 The term *« decretal," applied to papal ordinances, is derived from epistola* decretales, i.e. letters which authoritatively established some point. The acts of the councils are usually called "canons," i.e. "rales."

* Sirichis is addressing the bishop of Tarragona. The regions here enumerated included the rest of the Spanish peninsula.

The Rise of the Papacy 69

deliberation and by no means hastily, shall be permanently observed, and thus all possibility of those excuses which might otherwise reach us shall be removed.

St. Jerome, however, in spite of the veneration which he often expressed for the Church of Rome, does not always appear to recognize the supremacy of the bishop of Rome over the other bishops.

The church at Rome is not to be considered as one thing 23. St. and the rest of the churches throughout the world as another. Jeromc <d- Those of Gaul and Britain, Africa, Persia, and India, as well ^titt^* as the various barbarous nations, adore one Christ and ofaiitfae observe a single rule of truth. If you are looking for author- ity, the world is surely greater than the city of Rome. Where- ever there is a bishop, whether at Rome or Eugubium, at Constantinople, Rhegium, or Alexandria, his rank and priest- hood are the same. Neither the power that riches bring nor the humility of poverty makes a bishop higher or lower in rank. All are successors of the apostles. . . , Why urge the custom of a single city?

Leo the Great gives the following clear statement of nature and grounds of the pope's claim to be head of the whole Church.

... A single person, Peter, is appointed from the whole 24. A ser- world as a leader in the calling of all peoples, and is placed above all the other apostles and the fathers of the Church. Although there are many priests among the people of God, headship, and many pastors, Peter should of right rule all of those whom Christ himself rules in the first instance. Great and marvelous, my dear brethren, is the participation in its own power which it has pleased the Divine Excellency to grant to this man. And such powers as it granted to other leaders in common with Peter were granted only through Peter. Our Lord, indeed, asked all the apostles what men said of him, but so long as it.was left to all to reply, so long was the hesitation

yo Readings in European History

of human ignorance clearly displayed. But when the opin- ion of the apostles was asked, he who was first in apostolic dignity was the first to reply; who when he had answered, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," Jesus said to him, "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jonah: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven " 1; — that is to say, thou art blessed for this reason, for my father has taught thee, neither has mere earthly opin- ion misled thee, but thou art instructed by a heavenly inspi- ration. ... I am the foundation than which none other can be established ; yet thou too art a rock \_pet cra] because thou art made firm by my strength, so that those things which I have in virtue of my power thou shalt have in common with me by participation. "And upon this rock I will build my church ; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." . . .

And he said to the blessed Peter, " I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven : and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven : and what- soever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." The right to this power passed also to the other apostles, and the provisions of this ordinance went forth to all the leaders of the Church. Still it was not in vain that what was made known to all was especially recommended to one. For this power was intrusted expressly to Peter, since Peter was placed as a model before all the rulers of the Church. Peter's prerogative remains and everywhere his judgment goes forth in equity. For never is severity too great nor forgiveness too lax where nothing is bound nor loosed except the blessed Peter bind or loose it.

Just before his passion, which was about to shake the apostles* constancy, the Lord said to Simon, " Simon, Simon, behold, Satan asked to have you, that he might sift you as wheat: but I made supplication for thee, that thy faith fail not : and do thou, when once thou hast turned again, stab- lish thy brethren," 2 that you should not enter into tempta- tion. The danger of the temptation to yield to fear was

1 Matthew xvi. 16-17. 2 Lake xxii. 31-32.

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common to all the apostles and all alike needed the aid of divine protection, since the devil desired to confound and ruin them all. Yet the Lord took special care of Peter and prayed especially that Peter might have faith, as if the state of the others would be more secure if the mind of their chief was not overcome. In Peter, therefore, the strength of all was confirmed and the aid of divine grace so ordered that the strength which was granted to Peter by Christ was in turn transmitted through Peter to the apostles.

