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




VENICE.--_Venice_, which up to the fall of Constantinople had
been the strongest of the Italian states, forgot its duties and its
dangers in relation to the Turks, in order to aggrandize itself in
Italy. It could not avoid war with them, which broke out in 1464. The
Turks took _Negropont_ and _Scutari_, passed the
_Piave_, and the fires kindled by their troops could be seen from
Venice. The city made a shameful treaty with them, paying them a large
sum (1479). But four years after, it conquered _Cyprus_, which it
did not scruple to demand the privilege of holding as a fief of the
Sultan of Egypt. The great power of Venice at this time was a cause of
alarm to all the other states; but their first combination against it
in 1482, in defense of the Duke of Ferrara, was of no effect. In 1454
the government of Venice was placed practically in the hands of three
_"inquisitors"_, who exercised despotic power under the old
forms, and, by such means as secret trials and executions, maintained
internal order and quiet at the cost of liberty. Its soldiers were
_condottieri_, under foreign leaders, whom it watched with the
utmost jealousy.

FLORENCE.--_Cosmo de Medici_ had continued to be a man of the
people. But the members of his family who followed him, while they
copied his munificence and public spirit, behaved more as
princes. Against _Peter I._ plots were formed by the nobles, but
were baffled (1465). _Jerome Riario_, a nephew of _Pope Sixtus
IV._, strove with papal help to conquer for himself a principality
in the _Romagna_. The Florentines protested against it as a breach
of the treaty of _Lodi_. Hence _Riario_ took part in the
conspiracy of the _Pazzi_ against the lives of _Lorenzo_ and
_Julian_, sons of Cosmo. They were attacked in the cathedral of
Florence by the assassins, during the celebration of mass;
_Julian_ was killed, but _Lorenzo_ escaped. The Archbishop of
Pisa, one of the accomplices, was hung from his palace window in his
pontifical robes. The Pope excommunicated the Medici, and all the
Italian states plunged into war. The capture of _Otranto_ at this
time by the Turks frightened the princes. _Lorenzo de Medici_
repaired in person to _Naples_ to negotiate with _Ferdinand_,
the Pope's ally, and peace was concluded. _Lorenzo_ earned the
name of "The Magnificent" by his lavish patronage of literature and
art.

SAVONAROLA.--Against the rule of _Lorenzo_, one voice was raised,
that of the Dominican monk _Jerome Savonarola_, a preacher of
fervid eloquence, who aimed in his harangues, not only to move
individuals to repentance, but to bring about a thorough amendment of
public morals, and a political reform in the direction of liberty. In
his discourses, however, he lashed the ecclesiastical corruptions of
the time, not sparing those highest in power. There were two parties,
that of the young nobles,--the _arribiati_, or "enraged;" and that
of the people,--the _frateschi_, or friends of the
monks. _Savonarola_ proclaimed that a great punishment was
impending over Italy. He predicted the invasion from north of the Alps.

