Outlines of Universal History Part 20

| +--Conrad the Red, (killed at the Lechfeld, 955) _m._ Liutgarde, daughter of Eadgyth and Otto I.

| +--Otto.

| +--Henry.

| +--CONRAD II, the Salic, 1024-1039, _m._ Gisela, d. of Hermann II, Duke of Swabia.

| +--HENRY III, 1039-1056, _m._ 1, Gunhilda, daughter of c.n.u.t; 2, Agnes, daughter of William, Count of Poitiers.

| +--HENRY IV, 1056-1106, _m._ 1, Bertha, daughter of Otto, Marquis of Susa; | +--HENRY V, 1106-1125, _m._ | Matilda, d. of Henry I of England.

| +--Agnes, _m._ 1, Frederick of Hohenstaufen, Duke of Swabia, 1080-1105; | +--Frederick the One-eyed, Duke of Swabia, d. 1147, _m._ 1, Judith, daughter of Henry the Black.

| +--FREDERICK I, Barbarossa, 1152-1190.

| | | +--HENRY VI, 1190-1197, _m._ | | Constance of Sicily, _d._ 1198.

| | | | | +--FREDERICK II, 1214-1250, _m._ | | 1, Constance, d. of | | Alfonso II of Aragon; | | | | | +--CONRAD IV, 1250-1254, _m._ | | | Elizabeth, daughter of | | | Otto II of Bavaria.

| | | | | | | +--Conradin, _d._ 1268.

| | | | | +--Manfred,[5] _d._ 1266.

| | | | 2, Iolande de Brienne; | | | | 3, Isabella, d. of | | John of England.

| | | +--PHILIP, 1198-1208, _m._ | Irene, d. of Isaac II, | Angelus, Eastern Emperor.

| | | +--Beatrix, _m._ | OTTO IV,[4] 1208-1214, | _d._ 1218.

| +--CONRAD III,[3] 1137-1152.

2, Leopold III, Marquis of Austria, _d._ 1136.

2, Adelaide, a Russian princess.

1 Conrad I and Henry I seem to have been related. By one account their mothers were the daughters of Emperor Arnulf.

2 Widow of Lothar, King of Italy.

3 Elected 1127 in opposition to Lotharl accepted as his successor.

4 Elected in opposition to Philip; accepted as his successor, 1208; ruined by battle of Bouvines.

5 King of Naples and Sicily after Conrad IV; killed in battle at Benevento against Charles of Anjou. Manfred's mother was Bianca Langia, daughter of a Lombard n.o.ble.

PERIOD III. FROM THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ROMANO-GERMANIC EMPIRE TO THE END OF THE CRUSADES. (A.D. 962-1270.)

CHAPTER I. THE CHURCH AND THE EMPIRE: PREDOMINANCE OF THE EMPIRE: TO THE CRUSADES, A.D. 1096.

I. KINGS AND EMPERORS OF THE SAXON HOUSE (918-1024).

HENRY THE FOWLER (918-936).--The envoys who carried to Duke _Henry of Saxony_ the announcement of his election as king of Germany are said to have found him in the Hartz Mountains with a falcon on his wrist: hence he was called _Henry the Fowler_. He is a great figure in mediaeval history, and did much to make Germany a nation. He won back _Lorraine_, which had broken off from the kingdom. With it the _Netherlands_--Holland, Flanders, etc.--came to Germany. He united all the five great dukedoms, and governed with wisdom and moderation. At the end of five years, the _Hungarians_ poured in with irresistible force. There was no alternative but to conclude with them a truce for nine years, during which he was to pay tribute. He set to work at once, however, to strengthen the defenses of his kingdom. He built walled towns and fortresses in the eastern districts of _Saxony_ and _Thuringia_, and drafted one out of nine of the men from the population in the marches for military service. The fortresses were to be kept stored with provisions. The oldest towns of Saxony and of Thuringia are of this date. Then he disciplined his soldiers, and trained them to fight, like the Hungarians, on horseback. He conquered the Slavonian _Wends_ who dwelt east of the _Elbe_ and the _Saale_, and established the margraviate of _Meissen_ to repel their attacks. His victory over the Slaves at _Lenzen_ (929) made the north-eastern frontiers of Germany secure. _Eadgyth_, the daughter of _Edward_, king of England, was given in marriage to his eldest son, _Otto_. Henry now felt himself strong enough to throw off the Hungarian yoke, and answered with defiance their demand for the annual tribute. The struggle with them was hard; but they were completely vanquished at _Merseburg_ in 933, and their camp taken.

