[Illustration: Fig. 403.--The Adoration of the Lamb by the Elders and
Virgins of the Apocalypse.--Centre Panel of the Triptych painted on
wood by Jean Van Eyck, and preserved in the Church of St. Bavon, at
Ghent (Fifteenth Century).]
MILITARY AND RELIGIOUS
LIFE IN
THE MIDDLE AGES
AND AT THE PERIOD OF
THE RENAISSANCE
BY PAUL LACROIX
(Bibliophile Jacob)
CURATOR OF THE IMPERIAL LIBRARY OF THE ARSENAL, PARIS
Illustrated with
_UPWARDS OF FOUR HUNDRED ENGRAVINGS ON WOOD_
LONDON
BICKERS & SON, LEICESTER SQUARE
[Illustration]
PREFACE.
Lately we published the “Manners, Customs, and Dress during the
Middle Ages,” a necessary sequel to “The Arts of the Middle Ages.”
To understand this important period of our history, we must, as was
pointed out at the time, go back to the very source of art, and study
society itself--the life of our forefathers. The volume of “Manners
and Customs” initiated our readers into all the secrets of Civil Life;
the present work treats of the Military and Religious Life of the same
period.
The subject is not wanting in grandeur, and we shall endeavour to throw
into relief the two parallel forces--namely, the military and the
religious life--which shaped the habits of the nation in the epoch of
which our work treats.
The influence of these forces was immense. Society was made up of
barbarous nations and of the corrupt remnants of the heathen world.
Conquerors and conquered had nothing to put in common, with a view to
forming a new society, beyond their ruins and their vices. How was a
state of things, higher and better than that which had gone before, to
be created out of this shapeless mass? What principle of life was there
powerful enough to evoke from amid this chaos modern Europe, with
all its variety of forces and of glory, its influence and authority
over the rest of the world? Religious life, aided by military power,
has brought about such a creation, after all the misery and suffering
preceding its birth. Gradually gaining a hold upon society, and
elevating its ideas as the tie became closer, religious life endowed
it with new manners, a new social life, a set of institutions of which
it before knew nothing, and a character which raised it to a degree of
moral grandeur which humanity had never as yet attained.
Christianity civilised the barbarians; by unity of faith, it
established political unity amongst peoples who were split up into
hostile races--a result which would only have been arrived at in
former days by the annihilation of nationalities, the dominion of the
sword, and the force of oppression. History presents no spectacle more
worthy of our attention than the steady and deep operation of this
new principle of life infused into a society in a state of decay.
This principle could only succeed in remoulding and directing the
world by first assimilating men as individuals, and that amidst the
excesses, the violence, and the disorders of a barbarism which, even
after the lapse of centuries, would not allow itself to be crushed.
But it was endowed with a persevering and indomitable energy. Consider
how it affected everything, how it enlisted into its service all the
forces which society from time to time placed at its disposal, or,
to speak more correctly, permitted it to create! By means of the
monastic orders, how many necessary works did it not accomplish? The
soil was transformed by cultivation; bridges, dykes, and aqueducts
were constructed in every direction; manuscripts were preserved in
the monasteries; education was given in numberless schools, where the
poor were taught gratuitously; the universities were made learned
and prosperous; architecture was raised into a science; beneficent
institutions were established and liberally endowed.
“Christianity was the greatest benefactor of the Middle Ages,” said
M. Benjamin Guérard; “and what is most striking in the revolutions
which took place in these semi-barbarous times, is the action of the
Church and of religion. The dogma of a common origin and destiny for
all men alike, was an unceasing argument for the emancipation of the
people; it brought together men of all stations, and opened the way
for modern civilisation. Men, though they did not cease to oppress one
another, began to recognise the fact that they were all members of the
same family, and were led, through religious equality, up to civil and
political equality; being brothers in the sight of God, they became
equal before the law, the Christian became the citizen.
“This transformation took place gradually and slowly, as being
necessary and inevitable, by the continued and simultaneous
enfranchisement of men and of land. The slave whom paganism, as it
disappeared, handed over to the Christian religion, passed first from
a state of servitude to a state of bondage, from bondage he rose to
mortmain, and from mortmain to liberty.”
Under the influence of the bishops, legislation was formed upon the
principles of Christian morality. In the great councils of the nation,
and in the royal councils, they gave a Christian direction to the
government of the country, and more than once preserved national unity
from being broken up. “The bishops,” says Gibbon, “constructed the
French monarchy just as the bees construct the hive.”
At the same time the popes were incessant in their efforts to convert
all the Christian peoples into one vast republic; and they attained
their purpose in a great measure. The idea was a sublime one, springing
so naturally from the unity of the doctrines which all were required to
profess. As early as the twelfth century the idea was thus enunciated
by Tertullian in his “Apologetica”--“We remain strangers to your
factions and to your parties.... The republic of the human race is what
we demand.”
Such was the work of Christianity in that society of the Middle Ages
of which it was the life and soul. It is necessary to follow it in
the accomplishment of this varied task, and, if we would thoroughly
understand it, we must consider it in itself, in its inward life, in
its form of worship and liturgy, in its monasteries, in its clergy, and
in its different institutions, for herein lay its means of action.
The military power placed itself, as a general rule, at the service
of the Church, and it was thus that Christianity was enabled to
complete its work. Clovis, the conqueror of the Romans, the Germans,
the Burgundians, and the Visigoths, was baptized at Rheims, and brought
France within the fold of the Church, just when a great number of
the barbarians, the new masters of the Roman empire, were embracing
Arianism. In after-days the Church, represented by the sword of Joan of
Arc, was instrumental in saving France and restoring her to herself.
Between these two extreme points of the history of the Middle Ages,
Charlemagne, Godefroi de Bouillon, St. Louis, the age of chivalry and
the Crusades, prove to us that this combined action of military and
religious life is a true exponent of the character of France. But when
we come to consider the ordinary condition of things as they absolutely
existed, we find it to be full of evils. Military life amongst the
German people had produced feudalism, and with it a terrible anarchy.