FLORENCE IN THE AGE OF LORENZO.--_Florence_ in the time of
_Lorenzo_ presented striking points of resemblance to
_Athens_ in its most flourishing days. In some respects, the two
communities were quite unlike. _Florence_ was not a conquering
power, and had no extensive dominion. Civil and military life were
distinct from one another: the Italian had come to rely more upon
diplomacy than upon arms, and his wealth and mercantile connections
made him anxious to avoid war. In Florence, moreover, trade and the
mechanic arts were in high repute; industry was widely diffused, and
was held in honor. But in equality and pride of citizenship, in
versatility of talent and intellectual activity, in artistic genius and
in appreciation of the products of art, in refinement of manners,
cheerfulness of temper, and a joyous social life, the
_Florentines_ in the fifteenth century compare well with the
_Athenians_ in the age of _Pericles_. In _Florence_, the
burgess or citizen had attained to the standing to which in other
countries he only aspired. Nobility of blood was counted as of some
worth; but where there was not wealth or intellect with it, it was held
in comparatively low esteem. Prosperous merchants, men of genius and
education, and skillful artisans were on a level with the best. Men of
noble extraction engaged in business. The commonwealth conferred
knighthood on the deserving, according to the practice of sovereign
princes. Persons of the highest social standing did not disdain to
labor in their shops and counting-houses. Frugal in their domestic
life, the Florentines strove to maintain habits of frugality by strict
sumptuary laws. Limits were set to indulgence in finery, food, etc. The
population of Florence somewhat exceeded one hundred thousand. In the
neighborhood of the city, there was a multitude of attractive, richly
furnished villas and country-houses. Among the industries in which the
busy population was engaged in 1472, a chronicler enumerates
eighty-three rich and splendid warehouses of the silk-merchants' guild,
thirty-three great banks, and forty-four goldsmiths' and jewellers'
shops. The houses of the rich were furnished with elegance, and
decorated with beautiful works of art. There was a great contrast
between the simplicity of ordinary domestic life, especially as regards
provisions for the table, and the splendor displayed on public
occasions, or when guests were to be hospitably entertained. The effect
of literary culture was seen in the tone of conversation. It is
remarkable that the great sculptors were all goldsmiths, and came out
of the workshop. A new generation of painters had a like practical
training. In those days, there was a union of manual skill with
imagination. The art of the goldsmith preceded and outstripped all the
others. In such a society, there was naturally a great relish for
public festivals, both sacred and secular. Everywhere in Italy the
_Mysteries_, or religious plays, exhibiting events of scriptural
history, were in vogue; brilliant pantomimes were enjoyed, and the
festivities of the yearly carnival were keenly relished. In the
government of Florence, the liberty of the citizens was mainly confined
to the choosing of their magistrates. Once in office, they ruled with
arbitrary power. There was no liberty of the press, nor was there
freedom of discussion in the public councils. It was a community where,
with all its cultivation and elegance, morality was at a low ebb.
_Lorenzo_ himself, although "he had all the qualities of poet and
statesman, connoisseur and patron of learning, citizen and prince,"
nevertheless "could not keep himself from the epicureanism of the
time," and was infected with its weaknesses and vices. "These joyous
and refined civilizations," writes M. _Taine_, "based on a worship
of pleasure and intellectuality,--Greece of the fourth century,
Provence of the twelfth, and Italy of the sixteenth,--were not
enduring. Man in these lacks some checks. After sudden outbursts of
genius and creativeness, he wanders away in the direction of license
and egotism; the degenerate artist and thinker makes room for the
sophist and the dilettant."

THE POPES.--The Popes, _Nicholas V._ (1447-1455), a protector of
scholars and a cultivated man, and _Pius II._ (1458-1464),



THE OTTOMAN SULTANS.


OTHMAN, 1307-1325.
|
+--ORCHAN, 1325-1359.
| |
| +--AMURATH I, 1359-1389.
| |
| +--BAJEZET I, 1389-1402.
| |
| +--Soliman, 1402-1410.
| |
| +--Musa, 1410-1413.
| |
| +--Issa.
| |
| +--MOHAMMED I, 1413-1421.
| |
| +--AMURATH II, 1421-1451.
| |
| +--MOHAMMED II, 1451-1481.
| |
| +--BAJEZET II, 1481-1512.
| | |
| | +--SELIM I, 1512-1520.
| | |
| | +--SOLIMAN I, 1520-1566.
| | |
| | +--SELIM II, 1566-1574.
| | |
| | +--AMURATH III, 1574-1595.
| | |
| | +--MOHAMMED III, 1595-1603.
| | |
| | +--ACHMET I, 1603-1617.
| | | |
| | | +--OTHMAN II, 1618-1622.
| | | |
| | | +--AMURATH IV, 1623-1640.
| | | |
| | | +--IBRAHIM, 1640-1649, deposed.
| | | |
| | | +--MOHAMMED IV,
| | | | 1649-1687, deposed.
| | | | |
| | | | +--MUSTAPHA II,
| | | | | 1695-1703, deposed.
| | | | | |
| | | | | +--MAHMOUD I,
| | | | | | 1730-1754.
| | | | | |
| | | | | +--OTHMAN III,
| | | | | 1754-1757.
| | | | |
| | | | +--ACHMET III,
| | | | 1703-1730, deposed.
| | | | |
| | | | +--MUSTAPHA III,
| | | | | 1757-1774.
| | | | | |
| | | | | +--SELIM III,
| | | | | 1789-1807,
| | | | | deposed.
| | | | |
| | | | +--ABUL HAMID I,
| | | | 1774-1789.
| | | | |
| | | | +--MUSTAPHA IV,
| | | | | 1807-1808,
| | | | | deposed.
| | | | |
| | | | +--MAHMOUD II,
| | | | 1808-1839.
| | | | |
| | | | +--ABDUL MEDJID,
| | | | | 1839-1861.
| | | | | |
| | | | | +--MURAD V
| | | | | | (June 4,
| | | | | | 1876-
| | | | | | Aug. 31,
| | | | | | 1876).
| | | | | |
| | | | | +--ABDUL
| | | | | HAMID II
| | | | | (Aug. 31,
| | | | | 1876--).
| | | | |
| | | | +--ABDUL AZIZ,
| | | | 1861-1876.
| | | |
| | | +--SOLIMAN II,
| | | | 1687-1691.
| | | |
| | | +--ACHMET II,
| | | 1691-1695.
| | |
| | +--MUSTAPHA I,
| | 1617-1618, 1622-1623.
| +--Djem.
|
+--Alaeddin.