Henry founded the mark of _Schleswig_ as a defense against the _Danes_. This wise and vigorous monarch laid the foundations of the German Empire. He was not only a mighty warrior: he built up industry and trade. He was buried at _Quedlinburg_ in the abbey which he had founded.

OTTO I.: THE PALSGRAVES.--Otto I. (936-973) carried forward with equal energy the work which his father had begun. Having been chosen king by the German princes and chiefs at _Aix_, he was presented to the people in the church by the archbishop of Mentz; and they gave their a.s.sent to the election by raising the hand. Otto had a contest before him to maintain the unity of the kingdom. He aimed to make the office of duke an office to be allotted by the king, and thus to sap the power of his turbulent lieges. The dukes of Bavaria and Franconia, with Lorraine, and with the support of _Louis IV._, king of France, rose in arms against him. He subdued them; and the great duchies which had revolted against him becoming vacant, he placed in them members of his own family. He confirmed his authority by extending the power of the _palsgraves_, or _counts palatine_,--royal officers who superintended the domains of the king in the several duchies, and dispensed justice in his name. He favored the great ecclesiastics as a check to the aspiring lay lords. He invested the bishops and abbots with ring and staff, and they took the oath of fealty to him.

WARS OF OTTO I--Against the _Hungarians_, Otto achieved a triumph. He gained a victory over them at _Augsburg_ in 955, in which they were said to have lost a hundred thousand men. This put an end to their incursions into Germany. He was likewise the victor in conflict with _Slavonians_. He subdued _Boleslav I._ of Bohemia, who had thrown off the German suzerainty, and obliged him to pay a tribute. Under the pious _Boleslav II._, Christianity was established there, and a bishopric founded at Prague (967). The _Duke of Poland_ was forced to do homage to him, and to permit the founding of the bishopric of _Posen_. Against the Danish king, _Harold_ the Blue-toothed, he carried his arms to the sea, the northern boundary of _Jutland_. He erected three new bishoprics among the Danes, and founded the archbishopric of _Magdeburg_, with subordinate sees in the valleys of the Elbe and the Oder. These achievements gave Otto great renown in Western Europe. The kings sent amba.s.sadors to him, and presents came from the sovereigns at Constantinople and Cordova.

OTTO I. IN ITALY.--Otto now turned his eyes to Italy. After _Arnulf_, the Carlovingian emperor, left Italy (in 896), that country had been left to sixty years of anarchy. The demoralization and disorder of Italy, the profligacy of the Romans and of the pontiffs,-- every thing being then subject to the riotous aristocratic factions, --rendered unity impossible. For a time (926-945) _Hugh of Provence_ was called king: then followed his son _Lothar_ (945-950). The next Italian king, _Berengar II._ of Ivrea (950), who, like his two predecessors, was an offshoot of the Carlovingian house, tried to force _Adelheid_, the beautiful young widow of Lothar, into a marriage with his son Adalbert. She (being then nineteen years of age) escaped with great difficulty from the prison where she was confined, took refuge in the castle of Canossa, and appealed to the great _Otto_, king of the Germans, for help,--to Otto, "that model of knightly virtue which was beginning to show itself after the fierce brutality of the last age." He descended into Italy, married the injured queen, and obliged _Berengar_ to own him as suzerain (951). _Berengar_ proved faithless and rebellious. Once more _Otto_ entered Italy with an overpowering force, and was proclaimed king of the Lombards at _Pavia_. Pope _John XII_. had proposed to him to a.s.sume the imperial office. He was crowned, with his queen, in St. Peter's, in 962. He had engaged to confirm the gifts of previous emperors to the popes. When _John XII._ reversed his steps, allied himself with _Berengar_, and tried to stir up the Greeks, and even the Hungarians, against the emperor, _Otto_ came down from Lombardy, and captured Rome. He caused John to be deposed by a synod for his crimes, and _Leo VIII._ to be appointed in his place (963). But, while Otto was again absent, Leo was driven out by the Romans, and John returned; but, soon after, he died. The Romans then elected _Benedict_ pope. Otto captured Rome once more, deposed him, and restored _Leo_. Benedict was held in custody, and died in Hamburg. On a third journey to Italy, in 966, Otto crushed the factions which had so long degraded Rome and the Church. On this occasion, he negotiated a marriage between _Theophano_, a Greek princess, and his son, also named _Otto_. Thus he acquired the southern extremity of Italy.

THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE.--_Otto_ had taken Charlemagne for his model. The "Holy Roman Empire of the German nation," the great political inst.i.tution of the middle ages, was now established. In theory it was the union of the world-state and the world-church,--an undivided community under Emperor and Pope, its heaven-appointed secular and spiritual heads. As an actual political fact, it was the political union of _Germany_ and _Italy_, in one sovereignty, which was in the hands of the German king. The junction of the two peoples was not without its advantages to both. It was, however, fruitful of evils. The strength of Germany was spent in endless struggles abroad, which stood in the way of the building up of a compact kingdom at home. For Italy it was the rule of foreigners, of which she might feel the need, but to which she was never reconciled.

OTTO II.: OTTO III.: HENRY II.--_Otto II._ (973-983) was highly gifted intellectually, but lacked his father's energy and decision.

_Henry_ the Quarrelsome, duke of Bavaria, revolted, but was put down, and deprived of his duchy. Otto obliged _Lothar_, the West Frankish king, to give up his claim to Lotharingia, which he attempted to seize. Otto, in 980, went to Italy, and, in the effort to conquer Southern Italy from the Greeks and Saracens, barely escaped with his life. This was in 982. He never returned to Germany. While _Otto III._ (983-1002) was a child, his mother, _Theophano_, was regent for a time in Germany, and his grandmother, _Adelheid_, in Italy. One of Otto's tutors was _Gerbert_, an eminent scholar and theologian. The proficiency of the young prince caused him to be styled the "Wonder of the World." He was crowned emperor in Rome in 996, when he was only sixteen years old. He dreamed of making Rome once more the center of the world, for his interest was chiefly in Italy. But his schemes were ended by his early death. At this time and afterward, there was deep agitation manifested in Europe, owing to the general expectation that before long the world would come to an end. On this account pilgrims flocked to Rome. _Henry II._ (1002-1024), as nearest of kin to the Saxon house, was the next emperor. Besides waging war with his own insurgent lieges, he had to carry on a contest for fourteen years with _Bokslav_, king of Poland, who had to give up _Bohemia_ and _Meissen_. He founded the bishopric of _Bamberg_ (1007). From this time the German kings, before their coronation as emperors, took the t.i.tle of _King of the Romans_.

The highest n.o.bles were styled "Princes." The n.o.bles lived in the castles, which were built for strongholds, as the power of the lords grew, and private wars became more common.

