A Source Book of Mediaeval History Part 3

[31] Signs of the zodiac, sometimes employed by the Romans to give figurative expression to the time of day.

[32] The number of Romans killed at Cannae (216 B.C.) is variously estimated, but it can hardly have been under 50,000.

CHAPTER III.

THE HUNS

5. Descriptions by a Graeco-Roman Poet and a Roman Historian

The Huns, a people of Turanian stock, were closely related to the ancestors of the Magyars, or the modern Hungarians. Their original home was in central Asia, beyond the great wall of China, and they were in every sense a people of the plains rather than of the forest or of the sea. From the region of modern Siberia they swept westward in successive waves, beginning about the middle of the fourth century, traversed the "gateway of the nations" between the Caspian Sea and the Ural Mountains, and fell with fury upon the German tribes (mainly the Goths) settled in eastern and southern Europe. The descriptions of them given by Claudius Claudia.n.u.s and Ammia.n.u.s Marcellinus set forth their characteristics as understood by the Romans a half-century or more before the invasion of the Empire by Attila. There is no reason to suppose that either of these authors had ever seen a Hun, or had his information at first hand. When both wrote the Huns were yet far outside the Empire's bounds. Tales of soldiers and travelers, which doubtless grew as they were told, must have supplied both the poet and the historian with all that they knew regarding the strange Turanian invaders. This being the case, we are not to accept all that they say as the literal truth. Nevertheless the general impressions which one gets from their pictures cannot be far wrong.

Claudius Claudia.n.u.s, commonly regarded as the last of the Latin cla.s.sic poets, was a native of Alexandria who settled at Rome about 395. For ten years after that date he occupied a position at the court of the Emperor Honorius somewhat akin to that of poet-laureate. Much of his writing was of a very poor quality, but his descriptions were sometimes striking, as in the stanza given below. On Ammia.n.u.s Marcellinus see p. 34.

Sources--(a) Claudius Claudia.n.u.s, _In Rufinum_ ["Against Rufinus"], Bk. I., 323-331. Text in _Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Auctores Antiquissimi_, Vol. X., pp. 30-31.

Translated in Thomas Hodgkin, _Italy and Her Invaders_ (Oxford, 1880), Vol. II., p. 2.

(b) Ammia.n.u.s Marcellinus, _Rerum Gestarum Libri qui Supersunt_, Bk. x.x.xI., Chaps. 2-4 [see p. 34]. Translated in Hodgkin, _ibid._, pp. 34-38.

(a)

There is a race on Scythia's[33] verge extreme Eastward, beyond the Tanais'[34] chilly stream.

The Northern Bear[35] looks on no uglier crew: Base is their garb, their bodies foul to view; Their souls are ne'er subdued to st.u.r.dy toil Or Ceres' arts:[36] their sustenance is spoil.

With horrid wounds they gash their brutal brows, And o'er their murdered parents bind their vows.

Not e'en the Centaur-offspring of the Cloud[37]

Were horsed more firmly than this savage crowd.

Brisk, lithe, in loose array they first come on, Fly, turn, attack the foe who deems them gone.

[Sidenote: Physical appearance of the Huns]

(b)

The nation of the Huns, little known to ancient records, but spreading from the marshes of Azof to the Icy Sea,[38] surpa.s.ses all other barbarians in wildness of life. In the first days of infancy, deep incisions are made in the cheeks of their boys, in order that when the time comes for whiskers to grow there, the sprouting hairs may be kept back by the furrowed scars; and hence they grow to maturity and to old age beardless. They all, however, have strong, well-knit limbs and fine necks. Yet they are of portentous ugliness and so crook-backed that you would take them for some sort of two-footed beasts, or for the roughly-chipped stakes which are used for the railings of a bridge. And though they do just bear the likeness of men (of a very ugly type), they are so little advanced in civilization that they make no use of fire, nor of any kind of relish, in the preparation of their food, but feed upon the roots which they find in the fields, and the half-raw flesh of any sort of animal. I say half-raw, because they give it a kind of cooking by placing it between their own thighs and the backs of their horses. They never seek the shelter of houses, which they look upon as little better than tombs, and will enter only upon the direst necessity; nor would one be able to find among them even a cottage of wattled rushes; but, wandering at large over mountain and through forest, they are trained to endure from infancy all the extremes of cold, of hunger, and of thirst.

[Sidenote: Their dress]

They are clad in linen raiment, or in the skins of field-mice sewed together, and the same suit serves them for use in-doors and out.

However dingy the color of it may become, the tunic which has once been hung around their necks is never laid aside nor changed until through long decay the rags of it will no longer hold together.

