the high power of God should ever abide with them, should guide and
defend them; and that the assisting and counselling Spirit of truth,
of peaceful order, and of active zeal should never be removed from
them; the efficay of this divine promise was now manifested during
this intermediate period of anarchy; and though in a different form
from what it appeared in the earlier ages of the church, yet was it
perfectly adapted to the exigencies of the time. The great problem of
the age was first in this new agglomeration of nations, to endeavour
to allay the agitated elements of society, till after that agitation
had subsided, they should grow and strengthen into organic life and
form; and next, to preserve the heritage of European science and
letters, and thus sow the seeds of a richer and more flourishing
harvest for future ages. And to effect this by the mild and genial
influence of Christianity, was the object, the task, and the work of
the distinguished ecclesiastics, bishops, dignitaries, and other
apostolic men of those ages. The two great popes, Leo and Gregory,
shone conspicuous above all their contemporaries, and were in that
period of anarchy, a pillar of strength and a shield of safety to
afflicted Rome and Italy--the guardians of European society and of
Christian science. Both by their practical and instructive writings,
are considered as the last of the ancient fathers; and Leo even is
remarkable for great purity of diction and force of eloquence. In
point of science and learning, the succeeding bishops and dignitaries
of the church cannot indeed be compared with the ancient fathers; but
on the other hand, they united with a true Christian piety a practical
sense that never failed to discern everywhere what was fitting for the
emergency of the moment. The Monastic schools founded by St. Benedict
were indeed of a very different nature from the primitive eremitical
institutes of Egypt; and entirely adapted to the exigencies of Europe
in that age, they were the asylums and seminaries of learning and
philosophic contemplation; and while they promoted the interests of
education, they were equally conducive to the progress of agriculture.
A number of works have sufficiently shewn how much the influence of
the Benedictine order, which for many centuries extended over all the
countries of the West, has advanced the intellectual civilization of
modern Europe, and indeed sown its first seeds.
By Bishop Boniface the Christian religion was established and widely
diffused in the interior of Germany. At an earlier period, other holy
men animated with an apostolic zeal, forty of whom were sent by Pope
Gregory the Great, carried the light of the gospel into Britain;
where it was received with peculiar avidity by the Picts and Scots,
and the old inhabitants of Erin, as well as by the Anglo-Saxons. In
true Christian piety, and in such knowledge and science as the age
possessed, England during this Saxon period, prior and down to the
reign of Alfred, maintained nearly a pre-eminence above the other
kingdoms of the West. Even that apostle of the Germans, Boniface,
originally named Winfried, came from England; and among the writers of
the age, Alcuin asserted the intellectual superiority of the
Anglo-Saxon Christians. Limited as was the knowledge of the Western
world in those ages, and narrow the circle of European science and
learning, still we find in those times, but almost only in the West,
writers of very original powers, and peculiar turn of mind, whose
writings, composed either in a barbarous Latin, or in a half-formed
Romanic vernacular tongue, are the faithful and instructive mirrors of
the spirit of the times. On the other hand, the later Byzantine
writers, though they possessed incomparably greater resources, and
much more extensive philological acquirements, have produced nothing
but learned compilations.
Now there arose in the West, Christian kings, heroes and legislators,
both among the Franks and the Saxons, such as Charlemagne and Alfred,
who as men were not indeed faultless, but who should be judged and
appreciated according to the character of their times; a knowledge of
which is necessary for rightly understanding the spirit of these
extraordinary men. In peace and in war they endeavoured firmly to
establish a new model society on Christian principles and maxims; and
they restored the Western in the form of a great Christian Empire,
destined to defend and protect all Christian states--all the civilized
nations of the European Confederacy against Barbarian invasion and
internal anarchy.
