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FAMOUS MEN
OF
THE MIDDLE AGES

By

JOHN H. HAAREN, LL.D.
District Superintendent of Schools
The City of New York

and

A. B. POLAND, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
Newark N. J.

Page 3
PREFACE

The study of history, like the study of a landscape, should begin
with the most conspicuous features. Not until these have been fixed
in memory will the lesser features fall into their appropriate
places and assume their right proportions.

The famous men of ancient and modern times are the mountain peaks
of history. It is logical then that the study of history should
begin with the biographies of these men.

Not only is it logical; it is also pedagogical. Experience has
proven that in order to attract and hold the child’s attention
each conspicuous feature of history presented to him should have
an individual for its center. The child identifies himself with the
personage presented. It is not Romulus or Hercules or Cæsar
or Alexander that the child has in mind when he reads, but himself,
acting under similar conditions.

Prominent educators, appreciating these truths, have long recognized
the value of biography as a preparation for the study of history
and have given it an important place in their scheme of studies.

The former practice in many elementary schools of beginning the
detailed study of American history without any previous knowledge
of general history limited the pupil’s range of vision, restricted
his sympathies, and left him without material for comparisons.
Moreover, it denied to him a knowledge of his inheritance from
the Greek philosopher, the Roman lawgiver, the Teutonic lover of
freedom. Hence the recommendation so strongly urged in the report of
the Page 4 Committee
of Ten—and emphasized, also, in the report of the Committee
of Fifteen—that the study of Greek, Roman and modern European
history in the form of biography should precede the study of detailed
American history in our elementary schools. The Committee of Ten
recommends an eight years’ course in history, beginning with the
fifth year in school and continuing to the end of the high school
course. The first two years of this course are given wholly to the
study of biography and mythology. The Committee of fifteen recommends
that history be taught in all the grades of the elementary school
and emphasizes the value of biography and of general history.

The series of historical stories to which this volume belongs was
prepared in conformity with the foregoing recommendations and with
the best practice of leading schools. It has been the aim of the
authors to make an interesting story of each man’s life and to
tell these stories in a style so simple that pupils in the lower
grades will read them with pleasure, and so dignified that they
may be used with profit as text-books for reading.

Teachers who find it impracticable to give to the study of mythology
and biography a place of its own in an already overcrowded curriculum
usually prefer to correlate history with reading and for this purpose
the volumes of this series will be found most desirable.

The value of the illustrations can scarcely be over-estimated.
They will be found to surpass in number and excellence anything
heretofore offered in a school-book. For the most part they are
reproductions of world-famous pictures, and for that reason the
artists’ names are generally affixed.

Page 5
CONTENTS

Page 7
INTRODUCTION

THE GODS OF THE TEUTONS

In the little volume called The Famous Men of Rome you have read
about the great empire which the Romans established. Now we come to
a time when the power of Rome was broken and tribes of barbarians
who lived north of the Danube and the Rhine took possession of lands
that had been part of the Roman Empire. These tribes were the Goths,
Vandals, Huns, Franks and Anglo-Saxons. From them have come the
greatest nations of modern times. All except the Huns belonged to
the same race and are known as Teutons. They were war-like, savage
and cruel. They spoke the same language—though in different
dialects—and worshiped the same gods. Like the old Greeks and
Romans they had many gods.

Woden, who was also called Odin, was the greatest of all. His name
means “mighty warrior,” and he was king of all the gods. He rode
through the Page 8
air mounted on Sleip’nir, an eight-footed horse fleeter than the
eagle. When the tempest roared the Teutons said it was the snorting
of Sleipnir. When their ships came safely into port they said it
was Woden’s breath that had filled their sails and wafted their
vessels over the blue waters.

THOR THROWING HIS HAMMER

Thor, a son of Woden, ranked next to him among the gods. He rode
through the air in a chariot drawn by goats. The Germans called
him Donar and Thunar, words which are like our word thunder. From
this we can see that he was the thunder god. In his hand he carried
a wonderful hammer which always came back to his hand when he threw
it. Its head was so bright that as it flew through the air it made
the lightning. When it struck the vast ice mountains they reeled
and splintered into fragments, and thus Thor’s hammer made thunder.

Page 9 Another great
god of our ancestors was Tiew. He was a son of Woden and was the god
of battle. He was armed with a sword which flashed like lightning
when he brandished it. A savage chief named Attila routed the armies
of the Romans and so terrified all the world that he was called “The
Scourge of God.” His people believed that he gained his victories
because he had the sword of Tiew, which a herdsman chanced to find
where the god had allowed it to fall. The Teutons prayed to Tiew
when they went into battle.

Frija (free’ ya) was the wife of Woden and the queen of
the gods. She ruled the bright clouds that gleam in the summer
sky, and caused them to pour their showers on meadow and forest
and mountain.

Four of the days of the week are named after these gods. Tuesday
means the day of Tiew; Wednesday, the day of Woden; Thursday, the
day of Thor; and Friday, the day of Frija.

Frija’s son was Bald’ur; who was the favorite of all the gods.
Only Lo’ki, the spirit of evil, hated him. Baldur’s face was as
bright as sunshine. His hair gleamed like burnished gold. Wherever
he went night was turned into day.

One morning when he looked toward earth from Page 10 his father Woden’s palace black
clouds covered the sky, but he saw a splendid rainbow reaching
down from the clouds to the earth. Baldur walked upon this rainbow
from the home of the gods to the dwellings of men. The rainbow
was a bridge upon which the gods used to come to earth.

When Baldur stepped from the rainbow-bridge to the earth he saw
a king’s daughter so beautiful that he fell in love with her.

But an earthly prince had also fallen in love with her. So he and
Baldur fought for her hand. Baldur was a god and hence was very
much stronger than the prince. But some of Baldur’s magic food
was given to the prince and it made him as strong as Baldur.

Frija heard about this and feared that Baldur was doomed to be
killed. So she went to every beast on the land and every fish of
the sea and every bird of the air and to every tree of the wood
and every plant of the field and made each promise not to hurt
Baldur.

But she forgot the mistletoe. So Loki, who always tried to do mischief,
made an arrow of mistletoe, and gave it to the prince who shot and
killed Baldur with it.

Then all the gods wept, the summer breeze wailed, the leaves fell
from the sorrowing trees, Page
11 the flowers faded and died from grief, and the earth
grew stiff and cold. Bruin, the bear, and his neighbors, the hedgehogs
and squirrels, crept into holes and refused to eat for weeks and
weeks.

The pleasure of all living things in Baldur’s presence means the
happiness that the sunlight brings. The sorrow of all living things
at his death means the gloom of northern countries when winter
comes.

The Val-kyr’ies were beautiful female warriors. They had some of
Woden’s own strength and were armed with helmet and shield and
spear. Like Woden, they rode unseen through the air and their horses
were almost as swift as Sleipnir himself. They swiftly carried
Woden’s favorite warriors to Valhalla, the hall of the slain. The
walls of Valhalla were hung with shields; its ceiling glittered
with polished spearheads. From its five hundred and forty gates,
each wide enough for eight hundred men abreast to march through,
the warriors rushed every morning to fight a battle that lasted
till nightfall and began again at the break of each day. When the
heroes returned to Valhalla the Valkyries served them with goblets
of mead such as Woden drank himself.

The Teutons believed that before there were any gods or any world
there was a great empty space Page
13 where the world now is. It was called by the curious
name Gin’nungagap, which means a yawning abyss.

ONE OF THE VALKYRIES BEARING A HERO TO VALHALLA

To the north of Ginnungagap it was bitterly cold. Nothing was there
but fields of snow and mountains of ice. To the south of Ginnungagap
was a region where frost and snow were never seen. It was always
bright, and was the home of light and heat. The sunshine from the
South melted the ice mountains of the North so that they toppled
over and fell into Ginnungagap. There they were changed into a
frost giant whose name was Ymir (e’mir). He had three sons.
They and their father were so strong that the gods were afraid
of them.

So Woden and his brothers killed Ymir. They broke his body in pieces
and made the world of them. His bones and teeth became mountains
and rocks; his hair became leaves for trees and plants; out of
his skull was made the sky.

But Ymir was colder than ice, and the earth that was made of his
body was so cold that nothing could live or grow upon it. So the
gods took sparks from the home of light and set them in the sky.
Two big ones were the sun and moon and the little ones were the
stars. Then the earth became warm. Trees grew and flowers bloomed,
so that the world was a beautiful home for men.

Page 14 Of all the
trees the most wonderful was a great ash tree, sometimes called
the “world tree.” Its branches covered the earth and reached beyond
the sky till they almost touched the stars. Its roots ran in three
directions, to heaven, to the frost giants’ home and to the under-world,
beneath the earth.

Near the roots in the dark under-world sat the Norns, or fates.
Each held a bowl with which she dipped water out of a sacred spring
and poured it upon the roots of the ash tree. This was the reason
why this wonderful tree was always growing, and why it grew as
high as the sky.

When Woden killed Ymir he tried to kill all Ymir’s children too;
but one escaped, and ever after he and his family, the frost giants,
tried to do mischief, and fought against gods and men.

According to the belief of the Teutons these wicked giants will
some day destroy the beautiful world. Even the gods themselves
will be killed in a dreadful battle with them. First of all will
come three terrible winters without any spring or summer. The sun
and moon will cease to shine and the bright stars will fall from the
sky. The earth will be shaken as when there is a great earthquake;
the waves of the sea will roar and the highest mountains will totter
and fall. The trees will be torn up by the roots, and even the
“world tree” Page 15
will tremble from its roots to its topmost boughs. At last the
quivering earth will sink beneath the waters of the sea.

Then Loki, the spirit of evil, will break loose from the fetters
with which the gods have bound him. The frost giants will join him.
They will try to make a secret attack on the gods. But Heimdall, the
sentry of heaven, will be on guard at the end of the rainbow-bridge.
He needs no more sleep than a bird and can see for a hundred miles
either by day or night. He only can sound the horn whose blast
can be heard through heaven and earth and the under-world. Loki
and his army will be seen by him. His loud alarm will sound and
bring the gods together. They will rush to meet the giants. Woden
will wield his spear—Tiew his glittering sword—Thor
his terrible hammer. These will all be in vain. The gods must die.
But so must the giants and Loki.

And then a new earth will rise from the sea. The leaves of its
forests will never fall; its fields will yield harvests unsown.
And in a hall far brighter than Woden’s Valhalla the brave and
good will be gathered forever.

Page 16
THE NIBELUNGS

I

The time came when the people of Western Europe learned to believe
in one God and were converted to Christianity, but the old stories
about the gods and Valkyries and giants and heroes, who were half
gods and half men, were not forgotten.

These stories were repeated from father to son for generations,
and in the twelfth century a poet, whose name we do not know, wrote
them in verse. He called his poem the Nï’bel-ung’en-lied (song
of the Nibelungs). It is the great national poem of the Germans.
The legends told in it are the basis of Wagner’s operas.

“Nibelungs” was the name given to some northern dwarfs whose king
had once possessed a great treasure of gold and precious stones but
had lost it. Whoever got possession of this treasure was followed
by a curse. The Nibelungenlied tells the adventures of those who
possessed the treasure.

Page 17
II

In the grand old city of Worms, in Burgundy, there lived long ago
the princess Kriemhilda. Her eldest brother Gunther was king of
Burgundy.

And in the far-away Netherlands, where the Rhine pours its waters
into the sea, dwelt a prince named Siegfried, son of Siegmund,
the king.

Ere long Sir Siegfried heard of the beauty of fair Kriemhilda.
He said to his father, “Give me twelve knights and I will ride to
King Gunther’s land. I must win the heart of Kriemhilda.”

After seven days’ journey the prince and his company drew near
to the gates of Worms. All wondered who the strangers were and
whence they came. Hagen, Kriemhilda’s uncle, guessed. He said,
“I never have seen the famed hero of Netherlands, yet I am sure
that yonder knight is none but Sir Siegfried.”

“And who,” asked the wondering people, “may Siegfried be?”

“Siegfried,” answered Sir Hagen, “is a truly wonderful knight.
Once when riding all alone, he came to a mountain where lay the
treasure of the king of the Nibelungs. The king’s two sons had
brought it out from the cave in which it had been hidden, to divide
it between them. But they Page
18 did not agree about the division. So when Seigfied
drew near both princes said, ‘Divide for us, Sir Siegfried, our
father’s hoard.’ There were so many jewels that one hundred wagons
could not carry them, and of ruddy gold there was even more. Seigfied
made the fairest division he could, and as a reward the princes gave
him their father’s sword called Balmung. But although Siegfried
had done his best to satisfy them with his division, they soon
fell to quarreling and fighting, and when he tried to separate
them they made an attack on him. To save his own life he slew them
both. Alberich, a mountain dwarf, who had long been guardian of
the Nibelung hoard, rushed to avenge his masters; but Siegfried
vanquished him and took from him his cap of darkness which made its
wearer invisible and gave him the strength of twelve men. The hero
then ordered Alberich to place the treasure again in the mountain
cave and guard it for him.”

Hagen then told another story of Siegfried:

“Once he slew a fierce dragon and bathed himself in its blood,
and this turned the hero’s skin to horn, so that no sword or spear
can wound him.”

When Hagen had told these tales he advised King Gunther and the
people of Burgundy to receive Siegfried with all honor.

SIEGFRIED SLAYS THE DRAGON

So, as the fashion was in those times, games were Page 20 held in the
courtyard of the palace in honor of Siegfried, and Kriemhilda watched
the sport from her window.

For a full year Siegfried stayed at the court of King Gunther,
but never in all that time told why he had come and never once saw
Kriemhilda.

At the end of the year sudden tidings came that the Saxons and
Danes, as was their habit, were pillaging the lands of Burgundy.
At the head of a thousand Burgundian knights Siegfried conquered
both Saxons and Danes. The king of the Danes was taken prisoner
and the Saxon king surrendered.

The victorious warriors returned to Worms and the air was filled
with glad shouts of welcome. King Gunther asked Kriemhilda to welcome
Siegfried and offer him the thanks of all the land of Burgundy.

Siegfried stood before her, and she said, “Welcome, Sir Siegfried,
welcome; we thank you one and all.” He bent before her and she
kissed him.

III

Far over the sea from sunny Burgundy lived Brunhilda, queen of
Iceland. Fair was she of face and strong beyond compare. If a knight
would woo and win her he must surpass her in three contests: leaping,
hurling the spear and pitching Page
21 the stone. If he failed in even one, he must forfeit
his life.

King Gunther resolved to wed this strange princess and Siegfried
promised to help him. “But,” said Siegfried, “if we succeed, I must
have as my wife thy sister Kriemhilda.” To this Gunther agreed,
and the voyage to Iceland began.

When Gunther and his companions neared Brunhilda’s palace the gates
were opened and the strangers were welcomed.

Siegfried thanked the queen for her kindness and told how Gunther
had come to Iceland in hope of winning her hand.

“If in three contests he gain the mastery,” she said, “I will become
his wife. If not, both he and you who are with him must lose your
lives.”

Brunhilda prepared for the contests. Her shield was so thick and
heavy that four strong men were needed to bear it. Three could
scarcely carry her spear and the stone that she hurled could just
be lifted by twelve.

Siegfried now helped Gunther in a wonderful way. He put on his
cap of darkness, so that no one could see him. Then he stood by
Gunther’s side and did the fighting. Brunhilda threw her spear
against the kings bright shield and sparks flew from the steel.
But the unseen knight dealt Brunhilda Page 22 such blows that she confessed herself
conquered.

In the second and third contests she fared no better, and so she
had to become King Gunther’s bride. But she said that before she
would leave Iceland she must tell all her kinsmen. Daily her kinsfolk
came riding to the castle, and soon an army had assembled.

Then Gunther and his friends feared unfair play. So Siegfried put
on his cap of darkness, stepped into a boat, and went to the Nibelung
land where Alberich the dwarf was guarding the wonderful Nibelung
treasure.

“Bring me here,” he cried to the dwarf, “a thousand Nibelung knights.”
At the call of the dwarf the warriors gathered around Sir Siegfried.
Then they sailed with him to Brunhilda’s isle and the queen and her
kinsmen, fearing such warriors, welcomed them instead of fighting.
Soon after their arrival King Gunther and his men, Siegfried and his
Nibelungs, and Queen Brunhilda, with two thousand of her kinsmen
set sail for King Gunther’s land.

As soon as they reached Worms the marriage of Gunther and Brunhilda
took place. Siegfried and Kriemhilda also were married, and after
their marriage went to Siegfried’s Netherlands castle. There they
lived more happily than I can tell.

Page 23
IV

Now comes the sad part of the Nibelung tale.

Brunhilda and Gunther invited Siegfried and Kriemhilda to visit them
at Worms. During the visit the two queens quarreled and Brunhilda
made Gunther angry with Siegfried. Hagen, too, began to hate Siegfried
and wished to kill him.

But Siegfried could not be wounded except in one spot on which
a falling leaf had rested when he bathed himself in the dragon’s
blood. Only Kriemhilda knew where this spot was. Hagen told her to
sew a little silk cross upon Siegfried’s dress to mark the spot,
so that he might defend Siegfried in a fight.

No battle was fought, but Siegfried went hunting with Gunther and
Hagen one day and they challenged him to race with them. He easily
won, but after running he was hot and thirsty and knelt to drink
at a spring. Then Hagen seized a spear and plunged it through the
cross into the hero’s body. Thus the treasure of the Nibelungs
brought disaster to Siegfried.

Gunther and Hagen told Kriemhilda that robbers in the wood had slain
her husband, but she could not be deceived.

Page 24

THE BODY OF SIEGFRIED IS CARRIED TO WORMS

Page 25 Kriemhilda
determined to take vengeance on the murderers of Siegfried, and so
she would not leave Worms. There, too, stayed one thousand knights
who had followed Siegfried from the Nibelung land.

Soon after Siegfried’s death Kriemhilda begged her younger brother
to bring the Nibelung treasure from the mountain cave to Worms.

When it arrived Kriemhilda gave gold and jewels to rich and poor
in Burgundy, and Hagen feared that soon she would win the love of
all the people and turn them against him. So, one day, he took
the treasure and hid it in the Rhine. He hoped some day to enjoy
it himself.

As Hagen now possessed the Nibelung treasure the name “Nibelungs”
was given to him and his companions.

V

Etzel, or as we call him, Attila, king of the Huns, heard of the
beauty of Kriemhilda and sent one of his knights to ask the queen
to become his wife.

At first she refused. However, when she remembered that Etzel carried
the sword of Tiew, she changed her mind, because, if she became
his wife, she might persuade him to take vengeance upon Gunther
and Hagen.

And so it came to pass.

Page 26 Shortly
after their marriage Etzel and Kriemhilda invited Gunther and all
his court to a grand midsummer festival in the land of the Huns.

Hagen was afraid to go, for he felt sure that Kriemhilda had not
forgiven the murder of Siegfried. However, it was decided that
the invitation should be accepted, but that ten thousand knights
should go with Gunther as a body-guard.

Shortly after Gunther and his followers arrived at Attila’s court
a banquet was prepared. Nine thousand Burgundians were seated at
the board when Attila’s brother came into the banquet hall with a
thousand well-armed knights. A quarrel arose and a fight followed.

Thousands of the Burgundians were slain. The struggle continued
for days. At last, of all the knights of Burgundy, Gunther and
Hagen alone were left alive. Then one of Kriemhilda’s friends fought
with them and overpowered both. He bound them and delivered them
to Kriemhilda.

The queen ordered one of her knights to cut off Gunther’s head, and
she herself cut off the head of Hagen with “Balmung,” Siegfried’s
wonderful sword. A friend of Hagen then avenged his death by killing
Kriemhilda herself.

Of all the Nibelungs who entered the land of the Huns one only ever
returned to Burgundy.

Page 27
FAMOUS MEN OF THE MIDDLE AGES

ALARIC THE VISIGOTH

KING FROM 394-410 A.D.

I

Long before the beginning of the period known as the Middle Ages
a tribe of barbarians called the Goths lived north of the River
Danube in the country which is now known as Roumania. It was then a
part of the great Roman Empire, which at that time had two capitals,
Constantinople—the new city of Constantine—and Rome.
The Goths had come from the shores of the Baltic Sea and settled
on this Roman territory, and the Romans had not driven them back.

During the reign of the Roman Emperor Va’lens some of the Goths
joined a conspiracy against him. Valens punished them for this
by crossing the Danube and laying waste their country. At last
Page 29 the Goths
had to beg for mercy. The Gothic chief was afraid to set foot on
Roman soil, so he and Valens met on their boats in the middle of
the Danube and made a treaty of peace.

THE MEETING BETWEEN VALENS AND THE GOTHIC CHIEF ON THE DANUBE

For a long time the Goths were at war with another tribe of barbarians
called Huns. Sometimes the Huns defeated the Goths and drove them
to their camps in the mountains. Sometimes the Goths came down
to the plains again and defeated the Huns.

At last the Goths grew tired of such constant fighting and thought
they would look for new settlements. They sent some of their leading
men to the Emperor Valens to ask permission to settle in some country
belonging to Rome. The messengers said to the emperor:

“If you will allow us to make homes in the country south of the
Danube we will be friends of Rome and fight for her when she needs
our help.”

The emperor at once granted this request. He said to the Gothic
chiefs:

“Rome always needs good soldiers. Your people may cross the Danube
and settle on our land. As long as you remain true to Rome we will
protect you against your enemies.”

These Goths were known as Visigoths, or Western Goths. Other tribes
of Goths who had settled in Page
30 southern Russia, were called Ostrogoths, or Eastern
Goths.

After getting permission from the Emperor Valens a large number
of the Visigoths crossed the Danube with their families and their
cattle and settled in the country now called Bulgaria.

In course of time they became a very powerful nation, and in the
year 394 they chose as their king one of the chiefs named Al’a-ric.
He was a brave man and a great soldier. Even when a child he took
delight in war, and at the age of sixteen he fought as bravely
as the older soldiers.

One night, not long after he became king, Alaric had a very strange
dream. He thought he was driving in a golden chariot through the
streets of Rome amid the shouts of the people, who hailed him as
emperor. This dream made a deep impression on his mind. He was
always thinking of it, and at last he began to have the idea that
he could make the dream come true.

“To be master of the Roman Empire,” he said to himself, “that is
indeed worth trying for; and why should I not try? With my brave
soldiers I can conquer Rome, and I shall make the attempt.”

So Alaric called his chiefs together and told them what he had made
up his mind to do.

The chiefs gave a cry of delight for they approved Page 31 of the king’s
proposal. In those days fighting was almost the only business of
chiefs, and they were always glad to be at war, especially when
there was hope of getting rich spoils. And so the Visigoth chiefs
rejoiced at the idea of war against Rome, for they knew that if
they were victorious they would have the wealth of the richest
city of the world to divide among themselves.

ALARIC AT ATHENS

Soon they got ready a great army. With Alaric in command, they
marched through Thrace and Macedonia and before long reached Athens.
There were now no great warriors in Athens, and the city surrendered
to Alaric. The Goths plundered the homes and temples of the Athenians
and then Page 32
marched to the state of Elis, in the southwestern part of Greece.
Here a famous Roman general named Stil’i-cho besieged them in their
camp. Alaric managed to force his way through the lines of the
Romans and escaped. He marched to Epirus. This was a province of
Greece that lay on the east side of the Ionian Sea. Arcadius, the
Emperor of the East, now made Alaric governor of this district
and a large region lying near it. The whole territory was called
Eastern Illyricum and formed part of the Eastern Empire.

II

Alaric now set out to make an attack on Rome, the capital of the
Western Empire. As soon as Honorius, Emperor of the West, learned
that Alaric was approaching, he fled to a strong fortress among
the mountains of North Italy. His great general Stilicho came to
his rescue and defeated Alaric near Verona. But even after this
Honorius was so afraid of Alaric that he made him governor of a
part of his empire called Western Illyricum and gave him a large
yearly income.

Honorius, however, did not keep certain of his promises to Alaric,
who consequently, in the year 408, marched to Rome and besieged
it. The cowardly emperor fled to Ravenna, leaving his generals
Page 33 to make
terms with Alaric. It was agreed that Alaric should withdraw from
Rome upon the payment of 5,000 pounds of gold and 30,000 pounds
of silver.

When Honorius read the treaty he refused to sign it. Alaric then
demanded that the city be surrendered to him, and the people, terrified,
opened their gates and even agreed that Alaric should appoint another
emperor in place of Honorius.

This new emperor, however, ruled so badly that Alaric thought it
best to restore Honorius. Then Honorius, when just about to be
treated so honorably, allowed a barbarian chief who was an ally
of his to make an attack upon Alaric. The attack was unsuccessful,
and Alaric immediately laid siege to Rome for the third time. The
city was taken, and Alaric’s dream came true. In a grand procession
he rode at the head of his army through the streets of the great
capital.

