History of the Latin and Teutonic NationsCAMBR IDGE : DE IGHTON , BELL co .
NEW YORK : TH E MACMILLAN co .
BOMBAY ‘ A . H . WHEELER 8: co .
HISTO RY O F THE
LATIN AND TEUTO NIC
NATIO NS ( 1494 TO I 5 14)
L E O PO LD V O N ~ R A N K E
A REV ISED TRANSLAT ION BY
G . R . DENN IS , B.A . (LOND. )
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
EDWARD ARM STRONG , MA .
S C OLLEGE , OXFORD
AUTH OR O F THE LIFE O F C HAR LES v , ETC .,
LONDON
O
ES AND SONS, L IM ITED LONDON AND BECC LES
EDITO R ’
S NOTE
‘
published in Bohn’
s Standard Library in 1 887 , but the vo lume has been out O f print for several years . The
demand for it, however, still continues, and it has therefore been decided to reissue the book in a revised form.
The translation has been subjected to thorough revision, every sentence having been compared with the
original. Thus it is hoped that errors have been reduced
to a m inimum. A go od many Obvious slips and m isprints in the German original have been corrected, and some
more important hi storical inaccuracies have been po inted out in the Introduction . Considerable trouble has been taken in identifying the names o f places, Ranke
’ s spelling being O ften very misleading ; as a rule, in the spelling o f proper names, modern authori ties, such as the Cambridge M odern History
, have been fo llowed. A new index and!
a full analytical table of contents have also now been added.
The thanks of the editor are due to Mr. R . H . Hobart Cust and Senor M . B . Co ssio for help in so lving various difficulties to Mr. Cuthbert A .Williamso n for similar help, and also for reading all the pro o fs ; and especially to
Mr. Edward Armstrong, who , in addition to contributing the Introduction, has given invaluable aid in clearing up doubtful and difficult po ints .
G o R 0 D o
7 4 72240 77 , 1909
INTRODUCTION
MORE than eighty-four years have passed since Leopo ld von Ranke published, in October 1 8 2 4, his earliest work, The Latin and Teutonic Nations . He was then no t quite twenty-nine ; when he died, on May 2 3 , 1 886, he was in
his nine ty-first year, but was still at work on his unfinished World History.
” Between the first book and the last there is a clo se connection . It may, indeed, be said that his Latin andTeutonic Nations , his histories Of the Popes , o f the Spanish and Ottoman Empires, o f the R eformation , o f the Wars of R eligion in France, o f the Seventeenth Century in England , and o ther works , were all exploratory
voyages for the disco very o f the world, which was from early years his goal. “You know,
” he wro te in 1 8 2 6,
“my O ld aim
,
would be my greatest fortune.
” It is in thi s sense that Lord Acton has called him the mo st prompt and fortunate o f European pathfinders. Thus
, a quite peculiar in terest
is inherent in the first essay o f the great historian ’s ceaseless
historical activity , an essay which decided , or rather indi
cated, the direction which his in tellect was to take.
A revised translation o f a j uven ile work pub lished not
far from a century ago is a lo t which has fallen to few
modern historians. As such has been Ranke’s fortune, it may be instructive to form some estimate of the causes . These must be sought in the qualities o f the ”writer, in the
x INTRODUCTION
cho ice o f his subject, and in some degree in the Changing fashions of historical reading. The two former causes will receive consideration here ; pub lication can alone test the latter.
Ranke did not po ssess the high literary distinction o f a
Gibbon or a Froude . In po int of style he can scarcely compare with Gregorovius, who se Teutonism was modified by Italian influence
, as was that o f Heine by French.
Nevertheless there is a certain graceful simplicity which few German historians can claim, and a conscien tious s triving after clearness, not only Of thought but of expres sion . Ranke, from the first
, was no t content to write for
the learned few ; he exacted no special knowledge, bu t appealed to the intelligent reading pub lic. The existence o f such a public in England explains the early appreciation which his works found here. H e himself was not satisfied with his initial measure o f success in respect o f style and
lucidity. H e wro te to his bro ther that his “Latin and
Teutonic Nations ”
was a hard b o ok, but not, he hoped , obscure. Yet when Raumer praised its matter but Criticized its language and form, he confessed that the criticism was jus t
, and elsewhere he writes o f the obscurities
and unevennesses o f his own work. In the full sunshine o f
his fame the prayer o f Ranke was still for light— forclearness — fo r in clearness lies the truth .
Naturally enough, this deliberate simpl icity, this absence o f grandio se periods
, dissatisfied some o f the con temporaries
o f his earl ier works . Itwas a pompous age, and the amb ling paces o f Ranke ’s narrative fell short o f its ideal o f a high flying Pegasus . The very so ftness and sweetness o f his
style drew merriment from Heine , who compared it to
well-co oked mutton with plenty o f carro ts . If Ranke ’ s s tyle was as transparent as water, it was said, it was also as tasteless. This characteristic undoubtedly increases the
INTRODUCTION
natural in the German , if faithfully rendered into English,
gives at times the impression of affectation .
Apart from his lucidity, the artistic element in Ranke, which is chiefly to be no ticed, is his power o f rapid por traiture. H e rarely attempts an elaborate picture , and he is no t always successful when he does . But the quick and true line-drawing enab les the reader to seize the essential features o f his characters without any interruption Of the narrative .
This art is less no ticeable in ‘f The Latin and Teutonic Nations than , for instance , in
“The History o f the Popes ,
”
but an exception maybe found in his portrai t Of the Emperor Maximilian , though this is, indeed, somewhat more detailed than is his wont. Ranke probab ly never aimed at being a
co lourist his natural gift was that o f an artist in black and
white, or at mo st in tinted line . Nevertheless, when he takes up the palette , he shows a fine and del icate sense for
atmo sphere and texture, the resul t less o f technical skill than o f imaginative indwelling in his subject.
Literary merit alone could no t have raised Ranke to his seat among the Immortals. The wings which bore him upward were an almo st religious zeal for history, humanity, impartiality
, and thought. H is enemies called him a bo ok maker and a fraud, but in truth history was for Ranke
a religion ; it was the manifestation of God’s work upon mankind . In 1 8 2 5 he to ld his bro ther, after his first success
, that he meant to spend his who le l ife in the fear of
God and in history , and his intention never faltered . Yet in
this religion there was l ittle that was abstract o r doctrinal ; it was eminently human . Personality was what Ranke loved to study ; the personality o f individuals, and then the personality o f nations. Only through these could he attain to the personality of mankind at large. Abstract hi story had little charm forhim ; he would have no thing to do with
xii INTRODUCTION
types . “One must enj oy an individual, ” he wro te
, in
all his aspects , just as one enjoys flowers without thought o f
the species to which they are to be referred. H is very art o f portraiture was probably unconscious, and is scarcely to be ascribed to style ; it was the necessary outcome o f his
insight. History was for him a Muse who l ived and breathed and mo ved ; thus it is that his bo oks are instinct with her life.
Impartiality must have been all the more difficult for an historian who felt so keenly as did Ranke . Yet when he describes such momentous conflicts as the French Wars o f R eligion or the English Great R ebellion , he is no t a
partisan. Even in his “History o f the R eformation , ”
.
nineteenth century it was well-nigh an impo ssib ility, especially if he were
in State pay. Ranke , though born a Saxon, became a
loyal subject o f the Ho henzo llern ; he enjoyed the intimate confidence o f his Emperor and O f B ismarck, yet he
canno t be fairly classed with the pro fessional champions o f Prussian po licy ; be preserved to the end the splendid iso lation of his intellect. “H e decided, wro te Lord Acton,
“ to repress the poet, the patrio t, the religious or
po litical partisan , to sustain no cause, to banish himself
from his bo oks, to write no thing that could gratify his own
feelings , o r disclo se his own private convictions. ”
The range o f knowledge and interest enjoyed by Ranke is now becoming rare . Modern research has the defects o f its qualities it is almo st necessarily m icro scopic, and every new mass o f materials that is unearthed must make it more so . The sphere o f the more thorough modern historian is always narrowing, whereas that of Ranke was
INTRODUCTION xiii
ever widening. H e was by nature what he was still striv
ing to be to the day of his death, a universal historian . H e
early had the impudence to criticize the antiquarianism
o f Niebuhr he go od-humouredly laughed at tho se who
took the more troub le in proportion to the insignificance
o f their subject. As a teacher he may be said to have
belonged to the Pre-Seminarist schoo l . H e had much belief in the educational power of lectures co vering a long period of history, and though he had a weak and indistinct utterance he never yielded to the temptation o f preferring
the laboratory to the chair. Pupils were made to work out their subject for them selves . H is method seems greatly to have resemb led that o f the Oxford o r Cambridge tutor ; pupils brought their youthful essays on somewhat general
topics , and the Pro fessor criticized as they read, or discussed the subj ect afterwards to the accompaniment o f sausages and beer. R esearch for its own sake was actually dis
couraged itmust be the means, and no t the end. Buildings, he would say, must always have sure foundations, but the highest aim of the student should no t be the construction of cellarvaults. In Ranke ’s own practice archivial research was the last rather than the first stage . H e thoroughly mastered his subject, and learned what to lo ok for, he
then resorted to archives for confirmation or illustration .
Thus he appeared to know his way about co llections before he had ever seen them. This was the despair Of custodians who had to ply him wi th bundle on bundle of do cuments, and complained that he read with his hand, j ust as a
recent Oxford pro fessor was accused of j udging books and examination papers by smell rather than by sight.
It was natural that Ranke’s work should from time to time be depreciated by the growing schoo l o f archivist and researcher, or by tho se who worked on o lder methods . Leo Gervinus, Bergenroth, and Gindely all made him the
INTRODUCTION
butt of fierce attacks . R esearchers complained that he neglected the mo st weighty s tores of knowledge for the more showy, that he merely skimmed the documents which he pro fessed to study
, and peppered his pages with quo ta
tions, to give a show of erudition . One professor refused to place his books on the shelves o f the University l ibrary ano ther pronounced that no thing was to be learnt from his Reformation .
