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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10103 ***
+
+BINDING Vol. VIII
+
+The binding of this volume is a facsimile of the original in the British
+Museum, and is considered the most artistic mosaic binding design in
+existence.
+
+It was executed about 1710, by Antoine Michel Padeloup, Royal Binder of
+both France and Portugal.
+
+He presented it to Francoise Marie de Bourbon, daughter of Louis XIV and
+Madame de Montespan, on the anniversary of her marriage to Philippe, Duke
+of Orleans, who afterward became Regent of France.
+
+During the Reign of Terror this volume found its way to England, where it
+was sold at a handsome price. It was bequeathed to the British Museum by
+Felix Slade, Esq.
+
+
+
+
+THE GREAT EVENTS
+
+BY
+
+FAMOUS HISTORIANS
+
+A COMPREHENSIVE AND READABLE ACCOUNT OF THE WORLD'S HISTORY, EMPHASIZING
+THE MORE IMPORTANT EVENTS, AND PRESENTING THESE AS COMPLETE NARRATIVES IN
+THE MASTER-WORDS OF THE MOST EMINENT HISTORIANS
+
+NON-SECTARIAN NON-PARTISAN NON-SECTIONAL
+
+ON THE PLAN EVOLVED FROM A CONSENSUS OF OPINIONS GATHERED FROM THE
+MOST DISTINGUISHED SCHOLARS OF AMERICA AND EUROPE, INCLUDING BRIEF
+INTRODUCTIONS BY SPECIALISTS TO CONNECT AND EXPLAIN THE CELEBRATED
+NARRATIVES, ARRANGED CHRONOLOGICALLY, WITH THOROUGH INDICES,
+BIBLIOGRAPHIES, CHRONOLOGIES, AND COURSES OF READING
+
+EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
+
+ROSSITER JOHNSON, LL.D.
+
+ASSOCIATE EDITORS
+
+CHARLES F. HORNE, Ph.D. JOHN RUDD, LL.D.
+
+_With a staff of specialists
+
+VOLUME VIII
+
+The National Alumni_
+
+1905
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+VOLUME VIII
+
+
+_An Outline Narrative of the Great Events_ CHARLES F. HORNE
+
+_Origin and Progress of Printing (A.D. 1438)_ HENRY GEORGE BOHN
+
+_John Hunyady Repulses the Turks (A.D. 1440-1456)_ ARMINIUS VAMBERY
+
+_Rebuilding of Rome by Nicholas V, the "Builder-pope_" _(A.D. 1447-1455)_
+MRS. MARGARET OLIPHANT
+
+_Mahomet II Takes Constantinople (A.D. 1453)_ _End of the Eastern Empire_
+GEORGE FINLAY
+
+_Wars of the Roses (A.D. 1455-1485)_ _Death of Richard III at Bosworth_
+DAVID HUME
+
+_Ivan the Great Unites Russia and Breaks the Tartar_ _Yoke (A.D.
+1462-1505)_ ROBERT BELL
+
+_Culmination of the Power of Burgundy_ _Treaty of Péronne (A.D. 1468)_
+P.F. WILLERT
+
+_Lorenzo de'Medici Rules in Florence_ _Zenith of Florentine Glory (A.D.
+1469)_ OLIPHANT SMEATON
+
+_Death of Charles the Bold (A.D. 1477) Louis XI Unites Burgundy with
+the Crown of France_ PHILIPPE DE COMINES
+
+_Inquisition Established in Spain (A.D.1480),_ WILLIAM H. RULE JAMES
+BALMES
+
+_Murder of the Princes in the Tower (A.D.1483)_ JAMES GAIRDNER
+
+_Conquest of Granada_ (A.D.1490) WASHINGTON IRVING
+
+_Columbus Discovers America_ (A.D.1492) CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS FERDINAND
+COLUMBUS
+
+_Conspiracy, Rebellion, and Execution of Perkin Warbeck_ (A.D.1492)
+FRANCIS BACON
+
+_Savonarola's Reforms and Death_ The French Invade Italy_ (A.D.1494)
+PASQUALE VILLARI JEAN C. L. SISMONDI
+
+_Discovery of the Mainland of North America by the Cabots_ (A.D.1497)
+SAMUEL EDWARD DAWSO
+
+_The Sea Route to India Vasco da Gama Sails around Africa_ (A.D.1498)
+GASPAR CORREA
+
+_Columbus Discovers South America (A.D.1498)_ CLEMENTS ROBERT MARKHAM
+
+_Establishment of Swiss Independence (A.D.1499)_ HEINRICH ZSCHOKKE
+
+_Amerigo Vespucci in America (A.D.1499)_ AMERIGO VESPUCCI
+
+_Rise and Fall of the Borgias (A.D.1502)_ NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI
+
+_Painting of the Sistine Chapel (A.D.1508)_ _The Splendor of Renaissance
+Art under Michelangelo_ CHARLES CLEMENT
+
+_Balboa Discovers the Pacific (A.D.1513)_ MANUEL JOSE QUINTANA
+
+_Universal Chronology (A.D.1438-1516)_ JOHN RUDD
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+VOLUME VIII
+
+_Murder of the princes, sons of King Edward IV, in _the Tower of London
+(page 194)1_ Painting by Otto Seitz.
+
+_Facsimile of a page from Caxton's_ Recuyell of the Historyes of
+Troye--_the first book printed in the English language_
+
+_Louis XI at his devotions in the castle of Péronne while held a prisoner
+by Charles the Bold_ Painting by Hermann Kaulbach.
+
+_Pope Sixties V and the Grand Inquisitor_ Painting by Jean Paul Laurens.
+
+
+
+AN OUTLINE NARRATIVE
+
+TRACING BRIEFLY THE CAUSES, CONNECTIONS, AND CONSEQUENCES OF
+
+THE GREAT EVENTS
+
+(THE LATER RENAISSANCE: FROM GUTENBERG TO THE REFORMATION)
+
+CHARLES F. HORNE
+
+The Renaissance marks the separation of the mediaeval from the modern
+world. The wide difference between the two epochs of Teutonic history
+arises, we are apt somewhat glibly to say, from the fact that our
+ancestors worshipped and were ruled by brute force, whereas we follow the
+broad light of intellect. Perhaps both statements require modification;
+yet in a general way they do suggest the change which by a thousand
+different agencies has, in the course of the last four centuries, been
+forced upon the world. Mediaeval Europe was a land not of equals, but of
+lords and slaves. The powerful nobles regarded themselves as of wholly
+different clay from the hapless peasants whom they trampled under foot,
+serfs so ignorant, so brutalized by want, that they were often little
+better than the beasts with which they herded. Gradually the tradesmen,
+the middle classes, forced their way to practical equality with the
+nobles. Then came the turn of the masses to do the same. The beginnings
+of the merchants' movement we have already traced in the preceding
+volumes; the end of the peasants' effort is perhaps even to-day scarce
+yet accomplished.
+
+In dealing with modern history, therefore, every writer is apt to begin
+with a different date. Some go back as far as Petrarch, who reintroduced
+the study of ancient art and learning; that is, they regard our world as
+a direct continuation of the Roman, with the thousand years of the Middle
+Ages gaping between like an earthquake gulf of barbarism, that was
+bridged at last. Some take the invention of printing as a starting-point,
+feeling that the chief element of our progress has been the gathering of
+information by the poorer classes. Some, looking to political changes,
+turn to the reign of Louis XI of France, noting him as the first modern
+king, or to the downfall of Charles the Bold, the last great feudal
+noble. Others name later starting-points such as the establishment of
+modern art by Michelangelo and Raphael at Rome, the discovery of America,
+with its opening of vast new lands for the pent-up population of narrow
+Europe, or the Reformation, which has been called man's revolt against
+superstition, the establishment of the independence of thought.
+
+All of these epochs fall within the limits of the Renaissance, and all,
+except that of Petrarch, within the later Renaissance which we are now
+considering. The period is therefore worth careful study.
+
+INTELLECTUAL SUPREMACY OF ITALY
+
+Gutenberg's invention had no immediate effect upon his world.[1] Indeed,
+so little enthusiasm did it arouse that while the inventor's plans were
+probably evolved as early as 1438, it was not until 1454 or thereabouts
+that the first completed book was issued from his press. His business
+partner, Faust, sold his wares in wealthy Paris without explaining that
+these were different from earlier hand-written books; and when their
+cheapness, as well as their exact similarity, was discovered, the
+merchant was suspected of having sold himself to the devil. Hence
+probably originated the Faust legend. Superstition, it is evident, had
+still an extended course to run.
+
+It is worth noting that to sell his books Faust left Germany for Paris,
+and that while printing-presses multiplied but slowly in the land of
+their origin, the new art was instantly seized upon in Italy, was there
+made widest use of and pushed to its perfection. In fact, through all the
+Middle Ages the Romance or semi-Teutonic peoples of Italy, France, and
+Spain were intellectually in advance of the more wholly Teutonic races of
+the North. Many of their descendants believe half contemptuously that the
+difference has not even yet been overcome.
+
+Italy at this time held clearly the intellectual supremacy of the western
+world, and Florence under the Medici, Cosmo and then Lorenzo, held the
+supremacy of Italy.[2] Not only in thought, but in art, was there an
+outburst brilliant beyond all earlier times. A friend and pupil of Cosmo
+de' Medici was made pope at Rome, and under the name of Nicholas V
+originated vast schemes for the rebuilding and beautifying of his city of
+ruins.[3] Modern Rome with all its beautiful churches and wonders of art
+rose from the hands of Nicholas and his immediate successors. It was
+their idea that the city should no longer be remembered by its heathen
+greatness, but by its Christian splendor; that the sight of it should
+impress upon pilgrims not the decay of the world, but the glory and
+majesty of the Church. Nicholas also continued the work of Petrarch,
+gathering vast stores of ancient manuscripts, refounding and practically
+beginning the enormous Vatican Library. He established that alliance of
+the Church with the new culture of the age which for a century continued
+to be an honor and distinguishment to both.
+
+In his pontificate occurred the fall of Constantinople, bringing with
+it the definite establishment of the Turks in Europe and the final
+extinction of that Roman Empire of the East which had originated with
+Constantine. For this reason the date of its fall (1453) is also employed
+as marking the beginning of modern Europe. It was at least the closing of
+the older volume, the final not undramatic exit of the last remnant of
+the ancient world, with its long decaying arts and arrogance, its wealth,
+its literature, and its law.[4]
+
+Greek scholars fleeing from the sack of their city brought many
+marvellous old manuscripts to Western Europe and were eagerly welcomed by
+Pope Nicholas and all of Italy. Nicholas even preached a crusade against
+the terrible Turks, and tried once more to rouse Europe to ancient
+enthusiasms. But he failed, and died, they say, heartbroken at his
+helplessness.
+
+THE CLASH OF RACES IN THE EAST
+
+The Turks had recovered from their defeat by the Tartars of Timur, and
+became once more an active menace. With Constantinople in their power,
+they attacked the Venetians and compelled those wealthy traders to pay
+them tribute. Venice by sea and Hungary on land remained for a century
+the bulwarks of Christendom, and were forced, almost unaided, to
+withstand all the assaults of the East. They wellnigh perished in the
+effort. In Hungary this was the period of the great hero, Hunyady, a
+man of unknown birth and no official rank, who roused his countrymen to
+repeated effort and led them to repeated victories and defeats against
+the vastly more numerous invaders.[5]
+
+Hunyady died, worn out with ceaseless warfare, and his son, Matthias,
+was elected by acclamation to be monarch of the land the father had
+preserved. This was the proudest era in the history of the Hunnish race.
+Under Matthias they even resumed their German warfare of five centuries
+before, and won from a Hapsburg emperor his city of Vienna, ancient
+capital of Austria, the eastmark or borderland which had been erected by
+Otto the Great to hold the Huns in check. For a few years Matthias placed
+his kingdom amid the foremost states of Europe; but with his death came
+renewed disunion and disorder to his lawless people, and the fierce,
+fanatic Turks returned again to their assaults.
+
+Further north the yellow races were less successful. Along the shifting
+borderlands of Asia which mark the line of demarcation between the two
+mightier families of man, the tide turned ever more steadily in the
+Aryans' favor. The Russians, under their chief, Ivan III, threw off the
+galling Tartar yoke which they had borne for over two hundred years.
+Ivan concentrated in his own hands the power of all the little Russian
+duchies, overthrew the celebrated Russian republic of Novgorod the Great,
+and defied the Tartars. Equally noteworthy to modern eyes was his wedding
+with Sophia, heiress of the last of the emperors of the East. When that
+outworn empire perished with the fall of Constantinople, Ivan succeeded
+nominally at least to its heirship. Hence it is that his successors have
+assumed the title of caesar or kaiser or czar and have grown to look upon
+themselves as inheritors of the ancient supremacy of Rome.[6]
+
+The fifteenth century was thus a time of many changes in Eastern Europe.
+Not only did the Eastern Empire disappear at last, not only did Hungary
+rise to the brief zenith of her glory, there was a sort of general
+movement, sometimes spoken of as the "Slavonic reaction," against the
+hitherto successful Teutons. The Slavic Bohemians in their "Hussite" wars
+repelled all the religious fighting strength of Europe. The Poles began
+to win back territory from the German empire, and especially from their
+hereditary foes the "Teutonic Knights" of Prussia. And Russia, greatest
+of all the Slav countries, grew into a strong kingdom. She and Turkey,
+rising as twin menaces to the West, assumed at almost the same period
+that threatening aspect which Turkey has only lately lost, and Russia, to
+some statesmen's eyes, still holds.
+
+POLITICAL CHANGES IN WESTERN EUROPE
+
+Turn now to the affairs of Western Europe. The feebleness of the German
+empire continued. For over half a century it was nominally ruled by
+Frederick III (1440-1493), the lazy and feeble emperor who let Matthias
+of Hungary expel him from Vienna, and never made any vigorous effort to
+recover his capital. He was succeeded by his son Maximilian, a man of far
+other temper, full of courage, energy, and hardihood. Maximilian has been
+called "the last of the knights," and indeed his whole career may well
+exemplify the changing times. The one achievement of his life was the
+recovery of Vienna from the Hungarians, and in that he was successful
+only because the heirs of Matthias were being overwhelmed by the Turks.
+
+The remainder of his career was spent in learning bitterly how little
+real power he had as emperor. He attempted to bring the Swiss once more
+under the imperial dominion, but the little armies he could scrape
+together against them were repeatedly defeated.[7] He was always
+declaring war against this kingdom or that, and summoning his great
+lords to aid him in upholding the glory of the empire. They persistently
+declined; and he was helpless. At one time having pledged his alliance to
+the English king, Henry VII, against France, he preserved his knightly
+word by going alone and serving as a volunteer in Henry's army, whither
+his people would not follow him. Instead they stayed at home and demanded
+from him constitutions and courts of law and other internal reforms,
+uninteresting matters about which the gallant soul of Maximilian cared
+not a straw and which he gave his subjects under protest.
+
+To the westward of him a far subtler monarch, by far subtler means, was
+strengthening the power of France and making smooth her way toward that
+supremacy over European affairs which she was later to assert. Louis XI
+(1461-1483) is called the first modern king, though it is little flattery
+to modern statecraft to compare its methods with his, and perhaps our
+recent governments have truly outgrown them. Louis was no warrior,
+although under compulsion he showed possibilities of becoming an able
+general. He preferred to send others who should do his fighting for him,
+to embroil his opponents one with another, and then reap the fruit of
+their mutual exhaustion. He was passed master of all falsity and craft;
+and by his shrewdness he brought to his country peace and prosperity.
+Typically does he represent his age in which intellectual ability, though
+sometimes wholly divorced from nobleness of soul, began to dominate brute
+force.
+
+Charles the Bold stands as the representative of this brute force. He was
+the mightiest of the French nobles. His ancestors, a younger branch
+of the royal family, had been made dukes of Burgundy, and by skilful
+alliances and rapid changes of side through the long Hundred Years' War,
+they had steadily added to their possessions and their powers. The father
+of Charles found himself stronger than his king, possessor not only of
+Burgundy, but of many other fiefs from Germany as well as France, and
+lord of the Netherlands as well.[8]
+
+Charles was thus the last of those great, overgrown vassals so
+characteristic of feudal times. Like Hugh Capet in France, like William
+the Conqueror in England, he hoped to establish himself as an independent
+king. He opened negotiations for this purpose with the Emperor Frederick,
+Maximilian's father. He made himself practically independent of France.
+He wielded a military power greater than that of any other prince of the
+moment, and he knew it and charged like a mad bull at whoever seemed to
+interpose in his designs.
+
+Over such a man Louis XI's cunning had full play. He involved Charles in
+fights with every neighbor. Finally he lured him into conflict with the
+Swiss, and those hardy mountaineers won the repute of being the best
+soldiers of Europe by defeating Charles again and again till they left
+him slain on the field of Nancy (1477).[9] Louis promptly seized most of
+his dead vassal's domains. Maximilian, having wedded Charles' daughter,
+inherited the remainder; and the old Burgundian kingdom, so nearly
+revived to stretch as a permanent dividing land between France and
+Germany, disappeared forever.
+
+What Louis had done with Burgundy he attempted with his other
+semi-independent duchies. The Hundred Years' War had almost destroyed
+central government in France. Louis, by means as secret and varied as his
+cunning could suggest, gradually reestablished an undisputed leadership
+above his lords. Fortunately for France, perhaps, England was prevented
+by a long series of civil wars from interfering in her neighbor's
+affairs. These wars, though they originated before Louis' time, were
+constantly fomented and kept alive by him, and England thus paid dearly
+for having become a source of danger to France.
+
+The Wars of the Roses,[10] as they are called, caused deep-seated changes
+in England's life and society. They mark for her the transition from the
+mediaeval to the modern era which was everywhere taking place. Beginning
+as a contest between two rival branches of the Plantagenets for the
+kingship, these wars remained aristocratic throughout. That is to say,
+the common people took little interest in them, while the nobles,
+espousing sides, fought savagely and murderously, giving one another
+no quarter, sparing the lesser folk, but executing as traitors their
+prisoners of rank. When one side seemed hopelessly overcome, Louis would
+lend them arms and money wherewith to seek revenge once more. Thus almost
+all the old nobility of England perished; and both lines of kings became
+extinct, Richard III, their last representative, being accused of
+murdering all his relatives or possible rivals.[11] At last, Richard too
+was slain, and a new family of rulers, only remotely connected with the
+old, was inaugurated by Henry Tudor, grandson of a private gentleman of
+Wales. This new king, Henry VII (1485-1509), found no powerful lords to
+oppose his will. One or two impostors were raised against him,[12] France
+making anxious efforts to prolong the troubles of her dangerous
+neighbor; but the attempts failed through the utter completeness of the
+aristocracy's exhaustion.
+
+Thus in England as in France, though by widely differing chances, the
+kingly power had triumphed over feudalism. Monarchs began to come into
+direct contact, not always pleasant, with the entire mass of their
+subjects, the "third estate," the common people.
+
+RISE OF SPANISH POWER
+
+Spain also was to pass through a similar experience. Indeed, one of the
+most striking facts of this age of the Renaissance is the swift and
+spectacular rise of Spain from a land of feebleness and internal strife
+into the most powerful kingdom of Europe. We have seen the Spanish
+peninsula in previous ages the seat of endless strife between Saracens
+and Christians. Gradually the Moors had been driven back, and the little
+independent Christian states had been united by the fortunes of war and
+marriage into three--Portugal on the Atlantic coast, Castile occupying
+the larger part of the mainland, and Aragon, a maritime kingdom, less
+extensive in Spain, but extending its sovereignty over many of the
+Mediterranean isles, over Sicily and southern Italy. In 1469 Isabella,
+heiress of Castile, and Ferdinand, heir of Aragon, were wedded; and
+soon afterward their countries were united under their joint rule. The
+combined strength of both was then devoted to a long religious war
+against the Moors. Granada, the last and most famous of the Moorish
+capitals and strongholds, was finally captured in 1492.[13] The followers
+of Mahomet were driven out of Western Europe during the same period that,
+under Turkish leadership, they had at last won Constantinople in the
+East.
+
+The whole Spanish peninsula with the exception of Portugal was thus
+united under Ferdinand and Isabella, greatest of the sovereigns of
+Spain. The ages of battle with the Moors had bred a nation of cavaliers,
+intensely loyal, passionately religious. They were splendid fighters, but
+stern, hard-hearted, merciless men. Isabella, "the Saint," most holy and
+pure-souled of women, herself introduced into her country the terrible
+Inquisition.[14] Jews and Moors were given little peace in life unless
+they turned Christian. Heretics and relapsed converts from the other
+faiths were burned to death. The Queen declared she would approve all
+possible torture to men's bodies, when necessary in order to save their
+souls.
+
+If such were the women of Spain, what was to be expected of the men? How
+could even Ferdinand, "the Wise," keep them employed now that there
+were no longer Moors to fight against? Uprisings, rebellions, began to
+threaten Spain with such desolation as England had endured. But a higher
+Providence solved for Ferdinand his impossible problem: the age of
+maritime discovery began.[15]
+
+THE ERA OF DISCOVERY
+
+The Portuguese from their Atlantic seaboard had already begun to explore
+southward along the African coast. In 1402 they had settled the Canary
+Isles. In 1443 they reached southward beyond the sands of the Sahara and
+saw Cape Verd, discovered that Africa was not all burning desert,
+that heat would not forever increase as they went southward. In 1487
+Bartholomew Diaz, after almost a year of sailing, reached the Cape of
+Good Hope, the southern point of the vast African continent; and in 1497
+Vasco da Gama rounded the cape and sailed on to India[16]. He had found a
+way of bringing Indian spices, silks, and jewels to Europe, bringing them
+in quantities and without paying tribute to the Turks, without crossing
+the deadly deserts of Arabia. He had made his little country wealthy.
+
+Meanwhile, stimulated by Portuguese success, the mariners of other
+nations began to brave the giant storms of the Atlantic. The Turks had
+made trade with the far East wellnigh impossible. Portugal was not the
+only land to seek a sea-route to India. Venice and Genoa saw before them
+the threat of ruin to their most profitable commerce. So we may even say
+that it was the Turks who set the Genoese captain Columbus to planning
+his great voyage; it was the conquest of the Moors that set Isabella free
+to listen to him, and offer her crown jewels for the expedition which
+should convert other heathen, establish other inquisitions; and it was
+the downfall of the Moors which left the Spanish warriors so eager to
+throng to adventure and warfare in the West, once Columbus had shown the
+way.
+
+For a time the theatre of great events shifts to the new continent.
+The Portuguese explorers had doubled the size of the known world. The
+Spaniards doubled it again. But the credit must not be given wholly
+to Spain. Though it was the liberality of her monarchs which had made
+discovery possible, and though it was the daring of her warriors that
+laughed at danger and made conquest sure, yet the Spaniards were not
+sailors. It was to Italy, the home of commerce, that they turned for
+their captains and their pilots. Columbus, the Genoese, had discovered
+the islands along the coast. England, wishing to have a share in this
+world of wonders, sent a Venetian mariner, John Cabot; and he and his son
+sailed along our northern mainland in English ships.[17] Columbus touched
+the coast of South America in 1498.[18] A Florentine, Amerigo Vespucci,
+was the first to cruise far along this southern coast, probably in 1499,
+and it was his name which Europe gave to the new lands.[19]
+
+Following the discovery came settlement, warfare with the unhappy
+Indians, a fierce and frantic search for gold. It was while engaged in
+this work that Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama, saw the vast
+waters of the Pacific, and riding out into them upon his warhorse took
+possession, in the name of Spain, of the largest ocean of the globe.[20]
+Men recognized at last that these were not the Asiatic shores, but a
+wholly new continent which they had found.
+
+RELIGIOUS CHANGES
+
+Let us pause to recapitulate the wonders which this age of the
+Renaissance had seen--a new world of Africa discovered in the South, a
+new world of America in the West, the rise of Spain, the conquest of the
+last of the western Saracens at Granada and the rise of the Turks in the
+East, the rise of Russia, the downfall of the last vestige of the ancient
+empire of Rome, the last expiring effort of feudalism in Charles the
+Bold, and of errant knighthood in Maximilian; the beginning of modern
+statecraft in Louis XI of France, Henry VII of England, and Ferdinand the
+Wise of Spain; the spread of printing and with it the spread of thought
+and knowledge among the masses; and, sometimes accounted greatest of all,
+came the wonderful awakening of art in Italy. We have traced the early
+part of this under the Medici and Pope Nicholas. Lorenzo de'Medici was
+the centre of its later development.[21] From his court went forth that
+galaxy of artists which the world of art unites in calling the unequalled
+masters of all ages--Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, and a host of
+others.[22]
+
+Unfortunately in Italy at least the great movement in art and literature
+took an antireligious, sometimes an antipatriotic, tone. Lorenzo was
+openly defiant and scornful of the teachings of the Church, and after his
+death a French king, Charles VIII, was able to enter Italy and march from
+end to end of it without opposition. Religion seemed dying there, and
+love of country dead.
+
+Florence underwent an extravagant though brief religious revival. The
+monk Savonarola preached against wickedness in high places, and thundered
+at the Florentines for their presumption and vanity. The impressionable
+people wept, they appointed a "day of vanities" and laid all their rich
+robes and jewels at Savonarola's feet. They made him ruler of the city.
+But, alas! they soon tired of his severities, sighed for their vanities
+back again, and at last burned the reformer at the stake.[23]
+
+In Rome itself there arose popes, Lorenzo's followers, who preferred
+art to Christianity, or others like the terrible Alexander Borgia, who
+adopted the maxims of the new statecraft. Alexander, a worthy disciple of
+Louis XI, admired falsehood before truth, and sought to win his aims by
+poisoning his enemies. The career of his nephew Caesar Borgia has supplied
+history with its most awful picture of successful crime, and the book
+written in his praise by Macchiavelli has given us a new word for Satanic
+subtlety and treachery. We call it Macchiavellian. The rest of Europe
+shrank from Italy in fear, and named it "poisoning Italy."[24]
+
+Against the spiritual dominance of such a land the world was surely ready
+for revolt. The mind of man, so long and slowly awakening, and at last so
+intensely roused, seeing great discoveries on every hand, was no longer
+to be controlled by authority. The time was ripe for the Reformation.
+
+[FOR THE NEXT SECTION OF THIS GENERAL SURVEY SEE VOLUME IX]
+
+[Footnote 1: See _Origin and Progress of Printing_, page 5.]
+
+[Footnote 2: See _Beginning and Progress of the Renaissance_, vol. ix, p.
+110.]
+
+[Footnote 3: See _Rebuilding of Rome by Nicholas V_, page 46.]
+
+[Footnote 4: See _Mahomet II Takes Constantinople_, page 55.]
+
+[Footnote 5: See _John Hunyady Repulses the Turks_, page 30.]
+
+[Footnote 6: See _Ivan the Great Unites Russia_, page 109.]
+
+[Footnote 7: See _Establishment of Swiss Independence_, page 336.]
+
+[Footnote 8: See _Culmination of the Power of Burgundy_, page 125.]
+
+[Footnote 9: See _Death of Charles the Bold_, page 155.]
+
+[Footnote 10: See _Wars of the Roses_, page 72.]
+
+[Footnote 11: See _Murder of the Princes in the Tower_, page 192,]
+
+[Footnote 12: See _Conspiracy, Rebellion, and Execution of Perkin
+Warbeck_, page 250.]
+
+[Footnote 13: See _Conquest of Granada_, page 202.]
+
+[Footnote 14: See _Inquisition Established in Spain_, page 166.]
+
+[Footnote 15: See _Columbus Discovers America_, page 224.]
+
+[Footnote 16: See _The Sea Route to India_, page 299.]
+
+[Footnote 17: See _Discovery of the Mainland of North America by the
+Cabots_, page 282.]
+
+[Footnote 18: See _Columbus Discovers South America_, page 323.]
+
+[Footnote 19: See _Amerigo Vespucci in America_, page 346.]
+
+[Footnote 20: See _Balboa Discovers the Pacific_, page 381.]
+
+[Footnote 21: See _Lorenzo de'Medici Rules in Florence_, page 134.]
+
+[Footnote 22: See _Painting of the Sistine Chapel_, page 369.]
+
+[Footnote 23: See _Savonarola's Reforms and Death_, page 265.]
+
+[Footnote 24: See _Rise and Fall of the Borgias_, page 360.]
+
+
+
+ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF PRINTING
+
+A.D. 1438
+
+HENRY GEORGE BOHN
+
+
+It was perhaps not altogether fortuitous that the invention of printing
+came concurrently with the Revival of Learning. Men's minds were turned
+toward practical experiment in that art by the very influences made
+active through the labors of those scholars who ushered in the
+Renaissance. "The art preservative of all other arts" has also preserved
+the records of its own beginnings and development, although of its
+earlier sources our knowledge is very obscure, and even the modern
+achievement, which antiquity in various ways foreshadowed, is itself a
+subject of uncertainty and dispute.
+
+Bohn, in his admirable survey of the origin and progress of modern
+printing, gives us a full and accurate account, from the earliest
+evidences and conjectures relating to antiquity to the latter part of the
+nineteenth century, confining himself, however, to European developments.
+But before the middle of the sixteenth century printing was introduced
+into Spanish America. Existing books show that in Mexico there was a
+press as early as 1540; but it is impossible to name positively the first
+book printed on this continent. North of Mexico the first press was used,
+1639, by an English Non-conformist clergyman named Glover. In 1660 a
+printer with press and types was sent from England by the corporation for
+propagating the gospel among the Indians of New England in the Indian
+language. This press was taken to a printing-house already established at
+Cambridge, Mass. It was not until several years later that the use of a
+press in Boston was permitted by the colonial government, and until near
+the end of the seventeenth century no presses were set up in the colonies
+outside of Massachusetts.
+
+In 1685 printing began in Pennsylvania, a few years later in New York,
+and in Connecticut in 1709. From 1685 to 1693 William Bradford, an
+English Quaker, conducted a press in Philadelphia, and in the latter
+year he removed his plant to New York. He was the first notable American
+printer, and became official printer for Pennsylvania, New York, New
+Jersey, Rhode Island, and Maryland. His first book was an almanac for
+1686. In 1725 he founded the _New York Gazette_, the first newspaper in
+New York. But the first newspaper published in the English colonies was
+the _Boston News-Letter_, founded in 1704 by John Campbell, a bookseller
+and postmaster in Boston. Only four American periodicals had been
+established when, in 1729, Benjamin Franklin, who was already printer
+to the Pennsylvania Assembly, became proprietor and editor of the
+_Pennsylvania Gazette_.
+
+Until the last quarter of the eighteenth century the progress of printing
+in America was slow. But in 1784 the first daily newspaper, the _American
+Daily Advertiser_, was issued in Philadelphia, and from this time
+periodical publications multiplied and the printing of books increased,
+until the agency and influence of the press became as marked in the
+United States as in the leading countries of Europe.
+
+Even since the time when Bohn wrote, the progress made in various
+branches of the printer's art has been such as might have astonished
+that famous publisher of so many standard works. Recent improvements
+for increasing the capacity of the press, and often the quality of its
+productions, are quite comparable to those which our own time has seen in
+other departments of industry, as in the applications of electricity and
+the like. In addition to the further development of stereotyping, there
+has been marvellous improvement in nearly all the machinery and processes
+of printing. This is especially marked in rapid color-printing, and in
+the successors of inadequate typesetting-machines--in the linotype, the
+monotype, the typograph, etc.
+
+Most wonderful of all, perhaps, is the improved printing-press itself,
+in various classes, each adapted to its special purpose. The sum of all
+improvements in this department of mechanical invention is seen in the
+great cylinder-presses now in general use, especially the one known as
+the web perfecting press. This is a machine of great size and intricate
+construction, which yet does its complex work with an accuracy that
+almost seems to denote conscious intelligence. It prints from an immense
+roll of paper, making the impression from curved stereotype plates, runs
+at high speed, prints both sides of the paper at one run, and folds,
+pastes, and performs other processes as provided for. By doubling and
+quadrupling the parts, the ordinary speed of about twenty-four thousand
+impressions an hour may be increased to one hundred thousand an hour.
+The multicolor web perfecting press prints four or more colors at one
+revolution of the impression cylinder.
+
+To meet the demands of such an enormous consumption of paper as the
+modern press requires, it was necessary to invent other processes and to
+utilize more abundant and cheaper material for paper-making than those
+formerly employed. This requirement has been supplied in recent years
+mainly through the extensive manufacture of paper from wood-pulp. This
+method, together with improved processes in the use of other materials,
+has removed all fear of a paper famine such as has sometimes threatened
+the printing industry in the past.
+
+"Nature does not advance by leaps," says an old proverb; neither does her
+offspring, Art. All the great boons vouchsafed to man by a munificent
+providence are of gradual development; and though some may appear to have
+come upon us suddenly, reflection and inquiry will always show that they
+have had their previous stages.
+
+Indeed, nothing in this great world which concerns the well-being of man
+takes place by accident, but is brought forward by divine will, precisely
+at the moment most suitable to our condition. So it was with astronomy,
+the mariner's compass, the steam-engine, gas, the electric telegraph, and
+many other of those blessings which have progressed with civilization.
+The elements were there and known, but the time had not arrived for their
+fructification.
+
+And so it is with printing: although its invention is placed in the
+middle of the fifteenth century, and almost the very year fixed, this can
+only be regarded as a matured stage of it. To illustrate this, I propose
+to begin with a cursory view of its primitive elements, of which the very
+first were no doubt initiative marks and numerals.
+
+The use of numerals has been denominated "the foundation of all the arts
+of life"; and we know with certainty that several nations, and among them
+the Mexicans, had numerals before they were acquainted with letters. The
+first method of reckoning was with the fingers, but small stones were
+also used--hence the words "calculate" and "calculation," which are
+derived from _calculus_, the Latin for a pebble-stone.
+
+The Chinese counted for many years with notched sticks; and even in
+England, in comparatively modern times, accounts were kept by tallies, in
+which notches were cut alike in two parallel pieces of wood. Shakespeare
+alludes to "the score and the tally" in his _Henry VI_; and this mode
+of keeping accounts is still adopted by some of the bakers and dyers in
+Warwickshire and Cheshire. And tallies are occasionally produced in the
+small-debt courts, where they are admitted as authentic proofs of debt.
+Hence the origin and name of the "tally court of the exchequer." The
+Peruvians, at the time they were conquered by Pizarro, counted with
+knotted strings.
+
+After numerals, came picture-writing, hieroglyphics, and symbolic
+characters, such are were used by the Egyptians, the Chinese, and the
+Mexicans; which, however unconnected they may be with each other, are
+of the same general character. Indeed, the Chinese have never advanced
+beyond symbolic characters, of which it is said they have more than one
+hundred thousand combinations or varieties.
+
+Rude as these conditions of humanity may seem, they are matched in modern
+England, even at a very recent date, if we may credit a well-known story:
+A rustic shopkeeper in a remote district, being unable to read or write,
+contrived to keep his accounts by picture-writing, and charged his
+customer, the miller, with a cheese instead of a grindstone, from having
+omitted to mark a hole in the centre.
+
+After picture and symbolic writings would follow phonetic characters,
+or marks for sounds; that is, the alphabet. Even the alphabet, which in
+civilized countries has now existed for more than three thousand years,
+was perfected by degrees; for it has been clearly ascertained that
+the earliest known did not comprise more than one-half or, at most,
+two-thirds of the letters which eventually formed its complement. Thus,
+the Pelasgian alphabet, which is derived from the Phoenician, and is the
+parent of the Greek and Roman, consisted originally of only twelve or
+thirteen letters.
+
+The invention of the alphabet, which, in a small number of elementary
+characters, is capable of six hundred and twenty sextillions of
+combinations, and of exhibiting to the sight the countless conceptions of
+the mind which have no corporeal forms, is so wonderful that great men of
+all ages have shrunk from accounting for it otherwise than as a boon of
+divine origin. This feeling is strengthened by the singular circumstance
+that so many alphabets bear a strong similarity to each other, however
+widely separated the countries in which they arose.
+
+In Egypt the invention of the alphabet is by some ascribed to Syphoas,
+nearly two thousand years before the Christian era, but more commonly
+to Athotes, Thoth, or Toth, a deity always figured with the head of the
+ibis, and very familiar in Egyptian antiquities. Cadmus is accredited
+with having introduced it from Egypt into Greece about five centuries
+later.
+
+From the alphabet the gradation is natural to compounds of letters and
+written language, and, though speech is one of the greatest gifts to man,
+it is writing which distinguishes him from the uncivilized savage. The
+practice of writing is of such remote antiquity that neither sacred nor
+profane authors can satisfactorily trace its origin. The philosopher may
+exclaim with the poet:
+
+"Whence did the wondrous mystic art arise. Of painting speech and
+speaking to the eyes? That we, by tracing magic lines, are taught How
+both to color and embody thought?"
+
+The earliest writing would probably have been with chalk, charcoal,
+slate, or perhaps sand, as children from time immemorial have been taught
+to read and write in India. The Romans used white walls for writing
+inscriptions on, in red chalk--answering the purpose of our
+posting-bills--of which several instances were found on the walls of
+Pompeii. Plutarch informs us that tradesmen wrote in some such manner
+over their doors, and that auction bills ran thus:
+
+"Julius Proculus will this day have an auction of his superfluous goods,
+to pay his debts."
+
+Next seems to have followed writing or engraving on stone, wood, ivory,
+and metals, of which we have many early evidences. The Decalogue, or the
+Ten Commandments, given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai, was originally,
+we are told in the Bible, written upon two tables of stone; the pillars
+of Seth were of brick and stone; the laws of the Greeks were graven on
+tables of brass, which were called _cyrbes_. Herodotus mentions a letter
+written with a style on stone slabs, which Themistocles, the Athenian
+general, sent to the Romans about B.C. 500; and we have another evidence
+of the same period still existing--the so-called Borgian inscription,
+which is a passport graven in bronze, entitling the holder to hospitable
+reception wherever he demanded it. Upward of three thousand of such
+engraved tablets, including the famous Roman laws of the Twelve Tables,
+were consumed in the great fire which destroyed the Capitol in the time
+of Vespasian.
+
+I could cite a great many other evidences of early writing on stone or
+brass, but will merely recommend you to see the Rosetta[25] inscription,
+which is conspicuously placed in the British Museum. It is this very
+interesting stone which, being partly Greek and partly Egyptian, has
+enabled us to decipher so many Egyptian monuments.
+
+Pliny informs us that table-books of wood--generally made of box or
+citron wood--were in use before the time of Homer, that is, nearly three
+thousand years ago; and in the Bible we read of table-books in the time
+of Solomon. These table-books were called by the Romans _pugillares_,
+which may be translated "hand-books"; the wood was cut into thin slices,
+finely planed and polished, and written upon with an iron instrument
+called a _stylus_. At a later period, tables, or slices of wood, were
+usually covered with a thin layer of hard wax, so that any matter written
+upon them might be effaced at pleasure, and the tables used again. Such
+practice continued as late as A.D. 1395. In an account roll of Winchester
+College of that year we find that a table covered with green wax was kept
+in the chapel for noting down with a style the daily or weekly duties
+assigned to the officers of the choir. Ivory also was used in the same
+way.
+
+Wooden table-books, as we learn from Chaucer, were used in England as
+late as the fifteenth century. When epistles were written upon tables of
+wood they were usually tied together with cord, the seal being put upon
+the knot. Some of the table-books must have been large and heavy, for
+in Plautus a schoolboy seven years old is represented as breaking his
+master's head with his table-book.
+
+Writing seems also to have been common, at a very early period, on palm
+and olive leaves, and especially on the bark of trees--a material used
+even in the present time in some parts of Asia. The bark is generally cut
+into thin flat pieces, from nine to fifteen inches long and two to four
+inches wide, and written on with a sharp instrument. Indeed, the tree,
+whether in planks, bark, or leaves, seems in ancient times to have
+afforded the principal materials for writing on. Hence the word _codex_,
+originally signifying the "trunk or stem of a tree," now means a
+manuscript volume. _Tabula_, which properly means a "plank" or "board,"
+now also signifies the plate of a book, and was so used by Addison, who
+calls his plates "tables." _Folium_ ("a leaf") has given us the word
+"folio"; and the word _liber_, originally meaning the "inner bark of a
+tree," was afterward used by the Romans to signify a book; whence we
+derive our words, "library," "librarian," etc. One more such etymology,
+the most interesting of all, is the Greek name for the bark of a tree,
+_biblos_, whence is derived the name of our sacred volume.
+
+Before I leave this stage of the subject, I will mention the way in which
+the Roman youth were taught writing. Quintilian tells us that they were
+made to write through perforated tablets, so as to draw the stylus
+through a kind of furrow; and we learn from Procopius that a similar
+contrivance was used by the emperor Justinian for signing his name. Such
+a tablet would now be called a stencil-plate, and is what to the present
+day is found the most rapid and convenient mode of marking goods, only
+that a brush is used instead of an iron pen or style.
+
+Writing and materials have so much to do with the invention of printing
+that I feel obliged to tarry a little longer at this preliminary stage.
+The most important of all the ancient materials for writing upon were
+papyrus, parchment, and vellum; and on these substances nearly all our
+most valuable manuscripts were written. Papyrus, or paper-rush, is a
+large fibrous plant which abounds in the marshes of Egypt, especially
+near the borders of the Nile. It was manufactured into a thick sort of
+paper at a very early period, Pliny says three centuries before the reign
+of Alexander the Great; and Cassiodorus, who lived in the sixth century,
+states that it then covered all the desks of the world. Indeed, it had
+become so essential to the Greeks and Romans that the occasional scarcity
+of it is recorded to have produced riots. Every man of rank and education
+kept _librarii_, or book-writers, in his house; and many _servi_, or
+slaves, were trained to this service, so that they were a numerous class.
+
+Papyrus is a very durable substance, made of the innermost pellicles of
+the stalk, glued together transversely, with the glutinous water of
+the Nile. It was for many centuries the great staple of Egypt, and was
+exported in large quantities to almost every part of Europe and Asia, but
+never, it would appear, to England or Germany. After the seventh century
+its use was gradually superseded by the introduction of parchment; and
+before the end of the twelfth century it had gone generally out of use.
+From "papyrus" the name of "paper," which, with slight variations, is
+common to many languages, is no doubt derived.
+
+Parchment and vellum--which are made from the skin of animals, the former
+from sheep or goat, the latter from calf, both prepared with lime--were
+in use at a very early period, long before their accredited introduction.
+It has been by some supposed that Eumenes, King of Pergamus, who lived
+about B.C. 190, was the inventor of parchment; but it was known much
+earlier, as may be seen by several references to it in the Bible (Isaiah,
+viii. i; Jeremiah, xxxvi. 2; Ezekiel, xi. 9). It is, however, very
+probable that it may have been brought to perfection at Pergamus, as it
+was one of the principal articles of commerce of that kingdom.
+
+Parchment, in early times, was not only expensive, but often very
+difficult to procure; whence arose the practice of erasing old writing
+from it, and engrossing it a second time. Such manuscripts are called
+"palimpsests." Modern art has found the means of discharging the more
+recent ink, and thus restoring the original writing, by which means we
+have recovered many valuable pieces, particularly Cicero's lost book, _de
+Republica_ and some fragments of his _Orations_.
+
+The most ancient manuscripts, both on papyrus and parchment, were kept
+in rolls, called in Latin _volumina_, whence our English word "volume."
+Chinese paper, made from the bark of the bamboo, the mulberry, or the
+khu-ku tree, and so extremely thin that it can only be used on one side,
+is supposed to have been invented fifty years before the Christian era
+or earlier. Chinese rice-paper is made from the stems of the bread-fruit
+tree, cut into slices and pressed. The skins of all kinds of animals
+are used--among them the African skin, of a brown color, upon which the
+Hebrew Pentateuch and service-books used in the Jewish synagogues were
+formerly written. Silk-paper was prepared for the most part in Spain
+and its colonies, but was never brought to much perfection. Asbestos, a
+fibrous mineral, was made into paper, tolerably light and pliant, which,
+being incombustible, was denominated "eternal paper." Herodotus tells
+us that cloth was made of asbestos by the Egyptians; and Pliny mentions
+napkins made of it in A.D. 74. We know by tradition that the intestines
+of a serpent served for Homer's _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_; and that the
+_Koran_ was written in part on shoulder-bones of mutton, kept in a
+domestic chest by one of Mahomet's wives.
+
+We now come to the great period of writing-papers made from cotton and
+linen rags, as used at the present day, and which from the first were
+so perfect that they have since undergone no material improvement.
+Cotton-paper was an Eastern invention, probably introduced in the ninth
+century, although not generally used in Europe till about the twelfth and
+thirteenth centuries. Greek manuscripts are found upon it of the earlier
+period, and Italian manuscripts of the later. It seems to have prevailed
+at particular periods, in particular countries, according to the
+facilities for procuring it, as it now does almost exclusively in
+America. Linen paper, the most valuable and important of all the bases
+available for writing or printing, is likewise supposed to have been
+introduced into Europe from the East, early in the thirteenth century,
+although not in general use till the fourteenth.
+
+Before the end of the fourteenth century, paper-mills had been
+established in many parts of Europe, first in Spain, and then
+successively in Italy, Germany, Holland, and France. They seem to have
+come late into England, for Caxton printed all his books on paper
+imported from the Low Countries; and it was not till Winkin de Worde
+succeeded him, in 1495, that paper was manufactured in England. The
+Chinese are supposed to have used it for centuries before, and appear to
+have the best title to be considered the inventors of both cotton and
+linen paper.
+
+Paper may be made of many other materials, such as hay, straw, nettles,
+flax, grasses, parsnips, turnips, colewort leaves, wood-shavings, indeed
+of anything fibrous; but as the invention of printing is not concerned in
+them, I see no occasion to consider their merits.
+
+Before I pass from paper, it may not be irrelevant to say a word or
+two on the names by which we distinguish the sorts and sizes. The
+term "post-paper" is derived from the ancient water-mark, which was a
+post-horn, and not from its suitableness to transport by post, as many
+suppose. The original watermark of a fool's cap gave the name to that
+paper, which it still retains, although the fool's cap was afterward
+changed to a cap of liberty, and has since undergone other changes. The
+smaller size, called "pot-paper," took its name from having at first
+been marked with a flagon or pot. Demy-paper, on which octavo books
+are usually printed, is so called from being originally a "demi" or
+half-sized paper; the term is now, however, equally applied to hard or
+writing papers. Hand-cap, which is a coarse paper used for packing, bore
+the water-mark of an open hand.
+
+I will now say a few words about pens and ink, for without them we could
+neither have had printing nor books. Pens are of great antiquity, and are
+frequently alluded to in the Bible. Pens of iron, which may mean styles,
+are mentioned by Job and Jeremiah. Reed pens are known to have been in
+common use by the ancients, and some were discovered at Pompeii. Pens of
+gold and silver are alluded to by the classical writers, and there
+is evidence of the use of quills in the seventh century. Of whatever
+material the pen was made, it was called a _calamus_, whence our familiar
+saying, "_currente calamo_" ("with a flowing pen"). The use of styles, or
+iron pens, must have been very prevalent in ancient days, as Suetonius
+tells us that the emperor Caligula incited the people to massacre a Roman
+senator with their styles; and, previous to that, Caesar had wounded
+Cassius with his style.
+
+The next, and not the least important, ingredient in writing and printing
+is ink. Staining and coloring matters were well known to the ancients at
+a very early period, witness the lustrous pigments on Etruscan vases more
+than two thousand years ago; and inks are often mentioned in the Bible.
+Gold, silver, red, blue, and green inks were thoroughly understood in
+the Middle Ages, and perhaps earlier; and the black writing-ink of the
+seventh down to the tenth century, as seen in our manuscripts, was in
+such perfection that it has retained its lustre better than some of
+later ages. Printing-ink, by the time it began to be currently used for
+book-printing in the fifteenth century, had attained a perfection which
+has never been surpassed, and indeed scarcely equalled.
+
+Paper and ink being at their highest point, we will now consider the
+advances which had in the mean time been made in engraving and type or
+letter cutting. It will be seen that the material elements of printing
+were by degrees converging to a culminating point. The evidences of
+engraving, both in relief and intaglio, are of very ancient date. I need
+hardly remind you of the exquisite workmanship on coins, cameos, and
+seals, many centuries before the Christian era, to illustrate the high
+state of cultivation at which the arts must then have arrived. The art of
+casting and chasing in bronze was extensively practised in the twelfth
+century, and I have seen a specimen with letters so cut in relief that
+they might be separated to form movable type. The goldsmiths were
+certainly among the greatest artists of the early ages, and were
+competent to execute forms or moulds of any kind to perfection.
+
+In the British Museum is a brass signet stamp, more than two thousand
+years old, on which two lines of letters are very neatly engraved
+in relief, in the reversed order necessary for printing; and as the
+interstices are cut away very deeply and roughly, there is little doubt
+but that this stamp was used with ink on papyrus, parchment, or
+linen, for paper was not then known. Indeed, the experiment of taking
+impressions from it in printing-ink has been tried, and found to answer
+perfectly. A large surface so engraved would at once have given to the
+world an equivalent to what is now regarded as the most advanced state of
+the art of printing; that is, a stereotype plate. Vergil mentions brands
+for marking cattle with their owner's name; probably this kind of brass
+stamp, but larger.
+
+I could cite many more examples of ancient engraving which would yield
+impressions on paper, either by pressure or friction. But our business is
+with printing rather than engraving; I will, therefore, go back to the
+subject, and cite a very early and interesting example of stamping
+engraved letters on clay. I mean the Babylonian bricks, supposed to be
+four thousand years old, mostly sun-baked, but some apparently kiln-burnt
+almost to vitrification. Of these there are now many examples in England,
+added to our stores by the indefatigable researches of Layard, Rawlinson,
+and others. These bricks, which are about a foot square and three inches
+thick, are on one side covered with hieroglyphics, evidently impressed
+with a stamp, just as letters are now stamped on official papers.
+
+Another evidence of the same kind, and of about the same age, is the
+famous Babylonian cylinder found in the ruins of Persepolis, and now
+preserved in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge. It is about
+seven inches high, barrel-shaped, and covered with inscriptions in the
+cuneiform character, disposed in vertical lines, and affording a positive
+example of an indented surface produced by mechanical impression. Such
+cylinders are supposed to have been memorials of matters of national or
+family importance, and were in early ages, as we know by tradition, very
+numerous. Stamped or printed blocks of lead, bearing the names of Roman
+authorities, are to be found in the British Museum.
+
+Printing on leather was practised by the Egyptians, as we discover from
+their mummies, which have bandages of leather round their heads, with the
+name of the deceased printed on them. And in Pompeii a loaf was found on
+which the name of the baker and its quality were printed. Among ancient
+testimonies, one of the most interesting is that afforded by Cicero in
+his _de Natura Deorum_. He orders types to be made of metal, and calls
+them _forma literarum_--the very words used by our first printers; and in
+another place he gives a hint of separate cut letters when he speaks of
+the impossibility of the most ingenious man throwing the twenty-four
+letters of the alphabet together by chance, and thus producing the famous
+_Annals_ of Ennius. He makes that observation in opposition to the
+atheistical argument of the creation of the world by chance.
+
+We have besides, in what is generally classed as a manuscript, a
+reasonable although disputed evidence of an elementary stage of printing;
+I mean the _Codex Argenteus_ (or _Silver Book_) of Upsala, which contains
+a portion of the gospels in Mesogothic, supposed to be of the fourth or
+fifth century, the work of Ulfilas. In this codex the first lines of each
+gospel and of the Lord's Prayer are in large gold letters, apparently
+printed by a stamp, in the manner of a bookbinder, as there are
+indentations on the back of the vellum. The small letters are written in
+silver. The whole is on a light purple or violet colored vellum.
+
+Having said enough, I think, of the ancients' knowledge of type-forms and
+printing materials, I pass on to the recognized establishments of the art
+in the fifteenth century; for, whatever knowledge the ancients had
+of printing, it would appear to have yielded no immediate fruits to
+posterity.
+
+But before I proceed to modern times, I am bound to note that the
+Chinese, who seem to have been many centuries in advance of Europe in
+most of the industral arts, are supposed to have practised
+block-printing, just as they do now, more than a thousand years ago. Nor
+does the complicated nature of their written language, which consists of
+more than one hundred thousand word-signs, admit of any readier mode. But
+they print, or rather rub off, impressions with such speed--seven
+hundred sheets per hour--that, until the introduction of steam, they far
+outstripped Europeans. Gibbon, it will be remembered, regrets that the
+emperor Justinian, who lived in the sixth century, did not introduce the
+art of printing from the Chinese, instead of their silk manufacture.
+
+Block-printing ushered in the great epoch; and the first dawn of it
+in Europe seems to have been single prints of saints and scriptural
+subjects, with a line or two of description engraved on the same wooden
+plate. These are for the most part lost; but there is one in existence,
+large and exceedingly fine, of St. Christopher, with two lines of
+inscription, dated 1423, believed to have been printed with the ordinary
+printing-press. It was found in the library of a monastery near Augsburg,
+and is therefore presumed to be of German execution. Till lately this was
+the earliest-dated evidence of block-printing known; but there has since
+been discovered at Malines, and deposited at Brussels, a wood-cut
+of similar character, but assumed to be Dutch or Flemish, dated
+"MCCCCXVIII"; and though there seems no reason to doubt the genuineness
+of the cut, it is asserted that the date bears evidence of having been
+tampered with.
+
+There is a vague tradition, depending entirely on the assertion of a
+writer named Papillon, not a very reliable authority, which would give
+the invention of wood-cut-printing to Venice, and at a very early period.
+He asserts that he once saw a set of eight prints, depicting the deeds
+of Alexander the Great, each described in verse, which were engraved in
+relief, and printed by a brother and sister named Cunio, at Ravenna,
+in 1285. But though the assertion is accredited by Mr. Ottley, it is
+generally disbelieved.
+
+There is reason to suppose that playing-cards, from wooden blocks, were
+produced at Venice long before the block-books, even as early as 1250;
+but there is no positive evidence that they were printed; and some insist
+that they were produced either by friction or stencil-plates. It seems,
+however, by no means unlikely that cards, which were in most extensive
+use in the Middle Ages, should, for the sake of cheapness, have been
+printed quite as early, if not earlier, than even figures of saints; and
+the same artists are presumed to have produced both.
+
+From single prints, with letter-press inscriptions, the next stage, that
+of a series of prints accompanied by letter-press, was obvious. Such are
+our first recognized block-books, among which are the Apocalypse, and the
+_Biblia Pauperum_ (or _Poor Man's Bible_), supposed to have been printed
+at Haarlem by Laurence Koster, between 1420 and 1430; I say supposed,
+because we have no positive evidence either of the person, place, or
+date; and Erasmus, who was born at Rotterdam in 1467, and always ready
+to advance the honor of his country, is silent on the subject. We rely
+chiefly upon the testimony of Ulric Zell, an eminent printer of Cologne,
+who is quoted in the _Cologne Chronicle_ of 1499, and Hadrian Junius, a
+Dutch historian of repute, who wrote in the next century. Both agree in
+ascribing the invention of book-printing from wooden blocks, as well as
+the first germ of movable wood and metallic type printing, to Haarlem;
+and Junius adds the name of Laurence Koster. His surname of Koster is
+derived from his office, which was that of custodian, sexton, or warden
+of the Cathedral Church of Haarlem. The story told of the accident by
+which the discovery was made is as follows:
+
+Koster, as he was one day walking in a wood adjoining the city, about the
+year 1420, cut some letters on the bark of a beech tree, from which he
+took impressions on paper for the amusement of his brother-in-law's
+children. The idea then struck him of enlarging their application;
+and, being a man of an ingenious turn, he invented a thicker and more
+tenacious ink than was in common use, which blotted, and began to print
+figures from wooden tablets or blocks, to which he added several lines of
+letters, first solid, and then separate or movable. These wooden types
+are said to have been fastened together with string.
+
+One thing seems pretty clear, which is, that, whether or not Koster was
+the printer, the first block-books were produced somewhere in Holland, as
+several are in Dutch, a language seldom, if ever, printed out of its own
+country. They were generally printed in light-brown ink, like a sepia
+drawing, which, I think, was adopted with a view to their being
+colored--a condition in which we find the greater part of them. When
+these prints were colored they presented very much the appearance of the
+Low Country stained-glass windows.
+
+Block-books continued to be printed and reprinted, first in Holland and
+afterward in Germany, with considerable activity, for twenty or thirty
+years, during which period we had several editions of the _Biblia
+Pauperum_, the _Ars Moriendi_ (or _Art of Dying),_ the _Speculum Humanae
+Salvationis_, and many others, chiefly devoted to the promulgation of
+scripture history. The earliest ones are printed, or rather transferred
+by friction--and therefore on one side only of the paper--entirely from
+solid blocks; later on, some portions were printed with movable types of
+wood; and at last the letter-press was entirely of movable metal types.
+Junius says that Koster by degrees exchanged his wooden types for leaden
+ones, and these for pewter; and I will add that it is not unlikely they
+may have been cast in lead or pewter plates from the wooden blocks, as
+metal-casting was well understood at the time.
+
+The pretensions of Haarlem and Koster have for more than a century been a
+matter of fierce controversy; and there have been upward of one hundred
+and fifty volumes written for or against, without any approach to a
+satisfactory decision. This one thing is certain, that, whether or not we
+owe the first idea of movable type to Laurence Koster or to Haarlem, we
+do not owe to the period any very marked use of it; that was reserved for
+a later day.
+
+There is a story current, dependent on the authority of Junius, that
+Koster's principal workman, assumed to be Hans or John Faust--and some,
+to reconcile improbabilities, even say John Gutenberg--who had been sworn
+to secrecy, decamped one Christmas Eve, after the death of Koster, while
+the family were at church, taking with him types and printing apparatus
+and, after short sojourns at Amsterdam and Cologne, got to Mainz or
+Mayence with them, and there introduced printing. He is said by Junius
+to have printed, about the year 1442--that is, two years after Koster's
+death--the _Doctrinale_ of Alexander Gallus and the _Tracts_ of Peter of
+Spain, with the very types which Koster made use of in Haarlem; but as no
+volume of this kind has ever been discovered, nor any trace of one, the
+entire story is generally regarded as apocryphal. Laurence Koster died
+in 1440, at the age of seventy; therefore any printing attributed to him
+must be within that period.
+
+What has hitherto been advanced proves only that mankind had walked for
+many centuries on the borders of the two great inventions, chalcography
+and typography, without having fully and practically discovered either of
+them.
+
+We now come to the great epoch of printing--I mean the complete
+introduction, if not actually the first invention, of movable metal
+or fusile types. This took place at Mainz, in or before 1450, and the
+general consent of Europe assigns the credit of it to Gutenberg. Of a man
+who has conferred such vast obligations on all succeeding ages, it may be
+desirable to say a few words.
+
+John Gutenberg was born at Mainz in 1397, of a patrician and rather
+wealthy family. He left his native city, it is said, because implicated
+in an insurrection of the citizens against the nobility, and settled
+at Strasburg, where, in 1427, we find him an established merchant, and
+sustaining a suit of breach of promise brought against him by a lady
+named Ann of the Iron Door, whom he afterward married. While resident
+here, and before 1439, his attention appears to have been actively
+directed to the art of printing, as we learn by a legal document of the
+time, found of late years in the archives of Strasburg. He is there
+stated to have entered into an engagement with three persons, named
+Dreizehn, Riffe, and Heilmann, to reveal to them "a secret art of
+printing which he had lately discovered," and to take them into
+partnership for five years, upon the payment of certain sums.
+
+The death of Dreizehn before he had paid up all his instalments led to a
+suit on the part of his relations, which ended in Gutenberg's favor. In
+the course of the evidence one of the witnesses, a goldsmith, deposed to
+having received from Gutenberg three or four years previously--that
+is, about 1435--upward of three hundred florins for materials used in
+printing. Other witnesses proved the anxiety that Gutenberg had shown to
+have four pages of type distributed which appear to have been screwed up
+in chase, and lying on a press on the deceased's premises.
+
+This would be evidence that Gutenberg had arrived at a knowledge of
+movable types, either of wood or metal, and probably of both, before
+1440; and, had it not been for the rupture of the partnership before
+anything had been printed by the new process, Strasburg might have
+claimed the honor which is now given to Mainz.
+
+Soon after this--it is supposed in 1444--Gutenberg returned to his native
+city, by leave of the town council, which he was obliged to ask, bringing
+with him all his materials. In 1446 he entered into a partnership with
+John Faust--a wealthy and skilful goldsmith and engraver--who
+engaged, upon being taught the secrets of the art and admitted into a
+participation of the profits, to advance the necessary funds, which he
+did to the extent of two thousand two hundred florins. Goldsmiths, it
+should be borne in mind, were then the great artists in all kinds of
+metal work, and extremely skilful in modelling, engraving, and casting,
+which were exactly the arts required for type-founding.
+
+The new partnership immediately commenced operations, hired a house
+called Zumjungen, and took into their employ Peter Schoeffer, who had
+been Faust's apprentice, as their assistant. Faust is supposed to have
+employed himself in cutting the type, which is an extremely slow process,
+till Peter Schoeffer, afterward his son-in-law, suggested an improved
+mode of casting it in copper matrices struck by steel punches, pretty
+much in the same manner as was till recently practised throughout Europe.
+The firm had for some time previously adopted a method of casting type in
+moulds of plaster, which was a tedious process, as every letter required
+a new mould.
+
+Although to Gutenberg are undoubtedly due all the main features of
+metal-type printing, yet we owe, perhaps, to the practical skill of
+Faust, and the taste of Schoeffer, who was an accomplished penman, the
+exquisite finish and perfection with which their first joint effort came
+forth to the world. This was a Latin Vulgate, printed in a large cut
+metal type, and commonly called the Mazarin Bible, because the first copy
+known to bibliographers was found in the library of Cardinal Mazarin.
+It consists of six hundred and forty-one leaves, forming two, sometimes
+four, large volumes in folio; some copies on paper of beautiful texture,
+some on vellum. It was without date or names of the printers, as it was
+evidently intended to present the appearance of a manuscript; but it is
+supposed, on good evidence, to have been printed between 1450 and 1455,
+and it is not improbable the volumes were all that time, that is,
+five years, and some say more, at press; for we know, by certain
+technicalities, that every page was printed off singly.
+
+These precious volumes, as splendid as they are wonderful, have excited
+the admiration of all beholders. The sharpness and elegant uniformity of
+the type, the lustre of the ink, and the purity of the paper leave that
+first great monument of the typographic art unsurpassed by any subsequent
+effort; nor could it be exceeded with all the appliances of the present
+day.
+
+"It is a striking circumstance," says Mr. Hallam, "that the high-minded
+inventors of this great art tried, at the very outset, so bold a flight
+as the printing of an entire Bible, and executed it with astonishing
+success. It was Minerva leaping on earth in her divine strength and
+radiant armor, ready, at the moment of her nativity, to subdue and
+destroy her enemies."
+
+There is a curious story current about this Bible, which, as it is
+connected with a popular fiction, I will venture to repeat. It is that
+Faust went to Paris with some of his Bibles for sale, one of which,
+printed on vellum and richly illuminated, he sold to the King for seven
+hundred and fifty crowns, and another to the Archbishop of Paris for
+three hundred crowns, and to the poorer clergy and the laity copies on
+paper as low as fifty crowns, and even less. Faust does not appear to
+have disclosed the secret of how they were produced, and probably let it
+be supposed that they were manuscript; for the aim of the first printers
+was to make their books equal in beauty to the finest manuscripts, and
+as far as possible undistinguishable from them, to which end the large
+capitals and decorations were filled in by hand.
+
+The Archbishop, proud of his purchase, showed it to the King, who,
+comparing it with his own, found with surprise that they tallied so
+exactly in every respect, excepting the illuminated ornaments, as
+convinced them that they were produced by some other art than
+transcription; and on further inquiry they found that Faust had sold
+a considerable number exactly similar. Orders, therefore, were given
+without delay to apprehend and prosecute him as a practitioner of the
+black art in multiplying Holy Writ by aid of the devil. Hence arose the
+popular fiction of the Devil and Dr. Faustus, which, under different
+phases, has found its way into every country in Europe, and probably gave
+rise to Goethe's celebrated drama.
+
+In 1455, as we find by a notarial document, dated November 6th of that
+year, Faust separated from Gutenberg, and successfully instituted
+proceedings against him for money advanced. Gutenberg, who had exhausted
+all his means in bringing his invention to maturity, was obliged to
+mortgage and in the end surrender all his materials, and, it should seem,
+his printed stock. His impoverishment may easily be accounted for when we
+are told, as a received fact, that before the first four sheets of his
+Bible were completed he had already expended four thousand crowns upon
+it--a large sum in those days. Of this his then wealthier partner reaped
+all the subsequent advantage.
+
+After this period, Faust, and his son-in-law, Peter Schoeffer, in
+possession of the materials, printed on their own account, and, within
+eighteen months of their separation from Gutenberg, produced the
+celebrated Latin Psalter of 1457, the first book in any country which
+bears a complete imprint--that is, the name of the printer, place, and
+date. This magnificent volume, of which the whole edition was printed on
+vellum, is now even rarer than the Mazarin Bible, and of extraordinary
+value; the letters are very large and bold, cast in metal type, and the
+ornamental initials are beautifully cut in wood.
+
+Two years later, that is, in 1459, Faust and Schoeffer produced an
+almost fac-simile reprint of the Psalter, and in the same year _Durandi
+Rationale Divinorum Officiorum_, the latter with an entirely new font of
+metal type--the first cast from Schoeffer's punches--which some, in the
+erroneous belief that the Psalter was printed from wooden types, have
+asserted to be the first dated book printed with metal type. Then
+followed, in 1460, the _Constitutiones Clementis V_, a handsome folio,
+and in 1462 their famous Latin Bible, the first one with a date.
+
+In the mean time, Gutenberg, undaunted by the loss of all that had cost
+him so many years of unremitted application and his whole fortune, began
+afresh; and this time, it should seem, with better success, as we find
+him, in 1459, undertaking to present, for certain considerations, all the
+books he had then printed, or might thereafter print, to a convent where
+his sister was a nun. No book, however, has yet been discovered bearing
+the name of Gutenberg; and we can only guess what came from his press by
+a peculiarity of type, of which, after the first Bible, the most marked
+is the famous _Catholicon_, dated 1460--a kind of universal dictionary,
+the germ of all future cyclopaedias, and which became so popular that
+more than forty editions were printed of it in as many years. In 1465
+Gutenberg retired from printing, being appointed to a lucrative office at
+the court of the Archbishop of Mainz, and in 1467 he died.
+
+And here we take leave of Gutenberg, with admiration for his patience,
+his perseverance, and his self-sacrifice in a cause which has produced
+such glorious fruits. He was one of those noble spirits who are endowed
+with a perception of what is good, and pursue it independent of worldly
+considerations. Posterity has done him tardy justice in erecting a marble
+monument to his memory and establishing a jubilee, which gave rise to one
+of the most touching of Mendelssohn's compositions.
+
+By this time the secret had transpired to the neighboring states, and
+Mentelin, of Strasburg, and Pfister, or Bamberg, were, before the
+beginning of 1462, in full activity. Indeed, Pfister is, by some, thought
+to have printed before 1460; and his finely executed Latin Bible, in cast
+type, was for many years regarded as the first.
+
+At this critical period, when the art was reaching its zenith, the
+operations of the Mainz printers were suddenly brought to a standstill
+by the siege and capture of the city in 1462. The occasion of this was a
+fierce dispute between the Pope and the people as to who had the right of
+appointment to the archbishopric, lately become vacant. The original hive
+of workmen dispersed to other states, and by degrees the mysteries of the
+art became spread over the civilized world. Such, indeed, was the fame
+printing had acquired, and its manifest importance, that every crowned
+head sought to introduce it into his kingdom, and welcomed the fugitives.
+Within a few years of this period the art had been carried by the
+scattered German workmen into Italy, France, Spain, and Switzerland; and
+before the close of the fifteenth century it was practised in more than
+two hundred twenty different places.
+
+Before entering upon the history of printing in England, I will take
+leave to call your attention to a few prominent facts connected with its
+progress abroad, as well as to some points of its early condition which
+could not be conveniently introduced in chronological order. All the
+books printed previously to 1465 are in the Gothic, or black letter,
+which still remained the favorite in Germany and the Low Countries long
+after the Italians introduced their beautiful Roman letter. The first
+books in which any Greek type occurs are Cicero's _Offices_, printed
+by Faust and Schoeffer in 1465, directly after the resumption of their
+establishment; and _Lactantius_, printed the same year by Sweynheim and
+Pannartz, in the monastery of Soubiaco at Rome. The first book printed
+entirely in Greek was Constantine Lascar's _Greek Grammar_, Milan, 1476.
+
+One of the earliest of the Italian books, and, to use the words of
+Dr. Dibdin, perhaps the most notorious volume in existence, was the
+celebrated Boccaccio, printed at Venice by Valdarfer in 1471. This book
+deserves particular mention, because of an extraordinary contest which
+once took place for its possession between two wealthy bibliomaniacs. It
+was a small black-letter folio, in faded yellow morocco, and supposed
+to be unique. Its history is this: In the early part of the eighteenth
+century it had come accidentally into the possession of a London
+bookseller, who successively offered it to Harley, Earl of Oxford, and
+to Lord Sunderland; then the two principal collectors, for one hundred
+guineas; but both were staggered at the price and higgled about the
+purchase. An ancestor of the late Duke of Roxburghe, whom nobody dreamed
+of as a collector, hearing of the book, secured it, and then invited the
+two noblemen to dinner, with the view of parading his trophy. In due
+course he led the conversation to the book, and, after letting them
+expatiate on its rarity, told them he thought he had a copy in his
+bookcase, which they emphatically declared to be impossible, and
+challenged him to produce it. On producing the book, about the purchase
+of which they had only been temporizing, they were not a little
+chagrined.
+
+This same copy made its appearance again, half a century later, at the
+Duke of Roxburghe's sale in 1812, a time when bibliomania was at its
+height. Loud notes of preparation foretold that it would sell for a
+considerable sum; five hundred and even one thousand guineas were
+guessed, as it was known that Lord Spencer, the Duke of Devonshire, and
+the Marquis of Blandford were all bent on its possession, but nobody
+anticipated the extravagant sum it was to realize. After a very spirited
+competition, it was knocked down to the Marquis of Blandford for two
+thousand sixty pounds. This book was resold at the Marquis of Blandford's
+sale, in 1819, for eight hundred seventy-five guineas, and passed to Lord
+Spencer, in whose extraordinary library it now reposes.
+
+Before the commencement of the sixteenth century, that is, within forty
+or fifty years of the invention of printing with movable type, upward of
+twenty thousand volumes had issued from at least a thousand different
+presses. All the principal Latin classics, many of the Greek, and upward
+of two hundred fifty editions of the Bible, or parts of the Bible, had
+appeared.
+
+One of the most active and enterprising of the early printers was Anthony
+Koburger of Nuremberg, an accomplished scholar, who began there in 1472,
+and before the year 1500 had printed thirteen large editions of the Bible
+in folio, and a prodigious number of other books. He kept twenty-four
+presses at work, employing one hundred workmen, and had sixteen shops for
+the sale of books in the principal cities of Germany, besides factors
+and agents all over Europe. He printed, in 1493, that grand volume, the
+_Nuremberg Chronicle_, which is illustrated with upward of one thousand
+woodcuts by Michael Wohlgemuth, the master of Albert Dürer, and is
+curious as being one of the first books in which cross-hatchings occur in
+wood-engraving.
+
+The sixteenth century opened with another invention in type, the Italic,
+which was beautifully exemplified in a pocket edition of Vergil, the
+first of a portable series of classical works commenced in 1501 at Venice
+by the celebrated Aldus Manutius, who, after some years of preparation,
+had entered actively on his career as a printer in 1494, and deservedly
+ranks as one of the best scholars of any age.
+
+Then came the Giunti, the learned family of the Stephenses, of whom
+Robert is accredited as the author of the present divisions of our
+New Testament into chapters, and Henry, author of the great Greek
+_Thesaurus_, the most valuable Greek lexicon ever published. To the
+opprobrium of the age, he died in an almshouse.
+
+Among many others immortalized by their successful contributions to the
+great cause we must not forget the Plantins, whose memories are still so
+cherished at Antwerp that their printing establishment remains to this
+day untouched, just as it was left two centuries ago, with all the
+freshness of a chamber in Pompeii, the type and chases of their famous
+Polyglot lying about, as if the workmen had but just left the office.
+
+The accordance of the art of printing with the spirit of the times which
+gave it birth must be regarded as singularly providential. The Protestant
+Reformation in Germany was brought about by Luther's accidentally
+meeting, in a monastic library, with one of Gutenberg's printed Latin
+Bibles, when at the age of twenty. "A mighty change," says Luther, "then
+came over me," and all his subsequent efforts are to be attributed to
+that event. His recognition of the importance of printing is given in
+these words: "Printing is the best and highest gift, the _summum et
+postremum donum_ by which God advanceth the Gospel. Thanks be to God that
+it hath come at last. Holy fathers now at rest would rejoice to see this
+day of the revealed Gospel."
+
+William Caxton, by common consent, is the introducer of the art of
+printing into England. He was born about 1422, in Kent, and received
+what was then thought a liberal education. His father must have been in
+respectable circumstances, as there was at that time a law in full force
+prohibiting any youth from being apprenticed to trade whose parent was
+not possessed of a certain rental in land. In his eighteenth year Caxton
+was apprenticed to Robert Large, an eminent London mercer, who in 1430
+was sheriff and in 1439 Lord Mayor of London. At his death, in 1441,
+he bequeathed Caxton a legacy of twenty marks--a large sum in those
+days--and an honorable testimony to his fidelity and integrity. Soon
+after this the Mercers' Company appointed him their agent in the Low
+Countries, in which employment he spent twenty-three years.
+
+In 1464 he was one of two commissioners officially employed by Edward IV
+to negotiate a commercial treaty with Philip of Burgundy; and in 1468,
+when the King's sister, Margaret of York, married Charles of Burgundy,
+called "the Bold," he attached himself to their household, probably
+in some literary capacity, as in the next year we find him busied in
+translating at her request. During the greater part of this long period
+he was residing or travelling in the midst of the countries where the new
+art of printing was the great subject of interest, and would naturally
+take some measures to acquaint himself with it. Indeed, it has been said
+that he had a secret commission from Edward IV to learn the art, and to
+bribe some of the foreign workmen into England. Be this as it may, we
+know that Caxton acquired a complete knowledge of it while abroad, for
+he tells us so, and that he had printed at Cologne the _Recueil des
+Histoires de Troye_ (or _Romance History of Troy_), in 1465, and in 1472
+an English edition of the same, translated by himself. These two early
+productions are remarkable as being the first books printed in either the
+French or English language[26]. The English edition was sold at the Duke
+of Roxburghe's sale for one thousand sixty pounds, and is now in the
+possession of the Duke of Devonshire.
+
+Caxton returned to England about 1474, bringing with him presses and
+types, and established himself in one of the chapels of Westminster
+Abbey, called the Eleemosynary, Almondry, or Arm'ry, supposed to have
+been on the site of Henry VII's chapel. A printer would naturally resort
+to the abbey for patronage, as in those days it was the head-quarters
+of learning as well as of religion. Before the foundation of grammar
+schools, there was usually a _scholasticus_ attached to the abbeys and
+cathedral churches, who directed and superintended the education of the
+neighboring nobility and gentry. He was, besides, one of the members of
+the _scriptorium_, a large establishment within the abbey, where school
+and other books used to be written.
+
+The first book Caxton printed, after he returned to England and
+established himself at the Almonry, is supposed to be _The Game and Play
+of Chesse_, dated 1474. But some have raised doubts whether this was
+printed in England, as there is no actual evidence of it. One of the
+arguments is that the type is exactly the same as what he had previously
+used at Cologne; but this is no evidence at all, as both the type and
+paper used in England for many years came from Cologne, and there is no
+doubt that Caxton brought some with him. A second edition of the book of
+chess, with woodcuts, was printed two or three years later, and this is
+generally admitted to have been printed in England.
+
+The first book with an unmistakable imprint was his _Dictes and Sayings
+of Philosophers_, which had been translated for him by the gallant but
+unfortunate Lord Rivers, who was murdered in Pomfret castle by order of
+Richard III. The colophon of this states that it was printed in the Abbey
+of Westminster in 1477. He appears to have printed but one single volume
+upon vellum, which is _The Doctrynal of Sapience_, 1489, of which a copy,
+formerly in the King's Library at Windsor, is now in the British Museum.
+This is a very interesting work as connected with Caxton, being entirely
+translated by himself into English verse. It is an allegorical fiction,
+in which the whole system of literature and science comes under
+consideration.
+
+Caxton died in 1491, after having produced, within twenty years of his
+active career, more than fifty volumes of mark, including Chaucer, Gower,
+Lydgate, and his own _Chronicle_ of England. Before Caxton's time the
+youths of England were supplied with their school-books and their
+reading, which was necessarily very limited, by the Company of
+Stationers, or text-writers, who wrote and sold, by an exclusive royal
+privilege, the school-books then in use. These were chiefly the A B Cs,
+(called _Absies_), the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, and the address to the
+Virgin Mary, called _Ave Maria_.
+
+The location of these stationers was in the neighborhood of St. Paul's
+Cathedral, whence arose the names Paternoster Row, Creed Lane, Amen
+Corner, and Ave Maria Lane. Manuscripts of a higher order, that is, in
+the form of books, were mostly supplied by the monks, and were scarcely
+accessible to any but the wealthy, from their extreme cost. Thus, a
+Chaucer, which may now be bought for a few shillings, then cost more than
+a hundred pounds; and we read of two hundred sheep and ten quarters of
+wheat being given for a volume of homilies.
+
+Minstrels, instead of books, were in early times the principal medium of
+communication between authors and the public; they wandered up and down
+the country, chanting, singing, or reciting, according to the taste of
+their customers, and had certain privileges of entertainment in the halls
+of the nobility.
+
+It may be wondered that Caxton, like many of the foreign printers, did
+not begin with, or at least some time during his career print, the
+Scriptures, especially as Wycliffe's translation had already been made.
+But there were good reasons. Religious persecution ran high, and the
+clergy were extremely jealous of the propagation of the Scriptures among
+the people. Knighton had denounced the reading of the Bible, lamenting
+lest this jewel of the Church, hitherto the exclusive property of the
+clergy and divines, should be made common to the laity; and Archbishop
+Arundel had issued an enactment that no part of the Scriptures in English
+should be read, either in public or private, or be thereafter translated,
+under pain of the greater excommunication. The Star Chamber, too, was big
+with terrors. A little later, Erasmus' edition of the New Testament was
+forbidden at Cambridge; and in the county of Surrey the Vicar of Croydon
+said from the pulpit, "We must root out printing, or printing will root
+out us."
+
+Winkin de Worde, who had come in his youth with Caxton to England and
+continued with him in the superintendence of his office to the day of his
+death, succeeded to the business, and conducted it with great spirit
+for the next forty years. He began by entirely remodelling his fonts
+of Gothic type, and introduced both Roman and Italic; became his own
+founder, instead of importing type from the Low Countries; promoted the
+manufacture of paper in this country; and such was his activity that he
+printed the extraordinary number of four hundred eight different works.
+He deserves, perhaps, more praise than he has ever received for the
+important part he played in establishing and advancing the art in
+England.
+
+But no one of our early printers deserves more grateful remembrance than
+Richard Grafton, who, in 1537, was the first publisher of the Bible in
+England. I say in England, because the first Bible, known as Coverdale's,
+and several editions of the Testament, translated by Tyndale, had been
+previously printed abroad in secrecy. Grafton's first edition of the
+Bible was a reprint of Coverdale and Tyndale's translation, with slight
+alterations, by one who assumed the name of Thomas Matthew, but whose
+real name was John Rogers, then Prebendary of St. Paul's, and afterward
+burned as a heretic in Smithfield. Even this was printed secretly abroad,
+nobody yet knows where, and did not have Grafton's name attached to it
+till the King had granted him a license under the privy seal. Though this
+year, 1537, has by the annalists of the Bible been called the first year
+of triumph, on account of the King's license, yet Bibles were still apt
+to be dangerous things to all concerned; and what was permitted one day
+was not unlikely, by a change in religion or policy, to be interdicted
+the next with severe visitations.
+
+Although Henry VIII had recently completed his breach with Rome and
+been excommunicated, he alternately punished the religious movements of
+Protestants and Catholics, according to his caprice; and it was but a few
+years previously that the reading of the Bible had been prohibited by
+act of parliament, that men had been burned at the stake for having even
+fragments of it in their possession, and that Tyndale's translation of
+the new Testament had been bought up and publicly burned (1534) by order
+of Cuthbert Tunstall, Bishop of London; and even as late as May, 1536,
+the reading of the sacred volume had been strictly forbidden.
+
+Grafton, therefore, must have been a bold man to face the danger. Thus,
+in 1538, when a new edition of the Bible, commonly called the "Great
+Bible," afterward published in 1539, was secretly printing in Paris at
+the instance of Lord Cromwell, under the superintendence of Grafton,
+Whitchurch, and Coverdale, the French inquisitors of the faith
+interfered, charging them with heresy, and they were fortunate in making
+their escape to England.
+
+Shortly after the death of Caxton's patron, Lord Cromwell, Grafton was
+imprisoned for the double offence of printing Matthew's Bible and the
+Great Bible, notwithstanding the King's license; and though after a while
+released, he was again imprisoned in the reign of Philip and Mary on
+account of his Protestant principles; and, after all his services to
+religion and literature, died in poverty in 1572.
+
+Printing was now spreading all over England. It had already begun at
+Oxford in 1478--some say earlier--at Cambridge soon after, although the
+first dated work is 1521; at St. Albans in 1480; York in 1509; and other
+places by degrees.
+
+Printing did not reach Scotland till 1507, and then but imperfectly, and
+Ireland not till 1551, owing, it is said, to the jealousy with which it
+was regarded by the priesthood.
+
+We will now take a rapid survey of the vast strides printing has made of
+late years in England, and therewith close. The principal movements have
+been in stereotyping, electrotyping, the improvement of presses, and the
+application of steam power. Stereotyping is the transfer of pages of
+movable type into solid metal plates, by the medium of moulds formed of
+plaster of Paris, _papier-mâché,_ gutta-percha, or other substances. This
+art is supposed to have been invented, in or about 1725, by William Ged,
+a goldsmith of Edinburgh. A small capitalist, who had engaged to embark
+with him, withdrawing from the speculation in alarm, he accepted
+overtures from a Mr. William Fenner, and in 1729 came to London. Here
+he obtained three partners, in conjunction with whom he entered into a
+contract with the University of Cambridge for stereotyping Bibles and
+prayer-books. But the workmen, fearing that stereotyping would eventually
+ruin their trade, purposely made errors, and, when their masters were
+absent, battered the type, so that the only two prayer-books completed
+were suppressed by authority, and the plates destroyed. Upon this the
+art got into disrepute, and Ged, after much ill-treatment, returned to
+Edinburgh, impoverished and disheartened. Here his friends, desirous that
+a memorial of his art should be published, entered into a subscription to
+defray the expense; and a Sallust, printed in 1736, and composed and cast
+in the night-time to avoid the jealous opposition of the workmen, is now
+the principal evidence of his claim to the invention.
+
+But the time had not come; for without a very large demand, such as could
+not exist in those days, stereotyping would be of no advantage. Books
+which sell by hundreds of thousands, and are constantly reprinting, such
+as Bibles, prayer-books, school-books, Shakespeares, Bunyans, Robinson
+Crusoes, Uncle Toms, and very popular authors and editions, will pay for
+stereotyping; but for small numbers it is a loss. After the invention had
+been neglected long enough to be forgotten, Earl Stanhope, who had for
+several years devoted himself earnestly to the subject, and made many
+experiments, resuscitated it, in a very perfect manner, in 1803; and his
+printer, Mr. Wilson, sold the secret to both universities and to most of
+the leading printers. To the art of stereotyping the public is mainly
+indebted for cheap literature, for when the plates are once produced the
+chief expense is disposed of.
