A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W X Z

Outline of Universal History

G >> George Park Fisher >> Outline of Universal History




SAXON CONQUEST OF ENGLAND.--In the fourth century, when the power of
Rome was declining, the Picts and Scots from the North began to make
incursions into the Roman province of Britain. At the same time
Teutonic tribes from the mouths of the Weser and the Elbe, began to
land as marauders upon the coast. _Honorius_ withdrew the Roman
troops from the island in 411; and it was conquered by these invading
tribes, especially the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. They became one
people, called _Anglo-Saxons_, Angles or _English_. They
were fierce barbarians, who drove the Celts whom they did not kill or
enslave--and whom they called _Welsh_, or strangers--into Wales
and Cornwall. They formed kingdoms, the first of which, Kent, was the
result of the coming of _Hengist_ and _Horsa_, whom
_Vortigern_, the native prince, had invited to help him against
the Picts (449). There were seven of these Saxon kingdoms (the
_Heptarchy_), not all of which were at any one time regular
communities. They were almost constantly at war with one another and
with the natives. They had a king elected from the royal
family. Freemen were either _Earls_ or _Churls_, the
"gentle" or the "simple." The churl was attached to some one lord whom
he followed in war. The _thanes_ were those who devoted
themselves to the service of the king or some other great man. The
thanes of the king became gentlemen and nobles. There were
_thralls_, or slaves, either prisoners in war, or made slaves for
debt or for crime. Connected with the king was a sort of Parliament,
called the _Witenagemôt_, or Meeting of the Wise, composed
originally of all freemen, and then of the great men, the
_Ealdormen_, the king's thanes. After the Saxons were converted,
the bishops and abbots belonged to it. In minor affairs, the "mark,"
or township, governed itself.

CONVERSION OF THE SAXONS--The seven kingdoms, in the ninth century
(828), were united under _Egbert_, who became king of Wessex in
802. He was called the king of England. Towards the Celtic Christians
the heathen Saxons were hostile. The conversion of the Saxons was due
to the labors of _Augustine_ and forty monks, whom _Gregory the
Great_ (Gregory I.) sent to the island as missionaries in
597. Their first conversions were in Kent, whose king,
_Ethelbert_, had married _Bertha_, the daughter of a
Frankish king. Augustine, who had great success, became the first
archbishop of _Canterbury_, and he consecrated a bishop of
London. During the seventh century the other Saxon kingdoms were
gradually converted. _York_ became a seat of a second
archbishopric. While Britain had been cut off from close relations
with the continent, the Celtic Church there had failed to keep pace
with the changes of rite and polity which had taken place among
Christians beyond the channel. The consequence was a strife on these
points between the converted Saxons, who were devoted to the holy see,
and the "Culdees" or Old British Christians.

CONVERSION OF THE IRISH.--About the middle of the fifth century the
gospel had been planted in Ireland, mainly by the labors of
_Patrick_, who had been carried to that country from Scotland by
pirates when he was a boy, and had returned to it as a missionary. The
cloisters, and the schools connected with them, which he founded,
flourished, became nurseries of study as well as of piety, and sent
out missionaries to other countries of Western Europe.

CHARACTER OF THE TEUTONIC KINGDOMS.--The Teutonic tribe was made up of
freemen and of their dependents. The rights of freemen, such as the
right to vote, continued; but these were modified as differences of
rank and wealth arose. Their leaders in peace and war were the duke
(_dux_), the count (_comes_, or _graf_), and the
_herzog_ (duke of higher grade) over larger provinces. The
companions of the king and the local chiefs grew into a nobility. Once
or twice in the year there was a gathering of the freemen in
assemblies, to decree war or to sanction laws. Land was partly held in
common, partly by individuals either as tenants of the community, or
as individual owners. The soil was shared in proportions by the
conquerors and the conquered.

