It was not before the sixth century that Arabia became peculiarly
remarkable in the history of the world. The wild Arabs, as they have
been generally called, had already signalized themselves by incursions
on the Empire of the East, when Mohammed was born, in the year 569
(some say, 571) of the Christian era, at Mecca, the principal city of
their country. He is said to have been descended from some great
families; but it is certain that his immediate progenitors were poor,
and he had little education but what his own means and his own mind
could give him. Yet this man became the founder of a great empire, and
the fabricator of a religion which has continued to our own day to
affect greater numbers of mankind than Christianity itself. At an
early period of life, we are told, ‘he retired to the desert, and
pretended to hold conferences with the Angel Gabriel, who delivered to
him, from time to time, portions of a sacred book or Koran, containing
revelations of the will of the Supreme Being, and of the doctrines
which he required his prophet (that is, Mohammed himself) to
communicate to the world.’ The Mohammedan religion, as the so-called
revelations of this great imposter have since been designated, was a
strange mixture of the superstitions of Arabia, the morality of
Christ, and the rites of Judaism. It was to this happy mixture of
tenets, usages, and traditions already existing among his countrymen,
and to the applicability of the precepts of the Koran to all legal
transactions and all the business of life, that Mohammed seems to have
owed his extraordinary success. Others, indeed, have attributed this
to certain indulgences allowed in the Koran; but in reality these
indulgences existed before, and the book breathes upon the whole an
austere spirit. This extraordinary work inculcated elevated notions of
the Divine nature and of moral duties: it taught that God’s will and
power were constantly exerted towards the happiness of His creatures,
and that the duty of man was to love his neighbors, assist the poor,
protect the injured, to be humane to inferior animals, and to pray
seven times a day. It taught that, to revive the impression of those
laws which God had engraven originally in the hearts of men, He had
sent his prophets upon earth――Abraham, Moses, Jesus Christ, and
Mohammed――the last, the greatest, to whom all the world should owe its
conversion to the true religion. By producing the Koran in detached
parcels, Mohammed had it in his power to solve all objections by new
revelations. It was only after he was well advanced in years that his
doctrines began to be received. At first, indeed, they were so
violently opposed by his fellow-citizens of Mecca, that the prophet
was obliged to flee from the city to save his life. This event is
called by his followers _Hegira_, or the Flight: it occurred in the
622d year of the Christian era; and they reckon dates from it as we do
from the birth of Christ. Mohammed took refuge in the city of Medina,
and by the aid of his disciples there, he was soon able to return to
Mecca at the head of an armed force. This enabled him to subdue those
who would not be convinced; and henceforward he proceeded to make
proselytes and subjects together, till at length, being master of all
Arabia and of Syria, his numerous followers saluted him king (627).
This extraordinary man died suddenly, and in the midst of successes,
at the age of sixty-one (632). Abubeker, his father-in-law and
successor, united and published the books of the Koran, and continued
and extended the empire which Mohammed had left him.
A more powerful caliph (such was the title given to this series of
monarchs) was Omar, the successor of Abubeker (635). Barbarity,
ferocity, and superstition seem to have been mingled and to have
reached their height in the person of Omar. It was by his order that
the most magnificent library of antiquity, that of Alexandria,
consisting of 700,000 volumes, was burned to ashes. The reason which
he gave for this act is worth preserving:――‘If these writings,’ he
said, ‘agree with the Koran, they are useless, and need not be
preserved; if they disagree, they are pernicious, and ought to be
destroyed.’ By himself and his generals this ferocious conqueror added
Syria, Phœnicia, Mesopotamia, Chaldea, Egypt, Lybia, and Numidia, to
his empire. Next came Otman, and then Ali, the son-in-law of Mohammed
himself. The name of Ali is still revered by Mussulmans. His reign was
short, but glorious. ‘After some internal troubles,’ says Hallam, ‘the
Saracens won their way along the coast of Africa, as far as the
pillars of Hercules, and a third province was irretrievably torn from
the Greek empire. These Western conquests introduced them to fresh
enemies, and ushered in more splendid successes. Encouraged by the
disunion of the Visigoths [in Spain], and invited by treachery, Muza,
the general of a master who sat beyond the opposite extremity of the
Mediterranean Sea, passed over into Spain, and within about two years
the name of Mohammed was invoked under the Pyrenees.’
Nineteen caliphs of the race of Omar succeeded Ali, and after these
came the dynasty of the Abassydæ, descended by the male line from
Mohammed. The second caliph of this race, named Almanzor, removed the
seat of empire to Bagdad (762), and introduced learning and the
culture of the sciences, which his successors continued to promote
with zeal and liberality. This was some recompense for those
indignities which had been cast upon literature by the brutal Omar.