” Doubtless in some Of the strictures there
was an element o f truth. Ranke ’s researche s were indeed considerable, but they were necessarily not so clo se and
m inute as tho se O f workers who confined their s tudies to the history o f a score o f years . It is well to remember
that so sound a researcher as Arneth declared before a
Congress o f historians that Ranke alone among writers o f pro se had furnished a masterpiece to every nation— to
Germany, that is, and France, to England, Italy, and Spain , to the Ottoman Empire
, even to Servia. Suffi cient allow ance was no t made for his previous preparation, nor yet for the power of speed
, which is a distinguishing mark
o f genius in archivial research as in all else . At any rate, Ranke had the go od fortune to outlive mo st o f his critics and their criticism . That he formed such pupils as
Giesebrecht, Waitz, Sybel, Lorenz, and our own Lord Acton
, is a pro o f of the educational value o f his me thods .
Lord Acton dwells upon this side o f Ranke ’
s work . H e
regards a prize essay on Henry I, set in 1 834, and in
which Waitz beat Giesebrecht, as the foundation of what has been for so long incomparably the first schoo l o f
history in the world, no t for ideas or eloquence , but for so lid and methodical work.
“ Ranke has not o nly written,
”
he elsewhere says, “ a larger number o f mo stly
go od books than any o ther man that ever l ived, but has
taken pains from the first to explain how the thing is
done.
INTRODUCTION xv
to be critical, to be co lourless , to be new. We meet him at every step. There are stronger bo oks than any one
o f his, and some may have surpassed him in po litical, religio us, philo sophic insight, in vividness o f the creative imagination , in originality, elevation, and depth of thought, but by the extent o f important work well executed, by his influence on able men , and by the amount o f knowledge which mankind received and employs with the stamp o f his
mind upon it, he stands unrivalled .
” Any one who has
had any experience o f a scho o l of history will realize how well-nigh impo ssib le it is to be at once a pro lific wri ter and a fruitful teacher. Yet this was Ranke’s feat.
The strength of Ranke consisted, perhaps, above all,
in his power of thought. Whenever he wro te he tho ught. This is by no means a platitude. It is po ssible to write a very to lerable and useful history without any thought at all . History is frequently a
_ mere matter o f repetition
not of verbal iteration, but o f idea and arrangement. Want of thought is, in fact, the danger to which the narrative , and especially the universal historian , is expo sed. Ranke escaped this owing to his insight, his vitality, his power o f co-ordination , his strategic mastery o f his facts . A very appreciative critic, Dr. A . Guilland, has said that Ranke was intelligent rather than original . It is difficult now to j udge equitably of the originality o f an historian who wro te
more than three-quarters O f a century ago , because many of
the thoughts and methods which were then o riginal have
become commonplace . The general line s O f any given period have from much reading and much writing become
fairly fixed, and the historian canno t stray far from them
without becoming b izarre or paradoxical . But originality can always find its vent in the treatment o f de tail and
illustration , and of this art Ranke gave convincing pro o f from his very earliest book .
xvi INTRODUCTION
This earliest book has a Special interest for several
reasons . It was accompanied by a subsidiary vo lume, which has not been translated
, containing an elaborate
critique of the authorities upon whom Ranke had mainly to rely. Their importance was at once recognized, and,
what was better still , they provoked discussion as to
the originality Of his method.
“A new art O f employing authorities ,
” wro te Lord Acton , came in with Ranke in
The result was the author’s promo tion from a
scho o l at Frankfurt on the Oder to the po st o f Extra
ordinary Pro fesso r in the University o f Berlin . This was
the making of Ranke ’s career he could now bo th learn and teach in one o f the wo rld s chief intellectual capitals . The provincial scho o lmaster was to become, in DOllinger
’ s
ae. Lo oking backwards from
the clo se o f this long career the reader will find that “The
Latin and Teutonic Nations con tains the pro toplasm from
which Ranke’s his torical principles were gradually evo lved, and in particular the b lending of wide philo sophical con
ceptions wi th illustrative detail. “What a weal th
,
” writes
Lorenz, O f ideas fermenting and in part Obscure, set forth in a form which
, while it makes reading difficult, never
theless enchains the fancy.
” Ranke in after years had
l ittle parental affection fo r his firstbo rn, and wished first
to exclude it from the edit ion o f his co llected works, and then to give it a new fo rm . Lorenz himself saved it for po steri ty by insisting that he would spo il one o f his mo st original and instructive contributions to histo ry.
Ranke cho se a magnificent subj ect, and this he himself admitted to the end. Until the clo se of the eighteenth century it would be hard to find two decades so rich in interest and importance as tho se who se h is tory he tells . That this is now a commonplace is due mainly to the
influence o f this very book. It is true that the author
INTRODUCTION xvii
owes something to accident, for his scheme comprised a
‘
clusive
no hal t could have been po ssible unti l the year 1 5 5 9 .
Even as it is, the date with which he clo ses is no t, as will be seen, a scientific finale . The Preface sets forth that the author’ s intention is to confine himself in the main to the
interaction o f tho se nations of Latin and Teutonic origin ,
who se history is the kernel Of all modern history. Internal or constitutional events he would only treat in so far as
they were necessary to the understanding o f external enter prises . For example , the growth o f abso lutism in Spain was a necessary condition of the success o f the Spanish Crown in I taly the streng th orweakness o f Maximilian at his several Die ts is reflected in the flux or reflux o f his international influence . The common movements o f a certain group o f
European nations is ’
therefore the subject o f this vo lume.
To prove how o ld the idea of this unity o f European nations is, the Introduction Opens with the dream of a
Visigo thic kingdom fusing the Germanic tribes wi th the o ld
R oman world. At its clo se Ranke calls the three general movements o f these nations— that is, the migrations, the crusades , and the co lonization— the three deep breaths . It
would almo st seem as if be regarded the move o f theWestern powers upon Italy at the turn Of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries as a fourth deep breath . In a measure this do e s partake o f the character o f the o ther three . The southernly or easternly march of Germans , French, Spaniards, and
particularly Swiss, was almo st a migration . Then, again , to more than one m ind I taly was the s tepping-stone for a
crusade against the infidel the threatened French advance from Naples upon Constantinople was to be the rival or the
complement o f the conquest o f Granada. Charles VI I I
xviii INTRODUCTION
was too weak of purpo se to abandon the pleasures o f
Naples for the sterner task o f a crusade, but there is no
reason to rate his high-flown expressions as mere bombast. And, finally, the co lonizing enterprises o f the European nations , especially tho se o f the Portuguese , directly affected the fortunes of the Italian wars . H ad the source of
her commerce with the East not been tapped by Portugal , Venice m ight have made a better fight with Europe.
The fourth great breath, in fact, began to be drawn in before the third was qui te exhausted.
’
s invasion in 1494 was rather the o ccasion than the cause for the enterprise o f the o ther nations. These were prompted by no mere jealousy o f
France , or by a desire to preserve the balance o f power. Maximilian had already begun his intrigues with M ilan it
was always certain that as so on as an Emperor was strong enough, he would revive his imperial pretensions. It was
unlikely that the legi timate l ine o f Aragon, which now
wielded the forces of Castile , and which already po ssessed the ports of Sicily, would long acquiesce in its exclusion from Naples by the bastard branch. Julius II, as Cardinal , had long ago brought down the Swiss hordes, all to o
willing, upon the fat Lombard plains ; it was no mere raid that they now intended, but substantial o ccupation.
Upon Charles VIII ’
s apparently futile expedition fo llowed the partition wars, which form the bulk o f the
present vo lume . Lo uis XII doubted if he could realize
the Orleanist claims on M ilan without the co-operation of
Venice , the mo st subtle antagonist of Charles VI I I . Hence
aro se the M ilanese partition war. The French king was then certain that the pretensions o f his Crown to Naples were valueless unles s he could offer a quid pro quo to
Spain ; the outcome was the Neapo litan parti tion war.
xx INTRODUCTION
is learnt o f the domestic peculiarities of Wurttemberg, a second-rate German state, which is in the process o f con
version from a county into a duchy. At first sight this appears to be an o tio se, if no t inartistic, detail, but all o f a sudden it is made—to account for Maximilian’s triumphant appearance before the Die t of Freiburg , and that leads to
his enhanced reputation with the European powers. The
,
their pacification led to Ludovico Moro ’s return , while an
internal Swiss squabb le determined the fate o f Lombardy .
Ranke touche s but lightly and allusively on American exploration ; but he levies heavy contributions on the
shores of North Africa, on the R ed Sea, and on the Indian Ocean , from M ombasa to Malacca. Here it is that he proves, in his mo st effective manner, the unity o f the
history of the Western nations . The Portuguese, after fighting the Mo ors on the shores Of the Atlantic, found the same enemies at M o zamb ique, and strove with them for
the spice trade o f Calicut . The battles o f Spaniards or Portuguese at Bugia, Tripo li, Diu have active connection with the clash of Latin andTeutonic nations in I taly . Until the French o ccupation o f the hinterland o f Algiers , there was, perhaps, o nly one statesman who comprehended the
essential factors o f the North African problem , and that
was Ximenes. Ranke perpetually brings the Western and Eastern
incidents o f his period into mutual relation . The Vene tians, after Almeida’s victories in 1 5 0 7 , sent metal and
gun-founders and shipwrights to the So ldan , who se fleet was manned in part by Venetian and Dalmatian sailors . “H is victory and his lo ss was their victory and their lo ss . Their maritime life and command Of the seas were alike dependent upon the issue that was to be fought out in
INTRODUCTION xxi
India in the year 1 5 0 8. Again , while February 3 , 1 5 0 9 ,
crushed the trade o f Venice, the battle o f May 1 4 destroyed
hermainland power ; Italy, in the phrase of Ascanio Sforza, ceased to be the inner court Of the world. No t only, indeed, were the profits o f the Eas tern trade withdrawn from Venice, but went to swell the resources o f her
enemies . The profit o f one hundred and seventy-five per cent., which the house of Fugger derived from the despatch
o f three ships to Calicut, enabled them to finance Maximi
lian in his attack on Padua. And as with Portuguese so it
is with Spaniards . In 1 5 1 1 Ximenes had apparently per suaded Ferdinand to undertake in person the conquest of
North Africa. Ferdinand, on his way to Malaga, was stopped by news from R omagna, and thus it was that the
Spanish force, intended for the permanent o ccupation o f
North Africa, from Algiers to Tripo li, was shipped to Italy
to be beaten at Ravenna.