THE CHURCH.--The Germanic tribes were generally more or less
acquainted with the Romans, and were Christians by profession. They
were subject to the influences of religion, of law, and of language,
in the countries where they settled. Power passed from the Empire to
the Church. The Church was strong in its moral force. Its bishops
commanded the respect of the barbarians. They were moral and social
leaders. In the period of darkness and of tempest, the voices of the
Christian clergy were heard in accents of fearless rebuke and of
tender consolation. In the cities of Italy and Gaul, the bishops, at
the call of the people, informally took the first place in civil
affairs. Remarkable men arose in the Church, who were conspicuous as
ambassadors and peace-makers, as intercessors for the suffering, and
courageous protectors of the injured. Such a man was _Leo the
Great._ The barbarians were awed by the kingdom of righteousness,
which, without exerting force, opposed to force and passion an
undaunted front. There was often a conflict between their love of
power and passionate impatience of control, and their reverence for
the priest and for the gospel. They could not avoid feeling in some
measure the softening and restraining influence of Christian teaching,
and learning the lessons of the cross. Socially, the Church, as such,
"was always on the side of peace, on the side of industry, on the side
of purity, on the side of liberty for the slave, and protection for
the oppressed. The monasteries were the only keepers of literary
tradition: they were, still more, great agricultural colonies,
clearing the wastes, and setting the example of improvement. They were
the only seats of human labor which could hope to be spared in those
lands of perpetual war." Nevertheless, the religious condition of the
West, the condition of the Church and of the clergy, could not fail to
be powerfully affected for the worse by the influx of barbarism, and
the corrupting influence of the barbarian rulers. A great
deterioration in the Church and in its ministry ensued after the first
generation following the Germanic conquests passed away. This
demoralization was more among the secular clergy than the monastic.

The "History of the Franks," by _Gregory of Tours_ (540-594), is
an instructive memorial of the times. He was himself an intrepid
prelate, who did not quail before _Chilperic I_. and
_Fredegunde_, but braved their wrath. Chilperic proposed to
establish by his authority a new view of the Trinity of his own
devising, but was resisted by Gregory, who told him that no one but a
lunatic would embrace such an opinion. A still more crude reform of
the alphabet, which the Frankish king contrived, and proposed to put
in force by having existing books rewritten, Gregory effectually
resisted.

ROMAN LAW.--The barbarians were profoundly impressed by the system of
Roman law. This they recognized as the rule for the Roman population
in the different countries. More and more they incorporated its exact
provisions into their own codes. Among the _West Goths_ in
_Spain_ the two elements were ultimately fused into one body of
laws (642-701). Under the _Franks_, the Roman municipal system
was not extinguished; the Teutonic count or bishop standing in the
room of the Roman president or consular, and a more popular body
taking the place of the restricted municipality. The Roman civil
polity, with its definite enactments for every relation in life and
every exigency, was always at hand, and exercised an increasing
control.

STATE OF LEARNING.--The Latin language--the rustic Latin of the lower
classes--was spoken by the conquered peoples. Latin was the language
of the Church and of the Law. The consequence was, that the two
languages, the tongue of the conquerors and of the Roman subjects,
existed side by side in an unconscious struggle with one another. In
the west and south of Europe, the victory was on the side of the
Latin. The languages of these countries, the "Latin nations," grew out
of the rustic dialects spoken in Roman times. In these nations the
result of the mixture of the races was the final predominance of the
Latin element in the civilization. In Gaul, the Franks yielded to
Latin influences: _France_ was the product. With the fall of the
empire, classical culture died out. The cathedral and cloister schools
preserved the records of literature. The study of language, and the
mental discrimination and refinement which spring from it and from
literary discipline, passed away. Centuries of comparative
illiteracy--dark centuries--followed. Yet the monks were often active
in their own rude style of composition; and among them were not only
good men, but men of eminent natural abilities, who were unconsciously
paving the way for a better time.

SAXON ENGLAND.--In England, by the Saxon conquest, a purely Teutonic
kingdom was built up. The _Saxons_ were heathen, who had never
felt the civilizing influence of Rome. The traces of the earlier state
of things in the province which had long been sundered from the
empire, they swept away in the progress of their conquest.




CHAPTER III. THE EASTERN EMPIRE.


