THE TEUTON AND THE SLAV
Thus we have traced in outline the course of the great story up to,
or about, the year 1500, in respect of three of the nations which
were among the foremost actors in it, England, France, and Spain. We
have seen each of them establishing themselves within something very
like the national boundaries which enclose them to-day. England and
Scotland have not yet come into union, but the Tweed is in 1500, as
now, the boundary river between them.
France, by the subtlety of Louis XI., has gained the mastery of all
her great vassal lords. The English, it is true, still hold Calais,
but no other possession on the Continent. And the boundary of France
goes further north in 1500 than now, for it includes that count-ship,
or province, of Flanders which had been brought into the possession
of France's most powerful and dangerous vassal the Duke of Burgundy.
Northward, again, Holland and Scandinavia (the present Norway and
Sweden)--with Denmark, sometimes the most powerful of them all--did
not take much part as nations in the great story, but, as we have
seen, the Northmen came very largely into its making by reason of
their sea-faring raids and settlements upon the coasts of all the
Western world. From Normandy they came to England and they
conquered. They established themselves as kings of Sicily. A
Northman, Baldwin, became Eastern Emperor at Constantinople.
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[Illustration: CONSTANTINOPLE. Fountain and Square of St. Sophia.]
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Spain we have seen coming together, by the union of Castile and
Aragon under Ferdinand and Isabella, {208} within its present
boundaries of sea and mountains. It has finally overthrown the last
stronghold of Mahommedan power in the western part of Europe by the
conquest of Granada. Portugal ever since the time of the second
Crusade has kept its independence.
On the other, the eastern side of Europe, however, we find that
another Mahommedan power, of quite different race from any of the
Syrians, Arabians, and Africans who composed the mixed Moslem force
which occupied Spain, has taken firm possession of Constantinople
itself and of a vast area of Europe northward--the Turks.
Constantine had been an Emperor of wise foresight when he surrounded
with strong defensive walls the fine city which he built beside the
older Byzantium. It was the gate commanding the narrow sea-way
separating Europe from Asia. Its harbour, later known as the Golden
Horn, was spacious and secure for ships of commerce or ships of war.
Its importance was obvious. Long before its capture by the Crusaders
at the beginning of the thirteenth century it had seen the barbarians
from the north hammering at its walls. Already the growing nation
which had Moscow for its chief city, and which was beginning to be
called Russia, had commenced its attempts--of which there have been
very many in later story--to reach down to Constantinople.
Partly by fighting and partly by bribing, the Emperor of the East had
succeeded in keeping the barbarians off, but the attack of the
Crusaders, with the Venetian fleet to aid, prevailed as we have seen.
Baldwin and his successors reigned at Constantinople for more than
fifty years.
The effect of that capture of the capital of the East by the Western
powers was curious. It led to the incursion into Greece, and into
all that south-eastern {209} corner of Europe over which the Emperor
at Constantinople was supposed to be sovereign, of many members of
the most important families of the Western world, especially French
and Burgundian. And so we have at this time as actors in our stories
men with such titles as Duke of Thebes and Duke of Athens, but with
names that are Gothic or Latin in origin.
[Sidenote: Gothic Dukes in Greece]
This hold of the West on the East, however, lasted only a little more
than half a century, and then the Greeks regained the capital city
and again a Greek Emperor reigned. And gradually, after the loss of
the Empire, the lords from the West lost much of their power in their
own territories also.
So this was but a quickly passing act in the story. There was an
attempt at union between the Greek and the Roman Churches during that
half-century. The Pope of Rome was officially recognised as the
superior of the Patriarch at Constantinople. But it does not seem
that his authority made much difference to the doctrine which the
bishops in the Eastern world professed, nor in their way of
conducting their religious affairs. And after the temporary union
the Churches fell apart again, as before.
Now we saw, in a former chapter of the story--Chapter XVI.--how the
great mass of the Slavonic peoples, pressing from the east westward,
had been divided by the Hungarians, of different race from
themselves, thrusting in like a wedge. The wedge split them into two
parts, of which the northern, consisting chiefly of Russia and
Poland, was far larger than the southern. The principal Slavonic
peoples in the southern part were the Bulgarians and Serbians settled
in those territories, or nearly so, which Bulgaria occupies now and
which Serbia did occupy until the Great War. The place of the latter
we now see marked on our modern maps as forming part of the larger
State of Jugo-Slavia.