Then began the work of destruction. The Goths ran in crowds through
the city, wrecked private houses and public buildings and seized
everything of value they could find. Alaric gave orders that no
injury should be done to the Christian churches, but other splendid
buildings of the great city were stripped of the beautiful and
costly articles that they contained, and all the gold and silver
was carried away from the public treasury.

Page 34

THE BURIAL OF ALARIC IN THE BED OF THE RIVER BUSENTO AT MIDNIGHT

Page 35 In the
midst of the pillage Alaric dressed himself in splendid robes and
sat upon the throne of the emperor, with a golden crown upon his
head.

While Alaric was sitting on the throne thousands of Romans were
compelled to kneel down on the ground before him and shout out his
name as conqueror and emperor. Then the theaters and circuses were
opened, and Roman athletes and gladiators had to give performances
for the amusement of the conquerors. After six days of pillage and
pleasure Alaric and his army marched through the gates, carrying
with them the riches of Rome.

Alaric died on his way to Sicily, which he had thought to conquer
also. He felt his death coming and ordered his men to bury him in
the bed of the river Busento and to put into his grave the richest
treasures that he had taken from Rome.

This order was carried out. A large number of Roman slaves were
set to work to dig a channel and turn the water of the Busento
into it. They made the grave in the bed of the river, put Alaric’s
body into and closed it up. Then the river was turned back to its
old channel. As soon as the grave was covered up, and the water
flowed over it, the slaves who had done the work were put to death
by the Visigoth chiefs.

Page 36
ATTILA THE HUN

KING FROM 434-453 A.D.

I

The fierce and warlike tribe, called the Huns, who had driven the
Goths to seek new homes, came from Asia into Southeastern Europe
and took possession of a large territory lying north of the River
Danube.

During the first half of the fifth century the Huns had a famous
king named At’ti-la. He was only twenty-one years old when he became
their king. But although he was young, he was very brave and ambitious,
and he wanted to be a great and powerful king.

Not far from Attila’s palace there was a great rocky cave in the
mountains. In this cave lived a strange man called the “Hermit of
the Rocks.” No one knew his real name, or from what country he
had come. He was very old, with wrinkled face and long gray hair
and beard.

Many persons believed that he was a fortune-teller, so people often
went to him to inquire Page
37 what was to happen to them. One day, shortly after
he became king, Attila went to the cave to get his fortune told.

“Wise man,” said he, “look into the future and tell me what is before
me in the path of life.”

The hermit thought for a few moments, and then said, “O King, I
see you a famous conqueror, the master of many nations. I see you
going from country to country, defeating armies and destroying
cities until men call you the ‘Fear of the World.’ You heap up
vast riches, but just after you have married the woman you love
grim death strikes you down.”

With a cry of horror Attila fled from the cave. For a time he thought
of giving up his idea of becoming a great man. But he was young
and full of spirit, and very soon he remembered only what had been
said to him about his becoming a great and famous conqueror and
began to prepare for war. He gathered together the best men from
the various tribes of his people and trained them into a great
army of good soldiers.

II

About this time one of the king’s shepherds, while taking care of
cattle in the fields, noticed blood dripping from the foot of one
of the oxen. Page 38
The shepherd followed the streak of blood through the grass and at
last found the sharp point of a sword sticking out of the earth.
He dug out the weapon, carried it to the palace, and gave it to
King Attila. The king declared it was the sword of Tiew, the god
of war. He then strapped it to his side and said he would always
wear it.

A HUNNIC INVASION

“I shall never be defeated in battle,” he cried, “as long as I fight
with the sword of Tiew.”

As soon as his army was ready he marched with it into countries
which belonged to Rome. He defeated the Romans in several great
battles and captured many of their cities. The Roman Emperor
Theodosius had to ask for terms of peace. Attila agreed that there
should be peace, but soon afterwards he found out that Theodosius
had formed a plot to murder him. He was so enraged at this that he
again began war. He plundered and burned cities wherever he went,
and at last the emperor had to give him a large sum of money and
a portion of country south of the Danube.

This made peace, but the peace did not last long. In a few years
Attila appeared at the head of an army of 700,000 men. With this
great force he marched across Germany and into Gaul. He rode on a
beautiful black horse, and carried at his side the sword of Tiew.
He attacked and destroyed Page
40 towns and killed the inhabitants without mercy. The
people had such dread of him that he was called the “Scourge of
God” and the “Fear of the World.”

III

Attila and his terrible Huns marched through Gaul until they came to
the city of Orleans. Here the people bravely resisted the invaders.
They shut their gates and defended themselves in every way they
could. In those times all towns of any great size were surrounded by
strong walls. There was war constantly going on nearly everywhere,
and there were a great many fierce tribes and chiefs who lived by
robbing their neighbors. So the towns and castles in which there
was much money or other valuable property were not safe without
high and strong walls.

Attila tried to take Orleans, but soon after he began to attack
the walls he saw a great army at a distance coming towards the
city. He quickly gathered his forces together, marched to the
neighboring plain of Champagne and halted at the place where the
city of Châlons (shah-lon’) now stands.

The army which Attila saw was an army of 300,000 Romans and Visigoths.
It was led by a Roman general name A-ë’ti-us and the Visigoth king,
The-od’o-ric. The Visigoths after the death Page 42 of Alaric had settled in parts of
Gaul, and their king had now agreed to join the Romans against
the common enemy—the terrible Huns. So the great army of
the Romans and Visigoths marched up and attacked the Huns at
Châlons. It was a fierce battle. Both sides fought with the
greatest bravery. At first the Huns seemed to be winning. They
drove back the Romans and Visigoths from the field, and in the
fight Theodoric was killed.

ATTILA AND HIS TERRIBLE HUNS

Aetius now began to fear that he would be beaten, but just at that
moment Thor’is-mond, the son of Theodoric, made another charge
against the Huns. He had taken command of the Visigoths when his
father was killed, and now he led them on to fight. They were all
eager to have revenge for the death of their king, so they fought
like lions and swept across the plain with great fury. The Huns
were soon beaten on every side, and Attila himself fled to his
camp. It was the first time he had ever been defeated. Thorismond,
the conqueror, was lifted upon his shield on the battle-field and
hailed as king of the Visigoths.

When Attila reached his camp he had all his baggage and wagons
gathered in a great heap. He intended to set fire to it and jump
into the flames if the Romans should come there to attack him.

“Here I will perish in the flames,” he cried, “rather than surrender
to my enemies.”

Page 43 But the
Romans did not come to attack him, and in a few days he marched
back to his own country.

Very soon, however, he was again on the war path. This time he
invaded Italy. He attacked and plundered the town of Aq’ui-le’i-a,
and the terrified inhabitants fled for their lives to the hills
and mountains. Some of them took refuge in the islands and marshes
of the Adriatic Sea. Here they founded Venice.

THORISMOND LIFTED UPON THE SHIELD

The people of Rome and the Emperor Valentinian were greatly alarmed
at the approach of the dreaded Attila. He was now near the city,
and they had no army strong enough to send against him. Rome Page 45 would have
been again destroyed if it had not been for Pope Leo I who went
to the camp of Attila and persuaded him not to attack the city.
It is said that the barbarian king was awed by the majestic aspect
and priestly robes of Leo. It is also told that the apostles Peter
and Paul appeared to Attila in his camp and threatened him with
death if he should attack Rome. He did not go away, however, without
getting a large sum of money as ransom.

ST. LEO HALTING ATTILA AT THE GATES OF ROME

IV

Shortly after leaving Italy Attila suddenly died. Only the day
before his death he had married a beautiful woman whom he loved
very much.

The Huns mourned their king in a barbarous way. They shaved their
heads and cut themselves on their faces with knives, so that their
blood, instead of their tears, flowed for the loss of their great
leader. They enclosed his body in three coffins—one of gold,
one of silver, and one of iron—and they buried him at night,
in a secret spot in the mountains. When the funeral was over, they
killed the slaves who had dug the grave, as the Visigoths had done
after the burial of Alaric.

After the death of Attila we hear little more of the Huns.

Page 46
GENSERIC THE VANDAL

KING FROM 427-477 A.D.

I

The Vandals were another wild and fierce tribe that came from the
shores of the Baltic and invaded central and southern Europe in
the later times of the Roman Empire.

In the fifth century some of these people occupied a region in
the south of Spain. One of their most celebrated kings was name
Gen’ser-ic. He became king in 427, when he was but twenty-one years
of age. He was lame in one leg and looked as if he were a very
ordinary person.

Like most of the Vandals, he was a cruel and cunning man, but he
had great ability in many ways. He fought in battles even when
a boy and was known far and wide for his bravery and skill as a
leader.

About the time that Genseric became king, the governor of the Roman
province in the north of Africa, on the Mediterranean coast, was
a man called Count Boniface. This Count Boniface had been a Page 47 good and loyal
officer of Rome; but a plot was formed against him by Aëtius,
the general who had fought Attila at Châlons. The Roman emperor
at the time of the plot was Valentinian III. He was then too young
to act as ruler, so the affairs of government were managed by his
mother Placid’i-a.

PLACIDIA AND HER SON VALENTINIAN

Aëtius advised Placidia to dismiss Boniface and call him home
from Africa. He said the count was a traitor, and that he was going
to make war against Rome. At the same time he wrote secretly to
Count Boniface and told him that if he came to Rome the empress
would put him to death.

Boniface believed this story, and he refused to return to Rome.
He also sent a letter to Genseric, inviting him to come to Africa
with an army.

Genseric was greatly delighted to receive the invitation from Boniface.
He had long wanted to Page
48 attack Rome and take from her some of the rich countries
she had conquered, and now a good opportunity offered. So he got
ready a great army of his brave Vandals, and they sailed across
the Strait of Gibraltar to Africa.

They soon gained possession of that part of the African coast on
which they had landed, and marched into other parts of the coast
and captured towns and cities. By this time Boniface had learned
all about the wicked plot of Aëtius. He now regretted having
invited the Vandals to Africa and tried to induce them to return
to Spain, but Genseric sternly refused.

“Never,” he said, “shall I go back to Spain until I am master of
Africa.”

“Then,” cried Boniface, “I will drive you back.”

Soon afterwards there was a battle between the Romans and Vandals,
and the Romans were defeated. They were also defeated in several
other battles. At last they had to flee for safety to two or three
towns which the Vandals had not yet taken. One of these towns was
Hippo.

Genseric captured this town after a siege of thirteen months. Then
he burned the churches and other buildings, and laid waste the
neighboring country. This was what the Vandals did whenever they took
a town, and so the word vandal came to Page 49 mean a person who needlessly or
wantonly destroys valuable property.

A great many of the natives of Africa joined the army of Genseric.
They had for a long time been ill-treated by the Romans and were
glad to see them defeated. Genseric continued his work of conquest
until he took the city of Carthage, which he made the capital of
his new kingdom in Africa.

But he was not content with conquering merely on land. He built
great fleets and sailed over the Mediterranean, capturing trading
vessels. For many years he plundered towns along the coasts, so
that the name of Genseric became a terror to the people of all
the countries bordering the Mediterranean.

II

One day a Roman ship came to Carthage with a messenger from the
Empress Eudoxia to Genseric. Eudoxia was the widow of Valentinian
III. After ruling several years, Valentinian had just been murdered
by a Roman noble named Maximus, who had at once made himself emperor.

When the messenger entered the room where Genseric was, he said:

“Great king, I bring you a message from the Empress Eudoxia. She
begs your help. She and Page
50 her two beautiful daughters are in danger in Rome.
She wishes you to protect them against Maximus. She invites you to
come with an army to Rome and take the city. She and her friends
will help you as much as they can.”

With a cry of joy Genseric sprang to his feet and exclaimed:

“Tell the empress that I accept her invitation. I shall set out
for Rome immediately. I shall set out for Rome immediately. I shall
protect Eudoxia and her friends.”

Genseric then got ready a fleet and a great army, and sailed across
the Mediterranean to the mouth of the Tiber. When the Emperor Maximus
heard that the Vandals were coming he prepared to flee from the
city, and he advised the Senate to do the same. The people were
so angry at this that they put him to death and threw his body
into the river.

Three days later Genseric and his army were at the gates of Rome.
There was no one to oppose them, and they marched in and took possession
of the city. It was only forty-five years since Alaric had been there
and carried off all the valuable things he could find. But since
then Rome had become again grand and wealthy, so there was plenty
for Genseric and his Vandals to carry away. They spent fourteen days
in the work of plunder. They sacked the temples and public buildings
and Page 52 private
houses and the emperor’s palace, and they took off to their ships
immense quantities of gold and silver and jewels and furniture,
and destroyed hundreds of beautiful and priceless works of art.

THE VANDALS IN ROME

The Vandal king also put to death a number of Roman citizens and
carried away many more as slaves. He took Eudoxia and her daughters
with him to Carthage. One of the daughters was soon afterwards
married to Genseric’s eldest son, Hunneric.

III

Some years after the capture of Rome by Genseric, there was a Roman
emperor named Ma-jo’ri-an. He was a good ruler and a brave man.
The Vandals still continued to attack and plunder cities in Italy
and other countries belonging to Rome, and Majorian resolved to
punish them. So he got together a great army and built a fleet
of three hundred ships to carry his troops to Carthage.

But he first marched his men across the Alps, through Gaul, and
down to the seaport of Carthagena in Spain, where his fleet was
stationed. He took this route because he expected to add to his
forces as he went along. Before sailing with his army for Carthage
he wished very much to see with his own eyes what sort of people the
Vandals were Page 53
and whether they were so powerful at home as was generally believed.

So he dyed his hair and disguised himself in other ways and went
to Carthage, pretending that he was a messenger or ambassador from
the Roman emperor, coming to talk about peace. Genseric received
him with respect and entertained him hospitably, not knowing that
he was the Emperor Majorian. Of course peace was not made. The
emperor left Carthage after having got as much information as he
could.

But Genseric did not wait for the Roman fleet to come to attack
him in his capital. When he got word that it was in the Bay of
Carthagena, he sailed there with a fleet of his own and in a single
day burned or sank nearly all the Roman ships.

After this the Vandals became more than ever the terror of the
Mediterranean and all the countries bordering upon it. Every year
their ships went round the coasts from Asia Minor to Spain, attacking
and plundering cities on their way and carrying off prisoners.

All the efforts of the Romans failed to put a stop to these ravages.
The Emperor Leo, who ruled over the eastern division of the Empire,
fitted out a great fleet at Constantinople to make another attempt
to suppress the pirates. There were more Page 54 than a thousand ships in this fleet
and they carried a hundred thousand men. The command of the expedition
was given to Bas-il’i-cus, the brother of Emperor Leo’s wife.

Basilicus sailed with his ships to Africa and landed the army not
far from Carthage. Genseric asked for a truce for five days to
consider terms of peace, and the truce was granted. But the cunning
Vandal was not thinking of peace. He only wanted time to carry
out a plan he had made to destroy the Roman fleet.

One dark night, during the truce, he filled the largest of his
ships with some of the bravest of his soldiers, and they sailed
silently and cautiously in among the Roman ships, towing behind
them large boats filled with material that would easily burn.

These boats were set on fire and floated against the Roman vessels,
which also were soon on fire. The flames quickly spread, and in
a very short time a great part of the Roman fleet was destroyed.
Basilicus fled with as many ships as he could save, and returned
to Constantinople.

This was the last attempt of the Romans to conquer the Vandals.
Genseric lived to a good old age, and when he died, in 477, all
the countries he had conquered during his life still remained parts
of the Vandal dominions.

Page 55
THEODORIC THE OSTROGOTH

KING FROM 475-526 A.D.

I

The Ostrogoths, or East Goths, who had settled in Southern Russia,
at length pushed southward and westward to the mouth of the Danube.

They were continually invading countries belonging to the Romans
and their warlike raids were dreaded by the emperors of the Eastern
Roman Empire, who lived at Constantinople. One emperor gave them
land and money, and thus stopped their invasions for a time.

The most famous of the Ostrogoth kings was The-od’or-ic the Great.
He was the son of The-od’e-mir, who was also a king of the Ostrogoths.
When Theodoric was eight years old he was sent to Constantinople to
be held as a hostage by Leo, the Emperor of the East. In former
times, when kings made treaties with one another, it was customary
for one to give to the other a pledge or security that he would
fulfill the conditions of the treaty. The pledge usually given
was some important Page
56 person or persons, perhaps the king’s son or a number
of his chief men. Persons so given as a security were called hostages.
When Theodoric was a boy he was given as a hostage for his father’s
good faith in carrying out a treaty with the Emperor and was sent
to Constantinople to live. Here the youth was well treated by Leo.
He was educated with great care and trained in all the exercises
of war.

Theodemir died in 475, and then Theodoric returned to his own country
and became king of the Ostrogoths. At this time he was eighteen
years of age. He was handsome and brave and people loved him, for
in those days a man who was tall and strong and brave was liked
by everybody.

II

For some years after he became king Theodoric had frequent wars
with other Gothic kings and also with the Roman Emperor Ze’no.
He was nearly always successful in battle, and at last Zeno began
to think it would be better to try to make friends with him. So
he gave Theodoric some rich lands and made him commander of the
Imperial Guard of Constantinople.

But the Emperor soon became tired of having the Ostrogoth king
at his court, and to get rid of him Page 57 he agreed that Theodoric should
go with his army to Italy, and take that country from O-do-a’-cer.
Theodoric was delighted at the proposal and began at once to make
his preparations.

Odoacer was at that time king of Italy. Before he became king he
had been a general in the army of Romulus Augustulus, the Western
Roman Emperor. The soldiers of the army were not satisfied with
their pay, and when they asked for more they did not get it. Then
they drove Romulus Augustulus from the throne, and chose Odoacer
to succeed him. But Odoacer would not take the name of emperor.
He was called the “patrician” of Italy, and he ruled the country
well.

Theodoric started for Italy, not only with a great army, but with
all the people of his country. He meant to take Italy and be its
king and settle in it with all his Ostrogoths. When he set out he
had with him two hundred and fifty thousand persons—men,
women, and children—with a great number of horses and wagons
to carry them and their things. He had also an army of sixty thousand
brave soldiers.

It was a long and weary journey from the shores of the Black Sea
overland to the foot of the Alps Mountains and across the Alps into
Italy. Here and there on the way they met savage tribes that tried
to stop them, but Theodoric defeated the Page 58 savages and took a great many of
them prisoners. He made these prisoners, women as well as men,
help carry the baggage and do other work.

INVASION OF BARBARIANS

The journey took months, but at last the Ostrogoths reached the
top of the Alps. Then they could see, stretched out before them,
the beautiful land of Italy. They were all delighted. They shouted
and danced with joy, and Theodoric cried out:

“There is the country which shall be our home. Let us march on.
It certainly shall be ours.”

Then they passed quickly down, and soon they were in Italy. Odoacer
had heard of their coming and he got ready an army to drive them away.
Theodoric also got his fighting men ready. The Page 59 two armies met, and there was a
great battle near the town of Aquileia. Odoacer was defeated. Then
he tried to get Theodoric to leave Italy by offering him a large
sum of money.

“I will give you,” said he, “thousands of pounds of gold and silver
if you agree to go back to your own country.”

But Theodoric would not go. He said he had as good a right to be
king of Italy as Odoacer, and he would remain and conquer the country
and be its king. Soon after there was another battle, near Verona,
and Odoacer was again defeated.

Theodoric came very near being killed in battle. He was saved only
by the courage of his mother. She was in his camp, and at one time
she saw a number of the Ostrogoths running away from that part
of the battle-field where her son was fighting, thus leaving him
without support. The mother rushed forward and stopped the fleeing
men. She made them feel that it was a shame for them to desert
their leader, and they at once returned to the field and fought
beside their king until the battle was won.

After the battle of Verona, Odoacer went with his army to the city
of Ravenna, and remained there for some time. Theodoric followed
with his Ostrogoths and tried to take the city, but there was a Page 60 very strong
wall around it, and the Ostrogoths could not capture it. Although
Theodoric was not able to take Ravenna, he did not remain idle.
He marched off to other parts of the country, and took possession
of towns and districts wherever he went.

After a while Odoacer got together a better army than he had before,
and made another effort to defeat Theodoric. But he again failed.
Theodoric defeated him in another great battle, which was fought
on the banks of the River Adda. After this battle Odoacer again
fled to Ravenna. Theodoric followed again and laid siege to the
city. This time his army surrounded it and kept provisions from
being sent in, and at last, when there was no food in the city
for the soldiers or the people to eat, Odoacer had to surrender.

A treaty was then made between the two kings and both agreed that
they should rule together over Italy, each to have equal power. But
a few days afterwards Theodoric murdered Odoacer while sitting at
a banquet, and then made himself the sole king of Italy. He divided
one-third of the land of the country among his own followers. So the
Ostrogoths settled in Italy, and Ostrogoths, Romans, and Visigoths
were governed by Theodoric as one people.

Theodoric died at the age of seventy-one after ruling Italy for
thirty-three years.

Page 61
CLOVIS

KING FROM 481-511 A.D.

I

While the power of the Roman Empire was declining there dwelt on
the banks of the River Rhine a number of savage Teuton tribes called
Franks. The word Frank means free, and those tribes took
pride in being known as Franks or freemen.

The Franks occupied the east bank of the Rhine for about two hundred
years. Then many of the tribes crossed the river in search of new
homes. The region west of the river was at that time called Gaul.
Here the Franks established themselves and became a powerful people.
From their name the country was afterwards called France.

Each tribe of the Franks had its own king. The greatest of all
these kings was Chlodwig, or Clovis, as we call him, who became
ruler of his tribe in the year 481, just six years after Theodoric
became king of the Ostrogoths. Clovis was then only sixteen years
of age. But though he was so young he proved in a very short time
that he could govern as Page
62 well as older men. He was intelligent and brave.
No one ever knew him to be afraid of anything even when he was
but a child. His father, who was named Chil’der-ic, often took
him to wars which the Franks had with neighboring tribes, and he
was very proud of his son’s bravery. The young man was also a bold
and skillful horseman. He could tame and ride the most fiery horse.

When Clovis became king of the Franks a great part of Gaul still
belonged to Rome. This part was then governed by a Roman general,
named Sy-ag’ri-us. Clovis resolved to drive the Romans out of the
country, and he talked over the matter with the head men of his
army.

“My desire,” said he, “is that the Franks shall have possession of
every part of this fair land. I shall drive the Romans and their
friends away and make Gaul the empire of the Franks.”

II

At this time the Romans had a great army in Gaul. It was encamped
near the city of Soissons (swah-son’) and was commanded by
Syagrius. Clovis resolved to attack it and led his army at once
to Soissons. When he came near the city he summoned Syagrius to
surrender. Syagrius refused and asked for an interview with the
commander of the Franks. Page
63 Clovis consented to meet him, and an arrangement was
made that the meeting should take place in the open space between
the two armies. When Clovis stepped out in front of his own army,
accompanied by some of his savage warriors, Syagrius also came
forward. But the moment he saw the king of the Franks he laughed
loudly and exclaimed:

“A boy! A boy has come to fight me! The Franks with a boy to lead
them have come to fight the Romans.”

Clovis was very angry at this insulting language and shouted back:

“Ay, but this boy will conquer you.”

Then both sides prepared for battle. The Romans thought that they
would win the victory easily, but they were mistaken. Every time
that they made a charge upon the Franks they were beaten back by
the warriors of Clovis. The young king himself fought bravely at
the head of his men and with his own sword struck down a number
of the Romans. He tried to find Syagrius and fight with him; but
the Roman commander was nowhere to be found. Early in the battle
he had fled from the field, leaving his men to defend themselves
as best they could.

The Franks gained a great victory. With their gallant boy king leading
them on they drove the Page
64 Roman’s before them, and when the battle was over
they took possession of the city of Soissons. Clovis afterwards
conquered all the other Frankish chiefs and made himself king of
all the Franks.

III

Not very long after Clovis became king he heard of a beautiful
young girl, the niece of Gon’de-baud, king of Burgundy, and he
thought he would like to marry her. Her name was Clo-tilde’, and
she was an orphan, for her wicked uncle Gondebaud had killed her
father and mother. Clovis sent one of his nobles to Gondebaud to
ask her for his wife. At first Gondebaud thought of refusing to
let the girl go. He feared that she might have him punished for
the murder of her parents if she became the wife of so powerful
a man as Clovis. But he was also afraid that by refusing he would
provoke the anger of Clovis; so he permitted the girl to be taken
to the court of the king of the Franks. Clovis was delighted when
he saw her; and they were immediately married.

