Produced by Al Haines
[Frontispiece: Leo Tolstoy in his bare Apartments at Yasnaya Polyana
(Repin)]
HEROES OF MODERN EUROPE
BY
ALICE BIRKHEAD B.A.
AUTHOR OF
'THE STORY OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION' 'MARIE ANTOINETTE' 'PETER THE
GREAT' ETC.
WITH EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS
GEORGE G. HARRAP & CO. LTD.
LONDON ---- CALCUTTA ---- SYDNEY
[Transcriber's note: Page numbers in this book are indicated by numbers
enclosed in curly braces, e.g. {99}. They have been located where page
breaks occurred in the original book, in accordance with Project
Gutenberg's FAQ-V-99. For its Index, a page number has been placed
only at the start of that section. In the HTML version of this book,
page numbers are placed in the left margin.]
First published July 1913
by GEORGE G. HARRAP & Co.
39-41 Parker Street, Kingsway, London, W.C.2
Reprinted in the present series:
February 1914; August 1917; May 1921; January 1924; July 1926
Contents
CHAP.
I. THE TWO SWORDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
II. DANTE, THE DIVINE POET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
III. LORENZO THE MAGNIFICENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
IV. THE PRIOR OF SAN MARCO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
V. MARTIN LUTHER, REFORMER OF THE CHURCH . . . . . . . . 52
VI. CHARLES V, HOLY ROMAN EMPEROR . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
VII. THE BEGGARS OF THE SEA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
VIII. WILLIAM THE SILENT, FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY . . . . . . 86
IX. HENRY OF NAVARRE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
X. UNDER THE RED ROBE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
XI. THE GRAND MONARCH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
XII. PETER THE GREAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
XIII. THE ROYAL ROBBER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
XIV. SPIRITS OF THE AGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
XV. THE MAN FROM CORSICA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
XVI. "GOD AND THE PEOPLE" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
XVII. "FOR ITALY AND VICTOR EMMANUEL!" . . . . . . . . . . 195
XVIII. THE THIRD NAPOLEON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
XIX. THE REFORMER OF THE EAST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
XX. THE HERO IN HISTORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Illustrations
LEO TOLSTOY IN HIS BARE APARTMENTS
AT YASNAYA POLYANA (_Repin_). . . . . . . . . . _Frontispiece_
DANTE IN THE STREETS OF FLORENCE (_Evelyn Paul_) . . . . . . . 22
THE LAST SLEEP OF SAVONAROLA (_Sir George Reid, P.R.S.A._) . . 60
PHILIP II PRESENT AT AN AUTO-DA-FÉ (_D. Valdivieso_) . . . . . 78
LAST MOMENTS OF COUNT EGMONT (_Louis Gallait_) . . . . . . . . 90
AN APPLICATION TO THE CARDINAL FOR HIS FAVOUR (_Walter Gay_) 124
FREDERICK THE GREAT RECEIVING HIS PEOPLE'S HOMAGE
(_A. Menzel_) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
THE MEETING OF VICTOR EMMANUEL AND GARIBALDI (_Pietro Aldi_) 204
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Heroes of Modern Europe
Chapter I
The Two Swords
In the fourth century after Christ began that decay of the Roman Empire
which had been the pride of the then civilized world. Warriors of
Teutonic race invaded its splendid cities, destroyed without remorse
the costliest and most beautiful of its antique treasures. Temples and
images of the gods fell before barbarians whose only fear was lest they
should die "upon the straw," while marble fountains and luxurious
bath-houses were despoiled as signs of a most inglorious state of
civilization. Theatres perished and, with them, the plays of Greek
dramatists, who have found no true successors. Pictures and statues
and buildings were defaced where they were not utterly destroyed. The
Latin race survived, forlornly conscious of its vanished culture.
The Teutons had hardly begun to impose upon the Empire the rude customs
of their own race when Saracens, bent upon spreading the religion of
Mahomet, bore down upon Italy, where resistance from watchtowers and
castles was powerless to check their cruel depredations. Norman
pirates plundered the shores of the Mediterranean and sailed up the
River Seine, {10} always winning easy victories. Magyars, a strange,
wandering race, came from the East and wrought much evil among the
newly-settled Germans.