+
+Something akin to stereotyping is another method of printing, called
+logography, invented by John Walter of the London _Times_, in 1783, and
+for which he took out a patent. This means a system of printing from type
+cast in words instead of single letters, which it was thought would save
+time and corrections when applied to newspapers, but it was not found to
+answer. A joke of the time was a supposed order to the type-founder for
+some words of frequent occurrence, which ran thus: "Please send me a
+hundredweight, sorted, of murder, fire, dreadful robbery, atrocious
+outrage, fearful calamity, alarming explosion, melancholy accident; an
+assortment of honourable member, whig, tory, hot, cold, wet, dry; half
+a hundred weight, made up in pounds, of butter, cheese, beef, mutton,
+tripe, mustard, soap, rain, etc., and a few devils, angels, women,
+groans, hisses, etc." This method of printing did not succeed; for if
+twenty-four letters will give six hundred sextillions of combinations, no
+printing-office could keep a sufficient assortment of even popular words.
+
+[Footnote 1: See Vol 1, 8]
+
+[Footnote 2: See accompanying fac-simile of a page of the English
+edition--a reproduction as faithful as possible in text, color, texture
+of paper, etc.]
+
+
+
+JOHN HUNYADY REPULSES THE TURKS[1]
+
+A.D. 1440-1456
+
+ARMINIUS VAMBÉRY
+
+
+From the time (1354) when the Turks took Gallipoli and secured their
+first dominion in Europe, the Ottoman power on that side of the
+Hellespont was gradually increased. In 1360 Amurath I crossed from Asia
+Minor, ravaged an extensive district, and took Adrianople, which he made
+the first seat of his royalty and the first shrine of Mahometanism in
+Europe. He next turned toward Bulgaria and Servia, where in the warlike
+Slavonic tribes he found far stronger foes than the Greek victims of
+earlier Turkish conquests.
+
+Pope Urban V preached a crusade against the Turks; and Servia, Hungary,
+Bosnia, and Wallachia leagued themselves to drive the Ottomans out of
+Europe. Amurath defeated them and added new territory to his previous
+acquisitions. A peace was made in 1376, but a new though fruitless
+attempt of the Slavonic peoples against him gave Amurath a pretext for
+further assault upon southeastern Europe. In 1389 he conquered and
+annexed Bulgaria and subjugated the Servians. In the same year Amurath
+was assassinated.
+
+Bajazet I, the son and successor of Amurath, still further extended
+the Turkish conquests. Under Bajazet's son, Mahomet I (1413-1421),
+comparative peace prevailed; but his son, Amurath II, rekindled the
+flames of war. A strong combination, including, with other peoples,
+the Hungarians and Poles, was made against him. In the struggle that
+followed, and which for a time promised the complete expulsion of the
+Turks from Europe, the great leader was the Hungarian, John Hunyady, born
+in 1388. According to some writers, he was a Wallach and the son of a
+common soldier. Creasy calls him "the illegitimate son of Sigismund, King
+of Hungary, and the fair Elizabeth Morsiney." With him appeared a new
+spirit, such as the Ottomans up to that time could not have expected to
+encounter in that part of Europe. In Vambéry's narrative we have the
+authority of Hungary's greatest historian for the leading events in the
+life of her greatest hero.
+
+In Europe a new power pulsating with youthful life had arrived from
+somewhere in the interior of Asia with the intention of conquering the
+world. This power was the Turk--not merely a single nation, but a whole
+group of peoples clustered round a nation, inspired by one single idea
+which urged them ever forward--"There is no god but God, and Mahomet is
+the apostle of God."
+
+The Mahometan flood already beat upon the bounds of Catholic Christendom,
+in the forefront of which stood Hungary. Hungary's King, Sigismund, was
+able for a moment in 1396 to unite the nations of Europe against the
+common danger, but the proud array of mail-clad knights were swept away
+like chaff before the steady ranks of the janizaries.
+
+And herewith began the long series of desolating inroads into Hungary,
+for the Turks were wont to suck the blood of the nation they had marked
+down as their prey. They took the country by surprise, secretly,
+suddenly, like a summer storm, appearing in overwhelming numbers,
+burning, murdering, robbing, especially men in the hopes of a rich
+ransom, or children whom they might bring up as Mahometans and
+janizaries. This body, the flower of the Turkish armies, owed its origin
+for the most part to the Christian children thus stolen from their
+parents and their country. This infantry of the janizaries was the first
+standing army in Europe. Living constantly together under a common
+discipline, like the inmates of a cloister, they rushed blindly forward
+to the cry of "God and his Prophet!" like some splendid, powerful wild
+beast eager for prey. The Turkish sultans published the proud order:
+"Forward! Let us conquer the whole world; wheresoever we tie up our
+horses' heads, that land is our own."
+
+To resist such a nation, that would not listen to negotiation, but only
+thirsted for war and conquest, seemed already an impossibility. Europe
+trembled with fear at the reports of the formidable attacks designed
+against her, and listened anxiously for news from distant Hungary, which
+lay, so to say, in the lion's very mouth.
+
+Against such an enemy a soldier of the modern type was useless, one who
+slays only in defence of his own life and at the word of command, whose
+force consists in the high development of the military art and the
+murderous instruments of modern technical science. What was wanted was a
+heroic soul, inspired by a burning faith like to that which impelled the
+Mahometan soldier. This heroic soul, this burning faith, united to
+the tenacious energy of youth, were all found united in John Hunyady,
+accompanied withal by a singular talent for leadership in war. He could
+not rely for support upon the haughty magnates who could trace their
+descent back for centuries and despised the parvenu with a shorter
+pedigree and a smaller estate. He was consequently obliged to cast in
+his lot with the mass of the lesser nobility, individually weaker, it is
+true, but not deficient in spirit and a consciousness of their own worth.
+Of this class he soon became the idolized leader. Around him gathered the
+hitherto latent forces of Hungarian society, especially from Transylvania
+and South Hungary and the Great Hungarian Plain, which suffered most from
+the incursions of the Turks, and were therefore most impressed with the
+necessity of organizing a system of defence. It was these who were the
+first to be inspired by Hurvyady's heroic spirit.
+
+Before commencing his career as independent commander he, following
+his father's example, attached himself to the court of Sigismund, the
+Emperor-king, in whose train he visited the countries of Western Europe,
+Germany, England, and Italy, till he at length returned home, his mind
+enriched by experience but with the fervor of his first faith unchilled.
+
+When over fifty years old, he repaired at his sovereign's command to the
+south of Hungary to organize the resistance to the Turks. At first he
+was appointed ban of Severin, and as such had the chief command of the
+fortified places built by the Hungarians for the defence of the Lower
+Danube. After that he became waywode of Transylvania, the civil and
+military governor of the southeastern corner of the Hungarian kingdom.
+
+Before, however, he had reached these dignities he had fought a
+succession of battles and skirmishes with such success that for the
+fanatical Turkish soldiery his form, nay, his very name, was an object
+of terror. It was Hunyady alone whom they sought to slay on the field of
+battle, well persuaded that, he once slain, they would easily deal with
+the rest of Hungary. Thus in 1442 a Turkish leader, named Mezid Bey,
+burst into Transylvania at the head of eighty thousand men in pursuance
+of the Sultan's commands, with no other aim than to take Hunyady dead or
+alive.
+
+Nor, indeed, did Hunyady keep them waiting for him. He hurried at the
+head of his troops to attack the Turkish leader, who was laying siege to
+Hermannstadt. Upon this, Mezid Bey, calling his bravest soldiers around
+him, described to them once more Hunyady's appearance, his arms, his
+dress, his stature, and his horse, that they might certainly recognize
+him. "Slay him only," he exclaimed, "and we shall easily deal with the
+rest of them; we shall drive them like a flock of sheep into the presence
+of our august master."
+
+On that occasion was seen with what self-sacrificing enthusiasm his
+soldiers loved their heroic leader. When they learned from their spies
+the purpose of the Turks, they took all possible measures to secure his
+precious life. One of their number, Simon Kemeny, who bore a striking
+resemblance to Hunyady, determined to sacrifice himself for his leader.
+He announced that he would put on Hunyady's clothes and armor. The Turks
+would then attack him under the belief that he was the celebrated chief,
+and while they were thus engaged the real Hunyady would fall upon them
+unexpectedly and put them to flight. At first Hunyady would by no means
+consent to this plan, as he did not wish to expose Kemeny to such mortal
+danger; but at last, seeing the great military advantages likely to
+accrue from it, he consented.
+
+And so, indeed, it fell out. As soon as the battle began, the Turks,
+perceiving Simon Kemeny in the garb of Hunyady, directed all their force
+against him. Kemeny, after a stout defence, fell, together with a great
+number of his followers, and the Turks, seeing him fall, set up a general
+cry of triumph and exultation. Just at this critical moment they were
+hotly attacked in the flank by the genuine Hunyady. Thus attacked in the
+very moment when they imagined that they had already gained the day,
+the Turks were thrown into confusion and took wildly to flight. Twenty
+thousand corpses were left on the battlefield; among them lay Mezid Bey
+himself, together with his sons.
+
+Fearful was the rage of the Turkish Sultan when he heard of the defeat
+and death of Mezid Bey, and he at once despatched another army against
+Hunyady, which like the first numbered eighty thousand men. This time,
+however, Hunyady did not let them enter Transylvania, but waited for
+them at the pass known as the Iron Gate, among the high mountains on the
+southern boundary of Hungary.
+
+The Hungarian army was not more than fifteen thousand men, so that the
+Turks were at least five times as strong. But the military genius of
+Hunyady made up for the small number of his followers. He posted them in
+a strong position in the rough pass, and attacked the enemy in places
+where it was impossible for him to make use of his strength. Thus more
+than half the Turkish army perished miserably in the battle. Again their
+commander-in-chief fell on the field, together with six subordinate
+commanders, while two hundred horse-tail standards fell into Hunyady's
+hands as trophies of his victory.
+
+These two splendid victories filled all Europe with joy and admiration.
+Christendom again breathed freely; for she felt that a champion sent by a
+special providence had appeared, who had both the courage and the ability
+to meet and to repel the haughty and formidable foe. But Hunyady was not
+content with doing so much. He thought that by this time he might
+carry the war into the enemy's country. The plan of operations was
+exceptionally daring, yet Hunyady had not resolved on it without careful
+consideration. In the mean time, through Hunyady's exertions, Wladislaw
+III, the young King of Poland, had been elected king of Hungary. Hunyady
+gained the new King over to his plans, and by this means secured the
+coöperation of the higher aristocracy and the armed bands which they
+were bound to lead into the field at the King's summons. Hunyady counted
+besides on the assistance of Europe; in the first place on the popes, who
+were zealous advocates of the war against the Mahometans; next on Venice,
+which, as the first commercial city and state at that time, had suffered
+severe losses owing to the spread of Turkish dominions; on the gallant
+Poles, whose King now wore the Hungarian crown; and lastly upon the
+peoples of Christendom in general, whose enthusiasm for a war against the
+infidels had been quickened by the report of Hunyady's victories. And,
+indeed, at his request the Pope sent some small sums of money, the Poles
+furnished an auxiliary force, while numerous volunteers from the rest of
+Europe flocked to serve under his banner.
+
+Although the assistance thus furnished was comparatively unimportant, it
+nevertheless served to increase his zeal for the daring undertaking. He
+and his heroic companions were not only proud of defending their own
+native country, but felt that they were the champions of all Christendom
+against Ottoman aggression, and their religious enthusiasm kept pace with
+their patriotism. If they did not get regiments sent to their aid, they
+felt that the eyes of all Europe were upon them, ready to grieve at their
+possible ill-success, while their victories would be celebrated with the
+_Te Deum_ in the cathedrals of every capital in Europe.
+
+The aggressive campaign was commenced without delay; Hunyady's resolves
+were at once translated into fact; he would not allow the beaten foe
+time to recover breath. His plan was to cross the Danube, and penetrate
+through the passes of the Balkan to Philippopolis, at that time the
+capital of the Sultan's dominions, where he kept the main body of his
+army. About Christmas, a season in which the Turk does not like to fight,
+amid heavy snow and severe cold, the Hungarian army of about thirty
+thousand men pressed forward. Hunyady marched in advance with the
+vanguard of twelve thousand picked men; after him the King and the Pope's
+legate, with the rest of the army. The Sultan, however, with a large body
+of men had occupied the passes of the Balkans and prevented their further
+advance. This impediment, coupled with the cold and severe weather,
+depressed the spirits of the troops, worn out with fatigue. Hunyady,
+however, raised their spirits by gaining a victory; lighting one night
+upon a body of the enemy, twenty thousand in number, he attacked them at
+once and after a few hours' struggle succeeded in dispersing them.
+
+Later on he took two large towns with their citadels, and in three
+engagements triumphed over three separate divisions of the enemy.
+Learning that a still larger body of Turks was attempting to cut off his
+communications with the King's army, he attacked that also and put it to
+flight. After that he joined his corps with the main army under the King,
+and, indeed, none too soon. Sultan Amurath suddenly arrived with the main
+body of his forces, which he strongly intrenched in the narrowest passes
+of the Balkans. Hunyady saw that these intrenchments could not be forced,
+and did all he could to entice his enemy down into the plain. This he
+succeeded in doing. In the battle that ensued the King, too, played
+a conspicuous part and received a wound. In the end, however, the
+Hungarians gained the victory, and the younger brother of the Grand
+Vizier was taken prisoner. So much success was sufficient for Hunyady for
+the time, especially as the natural obstacles had proved insurmountable.
+The Hungarian army returned home in good order, and the young King made
+a triumphal entry into his capital, preceded by a crowd of Turkish
+prisoners and captured Turkish ensigns. These last trophies of victory
+were deposited in the Coronation Church in the fortress of Buda.
+
+And now something happened which had hitherto been deemed incredible:
+the Sultan sued for peace--a true believer and a sovereign, from an
+"unbelieving giaour." The peace was concluded, and Hungary again became
+possessed of those dependent (South Slavonic) provinces which lay between
+the territories of the Sultan and the kingdom of Hungary in the narrower
+sense of the word. In three short years Hunyady had undone the work of
+years on the part of the Turks. The Sultan, however, soon repented of
+what he had done, and continually delayed the fulfilment of his promise
+to evacuate certain frontier fortresses. For this cause the young King,
+especially incited thereto by the Pope, determined to renew the war.
+Hunyady at first opposed the King's resolution, and wished to wait; later
+on he was gained over to the King's view, and took up the matter with his
+whole soul. The opportunity was inviting, for the Sultan with his main
+army was engaged somewhere in Asia, and the Venetians promised to prevent
+with their fleet his return to Europe across the narrow seas in the
+neighborhood of Constantinople.
+
+The Hungarian army, indeed, set out (1444) on its expedition, and,
+continually expecting the arrival of the troops of their allies--the
+Emperor of Constantinople and the princes of Albania--penetrated ever
+farther and farther into the hostile territory. They were to be joined by
+their allies at the town of Varna on the shores of the Black Sea. When,
+however, the Hungarians had arrived at that town, they found no trace of
+their expected allies, but on the contrary learned with certainty that
+the Sultan had succeeded in eluding the vigilance of the Venetians, had
+brought his army in small boats over into Europe, and was now following
+fast on their track.
+
+Thus all hope of aid from allies was at an end; the brave general and his
+small Hungarian force had to rely on their own resources, separated as
+they were by some weeks' journey from their own country, while the enemy
+would be soon upon them in numbers five times their own. Yet, even so,
+Hunyady's faith and courage did not desert him. The proverb says, "If thy
+sword be short, lengthen it by a step forward." And Hunyady boldly,
+but yet with the caution that behooved a careful general, took up his
+position before the Sultan's army. Both he and his Hungarians fought with
+dauntless courage, availing themselves of every advantage and beating
+back every assault. Already victory seemed to be assured. A few hours
+after the battle had begun both the Turkish wings had been broken, and
+even the Sultan and the brave janizaries were thinking of flight, when
+the young King, the Pole Wladislaw, whom Hunyady had adjured by God to
+remain in a place of safety until the combat should be decided, was
+persuaded by his Polish suite to fling himself, with the small band in
+immediate attendance upon him, right on the centre of the janizaries, so
+that he too might have a share in the victory and not leave it all
+to Hunyady. The janizaries wavered for a moment under this new and
+unexpected attack, but, soon perceiving that they had to do with the King
+of Hungary, they closed round his band, which had penetrated far into
+their ranks. The King's horse was first hamstrung, and, as it fell, the
+King's head was severed from his body, stuck upon the point of a spear,
+and exposed to the view of both armies. The Hungarians, shocked at the
+unexpected sight, wavered, and, feeling themselves lost, began to fly.
+All the entreaties and exhortations of Hunyady were in vain. Such was the
+confusion that he could be neither seen nor heard, and in a few minutes
+the whole Hungarian army was in headlong flight.
+
+Hunyady, left to himself, had also to seek safety in flight. Alone,
+deserted by all, he had to make his way from one place of concealment to
+another, till after some weeks' wandering he arrived in Hungary. The bad
+news had preceded him, and in consequence everything was in confusion.
+Again arose that difficult question: Who should be the new king under
+such difficult circumstances? The Sultan's army had, however, suffered
+so much in the battle of Varna that for the time he left the Hungarians
+unmolested.
+
+The nation was disposed to choose for its king the child Ladislaus, son
+of King Albert, the predecessor of Wladislaw. The child, however, was in
+the power of the neighboring Prince, Frederick, the Archduke of Austria,
+who was not disposed to let him go out of his hands without a heavy
+ransom. In these circumstances the more powerful nobles in Hungary took
+advantage of the confusion to strengthen each his own position at the
+expense of the nation. At first the government of the country was
+intrusted to a number of captains, but this proved so evidently
+disastrous that the better sort of people succeeded in having them
+abolished and Hunyady established as sole governor. For all that,
+however, Hunyady had a good deal of trouble with the chief aristocrats,
+Garay, Czillei, Ujlaki, who, envying the parvenu his sudden promotion and
+despising his obscure origin, took up arms to resist his authority. Thus
+Hunyady, instead of blunting the edge of his sword upon foreign foes, had
+to bridle the insubordination of his own countrymen. Luckily it did not
+take long to force the discontented to own the weight of his arm and his
+superiority as a military leader.
+
+Order being thus to some extent reestablished at home, Hunyady was again
+able to turn his attention to the Turks. He felt that he had in fact
+gained the battle of Varna, which was only lost through the jealous humor
+of a youthful king; that it behooved him not to stop half way; that it
+was his duty to continue offensive operations. But in so doing he had to
+rely upon his own proper forces. It is true that he was governor of the
+country, but for the purpose of offensive warfare beyond the frontier he
+could not gain the consent of the great nobles.
+
+Luckily his private property had enormously increased by this time. The
+Hungarian constitution required the King to bestow the estates of such
+noblemen as died without male heirs, or had been condemned for any
+offence, on such noblemen as had approved themselves valiant defenders
+of the country. Now where could be found a more worthy recipient of such
+estates than Hunyady, to whom the public treasury was besides a debtor on
+account of the sums he disbursed for the constant warfare he maintained
+against the Turks? Especially in the south of Hungary a whole series
+of lordly estates, many of them belonging to the crown, had come into
+Hunyady's hands, either as pledges for the repayment of the money he had
+paid his soldiers, or as his own private property.
+
+The yearly revenue arising from these vast estates was employed by
+Hunyady, not in personal expenditure, but in the defence of his country.
+He himself lived as simply as any of his soldiers, and recognized no
+other use of money than as a weapon for the defence of Christendom
+against Islam. In the early morning, while all his suite slept, he passed
+hours in prayer before the altar in the dimly lighted church, imploring
+the help of the Almighty for the attainment of his sole object in
+life--the destruction of the Turkish power. At last, 1448, he set out
+against the Sultan with an army of twenty-four thousand of his most
+trusty soldiers.
+
+This time it was on the frontier of Servia, on the "Field of Blackbirds,"
+that Hunyady encountered Sultan Amurath, who had an army of one hundred
+and fifty thousand men--again more than five times the number of the
+Christians. Hunyady at first withdrew himself into his intrenched camp,
+but in a few days felt himself strong enough to engage with the enemy on
+the open field. The battle lasted without interruption for two days and a
+night. Hunyady himself was several times in deadly peril. Once his horse
+was shot under him. He was to be found wherever assistance, support,
+encouragement, were needed. At last, on the morning of the third day,
+as the Turks, who had received reinforcements, were about to renew the
+attack, the Waywode of Wallachia passed over to the side of the Turks.
+The Waywode belonged to the Orthodox Eastern Church. He had joined
+Hunyady on the way, and his desertion transferred six thousand men from
+one side to the other, and decided the battle in favor of the Turks.
+The Hungarians, worn out by fatigue, fell into a discouragement, while
+Hunyady had no fresh troops to bring up to their support. The battle came
+to a sudden end. Seventeen thousand Hungarian corpses strewed the field,
+but the loss of the Turks was more than thirty thousand men.
+
+Hunyady, again left to himself, had again to make his escape. At first
+he only dismissed his military suite; afterward he separated from his
+faithful servant in the hope that separately they might more easily
+baffle their pursuers. Next he had to turn his horse adrift, as the poor
+animal was incapable of continuing his journey. Thus he made his way
+alone and on foot toward the frontiers of his native land. After a while,
+looking down from the top of a piece of elevated ground, he perceived a
+large body of Turks, from whom he hid himself in a neighboring lake. He
+thus escaped this danger, but only to encounter another. At a turn of
+the road he came so suddenly upon a party of Turkish plunderers as to be
+unable to escape from them, and thus became their prisoner. But the Turks
+did not recognize him, and, leaving him in the hands of two of their
+number, the rest went on in search of more prey. His two guards soon came
+to blows with one another about a heavy gold cross which they had found
+on the person of their captive, and, while they were thus quarrelling,
+Hunyady suddenly wrenched a sword out of the hand of one of the two Turks
+and cut off his head, upon which the other took to flight, and Hunyady
+was again free.
+
+In the mean time, however, George, the Prince of Servia, who took part
+with the aristocratic malcontents, and who, although a Christian, out of
+pure hatred to Hunyady had gone over to the side of the Turks, had given
+strict orders that all Hungarian stragglers were to be apprehended and
+brought before him. In this way Hunyady fell into the hands of some
+Servian peasants, who delivered him to their Prince. Nor did he regain
+his liberty without the payment of a heavy ransom, leaving his son
+Ladislaus as hostage in his stead.
+
+He thus returned home amid a thousand perils, and with the painful
+experience that Europe left him to his own resources to fight as best he
+could against the ever-advancing Turks. The dependencies of the Hungarian
+crown, Servia and Wallachia--on whose recovery he had spent so much
+blood and treasure--instead of supporting him, as might be expected of
+Christian countries, threw themselves in a suicidal manner into the arms
+of the Turks. They hoped by their ready submission to find favor in the
+eyes of the irresistible conquerors, by whom, however, they were a little
+later devoured.
+
+After these events Hunyady continued to act as governor or regent of
+Hungary for five years more, by which time the young Ladislaus, son of
+King Albert, attained his majority. In 1453 Hunyady finally laid down his
+dignity as governor, and gave over the power into the hands of the young
+King, Ladislaus V, whom Hunyady had first to liberate by force of arms
+from his uncle, Frederick of Austria, before he could set him on the
+throne of Hungary. The young King, of German origin, had hardly become
+emancipated from his guardian when he fell under the influence of his
+other uncle, Ulric Czillei. This Czillei was a great nobleman of Styria,
+but was withal possessed of large estates in Hungary. As a foreigner and
+as a relative of King Sigismund, he had long viewed with an evil eye
+Hunyady's elevation. On one occasion Hunyady had to inflict punishment
+on him. He consequently now did everything he could to induce the young
+King, his nephew, to hate the great captain as he himself did. He sought
+to infuse jealousy into his mind and to lead him to believe that Hunyady
+aimed at the crown. His slanders found the readier credence in the
+mind of the youthful sovereign as he was completely stupefied by an
+uninterrupted course of debauchery. At last the King was brought to agree
+to a plan for ensnaring the great man who so often jeoparded his life and
+his substance in the defence of his country and religion. They summoned
+him in the King's name to Vienna, where Ladislaus, as an Austrian prince,
+was then staying, with the intention of waylaying and murdering him. But
+Hunyady got wind of the whole plot, and when he arrived at the place of
+ambush it was at the head of two thousand picked Hungarian warriors. Thus
+it was Czillei who fell into the snare. "Wretched creature!" exclaimed
+Hunyady; "thou hast fallen into the pit thou diggedst for me; were it not
+that I regard the dignity of the King and my own humanity, thou shouldst
+suffer a punishment proportioned to thy crime. As it is, I let thee off
+this time, but come no more into my sight, or thou shalt pay for it with
+thy life."
+
+Such magnanimity, however, did not disarm the hostility of those who
+surrounded the King. On the pretence of treason against the King, Hunyady
+was deprived of all his offices and all his estates. The document is
+still to be seen in the Hungarian state archives, in which the King, led
+astray by the jealousies that prevailed among his councillors, represents
+every virtue of the hero as a crime, and condemns him to exile.
+
+Fortunately Czillei himself soon fell into disfavor; the Germans
+themselves overthrew him; and the King, now better informed, replaced
+Hunyady in the post of captain-general of the kingdom.
+
+Hunyady, who meanwhile had been living retired in one of his castles, now
+complied with the King's wish without difficulty or hesitation, and again
+assumed the highest military command. Instead of seeking how to revenge
+himself after the manner of ordinary men, he only thought of the great
+enemy of his country, the Turk. And indeed, as it was, threatening clouds
+hung over the horizon in the southeast.
+
+A new sultan had come to the throne, Mahomet II, one of the greatest
+sovereigns of the house of Othman. He began his reign with the occupation
+of Constantinople, 1453, and thus destroyed the last refuge of the
+Byzantine empire. At the news of this event all Europe burst into a
+chorus of lamentation. The whole importance of the Eastern question at
+once presented itself before the nations of Christendom. It was at once
+understood that the new conqueror would not remain idle within the
+crumbling walls of Constantinople.
+
+And, indeed, in no long time was published the proud _mot d'ordre_, "As
+there is but one God in heaven, so there shall be but one master upon
+earth."
+
+Hunyady looked toward Constantinople with heavy heart. He foresaw the
+outburst of the storm which would in the first place fall upon his own
+country, threatening it with utter ruin. Hunyady, so it seemed, was again
+left alone in the defence of Christendom.
+
+The approaching danger was delayed for a few years, but in 1456 Mahomet,
+having finally established himself in Constantinople, set out with the
+intention of striking a fatal blow against Hungary. On the borders of
+that country, on the bank of the Danube, on what was, properly speaking,
+Servian territory, stood the fortress of Belgrad. When the danger from
+the Turks became imminent, the kings of Hungary purchased the place from
+the despots of Servia, giving them in exchange several extensive estates
+in Hungary, and had at great expense turned it into a vast fortress, at
+that time supposed to be impregnable.
+
+Mahomet determined to take the place, and to this end made the most
+extensive preparations. He led to the walls of Belgrad an army of not
+less than one hundred and fifty thousand men. The approach of this
+immense host so terrified the young King that he left Hungary and took
+refuge in Vienna along with his uncle and counsellor, Czillei.
+
+Hunyady alone remained at his post, resolute like a lion attacked. The
+energy of the old leader--he was now nearly sixty-eight--was only steeled
+by the greatness of the danger; his forethought and his mental resources
+were but increased. As he saw that it would be impossible to do anything
+with a small army, he sent his friend, John Capistran, an Italian
+Franciscan, a man animated by a burning zeal akin to his own, to preach a
+crusade against the enemies of Christendom through the towns and villages
+of the Great Hungarian Plain. This the friar did to such effect that in a
+few weeks he had collected sixty thousand men, ready to fight in defence
+of the cross. This army of crusaders--the last in the history of the
+nations--had for its gathering cry the bells of the churches; for its
+arms, scythes and axes; Christ for its leader, and John Hunyady and John
+Capistran for his lieutenants.
+
+The two greatest leaders in war of that day contended for the possession
+of Belgrad. The same army now surrounded that fortress which a few years
+before had stormed Constantinople, reputed impregnable. The same hero
+defended it who had so often in the course of a single decade defeated
+the Turkish foe in an offensive war, and who now, regardless of danger,
+with a small but faithful band of followers, was prepared to do all that
+courage, resolution, and prudence might effect.
+
+Many hundred large cannon began to break down the stone ramparts; many
+hundred boats forming a river flotilla covered the Danube, so as to cut
+off all communication between the fortress and Hungary. During this time
+Hunyady's son Ladislaus and his brother-in-law Michael Szilagyi were in
+command in the fortress. Hunyady's first daring plan was to force his way
+through the blockading flotilla, and enter Belgrad before the eyes of
+the whole Turkish army, taking with him his own soldiers and Capistran's
+crusaders. The plan completely succeeded. With his own flotilla of
+boats he broke through that of the Turks and made his entrance into the
+fortress in triumph. After this the struggle was continued with equal
+resolution and ability on both sides; such advantage as the Christians
+derived from the protection afforded by the fortifications being fully
+compensated by the enormous superiority in numbers both of men and cannon
+on the part of the Turks.
+
+Without example in the history of the storming of fortresses was the
+stratagem practised by Hunyady when he permitted the picked troops of the
+enemy, the janizaries, to penetrate within the fortification, and there
+destroyed them in the place they thought they had taken. Ten thousand
+janizaries had already swarmed into the town, and were preparing to
+attack the bridges and gates of the citadel, when Hunyady ordered lighted
+fagots, soaked in pitch and sulphur and other combustibles, to be flung
+from the ramparts into the midst of the crowded ranks of the janizaries.
+The fire seized on their loose garments, and in a short time the whole
+body was a sea of fire. Everyone sought to fly. Then it was that Hunyady
+sallied out with his picked band, while Capistran, with a tall cross in
+his hand and the cry of "Jesus" on his lips, followed with his crowd of
+fanatics, the cannon of the fortress played upon the Turkish camp, the
+Sultan himself was wounded and swept along by the stream of fugitives.
+Forty thousand Turks were left dead upon the field, four thousand were
+taken prisoners, and three thousand cannon were captured.
+
+According to the opinion of Hunyady himself, the Turks had never suffered
+such a severe defeat. Its value as far as the Hungarians were concerned
+was heightened by the fact that the ambitious Sultan was personally
+humiliated. There was now great joy in Europe. At the news of the
+brilliant victory the _Te Deum_ was sung in all the more important cities
+throughout Europe, and the Pope wished to compliment Hunyady with a
+crown.
+
+A crown of another character awaited him--that of his Redeemer, in whose
+name he lived, fought, and fell. The exhalations from the vast number of
+unburied or imperfectly buried bodies, festering in the heat of summer,
+gave rise to an epidemic in the Christian camp, and to this the great
+leader fell a victim. Hunyady died August 11, 1456, in the sixty-eighth
+year of his age. He died amid the intoxication of his greatest victory,
+idolized by his followers, having once more preserved his country from
+imminent ruin. Could he have desired a more glorious death?
+
+He went to his last rest with the consciousness that he had fulfilled his
+mission, having designed great things and having accomplished them. And
+the result of his lifelong efforts survived him. His great enemy, the
+Turk, for the next half-century could only harass the frontier of his
+native land; and his country, a few years after his death, placed on the
+royal throne his son Matthias.
+
+[Footnote 1: By permission of Selmar Hess.]
+
+
+
+REBUILDING OF ROME BY NICHOLAS V, THE "BUILDER-POPE"
+
+A.D. 1447-1455
+
+MRS. MARGARET OLIPHANT
+
+
+Of those pontiffs who are called the pride of modern Rome--through whom
+the city "rose most gloriously from her ashes"--Nicholas V (Tommaso
+Parentucelli) was the first. He was born at Sarzana, in the republic of
+Genoa, about 1398, was ordained priest at the age of twenty-five, became
+Archbishop of Bologna, and in 1447 was elevated to the papal chair. His
+election was largely due to the influential part he had taken at the
+councils of Basel, 1431-1449, and Ferrara-Florence, 1438-1445. In 1449,
+by prevailing upon the Antipope, Felix V, to abdicate, he restored the
+peace of the Church. He endeavored, but in vain, to arouse Europe to its
+duty of succoring the Greek empire.
+
+Although the coming Reformation was already casting its shadow before,
+Nicholas stood calm in face of the inevitable event, devoting himself to
+the spiritual welfare of the Church and to the interests of learning and
+the arts. But he is chiefly remembered as the first pope to conceive a
+systematic plan for the reconstruction and permanent restoration of Rome.
+He died before that purpose could be executed in accordance with his
+great designs; but others, entering into his labors, carried his work to
+a fuller accomplishment.
+
+It was to the centre of ecclesiastical Rome, the shrine of the apostles,
+the chief church of Christendom and its adjacent buildings, that the care
+of the Builder-pope was first directed. The Leonine City of Borgo, as
+it is more familiarly called, is that portion of Rome which lies on the
+right side of the Tiber, and which extends from the castle of St. Angelo
+to the boundary of the Vatican gardens--enclosing the Church of St.
+Peter, the Vatican palace with all its wealth, and the great Hospital of
+Santo Spirito, surrounded and intersected by many little streets, and
+joining to the other portions of the city by the bridge of St. Angelo.
+
+Behind the mass of picture-galleries, museums, and collections of all
+kinds, which now fill up the endless halls and corridors of the papal
+palace, comes a sweep of noble gardens full of shade and shelter from the
+Roman sun, such a resort for the
+
+  "learnèd leisure
+  Which in trim gardens takes its pleasure"
+
+as it would be difficult to surpass. In this fine extent of wood and
+verdure the Pope's villa or casino, now the only summer palace which the
+existing Pontiff chooses to permit himself, stands as in a domain, small
+yet perfect. Almost everything within these walls has been built or
+completely transformed since the days of Nicholas. But, then as now,
+here was the heart and centre of Christendom, the supreme shrine of the
+Catholic faith, the home of the spiritual ruler whose sway reaches over
+the whole earth. When Nicholas began his reign, the old Church of St.
+Peter was the church of the Western world, then, as now, classical
+in form, a stately basilica without the picturesqueness and romantic
+variety, and also, as we think, without the majesty and grandeur, of a
+Gothic cathedral, yet more picturesque if less stupendous in size and
+construction, than the present great edifice, so majestic in its own
+grave and splendid way, with which, through all the agitations of the
+recent centuries, the name of St. Peter has been identified. The earlier
+church was full of riches and of great associations, to which the
+wonderful St. Peter's we all know can lay claim only as its successor and
+supplanter. With its flight of broad steps, its portico and colonnaded
+façade crowned with a great tower, it dominated the square, open and
+glowing in the sun, without the shelter of the great existing colonnades
+or the sparkle of the fountains.
+
+Behind was the little palace begun by Innocent III, to afford a shelter
+for the popes in dangerous times, or on occasion to receive the foreign
+guests whose object was to visit the shrine of the apostles. Almost
+all the buildings then standing have been replaced by greater, yet the
+position is the same, the shrine unchanged, though everything else then
+existing has faded away, except some portion of the old wall which
+enclosed this sacred place in a special sanctity and security, which was
+not, however, always respected. The Borgo was the holiest portion of all
+the sacred city. It was there that the blood of the martyrs had been
+shed, and where from the earliest age of Christianity their memory and
+tradition had been preserved. It was not necessary for us to enter into
+the question whether St. Peter ever was in Rome, which many writers have
+laboriously contested. So far as the record of the Acts of the Apostles
+is concerned, there is no evidence at all for or against, but tradition
+is all on the side of those who assert it. The position taken by Signor
+Lanciani on this point seems to us a very sensible one. "I write about
+the monuments of ancient Rome," he says, "from a strictly archaeological
+point of view, avoiding questions which pertain, or are supposed to
+pertain, to religious controversy.
+
+"For the archaeologist the presence and execution of SS. Peter and Paul in
+Rome are facts established beyond a shadow of doubt by purely monumental
+evidence. There was a time when persons belonging to different creeds
+made it almost a case of conscience to affirm or deny _a priori_ those
+facts, according to their acceptance or rejection of the tradition of
+any particular church. This state of feeling is a matter of the past, at
+least for those who have followed the progress of recent discoveries and
+of critical literature. There is no event of the Imperial age and of
+Imperial Rome which is attested by so many noble structures, all of which
+point to the same conclusion--the presence and execution of the apostles
+in the capital of the Empire. When Constantine raised the monumental
+basilicas over their tombs on the Via Cornelia and the Via Ostiensis;
+when Eudoxia built the Church ad Vincula; when Damascus put a memorial
+tablet in the Platonia and Catacombos; when the houses of Pudens and
+Aquila and Prisca were turned into oratories; when the name of Nymphae
+Sancti Petri was given to the springs in the catacombs of the Via
+Nomentana; when the 29th of June was accepted as the anniversary of St.
+Peter's execution; when sculptors, painters, medallists, goldsmiths,
+workers in glass and enamel, and engravers of precious stones all began
+to reproduce in Rome the likeness of the apostle at the beginning of the
+second century, and continued to do so till the fall of the Empire--must
+we consider them as laboring under a delusion, or conspiring in the
+commission of a gigantic fraud? Why were such proceedings accepted
+without protest from whatever city, whatever community--if there were
+any other--which claimed to own the genuine tombs of SS. Peter and Paul?
+These arguments gain more value from the fact that the evidence on the
+other side is purely negative."
+
+This is one of those practical arguments which are always more
+interesting than those which depend upon theories and opinions. However,
+there are many books on both sides of the question which may be
+consulted. We are content to follow Signor Lanciani. The special sanctity
+and importance of Il Borgo originated in this belief. The shrine of the
+apostle was its centre and glory. It was this that brought pilgrims from
+the far corners of the earth before there was any masterpiece of art to
+visit, or any of those priceless collections which now form the glory
+of the Vatican. The spot of the apostles' execution was indicated "by
+immemorial tradition" as between the two goals (_inter duas metas_) of
+Nero's Circus, which spot Signor Lanciani tells us is exactly the site
+of the obelisk now standing in the piazza of St. Peter. A little chapel,
+called the Chapel of the Crucifixion, stood there in the early ages,
+before any great basilica or splendid shrine was possible.
+
+This sacred spot, and the church built to commemorate it, were naturally
+the centre of all those religious traditions which separate Rome from
+every other city. It was to preserve them from assault, "in order that
+it should be less easy for the enemy to make depredations and burn the
+Church of St. Peter, as they have heretofore done," that Leo IV, the
+first pope whom we find engaged in any real work of construction, built a
+wall round the mound of the Vatican, and Colle Vaticano--"little hill,"
+not so high as the seven hills of Rome--where against the strong wall
+of Nero's Circus Constantine had built his great basilica. At that
+period--in the middle of the ninth century--there was nothing but the
+church and shrine--no palace and no hospital. The existing houses were
+given to the Corsi, a family which had been driven out of their island,
+according to Platina, by the Saracens, who shortly before had made an
+incursion up to the very walls of Rome, whither the peoples of the coast
+(_luoghi maritimi del Mar Terreno_) from Naples northward had apparently
+pursued the corsairs, and helped the Romans to beat them back. One other
+humble building of some sort, "called Burgus Saxonum, Vicus Saxonum,
+Schola Saxonum, and simply Saxia or Sassia," it is interesting to know,
+existed close to the sacred centre of the place, a lodging built for
+himself by Ina, King of Wessex, in 727. Thus the English have a national
+association of their own with the central shrine of Christianity.
+
+There was also a Schola Francorum in the Borgo. The pilgrims must have
+built their huts and set up some sort of little oratory--favored, as
+was the case even in Pope Nicholas' day, by the excellent quarry of
+the Circus close at hand--as near as possible to the great shrine
+and basilica which they had come so far to say their prayers in, and
+attracted, too, no doubt, by the freedom of the lonely suburb between the
+green hill and the flowing river. Leo IV built his wall round this little
+city, and fortified it by towers. "In every part he put sculptors of
+marble and wrote a prayer," says Platina. One of these gates led to St.
+Pellegrino, another was close to the castle of St. Angelo, and was "the
+gate by which one goes forth to the open country." The third led to the
+School of the Saxons; and over each was a prayer inscribed. These three
+prayers were all to the same effect--"that God would defend this new city
+which the Pope had enclosed with walls and called by his own name, the
+Leonine City, from all assaults of the enemy, either by fraud or by
+force."
+
+The greatest, however, of all the conceptions of Pope Nicholas, the very
+centre of his great plan, was the library of the Vatican, which he began
+to build and to which he left all the collections of his life. Vespasian
+gives us a list of the principal among these five thousand volumes, the
+things which he prized most, which the Pope bequeathed to the Church and
+to Rome. These cherished rolls of parchment, many of them translations
+made under his own eyes, were enclosed in elaborate bindings ornamented
+with gold and silver. We are not, however, informed whether any of the
+great treasures of the Vatican library came from his hands--the good
+Vespasian taking more interest in the work of his scribes than in
+codexes. He tells us of five hundred scudi given to Lorenzo Valle with a
+pretty speech that the price was below his merits, but that eventually he
+should have more liberal pay; of fifteen hundred scudi given to Guerroni
+for a translation of the _Iliad_, and so forth. It is like a bookseller
+of the present day vaunting his new editions to a collector in search of
+the earliest known. But Pope Nicholas, like most other patrons of his
+time, knew no Greek, nor probably ever expected that it would become a
+usual subject of study, so that his translations were precious to him,
+the chief way of making his treasures of any practical use.
+
+The greater part, alas! of all his splendor has passed away. One pure and
+perfect glory, the little Chapel of San Lorenzo, painted by the tender
+hand of Fra Angelico, remains unharmed, the only work of that grand
+painter to be found in Rome. If one could have chosen a monument for the
+good Pope, the patron and friend of art in every form, there could not
+have been a better than this. Fra Angelico seems to have been brought to
+Rome by Pope Eugenius, but it was under Nicholas, in two or three years
+of gentle labor, that the work was done. It is, however, impossible to
+enumerate all the undertakings of Pope Nicholas. He did something to
+reestablish or decorate almost all the great basilicas. It is feared--but
+here our later historians speak with bated breath, not liking to bring
+such an accusation against the kind Pope, who loved men of letters--that
+the destruction of St. Peter's, afterward ruthlessly carried out by
+succeeding popes, was in his plan, on the pretext, so constantly
+employed, and possibly believed in, of the instability of the ancient
+building. But there is no absolute certainty of evidence, and at all
+events he might have repented, for he certainly did not do that deed. He
+began the tribune, however, in the ancient church, which may have been a
+preparation for the entire renewal of the edifice; and he did much toward
+the decoration of another round church, that of the Madonna delle Febbre,
+an ill-omened name, attached to the Vatican. He also built the Belvedere
+in the gardens, and surrounded the whole with strong walls and towers
+(round), one of which, according to Nibby, still remained fifty years
+ago, which very little of Nicholas' building has done. His great sin was
+one which he shared with all his brother-popes, that he boldly treated
+the antique ruins of the city as quarries for his new buildings, not
+without protest and remonstrance from many, yet with the calm of a mind
+preoccupied and seeing nothing so great and important as the work upon
+which his own heart was set.
+
+This excellent Pope died in 1455, soon after having received the news of
+the downfall of Constantinople, which is said to have broken his heart.
+He had many ailments, and was always a small and spare man of little
+strength of constitution; "but nothing transfixed his heart so much as to
+hear that the Turks had taken Constantinople and killed the Europeans,
+with many thousands of Christians, among them that same 'Imperadore
+de Gostantinopli' whom he had seen seated in state at the Council of
+Ferrara, listening to his own and other arguments, only a few years
+before--as well as the greater part, no doubt, of his own clerical
+opponents there. When he was dying, 'being not the less of a strong
+spirit,' he called the cardinals round his bed, and many prelates with
+them, and made them a last address. His pontificate had lasted a little
+more than eight years, and to have carried out so little of his great
+plan must have been heavy on his heart; but his dying words are those
+of one to whom the holiness and unity of the Church came before all. No
+doubt the fear that the victorious Turks might spread ruin over the whole
+of Christendom was first in his mind at that solemn hour.
+
+"'Knowing, my dearest brethren, that I am approaching the hour of my
+death, I would, for the great dignity and authority of the apostolic see,
+make a serious and important testimony before you, not committed to the
+memory of letters, not written, neither on a tablet nor on parchment, but
+given by my living voice, that it may have more authority. Listen, I pray
+you, while your little Pope Nicholas, in the very instant of dying, makes
+his last will before you. In the first place I render thanks to the
+Highest God for the measureless benefits which, beginning from the day of
+my birth until the present day, I have received of his infinite mercy.
+And now I recommend to you this beautiful Spouse of Christ, whom, so
+far as I was able, I have exalted and magnified, as each of you is well
+aware; knowing this to be the honor of God, for the great dignity that is
+in her, and the great privileges that she possesses, and so worthy, and
+formed by so worthy an Author, who is the Creator of the universe. Being
+of sane mind and intellect, and having done that which every Christian is
+called to do, and specially the Pastor of the Church, I have received the
+most sacred body of Christ with penitence, taking it from his table with
+my two hands, and praying the Omnipotent God that he would pardon my
+sins. Having had these sacraments I have also received the extreme
+unction, which is the last sacrament for the redeeming of my soul.
+Again I recommend to you, as long as I am able, the Roman Church,
+notwithstanding that I have already done so; for this is the most
+important duty you have to fufil in the sight of God and men. This is the
+true Spouse of Christ which he bought with his blood. This is the robe
+without seam, which the impious Jews would have torn, but could not. This
+is that ship of St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles, agitated and tossed
+by varied fortunes of the winds, but sustained by the Omnipotent God, so
+that she could never be submerged or shipwrecked. With all the strength
+of your souls sustain her and rule her: she has need of your good works,
+and you should show a good example by your lives. If you with all your
+strength care for her and love her, God will reward you, both in this
+present life and in the future with life eternal; and to do this with all
+the strength we have, we pray you, do it diligently, dearest brethren.'
+
+"Having said this he raised his hands to heaven and said: 'Omnipotent
+God, grant to the holy Church, and to these fathers, a pastor who will
+preserve her and increase her; give to them a good pastor who will rule
+and govern thy flock the most maturely that one can rule and govern. And
+I pray for you and comfort you as much as I know and can. Pray for me to
+God in your prayers.' When he had ended these words he raised his right
+arm and, with a generous soul, gave the benediction,' _Benedict vos Deus,
+Pater et Filius et Spiritus Sanctus_'--speaking with a raised voice and
+solemnly, _in modo pontificate_"
+
+These tremulous words, broken and confused by the weakness of his last
+hours, were taken down by the favorite scribe, Giannozzo Manetti, in the
+chamber of the dying Pope; with much more of the most serious matter
+to the Church and to Rome. His eager desire to soften all possible
+controversies and produce in the minds of the conclave about his bed, so
+full of ambition and the force of life, the softened heart which would
+dispose them to a peaceful and conscientious election of his successor,
+is very touching, coming out of the fogs and mists of approaching death.
+
+In the very age that produced the Borgias, and himself the head of that
+band of elegant scholars and connoisseurs, everything but Christian,
+to whom Rome owes so much of her external beauty and splendor, it is
+pathetic to stand by this kind and gentle spirit as he pauses on the
+threshold of a higher life, subduing the astute and worldly minded
+churchmen around him with the tender appeal of the dying father, their
+_Papa Niccolato_, familiar and persuasive--beseeching them to be of one
+accord without so much as saying it, turning his own weakness to account
+to touch their hearts, for the honor of the Church and the welfare of the
+flock.
+
+
+
+MAHOMET II TAKES CONSTANTINOPLE.
+
+END OF THE EASTERN EMPIRE
+
+A.D. 1453
+
+GEORGE FINLAY
+
+
+By the greater number of historians the fall of Constantinople under the
+Moslem power is considered as the decisive event which separates the
+modern from the mediaeval period. From the same event dates the final
+establishment of the Ottoman empire both in Asia Minor and in Europe. At
+that moment, when the Moorish power in Spain had been almost destroyed,
+Christian Europe was threatened for the second time with Mahometan
+conquest.
+
+From 1354, when Suleiman crossed the Hellespont and captured Gallipoli,
+the Turks from Asia Minor had kept their foothold on European soil. Under
+Amurath I (1359-1389), Bajazet I (1389-1403), Mahomet I and Amurath
+II (1404-1451)--the last of whom, in 1422, unsuccessfully besieged
+Constantinople--the Ottoman dominions in Europe were much extended. When
+Mahomet II, son of Amurath II, became Sultan (1451), the Turks were so
+strongly established, and the Eastern Empire was so much weakened, that
+he was prepared to finish the work of his predecessors and make the
+Ottoman power in Europe what it has ever since been.
+
+Mahomet "the Conqueror"--such was his surname--had for his adversary
+Constantine XIII, the last of the Greek emperors, who was proclaimed in
+1448, with the consent of Amurath II, whose power is thus attested. The
+Empire was torn by the quarrels of political factions and by theological
+dissensions. When Mahomet succeeded to the sultanate he was but
+twenty-one years old, but had already given proof of great talents,
+learning, and ambition, all guided by a judgment of remarkable maturity.
+
+The first object of Mahomet's ambition was the conquest of
+Constantinople, the natural capital of his dominions. As long as it was
+held by Eastern Christians the Ottoman empire was open to invasion
+by those of the West. The first threatening act of Mahomet was the
+construction of a fortress on Constantine's territory, at the narrowest
+part of the Bosporus, and within five miles of Constantinople.
+Constantine was too weak to resent the menace with vigor, and Mahomet
+treated his mild protest with contempt, denying the right of a vassal of
+the Porte to dispute the Sultan's will. A feeble resistance by some
+of the Greeks only gave Mahomet pretexts for further aggression, soon
+followed by his formal declaration of war.
+
+
+Both parties began to prepare for the mortal contest. The siege of
+Constantinople was to be the great event of the coming year. The Sultan,
+in order to prevent the Emperor's brothers in the Peloponnesus from
+sending any succors to the capital, ordered Turakhan, the Pacha of
+Thessaly, to invade the peninsula. He himself took up his residence at
+Adrianople, to collect warlike stores and siege artillery. Constantine,
+on his part, made every preparation in his power for a vigorous defence.
+He formed large magazines of provisions, collected military stores, and
+enrolled all the soldiers he could muster among the Greek population of
+Constantinople. But the inhabitants of that city were either unable or
+unwilling to furnish recruits in proportion to their numbers. Bred up in
+peaceful occupation, they probably possessed neither the activity nor the
+habitual exercise which was required to move with ease under the weight
+of armor then in use. So few were found disposed to fight for their
+country that not more than six thousand Greek troops appeared under arms
+during the whole siege.
+
+The numerical weakness of the Greek army rendered it incapable of
+defending so large a city as Constantinople, even with all the advantage
+to be derived from strong fortifications. The Emperor was therefore
+anxious to obtain the assistance of the warlike citizens of the Italian
+republics, where good officers and experienced troops were then numerous.
+As he had no money to engage mercenaries, he could only hope to succeed
+by papal influence. An embassy was sent to Pope Nicholas V, begging
+immediate aid, and declaring the Emperor's readiness to complete the
+union of the churches in any way the Pope should direct. Nicholas
+despatched Cardinal Isidore, the Metropolitan of Kiev, who had joined the
+Latin Church, as his legate. Isidore had represented the Russian Church
+at the Council of Florence; but on his return to Russia he was imprisoned
+as an apostate, and with difficulty escaped to Italy. He was by birth
+a Greek; and being a man of learning and conciliatory manners, it was
+expected that he would be favorably received at Constantinople.
+
+The Cardinal arrived at Constantinople in November, 1452. He was
+accompanied by a small body of chosen troops, and brought some
+pecuniary aid, which he employed in repairing the most dilapidated
+part of the fortifications. Both the Emperor and the Cardinal deceived
+themselves in supposing that the dangers to which the Greek nation and
+the Christian Church were exposed would induce the orthodox to yield
+something of their ecclesiastical forms and phrases. It was evident that
+foreign aid could alone save Constantinople, and it was absurd to imagine
+that the Latins would fight for those who treated them as heretics and
+who would not fight for themselves. The crisis therefore compelled the
+Greeks to choose between union with the Church of Rome or submission to
+the Ottoman power. They had to decide whether the preservation of the
+Greek empire was worth the ecclesiastical sacrifices they were called
+upon to make in order to preserve their national independence.
+
+In the mean time the emperor Constantine celebrated his union with the
+papal Church, in the Cathedral of St. Sophia, on December 12, 1452. The
+court and the great body of the dignified clergy ratified the act by
+their presence; but the monks and the people repudiated the connection.
+In their opinion, the Church of St. Sophia was polluted by the ceremony,
+and from that day it was deserted by the orthodox. The historian Ducas
+declares that they looked upon it as a haunt of demons, and no better
+than a pagan shrine. The monks, the nuns, and the populace publicly
+proclaimed their detestation of the union; and their opposition was
+inflamed by the bigotry of an ambitious pedant, who, under the name of
+Georgius Scholarius, acted as a warm partisan of the union at the Council
+of Florence, and under the ecclesiastical name of Gennadius is known in
+history as the subservient patriarch of Sultan Mahomet II. On returning
+from Italy, he made a great parade of his repentance for complying
+with the unionists at Florence. He shut himself up in the monastery
+of Pantokrator, where he assumed the monastic habit and the name of
+Gennadius, under which he consummated the union between the Greek Church
+and the Ottoman administration.
+
+At the present crisis he stepped forward as the leader of the most
+bigoted party, and excited his followers to the most furious opposition
+to measures which he had once advocated as salutary for the Church, and
+indispensable to the preservation of the State. The unionists were now
+accused of sacrificing true religion to the delusion of human policy, of
+insulting God to serve the Pope, and of preferring the interests of their
+bodies to the care of their souls. In place of exhorting their countrymen
+to aid the Emperor, who was straining every nerve to defend their
+country--in place of infusing into their minds the spirit of patriotism
+and religion, these teachers of the people were incessantly inveighing
+against the wickedness of the unionists and the apostasy of the Emperor.
+So completely did their bigotry extinguish every feeling of patriotism
+that the grand duke Notaras declared he would rather see Constantinople
+subjected to the turban of the Sultan than to the tiara of the Pope.
+
+His wish was gratified; but, in dying, he must have felt how fearfully he
+had erred in comparing the effects of papal arrogance with the cruelty of
+Mahometan tyranny. The Emperor Constantine, who felt the importance of
+the approaching contest, showed great prudence and moderation in his
+difficult position. The spirit of Christian charity calmed his temper,
+and his determination not to survive the empire gave a deliberate
+coolness to his military conduct. Though his Greek subjects often raised
+seditions, and reviled him in the streets, the Emperor took no notice of
+their behavior. To induce the orthodox to fight for their country, by
+having a leader of their own party, he left the grand duke Notaras in
+office; yet he well knew that this bigot would never act cordially with
+the Latin auxiliaries, who were the best troops in the city; and the
+Emperor had some reason to distrust the patriotism of Notaras, seeing
+that he hoarded his immense wealth, instead of expending a portion of it
+for his country.
+
+The fortifications were not found to be in a good state of repair.
+Two monks who had been intrusted with a large sum for the purpose of
+repairing them had executed their duty in an insufficient and it was
+generally said in a fraudulent manner. The extreme dishonesty that
+prevailed among the Greek officials explains the selection of monks as
+treasurers for military objects; and it must lessen our surprise at
+finding men of their religious professions sharing in the general
+avarice, or tolerating the habitual peculations of others.
+
+Cannon were beginning to be used in sieges, but stone balls were used in
+the larger pieces of artillery; and the larger the gun, the greater was
+the effect it was expected to produce. Even in Constantinople there was
+some artillery too large to be of much use, as the land wall had not been
+constructed to admit of their recoil, and the ramparts were so weak as
+to be shaken by their concussion. Constantine had also only a moderate
+supply of gunpowder. The machines of a past epoch in military science,
+but to the use of which the Greeks adhered with their conservative
+prejudices, were brought from the storehouses, and planted on the walls
+beside the modern artillery. Johann Grant, a German officer, was the most
+experienced artilleryman and military engineer in the place.
+
+A considerable number of Italians hastened to Constantinople as soon as
+they heard of its danger, eager to defend so important a depot of Eastern
+commerce. The spirit of enterprise and the love of military renown had
+become as much a characteristic of the merchant nobles of the commercial
+republics as they had been, in a preceding age, distinctions of the
+barons in feudal monarchies. All the nations who then traded with
+Constantinople furnished contingents to defend its walls. A short time
+before the siege commenced, John Justiniani arrived with two Genoese
+galleys and three hundred chosen troops, and the Emperor valued his
+services so highly that he was appointed general of the guard. The
+resident bailo of the Venetians furnished three large galeases and a body
+of troops for the defence of the port. The consul of Catalans, with his
+countrymen and the Aragonese, undertook the defence of the great palace
+of Bukoleon and the port of Kontoskalion. Cardinal Isidore, with the
+papal troops, defended the Kynegesion, and the angle of the city at the
+head of the port down to St. Demetrius. The importance of the aid which
+was afforded by the Latins is proved by the fact that of twelve military
+divisions, into which Constantine divided the fortifications, the
+commands of only two were intrusted to the exclusive direction of Greek
+officers. In the others, Greeks shared the command with foreigners, or
+aliens alone conducted the defence.
+
+When all Constantine's preparations for defence were completed, he found
+himself obliged to man a line of wall on the land side of about five
+miles in length, every point of which was exposed to a direct attack. The
+remainder of the wall toward the port and the Propontis exceeded nine
+miles in extent, and his whole garrison hardly amounted to nine thousand
+men. His fleet consisted of only twenty galleys and three Venetian
+galeases, but the entry of the port was closed by a chain, the end of
+which, on the side of Galata, was secured in a strong fort of which the
+Greeks kept possession. During the winter the Emperor sent out his fleet
+to ravage the coast of the Propontis as far as Cyzicus, and the spirit of
+the Greeks was roused by the booty they made in these expeditions.
+
+Mahomet II spent the winter at Adrianople, preparing everything necessary
+for commencing the siege with vigor. His whole mind was absorbed by
+the glory of conquering the Roman Empire and gaining possession of
+Constantinople, which for more than eleven hundred fifty years had been
+the capital of the East. While the fever of ambition inflamed his soul,
+his cooler judgment also warned him that the Ottoman power rested on a
+perilous basis as long as Constantinople, the true capital of his
+empire, remained in the hands of others. Mahomet could easily assemble a
+sufficient number of troops for his enterprise, but it required all his
+activity and power to collect the requisite supplies of provisions
+and stores for the immense military and naval force he had ordered to
+assemble, and to prepare the artillery and ammunition necessary to insure
+success.
+
+Early and late, in his court and in his cabinet, the young Sultan could
+talk of nothing but the approaching siege. With the writing-reed and
+a scroll of paper in his hand he was often seen tracing plans of the
+fortifications of Constantinople, and marking out positions for his own
+batteries. Every question relating to the extent and locality of the
+various magazines to be constructed in order to maintain the troops was
+discussed in his presence; he himself distributed the troops in their
+respective divisions and regulated the order of their march; he issued
+the orders relating to the equipment of the fleet, and discussed the
+various methods proposed for breaching, mining, and scaling the walls.
+His enthusiasm was the impulse of a hero, but the immense superiority of
+his force would have secured him the victory with any ordinary degree of
+perseverance.
+
+The Ottomans were already familiar with the use of cannon. Amurath II had
+employed them when he besieged Constantinople in 1422; but Mahomet now
+resolved on forming a more powerful battering-train than had previously
+existed. Neither the Greeks nor Turks possessed the art of casting large
+guns. Both were obliged to employ foreigners. An experienced artilleryman
+and founder named Urban, by birth a Wallachian, carried into execution
+the Sultan's wishes. He had passed some time in the Greek service; but,
+even the moderate pay he was allowed by the Emperor having fallen in
+arrear, he resigned his place and transferred his services to the Sultan,
+who knew better how to value warlike knowledge. He now gave Mahomet
+proof of his skill by casting the largest cannon which had ever been
+fabricated. He had already placed one of extraordinary size in the
+new castle of the Bosporus, which carried across the straits. The gun
+destined for the siege of Constantinople far exceeded in size this
+monster, and the diameter of its mouth must have been nearly two feet
+and a half. Other cannon of great size, whose balls of stone weighed one
+hundred fifty pounds, were also cast, as well as many guns of smaller
+calibre. All these, together with a number of ballistae and other ancient
+engines still employed in sieges, were mounted on carriages in order to
+transport them to Constantinople. The conveyance of this formidable train
+of artillery, and of the immense quantity of ammunition required for its
+service, was by no means a trifling operation.
+
+The first division of the Ottoman army moved from Adrianople in February,
+1453. In the mean time a numerous corps of pioneers worked constantly at
+the road, in order to prepare it for the passage of the long train of
+artillery and baggage wagons. Temporary bridges, capable of being
+taken to pieces, were erected by the engineers over every ravine and
+water-course, and the materials for every siege advanced steadily, though
+slowly, to their destination. The extreme difficulty of moving the
+monster cannon with its immense balls retarded the Sultan's progress, and
+it was the beginning of April before the whole battering-train reached
+Constantinople, though the distance from Adrianople is barely a hundred
+miles. The division of the army under Karadja Pacha had already reduced
+Mesembria and the castle of St. Stephanus. Selymbria alone defended
+itself, and the fortifications were so strong that Mahomet ordered it to
+be closely blockaded, and left its fate to be determined by that of the
+capital.
+
+On April 6th Sultan Mahomet II encamped on the slope of the hill facing
+the quarter of Blachern, a little beyond the ground occupied by the
+crusaders in 1203, and immediately ordered the construction of lines
+extending from the head of the port to the shore of the Propontis. These
+lines were formed of a mound of earth, and they served both to restrain
+the sorties of the besieged and to cover the troops from the fire of
+the enemy's artillery and missiles. The batteries were then formed; the
+principal were erected against the gate of Charsias, in the quarter of
+Blachern, and against the gate of St. Romanus, near the centre of the
+city wall. It was against this last gate that the fire of the monster gun
+was directed and the chief attack was made.
+
+The land forces of the Turks probably amounted to about seventy thousand
+men of all arms and qualities; but the real strength of the army lay in
+the corps of janizaries, then the best infantry in Europe, and their
+number did not exceed twelve thousand. At the same time, twenty thousand
+cavalry, mounted on the finest horses of the Turkoman breed, and hardened
+by long service, were ready to fight either on horseback or on foot,
+under the eye of their young Sultan. The fleet which had been collected
+along the Asiatic coast, from the ports of the Black Sea to those of
+the Aegean, brought additional supplies of men, provisions, and military
+stores. It consisted of three hundred twenty vessels of various sizes
+and forms. The greater part were only half-decked coasters, and even the
+largest were far inferior in size to the galleys and galeases of the
+Greeks and Italians.
+
+The fortifications of Constantinople toward the land side vary so little
+from a straight line that they afford great facilities for attack. The
+defences had been originally constructed on a magnificent scale and with
+great skill, according to the ancient art of war. Even though they were
+partly ruined by time and weakened by careless reparations, they still
+offered a formidable obstacle to the imperfect science of the engineers
+in Mahomet's army. Two lines of wall, each flanked with its own towers,
+rose one above the other, overlooking a broad and deep ditch. The
+interval between these walls enabled the defenders to form in perfect
+security, and facilitated their operations in clearing the ditch and
+retarding the preparation for assault. The actual appearance of the low
+walls of Constantinople, with the ditch more than half filled up, gives
+only an incorrect picture of their former state.
+
+Mahomet had made his preparations for the siege with so much skill that
+his preliminary works advanced with unexpected rapidity. The numerical
+superiority of his army, and the precautions he had adopted for
+strengthening his lines, rendered the sorties of the garrison useless.
+The ultimate success of the defence depended on the arrival of assistance
+from abroad; but the numbers of the Ottoman fleet seemed to render even
+this hope almost desperate. An incident occurred that showed the
+immense advantage conferred by skill, when united with courage, over an
+apparently irresistible superiority of force in naval warfare. Four large
+ships, laden with grain and stores, one of which bore the Greek and the
+other the Genoese flag, had remained for some time wind-bound at Chios,
+and were anxiously expected at Constantinople. At daybreak these ships
+were perceived by the Turkish watchmen steering for Constantinople, with
+a strong breeze in their favor. The war-galleys of the Sultan immediately
+got under way to capture them. The Sultan himself rode down to the point
+of Tophane to witness a triumph which he considered certain and which he
+thought would reduce his enemy to despair. The Greeks crowded the walls
+of the city, offering up prayers for their friends and trembling for
+their safety in the desperate struggle that awaited them. The Christians
+had several advantages which their nautical experience enabled them to
+turn to good account. The good size of their ships, the strength of their
+construction, their weight, and their high bulwarks were all powerful
+means of defence when aided by a stiff breeze blowing directly in the
+teeth of their opponents. The Turks were compelled to row their galleys
+against this wind and the heavy sea it raised. In vain they attacked the
+Christians with reckless valor, fighting under the eye of their fiery
+sovereign. The skill of their enemy rendered all their attacks abortive.
+In vain one squadron attempted to impede the progress of the Christians,
+while another endeavored to run alongside and carry them by boarding.
+Every Turkish galley that opposed their progress was crushed under the
+weight of their heavy hulls, while those that endeavored to board had
+their oars shivered in the shock, and drifted helpless far astern. The
+few that succeeded for a moment in retaining their place alongside were
+either sunk by immense angular blocks of stone that were dropped on their
+frail timbers, or were filled with flames and smoke by the Greek fire
+that was poured upon them. The rapidity with which the best galleys were
+sunk or disabled appalled the bravest; and at last the Turks shrank from
+close combat on an element where they saw that valor without experience
+was of no avail. The Christian ships, in the mean time, held steadily on
+their course, under all the canvas their masts could carry, until they
+rounded the point of St. Demetrius and entered the port, where the chain
+was joyfully lowered to admit them.
+
+The young Sultan, on seeing the defeat of his galleys, lost all command
+over his temper. He could hardly be restrained from urging his horse into
+the sea, and in his frantic passion heaped every term of abuse and
+insult on his naval officers. He even talked of ordering his admiral,
+Baltaoghlu, to be impaled on the spot; but the janizaries present
+compelled even Mahomet to restrain his vengeance. This check revealed to
+Mahomet the extent of the danger to which his naval force was exposed
+should either the Genoese or Venetians send a powerful fleet to the
+assistance of the emperor Constantine.
+
+This naval discomfiture was also attended by some disasters on shore. The
+monster cannon burst before it had produced any serious impression on the
+walls. Its loss, however, was soon replaced; but the Ottoman army was
+repulsed in a general attack. An immense tower of timber, mounted on many
+wheels, and constructed on the model used in sieges from the time of the
+ancient Greeks and Romans, was dragged up to the edge of the ditch. Under
+its cover, workmen were incessantly employed throwing materials into the
+ditch to enable the tower itself to approach the walls, while the fire of
+several guns and the operations of a corps of miners ruined the opposite
+tower of the city. The progress of the besiegers induced them to risk an
+assault, in which they were repulsed, after a hard-fought struggle: and
+during the following night John Justiniani made a great sortie, during
+which his workmen cleared the ditch, and his soldiers filled the tower
+with combustible materials and burned it to the ground. Its exterior,
+having been protected by a triple covering of buffalo-hides, was found to
+be impervious even to Greek fire.
+
+In order to counteract the effect of these defeats, which had depressed
+the courage of the Ottomans and raised the spirits of the Greeks, the
+Sultan resolved to adopt measures for placing his fleet in security, and
+facilitating the communication between the army before Constantinople and
+the naval camp on the Bosporus. The Venetians had recently transported
+a number of their galleys from the river Adige overland to the lake
+of Garda. This exploit, which had been loudly celebrated at the time,
+suggested to the Sultan the idea of transporting a number of vessels from
+the Bosporus into the port of Constantinople, where the smooth water and
+the command of the shore would secure to his ships the mastery of the
+upper half of that extensive harbor. The distance over which it was
+necessary to transport the galleys was only five miles, but a steep
+hill presented a formidable obstacle to the undertaking. Mahomet,
+nevertheless, having witnessed the transport of his monster cannon
+over rivers and hills, was persuaded that his engineers would find no
+difficulty in moving his ships overland. A road was accordingly made, and
+laid with strong planks and wooden rails, which were plastered over with
+tallow. It extended from the station occupied by the fleet at Dolma
+Baktshe to the summit of the ridge near the Cemetery of Pera. On this
+inclined plane, with the assistance of windlasses and numerous yokes of
+oxen, the vessels were hauled up one after the other to the summit of the
+hill, from whence they descended with difficulty to the point beyond
+the present arsenal, where they were launched into the port under the
+protection of batteries prepared for their defence. Historians, wishing
+to give a dramatic character to their pages, have attributed marvellous
+difficulties to this daring exploit. It was a well-conceived and
+well-executed undertaking, for a division of the Ottoman fleet was
+conveyed into the port in a single night, where the Greeks, at the
+dawn of day, were amazed at beholding the hostile ships safe under the
+protection of inexpugnable batteries.
+
+To establish an easy and rapid communication between the naval camp
+on the Bosporus and the army before Constantinople, Mahomet ordered a
+floating bridge to be constructed across the port, from the point near
+the old foundry, on the side of Galata, to that near the angle of the
+city walls, near Haivan Serai, the ancient amphitheatre. The roadway of
+this bridge was supported on the enormous jars used for storing oil and
+wine, numbers of which were easily collected in the suburbs of Galata.
+These jars, when bound together with their mouth inverted in the water,
+formed admirable pontoons. Artillery was mounted on this bridge and the
+galleys were brought up to the city walls, which were now assailed from
+a quarter hitherto safe from attack. The Genoese under Justiniani on one
+occasion, and the Venetians on another, were defeated in their attempts
+to burn the Turkish fleet and destroy the bridge. The fire of the
+artillery rendered the attacks of the Italians abortive, and their
+failure afforded a decisive proof that the defence of the city was
+becoming desperate. To avoid the admission of their inferiority in
+force, the defeated parties threw the blame on one another, and their
+dissensions became so violent that the Emperor could hardly appease the
+quarrel.
+
+During all the labors of the besiegers in other quarters, the approaches
+were pushed vigorously forward against the land wall. Though the activity
+in other and more novel operations might attract greater attention, the
+industry of those engaged in filling up the ditch, and the fire of the
+breaching batteries, never relaxed. Though all attempts to cross the
+ditch at the gate of St. Romanus were long baffled by the Greeks, and
+the mining operations at Blachern were discovered and defeated by Johann
+Grant, still the superior number and indefatigable perseverance of the
+Ottomans at last filled up the ditch, and the fire of their guns ruined
+the walls. A visible change in the state of the fortifications encouraged
+the assailants, and showed the besieged that the enemy was gradually
+gaining a decided advantage. At the commencement of the siege, the
+Ottoman engineers had displayed so little knowledge of the mode of using
+artillery to effect a breach that a Hungarian envoy from John Hunyady,[1]
+who visited Mahomet's camp, ridiculed the idea of their producing any
+effect on the walls of Constantinople. This stranger was said to have
+taught the Turks to fire in volleys, and to cut the wall in rectangular
+sections, in order to produce a practicable breach.
+
+The batteries at length effected a practicable breach at the gate of St.
+Romanus. Before issuing his final orders for the assault, Mahomet
+II summoned the Emperor to surrender the city, and offered him a
+considerable appanage as a vassal of the Porte elsewhere. Constantine
+rejected the insulting offer, and the Sultan prepared to take
+Constantinople by storm. Four days were employed in the Ottoman camp
+making all the arrangements necessary for a simultaneous attack by land
+and sea along the whole line of the fortifications, from the modern
+quarter of Phanar to the Golden Gate. The Greeks and Latins within the
+walls were not less active in their exertions to meet the crisis. The
+Latins were sustained by their habits of military discipline, and their
+experiences of the chances of war; the Greeks placed great confidence in
+some popular prophecies which foretold the ultimate defeat of the Turks.
+They felt a pious conviction that the imperial and orthodox city would
+never fall into the hands of infidels. But the emperor Constantine was
+deceived by no vain hopes. He knew that human prudence and valor could do
+no more than had been done to retard the progress of the besiegers.
+
+Time had been gained, but the Greeks showed no disposition to fight for a
+heretical emperor, and no succors arrived from the Pope and the western
+princes. Constantine could now only hope to prolong the defence for a
+few hours, and, when the city fell, to bring his own life to a glorious
+termination by dying on the breach.
+
+On the night before the assault, the Emperor rode round to all the posts
+occupied by the garrison, and encouraged the troops to expect victory by
+his cheerful demeanor. He then visited the Church of St. Sophia, already
+deserted by the orthodox, where with his attendants he partook of the
+holy sacrament according to the Latin form. He returned for a short time
+to the imperial palace, and, on quitting it to take his station at the
+great breach, he was so overcome by the certainty that he should
+never again behold those present that he turned to the members of his
+household, many of whom had been the companions of his youth, and
+solemnly asked them to pardon every offence he had ever given them. Tears
+burst from all present as Constantine mounted his horse and rode slowly
+forward to meet his fate.
+
+The contrast between the city of the Christians and the camp of the
+Mahometans was not encouraging. Within the walls an emperor in the
+decline of life commanded a small and disunited force, with twenty
+leaders under his orders, each at the head of an almost independent band
+of Greek, Genoese, Venetian, or Catalan soldiers. So slight was the tie
+which bound these various chiefs together that, even when they were
+preparing for the final assault, the Emperor was obliged to use all his
+authority and personal influence to prevent Justiniani and the grand duke
+Notaras from coming to blows. Justiniani demanded to be supplied with
+some additional guns for the defence of the great breach, but Notaras,
+who had the official control over the artillery, peremptorily refused the
+demand.
+
+In the Turkish camp, on the other hand, perfect unity prevailed, and a
+young, ardent, and able sovereign concentrated in his hands the most
+despotic authority over a numerous and well-disciplined army. To excite
+the energy of that army to the highest pitch of enthusiasm, the Sultan
+proclaimed to his troops that he granted them the whole plunder of
+Constantinople, reserving to himself only the public buildings. The day
+of the battle was regarded as a religious festival in the Ottoman camp,
+and on the previous night lamps were hung out before every tent, and
+fires were kindled on every eminence in or near the lines. Thousands of
+lanterns were suspended from the flagstaffs of the batteries and from the
+masts and yards of the ships, and were reflected in the waters of
+the Propontis, the Golden Horn, and the Bosporus. The whole Ottoman
+encampment was resplendent with the blaze of this illumination. Yet a
+deep silence prevailed during the whole night, except when the musical
+cadence of the solemn chant of the call to prayers showed the Greeks the
+immense numbers and the strict discipline of the host.
+
+Before the dawn of day, on the morning of May 29, 1453, the signal was
+given for the attack. Column after column marched forward, and took up
+its ground before the portion of the wall it was ordered to assail. The
+galleys, fitted with towers and scaling-platforms, advanced against the
+fortifications of the port protected by the guns on the bridge. But the
+principal attack was directed against the breach at the gate of St.
+Romanus, where two flanking towers had fallen into the ditch and opened
+a passage into the interior of the city. The gate of Charsias and the
+quarter of Blachern were also assailed by chosen regiments of janizaries
+in overwhelming numbers. The attack was made with daring courage, but for
+more than two hours every point was successfully defended. In the port,
+the Italian and Greek ships opposed the Turkish galleys so effectually
+that the final result appeared to favor the besieged. But on the land
+side, one column of troops followed the other in an incessant stream. The
+moment a division fell back from the assault, new battalions occupied its
+place. The valor of the besieged was for some time successful, but they
+were at last fatigued by their exertions, and their scanty numbers were
+weakened by wounds and death. Unfortunately, Justiniani, the protostrator
+or marshal of the army, and the ablest officer in the place, received a
+wound which induced him to retire on board his ship to have it dressed.
+Until that moment he and the Emperor had defended the great breach with
+advantage; but after his retreat Sagan Pacha, observing that the energy
+of the defenders was relaxed, excited the bravest of the janizaries to
+mount to the assault. A chosen company led by Hasan of Ulubad, a man of
+gigantic frame, first crossed the ruins of the wall, and their leader
+gained the summit of the dilapidated tower which flanked the breach.
+The defenders, headed by the emperor Constantine, made a desperate
+resistance. Hasan and many of his followers were slain, but the
+janizaries had secured the vantage-ground, and, fresh troops pouring in
+to their aid, they surrounded the defenders of the breach. The Emperor
+fell amid a heap of slain, and a column of janizaries rushed into
+Constantinople over his lifeless body.
+
+About the same time another corps of the Ottomans forced an entrance into
+the city at the gate of the Circus, which had been left almost without
+defence, for the besieged were not sufficiently numerous to guard the
+whole line of the fortifications, and their best troops were drawn to the
+points where the attacks were fiercest. The corps that forced the gate of
+the Circus took the defenders of the gate of Charsias in the rear, and
+overpowered all resistance in the quarter of Blachern.
+
+Several gates were now thrown open, and the army entered Constantinople
+at several points. The cry that the enemy had stormed the walls preceded
+their march. Senators, priests, monks, and nuns, men, women, and
+children, all rushed to seek safety in St. Sophia's. A prediction current
+among the Greeks flattered them with the vain hope that an angel would
+descend from heaven and destroy the Mahometans, in order to reveal the
+extent of God's love for the orthodox. St. Sophia's, which for some time
+they had forsaken as a spot profaned by the Emperor's attempt at a union
+of the Christian world, was again revered as the sanctuary of orthodoxy,
+and was crowded with the flower of the Greek nation, confident of
+a miraculous interposition in favor of their national pride and
+ecclesiastical prejudices.
+
+The besiegers, when they first entered the city, fearing lest they might
+encounter serious resistance in the narrow streets, put every soul they
+encountered to the sword. But as soon as they were fully aware of the
+small number of the garrison, and the impossibility of any further
+opposition, they began to make prisoners. At length they reached St.
+Sophia's, and, rushing into that magnificent temple, which could with
+ease contain twenty thousand persons, they performed deeds of plunder and
+violence not unlike the scenes which the crusaders had enacted in the
+same spot in 1204. The men, women, and children who had sought safety
+in the building were divided among the soldiers as slaves, without any
+reference to their rank or respect for their ties of blood, and hurried
+off to the camp, or placed under the guard of comrades, who formed a
+joint alliance for the security of their plunder. The ecclesiastical
+ornaments and church plate were poor indeed when compared with the
+immense riches of the Byzantine cathedral in the time of the crusaders;
+but whatever was movable was immediately divided among the soldiers with
+such celerity that the mighty temple soon presented few traces of having
+been a Christian church.
+
+While one division of the victorious army was engaged in plundering the
+southern side of the city, from the gate of St. Romanus to the Church
+of St. Sophia, another, turning to the port, made itself master of the
+warehouses that were filled with merchandise, and surrounded the Greek
+troops under the grand duke Notaras. The Greeks were easily subdued,
+and Notaras surrendered himself a prisoner. About midday the Turks were
+in possession of the whole city, and Mahomet II entered his new capital
+at the gate of St. Romanus, riding triumphantly past the body of the
+emperor Constantine, which lay concealed among the slain in the breach
+he had defended. The Sultan rode straight to the Church of St. Sophia,
+where he gave the necessary orders for the preservation of all the
+public buildings. Even during the license of the sack, the severe
+education and grave character of the Ottomans exerted a powerful
+influence on their conduct, and on this occasion there was no example
+of the wanton destruction and wilful conflagrations that had signalized
+the Latin conquest. To convince the Greeks that their orthodox empire
+was extinct, Mahomet ordered a mollah to ascend the bema and address
+a sermon to the Mussulmans, announcing that St. Sophia was now a mosque
+set apart for the prayers of the true believers. To put an end to all
+doubts concerning the death of the Emperor, he ordered Constantine's
+head to be brought and exposed to the people of the capital, from
+whence it was afterward sent as a trophy to be seen by the Greeks of
+the principal cities in the Ottoman empire.
+
+[Footnote 1: The great Hungarian leader, who long fought against the
+Turks, and signally defeated them at Belgrad in 1456.--ED.]
+
+
+
+WARS OF THE ROSES
+
+DEATH OF RICHARD III AT BOSWORTH
+
+A.D. 1455-1485
+
+DAVID HUME
+
+
+Historians themselves declare that no part of English history since the
+Norman Conquest is so obscure and uncertain as that of the Wars of the
+Roses. "All we can distinguish with certainty through the deep cloud
+which covers that period is a scene of horror and bloodshed, savage
+manners, arbitrary executions and treacheries, dishonorable conduct in
+all parties." These brutal aspects of that horrid drama of history,
+running through more than the course of a full generation, are depicted
+for the mimic stage by Shakespeare, in _Henry VI and Richard III_, with
+a vividness that brings before us the ghastly realities of the historic
+theatre itself, and with such realization of the rude forces at work
+as calls for all the poet's refining art to make their representation
+tolerable to modern spectators.
+
+But the historians, while consciously failing to discover the hidden
+motives of intrigue and treachery which throughout actuated the parties
+to this fearful struggle of Englishmen with Englishmen, have nevertheless
+recorded for us its main outlines and leading episodes with sufficient
+clearness. We are enabled to see England as she was in that great
+transition of her "making"--in the throes of civil strife, again to be
+endured two centuries later--through which she must pass before she could
+become a "land of settled government."
+
+During the weak reign of Henry VI, France was delivered from English
+rule, mainly through the heroism of Jeanne d'Arc. In 1450 the commons
+rose against King Henry and the house of Lancaster, to which he belonged,
+and declared in favor of the house of York--these houses having already
+come into serious rivalry for the supreme power. The disasters in France
+strengthened the Yorkists, and brought their representative, Richard,
+Duke of York, to the front, with armed forces to support his claims.
+In 1452 he marched upon London, demanding the removal of the Duke of
+Somerset, Henry's chief minister, but a conflict was temporarily averted.
+When, in 1454, King Henry became insane, the Duke of York was made
+protector by parliament. He might now have seized the crown, but his
+forbearance was taken advantage of by the rival party, and "proved the
+source of all those furious wars which ensued"--the Wars of the Roses,
+beginning with the first battle of St. Albans, in 1455, and ending with
+the death of Richard III at Bosworth Field, in 1485.
+
+The wars were signalized by twelve pitched battles; they cost the lives
+of about eighty princes of the blood; and during their ravages the
+ancient nobility of England was almost annihilated. Yet in these fierce
+wars comparatively little damage was done to the general population or to
+industry and trade. The wars derived their name from the fact that the
+partisans of the house of Lancaster took the red rose as their badge, and
+those of York chose the white rose.
+
+The enemies of the Duke of York soon found it in their power to make
+advantage of his excessive caution. Henry being so far recovered from his
+distemper as to carry the appearance of exercising the royal power, they
+moved him to resume his authority, to annul the protectorship of the
+Duke, and to commit the administration into the hands of Somerset (1455).
+Richard, sensible of the dangers which might attend his former acceptance
+of the parliamentary commission should he submit to the annulling of it,
+levied an army, but still without advancing any pretensions to the crown.
+He complained only of the King's ministers, and demanded a reformation of
+the government.
+
+A battle was fought at St. Albans, in which the Yorkists were superior,
+and, without suffering any material loss, slew about five thousand
+of their enemies, among whom were the Duke of Somerset, the Earl
+of Northumberland, the Earl of Stafford, eldest son of the Duke of
+Buckingham, Lord Clifford, and many other persons of distinction. The
+King himself fell into the hands of the Duke of York, who treated him
+with great respect and tenderness; he was only obliged--which he regarded
+as no hardship--to commit the whole authority of the crown into the hands
+of his rival.