II. THE FRANCONIAN OR SALIAN EMPERORS (1024-1125).

CONRAD II.: BURGUNDY: the POLES.--At a great a.s.sembly of dukes, counts, and prelates at _Oppenheim_ on the Rhine, _Conrad_, a Franconian n.o.bleman (_Conrad II._), was elected emperor (1024-1039). He was in the prime of life, and went to work vigorously to repress disorder in his kingdom. He had the support of the cities, which were now increasing in importance. At his coronation in Rome, in 1027, there were two kings present, _Canute_ of England and Denmark, and _Rudolph III._ of Burgundy (or _Arles_, as the kingdom was called which had been formed by _Rudolph II._, by uniting _Burgundy_ with a great part of _Provence_). After the death of _Rudolph_, who had appointed _Conrad_ his successor, the emperor was crowned king of _Arles_, which remained thus attached to Germany. But at a later time the _Romance_, or non-German portions, were absorbed by _France_. The _Duchy_ of Burgundy, a fief of the French king, was not included in the kingdom. The _Poles_ invaded Germany in great force. _Miesko_, their leader, was repelled, and obliged to do homage for his crown, and to give up _Lusatia_, which had been received by _Boleslav_ from _Henry II_. In Italy, _Conrad_ issued an edict making the smaller fiefs there hereditary. He seems to have designed to do away with dukes, and to make the allegiance of all va.s.sals to the king immediate.

HENRY III.: THE TRUCE OF G.o.d.--With _Henry III_. (1039-1056) the imperial power reached its height. He was for a time duke of _Bavaria_, _Swabia_, and _Franconia_, as well as emperor. In _Hungary_ he conquered the enemies of _Peter_ the king, and restored him to the throne, receiving his homage as va.s.sal of the empire. He had great success in putting down private war. In 1043 he proclaimed a general peace in his kingdom. He favored the attempt to bring in the _Truce of G.o.d_. This originated in _Aquitaine_, where the bishops, in 1041, ordered that no private feuds should be prosecuted between the sunset of Wednesday and the sunrise of Monday, the period covered by the most sacred events in the life of Jesus. This "truce," which was afterwards extended to embrace certain other holy seasons and festivals, spread from land to land. It shows the influence of Christianity in those dark and troublous times. Although it was imperfectly carried out, it was most beneficent in its influence, and specially welcome to the cla.s.ses not capable of defending themselves against violence.

SYNOD OF SUTRI.--In 1046 _Henry_ was called into Italy by the well-disposed of all parties, to put an end to the reign of vice and disorder at Rome. He caused the three rival popes to be deposed by a synod at _Sutri_, and a German prelate, _Suidger_, bishop of _Bamberg_, to be appointed under the name of _Clement II_., by whom he was crowned emperor. After Clement died, Henry raised to the Papacy three German popes in succession. While in the full exercise of his great authority, and when he was not quite forty years of age, he died.

HENRY IV.: HIS CONTESTS IN GERMANY.--_Henry IV_. (1056-1106), at his father's death, was but six years old. He had been crowned king at the age of four. _Agnes_ of Poitou, his mother, the regent, had no ability to curb the princes, who were now released from restraint, and eager for independence. By a bold stratagem, an ambitious prelate, _Hanno_, archbishop of Cologne, carried off the young king, and a.s.sumed the guardianship over him. He had a rival in the person of _Adalbert_, archbishop of Bremen, whom Henry liked best, as being more indulgent and complaisant, and who at length became his chosen guide. But in 1066 the princes caused _Adalbert_ to be banished from court. They obliged _Henry_ to marry _Bertha_, the daughter of the margrave of Turin, to whom he had been betrothed by his father. The union was repugnant to him, and he sought a divorce; although her patience eventually won the victory, and she became a cherished wife. _Henry_, arrived at man's estate, was involved in a contest with three of the great dukes. It was evident that he meant to tread in the footsteps of his father, and to reduce the princes to submission. Hostility arose, especially between the young king and the _Saxons_, who did not relish the transfer of the imperial office to the _Franconian_ line. The pa.s.sionate and wilful disposition of _Henry_, and his sensual propensities, were his worst enemies. The strongholds which he erected among the _Saxons_, in themselves a menace, were made haunts of his boon companions and comrades in the chase. The extortion and depredations to which the Saxons were a prey provoked a great insurrection, which at first prevailed; but the excesses of the elated insurgents--as seen, for example, in the plundering and burning of churches--caused a reaction. Henry suppressed the revolt, and dealt with the Saxons with the utmost harshness, treating their dukedom as conquered territory. The Saxon chiefs were now in durance: his enemies on every side had willingly yielded, or were prostrate. The hour seemed to have come for Henry to exercise that sovereignty as Roman emperor over Church and State which his father had wielded; but he found himself confronted by a new and powerful antagonist in the celebrated Pope Hilde-brand, or _Gregory VII_. (1073-1085).

