besieged Sens, and plundered Burgundy, while an assembly of the States held at Mentz deposed the unworthy Charles, and conferred the crown on the more deserving Eudes who, during a reign of ten years, manfully withstood the Normans, [88898]. A great part of the states of France, however, refused his title to the crown, and gave their allegiance to Charles, surnamed the Simple, 898-923.

5. Rolla, the Norman, in 912, compelled Charles to yield him a large portion of the territory of Neustria, and to give him his daughter in marriage. This distinguished warrior was worthy of being the founder of a state, and the new kingdom which he founded was called Normandy, of which Rouen was the capital: it became happy and flourished under his laws. He embraced the Christian religion, conquered the ferocity of his people, and made them apply to agriculture, instead of piracy, and guarded his kingdom from any further invasion. It is the race of those warriors whom we shall see presently the conquerors of England and Sicily.

THE NORTHMEN OR NORMANS.

6. [The Scandinavian states, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, until the eighth century, were divided among a number of independent chiefs. Contentions arose among them which led to the establishment of monarchies. Several of the conquered chiefs betook themselves to piracy, and went in quest of new settlements. The success they met with encouraged others of their countrymen to follow their example, until the national enthusiasm was raised to the highest pitch, when towards the end of the eighth century, they covered the sea with their ships, and infested successively all the maritime coasts of Europe, with a firmness and perseverance that surpasses all imagination. They were animated by a sort of religious fanaticism, which inspired them with courage for the most perilous enterprises. This reckless superstition they drew from the doctrines of Odin, who was the god of their armies, the rewarder of valour and intrepidity in war, receiving into his paradise of Valhalla, the brave who fell beneath the sword of the enemy; while, on the other hand, the abode of the wretched, called by them Helvete, was prepared for those who, abandoned to ease and effeminacy, preferred a life of tranquillity to the glory of arms and the perils of warlike adventure.

This doctrine, generally diffused over all the north, inspired the Scandinavian youth with an intrepid and ferocious courage, which made them brave all dangers, and consider the sanguinary death of warriors as the surest path to immortality. Often did it happen, that the sons of kings, even those who were already destined as successors to their father's throne, volunteered as chiefs of pirates and brigands, under the name of Sea kings, solely for the purpose of obtaining a name and signalizing themselves by their maritime exploits.

These piracies of the Normans, which at first were limited to the seas and countries bordering on Scandinavia, soon extended over all the western and southern coasts of Europe. Germany, the kingdoms of Lorraine, France, England, Scotland, Ireland, Spain, the Balearic Isles, Italy, Greece, and the shores of Africa, were exposed in turn to the insults of these barbarians.

In 787 the Northmen began their incursions in England. In 795 they ravaged Ireland, and founded the cities of Waterford, Dublin, and Limerick, which they kept possession of until the reign of Henry II. of England, 1170. The Orkney, the Hebrides, the Shetland, and Feroe Islands, and the isle of

Man, were discovered and peopled by them. Another colony peopled Iceland, where they founded a republic in 874, which preserved its independence until annexed to Norway in 1261. The Russian monarchy was founded by the Normans under Ruric, about 850, whose dynasty lasted till 1598.

Christianity was first preached in Denmark about 826, and in Sweden about 830, which, as it progressed, led to the establishment of civil government, but for centuries it had little effect in repressing the invincible propensity to wars and rapine.]

SECTION IX.

EMPIRE OF THE EAST DURING THE EIGHTH, NINTH, TENTH, AND ELEVENTH CENTURIES-THE TURKS-THE SELJUK DYNASTY.

1. WHILE the new empire of the West [restored by Charlemagne] was thus rapidly tending to dissolution, the empire of Constantinople retained yet a vestige of its ancient grandeur. It had lost its African and Syrian dependencies, with a part of Asia Minor, and was plundered by the Saracens on the eastern frontier, and ravaged on the north and west by the Albari and Bulgarians.* The capital, though splendid and refined, was a constant scene of rebellions and conspiracies; and the imperial family itself exhibited a series of the most horrid crimes and atrocities; one emperor put to death in revenge of murder and incest; another poisoned by his queen; a third assassinated in the bath by his own domestics; a fourth tearing out the eyes of his brothers; the empress Irene, respectable for her talents, but infamous for the murder of her only son, that she might herself enjoy the throne (deposed in 802.) Of such complexion was that series of princes who swayed the sceptre of the East for near 200 years.

2. In the latter part of this period, a most violent controversy was maintained respecting the worship of images, and they were alternately destroyed and replaced according to the humour of the sovereign. The female sex were their most zealous supportThis was not the only subject of division in the Christian church; the doctrines of the († Paulicians then called) Manichees were extremely prevalent, and when proscribed by the court,

ers.

The Albari and Bulgarians were branches of the Sclavi, who came from the countries beyond the Euxine, between the Vistula, Niester, Nieper, &c. The Bulgarians settled in the province between the Danube and Balkan about 640, and defended themselves against the emperors of Constantinople until 1018.

