(See Chronology of the more important events underRomeinComparative Outlines of Universal History.)
VI. FROM CONSTANTINE TO THE FALL OF ROME, 306-476 A.D.—Thesixthperiod includes the remainder of Roman history, extending from the reign of Constantine to the Fall of Rome, when captured by the Heruli, A.D. 476. The reign of Constantine the Great imparts splendor to the commencement of this period. He embraced the Christian faith himself, and patronized it in the Empire, as did also most of his successors; on which account this may be called the period of the Christian Emperors.
One of the most important events of his reign, and one which had a great influence on the subsequent affairs of Rome, was the removal of the Government to a new seat. He selected Byzantium for his capital, and removed there with his court, giving it the name of Constantinople, which it still bears. He left his empire to five princes, three sons and two nephews; the youngest son, Constantius, soon grasps the whole, A.D. 360. By the death of Constantius, his cousin Julian received the purple, which he was already on his march from Gaul to seize by force. The reign of Julian, styled the Apostate, is memorable for his artful and persevering attempts to destroy the Christian religion, and his unsuccessful efforts to rebuild the Temple of Jerusalem, with the express purpose of casting discredit on the predictions of the Bible.
From the death of Julian, A.D. 363, to the reign of Theodosius the Great, A.D. 379, the history presents little that is important to be noticed, except the jealousies between the eastern and western portions of the Empire, which grew out of the removal of the court to Constantinople. Theodosius was the last emperor who ruled over both. In 395 he died, leaving to his sons Arcadius and Honorius separately the[403]east and west. From this time the Eastern portion remained distinct, and its history no longer belongs to that of Rome.
The western portion languishes under ten successive emperors, who are scarcely able to defend themselves against the repeated attacks of barbarian invaders. At length, under Augustulus, the eleventh from Theodosius, Rome is taken by Odoácer, leader of the Heruli, and the history of ancient Rome is terminated, A. D. 476.
The whole of the period from Constantine to Augustulus is marked by the continued inroads of barbarous hordes from the north and the east. But the greatest annoyance was suffered in the latter part of the time, from three tribes, under three celebrated leaders; the Goths, under Alaric; the Vandals, under Genseric; and the Huns, under Attila. The two former actually carried their victorious arms to Rome itself (A.D. 410 and 455), and laid prostrate at their feet the haughty mistress of the world; and the latter was persuaded to turn back his forces (A. D. 453) only by ignoble concessions and immense gifts.
By A.D. 300 great changes had passed over the empire. Its population had become largely barbarized; the armies contained great numbers of Goths, Vandals, and Sarmathians (from territory now the west and south of Russia). Germans were spread through the empire more than any other nationality. The former distinction as to Roman citizenship having been lost, the distinction between the “Roman legions” and the “allies” was now effaced, and the last visible record of Rome’s conquest was obliterated.
PERIOD OF CONSTANTINETHE GREAT
Diocletian’s resignation in A.D. 305 was followed by a period of confusion and civil war, which ended in the establishment of Constantine as sole emperor in A.D. 323. He was son of one of the co-emperors and the Empress Helena. Constantine made an important change in the government by separating the military power from the civil authority. The influence of theLegati(provincial viceroys) was thus reduced, and the fact that the emperor alone held both the civil and military power gave him a great predominance.
CONSTANTINE MAKES BYZANTIUMTHE CAPITAL
In A.D. 324 Christianity was established by Constantine as the religion of the State, and in 330 he made Byzantium the capital of the empire. This city on the Thracian Bosporus, founded by Greek colonists in 658 B.C., had early become a great commercial center. After being held successively by the Athenians, Lacedæmonians, and Macedonians, it came into Roman possession, and the new or reconstructed city Byzantium was afterwards calledConstantinópolis(“City of Constantine”) and remained the capital of the Eastern Empire of Rome till A. D. 1453.
CONSTANTINE GIVES A NEW IMPETUSTO CHRISTIANITY
In religion, Constantine showed marks of his former Paganism even after his conversion to Christianity. He was an able general and statesman, whose real character has been obscured by historical excesses, both of panegyric and of detraction, and around whose name, in connection with Christianity, interesting and picturesque legends are associated, like that of the apparition of the Cross and the words (in Greek), “By this sign, conquer.” He died in 337, leaving the empire to confusion and civil war under his sons.
Apart from its effects upon the morals, the new religion greatly and beneficially stirred the mind of the age. Political speculation and discussion were impossible under a despotism, and active minds turned to theology, and soon showed that the intellectual power of the time was to be found within the ranks of Christianity.