If we compare these Frank and Saxon Kings and Emperors, valiant and
chivalrous as they were, thirsting for glory, yet seeking and
establishing peace, honouring justice, and founding or restoring laws,
on one hand with those Saracen rulers and caliphs, ever burning with a
rage for conquest and destruction, and on the other hand, with that
Byzantine court, presenting almost always the uniform picture of
corruption, and ruling over an empire pining in hopeless decay--if we
contrast those flashes of genius which distinguished the writings of
the Western nations, with the dead, spiritless monotony pervading all
the productions of the Byzantine intellect, superior as the Greeks
were to the rest of Europe in erudition, science and literary stores;
we shall find in this comparison, (taking into consideration the
imperfection of all human things, and actions, and persons, for even
in this period of the world, errors and defects are to be found in the
conduct of individuals mixed up with the most praiseworthy
qualities,) we shall find, I say, in this comparison, the best
vindication and the highest eulogium of the Catholic West and its
earlier history. The misrepresentation of that history formerly so
frequently made by the passion, the exaggerations, and the prejudices
of party, has still an injurious influence, but is with us no longer
in season; for the moment has arrived, when fixed in the right centre,
we must now begin to take a more complete and comprehensive survey of
the primitive world, and classical antiquity, next of the history of
the middle age, and of modern times, down to the present day, and to
that approaching futurity still in the crisis of its formation; and
when we must judge them with more correctness in all their details,
and understand them better by examining their relative position in the
great plan of history, and estimate them all by the standard given to
us by God, which is the only true one. Then we shall judge these
particulars without predilection, and without aversion, "_sine odio et
sine dilectione_," which is somewhat more than that excellent and
greatest of all ancient historians, who gave utterance to this saying,
really accomplished, or was indeed in his time and with his principles
capable of accomplishing. For it is only the knowledge and complete
comprehension of the great scheme of history, which can enable us to
rise above the particular transactions of our own, or of a foreign
nation, of the present times or of past ages; and it is this
knowledge which can alone clearly and safely determine the feeling
with which we should regard particular historical facts. But for that
end, the ancient historian, as well as all antiquity, wanted the clue
which Christianity alone has given us, to the internal connexion of
the world's history, and which they who seek for it elsewhere but in
this religion, will certainly seek in vain.
In this period of anarchy, and during the sway of the Lombards, the
circumstances of the times gave to the Popes a paramount authority in
the internal administration of the city and district of Rome; as well
as a general political influence over all Italy;--an influence which
was for the most part very salutary, and tended effectually to ensure
the public peace and prosperity. I must here observe that this
political position and power of the Popes, so naturally adapted to the
circumstances of the times, and to the general situation of the
Western world, was first put in a clear and correct point of view by
writers not belonging to the Catholic church. For the political
historians on the Catholic side have, in almost every country,
retained too lively a recollection of the warm disputes as to the
respective limits and rights of the ecclesiastical and secular power,
not to be swayed by such feelings in their conception and accounts of
an age long gone by; and this has certainly weakened the impartiality
becoming the tribunal of history.
After the subversion of the Ostro-Goth dominion in Italy, the disgrace
or even dissatisfaction of the Byzantine General, Narses, provoked the
incursion of the Lombards into Italy. This people were not so
exclusively devoted to the Arian party, as a portion of them, and
several among their kings, professed the Catholic religion; but they
were far from possessing the mild, generous character of the Goths,
and their sway often proved oppressive in Italy. Yet every thing
appeared more desirable and more tolerable in the opinion of many
otherwise unprejudiced historians, than the impending danger of
Byzantine rule. When in the middle of the seventh century, the Greek
Emperor Constans II. waged war in Italy against the Lombards, and in
the course of the war conquered Rome, the plunder, especially of the
treasures of ancient art, was so immense, that compared with these
Greek devastations, all the earlier and destructive ravages of the
Goths appeared to be nothing. The ships which were conveying to
Constantinople all these plundered treasures of art, fell into the
hands of the Arabs, and were destroyed, so that it was never known
what became of their valuable freight. So true it is, that Rome
perished solely and entirely by her own hand, by internal discord, and
the weight of her own corruption, and not by the hands of Germans or
of Goths.