The Paulicians, so called from adhering to the doctrines of St. Paul. They were opposed to images, they disregarded relics, held the orthodox doctrines of the trinity, and that Jesus Christ was the only Mediator. The old heretical name of Manichians (the sect that denied the real sufferings and the real flesh of Christ) was given to them to draw upon them the public odium. When dispersed, some of them settled in Germany, Italy, and France. They were the ancestors of the Albigeois, and those who preserved the simplicity of Christian worship, and protested against the tyranny of Rome until the Reformation.-(See Milner's Ch. Hist.)

the sword was frequently employed to suppress their tenets. [The persecution of the empress Theodora, at last drove them into rebellion, when they allied themselves with the Mohammedans, and endeavoured to establish the independence of the sect. They penetrated into the heart of Asia, and desolated the fairest provinces of the empire, 845-880.] During this period the domestic calamities of the empire were aggravated by the separation of the Greek from the Latin Church, of which we shall treat in the next section.

3. [In the reign of Leo VI., surnamed the Philosopher, the Hungarians, or Turks, a new race of barbarians of Scythian or Tartarian breed, established themselves in ancient Dacia, Mœsia, and Pannonia, the provinces which form the modern kingdom of Hungary, and began to make effective inroads in the territories of the empire about 889. They also extended their ravages and devastations over Germany, Italy, and Gaul. They promoted the reign of anarchy, by forcing the stoutest barons to discipline their vassals and fortify their castles. The origin of walled towns is ascribed to this calamitous period; nor could any distance be secure against them, their cavalry plundering a circuit of fifty miles in a single day, (Gibbon Cap. 55). In 904 the misfortunes of the empire were further increased by an invasion of the Russians from the Palus Mæotis, or Sea of Azoph, under the Norman chief, Oleg (the guardian of Igor), who ravaged the coasts of the Euxine or Black Sea, and appeared before Constantinople; and again, in 941, by a still more numerous expedition, under Igor the son of Ruric, the founder of the Russian monarchy, of which two thirds were destroyed by the use of the Greek fire. After this time, during the decline of the power of the Caliphs, the empire recovered Armenia, Cyprus, Cilicia, and a part of Syria, and the conversion to Christianity of the Russians, Hungarians, Sclavonians, and Scandinavians, freed Europe from their piratical incursions, and spread among them the blessings of civilization. In the eleventh century the Normans conquered all that remained to the Greeks in Italy, and under the renowned Robert Guiscard invaded the empire and signally defeated the emperor Alexius in the battle of Durazzo, 1082; while the Seljuk Turks deprived them of the greater part of Asia Minor; and by their persecution of the Christian pilgrims to Jerusalem gave birth to the romantic notion of expelling these Infidels from the Holy Land.]

THE TURKS.

4. ["Turk is the generic appellation for all Tartar nations, mentioned by the ancients under the name of Scythians. Their original country was in the vast regions situate to the north of Mount Caucasus, and eastward of the Caspian Sea, beyond the Jihon, or Oxus of the ancients, especially in Charasin, Transoxiana, Turkistan, &c.

5. "The Hungarians were one of these tribes, called by themselves Magiars, who had migrated two or three hundred years before towards the Sea of Azoph, and from thence into Dacia about 889, under a chief named Arphad, from whom the ancient sovereigns of Hungary derive their origin. Germany, Italy, and Gaul, agitated by faction and anarchy, as well as the Greek empire, became in turn the scene of their ravages and devastationsGermany, in particular, for a long time felt the effects of their fury. All its provinces in succession were laid waste, and compelled to pay them tribute. Henry I. emperor of Germany, and his son Otho the Great, at length succeeded in arresting their destructive career, and delivered Europe from this yoke which threatened its independence. It was in consequence of the incursions of the Hungarians, Normans, and Saracens, that the kingdoms which sprang from the empire of Charlemagne lost once more the advantages which his political institutions had procured them. Learning, which that prince had encouraged, fell into a state of absolute languor; an end was put both to civil and literary improvement, by the destruction of convents, schools, and libraries; the polity and internal security of the states were destroyed, and commerce reduced to nothing. England was the only exception, which then enjoyed a transient glory under the memorable reign of Alfred the Great.