From the third to the tenth century there were incredible changes among
the European nations. Gone were the gleaming cities of the South and
the worship of art and science and the exquisite refinements of the
life of scholarly leisure. Gone were the flourishing manufactures
since the warrior had no time to devote to trading. Gone was the love
of letters and the philosopher's prestige now that men looked to the
battle-field alone to give them the awards of glory.
Outwardly, Europe of the Middle Ages presented a sad contrast to the
magnificence of an Empire which was fading to remoteness year by year.
The ugly towns did not attempt to hide their squalor, when dirt was
such a natural condition of life that a knight would dwell boastfully
upon his contempt for cleanliness, and a beauty display hands innocent
of all proper tending. The dress of the people was ill-made and
scanty, lacking the severe grace of the Roman toga. Furniture was
rudely hewn from wood and placed on floors which were generally uneven
and covered with straw instead of being paved with tessellated marble.
Yet the inward life of Europe was purer since it sought to follow the
teaching of Christ, and preached universal love and a toleration that
placed on the same level a mighty ruler and the lowest in his realm.
Fierce spirits, unfortunately, sometimes forgot the truth and gave
themselves up to a cruel lust for persecution which was at variance
with their creed, but the holiest now condemned warfare and praised the
virtues of obedience and self-sacrifice.
{11}
Whereas pagan Greek and Rome had searched for beauty upon earth, it was
the dreary belief of the Middle Ages that the world was a place where
only misery could be the portion of mankind, who were bidden to look to
another life for happiness and pleasure. Sinners hurried from
temptation into monasteries, which were founded for the purpose of
enabling men to prepare for eternity. Family life was broken up and
all the pleasant intercourse of social habits. Marriage was a snare,
and even the love of parents might prove dangerous to the devoted monk.
Strange was the isolation of the hermit who refused to cleanse himself
or change his clothes, desiring above all other things to attain to
that blessed state when his soul should be oblivious of his body.
Women also despised the claims of kindred and retired to convents where
the elect were granted visions after long prayer and fasting. The nun
knelt on the bare stone floor of her cell, awaiting the ecstasy that
would descend on her. When it had gone again she was nigh to death,
faint and weary, yet compelled to struggle onward till her earthly life
came to an end.
The Crusades, or Wars of the Cross, had roused Europe from a state of
most distressful bondage. Ignorance and barbarism were shot with
gleams of spiritual light even after the vast armies were sent forth to
wrest the possession of Jerusalem from the infidels. Shameful stories
of the treatment of pilgrims to the Holy Sepulchre had moved the hearts
of kings and princes to a passionate indignation. Valour became the
highest, and all men were eager to be ranked with Crusaders--those
soldiers of heroic courage whose cause was Christianity and its
defence. At the close of the tenth century there were innumerable
pilgrims travelling {12} toward the Holy Land, for it had been
prophesied that in the year A.D. 1000 the end of the world would come,
when it would be well for those within Jerusalem, the City of the
Saviour. The inhuman conduct of the Turk was resented violently,
because it would keep many a sinner from salvation; and the dangerous
journey to the East was held to atone for the gravest crimes.
After the first disasters in which so many Crusaders fell before they
reached their destination, Italy especially began to benefit by these
wars. It was considered safer to reach Jerusalem by sea, boarding the
vessels in Italian ports, which were owned and equipped by Italian
merchants. Venice, Pisa, and Genoa gradually assumed the trade of
ancient Constantinople, once without rival on the southern sea.
Constantinople was a city of wonder to the ignorant fighting men from
other lands, who had never dreamed of a civilization so complete as
that which she possessed. Awed by elegance and luxury, they returned
to their homes with a sense of inferiority. They had met and fought
side by side with warriors of such polished manners that they felt
ashamed of their own brutal ways. They had seen strange costumes and
listened to strange tongues. Henceforth no nation of Europe could be
entirely indifferent to the fact that there was a world without.
The widowed and desolate were not comforted by the knowledge which the
returned Crusader delighted to impart. They had been sacrificed to the
pride which led husbands and fathers to sell their estates and squander
vast sums of money, that they might equip a band of followers to lead
in triumph to the Holy Wars. The complaints of starving women led to
{13} the collection of much gold and silver by Lambert Le Bègue, "the
stammering priest." He built a number of small houses to be inhabited
by the Order of Bèguines, a new sisterhood who did not sever themselves
entirely from the world, but lived in peaceful retirement, occupied by
spinning and weaving all day long.