Among these early writers and rules of the church, known as the “Christian Fathers,” the following are the chief, Tertullian, Ambrose, Cyprian, Lactantius, Jerome, and Augustine being Latin Fathers; Origen, Gregory, Basil, Chrysostom, and Athanasius being Greek Fathers.
THE IGNOBLE END OF THEWESTERN EMPIRE
The last Roman Emperor of the West was a child, called, as if in derision, Romulus Augustulus, the one name being that of the city’s mythical founder, the other (“Augustus the little”) a parody of the style of him who organized the empire. Augustulus became nominal ruler in A.D. 475, and in 476 was overthrown by the invasion of some German tribes, of which the chief were the Heruli. Their leader, Odoácer, took the title of “King of Italy,” and the Western Empire came thus ignobly to an end.
CONTRIBUTIONS OF ROMAN SWAYTO THE WORLD
The chief benefits derived by the world from Rome’s imperial sway were the spread of the Greek culture, the transmission of the greatest productions of the Greek mind, and the clear course made for the progress of Christianity.
Modern history, in a comprehensive sense, begins with the downfall of the Western Roman Empire; for with that event the volume of ancient history was closed: new actors then appeared on the stage, and a new civilization arose.
The development of the German world begins, kindled by foreign culture, religion, polity, and legislation. These new elements were taken up by the Teutonic tribes, and amalgamated with their own national life.
In many respects this period seemed a relapse into barbarism, and the interval from the fifth to the eleventh century is sometimes called specifically the Dark Ages. But in a juster view it was the germinating season: the seeds of modern civilization, cast into the soil, were quickening in new institutions and newnations; so that when we see modern society in the fifteenth and sixteenth nations; so that when we see modern society in the fifteenths and sixteenth centuries assuming the fixed shape which it still wears, we must remember that it grew into that shape in the antecedent thousand years.
The most important historic features of the Middle Ages were certain peculiar forms of society, rather than the development of great nations. Indeed, the modern nations as such were only in their beginnings, and these characteristic social peculiarities were common to all of them. Thus, all the nations of Europe were under that peculiar form of society calledfeudalism; all bore certain relations to thepapal power; all participated in theCrusadesand in the spirit ofChivalry; and all passed through the period named theDark Ages, and shared in the intellectual revival which marked the latter part of the Middle Ages.
THE EASTERN OR BYZANTINE EMPIRE.—This Empire, called also the Greek Empire, was sustained under various fortunes, for a period of almost one thousand years after the overthrow of the Western or Roman Empire. After the fall of Rome nearly sixty different emperors had occupied the throne at Constantinople, when, A.D. 1202, that city was taken by the crusaders from France and Venice. By this event the Greek emperors were forced to establish their court at Nicæa in Asia Minor. After the lapse of sixty years, their former capital was recovered; and, subsequent to this, eight different emperors held the scepter there, until the empire was gradually reduced in strength and extent, and it consisted of but a little corner of Europe. Its existence was prolonged to A.D. 1453, when Constantinople fell into the hands of the Turks, who have retained it to the present day.
While the new nationalities and the new civilization of Western Europe were being developed under the influence of German vigor, the emperors at Constantinople, though they ruled dominions where the language and civilization were mainly Greek, still claimed to be Roman emperors, and under their sway the laws and official forms of imperial Rome were maintained.
The Patriarch of Constantinople was the head of the Christian Church in the East, as the Bishop of Rome was in the West, while the latter, as the successor of St. Peter, was the head of the universal Church.
The Eastern Empire attained its acme in the sixth century, during the reign of Justinian, A.D. 527-565. It was he who built the great Church of Saint Sophia at Constantinople, now a Mohammedan mosque. His chief service to mankind, however, was the codification of the laws in the great system of Roman jurisprudence called the Civil Law, forming the basis of the law in European states at the present day.
In the East, the famous Belisarius, an Illyrian of plebeian birth, fought for Justinian against the Persian king Chosroes I. (or Nushirvan), who reigned A.D. 531-579. Justinian purchased peace by payment of tribute to this Oriental despot, whose empire extended from the Red Sea to the Indus.
In the West, Justinian’s arms had great success. In 534 the Vandal kingdom in Africa was brought to an end by the victories of Belisarius. In 535 Belisarius conquered Sicily, and from 535-540, and again from 541-544, fought the Goths in Italy, until the jealousy of his master recalled him.