Clotilde was a devout Christian, and she wished very much to convert
her husband, who, like most of his people, was a worshiper of the
heathen gods. But Clovis was not willing to give up his own religion.
Nevertheless Clotilde continued to Page 65 do every thing she could to persuade
him to become a Christian.

CROSSING THE RHINE

Soon after his marriage Clovis had a war with a tribe called the
Alemanni. This tribe had crossed the Rhine from Germany and taken
possession of some of the eastern provinces of Gaul. Clovis speedily
got his warriors together and marched against them. A battle was
fought at a place called Tolbiac, not far from the present city
of Cologne. In this battle the Franks were nearly beaten, for the
Alemanni were fierce and brave men and skillful fighters. When Clovis
saw his soldiers driven back several times he began to lose hope,
but at that Page 66
moment he thought of his pious wife and of the powerful God of
whom she had so often spoken. Then he raised his hands to heaven
and earnestly prayed to that God.

“O God of Clotilde,” he cried, “help me in this my hour of need.
If thou wilt give me victory now I will believe in thee.”

Almost immediately the course of the battle began to change in
favor of the Franks. Clovis led his warriors forward once more,
and this time the Alemanni fled before them in terror. The Franks
gained a great victory, and they believed it was in answer to the
prayer of their king.

When Clovis returned home he did not forget his promise. He told
Clotilde how he had prayed to her God for help and how his prayer
had been heard, and he said he was now ready to become a Christian.
Clotilde was very happy on hearing this, and she arranged that her
husband should be baptized in the church of Rheims on the following
Christmas day.

Meanwhile Clovis issued a proclamation to his people declaring
that he was a believer in Christ, and giving orders that all the
images and temples of the heathen gods should be destroyed. This
was immediately done, and many of the people followed his example
and became Christians.

Page 67

THE BAPTISM OF CLOVIS

Page 68 Clovis was
a very earnest and fervent convert. One day the bishop of Rheims,
while instructing him in the doctrines of Christianity, described
the death of Christ. As the bishop proceeded Clovis became much
excited, and at last jumped up from his seat and exclaimed:

“Had I been there with my brave Franks I would have avenged His
wrongs.”

On Christmas day a great multitude assembled in the church at Rheims
to witness the baptism of the king. A large number of his fierce
warriors were baptized at the same time. The service was performed
with great ceremony by the bishop of Rheims, and the title of “Most
Christian King” was conferred on Clovis by the Pope. This title
was ever afterwards borne by the kings of France.

Like most of the kings and chiefs of those rude and barbarous times,
Clovis often did cruel and wicked things. When Rheims was captured,
before he became a Christian, a golden vase was taken by some soldiers
from the church. The bishop asked Clovis to have it returned, and
Clovis bade him wait until the division of spoils. All the valuable
things taken by soldiers in war were divided among the whole army,
each man getting his share according to rank. Such things were
called spoils.

Page 69

CLOVIS FINDS FAULT WITH THE SOLDIER

When the next time came for dividing spoils Clovis asked that he
might have the vase over and above his regular share, his intention
being to return it to the bishop. But one of the soldiers objected,
saying that the king should have no more than his fair share, and
at the same time shattered the vase with his ax. Clovis was very
angry, but at the time said nothing. Soon afterwards, however,
there was the usual examination of the arms Page 70 of the soldiers to see that they
were in proper condition for active service. Clovis himself took
part in the examination, and when he came to the soldier who had
broken the vase he found fault with the condition of his weapons
and with one blow of his battle-ax struck the man dead.

IV

The next war that Clovis engaged in was with some tribes of the
Goths who occupied the country called Aquitaine lying south of the
River Loire. He defeated them and added Aquitaine to the kingdom
of the Franks.

Clovis afterwards made war upon other people of Gaul and defeated
them. At last all the provinces from the lower Rhine to the Pyrenees
Mountains were compelled to acknowledge him as king. He then went
to reside at the city of Paris, which he made the capital of his
kingdom. He died there A.D. 511.

The dynasty or family of kings to which he belonged is known in history
as the Merovingian dynasty. It was so called from Me-ro-væ’us,
the father of Childeric and grandfather of Clovis.

Page 71
JUSTINIAN THE GREAT

EMPEROR FROM 527-565 A.D.

I

In the time of Clovis the country now called Bulgaria was inhabited
by Goths. One day a poor shepherd boy, about sixteen years of age,
left his mountain home in that country to go to the city of
Constantinople, which was many miles away. The boy had no money
to pay the expenses of the journey, but he was determined to go,
even though he should have to walk every step of the road and live
on fruits that he could gather by the way. He was a bright, clever
boy who had spent his life hitherto in a village, but was now eager
to go out into the world to seek his fortune.

Some years before, this boy’s uncle, who was named Justin, had
gone to Constantinople and joined the Roman army. He was so brave
and so good a soldier that he soon came to be commander of the
imperial guard which attended the emperor.

The poor shepherd boy had heard of the success of his uncle, and
this was the reason why he resolved to set off for the big city. So
he started Page 72
down the mountain and trudged along the valley in high hope, feeling
certain that he would reach the end of his journey in safety. It
was a difficult and dangerous journey, and it took him several
weeks, for he had to go through dark forests and to cross rivers
and high hills; but at last one afternoon in midsummer he walked
through the main gate of Constantinople, proud and happy that he
had accomplished his purpose.

He had no trouble in finding his Uncle Justin; for everybody in
Constantinople knew the commander of the emperor’s guards. And
when the boy appeared at the great man’s house and told who he
was, his uncle received him with much kindness. He took him into
his own family, and gave him the best education that could be had
in the city.

As the boy was very talented and eager for knowledge he soon became
an excellent scholar. He grew up a tall, good-looking man, with
black eyes and curly hair, and he was always richly dressed. He was
well liked at the emperor’s court, and was respected by everybody
on account of his learning.

II

One day a great change came for both uncle and nephew. The emperor
died; and the people chose Page
74 Justin to succeed him. He took the title of Jus-ti’nus
I, and so the young scholar, who had once been a poor shepherd
boy, was now nephew of an emperor.

THE COURT OF JUSTINIAN THE GREAT

After some years Justinus was advised by his nobles to take the
young man, who had adopted the name of Justinian, to help him in
ruling the empire. Justinus agreed to this proposal, for he was
now old and in feeble health, and not able himself to attend to
the important affairs of government. He therefore called the great
lords of his court together and in their presence he placed a crown
on the head of his nephew, who thus became joint emperor with his
uncle. The uncle died only a few months after, and then Justinian
was declared emperor. This was in the year 527. Justinian reigned
for nearly forty years and did so many important things that he
was afterwards called Justinian the Great.

He had many wars during his reign, but he himself did not take
part in them. He was not experienced as a soldier, for he had spent
most of his time in study. He was fortunate enough, however, to
have two great generals to lead his armies. One of them was named
Belisarius and the other Narses.

Belisarius was one of the greatest soldiers that ever lived. He
gained wonderful victories for Justinian, and conquered some of
the old Roman provinces that had been lost for many years.

Page 75 The victories
of these two generals largely helped to make the reign of Justinian
remarkable in history. Many years before he ascended the throne the
Vandals, as you have read, conquered the northern part of Africa
and established a kingdom there with Carthage as its capital. The
Vandal king in the time of Justinian was named Gel’i-mer, and he
lived in Carthage.

Justinian resolved to make war on this king in order to recover
Northern Africa and make it again a part of the Empire. So Belisarius
was sent to Africa with an army of thirty-five thousand men and
five thousand horses, that were carried on a fleet of six hundred
ships. It took this fleet three months to make the voyage from
Constantinople to Africa. The same voyage may now be made in a very
few days. But in the time of Belisarius there were no steamships,
and nothing was known of the power of steam for moving machinery.
The ships or galleys were sailing vessels; and when there was no
wind they could make no progress except by rowing.

When Belisarius reached Africa he left five men as a guard in each
vessel, and with the body of his army he marched for some days
along the coast. The people received him in a friendly way, for
they had grown tired of the rule of the Vandals, and preferred
to be under the government of the Romans.

Page 76 About ten
miles from Carthage he met a large army led by the brother of Gelimer.
A battle immediately took place, and the Vandals were utterly defeated.
Gelimer’s brother was killed, and the king himself, who had followed
with another army and joined the fight, was also defeated and fled
from the field. Belisarius then proceeded to Carthage and took
possession of the city.

THE BATTLE AT CARTHAGE

Soon afterwards Gelimer collected another army and fought the Romans
in another battle, twenty miles from Carthage; but Belisarius again
defeated him and the Vandal king again fled. This was the end of
the Vandal king in Africa. In a short time Gelimer gave himself
up to Belisarius, who took him to Constantinople. Justinian set
apart an estate for him to live upon, and the conquered king passed
the rest of his life in peaceful retirement.

After conquering the Vandals Justinian resolved to conquer Italy,
which was then held by the Ostrogoths. A large army was got together
and put under the command of Belisarius and Narses, who immediately
set out for Italy. When they arrived there they marched straight
to Rome, and after some fighting took possession of the city. But
in a few months, Vit’i-ges, king of the Goths, appeared with an
army before the gates and challenged Belisarius and Narses to come
out and fight.

The Roman generals, however, were not then ready to fight, and so
the Ostrogoth king laid siege to the city, thinking that he would
compel the Romans to surrender.

But instead of having any thought of surrender, Belisarius was
preparing his men for fight, and when they were ready he attacked
Vitiges and defeated him. Vitiges retired to Ravenna, and Belisarius
quickly followed, and made such an assault on the city that it
was compelled to surrender. The Ostrogoth army was captured, and
Vitiges was taken to Constantinople a prisoner.

Belisarius and Narses then went to Northern Page 78 Italy, and, after a long war, conquered
all the tribes there. Thus the power of Justinian was established
throughout the whole country, and the city of Rome was again under
the dominion of a Roman emperor.

BELISARIUS BESIEGES RAVENNA

While his brave generals were winning these victories for the Empire,
Justinian himself was busy in making improvements of various kinds
at the capital. He erected great public buildings, which were not
only useful but ornamental to the city. The most remarkable of them
was the very magnificent Page
79 cathedral of St. So-phi’a, for a long time the grandest
church structure in the world. The great temple still exists in all
its beauty and grandeur, but is now used as a Mohammedan mosque.

But the most important thing that Justinian did—the work for
which he is most celebrated—was the improving and collecting
of the laws. He made many excellent new laws and reformed many of
the old laws, so that he became famous as one of the greatest of
the world’s legislators. For a long time the Roman laws had been
difficult to understand. There was a vast number of them, and different
writers differed widely as to what the laws really were and what
they meant. Justinian employed a great lawyer, named Trib-o’ni-an,
to collect and simplify the principal laws. The collection which
he made was called the Code of Justinian.
It still exists, and is the model according to which most of the
countries of Europe have made their laws.

Justinian also did a great deal of good by establishing a number
of manufactures in Constantinople. It was he who first brought
silk-worms into Europe.

To the last year of his life Justinian was strong and active and
a hard worker. He often worked or studied all day and all night
without eating or sleeping. He died in 565 at the age of eighty-three
years.

Page 80
MOHAMMED

LIVED FROM 570-632 A.D.

I

A great number of people in Asia and Africa and much of those in
Turkey in Europe profess the Mo-ham’me-dan religion. They are called
Mohammedans, Mus’sul-mans or Moslems; and the proper name for their
religion is “Islam,” which means obedience, or submission.

The founder of this religion was a man named Mo-ham’med, or Ma-hom’et.
He was born in the year 570, in Mecca, a city of Arabia. His parents
were poor people, though, it is said, they were descended from
Arabian princes. They died when Mohammed was a child, and his uncle,
a kind-hearted man named A’bu-Ta-lïb’, took him home and brought
him up.

When the boy grew old enough he took care of his uncle’s sheep and
camels. Sometimes he went on journeys with his uncle to different
parts of Arabia, to help him in his business as a trader. On these
journeys Mohammed used to ride on a camel, and he soon became a
skillful camel-driver.

Page 81 Mohammed
was very faithful and honest in all his work. He always spoke the
truth and never broke a promise. “I have given my promise,” he
would say, “and I must keep it.” He became so well known in Mecca
for being truthful and trustworthy that people gave him the name
of El Amin, which means “the truthful.”

At this time he was only sixteen years of age; but the rich traders
had so much confidence in him that they gave him important business
to attend to, and trusted him with large sums of money. He often
went with caravans to a port on the shore of the Red Sea, sixty-five
miles from Mecca, and sold there the goods carried by the camels.
Then he guided the long line of camels back to Mecca, and faithfully
paid over to the owners of the goods the money he had received.

Mohammed had no school education. He could neither read nor write.
But he was not ignorant. He knew well how to do the work intrusted
to him, and was a first-rate man of business.

II

One day, when Mohammed was about twenty-five years old, he was
walking through the bazaar or market-place, of Mecca when he met
the chief Page 82
camel-driver of a wealthy woman named Kha-dï’jah. This woman was
a widow, who was carrying on the business left her by her husband.
As soon as the camel-driver saw Mohammed he stopped him and said:

“My mistress wishes to see you before noon. I think she intends
to engage you to take charge of her caravans.”

Mohammed waited to hear no more. As quickly as possible he went
to the house of Khadijah; for he was well pleased at the thought
of being employed in so important a service. The widow received
him in a very friendly way. She said:

“I have heard much of you among the traders. They say that though
you are so young you are a good caravan manager and can be trusted.
Are you willing to take charge of my caravans and give your whole
time and service to me?”

Mohammed was delighted.

“I accept your offer,” said he, “and I shall do all I can to serve
and please you.”

Khadijah then engaged him as the manager of her business; and he
served her well and faithfully. She thought a great deal of him,
and he was much attracted to her, and soon they came to love one
another and were married.

As he was now the husband of a rich woman he Page 83 did not need to work very hard.
He still continued to attend to his wife’s business; but he did
not make so many journeys as before. He spent much of his time
in thinking about religion. He learned all that he could about
Judaism and Christianity; but he was not satisfied with either of
them.

At that time most of the people of Arabia worshiped idols. Very
few of them were Christians.

Mohammed was very earnest and serious. In a cave on Mount Hira, near
Mecca, he spent several weeks every year in prayer and religious
meditation. He declared that, while praying in his cave, he often
had visions of God and heaven. He said that many times the angel
Gabriel appeared to him and revealed to him the religion which he
afterwards taught his followers. As he himself could not write,
he committed to memory all that the angel told him, and had it
written in a book. This book is called the “Koran,” which means,
like our own word Bible, the “Book.” The Koran is the Bible of
Mohammedans.

III

When Mohammed returned home after the angel had first spoken to him,
he told his wife of what he had seen and heard. She at once believed
and so Page 84
became a convert to the new religion. She fell upon her knees at
the feet of her husband and cried out:

“There is but one God. Mohammed is God’s prophet.”

Mohammed then told the story to other members of his family. Some
of them believed and became his first followers. Soon afterwards
he began to preach to the people. He spoke in the market and other
public places. Most of those who heard him laughed at what he told
them; but some poor people and a few slaves believed him and adopted
the new religion. Others said he was a dreamer and a fool.

Mohammed, however, paid no heed to the insults he received. He
went on telling about the appearance of Gabriel and preaching the
doctrines which he said the angel had ordered him to teach the
people.

Often while speaking in public Mohammed had what he called a “vision
of heavenly things.” At such times his face grew pale as death,
his eyes became red and staring, he spoke in a loud voice, and
his body trembled violently. Then he would tell what he had seen
in his vision.

After a time the number of his followers began to increase. People
came from distant parts of Page
86 Arabia and from neighboring countries to hear him.
One day six of the chief men of Me-dï’na, one of the largest
cities of Arabia, listened earnestly to his preaching and were
converted. When they returned home they talked of the new religion
to their fellow-citizens, and a great many of them became believers.

MOHAMMED PREACHING TO HIS FOLLOWER IN THE DESERT

But the people of Mecca, Mohammed’s own home, were nearly all opposed
to him. They would not believe what he preached, and they called him
an impostor. The people of the tribe to which he himself belonged
were the most bitter against him. They even threatened to put him
to death as an enemy of the gods.

About this time Mohammed’s uncle and wife died, and he had then
hardly any friends in Mecca. He therefore resolved to leave that
city and go to Medina. Numbers of the people there believed his
doctrines and wished him to come and live among them. So he secretly
left his native town and fled from his enemies. With a few faithful
companions he made his escape to Medina.

It was in the year of our Lord 622 that Mohammed fled from Mecca.
This event is very important in Mohammedan history. It is called
“the flight of the prophet,” or “the Hej’i-ra,” a word which means
flight. The Hejira is the beginning of the Mohammedan era;
and so in all countries where the rulers and people are Mohammedans,
the years are counted from the Hejira instead of from the birth
of Christ.

THE MOSQUE OF AHMEDIEH AND THE OBELISK AT CONSTANTINOPLE

On his arrival in Medina the people received Mohammed with great
rejoicing. He lived there the remainder of his life. A splendid
church was built for him in Medina. It was called a mosque, and
all Mohammedan churches, or places of worship, are called by this
name. It means a place for prostration or prayer.

Page 88

MOHAMMED ENTERING MECCA, PREACHING THE UNITY OF GOD

Page 89
IV

Mohammed thought that it was right to spread his religion by force,
and to make war on “unbelievers”, as he called all people who did
not accept his teaching. He therefore got together an army and fought
battles and unbelievers. He gained many victories. He marched against
Mecca with an army of ten thousand men, and the city surrendered
with little resistance. The people then joined his religion and
destroyed their idols. Before very long all the inhabitants of
Arabia and many of the people of the neighboring countries became
Mohammedans.

Mohammed died in Medina in the year of our Lord 632, or year 11
of the Hejira. He was buried in the mosque in which he had held
religious services for so many years; and Medina has ever since
been honored, because it contains the tomb of the Prophet. It is
believed by his followers that the body still lies in the coffin
in the same state as when it was first buried. There is also a
story that the coffin of Mohammed rests somewhere between heaven
and earth, suspended in the air. But this fable was invented by
enemies to bring ridicule on the prophet and his religion.

Page 90 The tomb
of Mohammed is visited every year by people from all Mohammedan
countries. Mecca, the birthplace of the prophet, is also visited by
vast numbers of pilgrims. Every Mussulman is bound by his religion
to make a visit or pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in his life.
Whenever a Mussulman prays, no matter in what part of the world
he may be, he turns his face towards Mecca, as if he were always
thinking of going there.

PILGRIMS MARCHING THROUGH THE DESERT TO MECCA

Good Mohammedans pray five times every day, and there is a church
officer called a mu-ez’zin, who gives them notice of the hour for
prayer. This he does by going on the platform, or balcony, of the
minaret, or tower, of the mosque and chanting in a loud voice such
words as these:

Page 91 “Come to
prayer, come to prayer. There is no god but God. He giveth life,
and he dieth not. I praise his perfection. God is great.”

In Mecca there is a mosque called the Great Mosque. It is a large
enclosure in the form of a quadrangle, or square, which can hold
35,000 persons. It is enclosed by arcades with pillars of marble
and granite, and has nineteen gates, each with a minaret or pointed
tower above it.

A MUEZZIN CALLING TO PRAYER

Within this enclosure is a famous building called the “Ká’a-ba,”
or cube. It is nearly a cube in shape. It its wall, at one corner,
is the celebrated “Black Stone.” Moslems regard this stone with
the greatest reverence. They say that it came down from heaven.
It is said to have been once white, but has become dark from being
wept upon and touched by so many millions of pilgrims. It really
is reddish-brown in color.

Page 92 Before
the time of Mohammed the Ká’a-ba was a pagan temple; but
when he took possession of Mecca he made the old temple the centre
of worship for his own religion.

After Mohammed died a person was appointed to be his successor
as head of the Moslem church. He was called the caliph, a word
which means successor; and this title has been borne ever
since by the religious chief of the Mohammedans. In modern times
the sultans or rulers of Turkey have been commonly regarded as the
caliphs. Arab scholars, however, say that really the she-rïf,
i.e., the governor of Mecca, is entitled by the Koran to
hold this position.

Page 93
CHARLES MARTEL, 714-741 A.D.
AND
PEPIN, 741-768 A.D.

I

After the death of Mohammed the Saracens, as Mohammedans are also
called, became great warriors. They conquered many countries and
established the Mohammedan religion in them. In 711 the Saracens
invaded and conquered a great part of Spain and founded a powerful
kingdom there, which lasted about seven hundred years.

They intended to conquer the land of the Franks next, and then all
Europe.

They thought it would be easy to conquer the Franks, because the
Frankish king at that time was a very weak man. He was one of a
number of kings who were called the “Do-nothings.” They reigned
from about 638 to 751. They spent all their time in amusements
and pleasures, leaving the affairs of the government to be managed
by persons called mayors of the palace.

The mayors of the palace were officers who at Page 94 first managed the king’s household.
Afterwards they were made guardians of kings who came to the throne
when very young. So long as the king was under age the mayor of
the palace acted as chief officer of the government in his name.
And as several of the young kings, even when they were old enough
to rule, gave less attention to business than to pleasure, the
mayors continued to do all the business, until at last they did
everything that the king ought to have done. They made war, led
armies in battle, raised money and spent it, and carried on the
government as they pleased, without consulting the king.

The “Do-nothings” had the title of king, but nothing more. In fact,
they did not desire to have any business to do. The things they
cared for were dogs, horses and sport.

One of the most famous of the mayors was a man named Pep’in. Once
a year, it is said, Pepin had the king dressed in his finest clothes
and paraded through the city of Paris, where the court was held.
A splendid throng of nobles and courtiers accompanied the king,
and did him honor as he went along the streets in a gilded chariot
drawn by a long line of beautiful horses. The king was cheered by
the people, and he acknowledged their greetings most graciously.

Page 95 After the
parade the king was escorted to the great hall of the palace, which
was filled with nobles. Seated on a magnificent throne, he saluted
the assemblage and made a short speech. The speech was prepared
beforehand by Pepin, and committed to memory by the king. At the
close of the ceremony the royal “nobody” retired to his country
house and was not heard of again for a year.

II

Pepin died in 714 A.D., and his son Charles, who was twenty-five
years old at that time, succeeded him as mayor of the palace. This
Charles is known in history as Charles Martel. He was a brave young
man. He had fought in many of his father’s battles and so had become
a skilled soldier. His men were devoted to him.

While he was mayor of the palace he led armies in several wars
against the enemies of the Franks. The most important of his wars
was one with the Saracens, who came across the Pyrenees from Spain and
invaded the land of the Franks, intending to establish Mohammedanism
there. Their army was led by Abd-er-Rah’man, the Saracen governor
of Spain.

Page 96

CHARLES MARTEL AT TOURS

Page 97 On his
march through the southern districts of the land of the Franks
Abd-er-Rahman destroyed many towns and villages, killed a number
of the people, and seized all the property he could carry off.
He plundered the city of Bordeaux (bor-do’), and, it is
said, obtained so many valuable things that every soldier “was
loaded with golden vases and cups and emeralds and other precious
stones.”

But meanwhile Charles Martel was not idle. As quickly as he could
he got together a great army of Franks and Germans and marched
against the Saracens. The two armies met between the cities of
Tours and Poitiers (pwaw-te-ay) in October, 732. For six
days there was nothing but an occasional skirmish between small
parties from both sides; but on the seventh day a great battle
took place.

Both Christians and Mohammedans fought with terrible earnestness.
The fight went on all day, and the field was covered with the bodies
of the slain. But towards evening, during a resolute charge made by
the Franks, Abd-er-Rahman was killed. Then the Saracens gradually
retired to their camp.

It was not yet known, however, which side had won; and the Franks
expected that the fight would be renewed in the morning.

But when Charles Martel, with his Christian Page 98 warriors, appeared on the field
at sunrise there was no enemy to fight. The Mohammedans had fled
in the silence and darkness of the night and had left behind them
all their valuable spoils. There was now no doubt which side had
won.

The battle of Tours, or Poitiers, as it should be called, is regarded
as one of the decisive battles of the world. It decided that Christians,
and not Moslems, should be the ruling power in Europe.

Charles Martel is especially celebrated as the hero of this battle.
It is said that the name Martel was given to him because
of his bravery during the fight. Marteau (mar-to’) is the
French word for hammer, and one of the old French historians says
that as a hammer breaks and crushes iron and steel, so Charles
broke and crushed the power of his enemies in the battle of Tours.

But though the Saracens fled from the battlefield of Tours, they
did not leave the land of the Franks; and Charles had to fight
other battles with them, before they were finally defeated. At
last, however, he drove them across the Pyrenees, and they never
again attempted to invade Frankland.

After his defeat of the Saracens Charles Martel was looked upon as
the great champion of Christianity; and to the day of his death,
in 741, he was in reality, though not in name, the king of the
Franks.