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We have said something already about the beginnings of that vast and
unfortunate country which is now called Russia. We saw how the name
of the country and its first rulers came down from Scandinavia. The
Scandinavians were great people, with unusual gifts of governing and
organising at a time when these were very rare and precious gifts
among the tribes and nations of Northern Europe. They must have had
a touch of the genius which made the ancient Romans so masterful and
effective.
The first capital of that infant Russia, which was destined to grow
into such a giant, was Novgorod, not very far from where its later
capital of Petrograd now stands. As with other famous cities in
other lands, Novgorod was important because of its situation on a
navigable waterway. Then from it again there stretched waterways to
the south, both to the Caspian and to the Black Sea. The
enterprising Scandinavians who went down to the Mediterranean and
took possession of many coast towns and of islands in the Ionian Sea
did not all go sea-roving round France and Spain and Italy to the
eastward. The majority, I expect, did go by sea; but there is record
of many going by the land (or river) route, through Russia. Soon the
people that had occupied Novgorod and its neighbourhood spread
eastward to another settlement called Nijni-Novgorod, which, as you
may see on the map, is also on a great waterway. We may always find
a reason for the growth of a big city, if we go a-hunting for the
reason; and it is always an interesting hunt.
Another tribe or nation of these same Slavonic people began to grow
in numbers and importance. They had their capital at Moscow.
[Sidenote: The Tartars]
During the first half of the thirteenth century these Slavs, whose
pressure on his borders gave trouble to the German Emperor, were
being pressed in their turn {211} by a people coming from farther
east, from the very borders of China. They were a people from
Mongolia, called Tartars, and they lived the hardy, nomadic life.
They moved less like armies than like nations, taking all their
belongings, their wives and children, with them. They were very
numerous and very fierce. They came down upon these Slavs
repeatedly, but it appears to have made but little difference whether
they were victors or vanquished; for if they won they did not settle
on the conquered territory; they went away again. And if they were
defeated there was no permanence about their defeat; they came back
again. They were a constant vexation and menace.
So the story went, during all that half-century or so--at one time
the Tartars overrunning nearly all Russia, as well as parts of
Poland, except Novgorod itself. Later again they captured Novgorod.
But by that time, that is to say just a little before the date at
which the Greeks regained Constantinople--namely 1261--Moscow and the
Muscovite province had increased in importance and strength. It
seems that this capture by the Tartars of the capital of the southern
province gave Moscow the opportunity to assert and make good a claim
to authority over both provinces, for the Tsar or Czar (or Cæsar, or
Kaiser) of Moscow entered into an alliance with the Khan (or
chieftain) of the Tartar horde, and it is in this alliance that we
may see the seed from which grew that immense Russia of to-day, which
includes part of Mongolia itself, where those Tartar hordes came from.
The story of the next two centuries in Russia is really the story of
the growth of the country from this seed. Other Slavonic peoples
that grew powerful at the same time as, and in some rivalry with,
Russia, were the Poles and Lithuanians. The latter were a fierce
barbarous people. Probably they were a branch of the Slavonic
family, but less civilised than the {212} others and a constant
menace both to Poles and Russians.
[Sidenote: Teuton and Slav]
Now you will perhaps remember that at the time of the second Crusade,
that is in the middle of the twelfth century, a body of knights
raised to go to Palestine requested the Pope's leave to go instead
against a tribe called the Wends, who were pressing in upon Germany
through the country that now is Prussia. The Wends were a pagan
people and the Pope's leave was granted. This body of knights were
called the Knights of the Sword, but they were absorbed later by the
larger body called the Teutonic Order. This Order got possession of
extensive territory along the south shore of the Baltic, and there
the knights and their retainers maintained themselves--a Teutonic
force lying between the Slavs and the ports on the Baltic. That was
a position which was tolerably sure to lead to trouble. Several
times in course of this great story we have seen a foreign army
invited into a country and establishing itself there in a manner
quite unexpected by the hosts. Actually it was on the invitation of
one of the grandees of Poland that these Teutonic knights came to
settle on their borders. They were established to the north of
Poland, and on the eastern side they were bounded by the Lithuanians.