Since, therefore, beloved brethren, we behold this protec- tion divinely appointed to us, we may properly and justly rejoice in the merits and dignity of our leader, sending up thanks to our eternal King and Redeemer, our Lord Jesus Christ, for giving such power to him whom he made the head of the whole Church : so that if anything, even in our own days, is rightly done by us and rightly ordained, it should be properly attributed to the influence and guidance of him to whom it was said: "When once thou hast turned again, stablish thy brethren." To whom, moreover, his Lord, after his resurrection, when Peter had three times professed his eternal love, said mystically three times, " Feed my sheep," l Like a faithful shepherd, he has beyond a doubt fulfilled his Lord's command, confirming us by his exhortations, and never ceasing to pray for us that we be not overcome by any temptation. . . .

[Elsewhere Leo says :] Although the priests enjoy a com- Leo on the mon dignity, they are not all on the same footing, since even among the blessed apostles, who were alike in honor, there was a certain distinction in authority. AH were alike chosen, but it was given to one that he should be preeminent among the others. Upon this model the distinction among the bishops is based, and it is salutarily provided that all should not claim the right to do all things, but in each province there should be one who should have the first word among his brethren. Again, in the greater cities others are appointed to greater responsibilities. Through these the oversight of

1 John xxi.

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25. The edict of the emperor Valentinian recognizing the suprem- acy of the bishop of Rome (445).

26. Letter of Pope GelasiusI to Emperor Aaastasius on the

eftfre spiritual

the whole Church is concentrated in one see, that of Peter, and from this head there should never be any dissent.

The following edict was issued by the western emperor, during Leo's pontificate :

Since, then, the primacy of the Apostolic See is estab- lished by the merit of St. Peter (who is the chief among the bishops), by the majesty of the city of Rome, and finally by the authority of a holy council,1 no one, without inexcusable pre- sumption, may attempt anything against the authority of that see. Peace will be secured among the churches if every one recognize his ruler.

[After a reference to the independent action of certain prelates of Gaul, the edict continues.] Lest ^even a slight commotion should arise in the churches, or 'the religious order be disturbed, we herewith permanently decree that not only the bishops of Gaul, but those of the other prov- inces, shall attempt nothing counter to ancient custom with- out the authority of the venerable father \_papa\ of the Eternal City. Whatever shall be sanctioned by the author- ity of the Apostolic See shall be law to them and to every one else ; so that if one of the bishops be summoned to the judgment of the Roman bishop and shall neglect to appear, he shall be forced by the moderator2 of his province to present himself. In all respects let the privileges be main- tained which our deified predecessors have conferred upon the Roman church.

The pope's view of the natural superiority of the spir- itual over the temporal power finds a clear expression in the following remarkable letter of Gelasius I (494).

. . . There are two powers, august Emperor, by which this world is chiefly ruled, namely, the sacred authority of the priests and the royal power. Of these, that of the priests is the more weighty, since they have to render an account for even the kings of men in the divine judgment. You are 1 That of Sardika : see above, p. 67. 2 An imperial official.

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also aware, dear son, that while you are permitted honorably to rule over human kind, yet in things divine you bow your head humbly before the leaders of the clergy and await from their hands the means of your salvation. In the reception and proper disposition of the heavenly mysteries you rec- ognize that you should be subordinate rather than superior to the religious order, and that in these matters you depend on their judgment rather than wish to force them to follow your will.

If the ministers ©f religion, recognizing the supremacy granted you from heaven in matters affecting the public order, obey your laws, lest otherwise they might obstruct the course of secular affairs by irrelevant considerations, with what readiness should you not yield them obedience to whom is assigned the dispensing of the sacred mysteries of religion. Accordingly, just as there is no slight danger in the case of the priests if they refrain from speaking when the service of the divinity requires, so there is no little risk for those who disdain — which God forbid — when they should obey. And if it is fitting that the hearts of the faithful should submit to all priests in general who properly administer divine affairs, how much the more is obedience due to the bishop of that see which the Most High ordained to be above all others, and which is consequently dutifully honored by the devotion of the whole Church.