Page 99
III

Charles Martel had two sons, Pepin and Carloman. For a time they
ruled together, but Carloman wished to lead a religious life, so he
went to a monastery and became a monk. Then Pepin was sole ruler.

Pepin was quite low in stature, and therefore was called Pepin
the Short. But he had great strength and courage. A story is told
of him, which shows how fearless he was.

One day he went with a few of his nobles to a circus to see a fight
between a lion and a bull. Soon after the fight began, it looked
as though the bull was getting the worst of it. Pepin cried out
to his companions:

“Will one of you separate the beasts?”

But there was no answer. None of them had the courage to make the
attempt. Then Pepin jumped from his seat, rushed into the arena,
and with a thrust of his sword killed the lion.

In the early years of Pepin’s rule as mayor of the palace the throne
was occupied by a king named Chil’der-ic III. Like his father and
the other “do-nothing” kings, Childeric cared more for pleasures
and amusements than for affairs of government. Pepin was the real
ruler, and after a while he began Page 100 to think that he ought to have
the title of king, as he had all the power and did all the work
of governing and defending the kingdom.

So he sent some friends to Rome to consult the Pope. They said to
His Holiness:

“Holy father, who ought to be the king of France—the man
who has the title, or the man who has the power and does all the
duties of king?”

“Certainly,” replied the Pope, “the man who has the power and does
the duties.”

“Then, surely,” said they, “Pepin ought to be the king of the Franks;
for he has all the power.”

The Pope gave his consent, and Pepin was crowned king of the Franks;
and thus the reign of Childeric ended and that of Pepin began.

During nearly his whole reign Pepin was engaged in war. Several
times he went to Italy to defend the Pope against the Lombards.
These people occupied certain parts of Italy, including the province
still called Lombardy.

Pepin conquered them and gave as a present to the Pope that part
of their possessions which extended for some distance around Rome.
This was called “Pepin’s Donation.” It was the beginning of what is
known as the “temporal power” of the Popes, that is, their power
as rulers of part of Italy.

Pepin died in 768.

Page 101
CHARLEMAGNE

KING FROM 768-814 A.D.

I

Pepin had two sons Charles and Carloman. After the death of their
father they ruled together, but in a few years Carloman died, and
then Charles became sole king.

This Charles was the most famous of the kings of the Franks. He did
so many great and wonderful things that he is called Charlemagne
(shar-le-main’) which means Charles the Great.

He was a great soldier. For thirty years he carried on a war against
the Saxons. Finally he conquered them, and their great chief, Wittekind,
submitted to him. The Saxons were a people of Germany, who then
lived near the land of the Franks. They spoke the same language
and were of the same race as the Franks, but had not been civilized
by contact with the Romans.

They were still pagans, just as the Franks had been before Clovis
became a Christian. They actually offered human sacrifices.

Page 102 After
Charlemagne conquered them he made their lands part of his kingdom. A
great number of them, among whom was Wittekind, then became Christians
and were baptized; and soon they had churches and schools in many
parts of their country.

Another of Charlemagne’s wars was against the Lombards.

Pepin, as you have read, had defeated the Lombards and given to
the Pope part of the country held by them. The Lombard king now
invaded the Pope’s lands and threatened Rome itself; so the Pope
sent to Charlemagne for help.

Charlemagne quickly marched across the Alps and attacked the Lombards.
He drove them out of the Pope’s lands and took possession of their
country.

After he had conquered the Lombards he carried on war, in 778,
in Spain. A large portion of Spain was then held by the Moorish
Saracens. But a Mohammedan leader from Damascus had invaded their
country, and the Moors invited Charlemagne to help them. He therefore
led an army across the Pyrenees. He succeeded in putting his Moorish
friends in possession of their lands in Spain and then set out on
his return to his own country.

On the march his army was divided into two parts. The main body
was led by Charlemagne Page
104 himself. The rear guard was commanded by a famous
warrior named Roland. While marching through the narrow pass of
Roncesvalles (ron-thes-val’yes), among the Pyrenees, Roland’s
division was attacked by a tribe called the Basques (basks),
who lived on the mountain slopes of the neighboring region.

THE BAPTISM OF WITTEKIND

High cliffs walled in the pass on either side. From the tops of
these cliffs the Basques hurled down rocks and trunks of trees
upon the Franks, and crushed many of them to death. Besides this,
the wild mountaineers descended into the pass and attacked them
with weapons. Roland fought bravely; but at last he was overpowered,
and he and all his men were killed.

Roland had a friend and companion named Oliver, who was as brave
as himself. Many stories and songs have been written telling of
the wonderful adventures they were said to have had and of their
wonderful deeds in war.

The work of Charlemagne in Spain was quickly undone; for Abd-er-Rahman,
the leader of the Mohammedans who had come from Damascus, soon
conquered almost all the territory south of the Pyrenees.

ROLAND IN THE BATTLE OF RONCESVALLES

For more than forty years Charlemagne was king of the Franks; but
a still greater dignity was to come to him. In the year 800 some of
the people Page 106
in Rome rebelled against the Pope, and Charlemagne went with an
army to put down the rebellion. He entered the city with great
pomp and soon conquered the rebels. On Christmas day he went to
the church of St. Peter, and as he knelt before the altar the Pope
placed a crown upon his head, saying:

“Long live Charles Augustus, Emperor of the Romans.”

The people assembled in the church shouted the same words; and so
Charlemagne was now emperor of the Western Roman Empire, as well
as king of the Franks.[*]

[Footnote *: The emperors of Constantinople still called themselves
Roman Emperors, and still claimed Italy, Germany and France as
parts of their empire, though really their authority had not been
respected in these countries for more than 300 years.]

Charlemagne built a splendid palace at Aix-la-Chapelle
(aks-la-shap-el’), a town in Germany, where perhaps he was
born.

Charlemagne was a tall man, with long, flowing beard, and of noble
appearance. He dressed in very simple style; but when he went into
battle he wore armor, as was the custom for kings and nobles, and
often for ordinary soldiers in his day.

THE POPE CROWNING CHARLEMAGNE

Armor was made of leather or iron, or both together. There was a
helmet of iron for the head, and a breastplate to cover the breast,
or a coat of Page 108
mail to cover the body. The coat of mail was made of small iron or
steel rings linked together, or fastened on to a leather shirt.
Coverings for the legs and feet were often attached to the coat.

II

Charlemagne was a great king in may other ways besides the fighting
of battles. He did much for the good of his people. He made many
excellent laws and appointed judges to see that the laws were carried
out. He established schools and placed good teachers in charge of
them. He had a school in his palace for his own children, and he
employed as their teacher a very learned Englishman named Alcuin
(al’kwin).

In those times few people could read or write. There were not many
schools anywhere, and in most places there were none at all. Even
the kings had little education. Indeed, few of them could write
their own names, and most of them did not care about sending their
children to school. They did not think that reading or writing was
of much use; but thought that it was far better for boys to learn
to be good soldiers, and for girls to learn to spin and weave.

Page 109 Charlemagne
had a very different opinion. He was fond of learning; and whenever
he heard of a learned man, living in any foreign country, he tried
to get him to come and live in Frankland.

The fame of Charlemagne as a great warrior and a wise emperor spread
all over the world. Many kings sent messengers to him to ask his
friendship, and bring him presents. Harun-al-Rashid (hah-roon’
al rash’-eed), the famous caliph, who lived at Bagdad, in Asia,
sent him an elephant and a clock which struck the hours.

The Franks were much astonished at the sight of the elephant; for
they had never seen one before. They also wondered much at the
clock. In those days there were in Europe no clocks such as we
have; but water-clocks and hour-glasses were used in some places.
The water-clock was a vessel into which water was allowed to trickle.
It contained a float which pointed to a scale of hours at the side
of the vessel. The float gradually rose as the water trickled in.

The hour-glasses measured time by the falling of fine sand from
the top to the bottom of a glass vessel made with a narrow neck in
the middle for the sand to go through. They were like the little
glasses called egg-timers, which are used for measuring the time
for boiling eggs.

CHARLEMAGNE

Page 111 Charlemagne
died in 814. He was buried in the church which he had built at
Aix-la-Chapelle. His body was placed in the tomb, seated upon a
grand chair, dressed in royal robes, with a crown on the head,
a sword at the side, and a Bible in the hands.

This famous emperor is known in history as Charlemagne, which is
the French word for the German name Karl der Grosse (Charles
the Great), the name by which he was called at his own court
during his life. The German name would really be a better name
for him; for he was a German, and German was the language that he
spoke. The common name of his favorite residence, Aix-la-Chapelle,
also is French, but he knew the place as Aachen (ä’chen).

The great empire which Charlemagne built up held together only
during the life of his son. Then it was divided among his three
grandsons. Louis took the eastern part, Lo-thaire’ took the central
part, with the title of emperor, and Charles took the western part.

Page 112
HARUN-AL-RASHID

CALIPH FROM 786-809 A.D.

I

The most celebrated of all Mohammedan caliphs was Harun-al-Rashid,
which means, in English, Aaron the Just. Harun is the hero of several
of the stories of the “Arabian Nights,” a famous book, which perhaps
you have read. There are many curious and wonderful tales in it.

When Harun was only eighteen years old he showed such courage and
skill as a soldier that his father, who was then caliph, allowed
him to lead an army against the enemies of the Mohammedans; and
he won many great victories.

He afterwards commanded an army of ninety-five thousand Arabs and
Persians, sent by his father to invade the Eastern Roman Empire,
which was then ruled by the Empress Irene (i-re’ne). After
defeating Irene’s famous general, Nicetas (ni-ce’tas), Harun
marched his army to Chrys-op’o-lis, now Scutari (skoo’ta-re),
on the Asiatic coast, opposite Constantinople. He encamped on the
heights, in full view of the Roman capital.

Page 113 The Empress
saw that the city would certainly by taken by the Moslems. She
therefore sent ambassadors to Harun to arrange terms; but he sternly
refused to agree to anything except immediate surrender.

Then one of the ambassadors said, “The Empress has heard much of
your ability as a general. Though you are her enemy, she admires
you as a soldier.”

These flattering words were pleasing to Harun. He walked to and
fro in front of his tent and then spoke again to the ambassadors.

“Tell the Empress,” he said, “that I will spare Constantinople
if she will pay me seventy thousand pieces of gold as a yearly
tribute. If the tribute is regularly paid Constantinople shall not
be harmed by any Moslem force.”

The Empress had to agree to these terms. She paid the first year’s
tribute; and soon the great Moslem army set out on its homeward
march.

When Harun was not quite twenty-one years old he became caliph.

He began his reign by appointing very able ministers, who carried
on the work of the government so well that they greatly improved
the condition of the people.

Harun built a palace in Bagdad, far grander and more beautiful
than that of any caliph before him. Page 114 Here he established his court
and lived in great splendor, attended by hundreds of courtiers and
slaves.

He was very anxious that his people should be treated justly by
the officers of the government; and he was determined to find out
whether any had reason to complain. So he sometimes disguised himself
at night and went about through the streets and bazaars, listening
to the talk of those whom he met and asking them questions. In
this way he learned whether the people were contented and happy,
or not.

In those times Bagdad in the east and the Mohammedan cities of
Spain in the west were famed for their schools and learned men.
Arabian teachers first introduced into Western Europe both algebra
and the figures which we use in arithmetic. It is for this reason
that we call these figures the “Arabic numerals.”

Harun-al-Rashid gave great encouragement to learning. He was a
scholar and poet himself and whenever he heard of learned men in
his own kingdom, or in neighboring countries, he invited them to
his court and treated them with respect.

The name of Harun, therefore, became known throughout the world. It
is said that a correspondence took place between him and Charlemagne
Page 115 and that,
as you have learned, Harun sent the great emperor a present of a
clock and an elephant.

THE PRESENTS FROM HARUN-AL-RASHID

The tribute of gold that the Empress Irene agreed to pay Harun was
sent regularly for many years. It was always received at Bagdad
with great ceremony. The day on which it arrived was made a holiday.
The Roman soldiers who came with it entered the gates in procession.
Moslem troops also took part in the parade.

When the gold had been delivered at the palace, the Roman soldiers
were hospitably entertained, and were escorted to the main gate of
the city Page 116
when they set out on their journey back to Constantinople.

II

In 802 Ni-ceph’o-rus usurped the throne of the Eastern Empire.
He sent ambassadors with a letter to Harun to tell him that the
tribute would no longer be paid. The letter contained these words:

“The weak and faint-hearted Irene submitted to pay you tribute.
She ought to have made you pay tribute to her. Return to me all
that she paid you; else the matter must be settled by the sword.”

As soon as Harun had read these words the ambassadors threw a bundle
of swords at his feet. The caliph smiled, and drawing his own sword,
or cimeter (sim’e-ter), he cut the Roman swords in two with
one stroke without injuring the blade, or even turning the edge
of his weapon.

Then he dictated a letter to Nicephorus, in which he said:

“Harun-al-Rashid, Commander of the Faithful to Nicephorus, the
Roman dog: I have read thy letter. Thou shalt not hear, thou shalt
see my reply.”

HARUN-AL-RASHID

Harun was as good as his word. He started that day with a large
army to punish the emperor. As soon as he reached Roman territory
he ravaged Page 118
the country and took possession of everything valuable that he
found. He laid siege to Her-a-cle’a, a city on the shores of the
Black Sea, and in a week forced it to surrender. Then he sacked
the place.

Nicephorus was now forced to agree to pay the tribute. Scarcely,
however, had the caliph reached his palace in Bagdad when the emperor
again refused to pay.

Harun, consequently, advanced into the Roman province of Phrygia,
in Asia Minor, with an army of 15,000 men. Nicepherus marched against
him with 125,000 men. In the battle which followed the emperor was
wounded, and 40,000 of his men were killed.

After this defeat Nicephorus again promised payment of the tribute,
but again failed to keep his promise.

Harun now vowed that he would kill the emperor if he should ever
lay hands upon him. But as he was getting ready to march once more
into the Roman provinces a revolt broke out in one of the cities
of his own kingdom; and while on his way to suppress it the great
caliph died of an illness which had long given him trouble.

Page 119
EGBERT

KING FROM 802-837 A.D.

I

Egbert the Saxon lived at the same time as did Harun-al-Rashid
and Charlemagne. He was the first king who ruled all England as
one kingdom. Long before his birth the people who are known to
us as Britons lived there, and they gave to the island the name
Britain.

But Britain was invaded by the Romans under Julius Cæsar and
his successors, and all that part of it which we now call England
was added to the Empire of Rome. The Britons were driven into Wales
and Cornwall, the western sections of the island.

The Romans kept possession of the island for nearly four hundred
years. They did not leave it until 410, the year that Alaric sacked
the city of Rome. At this time the Roman legions were withdrawn
from Britain.

Some years before this the Saxons, Angles and Jutes, German tribes,
had settled near the shores of the North Sea. They learned much
about Britain; for trading vessels, even at that early Page 120 day, crossed
the Channel. Among other things, the men from the north learned
that Britain was crossed with good Roman roads, and dotted with
houses of brick and stone; that walled cities had taken the place
of tented camps, and that the country for miles round each city
was green every spring with waving wheat, or white with orchard
blossoms.

HENGIST AND HORSA LANDING IN ENGLAND

After the Roman legions had left Britain, the Jutes, led, it is
said, by two great captains named Hengist and Horsa, landed upon
the southeastern coast and made a settlement.

Page 121 Britain
proved a pleasant place to live in, and soon the Angles and Saxons
also left the North Sea shores and invaded the beautiful island.

The new invaders met with brave resistance. The Britons were headed
by King Arthur, about whom many marvelous stories are told. His
court was held at Caerleon (cär’le-on), in North Wales,
where his hundred and fifty knights banqueted at their famous “Round
Table.”

The British king and his knights fought with desperate heroism.
But they could not drive back the Saxons and their companions and
were obliged to seek refuge in the western mountainous parts of
the island, just as their forefathers had done when the Romans
invaded Britain. Thus nearly all England came into the possession
of the three invading tribes.

II

Arthur and his knights were devoted Christians. For the Romans
had not only made good roads and built strong walls and forts in
Britain, but they had also brought the Christian religion into the
island. And at about the time of the Saxon invasion St. Patrick was
founding churches and monasteries in Ireland, and was baptizing whole
clans of the Irish at a time. It is said that he baptized 12,000
persons Page 122
with his own hand. Missionaries were sent out by the Irish Church to
convert the wild Picts of Scotland and at a later day the distant
barbarians of Germany and Switzerland.

The Saxons, Angles, and Jutes believed in the old Norse gods, and
Tiew and Woden, Thor and Friga, or Frija, were worshiped on the
soil of Britain for more than a hundred years.

The Britons tried to convert their conquerors, but the invaders did
not care to be taught religion by those whom they had conquered;
so the British missionaries found the work unusually hard. Aid came
to them in a singular way. At some time near the year 575 A.D.,
the Saxons quarreled and fought with their friends, the Angles.
They took some Angles prisoners and carried them to Rome to be
sold in the great slave-market there. A monk named Gregory passed
one day through the market and saw these captives. He asked the
dealer who they were. “Angles,” was the answer.

“Oh,” said the monk, “they would be angels instead of
Angles if they were only Christians; for they certainly have
the faces of angels.”

ST. PATRICK BAPTIZING IRISH PRINCESSES

Years after, when that monk was the Pope of Rome, he remembered
this conversation and sent the monk Au-gus’tine to England to teach
the Christian religion to the savage but angel-faced Angles. Page 124 Augustine
and the British missionaries converted the Anglo-Saxons two hundred
years before the German Saxons were converted.

Still, though both Angles and Saxons called themselves Christians,
they were seldom at peace; and for more than two hundred years
they frequently fought. Various chiefs tried to make themselves
kings; and at length there came to be no less than seven small
kingdoms in South Britain.

In 784 Egbert claimed to be heir of the kingdom called Wessex;
but the people elected another man and Egbert had to flee for his
life. He went to the court of Charlemagne, and was with the great
king of the Franks in Rome on Christmas Day, 800, when the Pope
placed the crown on Charles’ head and proclaimed him emperor.

Soon after this a welcome message came to Egbert. The mind of the
people in Wessex had changed and they had elected him king. So
bidding farewell to Charlemagne, he hurried to England.

Egbert had seen how Charlemagne had compelled the different quarreling
tribes of Germany to yield allegiance to him and how after uniting
his empire he had ruled it well.

Egbert did in England what Charlemagne had done in Germany. He
either persuaded the various petty kingdoms of the Angles, the Saxons
and the Page 125
Jutes to recognize him as their ruler, or forced them to do so; and
thus under him all England became one united kingdom.

But Egbert did even better than this. He did much to harmonize
the different tribes by his wise conciliation. The name “England”
is a memorial of this; for though Egbert himself was a Saxon, he
advised that to please the Angles the country should be called
An’gli-a, that is, Angleland or England, the land of the Angles,
instead of Sax-on-i’a, or Saxonland.

Page 126
ROLLO THE VIKING

DIED 931 A.D.

I

For more than two hundred years during the Middle Ages the Christian
countries of Europe were attacked on the southwest by the Saracens
of Spain, and on the northwest by the Norsemen, or Northmen. The
Northmen were so called because they came into Middle Europe from
the north. Sometimes they were called Vi’kings, or pirates, because
they were adventurous sea-robbers who plundered all countries which
they could reach by sea.

Their ships were long and swift. In the center was placed a single
mast, which carried one large sail. For the most part, however,
the Norsemen depended on rowing, not on the wind, and sometimes
there were twenty rowers in one vessel.

The Vikings were a terror to all their neighbors; but the two regions
that suffered most from their attacks were the Island of Britain
and that part of Charlemagne’s empire in which the Franks were
settled.

Page 127

MARAUDING EXPEDITION OF NORTHMEN

Page 128 Nearly
fifty times in two hundred years the lands of the Franks were invaded.
The Vikings sailed up the large rivers into the heart of the region
which we now call France and captured and pillaged cities and towns.
Some years after Charlemagne’s death they went as far as his capital,
Aix (aks), took the place, and stabled their horses in the
cathedral which the great emperor had built.

In the year 860 they discovered Iceland and made a settlement upon
its shores. A few years later they sailed as far as Greenland, and
there established settlements which existed for about a century.

These Vikings were the first discoverers of the continent on which we
live. Ancient books found in Iceland tell the story of the discovery.
It is related that a Viking ship was driven during a storm to a
strange coast, which is thought to have been that part of America
now known as Labrador.

When the captain of the ship returned home he told what he had
seen. His tale so excited the curiosity of a young Viking prince,
called Leif the Lucky, that he sailed to the newly discovered coast.

Going ashore, he found that the country abounded in wild grapes;
and so he called it Vinland, or the land of Vines. Vinland is thought
to have been a part of what is now the Rhode Island coast.

Page 129 The Vikings
were not aware that they had found a great unknown continent. No
one in the more civilized parts of Europe knew anything about their
discovery; and after a while the story of the Vinland voyages seems
to have been forgotten, even among the Vikings themselves.

So it is not to them that we owe the discovery of America, but
to Columbus; because his discovery, though nearly five hundred
years later than that of the Norsemen, actually made known to all
Europe, for all time, the existence of the New World.

II

The Vikings had many able chieftains. One of the most famous was
Rollo the Walker, so called because he was such a giant that no
horse strong enough to carry him could be found, and therefore
he always had to walk. However, he did on foot what few could do
on horseback.

In 885 seven hundred ships, commanded by Rollo and other Viking
chiefs, left the harbors of Norway, sailed to the mouth of the
Seine (san), and started up the river to capture the city
of Paris.

Rollo and his men stopped on the way at Rouen (rö-on’),
which also was on the Seine, but nearer its mouth. The citizens had
heard of the giant, and Page
130 when they saw the river covered by his fleet they
were dismayed. However, the bishop of Rouen told them that Rollo
could be as noble and generous as he was fierce; and he advised
them to open their gates and trust to the mercy of the Viking chief.
This was done, and Rollo marched into Rouen and took possession
of it. The bishop had given good advice, for Rollo treated the
people very kindly.

Soon after capturing Rouen he left the place, sailed up the river
to Paris, and joined the other Viking chiefs. And now for six long
miles the beautiful Seine was covered with Viking vessels, which
carried an army of thirty thousand men.

A noted warrior named Eudes (ude) was Count of Paris, and he
had advised the Parisians to fortify the city. So not long before
the arrival of Rollo and his companions, two walls with strong
gates had been built round Paris.

It was no easy task for even Vikings to capture a strongly walled
city. We are told that Rollo and his men built a high tower and
rolled it on wheels up to the walls. At its top was a floor well
manned with soldiers. But the people within the city shot hundreds
of arrows at the besiegers, and threw down rocks, or poured boiling
oil and pitch upon them.

The Vikings thought to starve the Parisians, and Page 131 for thirteen
months they encamped round the city. At length food became very
scarce, and Count Eudes determined to go for help. He went out
through one of the gates on a dark, stormy night, and rode post-haste
to the king. He told him that something must be done to save the
people of Paris.

A VIKING SHIP

So the king gathered an army and marched to the city. No battle
was fought—the Vikings seemed to have been afraid to risk
one. They gave up the siege, and Paris was relieved.

Rollo and his men went to the Duchy of Burgundy, where, as now,
the finest crops were raised and the best of wines were made.

Page 132
III

Perhaps after a time Rollo and his Vikings went home; but we do
not know what he did for about twenty-five years. We do know that
he abandoned his old home in Norway in 911. Then he and his people
sailed from the icy shore of Norway and again went up the Seine
in hundreds of Viking vessels.

Of course, on arriving in the land of the Franks, Rollo at once
began to plunder towns and farms.

Charles, then king of the Franks, although his people called him
the Simple, or Senseless, had sense enough to see that this must
be stopped.

So he sent a message to Rollo and proposed that they should have
a talk about peace. Rollo agreed and accordingly they met. The
king and his troops stood on one side of a little river, and Rollo
with his Vikings stood on the other. Messages passed between them.
The king asked Rollo what he wanted.

“Let me and my people live in the land of the Franks; let us make
ourselves home here, and I and my Vikings will become your vassals,”
answered Rollo. He asked for Rouen and the neighboring land. So
the king gave him that part of Francia; and ever since it has been
called Normandy, the land of the Northmen.

Page 133 When
it was decided that the Vikings should settle in Francia and be
subjects of the Frankish king, Rollo was told that he must kiss
the foot of Charles in token that he would be the king’s vassal.
The haughty Viking refused. “Never,” said he, “will I bend my knee
before any man, and no man’s foot will I kiss.” After some persuasion,
however, he ordered one of his men to perform the act of homage
for him. The king was on horseback and the Norseman, standing by
the side of the horse, suddenly seized the king’s foot and drew
it up to his lips. This almost made the king fall from his horse,
to the great amusement of the Norsemen.