Royalty was powerless. Authority had not, so to speak, any centre;
it was cut up and subdivided throughout the nation. Private or civil
warfare became, by the mere force of things, legal for several
centuries; and disorder, violence, oppression, and tyranny followed
as a natural consequence. Military life, in all its manifestations,
hampered and counteracted the beneficent influence of Christianity, and
served as the last refuge of barbarism. The Church, however, managed to
make the principle of feudalism exercise a moderating influence upon
its very excesses, by the creation of chivalry, the noblest military
institution which the world has ever known. Chivalry represented the
Christian form of the profession of arms. The first duty was “to defend
in this world the weakness of all, but especially the weakness of the
Church, of justice, and of right.”
“Fais ce que dois, adviegne que peut,
C’hest commandé au chevalier.”
_Ordinances of Chivalry._
It was, in fact, an armed force in the service of truth and justice,
themselves defenceless. It was at the same time a bright example, the
influence of which extended beyond the most brilliant of its exploits.
Even this, however, was not sufficient to check the evil and insatiable
desire for fighting. Under the powerful impulse of the popes, the
Crusaders served to utilise this warlike spirit, and acted as a
diversion which saved Europe from the fury of its own inhabitants and
from the dominion of the Koran. Internal discords were brought to an
end, the Communes were enfranchised, feudal power decreased, and the
royal influence gained in strength, diminishing again during the long
crisis of the hundred years’ war, and being once more reinstated by
Joan of Arc. Such was the part played by “Military Life in the Middle
Ages.”
The development of modern habits, however, is gradually to be traced.
The feudal army was replaced by mercenary troops. As military power
became concentrated within the hands of the sovereign, monarchy, in the
true sense of the term, succeeded to feudalism.
At the same time another and deeper movement was taking place in the
moral and religious order of things. A new spirit was convulsing the
world. The ideas and manners established in society by Christianity
were destined to undergo a change. After the capture of Constantinople,
the Grecian savants who had found a refuge in the courts of Italy
inspired their Western _confrères_ with such an affection for
ancient literature, that everything which was old came to be regarded
with enthusiasm, while, as a natural consequence, every--thing which
Christianity had produced was looked upon with contempt. The faith in
and the influence of the Church diminished, and individual reason was
tempted to throw off the yoke of all teaching authority. Printing,
then just invented, served to accelerate this mental revolution. The
principle of free examination was proclaimed by Luther, and one-half
of Western Europe became Protestant. The tie, at once religious and
political, which held Christian nationalities together, was thus
broken, and unity amongst people who were divided in their religious
doctrine became impossible. At the same period the discovery of America
and of a new route to the Indies lent immense force to the development
of material interests.
Thus we had the commencement of a complete revolution. The world
entered upon new paths, along which it has continued to advance without
interruption to our own day.
This work derives a special interest from the circumstances amidst
which it is published. Ancient Europe has reached one of those solemn
epochs of its history when, divided within itself and uncertain of
the turn which events may take, it finds itself face to face with the
problem of its future destiny, demanding an immediate solution. What
will that solution be? The emotions of the present may incline us to
look back regretfully upon that past which reminds us of so much that
is great and noble, in spite of its many and inevitable drawbacks, and
which, by showing us the origin of modern society, by revealing to
us the manner of its birth and its onward progress, may give us the
key to its present critical condition when a profound and universal
transformation seems about to take place.
It is superfluous to say anything about the engravings contained in
this volume. They have been selected with the same view that dictated
the publication of those appearing in the two previous volumes--a
desire to produce a living image of the past. Each volume forms a
collection of archæological treasures got together after the most
laborious research; they are attractive to the eye, full of interest
and instruction, and we feel that our readers will have in them a
complete museum such as has not hitherto been within their reach.
PAUL LACROIX.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Page
FEUDALISM 1
Origin.--Barbaric Laws.--Enfeoffment.--Charlemagne and
the Church.--First Construction of Strongholds.--Vassal
and Suzerain.--Feudal Eights.--The Truce of God.--Feudal
Churches and Abbeys.--Communal Principles.--New
Townships.--Origin of the French Bourgeoisie.--The
English Magna Charta.--Alienation of Fiefs.--Liberation
of the Serfs.--Imperial Cities.--Feudal Rights of the
Bishops.--St. Louis.--Wars between France and England.--_La
Bulle d’Or._--The States-General.--Origin of the Third
Estate.
WAR AND ARMIES 38
The Invasions of the Barbarians.--Attila.--Theodoric
seizes Italy.--Organizations of Military Fiefs.--Defences
of Towns.--Totila and his Tactics.--The Military
Genius of Charlemagne.--Military Vassalage.--Communal
Militia.--Earliest Standing Armies.--Loss of Technical
Tradition.--The Condottieri.--The Gendarmerie.--The
_Lances Fournies_.--Weakening of Feudal Military
Obligations.--The French Army in the Time of Louis
XI. and his Successors.--Absence of Administrative
Arrangement.--Reforms.--Mercenary Troops.--Siege Operations
and Engines.
NAVAL MATTERS 74
Old Traditions: Long Vessels and Broad Vessels.--The
Dromon.--The Galéasse.--The Coque.--Caracks and
Galleons.--Francis I.’s Great Carack.--Caravelles.--The
Importance of a Fleet.--Hired Fleets.--Poop Guards.--Naval
Laws.--Seaport Tribunals.--Navigation in the open
Seas.--The Boussole.--Armament of Men-of-war.--Towers
and Ballistic Engines.--Artillery.--Naval
Strategy.--Decorations and Magnificent Appointments
of Vessels.--Sails and Flags.--The Galley of Don Juan
of Austria.--Sailors’ Superstitions.--Discipline and
Punishments.
THE CRUSADES 104
Arab Conquest of the Holy Land.--Swarm of Pilgrims in
the Year 1000.--Turkish Invasion of Judea.--Persecution
of the Christians.--Pope Silvester II.--Expedition of
the Pisans and the Genoese.--Peter the Hermit.--Letter
from Simeon the Patriarch to Pope Urban II.--First
Crusade.--Expedition of “Gautier sans Avoir.”--Godefroi
de Bouillon.--The Kingdom of Jerusalem.--Second
Crusade.--St. Bernard.--Third Crusade: Philip Augustus and
Richard Cœur-de-Lion.--Fourth Crusade.--Fifth and Sixth
Crusades.--Louis IX. turns Crusader.--Seventh Crusade.--St.