[Mainly from George's _Genealogical Tables_.]



zealously but in vain exhorted to crusades against the Turk. _Paul
II_. (1464-1471) pursued the same course; but after him, for a
half-century, there ensued the deplorable era when the pontiffs were
more busied with other interests than with those pertaining to the weal
of Christianity. The pontificates of _Sixtus IV_. (1471-1484),
_Innocent VIII_. (1484-1492), and especially of _Alexander
VI_. (1492-1503), the second pope of the _Borgia_ family,
present a lamentable picture of worldly schemes and of "nepotism," as
the projects for the temporal advancement of their relatives were
termed. The Roman principality was the prey of petty tyrants, and the
theater of wars, and of assassinations perpetrated by the knife or with
poison. _Alexander VI_. succeeded in subduing or destroying all
these petty lords. He was seconded in these endeavors by his son
_Cæsar Borgia_, brave, accomplished, and fascinating, but a
monster of treachery and cruelty. No deed was savage or base enough to
cost him any remorse. Hardly had he acquired the _Romagna_, when
Pope _Alexander_ died. Although his death was due to Roman fever,
legend speedily ascribed it to poison. His son was betrayed, was
imprisoned for a time by _Ferdinand_ the Catholic, and, while he
was in the service of the King of Navarre, was slain before the castle
of _Viana_.

NAPLES.--In Naples, _Ferdinand I_., who was established on his
throne by the defeat of his competitors in 1462, provoked a revolt of
his barons by his tyranny, invited them to a festival to celebrate a
reconciliation with them, and caused them to be seized at the table,
and then to be put to death. He treated the people with equal injustice
and cruelty. He allowed the Turks to take _Otranto_ (1480), and
the Venetians to take _Gallipoli_ and _Policastro_ (1484).

WEAKNESS OF ITALY.--Italy, at the close of the fifteenth century, with
all its proficiency in art and letters, and its superiority in the
comforts and elegances of life, was a prey to anarchy. This was
especially true after the death of _Lorenzo de Medici_. Diplomacy
had become a school of fraud. Battles had come to be, in general,
bloodless; but either perfidy, or prison and the dagger, were the
familiar instruments of warfare. The country from its beauty, its
wealth, and its factious state, was an alluring prize to foreign
invaders.


VI. THE OTTOMAN TURKS.

THEIR CONQUESTS.--The empire of _Mohammed II_. (1451-1481)
extended from the walls of _Belgrade_, on the Danube, to the
middle of Asia Minor. To the east was the Seljukian principality of
_Caramania_ in the center of Asia Minor, and, when that was
finally overthrown (1486), _Persia_, whose hostility was inflamed
by differences of sect. The conquest of the Greek Empire was achieved
by _Mohammed_. _Matthias Corvinus_ (1458-1493), the successor
of _Hunyady_, was the greatest of the kings of Hungary, and
defended the line of the Danube against the Turkish assaults. For
twenty-three years _Scanderbeg_, the intrepid Prince of
_Albania_, repulsed all the attacks of the Moslems. It was not
until ten years after his death (1467) that his principal stronghold
was surrendered to the invaders. The attacks on the Venetians have
already been mentioned, as well as the capture of
_Otranto_. _Bajazet II_. was more inclined to study than to
war: his brother _Djem_, who tried to supplant him, passed as a
prisoner into the hands of Pope _Alexander VI_. An annual tribute
was paid by the Sultan for keeping him from coming back to Turkey; and
when, at last, he was released, rumor declared that he had been
poisoned. _Selim I_. (1512-1520) entered anew on the path of
conquest. He defeated the _Persians_, and made the Tigris his
eastern boundary. He annexed to his empire _Mesopotamia_,
_Syria_, and _Egypt_. The Sultan now became the commander of
the faithful, the inheritor of the prophetic as well as military
leadership. The conquest of _Alexandria_ by _Selim_ (1517)
inflicted a mortal blow on the commerce of _Venice_, by
intercepting its communication with the Orient. The despotic domination
of _Selim_ stretched from the Danube to the Euphrates, and from
the Adriatic to the cataracts of the Nile. Such was the empire which
the Ottoman conqueror handed down to his son, _Soliman I_. the
Magnificent (1520-1566). _Mohammed II_. and _Selim_ were the
two conquerors by whom the Ottoman Empire was built up. Each of them
combined with an iron will and revolting cruelty a taste for science
and poetry, and the genius of a ruler. They take rank among the most
eminent tyrants in Asiatic history. While they were spreading their
dominion far and wide, the popes and the sovereigns of the West did
nothing more effectual than to debate upon the means of confronting so
great a danger.