Becoming a vassal to the king meant that if the king went to war
Rollo would be obliged to join his army and bring a certain number
of armed men—one thousand or more.

Rollo now granted parts of Normandy to his leading men on condition
that they would bring soldiers to his army and fight under him.
They became his vassals, as he was the king’s vassal.

The lands granted to vassals in this way were called feuds, and
this plan of holding lands was called the Feudal System.

It was established in every country of Europe during the Middle
Ages.

The poorest people were called serfs. They were Page 134 almost slaves and were never permitted
to leave the estate to which they belonged. They did all the work.
They worked chiefly for the landlords, but partly for themselves.

Having been a robber himself, Rollo knew what a shocking thing it
was to ravage and plunder, and he determined to change his people’s
habits. He made strict laws and hanged robbers. His duchy thus
became one of the safest parts of Europe.

The Northmen learned the language of the Franks and adopted their
religion.

The story of Rollo is especially interesting to us, because Rollo
was the forefather of that famous Duke of Normandy who, less than
a hundred and fifty years later, conquered England and brought
into that country the Norman nobles with their French language and
customs.

Page 135
ALFRED THE GREAT

KING FROM 871-901 A.D.

I

The Danes were neighbors of the Norwegian Vikings, and like them
were fond of the sea and piracy. They plundered the English coasts
for more than a century; and most of northern and eastern England
became for a time a Danish country with Danish kings.

What saved the rest of the country to the Saxons was the courage
of the great Saxon king, Alfred.

Alfred was the son of Ethelwulf, king of the West Saxons. He had
a loving mother who brought him up with great care. Up to the age
of twelve, it is said, he was not able to read well, in spite of
the efforts of his mother and others to teach him.

When Alfred was a boy there were no printed books. The wonderful art
of printing was not invented until about the year 1440—nearly
six hundred years later than Alfred’s time. Moreover, the art of
making paper had not yet been invented. Consequently the few books
in use in Alfred’s time were written by skillful penmen, who wrote
generally Page 136
on leaves of parchment, which was sheepskin carefully prepared so
that it might retain ink.

One day Alfred’s mother showed him and his elder brothers a beautiful
volume which contained a number of the best Saxon ballads. Some of
the words in this book were written in brightly colored letters,
and upon many of the leaves were painted pictures of gaily-dressed
knights and ladies.

“Oh, what a lovely book!” exclaimed the boys.

“Yes, it is lovely,” replied the mother. “I will give it to whichever
of you children can read it the best in a week.”

Alfred began at once to take lessons in reading, and studied hard
day after day. His brothers passed their time in amusements and
made fun of Alfred’s efforts. They thought he could not learn to
read as well as they could, no matter how hard he should try.

At the end of the week the boys read the book to their mother,
one after the other. Much to the surprise of his brothers, Alfred
proved to be the best reader and his mother gave him the book.

While still very young Alfred was sent by his father to Rome to
be anointed by His Holiness, the Pope. It was a long and tiresome
journey, made mostly on horseback.

With imposing, solemn ceremony he was anointed Page 137 by the Holy Father. Afterwards he
spent a year in Rome receiving religious instruction.

II

In the year 871, when Alfred was twenty-two years old, the Danes
invaded various parts of England. Some great battles were fought,
and Alfred’s elder brother Ethelred, king of the West Saxons, was
killed. Thus Alfred became king.

The Danes still continued to fight the Saxons, and defeated Alfred
in a long and severe struggle. They took for themselves the northern
and eastern parts of England.

Moreover, Danes from Denmark continued to cross the sea and ravage
the coast of Saxon England. They kept the people in constant alarm.
Alfred therefore determined to meet the pirates on their own element,
the sea. So he built and equipped the first English navy, and in
875 gained the first naval victory ever won by the English.

A few years after this, however, great numbers of Danes from the
northern part of England came pouring into the Saxon lands. Alfred
himself was obliged to flee for his life.

For many months he wandered through forests and over hills to avoid
being taken by the Danes. Page
139 He sometimes made his home in caves and in the huts
of shepherds and cowherds. Often he tended the cattle and sheep
and was glad to get a part of the farmer’s dinner in pay for his
services.

INVASION OF ENGLAND BY THE DANES

Once, when very hungry, he went into the house of a cowherd and
asked for something to eat. The cowherd’s wife was baking cakes
and she said she would give him some when they were done.

“Watch the cakes and do not let them burn, while I go across the
field to look after the cows,” said the woman, as she hurried away.
Alfred took his seat on the chimney-corner to do as he was told.
But soon his thoughts turned to his troubles and he forgot about
the cakes.

When the woman came back she cried out with vexation, for the cakes
were burned and spoiled. “You lazy, good-for-nothing man!” she
said, “I warrant you can eat cakes fast enough; but you are too
lazy to help me bake them.”

With that she drove the poor hungry Alfred out of her house. In
his ragged dress he certainly did not look like a king, and she
had no idea that he was anything but a poor beggar.

III

Some of Alfred’s friends discovered where he was hiding and joined
him. In a little time a body Page
140 of soldiers came to him and a strong fort was built
by them. From this fort Alfred and his men went out now and then
and gave battle to small parties of the Danes. Alfred was successful
and his army grew larger and larger.

One day he disguised himself as a wandering minstrel and went into
the camp of the Danes. He strolled here and there, playing on a
harp and singing Saxon ballads. At last, Guth’rum, the commander
of the Danes, ordered the minstrel to be brought to his tent.

Alfred went. “Sing to me some of your charming songs,” said Guthrum.
“I never heard more beautiful music.” So the kingly harper played
and sang for the Dane, and went away with handsome presents. But
better than that, he had gained information that was of the greatest
value.

In a week he attacked the Danish forces and defeated them with
great slaughter in a battle which lasted all day and far into the
night. Guthrum was taken prisoner and brought before Alfred.

Taking his harp in his hands, Alfred played and sang one of the
ballads with which he had entertained Guthrum in the camp. The
Dane started in amazement and exclaimed:

“You, then, King Alfred, were the wandering minstrel?”

Page 141

ALFRED THE GREAT IN DANISH CAMP

Page 142 “Yes,”
replied Alfred, “I was the musician whom you received so kindly.
Your life is now in my hands; but I will give you your liberty if
you will become a Christian and never again make war on my people.”

“King Alfred,” said Guthrum, “I will become a Christian, and so
will all my men if you will grant liberty to them as to me; and
henceforth, we will be your friends.”

Alfred then released the Danes, and they were baptized as Christians.

An old road running across England from London to Chester was then
agreed upon as the boundary between the Danish and Saxon kingdoms;
and the Danes settled in East Anglia, as the eastern part of England
was called.

Years of peace and prosperity followed for Alfred’s kingdom. During
these years the king rebuilt the towns that had been destroyed by
the Danes, erected new forts, and greatly strengthened his army
and navy.

He also encouraged trade; and he founded a school like that established
by Charlemagne. He himself translated a number of Latin books into
Saxon, and probably did more for the cause of education than any
other king that ever wore the English crown.

Page 143
HENRY THE FOWLER

KING FROM 919-936 A.D.

I

About a hundred years had passed since the death of Charlemagne,
and his great empire had fallen to pieces. Seven kings ruled where
he had once been sole emperor.

West of the Rhine, where the Germans lived, the last descendant
of Charlemagne died when he was a mere boy. The German nobles were
not willing for any foreign prince to govern them, and yet they saw
that they must unite to defend their country against the invasions
of the barbarians called Magyars (ma-järz’). So they
met and elected Conrad, duke of Franconia, to be their king.

However, although he became king in name, Conrad never had much
power over his nobles. Some of them refused to recognize him as
king and his reign was disturbed by quarrels and wars. He died
in 919, and on his death-bed he said to his brother, “Henry, Duke
of Saxony, is the ablest ruler in Page 144 the empire. Elect him king, and
Germany will have peace.”

A few months after Conrad’s death, the nobles met at Aix-la-Chapelle
and elected Henry to be their king.

At this time it was the custom in Europe to hunt various birds,
such as the wild duck and partridge, with falcons. The falcons
were long-winged birds of prey, resembling hawks. They were trained
to perch on their master’s wrist and wait patiently until they
were told to fly. Then they would swiftly dart at their prey and
bear it to the ground. Henry was very fond of falconry and hence
was known as Henry the Fowler, or Falconer.

As soon as the other dukes had elected him king a messenger was
sent to Saxony to inform him of the honor done him. After a search
of some days he was at last found, far up in the Hartz Mountains,
hunting with his falcons. Kneeling at his feet, the messenger said:

“God save you, Henry of Saxony. I come to announce the death of
King Conrad and to tell you that the nobles have elected you to
succeed him as king of the Germans.”

For a moment the duke was speechless with amazement. Then he exclaimed:

“Elected me king? I cannot believe it. I am Page 146 a Saxon, and King Conrad was a
Frank and a bitter enemy to me.”

THE CROWN OF GERMANY IS OFFERED TO HENRY THE FOWLER

“It is true,” replied the messenger. “Conrad, when dying, advised
that the nobles should choose you as his successor.”

Henry was silent for while and then he said, “King Conrad was a
good man. I know it now; and I am sorry that I did not understand
him better when he was alive. I accept the position offered to me
and I pray that I may be guided by Heaven in ruling his people.”

So Henry the Fowler left the chase to take up his duties as king
of the Germans.

II

In proper time Henry was proclaimed king of Germany; but he was
hardly seated on the throne when the country was invaded by thousands
of Magyars, from the land which we now know as Hungary.

As soon as possible Henry gathered an army and marched to meet
the barbarians. He came upon a small force under the command of
the son of the Magyar king. The Germans easily routed the Magyars
and took the king’s son prisoner.

This proved to be a very fortunate thing, because it stopped the
war for a long term of years. When Page 147 the Magyar king learned that his
son was a prisoner in the hands of King Henry he was overwhelmed
with grief. He mourned for his son day and night and at last sent
to the German camp a Magyar chief with a flag of truce, to beg
that the prince might be given up.

“Our king says that he will give whatever you demand for the release
of his son,” said the chief to the German monarch.

“I will give up the prince on this condition only,” was the reply,
“the Magyars must leave the soil of Germany immediately and promise
not to war on us for nine years. During those years I will pay to
the king yearly five thousand pieces of gold.”

“I accept the terms in the king’s name,” responded the chief. The
prince was, therefore, given up and the Magyars withdrew.

During the nine years of truce King Henry paid great attention
to the organization of an army. Before this the German soldiers
had fought chiefly on foot, not, as the Magyars did, on horseback.
For this reason they were at a great disadvantage in battle. The
king now raised a strong force of horsemen and had them drilled
so thoroughly that they became almost invincible. The infantry
also were carefully drilled.

Besides this, Henry built a number of forts in Page 148 different parts of his kingdom
and had all the fortified cities made stronger.

The following year the Magyar chief appeared at the German court
and demanded a tenth payment.

“Not a piece of gold will be given you,” replied King Henry. “Our
truce is ended.”

In less than a week a vast body of Magyars entered Germany to renew
the war. Henry held his army in waiting until lack of food compelled
the barbarians to divide their forces into two separate bodies.
One division was sent to one part of the country, the other to
another part.

Henry completely routed both divisions, and the power of the Magyars
in Germany was broken.

The Danes also invaded Henry’s kingdom, but he defeated them and
drove them back.

Henry reigned for eighteen years; and when he died all Germany was
peaceful and prosperous. His son Otto succeeded him. He assumed
the title of “Emperor,” which Charlemagne had borne more than a
hundred years before.

From that time on, for nearly one thousand years, all the German
emperors claimed to be the successors of Charlemagne. They called
their domain “the Holy Roman Empire,” and took the title “Emperor”
or “Emperor of the Romans,” until the year 1806, when Francis II
resigned it.

Page 149
CANUTE THE GREAT

KING FROM 1014-1035

I

The Danes, you remember, had the eastern and northern parts of
England in the time of Alfred. Alfred’s successors drove them farther
and farther north, and at length the Danish kingdom in England
came to an end for a time.

But the Danes in Denmark did not forget that there had been such a
kingdom and in the year 1013 Sweyn (swane), King of Denmark,
invaded England and defeated the Anglo-Saxons. Ethelred, their
king, fled to Normandy.

Sweyn now called himself the king of England; but in a short time
he died and his son Canute succeeded to his throne. Canute was
nineteen years old. He had been his father’s companion during the
war with the Anglo-Saxons, and thus had had a good deal of experience
as a soldier.

After the death of Sweyn some of the Anglo-Saxons recalled King
Ethelred and revolted against the Danes.

Canute, however, went to Denmark and there Page 150 raised one of the largest armies
of Danes that had ever been assembled. With this powerful force
he sailed to England. When he landed Northumberland and Wessex
acknowledged him as king. Shortly after this Ethelred died.

Canute now thought he would find it easy to get possession of all
England. This was a mistake.

Ethelred left a son named Edmund Ironside who was a very brave
soldier. He became, by his father’s death, the king of Saxon England
and at once raised an army to defend his kingdom. A battle was fought
and Edmund was victorious. This was the first of five battles that
were fought in one year. In none of them could the Danes do more
than gain a slight advantage now and then.

However, the Saxons were at last defeated in a sixth battle through
the act of a traitor. Edric, a Saxon noble, took his men out of
the fight and his treachery so weakened the Saxon army that Edmund
Ironside had to surrender to Canute.

But the young Dane had greatly admired Edmund for the way in which he
had fought against heavy odds, so he now treated him most generously.
Canute took certain portions of England and the remainder was given
to Edmund Ironside.

Thus for a short time the Anglo-Saxon people had at once a Danish
and a Saxon monarch.

Page 151

DANES EMBARKING FOR THE INVASION OF ENGLAND

Page 152
II

Edmund died in 1016 and after his death Canute became sole ruler.

He ruled wisely. He determined to make his Anglo-Saxon subjects
forget that he was a foreign conqueror. To show his confidence
in them he sent back to Denmark the army he had brought over the
sea, keeping on a part of his fleet and a small body of soldiers
to act as guards at his palace.

He now depended on the support of his Anglo-Saxon subjects and he
won their love.

Although a king—and it is generally believed that kings like
flattery—Canute is said to have rebuked his courtiers when
they flattered him. On one occasion, when they were talking about
his achievements, one of them said to him:

“Most noble king, I believe you can do anything.”

Canute sternly rebuked the courtier for these words and then said:

“Come with me, gentlemen.”

He led them from the palace grounds to the sea-shore where the
tide was rising, and had his chair placed at the edge of the water.

“You say I can do anything,” he said to the courtiers. “Very well,
I who am king and the Page
154 lord of the ocean now command these rising waters
to go back and not dare wet my feet.”

CANUTE REBUKES HIS COURTIERS

But the tide was disobedient and steadily rose and rose, until
the feet of the king were in the water. Turning to his courtiers,
Canute said:

“Learn how feeble is the power of earthly kings. None is worthy
the name of king but He whom heaven and earth and sea obey.”

During Canute’s reign England had peace and prosperity and the English
people have ever held his memory dear.

Page 155
THE CID

Late one sunny afternoon one and twenty knights were riding along
the highway in the northern part of Spain. As they were passing
a deep mire they heard cries for help, and turning, saw a poor
leper who was sinking in the mud. One of the knights, a handsome
young man, was touched by the cries. He dismounted, rescued the
poor fellow, took him upon his own horse, and thus the two rode
to the inn. The other knights wondered at this.

When they reached the inn where they were to stop for the night,
they wondered still more, for their companion gave the leper a
seat next to himself at the table. After supper the knight shared
his own bed with the leper. If the knight had not done this, the
leper would have been driven out of the town, with nothing to eat
and no place in which to sleep. At midnight, while the young man
was fast asleep, the leper breathed upon his back. This awakened
the knight, who turned quickly in his bed and found that the leper
was gone.

The knight called for a light and searched, but in Page 156 vain. While
he was wondering about what had happened, a man in shining garments
appeared before him and said, “Rodrigo, art thou asleep or awake?”
The knight answered, “I am awake, but who art thou that bringest
such brightness?” The vision replied, “I am St. Lazarus, the leper
to whom thou wast so kind. Because I have breathed upon thee thou
shalt accomplish whatever thou shalt undertake in peace or in battle.
All shall honor thee. Therefore, go on and evermore do good.”

With that the vision vanished.

The promise of St. Lazarus was fulfilled. In time young Rodrigo became
the great hero of Spain. The Spaniards called him Cam-pe-ä-dor’,
or Champion. The Saracens called him “The Cid,” or Lord. His real
name was Rodrigo Diaz de Bivar, but he is usually spoken of as
“The Cid.”

The Goths, after the death of Alaric, had taken Spain away from
the Romans. The Saracens, or, as they were usually called, the
Moors, had crossed the sea from Africa and in turn had taken Spain
from the Goths. In the time of Charles Martel the Goths had lost
all Spain except the small mountain district in the northern part.
In the time of the Cid the Goths, now called Spaniards, had driven
the Moors down to about the middle of Spain. War went on all the time
between the two races, and Page
157 many men spent their lives in fighting. The Spanish
part of the country then comprised the kingdoms of Castile, Leon,
Aragon and others.

THE GATE OF THE SUN AT TOLEDO

The Cid was a subject of Fernando of Castile. Fernando had a dispute
with the king of Aragon about a city which each claimed. They agreed
to decide the matter by a combat. Each was to choose a champion.
The champions were to fight, and the king whose champion won was
to have the city. Fernando chose the Cid, and though the other
champion was called the bravest knight in Spain, the youthful warrior
vanquished him.

When Alfonzo, a son of Fernando, succeeded to the throne, he became
angry with the Cid without just cause and banished him from Christian
Spain.

The Cid was in need of some money, so he filled two chests with
sand and sent word to two wealthy Page 158 money lenders that he wished to
borrow six hundred Spanish marks (about $2,000), and would put
into their hands his treasures of silver and gold which were packed
in two chests, but the money lenders must solemnly swear not to
open the chests until a full year had passed. To this they gladly
agreed. They took the chests and loaned him six hundred marks.

The Cid was now ready for his journey. Three hundred of his knights
went into banishment with him. They crossed the mountains and entered
the land of the Moors. Soon they reached the town of Alcocer, and
after a siege captured it and lived in it.

Then the Moorish king of Valencia ordered two chiefs to take three
thousand horsemen, recapture the town and bring the Cid alive to
him.

So the Cid and his men were shut up in Alcocer and besieged. Famine
threatened them and they determined to cut their way through the
army of the Moors. Suddenly and swiftly they poured from the gate
of Alcocer, and a terrible battle was fought. The two Moorish chiefs
were taken prisoners and thirteen hundred of their men were killed
in the battle. The Cid then became a vassal of the Moorish king
of Saragossa.

After a while Alfonzo recalled the Cid from banishment and gave
him seven castles and the lands Page 159 adjoining them. He needed the
Cid’s help in the greatest of all his plans against the Moors.
He was determined to capture Toledo. He attacked it with a large
army in which there were soldiers from many foreign lands. The
Cid is said to have been the commander. After a long siege the
city fell and the victorious army marched across the great bridge
built by the Moors, which you would cross to-day if you went to
Toledo.

Valencia was one of the largest and richest cities in Moorish Spain.
It was strongly fortified, but the Cid determined to attack it.

The plain about the city was irrigated by streams that came down
from the neighboring hills. To prevent the Cid’s army from coming
near the city the Saracens flooded the plain. But the Cid camped
on high ground above the plain and from that point besieged the
city. Food became very scarce in Valencia. Wheat, barley and cheese
were all so dear that none but the rich could buy them. People ate
horses, dogs, cats and mice, until in the whole city only three
horses and a mule were left alive.

Then on the fifteenth of June, 1094, the governor went to the camp
of the Cid and delivered to him the keys of the city. The Cid placed
his men in all the forts and took the citadel as his own dwelling.
Page 160 His banner
floated from the towers. He called himself the Prince of Valencia.

BRIDGE AT TOLEDO

When the king of Morocco heard of this he raised an army of fifty
thousand men. They crossed from Africa to Spain and laid siege to
Valencia. But the Cid with his men made a sudden sally and routed
them and pursued them for miles. It is said that fifteen thousand
soldiers were drowned in the river Gua-dal-qui-vir’ which they
tried to cross.

The Cid was now at the height of his power and lived in great
magnificence. One of the first things he did was to repay the two
friends who had lent Page
161 him the six hundred marks. He was kind and just
to the Saracens who had become his subjects. They were allowed
to have their mosques and to worship God as they thought right.

In time the Cid’s health began to fail. He could lead his men forth
to battle no more. He sent an army against the Moors, but it was so
completely routed that few of his men came back to tell the tale.
It is said by a Moorish writer that “when the runaways reached
him the Cid died of rage” (1099).

There is a legend that shortly before he died he saw a vision of
St. Peter, who told him that he should gain a victory over the
Saracens after his death.

So the Cid gave orders that his body should be embalmed. It was
so well preserved that it seemed alive. It was clothed in a coat
of mail, and the sword that had won so many battles was placed in
the hand. Then it was mounted upon the Cid’s favorite horse and
fastened into the saddle, and at midnight was borne out of the
gate of Valencia with a guard of a thousand knights.

All silently they marched to a spot where the Moorish king, with
thirty-six chieftains, lay encamped, and at daylight the knights
of the Cid made a sudden attack. The king awoke. It seemed to him
that there were coming against him Page 162 full seventy thousand knights, all
dressed in robes as white as snow, and before them rode a knight,
taller than all the rest, holding in his left hand a snow-white
banner and in the other a sword which seemed of fire. So afraid
were the Moorish chief and his men that they fled to the sea, and
twenty thousand of them were drowned as they tried to reach their
ships.

There is a Latin inscription near the tomb of the Cid which may
be translated:

Brave and unconquered, famous in triumphs of war,
Enclosed in this tomb lies Roderick the Great of Bivar.

Page 163
EDWARD THE CONFESSOR

KING FROM 1042-1066

I

The Danish kings who followed Canute were not like him. They were
cruel, unjust rulers and all the people of England hated them.
So when in the year 1042 the last of them died, Edward, the son
of the Saxon Ethelred, was elected king.

He is known in history as Edward the Confessor. He was a man of
holy life and after his death was made a saint by the Church, with
the title of “the Confessor.” Though born in England, he passed the
greater part of his life in Normandy as an exile from his native
land. He was thirty-eight years old when he returned from Normandy
to become king.

As he had lived so long in Normandy he always seemed more like a
Norman than one of English birth. He generally spoke the French
language and he chose Normans to fill many of the highest offices
in his kingdom.

For the first eight years of his reign there was perfect peace
in his kingdom, except in the counties of Kent and Essex, where
pirates from the North Sea made occasional attacks.

Page 164

NORWEGIAN PIRATES ON THE COAST OF KENT

Page 165 These
pirates were mostly Norwegians, whose leader was a barbarian named
Kerdric. They would come sweeping down upon the Kentish coast in
many ships, make a landing where there were no soldiers, and fall
upon the towns and plunder them. Then, as swiftly and suddenly as
they had come, they would sail away homeward, before they could
be captured.

One day Kerdic’s fleet arrived off the coast, and as no opposing
force was visible, the pirates landed and started toward the nearest
town to plunder it.

By a quick march a body of English soldiers reached the town before
the pirates, and when the latter arrived they found a strong force
drawn up to give them battle. A short struggle took place. More
than half of the pirates were slain and the remainder were taken
prisoners.

After the prisoners had been secured the English ships that were
stationed on the coast attacked the pirate fleet and destroyed
it.

II

Edward took part in the events upon which Shakespeare, five hundred
years later, founded his famous tragedy of “Macbeth.”

There lived in Scotland during his reign an ambitious nobleman named
Macbeth, who invited Page
166 Duncan, the King of Scotland, to his castle and
murdered him. He tried to make it appear that the murder had been
committed by Duncan’s attendants and he caused the king’s son and
heir, Prince Malcolm, to flee from the land. He then made himself
king of Scotland.

Malcolm hastened to England and appealed to King Edward for help.

When the king was told the number of soldiers Malcolm would probably
need he gave orders for double that number to march into Scotland.
Malcolm with this support attacked Macbeth, and after several
well-fought battles drove the usurper from Scotland and took possession
of the throne.

Edward did a great deal during his reign to aid the cause of
Christianity. He rebuilt the ancient Westminster Abbey in London
and erected churches and monasteries in different parts of England.

Edward was long supposed to have made many just laws, and years after
his death the English people, when suffering from bad government,
would exclaim, “Oh, for the good laws and customs of Edward the
Confessor!” What he really did was to have the old laws faithfully
carried out.