+
+Affairs did not immediately proceed to the last extremities; the
+nation was kept some time in suspense; the vigor and spirit of Queen
+Margaret,[1] supporting her small power, still proved a balance to the
+great authority of Richard, which was checked by his irresolute temper.
+A parliament, which was soon after assembled, plainly discovered, by the
+contrariety of their proceedings, the contrariety of the motives by which
+they were actuated. They granted the Yorkists a general indemnity; and
+they restored the protectorship to the Duke, but at the same time they
+renewed their oaths of fealty to Henry, and fixed the continuance of the
+protectorship to the majority of his son Edward.
+
+It was not found difficult to wrest power from hands so little tenacious
+as those of the Duke of York. Margaret, availing herself of that Prince's
+absence, produced her husband before the House of Lords; and as his state
+of health permitted him at that time to act his part with some tolerable
+decency, he declared his intentions of resuming the government, and of
+putting an end to Richard's authority. The House of Lords assented to
+Henry's proposal, and the King was declared to be reinstated. Even the
+Duke of York acquiesced in this irregular act of the peers, and no
+disturbance ensued. But that Prince's claim to the crown was too well
+known, and the steps which he had taken to promote it were too evident
+ever to allow sincere trust and confidence to have place between the
+parties.
+
+The court retired to Coventry, and invited the Duke of York and the Earls
+of Salisbury and Warwick to attend the King's person. When they were on
+the road, they received intelligence that designs were formed against
+their liberties and lives. They immediately separated themselves; Richard
+withdrew to his castle of Wigmore; Salisbury to Middleham, in Yorkshire;
+and Warwick to his government of Calais, which had been committed to him
+after the battle of St. Albans, and which, as it gave him the command of
+the only regular military force maintained by England, was of the utmost
+importance in the present juncture. Still, men of peaceable dispositions,
+and among the rest Bourchier, Archbishop of Canterbury, thought it not
+too late to interpose with their good offices in order to prevent that
+effusion of blood with which the kingdom was threatened; and the awe in
+which each party stood of the other rendered the mediation for some time
+successful.
+
+It was agreed that all the great leaders on both sides should meet in
+London and be solemnly reconciled. The Duke of York and his partisans
+came thither with numerous retinues, and took up their quarters near each
+other for mutual security. The leaders of the Lancastrian party used the
+same precaution. The mayor, at the head of five thousand men, kept a
+strict watch night and day, and was extremely vigilant in maintaining
+peace between them. Terms were adjusted, which removed not the ground of
+difference. An outward reconciliation only was procured; and in order to
+notify this accord to the whole people, a solemn procession to St. Paul's
+was appointed, where the Duke of York led Queen Margaret, and a leader of
+one party marched hand in hand with a leader of the opposite. The less
+real cordiality prevailed, the more were the exterior demonstrations of
+amity redoubled. But it was evident that a contest for a crown could
+not thus be peaceably accommodated, that each party watched only for an
+opportunity of subverting the other, and that much blood must yet be
+spilt ere the nation could be restored to perfect tranquillity or enjoy a
+settled and established government.
+
+Even the smallest accident, without any formed design, was sufficient, in
+the present disposition of men's minds, to dissolve the seeming harmony
+between the parties; and, had the intentions of the leaders been ever so
+amicable, they would have found it difficult to restrain the animosity of
+their followers. One of the King's retinue insulted one of the Earl of
+Warwick's; their companions on both sides took part in the quarrel; a
+fierce combat ensued; the Earl apprehended his life to be aimed at; he
+fled to his government of Calais; and both parties, in every county of
+England, openly made preparations for deciding the contest by war and
+arms.
+
+The Earl of Salisbury, marching to join the Duke of York, was overtaken
+at Blore Heath, on the borders of Staffordshire, by Lord Audley, who
+commanded much superior forces; and a small rivulet with steep banks ran
+between the armies. Salisbury here supplied his defect in numbers by
+stratagem a refinement of which there occur few instances in the English
+civil wars, where a headlong courage, more than military conduct, is
+commonly to be remarked. He feigned a retreat, and allured Audley to
+follow him with precipitation; but when the van of the royal army had
+passed the brook, Salisbury suddenly turned upon them, and partly by the
+surprise, partly by the division of the enemy's forces, put this body to
+rout; the example of flight was followed by the rest of the army; and
+Salisbury, obtaining a complete victory, reached the general rendezvous
+of the Yorkists at Ludlow. The Earl of Warwick brought over to this
+rendezvous a choice body of veterans from Calais, on whom, it was
+thought, the fortune of the war would much depend; but this reënforcement
+occasioned, in the issue, the immediate ruin of the Duke of York's party.
+When the royal army approached, and a general action was every hour
+expected, Sir Andrew Trollop, who commanded the veterans, deserted to
+the King in the night-time; and the Yorkists were so dismayed at this
+instance of treachery, which made every man suspicious of his fellow,
+that they separated next day without striking a blow; the Duke fled to
+Ireland; the Earl of Warwick, attended by many of the other leaders,
+escaped to Calais, where his great popularity among all orders of men,
+particularly among the military, soon drew to him partisans, and rendered
+his power very formidable. The friends of the house of York in England
+kept themselves everywhere in readiness to rise on the first summons from
+their leaders.
+
+After meeting with some successes at sea, Warwick landed in Kent, with
+the Earl of Salisbury and the Earl of March, eldest son of the Duke of
+York; and being met by the Primate, by Lord Cobham, and other persons of
+distinction, he marched, amid the acclamations of the people, to London.
+The city immediately opened its gates to him; and, his troops increasing
+on every day's march, he soon found himself in a condition to face the
+royal army, which hastened from Coventry to attack him. The battle was
+fought at Northampton, and was soon decided against the royalists by the
+infidelity of Lord Grey of Ruthin, who, commanding Henry's van, deserted
+to the enemy during the heat of action, and spread a consternation
+through the troops. The Duke of Buckingham, the Earl of Shrewsbury, the
+Lords Beaumont and Egremont, and Sir William Lucie were killed in the
+action or pursuit; the slaughter fell chiefly on the gentry and nobility;
+the common people were spared by orders of the Earls of Warwick and
+March. Henry himself, that empty shadow of a king, was again taken
+prisoner; and as the innocence and simplicity of his manners, which bore
+the appearance of sanctity, had procured him the tender regard of
+the people, the Earl of Warwick and the other leaders took care to
+distinguish themselves by their respectful demeanor toward him.
+
+A parliament was summoned in the King's name, and met at Westminster,
+where the Duke soon after appeared from Ireland. This Prince had never
+hitherto advanced openly any claim to the crown. He advanced toward the
+throne; and being met by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who asked him
+whether he had yet paid his respects to the King, he replied that he knew
+of none to whom he owed that title. He then stood near the throne, and,
+addressing himself to the House of Peers, he gave them a deduction of his
+title by descent, and pleaded his cause before them. The lords remained
+in suspense, and no one ventured to utter a word. Richard was much
+disappointed at their silence; but, desiring them to reflect on what he
+had proposed to them, he departed the house.
+
+The peers, after deliberating, declared the title of the duke of York to
+be certain and indefeasible; but in consideration that Henry had
+enjoyed the crown, without dispute or controversy, during the course of
+thirty-eight years, they determined that he should continue to possess
+the title and dignity during the remainder of his life; that the
+administration of the government, meanwhile, should remain with Richard;
+that he should be acknowledged the true and lawful heir of the monarchy;
+that everyone should swear to maintain his succession, and it should
+be treason to attempt his life. The act thus passed with the unanimous
+consent of the whole legislative body.
+
+The Duke, apprehending his chief danger to arise from Queen Margaret,
+sought a pretence for banishing her the kingdom; he sent her in the
+King's name a summons to come immediately to London, intending, in case
+of her disobedience, to proceed to extremities against her. But the Queen
+needed not this menace to excite her activity in defending the rights of
+her family. After the defeat of Northampton she had fled with her infant
+son to Durham, thence to Scotland; but soon returning she applied to the
+northern barons, and employed every motive to procure their assistance.
+Her affability, insinuation, and address--qualities in which she
+excelled--her caresses, her promises, wrought a powerful effect on
+everyone who approached her; the admiration of her great qualities was
+succeeded by compassion toward her helpless condition; the nobility of
+that quarter, who regarded themselves as the most warlike in the kingdom,
+were moved by indignation to find the southern barons pretend to dispose
+of the crown and settle the government. And, that they might allure
+the people to their standard, they promised them the spoils of all the
+provinces on the other side of the Trent. By these means the Queen had
+collected an army twenty thousand strong, with a celerity which was
+neither expected by her friends nor apprehended by her enemies.
+
+The Duke of York, informed of her appearance in the north, hastened
+thither with a body of five thousand men, to suppress, as he imagined,
+the beginnings of an insurrection; when, on his arrival at Wakefield, he
+found himself so much outnumbered by the enemy. He threw himself into
+Sandal castle, which was situated in the neighborhood; and he was advised
+by the Earl of Salisbury and other prudent counsellors to remain in that
+fortress till his son, the Earl of March, who was levying forces in the
+borders of Wales, could advance to his assistance. But the Duke, though
+deficient in political courage, possessed personal bravery in an eminent
+degree; and notwithstanding his wisdom and experience, he thought that he
+should be forever disgraced if, by taking shelter behind walls, he should
+for a moment resign the victory to a woman. He descended into the plain
+and offered battle to the enemy, which was instantly accepted. The great
+inequality of numbers was sufficient alone to decide the victory; but the
+Queen, by sending a detachment, who fell on the back of the Duke's army,
+rendered her advantage still more certain and undisputed. The Duke
+himself was killed in the action; and as his body was found among the
+slain, the head was cut off by Margaret's orders and fixed on the gates
+of York, with a paper crown upon it, in derision of his pretended title.
+
+The Queen, after this important victory, divided her army. She sent the
+smaller division, under Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pembroke, half brother to
+the King, against Edward the new Duke of York. She herself marched with
+the larger division toward London, where the Earl of Warwick had been
+left with the command of the Yorkists. Pembroke was defeated by Edward
+at Mortimer's Cross, in Herefordshire, his army was dispersed, and he
+himself escaped by flight.
+
+Margaret compensated this defeat by a victory which she obtained over the
+Earl of Warwick. That nobleman, on the approach of the Lancastrians, led
+out his army, reënforced by a strong body of the Londoners, who were
+affectionate to his cause; and he gave battle to the Queen at St.
+Albans. While the armies were warmly engaged, Lovelace, who commanded a
+considerable body of the Yorkists, withdrew from the combat; and this
+treacherous conduct decided the victory in favor of the Queen. The person
+of the King fell again into the hands of his own party. Lord Bonville, to
+whose care he had been intrusted by the Yorkists, remained with him after
+the defeat, on assurances of pardon given him by Henry; but Margaret,
+regardless of her husband's promise, immediately ordered the head of that
+nobleman to be struck off by the executioner. Sir Thomas Kiriel, a brave
+warrior, who had signalized himself in the French wars, was treated in
+the same manner.
+
+The Queen made no great advantage of this victory. Young Edward advanced
+upon her from the other side, and, collecting the remains of Warwick's
+army, was soon in a condition of giving her battle with superior forces.
+She found it necessary to retreat to the north. Edward entered the
+capital amid the acclamations of the citizens, and immediately opened a
+new scene to his party. This Prince, in the bloom of youth, remarkable
+for the beauty of his person, for his bravery, his activity, his
+affability, and every popular quality, found himself so much possessed of
+public favor that, elated with the spirit natural to his age, he resolved
+no longer to confine himself within those narrow limits which his father
+had prescribed to himself, and which had been found by experience so
+prejudicial to his cause. He determined to assume the name and dignity
+of king, to insist openly on his claim, and thenceforth to treat the
+opposite party as traitors and rebels to his lawful authority. His army
+was ordered to assemble in St. John's Fields, and great numbers of
+people surrounded them. They were asked whether they would have Henry of
+Lancaster for king. They unanimously exclaimed against the proposal It
+was then demanded whether they would accept of Edward, eldest son of
+the late Duke of York. They expressed their assent by loud and joyful
+acclamations. A great number of bishops, lords, magistrates, and other
+persons of distinction were next assembled at Baynard's castle, who
+ratified the popular election; and the new king was on the subsequent day
+proclaimed in London by the title of Edward IV.
+
+In this manner ended the reign of Henry VI, a monarch who while in his
+cradle had been proclaimed king both of France and England, and who began
+his life with the most splendid prospects that any prince in Europe had
+ever enjoyed.
+
+Young Edward, now in his twentieth year, was bold, active, and
+enterprising. The very commencement of his reign gave symptoms of his
+sanguinary disposition. The scaffold, as well as the field, incessantly
+streamed with the noblest blood of England. Queen Margaret had prudently
+retired northward among her own partisans, and she was able in a few days
+to assemble an army sixty thousand strong in Yorkshire. The King and the
+Earl of Warwick hastened, with an army of forty thousand men, to check
+her progress; and when they reached Pomfret they despatched a body of
+troops, under the command of Lord Fitzwalter, to secure the passage of
+Ferrybridge over the river Are, which lay between them and the enemy.
+Fitzwalter took possession of the post assigned him, but was not able
+to maintain it against Lord Clifford, who attacked him with superior
+numbers. The Yorkists were chased back with great slaughter, and Lord
+Fitzwalter himself was slain in the action.
+
+The Earl of Warwick, dreading the consequences of this disaster, at a
+time when a decisive action was every hour expected, immediately ordered
+his horse to be brought him, which he stabbed before the whole army, and,
+kissing the hilt of his sword, swore that he was determined to share the
+fate of the meanest soldier. A proclamation was at the same time issued,
+giving to everyone full liberty to retire, but menacing the severest
+punishment to those who should discover any symptoms of cowardice in the
+ensuing battle. Lord Falconberg was sent to recover the post which had
+been lost. He passed the river some miles above Ferrybridge, and, falling
+unexpectedly on Lord Clifford, revenged the former disaster by the defeat
+of the party and the death of their leader.
+
+The hostile armies met at Touton, and a fierce and bloody battle ensued.
+While the Yorkists were advancing to the charge, there happened a great
+fall of snow, which, driving full in the faces of their enemies,
+blinded them; and this advantage was improved by a stratagem of Lord
+Falconberg's. That nobleman ordered some infantry to advance before the
+line, and, after having sent a volley of flight arrows (as they were
+called) amid the enemy, immediately to retire. The Lancastrians,
+imagining that they were gotten within reach of the opposite army,
+discharged all their arrows, which thus fell short of the Yorkists. After
+the quivers of the enemy were emptied, Edward advanced his line and did
+execution with impunity on the dismayed Lancastrians. The bow, however,
+was soon laid aside, and the sword decided the combat, which ended in a
+total victory on the side of the Yorkists. Edward issued orders to give
+no quarter. The routed army was pursued to Tadcaster with great bloodshed
+and confusion, and above thirty-six thousand men are computed to have
+fallen in the battle and pursuit. Henry and Margaret had remained at York
+during the action; but, learning the defeat of their army, they fled into
+Scotland.
+
+Scotland had never exerted itself to take advantage either of the wars
+which England carried on with France or of the civil commotions between
+the contending families. James I avoided all hostilities with foreign
+nations. After the murder of that excellent Prince, the minority of
+his son and successor, James II, and the distractions incident to it,
+retained the Scots in the same state of neutrality. But when the quarrel
+commenced between the houses of York and Lancaster, and became absolutely
+incurable but by the total extinction of one party, James, who had now
+risen to man's estate, was tempted to seize the opportunity, and he
+endeavored to recover those places which the English had formerly
+conquered from his ancestors. He laid siege to the castle of Roxburghe in
+1460, and had provided himself with a small train of artillery for that
+enterprise; but his cannon was so ill-framed that one of them burst as he
+was firing it, and put an end to his life in the flower of his age.
+
+His son and successor, James III, was also a minor on his accession; the
+usual distractions ensued in the government: the Queen Dowager, Anne
+of Gueldres, aspired to the regency; the family of Douglas opposed her
+pretensions; and Queen Margaret, when she fled into Scotland, found there
+a people little less divided by faction than those by whom she had been
+expelled. Though she pleaded the connections between the royal family
+of Scotland and the house of Lancaster, she could engage the Scottish
+council to go no further than to express their good wishes in her favor;
+but on her offer to deliver to them immediately the important fortress of
+Berwick, and to contract her son in marriage with a sister of King James,
+she found a better reception; and the Scots promised the assistance of
+their arms to reinstate her family upon the throne. But Edward did not
+pursue the fugitive King and Queen into their retreat; he returned to
+London, where a parliament was summoned for settling the government.
+
+On the meeting of this assembly, Edward found the good effects of his
+vigorous measure in assuming the crown, as well as of his victory at
+Touton, by which he had secured it. The parliament no longer hesitated
+between the two families, or proposed any of those ambiguous decisions
+which could only serve to perpetuate and to inflame the animosities
+of party. They recognized the title of Edward, by hereditary descent,
+through the family of Mortimer, and declared that he was king by right,
+from the death of his father, who had also the same lawful title; and
+that he was in possession of the crown from the day that he assumed the
+government, tendered to him by the acclamations of the people. They
+reinstated the King in all the possessions which had belonged to the
+crown at the pretended deposition of Richard II.
+
+But the new establishment seemed precarious and uncertain, not only from
+the domestic discontents of the people, but from the efforts of foreign
+powers. Louis, the eleventh of the name, had succeeded to his father,
+Charles, in 1460, and was led from the obvious motives of national
+interest to feed the flames of civil discord among such dangerous
+neighbors by giving support to the weaker party. But the intriguing
+and politic genius of this Prince was here checked by itself: having
+attempted to subdue the independent spirit of his own vassals, he had
+excited such an opposition at home as prevented him from making all the
+advantage, which the opportunity afforded, of the dissensions among the
+English. He sent, however, a small body to Henry's assistance under
+Varenne, seneschal of Normandy, 1462, who landed in Northumberland
+and got possession of the castle of Alnwick; but as the indefatigable
+Margaret went in person to France, where she solicited larger supplies,
+and promised Louis to deliver up Calais if her family should by his means
+be restored to the throne of England, he was induced to send along with
+her a body of two thousand men-at-arms, which enabled her to take the
+field and to make an inroad into England, 1464. Though reënforced by a
+numerous train of adventurers from Scotland, and by many partisans of
+the family of Lancaster, she received a check at Hedgeley Moor from Lord
+Montacute, or Montagu, brother to the Earl of Warwick and warden of the
+east marches between Scotland and England. Montagu was so encouraged with
+this success that, while a numerous reinforcement was on its march to
+join him by orders from Edward, he yet ventured, with his own troops
+alone, to attack the Lancastrians at Hexham; and he obtained a complete
+victory over them. The Duke of Somerset, the Lords Roos and Hungerford,
+were taken in the pursuit, and immediately beheaded by martial law at
+Hexham. Summary justice was in like manner executed at Newcastle on Sir
+Humphrey Nevil, and several other gentlemen. All those who were spared in
+the field suffered on the scaffold, and the utter extermination of their
+adversaries was now become the plain object of the York party; a conduct
+which received but too plausible an apology from the preceding practice
+of the Lancastrians.
+
+The fate of the unfortunate royal family, after this defeat, was
+singular. Margaret, flying with her son into a forest, where she
+endeavored to conceal herself, was beset, during the darkness of the
+night, by robbers, who, either ignorant or regardless of her quality,
+despoiled her of her rings and jewels, and treated her with the utmost
+indignity. The partition of this rich booty raised a quarrel among them;
+and, while their attention was thus engaged, she took the opportunity of
+making her escape with her son into the thickest of the forest, where she
+wandered for some time, overspent with hunger and fatigue and sunk with
+terror and affliction. While in this wretched condition, she saw a robber
+approach with his naked sword; and, finding that she had no means of
+escape, she suddenly embraced the resolution of trusting entirely for
+protection to his faith and generosity. She advanced toward him, and,
+presenting to him the young Prince, called out to him, "Here my friend, I
+commit to your care the safety of your King's son."
+
+The man, whose humanity and generous spirit had been obscured, not
+entirely lost, by his vicious course of life, was struck with the
+singularity of the event, was charmed with the confidence reposed in him,
+and vowed not only to abstain from all injury against the Princess, but
+to devote himself entirely to her service. By his means she dwelt some
+time concealed in the forest, and was at last conducted to the sea-coast,
+whence she made her escape into Flanders. She passed thence into her
+father's court, where she lived several years in privacy and retirement.
+Her husband was not so fortunate or so dexterous in finding the means of
+escape. Some of his friends took him under their protection and conveyed
+him into Lancashire, where he remained concealed during a twelvemonth;
+but he was at last detected, delivered up to Edward, and thrown into the
+Tower. The safety of his person was owing less to the generosity of his
+enemies than to the contempt which they had entertained of his courage
+and his understanding.
+
+The imprisonment of Henry, the expulsion of Margaret, the execution and
+confiscation of all the most eminent Lancastrians, seemed to give full
+security to Edward's government. But his amorous temper led him into
+a snare, which proved fatal to his repose and to the stability of his
+throne. Jaqueline of Luxemburg, Duchess of Bedford, had, after her
+husband's death, so far sacrificed her ambition to love that she espoused
+in second marriage Sir Richard Woodeville, a private gentleman, to
+whom she bore several children, and among the rest Elizabeth, who was
+remarkable for the grace and beauty of her person, as well as for other
+amiable accomplishments. This young lady had married Sir John Gray of
+Groby, by whom she had children; and her husband being slain in the
+second battle of St. Albans, fighting on the side of Lancaster, and his
+estate being for that reason confiscated, his widow retired to live with
+her father, at his seat of Grafton, in Northamptonshire. The King came
+accidentally to the house after a hunting party, in order to pay a visit
+to the Duchess of Bedford, and, as the occasion seemed favorable for
+obtaining some grace from this gallant monarch, the young widow flung
+herself at his feet, and with many tears entreated him to take pity on
+her impoverished and distressed children. The sight of so much beauty in
+affliction strongly affected the amorous Edward, love stole sensibly into
+his heart under the guise of compassion; and her sorrow, so becoming a
+virtuous matron, made his esteem and regard quickly correspond to his
+affection. He raised her from the ground with assurances of favor; he
+found his passion increase every moment by the conversation of the
+amiable object; and he was soon reduced, in his turn, to the posture and
+style of a supplicant at the feet of Elizabeth. But the lady, either
+averse to dishonorable love from a sense of duty, or perceiving that
+the impression which she had made was so deep as to give her hopes of
+obtaining the highest elevation, obstinately refused to gratify his
+passion; and all the endearments, caresses, and importunities of
+the young and amiable Edward proved fruitless against her rigid and
+inflexible virtue. His passion, irritated by opposition and increased by
+his veneration for such honorable sentiments, carried him at last beyond
+all bounds of reason, and he offered to share his throne, as well as his
+heart, with the woman whose beauty of person and dignity of character
+seemed so well to entitle her to both. The marriage was privately
+celebrated at Grafton; the secret was carefully kept for some time; no
+one suspected that so libertine a prince could sacrifice so much to a
+romantic passion; and there were, in particular, strong reasons which
+at that time rendered this step, to the highest degree, dangerous and
+imprudent.
+
+The King, desirous to secure his throne, as well by the prospect of
+issue as by foreign alliances, had, a little before, determined to make
+application to some neighboring princess; and he had cast his eye on Bona
+of Savoy, sister to the Queen of France, who, he hoped, would by her
+marriage insure him the friendship of that power which was alone both
+able and inclined to give support and assistance to his rival. To render
+the negotiation more successful, the Earl of Warwick had been despatched
+to Paris, where the Princess then resided; he had demanded Bona in
+marriage for the King; his proposals had been accepted; the treaty was
+fully concluded; and nothing remained but the ratification of the terms
+agreed on, and the bringing over the Princess to England. But when the
+secret of Edward's marriage broke out, the haughty Earl, deeming himself
+affronted, both by being employed in this fruitless negotiation and by
+being kept a stranger to the King's intentions, who had owed everything
+to his friendship, immediately returned to England, inflamed with rage
+and indignation. The influence of passion over so young a man as Edward
+might have served as an excuse for his imprudent conduct had he deigned
+to acknowledge his error or had pleaded his weakness as an apology; but
+his faulty shame or pride prevented him from so much as mentioning the
+matter to Warwick; and that nobleman was allowed to depart the court,
+full of the same ill-humor and discontent which he had brought to it.
+
+Every incident now tended to widen the breach between the King and this
+powerful subject. The Queen, who lost not her influence by marriage, was
+equally solicitous to draw every grace and favor to her own friends and
+kindred and to exclude those of the Earl, whom she regarded as her mortal
+enemy.
+
+The Earl of Warwick could not suffer with patience the least diminution
+of that credit which he had long enjoyed, and which he thought he had
+merited by such important services. Edward also, jealous of that power
+which had supported him, was well pleased to raise up rivals to the
+Earl of Warwick; and he justified, by this political view, his extreme
+partiality to the Queen's kindred. But the nobility of England, envying
+the sudden growth of the Woodevilles, was more inclined to take part with
+Warwick's discontent.
+
+An extensive and dangerous combination was insensibly formed against
+Edward and his ministry. While this cloud was gathering at home, Edward
+endeavored to secure himself against his factious nobility by entering
+into foreign alliances. But whatever ambitious schemes the King might
+have built on these alliances, they were soon frustrated by intestine
+commotions, which engrossed all his attention. These disorders probably
+arose not immediately from the intrigues of the Earl of Warwick, but from
+accident, aided by the turbulent spirit of the age, by the general humor
+of discontent which that popular nobleman had instilled into the nation,
+and perhaps by some remains of attachment to the house of Lancaster. The
+hospital of St. Leonard's, near York, had received, from an ancient
+grant of King Athelstane, a right of levying a thrave of corn upon every
+ploughland in the county. The country people complained that the revenue
+of the hospital was no longer expended for the relief of the poor, but
+was secreted by the managers, and employed to their private purposes.
+After long repining at the contribution, they refused payment;
+ecclesiastical and civil censures were issued against them; their goods
+were distrained, and their persons thrown into jail; till, as their
+ill-humor daily increased, they rose in arms, fell upon the officers
+of the hospital, whom they put to the sword, and proceeded in a body,
+fifteen thousand strong, to the gates of York. Lord Montagu, who
+commanded in those parts, opposed himself to their progress; and having
+been so fortunate in a skirmish as to seize Robert Hulderne, their
+leader, he ordered him immediately to be led to execution, according to
+the practice of the times.
+
+The rebels, however, still continued in arms; and being soon headed by
+men of greater distinction--Sir Henry Nevil, son of Lord Latimer, and Sir
+John Coniers--they advanced southward, and began to appear formidable to
+the Government. Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, was ordered by Edward to march
+against them at the head of a body of Welshmen; and he was joined by five
+thousand archers, under the command of Stafford, Earl of Devonshire. But
+a trivial difference about quarters having begotten an animosity between
+these two noblemen, the Earl of Devonshire retired with his archers, and
+left Pembroke alone to encounter the rebels.
+
+The two armies approached each other near Banbury, 1469, and Pembroke,
+having prevailed in a skirmish, and having taken Sir John Nevil prisoner,
+ordered him immediately to be put to death, without any form of process.
+This execution enraged without terrifying the rebels; they attacked the
+Welsh army, routed them, put them to the sword without mercy; and, having
+seized Pembroke, they took immediate revenge upon him for the death
+of their leader. The King, imputing this misfortune to the Earl of
+Devonshire, who had deserted Pembroke, ordered him to be executed in a
+like summary manner.
+
+Soon after there broke out another rebellion. It arose in Lincolnshire,
+and was headed by Sir Robert Welles. The army of the rebels amounted to
+thirty thousand men. The King fought a battle with the rebels, defeated
+them, took Sir Robert Welles and Sir Thomas Launde prisoners, and
+ordered them immediately to be beheaded. Edward during these transactions
+had entertained so little jealousy of the Earl of Warwick or the Duke of
+Clarence that he sent them with commissions of array to levy forces
+against the rebels; but these malecontents, as soon as they left the
+court, raised troops in their own name, issued declarations against the
+Government, and complained of grievances, oppressions, and bad ministers.
+The unexpected defeat of Welles disconcerted all their measures; and
+they retired northward into Lancashire, where they expected to be joined
+by Lord Stanley, who had married the Earl of Warwick's sister. But as
+that nobleman refused all concurrence with them, and as Lord Montagu
+also remained quiet in Yorkshire, they were obliged to disband their
+army and to fly into Devonshire, where they embarked and made sail
+toward Calais.
+
+The King of France received Warwick with the greatest demonstrations
+of regard, and hoped to make him his instrument in overturning the
+government of England and reestablishing the house of Lancaster. No
+animosity was ever greater than that which had long prevailed between
+that house and the Earl of Warwick. But his present distresses and the
+entreaties of Louis made him hearken to terms of accommodation; and
+Margaret being sent for from Angers, where she then resided, an agreement
+was soon concluded between them. It was stipulated that Warwick should
+espouse the cause of Henry and endeavor to restore him to liberty and to
+reestablish him on the throne; that the administration of the government
+during the minority of young Edward, Henry's son, should be intrusted
+conjointly to the Earl of Warwick and the Duke of Clarence; that Prince
+Edward should marry the Lady Anne, second daughter of that nobleman; and
+that the crown, in case of the failure of male issue in that Prince,
+should descend to the Duke of Clarence, to the entire exclusion of King
+Edward and his posterity. The marriage of Prince Edward with the Lady
+Anne was immediately celebrated in France.
+
+Edward foresaw that it would be easy to dissolve an alliance composed
+of such discordant parts. For this purpose he sent over a lady of great
+sagacity and address, who belonged to the train of the Duchess of
+Clarence, and who, under color of attending her mistress, was empowered
+to negotiate with the Duke, and to renew the connections of that Prince
+with his own family. She represented to Clarence that he had unwarily,
+to his own ruin, become the instrument of Warwick's vengeance, and had
+thrown himself entirely in the power of his most inveterate enemies;
+that the mortal injuries which the one royal family had suffered from
+the other were now past all forgiveness, and no imaginary union of
+interests could ever suffice to obliterate them; that, even if the
+leaders were willing to forget past offences, the animosity of their
+adherents would prevent a sincere coalition of parties, and would, in
+spite of all temporary and verbal agreements, preserve an eternal
+opposition of measures between them; and that a prince who deserted his
+own kindred, and joined the murderers of his father, left himself
+single, without friends, without protection, and would not, when
+misfortunes inevitably fell upon him, be so much as entitled to any pity
+or regard from the rest of mankind. Clarence was only one-and-twenty
+years of age, and seems to have possessed but a slender capacity; yet
+could he easily see the force of these reasons; and, upon the promise
+of forgiveness from his brother, he secretly engaged, on a favorable
+opportunity, to desert the Earl of Warwick and abandon the Lancastrian
+party.
+
+During this negotiation Warwick was secretly carrying on a correspondence
+of the same nature with his brother, the Marquis of Montagu, who was,
+entirely trusted by Edward; and like motives produced a like resolution
+in that nobleman. The Marquis, also, that he might render the projected
+blow the more deadly and incurable, resolved on his side to watch a
+favorable opportunity for committing his perfidy, and still to maintain
+the appearance of being a zealous adherent to the house of York.
+
+After these mutual snares were thus carefully laid, the decision of the
+quarrel advanced apace. Louis prepared a fleet to escort the Earl of
+Warwick, and granted him a supply of men and money. The Duke of Burgundy,
+on the other hand, anxious to support the reigning family in England,
+fitted out a larger fleet, with which he guarded the Channel. Edward was
+not sensible of his danger; he made no suitable preparations against
+the Earl of Warwick; he even said that the Duke might spare himself the
+trouble of guarding the seas, and that he wished for nothing more than to
+see Warwick set foot on English ground.
+
+The event soon happened of which Edward seemed so desirous. A storm
+dispersed the Duke of Burgundy's navy, and left the sea open to Warwick.
+That nobleman seized the opportunity, and, setting sail, quickly landed
+at Dartmouth with the Duke of Clarence, the earls of Oxford and Pembroke,
+and a small body of troops, while the King was in the North, engaged in
+suppressing an insurrection which had been raised by Lord Fitz-Hugh,
+brother-in-law to Warwick. The scene which ensues resembles more
+the fiction of a poem or romance than an event in true history. The
+prodigious popularity of Warwick, the zeal of the Lancastrian party,
+the spirit of discontent with which many were infected, and the general
+instability of the English nation occasioned by the late frequent
+revolutions drew such multitudes to his standard that in a very few days
+his army amounted to sixty thousand men and was continually increasing.
+Edward hastened southward to encounter him; and the two armies approached
+each other near Nottingham, where a decisive action was every hour
+expected.
+
+The rapidity of Warwick's progress had incapacitated the Duke of Clarence
+from executing his plan of treachery; and the Marquis of Montagu had here
+the opportunity of striking the first blow. He communicated the design to
+his adherents, who promised him their concurrence; they took to arms in
+the night-time, and hastened with loud acclamations to Edward's quarters;
+the King was alarmed at the noise, and, starting from bed, heard the cry
+of war usually employed by the Lancastrian party. Lord Hastings, his
+chamberlain, informed him of the danger, and urged him to make his escape
+by speedy flight from an army where he had so many concealed enemies and
+where few seemed zealously attached to his service. He had just time to
+get on horseback and to hurry with a small retinue to Lynne, in Norfolk,
+where he luckily found some ships ready, on board of which he instantly
+embarked. The Earl of Warwick, in eleven days after his first landing,
+was left entire master of the kingdom. But Edward's danger did not end
+with his embarkation. The Easterlings or Hanse Towns were then at war
+both with France and England; and some ships of these people, hovering on
+the English coast, espied the King's vessels and gave chase to them; nor
+was it without extreme difficulty that he made his escape into the port
+of Alkmaar in Holland.
+
+Immediately after Edward's flight had left the kingdom at Warwick's
+disposal, that nobleman hastened to London; and taking Henry from his
+confinement in the Tower, into which he himself had been the chief
+cause of throwing him, he proclaimed him King with great solemnity.
+A parliament was summoned, in the name of that Prince, to meet at
+Westminster. The treaty with Margaret was here fully executed; Henry
+was recognized as lawful king; but, his incapacity for government being
+avowed, the regency was intrusted to Warwick and Clarence till the
+majority of Prince Edward; and in default of that Prince's issue,
+Clarence was declared successor to the crown.
+
+The ruling party were more sparing in their executions than was usual
+after any revolution during those violent times. The only victim
+of distinction was John Tibetot, Earl of Worcester. All the other
+considerable Yorkists either fled beyond sea or took shelter in
+sanctuaries, where the ecclesiastical privileges afforded them
+protection. In London alone it is computed that no less than two thousand
+persons saved themselves in this manner, and among the rest Edward's
+Queen, who was there delivered of a son, called by his father's name.
+Queen Margaret had not yet appeared in England, but, on receiving
+intelligence of Warwick's success, was preparing with Prince Edward for
+her journey. All the banished Lancastrians flocked to her, and, among the
+rest, the Duke of Somerset, son of the Duke beheaded after the battle
+of Hexham. This nobleman, who had long been regarded as the head of
+the party, had fled into the Low Countries on the discomfiture of
+his friends; and as he concealed his name and quality, he had there
+languished in extreme indigence. But both Somerset and Margaret were
+detained by contrary winds from reaching England, till a new revolution
+in that kingdom, no less sudden and surprising than the former, threw
+them into greater misery than that from which they had just emerged.
+
+The Duke of Burgundy equipped four large vessels, in the name of some
+private merchants, at Terveer, in Zealand; and, causing fourteen ships to
+be secretly hired from the Easterlings, he delivered this small squadron
+to Edward, who, receiving also a sum of money from the Duke, immediately
+set sail for England, 1471.
+
+Edward, impatient to take revenge on his enemies and to recover his lost
+authority, made an attempt to land with his forces, which exceeded not
+two thousand men, on the coast of Norfolk; but being there repulsed, he
+sailed northward and disembarked at Ravenspur, in Yorkshire. Finding that
+the new magistrates, who had been appointed by the Earl of Warwick, kept
+the people everywhere from joining him, he pretended, and even made oath,
+that he came, not to challenge the crown, but only the inheritance of the
+house of York, which of right belonged to him, and that he did not intend
+to disturb the peace of the kingdom. His partisans every moment flocked
+to his standard; he was admitted into the city of York; and he was soon
+in such a situation as gave him hopes of succeeding in all his claims and
+pretensions.
+
+Warwick assembled an army at Leicester, with an intention of meeting and
+of giving battle to the enemy, but Edward, by taking another road, passed
+him unmolested and presented himself before the gates of London. Edward's
+entrance into London made him master not only of that rich and powerful
+city, but also of the person of Henry, who, destined to be the perpetual
+sport of fortune, thus fell again into the hands of his enemies. It does
+not appear that Warwick, during his short administration, which had
+continued only six months, had been guilty of any unpopular act, or had
+anywise deserved to lose that general favor with which he had so lately
+overwhelmed Edward. But this Prince, who was formerly on the defensive,
+was now the aggressor. Everyone who had been disappointed in the hopes
+which he had entertained from Warwick's elevation either became a cool
+friend or an open enemy to that nobleman; and each malecontent, from
+whatever cause, proved an accession to Edward's army.
+
+The King, therefore, found himself in a condition to face the Earl of
+Warwick, who, being reënforced by his son-in-law the Duke of Clarence,
+and his brother the Marquis of Montagu, took post at Barnet, in the
+neighborhood of London. Warwick was now too far advanced to retreat, and,
+as he rejected with disdain all terms of peace offered him by Edward and
+Clarence, he was obliged to hazard a general engagement. The battle was
+fought with obstinacy on both sides. The two armies, in imitation of
+their leaders, displayed uncommon valor; and the victory remained long
+undecided between them. But an accident threw the balance to the side of
+the Yorkists. Edward's cognizance was a sun; that of Warwick a star
+with rays; and the mistiness of the morning rendering it difficult to
+distinguish them, the Earl of Oxford, who fought on the side of the
+Lancastrians, was by mistake attacked by his friends and chased off the
+field of battle. Warwick, contrary to his more usual practice, engaged
+that day on foot, resolving to show his army that he meant to share every
+fortune with them, and he was slain in the thickest of the engagement;
+and as Edward had issued orders not to give any quarter, a great and
+undistinguished slaughter was made in the pursuit. There fell about one
+thousand five hundred on the side of the victors.
+
+The same day on which this decisive battle was fought, Queen Margaret
+and her son, now about eighteen years of age and a young prince of great
+hopes, landed at Weymouth, supported by a small body of French forces.
+When this Princess received intelligence of her husband's captivity, and
+of the defeat and death of the Earl of Warwick, her courage, which had
+supported her under so many disastrous events, here quite left her; and
+she immediately foresaw all the dismal consequences of this calamity. At
+first she took sanctuary in the Abbey of Beaulieu; but being encouraged
+by men of rank, who exhorted her still to hope for success, she resumed
+her former spirit and determined to defend to the utmost the ruins of her
+fallen fortunes. She advanced through the counties of Devon, Somerset,
+and Gloucester, increasing her army on each day's march, but was at last
+overtaken by the rapid and expeditious Edward at Tewkesbury, on the banks
+of the Severn. The Lancastrians were here totally defeated; the Earl
+of Devonshire and Lord Wenlock were killed in the field; the Duke of
+Somerset and about twenty other persons of distinction, having taken
+shelter in a church, were surrounded, dragged out, and immediately
+beheaded; about three thousand of their side fell in battle; and the army
+was entirely dispersed.
+
+Queen Margaret and her son were taken prisoners and brought to the King,
+who asked the Prince, after an insulting manner, how he dared to invade
+his dominions. The young Prince, more mindful of his high birth than
+of his present fortune, replied that he came thither to claim his just
+inheritance. The ungenerous Edward, insensible to pity, struck him on the
+face with his gauntlet; and the Dukes of Clarence and Gloucester, Lord
+Hastings, and Sir Thomas Gray, taking the blow as a signal for further
+violence, hurried the Prince into the next apartment and there despatched
+him with their daggers. Margaret was thrown into the Tower; King Henry
+expired in that confinement a few days after the battle of Tewkesbury;
+but whether he died a natural or violent death is uncertain. It is
+pretended, and was generally believed, that the Duke of Gloucester killed
+him with his own hands; but the universal odium which that Prince had
+incurred, perhaps inclined the nation to aggravate his crimes without any
+sufficient authority.
+
+All the hopes of the house of Lancaster seemed now to be utterly
+extinguished. Every legitimate prince of that family was dead; almost
+every great leader of the party had perished in battle or on the
+scaffold; the Earl of Pembroke, who was levying forces in Wales,
+disbanded his army when he received intelligence of the battle of
+Tewkesbury, and he fled into Brittany with his nephew, the young Earl of
+Richmond. The bastard of Falconberg, who had levied some forces, and
+had advanced to London during Edward's absence, was repulsed; his men
+deserted him; he was taken prisoner and immediately executed; and peace
+being now fully restored to the nation, a parliament was summoned, which
+ratified, as usual, all the acts of the victor, and recognized his legal
+authority.
+
+This Prince, who had been so firm and active and intrepid during the
+course of adversity, was still unable to resist the allurements of a
+prosperous fortune; and he devoted himself, as before, to pleasure and
+amusement, after he became entirely master of his kingdom. But while he
+was thus indulging himself in pleasure, he was roused from his lethargy
+by a prospect of foreign conquests. He passed over to Calais, 1475, with
+an army of one thousand five hundred men-at-arms and fifteen thousand
+archers, attended by all the chief nobility of England, who,
+prognosticating future successes from the past, were eager to appear on
+this great theatre of honor. But all their sanguine hopes were damped
+when they found, on entering the French territories, that neither did the
+constable open his gates to them nor the Duke of Burgundy bring them the
+smallest assistance. That Prince, transported by his ardent temper, had
+carried all his armies to a great distance, and had employed them in wars
+on the frontiers of Germany and against the Duke of Lorraine; and though
+he came in person to Edward, and endeavored to apologize for this breach
+of treaty, there was no prospect that they would be able this campaign to
+make a conjunction with the English. This circumstance gave great disgust
+to the King, and inclined him to hearken to those advances which Louis
+continually made him for an accommodation.
+
+Louis was sensible that the warlike genius of the people would soon
+render them excellent soldiers, and, far from despising them for their
+present want of experience, he employed all his art to detach them from
+the alliance of Burgundy. When Edward sent him a herald to claim the
+crown of France, and to carry him a defiance in case of refusal, so far
+from answering to this bravado in like haughty terms, he replied with
+great temper, and even made the herald a considerable present. He took
+afterward an opportunity of sending a herald to the English camp, and
+having given him directions to apply to Lords Stanley and Howard, who,
+he heard, were friends to peace, he desired the good offices of these
+noblemen in promoting an accommodation with their master. As Edward was
+now fallen into like dispositions, a truce was soon concluded on terms
+more advantageous than honorable to Louis. He stipulated to pay Edward
+immediately seventy-five thousand crowns, on condition that he should
+withdraw his army from France, and promised to pay him fifty thousand
+crowns a year during their joint lives. In order to ratify this treaty,
+the two monarchs agreed to have a personal interview. Edward and Louis
+conferred privately together; and having confirmed their friendship, and
+interchanged many mutual civilities, they soon after parted. As the two
+armies, after the conclusion of the truce, remained some time in the
+neighborhood of each other, the English were not only admitted freely
+into Amiens, where Louis resided, but had also their charges defrayed,
+and had wine and victuals furnished them in every inn without any payment
+being demanded.
+
+This treaty did very little honor to either of these monarchs. It
+discovered the imprudence of Edward, who had taken his measures so ill
+with his allies as to be obliged, after such an expensive armament, to
+return without making any acquisitions adequate to it. It showed the want
+of dignity in Louis, who, rather than run the hazard of a battle,
+agreed to subject his kingdom to a tribunal, and thus acknowledge the
+superiority of a neighboring prince possessed of less power and territory
+than himself. But Louis thought that all the advantages of the treaty
+were on his side, and that he had overreached Edward by sending him out
+of France on such easy terms.
+
+The most honorable part of Louis' treaty with Edward was the stipulation
+for the liberty of Queen Margaret, who, though after the death of her
+husband and son she could no longer be formidable to Government, was
+still detained in custody by Edward. Louis paid fifty thousand crowns for
+her ransom; and that Princess, who had been so active on the stage of
+the world, and who had experienced such a variety of fortune, passed the
+remainder of her days in tranquillity and privacy till the year 1482,
+when she died; an admirable princess, but more illustrious by her
+undaunted spirit in adversity than by her moderation in prosperity.
+She seems neither to have enjoyed the virtues nor been subject to the
+weaknesses of her sex, and was as much tainted with the ferocity as
+endowed with the courage of that barbarous age in which she lived.
+
+The Duke of Clarence, by all his services in deserting Warwick, had never
+been able to regain the King's friendship, which he had forfeited by his
+former confederacy with that nobleman. He was still regarded at court as
+a man of a dangerous and a fickle character; and the imprudent openness
+and violence of his temper, though they rendered him much less dangerous,
+tended extremely to multiply his enemies and to incense them against him.
+Among others, he had had the misfortune to give displeasure to the Queen
+herself, as well as to his brother, the Duke of Gloucester, a prince
+of the deepest policy, of the most unrelenting ambition, and the least
+scrupulous in the means which he employed for the attainment of his ends.
+A combination between these potent adversaries being secretly formed
+against Clarence, it was determined to begin by attacking his friends. He
+was alarmed when he found acts of tyranny exercised on all around him;
+but, instead of securing his own life against the present danger by
+silence and reserve, he was open and loud in justifying the innocence of
+his friends and in exclaiming against the iniquity of their prosecutors.
+The King, highly offended with his freedom, or using that pretence
+against him, committed him to the Tower, 1478, summoned a parliament, and
+tried him for his life. Clarence was pronounced guilty by the peers. The
+House of Commons was no less slavish and unjust; they both petitioned
+for the execution of the Duke and afterward passed a bill of attainder
+against him.
+
+The only favor which the King granted him after his condemnation was to
+leave him the choice of his death; and he was privately drowned in a butt
+of malmsey in the Tower--a whimsical choice, which implies that he had an
+extraordinary passion for that liquor.
+
+The Duke left two children by the elder daughter of the Earl of Warwick:
+a son, created an earl by his grandfather's title, and a daughter,
+afterward Countess of Salisbury. Both this Prince and Princess were also
+unfortunate in their end, and died violent deaths--a fate which, for many
+years, attended almost all the descendants of the royal blood of England.
+There prevails a report that a chief source of the violent prosecution of
+the Duke of Clarence, whose name was George, was a current prophecy that
+the King's son should be murdered by one the initial letter of whose name
+was G. It is not impossible but, in those ignorant times, such a silly
+reason might have some influence; but it is more probable that the whole
+story is the invention of a subsequent period, and founded on the murder
+of these children by the Duke of Gloucester.
+
+All the glories of Edward's reign terminated with the civil wars, where
+his laurels, too, were extremely sullied with blood, violence, and
+cruelty. His spirit seems afterward to have been sunk in indolence and
+pleasure, or his measures were frustrated by imprudence and the want
+of foresight. While he was making preparations for a French war he was
+seized with a distemper, of which he expired, 1483, in the forty-second
+year of his age and the twenty-third of his reign.
+
+During the latter years of Edward IV the nation, having in a great
+measure forgotten the bloody feuds between the two roses, and peaceably
+acquiescing in the established government, was agitated only by some
+court intrigues, which, being restrained by the authority of the King,
+seemed nowise to endanger the public tranquillity. But Edward knew that,
+though he himself had been able to overawe rival factions, many disorders
+might arise from their contests during the minority of his son; and he
+therefore took care, in his last illness, to summon together several of
+the leaders on both sides, and, by composing their ancient quarrels, to
+provide as far as possible for the future tranquillity of the government.
+After expressing his intentions that his brother, the Duke of Gloucester,
+then absent in the North, should be intrusted with the regency, he
+recommended to them peace and unanimity during the tender years of his
+son, and engaged them to embrace each other with all the appearance of
+the most cordial reconciliation. But this temporary or feigned agreement
+lasted no longer than the King's life; he had no sooner expired than the
+jealousies of the parties broke out afresh; and each of them applied, by
+separate messages, to the Duke of Gloucester, and endeavored to acquire
+his favor and friendship.
+
+This Prince, during his brother's reign, had endeavored to live on good
+terms with both parties, and his high birth, his extensive abilities, and
+his great services had enabled him to support himself without falling
+into a dependence on either. But the new situation of affairs, when the
+supreme power was devolved upon him, immediately changed his measures,
+and he secretly determined to preserve no longer that neutrality which
+he had hitherto maintained. His exorbitant ambition, unrestrained by any
+principle either of justice or humanity, made him carry his views to the
+possession of the crown itself, and, as this object could not be
+attained without the ruin of the Queen and her family, he fell, without
+hesitation, into concert with the opposite party. But, being sensible
+that the most profound dissimulation was requisite for effecting his
+criminal purposes, he redoubled his professions of zeal and attachment
+to that Princess; and he gained such credit with her as to influence
+her conduct in a point which, as it was of the utmost importance, was
+violently disputed between the opposite factions.
+
+The young King, at the time of his father's death, resided in the castle
+of Ludlow, on the borders of Wales, whither he had been sent, that
+the influence of his presence might overawe the Welsh and restore the
+tranquillity of that country, which had been disturbed by some late
+commotions.
+
+The Duke of Gloucester, being the nearest male of the royal family
+capable of exercising the government, seemed entitled, by the customs of
+the realm, to the office of protector; and the council, not waiting for
+the consent of parliament, made no scruple of investing him with that
+high dignity. The general prejudice entertained by the nobility against
+the Queen and her kindred occasioned this precipitation and irregularity;
+and no one foresaw any danger to the succession, much less to the lives
+of the young princes, from a measure so obvious and so natural. Besides
+that the Duke had hitherto been able to cover, by the most profound
+dissimulation, his fierce and savage nature, the numerous issue of
+Edward, together with the two children of Clarence, seemed to be an
+eternal obstacle to his ambition; and it appeared equally impracticable
+for him to destroy so many persons possessed of a preferable title and
+imprudent to exclude them.
+
+But a man who had abandoned all principles of honor and humanity was
+soon carried by his predominant passion beyond the reach of fear or
+precaution; and Gloucester, having so far succeeded in his views, no
+longer hesitated in removing the other obstructions which lay between
+him and the throne. The death of the Earl of Rivers[2], and of other
+prisoners detained in Pomfret, was first determined; and he easily
+obtained the consent of the Duke of Buckingham, as well as of Lord
+Hastings, to this violent and sanguinary measure. Orders were accordingly
+issued to Sir Richard Ratcliffe, a proper instrument in the hands of
+this tyrant, to cut off the heads of the prisoners. The Protector then
+assailed the fidelity of Buckingham by all the arguments capable of
+swaying a vicious mind, and he easily obtained from him a promise of
+supporting him in all his enterprises.
+
+The Duke of Gloucester, knowing the importance of gaining Lord Hastings,
+sounded at a distance his sentiments, but found him impregnable in his
+allegiance and fidelity to the children of Edward, who had ever honored
+him with his friendship. He saw, therefore, that there were no longer any
+measures to be kept with him; and he determined to ruin utterly the man
+whom he despaired of engaging to concur in his usurpation. On the very
+day when Rivers, Gray, and Vaughan were executed, or rather murdered, at
+Pomfret, by the advice of Hastings, the Protector summoned a council
+in the Tower, whither that nobleman, suspecting no design against him,
+repaired without hesitation. The Duke of Gloucester was capable of
+committing the most bloody and treacherous murders with the utmost
+coolness and indifference. On taking his place at the council table he
+appeared in the easiest and most jovial humor imaginable. He seemed to
+indulge himself in familiar conversation with the councillors before they
+should enter on business, and having paid some compliments to Morton,
+Bishop of Ely, on the good and early strawberries which he raised in his
+garden at Holborn, he begged the favor of having a dish of them, which
+that prelate immediately despatched a servant to bring to him. The
+Protector left the council, as if called away by some other business,
+but, soon after returning with an angry and inflamed countenance, he
+asked them what punishment those deserved that had plotted against _his_
+life, who was so nearly related to the King, and was intrusted with the
+administration of government. Hastings replied that they merited the
+punishment of traitors. "These traitors," cried the Protector, "are the
+sorceress, my brother's wife, and Jane Shore, his mistress, with others
+their associates; see to what a condition they have reduced me by their
+incantations and witchcraft!" Upon which he laid bare his arm, all
+shrivelled and decayed; but the councillors, who knew that this infirmity
+had attended him from his birth, looked on each other with amazement;
+and, above all, Lord Hastings, who, as he had since Edward's death
+engaged in an intrigue with Jane Shore, was naturally anxious concerning
+the issue of these extraordinary proceedings.
+
+"Certainly, my lord," said he, "if they be guilty of these crimes, they
+deserve the severest punishment." "And do you reply to me," exclaimed the
+Protector, "with your _ifs_ and your _ands_? You are the chief abettor of
+that witch, Shore; you are yourself a traitor; and I swear by St. Paul
+that I will not dine before your head be brought me." He struck the table
+with his hand; armed men rushed in at the signal; the councillors were
+thrown into the utmost consternation; and one of the guards, as if by
+accident or mistake, aimed a blow with a pole-axe at Lord Stanley, who,
+aware of the danger, slunk under the table; and though he saved his life,
+he received a severe wound in the Protector's presence. Hastings was
+seized, and instantly beheaded on a timber-log which lay in the court of
+the Tower.
+
+Lord Stanley, the Archbishop of York, the Bishop of Ely, and other
+councillors were committed prisoners in different chambers of the Tower.
+These acts of violence, exercised against the nearest connections of the
+late King, prognosticated the severest fate to his defenceless children;
+and after the murder of Hastings, the Protector no longer made a secret
+of his intentions to usurp the crown. The licentious life of Edward
+afforded a pretence for declaring his marriage with the Queen invalid and
+all his posterity illegitimate. It was also maintained that the act of
+attainder passed against the Duke of Clarence had virtually incapacitated
+his children from succeeding to the crown; and, these two families being
+set aside, the Protector remained the only true and legitimate heir of
+the house of York. The Protector resolved to make use of another plea,
+still more shameful and scandalous. His partisans were taught to maintain
+that both Edward IV and the Duke of Clarence were illegitimate, and that
+the Duke of Gloucester alone appeared to be the true offspring of the
+Duke of York.
+
+In a few days the Duke of Buckingham went to Baynard's castle, where
+the Protector then resided, to make him a tender of the crown. Richard
+refused to appear, and pretended to be apprehensive for his personal
+safety; a circumstance taken notice of by Buckingham, who observed "that
+the Prince was ignorant of the whole design." At last he was persuaded to
+step forth, but he still kept at some distance; and he asked the meaning
+of the intrusion and importunity. Buckingham told him that the nation
+was resolved to have him for King. The Protector declared his purpose of
+maintaining his loyalty to the present sovereign. He was told that the
+people had determined to have another prince; and if he rejected their
+unanimous voice, they must look out for one who would be more compliant.
+This argument was too powerful to be resisted; he was prevailed on to
+accept of the crown; and he thenceforth acted as legitimate and rightful
+sovereign.
+
+This ridiculous farce was soon after followed by a scene truly
+tragical--the murder of the two young princes. Richard gave orders to Sir
+Robert Brakenbury, constable of the Tower, to put his nephews to death,
+but this gentleman, who had sentiments of honor, refused to have any hand
+in the infamous office. The tyrant then sent for Sir James Tyrrel, who
+promised obedience; and he ordered Brakenbury to resign to this gentleman
+the keys and government of the Tower for one night. Tyrrel, choosing
+three associates, Slater, Dighton, and Forest, came in the night-time to
+the door of the chamber where the princes were lodged, and, sending in
+the assassins, he bade them execute their commission, while he himself
+stayed without. They found the young princes in bed and fallen into a
+profound sleep. After suffocating them with the bolster and pillows, they
+showed their naked bodies to Tyrrel, who ordered them to be buried at the
+foot of the stairs, deep in the ground, under a heap of stones, 1483.
+
+These circumstances were all confessed by the actors in the following
+reign; they were never punished for the crime, probably because Henry,
+whose maxims of government were extremely arbitrary, desired to establish
+it as a principle that the commands of the reigning sovereign ought to
+justify every enormity in those who paid obedience to them. But there is
+one circumstance not so easy to be accounted for: it is pretended that
+Richard, displeased with the indecent manner of burying his nephews, whom
+he had murdered, gave his chaplain orders to dig up the bodies, and to
+inter them in consecrated ground; and as the man died soon after, the
+place of their burial remained unknown, and the bodies could never be
+found by any search which Henry could make for them. Yet in the reign of
+Charles II, when there was occasion to remove some stones and to dig in
+the very spot which was mentioned as the place of their first interment,
+the bones of two persons were there found, which by their size exactly
+corresponded to the age of Edward and his brother. They were concluded
+with certainty to be the remains of those princes, and were interred
+under a marble monument by orders of King Charles.
+
+The first acts of Richard's administration were to bestow rewards on
+those who had assisted him in usurping the crown, and to gain by favors
+those who, he thought, were best able to support his future government.
+
+But the person who, both from the greatness of his services and the power
+and splendor of his family, was best entitled to favors under the new
+government, was the Duke of Buckingham, and Richard seemed determined to
+spare no pains or bounty in securing him to his interests. But it was
+impossible that friendship could long remain inviolate between two men of
+such corrupt minds as Richard and the Duke of Buckingham. The Duke,
+soon after Richard's accession, began to form a conspiracy against the
+government, and attempted to overthrow that usurpation which he himself
+had so zealously contributed to establish. Never was there in any country
+a usurpation more flagrant than that of Richard, or more repugnant to
+every principle of justice and public interest. To endure such a bloody
+usurper seemed to draw disgrace upon the nation, and to be attended with
+immediate danger to every individual who was distinguished by birth,
+merit, or services. Such was become the general voice of the people; all
+parties were united in the same sentiments; and the Lancastrians, so long
+oppressed, and of late so much discredited, felt their blasted hopes
+again revive, and anxiously expected the consequences of these
+extraordinary events.
+
+The Duke of Buckingham, whose family had been devoted to that interest,
+and who, by his mother, a daughter of Edmund, Duke of Somerset, was
+allied to the house of Lancaster, was easily induced to espouse the
+cause of this party, and to endeavor the restoring of it to its ancient
+superiority. Morton, Bishop of Ely, a zealous Lancastrian, whom the King
+had imprisoned, and had afterward committed to the custody of Buckingham,
+encouraged these sentiments; and by his exhortations the Duke cast his
+eye toward the young Earl of Richmond as the only person who could free
+the nation from the tyranny of the present usurper.
+
+Henry, Earl of Richmond, was at this time detained in a kind of honorable
+custody by the Duke of Brittany, and his descent, which seemed to give
+him some pretensions to the crown, had been a great object of jealousy
+both in the late and in the present reign. Symptoms of continued jealousy
+in the reigning family of England seemed to give some authority to
+Henry's pretensions, and made him the object of general favor and
+compassion, on account of dangers and persecutions to which he was
+exposed. The universal detestation of Richard's conduct turned still more
+the attention of the nation toward Henry; and as all the descendants of
+the house of York were either women or minors, he seemed to be the only
+person from whom the nation could expect the expulsion of the odious and
+bloody tyrant. But notwithstanding these circumstances, which were so
+favorable to him, Buckingham and the Bishop of Ely well knew that there
+would still lie many obstacles in his way to the throne. It was therefore
+suggested by Morton, and readily assented to by the Duke, that the only
+means of overturning the present usurpation was to unite the opposite
+factions by contracting a marriage between the Earl of Richmond and the
+princess Elizabeth, eldest daughter of King Edward, and thereby blending
+together the opposite pretensions of their families.
+
+The plan being laid upon the solid foundations of good sense and sound
+policy, it was secretly communicated to the principal persons of both
+parties in all the counties of England, and a wonderful alacrity appeared
+in every order of men to forward its success and completion. But it was
+impossible that so extensive a conspiracy could be conducted in so secret
+a manner as entirely to escape the jealous and vigilant eye of Richard;
+and he soon received intelligence that his enemies, headed by the Duke
+of Buckingham, were forming some design against his authority. He
+immediately put himself in a posture of defence by levying troops in the
+North; and he summoned the Duke to appear at court, in such terms as
+seemed to promise him a renewal of their former amity. But that nobleman,
+well acquainted with the barbarity and treachery of Richard, replied only
+by taking arms in Wales, and giving the signal to his accomplices for a
+general insurrection in all parts of England.
+
+But at that very time there happened to fall such heavy rains, so
+incessant and continued, as exceeded any known in the memory of man; and
+the Severn, with the other rivers in that neighborhood, swelled to a
+height which rendered them impassable and prevented Buckingham from
+marching into the heart of England to join his associates. The Welshmen,
+partly moved by superstition at this extraordinary event, partly
+distressed by famine in their camp, fell off from him; and Buckingham,
+finding himself deserted by his followers, put on a disguise and took
+shelter in the house of Banister, an old servant of his family. But being
+detected in his retreat, he was brought to the King at Salisbury, and was
+instantly executed, according to the summary method practised in that
+age. The other conspirators, who took arms in four different places, at
+Exeter, at Salisbury, at Newbury, and at Maidstone, hearing of the
+Duke of Buckingham's misfortunes, despaired of success and immediately
+dispersed themselves.
+
+The King, everywhere triumphant and fortified by this unsuccessful
+attempt to dethrone him, ventured at last to summon a parliament--a
+measure which his crimes and flagrant usurpation had induced him hitherto
+to decline. His enemies being now at his feet, the parliament had no
+choice left but to recognize his authority and acknowledge his right to
+the crown. His only son, Edward, then a youth of twelve years of age, was
+created prince of Wales.
+
+Sensible that the only circumstance which could give him security was
+to gain the confidence of the Yorkists, Richard paid court to the Queen
+Dowager with such art and address, made such earnest protestations of
+his sincere good-will and friendship, that this Princess ventured to put
+herself and her daughters into the hands of the tyrant. He now thought it
+in his power to remove the chief perils which threatened his government.
+The Earl of Richmond, he knew, could never be formidable but from his
+projected marriage with the princess Elizabeth, the true heir of the
+crown; and he therefore intended to espouse, himself, this Princess, and
+thus to unite in his own family their contending titles. He flattered
+himself that the English nation, seeing all danger removed of a disputed
+succession, would then acquiesce under the dominion of a prince who
+was of mature years, of great abilities, and of a genius qualified for
+government, and that they would forgive him all the crimes which he had
+committed in paving his way to the throne.
+
+But the crimes of Richard were so horrid, and so shocking to humanity,
+that every person of probity and honor was earnest to prevent the sceptre
+from being any longer polluted by that bloody and faithless hand which
+held it. All the exiles flocked to the Earl of Richmond in Brittany, and
+exhorted him to hasten his attempt for a new invasion, and to prevent the
+marriage of the princess Elizabeth, which must prove fatal to all his
+hopes.
+
+The Earl set sail from Harfleur, in Normandy, with a small army of about
+two thousand men; and after a navigation of six days he arrived at
+Milford Haven, in Wales, where he landed without opposition. He directed
+his course to that part of the kingdom, in hopes that the Welsh, who
+regarded him as their countryman, and who had been already prepossessed
+in favor of his cause by means of the Duke of Buckingham, would join his
+standard, and enable him to make head against the established government.
+Richard, who knew not in what quarter he might expect the invader, had
+taken post at Nottingham, in the centre of the kingdom; and having
+given commissions to different persons in the several counties, whom he
+empowered to oppose his enemy, he purposed in person to fly, on the first
+alarm, to the place exposed to danger.
+
+Henry, advancing toward Shrewsbury, received every day some reënforcement
+from his partisans. The two rivals at last approached each other at
+Bosworth, near Leicester, Henry at the head of six thousand men, Richard
+with an army of above double the number; and a decisive action was every
+hour expected between them. Stanley, who commanded above seven thousand
+men, took care to post himself at Atherstone, not far from the hostile
+camps; and he made such a disposition as enabled him on occasion to join
+either party.
+
+The van of Richmond's army, consisting of archers, was commanded by the
+Earl of Oxford; Sir Gilbert Talbot led the right wing; Sir John Savage
+the left; the Earl himself, accompanied by his uncle the Earl of
+Pembroke, placed himself in the main body. Richard also took post in
+_his_ main body, and intrusted the command of his van to the Duke of
+Norfolk; as his wings were never engaged, we have not learned the names
+of the several commanders. Soon after the battle began, Lord Stanley,
+whose conduct in this whole affair discovers great precaution and
+abilities, appeared in the field, and declared for the Earl of Richmond.
+This measure, which was unexpected to the men, though not to their
+leaders, had a proportional effect on both armies: it inspired unusual
+courage into Henry's soldiers; it threw Richard's into dismay and
+confusion. The intrepid tyrant, sensible of his desperate situation, cast
+his eye around the field, and, descrying his rival at no great distance,
+he drove against him with fury, in hopes that either Henry's death or his
+own would decide the victory between them. He killed with his own hand
+Sir William Brandon, standard-bearer to the Earl; he dismounted Sir John
+Cheyney. He was now within reach of Richmond himself, who declined not
+the combat, when Sir William Stanley,[3] breaking in with his troops,
+surrounded Richard, who, fighting bravely to the last moment, was
+overwhelmed by numbers, and perished by a fate too mild and honorable
+for his multiplied and detestable enormities. His men everywhere sought
+safety by flight.
+
+There fell in this battle about four thousand of the vanquished. The loss
+was inconsiderable on the side of the victors. Sir William Catesby, a
+great instrument of Richard's crimes, was taken, and soon after beheaded,
+with some others, at Leicester. The body of Richard was found in the
+field, covered with dead enemies, and all besmeared with blood. It was
+thrown carelessly across a horse, was carried to Leicester amid the
+shouts of the insulting spectators, and was interred in the Gray Friars'
+Church of that place.
+
+The historians who favor Richard--for even this tyrant has met with
+partisans among the later writers--maintain that he was well qualified
+for government had he legally obtained it, and that he committed no
+crimes but such as were necessary to procure him possession of the crown;
+but this is a poor apology when it is confessed that he was ready to
+commit the most horrid crimes which appeared necessary for that purpose;
+and it is certain that all his courage and capacity--qualities in which
+he really seems not to have been deficient--would never have made
+compensation to the people for the danger of the precedent and for the
+contagious example of vice and murder exalted upon the throne. This
+Prince was of a small stature, hump-backed, and had a harsh, disagreeable
+countenance; so that his body was in every particular no less deformed
+than his mind.
+
+[Footnote 1: Wife of Henry VI.]
+
+[Footnote 2: The Queen's brother.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Brother of Lord Stanley, _above_.]
+
+
+
+IVAN THE GREAT UNITES RUSSIA AND BREAKS THE TARTAR YOKE
+
+A.D. 1462-1505
+
+Robert Bell
+
+
+At the birth of Ivan III (1440) Russia was all but stifled between the
+great Lithuanian empire of the Poles and the vast possessions of the
+Mongols. In vain had a succession of Muscovite princes endeavored to give
+unity to the little Russian state. Between the grand princes of Moscow
+and those of Lithuania stood Novgorod and Pskof, the two chief Russian
+republics, hesitating to declare their allegiance.
+
+By the creation of new appanages the Russian princes continually
+destroyed the very unity for which they labored. Moreover, at a time when
+the great nations of the West were organizing, Muscovy or Russia had
+no settled relations with their civilization. The opening of the
+Renaissance, the progress of discovery, the invention of printing--by
+these the best spirits in Russia were stirred to fresh aspirations for
+national organization and participation in the great European movement.
+
+According to the tradition, her deliverer had been foretold and was
+expected. His triumphs were predicted at his birth. The man through whom,
+or at least in whose name, Russia was to be restored to herself, to be
+freed from the Mongol yoke, and brought into living connection with
+Western Europe, was Ivan, son and heir of Vasili the Blind, Grand Prince
+of Moscow.
+
+This child became Ivan III, surnamed the "Great," because during his
+reign, 1462-1505, the expectations of his country were largely realized.
+He was the first who could call himself "Ruler of all the Russias," and
+he is regarded as the original founder of the Russian empire. Already,
+at his accession, the Muscovite principalities were beginning to draw
+together, and circumstances were favorable to the prosecution of the task
+upon which he was called to enter--the completing of their union and the
+securing of their national independence.
+
+Ivan was a man of great cunning and prudence, and was remarkable
+for indomitable perseverance, which carried him triumphantly to the
+conclusions of his designs in a spirit of utter indifference to the
+ruin or bad faith that tracked his progress. Such a man alone, who was
+prepared to sacrifice the scruples of honor and the demands of justice,
+was fit to meet the difficulties by which the grand princedom of Moscow
+was surrounded. He saw them all clearly, resolved upon the course he
+should take; and throughout a long reign, in which the paramount ambition
+of rendering Russia independent and the throne supreme was the leading
+feature of his policy, he pursued his plans with undeviating consistency.
+
+But that policy was not to be accomplished by open and responsible
+acts. The whole character of Ivan was tinged with the duplicity of the
+churchmen who held a high place in his councils. His proceedings were
+neither direct nor at first apparently conducive to the interests of
+the empire, but the great cause was secretly advancing against all
+impediments. While he forbore to risk his advantages, he left an
+opportunity for disunion among his enemies, by which he was certain to
+gain in the end. He never committed himself to a position of the security
+of which he was not sure; and he carried this spirit of caution to
+such an extremity that many of the early years of his reign present a
+succession of timid and vacillating movements, that more nearly resemble
+the subterfuges of a coward than the crafty artifices of a despot.
+
+The objects, of which he never lost sight, were to free himself from
+enemies abroad and to convert the princedom at home into an autocracy. So
+extensive a design could not have been effected by mere force of arms,
+for he had so many domestic and foreign foes to meet at once, and so many
+points of attack and defence to cover, that it was impossible to conduct
+so grand a project by military means alone. That which he could not
+effect, therefore, by the sword, he endeavored to perform by diplomatic
+intrigue; and thus, between the occasional victories of his armies and
+the still more powerful influence of his subtle policy, he reduced
+his foes and raised himself to an eminence to which none of his most
+ambitious predecessors had aspired. The powers against whom he had
+to wage this double war of arms and diplomacy were the Tartars and
+Lithuanians, beyond the frontier; and the independent republics of
+Novgorod, Vyatka, and Pskof, and the princes of the yet unsettled
+appanages within. The means he had at his command were fully sufficient
+to have enabled him to subdue those princes of the blood who exhibited
+faint signs of discontent in their appanages, and who could have been
+easily reached through the widely diffused agency of the boyars; but the
+obstinate republics of the North were more difficult of access. They
+stood boldly upon their independence, and every attempt to reduce them
+was followed by as fierce a resistance, and by such a lavish outlay of
+the wealth which their commercial advantages had enabled them to amass
+that the task was one of extraordinary difficulty. Kazan, the first
+and greatest of the Tartar cities, too, claimed a sovereignty over the
+republics, which Ivan was afraid to contest, lest that which was but a
+vague and empty claim might end in confirmed authority. It was better to
+permit the insolent republicans to maintain their entire freedom than
+to hazard, by indiscretion, their transferrence to the hands of those
+Tartars who were loosened from the parent stock.
+
+His first act, therefore, was to acknowledge, directly or indirectly,
+according to the nature of their different tenures, the rights of all his
+foes within and without. He appeared to admit the justice of things as
+he found them; betrayed his foreign enemies into a confidential reliance
+upon his acquiescence in their exactions; and even yielded, without a
+murmur, to an abuse of those pretensions to which he affected to submit,
+but which he was secretly resolved to annihilate. This plausible
+conformity procured him time to prepare and mature his designs; and so
+insidiously did he pursue his purpose that he extended that time by
+a servility which nearly forfeited the attachment of the people. The
+immediate object of consideration was obviously the Golden Horde, because
+all the princes and republics, and even the Poles and Lithuanians, were
+interested in any movement that was calculated to embarrass the common
+enemy. Ivan's policy was to unite as many of his enemies as he could
+against a single one, and, finally, to subdue them all by the aid of each
+other. Had he ventured upon any less certain course, he must have risked
+a similar combination against himself. He began by withholding the
+ordinary tribute from the Khan, but without exhibiting any symptoms of
+inallegiance. He merely evaded the tax, while he acknowledged the right;
+and his dissimulation succeeded in blinding the Tartar, who still
+believed that he held the Grand Prince as a tributary, although he
+did not receive his tribute. The Khan, completely deceived, not only
+permitted this recusancy to escape with impunity, but was further
+prevailed upon to withdraw the Tartar residents and their retinues, and
+the Tartar merchants who dwelt in Moscow and who infested, with the
+haughty bearing of masters, even the avenues of the Kremlin.
+
+This latter concession was purchased by bribery, for Ivan condescended to
+buy the interference of a Tartar princess. So slavish and degrading
+was his outward seeming that his wife, a noble and spirited lady, the
+daughter of the Emperor of Byzantium, could with difficulty prevail upon
+him to forego the humiliating usages which had hitherto attended the
+reception of the Mongol envoys. It had been customary on the part of the
+grand princes to go forward to meet the Tartar minister, to spread a
+carpet of fur under his horse's feet, to hear the Khan's letter read upon
+their knees, to present to the envoy a cup of koumiss, and to lick from
+the mane of the horse the drops which had fallen from the lips of the
+negotiator: and these disagreeable customs Ivan would have complied with
+but for the successful remonstrances of the Princess.
+
+Kazan presented the most alluring point of actual attack. The horde that
+had established that city subsisted by predatory excursions, and even the
+other bands of the barbarians were not unwilling to witness the descent
+of the Russians upon one of their own tribes that had acquired so much
+power. The project was favored by so many circumstances that, although
+his policy was evidently at this period to preserve peace as long as he
+could, he was tempted to make a general levy, and to assemble the whole
+flower of the population for the purpose of driving out of his dominions
+the bold invaders who had intrenched themselves within the walls of a
+fortified town. This was about 1468. At that very time the army of the
+Golden Horde, inspired by some sudden impulse, was advancing into Russia.
+It appears, however, that the multitudes assembled by Ivan were so
+numerous that the Khan's troops retired upon the mere rumor of their
+approach; so that the display of his resources had all the effect he
+desired, and he won a signal victory without striking a blow. The old
+Russian annalist dwells, with some pomp of words, upon this bloodless
+triumph, and, in the true vein of hyperbole, says that the Russian army
+shone like the waves of the sea illuminated by the sunbeams. We take the
+expression for all it is worth, when we estimate the force as having been
+more numerous than that of the Tartars.
+
+It does not appear that Ivan was yet prepared, even with this great
+armament, to risk his future objects by any hostile collision, so long
+as such an extremity could be averted by intrigue; for in the following
+year, when the anticipated march against Kazan was at last commenced,
+he suddenly paused in the midst of his course, although the result was
+almost certain. Were it of much consequence, it would not be easy to
+decide the cause of this strange and abrupt proceeding; but it was
+evident that the soldiery were resolved not to return home without
+spoils. They rushed onward to the city; and even the general, who was
+instructed by Ivan to countermand the attack, in vain attempted to
+restrain them. With a leader of their own choosing, they fell upon Kazan,
+and utterly routed the inhabitants. The Grand Prince, perceiving that
+the enemy was powerless, now no longer hesitated; but, engaging all the
+princes in his service, and throwing his own guards into the ranks, he
+despatched his colossal forces to reduce the already dismembered hold of
+the Tartars of Kazan. The event was a complete victory, but Ivan remained
+safe at Moscow, to watch the issue of an undertaking which he could not
+reasonably have feared.
+
+The subjugation of Kazan left the field clear for his designs upon the
+three domestic republics. Vyatka, insolent in its own strength, declared
+itself neutral between Moscow and Kazan; and on the fall of the latter
+city, Novgorod, apprehensive that Ivan would turn his arms immediately
+against her, called upon the people of Pskof for aid, expressing her
+determination to march at once against the Grand Prince, in order to
+anticipate and avert his intentions. The Novgorodians were the more
+determined upon this bold measure by the personal pusillanimity which
+Ivan betrayed in a war where the advantages lay entirely at his own side.
+They calculated upon the terror they should inspire; and judged that if
+they could not succeed in vanquishing the Grand Prince, they should, at
+all events, be enabled to secure their own terms. Marpha, a rich and
+influential woman, the widow of a _posadnik_, and who was enamoured of a
+Lithuanian chief, conceiving the romantic design of bestowing her country
+as a marriage dower upon her lover, exerted all her power to kindle the
+enthusiasm and assist the project of the citizens. Her hospitality was
+unbounded. She threw open her palace to the people; lavished her wealth
+among them in sumptuous entertainments and exhibitions, and caused the
+_vetchooi kolokol_ ("assembling-bell"), which summoned the popular
+meetings to the market-place, to be rung as the signal of these orgies of
+licentiousness. The great bell in Novgorod was the type of the republican
+independence of the citizens, and represented the excesses into which
+they were not unwilling to plunge whenever it was necessary to testify
+their sense of that wild liberty which they had established among
+themselves. It was tolled on all occasions of a public nature, and the
+people gathered in multitudes at the well-known call. If any individual
+were accused of a crime against the republic or of any offence against
+the laws, the judges appeared at the sound of the bell to hold a summary
+court of justice, and the citizens surrounded the trial-seat, prepared to
+execute the sentence. Every citizen, with his sons, attended, carrying
+each two stones under his arms; and, if the accused were found guilty,
+lapidation instantly followed. The house of the culprit was also
+immediately plundered, cast down, confiscated, and sold for the benefit
+of the corporation. Except in China, where a law still more sanguinary
+and destructive prevails in cases of murder, there is hardly a similar
+instance of deliberate legal severity to be found among nations elevated
+above barbarism.
+
+Inspired by the revelries of the ambitious Marpha, and the patriotic
+associations she awakened, the Novgorodians expelled the officer of the
+Grand Prince; possessed themselves of some land that belonged to him in
+right of his fief; and, to confirm their revolt against his authority,
+submitted themselves, by treaty, to Casimir, Prince of Lithuania. In this
+position of affairs, Ivan wisely resolved to leave Vyatka to its own
+course, confining his attention solely to Novgorod, and seeking to win
+over Pskof and its twelve tributary cities, so that he might combine them
+against the turbulent republic. The fall of Novgorod accomplished, the
+conquest of the other obstinate cities was easily effected.
+
+The polite, cool, and persevering means he brought into operation against
+the refractory republic were admirably seconded by the machinery of
+communication which had been previously established in the persons of
+the boyars, whose local influence was of the first consequence on this
+occasion. As the tide of these numerous negotiations changed, Ivan
+assumed the humility or the pride, the generosity or the severity,
+adapted to the immediate purpose; and, working upon the characters of the
+individuals as well as their interests, he succeeded in gaining a great
+moral lever before he unsheathed a sword. He made allies of all the
+classes and princes that lay in his way to the heart of the independent
+corporation. He represented to the nobles the anomalous nature and
+usurpation of the democratic institutions of Novgorod, and he roused
+their pride into resentment. He gained over the few princes who still
+held trembling appanages by painting to them in strong colors the
+enormous opulence and commercial monopolies of the republic; and he
+filled the whole population with revenge against the fated city, by
+exaggerated accounts of its treasonable designs against the internal
+security of the empire. Thus, by artful insinuations of the personal
+advantages and general benefits that were to spring from the overthrow
+of Novgorod, he succeeded in neutralizing all the opposition he had any
+reason to apprehend, and in exciting increased enthusiasm on the part of
+the people.
+
+Having made these subtle preparations to facilitate his proceedings, he
+sent an ambassador to the citizens calling upon them to acknowledge his
+authority; and only awaited their decisive refusal, which he anticipated,
+as an excuse for immediate hostilities. The Novgorodians returned an
+answer couched in terms of scorn and defiance. His reply was carried by
+three formidable armies, which, breaking in on the Novgorodian territory
+on three different sides, prostrated the hopes of the citizens by
+overwhelming masses, against which their gallant resistance was of no
+avail. In this brief and desperate struggle, Ivan possessed extraordinary
+superiority by the recent acquisition of firearms and cannon, the use of
+which he had learned from Aristotle of Bologna, an Italian, whom he had
+taken into his service as an architect, mintmaster, and founder. The
+triumph of the arms of the Grand Prince was rapidly followed by the
+incursions of swarms of the peasantry, who, secretly urged forward
+by Ivan, rushed upon the routed enemy, and completed the work of
+devastation. This licentious exhibition of popular feeling Ivan affected
+to repress, and, availing himself of the opportunity it afforded to
+assume toward the Novgorodians a moderation he did not feel, he pretended
+to protect them against any greater violence than was merely necessary
+to establish his right to the recovery of the domains of which they had
+despoiled him, and the payment of the ransom that was customary under
+such circumstances. Here his deep and crafty genius had room for
+appropriate display. He did not consider it prudent to seize upon the
+republic at once, as, in that event, he was bound to partition it among
+his kinsmen, by whose aid, extended upon special promises, he had
+overthrown it; so he contented himself with a rich ransom, having already
+beggared it by suffering lawless followers to plunder it uninterruptedly
+before he interfered, and by demanding an act of submission. But in this
+act he contrived to insert some words of ambiguous tendency, under the
+shelter of which he might, when his own time arrived, leap upon his prey
+with impunity.
+
+The confusion into which the Novgorodians were thrown and the great
+reduction of strength which they suffered in the contest enabled Ivan
+to deprive them of some of their tributaries, under the pretence of
+rendering them a service, so that their exhaustion was seized upon as a
+fresh source of injustice. The Permians having offered some indignity
+to the republic, Ivan interfered, and transferred the commerce of that
+people with Germany to Moscow; and, on another occasion, when the Livoman
+knights attempted an aggression, Ivan sent his ambassadors and troops
+to force a negotiation in his own name; thus actually depriving both
+Novgorod and Pskof, they being mutually concerned, of the right of making
+peace and war in their own behalf. By insidious measures like these he
+continued to oppress and absorb the once independent city that claimed
+and kept so towering an ascendency. But not satisfied with such means of
+accumulating the supreme power, he sowed dissensions between the rich
+classes and the poor, and after fomenting fictitious grievances,
+terminating in open quarrel, he succeeded in having all complaints laid
+before him for decision. Then, going among them, he impoverished the
+wealthy by the lavish presents his visits demanded, and captivated the
+imagination of the multitude by the dazzling splendor of his retinues and
+the flexible quality of his justice. The time was now approaching for
+a more explicit declaration of his views. On pretence of these
+disagreements he loaded some of the principal citizens, the oligarchs of
+the republic, with chains and sent them to Moscow. It was so arranged
+that these nobles were denounced by the mob; and Ivan, in acceding to
+their demand for vengeance, secured the allegiance of the great bulk of
+the population. The stratagem succeeded; and with each new violation of
+justice he gained an accession of popular favor.
+
+The progress of the scheme against the liberties of Novgorod was slow,
+but inevitable. The inhabitants gradually referred all their disputes to
+the Grand Prince; and he, profiting by the growing desire to erect him
+into the sole judge of their domestic grievances, at length summoned the
+citizens to appear before him at Moscow. The demand was as unexpected as
+it was extraordinary.
+
+Never before had the Novgorodians gone out from their own walls to sue or
+receive judgment; but so seductive and treacherous were the professions
+of Ivan that, unsuspicious of his designs, they consented to appear
+before his throne. Throughout the whole of these encroachments on the
+ancient usages in which the rights of the people resided, he appeared to
+be lifted above all personal or tyrannical views. Marpha, the ambitious
+widow, who had stirred up the revolt and sought to attach Novgorod to
+Lithuania, had never been molested; and even the principal persons who
+were most conspicuous in resisting his authority at the outset were
+suffered to remain unharmed. These instances of magnanimity, as they were
+believed to be, lulled the distrust of the citizens, and seduced them by
+degrees to abandon their old customs one by one at his bidding. For seven
+years he continued with unwearied perseverance to wean them from all
+those distinctive habits that marked their original character and
+separated them from the rest of the empire; and at last, when he thought
+that he had succeeded in obliterating their attachment to the republican
+form of government, he advanced his claim to the absolute sovereignty,
+which was now sanctioned by numberless acts of submission, and by
+traitorous voices of assent within the council of the citizens.