His successor in command, Narses, completed the overthrow of the Ostrogothic kingdom in Italy by his campaigns in 552-553. Under Justinian, the Visigoths were driven out of the south of Spain, so that there was for a time a revived Roman Empire of the West, embracing nearly the whole of the Mediterranean coasts. Justinian died in 565, and a speedy change came in Italy.
The warlike Germans called Lombards had settled in Pannonia (south of the present Austrian Empire), by Justinian’s invitation, about 540. They fought to extermination the Gepidæ (Goths), and in 568 passed over the Alps into the fertile plain of northern Italy.
Under their king Albion, the Lombards subdued the north and much of the south of Italy (the central part, including Rome and Ravenna, on the Adriatic, with Sicily, Corsica, and Sardinia, remaining still Roman), and the Lombard kingdom of Italy thus formed continued for two centuries, until conquered by Charlemagne.
The growth of Venice dates from this Lombard conquest, when the victims took refuge in the islands and lagoons at the head of the Adriatic Sea, where a town had been founded by fugitives from the Huns.
The flourishing period of the Eastern Empire closes for a long time with Heraclius, who died in A.D. 641. The Persians and the Turks (Mongolians from Asia), with their kinsmen the Avars attacked the empire with formidable strength. Between 611 and 615 the Persians overran Egypt, Syria and Asia Minor, remaining encamped for ten years within sight of Constantinople. Heraclius, between 620 and 628, recovered the Persian conquests.
For the next four hundred years the Empire enjoyed a period of comparative prosperity, marked by successful defense against Saracens and Bulgarians. From 1204 to 1261 it fell under the sway of the French and Venetians, who jointly established the so-called Latin dynasty. From this period on for almost a hundred years its decline was steady, and, in 1453, the empire was brought to a close with the capture of Constantinople by Mohammed II.
MOSQUE NEAR BAGDAD, THE EASTERN CAPITAL OF THE SARACEN EMPIRE
MOSQUE NEAR BAGDAD, THE EASTERN CAPITAL OF THE SARACEN EMPIRE
Saracen (Arab.Sharkiin, the eastern people, fromSharq, the East), is a term applied to the first followers of Mohammed or Mahomet who within forty years after his death, 632 A.D., had subdued a part of Asia and Africa. The Saracens conquered Spain in 711 and following, but were defeated at Tours, France, by Charles Martel in 732. Under Abd-el-rahman they established the caliphate of Cordova in 755, which gave way to the Moors in 1237. The empire of the Saracens closed with the capture of Bagdad by the Tartars, 1258.
We now come to a remarkable chapter in European history,—the invasion of Europe, the land of the Aryans, by a Semitic race, the followers of the famous Mohammed. Connected with this is the rise of the new religion and of a vast dominion that played a great part in the history of the Middle Ages. The latter only can be touched on here.
The doctrines of Mohammed, written down from time to time, received the name of the Koran,—that is, the “Reading”; and the religion itself was calledIslam, or Mohammedanism—that is, “Salvation.”
His wife and a few other immediate relatives were the prophet’s first disciples, and these did not increase very rapidly. The people of Mecca denounced him as a madman or an impostor, and in a little time he was forced to flee from Mecca to save his life. He betook himself, with his disciples, to what is now Medina. The date of this flight, orHegira, as the Arabians call it,—July 15, 622 A.D.,—has been adopted ever since as the chronological era in Mohammedan countries. At Medina he was received with open arms,—his doctrines having already made a number of converts in that place; and here he built his first mosque.
A complete change now came over Mohammed,—the dreamer became a red-handed soldier. “The sword,” cried he, “is the key of heaven and hell,” and by the sword Islam was to be forced upon all men. Tribe after tribe was subdued; and before the lapse of ten years the whole Arabian peninsula acknowledged the sovereignty of Mohammed, and could boast of an unmixed population ofMoslems, or True Believers. The prophet was preparing to carry the new religion beyond the bounds of Arabia, when he was cut off by a fever at Medina in A.D. 632.
Mohammed was succeeded in his power by rulers called hisCaliphs, or Successors, the first of whom was his father-in-law, Abu-beker. They were at once spiritual and temporal rulers. The proselyting spirit of Mohammed had been communicated to his successors, and they began a long series of invasions, wars, and conquests. They everywhere gave men the choice of three things,—Koran, tribute, or sword. By these means the religion of Mohammed was spread over a large part of Asia and Africa, and made its way into Europe also.