He died in 1066 and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

Page 167
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR

KING FROM 1066-1087

I

On the death of Edward the Confessor the throne of England was claimed
by William, Duke of Normandy.

When Edward took refuge in Normandy after the Danes conquered England,
he stayed at the palace of William. He was very kindly treated
there, and William said that Edward had promised in gratitude that
William should succeed him as king of England.

One day in the year 1066 when William was hunting with a party of
his courtiers in the woods near Rouen, a noble came riding rapidly
toward him shouting, “Your Highness, a messenger has just arrived
from England, bearing the news that King Edward is dead and that
Harold, the son of Earl Godwin, has been placed on the English
throne.”

William at once called his nobles together and said to them, “I
must have your consent that I enforce my claim to England’s throne
by arms.”

Page 168

HAROLD RECEIVING NEWS OF THE NORMAN INVASION

Page 169 The barons
gave their consent. So an army of sixty thousand men was collected
and a large fleet of ships was built to carry this force across
the channel.

During the months of preparation William sent an embassy to the
English court to demand of Harold that he give up the throne. Harold
refused.

Soon all England was startled by the news that William had landed
on the English coast at the port of Hastings with a large force.

Harold immediately marched as quickly as possible from the north
to the southern coast. In a week or so he arrived at a place called
Senlac nine miles from Hastings, in the neighborhood of which town
the Norman army was encamped. He took his position on a low range
of hills and awaited the attack of William. His men were tired
with their march, but he encouraged them and bade them prepare for
battle.

On the morning of October 14, 1066, the two armies met. The Norman
foot-soldiers opened the battle by charging on the English stockades.
They ran over the plain to the low hills, singing a war-song at
the top of their voices; but they could not carry the stockades
although they tried again and again. They therefore attacked another
part of the English forces.

Page 170 William,
clad in complete armor, was in the very front of the fight, urging
on his troops. At one time a cry arose in his army that he was
slain and a panic began. William drew off his helmet and rode along
the lines, shouting, “I live! I live! Fight on! We shall conquer
yet!”

The battle raged from morning till night. Harold himself fought
on foot at the head of his army and behaved most valiantly. His
men, tired as they were from their forced march, bravely struggled
on hour after hour.

But at last William turned their lines and threw them into confusion.
As the sun went down Harold was killed and his men gave up the
fight.

From Hastings William marched toward London. On the way he received
the surrender of some towns and burned others that would not surrender.
London submitted and some of the nobles and citizens came forth
and offered the English crown to the Norman duke.

On the 25th of December, 1066, the “Conqueror,” as he is always
called, was crowned in Westminster Abbey by Archbishop Ealdred.
Both English and Norman people were present. When the question was
asked by the Archbishop, “Will you have William, Duke of Normandy,
for your king?” all present answered, “We will.”

Page 171
II

At first William ruled England with moderation. The laws and customs
were not changed, and in a few months after the battle of Hastings
the kingdom was so peaceful that William left it in charge of his
brother and went to Normandy for a visit.

While he was gone many of the English nobles rebelled against him,
and on his return he made very severe laws and did some very harsh
things. He laid waste an extensive territory, destroying all the
houses upon it and causing thousands of persons to die from lack of
food and shelter, because the people there had not sworn allegiance
to him.

He made a law that all lights should be put out and fires covered
with ashes at eight o’clock every evening, so that the people would
have to go to bed then. A bell was rung in all cities and towns
throughout England to warn the people of the hour. The bell was
called the “curfew,” from the French words “couvre feu,”
meaning to cover fire.

To find out about the lands of England and their owners, so that
everybody might be made to pay taxes, he appointed officers in
all the towns to report what estates there were, who owned them,
and what they were worth. The reports were copied into two volumes,
called the “Domesday Book.” Page
172 This book showed that England at that time had a
population of a little more than a million.

DEATH OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR

William made war on Scotland, and conquered it. During a war with
the king of France the city of Mantes (mont) was burned
by William’s soldiers. As William rode over the ruins his horse
stumbled and the king was thrown to the ground and injured. He
was borne to Rouen, where he lay ill for six weeks. His sons and
even his attendants abandoned him in his last hours. It is said
that in his death struggle he fell from his bed to the floor, where
his body was found by his servants.

Page 173
PETER THE HERMIT

ABOUT 1050-1115

I

During the Middle Ages the Christians of Europe used to go to the
Holy Land for the purpose of visiting the tomb of Christ and other
sacred places. Those who made such a journey were called “pilgrims.”

Every year thousands of pilgrims—kings, nobles and people
of humbler rank—went to the Holy Land.

While Jerusalem was in the hands of the Arabian caliphs who reigned
at Bagdad, the Christian pilgrims were generally well treated. After
about 1070, when the Turks took possession of the city, outrages
became so frequent that it seemed as if it would not be safe for
Christians to visit the Savior’s tomb at all.

About the year 1095 there lived at Amiens (ä-me-an’)
France, a monk named Peter the Hermit.

Peter was present at a council of clergy and people held at Clermont
in France when his Holiness, Pope Urban II, made a stirring speech. He
begged the Page 174
people to rescue the Holy Sepulchre and other sacred sites from
the Mohammedans.

The council was so roused by his words that they broke forth into
loud cries, “God wills it! God wills it!”

“It is, indeed, His will,” said the Pope, “and let these words be
your war-cry when you meet the enemy.”

Peter listened with deep attention. Immediately after the council
he began to preach in favor of a war against the Turks. With head
and feet bare, and clothed in a long, coarse robe tied at the waist
with a rope, he went through Italy from city to city, riding on a
donkey. He preached in churches, on the streets,—wherever
he could secure an audience.

When Peter had gone over Italy he crossed the Alps and preached to
the people of France, Germany, and neighboring countries. Everywhere
he kindled the zeal of the people, and multitudes enlisted as champions
of the cross.

Thus began the first of seven wars known as the “Crusades” or “Wars
of the Cross,” waged to rescue the Holy Land from the Mohammedans.

It is said that more than 100,000 men, women and children went
on the first Crusade. Each wore on the right shoulder the emblem
of the cross.

Page 175

PETER THE HERMIT PREACHING THE FIRST CRUSADE

Page 176 Peter was
in command of one portion of this great multitude. His followers
began their journey with shouts of joy and praise.

But they had no proper supply of provisions. So when passing through
Hungary they plundered the towns and compelled the inhabitants to
support them. This roused the anger of the Hungarians. They attacked
the Crusaders and killed a great many of them.

After long delays about seven thousand of those who had started on
the Crusade reached Constantinople. They were still enthusiastic
and sounded their war-cry, “God wills it!” with as much fervor as
when they first joined Peter’s standard.

Leaving Constantinople, they went eastward into the land of the
Turks. A powerful army led by the sultan met them. The Crusaders
fought heroically all day long but at length were badly beaten.
Only a few escaped and found their way back to Constantinople.

Peter the Hermit had left the Crusaders before the battle and returned
to Constantinople. He afterwards joined the army of Godfrey of
Bouillon.

Godfrey’s army was composed of six divisions, each commanded by
a soldier of high rank and distinction. It was a well organized
and disciplined force and numbered about half a million men.

Page 177 It started
only a few weeks after the irregular multitude which followed Peter
the Hermit, and was really the first Crusading army, for Peter’s
undisciplined throng could hardly be called an army.

After a long march Godfrey reached Antioch and laid siege to it.

It was believed that this Moslem stronghold could be taken in a
short time; but the city resisted the attacks of the Christians
for seven months. Then it surrendered.

And now something happened that none of the Crusaders had dreamed
of. An army of two hundred thousand Persians arrived to help the
Moslems. They laid siege to Antioch and shut up the Crusaders within
its walls for weeks. However, after a number of engagements in
which there was great loss of life, the Turks and Persians were
at last driven away.

The way was now opened to Jerusalem. But out of the half million
Crusaders who had marched from Europe less than fifty thousand
were left. They had won their way at a fearful cost.

Still onward they pushed with brave hearts, until on a bright summer
morning they caught the first glimpse of the Holy City in the distance.
For two whole years they had toiled and suffered in the hope of
reaching Jerusalem. Now it lay before them.

Page 178

ENTRY OF THE CRUSADERS INTO JERUSALEM

Page 179 But it had
yet to be taken. For more than five weeks the Crusaders carried on
the siege. Finally, on the 15th of July, 1099, the Turks surrendered.
The Moslem flag was hauled down and the banner of the cross floated
over the Holy City.

A few days after the Christians had occupied Jerusalem Godfrey of
Bouillon was chosen king of the Holy Land.

“I will accept the office,” he said, “but no crown must be put
on my head and I must never be called king. I cannot wear a crown
of gold where Christ wore one of thorns nor will I be called king
in the land where once lived the King of Kings.”

Peter the Hermit is said to have preached an eloquent sermon on
the Mount of Olives. He did not, however, remain long in Jerusalem,
but after the capture of the city returned to Europe. He founded
a monastery in France and within its walls passed the rest of his
life.

Page 180
FREDERICK BARBAROSSA

EMPEROR FROM 1152-1190

I

Frederick I was one of the most famous of German emperors. He was
a tall, stalwart man of majestic appearance. He had a long red
beard and so the people called him Barbarossa, or Red-Beard. He
came to the throne in 1152.

At that time the province of Lombardy in northern Italy was a part
of the German empire.

In 1158 Milan (mï-lan’), the chief city of Lombardy,
revolted. Then over the Alps came an army of a hundred thousand
German soldiers, with Frederick at their head. After a long siege
the city surrendered.

But soon it revolted again. The emperor besieged it once more and
once more it surrendered. Its fortifications were destroyed and
many of its buildings ruined.

But even then the spirit of the Lombards was not broken. Milan
and the other cities of Lombardy united in a league and defied
the emperor. He called upon the German dukes to bring their men
to his aid. All responded except Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony,
Frederick’s cousin, whom Page
181 he had made duke of Bavaria also. Frederick is said
to have knelt and implored Henry to do his duty, but in vain.

FREDERICK AT THE FEET OF HENRY THE LION

In his campaign against the Lombards Frederick was unsuccessful.
His army was completely defeated and he was compelled to grant
freedom to the cities of Lombardy. Everybody blamed Henry the Lion.
The other dukes charged him with treason and he was summoned to
appear before a meeting of the nobles. He failed to come and the
nobles thereupon declared him guilty and took from him everything
that he had, except the lands he had inherited from his father.

Page 182 Frederick
now devoted himself to making Germany a united nation. Two of his
nobles had been quarreling for a long time and as a punishment
for their conduct each was condemned, with ten of his counts and
barons, to carry dogs on his shoulders from one country to another.

Frederick finally succeeded in keeping the nobles in the different
provinces of Germany at peace with one another, and persuaded them
to work together for the good of the whole empire. He had no more
trouble with them and for many years his reign was peaceful and
prosperous.

II

After the Christians had held Jerusalem for eighty-eight years, it
was recaptured by the Moslems under the lead of the famous Sal’a-din,
in the year 1187. There was much excitement in Christendom, and the
Pope proclaimed another Crusade.

Frederick immediately raised an army of Crusaders in the German
Empire and with one hundred and fifty thousand men started for
Palestine.

He marched into Asia Minor, attacked the Moslem forces, and defeated
them in two great battles.

But before the brave old warrior reached the Holy Land his career
was suddenly brought to Page
183 an end. One day his army was crossing a small bridge
over a river in Asia Minor. At a moment when the bridge was crowded
with troops Frederick rode up rapidly.

NOBLES CARRYING DOGS

He was impatient to join his son, who was leading the advance guard;
and when he found that he could not cross immediately by the bridge,
he plunged into the river to swim his horse across. Both horse and
rider were swept away by the current. Barbarossa’s heavy armor
made him helpless and he was drowned. His body was recovered and
buried at Antioch.

Page 184 Barbarossa
was so much loved by his people that it was said, “Germany and
Frederick Barbarossa are one in the hearts of the Germans.” His
death caused the greatest grief among the German Crusaders. They
had now little heart to fight the infidels and most of them at
once returned to Germany.

In the Empire the dead hero was long mourned and for many years
the peasants believed that Frederick was not really dead, but was
asleep in a cave in the mountains of Germany, with his gallant
knights around him. He was supposed to be sitting in his chair
of state, with the crown upon his head, his eyes half-closed in
slumber, his beard as white as snow and so long that it reached
the ground.

“When the ravens cease to fly round the mountain,” said the legend,
“Barbarossa shall awake and restore Germany to its ancient greatness.”

Page 185
HENRY THE SECOND 1154-1189
AND
HIS SONS 1189-1216

I

In 1154, while Barbarossa was reigning in Germany, Henry II, one
of England’s greatest monarchs, came to the throne.

Henry was the son of Geoffrey Plan-tag’e-net, Count of Anjou in
France, and Matilda, daughter of King Henry I and granddaughter
of William the Conqueror. Count Geoffrey used to wear in his hat
a sprig of the broom plant, which is called in Latin planta
genista. From this he adopted the name Plantagenet, and the
kings who descended from him and ruled England for more than three
hundred years are called the Plantagenets.

Henry II inherited a vast domain in France and managing this in
addition England kept him very busy. One who knew him well said,
“He never sits down; he is on his feet from morning till night.”

His chief assistant in the management of public affairs was Thomas
Becket, whom he made chancellor of the kingdom. Becket was fond
of pomp Page 186
and luxury, and lived in a more magnificent manner than even the
king himself.

The clergy had at this time become almost independent of the king.
To bring them under his authority Henry made Becket Archbishop of
Canterbury, thus putting him at the head of the Church in England.
The king expected that Becket would carry out all his wishes.

Becket, however, refused to do that which the king most desired
and a quarrel arose between them. At last, to escape the king’s
anger, Becket fled to France and remained there for six years.

At the end of this time Henry invited him to come back to England.
Not long after, however, the old quarrel began again. One day while
Henry was sojourning in France, he cried out in a moment of passion,
while surrounded by a group of knights, “Is there no one who will
rid me of this turbulent priest?”

Four knights who heard him understood from this angry speech that
he desired the death of Becket, and they went to England to murder
the Archbishop. When they met Becket they first demanded that he
should do as the king wished, but he firmly refused. At dusk that
same day they entered Canterbury Cathedral, again seeking for him.
“Where is the traitor, Thomas Becket?” one of them cried.

Page 187 Becket
boldly answered, “Here am I—no traitor, but a priest of god.”

As he finished speaking the knights rushed upon him and killed him.

THE MURDERED ARCHBISHOP

The people of England were horrified by this brutal murder. Becket
was called a martyr and his tomb became a place of pious pilgrimage.
The Pope canonized him and for years he was the most venerated of
English saints.

King Henry was in Normandy when the murder occurred. He declared
that he had had nothing Page
188 whatever to do with it and he punished the murderers.

But from this time Henry had many troubles. His own sons rebelled
against him, his barons were unfriendly, and conspiracies were
formed. Henry thought that God was punishing him for the murder of
Becket and so determined to do penance at the tomb of the saint.

For some distance before he reached Canterbury Cathedral where
Becket was buried he walked over the road with bare head and feet.
After his arrival he fasted and prayed a day and a night. The next
day he put scourges into the hands of the cathedral monks and said,
“Scourge me as I kneel at the tomb of the saint.” The monks did
as he bade them and he patiently bore the pain.

Henry finally triumphed over his enemies and had some years of peace,
which he devoted to the good of England.

In the last year of his life, however, he had trouble again. The
king of France and Henry’s son Richard took up arms against him.
Henry was defeated and was forced to grant what they wished. When
he saw a list of the barons who had joined the French king he found
among them the name of his favorite son John, and his heart was
broken. He died a few days later.

Page 189
II

Henry’s eldest surviving son, Richard, was crowned at Westminster
Abbey in 1190. He took the title of Richard I but is better known
as “Cœur de Lion” (the lion-hearted), a name which was
given him on account of his bravery. He had wonderful strength
and his brave deeds were talked about all over the land.

With such a man for their king, the English people became devoted
to chivalry, and on every field of battle brave men vied with another
in brave deeds. Knighthood was often the reward of valor. Then, as
now, knighthood was usually conferred upon a man by his king or
queen. A part of the ceremony consisted in the sovereign’s touching
the kneeling subject’s soldier with the flat of a sword and saying,
“Arise, Sir Knight.” This was called “the accolade.”

Richard did not stay long in England after his coronation. In 1191
he went with Philip of France on a Crusade.

The French and English Crusaders together numbered more than one
hundred thousand men. They sailed to the Holy Land and joined an
army of Christian soldiers encamped before the city of Acre. The
besiegers had despaired of taking the city but when reinforced
they gained fresh courage.

Page 190

THE ACCOLADE

Page 191 Cœur
de Lion now performed deeds of valor which gave him fame throughout
Europe. He was the terror of the Saracens. In every attack on Acre
he led the Christians and when the city was captured he planted
his banner in triumph on its walls.

So great was the terror inspired everywhere in the Holy Land by
the name of Richard that Moslem mothers are said to have made their
children quiet by threatening to send for the English king.

Every night when the Crusaders encamped, the heralds blew their
trumpets, and cried three times, “Save the Holy Sepulchre!” And
the Crusaders knelt and said, “Amen!”

The great leader of the Saracens was Saladin. He was a model of
heroism and the two leaders, one the champion of the Christians
and the other the champion of the Mohammedans, vied with each other
in knightly deeds.

Just before one battle Richard rode down the Saracen line and boldly
called for any one to step forth and fight him alone. No one responded
to the challenge, for the most valiant of the Saracens did not dare
to meet the lion-hearted king.

After the capture of Acre Richard took As’ca-lon. Then he made a
truce with Saladin, by which the Christians acquired the right for
three years to visit the Holy City without paying for the privilege.

Page 192

RICHARD CŒUR DE LION AND SALADIN, RULER OF THE FAITHFUL, ENTERING JERUSALEM

Page 193
III

Richard now set out on his voyage home. He was wrecked, however,
on the Adriatic Sea near Trieste. To get to England he was obliged
to go through the lands of Leopold, duke of Austria, one of his
bitterest enemies. So he disguised himself as a poor pilgrim returning
from the Holy Land.

But he was recognized by a costly ring that he wore and was taken
prisoner at Vienna by Duke Leopold. His people in England anxiously
awaited his return, and when after a long time he did not appear
they were sadly distressed. There is a legend that a faithful squire
named Blondel went in search of him, as a wandering minstrel traveled
for months over central Europe, vainly seeking for news of his
master.

At last one day, while singing one of Richard’s favorite songs
near the walls of the castle where the king was confined, he heard
the song repeated from a window. He recognized the voice of Richard.
From the window Richard told him to let the English people and
the people of Europe know where he was confined, and the minstrel
immediately went upon his mission.

Soon Europe was astounded to learn that brave Richard of England,
the great champion of Christendom, Page 194 was imprisoned. The story of Blondel
is probably not true, but what is true is that England offered to
ransom Richard; that the Pope interceded for him; and that finally
it was agreed that he should be given up on the payment of a very
large sum of money. The English people quickly paid the ransom
and Richard was freed.

The king of France had little love for Richard, and Richard’s own
brother John had less. Both were sorry that Cœur de Lion was
at liberty.

John had taken charge of the kingdom during his brother’s absence,
and hoped that Richard might pass the rest of his days in the prison
castle of Leopold.

As soon as Richard was released, the French king sent word to John,
“The devil is loose again.” And a very disappointed man was John
when all England rang with rejoicing at Richard’s return.

IV

Upon the death of Richard, in 1199, Arthur, the son of his elder
brother Geoffrey, was the rightful heir to the throne. John, however,
seized the throne himself and cast Arthur into prison. There is a
legend that he ordered Arthur’s eyes to be put out with red hot
irons. The jailor, however, was touched by the boy’s prayer for
mercy and spared him. But Arthur was not to escape his uncle long.
It is said that one Page
196 night the king took him out upon the Seine in a little
boat, murdered him and cast his body into the river.

PRINCE ARTHUR PLEADS WITH HIS JAILER

Besides being a king of England, John was duke of Normandy, and
Philip, king of France, now summoned him to France to answer for
the crime of murdering Arthur. John would not answer the summons
and this gave the king of France an excuse for taking possession of
Normandy. He did so, and thus this great province was lost forever
to England. Nothing in France was left to John except A-qui-taine’,
which had come to him through his mother.

John’s government was unjust and tyrannical, and the bishops and
barons determined to preserve their rights and the rights of the
people. They met on a plain called Runnymeade, and there forced
John to sign the famous “Magna Carta” (Great Charter).

Magna Carta is the most valuable charter ever granted by any sovereign
to his people. In it King John names all the rights which belong
to the citizens under a just government, and he promises that no
one of these rights shall ever be taken away from any subjects
of the English king. For violating this promise one English king
lost his life and another lost the American colonies.

Magna Carta was signed in 1215. A year after he signed it the king
died. His son, Henry III, succeeded him.

Page 197

JOHN SIGNING MAGNA CARTA

Page 198
LOUIS THE NINTH

KING FROM 1226-1270

I

After the time of Barbarossa and Richard Cœur de Lion lived
another great Crusading king. This was a grandson of Philip II,
named Louis IX, who became sovereign of France in 1226. He was
then only eleven years old, so for some years his mother ruled the
kingdom.

A few years after he had begun to reign Louis decided to make his
brother Alphonse the governor of a certain part of France. The
nobles of the region refused to have Alphonse as governor and invited
Henry III of England to help them in a revolt.

Henry crossed to France with an army to support the rebellious
nobles. He was duke of Aquitaine and Gascony; so that although he
was the king in England he had to do homage to the king of France
for his possessions in that country, and fight for him if called
upon to do so.

Louis gathered an army and hastened to meet the English troops. He
drove Henry from place Page
200 to place, until at last he forced him to make terms
of peace. The rebellious nobles who had invited the English king
to France soon after swore allegiance to Louis and afterwards he
had little trouble in his kingdom.

THE CHILD KING, LOUIS THE NINTH, BESTOWING ALMS

Once Louis was dangerously ill and his life was despaired of. Finally
he was believed to be dying and his wife and chief officials gathered
round his bed to await the end. Suddenly he roused himself and
said in a feeble voice, “The cross! The cross!”

They laid the cross upon his heart and he clasped it fervently.
For a while he slumbered. When he awoke he appeared much better.
In a day or two he was entirely well. He then made a solemn vow
that in thankfulness for his restoration he would go on a Crusade
to the Holy Land.

Louis lived at a time when everybody was full of the Crusading
spirit. A few years before he was born even the children in France
and Germany started out upon a Crusade of their own. It is called
in history the “Children’s Crusade.” Several thousand left their
homes and marched toward the Mediterranean. They thought that God
would open a pathway to the Holy Land for them through its waters.
A number of them died of cold and hunger when trying to cross the
Alps. Some reached Rome, and when the Pope saw them he told them
Page 202 to return
home and not think of going on a Crusade until they were grown
up.

THE CHILDREN’S CRUSADE

It is easy to understand how in such an age people flocked to Louis’
banner when he asked for volunteers to go with him on another Crusade.

In a few months forty thousand Crusaders assembled at a French
port on the Mediterranean Sea. On a bright day in August, 1248,
they went on board the fleet which was ready to sail. The king
called to the Crusaders, “Sing in the name of God. Shout forth
his praises as we sail away.” Then quickly, on ship after ship,
shouts of praise burst from the lips of thousands and amid the
grand chorus the fleet began its voyage.

The Crusaders went to Dam-i-et’ta, in Egypt. Louis was so eager to
land that he jumped into water up to his waist and waded ashore.
He captured the city without striking a blow.

He had resolved to make war on the Moslems in Egypt rather than
in the Holy Land, so when he left Damietta he marched southward.

He supposed there would be no strong force to stop his progress.
However, he was mistaken, for he had not marched forty miles toward
Cairo when he was attacked by a Moslem army led by the sultan of
Egypt.

A great battle was fought. The Crusaders were Page 203 commanded by King Louis and throughout
the battle showed the utmost bravery, but they were outnumbered.
Thousands were slain and the survivors retreated toward Damietta.

The Moslems pursued them and the Crusaders were obliged to surrender.
Out of the forty thousand men who had left France only about six
thousand now remained. Many had died of disease as well as in battle.

King Louis was among the prisoners, and the sultan of Egypt agreed
to release him only upon the payment of a large ransom.

When the ransom had been paid a truce was made for ten years between
Louis and the sultan, and the good king left Egypt. He then went
to the Holy Land, and for four years worked to deliver Crusaders
who were in Moslem prisons.

II

During the time that Louis was in the Holy Land his mother ruled
France as regent. When she died he returned immediately to his
kingdom and devoted himself to governing it.

In 1252 he took part in the founding of the Sorbonne, the most
famous theological college of Europe from the days of St. Louis
down to the time of the French Revolution.

