Among the most remarkable institutions of the middle ages was that of
Chivalry. The institution was certainly not the result of caprice, nor
a source of unmixed extravagance, as it has been represented, but an
effort of human nature to express its feelings of love, honor and
benevolence, at a time when the spirit of liberty was extinguished,
and religion had become debased. The feudal state was a state of
perpetual war, rapine, and anarchy, during which the weak and unarmed
were often exposed to injuries. Public protective law scarcely had an
existence; and in these circumstances assistance came oftenest and
most effectually from the arms of private friends. It was the same
feeling of courage, united to a strong sense of duty, which both gave
rise to chivalry, and led such multitudes to join the Crusades.
Chivalry existed before them, and it survived them. Those whose
devoted themselves to a life of chivalry were called knights, and
sometimes knight-errants, in allusion to their habits of wandering
from one country to another in search of helpless objects, which their
generosity might find a pleasure in relieving and defending. Admission
to the order of knighthood was long reckoned an honor of the highest
sort: and to fulfill the vows which entrants took upon them might well
be considered so. They were bound, ‘by God, by St. Michael, and St.
George,’ to be loyal, brave, and hardy; to protect the innocent, to
redress the injuries of the wronged; and, above all, to uphold and
defend the characters of women. The institution of chivalry is
sometimes thought to have thrown an air of ridiculousness upon
everything connected with the softer sex, and some of the vagaries of
knight-errantry gave sufficient countenance to such a supposition; but
on the whole we are bound to rate its beneficial influences in
elevating the female character high indeed, when we contrast the gross
and groveling situation held by the sex in former times with the high
and virtuous emotions that we have learned to associate in modern
times with the name of woman. If the whole of this effect is not to be
ascribed to chivalry, not a little of it must certainly be so; nor do
its beneficial effects end here. The feelings of honor, courtesy, and
humanity, which distinguished it, spread themselves into other parts
of conduct. War, in particular, was conducted with less ferocity, and
humanity came to be deemed as necessary to an accomplished soldier as
courage. The idea of a _gentleman_ is wholly the production of
chivalry; and during the twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, and
fifteenth centuries, a sense of honor and a refinement of manners
towards enemies sprung up, which have extended to modern times, and
form a distinguishing feature of them.
The history of the Crusades has carried us over nearly two centuries
of the history of Europe. But Europe might be said, almost without
exaggeration, to have been then in Asia. It was certainly not the
scene of any transaction of importance during all that period. The
numerous quarrels, both public and private, which had before agitated
the several countries, and had constituted all their history, gave
way, by mutual consent, as well as by the orders of the church, to the
one idea which then reigned supreme among them. Society was thus
unconsciously the means of permitting some of those powerful and
pacific principles to come into play, which were soon to give it a new
destiny. The absence of so many great barons during the time of the
Crusades, was a means of enabling the common people, who have hitherto
lived as their slaves, to raise themselves in public standing and
estimation; while the possessions of many of these barons, by sale or
the death of their owners without heirs, reverted to the sovereigns.
In this way the power of the people and of royalty advanced together,
and both at the expense of the class of nobility. The people were not
unwilling to exchange the mastery of inferiors for that of a superior;
and the kings, on their part, looked on this rising power of the
people with pleasure, as it offered a shield to protect them from the
insolence of the nobles. In these circumstances boroughs began to
flourish. This was a new element in the progress of civilization. Men
who had hitherto skulked in castles, and had sacrificed their
liberties and their lives for bread and protection from isolated
chiefs, now found that, by a union among themselves, they might secure
bread by industry, and protection and liberty by mutual aid.
Multitudes, therefore, forsook their feudal subservience to enjoy
independent citizenship. Villeins, or laborers, joyfully escaped, to
take their place on a footing of equality with freemen; and sovereigns
found means to pass a law that if a slave should take refuge, in any
of the new cities, and be allowed to remain there unclaimed for a
twelvemonth, he had thereby become free, and was henceforth a member
of the community. Another improvement which kings were able to
introduce about this time was the gradual abolition of minor courts of
justice, which barons had previously held in their several domains,
and their getting public and universal law administered by judges of
their own appointment. Even single combat, the practice most
inveterately adhered to of any among the ancient nobles, became less
frequent and less honorable. The more revolting and absurd features of
it were wholly abolished, though the great absurdity, and indeed the
great crime itself, cannot be said to have become totally extinct,
even up to our own day, when we recollect that the barbarous practice
of duelling is still permitted to exist.
The effect, however, produced by the Crusades, which proved greatest
in its consequences, though perhaps it was the most unlooked for at
the time, was the rise of commerce. The first of these expeditions had
journeyed to Constantinople by land; but the sufferings were so great,
that all the rest were induced to go by sea. The Italian cities of
Venice, Genoa, and Pisa, furnished the vessels which conveyed them;
and the sums of money obtained by the freight of so many and so great
armies were immense. This, however, was but a small part of what the
Italian citizens gained by the expeditions to the Holy Land. The
Crusaders contracted with them for military stores and provisions; and
any of the Asiatic possessions of value, which came temporarily into
the hands of the Christians, became emporiums of commerce for them.
The sweet reward of labor was thus first felt for ages in Europe. New
arts were brought from the East, and many of those natural productions
of the warmer climates were first introduced into the West, which have
since afforded the materials of a lucrative and extended commerce. We
will allude in a separate section to the brilliant career of several
of the Italian Republics.
In these views we represent the fairest side of the picture. There
were yet many obstacles in the way of a complete and harmonious
evolution of the principles of civilization. But the elements all
seemed now to have acquired existence, and time only was required to
consolidate and strengthen them.
