59. After the withdrawal of the Van' dals, which occurred the year of the death of Valentin' ian III., Av' itus, a Gaul, was installed

XXXV. AV' ITUS.

MAJO' RIAN.

Emperor by the influence of the gentle and humane Theod'oric, king of the Vis' igoths; but he was soon deposed by Ric' imer, the Gothic commander of the barba rian allies of the Romans. (A. D. 456.) The wise and beneficent Majórian was then advanced to the throne by Ric' imer; but his virtues were not appreciated by his subjects; and a sedition of the troops compelled him to lay down the sceptre after a reign of four years. (A. D. 461.)

XXXVI SEVERUS.

60. Ric' imer then advanced one of his own creatures, Sevérus, to the nominal sovereignty; but he retained all the powers of state in his own hands. Annually the Van' dals from Africa, having now the control of the Mediterranean, sent out from Carthage, their seat of empire, piratical vessels or fleets, which spread desolation and terror over the Italian coasts, and entered at will nearly every port in the Roman dominions. At length applica tion for assistance was made to Leo, then sovereign of the Eastern empire, and a large armament was sent from Constantinople to Carthage. But the aged Gen' seric eluded the immediate danger by a truce with his enemies, and, in the obscurity of night, destroyed by fire almost the entire fleet of the unsuspecting Romans.

61. Amid the frequent revolutionary changes that were occurring in the sovereignty of the Western empire,a Roman freedom and dig. nity were lost in the influence of the confederate barbarians, who formed both the defence and the terror of Italy. As the power of the Romans themselves declined, their barbarian allies augmented their demands and increased their insolence, until they finally insisted, with arms in their hands, that a third part of the lands of Italy should be divided among them. Under their leader Odoácer, a chief of the barbarian tribe of the Her' uli,' they overcame the little re

1. Of all the barbarians who threw themselves on the ruins of the Roman empire, it is most difficult to trace the origin of the Her' uli. Their names, the only remains of their language, are Gothic; and it is believed that they came originally from Scandinavia. They were a fierce people, who disdained the use of armor: their bravery was like madness: in war they showed no pity for age, nor respect for sex or condition. Among themselves there was the same ferocity: the sick and the aged were put to death at their own request, during a solemn festi val; and the widow hung herself upon the tree which shadowed her husband's tomb. The Her' uli, though brave and formidable, were few in number, claiming to be mostly of royal blood; and they seem not so much a nation, as a confederacy of princes and nobles, bound by an oath to live and die together with their arms in their hands. (Gibbon, iii. 8; and Note, 495-6.) a. The remaining sovereigns of the Western empire, down to the time of its subversion were Anthemius, Olyb' rius, Glycérus, Népos, and Augus' tulus.

VERSION OF

THE WEST

sistance that was offered them; and the conqueror, abolishing the imperial titles of Cæsar and Augustus, proclaimed him- XXXVII. SUBself king of Italy. (A. D. 476.) The Western empire of the Romans was subverted: Roman glory had passed away: Roman liberty existed only in the remembrance of the past: the rude warriors of Germany and Scythia possessed the city of Romulus; and a barbarian occupied the palace of the Caesars.

ERN EMPIRE.

CHAPTER II.

HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES:

EXTENDING FROM THE OVERTHROW OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE OF THE ROMANS A. D. 476, TO THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA, A. D. 1492 = 1016 YEARS.

SECTION I.

GENERAL HISTORY, FROM THE OVERTHROW OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE OF THE ROMANS, TO THE BEGINNING OF THE TENTH CENTURY:= 424 YEARS.

ANALYSIS. 1. INTRODUCTORY. The period embraced in the Middle Ages.-2. Uninstructive character of its early history. At what period its useful history begins.-3. Extent of the barbarian irruptions. The Eastern Roman empire. Remainder of the Roman world.— 4. The possessions of the conquerors toward the close of the sixth century. The changes wrought by them. Plan of the present chapter.

