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




THEOLOGY: LAW: LITERATURE.--The Mohammedans entered into discussions
of theology, which gave rise to differences, and to schools and
sects. The nature of the Deity, predestination, the future life, were
subjects of profound and subtle inquiry. More than once, pantheistic
doctrine was broached by speculative minds, such as _Avicenna_
and _Averrhoes_. In Persia, _Súfism_, a form of mysticism,
made great progress. It extolled the unselfish love of God, and a
contemplative and ascetic life. _Law_ was studied; and on the
basis of the _Koran_, and of reasonings upon it, systems of
jurisprudence were created. _Science_ and _Literature_ kept
pace with legal studies. _Poetry_ flourished through the whole
period of the Eastern caliphate. There were, also, Persian poets who
hold an important place in the history of literature, of whom
_Firdousi_ (about 940 to 1020) and _Saadi_ (who died in
1291) are the most eminent. Under the _Abbassides_ in Syria,
through Christian scholars and by translations, the Arabians became
acquainted with the Greek authors. They cultivated geography. The
Moslems were students of astronomy, and carried the study of
mathematics, which they learned from the Greeks and Hindus, very
far. But they apparently felt no interest in the poets, orators, and
historians of antiquity. In the study of _Aristotle_, and in
metaphysical philosophy, they were proficients. Medicine, also, they
cultivated with success. They delved in _Alchemy_ in the search
for the transmutation of metals.

COMMERCE AND THE ARTS.--The Moslems engaged actively in commerce. They
acquired much skill in various branches of mechanical art. The weapons
of _Damascus_ and of _Toledo_, the silks of _Granada_,
the saddles of _Cordova_, the muslins, silks, and carpets of the
Moslem dominions in the East, were highly prized in Christian
countries. They manufactured paper. Forbidden to represent the human
form in painting and sculpture, their distinction in the fine arts is
confined to architecture. Peculiar to them is the _Arabesque_
ornamentation found in their edifices: the idea of the arch was
borrowed from the Byzantine style. One of their most famous monuments
is the mosque at _Cordova_. The ruins of the _Alhambra_, in
Spain, a palace and a fortress, illustrate the richness and elegance
of the Saracenic style of building.

THE ARABIAN MIND.--Neither in architecture, nor in any other
department, were the Arabs in a marked degree original. They invented
nothing. They were quick to learn, and to assimilate what they
learned. They were apt interpreters and critics, but they produced no
works marked by creative genius. Many of the scholars at the court of
the caliphs were Christians and Jews. Yet _Bagdad, Samarcand, Cairo,
Grenada, Cordova_, were centers of intellectual activity and of
learning when the nations of Western Europe had not escaped from the
barbarism resulting from the Teutonic invasions.

LITERATURE.--Lives of Mohammed by MUIR, SPRENGER (German), Irving:
_Encycl. Brit._, Art. _Mohammedanism_; Kuenen, _National
Religions and Universal Religions;_ Nöldeke,
_Gesch. d. Quorans_ (1860); Muir, _The Corân_ (1878);
R. B. Smith, _Mohammed and Mohammedanism_ (1875); Stobart,
_Islam and its Founder_; Ockley, _History of the Saracens_
(sixth edition, 1857); FREEMAN, _History and Conquests of the
Saracens_ (1870).