It seems ungrateful to complain that one who has given
so much should have denied a little more ; and yet it
must he confessed that the clo se of this vo lume leaves the subject incomplete. Ranke was, in this case, to o much
influenced by the chrono logy o f reigns . H e made the
death Of Louis XII his dividing line. This was natural , as the
‘personality o f his successor was so striking that it immediately calls up a fresh slide in the magic-lantern .
Then , again, Francis I at once suggests the name o f hi s
rival, Charles V. Nevertheless , the scientific frontier line is no t 1 5 14 , but 1 5 1 6, for it was then that the I talian partition wars Clo sed. Not until 1 5 2 1 did the conflict between Charles V and Francis I for the domination of
Italy begin ; their relations were particularly friendly until at least the clo se o f 1 5 1 6. Ranke himself admits, in the Conclusion added in his second edition , that his work breaks off at the very moment of the crisis. The death
6
of Louis XII left the situation in Italy indeterminate. It
was as impo ssible that France should submit to defeat by
the Swiss Cantons as it was that England should reco gnize Majuba or Magersfontein as a final verdict. It was no t
chivalry, normere love o f fight , but po litical necessity that
drove the French king and nation into the campaign of
Marignano . The vic tory o f Marignano connects i tself with
the defeat o f Novara rather than wi th that o f Pavia. In
1 5 14 Spanish tro ops were still prowling ab out I taly, seeking whom they should devour. While Spaniards
o ccupied Brescia, Imperialists still held Verona, and these were the two chief cities of the Venetian mainland . The
Swiss nominally in the service o f the new Duke of M ilan ,
Maximilian Sforza, were in reality absorb ing Lombardy.
The Holy League still stood in arm s against France and
Venice. Thus if Ranke must needs choo se the end o f a
reign as his conclusion , it should have been that of Ferdi
nand, for the Spanish king had become Of more weight in European po litics than the French. Ferdinand’ s death
occasioned the formation o f the huge aggregate o f Habs burg power
, which was to be the dominating factor in the
'
relations between France , Spain, and the Netherlands on
the mo st amicable terms . The E ternal Peace o f Fre iburg
bound the Swiss to French service down to the Revo lution it determined the curious, curly frontier which s till twis ts in and out on the shores of Lakes Maggiore and Lugano .
Theirdefeat atMarignano had decided that the Swi ss should no t be a substan tial Italian power, a buffer s tate dividing
the Habsburg and the Valo is . Equally s trange and equally permanent was the line drawn on the east be tween Vene tian
and Austrian territory by the treaty .
o f December, 1 5 16 .
INTRODUCTION xxiii
This line gave to Maximilian the uppermo st slice of the
Lago di Garda, and the town of R overedo on the Adige ; instead of accepting the rapid Isonzo as the natural boundary, racial and geographical , between Slav and Italian , it created a highly artificial frontier, which to the present
'
rredenta in the sub-Alpine hills. Finally , the
victory of Marignano determined the Concordat o f Bo logna, which may be said to have guided the relations between Church and State in France until almo st yesterday.
It would be dishonest to pretend, that even within its limits The Latin and Teutonic Nations ” is a perfect book.
Ranke well knew that itwas not. H e was still struggl ing to attain his ideal o f style— simple, smo o th, and clear. The '
vo lume has been criticized on the ground that it was based so lely on printed authorities ; but Ranke replies, in the
Preface to his second edition, that these authorities were very numerous and very good, that o nly on reaching the succeeding period he felt obliged to go behind the printing press. It may be regretted that this second edition was not more thoroughly revised in the light o f later learning.
This appeared in October , 1 874 , to celebrate the jubilee
o f Ranke ’s literary activity . H e revised the pages on a
ho l iday in the country, away from books he Confesse s that the work is e ssentially the same . Yet some of the
small ' mistakes might well have been corrected , and they are probab ly responsible for errors in later text-books . In
1 8 2 4 ‘
Ranke had no t as yet visited Italy, and his geo
graphy is occasionally at fault. H e writes o f Louis XII’s o perations on the Adda as taking place among heights and valleys, whereas the o nly excrescence on the plain was the dyke o f a canalized streamle t . It is elaborately argued
that the French attacked the Venetian vanguard , whereas
xxiv INTRODUCTION
authorities printed by 1 874 prove conclusively that it was the rear. The battle o f Ravenna is a ho tch-po tch Of bright
’
s widow is wrongly represented as giving Verona to Venice to Obtain her alliance against Carrara. Caesar Borgia has enough crimes forwhich to answer, but it was no t men, but bulls that he sho t from horseback , as they charged
acro ss the piaz z a o f St. Peters . A more serious mistake , o ften repeated by o thers , o ccurs in the very second para graph O f the book. Here R ené o f Provence is made to
disinherit his grandson, R ené of Lo rraine, and leave Anjou
to his nephew, the Count o f Maine, who in turn bequeathed
it to the Crown. But Anjou was an apanage which could
not descend in either the female or the co llateral line, and it lapsed to the Crown upon o ld R ené’ s death . But a Pharisee could doub tless have found mo tes in all the eyes o f Argus. In spite O f b lemishes ,
“The Latin and Teutonic Nations will remain an inspiring example o f what can be done by a young writer who will bo th read and think.
Mo st honest historians would be thankful if their last book were as go od as Leopo ld von Ranke’ s first.
E . ARMSTRONG.
INTRODUCTION . By Edward Armstrong
AUTHOR’S INTRODUCTION OUTLINES O F AN E SSAY ON TH E UN ITY LATIN AND TEUTON IC NATIONS AND THE IR DEVELO PMENT
I . The M igration ofNations 2 . The Crusades
3. Colonization
BOOK I
1494 - 150 !
ITALY. — EXPED ITION O F CHARLE S VI II TO
NAPLES
I . FRANCE AND CHARLE S VI I I
Retro spect Success of Lo uis XI Pro vence and Anjou united to the French Crown ( 1480) Revo l t o f the Duk e of Orleans ( 1484) Charles VI I I begins to reign ( 149 1 ) H is Marriage w i th Anne o f Brittany Peace o f Senl is (1493) Pro sperity o f France— The H ammerd’Armes
Amb itio n o f Charles Ludovico il M oro urges him to an Expeditio n against Naples C onst i tutio n o f his Army
H is Character and Appearance
2 . TH E S ITUATION 1N ITALY The H o uses o f Sforza and Aragon Ferdinand I (Ferrante) o fNaples ( 1458—1494)
XXV
CONTENTS
nued
Character of his Son Alfonso R evo lt of the Neapol itan Baro ns (1486) Bona o f Savoy, Duchess o f M ilan ( 1476) Ludovico i l Moro secures the Go vernment o f M ilan ( 1480 ) H is Character and Po l icy Lorenzo de’ Medici in Alliance w ith Naples and Milan H is Friendship with Inno cent VI I I The Italian States .
R upture between Naples and M ilan Death o f Lorenzo de ’ Medici and Inno cent V II I ( 149 2 ) E lection o f AlexanderVI H is A lliance wi th Ludovico Death o f Ferdinand o f Naples (1494) A ccession o fAlfonso II H is Al l iance with A lexanderVI R evo l t o f Giul iano del la R o vere and the Co lonna Alfonso attacks Ludo vico by Land and Sea
PAGE
CHARLE S V I I I IN ITALY Charles sets out for Italy and is welcomed by Ludovico M ilan ( 1494)
Death o f Gian Galeazzo Sforza Ludovico , Duke o f M ilan The Situatio n In Florence Piero de ’ Medici treats with Charles VII I The Medici expelled Pisa freed from Florentine Rule C harles enters Florence Perplexity o f the Pope Charles in R ome H is Successful Advance upon Naples Abdication of A lfo nso in favour o f Ferrantino ( 1495 ) Charles enters Naples
CHAP. I I.— SPAIN ‘
CHARLES V III ( 1495—1496)
1 . UN ITED SPAIN Castile and Aragon Death H enry IV o f Castile and Accession o f Isabella ( 1474
xxviii CONTENTS
1 . MAX IM ILIAN O F AUSTR IA AND TH E EMPIRE— continual
Maximilian ’s Compact with Wurttemberg Betro thal of Philip and Margaret to Juana and Juan o f
Aragon Use o f German Auxil iaries in European Wars
C o nstitut io n o f the Empire The Swab ian League Po s itio n o f the Emperor Struggle o fMaxim il ian with the Estates H e accepts their Propo sals The Cameral Tribunal— The Common Penny
PAGE
2 . MAX IMILIAN ’ S F IRST EXPED ITION TO ITALY. THE
FLORENTINE S AND SAVONAROLA Maxim ilian invited to Italy Unsuccessful A ttack by the Florentines on Pisa Ludovico meets Maximilian at M iinster (July, 1496) Maxim ilian agrees to fight for the League against the French
’
’
Medici attempts to return (April , 1497) Savonaro la excommun icated H is Trzumpfim Craf ts
Franciscan Chal lenge— The O rdeal by F IIe (April, 1498) Death o f Charles V I I I (April 8) Executio n o f Savo naro la (May 2 3)
3 . ExTENSION AND ASCENDENCY O F TH E LEAGUE All iance between Ferdinand and Dom Manuel of Portugal ( 149 7)
H enryVII jo ins the League (1496)
CONTENTS xxix PAGE
EXTENS ION AND ASCENDENCY O F TH E LEAGUE- continued
Perkin Warbeck in Sco tland Peace between England and Scotland ( 1497) War in Ro ussil lo n ( 1496) Revo lutio n in W iirttemberg D iet o f Freiburg (1498)
CHAP. IV. — FALL OF THE HOUSE OF SFORZA-ARAGON
I . LOU I S XII AND VEN ICE AGA INST M ILAN Failure ofMaximil ian ’s A ttack upon France ( 1498) Character o f Lo uis XII Cardinal d’Ambo ise Lo uis divo rces Jeanne and marries Anne o fBrittany ( 1499 ) Ferdinand makes a Treaty wi th Louis ( 1498) Feud between Venice and Ludovico Ludovico ai ds the F lorentines against Pisa The Venetians assist Louis against Milan Po sit io n of Ludovico
2 . SWISS AND SWAB IANS IMPLICATED IN TH E WAR
Maxim ilian supports Ludovi co O utbreak o fWar between the Swiss Confederation and the Swabian Leagu e ( 1498)
A l liance between Lo uis and the Swiss ( 1499 ) Battle O f Schwaderlo ch Battle of Frastenz Maxim ilian arrives on the scene H is Tro ops refuse to fo llow him Battle o fDorneck Desperate Po sit io n o f Ludo vico H is Castles surrender to Trivul zio Treachery of Francesco Sanseverino Fall o f A lessandria Ludovico abandons M ilan (September 1 ) Lo uis In M i lan Peace o f Basel (September 2 2 ) Ludovico and the people o f Uri
Galeazzo Visconti co l lects Tro ops in Switzerland Gue lphs and Ghibe l l ines in M i lan Ludov ico returns to M ilan (February 5 , 1500 ) Nego tiations with the Swiss
xxx CONTENTS PAGE
2 . SWISS AND SWAB IANS IMPLICATED IN THE WAR— continued
Ludo vico at Novara opposed by the French Capture o f Ludovico (April 10 ) Maximil ian at the D iet o f Augsburg Establ ishment o f the Co unci l o f Regency
POPE ALEXANDER VI AND H IS SON AGAINST THE VASSALS O F TH E CHURCH
Situatio n o f the Pope M urder o f the Duke o f Gandia C haracter o f CaesarBo rgia H e visits the Court o f Lo uis XII (O ctober, 1498) French Marriage and A l l iance ( 1499) Caesar attacks Caterina Sforza Fal l o f Imo la (December, 1499 ) Caterina surrenders Fo rli (January, 1500 ) Caesar’s further Co nquests in the R omagna A ssass ination o f the Duke o f Bisegl ia (August, 1500 ) Treaty between France and Spain for the Partitio n o f
N aples (September, 1500 ) The Partit io n sanctio ned by the Pope (April, 150 1) Fal l o f the H o use o f Arago n in Naples War between the Turks and Venice ( 1499 ) Revo lt o f the Moors in Spain
BOOK II
Summary of the Position of the Latin and Teutonic Nations
CHAP. I .