Their heads are covered with bent caps, their hairy legs with the skins of goats; their shoes, never having been fashioned on a last, are so clumsy that they cannot walk comfortably. On this account they are not well adapted to encounters on foot; but on the other hand they are almost welded to their horses, which are hardy, though of ugly shape, and on which they sometimes ride woman's fashion. On horseback every man of that nation lives night and day; on horseback he buys and sells; on horseback he takes his meat and drink, and when night comes on he leans forward upon the narrow neck of his horse and there falls into a deep sleep, or wanders into the varied fantasies of dreams.

[Sidenote: Their mode of fighting]

When a discussion arises upon any matter of importance they come on horseback to the place of meeting. No kingly sternness overawes their deliberations, but being, on the whole, well-contented with the disorderly guidance of their chiefs, they do not scruple to interrupt the debates with anything that comes into their heads.

When attacked, they will sometimes engage in regular battle. Then, going into the fight in order of columns, they fill the air with varied and discordant cries. More often, however, they fight in no regular order of battle, but being extremely swift and sudden in their movements, they disperse, and then rapidly come together again in loose array, spread havoc over vast plains and, flying over the rampart, pillage the camp of their enemy almost before he has become aware of their approach. It must be granted that they are the nimblest of warriors. The missile weapons which they use at a distance are pointed with sharpened bones admirably fastened to the shaft. When in close combat they fight without regard to their own safety, and while the enemy is intent upon parrying the thrusts of their swords they throw a net over him and so entangle his limbs that he loses all power of walking or riding.

[Sidenote: Their nomadic character]

Not one among them cultivates the ground, or ever touches a plow-handle. All wander abroad without fixed abodes, without home, or law, or settled customs, like perpetual fugitives, with their wagons for their only habitations. If you ask them, not one can tell you what is his place of origin. They are ruthless truce-breakers, fickle, always ready to be swayed by the first breath of a new desire, abandoning themselves without restraint to the most ungovernable rage.

Finally, like animals devoid of reason, they are utterly ignorant of what is proper and what is not. They are tricksters with words and full of dark sayings. They are never moved by either religious or superst.i.tious awe. They burn with unquenchable thirst for gold, and they are so changeable and so easily moved to wrath that many times in the day they will quarrel with their comrades on no provocation, and be reconciled, having received no satisfaction.

FOOTNOTES:

[33] A somewhat indefinite region north and east of the Caspian Sea.

[34] The modern Don, flowing into the Sea of Azof.

[35] One of two constellations in the northern hemisphere, called respectively the Great Bear and the Lesser Bear, or _Ursa Major_ and _Ursa Minor_. The Great Bear is commonly known as the Dipper.

[36] That is, agriculture. The Huns were even less settled in their mode of life than were the early Germans described by Tacitus.

[37] A strange creature of cla.s.sical mythology, represented as half man and half horse.

[38] The White Sea. It is hardly to be believed that the Huns dwelt so far north. This was, of course, a matter of sheer speculation with the Romans.

CHAPTER IV.

THE EARLY FRANKS

6. The Deeds of Clovis as Related by Gregory of Tours

The most important historical writer among the early Franks was a bishop whose full name was Georgius Florentius Gregorius, but who has commonly been known ever since his day as Gregory of Tours. The date of his birth is uncertain, but it was probably either 539 or 540. He was not a Frank, but a man of mixed Roman and Gallic descent, his parentage being such as to rank him among the n.o.bility of his native district, Auvergne. At the age of thirty-four he was elected bishop of Tours, and this important office he held until his death in 594.

During this long period of service he won distinction as an able church official, as an alert man of affairs, and as a prolific writer on ecclesiastical subjects. Among his writings, some of which have been lost, were a book on the Christian martyrs, biographies of several holy men of the Church, a commentary on the Psalms, and a treatise on the officers of the Church and their duties.

But by far his largest and most important work was his _Ecclesiastical History of the Franks_, in ten books, written well toward the end of his life. It is indeed to be regarded as one of the most interesting pieces of literature produced in any country during the Middle Ages.

For his starting point Gregory went back to the Garden of Eden, and what he gives us in his first book is only an amusing but practically worthless account of the history of the world from Adam to St. Martin of Tours, who died probably in 397. In the second book, however, he comes more within the range of reasonable tradition, if not of actual information, and brings the story down to the death of Clovis in 511.

In the succeeding eight books he reaches the year 591, though it is thought by some that the last four were put together after the author's death by some of his a.s.sociates. However that may be, we may rest a.s.sured that the history grows in accuracy as it approaches the period in which it was written. Naturally it is at its best in the later books, where events are described that happened within the writer's lifetime, and with many of which he had a close connection.

Gregory was a man of unusual activity and of wide acquaintance among the influential people of his day. He served as a counselor of several Frankish kings and was a prominent figure at their courts. The shrine of St. Martin of Tours[39] was visited by pilgrims from all parts of the Christian world and by conversation with them Gregory had an excellent opportunity to keep informed as to what was going on among the Franks, and among more distant peoples as well. He was thus fortunately situated for one who proposed to write the history of his times. As a bishop of the orthodox Church he had small regard for Arians and other heretics, and so was in some ways less broad-minded than we could wish; and of course he shared the superst.i.tion and ignorance of his age, as will appear in some of the selections below.