HILDEBRAND: INVESt.i.tURES.--The state of affairs in the Roman Church had called into existence a party of reform, the life and soul of which was _Hildebrand_. He was the son of a carpenter of _Soano_, a small town in Tuscany, and was born in 1018. He was educated in a monastery in Rome, and spent some time in France, in the great monastery of _Cluny_. He became the influential adviser of the popes who immediately preceded him. The great aim of Hildebrand and of his supporters--one of the most prominent of whom was the zealous _Peter Damiani_, bishop of Ostia--was to abolish _simony_ and the _marriage of priests_. By _simony_ was meant the purchase and sale of benefices, which had come to prevail in the different countries. The old church laws requiring _celibacy_ had been disregarded, and great numbers of the inferior clergy were living with their wives. In Hildebrand's view, there could be no purity and no just discipline in the Church without a strict enforcement of the neglected rule. The priests must put away their wives. Connected with these reforms was the broader design of wholly emanc.i.p.ating the Church from the control of the secular power, and of subordinating the State to the Church. For this end there must be an abolition of _invest.i.ture_ by lay hands. This demand it was that kindled a prolonged and terrible controversy between the emperors and the popes. The great ecclesiastics had temporal estates and a temporal jurisdiction, which placed them in a feudal relation, and made them powerful subjects. It was the custom of the kings to invest them with these temporalities by giving to them the ring and the staff. This enabled the kings to keep out of the benefices persons not acceptable to them, who might be elected by the clergy. On the other hand, it was complained that this custom put the bishops and other high ecclesiastics into a relation of dependence on the lay authority; and, moreover, that, the _ring_ and _staff_ being badges of a spiritual function, it was sacrilegious for a layman to bestow them.

CONTEST OF HILDEBRAND AND HENRY IV.--In the period of lawlessness at Rome, Hildebrand had welcomed the intervention of _Henry III._, and even of _Henry IV._, at the beginning of his reign. But this he regarded as only a provisional remedy made necessary by a desperate disorder. On acceding to the Papacy, he began to put in force his leading ideas. The attempt to abolish the marriage of priests was resisted, and stirred up great commotion in all the countries. The legates of the Pope set themselves to stem the tide of opposition by inveighing, in addresses to the common people, against the married clergy, as unfit to minister at the altar. By this means, a popular party in favor of the reform was created. In 1075, in a synod at _Rome_, Hildebrand p.r.o.nounced the ban against five councilors of _Henry IV._ for simony. At the same time he threatened _Philip_ of France with a similar penalty. He forbade princes to invest with any spiritual office. To oaths of allegiance he did not object, but to any invest.i.ture of a spiritual kind. Gregory selected _Henry IV._ as the antagonist with whom to fight out the battle. Henry's ecclesiastical appointments were not simoniacal in fact, although they violated the papal decrees against simony. His real offense was his determination to make the appointments himself.

Moreover, in 1075, he ventured to name Germans to the sees of Ferno and Spoleto. Unfortunately he was weakened by the disaffection of the German princes, and, most of all, of the _Saxons_. The fire of rebellion in Saxony had not been quenched: it was still smouldering. _Gregory_ summoned _Henry_ to Rome to answer to the charges made against him. In three German synods held in 1076, the incensed emperor caused empty accusations to be brought against the Pope, and a declaration to be pa.s.sed deposing him. He sent to the pontiff a letter filled with denunciation, and addressed "to the false monk, Hildebrand." Gregory issued decrees excommunicating _Henry_, deposing him, and declaring his subjects free from their obligation of allegiance. It was the received doctrine, that a heretic or a heathen could not reign over Christian people. The discontented German princes took sides with Gregory. In an a.s.sembly at _Tribur_ in 1076, they invited the Pope to come to _Augsburg_, and to judge in the case of _Henry_: he was to live as a private man; and, if he remained excommunicate for a year, he was to cease to be king altogether.