THE CARLOVINGIAN HOUSE


PIPIN of Heristal, _d._ 714.
|
+--Charles Martel, _d._ 741.
|
+--PIPIN the Short, king 752-768.
|
+--CHARLEMANGE, 768-814 (emperor 800).
| |
| +--Pipin, King of Italy, _d._ 810.
| | |
| | +--BERNARD, _d._ 818.
| |
| +--Charles, King of Franconia.
| |
| +--LOUIS the Pious, 814-840.
| |
| | LOTHARINGIA
| |
| +--LOTHAR I, 843-855.
| | |
| | +--LOUIS II, 855-875
| | | |
| | | +--Hermingarde, _m._
| | | BOSO I, King of Provence, 879-887
| | | |
| | | +--LOUIS, 887-905 (emperor 901) _m._ Eadgifu,
| | | daughter of Edward the Elder
| | |
| | +--Lothar II, _d._ 869.
| | |
| | +--Charles, _d._ 863
| |
| | GERMANY
| |
| +--LOUIS the German, 843-876.
| | |
| | +--CARLOMAN, _d._ 880.
| | | |
| | | +--ARNULF, King of Germany, 887-899 (emperor 896).
| | | |
| | | +--LOUIS the Child, 900-911.
| | |
| | +--LOUIS the Younger. d 880.
| | |
| | +--CHARLES the Fat (emperor 881-887), _d._ 888.
| |
| | FRANCE
| |
| +--CHARLES the Bald, 843-877 (emperor 875).
| |
| +--LOUIS II, 877-879.
| |
| +--LOUIS III, 879-882
| |
| +--Carloman, 879-884
| |
| +--CHARLES the Simple, _m._ Eadgifu,
| daughter of Edward the Elder
| |
| +--LOUIS IV (D'Outremer), 936-954.
| |
| +--Matilda, _m._ CONRAD the Peaceful.
| | |
| | +--RUDOLPH III, 993-1032
| |
| +--LOTHAR, 954-986.
| | |
| | +--LOUIS V, 986-987.
| |
| +--Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine, _d._ 994.
|
+--Carloman, 768-771.



RIVAL KINGS OF FRANCE NOT OF THE CARLOVINGIAN LINE.


Robert the Strong, _d._ 866.
|
+--EUDES, king 887-893.
|
+--ROBERT, king 922-923.
|
+--Emma, _m._ RUDOLPH of Burgundy; king 923-926.
|
+--Hugh the Great (father of Hugh Capet).




PERIOD II. FROM THE CARLOVINGIAN LINE OF FRANK KINGS TO THE
ROMANO-GERMANIC EMPIRE. (_A.D. 751-962._)




CHAPTER I. THE CARLOVINGIAN EMPIRE TO THE DEATH OF CHARLEMAGNE
(A.D. 814).


PIPIN THE SHORT.--The great event of the eighth century was the
organization and spread of the dominion of the _Franks_, and the
transfer to them of the Roman Empire of the West. Three Frank
princes--_Charles Martel_, _Pipin the Short_, and
_Charlemagne_, or _Karl the Great_--were the main
instruments in bringing in this new epoch in European history. They
followed a similar course, as regards the wars which they undertook,
and their general policy. _Charles Martel_, the conqueror of the
Saracens at _Poitiers_, rendered great services to the Church;
but he provoked the lasting displeasure of the ecclesiastics by his
seizures of church property. He rewarded his soldiers with
archbishoprics. _Pipin_, however, was earnestly supported by the
clergy. He had the confidence and favor of the Franks, and in 751,
with the concurrence of Pope _Zacharias_, deposed _Childeric
III._, and assumed the title of king. The long hair of
_Childeric_, the badge of the Frank kings, was shorn, and he was
placed in a monastery. In 752 _Pipin_ was anointed and crowned at
_Soissons_ by _Boniface_, the bishop of _Mentz_, who
exerted himself to restore order and discipline in the Frank Church,
which had fallen into disorder in the times of Charles Martel.