II. GREGORY THE GREAT AND HIS TIMES

Times of emergency call forth great men — men at least, 27. if not great in relation to the true intellectual, moral, and spiritual dignity of man, great in relation to the state and to the necessities of their age; engrossed by the powerful and dominant principles of their time, and bringing to the advancement of those principles surpassing energies of character, inflexible resolution, the full conviction of the wisdom, justice, and holiness of their cause, in religious affairs of the direct and undeniable sanction of God. Such

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28. Sad

state of the western world as depicted in tfee letters efGregray &e Great.

was Gregory I, to whom his own age and posterity have assigned the appellation of the Great.

Now was the crisis in which the Papacy must reawaken its obscured and suspended life. It was the only power which lay not entirely and absolutely prostrate before the disasters of the times, — a power which had an inherent strength, and might resume its majesty. It was this power which was most imperatively required to preserve all which was to survive out of the crumbling wreck of Roman civilization.

To Western Christianity was absolutely necessary a centre, standing alone, strong in traditionary reverence, and in acknowledged claims to supremacy. Even the perfect organization of the Christian hierarchy might in all human probability have fallen to pieces in perpetual conflict: it might have degenerated into a half secular feudal caste with hereditary benefices, more and more entirely subserv- ient to the civil authority, a priesthood of each nation or each tribe, gradually sinking to the intellectual or religious level of the nation or tribe. . . .

It is impossible to conceive what had been the confusion, the lawlessness, the chaotic state of jthe middle ages, without the mediaeval Papacy ; and of the mediaeval Papacy the real father is Gregory the Great. In all his predecessors there was much of the uncertainty and indefmiteness of a new dominion. Christianity had converted the Western world — it had by this time transmuted it : in all except the Roman law, it was one with it. Even Leo the Great had something of the Roman dictator. Gregory is the Roman altogether merged in the Christian bishop.

The calamities of the times, especially the coming of "the most unspeakable Lombards," as he com- monly calls them, convinced Gregory that the end of the world was near at hand. In a letter written to a fellow-bishop shortly after he reluctantly became pope, he gives a dark picture of the world and of his heavy responsibilities :

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Gregory to Leander, bishop of Seville :

With all my heart I have wished to answer you better, but the burden of my pastoral calls so overpowers me that I would rather weep than speak, — as your reverence un- doubtedly gathers from the very character of my corre- spondence when I am remiss in addressing one whom I warmly love. In fact, so beaten about am I by the billows in this corner of the world, that I can in no wise bring to harbor the ancient, rolling ship at whose helm I stand through God's mysterious dispensation.

Now the waves break over us from the front, now at the side the foaming mountains of the sea swell high, now in. the rear the tempest pursues us. Beset by all these perils, I am forced first to steer directly in the face of the storm, again to swerve the vessel and to receive obliquely the onset of the waters. I groan, because I know that if I am negli- gent the bilge water of vice is deepening, and that if the storm assails us furiously at that instant the decaying planks forebode shipwreck. Fearful, I remember that I have lost my quiet shore of peace, and sighing I gaze toward the land which, while the wind of circumstances blows contrarily, I cannot gain. So, dearest brother, if you love me, stretch forth the hand of prayer to me amid these floods, and, as you aid me in my troubles, thus as a reward shall you come forth more valiantly from yours. . . .

[Of all the signs described by our Lord as presaging the end of the world], some we see already accomplished ; the others we dread as close upon us. For we now see that nation rises against nation, and that they press and weigh upon the land in our own times as never before in the annals of the past. Earthquakes overwhelm countless cities, as we often hear from other parts of the world. Pestilence we endure without interruption. It is true that as yet we do not behold signs in the sun and moon and stars; but that these are not far off we may infer from the changes in the atmosphere. Before Italy was given over to be desolated by the sword bf a heathen foe, we beheld fiery ranks in

Signs that the end of the world is at hand. (From one of Gregory's Sermtns.)

A reference, perhaps, to tbeaorwa boreals.

Readings in European History

29. How a monk daied to have gold in bis possession. (Prom Gregory's Dialogues.)

heaven, and even the streaming blood of the human race as it was afterwards spilt.