Still, without his extensive history we should know far less than we now do concerning the Frankish people before the seventh century. He mixes legend with fact in a most confusing manner, but with no intention whatever to deceive. The men of the earlier Middle Ages knew no other way of writing history and their readers were not critical as we are to-day. The pa.s.sages quoted below from Gregory's history give some interesting information concerning the Frankish conquerors of Gaul, and at the same time show something of the spirit of Gregory himself and of the people of his times.

Particularly interesting is the account of the conversion of Clovis and of the Franks to Christianity. When the Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Vandals, Lombards, and Burgundians crossed the Roman frontiers and settled within the bounds of the old Empire they were all Christians in name, however much their conduct might be at variance with their profession. The Franks, on the other hand, established themselves in northern Gaul, as did the Saxons in Britain, while they were yet pagans, worshipping Woden and Thor and the other strange deities of the Germans. It was about the middle of the reign of King Clovis, or, more definitely, in the year 496, that the change came. In his _Ecclesiastical History_ Gregory tells us how up to this time all the influence of the Christian queen, Clotilde, had been exerted in vain to bring her husband to the point of renouncing his old G.o.ds. In his wars and conquests the king had been very successful and apparently he was pretty well satisfied with the favors these old G.o.ds had showered upon him and was unwilling to turn his back upon such generous patrons. But there came a time, in 496, in the course of the war with the Alemanni, when the tide of fortune seemed to be turning against the Frankish king. In the great battle of Stra.s.sburg the Franks were on the point of being beaten by their foe, and Clovis in desperation made a vow, as the story goes, that if Clotilde's G.o.d would grant him a victory he would immediately become a Christian. Whatever may have been the reason, the victory was won and the king, with characteristic German fidelity to his word, proceeded to fulfill his pledge. Amid great ceremony he was baptized, and with him three thousand of his soldiers the same day. The great majority of Franks lost little time in following the royal example.

Two important facts should be emphasized in connection with this famous incident. The first is the peculiar character of the so-called "conversion" of Clovis and his Franks. We to-day look upon religious conversion as an inner experience of the individual, apt to be brought about by personal contact between a Christian and the person who is converted. It was in no such sense as this, however, that the Franks--or any of the early Germans, for that matter--were made Christian. They looked upon Christianity as a mere portion of Roman civilization to be adopted or let alone as seemed best; but if it were adopted, it must be by the whole tribe or nation, not by individuals here and there. In general, the German peoples took up Christianity, not because they became convinced that their old religions were false, but simply because they were led to believe that the Christian faith was in some ways better than their own and so might profitably be taken advantage of by them. Clovis believed he had won the battle of Stra.s.sburg with the aid of the Christian G.o.d when Woden and Thor were about to fail him; therefore he reasoned that it would be a good thing in the future to make sure that the G.o.d of Clotilde should always be on his side, and obviously the way to do this was to become himself a Christian. He did not wholly abandon the old G.o.ds, but merely considered that he had found a new one of superior power. Hence he enjoined on all his people that they become Christians; and for the most part they did so, though of course we are not to suppose that there was any very noticeable change in their actual conduct and mode of life, at least for several generations.

The second important point to observe is that, whereas all of the other Germanic peoples on the continent had become Christians of the Arian type, the Franks accepted Christianity in its orthodox form such as was adhered to by the papacy. This was sheer accident. The Franks took the orthodox rather than the heretical religion simply because it was the kind that was carried to them by the missionaries, not at all because they were able, or had the desire, to weigh the two creeds and choose the one they liked the better. But though they became orthodox Christians by accident, the fact that they became such is of the utmost importance in mediaeval history, for by being what the papacy regarded as true Christians rather than heretics they began from the start to be looked to by the popes for support. Their kings in time became the greatest secular champions of papal interests, though relations were sometimes far from harmonious. This virtual alliance of the popes and the Frankish kings is a subject which will repay careful study.

Source--Gregorius Episcopus Turonensis, _Historia Ecclesiastica Francorum_ [Gregory of Tours, "Ecclesiastical History of the Franks"], Bk. II., Chaps. 27-43 _pa.s.sim_. Text in _Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores Rerum Merovingicarum_, Vol. I., Part 1, pp. 88-89, 90-95, 98-100, 158-159.

[Sidenote: The battle of Soissons (486)]

=27.= After all these things Childeric[40] died and his son Clovis ruled in his stead. In the fifth year of the new reign Syagrius, son of aegidius, was governing as king of the Romans in the town of Soissons, where his father had held sway before him.[41] Clovis now advanced against him with his kinsman Ragnachar, who also held a kingdom, and gave him an opportunity to select a field of battle.