5. THE MONARCHY OF THE HER' ULI. Its overthrow.-6. MONARCHY OF THE OS' TROGOTHS. Theod' oric. Treatment of his Roman and barbarian subjects.-7. General prosperity of his reign. Extent of his empire. The Os' trogoth and Vis' igoth nations again divided.—8. The successors of Theod' oric. The emperor of the East.-9. THE ERA OF JUSTIN' IAN. State of the kingdom. Persian war.-10. Justin' ian's armies. Absence of military spirit among the people.-11. African war. First expedition of Belisárius, and overthrow of the kingdom of the Van' dals. Fate of Gel' imer. His Van' dal subjects.-12. Sicily subdued. Belisárius advances into Italy. Besieged in Rome.-13. The Gothic king Vit' iges surrenders. Final reduction of Italy by Nar' ses.-14. Second war with Persia. Barbarian invasion repelled by Belisarius, Mournful fate of Belisarius. Death and character of Justin' ian.-15. His reign, why memorable. Its brightest ornament. Remark of Gibbon. History of the "Pandects and Code."-16. Subsequent history of the Eastern empire. Invasion of Italy by the Lombards.-17. THE LOMBARD MONARCHY. Its extent and character.-18. Period of general repose throughout Western Europe. Events in the East.-19. The darkness that rests upon European history at this period. Remark of Sismondi. The dawning light from Arabia.

20. THE SARACEN EMPIRE. History of the Arabians.-21. Ancient religion of the Arabs. Religious toleration in Arabia. [Judaism. The Magian idolatry.]-22. Mahomet begins to preach a new religion.-23. The declared medium of divine communication with him. Declared origin of the Koran.-24. The materials of the Koran. Chief points of Moslem faith. Punishment of the wicked. The Moslem paradise. Effects of the predestinarian doctrine of Mahomet. Practical part of the new religion. Miracles attributed to Mahomet. [Mecca.]-25. Beginning of Mahomet's preaching. The Hegira.-26. Mahomet at Medina. [Medina.] Progress of the new religion through out all Arabia. [Mussulman.]-27. The apostasy that followed Mahomet's death. Restoration of religious unity.-28. Saracen conquests in Persia and Syria. [Saracens. Bozrah.]-29. Conquest of all Syria. [Emes' sa. Baalbec. Yermouk. Aleppo.]-30. Conquest of Persia, and expiration of the dynasty of the Sassan' idæ. [Cadésiah. Review of Persian History.]—31. Conquest of Egypt. Destruction of the Alexandrian library.-32. Death of Omar. Caliphate of Othman.-33. Military events of the reign of Othman. [Rhodes. Tripoli.] Othman's successors. Conquest of Carthage, and all northern Africa.-34. Introduction of the Saracens into Spain.-35. Defeat of Roderic, and final conquest of Spain. [Guadaléte. Guadalquiver. Merida.]-36. Saracen encroachments in Gaul. Inroad of Abdelrahman. [The Pyrences.]-37. Over

throw of the Saracen hosts by Charles Martel. Importance of this victory. [Tours. Polctiers.] -33. The Eastern Saracens at this period. [Hindostan.] Termination of the civil power of the central caliphate.-39. The power that next prominently occupies the field of history.

40. MOMARCHY OF THE FRANKS: its origin. [Tournay. Cambray. Terouane. Cologne.] Clovis. Extent of his monarchy. [Soissons. Paris.]-41. Religious character of Clovis. His barbarities.-42. The descen lants of Clovis. Royal murders. Regents. Charles Martel. Pepin, the first monarch of the Carlovingian dynasty. [Papal authority.]-43. The reign, and the character, of Pepin. His division of the kingdom.-44. First acts of the reign of Charlemagne. [The Loire.] The Saxons. Motives that led Charlemagne to declare war against them. [The Elbe.]-45. His first irruption into their territory. [Weser.] History of Witikind. Saxon rebellion. Changes produced by these Saxon wars.-46. Causes of the war with the Lombards. Overthrow of the Lombard kingdom. [Geneva. Pavia.]-47. Charlemagne's expedition into Spain. [Catalónia. Pampeluna. Saragos' sa. Roncesvalles.]-48. Additional conquests. Charlemagne crowned emperor at Rome.-49. Importance of this event. General character of the reign of Charlemagne. [Aix-la-Chapelle.] His private life. His cruelties. Concluding estimate.-50. Causes that led to the division of the empire of Charlemagne.-51. Invasion of the Northmen.-52. Ravages of the Hungarians. The Saracens on the Mediterranean coasts. Changes, and increasing confusion, in European society. The island of Britain.