RUSSIA.


IVAN III, Vassilievitch, 1462-1505, _m._
Sophia, daughter of Thomas Palaeologus,
brother of Emperor Constantine XIII.
|
+--BASIL IV, 1505-1533.
|
+--IVAN IV,[1] 1533-1584,
| _m._
| +--Anastasia
| |
| | HOUSE OF ROMANOFF
| |
| +--Nicetas.
| |
| +--Mary [4] (Marta the Nun), _m._
| Theodore (Philaret the Metropolitan).
| |
| +--MICHAEL, 1613-1645.
| |
| +--ALEXIS, 1645-1676.
| |
| +--THEODORE, 1676-1682.
| |
| +--IVAN V, 1682-1689, resigned; d. 1696.
| | |
| | +--ANNA, 1730-1740.
| | |
| | +--Catharine _m._ Charles Leopold,
| | Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
| | |
| | +--Anna, _m._ Antony Ulric, son of
| | Ferdinand Albert II,
| | of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel.
| | |
| | +--IVAN VI, 1740-1741, deposed.
| |
| +--PETER I (the Great) 1689-1725, _m._
| (1), Eudocia;
| |
| +--Alexis, executed 1718. _m._
| Charlotte, d. of Lewis Rudolph,
| Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel
| |
| +--PETER II, 1727-1730.
|
| (2), CATHARINE I, 1725-1727.
| |
| +--Anna, d. 1738, _m._
| | Charles Frederick of Holstein-Gottorp.
| | |
| | +--PETER III, January-July, 1762
| | (deposed, and died soon after) _m._
| | CATHERINE II of Anhalt, 1762-1796.
| | |
| | +--PAUL, 1796-1801.
| | |
| | +--ALEXANDER I, 1801-1825.
| | |
| | +--NICHOLAS, 1825-1855, _m._
| | Charlotte, daughter of Frederick
| | William III of Prussia.
| | |
| | +--ALEXANDER II, 1855-1881, m.
| | Mary of Hesse Darmstadt.
| | |
| | +--ALEXANDER III, 1881- m.
| | Mary (Dagmar), daughter
| | of Christian IX of Denmark
| |
| +--ELIZABETH, 1741-1762.
|
+--THEODORE, 1584-1598.
_m._
+--Irene,[2]
|
+--BORIS, Godounof, [3] 1598-1605.


1 First Czar.
2 Declined the crown on Theodore's death, which was seized by her
brother.
3 Succeeded by an imposter pretending to be Demetrius, son of Ivan
IV, who reigned for one year; then Basil V, 1606-1610; then chaos
until 1613.
4 Said to be a descendent of the old royal house.


[Mainly from George's _Genealogical Tables._]