The first countries assailed were the Oriental possessions of the Byzantine Empire. In the reign of Abu-beker, Syria and Mesopotamia were subdued by Arabian armies. Under the next caliph, Omar, Egypt was conquered and Northern Africa overrun. The Arabs, or Saracens, as they were also called, met with comparatively little resistance in the Oriental countries, the countries beyond Mount Taurus; and this may be accounted for by the fact that these were the parts of the Roman Empire in which both Roman law and Christianity had taken least hold.
Thus the Eastern Empire was shorn of all its Oriental possessions; and even the farther East—Persia and the lands beyond, to India—was added to the Moslem dominion.
In the West, however, a stout resistance was encountered. The Saracens besieged Constantinople, against which they carried on a siege of eight years (A.D. 668-675); but every assault was repelled by torrents of terrible Greek fire. A second siege, forty years afterward, met a like result. In North Africa, too, they encountered long and obstinate resistance; but finally the whole northern coast—Cyrene, Tripoli, Carthage—was subdued; and in A. D. 710 a host of turbaned Arabs, with unsheathed scimitars, under Tarik-ben-Zaid, crossed the narrow strait into Spain and landed on the rock which commemorates the name of their leader (“Gibraltar,” i. e.,Jebel Tarik, the Mountain of Tarik).
It will be remembered that a Visigothic kingdom had been established in Spain; but Roderick, the “last of the Goths,” was defeated on the field of Xeres, and the Saracens established themselves firmly in Spain. In the course of a few years they had possession of the whole peninsula, with the exception of the mountainous districts in the north, where the little Christian kingdom of the Asturias maintained itself.
The ambition of the Saracens now overleaped the Pyrenees. They obtained a foothold in Southern Gaul; and after a time an able Saracen commander, Abd-el-rahman, led a powerful Mohammedan army northward to subdue the land of the Franks. As far as the Loire everything fell before him, and it seemed that all Europe would come under Moslem sway.
It was in the hour of need that Charles Martel appeared as a champion for Christendom. Gathering a powerful army, he met the Saracens between Tours and Poitiers (pwät-yea´). A desperate battle, which lasted for seven days, ensued; but on the seventh day the Saracens were defeated with great slaughter, A.D. 732.
This victory arrested forever the progress of the Mohammedan arms in Europe, and procured for Charles the expressive surname of “the Hammer” (Martel), by which he is known in history.
While the Saracens were stopped from pushing their conquests farther into Europe, they firmly established themselves in Spain, where they founded a kingdom that lasted for seven hundred years,—that is, till the very close of the Middle Ages.
For a short time the vast dominion which the Saracens had conquered held together, and a single caliph was obeyed in Spain and in India. But soon disputes arose as to the right of succession to the caliphate: wars and secessions took place, and in A.D. 755 the Saracenic[407]empire was divided,—one caliph reigning in Spain and another in Bagdad.
In the East, the most distinguished of the Saracenic rulers was Haroun-al-Raschid (Aaron the Just), who became caliph in A.D. 786, and was a contemporary of Charlemagne. In theArabian Nightswe find a vivid picture of the city he ruled and the life he led. After the death of Haroun, the Eastern dominion of the Saracens was rent by civil strife; one province after another broke off from the caliphate, till in the eleventh and twelfth centuries it fell a prey to the Turks.
In Spain, on the division of the Saracenic power, the rule was in the hands of the Ommiyad line, and the capital was at Cordova. From this city the scepter of the Ommiyades ruled during 283 years (from A.D. 755-1038); but in the eleventh century the supremacy of the Saracens gave place to the Moorish empire in Spain.
In the intellectual history of the Middle Ages the Saracens played a remarkable part. When Europe was sunk in the grossest ignorance, this clever people were actively engaged in the cultivation of science, learning, and the arts. The schools of Cordova vied with those of Bagdad in the collection of books and the encouragement of science, and from them proceeded nearly all that was original in the medicine, physics, and metaphysics of Europe during the Middle Ages.
Charlemagne may be regarded as the chief regenerator of Western Europe after the dissolution of the Roman Empire. At the date of his coronation, 800 A.D., his empire was not inferior in extent to that of the old Roman Empire. He was master of all Germany and Gaul, the greater part of Italy, and part of Spain. Under him the Frankish dominion reached its highest point, and marks the formal termination of an antiquated state of society. It was also the introduction to another totally different form itself and from its predecessor. It was not barbarism, it was not feudalism; but it was the bridge which united the two.
The most important chapter in the history of the Middle Ages is that informing us how the ruins of the dilapidated Western Empire were for a time rebuilt into an imposing structure by the genius of a great man, the grandest figure of the Middle Ages,—Charlemagne. The real name of this great man was Karl, that is, Charles. Though best known by his French name of Charlemagne (Charles the Great), we must remember that he was not a Frenchman in our sense of the term, but a thorough Teuton, or German, in birth, instinct, speech, and residence.