1. THE WAR IN NAPLES AND THE ROMAGNA Disputes between Spaniards and French in.Naples O utbreak o fWar (June, 150 2 ) French Successes Descript ion o f the Frenchand Spanish Leaders Incidents of the War
Gonz alvo at Barletta
mzed
’
’
m ’
They make a Treatywith Caesar (December, 150 2 ) H e se i zes the Leaders and puts them to death Suppressio n o f the O rsini
2 . THE DECIS ION IN NAPLE S Situat ion o f Gonz alvo (February, 150 3) Defeat o f Aubigny at Terrano va (April 2 0 ) Battle o f C erigno la (April 2 7 ) Gonz alvo enters Naples (May 13) Battle of the Garigliano (December 2 9 )
CHANGE IN TH E PAPACY E strangement between the French and the Pope M urder of Trocces (June, 1503 ) Death o f AlexanderVI (August 18) Illness o f CaesarBorgia E lect ion and Death o f Pius III (Sept . 2 2 —Oct. 18) E lect io n o f Julius II (N o vember 1 ) The Venetians invade the Romagna Vac illation o f Caesar H e surrenders his Castles to the Pope (April , 1504) Fate o f Caesar
CHAP . I I .— SPAIN AND AUSTRIA AT VARIANCE
Philip co ncludes an Alliance wi th Loui s (August, 1503) 2 18
They are jo ined byMaximi l ian 2 19
I . MAXIM ILIAN, THROUGH TH E INFLUENCE O F THE FRENCH ALLIANCE , V I CTOR IOUS IN GERMANY
A ssembly of E lectors at Gelnhausen (July, 150 2 ) Oppo sitio n o fElectors ceases after C onclusion o f the French A ll iance
Death o fDuke Georg ofBavaria-Landshut War o f the Landshut Succession ( 1504) Success o f Maximi l ian Diet of Co logne (May,
xxxu CONTENTS
2 . MAXIM ILIAN ’S COMPREHENS IVE SCHEMES . PH ILIP CASTILE
Treaty o f Blo is (September, 1504) Death o f Isabel la o f Castile (No vember, 1504) Ferdinand summons the C ortes H e marries Germaine de Fo ix (O ctober, 150 5 ) Ph ilip in England.
H e arrives in Cast ile Meet ing between Ferdinand and Philip Ferdinand renounces the Regency Maxim i l ian in H ungary Birth o f an H e ir to W ladislav II Betro thal o f Charles and C laude revoked Death of Ph il ip (September 16, 150 6)
FERDINAND , MASTER OF NAPLE S AND CASTILE Ferdinand sai ls fo rNaples (September, 1506) Settlement o f Affairs there Gonz alvo returns to Spain Madness O fQueen Juana A cco unt o f X imenes Ferdinand enters Castile (August , 150 7) Meeting o f Ferdinand and Juana
PAGE
FERDINAND’ S E XTERNAL ENTERPR ISES Capture o f M ers-el-Kebir C o lon i zat io n o f America C o nquest o f O ran ( 150 9 ) Conquests o f Navarra in Africa ( 15 10 ) Defeat of the Spaniards in Gelves
CHAP . III.— VENICE AND JULIUS II
I . VENETIAN COMMERCE , CONQUESTS, AND CONSTITUTION ; ATTACK UPON TH E ROMAGNA Venet ian Commerce Venetian Co nquests The Venetian Co nstitution Venetian Successes in the Romagna
2 . F IRST E X PLO ITS AND DOUBLE INTENTIONS O F JULIUS Julius enters the League o f Blo is (September, 1504) Po sition o f Giovanni Bentivoglio at Bo logna
CONTENTS
2 . FIRST EXPLO ITS OF JULIUS I I— cou tz ’
nued
Jul ius takes the F ield against Bo logna ( 1506) Success o f the Pope R evo lutio n in Geno a Quel led byLouis ( 150 7 )
3 . DISCOVER IE S OF TH E PORTUGUESE- DECAY OF VENETIAN COMMERCE
Extent o f Mo orish Trade Portuguese D isco veries In Africa Expeditio n o f Vasco da Gama to India ( 149 7—8) H o stil ity o f the Zamorin o f Cal icut Defeat o f the Zamorin by Pereira ( 150 3) Expeditio n o fA lme ida ( 150 5 ) Effect o f Po rtuguese Voyages on Venetian Commerce War between Portuguese and M o ors o f India and Egypt
MAX IM ILIAN ’S ATTACK— THE LEAGUE OF CAMBRAY Diet of Co nstance ( 150 7 ) Maxim ilian reso lves to attack Venice H e adopts ti tle o f R oman Emperor E lect ( Feb . 1508) H e advances into Italy and takes Cadore H is sudden Retreat Successes o f the Venet ians underAlviano Campaign o f Charles o f Gelderland on the Lower Rhine Venetians agree to a Truce Wi th Maximil ian The League of Cambray (December 10 , 1508)
FALL OF TH E POWER AND TRADE OF TH E VENETIANS IN 1509
Venice in Danger France declares War on Venice Beginning o f the War (April , 150 9) Battle o f Agnadello (May 14) Venice surrenders her Subject-Towns Portuguese Victories in India destroy Venetian Trade
6 . WAR OF THE VENETIANS TO SAVE THE IR C ITY AND
PART O F THE IR TERR ITORY Maximilian and Lo uis determine to destroy Venice The Venetians recover Padua Maximilian besieges Padua
xxxiv CONTENTS PAGE
6. WAR OF THE VENETIANS— cm /inued
H e raises the Siege and retreats from Italy Further Venetian Successes Rudolf o f Anhal t lays waste the Co untry (15 10 )
ENTERPR ISES O F THE POPE To E FFECT THE LIBERATION O F ITALY Venice released from the Ban (February, 15 10 ) Alfonso o f Ferrara defies the Pope H e Is excommun icated Lo u is abandons his All iance with the Sw iss The Pope co ncl udes an A lliance with them The Papal Army o ccupies M odena and threatens Ferrara Sw iss Tro ops desert the Pope Fai lure o f the Pope
’s A ttack on Genoa Lo uis decides on Waragainst Jul ius The Pope In Danger atBo logna H e Is rescued by Spanish and Venetian Troops H e succeeds In reduc ing M irando la The Papal A ttack on Ferrara fails Matth'
aus Lang endeavours to make Peace The Ben tivogl i reinstated at Bo logna (May, 15 1 1) Cardinal Al ido s i murdered by the Duke o f Urbino Grief O f the Pope Desperate Condi tion of Venice M oral Reflectio n
CHAP. IV . -RISE OF THE AUSTRO-SPANISH HOUSE
TO ALMOST TH E H IGHEST POWER IN EUROPE
I . JULIUS II IN LEAGUE WITH SPAIN Schi smatic Cardinals summo n a C ouncil at Pisa Jul ius summo ns a C o unc il in the Lateran The H o ly League (O ctober, 15 1 1 ) Fact ions amo ng the Sw iss Swiss Co urier drowned in the Lake o f Lugano The Swiss declare War against France They cro ss the St. Go tthard into Italy They are repulsed and ret ire The Venet ians capture Brescia, and o ther C it ies (February, 15 12 )
xxxvi CONTENTS PAGE
6 . STRUGGLE OF THE FRENCH AND SWISS FOR M ILAN Conquests o f the Swiss Massim il iano Sforza instal led as Duke o f M ilan (December 30 , 15 1 2 )
Al l iance between Louis XII and Venice (March 13, 15 13) The French invade the M ilanese Battle of No vara (June 6, 15 13)
GENERAL WAR MOVEMENT Strength o f the Comb inat ion against France H enry VI I I at the Siege o f Térouanne H e IS jo ined by Maximi l ian Battle o f the Spurs (August 17, 15 13) The Swiss invade Burgundy Queen Anne o f France asks H elp of James IVOf Sco tland .