And against these Lithuanians they would naturally fight, according
to the purpose with which their order had been founded, because the
Lithuanians were pagans until about halfway through the thirteenth
century. At that time their ruler was converted to Christianity, and
proclaimed Christianity as the State religion; and early in the next
century they made an alliance with the Poles, their kinsmen. The
Poles had been very hardly beset during the early part of the
fourteenth century by those Teutonic guests who had come in on their
invitation, but they heavily defeated the knights in 1332, and by
their alliance with the {213} Lithuanians they became strong. The
Teutonic Order had henceforth to stand on the defensive, trying, but
in vain, to hold the lands that it had won.
In course of the fifteenth century, Russia grew in strength, by her
alliance with the Tartars, and she too began to press upon the
Teutonic knights. The knights were gallant fighters in these days of
their adversity, and just after the end of the century they won a
victory over the Tsar's forces which led to a fifty years' truce.
But the terms of the truce did not give the victors any increase of
territory. It did but confirm their position for a while, and for a
while only, as masters of what they still held. If you look at a
modern map it will show you no trace of these Teutonic knights and
their possessions, once so extensive. Their story, which is part of
the larger story of the long struggle between Teuton and Slav, ended
in a complete victory for the Slav. Nearly at the date of this
treaty between the knights and the Tsar, the great State of Lithuania
was merged in the Kingdom of Poland. Together they became a great
power, while Cracow, the Polish capital, and other towns favoured by
their positions on navigable waterways grew rich and prosperous.
We saw, in Chapter XVI., that one of the German States, that of
Austria (the eastern land), lay especially exposed to the pressure of
the Slavs. Because it lay in that exposed position, it had need to
be strong. And it was for the advantage of the whole German Empire
further to its west that it should be thus strong, because only by
its strength could it act as an effective defence against these
eastern enemies. Therefore it was granted privileges. Its ruler was
raised to the rank of Duke, and later to Archduke. The situation of
its capital, Vienna, on that great waterway, the Danube River,
brought wealth. All through the fourteenth century Austria was
gradually adding to {214} her territory by conquest of weaker States
along her borders.
It was in 1273 that Rudolph, Count of Habsburg, in the north of what
now is Switzerland, became ruler of Austria; and the Habsburgs, or
Hapsburgs, have been the ruling family in Austria ever since, until
the Austrian Emperor's resignation on the loss of the Great War.
Rudolph was also King of Germany. His claim to Austria was not very
clear, but he was able to establish it because of the division of
parties caused by the dying out of the direct descendants of the
former ruling family.
It was for a like reason that Hungary, lying up against Austria's
eastern border, and frequently at war with her, was able, after the
middle of the fifteenth century, to annex some of Austria's most
easterly possessions. But it was Austria's fortune at this crisis to
have as her Archduke a bold and able man of the Habsburg line,
Maximilian I., who was afterwards elected Emperor. Austria was by
now an arch-duchy, but she was not yet an "electorate"; that is to
say she had no vote, as those German States that were "electorates"
had a vote, for the choice of an Emperor. For it was thus, by vote
among those States that had the right of "election," that one was
chosen to sit on the throne of Charlemagne. When you read of a ruler
as an "Elector"--say of Hanover or of whatever State it be--you will
know that it means that he was ruler of a State that had this right
of election.
Maximilian then, later thus chosen Emperor, led and organised Austria
with such success that by the end of the century, that is to say
before the year 1500, he had regained all the territory that Hungary
had lately taken, and restored to Austria all her old possessions.
He had extended her boundaries to very much those which she continued
to hold right up to the re-arrangement made after the Great War.
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Thus this powerful family of Habsburgs established themselves in
Austria, and at the same time established Austria as the most
powerful State in Germany, although she did not have a vote in the
Emperor's election. But the Habsburgs had possessions in other parts
of Europe as well as in Austria. The castle from which their name
was taken was near the junction of the Aar with the Rhine, in the
north of that country which we now call Switzerland. It began to be
so called about the middle of the fourteenth century, and the name
was taken from one of its cantons, or divisions, the canton of
Schwyz. But at first the name did not cover anything like the
territory to which it soon was applied. In the fourteenth century it
stood for a confederation of eight cantons.