The Beghards, or Weaving Brothers, took pattern by this busy guild of
workers and followed the same rules of simple piety. They were fond of
religious discussion, and were mystics. They enjoyed the approval of
Rome until the new orders were established of Saint Francis and Saint
Dominic.
In the twelfth century religion was drawing nearer to humanity and the
needs of earth. The new orders, therefore, tried to bridge the gulf
between the erring and the saintly, forbidding their brethren to
seclude themselves from other men. A healthy reaction was taking place
from the old idea that the religious life meant a withdrawal from the
temptations of the world.
St Dominic, born in Spain in 1170, was the founder of "the Order of
Preaching Monks for the conversion of heretics." The first aim of the
"Domini canes" (Dominicans), or Hounds of the Lord, was to attack
anyone who denied their faith. Cruelty could be practised under the
rule of Dominic, who bade his followers lead men by any path to their
ultimate salvation. Tolerance of free thought and progress was
discouraged, and rigid discipline corrected any disciple of compassion.
The dress of the order was severely plain, consisting of a long black
mantle over a white robe. The brethren practised poverty, and fared
humbly on bread and water.
The brown-frocked Franciscans, rivals in later times of the monks of
Dominic, were always taught to love {14} mankind and be merciful to
transgressors. It was the duty of the Preaching Brothers to warn and
threaten; it was the joy of the _Frati Minori_, or Lesser Brothers, to
tend the sick and protect the helpless, taking thought for the very
birds and fishes.
St Francis was born at Assisi in 1182, the son of a prosperous
householder and cloth merchant. He drank and was merry, like any other
youth of the period, till a serious illness purged him of follies.
After dedicating his life to God, he put down in the market-place of
Assisi all he possessed save the shirt on his body. The bitter
reproaches of kinsfolk pursued him vainly as he set out in beggarly
state to give service to the poor and despised. He loved Nature and
her creatures, speaking of the birds as "noble" and holding close
communion with them. The saintly Italian was opposed to the warlike
doctrines of St Dominic; he made peace very frequently between the two
parties known as Guelfs and Ghibellines.
_Welf_ was a common name among the dukes of Bavaria, and the Guelfs
were, in general, supporters of the Papacy and this ducal house,
whereas the Waiblingen (Ghibellines) received their name from a castle
in Swabia, a fief of the Hohenstaufen enemies of the Pope. It was
under a famous emperor of the House of Swabia that the struggle between
Papacy and Empire, "the two swords," gained attention from the rest of
Europe.
In the eleventh century, Pope Gregory VII had won many notable
victories in support of his claims to temporal power. He had brought
Henry IV, the proud Emperor, before whose name men trembled, to sue for
his pardon at Canossa, and had kept the suppliant in the snow, with
bare head and bare feet, that he might {15} endure the last
humiliations. Then the fortune of war changed, and the Pope was seized
in the Church of St Peter at Rome by Cencio, a fiery noble, who held
him in close confinement. It was easier to lord it over princes who
were hated by many of their own subjects than to quell the animosity
which was roused by attempted domination in the Eternal City.
The Pope was able sometimes to elect a partisan of the Guelf party as
emperor. On the other hand, an emperor had been heard to lament the
election of a staunch friend to the Papacy because he believed that no
pope could ever be a true Ghibelline.
Certain princes of the House of Hohenstaufen were too proud to
acknowledge an authority that threatened to crush their power in Italy.
Henry VI was a ruler dreaded by contemporaries as merciless to the last
degree. He burned men alive if they offended him, and had no
compunction in ordering the guilty to be tarred and blinded. He was of
such a temper that the Pope had not the courage to demand from him the
homage of a vassal. It was Frederick II, Henry's son, who came into
conflict with the Papacy so violently that all his neighbours watched
in terror.
