deur. He died in 1294, when the empire was divided into Iran (Persia), Zagatai (S. E. Asia); Kaptschak (Russia); and China.

Read: Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, ch. Ixiv.

THE CHURCH.

THE MENDICANT ORDERS.-The reform called for by the corrupt lives of the clergy demanded a stronger spirit of enthusiasm in their defence. Francisco, the son of a rich merchant of Assisi, was actuated in his youth by a delirious piety; in his riper years he became either a madman or an impostor. With the pope's consent he instituted in 1210 a class of Friars Minorite, better known as Franciscans, from the name of their founder, in honour of whom they modestly call themselves the Seraphic Order; having installed him above the seraphim upon the throne from which Satan fell. They were bound to observe the severest rule of life: they went barefooted, and trusted to alms for their daily bread. They increased with great rapidity; so that in the eighteenth century, when the Reformation must have diminished their number by one-third, there were found 28,000 Franciscan nuns in 900 nunneries, and 115,000 friars in 7000 convents.

The rival order of Dominicans, which was instituted on the same principles, and about the same period, became noted for performing the sanguinary tasks of the Inquisition, extirpating heretics with fire and sword. By the council of Lyons, 1274, the number of the mendicant orders was confined to four :Franciscans, Dominicans, Carmelites, and Austin friars,-all of whom proving the ever-active agents of the holy see, received in consequence great privileges from the popes. The monks could confess, absolve, and preach in all churches; and thither ran the people to listen to these men, coarsely clad and attenuated by austerity, rather than to the delicate and sumptuous prelates, who glittered in purple garments and gold. These orders, by undermining the influence of the superior clergy, restored to Christianity the democratic character which it bore in the primitive church, and which was manifested with such terrible energy during the religious wars.

Read: Southey's Book of the Church.

THE INQUISITION.-The establishment of the Inquisition at the beginning of this century, enabled the papal court to direct all its efforts to the extirpation of heresy. The leading features of this

odious tribunal were the impenetrable secrecy of its proceedings, the insidious mode of accusation, the use of torture, and heavy penalties. This weapon of the church was first successfully employed against the Albigenses, but was afterwards suppressed in France. Introduced into Germany in 1231, it was abolished after the lapse of three years on account of the violence of the Inquisitor, and never again restored. In Italy it succeeded in crushing the Reformation; but it was successfully resisted by the Neapolitans, who were alarmed at the cruelty with which it was administered in Spain. In that country it possessed a formidable power, and there an auto-da-fé was solemnized so lately as 1783.

Read: M'Crie's Reformation in Italy-Llorente's Inquisition.

ALBIGENSES.-This sect, which derived its name from the town of Albi, was probably a collection of many sects, whose bond of union was hostility to the church of Rome. Their doctrines were strongly imbued with Arian and Manichean notions, and must not be confounded with the pure faith of the Waldenses. The suspicious death of Pietro de Castelnau, while crossing the Rhone in 1208, called forth a bull from Innocent III. against all schismatics, and particularly against Raymond VI. count of Toulouse, absolving his subjects from their allegiance, and informing them that faith was not to be kept with heretics. Simon, count of Montfort, was appointed leader of this Western Crusade. It began with the storming of Béziers, where 15,000 Albigenses were slain. It is said that when some of the inhabitants would have escaped, a Cistertian monk led on the crusaders with the cry of " Kill them all! God will know his own." At last Raymond VII., in 1229, was forced to capitulate, and the Inquisition was established in Toulouse. The Albigenses were dispersed, but not destroyed, by a determined system of persecution. During two centuries they supplied victims for the Spanish inquisition; in Bohemia they had a dreadful season of vengeance under Zisca and Procopius; in Germany they prepared the way for Luther; and in Britain they sowed that seed of which by the blessing of God we now enjoy the abundant harvest.

CRUSADES.

FOURTH CRUSADE, A. D. 1202.-A new holy war was preached by Fulques of Neuilly, and Baldwin, count of Flanders, was made leader. The crusaders were diverted from the object of their expedition by the prayers of the young Alexius, who

implored their protection in behalf of his father. Aided by Dandolo of Venice, they took the Byzantine capital, and elected Baldwin emperor. Other chiefs shared in the spoils : Boniface of Montferrat had the title of King of Thessaly; Ville Hardouin was made Duke of Thrace; Athens was converted into a duchy; Achaia into a principality; and Corinth into a lordship. Thus began the Latin empire in 1204, which lasted till 1261.

CRUSADE OF CHILDREN.-As the crusading spirit of the times had seduced Louis IX., so even children were possessed by it. In 1212, nearly 90,000 youths of both sexes and of different countries left their parents and schoolmasters in order to betake themselves to the Holy Land. They proceeded in great troops to Marseilles and Genoa, although their numbers were diminished by cold, hunger, and disease. As two merchants of the former city offered to transport them across the sea, seven vessels quitted the port, by which they were carried to Alexandria, and there sold as slaves. Most of those who reached Genoa, in the hope of finding the bed of the sea dried up, were reduced to bondage by the inhabitants of the country. Consult: Michaud's History of the Crusades, vol. iii.

FIFTH CRUSADE, 1217.-This expedition was undertaken by the King of Hungary, Andrew II., who was aided by John of Brienne, king of Jerusalem, Hugh, king of Cyprus, and Leopold III., duke of Austria. The crusaders first landed at Acre ; but their ill success in Palestine, and the departure of the Hungarians, induced them to turn their arms to another quarter. As Egypt was the great resource of the Mussulmans in the Holy Land, it was resolved to conquer Jerusalem by depriving it of its usual supplies. Accordingly Damietta was stormed, and the sultan offered to give up the Holy City with the true cross, when the pope's legate thought fit to reject his proposals and continue the war. This resolution was fatal; for, surrounded by the waters of the Nile, attacked on all sides by the Saracens, and wasted by a contagious malady, the Christians were forced to submit to humiliating conditions of peace in 1221.