+
+At an audience to which he admitted an envoy, that officer, either
+wilfully or by accident, addressed him by the name of sovereign; and
+Ivan, instantly seizing upon the inadvertency, claimed all the privileges
+of an absolute master. He required that the republic should surrender its
+expiring rights into his hands, and take a solemn oath of allegiance;
+that his boyars should be received within its gates, with full authority
+to exercise their almost irresponsible control over the city; that the
+palace of Yaroslaff, the temple of Novgorodian liberty, should be given
+up to his viceroy; that the forum should be abolished; and that the
+popular assemblies, and all the corresponding immunities of the people,
+should be abrogated forever.
+
+The veil was dropped too suddenly. The citizens were not prepared for so
+abrupt and uncompromising an assertion of authority. Hitherto they had
+admitted the innovations of the Grand Prince, but it was of their
+own free will. They did not expect that he would ground any right of
+sovereignty upon their voluntary acquiescence in his character of
+arbitrator and ally; and the news of his despotic claim filled them with
+despair and indignation. The great bell, which had formerly been the
+emblem of their citizenship, now tolled for the last time. They assembled
+in the market-place in tumultuous crowds, and summoning the treacherous
+or imprudent envoy before them, they tried him by a clamorous and summary
+process, and, before the sentence was completed, tore him limb from limb.
+Believing that some of the nobles were accessory to the surrender of
+their freedom, they fell upon those they suspected, and murdered them in
+the streets, thus hastening, and confirming by their intemperance, the
+final alienation of the wealthy classes from their cause; and having by
+these acts of unbridled desperation given the last demonstrations of
+their independence, they once more threw themselves into the arms of
+Lithuania, which were open to receive them.
+
+But Ivan was prepared for this demonstration of passion. His measures
+were too deeply taken to suffer surprise by any course which the
+Novgorodians, in their righteous hatred of oppression, might think fit
+to adopt. When he learned the reception they gave to his mandate, he
+affected the most painful astonishment. He declared that he alone was the
+party aggrieved, that he alone was deceived; that they had laid snares
+for his counsel and countenance; and that even when, yielding to their
+universal requisition, he had consented to take upon him the toils of
+government, they had the audacity to confront him with an imposition in
+the face of Russia, to shed the blood of their fellow-men, and to insult
+heaven and the empire by calling into the sacred limits the soldiers of
+an adverse religion and a foreign power. These ingenious remonstrances
+were addressed to the priests, the nobles, and the people, and had the
+desired effect. The bishops embarked zealously in the crusade, and the
+people entered willingly into the delusion. The dependent republic of
+Pskof and the principality of Twer, paralyzed in the convulsion, appeared
+to waver; but Ivan, resolved to deprive Novgorod of any help they might
+ultimately be tempted to offer, drew out their military strength, under
+the form of a contingency, and left them powerless. Yet, although
+strongly reënforced on all sides, he still avoided a contest. With
+a mingled exhibition of revenge and attachment, he threatened and
+propitiated in the same breath.
+
+"I will reign supreme at Novgorod," he exclaimed; "as I do at Moscow. You
+must surrender all to me; your posadnik, and the bell that calls your
+national council together;" and at the same time he professed his
+determination to respect those very liberties which by these demands were
+to be sacrificed forever. The Novgorodians, terrified by the immense
+force Ivan had collected, which it seemed he only used to menace, and not
+to destroy, attempted to capitulate; but he was insensible to all their
+representations, and, even while he promised them their freedom, he
+refused to grant it. The armament, mighty as it was, which he had
+prepared, was kept aloof to threaten and not to strike. He acted as if he
+feared to risk the issue of a contest with any of his enemies, or as if
+he were unwilling to suffer the loss consequent even upon victory. He
+wanted to overbear by terror rather than by arms, so that the fearful
+agency of his name might do the work of conquest more powerfully and at
+less cost than his armies, which must have been thinned by battles, and
+might have been subdued by fortune. So long as he could preserve his
+terrible ascendency by the force of the fear which he inspired, he was
+secure; but the single defeat, or the doubtful issue of a solitary
+struggle, might reduce the potent charm of his unvanquished power. In
+this way he drew the chain tighter; and in the agonies of the protracted
+and narrowing pressure, Novgorod, unable to resist, died in agonies of
+despair.
+
+The surrender of the liberties of the republic was complete. On taking
+possession of the city, Ivan seized upon the person of the popular
+Marpha, and sent her and seven of the principal citizens as prisoners
+to Moscow, confiscating their properties in the name of the state. The
+national assemblies and municipal privileges ceased January 15, 1478, on
+which day the people took the oath of servitude; and on the 18th, the
+boyars and their immediate followers, and the wealthy and the influential
+classes of the inhabitants, voluntarily came forward and entered into the
+service of the Grand Prince. The revenues of the clergy, which were
+by the act of submission transferred to the treasury of Ivan, were
+immediately devoted by him to the service of three hundred thousand
+followers of boyars, through whose intermediate agency he intended to
+assert and maintain his unlimited and supreme authority over the fallen
+city. But not alone did he possess himself of the private property of
+some of the principal persons who had rendered themselves prominent in
+the recent declaration of independence, but he demanded a surrender of a
+great part of the territories that belonged by charter to the public.
+He also further enriched himself, and impoverished the Novgorodians, by
+seizing upon all the gold and valuables to which he could, with any show
+of propriety, lay claim. He is said to have conveyed to Moscow no less
+than three hundred cart-loads of gold, silver, and precious stones,
+besides furs, cloths, and merchandise to a considerable amount.
+
+The settlement of his power in Novgorod had scarcely been concluded when
+intelligence was received that the Tartars of the Golden Horde were
+preparing for a third invasion. The enormous physical force that was at
+Ivan's disposal, the late accession of strength and increase of domain,
+by which his means were not only improved, but the number and means of
+his opponents were reduced, and the general state of the country, which
+was, in all respects, favorable to the objects of his ambition, deprived
+such a movement of its wonted terrors. Ivan had nothing to fear from the
+approach of the enemy. He was surrounded by the princes of the blood, who
+had warmly embarked in the common cause; he had an immense army at his
+command, panting for new fields of spoil and glory; he had broken up his
+domestic enemies in the North, and dismembered or attached the insurgent
+republics. He had left Lithuania to the rapacious guardianship of the
+Khan of the Crimea, who was sufficiently formidable to neutralize the
+incursions of the duchy upon the frontier; and on every side he found an
+ardent population impatient to expel the invader. Yet, encouraging
+as these circumstances were, and although they seemed to present the
+fortunate opportunity for carrying into execution his cherished plan of
+autocracy, Ivan held back. He alone of all Russia was intimidated. His
+project of empire was so lofty and comprehensive that he appeared to
+shrink from any collision that could even remotely peril its ultimate
+success. He was so dismayed that he forced the Princess to fly from
+Moscow and seek a temporary shelter in the North. Terror-struck and
+unmanned, he deserted the army, and shut himself up in the capital for
+security; and when the armed population, pouring forth from all quarters,
+and animated by one spirit of resistance, had advanced as far as the
+Oka to meet the Tartars, he recalled his son to the capital, as if he
+apprehended the consummation of some evil either in his own person or
+that of his heir. But the voice of the general indignation reached him in
+his retreat, and even his son refused to leave his post in the army. The
+murmurs of a disappointed people rose into clamors which he could not
+affect to misunderstand. They reproached him with having burdened them
+with taxes, without having paid the Khan his tribute; and that, now
+the Tartars had come into Russia to demand restitution, he fled from
+vindication of his own acts, and left the people to extricate themselves
+from a dilemma into which he had brought them.
+
+In this difficulty Ivan had no choice left but to submit to the will of
+the country. He accordingly convoked a meeting of the bishops and boyars
+for the purpose of asking their advice; but their counsel was even still
+more conclusive; and the reluctant Prince was compelled to rejoin the
+army. The fear by which he was moved, however, could not be concealed,
+and it gradually infected the ranks of the soldiery. He had no sooner
+taken his station at the head of the army than he became spellbound. A
+river, the Lugra, divided him from the enemy; he could not summon courage
+to attempt it, but stood gazing in disastrous terror upon the foe, with
+whom he opened negotiations to beg for terms. In the mean time the news
+of his indecision spread, and the people at Moscow grew turbulent. The
+Primate, perceiving the disaffection that was springing up, addressed the
+Prince in the language of despair. He represented to him the state of the
+public mind, and the inglorious procedure of suing for a peace where he
+could insure a victory and dictate his own terms. "Would you," exclaimed
+the Primate, "give up Russia to fire and sword, and the churches to
+plunder? Whither would you fly? Can you soar upward like the eagle? Can
+you make your nest amid the stars? The Lord will cast you down from even
+that asylum. No! you will not desert us. You would blush at the name of
+fugitive and traitor to your country!"
+
+Ivan was surrounded by two hundred thousand soldiers; reënforcements
+were thronging constantly to his side; the enemy was cut off from all
+assistance from his ally of Lithuania; and one word of encouragement
+would have set all these advantages into action. The troops only awaited
+the signal to rush upon the invaders; but Ivan, amid these flattering
+and animated circumstances, was dispirited. Even the voice of the Church
+addressed him in vain. He was utterly paralyzed; and cowardice had so
+completely taken possession of his mind that when the early winter had
+set in and frozen the river, so as to obliterate the obstacle that
+separated him from the troops of the Khan, he was seized with
+consternation, and fled in the wildest disorder from his position. He was
+so alarmed that he could not even preserve any regularity on the retreat,
+and all was confusion and panic.
+
+So disgraceful an abandonment of his duty, which in other times must have
+cost him his throne, if not his life, was not visited with that rigor by
+the Russians which so glaring a defection deserved. The sovereign Prince
+was removed to too great a distance from the people to be judged of with
+precision or promptitude. The motives of his acts were not accessible
+to the multitude, who, accustomed to despotism, had not yet learned to
+question the wisdom of their rulers. The rapid advances that had been
+made toward the concentration of the governing power in the autocratical
+form, limited still more the means of popular observation and the vigor
+of the popular check upon the supreme authority. The Grand Prince stood
+so much aloof from his subjects, surrounded by special advisers and
+court favorites, that even the language of remonstrance, which sometimes
+reached his ears, was so softened in its progress that its harshness
+was that of subservient admonition; and he was as little shaken by
+the smothered discontent of the people as they were roused by an open
+sacrifice of their interests. But not alone was this reverence for the
+autocracy so great as to protect the autocrat from violent reprisals on
+the part of his subjects; but the national veneration for the descendant
+of St. Vladimir and the stock of Rurik was sufficient to absorb all the
+indignation which the weakness or the wickedness of the Prince might have
+aroused.
+
+Ivan, however, independently of those acts of prejudice and ignorance
+which preserved him from the wrath which he had so wantonly provoked,
+was destined to find all the unfavorable circumstances of his position
+changed into the most extraordinary and unexpected advantages. In the
+crisis of his despair the fortunes of the day turned to his favor. While
+he hung behind the Lugra, seeking a base and humiliating compromise at
+the hands of the enemy, his lieutenant of Svenigorod, and his ally the
+Khan of the Crimea, advanced upon the Golden Horde, and pushed their
+victorious arms into the very den of the Tartars, at the time that
+the Tartar forces were drawn off in the invasion of Russia. Speedy
+intelligence of this disaster having reached the enemy, he made a
+precipitate retreat, in the hope of reaching his fastnesses on the
+frontier in time to avert the destruction that threatened him; but
+the Russians had been too rapid in their movements; and the work of
+devastation, begun by them, was completed by a band of marauding Tartars,
+who entered soon after they retired, and, carrying away the women and
+the remnant of the treasures left behind, reduced the city of the Golden
+Horde to ashes before the distant army could accomplish its retrograde
+march. Nor was this all the triumph that Ivan was called upon to share,
+without any participation in the danger. The return of the Tartars was
+arrested midway by a hetman of the Cossacks and the mirza of the
+Nogais, who, falling upon the confused and disorderly ranks, on their
+ill-conducted flight homeward, cut them in pieces, and left scarcely a
+living vestige on the field of the ancient and implacable enemies of the
+country.
+
+The extinction of the Tartars was final. The Golden Horde was
+annihilated, and the scourge of Russia and her princes was no more. In
+a better educated state of society, these events, so sudden and so
+important, must have been attributed to proximate and obvious causes--the
+combinations of operations over which Ivan had no control, and the
+dismay into which the Tartars were surprised, followed up quickly by
+overwhelming masses who possessed the superiority in numbers and in plan.
+Ivan, who could lay no claim to the honors of the enterprise, would not
+have been associated in its results had the people been instructed in
+the respect which was due to themselves. But the Russians, profoundly
+venerating the person of the Grand Prince, and accustomed to consider
+him as the depository of a wisdom refined above the sphere of ordinary
+mortality, did not hesitate to ascribe this transcendent exploit to the
+genius of the reluctant autocrat. They looked back upon his pusillanimity
+with awe, and extracted from his apparent fears the subtle elements of a
+second providence. He was no longer the coward and the waverer. He had
+seen the body of the future, before its extreme shadows had darkened
+other men's vision; and the whole course of his timid bearing, even
+including his flight from the Lugra, was interpreted into a prudent
+and prophetic policy, wonderful in its progress and sublime in its
+consequences. Without risking a life, or spilling a drop of blood, and
+merely by an evasive diversion of his means, he had vanquished the
+Asiatic spoiler; and at the very moment that the people were disposed to
+doubt his skill and his courage, he had actually destroyed the giant by
+turning the arms of his own nation against him. Such was the unanimous
+feeling of Russia. Transferring the glory of their signal deliverance
+from those who had achieved it to him who had evaded the responsibility
+of the attempt, they worshipped, in the Grand Prince, the incarnation of
+the new-born liberty.
+
+
+
+CULMINATION OF THE POWER OF BURGUNDY
+
+TREATY OF PÉRONNE
+
+A.D. 1468
+
+P. F. WILLERT
+
+
+From the planting of the Burgundian branch of the house of Valois, in
+1364, arose a formidable rival of the royal power in France. During the
+next hundred years the dukes of Burgundy played prominent parts in French
+history, and then appeared one of the line who advanced his house to its
+loftiest eminence. This was Charles, surnamed the "Bold," son of Philip,
+misnamed the "Good." Charles was born in 1433, and became Duke of
+Burgundy in 1467. He "held the rank of one of the first princes in Europe
+without being a king, and without possessing an inch of ground for which
+he did not owe service to some superior lord." Some of his territories
+were held of the Holy Roman Empire, and some of the French crown, and
+he was at once a vassal of France and of the Emperor. His dominions
+contained many prosperous and wealthy cities.
+
+But the possessions of Charles lacked unity alike in territorial
+compactness, political distinction, and local rule, and in national
+characteristics, language, and laws. His peculiar position exposed him
+to the jealous rivalry of Louis XI of France. The King's object was the
+consolidation of his monarchy, while Charles aimed to extend his duchy
+at the expense of Louis' territories. Thus the two rivals became deadly
+enemies.
+
+Charles conceived the design of restoring the old kingdom of Burgundy. In
+1467, having secured alliances with Brittany and England, he prepared for
+a campaign of conquest. But Louis offered him advantageous terms of peace
+and invited him to a conference. While Charles hesitated, Louis stirred
+to revolt the Duke's subjects in Liege, with whom Burgundy had lately
+been at war. The negotiations between Louis and Charles, and the events
+which followed, form the subject of Willert's narrative.
+
+Many messengers came and went, yet Charles hesitated to accept peace even
+on terms so greatly to his advantage. The King, if he could but see the
+Duke, felt sure he might end this uncertainty, perhaps even obtain more
+favorable concessions.
+
+When once the idea of a personal interview had possessed him he was deaf
+to the warnings and entreaties of his more prudent or honest advisers.
+
+Charles did not seem anxious to meet the King, and when at length
+he yielded to the representations of the King's envoy, he sent a
+safe-conduct in the most explicit terms: "Sir, if it be your pleasure to
+visit this town of Péronne to confer with us, I swear to you and promise
+by my faith and on my honor that you may come, stay, and return at your
+good pleasure, without let or harm, notwithstanding any cause that may
+now be or hereafter may arise."
+
+After receiving this assurance, Louis might fairly suppose that he had
+nothing to fear. He had before trusted himself safely to Charles' honor.
+Nor had he himself abused the chance which once delivered his rival into
+his hands unprotected by promise or oath. He therefore set out at once
+for Péronne, accompanied only by some eighty archers of his Scotch
+guard and by his personal attendants. He was met at the frontier by
+a Burgundian escort under Philip de Crèvecoeur, and he found Charles
+himself waiting to receive him at the banks of a little river not far
+from Péronne. The princes greeted each other with respect on the one
+side, and with hearty affection on the other. They entered the town side
+by side, the King's arm resting on his kinsman's shoulder. The castle of
+Péronne was small and inconvenient; the King was therefore lodged in
+the house of one of the richest citizens. He had scarcely reached his
+quarters when the Marshal of Burgundy joined Charles' army with the
+forces he commanded. With him came Philip of Savoy and two of his
+brothers, Antony de Châteauneuf, and other men who had shared largely in
+the King's favor, but who had fled from his resentment after betraying
+his confidence. These his enemies might consider the occasion favorable
+for a bold stroke. If they acted without the connivance of Charles he
+might be grateful to those who satisfied his enmity without irretrievably
+compromising his honor. Louis therefore asked to be allowed to move into
+the castle, where his archers could at any rate defend him against a
+surprise. On the next day the conference began; all that he could demand
+was offered to Charles if only he would abandon the alliance of Brittany
+and England. But he was determined not to give way, and was insensible to
+the blandishments of his guest, who may have been tormented by painful
+misgivings as he looked from his prison-like rooms at a gloomy tower in
+which Charles the Simple had been confined, and, it was said, murdered by
+a rebellious vassal.
+
+At the first suggestion of the interview with the King, Charles had
+objected that he could scarcely believe in his sincere desire for peace
+while his envoys were encouraging rebels. Cardinal Balue replied that
+when the people of Liège learned that the King and Duke had met, they
+would not venture upon any hostile movement. But the French agents were
+not informed of their master's intended visit to Péronne, and did not
+attempt to discourage a premature attack. It is indeed doubtful whether
+they could in any case have changed the course of events.
+
+The first rumors of what had happened in a popular outbreak at Liège
+reached Péronne on the night of October 10th. As was natural, they were
+greatly exaggerated. Tongres had been sacked, the garrison put to the
+sword; Humbercourt, the Burgundian Governor, and the Bishop murdered;
+the King's envoys had been seen leading and encouraging the assailants.
+Charles broke into cries of rage: "The traitor King! So he is only come
+to cheat me by a false pretence of peace! By St. George, he and those
+villains of Liège shall pay dearly for this!" He did not pause to
+consider whether it was likely that Louis had been simple enough to
+provoke a catastrophe fatal to his hopes and dangerous to his safety. If
+Comines, the Duke's chamberlain, and another favorite attendant, who were
+with their master at the time, had not done their best to soothe him it
+is probable that the donjon of Péronne would once more have closed upon a
+captive king. Charles was at little pains to conceal his rage; and when
+Louis was told that the gates of town and castle were guarded to prevent
+the escape of a thief who had stolen a casket of jewels, he knew that he
+was a prisoner. Yet, however bitter his self-reproach, however gloomy his
+forebodings, he did not lose his presence of mind. His attendants were
+allowed free access to the castle; he had brought with him fifteen
+thousand gold crowns, and these he anxiously employed to secure the good
+offices of Charles' advisers. For three nights the angry agitation and
+perplexity of Charles were so great that he did not undress. He would
+throw himself on his bed for a time and then start up and pace about his
+room, uttering threats and invectives against the King.
+
+Nothing was done or decided on the first day, October 11, 1468. On the
+second a council was held which sat late into the night. A minority of
+the council, the enemies of Louis, or those who were only anxious to
+flatter the passions of their master, advised him to use to the full
+the opportunity which chance and the foolhardiness and duplicity of his
+adversary had placed in his hands. They urged him to keep the King in
+secure confinement after providing for the virtual partition of the
+kingdom among the great feudatories. The majority, those who had some
+regard for the honor of the house of Burgundy, the lawyers, who respected
+the letter, if not the spirit, of an agreement, perhaps also the more
+far-sighted politicians, were of a different opinion. The fame of the
+Duke would suffer irreparable injury by so flagrant a violation of his
+plighted word. The advantages, moreover, to be gained by the captivity,
+the deposition, perhaps the death of the King, were uncertain. The heir
+to the throne was entirely in the hands of the Bretons, and was not
+likely to be eager to advance the interests of Burgundy. A large and
+well-disciplined army, commanded by experienced captains, was assembled
+on the frontiers. If they could not rescue their master, they would at
+least endeavor to avenge him, while the new King could acquire an easy
+popularity by execrating a crime of which he and Francis of Brittany
+would reap all the advantage. It was a wiser course to accept the terms
+which the King in his alarm proffered--the settlement in favor of
+Burgundy of all the disputed questions which had arisen out of the
+treaties of Arras and Conflans--and it might be possible to humiliate and
+disgrace Louis by compelling him to take part in the punishment of his
+allies, the citizens of Liège, who by their trust in him had been lured
+to destruction.
+
+Charles left the council apparently undecided, and passed the night in as
+great a storm of passion as the two preceding. The conflict within him
+doubtless fanned his wrath. Comines, who shared his room, endeavored to
+calm him, and to persuade him to embrace the course most consistent with
+his interests and the King's safety; for so great a prince, if once a
+captive, might scarcely hope to leave his prison alive. Toward morning
+Charles determined to content himself with insisting that Louis should
+sign a peace on such terms as he should dictate, and accompany him
+against Liege. The King, says Comines, had a friend who informed him that
+he would be safe if he agreed to these conditions, but that otherwise his
+peril would be extreme. This friend was Comines himself, and Louis never
+forgot so timely a service. The two days during which his fate was being
+decided had been passed by him in the greatest agony of mind. Though he
+had been allowed to communicate freely with the French nobles and his own
+attendants, he had been ominously neglected by the Burgundian courtiers.
+As soon as the Duke had determined what conditions he intended to impose,
+he hastened to the castle to visit his captive. The memorable interview
+is described by two eye-witnesses--Comines and Olivier de la Marche.
+Charles entered the King's presence with a lowly obeisance; but his
+gestures and his unsteady voice betrayed his suppressed passion. The King
+could not conceal his fear. "My brother," he asked, "am I not safe in
+your dominions?"
+
+"Yes, sire, so safe that if I saw a cross-bow pointed at you I would
+throw myself before you to shield you from the bolt."
+
+He then asked the King to swear a peace on the proposed basis: (i) The
+faithful execution of the treaty of Conflans; (2) the abolition of the
+jurisdiction of the Parliament of Paris over Flanders; (3) the surrender
+of all regalian rights in Picardy; (4) the release of the Duke from all
+fealty to the King if the treaty was in any way infringed or imperfectly
+executed. Louis agreed, and Charles requested his assistance in punishing
+the rebellion of Liège. The King expressed his perfect readiness. The
+princes then signed a draft of the treaty and swore to execute it
+faithfully on the cross of St. Laud. Charles had insisted that Louis
+should swear on the relic, a fragment of the true Cross once kept in the
+Church of St. Laud at Angers, which the King always carried with him,
+esteeming it highly, because he believed that whoever forswore himself on
+it would surely die within the year. The Duke at the same time promised
+to do homage for the fiefs he held of the crown of France, but the
+execution of this promise was evaded.
+
+On the 15th the Duke, with an army of forty thousand men, and the King
+with his slender escort, and some three hundred men-at-arms who joined
+him by the way, began their march on Liège. Louis was not less anxious
+than his companion that Dammartin should not attempt a forcible rescue.
+Victory or defeat would have been alike dangerous to his safety. Twice
+at Charles' request orders were sent to disband, or at least remove, the
+French army from the frontier. The King's letters were delivered by his
+messenger in the persistent presence of a Burgundian who prevented the
+possibility of any private communication. Louis' crafty old soldier,
+Dammartin, paid little attention to such orders. He sent word to the Duke
+that, unless his master soon returned, all France would come to fetch
+him.
+
+The first divisions of the Burgundian army reached Liège October 22d. The
+citizens, whose walls had been destroyed and artillery confiscated, were
+in no position to resist an army which might have conquered an emperor.
+At the suggestion of the legate they released their bishop, begging him
+to intercede on their behalf, and offered to surrender their goods to the
+Duke's discretion if only he would spare their lives. Charles would
+not listen to their overtures; he swore that he would have town and
+inhabitants at his discretion or that he and his army should perish in
+the attempt.
+
+The townsmen, with the boldness of despair, sallied forth to meet the
+advance guard of their enemies; they were driven back with great loss.
+Four days later, the 26th, the Duke and main body of the army had not
+come up. The troops, who had repulsed the sally on the 22d, had as yet
+met with little resistance, and thought themselves strong enough to
+occupy an open town defended only by ill-armed traders and mechanics.
+The weather was cold and rainy, the temptation of securing comfortable
+quarters and the undivided profits of the sack irresistible. The
+assailants occupied one of the suburbs, but their advance was checked by
+some hastily constructed defences. At nightfall the citizens came
+out through the breaches of their walls; they were enabled, by their
+knowledge of the rough and precipitous ground, to fall unobserved upon
+the rear of the enemy; eight hundred Burgundians were killed, and the
+rout would have been complete had not the Duke with the main body of
+his army pushed forward to the assistance of a division which was still
+holding its ground.
+
+On the next day the King arrived, and soon after took up his quarters
+close to those of the Duke. He showed himself to the men, who had
+placed their trust in him, wearing the St. Andrew's cross, the badge
+of Burgundy, and replying "_Vive Bourgogne!_" to their cries of "_Vive
+France!_" That night there was a great and sudden alarm. The Duke of
+Burgundy, though brave, was sometimes wanting in presence of mind, and on
+this occasion appeared more troubled in the King's presence than pleased
+his friends. Louis took the command, giving his orders with great
+coolness and prudence. Even as a general he gained by comparison with his
+rival. He was indeed not less anxious than Charles that the Burgundian
+army should suffer no reverse. He feared everything that might arouse the
+ready suspicion and ungovernable temper of the Duke. On the evening of
+the 29th a few hundred men, colliers and miners from the mountainous
+district of Franchemont, led by the owners of the house in which the King
+and Duke were sleeping, made a desperate attempt to surprise the princes
+in their beds. They would have succeeded had they not delayed to attack
+a barn in which three hundred Burgundian men-at-arms were posted. Only
+a few followed their guides straight to the quarters of the sovereigns.
+They were unable, therefore, to overcome the resistance of the guard
+before the noise of the conflict had aroused the camp. The assailants
+were overwhelmed by numbers, and fell fighting to the last. The assault
+had been ordered for the next day, but this bold and unexpected attack so
+surprised and disconcerted the Burgundians that the King thought he might
+be able to persuade the Duke to agree to a capitulation, or at least to
+postpone the assault. He only obtained a contemptuous request that he
+should consult his own safety by retiring to Namur. This reflection on
+his courage stimulated him to greater ostentation of zeal. He could
+scarcely be restrained from leading the assault.
+
+The citizens were worn out by guarding an open town against a powerful
+army for more than a week; they imagined that as it was a Sunday they
+would not be attacked till the morrow. The assailants entered the town
+with little or no resistance. Yet the fury and license of the soldiery
+could not have been greater had their passions been excited by an
+obstinate and bloody struggle. The horrors of the sack of Dinant[1] were
+surpassed, although many of the citizens were able to escape across the
+Meuse. The deliberate vengeance of the Duke was more searching and not
+less cruel than the lust and rapine of his army; all prisoners who would
+not pay a heavy ransom were drowned. Although the cold was so intense
+that wine froze, and that his men lost fingers and toes from frost-bites,
+Charles did not shrink from the labor of hunting down those who had fled
+to the mountains, and burning the villages in which they had sought a
+refuge. He had previously taken leave of the King.
+
+Four or five days after the occupation of Liège, Louis had expressed a
+wish to depart. If he could be of any further use, his brother might
+command his services; but he was anxious to see that their treaty was
+registered by the Parliament of Paris, without which it could not be
+valid. The Duke seemed unwilling to let his prey escape, but could find
+no pretence for his detention. Next year, said the King, he would come
+again and spend a month pleasantly with his dear brother in festivities
+and good cheer. The treaty, now drawn up in its final shape by the
+Burgundian lawyers, was read over to Louis, in order that he might object
+to any article of which he disapproved. But he readily ratified all that
+he had promised at Pèronne. It had seemed useless to require him to
+bestow Normandy on Charles of France; nor is the question of his appanage
+mentioned in the treaty itself. But the King was compelled to promise
+to invest his brother with Champagne and Brie. These provinces, lying
+between Burgundy and the Low Countries, would, in the hands of an ally,
+serve to consolidate the Duke's dominions, and could be easily defended
+in case the King attempted to resume his concessions. Just before the
+princes departed, Louis said, as if the thought had suddenly occurred:
+"What do you wish me to do if my brother is not content with the appanage
+I offer him for your sake?" Charles answered carelessly: "If he will
+not take it, I leave the matter to you two to settle; only let him be
+satisfied." The King considered the thoughtless admission into which he
+had tricked his rival most important, since he fancied that it released
+him, so far as his brother's appanage was concerned, from the fearful
+obligation of his oath.
+
+But notwithstanding this last advantage, we cannot doubt that Louis felt
+bitterly disappointed and ashamed. Although all songs, caricatures,
+and writings reflecting on the perfidy of the Duke of Burgundy, and
+by implication on the folly of the King, were forbidden under severe
+penalties, and even all manner of talking birds which might be taught the
+hateful word "Peronne" had been seized by the royal officers, he had not
+the heart to visit Paris. The parliament was summoned to meet him at
+Senlis. He ordered it to register the treaty without comment, and
+hastened southward to hide his mortification in his favorite castles of
+Touraine.
+
+[Footnote 1: By Burgundians in 1466.]
+
+
+
+LORENZO DE' MEDICI RULES IN FLORENCE
+
+ZENITH OF FLORENTINE GLORY
+
+A.D. 1469
+
+OLIPHANT SMEATON
+
+
+During the twelfth century several of the Italian cities--especially
+Florence and Venice--rose to great wealth and power. Venice, through her
+favorable situation, became preeminent in commerce, while Florence was
+coming to be the most important industrial centre of Europe. In the
+thirteenth century Florence was the scene of continual strife between the
+Guelfs and Ghibellines, but she not only continued to develop in material
+prosperity, but also attained to intellectual activities whereby in the
+next century she gained a higher distinction. She took the foremost
+part in the Renaissance, and was the birthplace or the home of Dante,
+Boccaccio, and other leaders of the modern movement.
+
+In the fifteenth century Florence reached a still loftier eminence under
+the Medici, a family celebrated for the statesmen which it produced and
+for its patronage of letters and art. Its most illustrious members were
+Cosmo (1389-1464) and his grandson Lorenzo, surnamed the "Magnificent."
+Lorenzo was born January 1, 1449, when the second great period of the
+Renaissance was nearing its close. That was the "period of arrangement
+and translation; the epoch of the formation of the great Italian
+libraries; the age when, in Florence around his grandfather Cosmo,
+in Rome around Pope Nicholas V, and in Naples around Alfonso the
+Magnanimous, coteries of the leading humanists were gathered, engaged in
+labors which have made posterity eternally their debtors."
+
+Conjointly with his younger brother Giuliano, Lorenzo, on the death of
+his father Piero, in 1469, succeeded to the vast wealth and political
+power of the family. In 1478 the death of Giuliano left Lorenzo sole
+ruler of Florence.
+
+To few men has either the power or the opportunity been given to
+influence their epoch, intellectually and politically, to a degree so
+marked as was the lot of Lorenzo de' Medici. One of the most marvellously
+many-sided of the many-sided men who adorned the Italy of the fifteenth
+century, he did more to place Florence in the forefront of the world's
+culture than any other citizen who claimed Val d'Arno[1] as his
+birthplace. His influence was great because he was in sympathy so
+catholic with all the varied life of his age and circle. While during the
+one hour he would be found learnedly discussing the rival claims of the
+Platonic and Aristotelian philosophers with Ficino and Landino, the next
+might witness him the foremost reveller in the Florentine carnival,
+crowned with flowers and with the winecup in his hand, gayly carolling
+the _ballate_ he had composed for the occasion; while the third might
+behold him surrounded by the leading painters and sculptors of Tuscany,
+discoursing profoundly on the aims and mission of art. Truly a unique
+personality, at one and the same time the glorious creation and the
+splendid epitome of the spirit of the Renaissance!
+
+When Lorenzo de' Medici consented to assume the "position" occupied by
+his father Piero and his grandfather Cosmo, he was not the raw youth his
+immature years would lead one to suppose. Although intellectual maturity
+is reached at an earlier age in the sunny South than in the fog-haunted
+lands of Northern Europe, Lorenzo had enjoyed a long apprenticeship
+before being called to undertake the duties devolving on him as the
+uncrowned king of Florence. From his thirteenth year he had been the
+companion and shared the counsels, first of his grandfather and father,
+and subsequently of his father alone. From the former especially he
+learned many important lessons in statecraft. The matter is open to
+question, however, if any advice had more far-reaching results or was
+laid more carefully to heart than this which is contained in more
+than one of Cosmo's letters: "Never stint your favors to the cause
+of learning, and cultivate sedulously the friendship of scholars and
+humanists." Toward such a course Lorenzo's inclinations, as well as his
+interests, pointed, and during his life Florence was the Athens not only
+of Italy but of Europe as a whole. Here, among many others, were to be
+found such "epoch-makers" as Poliziano, Ficino, and Landino, Pico della
+Mirandola, Leo Battista Alberti, Michelangelo, Luigi Pulci--men who
+glorified their age by crowning it with the nimbus of their genius.
+
+The literary and artistic greatness of Florence was not due, however,
+to the comparative intellectual poverty of the other states in Italy.
+Florence was only _primus inter pares_--greatest among many that were
+great. When the fact is recalled that such contemporaries as Pomponius
+Laetus, Bartolommeo Sacchi, Molza, Alessandro Farnese (Paul III),
+Platina, Sabellicus at Rome; Pontanus, Sannazaro, and Porcello in Naples;
+and Pomponasso and Boiardo at Ferrara, were then at or nearing their
+prime, the position of Florence as the acknowledged centre of European
+culture was conceded by sense of right alone. Than this nothing proves
+more emphatically the strides learning had been making. It was no longer
+the prerogative of the few, but the privilege of the many. From the
+first, Lorenzo recognized what a strong card he held in the affection and
+respect of the Italian as well as of the Florentine humanists.
+
+The great secret of Lorenzo's preëminence in European and Italian, as
+well as in Tuscan, politics lies in the fact that he was able to unite
+the sources of administrative, legislative, and judicial power in
+himself. All the public offices in Florence were held by his dependents,
+and so entirely was the state machinery controlled by him that we find
+such men as Louis XI and the emperor Maximilian, Alfonso of Naples,
+and Pope Innocent VIII recognizing his authority and appealing to him
+personally, in place of to the seigniory, to effect the ends they
+desired. Such power enabled him to avoid the risks his grandfather Cosmo
+had been compelled to run to maintain his authority. The Medicean
+faction was better in hand than in his grandfather's days, and Lorenzo,
+therefore, in playing the _rôle_ of the peacemaker of Italy, at the time
+when he held the "balance of power" through his treaties with Milan,
+Naples, and Ferrara, could speak with a decision that carried weight when
+he found it necessary to threaten a restless "despot" with a political
+combination that might depose him.
+
+Lorenzo's services to learning were inspired by feelings infinitely more
+noble than those actuating his political plans. A patriotism as lofty as
+it was beneficent led him to desire that his country should be in the
+van of Italian progress in Renaissance studies. His sagacious prevision
+enabled him to proportion the nature and extent of the benefit he
+conferred to the need it was intended to supply. Many statesmen do more
+harm than good by failing to appreciate this law of supply and demand.
+They grant more than is required, and that which should have been a boon
+becomes a burden. Charles V, at the time of the Reformation, on more
+than one occasion committed this error, as also did Wolsey and Mazarin.
+Lorenzo, like Richelieu, recognized the value of moderation in giving,
+and caused every favor to be regarded as a possible earnest of others to
+come.
+
+The earlier years of his power were associated with many stirring events
+which exercised no inconsiderable influence on the state of learning. For
+example, his skilful playing off of Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza of Milan
+against Ferrante, King of Naples, led to greater attention being directed
+by the Florentines to Neapolitan and Milanese affairs, with the result
+that humanists and artists from both these places paid frequent visits to
+Florence, where they were welcomed by Lorenzo as his guests. Then when
+the revolt of the small city of Volterra from Florentine rule was
+suppressed by Lorenzo's agents, with a rigorous severity that cast a
+stain on their master's name, owing to many unoffending scholars having
+suffered to the extent of losing their all, Lorenzo made noble amends.
+Not only did he generously assist the inhabitants to repair their losses,
+not only did he make grants to the local scholars and send them copies of
+many of the codices in his own library to supply the loss of their books
+which had been burned by the soldiery, but he purchased large estates in
+the neighborhood, that the citizens might benefit by his residence among
+them. In this way, too, he brought the Volterran scholars into more
+intimate relations with the Florentine humanists, and thus contributed to
+the further diffusion of the benefits of the Renaissance.
+
+All was not plain sailing, however, as regards the progress of the "New
+Learning." Despite his efforts, Lorenzo could not prevent its development
+being checked during the papal-Neapolitan quarrel with Florence. That war
+originated in a dispute with Pope Sixtus IV, who kept Italy in a ferment
+during the whole duration of his pontificate, 1471-1484. Were no other
+proof forthcoming of Lorenzo's marvellous diplomatic genius than this one
+fact, that he checkmated the political schemes of Sixtus, and finally
+so neutralized his influence as to render him wellnigh impotent for
+evil-doing, such an achievement was sufficient to stamp him one of the
+greatest masters of statecraft Europe has known. In any estimate of his
+ability we must take into account the unsatisfactory character of many of
+the instruments wherewith he had to achieve his purposes, and also the
+fact that he had neither a great army at his back with which to enforce
+the fulfilment of treaty obligations--for Florence never was a city of
+soldiers--nor had he the prestige of an official position to lend weight
+to his words. To all intents and purposes he was a private citizen of
+the Florentine republic. Yet such was the dynamic power of the man's
+marvellous personality, and the reputation he had earned, even in his
+early years, for supreme prescience and far-reaching diplomatic subtlety,
+that far and wide he was regarded as the greatest force in Italian
+politics. Sixtus sallied forth to crush; he returned to the Vatican a
+crushed and a discredited man, to die of sheer chagrin over his defeat by
+Lorenzo in his designs upon Ferrara.
+
+Then followed the memorable dispute, in 1472-1473, over the bishopric of
+Pisa, when the Pope's nominee, Francesco Salviati, was refused possession
+of his see, Pisa being one of the Tuscan towns under the control of
+Florence. To this Sixtus retaliated by seeking the friendship of Ferrante
+of Naples, a move Lorenzo anticipated by forming the league between
+Florence, Milan, and Venice. This league thoroughly alarmed both the Pope
+and Ferrante, and on the latter visiting Rome in 1475 a papal-Neapolitan
+alliance was formed.
+
+Even then hostilities might not have broken out had the young Duke
+of Milan not been assassinated in 1476, leaving an infant heir. This
+entailed a long minority, with all its dangers, and the apprehensions
+regarding these were not fanciful, inasmuch as Lodovico Sforza, uncle of
+the baby Duke, usurped the position under pretext of acting as regent.
+These crimes were plainly responsible for the Pazzi conspiracy in 1478
+against the Medici themselves, a conspiracy which resulted in Giuliano,
+the younger brother of Lorenzo, being murdered in the cathedral, during
+mass, on the Sunday before Ascension, while Lorenzo himself was slightly
+wounded. That Sixtus and his nephew were accessories before the fact
+is now regarded as unquestionable. The vengeance taken by the enraged
+Florentines on the conspirators, their relatives, friends, and property,
+was terrible; the innocent, alas! being sacrificed indiscriminately with
+the guilty.
+
+The Archbishop of Pisa, Francesco Salviati, had entered eagerly into
+the scheme, and, although his sacred office prevented him from actually
+assisting in the deed, he was present in the cathedral until the signal
+was given for the perpetration of the deed, when he left the building to
+secure the Palazzo Publico. He was therefore summarily hanged with
+the others from the windows of the civic buildings. Sixtus made the
+execution, or the "murder" as he called it, of Salviati, his pretext for
+calling on his allies to make war on Florence. When he saw, however, that
+this action was only throwing the city more completely than ever into the
+arms of the Medici, he changed his tactics and said he had no quarrel
+with "his well-beloved children of Florence," but only with "that son of
+iniquity and child of perdition, Lorenzo de' Medici," and those who had
+aided and abetted him, among whom the humanists were expressly mentioned.
+Against Lorenzo and his associates a brief of excommunication was
+launched, and the city was urged to regain the papal favor by
+surrendering the offenders.
+
+The result might have been predicted. The "brief" only tended to knit the
+bonds of association closer between Lorenzo and the "City of the Flower,"
+while the humanists to a man rallied round their patron. Even the
+choleric Filelfo, now a very old man, who had been on anything but
+friendly terms with the Medici, addressed two bitter satires to Sixtus,
+in which the Pope was styled the real aggressor, while the great humanist
+offered to write a history of the whole transaction, that posterity might
+know the true facts. The only power which gave its adhesion to Sixtus was
+Naples, while Venice, Ferrara, and Milan declared for Florence.
+
+Thus commenced that tedious war which not only ruined so many Florentine
+merchants, but retarded the cause of learning so materially. When the
+people were groaning under heavy taxes, when all coin which Lorenzo
+could scrape together had to be poured out to pay the _condottieri_, or
+soldiers of fortune, by whom the battles of Florence were fought, there
+was of course but short commons for the humanists who had made Florence
+their home. Many of those adapted themselves to circumstances, but
+others, to whom money was their god, left the banks of the Arno for those
+southern cities where the pinch of scarcity did not prevail.
+
+In this campaign the Florentines gained but little prestige. The larger
+share of the cost was quietly suffered by their allies to fall on the
+city of bankers. The Milanese were occupied with their own affairs,
+owing to the _coup d'état_ accomplished by Lodovico Sforza. The Duke of
+Ferrara withdrew owing to some disagreement with the condottieri
+engaged by Lorenzo. The Venetians only despatched a small contingent
+under Carlo Montone and Diefebo d'Anguillari; accordingly, in the end,
+the whole burden of the struggle fell on Florence. The Magnifico's
+position gradually became precarious, inasmuch as many persons declared
+the war to be in reality a personal quarrel between Pope Sixtus and
+the Medici. Complaints began to be heard that the public treasury was
+exhausted and the commerce of the city ruined, while the citizens were
+burdened with oppressive taxes. Lorenzo had the mortification of being
+told that sufficient blood had been shed, and that it would be expedient
+for him rather to devise some means of effecting a peace than of making
+further preparations for the war.
+
+In these circumstances, and confronted by one of the most dangerous
+crises of his whole life, Lorenzo rose to the occasion and effected a
+solution of the difficulty by daring to perform what was undoubtedly one
+of the bravest acts ever achieved by a diplomatist. By some statesmen
+it might be condemned as foolhardy, by others as quixotic. Its very
+foolhardiness and quixotry fascinated the man it was intended to
+influence, the blood-thirsty, cruel, and pitiless Ferrante of Naples, who
+was restrained from crime by the fear neither of God nor man, and who
+had actually slain the condottiere Piccinino when he visited him under a
+safe-conduct from the monarch's best ally. But the Renaissance annals are
+filled with the records of men and women whose natures are marvellous
+studies of contrasted and contradictory traits. Such was the Neapolitan
+tyrant. While a monster in much, he had his vulnerable points. He was
+ambitious to pose as a friend of the "New Learning," and he knew that
+Lorenzo was not only the most munificent patron, but also one of the most
+illustrious exponents, of the Renaissance principles.
+
+Although his enemy, Ferrante received Lorenzo with every demonstration of
+respect and satisfaction. He lost sight of the hostile diplomatist in
+the great humanist. Two Neapolitan galleys were sent to conduct him
+to Naples, and he was welcomed on landing with much pomp. Never did
+Lorenzo's supreme diplomatic genius, never did his versatile powers as a
+statesman, as a scholar, as a patron of letters, and as a brilliant man
+of the world, blaze forth in more splendid effulgence than during his
+three-months' stay in Naples. Though opposed by all the papal authority
+and resources; though Sixtus by turns threatened, cajoled, entreated,
+promised, in order to prevent Lorenzo having any success, the successor
+of St. Peter was beaten all along the line, and the Magnifico carried
+away with him a treaty, signed and sealed, which practically meant that
+henceforth Naples and the papacy would be in antagonistic camps.
+
+It was the Renaissance card which won the trick. With startling boldness,
+yet with consummate art, Lorenzo played the game of flattering Ferrante.
+No ordinary adulation, however, would have had success with the
+Neapolitan Phaleris. He was too strong-minded a man for anything of that
+kind. But to be hailed by the great Renaissance patron of the period,
+by one also who was himself one of the leading humanists, as a
+brother-humanist and a fellow-patron of learning, was a delicate incense
+to his vanity which he could not resist. He liked to be consulted on
+matters of literary moment, and, when he blundered, Lorenzo was too
+shrewd a student of human nature to correct him.
+
+Another fact in Lorenzo's favor was that he had the warm support not only
+of the beautiful Ippolyta Maria, daughter of Cosmo's friend, Francesco
+Sforza of Milan, and now wife of Alfonso, Duke of Calabria, King
+Ferrante's heir, as well as of Don Federigo, the monarch's younger son,
+who, along with Ippolyta, was a friend to the "New Learning," but he also
+had the whole body of Neapolitan humanists on his side, scarce one of
+whom but had experienced in some form or another the Medicean bounty.
+Such powerful advocacy was not without its influence in bringing about
+the result; while Ferrante more and more realized that if the Florentine
+Medici were crushed he would have no ally to whom to look for help when
+the inevitable shuffle of the political cards took place on the death of
+Sixtus.
+
+In February, 1480, therefore, Lorenzo returned in triumph to Florence,
+to be received with rapture by his fellow-citizens. Had he delayed a few
+months longer, his visit and his _ad-miseri-cordiam_ appeals would not
+have been needed. In August of that year Keduk Achmed, one of the Turkish
+Sultan's (Mahomet II) ablest generals, besieged and took the city of
+Otranto. In face of the common danger to all Italy, Sixtus was compelled
+to accept the treaty made by Ferrante with Lorenzo, and a general peace
+ensued. The decade accordingly closed with an absolution for all offences
+granted by the Pope to Florence, conditional on the Tuscan republic
+contributing its share to the expenses of the military preparations to
+resist the invasion of the Turk.
+
+Notwithstanding the war, the progress of the Renaissance during the first
+decade of Lorenzo's rule was very marked. To the rapid diffusion of
+printing this was largely due. Lorenzo had not imbibed the prejudices
+against the new art entertained by Cosmo and Federigo of Montefeltro. He
+looked at the practical, not the sentimental, side of the question as
+regards the new invention. Having seen that the press could throw off, in
+a few days, scores of copies of any work, of which it took an amanuensis
+months to produce one; also that the scholars of all Italy could be
+furnished almost immediately, and at a low price, with the texts of any
+manuscript they desired, while they had to wait months for a limited
+number of copies whose cost was wellnigh prohibitive, he supported the
+new invention from the outset. Having resolved to further his father's
+efforts to establish printing in Florence, he stimulated the local
+goldsmith, Bernardo Cennini, to turn his attention to type-casting in
+metal, and even agreed to pay him an annual grant from the year 1471
+until he had fairly settled himself in business. Nor did he confine his
+favors to him. John of Mainz and Nicholas of Breslau, who arrived in
+Florence, the former in 1472 and the latter in 1477, also participated
+in his open-hearted liberality. Printing struck its roots deep into the
+Tuscan community and flourished excellently. Though the Florentine craft
+never attained the reputation of the Venetian Aldi and Asolani, the
+Giunti of Rome, the Soncini of Fano, the Stephani of Paris, and Froben
+of Basel, it had the name, for a time at least, of being one of the most
+accurate of all presses.
+
+To Lorenzo it owed this celebrity. At an early date he perceived that the
+new art would be of little value if there were not careful press readers.
+He was therefore among the first to induce scholars of distinction to
+engage in this task. For example, he enlisted the aid of Cristoforo
+Landino, who in his _Disputationes Camaldunenses_ had really inaugurated
+the science of textual criticism by urging that a careful comparison
+of the various codices should constitute the preliminary step in any
+reproduction of the classics. Landino's work on Vergil and Horace merits
+the warmest praise. Lorenzo also impressed Poliziano into the work, whose
+labors in marking the various readings, in adding _scholia_ and "notes"
+illustrative of the text of Catullus, Propertius, Ovid, etc., were of the
+utmost value. To Lorenzo and to his younger brother Giuliano, another
+great humanist, Giorgio Merula of Milan, dedicated his _Plautus_,
+published in Venice in 1472, showing at how early an age the Magnifico
+had taken his place among the recognized patrons of the Italian
+Renaissance.
+
+We ought not, moreover, to omit mention of another achievement of
+Lorenzo, though performed in a sphere of effort lying outside of the
+strict limits of our Renaissance survey. Seeing it was the "Revival of
+Letters," however, which induced the revival of the cultivation of the
+vernacular Italian literature, surely it is not out of place to refer to
+it here. Early in life Lorenzo became imbued with the conviction that his
+native tongue was unsurpassed as a medium for "the expression of noble
+thoughts in noble numbers." Not only did he encourage others to study
+Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio, but by following out his own precepts
+he became one of the great Italian poets. His _Selve d'Amore,_ his
+_Corinto_, his _Ambra_, his _La Nencia da Barberino_, his _Laude_, his
+_Sonetti_, his _Cansoni_, etc., are all poems that live in the Italian
+literature of to-day. Not as a man ashamed of the vernacular, and forced
+to use it because he can command no better, does Lorenzo write. "He is
+sure of the justice of his cause, and determined by precept and example
+and by the prestige of his princely rank to bring the literature he loves
+into repute again."
+
+But of these poems we cannot here take further note. By the scholars of
+the Renaissance such work was looked askance at. If they did produce any
+of these "trifles," as they were called, they almost blushed to own them,
+and were ashamed to communicate them to each other. That he dared to
+be natural says much for Lorenzo, and it was largely due to his
+encouragement that Cristoforo Landino undertook his great work on
+"Dante," to which we owe so much to-day.
+
+In conjunction with his patronage of printing, there was no line of
+effort in which Lorenzo did more real good than in collecting manuscripts
+and antiquities, and in making them practically public property. On this
+account he is styled, by Niccolo Leonicino, "Lorenzo de' Medici, the
+great patron of learning in this age, whose messengers are dispersed
+through every part of the earth for the purpose of collecting books on
+every science, and who has spared no expense in procuring for your use,
+and that of others who may devote themselves to similar studies, the
+materials necessary for your purpose." The agents he employed travelled
+through Italy, Greece, Europe, and the East--Hieronymo Donato, Ermolao
+Barbaro, and Paolo Cortesi being the names of some of his most trusted
+"commissioners." But the coadjutor whose aid he principally relied on, to
+whom he committed the care and arrangement of his vast museum and great
+library, was Poliziano, who himself made frequent excursions throughout
+Europe, Asia, and Northern Africa to discover and purchase such remains
+of antiquity as suited the purposes of his patron. Another successful
+agent, though at a later date, was Giovanni Lascaris, who twice journeyed
+into the East in search of manuscripts and curios. In the second of these
+he brought back upward of two hundred copies of valuable codices from the
+monasteries on Mount Athos.
+
+To still another service rendered by Lorenzo to the cause of the
+Renaissance attention must be called--the founding of the Florentine
+Academy for the study of Greek. This institution, distinct, be it
+remembered, from the _Uffiziali dello Studio_ (or high-school),
+exercised a marvellous influence on the progress of the "New Learning."
+Accordingly, as Roscoe says, succeeding scholars have been profuse in
+their acknowledgments to Lorenzo, who first formed the establishment from
+which, to use their own classical figure, as from the Trojan horse,
+so many illustrious champions have sprung, and by means of which the
+knowledge of the Greek tongue was extended not only throughout Italy,
+but throughout Europe as well, from all the countries of which numerous
+pupils flocked to Florence--pupils who afterward carried the learning
+they had received to their native lands.
+
+Of this institution the first public professor was Joannes Argyropoulos,
+who, having enjoyed the patronage of Cosmo and Piero, and directed the
+education of Lorenzo, was selected by the latter as the fittest person to
+be the earliest occupant of the chair. During his tenure of it he sent
+out such pupils as Poliziano, Donato Acciaiuoli, Janus Pannonius, and
+the famous German humanist Reuchlin. Argyropoulos did not hold the
+appointment long. His death took place at Rome in 1471, and he was
+succeeded first by Theodore of Gaza, and then by Chalcondylas. Poliziano
+certainly discharged the duties of the office frequently, but at first
+only as _locum tenens_. He was then almost incessantly engaged in
+travelling for his patron in Greece and Asia Minor, and was too valuable
+a coadjutor to be tied down to the routine of teaching until he had
+completed his work. During the next decade he became the "professor," and
+discharged the duties with a genius and an adaptability to circumstances
+that won for him the admiration and love of all his students.
+
+This decade was also remarkable for the commencement of the devotion to
+the cultivation of literary style, a pursuit yet to reach its culmination
+in Poliziano in Florence and in Bembo and Sadoleto in Rome. Originality
+gradually gave place to conventionality, until men actually came to
+prefer the absurdities of Ciceronianism, and a cold, colorless adherence
+to hard-and-fast rules of composition, to a work throbbing with the
+pulsation of virile life. Humanism was beginning to take flight from
+Italy, to find a home and a welcome beyond the Alps.
+
+The final decade of Lorenzo's life constituted the midsummer bloom of
+the Tuscan renaissance, the meridian of the intellectual and artistic
+supremacy of Florence. In Lorenzo it found its fullest expression. He was
+typical of its spiritual as well as of its moral meaning; typical, too,
+of that mental unrest which sought escape from the pressing problems of
+an enigmatic present by reverting to the study of a classic past whose
+ethical, social, and political difficulties were rarely of a complex
+character, but concerned themselves principally with what may be termed
+the elementary verities of man's relations to the Deity and to his
+fellows.
+
+Lorenzo's amazing versatility has been pronounced a fault by some who
+believed they detected in him the potential capacity of rivalling
+Dante, Petrarch, and Ariosto on their own ground, had he only
+conserved his energies. This is a foolish supposition. Lorenzo's
+many-sidedness was but the reflection in himself, as the most accurate
+mirror of the time, of all that wondrous susceptibility to beauty, that
+eager craving after the realization of the [greek: to kalon] ("the Good")
+so characteristic of the best Hellenic genius, whether we study it in the
+dramas of Sophocles or the _Republic_ of Plato or in the statesmanship of
+Pericles. If Lorenzo had resembled his grandfather and concentrated his
+energies upon finance and politics, there might have been a line of
+reigning Medicean princes in Florence half a century earlier than
+actually was the case, but Europe would have been distinctly the loser
+by the absence of the greatest personal force making for culture which
+characterized the Renaissance.
+
+This last decade of Lorenzo's life--from his thirty-first to his
+forty-second year--was memorable in many respects. In the year 1481 he
+was again exposed to the danger of assassination. Battista Frescobaldi
+and two assistants in the Church of the Carmeli, and again on Ascension
+Day, made an attempt to stab him, but were frustrated by the vigilance of
+Lorenzo's friends. There is no doubt that this second attempt was also
+instigated by Girolamo Riario, the nephew of Sixtus IV. Thereafter
+Lorenzo never moved out without a strong bodyguard of friends and
+adherents--a precaution rendered necessary by the repeated plots that
+were being hatched against him by his enemies.
+
+No sooner had the presence of the Turks at Otranto, in the extreme
+southeast of Italy, been rendered a thing of the past by the surrender of
+the Moslem garrison to the Duke of Calabria in September, 1481, than
+the peninsula was again ranged in opposing camps by the attempt of the
+Venetians, assisted by Sixtus and his nephew, to dispossess Ercole
+d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, of his dominions. The Duke had married
+the daughter of Ferdinand, King of Naples, an alliance which, by
+strengthening him, gave on that account great offence to the Venetians.
+They therefore sought to provoke him by insisting on their monopoly of
+the manufacture of salt in North Italy, and by building a fortress on
+a part of the Ferrarese territory which they pretended was within the
+limits of their own. When he remonstrated, they declined to remove it. In
+vain he appealed to Sixtus. The latter was one of the wolves waiting to
+devour him. He then turned to Lorenzo.
+
+To the inexpressible chagrin of Venice and of Sixtus, the Magnifico
+promptly espoused his cause, formed an alliance with Ferdinand and other
+states, and, before the Pope and the Venetians were aware he had moved,
+they found themselves confronted by Naples, Florence, Milan, Bologna,
+Mantua, and Faenza. The allies were commanded by Federigo of Montefeltro,
+Duke of Urbino, while the Venetian-papal troops were placed under Ruberto
+Malatesta of Rimini. In this campaign, however, Lorenzo was really the
+master-spirit. Although successes were won on both sides, a more than
+usually tragic complexion was given to the war by the death of the two
+commanders of the opposing forces. They had been friends from youth, and
+such a trifle as the fact that they were hired to fight against each
+other never disturbed the tenor of their mutual regard. Armstrong says no
+more than the truth when he remarks: "It was a pathetic coincidence.
+The two rival generals had bequeathed to each other the care of their
+children and estates, a characteristic illustration of the easy
+good-fellowship in this game of Italian war."
+
+The war dragged on with varying results until Lorenzo played his reserve
+card. He induced the Slavic Archbishop of Carniola, who, visiting Rome
+as the emperor Frederick's envoy, had been shocked by the shameless
+immorality of the Pope's life, to begin an agitation for a general
+council. In this he was supported by several of the rulers in Northern
+Italy and Eastern Europe. The move was so far successful. The Pope became
+alarmed, and hurriedly broke off his alliance with Venice, on the plea
+that the prevention of fresh schism in the Church must take precedence of
+every other consideration. The real fact of the matter was he dreaded the
+fate of Pope John XXIII, for he knew the actions of his nephew Girolamo
+Riario would not stand conciliar examination. Moreover, his other nephew,
+Giuliano della Rovere, afterward Pope Julius II, a bitter enemy to
+Girolamo, and Lorenzo's warm friend, had, during the disgrace of his
+cousin, gained the Pope's ear and told him some plain but wholesome
+truths regarding the unpleasant consequences of a permanent rupture with
+Lorenzo.
+
+All these considerations induced Sixtus to yield and leave Venice to
+prosecute the war alone. This it did against a quadruple alliance, for
+the Pope, when the haughty republic of the lagoons refused to disgorge
+its Ferrarese prey at his orders, promptly changed sides, and was as keen
+against the aggressor as he had previously been favorable to it. The
+Venetians sustained two severe defeats, while their fleet was almost
+shattered by a storm. The pecuniary strain was beyond their resources
+longer to maintain. They therefore resorted to the customary project of
+inducing some other power to intervene. In this case they took the step
+of inviting the Duke of Orleans to lay claim to the dukedom of Milan, and
+the Duke of Lorraine to the throne of Naples. The move was successful
+as regards Ludovico of Milan; he withdrew from the alliance, and much
+against the wish of the other allies the peace of Bagnolo was concluded
+in August, 1484. To Sixtus the news came as the knell of his dearest
+hopes. He gave way to one wild outburst of passion, in which he cursed
+all who had been engaged in making peace, then apoplexy supervened, and
+within a few hours he was a corpse. He was succeeded by Cardinal Cybo, a
+warm friend toward the Medici, and one who had such a profound admiration
+for the genius of Lorenzo in statecraft that he seldom took any step
+without consulting him, though unfortunately he did not always follow the
+Magnifico's advice.
+
+If no one else reaped honor and glory from this Ferrarese war, Lorenzo
+undoubtedly did so. By both sides the fact was admitted that he had acted
+throughout as a far-seeing, sagacious diplomatist, who, while giving
+preeminence, as was natural, to the welfare of his own state, had sought
+to conserve the cause of letters, even amid the turmoil incident upon the
+collision of political interests. He had proved the friend even of the
+enemies of his own country, when once they had passed from the scene
+of conflict, as, for example, when he dared Girolamo Riario to raise a
+finger in the direction of dispossessing the son of the Pope's general,
+Ruberto Malatesta, of his Rimini estates. He was the friend of the
+oppressed everywhere, and in more cases than one his powerful protection
+saved the children of his friends from being robbed by powerful
+relatives. This connection between Florence, Naples, Milan, Rome, and
+Ferrara tended to the promotion of intellectual intercourse between
+them. As printing was now being briskly prosecuted all over Northern and
+Central Italy, the interchange of literature went on ceaselessly among
+them.
+
+This, however, was Lorenzo's last great war. True, he was implicated in
+the prolonged quarrel between the papacy and King Ferrante of Naples, yet
+it was more as a mediator between the two antagonists than as the ally
+of the last-named that he took part in it; although, as Armstrong points
+out, he paid for the services of Trivulsio and four hundred cross-bowmen,
+that by enabling the Neapolitans to check San Severino, the leader of the
+papal-Venetian troops, he might induce Innocent VIII to lose heart and
+retire from the struggle.
+
+Lorenzo, during the last six years of his life, or, to speak more
+definitely, after the peace of Bagnolo, had become in Italian, as he was
+rapidly becoming in European, politics the master-spirit that inspired
+the moves on the diplomatic chess-board. In the mind of the historical
+student whose attention is directed to this period, admiration and wonder
+go hand-in-hand as we contemplate the marvellous sagacity and prevision
+of the man, together with the skill wherewith he made Florence--the
+weakest from a military point of view of the five greater Italian
+powers--the one which exercised the most preponderating influence
+upon the affairs of the peninsula. His supreme genius conceived and
+consummated the great scheme for ensuring the peace of Italy by a triple
+alliance of the three larger states--Florence, Milan, and Naples--against
+the other two, Venice and the papacy.
+
+As showing how entirely it was dependent upon him, the alliance was
+operative only so long as he was alive to bind the antagonistic forces of
+Naples and Milan together by the link of his own personal influence.
+He, in a word, was the subtle acid holding in chemical combination many
+mutually repellent substances. When his influence was withdrawn by death,
+within a few months they had all fallen apart, the triple alliance was
+forgotten and Italy was doomed. Even by those with whom he was nominally
+at war he was resorted to for advice. He it was that kept Innocent VIII
+from taking up a position that would have rendered the papacy ridiculous
+in the eyes of Europe, when he sought to threaten Naples with
+consequences he was powerless to inflict.
+
+Many writers have accused Lorenzo of cowardice, of pusillanimity, of want
+of political resolution on account of this very course of action, namely,
+that he assisted the enemies of Florence to extricate themselves from
+their dilemmas. Such criticism fails entirely to understand both the aim
+and the scope of his policy. He desired to keep Italy for the Italians.
+His clear-sighted sagacity saw nothing but danger in the plans of
+Ludovico of Milan to invite the French King into Italy, or in those of
+Venice to encourage the Duke of Lorraine to press his claims upon Milan.
+The intervention of either France or Spain in Italy was, in his idea,
+fraught only with dire disaster. Fain would he have patched up the
+quarrel between Naples and the papacy by mutual concessions, because
+he foresaw what would happen if the colossal northern powers had their
+cupidity aroused regarding Italy, and learned how defenceless she really
+was. Because he foresaw so clearly the horrors of the invasion of 1494
+and 1527, he acted as he did, even toward those who were enemies of
+Florence. His alarm appears in the letter, dated July, 1489, which he
+addressed to his ambassador in Rome: "I dislike these Ultramontanes and
+barbarians beginning to interfere in Italy. We are so disunited and so
+deceitful that I believe that nothing but shame and loss would be our
+lot; recent experience may serve to foretell the future." How true a
+prophet he was, the subsequent course of Italian history revealed!
+
+Anxious though the situation was, crucial though many of the problems
+he had to solve undoubtedly were, yet the statement may be accepted as
+approximately true that the last three or four years of Lorenzo's
+life were spent amid profound peace--at least as far as Florence was
+concerned. Roscoe's picture is highly colored, but not overcolored:
+
+"At this period the city of Florence was at its highest degree
+of prosperity. The vigilance of Lorenzo had secured it from all
+apprehensions of external attack; and his acknowledged disinterestedness
+and moderation had almost extinguished that spirit of dissension for
+which it had been so long remarkable. The Florentines gloried in their
+illustrious citizen, and were gratified by numbering in their body a man
+who wielded in his hand the fate of nations and attracted the respect
+and admiration of all Europe; the administration of justice engaged his
+constant attention, and he carefully avoided giving rise to an idea that
+he was himself above the control of the law."
+
+And Guicciardini adds: "This season of tranquillity was prosperous beyond
+any that Italy had experienced during the long course of a thousand
+years. Abounding in men eminent in the administration of public affairs,
+skilled in every honorable science and every useful art, it stood high in
+the estimation of foreign nations; which extraordinary felicity, acquired
+at many different opportunities, several circumstances contributed to
+preserve, but among the rest no small share of it was by general consent
+ascribed to the industry and the virtue of Lorenzo de' Medici, a citizen
+who rose so far above the mediocrity of a private station that he
+regulated by his counsels the affairs of Florence, then more important by
+its situation, by the genius of its inhabitants, and the promptitude
+of its resources than by the extent of its dominions, and who, having
+obtained the implicit confidence of the Roman pontiff Innocent VIII,
+rendered his name great and his authority important in the affairs of
+Italy."
+
+Though he had never allowed the demands of civic affairs to interfere
+with his interest in the progress of the Renaissance, war-time, as we
+have said, is not favorable to the cultivation of letters. While
+the connection between the states during the course of hostilities
+undoubtedly promoted the increase of mutual interest in each other's
+intellectual development, the fact that the Magnifico had to disburse
+enormous sums for the prosecution of the campaigns necessarily limited
+his ability to extend the same princely patronage to the cause of
+learning. But with the conclusion of peace he resumed the original scale
+of his benefactions, and the last four years of his life were, perhaps,
+the most fruitful of all in sterling good achieved in the fostering of
+the Renaissance.
+
+He encouraged the printers to double their output; he munificently
+assisted such undertakings as the first edition of Homer, edited by the
+famous scholars Demetrius Chalcondyles and Demetrius Cretensis, as well
+as other editions of the classics prepared by Poliziano, Marullus, and
+others. In the final estimate of his influence upon his age we hope to
+show that his aim was as pure as the prosecution of its realization was
+determined. He encouraged foreigners to come to Florence to study
+Greek, and, when their funds failed them, in many cases he generously
+entertained them at his own expense. Grocyn and Linacre, as well as
+Reuchlin, testify to the wise generosity of the great Magnifico, and all
+three declare that to him, more than to any other man, the Renaissance
+owed not only its development, but even the character it assumed in Italy
+in the second last decade of the fifteenth century.
+
+The end came when he was literally in his prime. Only forty-two years of
+age, he might reasonably have looked forward to many years of active work
+and the enjoyment of his honors! But Lorenzo, although not a vicious, was
+a pleasure-loving man, and he had drained the cup of enjoyment to the
+very lees. His constitution was undermined by worry and late vigils, by
+the very intensity of interest wherewith he had devoted himself to the
+pleasures of the moment. Accordingly, late in 1491 he began to feel the
+gout, from which he had suffered for some years, becoming so troublesome
+that he was unable for the duties devolving on him. He had lost his
+wife, Clarice Orsini, in July, 1487, at a time when he was absent at the
+sulphur baths of Filetta, striving to obtain relief from pain; therefore
+his last years were lonely indeed.
+
+Life had lost its relish to the dying Magnifico. The only thing over
+which he showed a flash of the old interest was in March, 1492, when his
+son Giovanni (afterward Leo X), on being made a cardinal by Innocent
+VIII, was invested with the _insignia_ in the Abbey Church of Fiesole.
+Although then within a month of his end, although, moreover, so weak that
+he was unable to attend the investiture mass or to head his table at the
+banquet which followed, he caused himself to be carried in a litter into
+the hall, where he publicly paid reverence to his son as a prince of
+the Church. He then embraced him as a father and gave him his paternal
+blessing. That done, and after addressing a few words of welcome to his
+guests collectively, he was slowly borne back to his chamber to die.
+Nevermore was he seen in public.
+
+His ruling passion was, however, strong in death. In place of surrounding
+himself with clergy, his last hours were spent with the humanists and
+scholars he had loved so well. To his beautiful villa of Careggi, and
+to that room facing the south which he called his own, he retired, and
+summoned Ficino, Poliziano, and Pico della Mirandola to bear him company
+until he dipped his feet in the River of Death. They discussed many
+things, but principally the consolations afforded by philosophy. Then
+they reverted to the subject of the classics, and to the valuable codices
+which Lascaris was bringing back from Greece.
+
+But hope at last burned low, and the physicians had to confess that the
+case was beyond their skill. How rudimentary as regards medical science
+that skill was may be judged from the fact that the staple remedy
+prescribed by the great Milanese doctor, Lazaro da Ficino, who had been
+called in to consult with Lorenzo's own medical man, Pier Leoni of
+Spoleto, was a potion compounded of crushed pearls and jewels. As might
+have been expected, such a treatment accelerated rather than retarded the
+disease.
+
+The last hours of Lorenzo, and particularly his historic interview with
+Savonarola, have often been described and are to this day the subject
+of debate. There are two sides to every story, and this one of the last
+visit of the haughty prior of San Marco's to the dying Magnifico is no
+exception. Poliziano relates the incident in one form, the followers
+of Savonarola in another; but neither report is absolutely authentic.
+Suffice it for us that Benedetto, writing a week after the Magnifico's
+death, says of the matter: "Our dear friend and master died so nobly,
+with all the patience, the reverence, the recognition of God which the
+best of holy men and a soul divine could show, with words upon his lips
+so kind, that he seemed a new St. Jerome."
+
+Perhaps the most reasonable attitude to assume toward the problem is that
+Lorenzo died as he lived, feeling that strange, restless curiosity as to
+what was summed up in the idea of a "future life" which he had manifested
+all his days: "If I believe aught implicitly," he is reported to have
+said in earlier years to Alberti, "I believe in Plato's doctrine of
+immortality in the _Phaedo,_ for religion is too much a matter of
+temperament for us to lay down hard-and-fast rules about it." Lorenzo
+outwardly conformed in his dying hours to the rites of the Catholic
+Church. He received the _viaticum_ kneeling, he repeated the responses in
+an earnest and fervent tone, and then, when he felt that the grains in
+the hour-glass of life were running out, he pressed a crucifix to his
+lips and so passed within the veil. As a humanist he had been reared, as
+a humanist he had lived and labored, as a humanist he died, maintaining
+to the very last his interest in those studies which it had been his
+life's passion to pursue.
+
+The sun of the Florentine renaissance had set forever!
+
+[Footnote 1: By permission of Selmar Hess.]
+
+
+
+DEATH OF CHARLES THE BOLD
+
+LOUIS XI UNITES BURGUNDY WITH THE CROWN OF FRANCE
+
+A.D. 1477
+
+PHILIPPE DE COMINES
+
+
+During the greater part of his rule as duke of Burgundy, Charles the
+Bold was at war with Louis XI of France, notwithstanding the treaty of
+Péronne, 1468, which the French monarch accepted under duress. Meanwhile
+it was the constant aim of Charles to enlarge his dukedom, and when, in
+1475, he had made another peace with Louis, the Duke turned anew to his
+scheme of conquest.
+
+Charles soon made himself master of Lorraine, which he had long coveted,
+and then, 1476, invaded Switzerland. "It was reserved for a small people,
+already celebrated for their heroic valor and their love of liberty, to
+beat this powerful man." Crossing the Jura, Charles besieged the little
+town of Granson, and after its capitulation he hanged or drowned all the
+defenders. When the news of this barbarity had spread through Switzerland
+the eight cantons arose, and almost under the walls of Granson the Swiss
+inflicted upon Charles a crushing defeat. In June, 1476, the Duke saw his
+second army destroyed by the Swiss and the Lorrainers, whom Comines calls
+Germans. In the following winter Charles assembled a third army and
+marched against Nancy, the capital of Lorraine, which was then held by
+the same allies. They were commanded by the Duke of Lorraine, who went to
+the relief of the garrison at Nancy from St. Nicholas, six miles away.
+
+Comines, whose account is given below, was a French statesman and
+historian, who, after being for a time in the service of Charles the
+Bold, went over to Louis and became his personal counsellor. He was
+therefore intimately versed in the history of these times.
+
+The Duke of Lorraine and his army of Germans broke up from St. Nicholas,
+and advanced toward the Duke of Burgundy, with a resolution to give him
+battle. The Count of Campobasso joined them that very day, and carried
+off with him about eightscore men-at-arms; and it grieved him much that
+he could do his master no greater mischief. The garrison of Nancy had
+intelligence of his design, which in some measure encouraged them to hold
+out; besides, another person had got over the works, and assured them
+of relief, otherwise they were just upon surrendering, and would have
+capitulated in a little time, had it not been for the treachery of this
+Count; but God had determined to finish this mystery.
+
+The Duke of Burgundy, having intelligence of the approach of the Duke of
+Lorraine's army, called a kind of council, contrary to his custom, for
+generally he followed his own will. It was the opinion of most of his
+officers that his best way would be to retire to Pont-à-Mousson, which
+was not far off, and dispose his army in the towns about Nancy; affirming
+that, as soon as the Germans had thrown a supply of men and provisions
+into Nancy, they would march off again; and the Duke of Lorraine being in
+great want of money, it would be a great while before he would be able to
+assemble such an army again; and that their supplies of provisions could
+not be so great but, before half the winter was over, they would be in
+the same straits as they were now; and that in the mean time the Duke
+might raise more forces and recruit himself; for I have been told by
+those who ought to know best, that the Duke of Burgundy's army did not
+then consist of full four thousand men, and of that number not above one
+thousand two hundred were in a condition to fight. Money he did not want;
+for in the castle of Luxembourg--which was not far off--there were in
+ready cash four hundred fifty thousand crowns, which would have raised
+men enough. But God was not so merciful to him as to permit him to take
+this wise counsel or discern the vast multitude of enemies who on every
+side surrounded him. Therefore he chose the worst plan, and, like a rash
+and inconsiderate madman, resolved to try his fortune, and engage the
+enemy with his weak and shattered army, notwithstanding the Duke of
+Lorraine had a numerous force of Germans, and the King's army was not far
+off.
+
+As soon as the Count of Campobasso arrived in the Duke of Lorraine's
+army, the Germans sent him word to leave the camp immediately, for they
+would not entertain such traitors among them. Upon which message he
+retired with his party to Condé, a castle and pass not far off, where he
+fortified himself with carts and other things as well as he could,
+in hopes that, if the Duke of Burgundy were routed, he might have an
+opportunity of coming in for a share of the plunder, as he did afterward.
+Nor was this practice with the Duke of Lorraine the most execrable action
+that Campobasso was guilty of; but, before he left the army, he conspired
+with several other officers--finding it was impracticable to attempt
+anything against the Duke of Burgundy's person--to leave him just as they
+came to the charge; for at that time he supposed it would put the army
+into the greatest terror and consternation; and if the Duke fled, he was
+sure he could not escape alive, for he had ordered thirteen or fourteen
+sure men, some to run as soon as the Germans came up to charge them, and
+others to watch the Duke of Burgundy and kill him in the rout; which was
+well enough contrived, for I myself have seen two or three of those who
+were thus employed to kill the Duke. Having thus settled his conspiracy
+at home, he went over to the Duke of Lorraine upon the approach of the
+German army; but, finding they would not entertain him, he retired to
+Condé, as I said before.
+
+The German army marched forward, and with them a considerable body of
+French horse, whom the King had given leave to be present in that action.
+Several parties lay in ambush not far off, that, if the Duke of Burgundy
+were routed, they might surprise some person of quality or take some
+considerable booty. By this everyone may see into what a deplorable
+condition this poor Duke had brought himself by his contempt of good
+counsel. Both armies being joined, the Duke of Burgundy's forces, which
+had been twice beaten before, and were weak and ill-provided besides,
+were quickly broken and entirely defeated. Many saved themselves by
+flight; the rest were either taken or killed; and among them the Duke of
+Burgundy himself was killed on the spot. Not having been in the battle
+myself, I will say nothing of the manner of his death; but I was told by
+some that they saw him beaten down, but, being prisoners themselves, were
+not able to assist him; yet, while they were in sight, he was not killed,
+but a great body of men coming that way afterward, they killed and
+stripped him in the throng, not knowing who he was. This battle was
+fought on January 5, 1476, upon the eve of Twelfth-day.
+
+The King having established posts in all parts of his kingdom--which
+before never had been done--it was not long ere he received the news of
+the Duke of Burgundy's defeat; and he was in hourly expectation of the
+report, for letters of advice had reached him before, importing that
+the German army was advancing toward the Duke of Burgundy's, and that a
+battle was expected between them. Upon which many persons kept their ears
+open for the news, in order to carry it to the King. For his custom was
+to reward liberally any person who brought him the first tidings of any
+news of importance, and to remember the messenger besides. His majesty
+also took great delight in talking of it before it arrived, and would
+say, "I will give so much to any man who first brings me such and such
+news." The Lord du Bouchage and I, being together, happened to receive
+the first news of the battle of Morat, and we went with it to the King,
+who gave each of us two hundred marks of silver. The Lord du Lude,
+who lay without the Plessis, had the first news of the arrival of the
+courier, with the letters concerning the battle of Nancy; he commanded
+the courier to deliver him the packet, and as he was a great favorite of
+the King's he durst not refuse him. By break of day the next morning,
+the Lord du Lude knocked at the door next to the King's chamber, and, it
+being opened, he delivered in the packet from the Lord of Craon and other
+officers. But none of the first letters gave any certainty of the Duke's
+death; they only stated that he was seen to run away, and that it was
+supposed he had made his escape.
+
+The King was at first so transported with joy at the news he scarce knew
+how to behave himself; however, his majesty was still in some perplexity.
+On one hand, he was afraid that if the Duke should be taken prisoner by
+the Germans, by means of his money, of which he had great store, he would
+make some composition with them. On the other, he was doubtful, if the
+Duke had made his escape, though defeated for the third time, whether he
+should seize upon his towns in Burgundy or not; which he judged not very
+difficult to do, since most of the brave men of that country had been
+slain in those three battles. As to this last point, he came to this
+resolution--which I believe few were acquainted with but myself--that if
+the Duke were alive and well, he would command the army which lay ready
+in Champagne and Barrois to march immediately into Burgundy, and
+seize upon the whole country while it was in that state of terror and
+consternation; and when he was in possession of it he would inform the
+Duke that the seizure he had made was only to preserve it for him, and
+secure it against the Germans, because it was held under the sovereignty
+of the crown of France, and therefore he was unwilling it should fall
+into their hands, and whatever he had taken should be faithfully
+restored; and truly I am of opinion his majesty would have done it,
+though many people who are ignorant of the motives that guided the King
+will not easily believe it. But this resolution was altered as soon as he
+was certain of the Duke of Burgundy's death.
+
+Upon the King's receiving the above-mentioned first letter--which gave no
+account of the Duke's death--he immediately sent to Tours, to summon all
+his captains and other great personages to attend him. Upon their arrival
+he communicated his letters to them. They all pretended great joy; but
+to such as more narrowly observed their behavior, it was easy to be
+discerned that most of them did but feign it; and, notwithstanding all
+their outward dissimulation, they had been better pleased if the Duke of
+Burgundy had been successful. The reason of this might be, because the
+King was greatly feared, and now, if he should find himself clear and
+secure from his enemies, they were afraid they would be reduced, or at
+least their offices and pensions retrenched; for there were several
+present who had been engaged against him with his brother the Duke of
+Guienne in the confederacy called the "Public Good." After his majesty
+had discourse with them for some time, he went to mass, and then ordered
+dinner to be laid in his chamber, and made them all dine with him; there
+being with him his chancellor and some other lords of his council.
+The King's discourse at dinner-time was about this affair, and I well
+remember that myself and others took particular notice how those who were
+present dined; but to speak truth--whether for joy or sorrow I cannot
+tell--there was not one of them that half filled his belly; and certainly
+it could not have been from modesty or bashfulness before the King, for
+there was not one among them but had dined with his majesty many times
+before.
+
+As soon as the King rose from table he retired, and distributed to some
+persons certain lands belonging to the Duke of Burgundy, as though he had
+been dead. He despatched the Bastard of Bourbon, Admiral of France, and
+myself into those parts, with full power to receive the homage of all
+such as were willing to submit and become his subjects. He ordered us to
+set out immediately, and gave us commission to open all his letters and
+packets which we might meet by the way, that thereby we might ascertain
+whether the Duke was dead or alive. We departed with all speed, though it
+was the coldest weather I ever felt in my life. We had not ridden above
+half a day's journey when we met a courier, and commanding him to deliver
+his letters we learned by them that the Duke of Burgundy was slain, and
+that his body had been found among the dead, and recognized by an Italian
+page that attended him and by one Monsieur Louppe, a Portuguese, who was
+his physician, and who assured the Lord of Craon that it was the Duke his
+master, and the Lord of Craon notified the same at once to the King.
+
+Upon receiving this news we rode directly to the suburbs of Abbeville,
+and were the first that announced the intelligence to the Duke's
+adherents in those parts. We found the inhabitants of the town in treaty
+with the Lord of Torcy, for whom they had held a great affection for a
+long time. The soldiers and officers of the Duke of Burgundy negotiated
+with us, by means of a messenger whom he had sent to them beforehand; and
+in confidence of success they dismissed four hundred Flemings who
+were then quartered in the town. The citizens, laying hold of this
+opportunity, opened the gates immediately to the Lord of Torcy, to the
+great prejudice and disadvantage of the captains and officers of the
+garrison--for there were seven or eight of them to whom, by virtue of the
+King's authority, we had promised money, and pensions for life; but they
+never enjoyed the benefit of that promise, because the town was not
+surrendered by them. Abbeville was one of the towns that Charles VII
+delivered up by the treaty of Arras in the year 1435, which towns were to
+return to the crown of France upon default of issue male; so that their
+admitting us so easily is not so much to be wondered at.
+
+From thence we marched to Dourlans, and sent a summons to Arras, the
+chief town in Artois, and formerly part of the patrimony of the earls of
+Flanders, which for want of heirs male always descended to the daughters.
+The Lord of Ravestein and the Lord des Cordes, who were in the town of
+Arras, offered to enter into a treaty with us at Mount St. Eloy and to
+bring some of the chief citizens with them. It was concluded that I
+and some others should meet them in the King's behalf; but the Admiral
+refused to go himself, because he presumed they would not consent to
+grant all our demands. I had not been long at the place of appointment
+when the two above-mentioned lords of Ravestein and Des Cordes arrived,
+attended by several persons of quality, and by certain commissioners on
+the part of the city, one of whom was their pensionary, named Monsieur
+John de la Vaquerie, whom they appointed to be their spokesman, and who
+since that time has been made first president of the Parliament of Paris.