FROM THE CRUSADES TO THE MIDDLE OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY――RISE OF SOME
NEW POWERS.
The most remarkable general feature of European society about the time
of the Crusades was the papal influence. Between the pontiffs and the
German emperors there was kept up a perpetual struggle for power; but
for a long time the advantage was almost always with the popes. The
treatment which some of the emperors received from them was extremely
humiliating. Frederick Barbarossa was compelled to kiss the feet of
his holiness, Alexander III, and to appease him by a large cession of
territory, after having indignantly denied his supremacy, and refused
the customary homage. Henry VI, while doing homage on his knees, had
his imperial crown kicked off by Pope Celestinus, who, however, made
some amends for this indignity by the gift of Naples and Sicily. Henry
had expelled the Normans from these territories, which now became
appendages of the German empire (1194). In the beginning of the
thirteenth century, Pope Innocent III was imagined to have permanently
established the powers of the Holy See, and its right to confer the
imperial crown; but this proved far from being the case. In the time
of Frederick II, who succeeded Otho IV (1212), the old contentions
rose to more than the usual height, and two factions sprung up in
Italy, known by the names of Guelphs and Ghibellines, the former
maintaining the supremacy of the popes, and the latter that of the
emperors. Frederick maintained the contest which now arose between
himself and the popes with much spirit; but on his death (1250) the
splendor of the empire was for a considerable time obscured. At length
Rodolph of Hapsbourg, a Swiss baron, was elected emperor (1274).
Rodolph became the founder of the House of Austria, and ruled with
both vigor and moderation. His son Albert I was the means of causing
the inhabitants of Switzerland to assert and obtain their liberty, by
his attempting to bind them in subjection to one of his children, and
then using force to compel them. In the pass of Morgarten, a small
army of four or five hundred of these brave mountaineers defeated an
immense host of Austrians (1315). Sixty pitched battles, it is said,
were fought between the contending parties; but the spirit of William
Tell, who appeared at this time, and of his patriot countrymen, rose
above all attempts to enslave them; and the Swiss cantons secured a
freedom which their descendants enjoy to this day. The further history
of Germany, for nearly a century, is not politically important.
Disputes between the emperors and the papacy still continued, though
the balance of advantage was now oftener against the church.
About the beginning of the fifteenth century, the great papal schism,
as it has been called, took place. It arose from there being no fewer
than three different claimants for the chair of St. Peter――Gregory
XII, who was owned pope by the Italian states; Benedict XIII, by
France; and Alexander V, a native of Candia, by a number of the
cardinals. This schism proved very hurtful to the authority of the
church, though in that respect it benefited the interests of society,
and contributed to open men’s eyes. The appearance of John Huss at
this time aided in producing that effect. Huss proclaimed the same
opinions as the great English reformer Wickliffe. He was branded of
course by the clergy as a heretic and propagator of sedition. The
general council of the church, held at Constance (1414), concocted no
fewer than thirty-nine articles in which Huss is said to have erred.
Some of the points he denied having professed, and others he offered
to support by argument; but his voice was drowned by the clamors of
bigotry. His hair was cut in the form of a cross; upon his head was
put a paper mitre, painted with the representation of three devils;
and he was delivered over to the secular judge, who condemned both him
and his writings to the flames. A similar fate shortly after befell
his disciple, Jerome of Prague, who is said to have exhibited the
eloquence of an apostle and the constancy of a martyr at the stake
(1416). In revenge for these cruelties, the Hussites of Bohemia kept
up a war with the empire for twenty years; and it was only after
having their right to express their opinions acknowledged that they
desisted. The great schism lasted for many years. A Neapolitan
archbishop, named Bari, was elected and deposed by the resident
cardinals at Rome within a few months. Boniface IX and Innocent VI
were each temporarily his successors. The result of the lengthened
dispute may be stated to be, that papal authority was greatly
weakened; the government of the church was brought down among a class
of ecclesiastics that had never before tasted the sweets of power; and
future popes were obliged to resort to such questionable practices for
the maintenance of their dignity, that men in general began to lose
respect for their sanctity, and a foundation was laid for changes
which it fell to the lot of Luther and others to effect.
The period which witnessed these transactions was remarkable for the
continued wars between France and England. In the beginning of the
twelfth century, the famous dispute for supremacy arose between
Thomas-à-Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, and Henry II, which ended
in the death of the prelate (1171), but in the triumph of his
principles. The beginning of the thirteenth century is memorable in
English history, as having witnessed the granting of the Magna Charta
by King John; and towards the conclusion of it appeared Edward I,
whose name is associated with the first great attempts to subdue the
Scots on the part of England. The bravery of Wallace and of others
averted that calamity for ever. Wales was not so fortunate; and
Ireland had already become a conquered province.
During this period, several of those countries in the north of Europe,
which have made a considerable figure in modern history, for the first
time attracted attention. The greatest of these was Russia. In the
middle of the thirteenth century, the tribes of Tartary made a
complete conquest of this country, and for about a hundred years they
maintained their supremacy. At length Ivan ascended the throne of
Moscow (1462), and overcoming the Tartars, established a kingdom of
his own, and was able to form an alliance with the Emperor Maximilian
of Germany, who did not hesitate to style him brother. This was the
first entrance of Russia into European politics.
Before the end of the fourteenth century, the Christian religion had
penetrated into Denmark, Sweden, Prussia, and Poland; but it failed in
producing any immediate beneficial effect. The political events which
took place in these countries, however, were very various at this
period, but proved too unimportant in their results to admit of being
even outlined here.