The kingdom of the Franks, to which Charlemagne fell heir on the death of his father, formed an extensive dominion comprising portions of the two countries we now call France and Germany,—for it must be remembered that the specific countries, France and Germany, did not yet exist at all.
At this time—the latter half of the eighth century—Italy was divided between the Lombards and the Eastern emperors, England had come into existence, but only as a number of feeble and warring states, Spain was under the rule of the Moslems. In the meantime the land of the Franks was lifting itself from out the surrounding barbarism of the new races, and was the center of that Germanic civilization which was struggling into existence.
It is important to bear in mind the actual condition of the European world at the time Charlemagne came on the stage, for it will help us to understand the work he did, how far he succeeded and how far he failed.
The ruling idea of Charlemagne was the re-establishment of the Roman Empire,—the building up on German soil of that colossal power which had toppled over because it rested on the too narrow basis of Latin nationality. In executing this design he aimed to use all the elements of civilization that the times presented, and especially these two great elements,—the political ideas and instincts of the Teutons, and the adhesive power of the Christian Church. Hence we find him, throughout his whole career, carefully cherishing all those old[408]German institutions upon which the mass of his people looked with deep reverence, while at the same time we behold him the protector of the Pope and the loyal and ardent champion of the Church.
It was in the effort to realize his grand idea that Charlemagne undertook the numerous wars and expeditions that filled the forty-six years of his reign. We shall not enter into the details of these wars; but it is needful to understand their object and their result.
The most important of Charlemagne’s military enterprises were directed against the fierce pagan nations of Germany and the wild Scythians in the outlying lands beyond. To appreciate the importance of these we must try to realize that the eastern frontier of the Frankish land, that is, the eastern boundary of Charlemagne’s kingdom, on the German side of the Rhine, ran into and abutted on the extensive stretch of country in Middle Europe that was still in the hands of the various uncivilized tribes. As long as these peoples remained in their warlike, savage, and pagan condition, they would press heavily on the struggling civilization of the Frankish kingdom, and would endanger, if not utterly destroy, its progress. Hence to subdue and especially to Christianize these tribes—to extend the domain of organized and law-governed society into the desert waste of Teutonic barbarism—was a main object with Charlemagne.
With the Saxon confederation, formed by various pagan tribes on the Weser and the Elbe (the same tribes from among which the Saxons and Angles, who conquered Britain three centuries before this, had gone forth), Charlemagne had the greatest trouble. He repeatedly marched into their country and subdued them; but they constantly rose up again, and it was only after some terrible acts of vengeance,—for example, he one day had forty-two hundred prisoners hanged,—that they at length submitted to be baptized and to become peaceable subjects.
Soon after this the Bavarians attempted to render themselves independent of the Frankish power by the assistance of the Avars, a Tartar race living in what we now call Hungary (thenPannonia). Charlemagne overpowered the Bavarians, incorporating Bavaria with his German territory; and then revenged himself on the Avars by conquering them, taking their treasures, and annexing Hungary to his dominion.
The result of Charlemagne’s conquests on the east side of the Rhine was that Germany was for the first time all united under one head, and on that side the Frankish kingdom was extended to the confluence of the Danube with the Theiss and the Save.
Against the Saracens in Spain Charlemagne made an important expedition. The capture of Saragossa laid Aragon and Navarre at his feet, and he united the whole country as far as the Ebro to his own kingdom as a Spanish province. During his return the rear-guard under Roland, suffered a defeat in the valley of Roncesvalles, in which the bravest champions of the Franks were destroyed. This somewhat tarnished the laurels Charlemagne had won in Spain, but did not undo the substantial results of the campaign.
We must now see what Charlemagne did in Italy. At this period the Lombards were very troublesome to the Pope, and frequently assailed the Roman territory. Accordingly, when Pope Adrian I. called on Charlemagne for aid, the Frankish monarch crossed the Alps, defeated the Lombards, shut up their king in a monastery, and himself assuming the famous “iron crown” of Lombardy, united the whole of Upper Italy to the kingdom of the Franks (A.D. 773). At the same time he confirmed the gifts made by Pepin to the Pope.