RELIGIOUS DISPUTES.--While the West was beginning to recover from the
shock of the barbarian invasions, society in the Eastern Empire was
growing more enervated and corrupt. For a considerable period the
Byzantine government was managed by the influence of women. Thus
_Theodosius II_., the successor of Arcadius (408-450), was
governed during his whole reign by his sister _Pulcheria_. In the
East, there was an intense interest felt in the abstruse questions of
metaphysical theology. The Greek mind was speculative; and eager and
often acrimonious debate on such questions as were raised by
_Nestorius_ respecting the two natures of the Saviour, was heard
even in the shops and markets. The court meddled actively in these
heated controversies, and was swayed to one party or the other by the
theologians whom, for the time, it took into its favor. The emperors
assumed the high prerogative of personally deciding in doctrinal
disputes, and of dictating opinions to the clergy, who gradually lost
their independence, and became abjectly subservient to the imperial
will.

THE HIPPODROME.--The rage for doctrinal dispute in the sixth century
was only exceeded by the passions kindled in connection with the
circus, or hippodrome, at Constantinople. In old Rome the competitors
in the chariot-races were organized, the drivers wore their respective
badges,--red, white, blue, or green,--and emperors of the baser sort,
like _Caligula_ and _Caracalla_, visited the stables, and
were enrolled on the lists of the rival factions. But in
Constantinople the factions of the _blue_ and the _green_,
not content with the contest of the race-course, were violent
political parties in which courtiers and the emperor himself took
sides. The animosity of the _blues_ and the _greens_ broke
out in frequent bloody conflicts in the streets. Their respective
adherents spread into the provinces. On one occasion, under
_Justinian_, they raised a sedition called _Nika_ (from the
watchword used by the combatants), which well-nigh subverted the
throne. In this period the _body-guard_ of the emperor played a
part resembling that of the old praetorians at Rome.

JUSTINIAN.--A new dynasty began with _Justin I_., who succeeded
_Anastasius_ in 518. A peasant from _Dardania_ (Bulgaria),
who to the end of life was obliged to sign his name by means of an
engraved tablet, but, from being prefect of the Guard, became emperor,
Justin was still not without merit as a ruler. He educated his nephew,
_Justinian I_. (527-565), and made him his successor. Justinian
married _Theodora_, who had been a comedian and a courtesan, and
was famous for her beauty. She was the daughter of _Acacius_, who
had had the care of the wild beasts maintained by one of the factions
of the circus. She joined the _blues_, and it was her brave
spirit that prevented _Justinian_ from taking flight when he was
in imminent danger from the revolt of the _Nika_. The most
important proceedings and decisions in affairs of state were
determined by her will. Outwardly correct in her life, and zealous for
orthodoxy, her vigor of mind and cleverness were not without service
to the government; but her vindictive passions had full
indulgence. Justinian's reign was the most brilliant period in the
Byzantine history after the time of Constantine. Under his despotic
rule the last vestiges of republican administration were
obliterated. His love of pomp and of extravagant expenditure, in
connection with his costly wars, subjected the people to a crushing
weight of taxation.

WAR WITH PERSIA.--The brilliant achievements in war during Justinian's
reign were owing to the skill and valor of his generals, especially of
the hero _Belisarius_. After a hundred years of amity with
Persia, war with that kingdom broke out once more under
_Anastasius_ and _Justin_. _Belisarius_ saved the
Asiatic provinces, and defended the empire on the east against
_Cobad_, and against his successor, _Chosroes I_. (531-579),
who was, perhaps, the greatest of the Persian kings of the
_Sassanid_ dynasty. The "endless peace" made with him in 533
lasted but seven years. _Chosroes_ captured _Antioch_ in
540. The worst consequences of this success were again averted by
_Belisarius_, who was recalled from Italy in all haste. In the
treaty of 562, _Justinian_ ingloriously agreed to pay for the
honor of being the protector of the Christians in Persia the annual
tribute of thirty thousand pieces of gold.