Louis taken Prisoner.--Eighth and last Crusade.--Death of
St. Louis.--Results of the Crusades.
CHIVALRY (DUELS AND TOURNAMENTS) 136
Origin of Chivalry.--Its different
Characteristics.--Chivalric Gallantry.--Chivalry and
Nobility.--Its Relations with the Church.--Education
of the Children of the Nobility.--Squires.--Chivalric
Exercises.--Pursuivants at Arms.--Courts and Tribunals
of Love.--Creation of Knights.--Degradation of
Knights.--Judicial Duels.--Trials by Ordeal.--Feudal
Champions.--Gages of Battle.--The Church forbids
Duels.--Tournaments invented by the Sire de
Preuilly in the Tenth Century.--Arms used in a
Tournament.--Tilt.--Lists.--The part taken by Ladies.--King
René’s Book.
MILITARY ORDERS 172
Pierre Gérard founds the Order of St. John of Jerusalem;
History of that Order.--The Siege of Rhodes.--History of
the Order of the Knights Templars.--Order of the Knights
of Calatrava.--Order of the Teuton Knights.--Order of the
Knights of the Golden Fleece.--Order of St. Maurice and St.
Lazarus.--Orders of the Star, of the Cosse de Geneste, of
the Ship, of St. Michael, and of the Holy Ghost.
LITURGY AND CEREMONIES 203
Prayer.--Liturgy of St. James, of St. Basil, and of
St. John Chrysostom.--Apostolical Constitutions.--The
Sacrifice of the Mass.--Administration of
Baptism.--Canonical Penances.--Plan and Arrangement
of Churches.--Ecclesiastical Hierarchy.--The
Ceremony of Ordination.--Church Bells.--The
Tocsin.--The Poetry of Gothic Churches.--Breviary
and Missal of Pius V.--Ceremonies used at the Seven
Sacraments.--Excommunication.--The Bull _In Cœnâ
Domini_.--Processions and Mystery Plays at the Easter
Solemnities.--Instrument of Peace.--Consecrated Bread.--The
Pyx.--The Dove.
THE POPES 245
Influence of the Papacy in the Reformation of Early
Society.--St. Leo the Great.--Origin of the Temporal
Power of the Popes.--Gregory the Great.--The Iconoclastic
Emperors.--Stephen III. delivered by France.--Charlemagne
crowned Emperor of the West.--Photius.--The Diet
of Worms.--Gregory VII.; his Plan for a Christian
Republic.--Urban II.--The Crusades.--Calixtus II.;
Termination of the Dispute as to Investiture.--Innocent
III.--Struggle of Boniface VIII. against Philippe
le Bel.--The Great Western Schism.--Council of
Florence.--Battle of Lepanto.--Council of Trent.
THE SECULAR CLERGY 274
The Minor and the Major Orders in the Early Centuries
of the Church.--Establishment of Tithes originally
voluntary, and afterwards obligatory.--Influence of
the Bishops.--Supremacy of the See of Rome.--Form of
Episcopal Oath in the Early Centuries.--Reform of Abuses
by the Councils.--Remarkable sayings of Charlemagne and
Hincmar.--Public Education created by the Church.--The
Establishment of the Communes favoured by the Bishops.--The
Beaumont Law.--Struggle with the Bourgeoisie in the
Fifteenth Century.--The Council of Trent.--Institution of
Seminaries.
THE RELIGIOUS ORDERS 299
The First Monks.--St. Anthony and his Disciples.--St.
Pachomius and St. Athanasius.--St. Eusebius and St.
Basilius.--Cenobitism in the East and in the West.--St.
Benedict and the Benedictine Code.--Monkish Dress.--St.
Columba.--List of the Monasteries in Charlemagne’s
Time.--Services rendered by the Monks to Civilisation,
Arts, and Letters.--Reform of the Religious Orders in
the Twelfth Century.--St. Norbert.--St. Bernard.--St.
Dominic.--St. Francis of Assisi.--The Carmelites.--The
Bernardines.--The Barnabites.--The Jesuits.
CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS 339
Christian Charity in the First Centuries of the
Church.--The Eastern Empresses.--The Holy Roman
Ladies.--Olympiade, Melanie, Marcella, and Paula.--Charity
at the Court of the Franks.--St. Margaret of Scotland
and Matilda of England.--Hedwige of Poland.--Origin
of the Lazar-houses.--The Lazarists in France and in
England.--Progress and Vicissitudes of the Order of St.
Lazarus.--The Foundations of St. Louis.--The Order of Mercy
founded by St. Nolasque.--St. Catherine of Sienna and St.
Francis.--Bernardin Obrégon.--Jean de Dieu.--Philippe de
Néri.--Antoine Yvan.
PILGRIMAGES 362
The first Pilgrimages to Jerusalem and Rome.--The
Worship of the Martyrs.--Pilgrims’ Hospitals.--Images of
the Virgin Mary.--Relics brought from the East by the
Crusaders.--Celebrated Pilgrimages of Early Days.--The
Roman Basilicas.--St. Nicholas de Bari.--Notre-Dame de
Tersatz.--St. Jacques de Compostella.--Notre-Dame du Puy,
de Liesse, de Chartres, de Rocamadour.--Pilgrimages in
France, Germany, Poland, Russia, and Switzerland.
HERESIES 394
The real Meaning of the word _Heresy_.--The
Heretics of the Apostolic Days.--Simon the
Magician.--Cerinthus.--The Nicolaitans.--The Gnostics.--The
Schools of Philosophy of Byzantium, Antioch, and
Alexandria.--Julian the Apostate.--The Pelagians
and the semi-Pelagians.--Nestorius.--Eutyches.--The
Iconoclasts.--Amaury.--Gilbert de la
Porrée.--Abelard.--Arnold of Brescia.--The Albigenses.--The
Waldenses.--The Flagellants.--Wickliff.--John Huss.--Jerome
of Prague.--Luther.--Henry VIII. and the Anglican
Church.--Calvin.