PIPIN IN ITALY.--The controversy with the Greeks about the use of
images had alienated the popes from the Eastern Empire. The
encroachments of the Lombards threatened Rome itself, and were a
constant menace to the independence of its bishops. Pope _Stephen
III_. resorted to _Pipin_ for help against these aggressive
neighbors; and, in 754, _Stephen_ solemnly repeated, in the
cathedral of St. Denis, the ceremony of his coronation. The
Carlovingian usurpation was thus hallowed in the eyes of the people by
the sanction of the Church. The alliance between the Papacy and the
Franks, so essential to both, was cemented. Pipin crossed the Alps in
754, and humbled _Aistulf_, the Lombard king; but, as Aistulf
still kept up his hostility to the Pope, Pipin once more led his
forces into Italy, and compelled him to become tributary to the Frank
kingdom, and to cede to him the territory which he had won from the
Greek Empire,--the exarchate of _Ravenna_ and the
_Pentapolis_, or the lands and cities between the Apennines and
the Adriatic, from _Ferrara_ to _Ancona_. This territory the
Frank king formally presented to St. Peter. Thus there was founded the
temporal kingdom of the popes in Italy. _Pipin_ was called
_Patricius_ of Rome, which made him its virtual sovereign,
although the office and title implied the continued supremacy of the
Eastern Empire. He united under him all the conquests which had been
made by _Clovis_ and his successors. His sway extended over
_Aquitaine_ and as far as the Pyrenees. It was the rule of the
_Teutonic_ North over the more _Latin_ South, which had no
liking for the Frank sovereignty.

CHARLEMAGNE: THE SAXONS AND SARACENS.--_Pipin_ died in 768. By
the death of his younger son, Carloman, his older son, _Charles_,
in 771 became the sole king of the Franks. Charlemagne is more
properly designated _Karl the Great_, for he was a German in
blood and speech, and in all his ways. He stands in the foremost rank
of conquerors and rulers. His prodigious energy and activity as a
warrior may be judged by the number of his campaigns, in which he was
uniformly successful. The eastern frontier of his dominions was
threatened by the _Saxons_, the _Danes_, the _Slaves_,
the _Bavarians_, the _Avars_. He made eighteen expeditions
against the Saxons, three against the Danes, one against the
Bavarians, four against the Slaves, four against the Avars. Adding to
these his campaigns against the Saracens, Lombards, and other peoples,
the number of his military expeditions is not less than
fifty-three. In all but two of his marches against the Saxons,
however, he accomplished his purpose without a battle. That he was
ambitious of conquest and of fame, is evident. That he had the rough
ways of his German ancestors, and was unsparing in war, is equally
certain. Yet he was not less eminent in wisdom than in vigor; and his
reign, on the whole, was righteous as well as glorious. The two most
formidable enemies of Charlemagne were the _Saxons_ and the
_Saracens_. The Saxon war "was checkered by grave disasters, and
pursued with undismayed and unrelenting determination, in which he
spared neither himself nor others. It lasted continuously--with its
stubborn and ever-recurring resistance, its cruel devastations, its
winter campaigns, its merciless acts of vengeance--as the effort which
called forth all Charles's energy for thirty-two years" (772-804). The
Saxons were heathen. The conquest of them was the more difficult
because it involved the forced introduction of Christianity in the
room of their old religion. More than once, when they seemed to be
subdued, they broke out in passionate and united revolt. Their
fiercest leader in insurrection was _Witikind_. A last and
terrible uprising, in consequence of the slaughter of forty-five
hundred Saxons on the _Aller_ as a punishment for breach of
treaty, was put down in 785, when _Witikind_ submitted, and
consented to receive Christian baptism. During the progress of the
Saxon war, at the call of the Arab governor of _Saragossa_ for
aid against the caliph _Abderrahman_, Charles marched into Spain,
and conquered Saragossa and the whole land as far as the
_Ebro_. On his return, in the valley of _Ronceveaux_, the
Frank rear guard was surprised and destroyed by the
_Basques_. There fell the Frank hero _Roland_, whose gallant
deeds were a favorite subject of mediæval romances. The duchy of
_Bavaria_ was abolished after a second revolt of its duke,
_Tassilo_ (788). One of the most brilliant of Charlemagne's wars
was that against the Hunnic _Avars_ (791). Their land between the
_Ems_ and _Raab_ he annexed to his empire. Bavarian
colonists were planted in it. Enormous treasures which they had
gathered, in their incursions, from all Europe, were captured, with
their "Ring," or palace-camp. The Slavonic tribes were kept in
awe. _Brittany_ was subjugated in 811. In the closing years of
Charles's reign, the _Danes_ became more and more aggressive and
formidable. He visited the northern coasts, made _Boulogne_ and
_Ghent_ his harbors and arsenals, and built fleets for defense
against the audacious invaders.