CONQUEST OF AFRICA--From a military point of view the conquests of
_Justinian_ in Africa, in Italy, and in Spain, were the signal
events of his reign. Victory proved fatal to the barbarian conquerors
in those countries. They were weakened by the southern climate, by
sensual indulgence, and by strife among themselves. Justinian was
ready to profit by this diminished capacity of
resistance. _Gelimer_, king of the _Vandals_, had put to
death _Hilderic_, a kinsman of _Theodosius I_. The emperor
made this an occasion of attacking the Vandal kingdom, which was
distracted by religious differences and contention. _Belisarius_
sailed to Africa with a fleet of six hundred vessels, manned with
twenty thousand sailors and fifteen thousand troops. Three months
after landing he gained a decisive victory, and took possession of
_Africa, Sardinia_, and the _Balearic Isles_ (534). He
carried _Gelimer_ as a captive to Constantinople, and presented
him to _Justinian_ and _Theodora_, seated side by side in
the hippodrome to receive the triumphal procession in honor of the
victor. The captive ruler could only exclaim, "Vanity, vanity! All is
vanity!"

CONQUEST OF ITALY.--Professedly to avenge the wrongs of
_Amalasontha_, the ambitious and intriguing daughter of
_Theodoric_, who had been killed as a consequence of the
disaffection of the Goths, _Belisarius_ was sent to
Italy. _Sicily_ was conquered (535), and _Naples_ and
_Rome_ were taken (536). _Vitiges_, the new king of the
Goths, united the forces of the nation; but he was driven to shut
himself up in _Ravenna_, and Ravenna surrendered (540). The Goths
had offered the sovereignty of the country to _Belisarius_. The
jealousy of Justinian, and war with Persia, led to the recall of
Belisarius before he could complete the work of conquest. The Goths
under _Totila_, a nephew of the late king, regained the greater
part of Italy. Belisarius (544-549) was sent for the second time to
conquer that country. He gained important successes, and recaptured
Rome; but he was feebly supported by the suspicious and envious ruler
at Constantinople, and was at length called home. _Narses_, a
eunuch, insignificant in person, but as crafty as he was brave, was
commissioned to accomplish what Belisarius had not been allowed to
effect. He entered Italy at the head of an army, made up mostly of
Huns, Heruli, and other barbarians, and defeated _Totila_, who
died of his wounds (552). The Ostrogothic kingdom fell. The Gothic
warriors who survived had leave to quit the country with their
property, they having taken an oath never to return. The Ostrogoths,
as a nation, vanish from history. The EXARCHATE, or vice-royalty of
the Eastern Empire, was established, with its seat at
_Ravenna_. In _Spain_, Justinian obtained _Corduba,
Assidona, Segontia_ (554), in reward of the assistance which he had
rendered to _Athanagild_ against a competitor for the
throne. Constantinople was saved by _Belisarius_ from a
threatened attack of the _Bulgarians_, who had crossed the Danube
on the ice (559). This great general, whose form and stature and
benign manners attracted the admiration of the people, as his noble
but poorly requited services gave him a right to the gratitude of the
sovereign, was accused, in 563, of conspiracy against the life of
Justinian. His property was confiscated, but his innocence was finally
declared. The story that he was deprived of his eyes, and compelled to
beg his bread, is not credited. He died in 565. A few months later
_Justinian_ himself died at the age of eighty-three. He has been
aptly compared, as to his personal character and the character of his
reign, to Louis XIV. of France. Among the many structures which he
reared was the temple of St. Sophia at Constantinople, and countless
fortresses for the defense of the capital, of the Danube, and of other
parts of the exposed frontier.