The confederation grew out of an "Everlasting League," as it was
called, which was formed shortly after the death of that Rudolph, the
first Habsburg ruler of Austria, to resist the political claims of
the Habsburgs. Apparently the founders of the League did not dispute
the right of the Habsburgs as owners of extensive lands. The
Habsburgs might deal with the land and any profits they might derive
from it as they would. What the confederates disputed was their
claim to govern.
[Sidenote: The Swiss cantons]
Nearly all through the fourteenth century this claim was being
disputed, sometimes diplomatically, and sometimes by active war.
Twice the Habsburgs raised an army to go against these audacious
rebels, as they deemed them. The story of William Tell shooting the
apple on his son's head belongs to this period. We need not accept
it as actual historical fact, but rather as a legend expressive of
the patriotism of the Swiss cantons. The confederates were very few
in numbers, but they had the courage common among mountaineers, and
in their mountainous country they could defend themselves against a
far larger force {216} of invaders. The numbers of the opposing
armies that met in these conflicts were curiously unequal. In one
great battle, that of Morgarten, early in the century, the attacking
force is estimated at anything between 15,000 and 20,000, and the
defending force at between 1,300 and 1,500. Yet the larger force,
charging up the mountains and being beset with huge stones hurled at
them by the defenders on the ridges, were utterly defeated. The same
thing happened again towards the end of the century at the battle of
Sempach. After that the Habsburgs made little further attempt to
enforce their claims, but it was not till towards the end of the
following century that the claim was formally renounced in a treaty
called the "Ever-lasting Compact."
The Swiss seem to have been fond of that dangerous word, as applied
to leagues and compacts, "ever-lasting."
In the course of the fifteenth century other cantons were taken into
the confederacy.
In the contest between Louis XI. of France and his great vassal the
Duke of Burgundy, the Swiss were brought into alliance with the
French, the winning side, and they were consistently successful in a
series of battles with the Burgundians. Maximilian, the Habsburg,
was on the other, the Burgundian, side, for he had married the
daughter of the Duke of Burgundy. Their alliance with the French
added to the strength of the Swiss, and by the end of that century
they had succeeded in throwing off any authority that the Emperor
might still claim to wield over them, just as they had thrown off the
claim of the Habsburgs at the end of the century before.
But the power of the Emperor was growing more and more nominal, and
less and less real, and many States and cities were shaking off its
burden. It was a time when authority both of Church and State was
{217} in dispute. John Huss, a Bohemian preacher, at the beginning
of the fifteenth century, had taken up, as we have seen on p. 195,
the doctrines of our Wycliffe and preached eloquently against the
evil practices which had come into the Church. He had a very large
following. Just as had happened in England, the Hussite attack on
the authority of the Church became associated with an attack on the
civil authority too. But this latter attack was checked in England
by the defeat of Wat Tyler's rebellion and by the cruel measures
taken to put down the Lollards, who carried on the doctrines of
Wycliffe. Huss was burnt, as a heretic, at Rome, whither he had been
summoned to give an account of his doings, in spite of an assurance
of safe-conduct made to him by the King of the Romans. This made
Huss a martyr in the eyes of his followers, and his popular movement
in Bohemia gained great force. A regular Hussite army was formed.
The Bohemians were akin to the Slavs rather than the Teutons, and
this revolutionary force became a menace not only in Bohemia itself
but in other States of the Empire. When armies were sent against the
Hussites, the latter, fired, like the Puritans later, with religious
zeal, always had the advantage. But they do not seem to have tried
to take possession of territory. They fought for what may be shortly
called reformation in the Church. The great Reformation, under
Luther's lead, was still to come, in the following century, but we
may regard our own Wycliffe as its forerunner, with Huss as his
disciple, preparing the way for Luther.
[Sidenote: The Hussite rising]
The Hussite revolution was set to rest by a compact, made in 1436, to
which the Church of Rome itself was a party. Larger freedom in
religious ceremonies, and relinquishment by the clergy of their
worldly wealth, were the two principal points agreed in the compact.
But the agreement was not very faithfully carried out.
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