James cro sses the Tweed Battle o f Flodden (September 9 , 15 13 ) La Tremo uille arranges Terms O f Peace with the Swiss H enry VII I at To urnay Cardo na drives back the Venetians Defeat o fAlviano at Creazzo (O ctober 7 , 15 13) Triumph Of the League
8 . FURTHER SCHEMES FOR THE ADVANCEMENT THE
A USTRO -SPAN ISH HOUSE All iance between Louis and Ferdinand General Truce Treat ies O f Marriage
Swiss H o stil ity to France Po s it io n o fMaximilian in the Empire Subjection o f Friesland Conclusion
INDEX
INTRODUCTION
OUTLINES OF AN E SSAY ON THE UN ITY O F THE
LATIN AND TEUTON IC NATIONS , AND
THEIR COMMON DEVELOPMENT
AT the beginning of his success, no t long after the
m igration of nations had commenced, Athaulf, King o f the Visigo ths, conceived the idea O f go thicising the R oman world, and making himself the Caesar o f all ; he would main tain the R oman laws .1 If we understand him aright, he first intended to combine the R omans o f theWest (who , though Sprung o f many and diverse tribe s
, bad, after a union
that had las ted for cen turies , at length become one realm
and one people) in a new unity wi th the Teutonic races. H e afterwards despaired o f being able to effect this but the collective Teutonic nations at last brought it abou t, and in a s till wider sense than he had dreamed Of. It was
not long before Lugdunensian Gaul became no t, it is true , aGo thland, bu t aLugdunensian Germania.
2 Even tually the purple of a Caesar passed to the Teutonic races in the
person o f Charlemagne . At leng th these likewise adopted the R oman law. In this combination six great nations were formed— three in which the Latin element predominated,
O ro sius , VII . 34. Cf. Mascow , Geschichte der Deutschen bis z ur frankischen M onarchie, p . 369 .
2 Sidonius Apo llinaris in Mascow, 480 .
u LATIN A ND TEUTONIC NATIONS
viz . the French, the Spanish, and the Italian and three in which the Teuton ic element was conspicuous, viz . the
German , the English, and the Scandinavian .
E ach Of these six nationalities was again broken up into separate parts ; they never formed one nation
, and they
were almo st always at war among themselves. Wherein , then , is theirunity displayed ? Wherein is it to be perceived ? They are all sprung from the same or a clo sely allied sto ck are alike in manners, and similar in many Of their institu tions their internal histories precisely co incide, and certain great enterprises are common to all. The fo llowing work , which is based upon this conceptio n , would be unintelligible, were no t the latter explained by a short survey Of tho se ex
ternal enterprises which, arising as they do from the same spirit, form a progressive development o f the Latin and
Teu tonic life from the first beginning until now.
These are the migration o f nations, the Crusades, and the colonization of foreign countries.
The m igration Of nations founded the unity of wh ich we speak. The actual event, the movement itself, proceeded from the Germans ; but the Latin countries were no t merely passive. In exchange for the arms and the new public life which they received, they communicated to the victors their religio n and their language . R eccared had
, indeed, to
become a Catho lic before mutual intermarriage between the Visigo ths and the Latin peoples could be legal ly permitted in Spain .
1 But, after this, the race s and their languages became completely b lended . In I taly the communities O f Lombard and Roman extraction, in spite Of their o riginal separation , became so clo sely intertwined that it is almo st impo ssible to distinguish the component elements o f each.
It is clear what great influence the b ishops exercised upon the founding o f France andyet they were at first purely Of
Lex F laVI I R eccaredi Regis, ut tam R omano , etc. , in Len Visi go thorum, i ii . 1 , 1 . H ispan. Illustr. i ii. 88. Also in Mascow and
M ontesquieu, de l ’Esprit dcs Lo is, xxviii. 2 7 .
INTRODUCTION 3
Latin origin . It is not until the year 5 5 6 A.D. that we meet with a Frankish b ishop in Paris.1
Now, although in these nations we find that bo th
elements in a Short time became welded and b lended together, the case was very different with the Anglo -Saxons , the implacable foes Of the Britons, from whom they adopted neitherreligion nor language, aswell aswith the o therTeutOns in their German and Scandinavian homes . Yet even these were no t finally able to resist Latin Chri stianity and a great part of Latin culture . Between bo th divisions o f this conglomeration Of peoples there was formed a clo se com
munity Of kindred b lood , kindred religion , institu tions,
manners, andmodes of thought. They successfully resisted the influence O f foreign races . Among tho se nations which besides them had taken part in the m igration o f peoples, it was chiefly the Arabs, Hungarians, andSlavs who threatened to disturb, if not to des troy them . But the Arabs were averted by the complete incompatib ility o f their religion ; the Hungarians were beaten back within their own borders and the neighbouring Slavs were at last annihilated o r
subjected.
What can knit together individuals or nations into clo ser relationship than a participation in the same destiny, and a common history ? Among the internal and external o ccurrences o f these earlier times
,
po ssessors from time immemorial of a great country, take the field, conquer the Roman empire of theWest, and, more than this, keep what they have got. About the year
5 30 we find them in po ssession O f all the countries ex
tending from the cataracts o f the Danube to the mouth o f the Rhine and acro ss to the Tweed, and all the land from Hallin H alogaland to that Bae tica, 2 from which the
Vandals take their name, and acro ss the sea to where the Atlas range sinks down into the desert. AS long as they were un ited, no one was able to wrest these territories from them ; but their iso lation, and the oppo si tion between Arian and Catho lic doctrines, led first to the destruction O f the
1 Plank , Gesellschaftsverfassung der christlichenKirche, 11. 95 .
[Vandalitia (Andalusia) .— Trs.]
4 LATIN AND TEUTONIC NATIONS
Vandals. The loss that was caused by the fall o f the
Ostrogo thic empire was to a certain extent retrieved by the Lombards when they occupied Italy— not entirely, for never at any time were they complete masters of Italy, to say no thing o f Sicily o r Illyria,
l as the Go ths were — but
it was owing to these Lombards, who first des troyed the
Heruli and Gepidae, but thereupon left their hereditary and their conquered se ttlemen ts to a Sarmatian peOple , 2 that the Danube was lo st almo st up to its sources. A fresh lo ss was the des truction of the Thuringian kingdom. The irruption O f the Slavs far in to the coun try lying to the west o f the E lbe is probably no t unconnected with this . But the greatest danger was threatened by the Arabs . They to ok Spain at a dash invaded France and I taly ; and, had they won a single battle more , the Latin portion at least o f our nations might have been do omed . What could be expected when Franks and Lombards, Franks and Saxons, Angles and Danes lived in deadly enmity Let us not forge t that the founding of the Papacy and the Empire warded off this danger.
If I may be allowed to state my own convictions , the
real power O f the Papacy— that which has really endured was no t established before the seventh century. It was not
until then that the Anglo -Saxons recognized in the Po pe ,
from whom their conversion immediately pro ceeded, their true patriarch , to ok to them a primate O f his appo in tment ; and paid him tribute .
3 Itwas from England , that Boniface
,
‘
swear alleg iance , sincere
devo tion , and assistance to St. Peter and hissuccessors, but the o ther b ishops also swore to remain until death subject to the R oman Church, and to keep the ordinances o f Peter’s successors . H e did yet more. For a hundred years before his day not a Single letter can be found from the Pope o f
’
s incentive, brought them also into subj ection ; and the metropo litan b ishops whom
Manso , Gesch ichte der O stgo then in Ital ien , App. v . 3 2 1. 2 Pau lus D iaconus, de rebus gestis Longobardorum, i i . c . 7 . SchrOckh, Kirchengeschichte, xix. 135 .
INTRODUCTION 5
he instituted received the pallium from R ome.
1 These were the three nations o f which , with the Lombards, Christendom consisted in the West after the Spanish disaster. Charle magne also freed the Pope from the enm i ty o f the
Lombards he made him the Frankish Patrician , SO that
he ceased dating his bulls by the years o f the reigns o f the Greek emperors, and drew him comple tely into the
sphere of the newly founded world . Thus did the Pope become the ecclesiastical head o f the Latin and Teutonic nations. H e became so at the very time when the Arabs became powerful and gained ground ; his new dignity assuaged the enmi ty o f the ho s tile races, and effected a
material reconciliation between them . But they were only ab le to cope with the enemy , when relying on the power Of
the Pipins and the empire o f Charlemagne.
Meri t is due to Charlemagne for having united all the
Latino -Germanic nations o f the Continen t , in SO far as they were Christians, or were becoming so .
— Egbert , moreo ver,
who made the heptarchy o f the Angles a monarchy, was his disciple— for having given them a constitution suited alike for war and peace , and for having taught them to
advance again against their enemies along the Danube, to the east o f the Saale and E lbe
, and acro ss the Pyrenees.
But all had not yet been done . There appeared on o ne
Side , on every frontier, the Hungarians , in irresis tib le
numbers , on horseback, and armed with bows and arrows
and Simultaneously on the o ther, on every coast, the
Normans , bo th Vikings and Askemans, alike daring by sea and land . But at this very time the empire o f Charle magne perished through the mistakes made by his suc cessors, who se nicknames almo st invariab ly record their fo llies, so that the danger was renewed . It may be said that the migration of nations did no t cease before these movements had been repressed. The Hungarians were driven back
, and became Christians and at the same time
the con tiguous Slavonic nations became Christian also .
All o f them long vacillated between the R oman and the
Greek form o f worship before— and thi s was doubtless due to the influence o f the Teutonic emperors- they decided
Plank , vo l. ii . 680 seq.