THE CIVIL LAW.--Justinian's principal distinction in history grows out
of his relation to legislation, and to the study of the law. He caused
a famous lawyer, _Tribonian_, with the aid of a body of jurists,
to make those collections of ancient law which are still in force in
many countries. The _Code_ included the imperial constitutions
and edicts in twelve books (527, 528). This was followed (533) by the
_Institutes_, embracing the principles of Roman jurisprudence,
which was to be studied in the schools of _Constantinople_,
_Berytus_, and _Rome_; and the _Digest_, or
_Pandects_, comprising the most valuable passages from the
writings of the old jurists, that were deemed of authority. In this
last work three million lines were reduced to a hundred and fifty
thousand. Finally a fourth work, _The Novels_, embraced the laws
of Justinian after the publication of the code (534-565). These works,
taken together, form the Civil Law,--the _Corpus Juris
Civilis_. They are the legacy of Rome to later times. Humane
principles are incorporated into the civil law, but, likewise, the
despotic system of imperialism.

THE LOMBARDS IN ITALY.--In the great "Wandering of the Nations," the
German tribe of _Lombards_, or Langobards, had made their way
into _Pannonia_. To the east of them, in _Dacia_, there had
arisen the kingdom of the _Gepidae_, a people akin to the
_Goths_. In that region, also, were the Turanian _Avars_,
with whom the Lombards allied themselves, and overthrew the kingdom of
the Gepidæ. After the conquest of Italy, _Narses_ had established
there the Byzantine system of rule and of grinding
taxation. Discontent was the natural result. The enemies of
_Narses_ at Constantinople persuaded _Justin II._ and his
queen _Sophia_, who had great influence over him, that prudence
demanded the recall of the able, but avaricious and obnoxious,
governor. The queen was reported to have said, that "he should leave
to men the exercise of arms, and return to his proper station among
the women of the palace, where a distaff should be placed in the
eunuch's hand." "I will spin her such a thread," Narses is said to
have replied, "as she shall not unravel her life long." He forthwith
invited the _Lombards_ into Italy, an invitation which they were
not both to accept. _Alboin_ was their leader, who had married
the beautiful _Rosamond_, daughter of the _Gepid_ king whom
he had slain. Narses repented of his rash proceeding, but he died
before he could organize a resistance to the invaders. These founded
the great Lombard kingdom in the north of Italy, and the smaller
Lombard states of _Spoleto_ and _Beneventum_. Ravenna,--the
residence of the _Exarchs_,--Rome, Naples, and the island city of
Venice, were centers of districts still remaining subject to the Greek
emperor, as were also the southern points of the two peninsulas of
Southern Italy, and, for the time, the three main
islands. _Alboin_ was killed in 574 at the instigation of
_Rosamond_, to whom, it was said, at a revel he had sent wine to
drink in the skull of _Cunimund_, her father. The Lombards were
not like the Goths. They formed no treaties, but seized on whatever
lands they wanted, reserving to themselves all political rights. The
new-comers were _Arian_ in religion, and partly heathen. There
was little intermixture by marriage between the two classes of
inhabitants. _Lombard_ and _Roman_ was each governed by his
own system of law. Later, especially under the kings _Liutprand_,
_Rachis_, and _Aistulf_ (749-756), this antagonism was much
lessened, and the Roman law gained a preponderating influence in the
Lombard codes. Gradually the power of the independent Lombard duchies
increased. The strength of the Lombard kingdom was thus reduced. The
Lombards more and more learned the arts of civilized life from the
Romans, and shared in the trading and industrial pursuits of the
cities. Their gradual conversion to Catholic Christianity brought the
two peoples still nearer together. It was within half a century of the
Lombard conquest that _Gregory I._ (Gregory the Great) held the
papal office (590-604).

AFTER JUSTINIAN.--During the century and a half that followed the
death of Justinian, the history of the Byzantine court and empire is
an almost unbroken tale of crime and degeneracy. The cruelty of such
emperors as _Phocas_ (602-610) and _Justinian II_. surpasses
the brutality of Nero and Domitian. The reign of _Heraclius_ is
the only refreshing passage in this dreary and repulsive record. He
led his armies in person in a series of campaigns against _Chosroes
II_., the Persian king. At the very time when Constantinople was
besieged in vain by a host of Persians and Avars, he conducted his
forces into the heart of the Persian Empire; and in a great battle
near _Nineveh_ in 627, he won a decisive victory. With the reign
of _Heraclius_, the transient prosperity of the Greek Empire
comes to an end. It was exhausted, even by its victories. Overwhelmed
with taxation, it was ruined in its trade and industry. Despotism in
the rulers, sensuality and baseness in rulers and subjects, undermined
public and private virtue. In addition to other enemies on every side,
it was attacked by the _Arabians_; and _Heraclius_ lived to
see the loss of _Syria_ and of _Egypt_, and the capture of
_Alexandria_, by these new assailants.