THE INQUISITION 423
General Principles of the Inquisition; its Existence
amongst the Greeks and Romans.--The Papal Inquisition.--The
Inquisition in France.--The Albigenses.--The Royal Spanish
Inquisition; its Political Purposes; it is opposed by
the Popes.--Inquisitors of Toledo excommunicated by Leo
X.--The Holy Hermandad.--The Spies of the Inquisition.--The
Holy Office and the Supreme.--The Prisons of the
Inquisition.--The _Auto-da-fé_.--The Inquisition in the
Netherlands.--The Protestant Inquisition in Holland,
Germany, France, England, and Switzerland.
BURIALS AND FUNERAL CEREMONIES 447
Embalming and Incineration of Bodies amongst the
Ancients.--Interment brought into practice by
Christianity.--The Wrapping of the Dead in Shrouds.--The
Direction in which the Bodies were laid.--Absolution
Crosses.--Funeral Furniture.--Coffins and Sarcophagi in
the Middle Ages.--Funereal Sculpture and Architecture,
from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century.--The Catacombs
at Rome.--Charnel-houses in the Churches.--Public
Cemeteries.--The Cemetery of the Innocents,
Paris.--Lanterns for the Dead.--Funerals of the Kings
and Queens of France.--The Rolls of the Dead.--Consoling
Thought of the Resurrection and of Eternal Life.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
TABLE OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Abbatial Ring and Cross of St. Waudru, 312
Abbey of Saint-Germain des Prés, View of the, in 1361, 13
Abbey of Saint-Germain des Prés, North View of the, Seventeenth
Century, 320
Abbey of St. Riquier, The, near Abbeville, 311
Abbey-Church of the Magdalen, at Vézelai, 120
Absolution Crosses of the Eleventh Century, 453
Act of Faith and Homage, Thirteenth Century, 8
Adoration of the Lamb, The, Frontispiece
„ „ Magi, The, 241
Altar of the Cathedral of Arras, Thirteenth Century, 243
Altar-piece at Mareuil-en-Brie, 218, 219
Amaury’s Disciples burnt by order of Philip Augustus, 404
Angels praying over a Skull, Fourteenth Century, 298
Anne of Brittany, Funeral Service of, 495
Antilles, Discovery of the, by Columbus, 92
Antioch, Plan of, in the Thirteenth Century, 130
Antwerp, View of the Port of, 87
Arming a Knight, 143
Armogenes, the Magician, 383
Arquebusier of the Sixteenth Century, 61
Artois, The Count of, presenting himself at the Castle of the Count
of Boulogne, 149
Artus, King, fighting a Giant, 137
Assault on a Fortified Place, 135
“Au juste poids véritable balance”, 391
Auto-da-fé Procession, in Spain, 436
Babylon the Great, 396
Ballista, 73
Banner of St. Denis, Representations of the, 60
Banner of the City of Strasburg, Thirteenth Century, 386
Banner of a Flemish Lazaretto, 353
Baptism of the Saxons conquered by Charlemagne, 213
Barbarian (Mounted) in the Roman Service, 4
Basilius the Great, Dream of, 400
Battering-ram, 71
Battle of Auray, The, 54
„ Dreux, The, 62
„ Lepanto, Plan of the, 96
„ Tolbiac, The, 2
Beacon in the Cemetery of Antigny, Fifteenth Century, 486
Beacon in the Cemetery of Ciron, Twelfth Century, 486
Beacon in the Cemetery of Fèniou, Eleventh Century, 486
Beatrix Cornel, Tomb of, 182
Beguin, 329
„ Convent at Ghent, the Great, 328
Beheaded Knight holding his Head in his Hands, 467
Bucentaure, The, 77
Bull with which Boniface VIII. sealed his Letters, 273
Burial among the Franks, Mode of, 451
Caltrop, or Crow’s-foot, 66
Calvin, John, 419
Caricature of the Third Century, 206
Castle of Angoulême, Thirteenth Century, 6
„ Loches, Doorways of the Old, 37
„ Pierrefonds, View overlooking the, 11
Catapult, 72
Celebration of Mass, The, in an Oratory, Ninth Century, 277
Celtic Burial, 451
Champion of the Tournament, The, 166
Chandelier of the Virgin, 217
Chanter or Psalmist, The, Minor Order, 274
Chapel of Pilgrimage, Thanksgiving in a, 384
Chaplet of Beads in Carved Ivory, and Girdle, Sixteenth Century,
330
Charlemagne, Statue of, Eleventh Century, 5
Charles the Bold, Great Seal of, Fifteenth Century, 55
Charles VI. fulfilling his Vow to Our Lady of Hope, 388
Charter of William the White-handed, Commencement of the, 295
Chasuble, Mitre, and Stole of St. Thomas à Becket, Cloth and
Embroidery of the Twelfth Century, 225
Château de la Panouze (Aveyron), Feudal Castle of the Twelfth
Century, 10
Chivalry, Allegorical Figures representing, 140
Choir Candelabrum, Foot of a large, Thirteenth Century, 216
Christ descending into Hell, 498
„ risen from the Dead, 504
„ victorious after Death, Eighth or Ninth Century, 449
Christian Professor on his Death-bed, The, 497
„ Religion, The, assisting at the Death of Christ, 247
Church of St. Antony, Padua, 216
„ the Holy Sepulchre, Façade of the, 106
Clergy going in Procession before the Emperor, Fourth Century, 318
Cloister of the Chartreuse, at Pavia, 322
Clovis, Baptism of, 2
Coffer containing the Hair-cloths of St. Louis, Thirteenth Century,
371
Concordat of Cambrio, Title of the (1466), 296