CHARLEMAGNE IN ITALY.--Some of the most memorable incidents in
Charlemagne's career are connected with Italy. While he was busy in
the Saxon war, he had been summoned to protect Pope _Hadrian
I_. (772-795) from the attack of the Lombards. To please his
mother, _Charles_ had married, but he had afterwards divorced,
the daughter of the Lombard king _Desiderius_. She was the first
in the series of Charlemagne's wives, who, it is said, were nine in
number. By the divorce he incurred the resentment of Desiderius, who
required the Pope to anoint the sons of _Carloman_ as kings of
the Franks. In 772 Charlemagne crossed the Alps by the Mont Cenis and
the St. Bernard, captured _Pavia_, and shut up Desiderius in a
Frank monastery. The king of the Franks became king of the
_Lombards_, and lord of all Italy, except the _Venetian
Islands_ and the southern extremity of _Calabria_, which
remained subject to the Greeks. The German king and the Pope were now,
in point of fact, dominant in the West. A woman, _Irene_, who had
put out the eyes of her son that she herself might reign, sat on the
throne at Constantinople. This was a fair pretext for throwing off the
Byzantine rule, which afforded no protection to Italians. Once more
_Charles_ visited Italy, to restore to the papal chair _Leo
III._, who had been expelled by an adverse party, and, at Charles's
camp at _Paderborn_, had implored his assistance. On Christmas
Day in the year 800, during the celebration of mass in the old
Basilica of St. Peter, _Leo III._ advanced to _Charlemagne_,
and placed a crown on his head, saluting him, amid the acclamations of
the people, as Roman emperor.

MEANING OF CHARLES'S CORONATION.--The coronation of Charlemagne made
him the successor of Augustus and of Constantine. It was not imagined
that the empire had ever ceased to be. The Byzantine emperors had been
acknowledged in form as the rulers of the West: not even now was it
conceived that the empire was divided. In the imagination and feeling
of men, the creation of the Caesars remained an indivisible unity. The
new emperor in the West could therefore only be regarded as a rival
and usurper by the Byzantine rulers; but Charlemagne professed a
friendly feeling, and addressed them as his brothers,--as if they and
he were exercising a joint sovereignty. In point of fact, there had
come to be a new center of wide-spread dominion in Western Europe. The
diversity in beliefs and rites between Roman Christianity and that of
the Greeks had been growing. The popes and Charlemagne were united by
mutual sympathy and common interests. The assumption by him of the
imperial title at their instance, and by the call of the Roman people,
was the natural issue of all the circumstances.

CHARLES'S SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT.--Charlemagne showed himself a
statesman bent on organization and social improvement. There was a
system of local officers. The border districts of the kingdom were
made into _Marks_, under _Margraves_ or _Marquesses_,
for defense against the outlying tribes. One of them, to the east of
Bavaria, was afterwards called _Austria_. _Dukes_ governed
provinces, some of which afterwards became kingdoms. Their power the
emperor tried to reduce. The empire was divided into districts, in
each of which a _Count_ (_Graf_) ruled, with inferior
officers, either territorial or in cities. _Bishops_ had large
domains, and great privileges and immunities. The officers held their
places at the king's pleasure: they became possessed of landed
estates, and the tendency was, for the offices to become hereditary.