Perhaps the obligations of modern Europe to Arabia at this time have
been overstated; but it is not to be denied that learning, almost
totally excluded and extinct in Europe during the eight and ninth
centuries, found an asylum here. It has been matter of dispute how the
tastes of these fierce Arabians became thus first directed. They
probably owed it to the Greeks; but it is certain that what they got
they returned with interest. We are said to derive our present
arithmetical figures from this strange people; and geometry,
astronomy, and alchemy were their favorite pursuits. The graces of
light literature were not neglected, as is shown by the One Thousand
and One Nights’ Entertainments, a production of this period, which
still continues to solace the hours of childhood and old age among
ourselves, and attests the extent of fancy and the variety of genius
among those that gave it birth. Haroun al Raschid, who flourished in
the beginning of the ninth century, is celebrated as a second
Augustus. He was cotemporary with Charlemagne, and communications of a
friendly nature are said to have passed between them.
Within fifty years from the death of Mohammed, the Saracens had raised
an empire, not only temporal, but also spiritual, more extensive and
more powerful than what remained of the empire of Constantinople; and
within a hundred, they had subdued not only Persia, Syria, Asia Minor,
and Arabia, but also Egypt, North Africa, and Spain. It seemed,
indeed, in the course of the eight century, as if Asia and Europe both
should yield to their victorious arms, and become one great Mohammedan
dominion. But the mighty fabric, of mushroom growth, crumbled into
dust with equal speed. After the first extension of their conquests,
they ceased to acknowledge any one head of their empire, and the
successful generals of the provinces contented themselves by paying a
religious respect to the caliphs of Bagdad, as the successors of the
prophet, while they retained the power of conquerors for themselves.
In the year 732 they sustained a great defeat in France from Charles
Martel, who became the father of an illustrious race of kings. No
fewer than 375,000 Saracens are said to have been left dead on the
field of this battle, and it is certain that they never after
cherished the hope of subduing Europe. About the middle of the ninth
century (848), they projected the conquest of Italy, and even laid
siege to Rome itself. But they were entirely repulsed by Pope Leo IV;
their ships were dispersed by a storm, and their army cut to pieces.
Spain was the only European country in which they were able to obtain
a permanent footing, and in it alone have they left traces of their
existence.
FROM THE DESTRUCTION OF ROME TO THE AGE OF CHARLEMAGNE――ORIGIN OF THE
FEUDAL SYSTEM.
The Empire of the Cæsars fell in the West only by degrees, and the
changes introduced by the northern tribes were gradual, though they
proved great. Province after province yielded to the invaders; and
before the end of the fifth century, every country in Europe had
undergone extensive changes, and received fresh accessions to the
number of its inhabitants. The Visigoths had seated themselves in
Spain, the Franks in Gaul, the Saxons in the Roman provinces of South
Britain, the Huns in Pannonia, and the Ostrogoths in Italy and the
adjacent provinces. And not only had they been enabled to take up
their abode, but in general they became masters, and changed the face
of all that they touched: ‘new governments, laws, languages; new
manners, customs, dresses; new names of men and of countries,
prevailed; and an almost total change took place in the state of
Europe.’ That change has been called a change from light to darkness,
and it assuredly led to the extinction of that taste for literature
and that regular administration of government which were the relieving
features of the Roman despotism. But if it thus produced an immediate
evil, it led to an ultimate good. The population was reinvigorated by
the admixture of the new races, and from the fresh elements it had
acquired there sprung institutions which might be considered as in
many respects an improvement upon those that formerly prevailed.
It was out of these new circumstances that what has been called the
Feudal System took its rise. This was a feature in society unknown in
former ages. Hitherto men had been the slaves of individual masters,
or, as in the more celebrated states of antiquity, they were bound
together by the common tie of citizenship, and owed allegiance to
none. Patriotism was their highest virtue, and all looked upon the
state as a parent, to which, having got support from it, they were
bound to give support in their turn. But in these times the rude
inhabitants of the north had formed little or no conception of what a
state was, and at first they were not prepared to relinquish their
much-cherished individual freedom in exchange for rights which they
thought they did not need. Changes at length came over them; and
society gradually took new forms. Those who had led them on to battle,
began to be looked upon as their guardians in peace. Victorious
armies, cantoned out into the countries which they had seized,
continued arranged under their officers, each of whom had a separate
territory allotted to him, on which he could retain and support his
immediate followers, while the principal leader had the largest; and
in this way all were bound in allegiance, both to their immediate
superiors and to their chief, and all were in readiness to be called
out to arms whenever their services were thought to be required. This
‘military chieftainship,’ infusing itself as an element in the
barbarian societies, was the first advance to anything like civil or
social government since the extinction of the Roman power. Nations,
indeed, were still far from having the advantage of a regular
government. The method of conducting judicial proceedings, and of
administering justice, was still peculiarly unsettled and uncertain.