+
+We demanded in the King's name to have the gates immediately opened and
+to be received into the town, for both the town and the whole country
+belonged to the King by right of confiscation; and if they refused
+to obey this summons, they would be in danger of being besieged, and
+compelled to submit by force, since their Duke was defeated, and his
+dominions utterly unprovided with means of defence, upon account of their
+irrecoverable losses in the three late battles. The lords returned answer
+by their speaker Monsieur John de la Vaquerie that the county of Artois
+belonged to the lady of Burgundy, daughter of Duke Charles, and descended
+to her in a right line from Margaret, Countess of Flanders, Artois,
+Burgundy, Nevers, and Rethel, who was married to Philip I, Duke of
+Burgundy, son of King John of France, and younger brother to King Charles
+V; wherefore they humbly entreated the King that he would observe and
+continue the truce that had existed between him and the late Duke of
+Burgundy, her father.
+
+Our conference was but short, for we expected to receive this answer; but
+the chief design of my going thither was to have a private conference
+with some persons that were thereto try if I could bring them over to the
+King's interest. I made overtures to some of them, who soon afterward did
+his majesty signal service. We found the whole country in a state of very
+great consternation, and not without cause; for in eight days' time they
+would scarce have been able to raise eight men-at-arms, and for other
+soldiers there were not in the whole country above one thousand five
+hundred--reckoning horse and foot together--that had escaped from the
+battle in which the Duke of Burgundy was slain, and they were quartered
+about Namur and Hainault. Their former haughty language was much altered
+now, and they spoke with more submission and humility; not that I would
+upbraid them with excessive arrogance in times past, but, to speak
+impartially, in my time they thought themselves so powerful that they
+spoke neither of nor to the King with the same respect as they have done
+since; and if people were wise, they would always use such moderate
+language in their days of prosperity that in the time of adversity they
+would not need to change it.
+
+I returned to the Admiral, to give him an account of our conference; and
+there I was informed that the King was coming toward us, and that upon
+receiving the news of the Duke's death he immediately set out, having
+despatched several letters in his own and his officers' names to send
+after him what forces could presently be assembled, with which he hoped
+to reduce the provinces I have just mentioned to his obedience.
+
+The King was overjoyed to see himself rid of all those whom he hated
+and who were his chief enemies; on some of them he had been personally
+revenged, as on the Constable of France, the Duke of Nemours, and several
+others. His brother, the Duke of Guienne, was dead, and his majesty
+came to the succession of the duchy. The whole house of Anjou was
+extinct--René, King of Sicily, John and Nicholas, Dukes of Calabria, and
+since them their cousin, the Count du Maine, afterward made count of
+Provence. The Count d'Armagnac had been killed at Lestore, and the
+King had got the estates and movables of all of them. But the house
+of Burgundy, being greater and more powerful than the rest, having
+maintained war with Charles VII, our master's father, for two-and-thirty
+years together without any cessation, by the assistance of the English,
+and having their dominions bordering upon the King's and their subjects
+always inclinable to invade his kingdom, the King had reason to be more
+than ordinarily pleased at the death of that Duke, and he triumphed more
+in his ruin than in that of all the rest of his enemies, as he thought
+that nobody, for the future, either of his own subjects or his neighbors,
+would be able to oppose him or disturb the tranquillity of his reign. He
+was at peace with England, and made it his chief business to continue so;
+yet, though he was freed in this manner from all his apprehensions, God
+did not permit him to take such courses in the management of his affairs
+as were most proper to promote his own interests and designs.
+
+And certainly, although God Almighty has shown, and does still show, that
+his determination is to punish the family of Burgundy severely, not only
+in the person of the Duke, but in its subjects and estates, yet I think
+the King our master did not take right measures to gain his end. For, if
+he had acted prudently, instead of pretending to conquer them, he should
+rather have endeavored to annex all those large territories, to which he
+had no just title, to the crown of France by some treaty of marriage;
+or to have gained the hearts and affections of the people, and so have
+brought them over to his interest, which he might, without any great
+difficulty, have effected, considering how their late afflictions had
+impoverished and dejected them. If he had acted after that manner, he
+would not only have prevented their ruin and destruction, but extended
+and strengthened his own kingdom, and established them all in a firm and
+lasting peace. He might by this means have eased, his own country of
+its intolerable grievances, and particularly of the marches and
+counter-marches of his troops, which are commanded continually up and
+down from one end of the kingdom to the other, sometimes upon very slight
+occasions.
+
+In the Duke of Burgundy's lifetime the King often talked with me about
+this affair, and told me what he would do if he should outlive the Duke,
+and his discourse at that time was very rational and wise; he told me
+he would propose a match between his son and the Duke of Burgundy's
+daughter, and if she would not consent to that, on the ground that the
+Dauphin was too young, he would then endeavor to marry her to some young
+prince of his kingdom, by which means he might keep her and her subjects
+in amity, and obtain without war what he intended to lay claim to for
+himself; and this was his resolution not more than a week before he heard
+of the Duke of Burgundy's death; but the very day he received that news
+his mind began to change, and this wise counsel was laid aside when the
+Admiral and I were despatched into those provinces. However, the King
+spoke little of what he intended to do--only to some few that were about
+him he promised sundry of the Duke's lordships and possessions.
+
+As the King was upon the road toward us, he received from all parts the
+welcome news of the delivering up the castles of Han and Bohain, and that
+the inhabitants of St. Quentin had secured that town for themselves, and
+opened their gates to their neighbor, the Lord of Mouy. He was certain
+of Peronne, which was commanded by Master William Bische, and, by the
+overtures that we and several other persons had made him, he was in great
+hopes that the Lord des Cordes would strike in with his interest. To
+Ghent he sent his barber, Master Oliver, [1] born in a small village
+not far off; and other agents he sent to other places, with great
+expectations from all of them; and most of them promised him very fair,
+but performed nothing. Upon the King's arrival near Peronne, I went to
+wait on his majesty, and at the same time William Bische and others
+brought him the surrender of the town of Péronne, with which he was
+extremely pleased.
+
+The King stayed there that day, and I dined with him, according to my
+usual custom, for it was his humor to have seven or eight always with him
+at table, and sometimes many more. After dinner he withdrew, and seemed
+not to be at all pleased with the Admiral's little exploit and mine; he
+told us he had sent his barber, Master Oliver, to Ghent, and he doubted
+not but he would persuade that town to submit to him; and Robinet
+Dodenfort to St. Omer, as he had great interest there; and these his
+majesty extolled as fit persons to manage such affairs, to receive the
+keys of great towns, and to put garrisons of his troops into them. He
+also mentioned others whom he had employed in the same negotiation in
+other places.
+
+While the King was busy in subduing towns and places in the marches of
+Picardy, his army was in Burgundy, under the command, apparently, of the
+Prince of Orange, a native and subject of the county of Burgundy, but one
+who had recently, for the second time, become an enemy of Duke Charles,
+so that the King made use of him, because he was a powerful noble in both
+the county and duchy of Burgundy, and was likewise well connected and
+greatly beloved. But the Lord of Craon was the King's lieutenant, and had
+the real charge of the army, and was the person in whom the King reposed
+most confidence; for he was a man of great wisdom, and thoroughly devoted
+to his master, though somewhat too fond of gain. This Lord of Craon, when
+he drew near Burgundy, sent forward the Prince of Orange and others to
+Dijon to use persuasion, and require the people to render obedience to
+the King; and they managed the matter so adroitly, principally by means
+of the Prince of Orange, that the city of Dijon and all the other towns
+in the duchy of Burgundy, together with many in the county, gave their
+allegiance to the King.
+
+[Footnote 1: This personage will be familiar to all who have read
+Sir Walter Scott's novel of _Quentin Durward_. Oliver le Mauvais was
+_valet-de-chambre_ and chief barber to Louis XI; in October, 1474, he
+received letters of nobility from that Prince, authorizing him to change
+his name of Mauvais to that of Le Dain. On November 19, 1477, the King
+conferred the estates of the deceased Count of Meulant on Oliver le Dain
+and his heirs; and to this gift he added the Forest of Senart in October,
+1482. On May 21, 1484, Oliver was hanged "for various great crimes,
+offences, and malefactions."]
+
+
+
+INQUISITION ESTABLISHED IN SPAIN
+
+A.D. 1480
+
+WILLIAM H. RULE JAMES BALMES
+
+
+Prior to the twelfth century the church authorities had been content with
+defining heresy, while the treatment of heretics was left to secular
+magistrates. But the spread of heresy at the end of the twelfth century
+caused the episcopal authorities to look for some occasion for enlarging
+their prerogatives. In 1204 Pope Innocent III appointed a papal delegate
+with authority to judge and punish misbelievers. From this germ sprung
+the Holy Office, commonly known as the Inquisition.
+
+This papal act met with some opposition from the bishops, upon whose
+prerogatives it encroached; and it provoked rebellion among those against
+whom it was directed, the Albigenses of Southern France, whose doctrines
+were spreading into Italy. In 1208 Innocent began a crusade against them,
+which was led by Arnold of Citeaux and Simon de Montfort, and proved a
+bloody war of extermination, lasting several years.
+
+Meanwhile the papacy gradually proceeded in the design of creating
+a tribunal under its own direct control. Such a tribunal was soon
+practically instituted. Its leading spirit was St. Dominic, founder of
+the Dominican order of preaching friars, but the title of Inquisitor was
+not yet adopted at the time of his death, in 1221. St. Dominic, however,
+is with good reason regarded as the founder of the Inquisition.
+
+After the death of St. Dominic the Inquisition gradually assumed a more
+definite and avowed character, and its repressive hand, inflicting
+terrible punishments upon accused heretics, was soon felt throughout
+Southern Europe, and later in the Netherlands, the order of St. Dominic
+at first furnishing its principal agents.
+
+But later the Inquisition entered upon another stage, under Spanish
+direction, through a specific organization, practically independent of
+papal or royal control, though acting under the sanction of both church
+and state. It became "the most formidable of irresponsible engines in the
+annals of religious institutions." Two points of view--Protestant and
+Catholic--are here presented of the Spanish history of the Holy Office.
+
+
+WILLIAM H. RULE
+
+
+"Better and happier luck for Spain"--I translate the words of
+Mariana--"was the establishment in Castile, which took place about this
+time, of a new and holy tribunal of severe and grave judges, for the
+purpose of making inquest and chastising heretical pravity and apostasy,
+judges other than the bishops, on whose charge and authority this office
+was anciently incumbent. For this intent the Roman pontiffs gave them
+authority, and order was given that the princes should help them with
+their favor and arm. These judges were called 'inquisitors,' because of
+the office which they exercised of hunting out and making inquest, a
+custom now very general in Italy, France, Germany, and also in the
+kingdom of Aragon. Castile, henceforth, would not suffer any nation to go
+beyond her in the desire which she always had to punish such enormous and
+wicked excesses. We find mention, before this, of some inquisitors who
+discharged this function, but not in the manner and force of those who
+followed them.
+
+"The chief author and instrument of this salutary grant was the Cardinal
+of Spain (Mendoza), who had seen that, in consequence of the great
+liberty of past years, and from the mingling of Moors and Jews with
+Christians in all sorts of conversation and trade, many things went out
+of order in the kingdom. With that liberty it was impossible that some of
+the Christians should not be infected. Many more, leaving the religion
+which they had voluntarily embraced as converts from Judaism, again
+apostatized and returned to their old superstition--an evil which
+prevailed more in Seville than in any other part. In that city,
+therefore, secret searches were first made, and they severely punished
+those whom they found guilty. If their delinquency was considerable after
+having kept them long time imprisoned, and after having tormented them,
+they burned them. If it was light, they punished the offenders, with the
+perpetual dishonor of their family. Of not a few they confiscated the
+goods, and condemned them to imprisonment for life. On most of them they
+put a _sambenito_, which is a sort of scapulary of yellow color, with a
+red St. Andrew's cross, that they might go marked among their neighbors,
+and bear a signal that should affright and scare by the greatness of the
+punishment and of the disgrace; a plan which experience has shown to
+be very salutary, although, at first, it seemed very grievous to the
+natives."
+
+Cardinal Mendoza might have been an instrument of establishing the new
+tribunal in Spain, but no author was wanted for that work. Pope Gregory
+IX, fit successor of Innocent III, had completed in Spain, as in the
+county of Toulouse and kingdom of France, the scheme which his uncle
+Innocent began. By a bull, dated May 26, 1232, he appointed Dominican
+friars inquisitors in Aragon, and forthwith proceeded to confer the same
+benefit on the kingdoms of Navarre, Castile, and Portugal; Granada being
+in possession of the Moors. Ten years later, in a council at Tarragona,
+the chief technicalities of the Spanish Inquisition were settled. At the
+invitation of Peter, Archbishop of Tarragona, Raymund of Peñaforte, the
+Pope's penitentiary, presided. The definitions of the council are notable
+for the determination they evidence to conduct the affairs of the
+tribunal with entire legal precision and formality. The "vocabulary" was
+now settled, and one has only to turn to the _Acts_ of the Council of
+Tarragona to find the exact meaning of "heretic, believer, suspected,
+simple, vehement, most vehement, favorer, concealer, receiver,
+receptacle, defender, abettor, relapsed."
+
+As everyone may well know, no inconsiderable part of the Spanish
+population consisted of Jews, many of whose ancestors had taken refuge in
+that country, or had settled there for purposes of commerce, ages before
+the birth of our Lord, and their number had been increased from time to
+time, in consequence of imperial edicts which drove them from Italy,
+or by the attractions of honor and wealth in Spain. They were the most
+industrious and therefore the most wealthy people in those kingdoms,
+and had possessed great influence. Their learned men occupied important
+stations as physicians, agents of government, and even officers of
+state; while the "New Christians," or Jews professedly converted to
+Christianity, were intermarried with the highest families in Spain, and
+all this had taken place in spite of the enmity of the clergy, popular
+bigotry, and the adverse legislation of _cortes_ or parliaments. But the
+wealth which procured Jews and New Christians so much worldly influence
+became the occasion of great suffering. The "Old Christians," being less
+industrious, and therefore less affluent, were frequently their debtors.
+And although usury was checked by legislators, who dreaded its pressure
+on themselves, and debts were often repudiated, the Jews maintained their
+position of creditors; and, as the _Cartilla_ says, creditors are often
+unreasonable persons, or, at least, are considered to be such. Christians
+of pure blood, therefore, finding themselves involved in long reckonings,
+became increasingly impatient, and, under a cloak of zeal for the
+Catholic religion, were incessantly embroiling them with the magistracy
+or stirring up the populace against them.
+
+Llorente estimates the number of Jews who perished under the fury of
+mobs, in the year 1391, at upward of one hundred thousand. To evade
+persecution, multitudes submitted to be baptized. More than a million had
+changed name at the end of the fourteenth century. After those tumults
+controversial preachers, such as San Vicente Ferrer, declaimed for popery
+against Judaism; and in the first ten years of the fifteenth century a
+second multitude of forced converts threw themselves into the bosom of
+the Romish Church, to the discouragement of their brethern and to their
+own confusion at last. They were set under the keenest vigilance of the
+inquisitors, without being able even to counterfeit any attachment to the
+Church, whose most grievous yoke they had put on, but which in heart they
+hated.
+
+Now the Church gloried over the declension of Judaism. In presence of
+Benedict XIII, antipope, a Spaniard, wandering in Spain, because in
+Rome they would not own him, a formal disputation was carried on for
+sixty-nine days between Jerome of Santa Fé and other converts--or, as
+the Jews not improperly called them, apostates--on the one side, and a
+company of rabbis on the other. Such a controversy, carried on even
+in the presence of a half-pope, could only come to the prescribed
+conclusion; and after seeing all persuasion and corruption exhausted to
+bring over the Hebrews to his sect, but without much success, Benedict
+closed the debate, pronounced the Jews vanquished, and gave them notice
+of severer measures. The richer from interest, the poorer from bigotry,
+and the priesthood from instinct, poured contempt even on proselytes,
+whom they classified according to their supposed degrees of heterodoxy.
+Some were called "converts," to note the newness of their Christianity;
+others "confessed," to tell that they had confessed the falseness of
+Judaism. Sometimes they were branded as "maranos," from the words _maran
+atha_, which the priests, in their ignorance, took to mean "accursed."
+The whole were spoken of as a generation of maranos, or, worst of all in
+the imagination of a papist, "Jews." Goaded by the cowardly persecution,
+the proselytes groaned after deliverance; a few even dared to renounce
+the profession of a faith they never held, and many resumed the practice
+of Jewish rites in private. This opened a new field to the zeal of the
+inquisitors; but the labor of suppressing a revolt so widely spread, so
+rapidly extending, and even infecting the Romish families with whom the
+imperfect converts were united, was more than the inquisitors could
+undertake without a more powerfully organized system of their own.
+
+I believe that the fear of the Bible and the hatred of the Jews of Spain,
+first imprinted in the page of history by the Council of Illiberis in the
+beginning of the fourth century, was in course of time much aggravated by
+the earnest love of the Spanish Jews for the original scriptures of the
+Old Testament. It was not until the eleventh century that rabbinical
+tradition gained much hold in the Jewish mind in Spain, but, from the
+first, Christians had cursed Jews in sincere but blind zeal against
+the descendants, as they thought, of those who crucified our Lord in
+Jerusalem. Yet the Sephardim in Spain could have had no knowledge of the
+Crucifixion until some weeks, at soonest, after it had taken place, and
+perhaps never knew of the hostility of the Jews in Jerusalem against the
+Saviour.
+
+Until the dispersion of the Eastern colleges in the eleventh century,
+no great rabbis came into Spain with pretension of authority to enforce
+Talmudical traditions. When zealots of the sort did come, they found a
+community of Hebrews far superior to the Jews of Palestine. No Assyrian
+had bribed them to worship the gods of Nineveh. Their neighbors the
+Carthaginians, so long as Carthage stood, had persisted in worshipping
+the Baal and the Ashtaroth that recreant Israelites in Samaria and Jews
+in Jerusalem worshipped for ages; but, while those gods had altars in
+Sidon and in Carthage, we do not hear of any altars being raised to
+them in "the captivity of Jerusalem, which was in Sepharad," or Spain
+(Obadiah, 20); neither do we hear that those Jews betrayed any ambition
+to make a hedge to protect God's law, instead of taking care to keep it.
+But the first propagators of traditionism in Spain came from the East, on
+the breaking up of the great schools of Babylonia by the Persians.
+
+Ancient or Karaite synagogues remained in Spain until the expulsion of
+Jews at the close of the fifteenth century, and yet much later in the
+provinces that were not annexed to the United Kingdom of Castilla and
+Leon under Ferdinand and Isabella. Some of the strongest features of
+biblical learning imparted to the literature of the Reformation in its
+earlier stages proceeded from the converted Jews of Spain.
+
+About the year 1470, when the persecution of both Jews and Mahometans was
+at its height--except in the kingdom of Granada--and when the testimony
+quoted from the Old Testament against worship of images must have been
+extremely galling to the worshippers, the priests thought it necessary
+to enforce the prohibition of vernacular versions of the Bible. Such
+versions, we know, were then circulated more freely in France, Spain,
+and Portugal. In Spain, one of the chief translators was Rabbi Moses of
+Toledo. To put a stop to Bible-reading, an appeal was made to Pope Paul
+II, who prohibited the translation of the holy Scriptures "into the
+languages of the nations." This authority was quoted in the Council of
+Trent by Cardinal Pacheco, in justification of the practice of the Church
+of Rome in his day; but another cardinal, Madrucci, arguing against him,
+replied with cutting calmness that "Paul, of popes the second," or
+any other pope, might be easily deceived in judging of the fitness or
+unfitness of a law, but not so Paul the Apostle, who taught that God's
+word should never depart from the mouth of the faithful.
+
+During the persecutions of the fifteenth century, while Ferdinand and
+Isabella made progress in reconquering the kingdom of Granada from the
+Moors, and Mahometanism, like Judaism, was declining, the Moriscoes, a
+middle class, resembling the New Christians, and not less dangerous to
+Romanism, also challenged the powers of the Inquisition. No other country
+in popedom was at that time more deeply imbued with disaffection of the
+doctrines and worship of the Church of Rome. Then in 1477, one Brother
+Philip de' Barberi, a Sicilian inquisitor, came to the court of Ferdinand
+and Isabella, who were sovereigns of Sicily, to solicit the confirmation
+of some privileges recently granted to the Holy Office in that island;
+and, having observed the peril of the Church within the enlarged and
+united dominions of "the Catholic kings" under whose rule nearly all
+Spain was comprehended, advised the creation of one undivided court of
+inquisition, like that of Sicily, as the only means of defence against
+the maranos, Moriscoes, Jews, and Mussulmans.
+
+The advice was quickly taken. First of all, the Dominicans, and after
+them the dignitaries of the secular clergy, crowded round the throne to
+pray for a reformation of the Inquisition after the Sicilian model. They
+appealed to the greed of King Ferdinand by offering him the proceeds of
+a confiscation, which might be rapidly effected, in pursuance of laws of
+the Church to that intent provided. They appealed to the piety of Queen
+Isabella, and were careful that tales of Jewish murders and Jewish
+desecrations should be poured incessantly into the royal ear. Ferdinand
+had no scruple. He sincerely prayed the Pope to sanction such a measure,
+and, swiftly as couriers could bring it, came the desired bull. Isabella
+could not blame the zeal of priests and monks; for she, too, was a
+zealot. She could not gainsay the urgency of the nuncio. She could not
+quench in her husband's bosom the thirst of gold. But she had brought
+half the kingdom as her dower; and therefore some deference was due to
+her conscience and judgment, and both in conscience and judgment she
+desired gentler measures. During two or three years her orator and
+confessor wrote books, and preachers were permitted to publish arguments,
+and disputants to enter into conferences, for the conviction of the Jews.
+
+At her majesty's request, Cardinal Mendoza issued a constitution in
+Seville, in 1478, containing "the form that should be observed with a
+Christian from the day of his birth, as well in the sacrament of baptism
+as in all other sacraments which he ought to receive, and of what he
+should be taught, and ought to do and believe as a faithful Christian,
+every day, and at all times of his life, until the day of his death. And
+he ordered this to be published in all the churches of the city, and put
+in tables in each parish, as a settled constitution. He also published a
+summary of what curates and clerks should teach their parishioners, and
+what the parishioners should observe and show to their children." Thus
+does Hernando del Pulgar, in his _Chronicle of the Catholic Sovereigns_,
+describe what some too hastily call a catechism. It was merely a standard
+of things to be believed and done, set forth by authority. The King and
+Queen also, _not the Cardinal_, commanded "some friars, clerks, and other
+religious persons to teach the people." But no true Jew would let himself
+be taught that idolatry is not damnable; and even the less discouraging
+issues of controversy with the vacillating or the ignorant were not
+honestly reported.
+
+The constitution of Cardinal Mendoza and the harangues of the friars were
+ineffectual, as well they might be, for the Jews knew that the Christians
+had a sacred book, said to be written by divine inspiration, as well as
+the Law of Moses; and if that book was not put into their hands, they
+could scarcely be expected to believe a religion whose chief written
+authority was kept out of sight. That it was, indeed, kept out of sight
+was undeniable; and the notorious Alfonso de Castro, chaplain of Philip
+II, boasted in his book against heresies that there was "an edict of
+the most illustrious and Catholic sovereigns of Spain, Ferdinand and
+Isabella, in which, under the severest penalties, they forbade anyone to
+translate the holy Scriptures into a vulgar language, or to have any such
+version in his possession. For they were afraid lest any occasion
+of error should be given to the people over whom God had made them
+governors." The clergy maintained that conversion to the truth by
+argument was impossible, and, at their instance, the bull was no longer
+kept in reserve, but was published in 1480.
+
+The Queen's trial of humanity was ended; but a question of policy
+remained. The King and Queen remembered that they had an interest in
+Spain as well as the Pope, but they scarcely knew how that interest
+could be guarded if the inquisitors were allowed absolute power over the
+persons and property of their subjects. To have proposed lay assessors
+and open court would have provoked a quarrel with the Pope, then powerful
+enough to raise Europe in arms against them; therefore they modestly
+requested no more than that some priests nominated by the King should
+be associated with some others nominated by the Pope; or that the King
+should name all, and the Pope confirm his nominations. The "Catholic
+sovereigns" calculated that nominees of Rome would, of course, prefer the
+rights of the Church to those of the crown, but they fancied, or they
+wished to fancy, that priests of their own choice would prefer their
+interests to those of a stranger. This was an illusion, and therefore
+Rome made little difficulty; and after due correspondence, and some
+changes, the Supreme Council of the Spanish Inquisition was constituted
+thus:
+
+Inquisitor-general--Friar Thomas de Torquemada, of whom Llorente says
+that it was hardly possible that there could have been another man so
+capable of fulfilling the intentions of King Ferdinand, by multiplying
+confiscations; those of the court of Rome, by propagating their
+jurisdictional and pecuniary maxims; and those of the projectors of the
+Inquisition, by infusing terror into the people by public executions.
+
+
+Two assessors--Juan Gutierrez de Chabes and Tristan de Medina,
+jurisconsults.
+
+Three King's counsellors--Don Alonso Carillo, a bishop-elect, with Sancho
+Valasquez de Cuellar and Poncio de Valencia, doctors of civil law. In
+matters relating to royal power they were to have a definite vote; but in
+affairs of spiritual jurisdiction they could only be suffered to offer an
+opinion, inasmuch as a spiritual power resided in the chief inquisitor
+alone.
+
+Under the jurisdiction of the supreme council were four subordinate
+tribunals, and eventually several others were added, while some
+inquisitors, hitherto holding special powers from the Pope, were stripped
+of their independence, that the court of Rome might have one uniform
+action throughout Spain. As the Holy Office advanced in labor and
+experience, the supreme council was enlarged, and at last it consisted of
+a president--inquisitor-general for the time being; six counsellors
+with the title of apostolic; a fiscal; a secretary of the chamber;
+two secretaries of the council; an alguazil-in-chief, or sheriff; one
+receiver; two reporters; four apparitors; one solicitor; and as many
+consulters as circumstances might require. Of course these were all
+maintained in a style worthy of their office. The Inquisitor-general, or
+president of the council, exerted an absolute power over every Spanish
+subject, so that he almost ceased to be himself a subject. He alone
+consulted with the King concerning the appointment of inquisitors to
+preside over all the provincial tribunals. Each of those inferior
+inquisitions was managed by three inquisitors, two secretaries, one
+under-sheriff, one receiver, and a certain number of triers and
+consulters. Their functions were considerably restricted, leaving
+all capital cases and ultimate decisions in the hands of the Madrid
+"Supreme."
+
+But while Ferdinand, Isabella, Torquemada, and the nuncio were concerting
+their plans and preparing death for heretics, what said Spain to it?
+Neither was clergy nor laity content. After the bull of Sixtus IV
+empowering the King to name inquisitors furnished with absolute
+authority, and to remove them at pleasure, had arrived, but lay
+unpublished in consequence of the Queen's repugnance, a provincial synod
+sat at Seville, where the regal court then was, 1478. Had the clergy of
+Castile desired the Inquisition, the synod would have said so; but so far
+were they from approving of such a tribunal, to which every bishop would
+be subject, but where no bishop would any longer have a voice, that they
+passed over the affair of heresy in silence, not consenting to accept the
+Inquisition, yet not presuming to remonstrate against it. Then would have
+been the time for the clergy to add their power to that of the throne for
+the suppression of false doctrine, believing, as they did believe, that
+forcible suppression was not only lawful, but meritorious in the sight of
+God; and so they would probably have done if inquisitor and bishop were
+to have had coördinate jurisdiction, as in the first inquisition of
+Toulouse, and in the early Italian inquisition; but they saw, with alarm,
+that the episcopate was to be despoiled of its authority at a stroke.
+
+A few months before the publication of the bull, but long after every
+person in Spain knew the purport of its contents, and in the certainty
+that it would be carried into execution, the Cortes of Toledo met;
+but, instead of avoiding any act that would interfere with the new
+jurisdiction then to be introduced, they made several provisions for
+separating Jews and Christians by the enclosure of Jewries in the towns,
+and for compelling the former to wear a peculiar garb, and abstain from
+exercising the vocation of surgeon or physician or innkeeper or barber
+or apothecary among Christians. The parliament plainly ignored the
+Inquisition in making this enactment on their own authority.
+
+And what said the magistracy and the people? Seville represented
+the general state of feeling at the time. There, when a company of
+inquisitors presented themselves, conducted into the city by men and
+horses which had been impressed for the purpose by royal order, the civil
+authorities refused to help them, notwithstanding the injunctions of the
+bull, the obligations of canon law, and a mandate from the Crown. The new
+inquisitors found themselves unable to act for want of help; meanwhile
+the objects of their mission forsook the city, and found shelter in the
+neighboring districts; and Ferdinand had to issue specific orders to
+overpower the hostility of all the classes of the people and to compel
+the magistrates to assist the new set of officers ecclesiastic. These
+orders were most reluctantly obeyed.
+
+Thus fortified, the inquisitors took up their abode in the Dominican
+convent of St. Paul, and issued their first mandate January 2, 1481.
+They said that they were aware of the flight of the New Christians, and
+commanded the Marquis of Cadiz, the Count of Arcos, and all the dukes,
+marquises, counts, gentlemen, rich men, and others of the kingdom of
+Castile to arrest the fugitives and send them to Seville within a
+fortnight, sequestrating their property. All who failed to do this were
+excommunicated as abettors of heresy, deposed from their dignities, and
+deprived of their estates; and their subjects were to be absolved from
+homage and obedience. Crowds of fugitives were driven back into Seville,
+bound like felons; the dungeons and apartments of the convent overflowed
+with prisoners; and the King assigned the castle of Triana, on the
+opposite bank of the Guadalquiver, to the "New and Holy Tribunal," to be
+a place of safe custody. There the inquisitors, elate with triumph over
+the reluctant magistrates and panic-stricken people, shortly afterward
+erected a tablet with an inscription in memory of the first establishment
+of the modern Inquisition in Western Europe. The concluding sentences
+of the inscription were: "God grant that, for the protection and
+augmentation of the faith, it may abide unto the end of time!--Arise, O
+Lord, judge thy cause!--Catch ye the foxes!"
+
+Their second edict was one of "grace." It summoned all who had
+apostatized to present themselves before the inquisitors within a term
+appointed, promising that all who did so, with true contrition and
+purpose of amendment, should be exempted from confiscation of their
+property--it was understood that they should be punished in some other
+way--but threatening that, if they allowed that term to pass over without
+repentance, they should be dealt with according to the utmost rigor of
+the law. Many ran to the convent of St. Paul, hoping to merit some small
+measure of indulgence. But the inquisitors would not absolve them until
+they had disclosed the names, calling, residence, and given a description
+of all others whom they had seen, heard, or understood to have
+apostatized in like manner. After getting this information, they bound
+the terrified informers to secrecy. This first object being accomplished,
+they sent out a third monition, requiring all who knew any that had
+apostatized into the Jewish heresy to inform against them within six
+days, under the usual penalties. But they had already marked the very
+men; and those suspected converts suddenly saw the apparitors inside
+their houses, and were dragged away to the dungeons. New Christians who
+had preserved any of the familiar usages of their forefathers, such as
+putting on clean clothes on Saturday, who stripped the fat from beef or
+mutton, who killed poultry with a sharp knife, covered the blood, and
+muttered a few Hebrew words, who had eaten flesh in Lent, blessed their
+children, laying hands on their heads, who observed any peculiarity of
+diet or distinction of feast or fast, mourned for the dead after their
+ancient manner, or whose friends had presumed to turn the face toward a
+wall when in the agony of death, all such being vehemently suspected of
+apostasy, were to be punished accordingly. Thirty-six elaborate articles
+were furnished whereby everyone was instructed how to ensnare his
+neighbor.
+
+But what shall we say of a faith that could only hope to be kept alive
+in the world by the extinction of charity, honor, pity, and humanity?
+Llorente describes the immediate issue:
+
+"Such opportune measures for multiplying victims could not but produce
+the desired effect. Hence, on January 6, 1481, there were burned six
+unhappy persons; sixteen on March 26th; many on April 21st; and by
+November 4th, two hundred ninety-eight in all. Besides these, the
+inquisitors condemned seventy-nine to perpetual imprisonment. And all
+this in the city of Seville only; since, as regards the territories of
+this archbishopric and of the bishopric of Cadiz, Juan de Mariana says
+that, in the single year of 1481, two thousand Judaizers were burned in
+person, and very many in effigy, of whom the number is not known, besides
+seventeen thousand subjected to cruel penance. Among those burned were
+many principal persons and rich inhabitants, whose property went into the
+treasury.
+
+"As so many persons were to be put to death by fire, the Governor of
+Seville caused a permanent raised pavement, or platform of masonry, to
+be constructed outside the city, which has lasted to our time [until
+the French invasion, if not later], retaining its name of _Quemadero_
+('Burning-place'); and at the four corners four large hollow statues of
+limestone, within which they used to place the impenitent alive, that
+they might die by slow heat. I leave my readers to consider whether this
+punishment of an error of the understanding was consistent or not with
+the doctrine of the Gospel?
+
+"Fear caused an immense multitude of others of the same class of New
+Christians to emigrate to France, Portugal, and even Africa. But many
+others, whose effigies had been burned, appealed to Rome, complaining of
+the injustice of those proceedings; in consequence of which appeals the
+Pope wrote, on January 29, 1482, to Ferdinand and Isabella, saying that
+there were innumerable complaints against the inquisitors, Fray Miguel
+Morillo and Fray Juan de San Martin especially, because they had not
+confined themselves to canon law, but declared many to be heretics that
+were not. His holiness said that, but for the royal nomination, he would
+have deprived them of their office; but that he revoked the power he had
+given to the sovereign to nominate others, supposing that fit persons
+would be found among those nominated by the general or the provincial of
+the Dominicans, to whom the privilege belonged, and in prejudice of
+whose privilege the former nomination by Ferdinand and Isabella had been
+allowed."
+
+So adroitly did the Pope take the absolute control of the Inquisition
+into his own hands under pretence of impartial justice, and leave the
+weaker tyrant to eat the fruit of his doings. But since that time pope
+and king have been again united in the management of the Holy Office, the
+latter, however, in abject subservience to the former. Neither in the
+appeals nor in the brief was there anything that could divert Torquemada
+from the prosecution of his purposes; and therefore he hastened to bring
+Aragon under his jurisdiction. Ferdinand convened the cortes of that
+kingdom in the city of Tarragona, April, 1484; in that assembly appointed
+a junta to prepare measures for the establishment of another tribunal;
+and then Torquemada, in pursuance of the latest pontifical decision,
+created Friar Caspar Inglar, a preacher of the Dominican community, and
+Pedro Arbues de Epila, a canon of the metropolitan church, inquisitors.
+The King gave a mandate to the civil authorities--a firman, it might
+be called--compelling them to lend aid to the new officers; and, on
+September 13th following, the Grand Justice of Aragon, with his five
+lieutenants of the long robe and various other magistrates, swore upon
+the holy Gospels that they would give men and arms to defend and to
+enforce the authority of the Holy Inquisition. And as they swore
+thus, the King's chief secretary for Aragon, the prothonotary, the
+vice-chancellor, the royal treasurer--whose own father and grandfather
+were Jews, and persecuted by the old inquisitors--together with a
+multitude of persons of high rank and office, in whose veins flowed
+Jewish blood, and whose descendants are now among the first families in
+Spain, looked on with dismay, and sent a deputation to Rome, bearing
+remonstrance against the newly created Inquisition; and deputed others
+to present their appeal to the same effect at the court of Ferdinand
+and Isabella. All these deputies were afterward proceeded against as
+hinderers of the Holy Office; and meanwhile the inquisitors, in contempt
+of opposition, set themselves to work without delay.
+
+In the months of May and June, 1485, two acts of faith were celebrated in
+Saragossa, capital of Aragon, and a large number of New Christians burned
+alive. The public was enraged, certainly, but helpless; yet not so
+helpless but that many awoke to a conviction that, since the inquisitors
+had resorted to terror for the conservation of the faith, they ought to
+be restrained by terror in their turn.
+
+In the night of September 14, 1485, one of the inquisitors, Pedro Arbues,
+covered as usual with a coat of mail under his robes, and wearing a steel
+skull-cap under his hat--for he was every moment conscious of guilt and
+apprehensive of retribution--took a lantern in one hand and a bludgeon in
+the other; and, like a sturdy soldier of his peculiar Church, walked from
+his house to the cathedral of that same Saragossa, to join in matins. He
+knelt down by one of the pillars, setting his lantern on the pavement.
+His right hand held the weapon of defence, yet stealthily half covered
+with the cloak. The canons, in their places, were chanting hymns. Two men
+came and knelt down near him. They understood, as most Spaniards do, how
+most effectually to attack a man, and how to kill him quickest. Therefore
+one of them suddenly disabled him on one side by a blow on the left arm.
+The other swung his cudgel at the back of his head, just below the edge
+of the steel cap, and laid him prone. He never spoke again, but expired
+in a few hours. This murder, as might be expected, was well made use of
+by the priests, serving them to plead the necessity of an inquisition to
+repress violence; and the inhabitants of the city were instantly overawed
+by a display of high judicial authority which they had no power to
+resist.
+
+Queen Isabella, horrified at the murder of her confessor--for "confessor
+of the kings" was an honorary dignity conferred on each inquisitor in
+Spain--erected a monument to his memory at her own expense; and when the
+murders perpetrated by Arbues himself had somewhat faded out of public
+memory, he was beatified at Rome, and a chapel was constructed for his
+veneration in the church where he had fallen. Therein his remains were
+laid; and over the spot where he received the mortal blow a stone was
+placed, with the inscription: "_Siste, viator,_" etc. "Stay, traveller!
+Thou adorest the place (_locum adoras_) where the blessed Pedro de Arbues
+was laid low by two missiles. Epila gave him birth. This city gave him a
+canonry. The apostolic see elected him to be the first Father Inquisitor
+of the Faith. Because of his zeal he became hateful to the Jews; by whom
+slain, he fell here a martyr in the year 1485. The most serene Ferdinand
+and Isabella reared a marble mausoleum, where he became famous for
+miracles. Alexander VII, Pontifex Maximus, wrote him into the number of
+holy and blessed martyrs on the 17th day of April in the year 1664. The
+tomb having been opened, the sacred ashes were translated, and placed
+under the altar of the chapel (built by the chapter, with the material
+of the tomb, in the space of sixty-five days), with solemn rite and
+veneration, on the 23d day of September, in the year 1664."
+
+The intelligence of that murder threw all Aragon into commotion. The
+powers, ecclesiastical and royal, panted for vengeance, and the murderers
+were put to a most painful death. The Jews and New Christians trembled
+with terror and rage. The inhabitants of many towns, Teruel, Valencia,
+Lerida, and Barcelona included, compelled the inquisitors to cease from
+inquest; and it was only by means of military force, after edicts and
+bulls had failed, that the King and Pope together could quash two years'
+public resistance. In Saragossa, where the murder had been contrived by a
+party of chief inhabitants, a consciousness of guilt weakened their hands
+and they endeavored to save themselves by flight. Thousands of people
+deserted the city, although they had no participation in the deed and
+were everywhere treated as rebels; and in that migration incidents
+occurred which might throw a tinge of horrible romance on our history.
+Let me briefly mention two.
+
+An inhabitant of Saragossa found his way to Tudela, and there begged for
+shelter and concealment in the house of Don Jaime, Infante of Navarre,
+legitimate son of the Queen of Navarre and nephew of King Ferdinand
+himself. The Infante could not refuse asylum and hospitality to an
+innocent fugitive. He allowed the man to hide himself for a few days and
+then pass on to France. For this act of humanity Don Jaime was arrested
+by the inquisitors, thrown into prison as an impeder of the Holy Office,
+brought thence to Saragossa, a place quite beyond the jurisdiction of
+Navarre, and there made to do open penance in the cathedral, in presence
+of a great congregation at high mass. And what penance! The Archbishop
+of Saragossa presided; but this Archbishop was a boy of seventeen, an
+illegitimate son of the King; and he it was that commanded two priests to
+flog his father's lawful nephew, the Infante of Navarre, with rods. They
+whipped Don Jaime around the church accordingly.
+
+The other case was diabolical. Gaspar de Santa Cruz escaped to Toulouse,
+where he died and was buried after his effigy had been burned in
+Saragossa. In this city lived a son of his, who, in duty bound, had
+helped him to make good his retreat. This son was delated as an impeder
+of the Holy Office, arrested, brought out at an act of faith, made
+to read a condemnation of his deceased father, and then sent to the
+inquisitor at Toulouse, who took him to his father's grave, and compelled
+him to dig up the corpse and burn it with his own hands. Whether the
+inquisitors were most barbarous or the young man most vile, it may be
+difficult to say. But it is a most infamous glory of the Inquisition
+that, for satisfaction of its own requirements, the express laws of God
+and man and the first instincts of humanity are equally set at naught.
+
+The Arch-inquisitor of Spain, shortly after his accession to the office,
+summoned the subalterns from their stations to meet him at Seville, and
+framed, with them, a set of instructions for uniform administration. They
+were published, twenty-eight in number, on October 29, 1484. On January
+9, 1485, eleven more were added. The spirit of these instructions
+pervades the _Directory_ of Eymeric, into which they were incorporated by
+his commentator. It is only important to mention here that on the present
+occasion an agent was appointed to represent this Inquisition at Rome,
+and there to defend the inquisitors on occasion of appeals from the
+subjects of inquisitorial violence or from their friends or their
+survivors. And this was in spite of a bull sent into Spain two years
+before, appointing the Archbishop of Seville sole judge of such appeals.
+But that bull was a mere feint for conciliation and never acted on at
+Rome.
+
+We must not fail to mark this point in the history, forasmuch as here
+begins the practically juridical relation between the court of Rome as
+supreme, and the provinces of the Roman Church as subordinate, in matters
+concerning inquisition.
+
+
+JAMES BALMES
+
+
+As to the Spanish Inquisition, which was only an extension of that which
+was established in other countries, we must divide it, with respect to
+its duration, into three great periods. We omit the time of its existence
+in the kingdom of Aragon, before its introduction into Castile. The
+first of these comprehends the time when the Inquisition was principally
+directed against the relapsed Jews and Moors, from the day of its
+installation under the Catholic sovereigns till the middle of the
+reign of Charles V. The second extends from the time when it began to
+concentrate its efforts to prevent the introduction of Protestantism into
+Spain until that danger entirely ceased; that is, from the middle of the
+reign of Charles V till the coming of the Bourbons. The third and last
+period is that when the Inquisition was limited to repress infamous
+crimes and exclude the philosophy of Voltaire; this period was continued
+until its abolition, in the beginning of the nineteenth century.
+
+It is clear that, the institution being successively modified according
+to circumstances at these different epochs--although it always remained
+fundamentally the same--the commencement and termination of each of these
+three periods which we have pointed out cannot be precisely marked;
+nevertheless, these three periods really existed in its history, and
+present us with very different characters.
+
+Everyone knows the peculiar circumstances in which the Inquisition was
+established in the time of the Catholic sovereigns; yet it is worthy of
+remark that the bull of establishment was solicited by Queen Isabella;
+that is, by one of the most distinguished sovereigns in our history--by
+that Queen who still, after three centuries, preserves the respect and
+admiration of all Spaniards. Isabella, far from opposing the will of the
+people in this measure, only realized the national wish. The Inquisition
+was established chiefly against the Jews. Before the Inquisition
+published its first edict, dated Seville, in 1481, the Cortes of Toledo,
+in 1480, had adopted severe measures on the subject. To prevent the
+injury which the intercourse between Jews and Christians might occasion
+to the Catholic faith, the cortes had ordered that unbaptized Israelites
+should be obliged to wear a distinctive mark, dwell in separate quarters,
+called _juiveries_, and return there before night. Ancient regulations
+against them were renewed; the professions of doctor, surgeon,
+shopkeeper, barber, and tavern-keeper were forbidden them. Intolerance
+was, therefore, popular at that time. If the Inquisition be justified in
+the eyes of friends to monarchy, by conformity with the will of kings, it
+has an equal claim to be so in the eyes of lovers of democracy.
+
+No doubt the heart is grieved at reading the excessive severities
+exercised at that time against the Jews; but must there not have been
+very grave causes to provoke such excesses? The danger which the Spanish
+monarchy, not yet well established, would have incurred if the Jews, then
+very powerful on account of their riches and their alliances with the
+most influential families, had been allowed to act without restraint, has
+been pointed out as one of the most important of these causes. It was
+greatly to be feared that they would league with the Moors against the
+Christians. The respective positions of the three nations rendered this
+league natural; this is the reason why it was looked upon as necessary to
+break a power which was capable of compromising anew the independence of
+the Christians. It is necessary also to observe that at the time when the
+Inquisition was established the war of eight hundred years against the
+Moors was not yet finished. The Inquisition was projected before 1474; it
+was established in 1480, and the conquest of Granada did not take place
+till 1492. Thus it was founded at the time when the obstinate struggle
+was about to be decided; it was yet to be known whether the Christians
+would remain masters of the whole peninsula or whether the Moors should
+retain possession of one of the most fertile and beautiful provinces;
+whether these enemies, shut up in Granada, should preserve a position
+excellent for their communication with Africa, and a means for all the
+attempts which, at a later period, the Crescent might be disposed to make
+against us. Now, the power of the Crescent was very great, as was clearly
+shown by its enterprises against the rest of Europe in the next century.
+In such emergencies, after ages of fighting, and at the moment which was
+to decide the victory forever, have combatants ever been known to conduct
+themselves with moderation and mildness?
+
+It cannot be denied that the system of repression pursued in Spain, with
+respect to the Jews and the Moors, was inspired, in great measure, by the
+instinct of self-preservation: we can easily believe that the Catholic
+princes had this motive before them when they decided on asking for the
+establishment of the Inquisition in their dominions. The danger was not
+imaginary; it was perfectly real. In order to form an idea of the turn
+which things might have taken if some precaution had not been adopted,
+it is enough to recollect the insurrections of the last Moors in later
+times.
+
+Yet it would be wrong, in this affair, to attribute all to the policy
+of royalty; and it is necessary here to avoid exalting too much the
+foresight and designs of men; for my part, I am inclined to think that
+Ferdinand and Isabella naturally followed the generality of the nation,
+in whose eyes the Jews were odious when they persevered in their creed,
+and suspected when they embraced the Christian religion. Two causes
+contributed to this hatred and animadversion: first, the excited state of
+religious feeling then general in all Europe, and especially in Spain;
+second, the conduct by which the Jews had drawn upon themselves the
+public indignation.
+
+The necessity of restraining the cupidity of the Jews, for the sake of
+the independence of the Christians, was of ancient date in Spain: the old
+assemblies of Toledo had attempted it. In the following centuries the
+evil reached its height; a great part of the riches of the peninsula had
+passed into the hands of the Jews, and almost all the Christians found
+themselves their debtors. Thence the hatred of the people against the
+Jews; thence the frequent troubles which agitated some towns of the
+peninsula; thence the tumults which more than once were fatal to the
+Jews, and in which their blood flowed in abundance. It was difficult for
+a people accustomed for ages to set themselves free by force of arms to
+resign themselves peacefully and tranquilly to the lot prepared for them
+by the artifices and exactions of a strange race, whose name, moreover,
+bore the recollection of a terrible malediction.
+
+In later times an immense number of Jews were converted to the Christian
+religion; but the hatred of the people was not extinguished thereby,
+and mistrust followed these converts into their new state. It is very
+probable that a great number of these conversions were hardly sincere,
+as they were partly caused by the sad position in which the Jews who
+continued in Judaism were placed. In default of conjectures founded on
+reason in this respect, we will regard as a sufficient corroboration of
+our opinion the multitude of Judaizing Christians who were discovered as
+soon as care was taken to find out those who had been guilty of apostasy.
+However this may be, it is certain that the distinction between New and
+Old Christians was introduced; the latter denomination was a title
+of honor, and the former a mark of ignominy; the converted Jews were
+contemptuously called _maranos_ ("impure men," "pigs"). With more or
+less foundation, they were accused of horrible crimes. In their dark
+assemblies they committed, it was said, atrocities which could hardly be
+believed for the honor of humanity. For example, it was said that, to
+revenge themselves on the Christians and in contempt of religion, they
+crucified Christian children, taking care to choose for the purpose the
+greatest day among Christian solemnities. There is the often-repeated
+history of the knight of the house of Guzman, who, being hidden one night
+in the house of a Jew whose daughter he loved, saw a child crucified at
+the time when the Christians celebrated the institution of the sacrifice
+of the eucharist. Besides infanticide, there were attributed to the Jews
+sacrileges, poisonings, conspiracies, and other crimes. That these rumors
+were generally believed by the people is proved by the fact that the Jews
+were forbidden by law to exercise the professions of doctor, surgeon,
+barber, and tavern-keeper; this shows what degree of confidence
+was placed in their morality. It is useless to stay to examine the
+foundations for these sinister accusations. We are not ignorant how far
+popular credulity will go, above all when it is under the influence of
+excited feelings, which makes it view all things in the same light. It is
+enough for us to know that these rumors circulated everywhere and with
+credit, to understand what must have been the public indignation against
+the Jews, and consequently how natural it was that authority, yielding
+to the impulse of the general mind, should be urged to treat them with
+excessive rigor.
+
+The situation in which the Jews were placed is sufficient to show that
+they might have attempted to act in concert to resist the Christians;
+what they did after the death of St. Peter Arbues shows what they
+were capable of doing on other occasions. The funds necessary for the
+accomplishment of the murder--the pay of the assassins, and the other
+expenses required for the plot--were collected by means of voluntary
+contributions imposed on themselves by all the Jews of Aragon. Does not
+this show an advanced state of organization, which might have become
+fatal if it had not been watched?
+
+In alluding to the death of St. Peter Arbues, I wish to make an
+observation on what has been said on this subject as proving the
+unpopularity of the establishment of the Inquisition in Spain. What more
+evident proof, we shall be told, can you have than the assassination of
+the inquisitor? Is it not a sure sign that the indignation of the people
+was at its height and that they were quite opposed to the Inquisition?
+Would they otherwise have been hurried into such excesses? If by "the
+people" you mean the Jews and their descendants, I will not deny that the
+establishment of the Inquisition was indeed very odious to them, but it
+was not so with the rest of the nation. The event we are speaking of gave
+rise to a circumstance which proves just the reverse. When the report of
+the death of the inquisitor was spread through the town, they went in
+crowds in pursuit of the New Christians, so that a bloody catastrophe
+would have ensued had not the young Archbishop of Saragossa, Alphonsus of
+Aragon, presented himself to the people on horseback, and calmed them by
+the assurance that all the rigor of the laws should fall on the heads of
+the guilty. Was the Inquisition as unpopular as it has been represented?
+and will it be said that its adversaries were the majority of the people?
+Why, then, could not the tumult of Saragossa have been avoided in spite
+of all the precautions which were no doubt taken by the conspirators, at
+that time very powerful by their riches and influence?
+
+At the time of the greatest rigor against the Judaizing Christians, there
+is a fact worthy of attention. Persons accused, or threatened with the
+pursuit of the Inquisition, took every means to escape the action of that
+tribunal: they left the soil of Spain and went to Rome. Would those
+who imagine that Rome has always been the hot-bed of intolerance, the
+firebrand of persecution, have imagined this? The number of causes
+commenced by the Inquisition, and summoned from Spain to Rome, is
+countless, during the first fifty years of the existence of that
+tribunal; and it must be added that Rome always inclined to the side of
+indulgence. I do not know that it would be possible to cite one accused
+person who, by appealing to Rome, did not ameliorate his condition. The
+history of the Inquisition at that time is full of contests between the
+kings and popes; and we constantly find, on the part of the holy see,
+a desire to restrain the Inquisition within the bounds of justice and
+humanity. The line of conduct prescribed by the court of Rome was not
+always followed as it ought to have been. Thus we see the popes compelled
+to receive a multitude of appeals, and mitigate the lot that would have
+befallen the appellants if their cause had been definitely decided in
+Spain. We also see the Pope name the judge of appeal, at the solicitation
+of the Catholic sovereigns, who desired that causes should be finally
+decided in Spain: the first of these judges was Inigo Manrique,
+Archbishop of Seville. Nevertheless, at the end of a short time, the same
+Pope, in a bull of August 2, 1483, said that he had received new appeals,
+made by a great number of the Spaniards of Seville, who had not dared to
+address themselves to the judge of appeal for fear of being arrested.
+Such was then the excitement of the public mind; such was at that time
+the necessity of preventing injustice or measures of undue severity. The
+Pope added that some of those who had had recourse to his justice had
+already received the absolution of the apostolical penitentiary, and that
+others were about to receive it; he afterward complained that indulgences
+granted to divers accused persons had not been sufficiently respected
+at Seville; in fine, after several other admonitions, he observed to
+Ferdinand and Isabella that mercy toward the guilty was more pleasing
+to God than the severity which it was desired to use; and he gave the
+example of the good shepherd following the wandering sheep. He ended by
+exhorting the sovereigns to treat with mildness those who voluntarily
+confessed their faults, desiring them to allow them to reside at Seville
+or in some other place they might choose; and to allow them the enjoyment
+of their property, as if they had not been guilty of the crime of heresy.
+
+Moreover, it is not to be supposed that the appeals admitted at Rome, and
+by virtue of which the lot of the accused was improved, were founded on
+errors of form and injustice committed in the application of the law. If
+the accused had recourse to Rome, it was not always to demand reparation
+for an injustice, but because they were sure of finding indulgence. We
+have a proof of this in the considerable number of Spanish refugees
+convicted at Rome of having fallen into Judaism. Two hundred fifty of
+them were found at one time, yet there was not one capital execution.
+Some penances were imposed on them, and, when they were absolved, they
+were free to return home without the least mark of ignominy. This took
+place at Rome in 1498.
+
+It is a remarkable thing that the Roman Inquisition was never known to
+pronounce the execution of capital punishment, although the apostolic see
+was occupied during that time by popes of extreme rigor and severity in
+all that relates to the civil administration. We find in all parts of
+Europe scaffolds prepared to punish crimes against religion; scenes which
+sadden the soul were everywhere witnessed. Rome is an exception to the
+rule--Rome, which it has been attempted to represent as a monster of
+intolerance and cruelty. It is true that the popes have not preached,
+like Protestants, universal toleration; but facts show the difference
+between popes and Protestants. The popes, armed with a tribunal
+of intolerance, have not spilled a drop of blood; Protestants and
+philosophers have shed torrents. What advantage is it to the victim to
+hear his executioners proclaim toleration? It is adding the bitterness of
+sarcasm to his punishment.
+
+The conduct of Rome in the use which she made of the Inquisition is the
+best apology of Catholicity against those who attempt to stigmatize her
+as barbarous and sanguinary. In truth, what is there in common between
+Catholicity and the excessive severity employed in this place or that, in
+the extraordinary situation in which many rival races were placed, in the
+presence of danger which menaced one of them, or in the interest which
+the kings had in maintaining the tranquillity of their states and
+securing their conquests from all danger?
+
+I will not enter into a detailed examination of the conduct of the
+Spanish Inquisition with respect to Judaizing Christians; and I am
+far from thinking that the rigor which it employed against them was
+preferable to the mildness recommended and displayed by the popes. What
+I wish to show here is that rigor was the result of extraordinary
+circumstances--the effect of the national spirit and of the severity of
+customs in Europe at that time. Catholicity cannot be reproached with
+excesses committed for these different reasons. Still more, if we pay
+attention to the spirit which prevails in all the instructions of
+the popes relating to the Inquisition, if we observe their manifest
+inclination to range themselves on the side of mildness, and to suppress
+the marks of ignominy with which the guilty, as well as their families,
+were stigmatized, we have a right to suppose that, if the popes had not
+feared to displease the kings too much, and to excite divisions which
+might have been fatal, their measures would have been carried still
+further. If we recollect the negotiations which took place with respect
+to the noisy affair of the claims of the Cortes of Aragon, we shall see
+to which side the court of Rome leaned.
+
+As we are speaking of intolerance with regard to the Judaizers, let us
+say a few words as to the disposition of Luther toward the Jews. Does
+it not seem that the pretended reformer, the founder of independence of
+thought, the furious declaimer against the oppression and tyranny of the
+popes, should have been animated with the most humane sentiments toward
+that people? No doubt the eulogists of this chieftain of Protestantism
+ought to think thus also. I am sorry for them; but history will not allow
+us to partake of this delusion. According to all appearances, if the
+apostate monk had found himself in the place of Torquemada, the Judaizers
+would not have been in a better position. What, then, was the system
+advised by Luther, according to Seckendorff, one of his apologists?
+"Their synagogues ought to be destroyed, their houses pulled down, their
+prayer-books, the _Talmud_, and even the books of the Old Testament to
+be taken from them; their rabbis ought to be forbidden to teach, and be
+compelled to gain their livelihood by hard labor." The Inquisition, at
+least, did not proceed against the Jews, but against the Judaizers; that
+is, against those who, after being converted to Christianity, relapsed
+into their errors, and added sacrilege to their apostasy by the external
+profession of a creed which they detested in secret, and which they
+profaned by the exercise of their old religion. But Luther extended his
+severity to the Jews themselves; so that, according to his doctrines, no
+reproach can be made against the sovereigns who expelled the Jews from
+their dominions.
+
+The Moors and the Moriscoes no less occupied the attention of the
+Inquisition at that time; and all that has been said on the subject of
+the Jews may be applied to them with some modifications. They were
+also an abhorred race--a race which had been contended with for eight
+centuries. When they retained their religion, the Moors inspired hatred;
+when they abjured it, mistrust; the popes interested themselves in their
+favor also in a peculiar manner. We ought to remark a bull issued in
+1530, which is expressed in language quite evangelical: it is there said
+that the ignorance of these nations is one of the principal causes of
+their faults and errors; the first thing to be done to render their
+conversion solid and sincere was, according to the recommendation
+contained in this bull, to endeavor to enlighten their minds with sound
+doctrine.
+
+It will be said that the Pope granted to Charles V the bull which
+released him from the oath taken in the Cortes of Saragossa in the year
+1519, an oath by which he had engaged not to make any change with respect
+to the Moors; whereby, it is said, the Emperor was enabled to complete
+their expulsion. But we must observe that the Pope for a long time
+resisted that concession; and that if he at length complied with the
+wishes of the Emperor, it was only because he thought that the expulsion
+of the Moors was indispensable to secure the tranquillity of the kingdom.
+Whether this was true or not, the Emperor, and not the Pope, was the
+better judge; the latter, placed at a great distance, could not know the
+real state of things in detail. Moreover, it was not the Spanish monarch
+alone who thought so; it is related that Francis I, when a prisoner at
+Madrid, one day conversing with Charles V, told him that tranquillity
+would never be established in Spain if the Moors and Moriscoes were not
+expelled.
+
+
+
+MURDER OF THE PRINCES IN THE TOWER
+
+A.D. 1483
+
+JAMES GAIRDNER
+
+
+The brief reign of Richard III, 1483-1485, left for historians one
+subject of dispute which even to our own day has not been finally
+determined--his alleged murder of his nephews, King Edward V and Richard,
+Duke of York, sons of Edward IV. These princes at the supposed time of
+their death were about thirteen and nine years of age respectively.
+
+Before his usurpation Richard III, last of the Plantagenet line, was
+known as the Duke of Gloucester. He served in the Wars of the Roses, and
+on the death of Edward IV, April, 1483, he seized the young Edward V and
+caused himself to be proclaimed protector. He then caused his parliament
+to set the two princes aside as illegitimate, and they were imprisoned
+in the Tower of London. On June 26, 1483, Richard assumed the crown, and
+soon after the death of the princes was publicly announced.
+
+In Gairdner's discussion we have the results of the best historical
+inquiries concerning this most important question of Richard's career.
+
+A great amount of public anxiety prevailed touching the two young princes
+in the Tower. They were virtually prisoners, and their confinement
+created great dissatisfaction. A movement in their behalf was gotten up
+in the South of England while Richard was away. In Kent, Sussex,
+and Essex, in Hampshire, Wiltshire, and Dorset, even as far west as
+Devonshire, cabals were formed for their liberation, which all appear to
+have been parts of one great conspiracy organized in secret by the Duke
+of Buckingham. By the beginning of October some disturbances had actually
+taken place, and the following letter was written in consequence by the
+Duke of Norfolk to one of his dependents in Norfolk:
+
+"_To my right well-beloved friend, John Paston, be this delivered in
+haste_.
+
+"Right well-beloved friend, I commend me to you. It is so that the
+Kentish men be up in the Weald and say that they will come and rob the
+city, which I shall let [_i. e.,_ prevent] if I may.
+
+"Therefore I pray you, that with all diligence you make you ready and come
+hither, and bring with you six tall fellows in harness; and ye shall not
+lose your labor, that knoweth God; who have you in his keeping.
+
+"Written at London the 10th day of October.
+
+"Your friend,
+
+"J. NORFOLK."
+
+The rumor of the projected movement in behalf of the princes was speedily
+followed by the report that they were no more. Of course they had been
+removed by violence. Regarding the time and manner of the deed no news
+could then be obtained, but the news that the deposed King and his
+brother had been assassinated was spread with horror and amazement
+through the land. Among all the inhumanities of the late civil war there
+had been nothing so unnatural as this. To many the tale seemed too cruel
+to be true. They believed that the princes must have been sent abroad
+to defeat the intrigues of their friends. But time passed away and they
+never appeared again. After many years, indeed, an impostor counterfeited
+the younger; but even he, to give credit to his pretensions, expressly
+admitted the murder of his elder brother.
+
+Nevertheless, there have been writers in modern days who have shown
+plausible grounds for doubting that the murder really took place. Two
+contemporary writers, they say, mention the fact only as a report; a
+third certainly states it, incorrectly, at least, in point of time; and
+Sir Thomas More, who is the only one remaining, relates it with certain
+details which it does seem difficult to accept as credible. More's
+account, however, must bear some resemblance to the truth. It is mainly
+founded upon the confession of two of the murderers, and is given by the
+writer as the most trustworthy report he had met with. If, therefore, the
+murder be not itself a fiction, and the confession, as has been surmised,
+a forgery, we should expect the account given by Sir Thomas More to be in
+the main true, clear, and consistent, though Horace Walpole and others
+have maintained that it is not so. The substance of the story is as
+follows: Richard, some time after he had set out on his progress, sent
+a special messenger and confidant, by name John Green, to Sir Robert
+Brackenbury, the constable of the Tower, commanding him to put the two
+princes to death. Brackenbury refused to obey the order, and Green
+returned to his master at Warwick. The King was bitterly disappointed.
+"Whom shall a man trust," he said, "when those who I thought would most
+surely serve me, at my command will do nothing for me?" The words were
+spoken to a private attendant or page, who told him, in reply, that there
+was one man lying on a pallet in the outer chamber who would hardly
+scruple to undertake anything whatever to please him. This was Sir James
+Tyrell, who is described by More as an ambitious, aspiring man, jealous
+of the ascendency of Sir Richard Ratcliffe and Sir William Catesby.
+Richard at once acted upon the hint, and calling Tyrell before him
+communicated his mind to him and gave him a commission for the execution
+of his murderous purpose. Tyrell went to London with a warrant
+authorizing Brackenbury to deliver up to him for one night all the keys
+of the Tower. Armed with this document he took possession of the place,
+and proceeded to the work of death by the instrumentality of Miles
+Forest, one of the four jailers in whose custody the princes were, and
+John Dighton, his own groom. When the young princes were asleep, these
+men entered their chamber, and, taking up the pillows, pressed them hard
+down upon their mouths till they died by suffocation. Then, having caused
+Sir James to see the bodies, they buried them at the foot of a staircase.
+But "it was rumored," says More, "that the King disapproved of their
+being buried in so vile a corner; whereupon they say that a priest of Sir
+Robert Brackenbury's took up the bodies again, and secretly interred
+them in such place as, by the occasion of his death, could never come to
+light." Sir James, having fulfilled his mission, returned to the King,
+from whom he received great thanks, and who, Sir Thomas informs us, "as
+some say, there made him a knight."
+
+It has been maintained that this story will not bear criticism. What
+could have induced Richard to time his cruel policy so ill and to arrange
+it so badly? The order for the destruction of the children could have
+been much more easily, safely, and secretly executed when he was in
+London than when he was at Gloucester or Warwick. Fewer messages
+would have sufficed, and neither warrants nor letters would have been
+necessary. Was it a sudden idea which occurred to him upon his progress?
+If so, he might surely have waited for a better opportunity. If not, he
+might at least have taken care to sift Brackenbury before leaving London,
+so as to be sure of the two he intended to employ. Is it likely that
+Richard would have given orders for the commission of a crime, without
+having good reason to rely upon his intended agent's boldness and
+depravity?
+
+But, having tried Sir Robert's scruples, and found them somewhat stronger
+than he anticipated, what follows? It might have been expected that
+Sir Robert's respect for his master, if he had any, would have been
+diminished; that the favor of his sovereign would have been withdrawn
+from him; and perhaps that the tyrant, having seen an instance of the
+untrustworthiness of men in matters criminal and dangerous, would have
+learned to become a little more circumspect. But the facts are quite
+otherwise. Sir Robert continued long after in the good graces of his
+sovereign, always remained faithful to him, even when many others
+deserted him, and finally fell in battle bravely fighting in his cause.
+Richard did not become more cautious, but, on the contrary, more
+imprudent than ever. He complained loudly of his disappointment, even in
+the presence of a page. This page is nameless in the story, but he serves
+to introduce to the King not less a person than Sir James Tyrell, who is
+represented as willing to do anything to obtain favor, and envious of the
+influence possessed by others. He undertakes and executes the task
+which Brackenbury had refused, and for this service we are told he
+was knighted. All this greatly misrepresents Sir James' position and
+influence, if not his character. He not only was a knight long before
+this, but had been in the preceding year created by Richard himself
+a knight banneret for his distinguished services during the Scotch
+campaign. He had been, during Edward IV's reign, a commissioner for
+executing the office of lord high constable. He was then master of the
+King's henchmen, or pages. He was also master of the horse. If his mere
+position in the world did not make him disdain to be a hired assassin,
+he at least did not require to be recommended through the medium of that
+nameless page.
+
+Moreover, it appears that the fact of the princes having been murdered
+was held in great doubt for a long time afterward. Even More himself,
+writing about thirty years later, is obliged to acknowledge that the
+thing had "so far come in question that some remained long in doubt
+whether they were in Richard's days destroyed or no." This is certainly
+remarkable, when it is considered that it was of the utmost importance
+for Henry VII to terminate all controversy upon the question. Yet Sir
+Thomas tells us that these doubts arose not only from the uncertainty men
+were in whether Perkin Warbeck was the true duke of York, "but for that
+also that all things were so covertly demeaned, one thing pretended and
+another meant, that there was nothing so plain and openly proved but that
+yet, for the common custom of close and covert dealing, men had it ever
+inwardly suspect." All this, it is urged, may very well suggest that
+the doubts were reasonable, and that the princes in reality were not
+destroyed in the days of Richard III. And, indeed, when we consider how
+many persons, according to More's account, took part in the murder or
+had some knowledge of it, it does appear not a little strange that there
+should have been any difficulty in establishing it on the clearest
+evidence. For besides Tyrell, Dighton, and Forest, the chief actors,
+there were Brackenbury, Green the page, one Black Will, or Will
+Slaughter, who guarded the princes, and the priest who buried them, all
+fully aware of the circumstances of the crime.
+
+In Henry VII's time Brackenbury was dead, and so it is said was the
+priest; Forest, too, had ended his days miserably in a sanctuary. But it
+does not appear what had become of either Green or the page. Tyrell and
+Dighton were the only persons said to have been examined; and though we
+are told that they both confessed, yet there is a circumstance that
+makes the confession look exceedingly suspicious. Tyrell was detained in
+prison, and afterward executed, for a totally different offence; while,
+as Bacon tells us, "John Dighton, _who it seemeth spake best for the
+King,_ was forthwith set at liberty." Taking Bacon's view of the
+circumstances of the disclosure as if it were infallible, the sceptics
+here find matter of very grave suspicion. "In truth," says Walpole,
+"every step of this pretended discovery, as it stands in Lord Bacon,
+warns us to give no heed to it. Dighton and Tyrell agreed both in a tale,
+_as the King gave out_. Their confession, therefore, was not publicly
+made; and as Sir James Tyrell, too, was suffered to live, but was shut
+up in the Tower and put to death afterward for we know not what treason,
+what can we believe but that Dighton was some low mercenary wretch, hired
+to assume the guilt of a crime he had not committed, and that Sir James
+Tyrell never did, never would, confess what he had not done, and was
+therefore put out of the way on a fictitious imputation? It must be
+observed, too, that no inquiry was made into the murder on the accession
+of Henry VII--the natural time for it, when the passions of men were
+heated, and when the Duke of Norfolk, Lord Lovel, Catesby, Ratcliffe, and
+the real abettors or accomplices of Richard were attainted and executed.
+No mention of such a murder was made in the very act of parliament that
+attainted Richard himself and which would have been the most heinous
+aggravation of his crimes. And no prosecution of the supposed assassins
+was ever thought of till eleven years afterward, on the appearance of
+Perkin Warbeck." Such are the striking arguments by which it has been
+sought to cast a doubt upon the murder, and particularly More's account
+of it.
+
+To all which it may be replied, in the first place, that it is by no
+means necessary to suppose More's narrative, though it appeared to him
+the most credible account he had heard, absolutely correct in all its
+details, especially in those which he mentions as mere reports. His
+authority was evidently the alleged confession of Tyrell and Dighton,
+obtained second-hand. This, though true in the main, may not have been
+absolutely correct, even as it was first delivered, and may have been
+somewhat less accurate as it was reported to Sir Thomas, who perhaps
+added from hearsay a few errors of his own, like that about Sir James
+Tyrell's knighthood.
+
+Secondly, the argument with regard to Richard's imprudence, in pursuing
+the course ascribed to him, goes but little way to discredit the facts,
+unless it can be shown that caution and foresight were part of his
+ordinary character. The prevailing notion of Richard III, indeed, is of a
+cold, deeply politic, scheming, and calculating villain. But I confess I
+am not satisfied of the justice of such a view. Not only Richard, but
+all his family, appear to me to have been headstrong and reckless as
+to consequences. His father lost his life by a chivalrous and quixotic
+impetuosity; his brother Edward lost his kingdom once by pure
+carelessness; his brother Clarence fell, no less by lack of wisdom than
+by lack of honesty; and he himself, at Bosworth, threw away his life by
+his eagerness to terminate the contest in a personal engagement. Had
+Richard fully intended to murder his nephews at the time he determined
+upon dethroning the elder, I have very little doubt that he would have
+kept his northern forces in London to preserve order in the city till
+after the deed was done. I for my part do not believe that such was his
+intention from the first. How much more probable, indeed, that after he
+had left London the contemplated rising in favor of the princes suggested
+to him an action which cost him his peace of mind during the whole of his
+after-life!
+
+Thirdly, the doubts of contemporaries do not appear to have been very
+general. The expression of Sir Thomas More is only "that some remained in
+doubt"; and More is not a writer who would have glossed over a fact to
+please the court. As to Perkin Warbeck, who pretended to be the younger
+of the princes, Henry VII's neglect to confute his pretensions may have
+arisen from other causes than a suspicion that he was the true duke of
+York. There is no reason to suppose that his followers in England were
+numerous. The belief in the murder appears to have been general. It
+was mentioned as a fact by the Chancellor of France, in addressing the
+estates-general which met at Tours in the following January. It was
+acknowledged to be true in part by Warbeck himself, who, it has been
+shown since Walpole's time, in personating the Duke of York, admitted
+that his brother Edward had been murdered, though he asserted that he
+himself had providentially escaped. It is evident that no one dreamed in
+those days that the story of the murder was altogether a fiction. The
+utmost that any well-informed person could doubt was whether it had been
+successfully accomplished as to both the victims.
+
+With regard to the confessions of Tyrell and Dighton, Bacon has certainly
+spoken without warrant in stating that they were examined at the time of
+Warbeck's appearance. The time when they were examined is stated by
+Sir Thomas More to have been when Tyrell was confined in the Tower for
+treason against Henry VII, which was in 1502, three years after Warbeck's
+execution. Before that date there is no ground for believing that
+Tyrell's guilt in regard to the murder was generally known. Before that
+date, indeed, the world seems to have had no conception in what manner
+the crime was committed, and the common story seems to have been that
+Richard had put his nephews to the sword; but the confession of Tyrell at
+once put an end to this surmise, and we hear of it no longer. Henry VII
+assuredly did not for a long time treat him as a criminal; for not only
+did he hold under Henry the office of captain of Guisnes, but he was
+employed by the King in an expedition against Flanders. Nay, even after
+Warbeck had been taken and confessed his imposture, Tyrell was employed
+on an important embassy to Maximilian, King of the Romans. It is quite
+clear, therefore, that he was never questioned about the murder in
+consequence of Warbeck's pretensions. But being afterward condemned to
+death on a charge of treason--not an unknown charge, as Walpole imagines,
+but a charge of having treasonably aided the escape of the Earl of
+Suffolk--he was then, as More says, examined about it in the Tower,
+having probably made a voluntary confession of guilt to ease his
+conscience before his execution.
+
+No doubt, after all, the murder rests upon the testimony of only a very
+few original authorities, but this is simply owing to the scantiness of
+contemporary historians. It is true, also, that of these there are two
+who only mention it as a report; but it must be observed that neither of
+them expresses the smallest doubt of its truth, and one of them more than
+hints that he believes it as a fact. How, indeed, could there possibly
+be two opinions about a rumor of this kind, seeing that it was never
+contradicted by the King himself? Assuredly from this time the conduct
+both of Richard and his enemies was distinctly governed by the belief
+that his nephews were no longer alive.
+
+Moreover, the truth of the story seems to be corroborated by a discovery
+which took place in the reign of Charles II. In the process of altering
+the staircase leading to the chapel in the White Tower, the skeletons of
+two young lads, whose apparent ages agreed with those of the unfortunate
+princes, were found buried under a heap of stones. Their place of
+sepulture corresponded with the situation mentioned in the confession of
+the murderers, so that the report alluded to by More of the removal of
+the bodies seems to have been a mistake. The antiquaries of the day had
+no doubt they were the remains of young Edward V and his brother, and
+King Charles caused them to be fittingly interred in Henry VII's chapel
+at Westminster. A Latin inscription marks the spot and tells of the
+discovery.
+
+We have no doubt, therefore, that the dreadful deed was done. It was
+done, indeed, in profound secrecy; the fact, I suspect, remained some
+little time unknown; and for years after there was no certainty as to the
+way it was performed. Years elapsed even before the world suspected the
+foul blot upon Tyrell's knighthood, and he enjoyed the favor both of
+Richard and of his successor; but at last the truth came out.
+
+As to the other agents in the business, various entries in the Patent
+Rolls, and in the Docket Book of King Richard's grants, show that they
+did not pass unrewarded. Before the murder Green had been appointed
+comptroller of the customs at Boston, and had also been employed to
+provide horse meat and litter for the King's stables; afterward, if we
+may trust a note by Strype--but I own I cannot find his authority--he
+was advanced to be receiver of the Isle of Wight and of the castle and
+lordship of Portchester. To Dighton was granted the office of bailiff of
+Ayton in Staffordshire. Forest died soon after, and it appears he was
+keeper of the wardrobe at Barnard castle, but whether appointed before
+or after the murder there is no evidence to show. Brackenbury received
+several important grants, some of which were of lands of the late Lord
+Rivers.
+
+And yet hitherto Richard's life, though not unmarked by violence, had
+been free from violence to his own flesh and blood. Even his most
+unjustifiable measures were somewhat in the nature of self-defence; or if
+in any case he had stained his hands with the blood of persons absolutely
+innocent, it was not in his own interest, but in that of his brother,
+Edward IV. The rough and illegal retribution which he dealt out to
+Rivers, Vaughan, Hawte, Lord Richard Grey, and Lord Hastings was not more
+severe than perhaps law itself might have authorized. The disorders of
+civil war had accustomed the nation to see justice sometimes executed
+without the due formalities; and his neglect of those formalities had
+not hitherto made him unpopular. But the license of unchecked power is
+dangerous, no less to those who wield than to those who suffer it; and it
+was peculiarly so to one of Richard's violent and impatient temper. He
+had been allowed so far to act upon his own arbitrary judgment or will
+that expediency was fast becoming his only motive and extinguishing
+within him both humanity and natural affection.
+
+Nevertheless, he was not yet sunk so low as to regard his own unnatural
+conduct with indifference. Deep and bitter remorse deprived him of all
+that tranquillity in the possession of power for the attainment of which
+he had imbrued his hands in blood. "I have heard by credible report,"
+says Sir Thomas More, "of such as were secret with his chamberers, that
+after this abominable deed done he never had quiet in his mind, he never
+thought himself sure. Where he went abroad, his eyes whirled about, his
+body privily fenced, his hand ever on his dagger, his countenance and
+manner like one always ready to strike again. He took ill rest at nights,
+lay long waking and musing; sore wearied with care and watch, he rather
+slumbered than slept. Troubled with fearful dreams, suddenly sometimes
+started he up, leapt out of his bed and ran about the chamber. So was his
+restless heart continually tossed and tumbled with the tedious impression
+and stormy remembrance of his most abominable deed."
+
+Such was the awful retribution that overtook this inhuman King during the
+two short years that he survived his greatest crime, till the battle of
+Bosworth completed the measure of his punishment. His repentance came too
+late.
+
+
+
+CONQUEST OF GRANADA
+
+A.D. 1490
+
+WASHINGTON IRVING
+
+
+Although the Moors held Spain for over seven hundred and fifty years,
+they never had possession of the entire country. In the North, fragments
+of the Visigothic Christian kingdoms survived, and at length these grew
+into a strong power destined to drive out the Arabs, who had so long made
+the Spanish peninsula a seat of Mahometan civilization.
+
+The Moorish power reached its height in the tenth century, and gradually
+declined in the eleventh, when it broke up into petty and short-lived
+kingdoms. The Almoravides from Africa began their rule in Spain about
+1090. This dynasty was overthrown by the Almohades in 1145, and the
+latter became extinct in Spain in 1257.
+
+After the disruption of the realm of the Almohades, the Moorish kingdom
+of Granada was established, and was held in vassalage to Castile, of
+which Ferdinand and Isabella, in 1474, became joint sovereigns. The Moors
+made Granada, their capital, a large and powerful city, and there in the
+thirteenth century they built their magnificent palace and citadel, the
+Alhambra, the finest example of Moorish architecture and decorative art.
+
+In 1482, having prepared themselves for what proved a final struggle with
+the Moors, Ferdinand and Isabella began the war against Boabdil, the King
+of Granada, who the year before had seized the throne from his father,
+Muley Hasan. After some early reverses and later interruptions--during
+which the wavering Ferdinand was held to his purpose by the rebukes
+and encouragement of his stout-hearted Queen--the Christian sovereigns
+reduced the strongholds of the Moors, until by 1490 the more important
+half of the kingdom of Granada had been conquered. The city and its
+small surrounding district alone remained to Boabdil. On April 23, 1491,
+Ferdinand and Isabella encamped before Granada with fifty thousand foot
+soldiers and ten thousand horse, and the last contest began.
+
+Though Granada was shorn of its glories, and nearly cut off from all
+external aid, still its mighty castles and massive bulwarks seemed to set
+all attacks at defiance. Being the last retreat of Moorish power, it had
+assembled within its walls the remnants of the armies that had contended,
+step by step, with the invaders, in their gradual conquest of the land.
+All that remained of high-born and high-bred chivalry was here; all that
+was loyal and patriotic was roused to activity by the common danger; and
+Granada, that had so long been lulled into inaction by vain hopes of
+security, now assumed a formidable aspect in the hour of its despair.
+
+Ferdinand saw that any attempt to subdue the city by main force would be
+perilous and bloody. Cautious in his policy, and fond of conquests gained
+by art rather than valor, he determined to reduce the place by famine.
+For this purpose, his armies penetrated into the very heart of the
+Alpujarras, and ravaged the valleys and sacked and burned the towns upon
+which the city depended for its supplies. Scouting parties, also,
+ranged the mountains behind Granada and captured every casual convoy of
+provisions. The Moors became more daring as their situation became more
+hopeless. Never had Ferdinand experienced such vigorous sallies and
+assaults. Musa[1], at the head of his cavalry, harassed the borders of
+the camp, and even penetrated into the interior, making sudden spoil and
+ravage, and leaving his course to be traced by the slain and wounded.
+
+To protect his camp from these assaults, Ferdinand fortified it with deep
+trenches and strong bulwarks. It was of a quadrangular form, divided into
+streets like a city, the troops being quartered in tents, and in booths
+constructed of bushes and branches of trees. When it was completed, Queen
+Isabella came in state, with all her court, and the Prince and Princess,
+to be present at the siege. This was intended to reduce the besieged to
+despair by showing the determination of the sovereigns to reside in the
+camp until the city should surrender. Immediately after her arrival, the
+Queen rode forth to survey the camp and its environs: wherever she went
+she was attended by a splendid retinue; and all the commanders vied with
+each other in the pomp and ceremony with which they received her. Nothing
+was heard, from morning until night, but shouts and acclamations and
+bursts of martial music; so that it appeared to the Moors as if a
+continual festival and triumph reigned in the Christian camp.
+
+The arrival of the Queen, however, and the menaced obstinacy of the siege
+had no effect in damping the fire of the Moorish chivalry. Musa inspired
+the youthful warriors with the most devoted heroism. "We have nothing
+left to fight for," said he, "but the ground we stand on; when this is
+lost, we cease to have a country and a name."
+
+Finding the Christian King forbore to make an attack, Musa incited his
+cavaliers to challenge the youthful chivalry of the Christian army to
+single combat or partial skirmishes. Scarce a day passed without gallant
+conflicts of the kind, in sight of the city and the camp. The combatants
+rivalled each other in the splendor of their armor and array, as well as
+in the prowess of their deeds. Their contests were more like the stately
+ceremonials of tilts and tournaments than the rude conflicts of the
+field. Ferdinand soon perceived that they animated the fiery Moors with
+fresh zeal and courage, while they cost the lives of many of his bravest
+cavaliers; he again, therefore, forbade the acceptance of any individual
+challenges, and ordered that all partial encounters should be avoided.
+The cool and stern policy of the Catholic sovereign bore hard upon the
+generous spirits of either army, but roused the indignation of the Moors
+when they found that they were to be subdued in this inglorious manner.
+"Of what avail," said they, "are chivalry and heroic valor? The crafty
+monarch of the Christians has no magnanimity in warfare; he seeks to
+subdue us through the weakness of our bodies, but shuns to encounter the
+courage of our souls."
+
+When the Moorish knights beheld that all courteous challenges were
+unavailing, they sought various means to provoke the Christian warriors
+to the field. Sometimes a body of them, fleetly mounted, would gallop up
+to the skirts of the camp, and try who should hurl his lance farthest
+within the barriers, having his name inscribed upon it, or a label
+affixed to it containing some taunting defiance. These bravadoes caused
+great irritation, but still the Spanish warriors were restrained by the
+prohibition of the King.
+
+Among the Moorish cavaliers was one named Yarfe, renowned for his great
+strength and daring spirit; but whose courage partook of fierce audacity
+rather than chivalric heroism. In one of these sallies, when they
+were skirting the Christian camp, this arrogant Moor outstripped his
+companions, overleaped the barriers, and, galloping close to the royal
+quarters, launched his lance so far within that it remained quivering
+in the earth close by the pavilions of the sovereigns. The royal guards
+rushed forth in pursuit, but the Moorish horsemen were already beyond the
+camp, and scouring in a cloud of dust for the city. Upon wresting the
+lance from the earth, a label was found upon it importing that it was
+intended for the Queen.
+
+Nothing could equal the indignation of the Christian warriors at the
+insolence of the bravado and the discourteous insult offered to the
+Queen. Hernando Perez del Pulgar, surnamed "he of the exploits," was
+present, and resolved not to be outbraved by this daring infidel. "Who
+will stand by me," said he, "in an enterprise of desperate peril?" The
+Christian cavaliers well knew the harebrained valor of Hernando del
+Pulgar, yet not one hesitated to step forward. He chose fifteen
+companions, all men of powerful arm and dauntless heart. In the dead
+of the night he led them forth from the camp, and approached the city
+cautiously, until he arrived at a postern-gate, which opened upon the
+Darro and was guarded by foot-soldiers. The guards, little thinking of
+such an unwonted and partial attack, were for the most part asleep.