CONTROVERSY ON IMAGE WORSHIP.--The period of theological debate, when
at its height in the fourth and fifth centuries, whatever
extravagances of doctrinal zeal attended it, dealt with themes of
grave importance; and controversy was often waged by men of high
ability and moral worth. After that time, there succeeded to the
tempest an intellectual stagnation, under the blighting breath of
despotism, coupled with the effect of a lassitude, the natural sequel
of the long-continued disputation. But, in the eighth and ninth
centuries, a new controversy took place, which convulsed the Eastern
Empire, and extended to the West. The matter in dispute was the use of
images in worship. Pictorial representations had been gradually
introduced in the earlier centuries, but had been opposed, especially
in Egypt and in the African Church. After the time of
_Constantine_, they came by degrees into universal use. This
formed a ground of reproach on the part of the _Mohammedans_. The
warfare upon images was begun by _Leo III_., the Isaurian
(717-741), a rough soldier with no appreciation of art, who issued an
edict against them. The party of "image-breakers," or
_iconoclasts_, had numerous adherents; and the opposite party of
"image-worshipers," who had a powerful support from the monks in the
convents, were ardent and inflexible in withstanding the imperial
measures. Neither the remonstrances of _John of Damascus_, the
last of the Greek Fathers, nor of the Roman bishop, made an impression
on _Leo_. The agitation spread far and wide. Subsequent emperors
followed in his path. At length, however, the Empress _Irene_
(780-802) restored image-worship; and, in 842, the Empress
_Theodora_ finally confirmed this act. In the controversy,
religious motives were active, but they were mingled on both sides
with political considerations. The alienation of feeling on the part
of the Roman bishops was one cause of the separation of Italy from the
Greek Empire.

LITERATURE AND CULTURE.--While there was a prevalence of illiteracy in
the West, there continued in the Eastern Empire an interest in
letters, and a respect for classical literature. Devoted Greek monks
taught the Gospel to the _Bulgarians_ and to the Slavonian tribes
on its borders. _Cyril_ and _Methodius_, faithful
missionaries, gave the Bible to the _Moravians_ in their own
tongue. In the seventh century, _John of Damascus_ compiled from
the Greek Fathers a celebrated treatise on theology. But the period of
original thought in theology, as elsewhere, had passed by. This work
of the Damascene was made up chiefly of excerpts from the Fathers
before him. In earlier days the church in the East had been served by
erudite theologians of great talents and of great excellence, such as
_Basil the Great_ (328-379), _Gregory of Nyssa, Gregory of
Nazianzum_ (326-390); all of whom were liberal-minded men,
strenuous defenders of orthodox doctrine, and yet not unfriendly to
philosophical study. Of even wider fame was _John Chrysostom_
(347-407), a preacher of captivating eloquence and of an earnest
Christian spirit, whose censure of the vices of the Byzantine court
provoked the wrath of the Empress _Eudoxia_, and twice drove him
into banishment. In the declining days of the empire, literary effort
was mainly confined to compilations and comments. _Eusebius_, in
the fourth century, had written a _History of the Church_, and a
_Chronicle_, or General History; and, a century later (about
432), _Zosimus_ composed a _History_ in a spirit of
antipathy to Christianity and of sympathy with the old religion. To
_Procopius_ (who died about 565) we owe an interesting history of
the times of _Justinian_. After the seventh century, all traces
of life and spirit vanish from the pages of the Byzantine
historians. In mathematics and astronomy, in architecture and
mechanics, the Byzantine Greeks were the teachers of the Arabians and
of the new peoples of the West. The Byzantine style of architecture
was of a distinct type, and was widely diffused.

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