Theodoric, the next monarch, was killed in battle against Attila at Châlons, 451. By Thorismond the frontiers of the kingdom were extended to the Loire, 456; while Euric, the murderer of his brother, expelled the Romans from Spain, and added to his possessions Berry and Auvergne, ceded to him by the Emperor Julius Nepos, and Provence, which he obtained from Odoacer, 477. Such was the power of this monarch, that he received ambassadors from the Franks and Burgundians, from the Ostrogoths encamped in Pannonia, from Odoacer king of Italy, and from the Persian monarch. Under his son and successor Alaric II. the Goths lost, by the defeat near Poitiers in 507, all Gaul with the exception of Septimania. Gesalic, his natural son, was deposed by Theodoric the Great, the father-in-law of Alaric, who declared himself guardian of his grandchild Amalaric. This monarch reigned from 526 to 531; and by his outrageous behaviour to his wife Clotilda, daughter of Clovis, drew upon himself the vengeance of the Franks. Under Recarede, 586, all the people with their sovereign entered the bosom of the Catholic church, and allowed such privileges and influence to the bishops that the national assemblies soon became little more than ecclesiastical synods. About 570, the Suevi also embraced the Christian faith. BRITAIN. HEPTARCHY.-The Jutes and Saxons, having once obtained a footing in Britain, were speedily followed by numerous tribes of adventurers; and in a short time England was divided into seven kingdoms, called the Saxon Heptarchy,* which frequently acknowledged the sovereignty of one ruler, called Bret-walda-sovereign of Britain. The ancient inhabitants did not yield without resistance. King Arthur, who died in 542, ruled over the Cornish Britons, and from his successful struggles against the invaders, became one of the favourite subjects of poetry and romance. The numerous colonies that emigrated to Armorica, to which they gave the name of Bretagne, spread his renown still more widely. But in spite of the services rendered to his countrymen, he was not without enemies among them; the title of king reducing him to the necessity of drawing his sword against the Britons almost as frequently as against the Saxon invaders. He fell mortally wounded in battle against his own nephew, and was buried at Glastonbury. As the circumstances of his death were not generally known, his re-appearance was long expected; and for several ages the credulous people in their distress looked for the interposition of their brave deliverer. SAINT AUGUSTINE.-About A. D. 560, the Anglo-Saxon occupation of a great part of Britain was completed, bringing with it the most terrible disasters to the native population. The ferocious conquerors extirpated the arts and religion of the inhabitants, and endeavoured by a promiscuous slaughter to depopulate the country. The language was entirely changed; civilisation perished; and the people were fast relapsing into their original barbarism, when Gregory I. was induced to send missionaries to convert the Saxons to Christianity, and to establish the supremacy of Rome, 596. St. Augustine failed in obtaining the sub This term conveys an erroneous idea, as at no one period were there seven distinct and independent kingdoms.-See Palgrave and Turner. mission of the native clergy to his church, but succeeded in extending the faith throughout all the Saxon tribes. Ethelbert, king of Kent, was baptized, chiefly at the suggestion of his wife Bertha, who was a Christian, and the majority of the enslaved inhabitants professed the same belief. From the British islands issued, in the seventh and eighth centuries, those courageous preachers who perfected in Germany the work commenced by Saint Rupert, bishop of Salzburg. Columba, Kilian, Wilfrid, Willebrod, and Swibert, were the precursors of Winifrid (Boniface), the great apostle of Germany. Winifrid was born in Devonshire, and after extending the temporal as well as spiritual limits of the church, the good bishop, with fifty of the companions of his labour, was put to death at Dokkum, in Friesland, 755. THE CHURCH. Among the chief conquests of evangelical truth during this period must be reckoned the conversion of the Franks and Saxons. The particulars of the former event have been already given; and to understand fully the account of the latter it will be necessary to subjoin a few remarks. The Anglo-Saxon conquest did not entirely obliterate the Christian faith which had been planted in Britain in the time of Tertullian and Origen, and had seen Alban, its proto-martyr, perish in the persecution of Diocletian. At the council of Arles in 314, the Bishops of York and London were present; but war and the influx of barbarians had produced the usual result, which was corrected by the mission of St. Augustine. The Vandals in Spain, the Burgundians in Gaul, and the Lombards in Italy, abandoned Arianism; nevertheless heresy was still flourishing, particularly in the Eastern Empire, where the authority of the councils was exerted in vain. Three writings, known as the Three Chapters, had been published in the time of Nestorius in favour of his heretical opinions. Two of the authors had been present at the synod of Chalcedon; and the third being dead, they had united with their colleagues in condemning the doctrines of Eutyches. The Eutychians, in the hope of weakening the authority of that