+The gate was forced, and a confused and chance-medley skirmish ensued;
+Hernando del Pulgar stopped not to take part in the affray; putting spurs
+to his horse, he galloped furiously through the streets, striking fire
+out of the stones at every bound. Arrived at the principal mosque, he
+sprang from his horse, and, kneeling at the portal, took possession of
+the edifice as a Christian chapel, dedicating it to the blessed Virgin.
+In testimony of the ceremony, he took a tablet which he had brought with
+him, on which was inscribed in large characters "Ave Marie," and nailed
+it to the door of the mosque with his dagger. This done, he remounted his
+steed and galloped back to the gate. The alarm had been given--the city
+was in an uproar--soldiers were gathering from every direction. They were
+astonished at seeing a Christian warrior galloping from the interior of
+the city. Hernando del Pulgar overturned some, cut down others, rejoined
+his companions, who still maintained possession of the gate by dint of
+hard fighting, and all made good their retreat to the camp. The Moors
+were at a loss to imagine the meaning of this wild and apparently
+fruitless assault; but great was their exasperation, on the following
+day, when the trophy of hardihood and prowess, the "_Ave Maria_" was
+discovered thus elevated in bravado in the very centre of the city.
+The mosque thus boldly sanctified by Hernando del Pulgar was actually
+consecrated into a cathedral after the capture of Granada.
+
+The royal encampment lay at such a distance from Granada that the general
+aspect of the city only could be seen as it rose gracefully from the
+vega, covering the sides of the hills with palaces and towers. Queen
+Isabella had expressed an earnest desire to behold, nearer at hand, a
+city whose beauty was so renowned throughout the world; and the Marquis
+of Cadiz, with the accustomed courtesy, prepared a great military escort
+and guard to protect the Queen and the ladies of the court while they
+enjoyed this perilous gratification.
+
+A magnificent and powerful train issued forth from the Christian camp.
+The advance guard was composed of legions of cavalry, heavily armed,
+that looked like moving masses of polished steel. Then came the King
+and Queen, with the Prince and Princess and the ladies of the court,
+surrounded by the royal bodyguard, sumptuously arrayed, composed of
+the sons of the most illustrious houses of Spain; after these was the
+rearguard, composed of a powerful force of horse and foot; for the
+flower of the army sallied forth that day. The Moors gazed with fearful
+admiration at this glorious pageant, wherein the pomp of the court was
+mingled with the terrors of the camp. It moved along in a radiant line,
+across the vega, to the melodious thunders of martial music; while banner
+and plume and silken scarf and rich brocade gave a gay and gorgeous
+relief to the grim visage of iron war that lurked beneath.
+
+The army moved toward the hamlet of Zubia, built on the skirts of the
+mountain to the left of Granada, and commanding a view of the Alhambra
+and the most beautiful quarter of the city. As they approached the hamlet
+the Marquis of Villena, the count Ureña, and Don Alonzo de Aguilar filed
+off with their battalions, and were soon seen glittering along the side
+of the mountain above the village. In the mean time the Marquis of Cadiz,
+the Count de Tendilla, the Count de Cabra, and Don Alonzo Fernandez,
+Senior of Alcandrete and Montemayor, drew up their forces in battle array
+on the plain below the hamlet, presenting a living barrier of loyal
+chivalry between the sovereigns and the city. Thus securely guarded, the
+royal party alighted, and, entering one of the houses of the hamlet,
+which had been prepared for their reception, enjoyed a full view of the
+city from its terraced roof.
+
+While grim tranquillity prevailed along the Christian line, there rose a
+mingled shout and sound of laughter near the gate of the city. A Moorish
+horseman, armed at all points, issued forth, followed by a rabble, who
+drew back as he approached the scene of danger. The Moor was more robust
+and brawny than was common with his countrymen. His visor was closed; he
+bore a huge buckler and a ponderous lance; his cimeter was of a Damascus
+blade, and his richly ornamented dagger was wrought by an artificer
+of Fez. He was Yarfe, the most insolent, yet valiant, of the Moslem
+warriors. As he rode slowly along in front of the army, his very steed,
+prancing with fiery eye and distended nostril, seemed to breathe defiance
+to the Christians.
+
+But what were the feelings of the Spanish cavaliers when they beheld,
+tied to the tail of his steed, and dragged in the dust, the inscription
+"Ave Maria," which Hernando Perez del Pulgar had affixed to the door of
+the mosque! A burst of horror and indignation broke forth from the
+army. Hernando del Pulgar was not at hand, but one of his young
+companions-in-arms, Garcilasso de la Vega by name, putting spurs to his
+horse, galloped to the hamlet of Zubia, threw himself on his knees before
+the King, and besought permission to accept the defiance of this insolent
+infidel and to revenge the insult offered to our blessed Lady. The
+request was too pious to be refused; Garcilasso remounted his steed; he
+closed his helmet, graced by four sable plumes, grasped his buckler of
+Flemish workmanship and his lance of matchless temper, and defied the
+haughty Moor in the midst of his career.
+
+A combat took place in view of the two armies and of the Castilian court.
+The Moor was powerful in wielding his weapons and dexterous in managing
+his steed. He was of larger frame than Garcilasso and more completely
+armed; and the Christians trembled for their champion. The shock of their
+encounter was dreadful; their lances were shivered and sent up splinters
+in the air. Garcilasso was thrown back in the saddle--his horse made a
+wild career before he could recover, gather up the reins, and return
+to the conflict. They now encountered each other with swords. The Moor
+circled round his opponent as hawk circles whereabout to make a swoop;
+his Arabian steed obeyed his rider with matchless quickness; at every
+attack of the infidel it seemed as if the Christian knight must sink
+beneath his flashing cimeter. But if Garcilasso were inferior to him in
+power, he was superior in agility; many of his blows he parried; others
+he received upon his Flemish shield, which was proof against the Damascus
+blade. The blood streamed from numerous wounds received by either
+warrior.
+
+The Moor, seeing his antagonist exhausted, availed himself of his
+superior force, and, grappling, endeavored to wrest him from his saddle.
+They both fell to earth; the Moor placed his knee upon the breast of his
+victim, and, brandishing his dagger, aimed a blow at his throat. A cry of
+despair was uttered by the Christian warriors, when suddenly they beheld
+the Moor rolling lifeless in the dust. Garcilasso had shortened his
+sword, and, as his adversary raised his arm to strike, had pierced him to
+the heart.
+
+The laws of chivalry were observed throughout the combat--no one
+interfered on either side. Garcilasso now despoiled his adversary;
+then, rescuing the holy inscription of "Ave Maria" from its degrading
+situation, he elevated it on the point of his sword, and bore it off as a
+signal of triumph amid the rapturous shouts of the Christian army.
+
+The sun had now reached the meridian, and the hot blood of the Moors was
+inflamed by its rays and by the sight of the defeat of their champion.
+Musa ordered two pieces of ordnance to open a fire upon the Christians.
+A confusion was produced in one part of their ranks. Musa called to the
+chiefs of the army: "Let us waste no more time in empty challenges; let
+us charge upon the enemy; he who assaults has always an advantage in the
+combat." So saying, he rushed forward, followed by a large body of
+horse and foot, and charged so furiously upon the advance guard of the
+Christians that he drove it in upon the battalion of the Marquis of
+Cadiz.
+
+The gallant Marquis now gave the signal to attack. "Santiago!" was
+shouted along the line; and he pressed forward to the encounter, with
+his battalion of twelve hundred lances. The other cavaliers followed his
+example, and the battle instantly became general.
+
+When the King and Queen beheld the armies thus rushing to the combat,
+they threw themselves on their knees and implored the holy Virgin to
+protect her faithful warriors. The Prince and Princess, the ladies of the
+court, and the prelates and friars who were present did the same; and
+the effect of the prayers of these illustrious and saintly persons was
+immediately apparent. The fierceness with which the Moors had rushed to
+the attack had suddenly cooled; they were bold and adroit for a skirmish,
+but unequal to the veteran Spaniards in the open field. A panic seized
+upon the foot-soldiers--they turned and took to flight. Musa and his
+cavaliers in vain endeavored to rally them. Some took refuge in the
+mountains; but the greater part fled to the city in such confusion that
+they overturned and trampled upon each other. The Christians pursued them
+to the very gates. Upward of two thousand were either killed, wounded, or
+taken prisoners, and the two pieces of ordnance brought off as trophies
+of the victory. Not a Christian lance but was bathed that day in the
+blood of an infidel. Such was the brief but bloody action, which was
+known among the Christian warriors by the name of the "Queen's skirmish";
+for when the Marquis of Cadiz waited upon her majesty he attributed the
+victory entirely to her presence. The Queen, however, insisted that it
+was all owing to her troops being led on by so valiant a commander. Her
+majesty had not yet recovered from her agitation at beholding so terrible
+a scene of bloodshed; though certain veterans present pronounced it as
+gay and gentle a skirmish as they had ever witnessed.
+
+The ravages of war had as yet spared a little portion of the vega of
+Granada. A green belt of gardens and orchards still flourished around the
+city, extending along the banks of the Xenel and the Darro. They had been
+the solace and delight of the inhabitants in their happier days, and
+contributed to their sustenance in this time of scarcity. Ferdinand
+determined to make a final and exterminating ravage to the very walls of
+the city, so that there should not remain a single green thing for the
+sustenance of man or beast.
+
+As the evening advanced the bustle in the camp subsided. Everyone sought
+repose, preparatory to the next day's trial. The King retired early, that
+he might be up with the crowing of the cock to head the destroying army
+in person. The Queen had retired to the innermost part of her pavilion,
+where she was performing her orisons before a private altar. While thus
+at her prayers she was suddenly aroused by a glare of light and wreaths
+of suffocating smoke. In an instant the whole tent was in a blaze; there
+was a high gusty wind, which whirled the light flames from tent to tent,
+and wrapped the whole in one conflagration.
+
+Isabella had barely time to save herself by instant flight. Her first
+thought, on being extricated from her tent, was for the safety of the
+King. She rushed to his tent, but the vigilant Ferdinand was already at
+the entrance of it. Starting from bed at the first alarm, and fancying it
+an assault of the enemy, he had seized his sword and buckler, and sallied
+forth undressed, with his cuirass upon his arm. The late gorgeous camp
+was now a scene of wild confusion. The flames kept spreading from one
+pavilion to another, glaring upon the rich armor and golden and silver
+vessels, which seemed melting in the fervent heat. The ladies of the
+court fled, shrieking and half dressed, from their tents. There was an
+alarm of drum and trumpet, and a distracted hurry about the camp of men
+half armed.
+
+The idea that this was a stratagem of the Moors soon subsided; but it was
+feared they might take advantage of it to assault the camp. The Marquis
+of Cadiz, therefore, sallied forth with three thousand horse to check any
+advance from the city. When they emerged from the camp they found the
+whole firmament illuminated. The flames whirled up in long light spires,
+and the air was filled with sparks and cinders. A bright glare was thrown
+upon the city, revealing every battlement and tower. Turbaned heads were
+seen gazing from every roof, and armor gleamed along the walls; yet not a
+single warrior sallied from the gates. The Moors suspected some stratagem
+on the part of the Christians, and kept quietly within their walls. By
+degrees the flames expired; the city faded from sight; all again became
+dark and quiet, and the Marquis of Cadiz returned with his cavalry to the
+camp. When the day dawned on the Christian camp nothing remained of
+that beautiful assemblage of stately pavilions but heaps of smouldering
+rubbish. The fire at first had been attributed to treachery, but on
+investigation it proved to be entirely accidental.
+
+The wary Ferdinand knew the sanguine temperament of the Moors, and
+hastened to prevent their deriving confidence from the night's disaster.
+At break of day the drums and trumpets sounded to arms, and the Christian
+army issued from among the smoking ruins of their camp, in shining
+squadrons, with flaunting banners and bursts of martial melody, as though
+the preceding night had been a time of high festivity instead of terror.
+
+The Moors had beheld the conflagration with wonder and perplexity. When
+the day broke and they looked toward the Christian camp, they saw
+nothing but a dark smoking mass. Their scouts came in with the joyful
+intelligence that the whole camp was a scene of ruin. Scarce had the
+tidings spread throughout the city when they beheld the Christian army
+advancing toward their walls. They considered it a feint to cover their
+desperate situation and prepare for a retreat. Boabdil had one of his
+impulses of valor--he determined to take the field in person, and to
+follow up this signal blow which Allah had inflicted on the enemy. The
+Christian army approached close to the city, and were laying waste the
+gardens and orchards, when Boabdil sallied forth, surrounded by all that
+was left of the flower and chivalry of Granada. There was not so much one
+battle as a variety of battles; every garden and orchard became a scene
+of deadly contest; every inch of ground was disputed, with an agony of
+grief and valor, by the Moors; every inch of ground that the Christians
+advanced they valiantly maintained; but never did they advance with
+severer fighting or greater loss of blood.
+
+The cavalry of Musa was in every part of the field; wherever it came it
+gave fresh ardor to the fight. The Moorish soldier, fainting with heat,
+fatigue, and wounds, was roused to new life at the approach of Musa; and
+even he who lay gasping in the agonies of death, turned his face
+toward him, and faintly uttered cheers and blessings as he passed. The
+Christians had by this time gained possession of various towers near the
+city, from whence they had been annoyed by cross-bows and arquebuses. The
+Moors, scattered in various actions, were severely pressed. Boabdil,
+at the head of the cavaliers of his guard, displayed the utmost valor,
+mingling in the fight in various parts of the field, and endeavoring to
+inspirit the foot soldiers in the combat. But the Moorish infantry was
+never to be depended upon. In the heat of the action a panic seized upon
+them; they fled, leaving their sovereign exposed with his handful of
+cavaliers to an overwhelming force. Boabdil was on the point of falling
+into the hands of the Christians, when, wheeling round, with his
+followers, they threw the reins on the necks of their fleet steeds and
+took refuge by dint of hoof within the walls of the city.
+
+Musa endeavored to retrieve the fortune of the field. He threw himself
+before the retreating infantry, calling upon them to turn and fight for
+their homes, their families, for everything that was sacred and dear to
+them. It was all in vain--they were totally broken and dismayed, and fled
+tumultuously for the gates. Slowly and reluctantly Musa retreated to the
+city, and he vowed nevermore to sally forth with foot soldiers to the
+field. In the mean time the artillery thundered from the walls and
+checked all further advances of the Christians. King Ferdinand,
+therefore, called off his troops, and returned in triumph to the ruins of
+his camp, leaving the beautiful city of Granada wrapped in the smoke of
+her fields and gardens and surrounded by the bodies of her slaughtered
+children. Such was the last sally made by the Moors in defence of their
+favorite city.
+
+They now shut themselves up gloomily within their walls; there were no
+longer any daring sallies from their gates. For a time they flattered
+themselves with hopes that the late conflagration of the camp would
+discourage the besiegers; that, as in former years, their invasion would
+end with the summer, and that they would again withdraw before the
+autumnal rains. The measures of Ferdinand and Isabella soon crushed these
+hopes. They gave orders to build a regular city upon the site of their
+camp, to convince the Moors that the siege was to endure until the
+surrender of Granada. Nine of the principal cities of Spain were charged
+with the stupendous undertaking; and they emulated each other with a zeal
+worthy of the cause. To this city it was proposed to give the name of
+Isabella, so dear to the army and the nation; but that pious Princess,
+calling to mind the holy cause in which it was erected, gave it the name
+of Santa Fé, or the "City of the Holy Faith," and it remains to this day
+a monument of the piety and glory of the Catholic sovereigns.
+
+In the mean time the besieged city began to suffer the distress of
+famine. Its supplies were all cut off; a cavalcade of flocks and herds,
+and mules laden with money, coming to the relief of the city from the
+mountains of the Alpujarras[2], was taken by the Marquis of Cadiz and led
+in triumph to the camp, in sight of the suffering Moors. Autumn arrived,
+but the harvests had been swept from the face of the country; a rigorous
+winter was approaching, and the city was almost destitute of provisions.
+The people sank into deep despondency. They called to mind all that
+had been predicted by astrologers at the birth of their ill-starred
+sovereign, and all that had been foretold of the fate of Granada at the
+time of the capture of Zahara.
+
+Boabdil was alarmed by the gathering dangers from without and by the
+clamors of his starving people. He summoned a council, composed of the
+principal officers of the army, the alcaids of the fortresses, the
+_xequis_ or sages of the city, and the _alfaquis_ or doctors of the
+faith. They assembled in the great hall of audience of the Alhambra, and
+despair was painted in their countenances. Boabdil demanded of them
+what was to be done in their present extremity; and their answer was,
+"Surrender." The venerable Abul Kazim Abdalmalek, governor of the city,
+represented its unhappy state: "Our granaries are nearly exhausted, and
+no further supplies are to be expected. The provender for the war-horses
+is required as sustenance for the soldiery; the very horses themselves
+are killed for food; of seven thousand steeds which once could be sent
+into the field, three hundred only remain. Our city contains two hundred
+thousand inhabitants, old and young, with each a mouth that calls
+piteously for bread."
+
+The xequis and principal citizens declared that the people could no
+longer sustain the labors and sufferings of a defence. "And of what avail
+is our defence," said they, "when the enemy is determined to persist in
+the siege?--what alternative remains but to surrender or to die?"
+
+The heart of Boabdil was touched by this appeal, and he maintained a
+gloomy silence. He had cherished some faint hope of relief from the
+Sultan of Egypt or the Barbary powers, but it was now at an end; even
+if such assistance were to be sent, he had no longer a seaport where it
+might debark. The counsellors saw that the resolution of the King was
+shaken, and they united their voices in urging him to capitulate.
+
+The valiant Musa alone arose in opposition: "It is yet too early," said
+he, "to talk of a surrender. Our means are not exhausted; we have yet one
+source of strength remaining, terrible in its effects, and which often
+has achieved the most signal victories--it is our despair. Let us rouse
+the mass of the people; let us put weapons in their hands; let us fight
+the enemy to the very utmost, until we rush upon the points of their
+lances. I am ready to lead the way into the thickest of their squadrons;
+and much rather would I be numbered among those who fell in the defence
+of Granada than of those who survived to capitulate for her surrender!"
+The words of Musa were without effect. Boabdil yielded to the general
+voice; it was determined to capitulate with the Christian sovereigns; and
+the venerable Abul Kazim was sent forth to the camp empowered to treat
+for terms.
+
+The old Governor was received with great distinction by Ferdinand and
+Isabella, who appointed Gonsalvo of Cordova and Fernando de Zafra,
+secretary to the King, to confer with him. All Granada awaited, in
+trembling anxiety, the result of his negotiations. After repeated
+conferences he at length returned with the ultimate terms of the Catholic
+sovereigns. They agreed to suspend all attack for seventy days, at the
+end of which time, if no succor should arrive to the Moorish King, the
+city of Granada was to be surrendered.
+
+All Christian captives should be liberated without ransom. Boabdil and
+his principal cavaliers should take an oath of fealty to the Castilian
+crown, and certain valuable territories in the Alpujarra mountains should
+be assigned to the Moorish monarch for his maintenance. The Moors of
+Granada should become subjects of the Spanish sovereigns, retaining their
+possessions, their arms and horses, and yielding up nothing but their
+artillery. They should be protected in the exercise of their religion,
+and governed by their own laws, administered by cadis of their own faith,
+under governors appointed by the sovereigns. They should be exempted from
+tribute for three years, after which term they should pay the same that
+they had been accustomed to render to their native monarchs. Those who
+chose to depart for Africa within three years should be provided with a
+passage for themselves and their effects, free of charge, from whatever
+port they should prefer.
+
+For the fulfilment of these articles four hundred hostages from the
+principal families were required, previous to the surrender, to be
+subsequently restored. The son of the King of Granada, and all other
+hostages in possession of the Castilian sovereigns, were to be restored
+at the same time. Such were the conditions that the vizier Abul Kazim
+laid before the council of Granada as the best that could be obtained
+from the besieging foe. When the members of the council found that the
+awful moment had arrived when they were to sign and seal the perdition of
+their empire and blot themselves out as a nation, all firmness deserted
+them and many gave way to tears. Musa alone retained an unaltered mien.
+"Leave, seniors," cried he, "this idle lamentation to helpless women and
+children: we are men--we have hearts, not to shed tender tears, but
+drops of blood. I see the spirit of the people so cast down that it is
+impossible to save the kingdom. Yet there still remains an alternative
+for noble minds--a glorious death! Let us die defending our liberty and
+avenging the woes of Granada. Our mother Earth will receive her children
+into her bosom, safe from the chains and oppressions of the conqueror;
+or, should any fail a sepulchre to hide his remains, he will not want a
+sky to cover him. Allah forbid it should be said the nobles of Granada
+feared to die in her defence!"
+
+Musa ceased to speak, and a dead silence reigned in the assembly. Boabdil
+looked anxiously around and scanned every face; but he read in them all
+the anxiety of careworn men, in whose hearts enthusiasm was dead, and
+who had grown callous to every chivalrous appeal. "Allah Akbar! God
+is great!" exclaimed he; "there is no god but God, and Mahomet is his
+prophet! It is in vain to struggle against the will of heaven. Too surely
+was it written in the book of fate that I should be unfortunate and the
+kingdom expire under my rule."
+
+"Allah Akbar! God is great!" echoed the viziers and alfaquis; "the will
+of God be done!" So they all accorded with the King that these evils were
+preordained; that it was hopeless to contend with them; and that the
+terms offered by the Castilian monarchs were as favorable as could be
+expected.
+
+When Musa saw that they were about to sign the treaty of surrender, he
+rose in violent indignation: "Do not deceive yourselves," cried he, "nor
+think the Christians will be faithful to their promises, or their King as
+magnanimous in conquest as he has been victorious in war. Death is the
+least we have to fear. It is the plundering and sacking of our city, the
+profanation of our mosques, the ruin of our homes, the violation of our
+wives and daughters--cruel oppression, bigoted intolerance, whips and
+chains, the dungeon, the fagot, and the stake--such are the miseries and
+indignities we shall see and suffer; at least, those grovelling souls
+will see them who now shrink from an honorable death. For my part, by
+Allah, I will never witness them!"
+
+With these words he left the council chamber and strode gloomily through
+the Court of Lions and the outer halls of the Alhambra, without deigning
+to speak to the obsequious courtiers who attended in them. He repaired
+to his dwelling, armed himself at all points, mounted his favorite
+war-horse, and, issuing forth from the city by the gate of Elvira, was
+never seen or heard of more.[3]
+
+The capitulation for the surrender of Granada was signed on November 25,
+1491, and produced a sudden cessation of those hostilities which had
+raged for so many years. Christian and Moor might now be seen mingling
+courteously on the banks of the Xenel and the Darro, where to have met
+a few days previous would have produced a scene of sanguinary contest.
+Still, as the Moors might be suddenly aroused to defence, if, within the
+allotted term of seventy days, succors should arrive from abroad, and as
+they were at all times a rash, inflammable people, the wary Ferdinand
+maintained a vigilant watch upon the city, and permitted no supplies of
+any kind to enter. His garrisons in the seaports, and his cruisers in the
+Straits of Gibraltar, were ordered likewise to guard against any relief
+from the Grand Sultan of Egypt or the princes of Barbary. There was no
+need of such precautions. Those powers were either too much engrossed by
+their own wars or too much daunted by the success of the Spanish arms, to
+interfere in a desperate cause; and the unfortunate Moors of Granada were
+abandoned to their fate.
+
+The month of December had nearly passed away; the famine became extreme,
+and there was no hope of any favorable event within the terms specified
+in the capitulation. Boabdil saw that to hold out to the end of the
+allotted time would but be to protract the miseries of his people. With
+the consent of his council, he determined to surrender the city on
+January 6th. On December 30th he sent his grand vizier Yusef Aben Comixa,
+with the four hundred hostages, to King Ferdinand, to make known his
+intention; bearing him, at the same time, a present of a magnificent
+cimeter, and two Arabian steeds superbly caparisoned.
+
+The unfortunate Boabdil was doomed to meet with trouble to the end of his
+career. The very next day, the santon or dervis Hamet Aben Zarrax, who
+had uttered prophecies and excited commotions on former occasions,
+suddenly made his appearance. Whence he came no one knew; it was rumored
+that he had been in the mountains of the Alpujarras and on the coast of
+Barbary, endeavoring to rouse the Moslems to the relief of Granada. He
+was reduced to a skeleton; his eyes glowed like coals in their sockets,
+and his speech was little better than frantic raving. He harangued the
+populace in the streets and squares, inveighed against the capitulation,
+denounced the King and nobles as Moslems only in name, and called upon
+the people to sally forth against the unbelievers, for that Allah had
+decreed them a signal victory.
+
+Upward of twenty thousand of the populace seized their arms and paraded
+the streets with shouts and outcries. The shops and houses were shut up;
+the King himself did not dare to venture forth, but remained a kind of
+prisoner in the Alhambra. The turbulent multitude continued roaming and
+shouting and howling about the city during the day and a part of the
+night. Hunger and a wintry tempest tamed their frenzy; and when morning
+came the enthusiast who had led them on had disappeared. Whether he had
+been disposed of by the emissaries of the King or by the leading men of
+the city is not known; his disappearance remains a mystery.
+
+The Moorish King now issued from the Alhambra, attended by his principal
+nobles, and harangued the populace. He set forth the necessity of
+complying with the capitulation, from the famine that reigned in the
+city, the futility of defence, and from the hostages having already been
+delivered into the hands of the besiegers. The volatile population agreed
+to adhere to the capitulation, and there was even a faint shout of "Long
+live Boabdil the unfortunate!" and they all returned to their homes in
+perfect tranquillity.
+
+Boabdil immediately sent missives to King Ferdinand, apprising him of
+these events, and of his fears lest further delay should produce new
+tumults. He proposed, therefore, to surrender the city on the following
+day. The Castilian sovereigns assented, with great satisfaction; and
+preparations were made in city and camp for this great event, that was to
+seal the fate of Granada.
+
+It was a night of doleful lamentings within the walls of the Alhambra;
+for the household of Boabdil were preparing to take a last farewell of
+that delightful abode. All the royal treasures and the most precious
+effects of the Alhambra were hastily packed upon mules; the beautiful
+apartments were despoiled, with tears and wailings, by their own
+inhabitants. Before the dawn of day a mournful cavalcade moved obscurely
+out of a postern gate of the Alhambra and departed through one of the
+most retired quarters of the city. It was composed of the family of the
+unfortunate Boabdil, which he sent off thus privately that they might not
+be exposed to the eyes of scoffers or the exultation of the enemy. The
+city was yet buried in sleep as they passed through its silent streets.
+The guards at the gate shed tears as they opened it for their departure.
+They paused not, but proceeded along the banks of the Xenel on the road
+that leads to the Alpujarras, until they arrived at a hamlet at some
+distance from the city, where they halted and waited until they should be
+joined by King Boabdil.
+
+The sun had scarcely begun to shed his beams upon the summits of the
+snowy mountains which rise above Granada when the Christian camp was in
+motion. A detachment of horse and foot, led by distinguished cavaliers,
+and accompanied by Hernando de Talavera, Bishop of Avila, proceeded to
+take possession of the Alhambra and the towers. It had been stipulated
+in the capitulation that the detachment sent for this purpose should
+not enter by the streets of the city; a road had therefore been opened,
+outside of the walls, leading by the Puerta de los Milinos (or "Gate of
+the Mills"), to the summit of the Hill of Martyrs, and across the hill to
+a postern gate of the Alhambra.
+
+When the detachment arrived at the summit of the hill the Moorish King
+came forth from the gate, attended by a handful of cavaliers, leaving his
+vizier Yusef Aben Comixa to deliver up the palace. "Go, senior," said
+he to the commander of the detachment, "go and take possession of those
+fortresses, which Allah has bestowed upon your powerful sovereigns,
+in punishment of the sins of the Moors." He said no more, but passed
+mournfully on along the same road by which the Spanish cavaliers had
+come, descending to the vega to meet the Catholic sovereigns. The troops
+entered the Alhambra, the gates of which were wide open, and all its
+splendid courts and halls silent and deserted.
+
+In the mean time the Christian court and army poured out of the city
+of Santa Fé and advanced across the vega. The King and Queen, with the
+Prince and Princess, and the dignitaries and ladies of the court, took
+the lead, accompanied by the different orders of monks and friars, and
+surrounded by the royal guards splendidly arrayed. The procession moved
+slowly forward and paused at the village of Armilla, at the distance of
+half a league from the city.
+
+The sovereigns waited here with impatience, their eyes fixed on the lofty
+tower of the Alhambra, watching for the appointed signal of possession.
+The time that had elapsed since the departure of the detachment seemed
+to them more than necessary for the purpose, and the anxious mind of
+Ferdinand began to entertain doubts of some commotion in the city. At
+length they saw the silver cross, the great standard of this crusade,
+elevated on the Torre de la Vala (or "Great Watch-tower") and sparkling
+in the sunbeams. This was done by Hernando de Talavera, Bishop of Avila.
+Beside it was planted the pennon of the glorious apostle St. James, and a
+great shout of "Santiago! Santiago!" rose throughout the army. Lastly
+was reared the royal standard by the king of arms, with the shout of
+"Castile! Castile! For King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella!" The words were
+echoed by the whole army, with acclamations that resounded across the
+vega. At sight of these signals of possession the sovereigns sank upon
+their knees, giving thanks to God for this great triumph; the whole
+assembled host followed their example, and the choristers of the royal
+chapel broke forth into the solemn anthem of _Te Deum laudamus_.
+
+The procession now resumed its march with joyful alacrity, to the sound
+of triumphant music, until they came to a small mosque, near the banks
+of the Xenel, and not far from the foot of the Hill of Martyrs, which
+edifice remains to the present day, consecrated as the hermitage of St.
+Sebastian. Here the sovereigns were met by the unfortunate Boabdil,
+accompanied by about fifty cavaliers and domestics. As he drew near he
+would have dismounted in token of homage, but Ferdinand prevented him. He
+then proffered to kiss the King's hand, but this sign of vassalage was
+likewise declined; whereupon, not to be outdone in magnanimity, he leaned
+forward and kissed the right arm of Ferdinand. Queen Isabella also
+refused to receive this ceremonial of homage, and, to console him under
+his adversity, delivered to him his son, who had remained as hostage ever
+since Boabdil's liberation from captivity. The Moorish monarch pressed
+his child to his bosom with tender emotion, and they seemed mutually
+endeared to each other by their misfortunes.
+
+He then delivered the keys of the city to King Ferdinand, with an air of
+mingled melancholy and resignation. "These keys," said he, "are the last
+relics of the Arabian empire in Spain; thine, O King, are our trophies,
+our kingdom, and our person. Such is the will of God! Receive them with
+the clemency thou hast promised, and which we look for at thy hands."
+
+King Ferdinand restrained his exultation with an air of serene
+magnanimity. "Doubt not our promises," replied he, "nor that thou shalt
+regain from our friendship the prosperity of which the fortune of war has
+deprived thee."
+
+On receiving the keys, King Ferdinand handed them to the Queen; she in
+her turn presented them to her son Prince Juan, who delivered them to the
+Count de Tendilla, that brave and loyal cavalier being appointed alcaid
+of the city and captain-general of the kingdom of Granada.
+
+Having surrendered the last symbol of power, the unfortunate Boabdil
+continued on toward the Alpujarras, that he might not behold the entrance
+of the Christians into his capital. His devoted band of cavaliers
+followed him in gloomy silence; but heavy sighs burst from their bosoms
+as shouts of joy and strains of triumphant music were borne on the breeze
+from the victorious army.
+
+Having rejoined his family, Boabdil set forward with a heavy heart
+for his allotted residence in the valley of Purchena. At two leagues'
+distance, the cavalcade, winding into the skirts of the Alpujarras,
+ascended an eminence commanding the last view of Granada. As they arrived
+at this spot the Moors paused involuntarily to take a farewell gaze at
+their beloved city, which a few steps more would shut from their sight
+forever. The Moorish cavaliers gazed with a silent agony of tenderness
+and grief upon that delicious abode, the scene of their loves and
+pleasures. While they yet looked, a light cloud of smoke burst forth from
+the citadel, and presently a peal of artillery, faintly heard, told that
+the city was taken possession of, and the throne of the Moslem kings was
+lost forever.
+
+The unhappy Boabdil was not to be consoled; his tears continued to flow.
+"Allah Akbar!" exclaimed he; "when did misfortunes ever equal mine?" From
+this circumstance the hill, which is not far from the Padul, took the
+name of Feg Allah Akbar; but the point of view commanding the last
+prospect of Granada is known among Spaniards by the name of _El ultimo
+suspiro del Moro_("The last sigh of the Moor").
+
+The sovereigns did not enter the city on this day of its surrender, but
+waited until it should be fully occupied by their troops and public
+tranquillity insured. In a little while every battlement glistened with
+Christian helms and lances, the standard of the faith and of the realm
+floated from every tower, and the thundering salvoes of the ordnance told
+that the subjugation of the city was complete. The grandees and cavaliers
+now knelt and kissed the hands of the King and Queen and the prince Juan,
+and congratulated them on the acquisition of so great a kingdom, after
+which the royal procession returned in state to Santa Fé.
+
+It was on January 6th, the day of kings and festival of the Epiphany,
+that the sovereigns made their triumphal entry. The King and Queen looked
+on this occasion as more than mortal; the venerable ecclesiastics, to
+whose advice and zeal this glorious conquest ought in a great measure to
+be attributed, moved along with hearts swelling with holy exultation, but
+with chastened and downcast looks of edifying humility; while the hardy
+warriors, in tossing plumes and shining steel, seemed elevated with a
+stern joy at finding themselves in possession of this object of so many
+toils and perils. As the streets resounded with the tramp of steed and
+swelling peals of music, the Moors buried themselves in the deepest
+recesses of their dwellings. There they bewailed in secret the fallen
+glory of their race, but suppressed their groans, lest they should be
+heard by their enemies and increase their triumph.
+
+The royal procession advanced to the principal mosque, which had been
+consecrated as a cathedral. Here the sovereigns offered up prayers and
+thanksgivings, and the choir of the royal chapel chanted a triumphant
+anthem, in which they were joined by all the courtiers and cavaliers.
+Nothing could exceed the thankfulness to God of the pious King Ferdinand
+for having enabled him to eradicate from Spain the empire and name of
+that accursed heathen race, and for the elevation of the cross in that
+city wherein the impious doctrines of Mahomet had so long been cherished.
+In the fervor of his spirit he supplicated from heaven a continuance
+of its grace, and that this glorious triumph might be perpetuated. The
+prayer of the pious monarch was responded by the people, and even his
+enemies were for once convinced of his sincerity.
+
+It had been a last request of the unfortunate Boabdil, and one which
+showed how deeply he felt the transition of his fate, that no person
+might be permitted to enter or depart by the gate of the Alhambra,
+through which he had sallied forth to surrender his capital. His request
+was granted; the portal was closed up, and remains so to the present
+day--a mute memorial of that event.
+
+The Spanish sovereigns fixed their throne in the presence chamber of
+the palace, so long the seat of Moorish royalty. Hither the principal
+inhabitants of Granada repaired, to pay them homage and kiss their hands
+in token of vassalage; and their example was followed by deputies from
+all the towns and fortresses of the Alpujarras which had not hitherto
+submitted.
+
+Thus terminated the war of Granada, after ten years of incessant
+fighting; equalling the far-famed siege of Troy in duration, and ending,
+like that, in the capture of the city. Thus ended also the dominion of
+the Moors in Spain, having endured seven hundred seventy-eight years,
+from the memorable defeat of Roderick, the last of the Goths, on the
+banks of the Guadalete. This great triumph of our holy Catholic faith
+took place in the beginning of January, 1492, being three thousand six
+hundred fifty-five years from the population of Spain by the patriarch
+Tubal; three thousand seven hundred ninety-seven from the general deluge;
+five thousand four hundred fifty-three from the creation of the world,
+according to Hebrew calculation; and in the month Rabic, in the eight
+hundred ninety-seventh year of the Hegira, or flight of Mahomet.
+
+[Footnote 1: Musa ben Abil Gazan, Boabdil's best cavalier--a fiery
+soldier, of royal lineage.]
+
+[Footnote 2: A mountainous region in the provinces of Granada and
+Almeria.]
+
+[Footnote 3: So say Arabian historians. According to another account,
+Musa, meeting a party of Andalusian cavaliers, killed several of them,
+but, being disabled by wounds, threw himself into the Xenel and was
+drowned.]
+
+
+
+COLUMBUS DISCOVERS AMERICA
+
+A.D. 1492
+
+CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS FERDINAND COLUMBUS
+
+
+The year 1492, in which Columbus discovered America, is adopted by some
+writers as separating the modern from the mediaeval period in history.
+It marks the culmination of the wonderful achievements in discovery
+for which the fifteenth century is so memorable. By 1492 the world had
+advanced far beyond the ignorance of the period when Marco Polo made and
+described his famous travels from Europe to the East, 1324, and when Sir
+John Mandeville's extravagant account of Eastern journeys, 1357-1371, was
+published. European knowledge of the Orient had been greatly increased
+by the crusades, and this, together with the spread of commerce, had
+quickened the desire of Western peoples for still further explorations of
+the world.
+
+During the first half of the fifteenth century the Portuguese were most
+enterprising in the work of discovery, and before 1500 they had searched
+the western coast of Africa, passed the equator, and seen the Cape of
+Good Hope, which Vasco da Gama doubled in 1497, on his way to India.
+
+Meanwhile Christopher Columbus, a native of Genoa, a famous maritime
+city, was planning a route of his own for a voyage to the East
+Indies--the great object, at that period, of all ambitious navigators.
+As the Portuguese sought, and at last found, an ocean route by the east
+around Africa, so Columbus meditated a westward voyage, and was the first
+to seek India in that direction. After vainly submitting his plan to John
+II of Portugal, to the Genoese Government, and to Henry VII of England,
+he appealed--at first without success--to Ferdinand and Isabella of
+Castile. But at the end of their war with Granada, 1492, he obtained a
+better hearing, and gained the favor of Isabella, who joined the Pinzons,
+merchants of Palos, in fitting out for him three small vessels, the Niña,
+the Santa Maria, and the Pinta. With the concurrence of Ferdinand, she
+made Columbus, for himself and his heirs, admiral in all the regions that
+he should discover, and viceroy in any lands acquired by him for Spain.
+
+When the bold mariner sailed from Saltes, an island near Palos, a small
+town in the province of Huelva, Spain, he had complete confidence in his
+theory of finding new lands to the west. And his unshakable faith in his
+idea and in his purpose constitutes the most heroic aspect of his first
+voyage.
+
+Of recent years great interest and much historical discussion have been
+aroused in connection with real or imagined pre-Columbian discoveries of
+America, especially with the discovery by the Northmen. But all attempts
+to diminish the glory of Columbus' achievement, by proving that the
+results of previous discoveries were known to him, have, as Hubert
+Howe Bancroft declares, signally failed. Columbus was not the first
+to conceive the possibility of reaching the East by sailing west.
+Toscanelli, the Italian astronomer, who made the map which Columbus used,
+and others among his contemporaries entertained the theory; but the
+Genoese sailor was the first to act upon this belief.
+
+Supposing, as he did to his latest day, that he had found the eastern
+coast of India, and not another continent, Columbus gave the name of
+Indies to the islands he discovered, whose inhabitants he also called
+Indians; yet he did not have the honor of giving his own name to the New
+World which he made known to mankind.
+
+In the following pages his own unstudied account of the first voyage and
+discovery, and the narrative from the biography of Columbus by his son,
+furnish a very complete history of the enterprise from which so large a
+part of the world's later development has followed. It should be noted,
+however, that both of the accounts manifest the not unnatural desire to
+give full prominence to the part taken by Columbus himself. His able
+coadjutors, the Pinzons, scarce receive such adequate mention as they are
+given by more modern narrators.
+
+The letter to Gabriel Sanchez appears here in a careful edition, one
+of the treasured possessions of the New York Public Library--Lenox
+Library--through the courtesy of whose officers it is presented in this
+work. It is the first letter of Columbus, giving the earliest information
+of his discovery, and is here rendered in a new translation, as contained
+in the little volume published in 1892 by the trustees of the Lenox
+Library, as a "tribute to the memory of the great discoverer."
+
+
+CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS
+
+[Letter of Christopher Columbus, to whom our age owes much, concerning
+the islands recently discovered in the Indian sea[1], for the search of
+which, eight months before, he was sent under the auspices and at the
+cost of the most invincible Ferdinand, King of Spain[2]; addressed to
+the magnificent lord Raphael Sanxis[3], treasurer of the same most
+illustrious King, and which the noble and learned man Leander de Cosco
+has translated from the Spanish language into Latin, on the third of the
+calends of May[4], 1493, the first year of the pontificate of Alexander
+VI.]
+
+Because my undertakings have attained success, I know that it will be
+pleasing to you; these I have determined to relate, so that you may be
+made acquainted with everything done and discovered in this our voyage.
+On the thirty-third day after I departed from Cadiz,[5] I came to the
+Indian sea, where I found many islands inhabited by men without number,
+of all which I took possession for our most fortunate King, with
+proclaiming heralds and flying standards, no one objecting. To the first
+of these I gave the name of the blessed Saviour,[6] on whose aid relying
+I had reached this as well as the other islands. But the Indians call
+it Guanahani. I also called each one of the others by a new name. For I
+ordered one island to be called Santa Maria of the Conception,[7] another
+Fernandina,[8] another Isabella,[9] another Juana,[10] and so on with the
+rest.
+
+As soon as we had arrived at that island which I have just now said
+was called Juana, I proceeded along its coast toward the west for some
+distance. I found it so large and without perceptible end, that I
+believed it to be not an island, but the continental country of
+Cathay;[11] seeing, however, no towns or cities situated on the
+sea-coast, but only some villages and rude farms, with whose inhabitants
+I was unable to converse, because as soon as they saw us they took
+flight, I proceeded farther, thinking that I would discover some city or
+large residences.
+
+At length, perceiving that we had gone far enough, that nothing new
+appeared, and that this way was leading us to the north, which I wished
+to avoid, because it was winter on the land, and it was my intention to
+go to the south, moreover the winds were becoming violent, I therefore
+determined that no other plans were practicable, and so, going back, I
+returned to a certain bay that I had noticed, from which I sent two of
+our men to the land, that they might find out whether there was a king in
+this country, or any cities. These men travelled for three days, and they
+found people and houses without number, but they were small and without
+any government, therefore they returned.
+
+Now in the mean time I had learned from certain Indians, whom I had
+seized there, that this country was indeed an island, and therefore I
+proceeded toward the east, keeping all the time near the coast, for three
+hundred twenty-two miles, to the extreme ends of this island. From
+this place I saw another island to the east, distant from this Juana
+fifty-four miles, which I called forthwith Hispana,[12] and I sailed to
+it; and I steered along the northern coast, as at Juana, toward the east,
+five hundred sixty-four miles. And the said Juana and the other islands
+there appear very fertile. This island is surrounded by many very safe
+and wide harbors, not excelled by any others that I have ever seen. Many
+great and salubrious rivers flow through it. There are also many very
+high mountains there.
+
+All these islands are very beautiful, and distinguished by various
+qualities; they are accessible, and full of a great variety of trees
+stretching up to the stars; the leaves of which I believe are never shed,
+for I saw them as green and flourishing as they are usually in Spain in
+the month of May; some of them were blossoming, some were bearing fruit,
+some were in other conditions; each one was thriving in its own way. The
+nightingale and various other birds without number were singing in the
+month of November, when I was exploring them. There are besides in the
+said island Juana seven or eight kinds of palm-trees, which far excel
+ours in height and beauty, just as all the other trees, herbs, and fruits
+do. There are also excellent pine-trees, vast plains and meadows, a
+variety of birds, a variety of honey, and a variety of metals, excepting
+iron. In the one which was called Hispana, as we said above, there are
+great and beautiful mountains, vast fields, groves, fertile plains, very
+suitable for planting and cultivating, and for the building of houses.
+
+The convenience of the harbors in this island, and the remarkable number
+of rivers contributing to the healthfulness of man, exceed belief, unless
+one has seen them. The trees, pasturage, and fruits of this island differ
+greatly from those of Juana. This Hispana, moreover, abounds in different
+kinds of spices, in gold, and in metals. On this island, indeed, and on
+all the others which I have seen, and of which I have knowledge, the
+inhabitants of both sexes go always naked, just as they came into the
+world, except some of the women, who use a covering of a leaf or some
+foliage, or a cotton cloth, which they make themselves for that purpose.
+
+All these people lack, as I said above, every kind of iron; they are also
+without weapons, which indeed are unknown; nor are they competent to use
+them, not on account of deformity of body, for they are well formed, but
+because they are timid and full of fear. They carry for weapons, however,
+reeds baked in the sun, on the lower ends of which they fasten some
+shafts of dried wood rubbed down to a point; and indeed they do not
+venture to use these always; for it frequently happened, when I sent two
+or three of my men to some of the villages, that they might speak with
+the natives, a compact troop of the Indians would march out, and as soon
+as they saw our men approaching they would quickly take flight, children
+being pushed aside by their fathers, and fathers by their children. And
+this was not because any hurt or injury had been inflicted on any one of
+them, for to everyone whom I visited and with whom I was able to converse
+I distributed whatever I had, cloth and many other things, no return
+being made to me; but they are by nature fearful and timid. Yet when they
+perceive that they are safe, putting aside all fear, they are of simple
+manners and trustworthy, and very liberal with everything they have,
+refusing no one who asks for anything they may possess, and even
+themselves inviting us to ask for things.
+
+They show greater love for all others than for themselves; they give
+valuable things for trifles, being satisfied even with a very small
+return, or with nothing; however, I forbade that things so small and of
+no value should be given to them, such as pieces of plates, dishes, and
+glass, likewise keys and shoe-straps; although, if they were able to
+obtain these, it seemed to them like getting the most beautiful jewels
+in the world. It happened, indeed, that a certain sailor obtained in
+exchange for a shoe-strap as much worth of gold as would equal three
+golden coins; and likewise other things for articles of very little
+value, especially for new silver coins, and for some gold coins, to
+obtain which they gave whatever the seller desired, as for instance an
+ounce and a half and two ounces of gold, or thirty and forty pounds of
+cotton, with which they were already acquainted. They also traded cotton
+and gold for pieces of bows, bottles, jugs and jars, like persons without
+reason, which I forbade because it was very wrong; and I gave to them
+many beautiful and pleasing things that I had brought with me, no value
+being taken in exchange, in order that I might the more easily make them
+friendly to me, that they might be made worshippers of Christ, and that
+they might be full of love toward our King, Queen, and Prince, and the
+whole Spanish nation; also that they might be zealous to search out and
+collect, and deliver to us, those things of which they had plenty, and
+which we greatly needed.
+
+These people practise no kind of idolatry; on the contrary they firmly
+believe that all strength and power, and in fact all good things, are
+in heaven, and that I had come down from thence with these ships and
+sailors; and in this belief I was received there after they had put
+aside fear. Nor are they slow or unskilled, but of excellent and acute
+understanding; and the men who have navigated that sea give an account of
+everything in an admirable manner; but they never saw people clothed, nor
+these kind of ships.
+
+As soon as I reached that sea, I seized by force several Indians on the
+first island, in order that they might learn from us, and in like manner
+tell us about those things in these lands of which they themselves had
+knowledge; and the plan succeeded, for in a short time we understood them
+and they us, sometimes by gestures and signs, sometimes by words; and
+it was a great advantage to us. They are coming with me now, yet always
+believing that I descended from heaven, although they have been living
+with us for a long time, and are living with us today. And these men were
+the first who announced it wherever we landed, continually proclaiming to
+the others in a loud voice, "Come, come, and you will see the celestial
+people." Whereupon both women and men, both children and adults, both
+young men and old men, laying aside the fear caused a little before,
+visited us eagerly, filling the road with a great crowd, some bringing
+food and some drink, with great love and extraordinary good-will.
+
+On every island there are many canoes of a single piece of wood, and,
+though narrow, yet in length and shape similar to our row-boats, but
+swifter in movement. They steer only by oars. Some of these boats are
+large, some small, some of medium size. Yet they row many of the larger
+row-boats with eighteen cross-benches, with which they cross to all those
+islands, which are innumerable, and with these boats they perform their
+trading, and carry on commerce among them. I saw some of these row-boats
+or canoes which were carrying seventy and eighty rowers.
+
+In all these islands there is no difference in the appearance of the
+people, nor in the manners and language, but all understand each other
+mutually; a fact that is very important for the end which I suppose to be
+earnestly desired by our most illustrious King, that is, their conversion
+to the holy religion of Christ, to which in truth, as far as I can
+perceive, they are very ready and favorably inclined.
+
+I said before how I proceeded along the island Juana in a straight line
+from west to east three hundred twenty-two miles, according to which
+course, and the length of the way, I am able to say that this Juana is
+larger than England and Scotland together; for, besides the said three
+hundred twenty-two thousand paces, there are two more provinces in that
+part which lies toward the west, which I did not visit; one of these the
+Indians call Anan, whose inhabitants are born with tails. They extend to
+one hundred eighty miles in length, as I have learned from those Indians
+I have with me, who are all acquainted with these islands. But the
+circumference of Hispana is still greater than all Spain from Colonia to
+Fontarabia[13]. This is easily proved, because its fourth side, which I
+myself passed along in a straight line from west to east, extends five
+hundred forty miles.
+
+This island is to be desired and is very desirable, and not to be
+despised; in which, although, as I have said, I solemnly took possession
+of all the others for our most invincible King, and their government is
+entirely committed to the said King, yet I especially took possession of
+a certain large town, in a very convenient location, and adapted to all
+kinds of gain and commerce, to which we give the name of our Lord of the
+Nativity. And I commanded a fort to be built there forthwith, which
+must be completed by this time; in which I left as many men as seemed
+necessary, with all kinds of arms, and plenty of food for more than
+a year. Likewise one caravel, and for the construction of others
+men skilled in this trade and in other professions; and also the
+extraordinary good-will and friendship of the King of this island toward
+us. For those people are very amiable and kind, to such a degree that the
+said King gloried in calling me his brother. And if they should change
+their minds, and should wish to hurt those who remained in the fort, they
+would not be able, because they lack weapons, they go naked, and are too
+cowardly. For that reason those who hold the said fort are at least
+able to resist easily this whole island, without any imminent danger to
+themselves, so long as they do not transgress the regulations and command
+which we gave.
+
+In all these islands, as I have understood, each man is content with only
+one wife, except the princes or kings, who are permitted to have twenty.
+The women appear to work more than the men. I was not able to find out
+surely whether they have individual property, for I saw that one man had
+the duty of distributing to the others, especially refreshments, food,
+and things of that kind. I found no monstrosities among them, as very
+many supposed, but men of great reverence, and friendly. Nor are they
+black like the Ethiopians. They have straight hair, hanging down. They do
+not remain where the solar rays send out the heat, for the strength of
+the sun is very great here, because it is distant from the equinoctial
+line, as it seems, only twenty-six degrees. On the tops of the mountains,
+too, the cold is severe, but the Indians, however, moderate it, partly
+by being accustomed to the place, and partly by the help of very hot
+victuals, of which they eat frequently and immoderately. And so I did not
+see any monstrosity, nor did I have knowledge of them anywhere, excepting
+a certain island named Charis,[14] which is the second in passing from
+Hispana to India.
+
+This island is inhabited by a certain people who are considered very
+warlike by their neighbors. These eat human flesh. The said people have
+many kinds of row-boats, in which they cross over to all the other Indian
+islands, and seize and carry away everything that they can. They differ
+in no way from the others, only that they wear long hair like the women.
+They use bows and darts made of reeds, with sharpened shafts fastened to
+the larger end, as we have described. On this account they are considered
+warlike, wherefore the other Indians are afflicted with continual fear,
+but I regard them as of no more account than the others. These are
+the people who visit certain women, who alone inhabit the island
+Mateunin[15], which is the first in passing from Hispana to India. These
+women, moreover, perform no kind of work of their sex, for they use bows
+and darts, like those I have described of their husbands; they protect
+themselves with sheets of copper, of which there is great abundance among
+them.
+
+They tell me of another island, greater than the aforesaid Hispana, whose
+inhabitants are without hair, and which abounds in gold above all the
+others. I am bringing with me men of this island and of the others that I
+have seen, who give proof of the things that I have described.
+
+Finally, that I may compress in few words the brief account of our
+departure and quick return, and the gain, I promise this, that if I am
+supported by our most invincible sovereigns with a little of their help,
+as much gold can be supplied as they will need, indeed as much of spices,
+of cotton, of chewing-gum (which is only found in Chios), also as much of
+aloes-wood, and as many slaves for the navy, as their majesties will wish
+to demand. Likewise rhubarb and other kinds of spices, which I suppose
+these men whom I left in the said fort have already found, and will
+continue to find; since I remained in no place longer than the winds
+forced me, except in the town of the Nativity, while I provided for the
+building of the fort and for the safety of all. Which things, although
+they are very great and remarkable, yet they would have been much greater
+if I had been aided by as many ships as the occasion required.
+
+Truly great and wonderful is this, and not corresponding to our merits,
+but to the holy Christian religion, and to the piety and religion of our
+sovereigns, because what the human understanding could not attain, that
+the divine will has granted to human efforts. For God is wont to listen
+to his servants who love his precepts, even in impossibilities, as has
+happened to us on the present occasion, who have attained that which
+hitherto mortal men have never reached. For if anyone has written or
+said anything about these islands, it was all with obscurities and
+conjectures; no one claims that he had seen them; from which they seemed
+like fables. Therefore let the King and Queen, the princes and their most
+fortunate kingdoms, and all other countries of Christendom, give thanks
+to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who has bestowed upon us so great
+a victory and gift. Let religious processions be solemnized; let sacred
+festivals be given; let the churches be covered with festive garlands.
+Let Christ rejoice on earth, as he rejoices in heaven, when he foresees
+coming to salvation so many souls of people hitherto lost. Let us be glad
+also, as well on account of the exaltation of our faith as on account
+of the increase of our temporal affairs, of which not only Spain, but
+universal Christendom, will be partaker. These things that have been done
+are thus briefly related. Farewell. Lisbon, the day before the ides of
+March.[16]
+
+CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, Admiral of the Ocean Fleet.
+
+Epigram of R. L. de Corbaria, Bishop of Monte Peloso
+
+"To THE MOST INVINCIBLE KING OF SPAIN
+
+"No region now can add to Spain's great deeds: To such men all the world
+is yet too small. An Orient land, found far beyond the waves, Will add,
+great Betica, to thy renown. Then to Columbus, the true finder, give Due
+thanks; but greater still to God on high, Who makes new kingdoms for
+himself and thee: Both firm and pious let thy conduct be."
+
+
+FERDINAND COLUMBUS
+
+All the conditions which the admiral demanded being conceded by their
+Catholic majesties, he set out from Granada on May 21, 1492, for Palos,
+where he was to fit out the ships for his intended expedition. That town
+was bound to serve the crown for three months with two caravels, which
+were ordered to be given to Columbus; and he fitted out these and a third
+vessel with all care and diligence. The ship in which he personally
+embarked was called the Santa Maria; the second vessel, named the Pinta,
+was commanded by Martin Alonso Pinzon; and the third, named the Nina,
+which had square sails, was under the command of Vincent Yanez Pinzon,
+the brother of Alonso, both of whom were inhabitants of Palos. Being
+furnished with all necessaries, and having ninety men to navigate the
+three vessels, Columbus set sail from Palos on August 3, 1492, shaping
+his course directly for the Canaries.
+
+During this voyage, and indeed in all the _four_ voyages which he made
+from Spain to the West Indies, the admiral was very careful to keep an
+exact journal of every occurrence which took place; always specifying
+what winds blew, how far he sailed with each particular wind, what
+currents were found, and everything that was seen by the way, whether
+birds, fishes, or any other thing. Although to note all these particulars
+with a minute relation of everything that happened, showing what
+impressions and effects answered to the course and aspect of the stars,
+and the differences between the seas which he sailed and those of our
+countries, might all be useful; yet, as I conceive that the relation of
+these particulars might now be tiresome to the reader, I shall only give
+an account of what appears to me necessary and convenient to be known.
+
+On Saturday, August 4th, the next day after sailing from Palos, the
+rudder of the Pinta broke loose. The admiral strongly suspected that
+it was occasioned by the contrivance of the master on purpose to avoid
+proceeding on the voyage, which he had endeavored to do before they left
+Spain, and he therefore ranged up alongside of the disabled vessel to
+give every assistance in his power, but the wind blew so hard that he was
+unable to afford any aid. Pinzon, however, being an experienced seaman,
+soon made a temporary repair by means of ropes, and they proceeded on
+their voyage. But on the following Tuesday, the weather becoming rough
+and boisterous, the fastenings gave way, and the squadron was obliged to
+lay to for some time to renew the repairs. From this misfortune of twice
+breaking the rudder, a superstitious person might have foreboded the
+future disobedience of Pinzon to the admiral; as through his malice the
+Pinta twice separated from the squadron, as shall be afterward related.
+Having applied the best remedy they could to the disabled state of the
+rudder, the squadron continued its voyage, and came in sight of the
+Canaries at daybreak of Thursday, August 9th; but owing to contrary
+winds, they were unable to come to anchor at Gran Canaria until the 12th.
+The admiral left Pinzon at Gran Canaria to endeavor to procure another
+vessel instead of that which was disabled, and went himself with the Niña
+on the same errand to Gomera.
+
+The admiral arrived at Gomera on Sunday, August 12th, and sent a boat on
+shore to inquire if any vessel could be procured there for his purpose.
+The boat returned next morning, and brought intelligence that no vessel
+was then at that island, but that Doña Beatrix de Bobadilla, the
+proprietrix of the island, was then at Gran Canaria in a hired vessel of
+forty tons belonging to one Gradeuna of Seville, which would probably
+suit his purpose and might perhaps be got. He therefore determined to
+await the arrival of that vessel at Gomera, believing that Pinzon might
+have secured a vessel for himself at Gran Canaria, if he had not been
+able to repair his own. After waiting two days, he despatched one of his
+people in a bark which was bound from Gomera to Gran Canaria, to acquaint
+Pinzon where he lay, and to assist him in repairing and fixing the
+rudder. Having waited a considerable time for an answer to his letter, he
+sailed with the two vessels from Gomera on August 23d for Gran Canaria,
+and fell in with the bark on the following day, which had been detained
+all that time on its voyage by contrary winds. He now took his man from
+the bark, and, sailing in the night past the island of Teneriffe, the
+people were much astonished at observing flames bursting out of the lofty
+mountain called El Pico (or the Peak of Teneriffe). On this occasion the
+admiral was at great pains to explain the nature of this phenomenon to
+the people by instancing the example of Aetna and several other known
+volcanoes.
+
+Passing by Teneriffe, they arrived at Gran Canaria on Saturday, August
+25th, and found that Pinzon had only got in there the day before. From
+him the admiral was informed that Doña Beatrix had sailed for Gomera on
+the 20th with the vessel which he was so anxious to obtain. His officers
+were much troubled at the disappointment; but he, who always endeavored
+to make the best of every occurrence, observed to them that since it had
+not pleased God that they should get this vessel it was perhaps better
+for them, as they might have encountered much opposition in pressing it
+into the service, and might have lost a great deal of time in shipping
+and unshipping the goods. Wherefore, lest he might again miss it if he
+returned to Gomera, he resolved to make a new rudder for the Pinta at
+Gran Canaria, and ordered the square sails of the Nina to be changed to
+_round_ ones, like those of the other two vessels, that she might be able
+to accompany them with less danger and agitation.
+
+The vessels being all refitted, the admiral weighed anchor from Gran
+Canaria on Saturday, September 1st, and arrived next day at Gomera, where
+four days were employed in completing their stores of provisions and
+of wood and water. On the morning of Thursday, September 6, 1492,
+the admiral took his departure from Gomera, and commenced his great
+undertaking by standing directly westward, but made very slow progress at
+first on account of calms. On Sunday, September 9th, about daybreak, they
+were nine leagues west of the island of Ferro. Now, losing sight of
+land and stretching out into utterly unknown seas, many of the people
+expressed their anxiety and fear that it might be long before they should
+see land again; but the admiral used every endeavor to comfort them with
+the assurance of soon finding the land he was in search of, and raised
+their hopes of acquiring wealth and honor by the discovery. To lessen the
+fear which they entertained of the length of way they had to sail, he
+gave out that they had only proceeded fifteen leagues that day, when the
+actual distance sailed was eighteen; and, to induce the people to believe
+that they were not so far from Spain as they really were, he resolved to
+keep considerably short in his reckoning during the whole voyage, though
+he carefully recorded the true reckoning every day in private.
+
+On Wednesday, September 12th, having got to about one hundred fifty
+leagues west of Ferro, they discovered a large trunk of a tree,
+sufficient to have been the mast of a vessel of one hundred twenty tons,
+and which seemed to have been a long time in the water. At this distance
+from Ferro, and for somewhat farther on, the current was found to set
+strongly to the northeast. Next day, when they had run fifty leagues
+farther westward, the needle was observed to vary half a point to the
+eastward of north, and next morning the variation was a whole point
+east. This variation of the compass had never been before observed, and
+therefore the admiral was much surprised at the phenomenon, and concluded
+that the needle did not actually point toward the polar star, but to some
+other fixed point. Three days afterward, when almost one hundred leagues
+farther west, he was still more astonished at the irregularity of the
+variation; for, having observed the needle to vary a whole point to the
+eastward at night, it pointed directly northward in the morning.
+
+On the night of Saturday, September isth, being then almost three
+hundred leagues west of Ferro, they saw a prodigious flash of light,
+or fire-ball, drop from the sky into the sea, at four or five leagues'
+distance from the ships, toward the southwest. The weather was then quite
+fair and serene like April, the sea perfectly calm, the wind favorable
+from the northeast, and the current setting to the northeast. The people
+in the Nina told the admiral that they had seen the day before a heron,
+and another bird which they called _rabo-de-junco._ These were the first
+birds which had been seen during the voyage, and were considered as
+indications of approaching land. But they were more agreeably surprised
+next day, Sunday, September 16th, by seeing great abundance of yellowish
+green sea-weeds, which appeared as if newly washed away from some rock
+or island. Next day the seaweed was seen in much greater quantity, and a
+small live lobster was observed among the weeds; from this circumstance
+many affirmed that they were certainly near the land.
+
+The sea-water was afterward noticed to be only half so salt as before;
+and great numbers of tunny-fish were seen swimming about, some of which
+came so near the vessel that one was killed by a bearded iron. Being now
+three hundred sixty leagues west from Ferro, another of the birds called
+rabo-de-junco was seen. On Tuesday, September 18th, Martin Alonso Pinzon,
+who had gone ahead of the admiral, in the Pinta, which was an excellent
+sailer, lay to for the admiral to come up, and told him that he had seen
+a great number of birds fly away westward, for which reason he was in
+great hopes to see land that night;
+
+Pinzon even thought that he saw land that night about fifteen leagues
+distant to the northward, which appeared very black and covered with
+clouds. All the people would have persuaded the admiral to try for land
+in that direction; but, being certainly assured that it was not land,
+and having not yet reached the distance at which he expected to find the
+land, he would not consent to lose time in altering his course in that
+direction. But as the wind now freshened, he gave orders to take in the
+topsails at night, having now sailed eleven days before the wind due
+westward with all their sails up.
+
+All the people in the squadron being utterly unacquainted with the seas
+they now traversed, fearful of their danger at such unusual distance from
+any relief, and seeing nothing around but sky and water, began to mutter
+among themselves, and anxiously observed every appearance. On September
+19th a kind of sea-gull called _alcatras_ flew over the admiral's ship,
+and several others were seen in the afternoon of that day, and, as the
+admiral conceived that these birds would not fly far from land, he
+entertained hopes of soon seeing what he was in quest of. He therefore
+ordered a line of two hundred fathoms to be tried, but without finding
+any bottom. The current was now found to set to the southwest.
+
+On Thursday, September 20th, two alcatrases came near the ship about two
+hours before noon, and soon afterward a third. On this day likewise they
+took a bird resembling a heron, of a black color with a white tuft on its
+head, and having webbed feet like a duck. Abundance of weeds were seen
+floating in the sea, and one small fish was taken. About evening three
+land birds settled on the rigging of the ship and began to sing. These
+flew away at daybreak, which was considered a strong indication of
+approaching the land, as these little birds could not have come from any
+far distant country; whereas the other large fowls, being used to water,
+might much better go far from land. The same day an alcatras was seen.
+
+Friday, the 21st, another alcatras and a rabo-de-junco were seen, and
+vast quantities of weeds as far as the eye could carry toward the north.
+These appearances were sometimes a comfort to the people, giving them
+hopes of nearing the wished-for land; while at other times the weeds were
+so thick as in some measure to impede the progress of the vessels, and
+to occasion terror lest what is fabulously reported of St. Amaro in the
+frozen sea might happen to them, that they might be so enveloped in the
+weeds as to be unable to move backward or forward; wherefore they steered
+away from those shoals of weeds as much as they could.
+
+Next day, being Saturday, September 22d, they saw a whale and several
+small birds. The wind now veered to the southwest, sometimes more and
+sometimes less to the westward; and though this was adverse to the
+direction of their proposed voyage, the admiral, to comfort the people,
+alleged that this was a favorable circumstance; because, among other
+causes of fear, they had formerly said they should never have a wind to
+carry them back to Spain, as it had always blown from the east ever since
+they left Ferro. They still continued, however, to murmur, alleging that
+this southwest wind was by no means a settled one, and, as it never blew
+strong enough to swell the sea, it would not serve to carry them back
+again through so great an extent of sea as they had now passed over.
+In spite of every argument used by the admiral, assuring them that the
+alterations in the wind were occasioned by the vicinity of the land, by
+which likewise the waves were prevented from rising to any height, they
+were still dissatisfied and terrified.
+
+On Sunday, September 23d, a brisk gale sprung up west-northwest, with a
+rolling sea, such as the people had wished for. Three hours before noon
+a turtle-dove was observed to fly over the ship; toward evening an
+alcatras, a river fowl, and several white birds were seen flying about,
+and some crabs were observed among the weeds. Next day another alcatras
+was seen and several small birds which came from the west. Numbers of
+small fishes were seen swimming about, some of which were struck with
+harpoons, as they would not bite at the hook.
+
+The more that the tokens mentioned above were observed, and found not
+to be followed by the so anxiously looked-for land, the more the people
+became fearful of the event and entered into cabals against the admiral,
+who they said was desirous to make himself a great lord at the expense
+of their danger. They represented that they had already sufficiently
+performed their duty in adventuring farther from land and all possibility
+of succor than had ever been done before, and that they ought not to
+proceed on the voyage to their manifest destruction. If they did they
+would soon have reason to repent their temerity, as provisions would soon
+fall short, the ships were already faulty and would soon fail, and it
+would be extremely difficult to get back so far as they had already gone.
+None could condemn them in their own opinion for now turning back,
+but all must consider them as brave men for having gone upon such an
+enterprise and venturing so far. That the admiral was a foreigner who
+had no favor at court; and as so many wise and learned men had already
+condemned his opinions and enterprise as visionary and impossible, there
+would be none to favor or defend him, and they were sure to find more
+credit if they accused him of ignorance and mismanagement than he would
+do, whatsoever he might now say for himself against them.
+
+Some even proceeded so far as to propose, in case the admiral should
+refuse to acquiesce in their proposals, that they might make a short end
+of all disputes by throwing him overboard; after which they could give
+out that he had fallen over while making his observations, and no one
+would ever think of inquiring into the truth. They thus went on day after
+day, muttering, complaining, and consulting together; and though the
+admiral was not fully aware of the extent of their cabals, he was not
+entirely without apprehensions of their inconstancy in the present trying
+situation, and of their evil intentions toward him. He therefore exerted
+himself to the utmost to quiet their apprehensions and to suppress
+their evil design, sometimes using fair words, and at other times fully
+resolved to expose his life rather than abandon the enterprise; he put
+them in mind of the due punishment they would subject themselves to if
+they obstructed the voyage. To confirm their hopes, he recapitulated
+all the favorable signs and indications which had been lately observed,
+assuring them that they might soon expect to see the land. But they, who
+were ever attentive to these tokens, thought every hour a year in their
+anxiety to see the wished-for land.
+
+On Tuesday, September 25th, near sunset, as the admiral was discoursing
+with Pinzon, whose ship was then very near, Pinzon suddenly called out,
+"Land! land, sir! let not my good news miscarry," and pointed out a large
+mass in the southwest, about twenty-five leagues distant, which seemed
+very like an island. This was so pleasing to the people that they
+returned thanks to God for the pleasing discovery; and, although the
+admiral was by no means satisfied of the truth of Pinzon's observation,
+yet to please the men, and that they might not obstruct the voyage, he
+altered his course and stood in that direction a great part of the night.
+Next morning, the 26th, they had the mortification to find the supposed
+land was only composed of clouds, which often put on the appearance of
+distant land; and, to their great dissatisfaction, the stems of the ships
+were again turned directly westward, as they always were unless when
+hindered by the wind. Continuing their course, and still attentively
+watching for signs of land, they saw this day an alcatras, a
+rabo-de-junco, and other birds as formerly mentioned.
+
+On Thursday, September 27th, they saw another alcatras coming from the
+westward and flying toward the east, and great numbers of fish were seen
+with gilt backs, one of which they struck with a harpoon. A rabo-de-junco
+likewise flew past; the currents for some of the last days were not so
+regular as before but changed with the tide, and the weeds were not
+nearly so abundant.
+
+On Friday, the 28th, all the vessels took some of the fishes with gilt
+backs; and on Saturday, the 29th, they saw a rabo-de-junco, which,
+although a sea-fowl, never rests on the waves, but always flies in the
+air, pursuing the alcatrases. Many of these birds are said to frequent
+the Cape de Verd Islands. They soon afterward saw two other alcatrases
+and great numbers of flying-fishes. These last are about a span long, and
+have two little membranous wings like those of a bat, by means of which
+they fly about a pike-length high from the water and a musket-shot in
+length, and sometimes drop upon the ships. In the afternoon of this day
+they saw abundance of weeds lying in length north and south, and three
+alcatrases pursued by a rabo-de-junco.
+
+On the morning of Sunday, September 30th, four rabo-de-juncos came to the
+ship; and from so many of them coming together it was thought the land
+could not be far distant, especially as four alcatrases followed soon
+afterward. Great quantities of weeds were seen in a line stretching from
+west-north-west to east-north-east, and a great number of the fishes
+which are called _emperadores_, which have a very hard skin and are not
+fit to eat. Though the admiral paid every attention to these indications,
+he never neglected those in the heavens, and carefully observed the
+course of the stars. He was now greatly surprised to notice at this time
+that Charles' Wain, or the Ursa Major constellation, appeared at night
+in the west, and was north-east in the morning. He thence concluded that
+their whole night's course was only nine hours, or so many parts in
+twenty four of a great circle; and this he observed to be the case
+regularly every night. It was likewise noticed that the compass varied
+a whole point to the northwest at nightfall, and came due north every
+morning at daybreak. As this unheard-of circumstance confounded and
+perplexed the pilots, who apprehended danger in these strange regions and
+at such unusual distance from home, the admiral endeavored to calm their
+fears by assigning a cause for this wonderful phenomenon. He alleged that
+it was occasioned by the polar star making a circuit round the pole, by
+which they were not a little satisfied.
+
+Soon after sunrise on Monday, October 1st, an alcatras came to the ship,
+and two more about ten in the morning, and long streams of weeds floated
+from east to west. That morning the pilot of the admiral's ship said that
+they were now five hundred seventy-eight leagues west from the island
+of Ferro. In his public account the admiral said they were five hundred
+eighty-four leagues to the west; but in his private journal he made the
+real distance seven hundred seven leagues, or one hundred twenty-nine
+more than was reckoned by the pilot. The other two ships differed much in
+their computation from each other and from the admiral's pilot. The pilot
+of the Nina, in the afternoon of the Wednesday following, said they
+had only sailed five hundred forty leagues, and the pilot of the Pinta
+reckoned six hundred thirty-four. Thus they were all much short of the
+truth; but the admiral winked at the gross mistake, that the men, not
+thinking themselves so far from home, might be the less dejected.
+
+The next day, being Tuesday, October 2d, they saw abundance of fish,
+caught one small tunny, and saw a white bird with many other small birds,
+and the weeds appeared much withered and almost fallen to powder. Next
+day, seeing no birds, they suspected that they had passed between some
+islands on both hands, and had slipped through without seeing them, as
+they guessed that the many birds which they had seen might have been
+passing from one island to another. On this account they were very
+earnest to have the course altered one way or the other, in quest of
+these imaginary lands. But the admiral, unwilling to lose the advantage
+of the fair wind which carried him due west, which he accounted his
+surest course, and afraid to lessen his reputation by deviating from
+course to course in search of land, which he always affirmed that he well
+knew where to find, refused his consent to any change. On this the people
+were again ready to mutiny, and resumed their murmurs and cabals against
+him. But it pleased God to aid his authority by fresh indications of
+land.
+
+On Thursday, October 4th, in the afternoon, above forty sparrows together
+and two alcatrases flew so near the ship that a seaman killed one of
+them with a stone. Several other birds were seen at this time, and many
+flying-fish fell into the ships. Next day there came a rabo-de-junco and
+an alcatras from the westward, and many sparrows were seen. About sunrise
+on Sunday, October 7th, some signs of land appeared to the westward, but
+being imperfect no person would mention the circumstance. This was owing
+to fear of losing the reward of thirty crowns yearly for life which
+had been promised by their Catholic majesties to whoever should first
+discover land; and to prevent them from calling out "Land, land!" at
+every turn without just cause, it was made a condition that whoever said
+he saw land should lose the reward if it were not made out in three days,
+even if he should afterward actually prove the first discoverer. All on
+board the admiral's ship, being thus forewarned, were exceedingly careful
+not to cry out "Land!" on uncertain tokens; but those in the Niña, which
+sailed better and always kept ahead, believing that they certainly saw
+land, fired a gun and hung out their colors in token of the discovery;
+but the farther they sailed, the more the joyful appearance lessened,
+till at last it vanished away. But they soon afterward derived much
+comfort by observing great flights of large fowl and others of small
+birds going from the west toward the southwest.
+
+Being now at a vast distance from Spain, and well assured that such small
+birds would not go far from land, the admiral now altered his course
+from due west which had been hitherto, and steered to the southwest. He
+assigned as a reason for now changing his course, although deviating
+little from his original design, that he followed the example of the
+Portuguese, who had discovered most of their islands by attending to the
+flight of birds, and because these they now saw flew almost uniformly in
+one direction. He said likewise that he had always expected to discover
+land about the situation in which they now were, having often told them
+that he must not look to find land until they should get seven hundred
+fifty leagues to the westward of the Canaries, about which distance he
+expected to fall in with Hispaniola, which he then called Cipango;[17]
+and there is no doubt that he would have found this island by his direct
+course, if it had not been that it was reported to extend from north to
+south. Owing therefore to his not having inclined more to the south, he
+had missed that and others of the Caribbee islands, whither those birds
+were now bending their flight, and which had been for some time upon his
+larboard hand. It was from being so near the land that they continually
+saw such great numbers of birds; and on Monday, October 8th, twelve
+singing birds of various colors came to the ship, and after flying round
+it for a short time held on their way. Many other birds were seen from
+the ship flying toward the southwest, and that same night great numbers
+of large fowl were seen, and flocks of small birds proceeding from the
+northward, and all going to the southwest. In the morning a jay was seen,
+with an alcatras, several ducks, and many small birds, all flying the
+same way with the others, and the air was perceived to be fresh and
+odoriferous as it is at Seville in the month of April. But the people
+were now so eager to see land and had been so often disappointed that
+they ceased to give faith to these continual indications; insomuch that
+on Wednesday, the 10th, although abundance of birds were continually
+passing both by day and night, they never ceased to complain. The admiral
+upbraided their want of resolution, and declared that they must persist
+in their endeavors to discover the Indies, for which he and they had been
+sent out by their Catholic majesties.
+
+It would have been impossible for the admiral to have much longer
+withstood the numbers which now opposed him; but it pleased God that, in
+the afternoon of Thursday, October 11th, such manifest tokens of being
+near the land appeared that the men took courage and rejoiced at their
+good-fortune as much as they had been before distressed. From the
+admiral's ship a green rush was seen to float past, and one of those
+green fish which never go far from the rocks. The people in the Pinta saw
+a cane and a staff in the water, and took up another staff very curiously
+carved, and a small board, and great plenty of weeds were seen which
+seemed to have been recently torn from the rocks. Those of the Niña,
+besides similar signs of land, saw a branch of a thorn full of red
+berries, which seemed to have been newly torn from the tree.
+
+From all these indications the admiral was convinced that he now drew
+near to the land, and after the evening prayers he made a speech to the
+men, in which he reminded them of the mercy of God in having brought them
+so long a voyage with such favorable weather, and in comforting them with
+so many tokens of a successful issue to their enterprise, which were now
+every day becoming plainer and less equivocal. He besought them to be
+exceedingly watchful during the night, as they well knew that in the
+first article of the instructions, which he had given to all the three
+ships before leaving the Canaries, they were enjoined, when they should
+have sailed seven hundred leagues west without discovering land, to lay
+to every night from midnight till daybreak. And, as he had very confident
+hopes of discovering land that night, he required every one to keep watch
+at their quarters; and, besides the gratuity of thirty crowns a year for
+life, which had been graciously promised by their sovereigns to him that
+first saw the land, he engaged to give the fortunate discoverer a velvet
+doublet from himself.
+
+After this, as the admiral was in his cabin, about ten o'clock at night,
+he saw a light on shore; but it was so unsteady that he could not
+certainly affirm that it came from land. He called to one Pedro Gutierrez
+and desired him to try if he could perceive the same light, who said he
+did; but one Rodrigo Sanchez of Segovia, on being desired to look the
+same way, could not see it, because he was not up time enough, as neither
+the admiral nor Gutierrez could see it again above once or twice for a
+short space, which made them judge it to proceed from a candle or torch
+belonging to some fisherman or traveller, who lifted it up occasionally
+and lowered it again, or perhaps from people going from one house to
+another, because it appeared and vanished again so suddenly. Being now
+very much on their guard, they still held on their course until about two
+in the morning of Friday, October 12th, when the Pinta, which was always
+far ahead, owing to her superior sailing, made the signal of seeing land,
+which was first discovered by Rodrigo de Triana at about two leagues from
+the ship. But the thirty crowns a year were afterward granted to the
+admiral, who had seen the light in the midst of darkness, a type of the
+spiritual light which he was the happy means of spreading in these dark
+regions of error. Being now so near land, all the ships lay to, everyone
+thinking it long till daylight, that they might enjoy the sight they had
+so long and anxiously desired.
+
+When daylight appeared, the newly discovered land was perceived to
+consist of a flat island fifteen leagues in length, without any hills,
+all covered with trees, and having a great lake in the middle. The island
+was inhabited by great abundance of people, who ran down to the shore
+filled with wonder and admiration at the sight of the ships, which they
+conceived to be some unknown animals. The Christians were not less
+curious to know what kind of people they had fallen in with, and the
+curiosity on both sides was soon satisfied, as the ships soon came to
+anchor. The admiral went on shore with his boat well armed, and having
+the royal standard of Castile and Leon displayed, accompanied by the
+commanders of the other two vessels, each in his own boat, carrying the
+particular colors which had been allotted for the enterprise, which were
+white with a green cross and the letter F on one side, and on the other
+the names of Ferdinand and Isabella crowned.
+
+The whole company kneeled on the shore and kissed the ground for joy,
+returning God thanks for the great mercy they had experienced during
+their long voyage through seas hitherto unpassed, and their now happy
+discovery of an unknown land.
+
+The admiral then stood up, and took formal possession in the usual words
+for their Catholic majesties of this island, to which he gave the name
+of San Salvador. All the Christians present admitted Columbus to the
+authority and dignity of admiral and viceroy, pursuant to the commission
+which he had received to that effect, and all made oath to obey him as
+the legitimate representative of their Catholic majesties, with such
+expressions of joy and acknowledgment as became their mighty success; and
+they all implored his forgiveness of the many affronts he had received
+from them through their fears and want of confidence. Numbers of the
+Indians or natives of the island were present at these ceremonies; and,
+perceiving them to be peaceable, quiet, and simple people, the admiral
+distributed several presents among them. To some he gave red caps, and
+to others strings of glass beads, which they hung about their necks, and
+various other things of small value, which they valued as if they had
+been jewels of high price.
+
+After the ceremonies, the admiral went off in his boat, and the Indians
+followed him even to the ships, some by swimming and others in their
+canoes, carrying parrots, clews of spun cotton yarn, javelins, and other
+such trifling articles, to barter for glass beads, bells, and other
+things of small value. Like people in the original simplicity of nature,
+they were all naked, and even a woman who was among them was entirely
+destitute of clothing. Most of them were young, seemingly not above
+thirty years of age, of a good stature, with very thick black lank hair,
+mostly cut short above their ears, though some had it down to their
+shoulders, tied up with a string about their head like women's tresses.
+Their countenances were mild and agreeable and their features good; but
+their foreheads were too high, which gave them rather a wild appearance.
+They were of a middle stature, plump, and well shaped, but of an olive
+complexion, like the inhabitants of the Canaries, or sunburnt peasants.
+Some were painted with black, others with white, and others again with
+red; in some the whole body was painted, in others only the face, and
+some only the nose and eyes. They had no weapons like those of Europe,
+neither had they any knowledge of such; for when our people showed them a
+naked sword, they ignorantly grasped it by the edge. Neither had they any
+knowledge of iron, as their javelins were merely constructed of wood,
+having their points hardened in the fire, and armed with a piece of
+fish-bone. Some of them had scars of wounds on different parts, and,
+being asked by signs how these had been got, they answered by signs that
+people from other islands came to take them away, and that they had been
+wounded in their own defence. They seemed ingenious and of a voluble
+tongue, as they readily repeated such words as they once heard. There was
+no kind of animals among them excepting parrots, which they carried to
+barter with the Christians among the articles already mentioned, and in
+this trade they continued on board the ships till night, when they all
+returned to the shore.
+
+In the morning of the next day, being October 13th, many of the natives
+returned on board the ships in their boats or canoes, which were all of
+one piece hollowed like a tray from the trunk of a tree; some of these
+were so large as to contain forty or forty-five men, while others were so
+small as only to hold one person, with many intermediate sizes between
+these extremes. These they worked along with paddles formed like a
+baker's peel or the implement which is used in dressing hemp. These oars
+or paddles were not fixed by pins to the sides of the canoes like ours,
+but were dipped into the water and pulled backward as if digging. Their
+canoes are so light and artfully constructed that if overset they soon
+turn them right again by swimming; and they empty out the water by
+throwing them from side to side like a weaver's shuttle, and when half
+emptied they ladle out the rest with dried calabashes cut in two, which
+they carry for that purpose.
+
+This second day the natives, as said before, brought various articles to
+barter for such small things as they could procure in exchange. Jewels or
+metals of any kind were not seen among them, except some small plates of
+gold which hung from their nostrils; and on being questioned from whence
+they procured the gold, they answered by signs that they had it from
+the south, where there was a king who possessed abundance of pieces and
+vessels of gold; and they made our people to understand that there were
+many other islands and large countries to the south and southwest. They
+were very covetous to get possession of anything which belonged to the
+Christians, and being themselves very poor, with nothing of value to give
+in exchange, as soon as they got on board, if they could lay hold of
+anything which struck their fancy, though it were only a piece of a
+broken glazed earthen dish or porringer, they leaped with it into the sea
+and swam on shore with their prize. If they brought anything on board
+they would barter it for anything whatever belonging to our people, even
+for a piece of broken glass; insomuch that some gave sixteen large clews
+of well-spun cotton yarn, weighing twenty-five pounds, for three small
+pieces of Portuguese brass coin not worth a farthing. Their liberality in
+dealing did not proceed from their putting any great value on the things
+themselves which they received from our people in return, but because
+they valued them as belonging to the Christians, whom they believed
+certainly to have come down from heaven, and they therefore earnestly
+desired to have something from them as a memorial. In this manner all
+this day was spent, and the islanders, as before, went all on shore at
+night.