VII. RUSSIA.

RUSSIA: IVAN III.--For two centuries Russia paid tribute to the Tartar
conquerors in the South, the "Golden Horde" (p. 283). The liberator of
his people from this yoke was _Ivan III_.,--Ivan the
Great,--(1462-1505). In the period when the nations of the West were
becoming organized, _Russia_ escaped from its servitude, and made
some beginnings of intellectual progress. _Ivan_ was a cold and
calculating man, who preferred to negotiate rather than to fight; but
he inflicted savage punishments, and even "his glance caused women to
faint." He was able to subdue the rich trading-city of _Novgorod_
(1478), which had been connected with the Hanseatic League, and where a
party endeavored to bring to pass a union with _Poland_. He
conquered unknown frozen districts in the North, and smaller
princedoms, including _Tver_, in the interior. The empire of the
_Horde_ was so broken up that _Ivan_ achieved an almost
bloodless triumph, which made Russia free. In wars with
_Lithuania_, Western Russia was reconquered up to the
_Soja_. _Ivan_ married _Sophia Palæologus_, a niece of
the last Christian emperor of the East. She taught him "to penetrate
the secret of autocracy." Numerous Greek emigrants of different arts
and professions came to _Moscow_. Ivan took for the new arms of
Russia the two-headed eagle of the Byzantine Cæsars, and thenceforward
Russia looked on herself as the heir of the Eastern Empire. The Russian
metropolitan, called afterwards _Patriarch_, was now elected by
Russian bishops. _Moscow_ became "the metropolis of orthodoxy,"
and as such the protector of Greek Christians in the East. _Ivan_
laid out in the city the fortified inclosure styled the
_Kremlin_. He brought into the country German and Italian
mechanics. It was he who founded the greatness of Russia. _Vassali
Ivanovitch_ (1505-1533), his son, continued the struggle with
_Lithuania_, and acquired _Smolensk_ (1514). He exchanged
embassies with most of the sovereigns of the West.

IVAN IV. (1533-1584).--_Ivan IV_., Ivan the Terrible, first took
the title of _Czar_, since attached to "the Autocrat of all the
Russias." It was the name that was given, in the Slavonian books which
he read, to the ancient kings and emperors of the East and of
Rome. _Moscow_ was now to be a third Rome, the successor of
_Constantinople_. _Ivan_ conquered the Tartar principalities
of _Kazan_ and _Astrakhan_ in the South, and extended his
dominion to the Caucasus. The _Volga_, through its entire course,
was now a Russian river. He brought German mechanics into Russia,
established printing-presses, and made a commercial treaty with Queen
_Elizabeth_, whom he invited to an alliance against _Poland_
and _Sweden_. It was in this reign (1581-1582) that a brigand
chief, _Irmak_ by name (a Cossack, in the service of the Czar),
crossed the _Urals_ with a few hundred followers, and made the
conquest of the vast region of _Siberia_, then under the dominion
of the Tartars. _Ivan_ sent thither bishops and priests. He had to
cede _Livonia_ to the _Swedes_, who, with their allies were
too strong to be overcome. In _Russia_, he put down the
aristocracy, and crushed all resistance to his personal rule. Whatever
tyranny and cruelty this result cost, it prevented _Russia_ from
becoming an anarchic kingdom like _Poland_. Ivan, by forming the
national guard of _streltsi_ or _strelitz_, laid the
foundation of a standing army. In his personal conduct, brutal and
sensual practices alternated with exercises of piety. In a fit of
wrath, he struck his son _Ivan_ a fatal blow, and in consequence
was overwhelmed with sorrow. After a short reign of his second son,
_Feodor_ (1584-1598), who was weak in mind and body, the throne
was usurped by one of the aristocracy, the able and ambitious regent,
_Boris Godounof_ (1598-1605).

THE COSSACKS.--These were brought into subjection by _Ivan IV_.
and his successors. They were robber hordes of mixed origin, partly
Tartar and partly Russian. Their abodes were near the rapids of the
_Dnieper_, and on the _Don_, and at the foot of the
_Caucasus_. They were fierce warriors, and did a great service to
Russia in subduing the wild nomad tribes on the north and east of the
regions where the Cossacks dwelt.

TIMES OF TROUBLE.--After the death of _Boris Godounof_, two
pretenders, one after the other, each assuming to be _Demetrius_,
the younger son of _Ivan_,--a son who had been put to death,--
seized on power. This was rendered possible by the mutual strife of
Russian factions, and by the help afforded to the impostors by the
_Poles_. _Sigismund III_., king of Poland, openly espoused
the cause of the second _Demetrius_. _Moscow_ was forced to
surrender (1610); and the czar whom the nobles had enthroned, _Basil
V_., died in a Polish prison. These events gave rise to a lasting
enmity between the two Slavonic nations. In 1611 the _Poles_ were
driven out by a national rising, which led to the elevation to the
throne of _Michael Romanoff_ (1613-1645), the founder of the
present dynasty of czars. Peace was concluded with _Gustavus
Adolphus_ of Sweden, and with the Poles. Commercial treaties were
made with foreign nations. In Russia there was a great increase of
internal prosperity.

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