When at the commencement of the eighth century, the dominion of the
rude Lombards became oppressive, and the Greek sway under the
Iconoclast Leo was still more detested, and all the cities and
provinces of Italy had revolted against it; Pope Gregory II. without
any previous concert, and by unanimous consent, was placed at the head
of the Italian league, and declared its chief; but he warned his
countrymen against the dangers of precipitation, exhorted them to the
maintenance of peace, and ever cherished the hope of obtaining a
friendly reconciliation with the Byzantine Emperor. The rigid
prohibition of the religious use of images was proper in those cases
only, where the use of them was not confined to a mere devotional
respect, but was likely to degenerate into a real adoration and
idolatry, and where a strict separation from Pagan nations and their
rites was a matter of primary importance, as was the case in the
Jewish dispensation of old. But now that the Mahomedan proscription,
and scornful rejection of all holy emblems and images of devotion,
arose from a decidedly anti-christian spirit, that displayed itself
either in open violence or secret machination against the Christian
religion; this Byzantine attack on images, and this furious war
against all symbols of piety, which in its ulterior consequences might
and must have proceeded to much greater lengths, can be regarded only
as a mad contagion of the moral disease of the age. This disorder and
phrenzy indeed subsided; and the Greeks of the Byzantine Empire in
their religious rites, as well as dogmas, have remained Christians,
and faithful to the old Christian traditions. Yet this controversy on
the use of images, and the animosites and jealousies which it
enkindled between the Christians of the East and West, did not a
little contribute to that perfectly groundless, irrational, and
unhappy schism which has severed the Greeks from the universal church.
The protracted contest between the kings of Lombardy and the Greek
Exarchs of Ravenna, (during whose disputes the Popes felt the calling
and inclination, but had not the power, to exercise the high functions
of Protectors to oppressed Italy,) naturally provoked the arbitration
of the Franks, led to the establishment of their Protectorate over
Italy, and was thus the first occasion of the restoration of the
Western Empire, and of the foundation of the great Christian imperial
monarchy. The sublime idea of such an empire sprang solely and
entirely out of circumstances and events, as they arose, and had not
by any individual been fully anticipated, much less clearly
understood. Hence we cannot attribute to any persons the blame or
entire merit of events that really took place of themselves, by the
mere force of circumstances, the spirit of the times, and the happy
impulse of a lofty inspiration. Nor can we at this remote distance of
time, and under circumstances so totally dissimilar, institute a
formal discussion (in the manner of the Jurists) on the lawfulness or
unlawfulness of any particular measure in this great series of public
acts. No country besides was oppressed by so many and such contending
rulers, as that Italy which had once bowed all nations beneath her
yoke. Sicily, which had been conquered by the Arabs, laboured under
the most cruel oppression; and it was the tyrannical conduct of the
Greek governors that had paved the way for the conquest of that
island. In the third century, the Franks had already migrated into
Gaul; their rulers were from the origin of their empire most devoted
to Christianity; and had besides in their conduct towards kindred or
neighbouring nations, evinced a more judicious, prudent, and
systematic policy, than had been shewn by any other Germanic or Gothic
tribe, in the invasion and subsequent government of the Roman
provinces. This nation, which from its origin had ever been warmly
attached to the Catholic church, which had subdued the Visi-Goth
kingdom in Gaul, had become masters of the Burgundian provinces, while
it perpetually strove to extend and consolidate its dominion in the
interior of Germany; was now, after its splendid victory over the
Saracens, and the general protection which this victory had ensured to
all Christendom, called into Italy, less by the Pope and the Romans,
than by the state of affairs, and the urgency of times and
circumstances, there to terminate anarchy, and re-establish the
ancient order of things, or one better adapted to the exigencies
of the age. The Empire of the Franks was henceforward the most
powerful state in the West, and was indeed the great centre of the
civilized world; as afterwards became, though on a higher and more
extended scale, the great Christian Empire of the middle age in
Germany and in Italy. Here we find that high clue in human history to
which we should ever adhere--on one side, the luminous trace of the
more immediate providence of God--and on the other, the gradual
unfolding of the human mind, evinced in science as in language, in
feelings as in modes of thinking--an intellectual developement, which
though often concealed, and, as it were, buried beneath the agitated
surface of external events, forms (together with the conduct of divine
providence,) the real and essential matter and purport in the history
and progress of human communities. In this respect, if we regard
either of the then two great rival powers in the East, we shall find
that neither the dead monotony of the Byzantine Empire, sinking ever
lower in the scale of moral, political and intellectual degradation,
nor the more hasty growth and the internal distraction of the
Saracenic Empire, (presenting, as it does, in its long series of
political catastrophes, military revolutions, and frequent changes of
dynasty, the same tedious uniformity of despotism,) will furnish much
matter of interest or of moment to the philosophic historian. It is in
this period of the world, the gradual organization of the Christian
state, as in a later age, the developement of Christian science,
which chiefly commands our regard, naturally so curious after all that
relates to the concerns and destinies of mankind, and fixes our
attention exclusively, or more particularly, on that European West,
where all now displayed a fuller life, and a more constant movement
and activity.