+
+[Footnote 1: In the other editions this part of the sentence reads,
+"concerning the islands of India beyond the Ganges, recently
+discovered."]
+
+[Footnote 2: The name of Isabella (Helisabet) is also omitted in the
+title of one of Plannck's editions; it is found in the two other Roman
+editions.]
+
+[Footnote 3: The correct form is Gabriel Sanchez.]
+
+[Footnote 4: April 29th.]
+
+[Footnote 5: A mistake of the Latin translator. Columbus sailed from
+Palos, August 3, 1492; on September 8th he left the Canaries, and on
+October 11th, or thirty-three days later, he reached the Bahamas.]
+
+[Footnote 6: In Spanish, San Salvador, one of the Bahama Islands. It
+has been variously identified with Grand Turk, Cat, Watling, Mariguana,
+Samana, and Acklin Islands. Watling's Island seems to have much in its
+favor.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Perhaps Crooked Island, or, according to others, North
+Caico.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Identified by some with Long Island, by others with Little
+Inagua.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Identified variously with Fortune Island and Great Inagua.]
+
+[Footnote 10: The island of Cuba.]
+
+[Footnote 11: China.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Hispaniola, or Hayti.]
+
+[Footnote:13 From Catalonia by the sea-coast to Fontarabia in Biscay.]
+
+[Footnote 14: Identified with Dominica.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Supposed to be Martinique.]
+
+[Footnote 16: March 14, 1493.]
+
+[Footnote 17: The name given by Marco Polo to an island or islands
+supposed to be the modern Japan, for outlying portions of which Columbus
+mistook the West Indies.]
+
+
+
+CONSPIRACY, REBELLION, AND EXECUTION OF PERKIN WARBECK
+
+A.D. 1492
+
+FRANCIS BACON
+
+
+Soon after his accession to the throne of England, Henry VII married
+Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV, uniting the rival houses of
+York and Lancaster. But notwithstanding this adjustment of the rival
+interests, the rule of Henry, the Lancastrian, failed to satisfy the
+Yorkists; and this party, with the aid of Margaret of Burgundy--sister of
+Edward IV--and James IV of Scotland, set up two impostors, one after the
+other, to claim the English throne. At the same time there was living a
+real heir of the house of York--young Edward, Earl of Warwick, son of the
+Duke of Clarence, brother to Edward IV. Henry had taken the precaution to
+keep this genuine Yorkist in the Tower.
+
+In 1487 a spurious earl of Warwick appeared in Ireland. Receiving
+powerful support in that country, he was actually crowned in the
+Cathedral of Dublin. In order to defeat this imposture Henry exhibited
+the real earl to the people of London. He also vanquished the army of
+the pretender at Stoke, in June, 1487. This false earl was found to be
+Lambert Simnel, son of an Oxford joiner. He became a scullion in King
+Henry's kitchen.
+
+The second of these impostors, known as Perkin Warbeck, contrived to make
+himself a figure of some importance in the history of England. Supposedly
+born in Flanders, he first appears upon the historic stage in 1492, when
+he landed at Cork. Going soon after to France, he was recognized by the
+court as Duke of York, according to his claim. How he was coached for his
+part, and how the drama in which he played it was acted out, are told by
+Bacon in what is perhaps the best specimen we have of that great author's
+style in historical composition.
+
+Warbeck was executed in 1499, and, although Bacon gives us no dates,
+the whole history, covering about seven years, may be said to form
+a practically continuous series of incidents. The character of this
+adventurer has been made quite prominent in literature, having been the
+subject of Ford's tragedy, _The Chronicle History of Perkin Warbeck_
+(1634), of a play by Charles Macklin, _King Henry VII, or the Popish
+Impostor_ (1716), and of Joseph Elderton's drama, _The Pretender_.
+
+This youth of whom we are now to speak was such a mercurial as the like
+hath seldom been known, and could make his own part if at any time he
+chanced to be out. Wherefore, this being one of the strangest examples of
+a personation that ever was in elder or later times, it deserveth to be
+discovered and related at the full--although the King's manner of showing
+things by pieces and by dark lights hath so muffled it that it hath been
+left almost as a mystery to this day.
+
+The Lady Margaret,[1] whom the King's friends called Juno, because she
+was to him as Juno was to Aeneas, stirring both heaven and hell to do him
+mischief, for a foundation of her particular practices against him, did
+continually, by all means possible, nourish, maintain, and divulge the
+flying opinion that Richard, Duke of York, second son to Edward IV, was
+not murdered in the Tower, as was given out, but saved alive. For that
+those who were employed in that barbarous act, having destroyed the elder
+brother, were stricken with remorse and compassion toward the younger,
+and set him privily at liberty to seek his fortune.
+
+There was a townsman of Tournai, that had borne office in that town,
+whose name was John Osbeck, a convert Jew, married to Catherine de Faro,
+whose business drew him to live for a time with his wife at London, in
+King Edward's days. During which time he had a son[2] by her, and being
+known in the court, the King, either out of a religious nobleness because
+he was a convert, or upon some private acquaintance, did him the honor to
+be godfather to his child, and named him Peter. But afterward, proving a
+dainty and effeminate youth, he was commonly called by the diminutive
+of his name, Peterkin or Perkin. For as for the name of Warbeck, it was
+given him when they did but guess at it, before examinations had been
+taken. But yet he had been so much talked of by that name, as it stuck by
+him after his true name of Osbeck was known.
+
+While he was a young child, his parents returned with him to Tournai.
+There he was placed in the house of a kinsman of his called John
+Stenbeck, at Antwerp, and so roved up and down between Antwerp and
+Tournai, and other towns of Flanders, for a good time, living much in
+English company and having the English tongue perfect. In which time,
+being grown a comely youth, he was brought by some of the espials of the
+Lady Margaret into her presence. Who, viewing him well, and seeing that
+he had a face and personage that would bear a noble fortune, and finding
+him otherwise of a fine spirit and winning behavior, thought she had now
+found a curious piece of marble to carve out an image of a Duke of York.
+She kept him by her a great while, but with extreme secrecy.
+
+The while she instructed him by many cabinet conferences. First, in
+princely behavior and gesture, teaching him how he should keep state, and
+yet with a modest sense of his misfortunes. Then she informed him of all
+the circumstances and particulars that concerned the person of Richard,
+Duke of York, which he was to act, describing unto him the personages,
+lineaments, and features of the King and Queen, his pretended parents;
+and of his brother and sisters, and divers others, that were nearest him
+in his childhood; together with all passages, some secret, some common,
+that were fit for a child's memory, until the death of King Edward. Then
+she added the particulars of the time from the King's death, until he and
+his brother were committed to the Tower, as well during the time he was
+abroad as while he was in sanctuary. As for the times while he was in the
+Tower, and the manner of his brother's death, and his own escape, she
+knew they were things that a very few could control. And therefore she
+taught him only to tell a smooth and likely tale of those matters,
+warning him not to vary from it.
+
+It was agreed likewise between them what account he should give of his
+peregrination abroad, intermixing many things which were true, and such
+as they knew others could testify, for the credit of the rest, but still
+making them to hang together with the part he was to play. She taught him
+likewise how to avoid sundry captious and tempting questions which were
+like to be asked of him. But, this she found him so nimble and shifting
+as she trusted much to his own wit and readiness, and therefore labored
+the less in it.
+
+Lastly, she raised his thoughts with some present rewards and further
+promises, setting before him chiefly the glory and fortune of a crown
+if things went well, and a sure refuge to her court if the worst should
+fall. After such time as she thought he was perfect in his lesson, she
+began to cast with herself from what coast this blazing star should first
+appear, and at what time it must be upon the horizon of Ireland, for
+there had the like meteor strong influence before. The time of the
+apparition to be when the King should be engaged in a war with France.
+But well she knew that whatsoever should come from her would be held
+suspected. And therefore, if he should go out of Flanders immediately
+into Ireland, she might be thought to have some hand in it. And besides
+the time was not yet ripe, for that the two kings were then upon terms of
+peace. Therefore she wheeled about; and to put all suspicion afar off,
+and loath to keep him any longer by her, for that she knew secrets
+are not long-lived, she sent him unknown into Portugal, with the Lady
+Brampton, an English lady, that embarked for Portugal at that time, with
+some _privado_ of her own, to have an eye upon him, and there he was to
+remain, and to expect her further directions.
+
+In the mean time she omitted not to prepare things for his better welcome
+and accepting, not only in the kingdom of Ireland, but in the court of
+France. He continued in Portugal about a year, and by that time the King
+of England called his parliament and declared open war against France.
+Now did the sign reign, and the constellation was come, under which
+Perkin should appear. And therefore he was straight sent unto by the
+Duchess to go for Ireland, according to the first designment. In Ireland
+he did arrive, at the town of Cork. When he was thither come, his own
+tale was, when he made his confession afterward, that the Irishmen,
+finding him in some good clothes, came flocking about him, and bare him
+down that he was the Duke of Clarence that had been there before. And
+after, that he was the base son of Richard III. And lastly, that he was
+Richard, Duke of York, second son to Edward IV. But that he, for his
+part, renounced all these things, and offered to swear upon the holy
+evangelists that he was no such man; till at last they forced it upon
+him, and bade him fear nothing, and so forth. But the truth is that
+immediately upon his coming into Ireland he took upon him the said person
+of the Duke of York, and drew unto him complices and partakers by all the
+means he could devise. Insomuch as he wrote his letters unto the Earls
+of Desmond and Kildare to come in to his aid, and be of his party; the
+originals of which letters are yet extant.
+
+Somewhat before this time, the Duchess had also gained unto her a near
+servant of King Henry's own, one Stephen Frion, his secretary for the
+French tongue; an active man, but turbulent and discontented. This Frion
+had fled over to Charles, the French King, and put himself into his
+service, at such time as he began to be in open enmity with the King. Now
+King Charles, when he understood of the person and attempts of Perkin,
+ready of himself to embrace all advantages against the King of England,
+instigated by Frion, and formerly prepared by the Lady Margaret,
+forthwith despatched one Lucas and this Frion, in the nature of
+ambassadors to Perkin, to advertise him of the King's good inclination
+to him, and that he was resolved to aid him to recover his right against
+King Henry, a usurper of England and an enemy of France; and wished him
+to come over unto him at Paris.
+
+Perkin thought himself in heaven now that he was invited by so great a
+king in so honorable a manner. And imparting unto his friends in Ireland,
+for their encouragement, how fortune called him, and what great hopes
+he had, sailed presently into France. When he was come to the court of
+France, the King received him with great honor; saluted and styled him by
+the name of the Duke of York; lodged him and accommodated him in great
+state; and, the better to give him the representation and the countenance
+of a prince, assigned him a guard for his person, whereof Lord Congresall
+was captain. The courtiers likewise, though it be ill mocking with the
+French, applied themselves to their King's bent, seeing there was reason
+of state for it. At the same time there repaired unto Perkin divers
+Englishmen of quality--Sir George Neville, Sir John Taylor, and about one
+hundred more--and among the rest this Stephen Frion, of whom we spake,
+who followed his fortune both then and for a long time after, and was,
+indeed, his principal counsellor and instrument in all his proceedings.
+
+But all this on the French King's part was but a trick, the better to bow
+King Henry to peace. And therefore, upon the first grain of incense that
+was sacrificed upon the altar of peace at Boulogne, Perkin was smoked
+away. Yet would not the French King deliver him up to King Henry, as
+he was labored to do, for his honor's sake, but warned him away and
+dismissed him. And Perkin, on his part, was ready to be gone, doubting he
+might be caught up underhand. He therefore took his way into Flanders,
+unto the Duchess of Burgundy, pretending that, having been variously
+tossed by fortune, he directed his course thither as to a safe harbor,
+noways taking knowledge that he had ever been there before, but as if
+that had been his first address. The Duchess, on the other part, made it
+as new strange to see him, pretending, at the first, that she was taught
+and made wise, by the example of Lambert Simnel, how she did admit of
+any counterfeit stuff, though, even in that, she said she was not fully
+satisfied.
+
+She pretended at the first, and that was ever in the presence of others,
+to pose him and sift him, thereby to try whether he were indeed the very
+Duke of York or no. But, seeming to receive full satisfaction by his
+answers, she then feigned herself to be transported with a kind of
+astonishment, mixed of joy and wonder, at his miraculous deliverance,
+receiving him as if he were risen from death to life, and inferring that
+God, who had in such wonderful manner preserved him from death, did
+likewise reserve him for some great and prosperous fortune. As for his
+dismission out of France, they interpreted it, not as if he were detected
+or neglected for a counterfeit deceiver, but, contrariwise, that it did
+show manifestly unto the world that he was some great matter, for that it
+was his abandoning that, in effect, made the peace, being no more but the
+sacrificing of a poor, distressed prince unto the utility and ambition of
+two mighty monarchs.
+
+Neither was Perkin, for his part, wanting to himself, either in gracious
+or princely behavior, or in ready or apposite answers, or in contenting
+and caressing those that did apply themselves unto him, or in petty scorn
+and disdain to those that seemed to doubt of him; but in all things did
+notably acquit himself, insomuch as it was generally believed, as well
+among great persons as among the vulgar, that he was indeed Duke Richard.
+Nay, himself, with long and continued counterfeiting, and with oft
+telling a lie, was turned by habit almost into the thing he seemed to be,
+and from a liar to a believer. The Duchess, therefore, as in a case out
+of doubt, did him all princely honor, calling him always by the name of
+her nephew, and giving the delicate title of the "White Rose of England,"
+and appointed him a guard of thirty persons, halberdiers, clad in a
+party-colored livery of murrey and blue, to attend his person. Her court
+likewise, and generally the Dutch and strangers, in their usage toward
+him, expressed no less respect.
+
+The news hereof came blazing and thundering over into England that the
+Duke of York was sure alive. As for the name of Perkin Warbeck, it was
+not at that time come to light, but all the news ran upon the Duke of
+York; that he had been entertained in Ireland, bought and sold in France,
+and was now plainly avowed and in great honor in Flanders. These fames
+took hold of divers; in some upon discontent, in some upon ambition, in
+some upon levity and desire of change, and in some few upon conscience
+and belief, but in most upon simplicity, and in divers out of dependence
+upon some of the better sort, who did in secret favor and nourish these
+bruits. And it was not long ere these rumors of novelty had begotten
+others of scandal and murmur against the King and his government, taxing
+him for a great taxer of his people and discountenancer of his nobility.
+The loss of Britain and the peace with France were not forgotten. But
+chiefly they fell upon the wrong that he did his Queen, in that he did
+not reign in her right. Wherefore they said that God had now brought to
+light a masculine branch of the house of York, that would not be at his
+courtesy, howsoever he did depress his poor lady.
+
+And yet, as it fareth with things which are current with the multitude
+and which they affect, these fames grew so general as the authors were
+lost in the generality of the speakers; they being like running weeds
+that have no certain root, or like footings up and down, impossible to be
+traced. But after a while these ill-humors drew to a head, and settled
+secretly in some eminent persons, which were Sir William Stanley, lord
+chamberlain of the King's household, the Lord Fitzwater, Sir Simon
+Montfort, and Sir Thomas Thwaites. These entered into a secret conspiracy
+to favor Duke Richard's title. Nevertheless, none engaged their fortunes
+in this business openly but two, Sir Robert Clifford and Master William
+Barley, who sailed over into Flanders, sent, indeed, from the party of
+the conspirators here, to understand the truth of those things
+that passed there, and not without some help of moneys from hence;
+provisionally to be delivered, if they found and were satisfied that
+there was truth in these pretences. The person of Sir Robert Clifford,
+being a gentleman of fame and family, was extremely welcome to the Lady
+Margaret, who, after she had conference with him, brought him to the
+sight of Perkin, with whom he had often speech and discourse. So that in
+the end, won either by the Duchess to affect or by Perkin to believe, he
+wrote back into England that he knew the person of Richard, Duke of York,
+as well as he knew his own, and that this young man was undoubtedly he.
+By this means all things grew prepared to revolt and sedition here,
+and the conspiracy came to have a correspondence between Flanders and
+England.
+
+The King, on his part, was not asleep, but to arm or levy forces yet,
+he thought, would but show fear, and do this idol too much worship.
+Nevertheless, the ports he did shut up, or at least kept a watch on them,
+that none should pass to or fro that was suspected; but for the rest, he
+chose to work by counter-mines. His purposes were two--the one to lay
+open the abuse, the other to break the knot of the conspirators. To
+detect the abuse there were but two ways--the first, to make it manifest
+to the world that the Duke of York was indeed murdered; the other to
+prove that, were he dead or alive, yet Perkin was a counterfeit. For the
+first, thus it stood. There were but four persons that could speak upon
+knowledge to the murder of the Duke of York--Sir James Tyrell, the
+employed man from King Richard; John Dighton and Miles Forest, his
+servants, the two butchers or tormentors; and the priest of the Tower,
+that buried them. Of which four, Miles Forest and the priest were dead,
+and there remained alive only Sir James Tyrell and John Dighton.
+
+These two the King caused to be committed to the Tower. and examined
+touching the manner of the death of the two innocent princes. They agreed
+both in a tale, as the King gave out, to this effect: That King Richard,
+having directed his warrant for the putting of them to death to
+Brackenbury, the lieutenant of the Tower, was by him refused. Whereupon
+the King directed his warrant to Sir James Tyrell, to receive the key of
+the Tower from the lieutenant, for the space of a night, for the King's
+special service. That Sir James Tyrell accordingly repaired to the Tower
+by night, attended by his two servants aforenamed, whom he had chosen for
+that purpose. That himself stood at the stair-foot, and sent these two
+villains to execute the murder. That they smothered them in their beds,
+and, that done, called up their master to see their naked dead bodies,
+which they had laid forth. That they were buried under the stairs, and
+some stones cast upon them. That when the report was made to King Richard
+that his will was done, he gave Sir James Tyrell great thanks, but took
+exception to the place of their burial, being too base for them that were
+king's children. Whereupon another night, by the King's warrant renewed,
+their bodies were removed by the priest of the Tower, and buried by him
+in some place which, by means of the priest's death soon after, could not
+be known.
+
+Thus much was then delivered abroad to be the effect of those
+examinations; but the King, nevertheless, made no use of them in any
+of his declarations, whereby, as it seems, those examinations left the
+business somewhat perplexed. And, as for Sir James Tyrell, he was soon
+after beheaded in the Tower-yard for other matters of treason. But John
+Dighton, who, it seemeth, spake best for the King, was forthwith set
+at liberty, and was the principal means of divulging this tradition.
+Therefore, this kind of proof being left so naked, the King used the more
+diligence in the latter for the tracing of Perkin. To this purpose he
+sent abroad into several parts, and especially into Flanders, divers
+secret and nimble scouts and spies, some feigning themselves to fly over
+unto Perkin and to adhere to him, and some, under other pretence, to
+learn, search, and discover all the circumstances and particulars of
+Perkin's parents, birth, person, travels up and down, and in brief to
+have a journal, as it were, of his life and doings. Others he employed,
+in a more special nature and trust, to be his pioneers in the main
+counter-mine.
+
+The King of Scotland--James IV--having espoused the cause of Warbeck, and
+attended him upon an invasion of England, though he would not formally
+retract his judgment of Perkin, wherein he had engaged himself so far,
+yet in his private opinion, upon often speech with the Englishmen, and
+diverse other advertisements, began to suspect him for a counterfeit.
+Wherefore in a noble fashion he called him unto him, and recounted the
+benefits and favors that he had done him in making him his ally, and in
+provoking a mighty and opulent king, by an offensive war, in his quarrel,
+for the space of two years together; nay, more, that he had refused an
+honorable peace, whereof he had a fair offer, if he would have delivered
+him; and that, to keep his promise with him, he had deeply offended both
+his nobles and people, whom he might not hold in any long discontent; and
+therefore required him to think of his own fortunes, and to choose out
+some fitter place for his exile; telling him withal that he could not say
+but that the English had forsaken him before the Scottish, for that,
+upon two several trials, none had declared themselves on his side;
+but nevertheless he would make good what he said to him at his first
+receiving, which was that he should not repent him for putting himself
+into his hands; for that he would not cast him off, but help him with
+shipping and means to transport him where he should desire. Perkin, not
+descending at all from his stage-like greatness, answered the King in
+few words, that he saw his time was not yet come; but, whatsoever his
+fortunes were, he should both think and speak honor of the King. Taking
+his leave, he would not think on Flanders, doubting it was but hollow
+ground for him since the treaty of the Archduke, concluded the year
+before; but took his lady, and such followers as would not leave him, and
+sailed over into Ireland.
+
+When Perkin heard of the late Cornwall insurrection he began to take
+heart again, and advised upon it with his council, which were principally
+three--Herne, a mercer, that fled for debt; Skelton, a tailor; and
+Astley, a scrivener; for Secretary Frion was gone. These told him that he
+was mightily overseen, both when he went into Kent and when he went into
+Scotland--the one being a place so near London and under the King's
+nose; and the other a nation so distasted with the people of England,
+that if they had loved him ever so well, yet they could never have taken
+his part in that company. But if he had been so happy as to have been in
+Cornwall at the first, when the people began to take arms there, he had
+been crowned at Westminster before this time; for these kings, as he
+had now experience, would sell poor princes for shoes. But he must rely
+wholly upon people; and therefore advised him to sail over with all
+possible speed into Cornwall; which accordingly he did, having in his
+company four small barks, with some sixscore or sevenscore fighting men.
+
+He arrived in September at Whitsand Bay, and forthwith came to Bodmin,
+the blacksmith's town, where they assembled unto him to the number
+of three thousand men of the rude people. There he set forth a new
+proclamation stroking the people with fair promises, and humoring them
+with invectives against the King and his government. And as it fareth
+with smoke, that never loseth itself till it be at the highest, he did
+now before his end raise his style, entitling himself no more Richard,
+Duke of York, but Richard IV, King of England. His council advised him
+by all means to make himself master of some good walled town; as well to
+make his men find the sweetness of rich spoils, and to allure to him all
+loose and lost people, by like hopes of booty as to be a sure retreat to
+his forces in case they should have any ill day or unlucky chance of the
+field. Wherefore they took heart to them and went on, and besieged the
+city of Exeter, the principal town for strength and wealth in those
+parts.
+
+Perkin, hearing the thunder of arms, and preparations against him from so
+many parts, raised his siege, and marched to Taunton, beginning already
+to squint one eye upon the crown and another upon the sanctuary; though
+the Cornish men were become, like metal often fired and quenched,
+churlish, and that would sooner break than bow; swearing and vowing not
+to leave him till the uttermost drop of their blood were spilt. He was at
+his rising from Exeter between six and seven thousand strong, many having
+come unto him after he was set before Exeter, upon fame of so great an
+enterprise, and to partake of the spoil, though upon the raising of his
+siege some did slip away.
+
+When he was come near Taunton, he dissembled all fear, and seemed all the
+day to use diligence in preparing all things ready to fight. But about
+midnight he fled with threescore horses to Bewdley[3], in the New Forest,
+where he and divers of his company registered themselves sanctuary-men,
+leaving his Cornish men to the four winds, but yet thereby easing them
+of their vow, and using his wonted compassion not to be by when his
+subjects' blood should be spilt. The King, as soon as he heard of
+Perkin's flight, sent presently five hundred horse to pursue and
+apprehend him before he should get either to the sea or to that same
+little island called a sanctuary. But they came too late for the latter
+of these. Therefore all they could do was to beset the sanctuary, and to
+maintain a strong watch about it, till the King's pleasure were further
+known.
+
+Perkin, having at length given himself up, was brought into the King's
+court, but not to the King's presence; though the King, to satisfy his
+curiosity, saw him sometimes out of a window or in passage. He was in
+show at liberty, but guarded with all care and watch that were possible,
+and willed to follow the King to London. But from his first appearance
+upon the stage in his new person of a sycophant or juggler, instead of
+his former person of a prince, all men may think how he was exposed to
+the derision not only of the courtiers, but also of the common people,
+who flocked about him as he went along, that one might know afar off
+where the owl was by the flight of birds; some mocking, some wondering,
+some cursing, some prying and picking matter out of his countenance and
+gesture to talk of; so that the false honor and respects, which he had so
+long enjoyed, were plentifully repaid in scorn and contempt.
+
+As soon as he was come to London the King gave also the city the solace
+of this May-game; for he was conveyed leisurely on horseback, but not in
+any ignominious fashion, through Cheapside and Cornhill, to the Tower,
+and from thence back again unto Westminster, with the churme of a
+thousand taunts and reproaches. But to amend the show, there followed a
+little distance of Perkin an inward counsellor of his, one that had been
+sergeant farrier to the King. This fellow, when Perkin took sanctuary,
+chose rather to take a holy habit than a holy place, and clad himself
+like a hermit, and in that weed wandered about the country till he was
+discovered and taken. But this man was bound hand and foot upon the
+horse, and came not back with Perkin, but was left at the Tower, and
+within few days after executed.
+
+Soon after, now that Perkin could tell better what himself was, he was
+diligently examined; and after his confession taken, an extract was made
+of such parts of it as were thought fit to be divulged, which was printed
+and dispersed abroad; wherein the King did himself no right; for as there
+was a labored tale of particulars of Perkin's father and mother and
+grandsire and grandmother and uncles and cousins, by names and surnames,
+and from what places he travelled up and down; so there was little or
+nothing to purpose of anything concerning his designs or any practices
+that had been held with him; nor the Duchess of Burgundy herself, that
+all the world did take knowledge of, as the person that had put life and
+being into the whole business, so much as named or pointed at. So that
+men, missing of that they looked for, looked about for they knew not
+what, and were in more doubt than before; but the King chose rather not
+to satisfy than to kindle coals.
+
+It was not long but Perkin, who was made of quicksilver, which is hard to
+hold or imprison, began to stir. For, deceiving his keepers, he took him
+to his heels, and made speed to the sea-coasts. But presently all corners
+were laid for him, and such diligent pursuit and search made as he was
+fain to turn back and get him to the house of Bethlehem, called the
+priory of Sheen (which had the privilege of sanctuary), and put himself
+into the hands of the prior of that monastery. The prior was thought a
+holy man and much reverenced in those days. He came to the King, and
+besought the King for Perkin's life only, leaving him otherwise to the
+King's discretion. Many about the King were again more hot than ever to
+have the King take him forth and hang him. But the King, that had a high
+stomach and could not hate any that he despised, bid, "Take him forth and
+set the knave in the stocks"; and so, promising the prior his life, he
+caused him to be brought forth. And within two or three days after, upon
+a scaffold set up in the palace court at Westminster, he was fettered and
+set in the stocks for the whole day. And the next day after the like was
+done by him at the cross in Cheapside, and in both places he read his
+confession, of which we made mention before; and was from Cheapside
+conveyed and laid up in the Tower.
+
+But it was ordained that this winding-ivy of a Plantagenet should kill
+the true tree itself. For Perkin, after he had been a while in the Tower,
+began to insinuate himself into the favor and kindness of his keepers,
+servants of the lieutenant of the Tower, Sir John Digby, being four in
+number--Strangeways, Blewet, Astwood, and Long Roger. These varlets, with
+mountains of promises, he sought to corrupt, to obtain his escape; but
+knowing well that his own fortunes were made so contemptible as he could
+feed no man's hopes, and by hopes he must work, for rewards he had none,
+he had contrived with himself a vast and tragical plot; which was, to
+draw into his company Edward Plantagenet, Earl of Warwick, then prisoner
+in the Tower, whom the weary life of a long imprisonment, and the often
+and renewing fears of being put to death, had softened to take any
+impression of counsel for his liberty.
+
+This young Prince he thought these servants would look upon, though not
+upon himself; and therefore, after that, by some message by one or two of
+them, he had tasted of the Earl's consent, it was agreed that these four
+should murder their master, the lieutenant, secretly, in the night, and
+make their best of such money and portable goods of his as they should
+find ready at hand, and get the keys of the Tower, and presently let
+forth Perkin and the Earl. But this conspiracy was revealed in time,
+before it could be executed. And in this again the opinion of the King's
+great wisdom did surcharge him with a sinister fame, that Perkin was but
+his bait to entrap the Earl of Warwick. And in the very instant while
+this conspiracy was in working, as if that also had been the King's
+industry, it was fated that there should break forth a counterfeit Earl
+of Warwick, a cordwainer's son, whose name was Ralph Wilford; a young man
+taught and set on by an Augustin friar, called Patrick. They both from
+the parts from Suffolk came forward into Kent, where they did not only
+privily and underhand give out that this Wilford was the true Earl of
+Warwick, but also the friar, finding some light credence in the people,
+took the boldness in the pulpit to declare as much, and to incite
+the people to come in to his aid. Whereupon they were both presently
+apprehended, and the young fellow executed, and the friar condemned to
+perpetual imprisonment.
+
+This also happening so opportunely, to represent the danger to the King's
+estate from the Earl of Warwick, and thereby to color the King's severity
+that followed; together with the madness of the friar so vainly and
+desperately to divulge a treason before it had gotten any manner of
+strength; and the saving of the friar's life, which nevertheless was,
+indeed, but the privilege of his order; and the pity in the common
+people, which, if it run in a strong stream, doth ever cast up scandal
+and envy, made it generally rather talked than believed that all was
+but the King's device. But howsoever it were, hereupon Perkin, that had
+offended against grace now the third time, was at last proceeded with,
+and by commissioners of oyer and determiner, arraigned at Westminster
+upon divers treasons committed and perpetrated after his coming on
+land within this kingdom, for so the judges advised, for that he was a
+foreigner, and condemned, and a few days after executed at Tyburn; where
+he did again openly read his confession, and take it upon his death to be
+true. This was the end of this little cockatrice of a king that was able
+to destroy those that did not espy him first. It was one of the longest
+plays of that kind that had been in memory, and might perhaps have had
+another end if he had not met with a king wise, stout, and fortunate.
+
+[Footnote 1: Sister to Edward IV, and widow of Charles _le Téméraire_,
+Duke of Burgundy.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Bernard André, the poet laureate of Henry VII, states in his
+manuscript life of his patron, that Perkin, when a boy, was "_servant_ in
+England to a Jew named Edward, who was baptized, and adopted as godson by
+Edward IV, and was on terms of intimacy with the King and his family."
+Speed, mistranslating André's words, makes Perkin the _son_ of the Jew,
+instead of the servant; and Bacon amplifies the error, and transforms
+John Osbeck into the convert Jew, who, having a handsome wife, it might
+be surmised why the licentious King "should become gossip in so mean a
+house." Hume adds: "People thence accounted for that resemblance which
+was afterward remarked between young Perkin and that monarch." The
+surmise of Bacon, grounded upon the error of Speed, is clinched into the
+positive assertion of Hume as to a popular belief for which there is not
+the slightest ground.--_Charles Knight_.]
+
+[Footnote:3 The Abbey of Beaulieu, near Southampton.]
+
+
+
+SAVONAROLA'S REFORMS AND DEATH
+
+THE FRENCH INVADE ITALY
+
+A.D. 1494
+
+PASQUALE VILLARI JEAN C. L. SISMONDI
+
+
+Girolamo Savonarola, the great moral, political, and religious reformer
+of Italy, was born in Ferrara, September 21, 1452. He was of noble
+family, studied medicine, but renounced his intended profession and
+became a Dominican monk. In 1491 he became prior of St. Mark's, Florence.
+When he began to preach in the Church of St. Mark on the sins of the
+time, he applied to Italy the prophetic language of the Apocalypse. He
+predicted the restoration of the Church in Italy through severe divine
+viistations. His power in the pulpit was overwhelming, and the fame
+of his preaching was spread abroad, many regarding him as an inspired
+prophet. In his denunciations he spared neither wealth nor position,
+laity nor clergy, and he exhorted the people to order their lives by the
+simple rules of Scripture.
+
+Savonarola refused to pay the customary homage of his office to the ruler
+of Florence, who at this time was Lorenzo de' Medici. His own office,
+the preacher declared, was received, not from Lorenzo, but from God.
+Overlooking the slight, Lorenzo tried by all means to win Savonarola's
+favor, but the reformer persisted in denouncing him. When a committee
+asked the preacher to desist from his denunciations and prophetic
+warnings, he bade them tell Lorenzo to repent of his sins, adding that,
+if he threatened banishment, the ruler himself would soon depart, while
+his censor would remain in Florence.
+
+In 1492 Lorenzo died and his son Piero succeeded him. But Savonarola now
+became the most powerful man in the republic, and he exerted himself for
+reformation of his own monastery, the Church, and the state itself. Soon
+he prophesied the downfall of the Medici, against whom he arrayed a
+considerable part of the Florentine people. He predicted that one should
+come over the Alps and wreak vengeance upon the tyrants of Italy. In 1494
+Charles VIII of France invaded Italy, warred against Naples, and advanced
+on Florence. Piero de' Medici, thoroughly frightened, surrendered his
+strongholds and agreed to pay Charles two hundred thousand ducats.
+
+Of Savonarola's career from this time, and the state of Florence up to
+the day of his death, the two authors here selected give faithful and
+vivid narratives. In _Romola_ George Eliot portrays the character and
+acts of this great reformer with a legitimate intensifying, for artistic
+purposes, of the certified facts of history.
+
+PASQUALE VILLARI
+
+The month of November, 1494, began under sinister auspices in Florence.
+The unexpected, almost incredible news of the surrender of fortresses
+which had cost the republic prolonged sieges and enormous expense, and
+formed the key of the whole Tuscan territory, instantly raised a tumult
+among the people, and the general fury was increased by letters received
+from the French camp, and the accounts of the returned envoys. For they
+told with what ease honorable terms might have been wrested from the
+King; with what a mixture of cowardice and self-assertion Piero de'
+Medici had placed the whole republic at the mercy of Charles VIII.
+
+All gave free vent to their indignation, and the people began to gather
+in the streets and squares. Some of the crowd were seen to be armed with
+old weapons which had been hidden away for more than half a century; and
+from the wool and silk manufactories strong, broad-set, dark-visaged men
+poured forth. On that day it seemed as though the Florentines had leaped
+back a century, and that, after patient endurance of sixty years'
+tyranny, they were now decided to reconquer their liberty by violence and
+bloodshed.
+
+Nevertheless, in the midst of this general excitement, men's minds were
+daunted by an equally general feeling of uncertainty and distrust. It
+was true that the Medici had left no soldiers in Florence, and that the
+people could at any moment make themselves masters of the whole city; but
+they knew not whom to trust, nor whom to choose as their leader. The old
+champions of liberty had nearly all perished during the last sixty years,
+either at the block or in persecution and exile. The few men at all
+familiar with state affairs were those who had always basked in the favor
+of the Medici; and the multitude just freed from slavery would inevitably
+recur to license if left to themselves. This, therefore, was one of
+those terrible moments when no one could foretell what excesses and what
+atrocities might not be committed. All day the people streamed aimlessly
+through the streets, like an impetuous torrent; they cast covetous
+glances on the houses of the citizens who had amassed wealth by acts
+of oppression; but they had no one to lead them; only, at the hour of
+Savonarola's sermon, they all flocked instinctively to the Duomo. Never
+had so dense a throng been gathered within its walls; all were too
+closely packed to be able to move; and when at last Savonarola mounted
+the pulpit he looked down upon a solid and motionless mass of upturned
+faces. Unusual sternness and excitement were depicted on every
+countenance, and he could see steel corselets flashing here and there in
+the cloaked crowd.
+
+The friar was now the only man having any influence over the people, who
+seemed to hang on his words and look for safety to him alone. One hasty
+word from his mouth would have sufficed to cause all the houses of the
+principal citizens to be sacked, to revive past scenes of civil warfare,
+and lead to torrents of blood. For the people had been cruelly trampled
+on, and were now panting for a cruel revenge. He therefore carefully
+abstained from all allusion to politics; his heart was overflowing with
+pity; he bent forward with outstretched arms from the pulpit, and, in
+tones which echoed throughout the building, proclaimed the law of peace
+and charity and union.
+
+"Behold the sword has come upon you, the prophecies are fulfilled, the
+scourges begun! Behold! these hosts are led by the Lord! O Florence! the
+time of singing and dancing is at an end; now is the time to shed floods
+of tears for thy sins. Thy sins, O Florence! thy sins, O Rome! thy sins,
+O Italy! They have brought these chastisements upon thee! Repent ye,
+then; give alms, offer up prayers, be united! O my people! I have long
+been as thy father; I have labored all the days of my life to teach ye
+the truths of faith and of godly living, yet have I received naught but
+tribulation, scorn, and contumely; give me at least the consolation of
+seeing ye do good deeds! My people, what desire hath ever been mine but
+to see ye saved, to see ye united? 'Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven
+is at hand!' But I have said this so many times, I have cried to ye so
+many times; I have wept for thee, O Florence! so many times, that it
+should be enough. To thee I turn, O Lord, to thee, who didst die for love
+of us and for our sins; forgive, forgive, O Lord, the Florentine people,
+that would fain be thy people."
+
+In this strain he continued to exhort his hearers to charity, faith, and
+concord with such succeeding earnestness and fervor that he was exhausted
+and almost ill for several days after. These sermons were less eloquent
+than some of the others, since he was too deeply moved for reflection or
+for studied effects; but the tenderness with which he spoke dominated and
+soothed the people, who, fresh from the tumults without, entered this
+place of peace to hear the words of the Gospel. So magical was the power
+of Savonarola's voice in those days that, in all this great stir of
+public excitement, not a single excess was committed, and the revolution
+that seemed on the point of being effected by violence on the Piazza was
+quietly and peacefully accomplished within the walls of the palace.
+And this miracle, unprecedented in Florentine history, is unanimously
+attributed by the historians of the time to Savonarola's beneficial
+ascendency over the minds of the people.
+
+On November 4th, the seigniory called a special meeting of the Council of
+Seventy, in order to decide what course to adopt. All the members were
+adherents and nominees of the Medici, but were so enraged by the cowardly
+surrender of the fortresses that they already had the air of a republican
+assembly. According to the old Florentine law and custom, no one was
+allowed to speak unless invited to do so by the seigniory, and was then
+only expected to support the measures which they had proposed. But in
+moments of public excitement neither this nor any other law was observed
+in Florence. On this day there was great agitation in the council; the
+safety of the country was at stake; the seigniory asked everyone for
+advice, and all wished to speak. Yet so much were men's minds daunted by
+the long habit of slavery that when Messer Luca Corsini broke through the
+old rule, and, rising to his feet uninvited, began to remark that things
+were going badly, the city falling into a state of anarchy, and that some
+strong remedy was required, everyone felt amazed. Some of his colleagues
+began to murmur, others to cough; and at last he began to falter and
+became so confused that he could not go on with his speech.
+
+However, the debate was soon reopened by Jacopo di Tanai de' Nerli, a
+youth of considerable spirit, who warmly seconded Corsini's words; but
+he too presently began to hesitate, and his father, rising in great
+confusion, sought to excuse him in the eyes of the assembly by saying
+that he was young and foolish.
+
+Lastly Piero di Gino Capponi rose to his feet. With his finely
+proportioned form, white hair, fiery glance, and a certain air of buoyant
+courage like that of a war-horse at sound of trumpet, he attracted
+universal attention and reduced all to silence. He was known to be a man
+of few but resolute words and of still more resolute deeds. He now spoke
+plainly and said: "Piero de' Medici is no longer fit to rule the state;
+the republic must provide for itself; _the moment has come to shake off
+this baby government_. Let ambassadors be sent to King Charles, and,
+should they meet Piero by the way, let them pass him without salutation;
+and let them explain that he has caused all the evil, and that the city
+is well disposed to the French. Let honorable men be chosen to give a
+fitting welcome to the King; but, at the same time, let all the captains
+and soldiery be summoned in from the country and hidden away in cloisters
+and other secret places. And besides the soldiery let all men be prepared
+to fight in case of need, so that when we shall have done our best to act
+honestly toward this most Christian monarch, and to satisfy with money
+the avarice of the French, we may be ready to face him and show our teeth
+if he should try us beyond our patience, either by word or deed. And
+above all," he said in conclusion, "it must not be forgotten to send
+Father Girolamo Savonarola as one of the ambassadors, for he has gained
+the entire love of the people." He might have added: because he has the
+entire respect of the King; for Charles had conceived an almost religious
+veneration for the man who had so long foretold his coming, and declared
+it to be ordained by the Lord.
+
+The new ambassadors were elected on November 5th, and consisted of
+Pandolfo Rocellai, Giovanni Cavalcanti, Piero Capponi, Tanai de' Nerli,
+and Savonarola. The latter allowed the others to precede him to Lucca,
+where they hoped to meet the King, while he followed on foot according
+to his usual custom, accompanied by two of his brethren. But, before
+starting, he again addressed the people, and preached a sermon ending
+with these words: "The Lord hath granted thy prayers, and wrought a great
+revolution by peaceful means. He alone came to rescue the city when it
+was forsaken of all. Wait and thou shalt see the disasters which will
+happen elsewhere. Therefore be steadfast in good works, O people of
+Florence; be steadfast in peace! If thou wouldst have the Lord steadfast
+in mercy, be thou merciful toward thy brethren, thy friends, and thy
+enemies; otherwise thou too shalt be smitten by the scourges prepared for
+the rest of Italy. '_Misericordiam volo_,' crieth the Lord unto ye. Woe
+to him that obeyeth not his commands!" After delivering this discourse
+he started for Pisa, where the other ambassadors, and also the King,
+speedily arrived.
+
+Meanwhile disturbances went on increasing, and the populace seemed
+already intoxicated with license. The dwellings of Giovanni Guidi, notary
+and chancellor of the Riformagioni, and of Antonio Miniati, manager of
+the Monte, were put to the sack, for both these men, having been faithful
+tools of the Medici, and their subtle counsellors in the art of burdening
+the people with insupportable taxes, were objects of general hatred. The
+house of Cardinal Giovanni de' Medici was also pillaged, together with
+the garden by St. Mark's, in which so many treasures of art had been
+collected by Lorenzo. So far, with the exception of a few dagger-thrusts,
+no blood had been shed; but many were eager for conflict, and it would
+have certainly begun had not Savonarola's partisans done their best to
+keep the peace, and had not the friar been hourly expected from Pisa,
+whither he had repaired on the 13th day of the month with a second
+embassy. The seigniory also endeavored to quell the disturbances by means
+of edicts of the severest kind.
+
+But the popular discontent was now heightened by the arrival of other
+envoys from Pisa with very unsatisfactory tidings. They had informed the
+King that Florence was friendly to him, and already preparing to welcome
+him with all the honors due to his royalty; they only asked that, being
+received as a friend, he should bear himself in that light, and deign to
+name his terms at once, so that free vent might be given to the public
+joy. But the only reply Charles condescended to give was that, "Once in
+the great town, all should be arranged." And it was evident from his
+majesty's coldness that the solicitations of Piero de' Medici, his
+earnest prayers, lavish promises of money, and submissive obedience had
+turned him not in his favor. Consequently the ambassadors had to leave
+without any definite answer, and could only say that the monarch was by
+no means well disposed to the republic.
+
+But when the foiled envoys had left Pisa, Savonarola repaired to the
+French camp, and, passing through that great host of armed men, made his
+way to the King's presence. Charles, who was surrounded by his generals,
+received him very kindly, and thereupon, without wasting much time in
+preliminaries, the friar, in sonorous and almost commanding accents,
+addressed him with a short exhortation beginning as follows: "O most
+Christian King, thou art an instrument in the hand of the Lord, who
+sendeth thee to relieve the woes of Italy, as for many years I have
+foretold; and he sendeth thee to reform the Church, which now lieth
+prostrate in the dust. But if thou be not just and merciful; if thou
+shouldst fail to respect the city of Florence, its women, its citizens,
+and its liberty; if thou shouldst forget the task the Lord hath sent thee
+to perform, then will he choose another to fulfil it; his hand shall
+smite thee, and chastise thee with terrible scourges. These things say I
+unto you in the name of the Lord." The King and his generals seemed much
+impressed by Savonarola's menacing words, and to have full belief in
+them. In fact, it was the general feeling of the French that they were
+divinely guided to fulfil the Lord's work, and Charles felt a strong
+veneration for the man who had prophesied his coming and foretold the
+success of his expedition. Consequently the friar's exhortation inspired
+him with real terror, and also decided him to behave more honorably to
+the Florentines. Thus, when Savonarola returned to the city shortly
+after the other ambassadors, he was the bearer of more satisfactory
+intelligence.
+
+As the King's intentions were still unknown, fresh relays of ambassadors
+were sent out to him. But meanwhile French officers and men passed the
+gates in little bands of fifteen or so at a time, and were seen roving
+about the town unarmed, jaunty, and gallant, bearing pieces of chalk in
+their hands to mark the houses on which their troops were to be billeted.
+While affecting an air of contemptuous indifference, they were unable to
+hide their amazement at the sight of so many splendid buildings, and at
+every turn were confounded by the novel scenes presented to their gaze.
+But what struck them most of all was the grim severity of the palaces,
+which appeared to be impregnable strongholds, and the towns still scarred
+with the marks of fierce and sanguinary faction fights. Then, on November
+15th, they witnessed a sight that sent a thrill of fear to their souls.
+Whether by accident or design, a rumor suddenly spread through the town
+that Piero de' Medici was nearing the gates. Instantly the bell of the
+seigniory clanged the alarm; the streets swarmed with a furious mob;
+armed men sprang, as by magic, from the earth, and rushed toward the
+Piazza; palace doors were barred; towers bristled with defenders;
+stockades began to be built across the streets, and on that day the
+French took their first lesson in the art of barricades. It was soon
+ascertained that the rumor was false, and the tumult subsided as quickly
+as it had risen. But the foreign soldiers were forced to acknowledge that
+their tactics and stout battalions would be almost powerless, hemmed in
+those streets, against this new and unknown mode of warfare. In fact, the
+Florentines looked on the Frenchmen with a certain pert assurance, as if
+they would say, "We shall see!" For, having now regained its liberty,
+this people thought itself master of the world, and almost believed that
+there was nothing left for it to fear.
+
+Meanwhile splendid preparations were being made in the Medici palace for
+the reception of King Charles; his officers were to be lodged in the
+houses of the principal citizens, and the streets through which he was to
+pass were covered with awnings and draped with hangings and tapestries.
+On November 17th the seigniory assembled on a platform erected by the San
+Frediano gate; and numbers of young Florentine nobles went forth to meet
+the King, who made his state entry at the twenty-first hour of the day.
+The members of the seigniory then rose and advanced toward him to pay
+their respects, while Messer Luca Corsini, being deputed to that office,
+stood forth to read a written address. But just at that moment rain began
+to fall, the horses grew restless and hustled against one another, and
+the whole ceremony was thrown into confusion.
+
+Only Messer Francesco Gaddi, one of the officers of the palace, had
+sufficient presence of mind to press his way through the throng and make
+a short speech suited to the occasion in French, after which the King
+moved forward under a rich canopy. The monarch's appearance was in
+strange contrast with that of the numerous and powerful army behind him.
+He seemed almost a monster, with his enormous head, long nose, wide,
+gaping mouth, big, white, purblind eyes, very diminutive body,
+extraordinarily thin legs, and misshapen feet. He was clad in black
+velvet and a mantle of gold brocade, bestrode a tall and very beautiful
+charger, and entered the city riding with his lance levelled--a martial
+attitude then considered as a sign of conquest. All this rendered the
+meanness of his person the more grotesquely conspicuous. By his side rode
+the haughty Cardinal of St. Piero in Vincoli, the Cardinal of St. Malo,
+and a few marshals. At their heels came the royal bodyguard of one
+hundred bowmen, composed of the finest young men in France, and then
+two hundred French knights marching on foot with splendid dresses and
+equipment. These were followed by the Swiss vanguard, resplendent and
+party-colored, bearing halberds of burnished steel, and with rich waving
+plumes on their officers' helmets. The faces of these men expressed the
+mountaineer spirit of daring, and the proud consciousness of being the
+first infantry in Europe; while the greater part of them had scornfully
+thrown aside the cuirass, preferring to fight with their chests bared.
+
+The centre consisted of Gascon infantry, small, light, agile men, whose
+numbers seemed to multiply as the army advanced. But the grandest sight
+was the cavalry, comprising the flower of the French aristocracy, and
+displaying finely wrought weapons, mantles of gorgeous brocade, velvet
+banners embroidered with gold, chains of gold, and other precious
+ornaments. The cuirassiers had a terrible aspect, for their horses seemed
+like monsters with their cropped tails and ears. The archers were men of
+extraordinary height, armed with very long wooden bows; they came
+from Scotland and other northern countries, and, in the words of a
+contemporary historian, "seemed to be beast-like men" _("parevano uomini
+bestiali")_.
+
+This well-ordered and disciplined army, composed of so many different
+nationalities, with such varied attire and strange weapons, was as new
+and amazing a sight to Florence as to almost all Italy, where no standing
+armies were as yet in existence, and mercenaries the only soldiery known.
+It is impossible to give the number of the forces accompanying the King
+to Florence, for his artillery were marching toward Rome by another
+route; he had left garrisons in many strongholds, and sent on another
+body of men by Romagna. Gaddi, who witnessed the entrance of the French,
+says that their numbers amounted to twelve thousand; Rinuccini, who was
+also present, estimated them at a lower figure; others at a higher. In
+any case the city and suburbs were crammed with them.
+
+The procession marched over the Ponte Vecchio ("Old Bridge"), which was
+gay with festive decorations and sounds of music, wound across the Piazza
+amid a crowd of triumphal cars, statues, etc., and, passing the Canto dei
+Pazzi, made the tour of the Cathedral Square, and halted before the great
+door of the church. The people shouted the name of France with cries
+of applause, but the King only smiled inanely and stammered some
+inappropriate words in Italian. Entering the Duomo, he was met by the
+seigniory, who, to avoid the pressure of the armed host, had been obliged
+to come around by the back streets. After joining in prayers with their
+royal guest, they escorted him to the sumptuous palace of the Medici, and
+the soldiers dispersed to their quarters. That night and the next the
+whole city was a blaze of illuminations; the intervening day was devoted
+to feasting and amusements, and then the terms of the treaty began to be
+discussed.
+
+The terms of the treaty stood as follows: That there should be a good
+and faithful friendship between the republic and the King; that their
+subjects should have reciprocal protection; that the King should receive
+the title of restorer and protector of the liberty of Florence; that he
+should be paid one hundred twenty thousand florins in three instalments;
+that he was not to retain the fortresses for more than two years; and if
+the Neapolitan expedition finished before that date, he was then to give
+them up without delay; that the Pisans were to receive pardon as soon as
+they should resume their allegiance to Florence. It was also stipulated
+that the decree putting a price on the heads of the Medici should be
+revoked, but that the states of Giuliano and Cardinal Giovanni were to
+remain confiscated until all Piero's debts had been paid, and that the
+said Piero was to remain banished to a distance of two hundred miles, and
+his brothers of one hundred, from the Tuscan border. After the agreement
+had been drawn up in regular official form, the contracting parties met
+in the Duomo to swear to the observance of all its clauses, and in the
+evening there was a general illumination of the city, although the people
+gave no signs of their previous good-will toward the King.
+
+But no sooner was one difficulty disposed of than another arose. When
+all was concluded Charles relapsed into his normal state of inertia, and
+showed no disposition to depart. The city was thronged by the French
+quartered in the houses, and the Italian soldiery hidden on all sides;
+the shops were shut up and all traffic suspended; everything was in a
+state of uncertainty and disorder, and the continual quarrels between the
+natives and the foreigner might at any moment provoke the most serious
+complications. There were perpetual robberies and murders by night--a
+most unusual state of things for Florence; and the people seemed to be on
+the verge of revolt at the least provocation. Thus matters went on from
+day to day, and consequently all honest citizens vainly did their utmost
+to hasten the King's departure. And the universal suspense was heightened
+by the impossibility of finding any way of forcing him to a decision.
+
+At last another appeal was made to Savonarola, who was exerting all his
+influence to keep the people quiet, and whose peaceful admonitions during
+this period of danger and confusion had been no less efficacious than the
+heroic defiance of Piero Capponi. The friar's sermons at this time were
+always directed to the general welfare. He exhorted the citizens "to lay
+aside their animosities and ambitions; to attend the councils at the
+palace in a righteous spirit, and with a view, not to their personal
+interest, but to the general good, and with the firm resolve to promote
+the unity and concord of their city. Then, indeed, would they be
+acceptable in the Lord's sight." He addressed himself to every class
+of the people in turn, proving to all that it would be to their own
+advantage, both in this life and the next, to labor for the defence of
+liberty and the establishment of unity and concord. When asked to seek
+the King and endeavor to persuade him to leave, he cheerfully undertook
+the task and hastened to the royal abode. The officers and lords in
+attendance were at first inclined to refuse him admittance, fearing that
+his visit might defeat their plan of pillaging the treasures of this
+sumptuous palace. But, remembering the veneration in which the friar was
+held by the King, they dared not refuse his demand and allowed him to
+pass. Charles, surrounded by his barons, received him very graciously,
+and Savonarola went straight to the point by saying: "Most Christian
+Prince, thy stay here is causing great injury both to our own city and
+thy enterprise. Thou losest time, forgetful of the duty imposed on thee
+by Providence, and to the serious hurt of thy spiritual welfare and
+worldly fame. Hearken now to the voice of God's servant! Pursue thy
+journey without delay. Seek not to bring ruin on this city, and thereby
+rouse the anger of the Lord against thee."
+
+So at last, on November 28th, at the twenty-second hour of the day, the
+King departed with his army, leaving the people of Florence very badly
+disposed toward him. Among their many just causes of complaint was
+the sack of the splendid palace in which he had been so liberally and
+trustfully entertained. Nor were common soldiers and inferior officers
+alone concerned in this robbery; the hands of generals and barons were
+equally busy, and the King himself carried off objects of the greatest
+value; among other things a precious intaglio representing a unicorn,
+estimated by Comines to be worth about seven thousand ducats. With such
+an example set by their sovereign, it may be easily imagined how the
+others behaved; and Comines himself tells us that "they shamelessly took
+possession of everything that tempted their greed." Thus the rich and
+marvellous collections formed by the Medici were all lost, excepting what
+had been placed in safety at St. Mark's, for the few things left
+behind by the French were so much damaged that they had to be sold.
+Nevertheless, the inhabitants were so rejoiced to be finally rid of their
+dangerous guests that no one mourned over these thefts. On the contrary,
+public thanksgivings were offered up in the churches, the people went
+about the streets with their old gayety and lightheartedness, and the
+authorities began to take measures to pro vide for the urgent necessities
+of the new republic.
+
+During this interval the aspect of Florentine affairs had entirely
+changed. The partisans of the Medici had disappeared from the city as if
+by magic; the popular party ruled over everything, and Savonarola ruled
+the will of the whole population. He was unanimously declared to have
+been a prophet of all that had occurred, the only man that had succeeded
+in controlling the King's conduct on his entry into Florence, the only
+man who had induced him to depart; accordingly all hung on Savonarola's
+lips for counsel, aid, and direction as to their future proceedings. And,
+as though the men of the old state saw the need of effacing themselves to
+make way for new blood, several prominent representatives and friends of
+the Medici house died during this period. Angelo Poliziano had passed
+away this year, on September 24th, "loaded with as much infamy and public
+opprobrium as a man could well bear." He was accused of numberless vices
+and unlimited profligacy; but the chief cause of all the hatred lavished
+on him was the general detestation already felt for Piero de' Medici,
+the approach of his downfall and that of all his adherents. Nor was the
+public rancor at all softened by the knowledge that the last utterances
+of the illustrious poet and learned scholar had been the words of a
+penitent Christian. He had requested that his body should be clothed in
+the Dominican habit and interred in the Church of St. Mark, and there
+his ashes repose beside the remains of Giovanni Picodella Mirandola, who
+expired on the very day of Charles VIII's entry into Florence. Pico had
+long entertained a desire to join the fraternity of St. Mark's, but,
+delaying too long to carry out his intent, was surprised by death at the
+early age of thirty-two years. On his death-bed he, too, had besought
+Savonarola to allow him to be buried in the robe he had yearned to wear.
+
+The end of these two celebrated Italians recalled to mind the last hours
+and last confession of Lorenzo the Magnificent, and was by many regarded
+as a sign that the Medicean adherents had been unwilling to pass away
+without acknowledging their crimes, without asking pardon from the people
+whom they had so deeply oppressed, and from the friar, who was, as it
+were, the people's best representative. It was certainly remarkable that
+all these men should turn to the convent of St. Mark, whence had issued
+the first cry of liberty, and the first sign of war against the tyranny
+of the Medici.
+
+
+JEAN C. L. SISMONDI
+
+At the moment that Florence expelled the Medici, the republic was divided
+among three different parties. The first was that of the enthusiasts,
+directed by Girolamo Savonarola, who promised the miraculous protection
+of the Divinity for the reform of the Church and establishment of
+liberty. These demanded a democratic constitution; they were called the
+"Piagnoni." The second consisted of men who had shared power with the
+Medici, but who had separated from them; who wished to possess alone the
+powers and profits of government, and who endeavored to amuse the people
+by dissipations and pleasures, in order to establish at their ease an
+aristocracy. These were called the "Arabbiati." The third party was
+composed of men who remained faithful to the Medici, but, not daring to
+declare themselves, lived in retirement; they were called "Bigi."
+
+These three parties were so equally balanced in the _balia_ named by the
+parliament, on December 2, 1494, that it soon became impossible to carry
+on the government. Girolamo Savonarola took advantage of this state of
+affairs to urge that the people had never delegated their power to a
+balia which did not abuse the trust.
+
+"The people," he said, "would do much better to reserve this power to
+themselves, and exercise it by a council, into which all the citizens
+should be admitted." His proposition was agreed to; more than one
+thousand eight hundred Florentines furnished proof that either they,
+their fathers, or their grandfathers had sat in the magistracy; they were
+consequently acknowledged citizens and admitted to sit in the general
+council. This council was declared sovereign on July 1, 1495; it was
+invested with the election of magistrates, hitherto chosen by lot, and
+a general amnesty was proclaimed, to bury in oblivion all the ancient
+dissensions of the Florentine republic.
+
+So important a modification of the constitution seemed to promise this
+republic a happier futurity. The friar Savonarola, who had exercised such
+influence in the council, evinced at the same time an ardent love of
+mankind, deep respect for the rights of all, great sensibility, and an
+elevated mind. Though a zealous reformer of the Church, and in this
+respect a precursor of Luther, who was destined to begin his mission
+twenty years later, he did not quit the pale of orthodoxy; he did not
+assume the right of examining doctrine; he limited his efforts to the
+restoration of discipline, the reformation of the morals of the clergy,
+and the recall of priests, as well as other citizens, to the practice of
+the gospel precepts. But his zeal was mixed with enthusiasm; he believed
+himself under the immediate inspiration of Providence; he took his own
+impulses for prophetic revelations, by which he directed the politics of
+his disciples, the Piagnoni.
+
+He had predicted to the Florentines the coming of the French into Italy;
+he had represented to them Charles VIII as an instrument by which the
+Divinity designed to chastise the crimes of the nation; he had counselled
+them to remain faithful to their alliance with that King, the instrument
+of Providence, even though his conduct, especially in reference to the
+affairs of Pisa, had been highly culpable.
+
+This alliance, however, ranged the Florentines among the enemies of Pope
+Alexander VI, one of the founders of the league which had driven the
+French out of Italy. He accused them of being traitors to the Church and
+to their country for their attachment to a foreign prince. Alexander,
+equally offended by the projects of reform and by the politics of
+Savonarola, denounced him to the Church as a heretic, and interdicted him
+from preaching. The monk at first obeyed, and procured the appointment of
+his friend and disciple the Dominican friar, Buonvicino of Pescia, as
+his successor in the Church of St. Mark; but on Christmas Day, 1497, he
+declared from the pulpit that God had revealed to him that he ought not
+to submit to a corrupt tribunal; he then openly took the sacrament with
+the monks of St. Mark, and afterward continued to preach. In the course
+of his sermons he more than once held up to reprobation the scandalous
+conduct of the Pope, whom the public voice accused of every vice
+and every crime to be expected in a libertine so depraved--a man so
+ambitious, perfidious, and cruel--a monarch and a priest intoxicated with
+absolute power.
+
+In the mean time the rivalry encouraged by the court of Rome between
+the religious orders soon procured the Pope a champion eager to combat
+Savonarola; he was a Dominican--the general of the Augustines, that
+Order whence Martin Luther was soon to issue. Friar Mariano di Ghinazzano
+signalized himself by his zeal in opposing Savonarola. He presented to
+the Pope Friar Francis of Apulia, of the order of Minor Observantines,
+who was sent to Florence to preach against the Florentine monks, in the
+Church of Santa Croce. This preacher declared to his audience that he
+knew Savonarola pretended to support his doctrine by a miracle. "For me,"
+said he, "I am a sinner; I have not the presumption to perform miracles;
+nevertheless, let a fire be lighted, and I am ready to enter it with
+him. I am certain of perishing, but Christian charity teaches me not to
+withhold my life if in sacrificing it I might precipitate into hell a
+heresiarch, who has already drawn into it so many souls."
+
+This strange proposition was rejected by Savonarola; but his friend and
+disciple, Friar Dominic Buonvicino, eagerly accepted it. Francis of
+Apulia declared that he would risk his life against Savonarola only.
+Meanwhile a crowd of monks, of the Dominican and Franciscan orders,
+rivalled each other in their offers to prove by the ordeal of fire, on
+one side the truth, on the other the falsehood, of the new doctrine.
+Enthusiasm spread beyond the two convents; many priests and seculars,
+and even women and children, more especially on the side of Savonarola,
+earnestly requested to be admitted to the proof. The Pope warmly
+testified his gratitude to the Franciscans for their devotion. The
+Seigniory of Florence consented that two monks only should devote
+themselves for their respective orders, and directed the pile to be
+prepared. The whole population of the town and country, to which a signal
+miracle was promised, received the announcement with transports of joy.
+
+On April 17, 1498, a scaffold, dreadful to look on, was erected in the
+public square of Florence; two piles of large pieces of wood, mixed with
+fagots and broom, which should quickly take fire, extended each eighty
+feet long, four feet thick, and five feet high; they were separated by a
+narrow space of two feet, to serve as a passage by which the two priests
+were to enter and pass the whole length of the piles during the fire.
+
+Every window was full; every roof was covered with spectators; almost
+the whole population of the republic was collected round the place. The
+portico called the Loggia dei Lanzi, divided in two by a partition, was
+assigned to the two orders of monks. The Dominicans arrived at their
+station chanting canticles and bearing the holy sacrament. The
+Franciscans immediately declared that they would not permit the host to
+be carried amid flames. They insisted that the friar Buonvicino should
+enter the fire, as their own champion was prepared to do, without this
+divine safeguard. The Dominicans answered that "they would not separate
+themselves from their God at the moment when they implored his aid." The
+dispute upon this point grew warm.
+
+Several hours passed away. The multitude, which had waited long and began
+to feel hunger and thirst, lost patience; a deluge of rain suddenly fell
+upon the city, and descended in torrents from the roofs of the houses;
+all present were drenched. The piles were so wet that they could
+no longer be lighted; and the crowd, disappointed of a miracle so
+impatiently looked for, separated, with the notion of having been
+unworthily trifled with. Savonarola lost all his credit; he was
+henceforth rather looked on as an impostor.
+
+Next day his convent was besieged by the Arabbiati, eager to profit by
+the inconstancy of the multitude; he was arrested with his two friends,
+Domenico Buonvicino and Silvestro Marruffi, and led to prison. The
+Piagnoni, his partisans, were exposed to every outrage from the populace;
+two of them were killed, their rivals and old enemies exciting the
+general ferment for their destruction. Even in the seigniory the majority
+was against them, and yielded to the pressing demands of the Pope. The
+three imprisoned monks were subjected to a criminal prosecution.
+
+Alexander VI despatched judges from Rome with orders to condemn the
+accused to death. Conformably with the laws of the Church, the trial
+opened with the torture. Savonarola was too weak and nervous to support
+it; he vowed in his agony all that was imputed to him, and, with his two
+disciples, was condemned to death. The three monks were burned alive, May
+23, 1498, in the same square where, six weeks before, a pile had been
+raised to prepare them a triumph.
+
+
+
+DISCOVERY OF THE MAINLAND OF NORTH AMERICA BY THE CABOTS
+
+A.D. 1497
+
+SAMUEL EDWARD DAWSON
+
+
+Newfoundland prides herself on being the oldest colony of the English
+crown. By virtue of John Cabot's discovery, in A.D. 1497, she also claims
+the honor of being the first portion of the New-World continent to be
+discovered and made known by Europeans. This was fourteen months before
+Columbus, on his third expedition, beheld the American mainland.
+
+At the close of the fifteenth century, the impelling motive of discovery
+among the Old-World nations, and their adventurous mariners, was the hope
+of finding a short western passage to the riches of the East Indies. This
+was the chief lure of the period, added to the ambition of Old-World
+monarchs to extend their territorial possessions and bring them within
+the embrace of their individual flags. Henry VII of England aided the
+Cabots, father and son, to fit out two expeditions from Bristol to
+explore the coasts of the New World and extend the search for hitherto
+unknown countries. The result of these enterprises was the discovery of
+Newfoundland and Labrador as well as other lands, and England's claim to
+the possession of the greater portion of the North American continent.
+
+Probably no question in the history of this continent has been the
+subject of so much discussion as the lives and voyages of the two Cabots.
+Their personal character, their nationality, the number of voyages they
+made, and the extent and direction of their discoveries have been, and
+still are, keenly disputed over. The share, moreover, of each in
+the credit due for the discoveries made is a very battle-ground for
+historians. Some learned writers attribute everything to John Cabot;
+others would put him aside and award all the credit to his second son,
+Sebastian. The dates even of the voyages are disputed; and very learned
+professors of history in Portugal do not hesitate to declare that the
+voyages are apocryphal, the discoveries pretended, and the whole question
+a mystification.
+
+Nevertheless, solely upon the discoveries of the Cabots have always
+rested the original claims of the English race to a foothold upon this
+continent. In the published annals of England, however, no contemporary
+records of them exist; nor was there for sixty years in English
+literature any recognition of their achievements. The English claims rest
+almost solely upon second-hand evidence from Spanish and Italian authors,
+upon contemporary reports of Spanish and Italian envoys at the English
+court, upon records of the two letters-patent issued, and upon two or
+three entries lately discovered in the accounts of disbursements from
+the privy purse of King Henry VII. These are our title-deeds to this
+continent. The evidence is doubtless conclusive, but the whole subject of
+western discovery was undervalued and neglected by England for so long
+a period that it is no wonder if Portuguese savants deny the reality of
+those voyages, seeing that their nation has been supplanted by a race
+which can show so little original evidence of its claims.
+
+It is not my intention to wander over all the debatable ground of the
+Cabot voyages, where every circumstance bristles with conflicting
+theories. The original authorities are few and scanty, but mountains of
+hypotheses have been built upon them, and too often the suppositions of
+one writer have been the facts of a succeeding one. Step by step the
+learned students before alluded to have established certain propositions
+which appear to me to be true, and which I shall accept without further
+discussion. Among these I count the following:
+
+1. That John Cabot was a Venetian, of Genoese birth, naturalized at
+Venice on March 28, 1476, after the customary fifteen years of residence,
+and that he subsequently settled in England with all his family.
+
+2. That Sebastian, his second son, was born in Venice, and when very
+young was taken by his father to England with the rest of the family.
+
+3. That on petition of John Cabot and his three sons, Lewis, Sebastian,
+and Sancio, letters-patent of King Henry VII were issued, under date
+March 5, 1496, empowering them, at their own expense, to discover
+and take possession for England of new lands not before found by any
+Christian nation.
+
+4. That John Cabot, accompanied perhaps by his son Sebastian, sailed from
+Bristol early in May, 1497. He discovered and landed upon some part
+of America between Cape Cod, in Massachusetts, and Cape Chidley, in
+Labrador; that he returned to Bristol before the end of July of the same
+year; that, whatever might have been the number of vessels which started,
+the discovery was made by John Cabot's own vessel, the Matthew of
+Bristol, with a crew of eighteen men.
+
+5. That thereupon, and in consideration of this discovery made by John
+Cabot, King Henry VII granted new letters-patent, drawn solely to John
+Cabot, authorizing a second expedition on a more extended scale and with
+fuller royal authority, which letters-patent were dated February 3, 1498;
+that this expedition sailed in the spring of 1498, and had not returned
+in October. It consisted of several ships and about three hundred men.
+That John and Sebastian Cabot sailed on this voyage. When it returned
+is not known. From the time of sailing of this expedition John Cabot
+vanishes into the unknowable, and from thenceforth Sebastian alone
+appears in the historic record.
+
+These points are now fully supported by satisfactory evidence, mostly
+documentary and contemporary. As for John Cabot, Sebastian said he died,
+which is one of the few undisputed facts in the discussion; but if
+Sebastian is correctly reported in Ramusio to have said that he died at
+the time when the news of Columbus' discoveries reached England, then
+Sebastian Cabot told an untruth, because the letters-patent of 1498 were
+addressed to John Cabot alone. The son had a gift of reticence concerning
+others, including his father and brothers, which in these latter days has
+been the cause of much wearisome research to scholars. To avoid further
+discussion of the preceding points is, however, a great gain.
+
+From among the numerous opinions concerning the landfall of John Cabot
+three theories emerge which may be seriously entertained, all three being
+supported by evidence of much weight: 1. That it was in Newfoundland. 2.
+That it was on the Labrador coast. 3. That it was on the island of Cape
+Breton.
+
+Until a comparatively recent period it was universally held by English
+writers that Newfoundland was the part of North America first seen by
+Cabot. The name "Newfoundland" lends itself to this view; for in the
+letters-patent of 1498 the expression "Londe and iles of late founde,"
+and the wording of the award recorded in the King's privy-purse accounts,
+August 10, 1497, "To hym that founde the new ile £I0," seem naturally to
+suggest the island of Newfoundland of our day; and this impression
+is strengthened by reading the old authors, who spell it, as Richard
+Whitbourne in 1588, "New-found-land," in three words with connecting
+hyphens, and often with the definite article, "The Newe-found-land." A
+cursory reading of the whole literature of American discovery before
+1831 would suggest that idea, and some writers of the present day still
+maintain it. Authors of other nationalities have, however, always
+disputed it, and have pushed the English discoveries far north to
+Labrador, and even to Greenland. Champlain, who read and studied
+everything relating to his profession, concedes to the English the coast
+of Labrador north of 56° and the regions about Davis Straits; and the
+maps, which for a long period, with a few notable exceptions, were
+made only by Spaniards, Portuguese, and Italians, bear out Champlain's
+remonstrances. It seems, moreover, on a cursory consideration of the
+maps, probable that a vessel on a westerly course passing south of
+Ireland should strike somewhere on the coast of Newfoundland about Cape
+Bonavista, and, Cabot being an Italian, that very place suggests itself
+by its name as his probable landfall. The English, who for the most part
+have had their greatness thrust upon them by circumstances, neglected
+Cabot's discoveries for fifty years, and during that time the French and
+Portuguese took possession of the whole region and named all the coasts;
+then, when the troubled reign of Henry VIII was over, the English people
+began to wake up, and in fact rediscovered Cabot and his voyages. A
+careful study, however, of the subject will be likely to lead to the
+rejection of the Newfoundland landfall, plausible as it may at first
+sight appear.
+
+In the year 1831 Richard Biddle, a lawyer of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania,
+published a memoir of Sebastian Cabot which led the way to an almost
+universal change of opinion. He advanced the theory that Labrador was the
+Cabot landfall in 1497. His book is one of great research, and, though
+confused in its arrangement, is written with much vigor and ability. But
+Biddle lost the historian in the advocate. His book is a passionate brief
+for Sebastian Cabot; for he strangely conceives the son to have been
+wronged by the ascription to John Cabot of any portion of the merit of
+the discovery of America. Not only would he suppress the elder Cabot, but
+he covers the well-meaning Hakluyt with opprobrium and undermines his
+character by insinuations, much as a criminal lawyer might be supposed to
+do to an adverse witness in a jury trial. Valuable as the work is, there
+is a singular heat pervading it, fatal to the true historic spirit.
+Hakluyt is the pioneer of the literature of English discovery and
+adventure--at once the recorder and inspirer of noble effort. He is more
+than a translator; he spared no pains nor expense to obtain from the lips
+of seamen their own versions of their voyages, and, if discrepancies are
+met with in a collection so voluminous, it is not surprising and need not
+be ascribed to a set purpose; for Hakluyt's sole object in life seems
+to have been to record all he knew or could ascertain of the maritime
+achievements of the age.
+
+Biddle's book marks an epoch in the controversy. In truth, he seems to
+be the first who gave minute study to the original authorities and broke
+away from the tradition of Newfoundland. He fixed the landfall on the
+coast of Labrador; and Humboldt and Kohl added the weight of their great
+learning to his theory. Harrisse, who in his _John and Sebastian Cabot_
+had written in favor of Cape Breton, has, in his latest book, _The
+Discovery of America_, gone back to Labrador as his faith in the
+celebrated map of 1544 gradually waned and his esteem for the character
+of Sebastian Cabot faded away. Such changes of view, not only in this
+but in other matters, render Mr. Harrisse's books somewhat confusing,
+although the student of American history can never be sufficiently
+thankful for his untiring research.
+
+The discovery in Germany by von Martius in 1843 of an engraved
+_mappemonde_ bearing date of 1544, and purporting to be issued under the
+authority of Sebastian Cabot, soon caused a general current of opinion in
+favor of a landfall in Cape Breton. The map is unique and is now in the
+National Library at Paris. It bears no name of publisher nor place of
+publication. Around it for forty years controversy has waxed warm. Kohl
+does not accept the map as authentic; D'Avezac, on the contrary, gives it
+full credence. The tide of opinion has set of late in favor of it, and
+in consequence in favor of the Cape Breton landfall, because it bears,
+plainly inscribed upon that island, the words "_prima tierra vista_," and
+the legends which are around the map identify beyond question that as
+the landfall of the first voyage. Dr. Deane, in _Winter's Narrative and
+Critical History,_ supports this view. Markham, in his introduction to
+the volume of the Hakluyt Society for 1893, also accepts it; and our
+own honorary secretary (the late Sir John Bourinot), in his learned and
+exhaustive monograph on Cape Breton, inclines to the same theory.
+
+I do not propose here to discuss the difficult problems of this map.
+For many years, under the influence of current traditions and cursory
+reading, I believe the landfall of John Cabot to have been in
+Newfoundland; but a closer study of the original authorities has led me
+to concur in the view which places it somewhere on the island of Cape
+Breton.
+
+At the threshold of an inquiry into the "_prima tierra vista_" or
+landfall of 1497, it is before all things necessary to distinguish
+sharply, in every recorded detail, between the first and second voyages.
+I venture to think that, if this had always been done, much confusion
+and controversy would have been avoided. It was not done by the older
+writers, and the writers of later years have followed them without
+sufficiently observing that the authorities they were building upon were
+referring almost solely to the second voyage. Even when some occasional
+detail of the first voyage was introduced, the circumstances of the
+second voyage were interwoven and became dominant in the narrative, so
+that the impression of one voyage only remains upon the mind. We must
+therefore always remember the antithesis which exists between them. Thus,
+the first voyage was made in one small vessel with a crew of eighteen
+men, the second with five ships and three hundred men. The first voyage
+was undertaken with John Cabot's own resources, the second with the royal
+authority to take six ships and their outfit on the same conditions as
+if for the King's service. The first voyage was a private venture, the
+second an official expedition. The first voyage extended over three
+months and was provisioned for that period only; the second was
+victualled for twelve months and extended over six months at least, for
+how much longer is not known. The course of the first voyage was south of
+Ireland, then for a while north and afterward west, with the pole star on
+the right hand. The course of the second, until land was seen, was north,
+into northern seas, toward the north pole, in the direction of Iceland,
+to the cape of Labrador, at 58° north latitude. On the first voyage no
+ice was reported; on the second the leading features were bergs and floes
+of ice and long days of arctic summer. On the first voyage Cabot saw no
+man; on the second he found people clothed with "beastes skynnes." During
+the whole of the first voyage John Cabot was the commander; on the second
+voyage he sailed in command, but who brought the expedition home and when
+it returned are not recorded. It is not known how or when John Cabot
+died; and, although the letters-patent for the second voyage were
+addressed to him alone, his son Sebastian during forty-five years took
+the whole credit in every subsequent mention of the discovery of America,
+without any allusion to his father. This antithesis may throw light upon
+the suppression of his father's name in all the statements attributed to
+or made by Sebastian Cabot. He may always have had the second voyage in
+his mind. His father may have died on the voyage. He was marvellously
+reticent about his father. The only mention which occurs is on the map
+seen by Hakluyt, and on the map of 1544, supposed, somewhat rashly, to be
+a transcript of it. There the discovery is attributed to John Cabot and
+to Sebastian his son, and that has reference to the first voyage. From
+these considerations it would appear that those who place the landfall
+at Labrador are right; but it is the landfall of the second voyage--the
+voyage Sebastian was always talking about--not the landfall of John Cabot
+in 1497.
+
+If Sebastian Cabot had not been so much wrapped up in his own vainglory,
+we might have had a full record of the eventful voyage which revealed to
+Europe the shores of our Canadian dominion first of all the lands on the
+continents of the western hemisphere. Fortunately, however, there resided
+in London at that time a most intelligent Italian, Raimondo di Soncino,
+envoy of the Duke of Milan, Ludovico Sforza, one of those despots of the
+Renaissance who almost atoned for their treachery and cruelty by their
+thirst for knowledge and love of arts. Him Soncino kept informed of
+all matters going on at London, and especially concerning matters of
+cosmography, to which the Duke was much devoted. From his letters we are
+enabled to retrace the momentous voyage of the little Matthew of Bristol
+across the western ocean--not the sunny region of steady trade-winds, by
+whose favoring influence Columbus was wafted to his destination, but the
+boisterous reaches of the northern Atlantic--over that "still vexed sea"
+which shares with one or two others the reputation of being the most
+storm-tossed region in the world of ocean. That the land discovered was
+supposed to be a part of Asia appears very clearly from the same letters.
+It was in the territory of the Grand Cam. The land was good and the
+climate temperate; and Cabot intended on his next voyage, after occupying
+that place, to proceed farther westward until he should arrive at the
+longitude of Japan, which island he evidently thought to be south of his
+landfall and near the equator.
+
+It should be carefully noted that, in all the circumstances on record
+which are indisputably referable to this first voyage, nothing has been
+said of ice or of any notable extension of daylight. These are the marks
+of the second voyage; for if anything unusual had existed in the length
+of the day it would have been at its maximum on Midsummer's Day, June
+24th, the day he made land. Nothing is reported in these letters which
+indicates a high latitude. Now Labrador is a cold, waste region of rocks,
+swamps, and mountains. Even inside the Straits of Belle-Isle it is so
+barren and forbidding as to call forth Cartier's oft-cited remark that
+"it was like the land God gave to Cain." The coast of Labrador is not the
+place to invite a second voyage, if it be once seen; but the climate of
+Cape Breton is very pleasant in early summer and the country is well
+wooded.
+
+From the contemporary documents relating specially to the first voyage,
+it is beyond question that Cabot saw no human being on the coast, though
+he brought back evidences of their presence at some previous time. It is
+beyond doubt, also, on the same authority, that the voyage lasted not
+longer than three months, and that provisions gave out, so that he had
+not time to land on the return voyage. It was, in fact, a reconnoitring
+expedition to prepare the way for a greater effort, and establish
+confidence in the existence of land across the ocean easily reached from
+England. The distance sailed is given by Soncino at four hundred leagues;
+but Pasqualigo, writing to Venice, gives it at seven hundred leagues,
+equivalent to two thousand two hundred twenty-six miles, which is very
+nearly the distance between Bristol and Cape Breton as now estimated.
+
+All these circumstances concerning the first voyage are derived from John
+Cabot's own reports, and are extracted from documents dated previous to
+the return of the second expedition, and therefore are, of necessity,
+free from admixture with extraneous incidents. Antonio Galvano, an
+experienced Portuguese sailor and cosmographer, writing in 1563, like the
+others, knows of one voyage only, which he fixes in 1496. He interweaves,
+like them, in his narrative many circumstances of the second voyage, but
+it is important to note that from some independent source is given the
+landfall at 45°, the latitude very nearly of Cape Breton, on the island
+of Cape Breton. Another point is also recorded in the letters that, on
+the return voyage, Cabot passed two islands to the right, which the
+shortness of his provisions prevented him from examining. This note
+should not be considered identical with the statement recorded by Soncino
+in his first letter, for this last writer evidently means to indicate the
+land which Cabot found and examined; he says that Cabot discovered two
+large and fertile islands, but the two islands of Pasqualigo were passed
+without examination. They were probably the islands of St. Pierre and
+Miquelon; but that John Cabot had no idea of a northward voyage at that
+time in his mind would appear from his intention to sail farther to
+the east on his next voyage until he reached the longitude of Cipango.
+Moreover, the reward recorded in the King's privy-purse accounts "to hym
+that founde the new ile," and the wording, thrice repeated, of the second
+letters-patent, "the land and isles of late found by the said John,"
+indicate that it was not at that time known whether the mainland of
+Cathay had been reached, or, as in the discoveries of Columbus, islands
+upon the coast of Asia.
+
+From the preceding narrative, based solely upon documents written within
+twelve months of the event--which documents are records of statements
+taken from the lips of John Cabot, the chief actor, at the very time of
+his return from the first voyage--it will, I trust, appear that in 1497,
+at a time of year when the ice was not clear from the coasts of Labrador,
+he discovered a part of America in a temperate climate, and that this
+was done without the name of Sebastian Cabot once coming to the surface,
+excepting when it appears in the patent of 1496, together with the names
+of Lewis and Sancio, his brothers. While the circumstances recorded
+are incompatible with a landfall at Labrador, they do not exclude the
+possibility of a landfall on the eastern coast of Newfoundland, which is
+so varied in its character as to correspond with almost any conditions
+likely to be found in a landfall on the American coast; but inasmuch as,
+from other reasons, it will, I think, appear that the landfall was at
+Cape Breton, it will be a shorter process to prove by a positive argument
+where it was than to show by a negative argument where it was not.
+
+I might here borrow the quaint phrase of Herodotus and say, "Now I have
+done speaking of" John Cabot. He has, beyond doubt, discovered the
+eastern coast of this our Canada, and he has organized a second
+expedition, and he has sailed in command. Forthwith, upon such sailing,
+he vanishes utterly, and his second son, Sebastian, both of his brothers
+having in some unknown way also vanished, emerges, and from henceforth
+becomes the whole Cabot family. It behooves us, therefore, if we wish to
+grasp the whole subject, to inquire what manner of man he was.