council, endeavoured to procure the condemnation of the three chapters; but, after numerous debates, another convocation was summoned at Constantinople, which censured all works really pernicious, and thus avoided any attack upon the assembly at Chalcedon. Its decisions were obeyed with the respect due to the learned men who drew them up, and by general consent the synod was regarded as the fifth general council. GREGORY I. THE GREAT. This celebrated pope was sprung from a distinguished family; his grandfather Felix had filled St. Peter's chair before him, and saints were reckoned among the number of his female relatives. While nuncio at the Byzantine court, he boldly assumed a tone of independence, which his subsequent conduct did not belie. Being raised to the pontificate in 590, during more than fourteen years he assiduously watched over and advanced the interests of the church. Pelagius the Infallible had preceded him in 578; but Gregory, far from assuming any presumptuous title, even reproved the Greek patriarch (John the Faster) for calling himself the ecumenical or universal bishop, condemning it as devilish, humbly styling himself the servant of the servants of God. He revised the liturgy; arranged the various details: of the religious ceremonies; and introduced the celebrated chant which bears his name. He established the ecclesiastical system by determining in a fixed manner the proper ritual, the division of parishes, the calendar of festivals, the service and costume of the priests and deacons, and, finally, by arranging all the imposing orders of the Romish ceremonial. On the other hand, he burnt the Palatine library, and warred against the arts by destroying the temples and mutilating the statues which the Goths had spared. BENEDICTINES.-In A. D. 527, St. Benedict of Nursia, in the Apennines, founded twelve convents near Subiaco in the neighbourhood of Rome, and next year the celebrated monastery of Mount Cassino, in the territory of Naples. Before his time, each fraternity had its peculiar customs; he created the real statutes of the order. His simple and edifying rule, besides prescribing prayer, manual labour, study, and the instruction of youth, enjoined the three vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. The administration and discipline of each community were intrusted to an abbot, chosen from the society by the free suffrages of the monks. In 595, Gregory accorded the apostolic sanction, permitting the inmates to possess an oratory, and to enjoy the spiritual labours of a priest taken from the bosom of their fraternity. In time, most of the cenobites entered the priesthood, without renouncing their condition. The Nicene council of 787 conferred on the abbots the right of admitting monks into the inferior orders of the clergy. The Benedictines were industrious and charitable men. In the midst of deserts they reared convents, the asylum of misfortune in an age of brutal violence and rapine. The active inhabitants tilled the earth, drained marches, cleared forests; hamlets, villages, and considerable towns sprang up around their walls; and in the convents were deposited the literary treasures of antiquity, which in many instances were indebted to them for preservation. SEVENTH CENTURY. GREEK EMPIRE. 602, Phocas.-610, Heraclius.-622, Chosroes defeated.672, Constantinople besieged by the Saracens.-685, Justinian II. PERSIA. 618, Chosroes, d. ARABIA.-570, Mohammed born.-622, HEGIRA.-Koran; Sonna.-634, Omar. -640, Alexandrian Library burnt.-660, ОмMMIADES. ITALY.-643, Lombard Code.-697, Venice-First sole Doge, Anafesto. FRANCE. 613, Clotaire.-678, Pepin.-688, Sluggard Kings-Mayors of the Palace. SPAIN. 600, Christian Religion introduced. THE CHURCH.-606, Papal Supremacy; Ecumenical-Image Worship. GREEK EMPIRE. PHOCAS, A. D. 602, repulsive in person as well as in character, commenced his tyranny by the massacre of all the imperial family. Maurice was dragged from the sanctuary in which he had taken refuge, and his five sons were murdered before his eyes; after which the heads of the deposed monarch and his children were exposed on the walls of Constantinople. The wife of the emperor was afterwards decapitated with her three daughters in the place which had witnessed the murder of her husband. Every province was ripe for rebellion, which was encouraged and headed by Priscus, Maurice's son-in-law, and by Heraclius, exarch of Africa. A fleet from Carthage boldly sailed up to Constantinople, and in a short time the cruel despot, by his death, paid the penalty of his crimes. HERACLIUS, the deliverer of the empire, was elected to the vacant throne, A. D. 610; and soon after was compelled to turn his attention to the Persian war. CHOSROES II. had been forced by internal dissension to take refuge in Constantinople; but, aided by Narses, he defeated his rivals and recovered his crown, 591. At a later period, simulating disgust at the crimes of Phocas, he made war upon the Greeks, overran the country westward of the Euphrates, and conquered Syria, 611. Palestine was subdued in 614; and twenty-six thousand Jews, who followed his banners to attack Jerusalem, are said to have massacred ninety thousand Christians. The victorious career of the Persian monarch reduced Heraclius to great distress, which was increased by the devastations of the Avars, who nearly succeeded in taking his capital, 619; and in their