HUMILIATION OF HENRY IV.--_Henry_ was now as anxious for reconciliation with the Pope as before he had been bold in his defiance. In the midst of winter, with his wife and child and a few attendants, he crossed the Mt. Cenis pa.s.s, undergoing extreme difficulty and hardship, and presented himself as a penitent before Gregory, who had arrived, on his way to _Augsburg_, at the strongly fortified castle of _Canossa_. The Pope kept him waiting long, it is said, barefoot and bareheaded in the court-yard of the castle. Finally he was admitted and absolved, but only on the condition that _Gregory_ was to adjust the matters in dispute between the emperor and his subjects.

CONTINUED CONFLICT.--When Henry found that his imperial rights were still withheld, his fiery spirit rebounded from this depth of humiliation. The _Lombards_, with whom Gregory was unpopular, joined him. A majority of the German princes, adhering to the Pope, in 1077 elected _Rudolph_, duke of Swabia, emperor. The Pope took up his cause, and in 1080 once more excommunicated and deposed _Henry_. The emperor proclaimed anew, through synods, the Pope's deposition, and things were back in the former state. The emperor's party appointed a counter-pope, _Guibert_, archbishop of Ravenna, under the name of _Clement III_. _Rudolph_ was killed in battle (1080). _Henry's_ power now vastly increased. He invaded Italy (1081), and laid waste the territory of _Matilda_, countess of _Tuscany_, a fast friend of Gregory. In 1084 he captured Rome. The Pope had found a defender in _Robert Guiscard_, the Norman duke of Lower Italy, whom he had excommunicated, but whom (in 1080) he forgave, and took into his service. _Robert_ released Gregory, who had been besieged in the Castle of St. Angelo. _Hildebrand_ died at Salerno, May 25, 1085. When near his end he uttered the words which are inscribed on his tomb: "I have loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore do I die in exile."

Of the rect.i.tude of his intentions, there is no room for doubt, whatever view is taken of the expediency of his measures. He united with an unbending will the power of accommodating himself to circ.u.mstances, as is witnessed in his treatment of _Robert Guiscard_, and in his forbearance towards _William the Conqueror_, king of England, with whom he did not wish to break.

Of this great pontiff, Sir James Stephen says: "He found the Papacy dependent on the empire: he sustained it by alliances almost commensurate with the Italian peninsula. He found the Papacy electoral by the Roman people and clergy: he left it electoral by a college of papal nomination. He found the emperor the virtual patron of the holy see: he wrested that power from his hands. He found the secular clergy the allies and dependants of the secular power: he converted them into the inalienable auxiliaries of his own. He found the higher ecclesiastics in servitude to the temporal sovereigns: he delivered them from that yoke to subjugate them to the Roman tiara. He found the patronage of the Church the mere desecrated spoil and merchandise of princes: he reduced it within the dominion of the supreme pontiff. He is celebrated as the reformer of the impure and profane abuses of his age: he is more justly ent.i.tled to the praise of having left the impress of his own gigantic character on the history of all the ages which have succeeded him."

LAST DAYS OF HENRY IV.--In 1085 Henry IV. returned to Germany, having been crowned emperor by his Pope, _Clement III_. The _Saxons_ were tired of strife; and, on the a.s.surance that their ancient privileges should be restored, they were pacified. _Hermann_ of Luxemburg, whom they had recognized as their king, had resigned the crown (1088). The last days of _Henry_ were clouded by the rebellion of his sons, first of _Conrad_ (1093), and then of _Henry_ (1104), who was supported by the Pope, _Paschal II_. The emperor was taken prisoner, and obliged to sign his own abdication at _Ingelheim_ in 1105. The duke of Lotharingia and others came to his support, and a civil war was threatened; but _Henry_ died at _Luttich_ in 1106. His body was placed in a stone coffin, where it lay in an unconsecrated chapel, at _Spires_, until the removal of the excommunication (1111).