The authority of the magistrate was so limited, and the independence
assumed by individuals so great, that they seldom admitted any umpire
but the sword. It was then that trial by ordeal became universal, and
men’s guilt or innocence was thought to be proved by the capacity of
their bodies to withstand the influences of red-hot iron or boiling
water applied to them, or by their overcoming their accuser in single
combat.
These observations are applicable, with scarcely any variation, to all
the nations which settled in Europe during the fifth and sixth
centuries. Speaking of this subject, Dr. Robertson says――‘Though the
barbarous nations which framed it [the Feudal System], settled in
their new territories at different times, came from different
countries, spoke various languages, and were under the command of
separate leaders, the feudal policy and laws were established, with
little variation, in every kingdom of Europe. This amazing uniformity
hath induced some authors to believe that all these nations,
notwithstanding so many apparent circumstances of distinction, were
originally the same people. But it may be ascribed, with greater
probability, to the similar state of society and of manners to which
they were accustomed in their native countries, and to the similar
situation in which they found themselves on taking possession of their
new domains.’ We shall now offer a few remarks respecting them
individually.
No people at this period exhibited a more energetic character than the
Franks, a Teutonic race originally settled on the Lower Rhine and
Weser, and who had acquired their name (freemen) while successfully
resisting the Roman power in an earlier age. About the year 486, they
were under the rule of Clovis, who achieved the conquest of Gaul by
the defeat of the Roman governor, and afterwards added Burgundy and
Aquitaine to his dominions――the former by marriage, and the latter by
the forcible expulsion of the Visigoths. This may be considered as the
foundation of the French monarchy. Clovis adopted the Christian faith,
and caused his people to follow his example. It is remarkable that
while in war he exercised unlimited power over his subjects, they
shared with him the legislative authority, meeting annually in the
Champs de Mars to suggest and deliberate upon public measures, in the
settlement of which the meanest soldier had equally a voice with his
sovereign.
At the death of Clovis in 511, his four sons divided the kingdom,
which was afterwards reunited, divided again, and again united, amidst
scenes of tumult and bloodshed. The line of kings proceeding from
Clovis (called Merovignian from his grandsire Meroveus) dwindled in
time into utter insignificance, while the chief power was wielded by
an important officer, called the Mayor of the Palace. Among the most
remarkable of these was Pepin Heristal, Duke of Austrasia, who ruled
France for thirty years with great wisdom and good policy. His son,
Charles Martel, who succeeded to his power, distinguish himself by
that great victory over the Saracens (A. D. 732), which checked their
career in Europe.
An appeal by Pepin le Bref, the son of Charles Martel, to the pope of
Rome, whose authority had by this time become great, ruled that he who
had the power should also have the title of king, and this put an end
to the reign of the descendants of Clovis (752). Pepin remunerated the
pope for this service by turning his arms against the Lombards in
Italy, some of whose dominions he conferred upon the Holy See; and
these, it is said, were the first of the temporal possessions of the
church. Pepin died (768), leaving two sons, Carloman and Charles, who
succeeded him in the empire. Carloman died at an early period of life,
but Charles (subsequently Charlemagne) survived to achieve for himself
a fame far greater than that of any other individual during the middle
ages, with perhaps the single exception of Mohammed. We shall proceed
to speak of him and of his times, after making one or two observations
on some other European countries.
Spain was among the earliest countries lost to the Roman Empire. From
about the year 406, this country, in whole or in part, had been
successively invaded and subdued by Suevi, Alans, Vandals, and
Visigoths. The last-named people were in possession of the greater
part of the country before the year 585, and erected a monarchy which
existed till 712, when they were subdued by the Saracens or Moors. The
Saracens made their descent on Spain from Africa, where Nuza, a
viceroy of the caliph of Bagdad, had already made extensive conquests.
They easily overran Spain and vanquished Don Rodrigo, or Roderic, the
last of the Gothic kings. Abdallah, son of Muza, married the widow of
Roderic, and the two nations entered into union. Before the conclusion
of the eighth century, Abdalrahman, one of the Moorish generals, had
laid aside all temporal subjection to the caliph of Bagdad, and formed
Spain into an independent kingdom. His residence was at Cordova, and
this city became renowned as one of the most enlightened in Europe
under several succeeding reigns. Those parts of Spain which were under
the Moorish kings embraced also their religion. The northern provinces
never owned their dominion.
Towards the conclusion of the sixth century, Italy was in the
possession of the Longobeards, or Lombards, who continued master of
the greater part of it for two centuries. Of their rule, history has
recorded little besides murders and confusion.
It was during this period that the Saxon Heptarchy was formed in
Britain.