Page 204

THE FOUNDING OF THE SORBONNE

Page 205 He ruled
his people so wisely and justly that it is hard to find any better
king or even one equally as good in the whole line of French kings.
He never wronged any man himself, or knowingly allowed any man to
be wronged by others.

Near his palace there was a grand oak with wide-spreading branches,
under which he used to sit on pleasant days in summer. There he
received all persons who had complaints to make, rich and poor
alike. Every one who came was allowed to tell his story without
hindrance.

For hours Louis would listen patiently to all the tales of wrong-doing,
of hardships and misery that were told him, and he would do what
he could to right the wrongs of those who suffered.

When news came of some more dreadful persecutions of Christians by
the Moslems in Palestine, Louis again raised an army of Crusaders and
started with them for Tunis, although he was sick and feeble—so
sick, indeed, that he had to be carried on a litter. Upon his arrival
at Tunis he was attacked by fever and died in a few days.

He is better known to the world as Saint Louis than as Louis IX,
because some years after his death Pope Boniface VIII canonized
him on account of his pious life and his efforts to rescue the
Holy Land from the Turks.

Page 206
ROBERT BRUCE

KING FROM 1306-1329

The most famous king that Scotland ever had was Robert Bruce. He
lived in the days when Edward I, Edward II, and Edward III were
kings of England.

During the reign of Edward I the king of Scotland died and thirteen
men claimed the throne. Instead of fighting to decide which of
them should be king they asked Edward to settle the question. When
he met the Scottish nobles and the rivals, each of whom thought
that next day he would be wearing the crown, Edward told them that
he would himself be their king. Just then an English army marched
up. What could the nobles do but kneel at the feet of Edward and
promise to be his vassals? This they did; and so Scotland became
a part of Edward’s kingdom and Ba’li-ol, one of the rivals who
claimed the Scottish throne, was made the vassal king.

Some time after this Edward ordered Baliol to raise an army and help
him fight the French. Baliol refused to do this, so Edward marched
with Page 207 an
army into Scotland and took him prisoner. He was determined that
the Scotch should have no more kings of their own. So he carried
away the sacred stone of Scone (scoon), on which all kings of
Scotland had to sit when they were crowned, and put it in Westminster
Abbey in London, and there it is to this day. It is underneath the
chair on which the sovereigns of England always sit when the crown
of England, Scotland, and Ireland is placed upon their heads. It is
said to have been the very stone that Jacob used for a pillow on
the night that he saw, in his dream, angels ascending and descending
on the ladder that reached from earth to heaven.

Edward now supposed, as he had this sacred stone and had put King
Baliol in prison, that Scotland was conquered.

But the men whom he appointed to govern the Scotch ruled unwisely
and nearly all the people were discontented. Suddenly an army of
Scots was raised. It was led by Sir William Wallace, a knight who
was almost a giant in size. Wallace’s men drove the English out
of the country and Wallace was made the “Guardian of the Realm.”

Edward then led a great army against him. The Scottish soldiers
were nearly all on foot. Wallace arranged them in hollow
squares—spearmen on the outside, bowmen within. The English
horsemen Page 208
dashed vainly against the walls of spear-points. But King Edward
now brought his archers to the front. Thousands of arrows flew from
their bows and thousands of Wallace’s men fell dead. The spears
were broken and the Scotch were defeated. Wallace barely escaped
with his life. He was afterwards betrayed to Edward, who cruelly
put him to death.

II

But the Scotch had learned what they could do and they still went
on fighting for freedom, under two leaders named Robert Bruce and
John Comyn. Edward marched against them with another large army.
He won a great victory, and the nobles once more swore to obey
him.

But in spite of this oath, Bruce meant to free Scotland if he could,
and win the crown. He was privately crowned king of Scotland in
the Abbey of Scone in 1306.

He said to his wife, “Henceforth you are the queen and I am the
king of our country.”

“I fear,” said his wife, “that we are only playing at being king
and queen, like children in their games.”

“Nay, I shall be king in earnest,” said Bruce.

The news that Bruce had been crowned roused Page 209 all Scotland and the people took
up arms to fight under him against the English. But again King
Edward defeated the Scotch and Bruce himself fled to the Grampian
Hills.

For two months he was closely pursued by the English who used
bloodhounds to track him. He and his followers had many narrow
escapes. Once he had to scramble barefoot up some steep rocks,
and another time all the party would have been captured had not
Bruce awakened just in time to hear the approach of the enemy.
He and his men lived by hunting and fishing.

However, many brave patriots joined them, until after a while Bruce
had a small army. Five times he attacked the English, and five
times he was beaten. After his last defeat he fled from Scotland
and took refuge in a wretched hut on an island off the north coast
of Ireland. Here he stayed all alone during one winter.

III

It is said that one day, while he was very down-hearted, he saw
a spider trying to spin a web between two beams of his hut. The
little creature tried to throw a thread from one beam to another,
but failed. Not discouraged, it tried four times more without success.

Page 210

SCOTS IN THE BATTLE OF BANNOCKBURN

Page 211 “Five
times has the spider failed,” said Bruce. “That is just the number
of times the English have defeated me. If the spider has courage
to try again, I also will try to free Scotland!”

He watched the spider. It rested for a while as if to gain strength,
and then threw its slender thread toward the beam. This time it
succeeded.

“I thank God!” exclaimed Bruce. “The spider has taught me a lesson.
No more will I be discouraged.”

About this time Edward I died and his son, Edward II, succeeded
to the throne of England. For about two years the new king paid
little attention to Scotland.

Meantime Bruce captured nearly all the Scotch castles that were held
by the English, and the nobles and chiefs throughout the country
acknowledged him as their king.

At last Edward II marched into Scotland at the head of a hundred
thousand men. Bruce met him at Bannockburn on June 24, 1314, with
thirty thousand soldiers.

Before the battle began Bruce rode along the front of his army
to encourage his men. Suddenly an English knight, Henry de Bohun,
galloped across the field and tried to strike him down with a spear.
Bruce saw his danger in time Page
212 and with a quick stroke of his battle-axe cleft the
knight’s skull.

The Scotch army shouted again and again at this feat of their commander,
and they went into the battle feeling sure that the victory would
be theirs. They rushed upon the English with fury and although
outnumbered three to one, completely defeated them. Thousands of
the English were slain and a great number captured.

In spite of this terrible blow Edward never gave up his claim to
the Scottish crown. But his son Edward III, in 1328, recognized
Scotland’s independence and acknowledged Bruce as her king.

Page 213
MARCO POLO

LIVED FROM 1254-1324

I

Some years before St. Louis led his last Crusade there was born in
Venice a boy named Marco Polo. His father was a wealthy merchant
who often went on trading journeys to distant lands.

In 1271, when Marco was seventeen years old, he accompanied his
father and uncle on a journey through the Holy Land, Persia and
Tartary, and at length to the Empire of China—then called
Ca-thay’. It took the travelers three years to reach Cathay.

The emperor of Cathay was a monarch named Kublai Khan (koo’
bli-kän’), who lived in Peking.

Marco’s father and uncle had been in Cathay once before and had
entertained Kublai Khan by telling him about the manners and customs
of Europe.

So when the two Venetian merchants again appeared in Peking, Kublai
Khan was glad to see them. He was also greatly pleased with the
young Marco, whom he invited to the palace.

Important positions at the Chinese court were Page 214 given to Marco’s father and uncle,
and so they and Marco lived in the country for some years. Marco
studied the Chinese language, and it was not very long before he
could speak it.

When he was about twenty-one Kublai Khan sent him on very important
business to a distant part of China. He did the work well and from
that time was often employed as an envoy of the Chinese monarch. His
travels were sometimes in lands never before visited by Europeans
and he had many strange adventures among the almost unknown tribes
of Asia. Step by step he was promoted. For several years he was
governor of a great Chinese city.

Finally he and his father and uncle desired to return to Venice.
They had all served Kublai Khan faithfully and he had appreciated
it and given them rich rewards; but he did not wish to let them
go.

While the matter was being talked over an embassy arrived in Peking
from the king of Persia. This monarch desired to marry the daughter
of Kublai Khan, the Princess Cocachin, and he had sent to ask her
father for her hand. Consent was given, and Kublai Khan fitted out
a fleet of fourteen ships to carry the wedding party to Persia.

The Princess Cocachin was a great friend of Marco Polo, and urged
her father to allow him to Page
216 go with the party. Finally Kublai Khan gave his
consent. Marco’s father and uncle were also allowed to go, and the
three Venetians left China.

VENETIAN SHIPS

The fleet with the wedding party on board sailed southward on the
China Sea. It was a long and perilous voyage. Stops were made at
Borneo, Sumatra, Ceylon and other places, until the ships entered the
Persian Gulf and the princess was safely landed. After they reached
the capital of Persia the party, including the three Venetians, was
entertained by the Persians for weeks in a magnificent manner and
costly presents were given to all.

At last the Venetians left their friends, went to the Black Sea
and took ship for Venice.

They had been away so long and were so much changed in appearance
that none of their relations and old friends knew them when they
arrived in Venice. As they were dressed in Tatar costume and sometimes
spoke the Chinese language to one another, they found it hard to
convince people that they were members of the Polo family.

At length, on order to show that they were the men that they declared
themselves to be, they gave a dinner to all their relations and old
friends. When the guests arrived they were greeted by the travelers,
arrayed in gorgeous Chinese robes of crimson satin. After the first
course they appeared Page
217 in crimson damask; after the second, they changed
their costumes to crimson velvet; while at the end of the dinner
they appeared in the usual garb of wealthy Venetians.

“Now, my friends,” said Marco, “I will show you something that
will please you.” He then brought into the room the rough Tatar
coats which he and his father and uncle had worn when they reached
Venice. Cutting open the seams, he took from inside the lining
packets filled with rubies, emeralds and diamonds. It was the finest
collection of jewels ever seen in Venice.

The guests were now persuaded that their hosts were indeed what
they claimed to be.

II

Eight hundred years before Marco Polo’s birth, some of the people
of North Italy had fled before the Attila to the muddy islands of
the Adriatic and founded Venice upon them. Since then the little
settlement had become the most wealthy and powerful city of Europe.
Venice was the queen of the Adriatic and her merchants were princes.
They had vessels to bring the costly wares of the East to their wharves;
they had warships to protect their rich cargoes from the pirates
of the Mediterranean; Page
218 they carried on wars. At the time when Marco Polo
returned from Cathay they were at war with Gen’o-a.

The two cities were fighting for the trade of the world. In a great
naval battle the Venetians were completely defeated. Marco Polo
was in the battle and with many of his countrymen was captured
by the enemy. For a year he was confined in a Genoese prison. One
of his fellow-prisoners was a skillful penman and Marco dictated
to him an account of his experiences in China, Japan, and other
Eastern countries. This account was carefully written out. Copies
of the manuscript exist to this day. One of these is in a library
in Paris. It was carried into France in the year 1307. Another
copy is preserved in the city of Berne. It is said that the book
was translated into many languages, so that people in all parts
of Europe learned about Marco’s adventures.

About a hundred and seventy-five years after the book was written,
the famous Genoese, Christopher Columbus, planned his voyage across
the Atlantic. It is believed that he had read Marco’s description
of Java, Sumatra and other East India Islands, which he thought he
had reached when he discovered Hai’ti and Cuba. So Marco Polo may
have suggested to Columbus the voyage which led to the discovery
of America.

Page 219
EDWARD THE BLACK PRINCE

LIVED FROM 1330-1376

I

One of the most famous warriors of the Middle Ages was Edward the
Black Prince. He was so called because he wore black armor in battle.

The Black Prince was the son of Edward III who reigned over England
from 1327 to 1377. He won his fame as a soldier in the wars which
his father carried on against France.

You remember that the early kings of England, from the time of
William the Conqueror, had possessions in France. Henry II, William’s
grandson, was the duke of Normandy and lord of Brittany and other
provinces, and when he married Eleanor of Aquitaine she brought
him that province also.

Henry’s son John lost all the French possessions of the English
crown except a part of Aquitaine, and Edward III inherited this.
So when Philip of Valois (val-wah’) became king of France,
about a year after Edward had become king of England, Edward had
to do homage to Philip.

Page 220 To be
king of England and yet to do homage to the king of France—to
bend the knee before Philip and kiss his foot—was something
Edward did not like. He thought it was quite beneath his dignity,
as his ancestor Rollo had thought when told that he must kiss the
foot of King Charles.

So Edward tried to persuade the nobles of France that he himself
ought by right to be the king of France instead of being only a
vassal. Philip of Valois was only a cousin of the late French King
Charles IV. Edward was the son of his sister. But there was a curious
old law in France, called the Salic Law, which forbade that daughters
should inherit lands. This law barred the claim of Edward, because
his claim came through his mother. Still he determined to win the
French throne by force of arms.

A chance came to quarrel with Philip. Another of Philip’s vassals
rebelled against him, and Edward helped the rebel. He hoped by
doing so to weaken Philip and more easily overpower him.

Philip at once declared that Edward’s possessions in France were
forfeited.

Then Edward raised an army of thirty thousand men, and with it invaded
France.

The Black Prince was now only about sixteen years of age, but he
had already shown himself Page
221 brave in battle, and his father put him in command
of one of the divisions of the army.

Thousands of French troops led by King Philip were hurried from
Paris to meet the advance of the English; and on the 26th of August,
1346, the two armies fought a hard battle at the village of
Crécy.

During the battle the division of the English army commanded by
the Black Prince had to bear the attack of the whole French force.
The prince fought so bravely and managed his men so well that King
Edward, who was overlooking the field of battle from a windmill
on the top of a hill, sent him words of praise for his gallant
work.

Again and again the prince’s men drove back the French in splendid
style. But at last they seemed about to give way before a very
fierce charge, and the earl of Warwick hastened to Edward to advise
him to send the prince aid.

“Is my son dead or unhorsed or so wounded that he cannot help himself?”
asked the king.

“No, Sire,” was the reply; “but he is hard pressed.”

“Return to your post, and come not to me again for aid so long as
my son lives,” said the king. “Let the boy prove himself a true
knight and win his spurs.”

Page 222

THE BLACK PRINCE AT THE DEAD BODY OF THE KING OF BOHEMIA

Page 223 The earl
went to the prince and told him what his father had said. “I will
prove myself a true knight,” exclaimed the prince. “My father is
right. I need no aid. My men will hold their post as long as they
have strength to stand.”

Then he rode where the battle was still furiously raging, and encouraged
his men. The king of France led his force a number of times against
the prince’s line, but could not break it and was at last compelled
to retire.

The battle now went steadily against the French, although they
far outnumbered the English. Finally, forty thousand of Philip’s
soldiers lay dead upon the field and nearly all the remainder of
his army was captured. Philip gave up the struggle and fled.

Among those who fought on the side of the French at Crécy
was the blind king of Bohemia, who always wore three white feathers
in his helmet. When the battle was at its height the blind king had
his followers lead him into the thick of the fight, and he dealt
heavy blows upon his unseen foes until he fell mortally wounded.
The three white feathers were taken from his helmet by the Black
Prince, who ever after wore them himself.

As soon as he could King Edward rode over the field to meet his
son. “Prince,” he said, as he greeted him, “you are the conqueror
of the French.” Page
224 Turning to the soldiers, who had gathered around
him, the king shouted, “Cheer, cheer for the Black Prince! Cheer
for the hero of Crécy!”

What cheering then rose on the battle-field! The air rang with the
name of the Black Prince.

Soon after the battle of Crécy King Edward laid siege to
Calais; but the city resisted his attack for twelve months. During
the siege the Black Prince aided his father greatly.

After the capture of Calais, it was agreed to stop fighting for
seven years, and Edward’s army embarked for England.

II

In 1355 Edward again declared war against the French. The Black
Prince invaded France with an army of sixty thousand men. He captured
rich towns and gathered a great deal of booty. While he was preparing
to move on Paris, the king of France raised a great army and marched
against him.

The Black Prince had lost so many men by sickness that he had only
about ten thousand when he reached the city of Poitiers. Suddenly,
near the city, he was met by the French force of about fifty-five
thousand, splendidly armed and commanded by the king himself.

“God help us!” exclaimed the prince, when he Page 225 looked at the long lines of the
French as they marched on a plain before him.

Early on the morning of September 14, 1356, the battle began. The
English were few in number, but they were determined to contest
every inch of the ground and not surrender while a hundred of them
remained to fight. For hours they withstood the onset of the French.
At last a body of English horsemen charged furiously on one part
of the French line, while the Black Prince attacked another part.

This sudden movement caused confusion among the French. Many of
them fled from the field. When the Black Prince saw this he shouted
to his men, “Advance, English banners, in the name of God and St.
George!” His army rushed forward and the French were defeated.
Thousands of prisoners were taken, including the king of France
and many of his nobles.

The king was sent to England, where he was treated with the greatest
kindness. When, some time afterwards there was a splendid procession
in London to celebrate the victory of Poitiers, he was allowed
to ride in the procession on a beautiful white horse, while the
Black Prince rode on a pony at his side.

The Black Prince died in 1376. He was sincerely mourned by the
English people. They felt that they had lost a prince who would
have made a great and good king.

Page 226
WILLIAM TELL
AND ARNOLD VON WINKELRIED

I

Far up among the Alps, in the very heart of Switzerland, are three
districts, or cantons, as they are called, which are known as the
Forest Cantons and are famous in the world’s history. About two
thousand years ago the Romans found in these cantons a hardy race
of mountaineers, who, although poor, were free men and proud of
their independence. They became the friends and allies of Rome,
and the cantons were for many years a part of the Roman Empire,
but the people always had the right to elect their own officers
and to govern themselves.

When Goths and the Vandals and the Huns from beyond the Rhine and
the Danube overran the Roman Empire, these three cantons were not
disturbed. The land was too poor and rocky to attract men who were
fighting for possession of the rich plains and valleys of Europe,
and so Page 227
it happened that for century after century, the mountaineers of
these cantons lived on in their old, simple way, undisturbed by
the rest of the world.

In a canton in the valley of the Rhine lived the Hapsburg family,
whose leaders in time grew to be very rich and powerful. They became
dukes of Austria and some of them were elected emperors. One of the
Hapsburgs, Albert I, claimed that the land of the Forest Cantons
belonged to him. He sent a governor and a band of soldiers to those
cantons and made the people submit to his authority.

In one of the Forest Cantons at this time lived a famous mountaineer
named William Tell. He was tall and strong. In all Switzerland no
man had a foot so sure as his on the mountains or a hand so skilled
in the use of a bow. He was determined to resist the Austrians.

Secret meetings of the mountaineers were held and all took a solemn
oath to stand by each other and fight for their freedom; but they
had no arms and were simple shepherds who had never been trained
as soldiers. The first thing to be done was to get arms without
attracting the attention of the Austrians. It took nearly a year
to secure spears, swords, and battle-axes and distribute them among
the mountains. Finally this was done, and Page 228 everything was ready. All were
waiting for a signal to rise.

TELL SHOOTS THE APPLE FROM HIS SON’S HEAD

The story tells us that just at this time Gessler, the Austrian
governor, who was a cruel tyrant, hung a cap on a high pole in
the market-place in the village of Altorf, and forced everyone
who passed to bow before it. Tell accompanied by his little son,
happened to pass through the marketplace. He refused to bow before
the cap and was arrested. Gessler offered to release him if he
would shoot an apple from the head of his son. The governor hated
Tell and made this offer hoping that the mountaineer’s hand would
tremble and that he would kill his own son. It is said that Tell
shot the apple from his son’s head but that Gessler still refused
to release him. That night as Tell was being carried across the
lake to prison a storm came up. In the midst of the storm he sprang
from the boat to an over-hanging rock and made his escape. It is
said that he killed the tyrant. Some people do not believe this
story, but the Swiss do, and if you go to Lake Lucerne some day
they will show you the very rock upon which Tell stepped when he
sprang from the boat.

That night the signal fires were lighted on every mountain and
by the dawn of day the village of Altorf was filled with hardy
mountaineers, armed Page
230 and ready to fight for their liberty. A battle followed
and the Austrians were defeated and driven from Altorf. This victory
was followed by others.

TELL’S LEAP

A few years later, the duke himself came with a large army, determined
to conquer the mountaineers. He had to march through a narrow pass,
with mountains rising abruptly on either side. The Swiss were expecting
him and hid along the heights above the pass, as soon as the Austrians
appeared in the pass, rocks and trunks of trees were hurled down
upon them. Many were killed and wounded. Their army was defeated,
and the duke was forced to recognize the independence of the Forest
Cantons.

This was the beginning of the Republic of Switzerland. In time five
other cantons joined them in a compact for liberty.

II

About seventy years later the Austrians made another attempt to
conquer the patriots. They collected a splendid army and marched
into the mountains. The Swiss at once armed themselves and met
the Austrians at a place called Sempach. In those times powder
had not been invented, and men fought with spears, swords, and Page 232 battle-axes.
The Austrian soldiers stood shoulder to shoulder, each grasping a
long spear whose point projected far in front of him. The Swiss were
armed with short swords and spears and it was impossible for them
to get to the Austrians. For a while their cause looked hopeless,
but among the ranks of the Swiss was a brave man from one of the
Forest Cantons. His name was Arnold von Win’kel-ried. As he looked
upon the bristling points of the Austrian spears, he saw that his
comrades had no chance to win unless an opening could be made in
that line. He determined to make such an opening even at the cost
of his life. Extending his arms as far as he could, he rushed toward
the Austrian line and gathered within his arms as many spears as
he could grasp.

“Make way for liberty!” he cried—
 Then ran, with arms extended wide,
 As if his dearest friend to clasp;
 Ten spears he swept within his grasp.
“Make way for liberty!” he cried—
 Their keen points met from side to side.
 He bowed among them like a tree,
 And thus made way for liberty.

Pierced through and through Winkelried fell dead, but he had made
a gap in the Austrian line, and into this gap rushed the Swiss
patriots. Victory was theirs and the Cantons were free.

Page 233

“MAKE WAY FOR LIBERTY”

Page 234
TAMERLANE

LIVED FROM 1333-1405

I

Tamerlane was the son of the chief of a Mongolian tribe in Central
Asia. His real name was Timour, but as he was lamed in battle when
a youth he was generally called Timour the Lame, and this name
was gradually changed to Tamerlane. He was born in 1333, so that
he lived in the time of the English king, Edward III, when the
Black Prince was winning his victories over the French. He was a
descendant of a celebrated Tatar soldier, Genghis (jen’ghis)
Khan, who conquered Persia, China, and other countries of Asia. When
twenty-four years old Tamerlane became the head of his tribe, and
in a few years he made himself the leader of the whole Mongolian
race.

He was a tall, stern-looking man, of great strength, and, although
lame in his right leg, could ride a spirited horse at full gallop
and do all the work of Page
235 an active soldier. He was as brave as a lion—and
as cruel.

He chose the ancient city of Sa-mar-cand’, in Tur-kis-tan’, for
his capital; and here he built a beautiful marble palace, where
he lived in the greatest luxury.

Page 233

TAMERLANE

After he had enjoyed for some time the honors which fell to him as
chief ruler of the Mongolians, he began to desire further conquests.
He determined to make himself master of all the countries of Central
Asia.

“As there is but one God in heaven,” he said, “there ought to be
but one ruler on the earth.”

So he gathered an immense army from all parts of his dominion,
and for weeks his subjects were busy making preparations for war.
At length he started for Persia in command of a splendid army.
After gaining some brilliant victories he forced the Persian king
to flee from his capital.

Page 236 All the
rich country belonging to Persia, from the Tigris to the Euphrates,
submitted to the Mongolian conqueror.

Tamerlane celebrated his Persian conquest by magnificent festivities
which continued for a week. Then orders were given to march into
the great Tatar empire of the North. Here Tamerlane was victorious
over the principal chiefs and made them his vassals. In pursuing
the Tatars he entered Russia and sacked and burned some of the
Russian cities. He did not, however, continue his invasion of this
country, but turned in the direction of India.

At last his army stood before the city of Delhi, and after a fierce
assault forced it to surrender. Other cities of India were taken
and the authority of Tamerlane was established over a large extent
of the country.

II

Baj-a-zet’, sultan of Turkey, now determined to stop Tamerlane’s
eastward march.

News of this reached the conqueror’s ears. Leaving India, he marched
to meet the sultan. Bajazet was a famous warrior. He was so rapid
in his movements in war that he was called “the lightning.”

Tamerlane entered the sultan’s dominions and Page 237 devastated them. He stormed Bagdad,
and after capturing the place killed thousands of the inhabitants.

At length the rivals and their armies faced each other. A great
battle followed. It raged four or five hours and then the Turks
were totally defeated. Bajazet was captured.