CONCORDAT OF WORMS.--_Henry V_. (1106-1125) was not in the least disposed to yield up the right of invest.i.ture. Hence he was soon engaged in a controversy with _Paschal II_. Henry went to Rome with an army in 1110, and obliged the Pope to crown him emperor, and to concede to him the right in question. When he went back to Germany, the Pope revoked the concession, and excommunicated him. The German princes, as might be expected, sided with the pontiff. The conflict in Germany went on. The emperor's authority, which was established in the South by means of his powerful supporters, was not secured in the North; but, during the last three years of his life, he was at peace with the Church. By the _Concordat of Worms_ in 1122, it was agreed that invest.i.ture should take place in the presence of the emperor or of his deputies; that the emperor should _first_ invest with the scepter, and then consecration should take place by the Church, with the bestowal of the _ring_ and the _staff_. All holders of secular benefices were to perform feudal obligations.

LOTHAR OF SAXONY.--The princes over whom Henry V. had exercised a severe control opposed the elevation of _Frederick_ of Hohenstaufen, the son of his sister _Agnes_. At a brilliant a.s.sembly at _Mentz_, _Lothar_ of Saxony was chosen emperor (1125-1137). He allowed all the Pope's claims, and was crowned at Rome by Innocent II., accepting the allodial possessions of _Matilda_ of Tuscany, as a fief from the pontiff. He carried on a war with the Hohenstaufen princes, _Frederick_ of Swabia, and his brother _Conrad_, who finally yielded. _Lothar_ was helped in the conflict by _Henry the Proud_, the duke of Bavaria, who also became duke of Saxony. Germany under _Lothar_ extended its influence in the north and east.

CULTURE IN THE ELEVENTH CENTURY.--The tenth century, owing to causes which have been explained, was a dark age. In the eleventh century circ.u.mstances were more favorable for culture. Under the Saxon emperors, intercourse was renewed with the Greek Empire. There was some intercourse with the Arabs in Spain, among whom several of the sciences were cultivated, especially mathematics, astronomy, and medicine (p. 232). The study of the Roman law was revived in the Lombard cities, and this had a disciplinary value. The restoration of order in the Church, after the synod of _Sutri_ (1046), had likewise a wholesome influence in respect to culture. There were several schools of high repute in France, especially those at _Rheims, Chartres, Tours,_ and in the monastery of _Bec_, in Normandy, where _Lanfranc_, an Italian by birth, a man of wisdom and piety, was the abbot.

CHAPTER II. THE CHURCH AND THE EMPIRE: PREDOMINANCE OF THE CHURCH: TO THE END OF THE CRUSADES, A.D. 1270.

THE TWO RELIGIONS.--The Crusades were a new chapter in the long warfare of Christendom with Mohammedanism. "In the Middle Ages, there were two worlds utterly distinct,--that of the Gospel and that of the Koran." In Europe, with the exception of Spain, the Gospel had sway; from the Pyrenees to the mouths of the Ganges, the Koran. The border contests between the two hostile parties on the eastern and western frontiers of Christendom were now to give place to conflict on a larger scale during centuries of invasion and war.

STATE OF THE GREEK EMPIRE.--The Greek Christian Empire lay between the Christian peoples of the West and the dominion of the Arabs. That empire lived on, a spiritless body. After _Justinian_, there is an endless recurrence of wars with the Arabs, and with the barbarians on the North, and of theological disputes, either within the empire itself, or with the Church of the West. The Greeks complained that a phrase teaching the procession of the Spirit from the Son had been added in the West to the Nicene Creed. The Latins complained of the use of leavened bread in the sacrament, of the marriage of priests, and of some other Greek peculiarities. The separation of the two churches was consummated when, in 1054, the legate of the Pope laid on the altar of _St. Sophia_, at Constantinople, an anathema against "the seven mortal heresies" of the Greeks.