Conferring Knighthood on the Field of Battle, 141
Consecration of St. Remigius, Bishop of Rheims, 283
Constantinople, Second taking of, in 1204, 123
Coque, The, 79
Coronation of an Emperor by the Pope, Sixteenth Century, 256
Cosmas and Damianus relieving a Sick Man, 343
Council held to commemorate the Second Council of Nice, Tenth
Century, 249
Council of Vienne, 190
Cross of the Bureau Family, 476
Crown of Thorns, The, brought into France, 375
„ „ „ worn by Jesus Christ, 393
Cruelties committed by the Gueux, 440
Cruet, silver-gilt, First or Second Century, 208
Crusaders at Damietta, Disembarkation of the, 126
Crypt of the Chapel of St. Agnes, in the Catacombs at Rome, 474
Daggers with Moorish Blades and Flemish Handles, 45
Dalmatic said to have belonged to Leo III., 255
Dance of Death, The, 478–483
Death of St. Benedict, 496
„ Mahomet II., 178
Dedication of the Church of the Monastery of St. Martin des Champs,
Paris, 321
Degradation of a Knight, 154
Designs of Armour, 170
Distribution of Banners and Helmets, 164
Diver, The, 91
Don Juan of Austria, 133
Doorkeeper, The, Minor Order, 275
Doria, Andrew, 88
Dove suspended above the Altar, Thirteenth Century, 244
Dresses worn by Prisoners of the Inquisition, 437
Duel concerning the Honour of Ladies, 157
Earthen Vases found at Florence in 1863, 187
Ecclesiastical Tonsure, The, 279
Edward the Confessor, Funeral of, 490
Entry of Louis VIII. and the Pope’s Legate into Avignon, 406
Eudes, Bishop, from the Bayeux Tapestry, 47
Excesses committed by the Huguenots, Allegorical Picture of the,
415
Exorcism of a Catechumen, Fourth or Fifth Century, 212
Exorcism of a Person possessed with a Demon, 414
Exorcist, The, Minor Order, 275
Farel, William, 420
Ferrand of Portugal, Count of Flanders, being taken to Paris, 22
Fight between Raymbault de Morueil and Gruyon de Losenne, 156
Flemish Warrior, from the Ruins of St. Bavon, Ghent, 26
Fortified Bridge of Lemantano, near Rome, Twelfth Century, 33
Fortified Bridge from Valentré to Cahors, 18
Fortified City of Carcassonne, Plan of the, Thirteenth Century, 18
Fortress of the Knights Hospitallers, in Syria, 174
French Caravel, Sixteenth Century, 84
„ Priory at Rhodes, Fifteenth Century, 181
Fresco in the Cemetery of St. Pretextat, 475
Funeral Service, Fourteenth Century, 453
Funereal Lamps found in the Catacombs, Third Century, 276, 424
Galley of the Sixteenth Century, 78
„ Slave, 90
„ Soldier, 90
Gallic or Gallo-Roman Pottery, 455
Gallo-Roman Lords of the Fourth Century, 3
Gate of the Town of Aigues-Mortes, 17
Gautier-sans-Avoir, Reception of, by the King of Hungary, 115
German Foot-soldiers fighting, Sixteenth Century, 57
German and Gallic Auxiliaries, Second Century, 40
German Knight, Fifteenth Century, 147
Godefroy de Bouillon, crowned with the Instruments of our Lord’s
Passion, 117
Godefroy de Bouillon, Tomb of, 118
Golden Fleece, Chapter of the Order of the, 197
Great Hospital at Milan, 357
Greek Panagia, 370
Gregory IX. handing the Decretals to an Advocate of the Consistory
(1227–1241), 266
Handbell, Romanesque perforated, Twelfth Century, 227
Harold, King, Finding the Body of, 48
Harvest of Souls, The, Twelfth Century, 450
Henry of Anjou, Coronation of, as King of Poland, 291
Henry I., Emperor of Germany, and one of his Generals, 368
Henry II. wounded by Montgomery in a Tournament, 169
Herald holding the Banners of the Referees, 164
Heresy of the Flagellants, 407
Hincmar, Bas-relief on the Tomb of, 289
Holy Bit of Carpentras, 376
Hospitality, Fifteenth Century, 340
Huguenots against the Catholics, Violence of the, 421
Huss, John, 412
Italian Warriors of the Fifteenth Century, 58
Judgement, The Day of, 502
Jerome of Prague, 412
Jewish Religion, The, assisting at the Death of Christ, 246
King-at-arms proclaiming a Tournament, 163
Knife for cutting Consecrated Bread, 242
Knight, in Complete Armour, Sixteenth Century, 61
Knight setting out for the War, 150
Knight of Death, The, 476
„ Malta, 185
„ the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, 173
„ Rhodes, 173
Knights of the Order of the Holy Ghost from Pure Intent, 358
Knights awaiting from the Marshal the Signal to commence the Fight,
159
Knights of Rhodes, Barracks of the, 180
Knox, John, 416
Last Supper, The, Eleventh Century, 209
Legend of Christmas, Fifteenth Century, 221
„ St. Martin, The, Tapestry of the Thirteenth Century, 281
Legend of the Passage of the Viaticum across a Bridge at Utrecht,
235
Luther, Martin, 418
Machine to break the Ranks of the Enemy 70
„ shoot Arrows, 70
Man-at-arms, The, 51, 91
Man-of-War, Henry VIII.’s time, 80
„ of the Sixteenth Century, 101
Margaret of York, wife of Charles the Bold, 359
Maria de Molina, Queen of Castille, handing to the Cistercian Nuns
the Charter of Foundation for their Convent, 332
Mary Magdalene, Removal of the Body of, to the Church of St.