The territorial partitions, and the various feuds and dissensions
which occurred between the Frank kings, possess but little, or at best
a subordinate interest, amid the great events of the times--it is the
leading idea of the age, the progressive march of society at this
period, which offers matter of instruction to the historian. Many
faults and errors, however, stained the first execution of this grand
plan of a Christian Empire;--such for instance, were those wars which
Charlemagne waged against the Saxons, as well as similar wars under
his predecessors in the preceding age; for the propagation of the
Christian religion by such means of coercion, can scarcely ever be
excused, and in no case entirely justified. The best excuse is perhaps
in the fact, that all wars between tribes nearly allied, are like
family disputes, usually conducted with greater stubbornness and
animosity. However, in the year 784, Charlemagne concluded with the
Saxons a peace which was very advantageous to the latter; and the
extremely prosperous and flourishing condition of the empire, and even
of the countries in the North of Germany, under Henry the first king
of the Saxon race, proves at least that the evil was confined within
very narrow limits, and had not been productive of such wide-spread
and protracted desolation.
In the transition from the Carlovingian, to the Capetian dynasty, we
should not forget that the monarchy was not strictly hereditary in any
German state, but was for the most part merely elective; and it was
only he, who had proved himself a valiant, prudent, and powerful
defender of his nation, that became the man of the public choice.
Royalty was then considered more in the light of an office, a charge,
a peculiar calling, than of an inheritance or patrimony. The general
idea of the Christian Empire, was a universal protectorate over all
Christian nations and countries--a mighty central dominion founded on
justice, while the great connecting and pervading power of the whole
system was supposed to reside in the perfect unity of religious
principles. When this religious unity was destroyed, the whole
political edifice fell to pieces; and in the struggles of later times,
the artificial relations founded on a mere mechanical balance of
power, on a republican equality of states, without the foundation of
Christian or any other solid principles, have furnished, as experience
has shewn, but a very bad substitute for that old Christian
brotherhood of the European states and nations; and have in the
general subversion of Christian morality, produced a sort of polite
disorder and refined anarchy.
In the partition of the Carlovingian Empire--a partition which was
only in accordance with those principles of descent which regulated
the inheritance of the great families--we can trace an almost heroic,
and if we might use the expression, a naïve patriarchal confidence in
the duration of that religious unity; for it was only on such a basis
that men deemed it possible to combine the advantage of the domestic,
internal government of a country limited in extent, with the controul
of one general superintending monarchy. When a man of such consummate
prudence, such long foresight, and powerful understanding as
Charlemagne deemed such a scheme not impracticable, and thought it
possible to maintain the political unity of his empire, under the
joint dominion of his sons, and by their subordination to their eldest
brother; we should learn not to judge the plan with too much
precipitation, and according to the notions of our times, and our
present systems of policy. This first partition which Charlemagne had
designed, was prevented by the hand of death. The entire division of
the whole Carlovingian Empire into three distinct portions, was first
effected by Lewis the Pious; but the perpetual family dissensions
which occurred under his successors, the weakness or violence of their
characters, and the various factions which arose, rendered totally
impossible the maintenance of that union, which was originally sought
to be perpetuated in the empire, and led to the final dismemberment
and total dissolution of the old Empire of the Franks, when another
dynasty succeeded to the imperial crown.