53. ENGLISH HISTORY. Saxon conquests. Saxon Heptarchy.-54. Introduction and spread of Christianity.-55. Union of the Saxon kingdoms. Reign of Egbert, and ravages of the Northmen.-56. The successors of Egbert. Accession of Alfred. State of the kingdom.-57. Alfred withdraws from public life-lives as a peasant-visits the Danish camp.-58. Defeats the Danes, and overthrows the Danish power. Defence of the kingdom.-59. Limited sovereignty of Alfred. Danish invasion under Hastings. The Danes withdraw. Alfred's power at the time of his death.-60. Institutions, character, and laws, of Alfred.

1. The "Middle Ages," to which it is impossible to fix accurate limits, may be considered as embracing that dark and 1. INTROgloomy period of about a thousand years, extending from DUCTORY. the fall of the Western empire of the Romans nearly to the close of the fifteenth century, at which point we detect the dawn of modern civilization, and enter upon the clearly-marked outlines of modern history.a

2. The history of Europe during several centuries after the overthrow of the Western Roman empire offers little real instruction to repay the labor of wading through the intricate and bloody annals of a barbarous age. The fall of the Roman empire had carried away with it ancient civilization; and during many generations, the elements of society which had been disruptured by the surges of barbarian power, continued to be widely agitated, like the waves of the ocean, long after the fury of the storm has passed. It is only when the victors and the vanquished, inhabitants of the same country, had become fused into one people, and a new order of things, new bonds of society, and new institutions began to be developed, that the useful history of the Middle Ages begins.

3. We must bear in mind that it was not Italy alone that was

a. "The ten conturies, from the fifth to the fifteenth, seem, in a general point of view, to constitute the period of the Middle Ages.”—Hallam.

affected by the tide of barbarian conquest; but that the storm spread likewise over Gaul, Spain, Britain, and Northern Africa; while the feeble empire which had Constantinople for its centre, alone escaped the general ruin. Here the majesty of Rome was still faintly represented by the imaginary successors of Augustus, who continued until the time of the crusades to exercise a partial sovereignty over the East, from the Danube to the Nile and the Tigris. The remainder of the Roman world exhibited one scene of general ruin; for wherever the barbarians marched in successive hordes, their route was marked with blood: cities and villages were repeatedly plundered, and often destroyed; fertile and populous provinces were converted into deserts; and pestilence and famine, following in the train of war, completed the desolation.

4. When at length, toward the close of the sixth century, the frenzy of conquest was over, and a partial calm was restored, the Saxons, from the shores of the Baltic, were found to be in possession of the southern and more fertile provinces of Britain: the Franks or Freemen, a confederation of Germanic tribes, were masters of Gaul: the Huns, from the borders of the Caspian Sea, occupied Pannónia; the Goths and the Lombards, the former originally from northern Asia, and the latter of Scandinavian origin, had established themselves in Italy and the adjacent provinces; and the Gothic tribes, after driving the Van' dals from Spain, had succeeded to the sovereignty of the peninsula. A total change had come over the state of Europe: scarcely any vestiges of Roman civilization remained; but new nations, new, manners, new languages, and new names of countries were everywhere introduced; and new forms of government, new institutions, and new laws began to spring up out of the chaos occasioned by the general wreck of the nations of the Roman world. In the present chapter we shall pass rapidly over the history of the Middle Ages; aiming only to present the reader such a general outline, or framework, of its annals, as will aid in the search we shall subsequently make for the seeds of order, and the first rudiments of policy, laws, and civilization, of Modern Europe.

5. After Odoácer, the chief of the tribe of the Her' uli, had con quered Italy, he divided one third of the ample estates of the nobles 11. THE MON- among his followers; but although he retained the gov ARCHY OF ernment in his own hands, he allowed the ancient forms THE HERʼULI. of administration to remain; the senate continued to sit, as usual; and after seven years the consulship was restored; while