The old German word _Graf_ is of uncertain derivation, but means
the same as _count_ (from the Latin _comes_). _Mark_ is
a word found in all the Teutonic languages. From the signification of
_boundary_, it came to be applied, like its synonym _march_,
to a frontier district. A _margrave_ (_Mark-Graf_) was a
_mark-count_, or an officer ruling for the king in such a
district. A _viscount_ (_vicecomes_) was an officer
subordinate to a _count_. _Pfalz_, meaning originally
_palace_ (from the Latin _palatium_), was the term for any
one of the king's estates. The _palsgrave_ (_Pfalz-Graf_)
was first his representative in charge of one of these domains. The
_stallgrave_ (_Stall-Graf_) corresponded to the
_constable_ (_comes stabuli_) in English and French. It
signifies the officer in charge of the king's _stables_, the
groom. He had a military command. A later designation of the same
office is _marshal_ (from two old German words, one of which
means a _horse_, as seen in our word _mare_, having the same
etymology, and the other means a _servant_).

Imperial deputies, or _missi_, lay and ecclesiastical together,
visited all parts of the kingdom to examine and report as to their
condition, to hold courts, and to redress wrongs. There were appeals
from them to the imperial tribunal, over which the _Palsgrave_
presided. Twice in the year great _Assemblies_ were held of the
chiefs and people, to give advice as to the framing of laws. The
enactments of these assemblies are collected in the
_Capitularies_ of the Frank kings. In the Church, Charlemagne
tried to secure order, which had sadly fallen away, and had given
place to confusion and worldliness. He himself exercised high
ecclesiastical prerogatives, especially after he became emperor.

LEARNING AND CULTURE.--One of the chief distinctions of Charlemagne is
the encouragement which he gave to learning. In his own palace at
_Aachen_ (_Aix_), he collected scholars from different
quarters. Of these the most eminent is _Alcuin_, from the school
of York in England. He was familiar with many of the Latin writers,
and while at the head of the school in the palace, and later, when
abbot of St. Martin in _Tours_, exerted a strong influence in
promoting study. _Charlemagne_ himself spoke Latin with facility,
but not until late in life did he try to learn to write. It was his
custom to be read to while he sat at meals. Augustine's _City of
God_ was one of the books of which he was fond. In the great sees
and monasteries, schools were founded, the benefits of which were very
soon felt.

CHARLES'S PERSONAL TRAITS.--Charlemagne was seven feet in height, and
of noble presence. His eyes were large and animated, and his voice
clear, but not so strong as his frame would have led one to
expect. His bearing was manly and dignified. He was exceedingly fond
of riding, hunting, and of swimming. _Eginhard_, his friend and
biographer, says of him, "In all his undertakings and enterprises,
there was nothing he shrank from because of the toil, and nothing that
he feared because of the danger." He died, at the age of seventy, on
Jan. 28, 814. He had built at _Aix la Chapelle_ a stately church,
the columns and marbles of which were brought from Ravenna and
Rome. Beneath its floor, under the dome, was his tomb. There he was
placed in a sitting posture, in his royal robes, with the crown on his
head, and his horn, sword, and book of the Gospels on his knee. In
this posture his majestic figure was found when his tomb was opened by
_Otto III_., near the end of the tenth century. The marble chair
in which the dead monarch sat is still in the cathedral at _Aix_:
the other relics are at _Vienna_. The splendor of Charlemagne's
reign made it a favorite theme of romance among the poets of Italy: a
mass of poetic legends gathered about it.

EXTENT OF THE EMPIRE.--Charlemagne's empire comprised all Gaul, and
Spain to the Ebro, all that was then Germany, and the greater part of
Italy. Slavonic nations along the Elbe were his allies. Pannonia,
Dacia, Istria, Liburnia, Dalmatia,--except the sea-coast towns, which
were held by the Greeks,--were subject to him. He had numerous other
allies and friends. Even _Harunal-Rashid_, the famous Caliph of
Bagdad, held him in high honor. Among the most valued presents which
were said to have come from the Caliph were an elephant, and a curious
water-clock, which was so made, that, at the end of the hours, twelve
horsemen came out of twelve windows, and closed up twelve other
windows. This gift filled the inmates of the palace at _Aix_ with
wonder.

CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE.--The number of free Franks diminished under
Charlemagne. They were thinned out in the wars, or sunk into
vassalage. The warnings and rebukes in the Capitularies, or body of
laws, show that the upper clergy were often sensual and greedy of
gain. The bishops would often lead in person their contingent of
troops, until they were forbidden to do so by law. Nine-tenths of the
population of Gaul were slaves. Charlemagne made _Alcuin_ the
present of an estate on which there were twenty thousand
slaves. Especially in times of scarcity, as in 805 and 806, their lot
was a miserable one. At such times, they fled in crowds to the
monasteries. The social state was that of feudalism "in all but the
development of that independence in the greater lords, which was
delayed by the strength of Karl, but fostered, at the same time, by
his wars and his policy towards the higher clergy."

CONVERSION OF GERMANY: BONIFACE.--The most active missionaries in the
seventh and eighth centuries were, from the British islands. At first
they were from Ireland and Scotland. _Columban_, who died in 615,
and his pupil Gallus, labored, not without success, among the
_Alemanni_. Gallus established himself as a hermit near Lake
Constance. He founded the Abbey of _St. Gall_. The Saxon
missionaries from England were still more effective. The most eminent
of these was _Winfrid_, who received from Rome the name of
_Bonifacius_ (680-755). He converted the _Hessians_, and
founded monasteries, among them the great monastery of
_Fulda_. There his disciple, _Sturm_, "through a long series
of years, directed the energies of four thousand monks, by whose
unsparing labors the wilderness was gradually reclaimed, and brought
into a state of cultivation." _Boniface_ had proved the impotence
of the heathen gods by felling with the axe an aged oak at
_Geismar_, which was held sacred by their worshipers. Among the
_Thuringians_, _Bavarians_, and other tribes, he extirpated
paganism by peaceful means. He organized the German Church under the
guidance of the popes, and, in 743, was made archbishop of
_Meniz_, and primate. But his Christian ardor moved him to carry
the gospel in person to the savage _Frisians_, by whom he was
slain. He thus crowned his long career with martyrdom.

CONVERSION OF THE SCANDINAVIANS.--The apostle of the Scandinavians was
_Ansgar_ (801-865). The archbishopric of _Hamburg_ was
founded for him by _Louis the Pious_, with the papal consent;
but, as Hamburg was soon plundered by pirates, he became bishop of
_Bremen_ (849). In that region he preached with success. Two
visits he made to _Sweden_, the first with little permanent
result; but, at the second visit (855), the new faith was tolerated,
and took root. The triumph of the religion of the cross, which
_Ansgar_ had planted in _Denmark_, was secured there when
_Canute_ became king of England. The first Christian king in
Sweden was _Olaf Schooskonig_ (1008). In _Norway_,
Christianity was much resisted; but when _Olaf the Thick_, who
was a devoted adherent of the Christian faith, had perished in battle
(1033), his people, who held him in honor, fell in with the church
arrangements which he had ordained; and he became _St. Olaf_, the
patron saint of Norway.

THE BENEDICTINES.--_Benedict_, born at _Nursia_, in
_Umbria_, in 480, the founder of the monastery of _Monte
Cassino_, north-west of Naples, was the most influential agent in
organizing monasticism in Western Europe. He was too wise to adopt the
extreme asceticism that had often prevailed in the East, and his
judicious regulations combined manual labor with study and devotion.
They not only came to be the law for the multitude of monasteries of
his own order, but also served as the general pattern, on the basis of
which numerous other orders in later times were constituted. His
societies of monks were at first made up of laics, but afterwards of
priests. The three vows of the monk were _chastity_, including
abstinence from marriage; _poverty_, or the renunciation of
personal possessions; and _obedience_ to superiors. The
Benedictine cloisters long continued to be asylums for the distressed,
schools of education for the clergy, and teachers of agriculture and
the useful arts to the people in the regions where they were
planted. Their abbots rose to great dignity and influence, and stood
on a level with the highest ecclesiastics.




CHAPTER II. DISSOLUTION OP CHARLEMAGNE'S EMPIRE: RISE OF THE KINGDOMS
OF FRANCE, GERMANY, AND ITALY.

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