SIXTH CRUSADE, 1228.-The failure of the fifth crusade incited the pope to press the fulfilment of the vow which the Emperor Frederick II. had made to assume the cross; but it was not until he had incurred the penalty of excommunication through his various delays, that the emperor set out for the Holy Land. Here, by a convention signed the following year,

the Sultan of Egypt ceded Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth, Rama, and all the country between Acre, Tyre, Sidon, and Jerusalem. But the Christians did not long preserve their acquisitions. Weakened by civil wars, some forming alliances with the Sultan of Damascus, others with the ruler of Egypt, they lost Jerusalem in 1244; and although they recovered it again, and held possession of it for a brief period, they were finally driven out by the Kharismians, who massacred or reduced to slavery all the population of Palestine, and destroyed the sacred sepulchre.

That

SEVENTH CRUSADE, 1248.-Cardinal Eudes of Chateauroux was the means of giving birth to this war, in which Louis IX. sailed for Egypt with an army of nearly 60,000 men. country was looked upon as the key of Palestine, and Louis made the city of Damietta the centre of his movements. Natural obstacles, the resolute opposition of the Turks, and the loss of many brave knights, including his brother the Count of Artois, compelled him to retreat when almost within sight of Cairo. Pestilence and famine aggravated the distresses of his soldiers; and the king himself became a captive, when his army was almost annihilated. His ransom was obtained by the payment of 400,000 livres. At Acre, he lingered four years, ashamed to return inglorious to France, and unable to visit the holy sepulchre.

EIGHTH CRUSADE, 1270.-A chimerical hope of converting the King of Tunis led Louis to the African coast. His army, 30,000 foot and 6000 horse, was composed of men of all nations; for English, Scots, Catalonians, Portuguese, and Castilians, fought under the same banners with the French chivalry. The plague, however, soon appeared in the camp, which cut him off at the age of fifty-five, 1270.

RESULTS OF THE CRUSADES.

Des Michels, examining the influences of the Crusades, classifies them under the following heads :

I. Immediate Effect.-Europe was saved from Turkish invasion at a period when she would have been ill able to resist it, although she purchased this benefit and short repose at a great price of blood and treasure.

II. Effect on the Church.-The popes augmented their spiritual and temporal power. They brought under their supremacy the patriarchs of Antioch and Jerusalem, and strengthened the links of the hierarchy.

III. Political Effect.-This was shown, 1st, Among the princes, who all, with the exception of the emperors, found means of enlarging their domains, and increasing their authority; 2d, Among the nobility, who suffered in power and riches, but were gainers in honorary distinctions. The orders of knighthood established in the East reflected their splendour

over Europe, and were imitated in all Christian states. Tournaments, a recent introduction, charmed the West by representing the exploits of the Holy War; the combatants from beyond the seas came to display, in the various courts, the magnificence of the East; while coats of arms became necessary as distinctive marks, and family names were adopted and transmitted from sire to son.

IV. Effect on Commerce and Industry.-The art of navigation made important progress, owing to the frequent voyages, to the great profits derived from them, and to the practices borrowed from the pilots of the Levant. By opening a wider field to speculation, and by facilitating exchange, commerce derived the same advantages as nautical science. Productions of nature and art, hitherto unknown in the West, brought new enjoyments, and called forth fresh industry. The maritime cities that engrossed the commerce of the East, attracted to them most of the wealth of Europe, and several of them became powerful republics. Hence the prosperity of Venice, Genoa, and Pisa, of Barcelona and Marseilles. Hence, too, the wealth and activity of the Flemish towns, which served as the medium of exchange between the North and South, between the ports of the Mediterranean and the towns of the Hanseatic league. Agriculture was also greatly benefited by the introduction of the mulberry, Turkey-wheat, the sugar-cane, and other plants.

V. Effect on Knowledge.-General civilisation was advanced by new international relations, and the progress of science and literature. Ideas of honour and courtesy spread from chivalry into society generally, softening the public manners, and ennobling, in some respect, the enfranchised serfs, who were indebted for most of their wealth and liberty to the crusades.

New and sublime subjects were laid open to poetic genius, which, however, rarely employed them with advantage. Still talent was honoured, and the warriors, not satisfied with encouraging the versifiers who celebrated their exploits, became their own bards. A peculiar character was impressed on poetry, and thus arose the romance of chivalry and the songs of the troubadours. Hence was breathed the first harmony into the various dialects of modern Europe.

The advances made by the sciences of geography, history, and medicine, were important in giving a new impulse to geographical research and ad

venture.

FOURTEENTH CENTURY.

GREEK EMPIRE.-1341, Cantacuzene.-1355, Great Earthquake.-1391. Manuel II.

THE EAST.-1310, Knights of St John at Rhodes.-1326, Rise of the Ottoman Power-Janizaries.-1370, Tamerlane.—1389, Bajazet.-1402, Battle of Angora.

GERMANY. 1315, Battle of Morgarten.-1338, Union of Rense.-1347, Charles IV.-1356, Golden Bull.-1378, Wenceslaus, Emperor.-1386, Battle of Sempach.

ITALIAN PENINSULA.The Visconti.-1320, Castruccio Castracani. 1342, Joan I.-1847, Rienzi.-1355, Faliero expelled.-1378, War of Chioggia.