6 LATIN AND TEUTONIC NATIONS
for the former. It canno t be said that these peoples belong also to the unity o f our nations ; their manners and their constitution have ever severed them from it. At
that time they never exercised any independent influence , they only appear either subservient or antagonistic ; they receive , so to speak , only the ebb O f the tide O f the general movements . But the Normans, of Germanic o rigin , were drawn into the circle of the o ther nations, and es tab l ished themselves in France and England . They re taliated by carrying Germanic life in the e leventh cen tury to Naples and Sicily. Their kindred at home had also mean time become Christians, and, except for an insignificant remnant, completely entered into the Circle to which they naturally belonged .
Here, then , in the middle o f the eleventh century, the movements o f the migration O f nations ended. The future development o f the European languages, an intellectual fruit Of these s tormy centuries, had now been s tarted in al l
its unity and diversity. If we glance at the French form o f oath prescribed at Strassburg, we seem to find therein traces o f the Italian , French , and Spanish dialects all at
o nce. As this po ints to the unity O f the Latin dialects, so do es the fact that they have been recen tly comb ined in a single grammar bear s till greater testimony to the unity o f the Germanic dialects . The foundations o f all modern kingdoms and their constitutions had been laid. Empire and Papacy were held in universal regard ; the former represented the Teuton ic, the latter the Latin principle o f
the great union of nations the one supported the o ther.
After this , the original migratory impulse took a different turn , owing to the fac t that it co incided with a complete devo tion to Christianity. The Crusades may almo s t be regarded as a con t inuat ion o f the m igration o f nations. The same people who had concluded the latter, viz . the
Normans, took, in the same century, the mo s t vigorous part in the first Crusade . Not only were they led by three eminent princes
, namely, R obert Of Normandy, whom the
8 LATIN AND TEUTONIC NATIONS
a Latino-German one . H ad it not been for St. Louis’ ill luck, Egypt would have become a co lony o f France ; and there appeared at this time a sensib le, and certainly mo st instructive bo ok upon the relations between the East and the West
, written with the express intention o f inciting to
renewed operations against Egypt .1 In the year 1 1 5 0
King R oger O f Sicily- known as Jarl R oger the R ich among his O ld countrymen— had po ssession o f the coast of Africa from Tunis to Tripo li , and o ccupied Mahadia.
2
But the mo st importan t and permanen t achievements in the southern world were , without doubt, due to the
Spaniards. Their Campeador, the Cid, lived to see the
Crusades . In the same period they first succeeded in
‘
onso R amon and took the valley o f the Guadiana (Alonso died . under an oak-tree on M ount Muradal, at the ex
treme lim it o f his actual conquests, for all the rest were again lo st) . In the same period also they gained under Alonso the Noble the great battle of Navas de To lo sa, and set foo t on the Guadalquivir.
3 And finally, at that very time
, shortly befo re the first Crusade o f St. Louis, St.
Ferdinand subdued Jaen , Cordova, and Seville, and as
Granada paid him tribute, the who le o f Andalusia also , whilst
, shortly before the second Crusade, Alonso the Sage
subjected Murcia. In these days Portugal was founded and established as a kingdom. The union o f Aragon and
Catalonia, the conquest o f Valencia, and the explo its of
the Conquistador Jayme fall also in to this period .
All this is clo sely connected with the expeditions to the
Ho ly Land. The Archb ishop R ichard O f To ledo , who came to R ome with a ho st o f Crusaders , was sent back again by the Pope, because he and they were more needed at home ; and instead o f leading them against Jerusalem he now led them against Alcala.
‘ We know that it was
Marini Sanuti l iber Secretorum fidel ium Crucis, in Bongars. 2 Raumer, Geschichte der H ohenstaufen, i . 557 . 3 All taken from Roderions To letanus, de rebus H ispaniae. Rodericus, vi. 2 6.
INTRODUCTION 9
chiefly Low Germans, English, and Flemish , who , pro ceeding on a Crusade, conquered his capital for the prince , who first called himself King o f Portugal ;
1 and that seven ty
years later Alfonso II’s mo st brillian t conquest was only effected by the same assistance .
2 In Short , the conques t o f
the peninsula was only achieved by the co -Operation of
kindred races. Out o f the plunder Of Almeria, Alonso R amon gave a Splendid jewel to the Geno ese as a thank o ffering for their services. In the battle o f Navas de To lo sa many thousands from beyond the Pyrenees 3 fought in the army of Alonso the Noble .
Concurren tly with these Operations and progressive ad
vances o f our nations on the coast s o f the M edi terranean and in the Sou th generally, there were o thers being carried on in the North which were prompted by the same spiri t . Sigurd JOrsalafar, whom we have referred to , made it his first business, after his return, to land at Calmar and to
co erce the Smalandic heathen , man by man , to embrace
Christianity. Wi th the same object in View St. Eric led the Swedes against the Finns. H e Shed tears on seeing the battle , but did not stay his hand until he had baptized the Finns in the spring of Lupisala. On the o ccasion o f the second Crusade , on the receipt of a bull from Pope Eugenius I I I
, the Danes, Saxons
, and Westphalians
leagued together to make a common expedition against the neighbouring Slavs, reso lved either to convert them to
Christianity , or else to ex terminate them .
4 No t long after this , Bishop M einhard came wi th traders and artisans from Wisby to E sthonia to preach there . These three under takings led, if no t immediately, at all even ts by degrees, to a brillian t success . On the wes t o f the Oder the Slavs were, by the times of the Crusades, practically exterminated.
German nobil ity , German citizens and peasan t s were the
real s to ck o f the new inhab itan ts o f M ecklenburg, Pomerania, Brandenburg and Silesia. Since that time the
Dodechini Appendix ad Marianum Scotum . Pistor. i . 676.
2 Gotefridi M onachi Annales, 2 84 .
3 Episto la Alfonsi VI I I ad Pontificem de bello , etc. in Continuat. belli sanct i, Base l, 1549 , p . 2 46 .
Anselmi Gemblacensis Abbatis Chronicon. Pistor. i. 965 .
10 LATIN AND TEUTONIC NATIONS
Eastern Pomeranians have always called the Western by the name o f Saxons. 1
In the year 1 2 48, after long struggles, Finland at length became entirely Christian and Swedish .
2 Since that date Swedes have dwelt along the who le coast, and in the strong ho lds there. Proceeding from the unpretentious co lony o f Yxkull (Oesel) , German rule extended o ver all E sthonia, L ivonia, and Courland nay, when the Knights o f the
Sword, who had been es tablished there, despaired o f being able to defend a certain fortress against the Prussians,
3 in
spite Of a great display o f bravery, they were instrumental in bringing to their assistance the Teutonic Knights, who then made the land o f the Letts a German country. A
short time longer, and the j o int po ssessions o f bo th orders extended from Danzig to Narva. Here they met the
Pomeranians, who were now ei ther entirely germanized o r
partial ly so , owing to their subjection to the Emperor and
Empire . Here, on the Gulf O f Finland, they became neigh bours o f the Swedes . The German name embraced the
who le o f the Baltic. To the same circle Of events belong the Operations O f
Henry Plantagenet in Ireland. H e brough t it to pass that thenceforth two natio ns have l ived together in
Ireland— the native Irish, the subjected, and the Anglo Germanic, the dominant. The English , if no t first brought o ver, were certainly establ ished there by him .
4 At that time Venice taught the Dalmatians to speak Italian . This event must also be comprehended in our survey, for it is a new extension o f our nations ; and the Pope likewise ins tigated the attack upon Ireland, because that land would never Obey him . Yet, in order not to depart from the
principle we have laid down , those two undertakings , in the North and the South , must principally be kep t in View,
which sprang from the same tendency, and were
carried out by the same arms, under the same symbo ls , and Often with the assistance of the same men. They
Kanz ow , Pomerania, i . 2 16.
3 SchOning In Sct z er ’s Al lgem . Nord. Geschichte, 474.
3 Dusburg In Script . rer. Pruss. i . 35 (no te to Second Edit ion) . H ume’s H ist. o f England, i . c . ix. p. 2 81.
INTRODUCTION 1 I
Show the unity o f our nations in idea, in action , and in development. But this principle is mo st clearly Visib le in the Crusades
Of the South and the North . This stirring energy, the result o f an in tellectual impulse
, expanding in all direc
tions , found a fitting expression in noble insti tutions and
creations which belong to it, and belong to it ex
clusively. We will dwell on two alone . War may arouse every brutal passion in our nature, bu t it is the province o f
chivalry to save the true man , to so ften force by manners
and the elevating influence o f women , and to refine strength by po inting it to what is divine . Its o rigin , in this sense , is co eval with the formation o f the first two ecclesiastical o rders o f knightho od, and the zeni th o f its b lo om co incide s beyond doubt with the foundation o f the third . After the Crusades it did no t die out, but to ok ano ther development which was different in different lands. It never spread to o ther nations ; even the Ho spitallers and Templars never owned a province in any o ther country, or more than a few
po ssessions . The Teu tonic Knights s to od in constant ‘
con
trast to the Le tts and the Slavs. O ne noble blo ssom o f
Chivalry is the po etry o f these times . If it is true , as seems to be the case, that the story o f Bechadas, by Godfrey of
Bouillon, was the first no vel , 1 and if the cycle o f tales o f Charlemagne and Arthur are, as appears very probab le , immediate ly connected therewi th, it is evident what a
great share the Crusades have had in the foundation o f
modern poetry . This poetry, at any rate , binds all our
nations exclusively toge ther. The prefaces to the Wilkina saga, and the Niflungasaga, confess that they were com
po sed in Iceland after German models.2 N0 o ther people had any share in it. But war was no t waged by knights alone ; the freedom
o f the towns was also founded in war, and, in the case o f all
o ur nations, dates from this time . The first consuls o f the I talian communities
, cho sen by themselves, and upo n the
1 Passage from Godefroy de Bigeo is in E ichhorn, Gesch . der Cultur und Li teratur d. neuern E uropa, i . 8 2 .
2 Pro o em ium, quo ted in E ichhorn, Geschichte der Cultur, Erl '
auter ungen, p . 12 5 .