Tamerlane then ordered a great iron cage to be made and forced
the sultan to enter it. The prisoner was chained to the iron bars
of the cage and was thus exhibited to the Mongol soldiers, who
taunted him as he was carried along the lines.

As the army marched from place to place the sultan in his cage
was shown to the people. How long the fallen monarch had to bear
this humiliating punishment is not known.

Tamerlane’s dominions now embraced a large part of Asia. He retired
to his palace at Samarcand and for several weeks indulged in
festivities.

He could not, however, long be content away from the field of battle.
So he made up his mind to invade the Empire of China. At the head of
a great army of two hundred thousand soldiers he marched from the
city of Samarcand towards China. He had gone about three hundred
miles on the way when, in February, 1405, he was taken sick and
Page 238 died.
His army was disbanded and all thought of invading China was given
up.

Thus passed away one of the greatest conquerors of the Middle Ages.
He was a soldier of genius but he cannot be called a truly great
man. His vast empire speedily fell to pieces after his death. Since
his day there has been no leader like him in that part of Asia.

Page 239
HENRY V

KING FROM 1413-1422

I

Of all the kings that England ever had Henry V was perhaps the
greatest favorite among the people. They liked him because he was
handsome and brave and, above all, because he conquered France.

In his youth, Prince Hal, as the people called him, had a number
of merry companions who sometimes got themselves into trouble by
their pranks. Once one of them was arrested and brought before
the chief justice of the kingdom.

Prince Hal was not pleased because sentence was given against his
companion and he drew his sword, threatening the judge. Upon this
the judge bravely ordered the prince to be arrested and put into
prison.

Prince Hal submitted to his punishment with good grace and his
father is reported to have said, “Happy is the monarch who has so
just a judge, and a son so willing to obey the law.”

Page 240 One of
Prince Hal’s companions was a fat old knight named Sir John Falstaff.
Once Falstaff was boasting that he and three men had beaten and
almost killed two men in buckram suits who had attacked and tried
to rob them. The prince led him on and gave him a chance to brag
as much as he wanted to, until finally Falstaff swore that there
were at least a hundred robbers and that he himself fought with
fifty. Then Prince Hal told their companions that only two men
had attacked Falstaff and his friends, and that he and another
man who was present were those two. And he said that Falstaff,
instead of fighting, had run as fast as his legs could carry him.

There was real goodness as well as merriment in Prince Hal. And
so the people found; for when he became king on the death of his
father he told his wild companions that the days of his wildness
were over; and he advised them to lead better lives in future.

As Henry V, Prince Hal made himself famous in English history by
his war with France.

Normandy, you remember, had belonged to Henry’s ancestor, William
the Conqueror. It had been taken from King John of England by the
French king, Philip Augustus, in 1203.

Soon after his coronation Henry sent a demand Page 242 to the French king that Normandy
should be restored, and he made the claim which his great-grandfather,
Edward III, had made that he was by right the king of France.

KING HENRY V REJECTS HIS EARLY COMPANIONS

Of course, the king of France would not acknowledge this. Henry
therefore raised an army of thirty thousand men and invaded France.

Before he began to attack the French he gave strict orders to his
men that they were to harm no one who was not a soldier and to
take nothing from the houses or farms of any persons who were not
fighting.

Sickness broke out among Henry’s troops after they landed, so that
their number was reduced to about fifteen thousand. Fifty or sixty
thousand Frenchmen were encamped on the field of Agincourt
(äzh-an-koor’) to oppose this little army.

The odds were greatly against Henry. The night before the battle
one of his officers said he wished that the many thousand brave
soldiers who were quietly sleeping in their beds in England were
with the king.

“I would not have a single man more,” said Henry. “If God give
us victory, it will be plain we owe it to His grace. If not, the
fewer we are the less loss for England.”

CHARGE OF THE FRENCH AT THE BATTLE OF AGINCOURT

The men drew courage from their king. The English archers poured
arrows into the ranks of Page
244 their opponents; and although the French fought
bravely, they were completely routed. Eleven thousand Frenchmen
fell. Among the slain were more than a hundred of the nobles of
the land.

II

Agincourt was not the last of Henry’s victories. He brought a second
army of forty thousand men over to France. Town after town was
captured, and at last Henry and his victorious troops laid siege
to Rouen, which was then the largest and richest city in France.

The fortifications were so strong that Henry could not storm them,
so he determined to take the place by starving the garrison. He
said, “War has three handmaidens—fire, blood, and famine.
I have chosen the meekest of the three.”

He had trenches dug round the town and placed soldiers in them
to prevent citizens from going out of the city for supplies, and
to prevent the country people from taking provisions in.

A great number of the country people had left their homes when
they heard that the English army was marching towards Rouen, and
had taken refuge within the city walls. After the siege had gone
on for six months there was so little food left in the place that
the commander of the Page
245 garrison ordered these poor people to go back to
their homes.

Twelve thousand were put outside the gates, but Henry would not
allow them to pass through his lines; so they starved to death
between the walls of the French and the trenches of the English.

As winter came on the suffering of the citizens was terrible. At
last they determined to set fire to the city, open their gates,
and make a last desperate attack on the English.

Henry wished to preserve the city and offered such generous terms
of surrender that the people accepted them. Not only Rouen but
the whole of Normandy, which the French had held for two hundred
years, was now forced to submit to Henry.

The war continued for about two years more, and the English gained
possession of such a large part of France that at Christmas Henry
entered Paris itself in triumph.

But, strange to say, the king against whom he had been fighting
and over whom he was triumphing sat by his side as he rode through
the streets. What did this mean? It meant that the French were so
terrified by the many victories of Henry that all—king and
people—were willing to give him whatever he asked. A treaty
was made that as the king was feeble Henry should be regent of the
kingdom Page 246
and that when the king died Henry should succeed him as king of
France.

In the treaty the French king also agreed to give to Henry his
daughter, the Princess Katherine, in marriage. She became the mother
of the English King, Henry VI.

The arrangement that an English sovereign should be king of France
was never put into effect; for in less than two years after the
treaty was signed the reign of the great conqueror came to an end.
Henry died.

In the reign of his son all his work in gaining French territory
was undone. By the time that Henry VI was twenty years old England,
as you will read in the story of Joan of Arc, had nothing left of
all that had been won by so many years of war except the single
town of Calais.

Page 247
JOAN OF ARC

LIVED FROM 1412-1431

I

In the long wars between the French and English not even the Black
Prince or King Henry V gained such fame as did a young French peasant
girl, Joan of Arc.

She was born in the little village of Domremy (dom-re-me’).
Her father had often told her of the sad condition of France—how
the country was largely in the possession of England, and how the
French king did not dare to be crowned.

And so the thought came to be ever in her mind, “How I pity my
country!” She brooded over the matter so much that by and by she
began to have visions of angels and heard strange voices, which
said to her, “Joan, you can deliver the land from the English.
Go to the relief of King Charles.”

At last these strange visions and voices made the young girl believe
that she had a mission from God, and she determined to try to save
France.

When she told her father and mother of her purpose, they tried to
persuade her that the visions of angels and the voices telling her
of the Page 248
divine mission were but dreams. “I tell thee, Joan,” said her father,
“it is thy fancy. Thou hadst better have a kind husband to take
care of thee, and do some work to employ thy mind.”

JOAN’S VISION

“Father, I must do what God has willed, for this is no work of
my choosing,” she replied. “Mother, I would far rather sit and
spin by your side than take part in war. My mission is no dream.
I know that I have been chosen by the Lord to fulfill His purpose
and nothing can prevent me from going where He purposes to send
me.”

The village priest, her young companions, even the governor of the
town, all tried to stop her, but it was in vain.

To the governor she said, “I must do the work my Lord has laid out
for me.”

Page 249 Little by
little people began to believe in her mission. At last all stopped
trying to discourage her and some who were wealthy helped her to
make the journey to the town of Chinon (she-non’), where
the French king, Charles the Seventh, was living.

II

When Joan arrived at Chinon, a force of French soldiers was preparing
to go to the south of France to relieve the city of Orleans which
the English were besieging.

King Charles received Joan kindly and listened to what she had
to say with deep attention. The girl spoke modestly, but with a
calm belief that she was right.

“Gracious King,” she said, “my name is Joan. God has sent me to
deliver France from her enemies. You shall shortly be crowned in
the cathedral of Rheims (remz). I am to lead the soldiers
you are about to send for the relief of Orleans. So God has directed
and under my guidance victory will be theirs.”

The king and his nobles talked the matter over and finally it was
decided to allow Joan to lead an army of about five thousand men
against the English at Orleans.

When she left Chinon at the head of her soldiers, in April, 1429, she
was in her eighteenth year. Page
250 Mounted on a fine war-horse and clad in white armor
from head to foot, she rode along past the cheering multitude,
“seeming rather,” it has been said, “of heaven than earth.” In
one hand she carried an ancient sword that she had found near the
tomb of a saint, and in the other a white banner embroidered with
lilies.

The rough soldiers who were near her left off their oaths and coarse
manners, and carefully guarded her. She inspired the whole army
with courage and faith as she talked about her visions.

When she arrived at the besieged city of Orleans she fearlessly
rode round its walls, while the English soldiers looked on in
astonishment. She was able to enter Orleans, despite the efforts
of the besiegers to prevent her.

She aroused the city by her cheerful, confident words and then led
her soldiers forth to give battle to the English. Their success
was amazing. One after another the English forts were taken.

THE CAPTURE OF ORLEANS BY JOAN OF ARC

When only the strongest remained and Joan was leading the attacking
force, she received a slight wound and was carried out of the battle
to be attended by a surgeon. Her soldiers began to retreat. “Wait,”
she commanded, “eat and drink and rest; for as soon as I recover I
will touch the walls with my banner and you shall enter the fort.”
Page 252 In a
few minutes she mounted her horse again and riding rapidly up to
the fort, touched it with her banner. Her soldier almost instantly
carried it. The very next day the enemy’s troops were forced to
withdraw from before the city and the siege was at end.

The French soldiers were jubilant at the victory and called Joan
the “Maid of Orleans.” By this name she is known in history. Her
fame spread everywhere, and the English as well as the French thought
she had more than human power.

She led the French in several other battles, and again and again
her troops were victorious.

At last the English were driven far to the north of France. Then
Charles, urged by Joan, went to Rheims with twelve thousand soldiers,
and there, with splendid ceremonies, was crowned king. Joan holding
her white banner, stood near Charles during the coronation.

When the ceremony was finished, she knelt at his feet and said,
“O King, the will of God is done and my mission is over! Let me
now go home to my parents.”

But the king urged her to stay a while longer, as France was not
entirely freed from the English. Joan consented, but she said,
“I hear the heavenly voices no more and I am afraid.”

Page 253

THE CORONATION OF CHARLES VII AT RHEIMS

Page 254 However,
she took part in an attack upon the army of the Duke of Burgundy,
but was taken prisoner by him. For a large sum of money the duke
delivered her into the hands of the English, who put her in prison
in Rouen. She lay in prison for a year, and finally was charged with
sorcery and brought to trial. It was said that she was under the
influence of the Evil One. She declared to her judges her innocence
of the charge and said, “God has always been my guide in all that
I have done. The devil has never had power over me.”

Her trial was long and tiresome. At its close she was doomed to
be burned at the stake.

So in the market-place at Rouen the English soldiers fastened her
to a stake surrounded by a great pile of fagots.

A soldier put into her hands a rough cross, which he had made from
a stick that he held. She thanked him and pressed it to her bosom.
Then a good priest, standing near the stake, read to her the prayers
for the dying, and another mounted the fagots and held towards her
a crucifix, which she clasped with both hands and kissed. When
the cruel flames burst out around her, the noble girl uttered the
word “Jesus,” and expired.

Page 255

JOAN OF ARC BOUND TO THE STAKE

Page 256 A statue
of her now stands on the spot where she suffered.

Among all the men of her time none did nobler work than Joan. And
hence it is that we put the story of her life among the stories
of the lives of the great men of the Middle Ages, although
she was only a simple peasant girl.

Page 257
GUTENBERG

LIVED FROM 1400-1468

I

While Joan of Arc was busy rescuing France from the English, another
wonderful worker was busy in Germany. This was John Gutenberg,
who was born in Mainz.

The Germans—and most other people—think that he was
the inventor of the art of printing with movable types. And so in
the cities of Dresden and Mainz his countrymen have put up statues
in his memory.

Gutenberg’s father was a man of good family. Very likely the boy
was taught to read. But the books from which he learned were not
like ours; they were written by hand. A better name for them than
books is “manuscripts,” which means hand-writings.

While Gutenberg was growing up a new way of making books came into
use, which was a great deal better than copying by hand. It was
what is called block-printing. The printer first cut a block of
hard wood the size of the page that he Page 258 was going to print. Then he cut
out every word of the written page upon the smooth face of his
block. This had to be very carefully done. When it was finished the
printer had to cut away the wood from the sides of every letter.
This left the letters raised, as the letters are in books now printed
for the blind.

The block was now ready to be used. The letters were inked, paper
was laid upon them and pressed down.

With blocks the printer could make copies of a book a great deal
faster than a man could write them by hand. But the making of the
blocks took a long time, and each block would print only one page.

Gutenberg enjoyed reading the manuscripts and block books that his
parents and their wealthy friends had; and he often said it was a
pity that only rich people could own books. Finally he determined
to contrive some easy and quick way of printing.

He did a great deal of his work in secret, for he thought it was
much better that his neighbors should know nothing of what he was
doing.

So he looked for a workshop where no one would be likely to find
him. He was now living in Strasburg, and there was in that city
a ruined old building Page
259 where, long before his time, a number of monks had
lived. There was one room of the building which needed only a little
repairing to make it fit to be used. So Gutenberg got the right
to repair that room and use it as his workshop.

All his neighbors wondered what became of him when he left home in
the early morning, and where he had been when they saw him coming
back late in the twilight. Some felt sure that he must be a wizard,
and that he had meetings somewhere with the devil, and that the
devil was helping him to do some strange business.

Gutenberg did not care much what people had to say, and in his
quiet room he patiently tried one experiment after another, often
feeling very sad and discouraged day after day because his experiments
did not succeed.

At last the time came when he had no money left. He went back to
his old home, Mainz, and there met a rich goldsmith named Fust
(or Faust).

Gutenberg told him how hard he had tried in Strasburg to find some
way of making books cheaply, and how he had now no more money to
carry on his experiments. Fust became greatly interested and gave
Gutenberg what money he needed. But as the experiments did not
at first succeed Fust lost patience. He quarreled with Page 260 Gutenberg
and said that he was doing nothing but spending money. At last
he brought suit against him in the court, and the judge decided
in favor of Fust. So everything in the world that Gutenberg had,
even the tools with which he worked, came into Fust’s possession.

GUTENBERG AT WORK

II

But though he had lost his tools, Gutenberg had not lost his courage.
And he had not lost all his friends. One of them had money, and
he bought Gutenberg a new set of tools and hired a workshop Page 261 for him.
And now at last Gutenberg’s hopes were fulfilled.

First of all it is thought that he made types of hard wood. Each
type was a little block with a single letter at one end. Such types
were a great deal better than block letters. The block letters
were fixed. They could not be taken out of the words of which they
were parts. The new types were movable so they could be set up to
print one page, then taken apart and set up again and again to
print any number of pages.

But type made of wood did not always print the letters clearly and
distinctly, so Gutenberg gave up wood types and tried metal types.
Soon a Latin Bible was printed. It was in two volumes, each of which
had three hundred pages, while each of the pages had forty-two
lines. The letters were sharp and clear. They had been printed from
movable types of metal.

III

The Dutch claim that Lorenz Coster, a native of Harlem, in the
Netherlands, was the first person who printed with movable type.
They say that Coster was one day taking a walk in a beech forest not
far from Harlem, and that he cut bark from Page 262 one of the trees and shaped it
with his knife into letters.

Not long after this the Dutch say Coster had made movable types
and was printing and selling books in Harlem.

The news that books were being printed in Mainz by Gutenberg went
all over Europe, and before he died printing-presses like his were
at work making books in all the great cities of the continent.

About twenty years after his death, when Venice was the richest
of European cities, a man named Al’-dus Ma-nu’tius established
there the most famous printing house of that time. He was at work
printing books two years before Columbus sailed on his first voyage.
The descendents of Aldus continued the business after his death for
about one hundred years. The books published by them were called
“Aldine,” from Aldus. They were the most beautiful that had ever
come from the press. They are admired and valued to this day.

Page 263
WARWICK THE KINGMAKER

LIVED FROM 1428-1471

I

The earl of Warwick, known as the “kingmaker,” was the most famous
man in England for many years after the death of Henry V. He lived
in a great castle with two towers higher than most church spires.
It is one of the handsomest dwellings in the world and is visited
every year by thousands of people. The kingmaker had a guard of
six hundred men. At his house in London meals were served to so
many people that six fat oxen were eaten at breakfast alone. He
had a hundred and ten estates in different parts of England and
no less than 30,000 persons were fed daily at his board. He owned
the whole city of Worcester, and besides this and three islands,
Jersey, Guernsey and Alderney, so famed in our time for their cattle,
belonged to him.

He had a cousin of whom he was as fond as if he were a brother.
This was Richard, duke of York, who was also own cousin to King
Henry VI, the son of Henry V.

Page 264 One evening
as the sun was setting, and the warders were going to close the
gates of the city of York for the night, a loud blast of a horn
was heard. It was made by the sentry on the wall near the southern
gate. An armed troop was approaching. When they drew near the gate
their scarlet coats embroidered with the figure of a boar proved
them to be the men of the earl of Warwick. The earl himself was
behind them. The gate was opened.

Passing through it and on to the castle, the earl and his company
were soon within its strong stone walls.

“Cousin,” said the earl of Warwick to the duke of York as they sat
talking before a huge log fire in the great room of the castle,
“England will not long endure the misrule of a king who is half
the time out of his mind.”

The earl spoke the truth. Every now and then Henry VI lost his
reason, and the duke of York, or some other nobleman, had to govern
the kingdom for him.

The earl of Warwick added: “You are the rightful heir to the throne.
The claim of Henry VI comes through Lancaster, the fourth son of
Edward III—yours through Lionel, the second. His claim comes
through his father only—yours through both your father and
mother. It is a better claim and it is a double claim.”

Page 265 “That
is true, my cousin of Warwick,” replied the duke of York, “but
we must not plunge England into war.”

“Surely not if we can help it,” replied the earl. “Let us first
ask for reform. If the king heeds our petition, well and good.
If not I am determined, cousin of York, that you shall sit on the
throne of England instead of our insane sovereign.”

A petition was soon drawn up and signed and presented to Henry.
It asked that Henry would do something which would make the people
contented.

The king paid no attention to it. Then a war began. It was the
longest and most terrible that ever took place in England. It lasted
for thirty years.

Those who fought on the king’s side were called Lancastrians, because
Henry’s ancestor, John of Gaunt, was the duke of Lancaster. The
friends of Richard were called Yorkists, because he was duke of
York. The Lancastrians took a red rose for their badge; the Yorkists
a white one. For this reason the long struggle has always been
called the “War of the Roses.”

In the first great battle the Red Rose party was defeated and the
king himself was taken prisoner.

The victors now thought that the duke of York Page 266 ought to be made king at once.
However, a parliament was called to decide the question, and it
was agreed that Henry should be king as long as he lived, but that
at his death the crown should pass to the duke of York.

II

Most people though this was a wise arrangement; but Queen Margaret,
Henry’s wife, did not like it at all, because it took from her
son the right to reign after his father’s death. So she went to
Scotland and the North of England, where she had many friends,
and raised an army.

She was a brave woman and led her men in a battle in which she
gained the victory. The duke of York was killed, and the queen
ordered some of her men to cut off his head, put upon it a paper
crown in mockery, and fix it over one of the gates of the city
of York.

Warwick attacked the queen again as soon as he could; but again
she was victorious and captured from Warwick her husband, the king,
whom the earl had held prisoner for some time past.

This was a great triumph for Margaret, for Henry became king once
more.

MARGARET INTRUSTS HER SON TO THE ROBBER

But the people were still discontented. The York party was determined
that Edward, the son Page
268 of the old duke of York, should be made king. So
thousands flocked to the White Rose standard and Warwick marched
to London at their head.

The queen saw that her only safety was in flight. She left London
and the kingmaker entered the city in triumph.

The citizens had been very fond of the old duke of York, and when
his party proclaimed his handsome young son King Edward IV, the
city resounded with the cry “God save King Edward.”

Brave Queen Margaret was completely defeated in another battle.
The story is told that after this she fled into a forest with her
young son. A robber met them, but Margaret, with wonderful courage,
said to him, “I am your queen and this is your prince. I entrust
him to your care.”

The man was pleased with the confidence that she showed. He took
her and the young prince to a safe hiding place, and helped them
to escape from England in a sailing vessel.

III

Edward IV now seemed to be seated securely upon the throne. But
trouble was near. Warwick wished him to follow his advice. Edward
thought he could manage without any advice. Then the king and the
kingmaker quarreled, and at last became open Page 269 enemies and fought one another on
the field of battle. The end of it was that Warwick was defeated,
and driven out of the country. He sailed across the channel and
sought refuge in France.

There whom should he meet but his old enemy, Queen Margaret. She
had beaten him in battle, and had beheaded his cousin Richard,
duke of York; he had beaten her and driven her from her kingdom;
and twice he had made her husband prisoner and taken from him his
crown. In spite of all this the two now became fast friends, and
the kingmaker agreed to make war upon Edward and restore Henry
to the throne.

He asked assistance from Louis XI, king of France, who supplied
him with men and money. So with an army of Frenchmen the kingmaker
landed on the shores of England. Thousands of Englishmen who were
tired of Edward flocked to Warwick’s standard, and when he reached
London he had an army of sixty thousand men.

Edward fled without waiting for a battle and escaped to the Netherlands
in a sailing-vessel. The kingmaker had now no one to resist him.
The gates of London were opened to him, and the citizens heartily
welcomed him. Marching to the Tower, he brought out the old king
and placed him once more upon the throne.

Page 270 But though
Edward had fled, he was not discouraged. He followed the example
of the kingmaker and asked aid from foreign friends. The duke of
Burgundy supplied him with money and soldiers, and he was soon
back in England.

His army grew larger and larger every day. People had been very
much dissatisfied with Edward and had rejoiced to get rid of him
and have Henry for king, because if Henry was not clever he was
good. But in a short time they had found out that England needed
a king who was not only good but capable.

So when Edward and his French soldiers landed most people in England
welcomed them. The kingmaker was now on the wrong side.

Edward met him in battle at a place called Barnet, and completely
defeated him. Warwick was killed and Henry once more became prisoner.

In another battle both Margaret and her son were made prisoners. The
son was brutally murdered in the presence of King Edward. Margaret
was placed in the Tower, and King Henry, who died soon after the
battle of Tewksbury, was probably poisoned by order of Edward.

In 1438, after a reign of twenty-two years, Edward died, leaving
two sons. Both were boys, so Edward’s brother, Richard, duke of
Gloucester, Page 271
was made regent until young Edward V, the older of the two, should
come of age.

THE PRINCES IN THE TOWER

But Richard was determined to make himself king. So he put both
the young princes in the Tower. He than hired ruffians to murder
them. One night, when the little princes were asleep, the murderers
smothered them with pillows and buried their bodies at the foot
of a stairway in the Tower, and there, after many years, their
bones were found.

After Richard had murdered his two nephews, he was crowned king,
as Richard III, much pleased that his plans had succeeded so well.
He thought that now nobody could lay claim to the throne. But he
was mistaken. One person did claim it. This was Henry Tudor, earl
of Richmond.

Page 272 Henry’s
father, Edmund Tudor, was only a Welsh gentleman, but was the
half-brother of Henry VI through their mother Queen Katherine.
Henry’s mother was descended from John of Gaunt, fourth son of
Edward III, and thus through his mother he was of royal blood and
a Lancastrian.

When Richard III by his wickedness and cruelty had made all England
hate him, the Red Rose party gathered about Henry Tudor, raised
an army, and fought against the king in the battle of Bosworth.

Richard was a bad man, but he was brave, and he fought like a lion.
However, it was all in vain. He was defeated and killed. His body
was thrown on the back of a horse, carried to a church near the
field of battle and buried.

The battered crown which Richard had worn was picked up and placed
on Henry’s head and the whole Lancastrian army shouted, “Long live
King Henry!”

Parliament now voted that Henry Tudor and his heirs should be kings
of England. Not long afterwards Henry married the heiress of the house
of York, and thus both the Red Roses and the White were satisfied,
as the king was a Lancastrian and the queen a Yorkist. So the long
and terrible Wars of the Roses came to an end.

THE END