In the primitive monarchy of the Germans, however, the existence of
the four great national dutchies, which were subordinate to the
imperial crown, far more happily accomplished this union of a local,
domestic, and paternal government with the controul of one powerful
and superintending monarchy; so long at least as internal union
subsisted, and discord had not obtained the supremacy. There then
existed, though mostly in a different form than afterwards, a division
of powers in the state as well as in the church; but unity in this
division, or with this division, was sought for only in Christian and
National sentiments; and as long as these subsisted in their
integrity, the body politic remained unimpaired. At no time has a
political constitution or mode of government been devised, which could
permanently supply the place of principle.
In the national meetings of the great and smaller states of that age,
in their assembled councils of dukes and princes, bishops, counts and
lords, nobles and freemen (to whom were added the Commons of the
cities, when by their rights and privileges they began to obtain
importance), we must look for the first germ of all the succeeding
parliaments and states-general of the European nations, and of the
rights of the different orders of society, and the privileges and
corporate immunities of the cities. All these rights and liberties
were purely local--they grew up on the root of national customs--they
were founded on no speculative theory of universal equality, but on
positive usage, and special laws. The union and stability of an empire
was then sought for not in the balance of artificial forms, but in the
holy heritage of ancient customs, in principle in short.
On this basis, first of Christian, then of national sentiments, do all
Christian states repose; and when this foundation is destroyed, those
states are undone. Ecclesiastical power had then a real and
substantial weight, and a very extended circle of operation; although
its limits and relations with secular authority were not so rigidly
circumscribed as afterwards. To be sensible that this division of
power will not necessarily impair the unity of strength and spirit in
the social frame, as long as principle remains pure, and religious
concord is preserved; we need only call to our recollection the fact,
that all Christian states and kingdoms have sprung from this happy
agreement between secular and ecclesiastical authority, and that this
union was the sure foundation of their stability. And so long as both
powers remained in harmonious accord, the times were prosperous, peace
and justice ever increased, and the condition of nations was
flourishing and happy. Christianity, says a great historian, who
manifests a greater predilection for antiquity, and even for the
oriental world, but whose comprehensive intellect often rightly
appreciates the benign influence of this religion, which with us must
have the priority; Christianity was the electric spark which first
roused the warlike nations of the North, rendered them susceptible of
a higher civilization, stamped the peculiar character, and founded the
political institutions of modern nations, which have sprung out of
such heterogeneous elements. And we may add, Christianity was the
connecting power which linked together the great community of European
nations, not only in the moral and political relations of life, but in
science and modes of thinking. The church was like the all-embracing
vault of heaven, beneath whose kindly shelter, those warlike nations
began to settle in peace, and gradually to frame their laws and
institutions. Even the office of instruction, the heritage of ancient
knowledge, the promotion of science, and of all that tended to advance
the progress of the human mind, devolved to the care of the church,
and were exclusively confined to the Christian schools. If science was
then of a very limited range, it was still quite proportioned to the
exigencies and intellectual cultivation of the age; for mankind cannot
transcend all the degrees of civilization by a single bound, but must
mount slowly and in succession its various grades; and at any rate,
science was not at that time unprofitably buried in libraries and in
the closets of the learned, as was afterwards the case in Europe, and
even partly then among the Byzantines. The little knowledge which was
then possessed, was by the more active spirit, and the sound
understanding and practical sense of the European nations, and their
better priesthood, applied with general advantage to the interests of
society. Science was not then, as in the later period of its proud
ascendancy, in open hostility with the pure dictates of faith and the
institutions of life. On that world so variously excited in peace, as
in war, and by the different pursuits of art and industry, useful
knowledge and wholesome speculation descended, not like a violent
flood, but like the soft distillations of the refreshing dew, or the
gentle drops of fertilizing rain, from the Heaven of faith which
overarched the whole.