Vézelay (Yonne), Fifteenth Century, 387
Massacre of St. Bartholomew, The, 416
Maximilian of Austria, with his Wife and Son, 36
Members of the Dominican Order, The most famous, 331
Messenger bringing a Letter to the King’s Army, 52
Messengers of the Sultan discussing with Christian Prisoners, 129
Military Costumes from the Sixth to the Tenth Centuries, 42
Miraculous Mass of St. Gregory the Great, Sixth Century, 210
Monograms of Christ, 205
Mons, Mauberge, and Nivelles, Foundation of the Abbeys of, 316
Montefrio, Surrender of the Town of, 193
Moorish Arms (Armeria Real, Madrid), 44
Mortars or Movable Carriages, 65
Mortuary Cloth from the Church of Folleville (Somme), 491
Mortuary Roll of Vital, Founder of the Abbey of Savigny, 499
Mosque of Cordova, Interior of the, Eighth Century, 434
Mourning Costumes, 493
Mystic Fountain, The, Eighth Century, 223
Nail used in the Crucifixion of Our Lord, 376
Nangasaki, The Great Martyrdom of (1622), 336
Nicæa, Taking of, by the Crusaders, 116
Norman Vessel, Eleventh Century, 76
Offering a Child to an Abbot, Thirteenth Century, 313
Orphan of the Venice Hospitals, Sixteenth Century, 356
Orthodoxy surrounded by the Snares of Heresy, 398
Our Lady of Boulogne, 390
„ Grace, Miraculous Image of, at Cambria, 389
Our Lady of Grace sheltering the Grand Masters of the Order of
Montessa, 192
Our Lady of Mountserrat, Sixteenth Century, 381
„ Vladimir, Miraculous Image of, 370
Painting symbolical of the Catacombs of Rome, First or Second
Century, 207
Pentecost, 240
Peter the Hermit delivering a Message to Pope Urban II., 112
Philip Augustus, Consecration of, 290
Philip the Bold in Royal Costume, 24
Philip II., King of Spain, 439
„ „ „ Mausoleum of, 470
Pilgrims of Emmaus, The, 374
Plaintiff and Defendant taking Oath before the Judge, Fifteenth
Century, 158
Pontifical Galley, 98
Poop of an Ancient Galley, 75
Portrait of Countess Matilda, 260
Prester-John and his Page, 109
Priory of the Benedictines, Canterbury, Twelfth Century, 314
Prize of the Tournament, The, 168
Procession of the Host, 238
„ Knights of the Order of the Holy Ghost, 200
Prows of Galleys armed with the Spur, 95
Punishments decreed by Henry VIII. against the Catholics, 443
Quintain, The Game of, 145
Raised Stone, near Poitiers, 459
Reapers of Death, The, 62
Reception of a Knight of the Order of St. Michael, 199
Refectory in the Priory of St. Martin des Champs, Thirteenth
Century, 326
Relics of St. Philip, Touching the, 378
Reliquary in chased Copper, Thirteenth Century, 372
Reliquary of the Holy Thorn, Thirteenth Century, 325
Remier, Count, bearing the Body of St. Veronica to the Church of
St. Waudru, in Mons, 366
Rhodes, Plan of, Fifteenth Century, 176
Richard Cœur-de-Lion mortally wounded while besieging the Castle of
Chalus, 50
Robert I., Duke of Normandy, on his Pilgrimage to Jerusalem, 373
Robing a Bishop, The Ceremony of, Fourteenth Century, 285
Rodolph of Hapsburg, Emperor of Germany, Equestrian Statue of, 35
Rolling Tower for scaling the walls of towns, 66
Sabbat, The, 410
Sacrament of the Eucharist, The, 234
Sacramental Cup, Twelfth Century, 233
Sancha de Roxas, 195
Seal of the Abbey of St. Denis, 317
„ „ Commune of Soissons, 15
„ Conon de Béthune, Twelfth Century, 7
„ Edward, Count of Rutland, 99
„ Gérard de Saint-Amand, Twelfth Century, 9
Seal of an Imaginary Bull of Lucifer, Fifteenth Century, 422
Seal of John, Bishop of Puy and Count of Velay (1305), 28
Seal of John sans Peur, Duke of Burgundy 31
„ the Knights of Christ, Thirteenth Century, 189
Seal of La Rochelle, 103
„ the Lord of Corbeil (1196), 20
„ the Monastery of St. Louis of Poissy, 338
„ the Town of Boston, 94
„ „ Dover, 85
„ „ Poole, 93
„ „ Sandwich, 89
„ „ Yarmouth, 86
Servetus, Michael, 445
Seven Christian Virtues, The, with their Symbols, 355
Shield presented to Don Juan of Austria by Pius V., 271
Ship of Baptism, The, Sixteenth Century, 232
Siege of Toulouse, Episode in the, 404
„ a Town: Summons to surrender, 67
Single Combat to be decided by the Judgment of God, 161
Sitting of the Council of Trent, 1555, 270
Sixtus II. handing to St. Laurentius the Treasures of the Church to
be distributed among the Poor, 341
Soldier of the Time of Philippe le Bel, 51
Soldiers of the German Bands, 64
Solemn Entry of the Emperor Charles V. and Pope Clement VII. into
Bologna, in 1529, 268, 269
Solemn Procession for the Relief of the Town of Dijon, 239
Solemn Reception of a Bishop, Fifteenth Century, 286
Sovereign Pontiff, Public and Solemn Functions of the, Seventeenth
Century, 264
Spanish Caravel in which Columbus discovered America, 83
Spanish Ship, Fifteenth Century, 81
Spiritual and Temporal Powers, The, dependent upon Christ, 248
St. Anthony of Padua commanding a Mule to adore the Eucharist, 334
St. Anthony, a Statuette of the Third Century, 301
St. Barbara, 364
St. Benedict, History of, 305, 307
„ reproaching Totila, Fresco of the Thirteenth Century,
43
St. Bernard taking possession of the Abbey of Clairvaux, 327
St. Cecilia, and Valerian, her Spouse, 425
St. Cesarius, Obsequies of, 489
St. Denis carrying his head to the place of burial, 362
St. Dominic and the Albigenses, 429
St. Elizabeth of Hungary, Fifteenth Century, 348
St. George and the Dragon, 202
St. Jean des Vignes, Abbey of Regular Canons at Soissons (1076),
323
St. Jerome in the Desert, 302
St. John of Capistran, 132
St. Louis and his Brothers made Prisoners by the Saracens, 128
St. Louis at Carthage, Disembarkation of, 131
„ serving a Repast to the Poor, 351
St. Michael the Archangel offering the Symbol of the Imperial Power
to a Byzantine Emperor, 251
St. Peter, 248