The general result of all the wars and conquests which we have described was that by the year 800 Charlemagne, who had inherited from Pepin a kingdom scarcely equal to all Gaul, found himself lord of a dominion as large as the ancient Roman Empire of the West, and extending from the Ebro (in Spain) on the west to the Elbe in the northeast, the Theiss (Hungary) in the southeast, and including[409]half of Italy, with Corsica, Sardinia, and the Balearic Isles. He fell heir to a kingdom; he was now master of an empire.
The year A.D. 800 forms the climax of Charlemagne’s reign. The sovereign had gone in splendid state to visit Italy. On Christmas day Charlemagne and his court were attending divine service in the church of St. Peter’s, at Rome. Suddenly, while the monarch was kneeling on the steps of the altar in prayer, the Pope, Leo III., placed a crown upon his head and solemnly saluted him as “Emperor of the West,” with the title of Charles I., Cæsar Augustus.
The latter years of Charlemagne’s life were spent in labors for the consolidation of his empire and the elevation of his people. He was a great patron of learning and learned men. He was himself a good Latin scholar, and he knew something of Greek. Wherever he was he was usually surrounded by learned churchmen, whom he drew to his court from all quarters, and with whom he delighted to hold conversations on literary and other subjects. The emperor, his family, and all attached to his household formed what was called the “School of the Palace.” Fond of literary pursuits, Charlemagne studied grammar, rhetoric, music, logic, astronomy, and natural history under his learned friends; and even after he was considerably advanced in years he took the pains to acquire the art of writing,—an accomplishment then very unusual except among churchmen.
Nor was the emperor’s interest in education confined to his own household. Each of the numerous monasteries that he endowed was bound to maintain a school. He had copies of the writings of the ancient Romans made and distributed among the convents, he formed a collection of old German heroic ballads, and under his patronage church music was greatly improved.
Charlemagne’s favorite place of residence was at Aix-la-Chapelle (in German,Aachen). He made this the northern capital of his empire, as Rome was the southern, and built a magnificent palace there. When his power was confirmed by his coronation as Emperor of the West, all the world hastened to pay him homage. The Saracen caliph, the famous Haroun-al-Raschid, who ruled the Eastern dominion of the Saracens, at Bagdad, exchanged courtesies with his great brother of the West, sending him, among other presents, an ape, an elephant, and a curious clock which struck the hours.
Charlemagne died at the age of seventy-two, at Aix-la-Chapelle, in A.D. 814. The year before, he had caused his only living son, Louis, to assume the imperial crown. But the vast structure that Charlemagne had raised during his lifetime tottered and fell almost immediately after his death. Louis, known as the Gentle (le Debonnaire), was better fitted for the repose of a cloister than for the government of a warlike kingdom. His sons, among whom he divided the empire, turned their arms first against himself and then against one another. Finally, in A.D. 843, a treaty was made at Verdun, by which France, Germany and Italy became separate and independent states; so that, in less than thirty years after the death of Charlemagne, the history of theFrankscame to an end, and the history ofFranceand ofGermanybegan.
Great Events of Period.900-1000: Norse ravages and conquests continue; also private wars. 1000-1100: Increasing and beneficent power of the church exerted in the direction of order. Normans in Italy and Sicily. The Norman conquest of England; which as regards good government far surpasses all other countries. Quarrels between popes and emperors begin. 1100-1200: Quarrels between popes and emperors continue; zenith of papal power; Criticism revived. Private wars lessen; advance in power of kings and of towns at expense of the feudal baronage. The Crusades. 1200-1300: Rise of universities and of mendicant Friars. Quarrels between popes and emperors still continue. Last Crusades. English liberties recognized by the crown. Magna Charta.