retreat carried off 270,000 captives. A series of misfortunes had so depressed the spirit of Heraclius that he meditated the removal of the seat of government to Carthage; but the patriarch was opposed to the change, and the empire was saved by the liberality of the clergy. Peace was made with Chosroes on ignominious terms, the annual payments of 1000 talents of gold, and the same amount of silver, silken robes, horses, and fair maidens. Fortune now deserted the Persian arms, when the emperor, in six adventurous campaigns, beginning in 622, retrieved his own honour and that of his country. Boldly carrying the war into the enemy's territories, he landed a numerous and enthusiastic army in Cilicia, and defeated Chosroes. The vanquished prince was compelled to recall his armies to defend their own country, and the rapid conquests of Heraclius may remind us of Hannibal or Napoleon. The battle of Nineveh, 627, fought on the ground once covered by that remarkable city, was followed next year by an honourable peace, concluded with Siroes, the successor of Chosroes who had been deposed by his subjects, and compelled to witness the murder of his eighteen sons. The return of the conqueror to Europe was one continued triumph. Ambassadors from the Franks and from India came to offer their congratulations; but the empire was exhausted by these victories; and in order to repay the sums advanced by the church, it was necessary to raise a second time from the devastated provinces the amount of taxes which had been already paid. Two hundred thousand soldiers had perished; and at the same time there appeared on the frontiers of Syria an enemy more terrible than any that had hitherto menaced the empire. Heraclius, attacked by the Mussulmans in 632, lost Syria and Egypt; and the emperor terminated his reign by a theological discussion and a religious war. His death, in 641, was hastened by intelligence of the capture of Alexandrie, which event he survived only a few weeks. Seven rulers of the Heraclian family successively mounted the throne, which they stained less by bloodshed than by personal vice. The first: was Constantine III., whose hundred days of empire were terminated by poison, and Heracleonas succeeded, only to be deposed, before the year expired, in favour of Constans II., 641. Ascending the throne when scarcely twelve years of age, he thus addressed the senate:"By Divine Providence, Martina and her incestuous progeny have been driven out; and I exhort and beseech you to stand forth as the counsellors and judges of the common safety." But the murder of his brother Theodosius proved that these sentiments were not very deeply seated. The astonished people and army drove this second Cain into exile, when, odious to himself and mankind, he perished at Syracuse by the hand of a slave, 668. Constantine IV. (Progonatus) put out the eyes of his two brothers, and left the crown to Justinian II., a vicious and foolish boy, who dishonoured his name by his cruelties, and by the choice of the ministers of his pleasures. For ten years he filled the city and country with sounds of horror, when Leontius, who had been released from a tedious imprisonment, and raised to the government of Greece, headed a successful revolt. "Christians! to St. Sophia's!" was the cry; and there the patriarch delivered an inflammatory discourse on the text "This is the day of the Lord!" Justinian was deposed, and, after mutilation, exiled to Chersone, in the Crimea, 695, where he learnt that his successor had been dethroned in his turn, and Tiberius (Apsimar) elevated in his stead, 698. He therefore renewed his claim to the empire; and, uniting with the Bulgarians, appeared before the capital with 15,000 horse, and was restored without striking a blow. His revenge was sweeping: the Chersonites, who had displeased him during his exile, were devoted to slaughter-"All are guilty, and all must equally perish," being his savage mandate. The nobles were: executed at their own doors, drowned in sacks, or killed by pouring molten lead down their throats. Johannicius of Ravenna was permitted, to write his will with his own blood: "Oh God! deliver us from the tyrant!" was all he wrote, before he dashed his brains out against the wall. The patience of his subjects became exhausted; the troops and provinces renounced their allegiance; Justinian fell by the stroke of an assassin; and with his son Tiberius, who had vainly taken refuge in a church, perished the family of Heraclius, 711. PERSIA. CHOSROES II.-Under the pretence of avenging Maurice, Chosroes invaded the Byzantine provinces of Asia, 603. Syria and Palestine yielded to his arms; Pelusium, the key of Egypt, capitulated; and the Persian trophies were fixed on the ruins of the Greek colony of Cyrene. Another army advanced to the Thracian Bosphorus; Chalcedon was: taken after a long siege; and the Persian army encamped for more than ten years in sight of Constantinople. If Chosroes had possessed a fleet, it would have been difficult to assign bounds to the progress of his victorious arms. Yet the difference of manners and language, the intolerance of the magi and schismatic Christians who followed in his train, were an inseparable barrier between the conquered and the conquerors, and would soon have shattered to pieces the mightiest empire. He himself appeared to mistrust the stability of his power, by exhausting |