St. Radegonde receiving the Religious Garb from the Bishop of
Noyon, 309
St. Savin and St. Cyprian before Maximus, 426
„ „ Martyrdom of, 427
St. Theresa, 336
St. Thomas defending the Monastic Orders, Fourteenth Century, 332
St. Vincent de Paul, 360
St. Wulfram, Bishop of Sens, 287
State Gloves formerly in the possession of Louis XIII., 201
Stone Coffins, 457
Sufferers from St. Vitus’ Dance going on a Pilgrimage, 392
Superscription upon Our Lord’s Cross, 377
Surrender of the Garrison of a Town, 68
Sword of Isabella the Catholic, 139
Symbols of the Trinity, 204
Synagogue of Toledo, the Great, Third Century, 432
Templar in Travelling Dress, 185
Teutonic Knight, 196
Thomas of Savoy granting a Charter to the Town of Cambrai, 16
Three-masted Galley, Sixteenth Century, 82
Three Sacraments: Baptism, Confirmation, and Penance, 231
Three Sacraments: Marriage, Orders, and Extreme Unction, 236
Tomb, Gallo-Roman, 452
„ of Adelaide or Alice, Countess of Hainault, 462
Tomb of Alexander de Berneval, Architect of the Church of St. Ouen,
at Rouen, 472
Tomb of Du Guesclin, 464
„ St. Elizabeth of Hungary, 461
„ Louis, Duke of Orleans, and Valentine of Milan, his Wife,
468
Tomb of Philip Pot, Grand Seneschal of Burgundy, 466
Tomb of St. Remigius, 469
„ Sibylle, Wife of Guy de Lusignan, 471
Torments of Hell, The, 485
Tortures inflicted by the Catholics upon the Huguenots in the South
of France, 442
Tour du Télégraphe, Narbonne, Fourteenth Century, 6
Tower of Beaucaire, Thirteenth Century, 6
„ the Castle of Fougères, Twelfth Century, 6
Tower of the Castle of Loches, Twelfth Century, 6
Tower of Notre-Dame des Bois, Eleventh Century, 487
Tower of the Wall of Provins, Twelfth Century, 6
Treaty of Arras, Conclusion of the, in 1191, 293
Tree of Battles, The, 29
Triumph of Christ, The, Seventeenth Century, 272
„ the Lamb, The, Twelfth Century, 229
Triumphal Vessel drawn in a Car at the Funeral Ceremony of the
Emperor Charles V., 492
Turreted Vessel that protected the Port of Venice, 77
Tympan in the Portico of the Church of Sémur, Eleventh Century, 346
Urban II. presiding over the Council of Clermont, in 1095, 262
Virgin of St. Luke, The so-called, 369
War Trophy of Barbarian Prisoners, Second Century, 39
Watch-tower, Fifteenth Century, 69
Wickliff, John, 409
Works of Charity, Fifteenth Century, 346
Zizim transferred to Charles VIII., 178
Zwingle, Ulrich, 416
[Illustration]
MILITARY AND RELIGIOUS LIFE
IN
THE MIDDLE AGES,
AND AT THE
PERIOD OF THE RENAISSANCE.
FEUDALISM.
Origin.--Barbaric Laws.--Enfeoffment.--Charlemagne and the
Church.--First Construction of Strongholds.--Vassal and
Suzerain.--Feudal Rights.--The Truce of God.--Feudal Churches
and Abbeys.--Communal Principles.--New Townships.--Origin of
the French Bourgeoisie.--The English Magna Charta.--Alienation
of Fiefs.--Liberation of the Serfs.--Imperial Cities.--Feudal
Rights of the Bishops.--St. Louis.--Wars between France and
England.--The _Bulle d’Or_.--The States-General.--Origin of
the Third Estate.
Before presenting any manifestation of its existence, feudalism had
long been gradually developing, and seemed to be moving forward
invisibly at the head of the barbarian conquerors of Roman Gaul.
From the day that their great leader, Clovis, shared amongst his
_leudes_, or companions-in-arms, the lands that they had won at
the price of their blood while fighting under his orders--from the day
when, by his miraculous baptism after the victory of Tolbiac (Fig.
1), he himself a proud Sicamber, submitted himself to and became a
vassal of the Christian Church, simultaneously sprang into existence
a theocratic and a martial aristocracy. In this simultaneous double
origin might have already been perceived the hidden cause of the future
inevitable antagonism between the modern influence of the cross and the
material power of the sword. Conspiracies, bloodthirsty executions,
continual revolts, divers plots, in which were concerned at one time
the king’s leudes, at another the principal clergy; ecclesiastical
censures, ceaselessly threatening these blind and savage tyrants, who,
while bending to the reproof, at the same time panted for revenge;
curbless ambitions, terrible hatreds, the continued strife of opposing
races; on one side the Gallo-Romanic (Figs. 2 and 3) and its heir the
Gothic, on the other the barbarous Germanic and Slavonian, more or less
christianized; all these were the endless signs by which the coming
reign of feudalism, at each successive stage of modern civilisation,
marked its advent. The political system which a barbarous legal code
had inaugurated for the benefit of the leudes, was entirely opposed to
the system sanctioned by the Roman law. It was the desire of the leudes
that a seignior, the owner of the land and of the men who cultivated
it, should possess the right of infeudalising, that is to say, of
ceding, as an inferior freehold, a certain portion of his own estate,
abandoning in so doing to the concessionary or vassal not only the
rights of the soil, but the sovereignty over those who occupied it. For
a vassal to forfeit his rights, he must first have failed to fulfil the
engagements he undertook when he received the investiture of the fief.
The cession of lands and the rights attached to it, which were the
foundation of dawning feudalism, remained for more than a century in
that state of oscillation which precedes a stable equilibrium.
[Illustration: Fig. 1.--Battle of Tolbiac and Baptism of King
Clovis.--Fac-simile of a Woodcut in the “Mirouer Historial de
France,” in folio, printed in Paris by Galliot du Pré in 1516.]