A. D.SpainBritainFranceGermanyItalyChurchScandinavia and SlavsEastern EmpireSaracensChina, Japan, IndiaA. D.850850855. Kingdom divided. Louis II., Emperor, obtains Italy and Rhætia till 875. Charles, Provence, till 863.860.Separation of the Greek and Latin Churches.862.Russia: Rurik, first grand prince.859.Japan: Powerful Seiwa family arises.864-1131.Kingdom of Barcelona.866.Invasion of the Danes.867.Pope Hadrian II., Photius, Patriarch of Constantinople, deposed.863-1030. Norway: Harold Harfargar to St. Olaf.867-1057.Eastern emperors of the Macedonian line.870-892.Muattemed re-establishes the capital at Bagdad.871-900. ALFRED THE GREAT.872.Pope John VIII.875876.Kingdom divided: Charles the Fat obtains Suabia and Alsace till 887.Louisthe Younger, Saxony and Thuringia till 882.Carloman,Bavaria, etc. till 879; becomes King of Italy, 877.875885-1512.Kingdom of Navarre.884. Charles the Fat reunites the monarchy of the Franks.895.Hungary: Magyars under Arpad enter the Kingdom.886-911.Leo VI., the Philosopher.900901-924.Edward the Elder, the first prince who takes the title of King of England.Rollo, the Dane, forces Charles to confer on him the province of Normandy and becomes:907-960.China: Period of five dynasties.900912-961.Abderrahman III.The greatest Arab prince of Spain; splendid edifices built; learning encouraged; commerce flourishes.912.Robert, Duke of Normandy; capital Rouen.919-1024.Kings and Emperors of the Saxon house.911. The Northmen in France embrace Christianity.917.The Bulgarians besiege Constantinople.919-936. Henry I., the Fowler, a great prince, consolidates the empire.925France is now divided among the powerful barons, who exercise sovereign power in their respective domains.936-973.OTHO the GREAT.927.Odo, abbot of Cluny, establishes celebrated code of discipline.941.Russian expedition against Constantinople, under Igor.925950955.Decisive victory over the Huns, which leads to the consolidation of the margravate of Austria.950-961. Berenger II., submitted to Otto as his suzerain.956.Armenia and the provinces between the Black and the Caspian Sea, recovered from the Saracens.950961-965.Otho’s second expedition into Italy; he dethrones Berenger; is crowned king, and emperor.959. St. Dunstan becomes Archbishop of Canterbury and attempts to reform the church; enforcing clerical celibacy.959-963. Romanus II.960.China: Tai Tsoo founder of later Sung dynasty.962. Makes Rome his capital.966.Poland receives Christianity under Miecislas.964-975.Cyprus, Cilicia and Antioch are captured by Nicephorus; Syria is overrun, and, under Zimisces, the Greeks penetrate to the Tigris.967. Otho II. crowned emperor.969.TheFatimitesbecome masters of Egypt, with Cairo as the capital.975978-1016.Ethelred the Unready.Newinvasion of the Danes.976-1025.Basil II.980.Seljuk, a Turk officer of the khan of Tartary, becomes a Mohammedan, and settles in Samarcand.975House of Capet987-996.Hugh Capet.France,for a long period before and after the accession of the Capets, has no national history; the royal authority is now restricted to the city in which the court resides.989.Byzantine Christianity propagated in Russia by Vladimir the Great.999.Pope Sylvester II.10001000-1035. Sancho III., the Great, King of Navarre and Castile. There existed henceforward three Christian kingdoms in Spain: 1, Castile-Leon; 2, Navarre; 3, Aragon.Golden age of Arabian literature in Spain.1016-1035.Canute the Great, King of Denmark.1002-1024.Henry, Duke of Bavaria, a just and pious king.Continualwars with the Poles and Italy.Venice, Genoa, and Pisa rise in power, opulence and civilization.1000-1186. India: Supremacy of Ghazni.10001017-1041. Danish kings.House of Franconia1024-1039.Conrad II., the Salic.1019.Russia: Yaroslaff the Great.1018. Bulgaria again reduced to a Grecian province.10251026.Hixem III.1029.Settlement of the Normans in South Italy.1025-1028. Constantine IX.Culminationpoint of Byzantine greatness. Greeks greatest merchants and capitalists of the world during this century.Golden Age of Rajput civilization in India.10251030. With him ends the Califate of the West.1039-1056.HENRY III. He defeats the Bohemians and Hungarians and makes both tributary.The imperial power at its highest point.1042.The Saxon line restored.1042-1066.Edward the Confessor. French Normans become a new source of trouble.1041. They conquer Apulia from the Greeks; 1060, Calabria; 1060-1090, Sicily.1042.Turks invade and conquer Persia.Thekingdom of Ghizni declines after 1032, and is confined to India; falls 1183.10501056-1106.Henry IV.1057-1185.Eastern emperors of the houses of the Ducas and the Comnenes. Southern Italy lost to the Normans.10501059.Quarrels between the Popes and German Emperors respecting investitures and nomination to the Holy