Gregory's Dialogues, a collection of the lives of holy men, was for centuries, probably, the most popular of his works. Two examples of his accounts of the saints and the miracles which they performed will be found in the following chapter. The incident given below sheds light upon Gregory's life as abbot of a monastery.

There was in my monastery a certain monk, Justus by name, skilled in medicinal arts. . . . When he knew that his end was at hand, he made known to Copiosus, his brother in the flesh, how that he had three gold pieces hidden away. Copiosus, of course, could not conceal this from the breth- ren. He sought carefully, and examined all his brother's drugs, until he found the three gold pieces hidden away among the medicines. When he told me this great calamity that concerned a brother who had lived in common with us, I could hardly hear it with calmness. For the rule of this our monastery was always that the brothers should live in common and own nothing individually.

Then, stricken with great grief, I began to think what I could do to cleanse the dying man, and how I should make his sins a warning to the living brethren. Accordingly, having summoned Pretiosus, the superintendent of the monastery, I commanded him to see that none of the brothers visited the dying man, who. was not to hear any words of consolation. If in the hour of death he asked for the brethren, then his own brother in the flesh was to tell him how he was hated by the brethren because he had concealed money ; so that at death remorse for his guilt might pierce his heart and cleanse him from the sin he had committed.

When he was dead his body was not placed with the bodies of the brethren, but a grave was dug in the dung pit, and his body was flung down into it, and the three pieces of gold he had left were cast upon him, while all together cried, "Thy money perish with thee!" . . .

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When thirty days had passed after his death, my heart began to have compassion on my dead brother, and to ponder prayers with deep grief, and to seek what remedy there might be for him. Then I called before me Pretiosus, superintendent of the monastery, and said sadly : "It is a long time that our brother who died has been tormented by fire, and we ought to have charity toward him, and aid him so far as we can, that he may be delivered. Go, therefore, and for thirty successive days from this day offer sacrifices for him. See to it that no day is allowed to pass on which the salvation-bringing mass \_hostia~] is not offered up for his abso- lution."1 He departed forthwith and obeyed my words.

We, however, were busy with other things, and did not How the count the days as they rolled by. But lo! the brother sp^oft^ who had died appeared by night to a certain brother, even ^on™ ^ to Copiosus, his brother in the flesh. When Copiosus saw saved by the him he asked him, saying, "What is it, brother? How art thou ? " To which he answered : " Up to this time I have been in torment; but now all is well with me, because to-day I have received the communion." This Copiosus straightway reported to the brethren in the monastery.

Then the brethren carefully reckoned the days, and it was the very day on which the thirtieth oblation was made for him. Copiosus did not know what the brethren were doing for his dead brother, and the brethren did not know that Copiosus had seen him ; yet at one and the same time he learned what they had done and they learned what he had seen, and the vision and the sacrifice harmonized. So the fact was plainly shown forth how that the brother who had died had escaped punishment through the salvation- giving mass.

Among the works of Gregory the Great, none was more highly esteemed than his great Commentary on the Book of Job, — his Moralia* as he entitled it.

mrttefloo*

1 This is, perhaps, the earliest clear reference to masses for the souls of the dead.

Readings in European History

The Scrip- tures taken in their literal sense are fitted for the simple- minded, but there is a deeper alle- gorical mean- ing for the wise.

Gregory's ill health.

Gregory justifies bis »egtectof

work is prefaced by a letter to a friend who had urged him to undertake it. In spite of the burden of his other responsibilities, Gregory, relying upon God's aid, resolved to attempt to give the deeper allegorical meaning as well as the literal explanation.

For as the Word of God, by the mysteries which it con- tains, exercises the understanding of the wise, so it often nourishes the simple-minded by what presents itself on the outside. It presenteth in open day that wherewith the little ones may be fed ; it keepeth in secret that whereby men of a loftier range may be held in wondering suspense. It is, as it were, a kind of river, if I may so liken it, which is both shallow and deep, wherein both the lamb may find a footing and the elephant float at large. . . .