[Illustration: Fig. 2.--Gallo-Roman Lords of the Fourth
Century.--Sculpture from the Tomb of the Gallic Consul Jovinus,
General under the Emperor Julian, at Rheims.]
[Illustration: Fig. 3.--Mounted Barbarian in the Roman
Service.--From an Antique Monument.]
Master of France, of Germany, and of Italy, and protector of the
Church, Charlemagne (Fig. 4) enjoyed all the prerogatives of the
Western emperors. On two occasions he delivered the Holy Seat from its
enemies, and in Germany as well as in Italy he placed his sword at the
service of the Christian faith. One of the popes, Adrian, bestowed
upon him the dignity of patron; another, Adrian’s successor, Leo
III., placed, in the year 800, the imperial crown upon his head. Then
might have been seen, better than in the days of the Roman and Greek
Emperors, the spectacle of the Church protected by the head of the
State, to whom the seignorial aristocracy paid feudal obedience, and
who controlled with an iron hand their tendencies to schism. Feudalism,
which was gathering strength, and which already knew its own power,
never retrograded; it sometimes halted and was at rest, but it was only
waiting a more propitious season to continue its path. Charlemagne’s
successors were, in fact, neither the kings of France nor the emperors
of Germany, but the feudal lords, the great landowners; and their power
waxed all the greater from the fact that, in 853, an edict of Charles
the Bald ordered the reconstruction of the ancient manors, the repair
of their fortifications, and the construction of new ones, so as to
arrest the devastating invasions of the Normans, of the Saracens,
of the Hungarians, and of the Danes. Thus Europe became dotted with
fortresses, behind which both nobles and villains found a refuge
against the new flood of barbarians. There was soon scarcely a stream,
a mountain pass, or an important road which was left undefended either
by military posts or by strong walls (Figs. 5 to 10). The invaders,
formerly rendered so bold and indomitable by the fear they had
succeeded in inspiring, now ceased their raids, or at most ventured no
farther than the shores on which they had disembarked. Little by little
a sense of security returned to the inhabitants, and the welfare of the
civilised world was assured. A service of this importance, rendered
by the nobles and seigniors to society at large, naturally gave them
legitimate claims to the exclusive guardianship of the frontiers which
they protected from the common enemy.
[Illustration: Fig. 4.--Statue of Charlemagne (formerly in the
Church of Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre, Paris).--Eleventh to Twelfth
Century.]
Towards the tenth century, every noble who desired to obtain from
another noble, richer or more powerful than himself, a portion of land
to be held as a fief, and who consented thus to become his vassal,
personally declared in the chief’s presence that for the future he
wished to be his faithful, devoted servant and his defender until
death; with his sword girded to his side and his spurs on his heels,
he solemnly swore this on the Holy Writ. In the subsequent ceremony
of _hommage-lige_ the vassal, bareheaded, knelt on one knee,
and, placing his hands within those of his seignior, swore fealty to
him, and undertook to follow him to the wars (Figs. 11 and 12), an
obligation not entailed by the first act of homage, namely, that of
_hommage-simple_. Thenceforward the seignior ceded to him the
land or the feudal domain, by _investiture_ or by _seizin_,
a ceremony often accompanied by the giving of a symbolical sign, such
as a clod of earth, a little stick, or a stone, according to the custom
of the soil. The investiture of kingdoms was conferred with the sword,
that of provinces with a standard.
[Illustration: Fig. 5.--Tower of the Walls of Provins, Twelfth
Century.]
[Illustration: Fig. 6.--Tower of the Castle of Fougères, Twelfth
Century.]
[Illustration: Fig. 7.--Tower of the Castle of Loches, Twelfth
Century.]
[Illustration: Fig. 8.--Tower of Beaucaire, Thirteenth Century.]
[Illustration: Fig. 9.--Tour du Télégraphe, Narbonne, Fourteenth
Century.]
[Illustration: Fig. 10.--Old Castle of Angoulême, Thirteenth
Century.]
The reciprocal obligations of the vassal and his suzerain were
numerous, some moral, some material. The vassal was bound to loyally
preserve the secrets confided to him by his suzerain (Fig. 13), to
prevent and frustrate any treachery on the part of his enemies, to
defend him at the risk of his own life, to resign his own horse on
the battle-field should his lord have lost his, to go as a prisoner
in his stead, to cause his honour to be respected, and to assist him
with his advice. At the simple request of the suzerain, the vassal was
bound to follow him to the field, either alone or accompanied with a
specified number of armed men, according to the importance of the
fief. The duration of this military service varied, in like manner, in
proportion to the fief, from twenty to sixty days--a period that did
not admit of very distant expeditions. The feudal seignior stood in
place of the sovereign, and being invested with executive authority,
had necessarily, in order to exercise it, recourse to the latent force
distributed amongst his vassals, and he naturally did so in accordance
with his own convenience. Justice, administered in this manner, was
termed _fiance_, that is to say, public security. The seignior was
wont to summon the men of his fief or fiefs to his _plaids_, or
assizes, either for the purpose of assisting him with their advice, to
act with him as judges, or to carry out the sentences he pronounced.
He had a right to two kinds of assistance--obligatory, or _legal
aids_, and voluntary, or _gracious aids_. Legal aids were due
from the vassal under three sets of circumstances: when the seignior
was taken prisoner and had to pay a ransom, when his eldest son was
about to be made a knight, and when he gave away his eldest daughter in
marriage. In feudal society these aids stood in the place of the public
taxes, which in ancient times, as in our own days, were collected by
the State alone; they differed, however, in this respect, that they
were not due at any stated periods, nor perhaps could they ever be
absolutely enforced, they were a kind of voluntary gift--from the
bestowal of which, however, few vassals dared to free themselves.
[Illustration: Fig. 11.--Act of Faith and Homage, Twelfth
Century.--Seal of Conon de Béthune, preserved in the National
Archives of France.]
[Illustration: Fig. 12.--Act of Faith and Homage, Thirteenth
Century.--Seal representing Raimond de Mont-Dragon kneeling
before the Archbishop of Arles, his Suzerain, in the National
Archives of France.]