6. About the eighth century, the Arabs or Saracens had passed the Oxus, and rendered the Turks of Charasin and Transoxiana their tributaries. They instructed them in the religion and laws of Mahomet; and the Caliph Motassem committed the mistake of forming a body-guard of these Turks, in 841, who, like the Roman prætorians, soon arrogated to themselves the whole authority. Motawakel, the son of Motassem, was put to death by these guards in 861, and his son placed on the throne. After this act of treason they disposed of the throne of the Caliphs at pleasure, and their commanders administered the government. Thus in Bagdad, the capital of the Caliphate, there rose a number of new sovereignties or dynasties, the heads of which, under the title of Emir or commander, exercised the supreme power; leaving nothing more to the Caliph than a pre-eminence of dignity, and that rather of a spiritual than a temporal nature. The Caliph Rahdi or Razi, desirous of arresting the progress of usurpation, created a new minister, with the title of Emir-al-Omra, or commander of commanders; on whom he conferred powers more ample than his vizier. This device, which the Caliph employed to reestablish the authority of the Caliphate, only tended to hasten its destruction. The Buyides the most powerful dynasty of the Emirs, who had usurped the kingdom of Persia, arrogated to themselves the dignity of Chief Commander in 945, and seized both the city and the sovereignty of Bagdad. The Caliph, stripped of all temporal power, then became grand Iman, or sovereign pontiff of the Mussulman religion, under the protection of the Buyidian prince, who kept him his prisoner at Bagdad.

7. Such was the situation of the Arabian empire, when a numerous Turkish tribe, from the centre of Turkistan, probably invited by their countrymen, appeared on the stage, overthrew the dynasty of the Buyides; and, after imposing new fetters on the Caliphs, laid the foundation of a powerful empire, known by the name of the Seljukian Turkish. This roving tribe, which took its name from Seljuk, a Mussulman Turk, after having wandered for some time with their flocks in Transoxiana, passed the Jihon to seek pasturage in the province of Chorasan; then, reinforced by those who were previously settled there, they became so powerful that Togal Beg, grandson of Seljuk, had the boldness to cause himself to be proclaimed Sultan in the city of Niesabur, the capital of Chorasan, 1038 He conquered Persia, annihilated the power of the Buyides, then invaded the Greek empire, and overspread with the Turkish horse a frontier of 600 miles, from Tauris to Arzeroum, and the blood of 130,000 Christians was sacrificed to the Arabian prophet, 1050. Togal was succeeded in 1056 by his nephew Alp- Arslan, who gained a signal victory in Armenia over the emperor Romanus Diogenes who was there taken prisoner, 1071. The confusion which this event caused in the

Greek empire was favourable to the Turks, who seized not only what remained to the Greeks in Syria, but also several provinces in Asia Minor, such as Cilicia, Isauria, Pamphilia, Lycia, Pisidia, Lyconia, Cappadocia, Galatia, Pontus, and Bythinia."

8. "The empire of the Seljukides, was in its most flourishing state under Melek Shah, son of Alp-Arslan, who succeeded in 1074. The Caliph Kaim in confirming to this prince the title of Sultan and Chief commander, added also that of Commander of the Faithful, which before that time had only been conferred on the Caliphs. On his death in 1092, the disputes that arose among his sons occasioned a civil war and the partition of the empire. These vast territories were divided among three principal dynasties descended from Seljuk, those of Iran, Kerman, and Roum, or Rome. This latter branch, which ascribes its origin to Soliman, great-grandson of Seljuk, obtained the province of Asia Minor; and is known in the history of the Crusades by the name of the Sultans of Lycaonia, where the Sultans established themselves, after they were driven from Nice in Bythinia. The most powerful of the three dynasties was that of the Seljukides of Iran, whose sway extended over the greater part of Upper Asia. It soon however fell from its grandeur, and its states were divided into a number of petty sovereignties, over whom the Emirs or governors of cities and provinces usurped the supreme power. These divisions prepared the way for the conquests of the Crusaders in Syria and Palestine; and afterwards furnished to the Caliphs of Bagdad the opportunity of shaking off the yoke of the Seljakides, and recovering the sovereignty of Irak-Arabia, or Bagdad, in 1152.” Koch's Revolutions in Europe.]

SECTION X.

THE PROGRESS OF ECCLESIASTICAL POWER, AND THE STATE OF THE CHURCH FROM THE FIFTH TO THE END OF THE ELEVENTH

CENTURY.

1. [Ar the irruption of the northern invaders into the Roman empire, they found the clergy already endowed with extensive possessions, and as their devotion was still less enlightened than that of the subjects of the empire, so was it still more magnificent. They left indeed the worship of their deities in the forests; but they retained the elementary principles of that, and of all barbarous idolatry; a superstitious reverence for the priesthood, a credulity that seemed to invite imposture, and a confidence in the efficacy of gifts to expiate offences. Of this temper, it is undeniable, that the ministers of religion, influenced not so much by personal covetousness, as by zeal for the interest of their order, took advantage. Many of the peculiar and prominent characteristics in the faith and discipline of those ages, appear to have been either introduced, or sedulously promoted for the purposes of sordid fraud. To those purposes conspired the veneration for relics, the worship of images, the idolatry of saints and martyrs, the religious inviolability of sanctuaries, the consecration of cemeteries, but above all, the doctrine of purgatory, and masses for the relief of the dead. A creed thus contrived, operating upon the minds of barbarians, lavish though rapacious,