See.1060-1108. Philip I.1060. Robert Guiscard, first duke.1060-1090.Sicily conquered by Count Roger, brother of Robert.Robertinvades the Greek Empire and gains the battle of Durazzo.1072.Alfonso VI. of Castile, enlarges his dominions by conquests from the Mohammedans.1066. Harold elected king, but is defeated and slain in the battle ofHastings, which gives England to William.1066-1154.Norman Kings.1066-1087.WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR.1066. William, Duke of Normandy, invades England.1073.POPE GREGORY VII.Papacyattains great power.10751077.Hungary: Ladislas I., the Saint.1076.Jerusalem captured by Turks.10751085.The Cid. Toledo is taken by Alfonso VI. after a three years’ siege.1084. Bohemia erected into a kingdom by the Emperor Henry IV.1084. Seljuks in Asia Minor.1086. The battle of Zalaca.1087-1100.William II., Rufus.Revolt of the Norman nobles. The feudal system established in England.1088.Pope Urban II.1092.The Seljuk Empire falls apart into a number of smaller states. Iconium or Roum, Damascus, Aleppo, Kerman and Iran.1096.The First Crusade.Peter the Hermit and Walter the Penniless.1095-1270.The First Crusade.1099. Pope Pascal II.1099. Foundation of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Godfrey of Bouillon, elected king by the army.11001100-1135.Henry I., Beauclerc.1100-1523. Denmark: Introduction of Feudal system to Independence of Sweden.1100-1468.Norway.1100-1448.Sweden.11001101. Robert, Duke of Normandy, invades England.1103-1106. Henry invades and conquers Normandy.1106-1125.Henry V., Emperor of Germany and King of Italy.1119.Pope Calixtus II.11251139.Kingdom of Portugal.Wars between the French and English, and rise of rivalry between these two nations, which lasts for three centuries and a half.House of Hohenstaufen1138-1152.Conrad I., elected emperor.1139.The two Sicilies erected into a kingdom under Roger.1127.China: Kaou Tsung, Emperor.11251147.The Second Crusadepreached by St. Bernard and joined by the Emperor Conrad and Louis VII. of France.Rise of the factions of Guelfs and Ghibelines.1146.The Second Crusade.Thepower of the crusaders declines.11501154-1399.Plantagenets.1154-1189.Henry II., Plantagenet.1152-1190.Frederic I., Barbarossa, Emperor and King, one of the most heroic figures of the Middle Age.1154.Pope Hadrian IV.11501159.War between France and England.1158.Venice a great maritime power.1159.Pope Alexander III.1157.Denmark: Waldemar I., the Great.1156. Japan: War between the families ofGenandHei.1171-1172.Conquest of Ireland.The French language cultivated.1166. Frederic in Italy. League of the Italian cities, 1167, to preserve their liberties.1170.The Waldenses.1171-1193.Saladin becomes Sultan of Egypt. Extends his dominions in Egypt, conquers Syria, Assyria, Mesopotamia and Arabia.11751189-1199.Richard I., the Lion-hearted. Dreadful massacre of the Jews at his coronation.1180-1223.Philip II., the greatest prince since Charlemagne.1183.Peace of Constance re-establishes the independence of the Italian Republics.1177.Poland: Casimir the Just.1185-1204.Dynasty of Angelus.1186-1206.India: The Afghans of Ghor rule.11751189.Third Crusadeled by Philip Augustus, of France; Richard, of England; and Frederic Barbarossa.1189.The Third Crusade.1190-1198. Henry VI., Emperor and King of Italy and the Sicilies.1191.Pope Celestine III.1193.Saladin dies; his dominions divided.1195. Battle of Alarcon in which the Christians are defeated.1199-1216.John usurps over Arthur, the son of his elder brother, Geoffrey.1198.Philip of Suabia and Otho of Saxony, dispute the crown; the former supported by the Ghibelines, the latter by the Guelfs.1198.Pope Innocent III.12001201-1206.War with France; Philip espouses the cause of Prince Arthur.1204.Venice aggrandized by the conquest of Constantinople.Papal power attains its climax. It is supreme over secular power.1202-1241.Denmark: Waldemar II., the Conqueror.1204.New revolution. The Crusaders return, again take Constantinople.1204-1261.Latin Empire.1202.The Fourth Crusade.1206.Genghis Khanbecomes emperor of the Mongols.12001212.Battle of Navas de Tolosa; a victory for the Christians.1202. TheFourth Crusadeunder Boniface of Montferrat.1212-1250.Frederic II. becomes emperor and king of the two Sicilies.1210-1212.First war of Venice and Genoa.ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI(1182-1226)1213-1276. James I., the Conqueror in Aragon.1213-1215. War with France; the English lose Vermandois and Valois.1214-1217. Henry I., King in Castile.1215.Insurrection of the barons.MagnaChartasigned at Runnymede.1215.Fourth Lateran, and twelfth general council against the Albigenses and all heretics. The doctrines of transubstantiation and auricular confession established.1217-1262.Norway: Haco IV.