1 2 LATIN AND TEUTONIC NATIONS
selection O f whom their who le freedom rests, appear con
tempo raneously with the first Crusade, in the year 1 1 0 0 .
We certainly meet with them first in Genoa on the o ccasion o f an expedition to the Ho ly Land. In the course o f our
period they pro cured for themselves the full powers o f the O ld royal count s.1 As early as the year 1 1 1 2
, we meet with the same institu tions in France , free communes under magis trates and elders o f their own elect ion . As the
king marches under the oriflamme, the s tandard o f St.
Denis— a device which appears to be the true origin o f
this imperial banner— so al l the communes take the field with him
, each under the s tandard o f its lo cal sain t .2
The cities in Castile, because o f theirmartial ardour, were, in the year 1 1 69 , given a seat in the Cortes ; and at the
battle O f Navas the ir assistance appears to have been no t
inconsiderable . The German cities, in the course o f the
same period, by freeing themselves from the “Vog t,
”
developed to independent unions .3 During the reign o f
Henry III the English towns were represented in Parlia ment.4 It was in Go thland, upon Swedish so il, that Wisby flourished . Thus, hand in hand wi th chivalry and the cru
sades , the cities developed bo th in freedom and importance
throughout the Latin and Teutonic nations from north to
south. In the same way as the peculiarities o f our po etry are due to chivalry
, so our characteristic architecture
appears to be due to the ci ties. In this same period it developed from the flat roof and the semi-circle to tho se beautiful Go thic proportions we admire in the facade o f the cathedral at Strassburg, in the cho ir at Co logne , in the
spire of Freiburg, and in the who le edifice at Marburg— o f
the year 1 2 35— as well as in the cathedrals o f Siena, R ouen, and Burgo s.
Nei ther in chivalry nor yet in the development of the cities have o ther nations had a share. As late as the year
'
aro .
O rdericus Vital is in Du Cange, s. v . C ommune . Ve l l i , H ist . de France, i i i . 93.
3 Document of the year 12 55 in Vogt ’s Rhein ische Geschichte, i . 42 6.
Wo ltmann, Engl ische Geschichte, ii . 12 1 .
INTRODUCTION
1 5 0 1 , the Russ ians o f M o scow begged that a knight , —an
iron man , as they expressed it,— Should be sent them , and
marvelled at him as a wonder. The gates O f the cathedral at No vgorod are the work o f Magdeburg craftsmen .
Let us dwell yet upon ano ther phenomenon . As the
migration of nations was accompanied by the es tab lish ment o f the Empire and the Papacy, so did the s truggle between these two forces arise out of the Crusades. It
is no t merely a struggle between the Emperor and the
Pope ; it evidently affects all tho se confessing the R oman faith. The quarrel between Henry II o f England and
Thomas aBecket is quite analogous to it, bo th in respect O f the interests the combatants had at stake
, as well as in
the kind Of weapons they employed ; the two princes and the two ecclesiastics were allied. This quarrel concerns moreover all our nations. Frederick I had Swedes in the army with which he invaded I taly in 1 1 5 8
1 it was mainly English go ld which suppo rted the popes in their struggles at Naples. The internal affairs O f Castile act and reac t upon the history o f Conradin.
2 Charles o f Anjou , who brought
these wars to a clo se , was the bro ther Of the French king.
Foreign quarrels could no t fail to be influenced by internal dissensions. It was natural that in the m ids t of his Italian wars Frederick should sigh for Asia, where the s trength and
energy he lavished upon them would have guaranteed him more genuine glory and mo re perfect happiness.3 But the in ternal forces also destroyed themselves . The Papacy was wrong in believing that it had gained in streng th by the fall o f the H ohenstaufen . Before Conradin had been dead forty years, it fell into the captivity o f the French kings. Since that time it has never again been the O ld Papacy .
Which Of our nations could say that it has been unaffected by this
We may distinguish two periods, in respect o f these external enterprises ; the first, that of their beginning , when they govern the though ts and hearts of all ; the
1 Dal in, Schwedische Geschichte , 11. 88.
2 R aumer, H ohenstaufen, iv . 586 .
3 Raumer from Ricobald. ii . 411 .
14 LATIN AND TEUTONIC NATIONS
second, that of their continuation, their effects and results. If this strikes the historian at the first glance in the
m igration of nations , it is almost even more striking in the
case o f the Crusades. After the decay and fall o f the two great powers, and
when the universal interest in external operations had, in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries , gradually coo led down , there aro se in the heart of o ur nations, so to speak , a universal war o f all against all. It was tho se who belonged mo st clo sely toge ther that quarrelled mo st vio lently . The
Provengals and Catalans are o f one s to ck ; but, o wing to the claims o f their princes,— the house s o f Anjou and
Barcelona,— to Naples , they at that time fell into an
enmi ty that lasted fo r centuries. It was in this struggle that Naples and Sicily became sundered. Portugal was originally a fief Of the crown o f Castile . After this feudal bond had become severed, the pride of bo th nations caused a deadly hatred to take ro o t in them. M o reover
, the
rez and Gamboa pervaded the who le o f
Spain . Civil wars were only now and again interrupted by a campaign against the M oors, at o ther times it was the reverse . In Italy Guelphs and Ghibellines , who se names scarcely existed before the commencement o f the thirteen th century,
1 nursed and fo stered a feud that divided the
who le land , town from town , and almo st house from house.
Owing to the strife between their royal houses, no t, as was formerly the case, for a few fiefs, but for the crown itself, France and England became lo cked in deadly wars . At
firs t it was France that was convulsed by English arms and a great English party ; and then England i tself was torn by the wars o f the white and the red ro se . In Germany, races and families fought together no less ; Swabians and Swiss are bo th Alemanni
, bu t they now fell into deadly feud .
Austrians and Bavarians are the same race ; the battle o f
M iihldorf shows how little they regarded it. Franconia became split up into the o ppo sing fac tors O f knightly and ecclesiastical domains. Wars o f succession , wars Of
children against their fathers, and wars be tween bro thers , laid waste Thuringia and Meissen . Brandenburg and
Muratori de Guelfis et Gibellinis, Antiquitat. Ital. iv. 60 7, 608.
I 6 LATIN AND TEUTONIC NATIONS
waged their war for the crown of Castile. Since Peter’s avarice drove the Black Prince , who had assisted him , to
the hearth-tax , and this tax goaded the latter’s vassals to
discontent, 1 which resulted in the decay o f the English
power in France, while Henry, on the o ther hand, con
quered with the French in Spain , it may be said that the wane o f English power in Spain was the result. O ther threads connect these events with affairs in Ho lland and
Gelderland, in Aragon and Sardin ia, and in Venice and
Genoa ; hence, no t much credence can be placed in the
assertion , so o ften made , that the nations in the M iddle Ages were iso lated from each o ther.
Even great intellectual movements pass through them all, and tes tify to their internal uni ty. About the year I 3 5 0
we find, almo st as at the present time , a general tendency to make new consti tutions. It was then ( 1 34 7) that Co la di R ienzi , the I talian zealo t, actually restored the go od o ld
s tate o f things, as he called it— that is , a kind o f republican
'
Is night, to restore the ir o ld rights and in France a firs t assemb ly o f estates O f the realm promised both to live and to die with the king, but curtailed his rights notca little ; a second . demanded
reforms and presen ted a list o f twen ty-two high '
personages
who were to be depo sed from Office whilst a third finally ushered in a complete revo lution
, and forced the dauphin
to don its red and green cap.
2 These m ovements were lawless and transitory. O thers, at the self-same time, con fined them selves within narrower l im its and had more
durable results . In Aragon , in 1 348 , in the place o f the
Vio lent powerO f the union , the lawful influence O f a Jus ticia was e stab lished . For the first time in their his tory (under Edward I II ) the Commons o f England insisted upon the
responsibility o f the King’s council ; and, perhaps in
,
”
1 Le prem ier vo lume de Messire Jehan Fro issart. f. 136 .
2 Vil laret, H isto ire de France , vo l . ix. from page 147 o n.
3 H ieronymi Blancae rerum Aragon . Commentarii, p. 810 .
INTRODUCTION 1 7
that fundamental law o f the Empire for centuries to come .
At all events , the first union O f the province s into estates o f
the realm in Brunswick, in Saxony ( 1 3 5 0 ) and elsewhere , to ok place at the same time .
1 Is it po ssib le that this co incidence was accidental ? The common development o f our nations, it would se em, necessarily produced the same ideas in all.
In the midst o f these mo vements, whenever, from time to time, the o ld feud between Emperor and Pope made i tself felt, the m inds o f men turned invariably towards the East and a common expedi tion against the Infidels. The
Pope frequently encouraged the enterprise. In novels ,
tales, and popular bo oks, the general tendency was at once ventilated and nourished. In the fourteen th century the pastoureaux in France and in England believed that the conquest of the Ho ly Land was to be the work o f
the shepherds and peasants, and set out with this end in
view . As late as the end o f the fifteenth century, in the year 1480 , many o f the citizens o f Parma fastened a red
cro ss upon their shoulder, and pledged themse lve s to fight against the Infidels.
2 It was chiefly in Spain and Portugal, where the M o o rish war was continued at intervals, and
finally led to an attack upon Africa, that the crusading spirit was kept alive.
It was this crusading spirit that gave b irth to co loniza tion . The fo llowing bo ok will Show us how the first discoveries and co lonies are in a two fo ld manner connected with the M oorish war ; first
, through expeditions against
Africa , whence proceeded the scheme for the conquest o f
India, and secondly, through the idea o f defending and
extending Christendom. The intentions o f the Portuguese were concerned directly with the centre o f the Arab ian faith.
They desired to avenge Jerusalem upon M ecca. Their victories were once again fought and won in the enthusiasm
Eichhorn , Deutsche Staats und Rechtsgeschichte, iii . 42 4, no te.
DIarIum Parmense in Muratori, Scrip. Rerum Ital . XXI I . 349. C
1 8 LATIN AND TEUTONIC NATIONS
o f Cru saders .‘ The Spanish Operations, on the o ther hand, being directed, as they were , against heathen , and no t
against M ohammedans, renewed rather the idea O f the
N orthern Crusades . A grant from the Po pe, a pro clamation that “
the enemy must be converted to Christianity or
utterly destroyed ,
necessary .