Pope Gregory IX would give no quarter, and excommunicated the Emperor
because he had been unable to go on a crusade owing to pestilence in
his army. The clergy were bidden to assemble in the Church of St Peter
and to fling down their lighted candles as the Pope cursed the Emperor
for his broken promise, a sin against religion. The news of this
ceremony spread through the world, the two parties appealing to the
princes of Europe for aid in fighting out this quarrel. Frederick
defied the papal decree, and went to win back Jerusalem from the
infidels as soon as his soldiers had {16} recovered. He took the city,
but had to crown himself as king since none other would perform the
service for a man outside the Church. Frederick bade the pious
Mussulmans continue the prayers they would have ceased through
deference to a Christian ruler. He had thrown off all the
superstitions of the age except the study of astrology, and was a
scholar of wide repute, delighting in correspondence with the learned.
The Arabs did not admire Frederick's person, describing him as unlikely
to fetch a high price if he had been a slave! He was bald-headed and
had weak eyesight, though generally held graceful and attractive. In
mental powers he surpassed the greatest at his house, which had always
been famous for its intellect. He had been born at Palermo, "the city
of three tongues"; therefore Greek, Latin, and Arabic were equally
familiar. He was daring in speech, broad in views, and cosmopolitan in
habit. He founded the University of Naples and encouraged the study of
medicine; he had the Greek of Aristotle translated, and himself set the
fashion in verse-making, which was soon to be the pastime of every
court in Italy.
The Pope was more successful in a contest waged with tongues than he
had proved on battle-fields, which were strewn with bodies of both
Guelf and Ghibelline factions. He dined in 1230 at the same table as
his foe, but the peace between them did not long continue. In turn
they triumphed, bringing against each other two armies of the Cross,
the followers of the Pope fighting under the standard of St Peter's
Keys as the champion of the true Christian Church against its
oppressors.
Pope Innocent IV, who succeeded Gregory, proved himself a very cunning
adversary. He might have {17} won an easy victory over Frederick II if
the exactions of the Papacy had not angered the countries where he
sought refuge after his first failures. It was futile to declare at
Lyons that the Emperor was deposed when all France was crying out upon
the greed of prelates. The wearisome strife went on till the very
peasants had to be guarded at their work by knights, sent out from
towns to see that they were not taken captive. It was the day of the
robber, and all things lay to his hand if he were bold enough to grasp
them. Prisoners of war suffered horrible tortures, being hung up by
their feet and hands in the hope that their friends would ransom them
the sooner. Villages were burned down, and wolves howled near the
haunts of men, seeking food to appease their ravening hunger. It was
said that fierce beasts gnawed through the walls of houses and devoured
little children in their cradles. Italy was rent by a conflict which
divided one province from another, and even placed inhabitants of the
same town on opposite sides and caused dissension in the noblest
families.
The Flagellants marched in procession through the land, calling for
peace but bringing tumult. The Emperor's party made haste to shut them
out of the territory they ruled, but they could not rid the people of
the terrible fear inspired by the barefooted, black-robed figures, with
branches and candles in their hands and the holy Cross flaming red
before them.
One defeat after another brought the House of Hohenstaufen under the
control of the Church they had defied so boldly. Frederick's own son
rebelled against him, and Frederick's camp was destroyed by a Guelf
army. The Emperor had lived splendidly, making more impression on
world-history than any other prince of that {18} illustrious family,
but he died in an hour of failure, feeling bitterly how great a triumph
his death would be to the Pope who had conquered.
It was late in the year 1250 when the tidings of Frederick II's death
travelled slowly through his Empire. Many refused to believe them, and
declared long years afterwards that the Emperor was still living,
beneath a mighty mountain. The world seemed to be shaking yet with the
vibration of that deadly struggle. Conrad and Conradin were left, and
Manfred, the favourite son of Frederick, but their reigns were short
and desperate, and when they, too, had passed the Middle Ages were
merging into another era. The "two swords" of Papacy and Empire were
still to pierce and wound, but the struggle between them would never
seem so mighty after the spirit had fled which inspired Conradin, last
of the House of Swabia.
This young prince was led to the scaffold, where he asserted stoutly
his claim to Naples above the claim of Charles, the Count of Anjou, who
held it as fief of the Papacy. Then Conradin dared to throw his glove
among the people, bidding them to carry it to Peter, Prince of Aragon,
as the symbol by which he conveyed the rights of which death alone had
been able to despoil him.
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