2 The peasants to o , whom Barto lomeo de Las Casas intended to lead upon a more peaceful expedition to Cumana, wo re each a red crossf”
As a fact, in bo th Spain and Portugal, migration o f
,
and which were established as early as 1 5 0 7 in Almeria, and in 1 5 1 2 in Oran , now begin on the o ther sho re o f
the A tlantic Ocean .
4 The Span iards pride themselve s on no thing so much as that they planted there, ins tead o f
barbarian peoples, as they say, the sons and descendants o f i llustrious Castil ian famil ies.5 The five m illion white men,
who are to be found there , are real Spaniards. A m illion Portuguese dwell in Brazil . An almo st equal number, although degenerated, may be distinguished on the coasts O f Africa, and in the Eas t Indies. Se ttlements on such a
great scale may be regarded as m igrations . Another idea that animates colonizations
, and which they have in common
with the Crusades, is the propagation o f Chris tianity. A
third that is peculiar to and characterist ic o f them , is
the idea of the discovery o f the world ,— O f itself one o f the
greatest conceptions, embracing the human race and the
who le earth. It was promo ted and fo stered by greed for the spices of India, for the go ld o f America, and for the pearls Of the unknown seas, as well as by the interests o f
trade .
6
It is not necessary to describe the general participat ion
Chron icon Monspeliense in Du Cange , s . v . Pastorel l i . 2 H o ieda
’ s pro clamat io n in Robertso n ’s H ist . o f America, i . 5 16.
3 O viedo , del l’ h istorie del l ’ Indie, lib. xix.
O viedo , H istoria de la conqu ista y poblacion de Venezuela. C f. Schaffer, Brasi l ien , p. 3 2 .
2Sb a
z
INTRODUCTION 1 9
o f our peoples in these even ts (the Italians at any rate shared in the discoveries) and it is unnecessary to prove at length that they are exclusively peculiar to them . O ther nations now and again took part in these movements , but in reality pursued o ther aims . The unity o f a people canno t be bet ter seen than in a common undertaking and
wherein could the unity and the cohesion o f several nations, like ours , be better demonstrated ? The undertakings to which we have here referred, al though con tinued through many centuries, are common to them all. They connect bo th the times and the peo ples . They are , if I may SO say, like three great respirations of this unique confederation.
BO O K I
CHAPTER I
THE SITUATION IN FRANCE AND IN ITALY EXPEDITION O F CHARLES VI I I TO
NAPLES
1 . FRANCE AND CHARLES VII I
TWICE during the M iddle Ages did the Capets conquer France. They went forth from their dukedom
, France,
encountered the Eudons o f Blo is and the Plantagene ts o f
Anjou , and were once cut off on all sides from the sea-coast. But Philip Augustus po ssessed him self o f the provinces o f North France, and St. Louis o f Provence , whilst Philip the
Fair subjected the Pope to his crown. This is the first conques t : by the direc t l ine O f Hugo Capet. After his line had become ex tinct, the kingdom was the bone o f con ten tion between his male descendants, the Valo is , and the female l ine , the kings o f England . King Edward III o f England once held half France ; on ano ther o ccasion, one o f his
successors , Henry V, was in po ssession o f Paris, and even o f the crown. It may be described as a second conquest, when Charles VII o f Valo is again go t the upper hand o f
the English. It was the Maid o f Orleans who opened him the gate to victory. She res tored to him Champagne ; but he owed the recovery o f his capital , as well as Normandy and Guienne , and the complete mastery over the coun try, to the Dukes o f Burgundy and Brittany.
Yet the assistance rendered by the great vassals entailed
BK. I. CH . I] FRANCE AND CHARLES VIII 2 1
the consequence that the king was after all not completely sovereign . Louis XI , who was made to feel this— he had
one day to come and implore peace O f the armed barons , —determined to put himself into full possession o f the
sovereign power. H e was very suspicious, very shrewd, and discerning enough besides . Yet these qualities would no t have enabled him to attain his Objec t, had not the
Dukes o f Berry, Burgundy, Anjou, and Brittany, as though by a providential intervention , all died without leaving sons . The first-named, his bro ther, he succeeded wi thout any oppo sition . In the case o f the heiress o f the second, her husband , Maxim ilian Of Austria, failed to upho ld her claim to Burgundy and the cities on the Somme in order to have peace , he was besides ob liged to consent to the
marriage o f his daughter, Margaret , with the Dauphin, and to assign to the French Arto is and Franche-Com té as her
dowry . The third, however, R ené o f Anjou , who styled
himself king of three kingdom s , duke o f three duchies, and coun t o f three counties ,
1 might have made over the countries that he actually po sse ssed, and his rights to the rest
, to his
grandson , R ené o f Lorraine ; bu t he himself was no t in
favour o f such a course. H e had once hoped to j o in Lorraine to Anj ou and only because he had been taken prisoner had he acquie sced in the marriage o f his daughter, o f which his grandson was the issue . Should he , then, now
go so faras to allow his hereditary lands to pass to Lorraine The young prince would no t even agree to exchange his arms Of Lorraine for tho se o f Anjou.
2 Ill-pleased at this, R ené appo inted his nephew Charles, bearing the name and
the arms o f Anjou, as his heir.
3 But the latter, who was
also no t b lessed with i ssue , seven years later, as the
document says, for the sake of God and the love which he bears King Louis , the son o f his father
’s Sister , assigned to
him the inheritance Of all his kingdoms, po ssessions, and rights thus the territories o f Provence and Anj ou came directly to the Crown .
Pasquier, R echerches de la France, vi. 557 .
2 Garnier, H isto ire de France , xvii i . 462 , from Le GrandMS.
3 W i ll in the Preuves in Comines, i i . 1 18 .
Extraits du Testament, in the same, 182 .
2 2 LATIN AND TEUTONIC NATIONS [BOOK I
Historically , the important po int is that the great feuda
tory lands in the South and East, in contrast to the
neighbouring princes who belonged to the Empire, were united with the French Crown . Brittany alone remained ; but Louis had already purchased for his family the right s o f the Penthievre in the country, rights that had already once partly caused a great English war.1
But , in o rder to defend this last bulwark o f the vassal power, Louis o fOrleans, the nearest relative o fKing Charles, who was s till a minor, leagued himself wi th the Bre tons and all the King’ s domestic and external foes. At St. Aub in , however, he lo st the day, and was now in captivity at
Bourges. Things were now in this po sition : the rebellion was checked, but no t suppressed ; Brittany was, it is true, conquered, but ready to appeal again to arms, and was
besides al lied with the three mo st powerful neighbours o f the French, England, the Netherlands, and Spain ; when Charles attained the age o f nine teen years and
began to take heart , and to be desirous o f becoming his own mas ter. H e signal ized his assumption o f the reins o f go vernment by a nob le and unexpected act ion . O ne
evening he rode o ff from Plessis to the Tower o f Bourges . H e went to release the imprisoned duke, regardless O f the fact that the latter had borne arms against him . H e took him away with him .
2 They conversed and laughed together at table, and slept the night in the same bed.
3 H e had
well considered this : “Thus he would be called a good prince, and thus he would have faithful servants .
” And by
this act he put an end to the o ld feud be tween the barons and the Crown. Immediately thereafter, Orleans , the
Constable , and many no tables combined together, no longer, as was formerly the case, for the public good , that is, the well-being of the vassals, but to obey and serve the
King.
This opened the way for Charles to eflect the conquest o f Brit tany. Duno is and o ther friends o f the released
1 Garnier, from Le Grand MS. , xvi ii . 452 .
Extrai t d’une hi sto ire de France up to 15 10 , in Th. Godefroy, Charles VI I I , p. 165 .
3 Extrait d’une h isto ire de Louys, in Godefroy, p. 375.
would not be burdened with foreign po ssessions— and had
thereupon promised neither to ally his house with Henry, nor with Maximilian
, nor yet wi th Naples,
1 and in nowi se ,
reserving the rights o f the Church, to lend the lat ter his support ; when the o ld alliance between Castile and France had been renewed, king with king, country with country, and man wi th man ;
2— then, and then only did the French again enjoy perfec t peace . It may be said that only now
had the second conquest of the who le land by the Valo is been accomplished.
Then did Charles journey in joy through the villages , which ro se out o f deso lated places, to the towns, which now
o nce more dared to extend beyond their walls . During the next thirty years after Lo uis XI, almo s t a third o f the
houses in the realm were rebuilt , arrangemen ts being made at the same time for internal traffic.
3 The po orpeasan t, who in the m idst o f such great fertility could not ob tain high prices fo rhis produce , could scarcely, it is true, when the tax gatherer came, find the money at which he was assessed ;
4
yet he needed no longer, as formerly, in fear either o f
the English or o f armed Frenchmen , to hurry his go ods and chattels into the church, and to leave his village . The
King vouchsafed to him law and right. H e himself l ived with the nobles in his service, the heads o f the great houses, who had been brought up at court.5 With them frequently were associated the second sons o f the lower nobili ty, such as had nei ther inherited property nor had wished to en ter the Church,
6 and who had learnt in a mo re illus trious house
than their own,— perhaps with a trusty knigh t whom they had themselves cho sen , or with a captain, to whom they had been assigned by the King— no t the sciences , which they did not e steem ,
but how to run, wres tle , throw,
ride, and shoo t wi th the bow, —in one word, the use O f
1 Zurita, H istoria de l ReyDon H ernando , f. 6 , 13, 18.
8
2 C omines, M émo ires ann. 1482 , i . 58 1. C orio , H ist. of Milan , 99p 3 C laude Seyssel , Louanges du bon RoyLo uys XII, p. 12 8.
C o nt inuat i o n of Monstrelet, i i i . 2 49 . Machiavel l i , R itratti della Franc ia, p . 16 1 .
5 Tremou i l le’s instance in the Memo irs, p. 12 1.
Bayard’s instance i