+
+Sebastian Cabot was born in Venice, and, when still very young, was
+taken to England with the rest of his family by his father. He was then,
+however, old enough to have learned the humanities and the properties of
+the sphere, and to this latter knowledge he became so addicted that he,
+early in life, formed fixed ideas. He is probably entitled to the merit
+of having urged the practical application of the truths that the shortest
+course from point to point upon the globe lies upon a great circle, and
+also that the great circle uniting Western Europe with Cathay passes over
+the north pole. This fixed idea of the younger Cabot pervaded all his
+life and shows in all his reported conversations. He adhered to it with
+the pertinacity of a Columbus, and, in his later life after his return
+to England, his efforts, which in youth were directed to a northwest
+passage, went out toward a northeast passage to Cathay. John Cabot's
+genius was more practical, as the second letter of Raimondo di Soncino
+shows. His intention was to occupy on the second voyage the landfall
+he had made and then push on to the east (west, as we call it now) and
+south. The diversion of that expedition to the coast of Labrador would
+indicate that the death of the elder Cabot and the assumption of command
+by his son occurred early in the voyage. Sebastian Cabot seems to have
+been not so much a great sailor as a great nautical theorizer. Gomara
+says he discovered nothing for Spain; and beyond doubt his expedition to
+La Plata cannot be considered successful, for it was intended to reach
+the Moluccas. One fixed idea of his life was the course to Cathay by the
+north. That idea he monopolized to himself. He overvalued its importance
+and thought to be the Columbus of a new highway to the east. Hence he
+may have underrated his father's achievements as he brooded over what he
+considered to be his own great secret. He theorized on the sphere and he
+theorized on the variation of the compass, and he theorized on a method
+of finding longitude by the variation of the needle; so that even Richard
+Eden, who greatly admired him, wrote as follows: "Sebastian Cabot on
+his death-bed told me that he had the knowledge thereof (longitude by
+variation) by divine revelation, yet so that he might not teach any man.
+But I thinke that the goode olde man in that extreme age somewhat doted,
+and had not, yet even in the article of death, utterly shaken off all
+worldlye vaine glorie." These words would seem to contain the solution
+of most of the mystery of the suppression of John Cabot's name in the
+narratives of Peter Martyr, Ramusio, Gomara, and all the other writers
+who derived their information from Sebastian Cabot during his long
+residence in Spain.
+
+And now we may pass on to the consideration of the second voyage; and
+first among the writers, in order of time as also in order of importance,
+is Peter Martyr of Anghiera, who published his _Decades of the New World_
+in 1516. Sebastian Cabot had then been in Spain for four years, high in
+office and in royal favor. Peter Martyr was his "familiar friend and
+comrade," and tells the Pope, to whom these _Decades_ were addressed as
+letters, that he wrote from information derived from Cabot's own lips.
+Here, I venture to think, many of the writers on this subject have gone
+astray; for the whole question changes. Martyr knows of only one voyage,
+and that was beyond doubt the voyage of 1498; he knows of only one
+discoverer, and that the man from whose lips he writes the narrative. The
+landfall is far north, in a region of ice and perpetual daylight. At the
+very outset the subject is stated to be "those northern seas," and then
+Peter Martyr goes on to say that Sebastian Cabot furnished two ships at
+his own charges; and that, with three hundred men, he sailed toward the
+north pole, where he saw land, and that then he was compelled to turn
+westward; and after that he coasted to the south until he reached the
+latitude of Gibraltar; and that he was west of the longitude of Cuba.
+In other words, he struck land far in the north, and from that point he
+sailed south along the coast as far as Cape Hatteras. That Labrador was
+the landfall seems clear; for he met large masses of ice in the month of
+July. These were not merely the bergs of the western ocean, but masses of
+field-ice, which compelled him to change his course from north to west,
+and finally to turn southward. The same writer states that Cabot himself
+named a portion of the great land he coasted "Baccalaos," because of the
+quantity of fish, which was so great that they hindered the sailing of
+his ships, and that these fishes were called baccalaos by the natives.
+This statement has given rise to much dispute. As to the quantity
+of fish, all succeeding writers concur that it was immense beyond
+conception; and probably the swarming of the salmon up the rivers of our
+Pacific coast may afford a parallel; but that Cabot did not so name the
+country is abundantly clear. A very exhaustive note on the word will be
+found at page 131 of Dr. Bourinot's _Cape Breton_.
+
+Bearing in mind the preceding considerations, the study of the early
+maps will become profitable, and I would now direct attention to them to
+ascertain what light they may throw upon the landfall of John Cabot and
+the island of St. John opposite to it. It must be remembered that John
+Cabot took the time to go on shore at his landfall, and planted the
+banners of England and St. Mark there. At that time of year and in that
+latitude it was light at half-past three, but it was five when he saw
+land, and he had to reach it and perform the ceremonies appropriate for
+such occasions; so the island opposite could not be far away. The island,
+then, will be useful to identify the landfall if we find it occurring
+frequently on the succeeding maps.
+
+Don Pedro de Ayala, joint Spanish ambassador at London, wrote, on July
+25, 1498, to his sovereigns that he had procured and would send a copy of
+John Cabot's chart of his first voyage. This map of Juan de la Cosa is
+evidence that Ayala fulfilled his promise. It is a manuscript map made at
+the end of the year 1500, by the eminent Biscayan pilot, who, if not the
+equal of Columbus in nautical and cosmographical knowledge, was easily
+the second to him. Upon it there is a continuous coast line from Labrador
+to Florida, showing that the claim made by Sebastian Cabot of having
+coasted from a region of ice and snow to the latitude of Gibraltar was
+accepted as true by La Cosa, whatever later Spanish writers may have
+said. Recent writers of authority have arrived at the conclusion that,
+immediately after Columbus and Cabot had opened the way, many independent
+adventurers visited the western seas; for there are a number of
+geographical facts recorded on the earliest charts not easy to account
+for on any other hypothesis. Dr. Justin Winsor shows that La Cosa, and
+others of the great sailors of the earliest years of discovery, soon
+recognized that they had encountered a veritable barrier to Asia,
+consisting of islands, or an island of continental size, through which
+they had to find a passage to the golden East. Their views were not,
+however, generally accepted.
+
+That La Cosa based the northern part of his map upon Cabot's discoveries
+is demonstrated by the English flags marked along the coast and the
+legend "_Mar descubierto por Ingleses_," because no English but the Cabot
+expeditions had been there; and what is evidently intended for Cape Race
+is called "Cavo de Ynglaterra." The English flags mark off the coast from
+that cape to what may be considered as Cape Hatteras. Cabot, as before
+stated, confidently expected to reach Cathay. He sailed for that as his
+objective point, and he was looking for a broad western ocean, so that
+narrow openings were to him simply bays of greater or less depth. The
+sailors of those early voyages coasted from headland to headland, as
+plainly appears from many of the maps upon which the recesses of the
+sinuosities of the coast are not completed lines, and it must be borne in
+mind that in sailing between Newfoundland and Cape Breton the bold and
+peculiar contours of both can be seen at the same time. This is possible
+in anything like clear weather, but, in the bright weather of Midsummer
+Day, Cape Ray would necessarily have been seen from St. Paul's, and the
+opening might well have been taken for a deep indentation of the coast.
+Between "Cavo descubierto" and "Cavo St. Jorge" such an indentation is
+shown on the map, but the line is closed, showing that Cabot did not sail
+through.
+
+Cavo descubierto ("the Discovered Cape"), and, close to it, "_Mar
+descubierto por Ingleses!_" What can be more evident than that the spot
+where Europeans first touched the American continent is thus indicated?
+Why otherwise should it especially be called "the Discovered Cape" if not
+because this cape was first discovered? It is stated elsewhere that on
+the same day, opposite the land, an island was also discovered; and in
+fact upon the Madrid fac-simile two small islands are found, one of which
+is near Cavo descubierto. The name "the Discovered Cape" at the extreme
+end of a series of names tells its own story. Cabot overran Cape Race
+and went south of St. Pierre and Miquelon without seeing them, and,
+continuing on a westerly course, hit Cape Breton at its most easterly
+point. An apt illustration occurs in a voyage made by the ship
+Bonaventure in 1591, recorded in Hakluyt. She overshot Cape Race without
+knowing it and came to the soundings on the bank south of St. Peter's,
+where they found twenty fathoms, and then the course was set northwest by
+north for Cape Ray. The course was sharply altered toward a definite
+and known point, but, if he did not see Cape Race, not knowing what was
+before him, Cabot would have had no object in abruptly altering his
+course, but, continuing his westerly course, would strike the east point
+of Cape Breton. That point, then, and not Cape North, would be "the
+Discovered Cape"--the _prima vista_--and there, not far off "over against
+the land," "opposite the land" (_exadverso_), he would find Scatari
+Island, which would be the island of St. John, so continually attendant
+on Cape Breton upon the succeeding maps. If this theory be accepted, all
+becomes clear, and the little Matthew, having achieved success, having
+demonstrated the existence of Cathay within easy reach of England,
+returned home, noticing and naming the salient features of the south
+coast of Newfoundland. She had not too much time to do it, for she was
+back in Bristol in thirty-four days at most. This theory is further
+confirmed by the circumstance recorded by Pasqualigo that, as Cabot
+returned, he saw two islands on the right which he had not time to
+examine, being short of provisions. These islands would be St. Pierre and
+Miquelon; for there are two, and only two, important islands possible to
+be seen at the right on the south coast of Newfoundland on the homeward
+course. La Cosa, beside the two small islands above noted, has marked on
+his map three larger islands, I. de la Trinidad, S. Grigor, and I. Verde,
+but they are not laid down on the map in the places of St. Pierre and
+Miquelon, nor are there any islands existing in the positions shown. I.
+de la Trinidad is doubtless the peninsula of Burin, as would appear by
+its position almost in contact with the land, and its very peculiar
+shape. In coasting along, it would appear as an island, for the isthmus
+is very narrow, and St. Pierre and Miquelon would be clearly seen as
+islands on the right. As for the bearings of the coast, it will appear by
+a comparison with Champlain's large map that they are compass bearings,
+for they are the same on both.
+
+I have dwelt at length upon the map of La Cosa, because, for our northern
+coasts, it is in effect John Cabot's map. After the return of the second
+expedition, the English made a few voyages, but soon fell back into the
+old rut of their Iceland trade. The expedition was beyond question a
+commercial failure, and therefore, like the practical people they are,
+they neglected that new continent which was destined to become the chief
+theatre for the expansion of their race. Their fishermen were for many
+years to be found in small numbers only on the coast, and, as before,
+their supply of codfish was drawn from Iceland, where they could sell
+goods in exchange.
+
+Meantime the Bretons and Normans, and the Basques of France and Spain,
+and the Portuguese grasped that which England practically abandoned. That
+landfall which Cabot gave her in 1497 cost much blood and treasure to win
+back in 1758. The French fishermen were on the coast as early as 1504,
+and the names on La Cosa's map were displaced by French names still
+surviving on the south coast and on what is called the "French shore" of
+Newfoundland. Robert Thorne in 1527--and no doubt others unrecorded--in
+vain urged upon the English government to vindicate its right. According
+to the papal bulls and the treaty of Tordesillas, the new lands were
+Portuguese east of a meridian three hundred seventy leagues west of
+the Cape de Verd Islands and Spanish to the west of it. Baccalaos and
+Labrador were considered to be Portuguese; and, upon the maps, when any
+mention is made of English discoveries they are accordingly relegated to
+Greenland or the far north of Labrador. The whole claim of England went
+by abandonment and default. The Portuguese, as the Rev. Dr. Patterson has
+shown, named all the east coast of Newfoundland, and their traces are
+even yet found on the coasts of Nova Scotia and of Cape Breton.
+
+Therefore it is that the maps we have now to refer to are not so much
+Spanish as Portuguese. They will tell us nothing of the English, nor of
+Cabot, but we shall be able to follow his island of St. John--the only
+one of his names which survived. The outlines of some very early maps are
+given by Kunstmann, Kretschmer, and Winsor, but until 1505 they have
+no bearing upon our problem. In that year Reinel's map was made, and,
+although Newfoundland forms part of _terra firma_, the openings north
+and south of it are plainly indicated by unclosed lines. Cape Race has
+received its permanent name, "_Raso_" and, although only the east coast
+of Newfoundland is named, there is no possibility of mistaking the
+easternmost point of Cape Breton. Just opposite _(ex adverso_) is laid
+down and named the island of Sam Joha, in latitude 46°, the precise
+latitude of Scatari Island. Here, then, in 1505, is in this island of
+St. John an independent testimony to the landfall of 1497--not off Cape
+North, which does not yet appear, nor inside the gulf, for it is not even
+indicated--but in the Atlantic Ocean, at the cape of Cape Breton--the
+"Cavo descubierto" of La Cosa.
+
+I have not considered it necessary to prove that if Cabot's landfall were
+Cape North he could not have discovered the low lying shore of Prince
+Edward Island on the same day. I have preferred to show that Prince
+Edward Island was not known as an island and did not appear on any map
+for one hundred years after John Cabot's death. If Cabot had possessed a
+modern map, and had been looking for Prince Edward Island, and had pushed
+on without landing at the north cape of Cape Breton, and had shaped his
+course southward, he might have seen it in a long Midsummer Day, but
+Cabot did not press on. He landed and examined the country, and found
+close to it St. John's Island, which he also examined. Upon that
+easternmost point of this Nova Scotian land of our common country John
+Cabot planted the banner of St. George on June 24, 1497, more than one
+year before Columbus set foot upon the main continent of America, and
+now, after four hundred years, despite all the chances and changes of
+this Western World, that banner is floating there, a witness to our
+existing union with our distant mother-land across the ocean.
+
+
+
+THE SEA ROUTE TO INDIA
+
+VASCO DA GAMA SAILS AROUND AFRICA
+
+A.D. 1498
+
+CASPAR CORREA[1]
+
+
+The same goal which attracted the Spaniards westward drew the Portuguese
+south, the desire to find a sea route to India, and thus garner the
+enormous profits of the trade in spices and other Indian wealth. In the
+early years of the fifteenth century the Portuguese, overshadowed by the
+Spanish kingdom, which almost enclosed their country, realized that they
+could extend their territory only by colonizing beyond seas. They began,
+therefore, to send out expeditions, and in 1410 discovered the island
+of Madeira. Soon afterward discoveries were undertaken by Prince Henry,
+called the "Navigator," whose whole life was given to these enterprises.
+Before his death, 1460, his Portuguese mariners, in successive voyages,
+had worked their way well down the western coast of Africa. In 1462 an
+expedition reached Sierra Leone, almost half way down the continent. Nine
+years later the equator was passed, and in 1486 Bartholomew Dias sailed
+around the southern point of Africa, which he had been sent to discover.
+On his return voyage, 1487, he found the Cape of Good Hope, having before
+doubled it without knowing that he had done so.[2]
+
+To Portuguese navigators the way to India by this route was soon made
+clear. In 1497 Vasco da Gama was placed by King Emanuel I of Portugal in
+command of an expedition of three small ships sent to discover such a
+route. He sailed from Lisbon in July of that year, in November doubled
+the Cape of Good Hope, arrived at Calicut, on the Malabar coast of
+India, in May, 1498, and in September, 1499, returned to Lisbon. He was
+accompanied by his brother Paulo, who, with other of the celebrated
+navigator's companions, appears in the following account of this great
+achievement. The quaint narrative was written by the chronicler who
+accompanied the expedition in person.
+
+The ships being equipped and ready, one Sunday the King went with Queen
+Dona Maria to hear mass, which was said pontifically by the bishop
+Calcadilha, who also made a discourse in praise of the voyage, and holy
+design of the King in regard to the new discovery which he was commanding
+to be made; and he called upon the people to pray to the Lord that the
+voyage might be for his holy service, and for the exalting of his holy
+faith, and for the increase of the good and honor of the kingdom of
+Portugal. At the mass the good brothers Da Gama and their associates were
+present, richly dressed, and the King showed them great honor and favor,
+as they stood close to the curtain, where also were the principal lords
+of the realm and gentlemen of the court. Mass being over, the King came
+out from the curtain and spoke to the captains, who placed themselves on
+their knees before him; and they spoke to him, saying:
+
+"Sire, the honor we are receiving from your highness is so great that
+with a hundred bodies and lives which we might expend in your service we
+never could repay the least part of it, since greater honors were never
+shown by a sovereign to his vassals than you have shown us, as the great
+prince, king, and lord that you are, with such magnanimity and honor
+that, if at this very moment we should die, our lineage should remain in
+the highest degree of honor which is possible, only because your highness
+has chosen and sent us for this work, while you have so many and such
+noble vassals to whom to commit it; for which we are already recompensed
+before rendering this service, and until we end our lives in performing
+it. For this we beg of the mercy of the Lord, that he direct us, and we
+may perform such works that he, the Lord, and your highness also, may be
+served in some measure in this so great favor that has been shown us, as
+he knows that such is our desire; and should we not be deserving to serve
+him in this voyage, and so holy undertaking, may the Lord be pleased
+though we may pay with our lives for our shortcomings in the work. We
+promise your highness that our lives will be the matters of least moment
+that we shall adventure in this so great favor that has been shown us,
+and that we will not return before your highness with our lives in our
+bodies without bringing some certain information of that which your
+highness desires."
+
+And they all again kissed the hands of the King and of the Queen. Then
+the King came forth from the cathedral and went to his palace, which then
+was in the residence of the alcazar in the castle. There went before him
+the captains, and before them the standard which was carried by their
+ensign in whom they trusted, and on arriving at the palace the King
+dismissed them, and they again kissed his and the Queen's hand. Vasco da
+Gama on a horse, with all the men of the fleet on foot, richly dressed in
+liveries, and accompanied by all the gentlemen of the court, went down to
+the wharf on the bank, and embarked in their boats, and the standard went
+in that of Paulo da Gama. Then, taking leave of the gentlemen, they went
+to the ships, and on their arrival they fired all their artillery, and
+the ships were dressed out gayly with standards and flags and many
+ornaments, and the royal standard was at once placed at the top of the
+mast of Paulo da Gama; for so Vasco da Gama commanded. Discharging all
+their artillery, they loosened the sails, and went beating to windward on
+the river of Lisbon, tacking until they came to anchor at Belen, where
+they remained three days waiting for a wind to go out.
+
+There they made a muster of the crews, and the King was there all the
+time in the monastery, where all confessed and communicated. The King
+commanded that they should write down in a book all the men of each ship
+by name, with the names of their fathers, mothers, and wives of the
+married men, and the places of which they were native; and the King
+ordered that this book should be preserved in the House of the Mines, in
+order that the payments which were due should be made upon their return.
+The King also ordered that a hundred _crusadoes_ should be paid to
+each of the married men for them to leave it to their wives, and forty
+crusadoes to each of the single men, for them to fit themselves out with
+certain things; for, as to provisions, they had not got to lay them
+in, for the ships were full of them. To the two brothers was paid a
+gratification of two thousand crusadoes to each of them, and a thousand
+to Nicolas Coelho.
+
+When it was the day of our Lady of March (the 25, 1497), all heard mass;
+they then embarked, and loosened the sails, and went forth from the
+river, the King coming out to accompany them in his boat, and addressing
+them all with blessings and good wishes. When he took leave of them, his
+boat lay on its oars until they disappeared, as is shown in the painting
+of his city of Lisbon. Vasco da Gama went in the ship São Rafael, and
+Paulo da Gama in the São Gabriel, and Nicolas Coelho in the other ship,
+São Miguel. In each ship there were as many as eighty men, officers and
+seamen, and the others of the leader's family, servants and relations,
+all filled with the desire to undertake the labor that was fitting for
+each, and with great trust in the favors which they hoped for from the
+King on their return to Portugal.
+
+Paulo da Gama, as he went out with the Lisbon river, hauled down the
+royal standard from the masthead; but at the great supplications of his
+brother, who gave him good reasons why it was fitting that he should
+carry it, he again hoisted it. The two companions, standing out to sea,
+as I have said, made their way toward Cape Verd, and for that purpose
+they stood well out to sea to make the coast, which they knew they would
+find, as it advanced much to seaward, as they learned from the sailors
+who had been in the caravels of Janinfante. They ran as far as they
+could to sea in the direction of the wind, to double the land without
+difficulty; and thus they navigated until they made the coast, and,
+having reconnoitred it, they tacked and stood out to sea, hauling on the
+bowline as much as they could, as so they ran for many days.
+
+And as it seemed to them that now they could double the land, they again
+tacked toward the coast, also on the bowline, against the wind, until
+they again saw the coast, much farther on than where the caravels had
+reached, which the masters knew from the soundings which they got written
+down from the voyage of Janinfante, and the days which they found to have
+less sun by the clocks. Having well ascertained this, they stood out
+again to sea; thus forcing the ships to windward, they went so far out to
+the sea toward the south that there was almost not six hours of sunlight
+in the day; and the wind was very powerful, so that the sea was very
+fearful to see, without ever being smooth either by day or night, but
+they always met with storms, so that the crews suffered much hardship.
+After a month that they had run on this tack, they stood into shore and
+went as long as they could, all praying to the Lord that they might have
+doubled beyond the land; but when they again saw it they were very sad,
+though they found themselves much advanced by the signs of the soundings
+which the pilots took, and they saw land of another shape which they had
+not before seen.
+
+Seeing that the coast ran out to sea, the masters and pilots were in
+great confusion, and doubtful of standing out again to sea, saying that
+the land went across the sea and had no end to it. This being heard of by
+Vasco da Gama--according, as it was presumed, to the information he had
+from the Jew Zacuto--he told the pilots that they should not imagine such
+a thing, and that without doubt they would find the end of that land, and
+beyond it much sea and lands to run by, and he said to them: "I assure
+you that the cape is very near, and, with another tack standing out to
+sea, when you return you will find the cape doubled." This Vasco da Gama
+said to encourage them, because he saw that they were much disheartened,
+and with the inclination to wish to put back to Portugal. So he ordered
+them to put the ships about to sea, which they did, much against their
+will; for which reason Vasco da Gama determined to stand on this tack so
+long as to be able to double the end of the land, and besought all not to
+take account of their labors, since for that purpose they had ventured
+upon them; and that they should put their trust in the Lord that they
+would double the cape.
+
+Thus he gave them great encouragement, without ever sleeping or taking
+repose, but always taking part with them in hardship, coming up at the
+boatswain's pipe as they all did. So they went on standing out to sea
+till they found it all broken up with the storm, with enormous waves and
+darkness. As the days were very short, it always seemed night; the masts
+and shrouds were stayed, because with the fury of the sea the ships
+seemed every moment to be going to pieces. The crews grew sick with fear
+and hardship, because also they could not prepare their food, and all
+clamored for putting back to Portugal, and that they did not choose to
+die like stupid people who sought death with their own hands; thus they
+made clamor and lamentation, of which there was much more in other ships.
+But the captains excused themselves, saying that they would do nothing
+except what Vasco da Gama did; and he and his companions underwent great
+labor.
+
+As he was a very choleric man, at times with angry words he made them be
+silent, although he well saw how much reason they had at every moment to
+despair of their lives; and they had been going for about two months on
+that tack, and the masters and pilots cried out to him to take another
+tack; but the captain-major did not choose, though the ships were now
+letting in much water, by which their labors were doubled, because the
+days were short and the nights long, which caused them increased fear of
+death; and at this time they met with such cold rains that the men could
+not move. All cried out to God for mercy upon their souls, for now they
+no longer took heed of their lives. It now seemed to Vasco da Gama that
+the time was come for making another tack, and he comforted himself very
+angrily, swearing that if they did not double the cape he would stand out
+to sea again as many times until the cape was doubled, or there should
+happen whatever should please God. For which reason, from fear of this,
+the masters took much more trouble to advance as much as they could; and
+they took more heart on nearing the land, and escaping from the tempest
+of the sea; and all called upon God for mercy, and to give them guidance,
+when they saw themselves out of such great dangers.
+
+Thus approaching the land, they found their labor less and the seas
+calmer, so they went on running for a long time, steering so as to make
+the land and to ease the ships, which they were better able to do at
+night when the captain slept, which the other ships did also, as they
+followed the lantern which Vasco da Gama carried; at night the ships
+showed lights to one another so as not to part company. Seeing how much
+they had run, and did not find the land, they sailed larger so as to make
+it; and as they did not find it, and as the sea and wind were moderate,
+they knew they had doubled the cape; on which great joy fell among them,
+and they gave great praise to the Lord on seeing themselves delivered
+from death. The pilots continued to sail more free, spreading all the
+sails; and, running in this manner, one morning they sighted some
+mountain peaks which seemed to touch the clouds; at which their pleasure
+was so great that all wept with joy, and all devoutly on their knees said
+the _Salve_. After running all day till night, they were not able to
+reach it, and discovered great mountain ridges; so, as it was night, they
+ran along the coast, which lay from east to west; and they took in all
+the sails, only running under large sails, for these were the orders of
+the captain-major.
+
+The next day at dawn they again set all the sails and ran to the land, so
+that at midday they saw a beach which was all rocky, and, running along
+it, they saw deep creeks, and such large bays that they could not see the
+land at the end of them; they also found the mouths of great rivers, from
+which water came forth to the sea with a powerful current; here also,
+near the land, they found many fish, which they killed with fish-spears.
+The watchmen in the tops were always on the lookout to see if there were
+shoals ahead. The crews grew sick with fever from the fish which they
+ate, on which account they ate no more. The pilots, on heaving the lead,
+found no bottom; so they ran on for three days, and at night they kept
+away from the land and shortened sail.
+
+Sailing in this manner, they fell in with the mouth of a large river, and
+the captain-major ordered a boat to be lowered, and the pilot to sound
+the entrance of the river; and he said it was superfluous, because if
+there was a shoal it would be burst through. Then they took in the sails,
+excepting the great one with which they entered the river, which was very
+large; and they went up it, the boat going before and sounding, and,
+approaching land, where they found twelve fathoms, they anchored. There
+they found very good fish, for the river was of fresh water; but in the
+whole of the river they found no beach, for there was nothing but rocks
+and crags. Then Vasco da Gama went to see his brother, and so did Nicolas
+Coelho, and they all dined with great satisfaction, talking of the
+hardships they had gone through.
+
+When they had finished dining, Vasco da Gama ordered Nicolas Coelho to go
+in his boat up the river to see if he found any village. He went up more
+than five leagues, without finding anything besides many streams which
+came from between the mountains to pour into the river; there were no
+woods in the country, nothing but stones on both sides of the river; upon
+which he returned to the captain-major. Then the following day, before
+the morning, Vasco da Gama again ordered Nicolas Coelho to go in a boat
+with sails and oars, and with provisions to eat, and told him to go as
+far as the head of the river, to see if he could find anyone to speak to,
+to learn what country they were in. He went up the river a distance of
+more than twenty leagues, and returned without having found anything.
+
+Then they decided on going out again, and they took in water and wood of
+the dry trees, which it seems the river brings down when it comes from
+the mountain. On that account the captain-major wished himself in person
+to discover the river up to its head, to see whence could come those
+trees which they found there dry, but the masters said this would be a
+labor without profit, and that they ought to go out of the river and make
+for the country which they wished to seek, and they would find it. This
+seemed good to the captain-major, and they came out of the river, with
+much labor, as the wind was contrary and entered the mouth of the river.
+The strong current of the river, which went out to sea, alone assisted
+them, and with it they went outside without sails, only towing with the
+boats which guided them.
+
+When the ships returned to sea they ran along the coast with great
+precaution, and a good lookout not to run upon any shoals, and they
+entered other great rivers and bays; and they explored everywhere and
+searched without ever being able to meet with people, nor boats in the
+seas, for all the country was uninhabited; and in entering and leaving
+the rivers they endured much fatigue, and were much vexed at not being
+able to learn in what country they were. With these detentions and delays
+they wasted much time, and spent all the summer of that country, so they
+had to run along the coast because winds were favorable for going ahead,
+for they were westerly. And because they found everything desolate,
+without people by land or sea, they agreed unanimously not to enter any
+more rivers, but to run ahead, and thus they did; for by day they ran
+under full sail, drawing so near to the land as possible to see if they
+could make out any village or beach, which as yet they had not seen; and
+by night they stood away to sea and ran under shortened sail. Navigating
+in this manner, the wind began to moderate, and fell calm altogether,
+which happened in November, when they had to struggle with another wind,
+with which they stood out to sea, fearing some contrary storm might
+arise; then, taking in all sail, they lay waiting for the springing up of
+another wind, so they went increasing their distance from the land till
+they lost sight of it; for the wind increased continually, and the sea
+rose greatly, for then the winter of that country was setting in.
+
+The masters, seeing that the weather was freshening, took counsel as to
+returning to land and putting into some river until meeting with a change
+of weather. This they did, and, putting about to the land, the wind
+increased so much that they were afraid of not finding a river in which
+to shelter, and of being lost. On which account they again stood out to
+sea, and made ready the ships to meet the storm which they saw rising
+every moment, so that the water should not come in, with ropes made fast
+to the masts, and with the shrouds passed over the yards so that the
+masts should remain more secure; and they took away all the pannels from
+the tops, and the sails, so as not to hold the wind; the small sails and
+the lower sails all struck, and with the foresails only they prepared to
+weather the storm.
+
+Seeing the weather in this state, the pilot and master told the
+captain-major that they had great fear on account of the weather because
+it was becoming a tempest, and the ships were weak, and that they thought
+they ought to put in to land and run along the coast and return to seek
+the great river into which they had first entered, because the wind was
+blowing that way, and they could enter it for all that there was a storm.
+But when the captain-major heard of turning backward he answered them
+that they should not speak such words, because, as he was going out of
+the bar at Lisbon, he had promised to God in his heart not to turn back a
+single span's breadth of the way which he had made; that on that account
+they should not speak in that wise, as he would throw into the sea
+whomsoever spoke such things. At which the crew, in despair, abandoned
+themselves to the chances of the sea, which was broken up with the
+increase of the tempest and rising of the gale, which many times chopped
+round, and blew from all parts, and at times fell; so that the ships were
+in great peril from their great laboring in the waves, which ran very
+high. Then the storm would again break with such fury that the seas rose
+toward the sky, and fell back in heavy showers which flooded the ships.
+The storm raging thus violently, the danger was doubled; for suddenly the
+wind died out, so that the ships lay dead between the waves, lurching
+so heavily that they took in water on both sides; and the men made
+themselves fast not to fall from one side to the other; and everything in
+the ships was breaking up, so that all cried to God for mercy.
+
+Before long the sea came in with more violence, which increased their
+misfortune, with the great difficulty of working the pumps; for they were
+taking in much water, which entered both above and below; so they had no
+repose for either soul or body, and the crews began to sicken and die of
+their great hardships. At this the pilot and masters and all the people
+poured out cries and lamentations to the captains, urgently requiring
+them to put back and seek an escape from death, which they were certain
+of meeting with by their own will if they did not put about. To which the
+captains gave no other reply than that they would do no such thing unless
+the captain-major did it. The captain-major, seeing the clamors of his
+crew, answered them with brave words, saying that he had already told
+them that backward he would not go, even though he saw a hundred deaths
+before his eyes; thus he had vowed to God; and let them look to it that
+it was not reasonable that they should lose all the labors which they had
+gone through up to this time; that the Lord, who had delivered them until
+now, would have mercy upon them; they should remember that they had
+already doubled the Cape of Storms and were in the region which they had
+come to seek, to discover India, on accomplishing which, and returning to
+Portugal, they would gain such great honor and recompenses from the King
+of Portugal for their children; and they should put their trust in God,
+who is merciful, and who, from one hour to another, would come with his
+mercy and give them fair weather, and that they should not talk like
+people who distrusted the mercy of God. But, although the captain-major
+always spoke to them these and other words of great encouragement, they
+did not cease from their loud clamor and protestations that he would give
+an account to God of their deaths of which he would be the cause, and of
+the leaving desolate their wives and children; all this accompanied by
+weeping and cries, and calls to God for mercy.
+
+While they went on this way with their souls in their mouths, the sea
+began to go down a little, and the wind also, so that the ships could
+approach to speak one another, and all clamored with loud cries that they
+should put about to seek some place where they could refit the ships, as
+they could not keep them afloat with the pumps. The crews of the other
+ships spoke with more audacity, saying that the captain-major was but one
+man, and they were many; and they feared death, while the captains
+did not fear it, nor took any account of losing their lives. The
+captain-major chose that the two other ships should know his design, and
+he said and swore by the life of the King his sovereign that from the
+spot where he then was he had not to turn back one span's breadth, even
+though the ships were laden with gold, unless he got information of that
+which they had come to seek, and that even if he had near there a very
+good port he would not go ashore, lest some of them should retire to a
+certain death on shore, allowing themselves to remain there, rather than
+go on with the ships trusting to the mercy of God, in which they had such
+small reliance that they made such exclamations from the weakness of
+their hearts, as if they were not Portuguese; on which account he would
+undeceive them all, for to Portugal they would not return unless they
+brought word to the King of that which he had so strongly commended to
+them, and that he took the same account of death as did any one of them.
+
+While they were at this point a sudden wind arose, with so great a
+concussion of thunder and darkness, and a stronger blast than they had
+yet experienced, and the sea rose so much that the ships could not see
+one another, except when they were upheaved by the seas, when they seemed
+to be among the clouds. They hung out lights so as not to part company,
+for the anxiety and fear which the captain-major felt was the losing
+one of the ships from his company, so that the seamen would put back to
+Portugal by force, as, indeed, they had very much such a desire in their
+hearts.
+
+But the captains took very great care of this, because Vasco da Gama,
+before going out to Lisbon, when conversing alone with the Jew Zacuto
+in the monastery, had received from him much information as to what he
+should do during his voyage, and especially recommendations of great
+watchfulness never to let the ships part company, because if they
+separated it would be the certain destruction of all of them.
+
+Vasco da Gama took great care of this, personally, and by means of his
+servants and relations in whom he trusted; and this they attended to with
+much greater solicitude after they heard the sailors say that they were
+many, and the captains only a few single men, and in fact they had in
+their minds such an intention of rising up against the captains, and
+by force putting back to Portugal, and they thought that, if it became
+necessary to arrest them for this and bring them before the King, he
+would have mercy upon them, and, should they not find mercy, they
+preferred rather to die there where their wives and children and fathers
+were, and in their native country, and not in the sea to be eat by the
+fishes. With such thoughts they all spoke to one another secretly,
+determining to carry it out, and trusting that the King would not hang
+them all for the good reasons which they would give him; or else to
+secure their lives they would go to Castile until they were pardoned.
+This was the greatest insolence they were guilty of; and so they decided
+upon executing their plan. In taking this decision they did not perceive
+the danger of death, into which they were going more than ever.
+
+In the ship of Nicolas Coelho there was a sailor who had a brother who
+lived with Nicolas Coelho, and was foster-brother of a son of his; and
+the sailor brother told this boy of what they had all determined to do.
+This boy, being very discreet, said to his brother that they should all
+preserve great secrecy, so as not to be found out, for it was a case
+of treason, and he warned his brother not to tell anyone that he had
+mentioned such a thing to him. The boy, on account of the affection which
+he had for his master Nicolas Coelho, discovered the matter to him in
+secret, and he at once gave the boy a serious warning to be very discreet
+in this matter, that they should not perceive that he had told him
+anything of the kind. With the firm determination which Nicolas Coelho at
+once formed to die sooner than allow himself to be seized upon, he became
+very vigilant both by day and night, and warned the boy to try to learn
+with much dissimulation all that they wanted to do and by what means. The
+boy told him that they would not do it unless they could first concert
+with the other ships, so that they all should mutiny; at that Nicolas
+Coelho remained more at ease, but was always very much on his guard for
+himself.
+
+As the storm did not abate, but rather seemed to increase, and as the
+cries and clamor of the people were very great, beseeching him to put
+back, Nicolas Coelho dissembled with them, saying: "Brothers, let us
+strive to save ourselves from this storm, for I promise you that as soon
+as I can get speech with the captain-major I will require him to put
+back, and you will see how I will require it of him." With this they
+remained satisfied. Some days having passed thus with heavy storms, the
+Lord was pleased to assuage the tempest a little and the sea grew calm,
+so that the ships could speak one another; and Nicolas Coelho, coming
+up to speak, shouted to the captain-major that "it would be well to put
+about, since every moment they had death before their eyes, and so many
+men who went in their company were so piteously begging with tears and
+cries to put back the ships. And if we do not choose to do so, it would
+be well if the men should kill or arrest us, and then they would put back
+or go where it was convenient to save their lives; which we also ought to
+do. If we do not do it, let each one look out for himself, for thus I do
+for my part, and for my conscience' sake, for I would not have to give an
+account of it to the Lord."
+
+Paulo da Gama, who also had come up within speaking distance, heard all
+this. When they had heard these words of Nicolas Coelho, who, on ending
+his speech, at once begun to move away, the captain-major answered him
+that he would hold a consultation with the pilot and his crew, and that,
+whatever he determined to do, he would make a signal to him of his
+resolution. During this time they lay hove to in the smooth water,
+because the wind never changed from its former point. Vasco da Gama, as
+he was very quick-witted, at once understood what Nicolas Coelho's words
+meant, and called together all the crew, and said to them that he was not
+so valiant as not to have the fear of death like themselves, neither was
+he so cruel as not to feel grieved at heart at seeing their tears and
+lamentations, but that he did not wish to have to give account to God
+for their lives, and for that reason he begged them to labor for their
+safety, because if the bad weather came again he had determined to put
+back, but, to disculpate himself with the King, it was incumbent upon
+him to draw up a document of the reasons for putting back, with their
+signatures.
+
+At this they all raised their hands to heaven, saying that its mercy was
+already descending upon them, since it was softening the heart of the
+captain-major and inclining him to put back, and they said they all would
+sign the great service which he would render to God and to the King by
+putting back. Then the captain-major said that there was no need of the
+signatures of all, but only of those who best understood the business
+of the sea. Then the pilot and master named them, and they were three
+seamen. Upon this the captain-major retired to his cabin, and told his
+servants to stand at the door of the cabin, and put inside the clerks
+to draw up the document, and ordered the three seamen to enter; and,
+dissembling, he made inquiries as to returning to port, and all was
+written down and they signed it. He then ordered them to go down below
+to another cabin which he had beneath his own for a store-cabin, and he
+ordered the clerk to go down also with them, and he summoned the master
+and pilot and ordered them below also, telling them to go and sign, as
+the clerk was there.
+
+Then he called up the seamen, one by one, and ordered them to be put in
+irons by his servants in his cabin, and heavy irons for the master and
+pilot. All being well ironed and bound, the captain-major turned them
+out, and called all the men, ordering the master and pilot at once to
+give up to him all the articles which they had belonging to the art of
+navigation, or, if not, that he would at once execute them. Being greatly
+afraid they gave everything up to him. Then Vasco da Gama, holding the
+instruments all in his hand, flung them into the sea and said: "See here,
+men, that you have neither master nor pilot, nor anyone to show you the
+way from henceforward, because these men whom I have arrested will return
+to Portugal below the deck, if they do not die before that [for he was
+aware that they had agreed among one another to rise up and return by
+force to Portugal, and on that account had cast everything into the sea];
+and I do not require master nor pilot, nor any man who knows the art of
+navigation, because God alone is the master and pilot who has to guide
+and deliver us by his mercy if we deserve it, and, if not, let his will
+be done. To him you must commend yourselves and beg mercy. Henceforward
+let no one speak to me of putting back, for know from me for a certainty
+that, if I do not find information of what I have come to seek, to
+Portugal I do not return."
+
+Seeing and hearing these things, the crew became much more terrified, and
+with much greater fear of death, which they held as certain, not having
+either pilot or master, nor anyone who knew how to navigate a ship. Then
+the prisoners and all the crew on their knees begged him for mercy, with
+loud cries; the prisoners saying that they, being ignorant men and of
+faint heart, had come to an understanding to put the ship about and
+return to the King and offer themselves for death, if he chose to give it
+them, and they would have taken him a prisoner, that the King might see
+that he was not to blame for putting back; but this was not to have been
+done, except with the will of all the people of the other ships; but
+since God had discovered this to him before they had carried it out, let
+him show them clemency; for well they saw that they deserved death
+from him, which was more than the chains which they bore. All the crew
+frequently called out to him for clemency, and not to put the prisoners
+below the decks, where they would soon die. Then the captain-major,
+showing that he only did it at their entreaty, and not for any need which
+he had of them, ordered them to remain in their cabins in the forecastle,
+still in irons, and forbade their giving any directions for the
+navigation of the ship, except only for the trimming of the sails and the
+work of the ship.
+
+Vasco da Gama then ran alongside of the other ships and spoke them,
+saying that he had put his pilot and master in irons, in which he would
+bring them back to the kingdom, if God pleased that they should return
+there; and, that they should not imagine that he had any need of their
+knowledge, he had flung into the sea all the implements of their art of
+navigation, because he placed his hopes in God alone, who would direct
+them and deliver them from the perils among which they were going, and
+on that account, since he had now made his men secure, let them secure
+themselves as they pleased; and without waiting for an answer he sheered
+off.
+
+Nicolas Coelho felt great joy in his heart on hearing from the
+captain-major that he had got his pilot and master thus secured from
+rising against him, since he had put them in irons; and without much
+dissimulation he spoke to master and pilot and seamen, saying that he was
+much grieved at the captain-major's way of treating his ship's officers,
+whom he stood so much in need of in the labors they were undergoing, but
+what he had done was because of his being of so strong and thorough a
+temperament, as they all knew, and he had not chosen to wait for them to
+make entreaty for the liberty of the prisoners, but that whenever the
+ships again spoke one another he would do this. This all the crew
+begged him to do, with loud cries of mercy, since they would follow the
+flag-ship wherever it went. This Nicolas Coelho promised them, so they
+remained contented.
+
+Paulo da Gama had other conversations with the officers of his ship, with
+much urbanity, for he was a man of gentle disposition; he also promised
+them that he would entreat his brother on behalf of the prisoners, and
+bade all pray God for the saving of their lives, and that all would end
+well; so that all remained consoled.
+
+While these things were happening the wind did not shift its direction,
+but, the sea being smoother, the ships were more easy, though they let
+in so much water that they never left off pumping. The captain-major saw
+this and that the ships had an absolute need of repairs; and also because
+they had no more water to drink, because, with the tossing about in the
+storm, many barrels had broken and given way; under such great pressure,
+he stood in to land under sail, for the weather was moderate and was
+beginning to be favorable; all were praying to God for mercy, and that he
+would grant them a haven of safety. Which God was pleased to do in his
+mercy, for presently he showed them land, at which it seemed that all
+were resuscitated from the death which they looked upon as certain if the
+ships were not repaired. After that the wind came free, and they sailed
+along the land for several days without finding where to put in; this was
+now in January of the year 1498. Thus they ran close to the land, with a
+careful lookout, for they did not dare to leave the land, from the great
+peril in which the ships were from the great leakage.
+
+Proceeding in this way, one day they found themselves at dawn in the
+mouth of a large river, into which the captain-major entered, for
+he always went first; and all entered, and found within a large bay
+sheltered from all winds, in which they anchored, and all exclaimed three
+times, "The mercy of the Lord God!" for which reason they gave this river
+the name of the River of Mercy. Here they soon caught much good fish,
+with which the sick improved, as it was fresh food, and the water of the
+river was very good.
+
+Now, at this time, in all the ships there were not more than a hundred
+fifty men, for all the rest had died. Soon after arriving at this place
+the captain-major went to see his brother and Nicolas Coelho, and they
+conversed, relating their hardships; and Nicolas Coelho related the
+treason which his men were preparing, to take him prisoner and return
+to Portugal, and they did not do it from the fear they had that the
+captain-major would follow after them, and if he caught them would have
+hanged them all; and they only waited for all to agree to mutiny; and he
+had sought those feigned words which he had spoken, and it had pleased
+God that Vasco da Gama had understood them, so that by his imprisoning
+his officers at once all had remained secure. So all gave praise to the
+Lord for having delivered them from such great perils.
+
+Then they settled about refitting the ships, for they had all that was
+necessary for doing it. Although they had a beach and tides for laying
+the ships aground, for greater security it was ordered that they should
+be heeled over while afloat, and thus it was arranged for by all of them.
+While they were on the quarter deck, Paulo da Gama entreated his brother
+to set the prisoners at liberty, which he did, setting free the sailors,
+and the master and pilot, with the condition that, if God should bring
+them back to Lisbon, when he went before the King he would present them
+to him in the same manner in chains, not to do them any harm, but only
+that his difficulties might be credited, and that for this he would
+give him greater favors; at which all the crews felt much satisfaction.
+Afterward they spoke with all the officers, and arranged for careening
+the ships, and went to look at them.
+
+They found there was no repairing the ship of Nicolas Coelho, as it had
+many of the ribs and knees broken. For that reason they at once decided
+to break it up; and then they cut out its masts, and much timber and
+planks of the upper works, which, with the yards and spars of the other
+ships, they lashed together and fastened, and made a great frame, which
+they put under the side of the ship to raise it more out of the water;
+for this purpose they then discharged from the captain-major's ship into
+that of his brother, which was brought alongside, all that they could of
+the stores and goods; and everything heavy below decks they put on one
+side of the ship, which caused it to heel over very much, and with the
+timber under the side, and the tackle fitted to the main-mast, they
+canted the ship over on one side so much that they laid her keel bare;
+and on the outer side they put planks, upon which all the crew got to
+work at the ship, some cleaning the planks from the growth of sea-weed,
+others extracting the calking, which was quite rotten, from the seams;
+and the calkers put in fresh oakum and then pitched it over, for they had
+a stove in a boat where they boiled the pitch.
+
+The captains were occupied with their own work day and night, and gave
+much food and drink to the crews, so that they used such despatch that in
+one day and one night, by morning they had finished one side of the ship,
+very well executed, though with great labor in drawing out the water from
+the ship, which leaked very much lying thus on one side. When she was
+upright they turned her over on the other side, and did the same work,
+much better performed because the ship did not leak so much; and when it
+was completed and the ship upright, it was so sound and water-tight that
+for two days there was no water in the pump.
+
+Then they loaded it again with its stores, and transshipped to it the
+stores of the other ship, upon which they executed the before-mentioned
+calking and repairs, so that it became like new. They then fitted them
+inside with several knees and ribs and inner planking, and all that was
+requisite, with great perfection, and collected the yards, spars, and
+all that they had need of belonging to the ship São Miguel; and the
+captain-major took Nicolas Coelho on board of his ship, entertaining
+him well. They then took away from the ship much wood for their use and
+beached the ship, and took away its rudder and undid it, and stowed away
+its wood and iron-works, in case of its being wanted for the other ships,
+because they had all been built of the same pattern and size, as a
+precaution that all might be able to take advantage of any part of them.
+Then they burned the ship in order to recover the nails, which were in
+great quantity, and a great advantage for other necessities which they
+met with later.
+
+After they had thus repaired the ships, the captain-major sent Nicolas
+Coelho with twenty men in a boat to go and discover the river; and he,
+after ascending it for two leagues, found woods and verdure, and farther
+on he found some canoes which were fishing, and the men in them were
+dark, but not very black; they were naked, having only their middles
+covered with leaves of trees and grass. These men, when they saw the
+boat, came to it and entered it in a brutish manner, and were in a
+state of amazement. No one knew how to speak to them, and they did not
+understand the signs which were made to them. So Nicolas Coelho made them
+go back to their canoes, and returned to the ships, but of the canoes
+one followed after the boat, and the others returned to take the news to
+their villages. These men who came with the boat, at once, without
+any fear, entered the ship and sat down to rest, as if they were old
+acquaintance; no one knew how to speak to them. Then they gave them
+biscuit and cakes and slices of bread with marmalade; this they did not
+understand until they saw our people eat, then they ate it, and, as they
+liked the taste, they ate in a great hurry, and would not share with one
+another. While this was going on they saw many canoes coming, and larger
+ones, with many of those people also naked, with tangled hair like
+Kaffirs, without any other arms than some sticks like half lances,
+hardened in the fire, with sharp points greased over.
+
+The captain-major, seeing the other canoes coming, ordered the first
+come to go to their canoe, which they did unwillingly, and went out and
+remained to speak with those that were arriving, and went their way. The
+others arrived, and all wanted to come on board; as they were more than a
+hundred, the captain-major would not allow them, only ten or twelve, who
+brought some birds which were something like hens, and some yellow fruit
+of the size of walnuts, a very well-tasted thing to eat, which our men
+would not touch, and they, seeing that, ate them for our people to see,
+who, on tasting them, were much pleased with them; they killed one of the
+birds, and found it very tender and savory to eat, and all its bones were
+like those of a fowl. The captain-major ordered biscuit and wine to be
+given them, which they would not touch till they saw our people drink. He
+also ordered a looking-glass to be given them; and when they saw it they
+were much amazed, and looked at one another, and again looked at the
+mirror, and laughed loudly and made jokes, and spoke to the others who
+were in the canoe.
+
+They went away with the looking-glass, highly delighted, and left six
+birds and much of the fruit, and all went away; and in the afternoon they
+came again, but bringing a quantity of those birds, at which our men
+rejoiced very much, and filled hencoops with them, because they gave them
+and were satisfied with anything that was given them, especially white
+stuffs; so that the seamen cut their shirts in pieces, with which they
+bought so many of these birds that they killed and dried them in the sun,
+and they kept very well. Here it was observed that in this river there
+were no flies, for they never saw any all the time they were there, which
+was twenty days; and they went away because the crew began to fall ill.
+It seems that it was from that fruit, which was very delicious to eat;
+and the principal ailment was that their gums swelled and rotted, so that
+their teeth fell out, and there was such a foul smell from the mouth that
+no one could endure it. The captain-major provided a remedy for this, for
+he ordered that each one should wash his mouth with his own water each
+time he passed it, by doing which in a few days they obtained health.
+
+The captain-major made a hole with pickaxes in a stone slab at the
+entrance of this river, and set up a marble pillar, of which he had
+brought many for that purpose, which had two escutcheons, one of the arms
+of Portugal, and another, on the other side, of the sphere, and letters
+engraved in the stone which said, "Of the Lordship of Portugal, Kingdom
+of Christians." The captain-major, seeing how much the seamen and masters
+and pilots worked, especially his own, notwithstanding the imprisonment
+which he had inflicted upon them, when he was about to quit this River
+of Mercy, made them all come to his ship, where he addressed them all,
+beseeching them not to suffer weakness to enter their hearts, which would
+induce them to wish to commit another such error by harboring thoughts of
+treason, which is so hideous before God, and always brings a bad end to
+those who engage in it; he said that he well saw that faint-heartedness
+was the cause of what had passed, and that he forgave all. And that since
+the Lord had been pleased to deliver them from so many dangers as they
+had passed up to that time, by his great mercy, therefore they should put
+their trust in him, who would conduct them in such manner as to obtain
+the result which they were going in search of; by which they would gain
+such great honors and favors as the King would grant them on their return
+to Portugal; and he would present them to the King, and would relate
+their great labors and services, and that they ought to bear in
+remembrance these great advantages, which would be such a cause of
+rejoicing for all of them. They, with tears of joy, all answered, "Amen,
+amen, may the Lord so will it of his great mercy." And they weighed
+anchors and went out of the river with a land-breeze.
+
+Sailing with a fair wind, they got sight of land, which the pilots
+foretold before they saw it; this was a great mountain which is on the
+coast of India, in the kingdom of Cananor, which the people of the
+country in their language call the mountain Delielly, and they call it of
+the rat, and they call it Mount Dely, because in this mountain there were
+so many rats that they never could make a village there. As it was the
+custom to give the fees of good news to the pilots when they see the
+land, they gave to each of the pilots a robe of red cloth and ten
+testoons; and they went on approaching the land until they saw the beach,
+and they ran along it and passed within sight of a large town of thatched
+houses inside a bay, which the pilots said was named Cananor, where many
+skiffs were going about fishing, and several came near to see the ships
+and were much surprised and went ashore to relate that these ships had so
+much rigging and so many sails and white men; which having been told to
+the King he sent some men of his own to see, but the ships had already
+gone far, and they did not go.
+
+In this country of India they are much addicted to soothsayers and
+diviners, especially on this coast of India, which is named the country
+of Malabar, and they call these diviners _canayates_. According to what
+was known later, there had been in this country of Cananor a diviner so
+diabolical, in whom they believed so much, that they wrote down all that
+he said, and preserved it like prophecies which would come to pass. They
+held a legend from him in which it was said that the whole of India would
+be taken and ruled over by a very distant king, who had white people, who
+would do great harm to those who were not their friends; and this was
+to happen a long time later, and he left signs of when it would be. In
+consequence of the great disturbance caused by the sight of these ships,
+the King was very desirous of knowing what they were, and he spoke to his
+diviners, asking them to tell him what ships were those and whence they
+came. The diviners conversed with their devils, and told him that the
+ships belonged to a great king and came from very far; and according to
+what they found written, these were the people who were to seize India
+by war and peace, as they had already told him many times, because the
+period which had been written down was concluded. The King, much moved,
+asked them whether his kingdom would receive much injury. They replied
+that our people would do no harm except to those who did it to them.
+
+Upon this the King became very thoughtful, and talked of this frequently
+with his people, who very much contradicted what the diviners said, and
+they told him not to believe them, for in this they never hit upon the
+truth, because at the time that our ships arrived more than four hundred
+years had elapsed since in one year more than eight hundred sail of large
+and small ships had come to India from the ports of Malacca and China and
+the Lequeos, with people of many nations, and all laden with merchandise
+of great value, which they brought for sale; and they had come to
+Calicut, and had run along the coast and had gone to Cambay; and they
+were so numerous that they had filled the country, and had settled as
+dwellers in all the towns of the sea-coast, where they were received and
+welcomed like merchants, which they were. When those people arrived thus
+on the coast of Malabar everybody considered that they were the people
+whom their prophecies mentioned as those who would take India, and they
+had inquired of the diviners, who, looking at their records, told them
+not to be afraid, since the time when India was to be taken had not yet
+arrived.
+
+Thus it was; for those people had gone over all India, trading and
+selling their merchandise during many years, in which many of them
+married and established their abodes and became naturalized in the
+country, and mixed up with the inhabitants of the country. Many others
+returned to their own country, and as no more ever arrived, they went on
+diminishing in number, until they came to an end; but a numerous progeny
+remained from them, and because they were people of large property, and
+numerous in the towns where they resided, they had a quarter set apart,
+like as in Portugal and Castile in other times there used to be Jewries
+and Moorish quarters set apart; and they built houses for their idols,
+sumptuous edifices, which are to be seen at this day; and in the space
+of a hundred years there did not remain one. All this they had got thus
+recorded in their legends, and since at that time so many people did not
+take India, how was it to be taken now by people who came from such a
+distance, and who would not come in sufficient numbers to be able to
+conquer it? and they mocked at what the soothsayers said. But the King,
+who put great trust in them, and whose heart divined what was going to
+come to pass, spoke to a soothsayer in whom he placed great belief,
+and told him to look and see upon what grounds he made his assertions;
+because, if it was as he had been saying, he would labor to establish
+peace with the Portuguese in such a manner as to make his kingdom secure
+forever, and in this he would spend part of his treasure. The soothsayer
+answered: "Sire, I am telling you the truth, that these men will not
+bring so many people with them to seize upon countries and realms, but
+those who come, in whatever number they may be, will be able to prevail
+more with their ships than all as many as go upon the sea, on which
+account they must be masters of the sea, in which case of necessity
+the people of the land must obey them; and when they shall have become
+powerful at sea, what will happen to your kingdom if you have not secured
+peace with them? I tell you the truth, and you will see it with your
+eyes; and now follow what counsel you please."
+
+The King answered, "My heart tells me that you are speaking the truth,
+and I will do that which is incumbent upon me." The diviner said to him,
+"If before five years you do not see that I have told you the truth,
+order my head to be cut off." Upon which the King remained quite
+convinced, and determined in his heart to establish with the Portuguese
+all the peace and friendship that was possible. And because soon after
+news arrived that our people were at the city of Calicut, which is twelve
+leagues from Cananor, the King sent men to Calicut who always came to
+tell him of what happened there to our men.
+
+The ships continued running along the coast close to land, for the coast
+was clear, without banks against which to take precautions; and the
+pilots gave orders to cast anchor in a place which made a sort of bay,
+because there commenced the city of Calicut. This town is named Capocate,
+and on anchoring there a multitude of people flocked to the beach, all
+dark and naked, only covered with cloths half way down the thigh, with
+which they concealed their nakedness. All were much amazed at seeing what
+they had never before seen. When news was taken to the King he also came
+to look at the ships, for all the wonder was at seeing so many ropes and
+so many sails, and because the ships arrived when the sun was almost set;
+and at night they lowered out the boats, and Vasco da Gama went at once
+for his brother and Nicolas Coelho, and they remained together conversing
+upon the method of dealing with this King, since here was the principal
+end which they had come to seek; it seemed to him that it would be best
+to comport himself as an ambassador, and to make him his present, always
+saying that they had been separated from another fleet which they came
+to seek for there, and that the captain-major had come and brought him
+letters from the King.
+
+This they agreed upon together, and that Vasco da Gama should go on shore
+with that message sent by the captain-major, who carried the standard at
+the peak; they also talked of the manner in which these things were to be
+spoken of. When all was well decided upon, Nicolas Coelho returned to the
+ship, and Vasco da Gama remained with his brother talking with the Moor
+Taibo (the broker), who told him not to go on shore without hostages;
+that such was the custom of men who newly arrived at the country; and
+the Moor said that this King of Calicut was the greatest king of all the
+coast of India, and on that account was very vain, and he was very rich
+from the great trade he had in this city.
+
+[Footnote 1: Translated from the Portuguese by Henry E. J. Stanley.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Herodotus tells us that Phoenicians rounded this cape as
+early as B.C. 605.]
+
+
+
+COLUMBUS DISCOVERS SOUTH AMERICA
+
+A.D. 1498
+
+CLEMENTS ROBERT MARKHAM
+
+
+On September 25, 1493, Columbus sailed from Palos and began his second
+voyage of discovery. He had seventeen vessels and about fifteen hundred
+men. In November he discovered Dominica in the West Indies. Arriving at
+La Navidad, Española (Haiti), he found that the colony which he had left
+there on returning from his first visit had been killed by the Indians.
+At a point farther east he founded Isabella, the first European town in
+the New World.
+
+In April, 1594, he, sailed westward and along the south shore of Cuba,
+which he mistook for a peninsula of Asia. He next discovered Jamaica, and
+in September returned to Isabella. The Indians rose in rebellion
+against the Spaniards, who had ill-used them, and Columbus quelled the
+insurrection, in a battle on the Vega Real, April 25, 1495. He had before
+planned for the enslavement of hostile Indians, an act from which his
+reputation has somewhat suffered.
+
+Owing to hardship and discontent, some of the colonists carried
+complaints to Spain. Bishop Fonseca, who had charge of colonial affairs,
+upheld the complainants, and in 1495 Juan Aguado was sent as royal
+commissioner to Española. Aguado prepared a report, fearing the effects
+of which, Columbus returned to Spain at the same time (1496) with him. A
+brother of Columbus was left in charge of the government at Española. The
+Spanish sovereigns, Ferdinand and Isabella, dismissed the charges against
+Columbus, and on May 30, 1498, he sailed from San Lucar on his third
+voyage to the New World.
+
+The great navigator was no longer the powerful, enduring man of six years
+before. Exposure, months of sleepless watching, anxiety, and tropical
+fevers had at length done their work. The bright intellect, the vivid
+imagination, the great heart, the generous nature, would be the same
+until death, but the constitution was shattered. The admiral now suffered
+from ophthalmia, gout, and a complication of diseases. The last six years
+of his life were destined to be a time of much and cruel suffering,
+aggravated by ingratitude, perfidy, and injustice.
+
+In fitting out the third expedition every petty annoyance and obstruction
+that the malice of Bishop Fonseca could invent was used to thwart and
+delay the admiral. Each subordinate official knew that insolence to the
+object of the Bishop's envy and dislike, and neglect of his wishes, were
+the surest ways to the favor of his chief. One creature of Fonseca, named
+Jimeno de Briviesca, carried his insolence beyond the bounds of the
+endurance even of the dignified and long-suffering admiral, who very
+properly took him by the scruff of the neck on one occasion and kicked
+him off the poop of the flag-ship. The delays of Fonseca and his agents
+caused incalculable injury to the public service, as will presently
+appear.
+
+The sovereigns had ordered that six million maravedis--about ten
+thousand dollars--should be granted for the equipment of the expedition,
+and that eight vessels should be provided. The contractor for provisions
+was Jonato Berardi, a Florentine merchant settled at Seville; and, owing
+to his death, the contracting work fell upon his assistant Amerigo
+Vespucci, who was very actively employed on this service from April,
+1497, to May, 1498. In 1492 Vespucci came to Spain as a partner of an
+Italian trader at Cadiz named Donato Nicolini, and he afterward became
+the chief clerk or agent of Berardi. It was thus that Columbus first
+became acquainted with Amerigo Vespucci, when the admiral had reached the
+ripe age of forty-five. As for his provisions, a good deal of the meat
+turned bad on the voyage, and the contract was not very satisfactorily
+carried out. It is strange that this beef and biscuit contractor should
+have given his name to the New World, but perhaps not more strange than
+that a bacon contractor should be the patron saint of England and of
+Genoa.
+
+The admiral was most anxious to despatch supplies and re-enforcements to
+his brother, and he succeeded in sending off two caravels in advance,
+under the command of Hernandez Coronel, who had been appointed chief
+magistrate of Espafiola. The other vessels consisted of two naos, or
+ships of a hundred tons, and four caravels. After months of harassing and
+unnecessary delay, they dropped down the Guadalquiver from Seville and
+the admiral sailed. He touched at Porto Santo and Madeira, and reached
+Gomera on May 19th. Columbus had become aware, through information
+collected from the natives of the islands, that there was extensive land,
+probably a continent, to the southward. He had also received a letter
+from a skilled and learned jeweller named Jaime Ferrer, dated August 5,
+1495, in which it was laid down that the most valuable things came from
+very hot countries, where the natives are black or tawny. These and other
+considerations led him to determine to cross the Atlantic on a lower
+parallel than he had ever done before; and he invoked the Holy Trinity
+for protection, intending to name the first land that was sighted in
+their honor. But he was impressed with the importance of sending help to
+the colony without delay.
+
+He therefore detached one ship and two caravels from Gomera to make the
+voyage direct. The ship was commanded by Alonzo Sanchez de Carbajal of
+Baeza. One caravel was intrusted to Pedro de Arana, brother of Beatriz
+Enriquez and brother-in-law of the admiral. The other had for her captain
+a Genoese cousin, Juan Antonio Colombo. It will be remembered that
+Antonio, the brother of Domenico Colombo and uncle of the admiral,
+lived at the little coast village of Quinto, near Genoa, and had three
+sons--Juan Antonio, Mateo, and Amighetto. When these cousins heard of the
+greatness and renown of Christopher, they thought at least one of them
+might get some benefit from his prosperity. So the younger ones gave all
+the little money they could scrape together to enable the eldest to go to
+Spain. His illustrious kinsman welcomed him with affection, and as he
+was a sailor he received charge of a caravel, in which trust he proved
+himself, as Las Casas tells us, to be careful, efficient, and fit for
+command. The three vessels sailed from Gomera direct for Española on June
+21st. Columbus continued his voyage of discovery with one vessel and two
+caravels. Pero Alonzo Niño, the pilot of the Niña in the first voyage,
+was with him. Herman Perez Matteos was another pilot, and there were a
+few other old shipmates in the squadron. The admiral touched at Buena
+Vista, one of the Cape de Verd Islands, remaining at anchor for a few
+days, and on July 5th he sailed away into the unknown ocean, for many
+days on a south-west course. His intention was to go south as far as the
+latitude of Sierra Leone, 8° 30' N., and then to steer west until he
+reached land.
+
+After ten days the vessels were in regions of calms, and the people began
+to suffer from the intense heat. The sun melted the tar of the rigging,
+and the seams of the decks began to open. For days and days the scorching
+heat continued, but at length there were some refreshing showers, and
+light breezes sprang up from the west. But their progress was very slow,
+and their stock of water nearly exhausted. So the admiral ordered the
+course to be altered to northwest, in hopes of reaching Dominica. It was
+July 31st, the people were parched with thirst, and yet no land had been
+seen. In the afternoon of that day the admiral's servant, Alonzo Perez
+of Huelva, went to the masthead, and reported land in the shape of three
+separate peaks. Columbus had declared his intention of naming the first
+land sighted after the Holy Trinity, and the coincidence of its appearing
+in the form of three peaks made a deep impression on his mind. The island
+of Trinidad retains its name to this day. The admiral gave heartfelt
+thanks to God, and all the crews chanted the _Salve Regina_ and other
+hymns of prayer and praise. Meanwhile the little squadron glided through
+the water, approaching the newly discovered land, and Columbus named the
+most eastern point "Cabo de la Galera," by reason of a great rock off it,
+which at a distance looked like a galley under sail. All along the coast
+the trees were seen to come down to the sea, the most lovely sight that
+eyes could rest on; and at last, on August 1st, an anchorage was found,
+and they were able to fill up with water from delicious streams and
+fountains. The main continent of South America was seen to the south,
+appearing like a long island, and it received the name of "Isla Santa."
+The point near the watering-place was called "Punta de la Playa."
+
+The western end of the island was named "Punta del Arenal," and here an
+extraordinary phenomenon presented itself. A violent current was rushing
+out through a channel or strait not more than two leagues wide, causing
+great perturbation of the sea, with such an uproar of rushing water that
+the crews were filled with alarm for the safety of the vessels. The
+admiral named the channel "La Boca de la Sierpe." He piloted his little
+squadron safely through it and reached the Gulf of Paria, named by him
+"Golfo de la Ballena." The land to the westward, forming the mainland
+of Paria, received the name of "Isla de Gracia." Standing across to the
+western side of the Gulf, the admiral was delighted with the beauty of
+the country and with the view of distant mountains. Near a point named
+"Aguja" the country was so fruitful and charming that he called it
+"Jardines," and here he saw many Indians, among them women wearing
+bracelets of pearls, and when they were asked whence the pearls were
+obtained they pointed to the westward. As many pearls as could be
+bartered from the natives were collected for transmission to the
+sovereigns, for here was a new source of wealth, another precious
+commodity from the New World.
+
+Columbus was astonished at the vast mass of fresh water that was pouring
+into the Gulf of Paria. He correctly divined the cause, and made the
+deduction that a river with such a volume of water must come from a great
+distance. His prescient mind showed him the mighty river Orinoco, the
+wide savannas, and the lofty range of the Andes; but the trammels of the
+erroneous measurements of astronomers bound them to Asia, and prevented
+him from picturing them to himself in the New World he had really
+discovered. That the land must be continuous appeared to be proved, not
+only from the deductions of science, but also from the Word of God. For
+he believed it to be established from the revealed Word (II Esdras vi.
+42) that the ocean only covered one-seventh of the globe, and that the
+other six-sevenths was dry land. Moreover, his splendid intellect was
+united with a powerful imagination. When he had grasped the facts with
+masterly intuition, his fancy often raised upon them some strange theory,
+derived partly from his extensive reading, partly from his own teeming
+brain. Thinking that a long and rapid course was insufficient to account
+for the volume of water and the violence of the currents, he conceived
+the idea that the earth, though round, was not a perfect sphere, and that
+it rose in one part of the equinoctial line so as to be somewhat of a
+pear shape. Thus he accounted for the exceptional volume of water by the
+motion of rivers flowing down from the end of the pear. One step farther
+in the realms of fancy, and he indulged in a dream that this centre and
+apex of the earth's surface, with its mighty rivers, could be no other
+than the terrestrial paradise. Writing as one thought coursed after
+another in his teeming fancy, we find these passing whims of a vivid
+imagination embodied in the journal intended for the information of the
+sovereigns.
+
+But time was passing on, and it was important that he should convey the
+provisions with which his vessels were loaded to his infant colony. He
+had seen that another narrow channel led from the northern side of the
+gulf, and had named it "Boca del Dragon." On August 12th he had piloted
+his vessels to the Punta de Paria, and prepared to pass through the
+channel. At that critical moment it fell calm, while the two currents
+flowed violently toward the opening, where they met and formed a broken,
+confused sea. But the admiral made use of the currents, and by the
+exercise of consummate seamanship took his three vessels clear of the
+danger and out into the open sea. The islands of Tobago and Granada were
+sighted, receiving the names of "Asuncion" and "Concepcion." Then the
+rocks and islets to the westward came in view, named the "Testigos" and
+"Guardias," and the island "Margarita." The latter name shows that the
+admiral had obtained the correct information from the natives of Paria
+respecting the locality of the pearl-fishery.
+
+The admiral now crowded all sail to reach Espanola, intending to make a
+landfall at the mouth of the river Azuma, where he knew that his brother,
+the Adelantado (Governor), had founded the new city, and named it Santo
+Domingo, in memory of their old father, Domenico Colombo. But the current
+carried him far to the westward, and on August 19th he sighted the coast
+fifty leagues to leeward of the new capital. On hearing of his arrival on
+the coast, Bartolome got on board a caravel and joined him; but it was
+not until the 31st that the two brothers entered San Domingo together,
+the admiral for the first time. Young Diego, the third and youngest
+brother, welcomed them on their arrival. The admiral had been absent for
+two years and a half, during which time the Adelantado had conducted the
+government of the colony with remarkable vigor and ability. Yet, owing
+to the mutinous conduct of the worst of the settlers, there was a very
+disastrous report to make.
+
+When the Adelantado assumed the command on the departure of the admiral
+for Spain in March, 1496, his first step, in compliance with the
+instructions he had received, was to proceed to the valley on the south
+side of the island, in which the gold mine of Hayna was situated, and to
+build a fort, which he named "San Cristoval." He next, having received
+supplies and reënforcements, together with letters from the admiral,
+by the caravels under Nino, took steps for the foundation of the new
+capital. Still following his brother's instructions, he selected a site
+at the mouth of the river Azuma, where there were good anchorage in
+the bay and a fertile valley along the banks of the river. On a bank
+commanding the harbor a fortress was erected, and named "Santo Domingo,"
+while the city was subsequently built on the east bank of the river. It
+became the capital of the colony. Before long Isabella, on the north
+coast, was entirely abandoned. Trees soon grew upon the streets and
+through the roofs of the houses. It presented a scene of wild desolation,
+and ghosts were believed to wander in crowds through the abandoned city.
+Ruins of the house of Columbus, of the church, and the fort can still be
+traced out by those who penetrate into the dense jungle which now covers
+that part of the coast.
+
+The next proceeding of the indefatigable Adelantado was the settlement of
+the beautiful province of Xaragua, forming the southwestern portion of
+the island. It was ruled over by a chief named Behechio, with whom dwelt
+the famous Anacaona, his sister, widow of Caonabo, but, unlike that
+fierce Carib, a constant friend of the Spaniards. Behechio met the
+Adelantado in battle array on the banks of the river Neyva, the eastern
+boundary of his dominions. But as soon as they were informed that the
+errand of the Spanish Governor was a peaceful one, both Behechio and
+Anacaona, who was a princess of great ability and of a most amiable
+disposition, received him with cordial hospitality. When, after a time,
+he opened the subject of tribute to them, they showed opposition. But
+Bartolome proved himself to be a masterly diplomatist, and in the end
+Behechio not only consented to impose a tribute, the details of which
+were amicably arranged, but undertook to collect and deliver it
+periodically to the Spanish authorities. These Indians were quite ready
+to submit to beings who appeared to be superior in power and intelligence
+to themselves. If the sovereigns of Spain had trusted Columbus and his
+brothers fully and completely, had established trading-stations and
+imposed a moderate tribute, and had absolutely prohibited the overrunning
+of the country by penniless and worthless adventurers, they would have
+had a rich and prosperous colony. The discontent and rebellion of the
+natives were solely caused by the misconduct of the Spaniards.
+
+An insurrection broke out in the Vega Real, headed by the chief
+Guarionex, who, after suffering innumerable wrongs from the Spaniards,
+was at last driven to desperation by an outrage on his wife. He assembled
+a number of dependent caciques, but the news was promptly communicated
+to the garrison of Fort Concepcion and forwarded to Santo Domingo. The
+Adelantado stamped out the rebellion with his accustomed vigor. He came
+by forced marches to Concepcion, and thence, without stopping, to the
+camp of the natives, who were completely taken by surprise. Guarionex and
+the other caciques were captured, and their followers dispersed. Always
+generous after victory, Bartolome Columbus released Guarionex at the
+prayer of his people, a measure which was alike magnanimous and politic.
+But it was impossible to rule over the natives satisfactorily unless
+the Spanish settlers could be forced to submit to the laws, and the
+Adelantado was not powerful enough to keep the bad characters in
+subjection. The loyal and decent men of the colony were in a small
+minority. The consequence was that the unfortunate Guarionex was again
+goaded into insurrection. On the approach of the Adelantado he fled into
+the mountains of Ciguey, on the northeast coast, and took refuge with a
+dependent cacique named Mayobanex, whose residence was near Cape Cabron,
+the western extreme of the Samana peninsula. A difficult and arduous
+mountain campaign followed, which Bartolome conducted with remarkable
+military skill. It ended in the capture and imprisonment of both the
+chiefs.
+
+Behechio now announced that he had collected the required tribute,
+consisting of a very large quantity of cotton, and that it was ready for
+delivery. The Adelantado therefore proceeded to Xaragua, and not only
+found this great store of cotton, but received an offer from the generous
+chief to supply him with as much cassava-bread as he needed for the
+use of the colony. This was a most acceptable present, for the lazy,
+ill-conditioned settlers had neglected to cultivate their fields, and a
+famine was imminent. The Adelantado ordered a caravel to be sent round to
+Xaragua to be freighted with cotton and bread, and returned himself to
+Isabella after taking a cordial farewell of his native friends. He had
+shown extraordinary talent in his government of the native population,
+and his rule had been a complete success. Always moderate in victory, he
+had suppressed the insurrections without bloodshed, and had conciliated
+the people by his moderation. He had made long and difficult marches,
+had subdued opposition by his readiness of resource and energy, and had
+administered the native affairs with humanity and excellent judgment.
+
+Unfortunately his power was insufficient to cope successfully with the
+insubordinate Spaniards. The ringleader of the mutineers was Francisco
+Roldan, a man whom Columbus had raised from the dust. He had been a
+servant; and the admiral, noting his ability, had intrusted him with some
+judicial functions. When he sailed for Spain he appointed Roldan chief
+justice of the colony. This ungrateful miscreant fostered discontent and
+mutiny by every art of persuasion and calumny at his command, and soon
+had a large band of worthless and idle ruffians ready to follow his lead.
+His first plan was to murder the Adelantado and seize the government, but
+he lacked the courage or the opportunity to put it into execution. His
+next step was to march into the Vega Real with seventy armed mutineers,
+and attempt to surprise Fort Concepcion. The garrison was commanded by a
+loyal soldier named Miguel Ballester, who closed the gates and defied the
+rebels, sending to the Adelantado for help. Bartolome at once hastened to
+his assistance, and on his arrival at Fort Concepcion he sent a messenger
+to Roldan, remonstrating with him, and urging him to return to his
+duty. But Roldan found his force increasing by the adhesion of all the
+discontented men in the colony, and his insolence increased with his
+power. All would probably have been lost but for the opportune arrival of
+Pedro Hernandez Coronel in February, 1498, who had been despatched
+from San Lucar by the admiral in the end of the previous year with
+reënforcements. He also brought out the confirmation of Bartolome's rank
+as Adelantado.
+
+The Adelantado was thus enabled to leave Fort Concepcion and establish
+his head-quarters at Santo Domingo. He sent Coronel as an envoy to
+Roldan, to endeavor to persuade him to return to his duty; but the
+mutineer feared to submit, believing that he had gone too far for
+forgiveness. He marched into the province of Xaragua, where he allowed
+his dissolute followers to abandon themselves to every kind of excess.
+The three caravels which had been despatched from Gomera by the admiral
+unfortunately made a bad landfall, and appeared off Xaragua. Roldan
+concealed the fact that he was a leader of mutineers, and, receiving the
+captains in his official capacity, induced them to supply him with stores
+and provisions, while his followers busily endeavored to seduce the
+crews, and succeeded to some extent. When Roldan's true character was
+discovered, the caravels put to sea with the loyal part of their crews,
+while Alonzo Sanchez de Carbajal, a loyal and thoroughly honest man, who
+was zealous for the good of the colony, remained behind to endeavor to
+persuade Roldan to submit to the admiral's authority. He only succeeded
+in obtaining from him a promise to enter into negotiations with a view to
+the termination of the deplorable state of affairs he had created, and
+with this Carbajal proceeded to Santo Domingo.
+
+Such was the state of affairs when Columbus arrived at the new seat of
+his government. His brother had ruled with ability and vigor during his
+absence, had administered native affairs very successfully, but his power
+had been insufficient to subdue the band of Spanish miscreants who
+were still in open mutiny. The admiral was filled with grief and
+disappointment at the turn affairs had taken. A thoroughly loyal man
+himself, with no thought or desire but for the good of the colony, he
+was thwarted by treacherous miscreants, who cared for nothing but the
+accumulation of riches for themselves, and a life of indulgence and
+licentious ease. After long consideration he resolved upon a policy of
+conciliation. The unsettled state of affairs was bringing ruin on the
+island, and the restoration of peace was an absolute necessity. The
+magnanimous Genoese was incapable of personal resentment. The men
+themselves were, indeed, beneath his contempt; but he felt bound to treat
+with them, and even to make great concessions, if necessary, for the good
+of the public service. The welfare of the colony was his sole object, and
+he did not hesitate to sacrifice every personal feeling to his sense of
+duty. It is with some impatience that one finds the grand schemes of
+discovery and colonization interrupted by such contemptible means, and
+the course of the narrative checked by the necessity for recording,
+however briefly, the paltry dissensions of vile miscreants such as Roldan
+and his crew.
+
+The mutineers were most unwilling to make any agreement. They were
+leading the sort of lawless and licentious life that exactly suited them,
+and were disinclined to submit to any authority. The interests of
+their leaders, however, were not quite the same, and the acceptance of
+advantageous terms would suit them. Carbajal was employed by the admiral
+to conduct the negotiations, while the veteran Ballester returned to
+Spain in November, 1498, with the news of the rebellion, and a request
+from the admiral that a learned and impartial judge might be sent out to
+decide all disputes.
+
+It was finally agreed that Roldan should return to his duty, still
+retaining the office of chief justice; that all past offences should be
+condoned, and that he and his followers should receive grants of land,
+with the services of the Indians. The admiral consented to these terms
+most unwillingly, and under the conviction that this was the only way to
+avoid the greater evil of civil dissension. He resolved, however, that
+any future outbreak must be firmly and vigorously suppressed by force.
+Although Roldan had now resumed his position as a legitimate official
+ready to maintain order, it could hardly be expected that his fatal
+example would not be followed by other unprincipled men of the same stamp
+when the opportunity offered.
+
+Trouble arose owing to the conduct of a young Castilian named Hernando
+de Guevara. Roldan was established in Xaragua, when the youthful gallant
+arrived at the house of his cousin, Adrian de Mujica, one of the
+ringleaders in Roldan's mutiny, and fell in love with Higueymota, the
+daughter of Anacaona. Guevara, for some misconduct, had been ordered by
+the admiral to leave the island, but instead of obeying he had made his
+way to Xaragua, and caused trouble by this love passage, for he had a
+rival in Roldan himself, who ordered him to desist from the pursuit of
+the daughter of Anacaona, and to return to Santo Domingo. Guevara refused
+to obey, but he was promptly arrested and sent as a prisoner to the
+capital. When his cousin Mujica, who was then in the Vega Real, received
+the news, he raised a mutiny, offering rewards to the soldiers if they
+would follow him in an attempt to rescue Guevara. The admiral, though
+suffering from illness, showed remarkable energy on this occasion.
+Marching very rapidly at the head of eighteen chosen men, he surprised
+the mutineers, captured the ringleader, and carried him off to the
+fort of Concepcion. Some severity had now become incumbent upon the
+authorities, and Mujica was condemned to death. The admiral regretted the
+necessity, but in no other way could a motive be supplied to deter
+others from keeping the country in a constant state of lawless disorder.
+Guevara, Riqueline, and other disorderly characters were imprisoned
+in the fort at Santo Domingo, and by August, 1500, peace was quite
+established throughout the island.
+
+Thus had Columbus restored tranquillity to the colony. By prudent and
+conciliatory negotiations, during which he had exercised the most
+wonderful self-abnegation and patience, he had succeeded in averting the
+serious danger caused by the formidable revolt of Roldan. But as the
+habit of disorder was threatening to become chronic, he wisely took
+another way with the sedition of Mujica, maintaining order by a resort
+to prompt and vigorous action, and making a salutary example which was
+calculated to be deterrent in its effects.
+
+With the restoration of peace, trade revived and prosperity began to
+return. The receivers of grants of land found that they had a stake
+in the country, and sought to derive profit from their crops. Similar
+activity appeared at the mines, and the building at Santo Domingo
+progressed rapidly. The admiral began to hope that the first troubles
+incident to an infant colony were over, and that the time had arrived
+for Spain to feel the advantages of his great achievement. He now
+looked forward to further and more important discoveries followed by
+colonization on the main continent.
+
+Yet at this very time a blow was about to come from a quarter whence it
+was least to be expected, which was destined to shatter all the hopes
+of this long-suffering man, and dissipate all his bright visions of the
+future[1].
+
+[Footnote:1 On the arrival (August 24, 1500) of Francisco de Boabdilla as
+royal commissioner, he deposed Columbus and his brothers and sent them in
+chains to Spain. Although they were immediately released, Columbus was
+not reinstated in his dignities. His fourth and final voyage (1502-1504)
+came far short of his anticipations].
+
+
+
+ESTABLISHMENT OF SWISS INDEPENDENCE
+
+A.D. 1499
+
+HEINRICH ZSCHOKKE
+
+
+The powerful family of the Hapsburgs, still rulers of the Tyrol, or
+eastern portion of the Alps, long claimed authority over the western part
+as well. The severity of their rule led to an organized resistance on the
+part of the mountaineers, and the natural strength of the country secured
+to its defenders victory after victory. The battles of Morgarten
+(1315) and of Sempach (1386) were each accepted as final by their own
+generation; but the house of Hapsburg never formally relinquished its
+ancient rights, and its heads grew in power. From being dukes of Austria
+they advanced to be hereditary emperors of all Germany, and at length in
+1499 the powerful Emperor Maximilian determined to enforce his double
+authority as duke and emperor. His projects were encouraged by the
+discord rife among the little states or cantons which composed the Swiss
+league.
+
+The following account of the war that ensued is from the pen of a
+well-known Swiss historian, and is perhaps colored by rather more
+enthusiasm and racial pride than historic accuracy. Yet the struggle was
+final. Never after did German or Austrian dispute the independence of the
+Swiss. The unfortunate consequences brought by success upon the natives
+are not only true, but profoundly worthy of note.
+
+Fortunately danger and trouble soon appeared from abroad. This united all
+the cantons anew, and was therefore salutary.
+
+Maximilian I of Austria was Emperor of Germany. He had received from
+France the country of Lower Burgundy, and, to hold it more securely,
+incorporated it with the German empire as a single circle. He wished to
+make Switzerland, also, such a German imperial circle. The Confederates
+refused, preferring to remain by themselves as they had been until then.
+In Swabia, the existing states had formed a league among themselves
+for the suppression of small wars and feuds. This pleased the politic
+Emperor; by becoming an associate, he placed himself at the head of the
+league, which he was able to direct for the aggrandizement of his house
+of Austria. He desired that the Confederates, also, should enter the
+Swabian League. The Swiss again refused, preferring to remain by
+themselves as before.
+
+The Emperor was irritated at this, and at Innspruck he said to the
+deputies of the Confederates: "You are refractory members of the empire;
+some day I shall have to pay you a visit, sword in hand." The deputies
+answered and said: "We humbly beseech your imperial majesty to dispense
+with such a visit, for our Swiss are rude men, and do not even respect
+crowns."
+
+The boldness of the Confederates wounded the Swabian League no less. Many
+provocations and quarrels took place, here and there, between the people
+on the borders, so that the city of Constance, for her own security,
+joined the Swabian League. For, one day, a band of valiant men of
+Thurgau, incited by the bailiff from Uri, had tried to surprise the city,
+in order to punish her for her bravadoes against the Swiss.
+
+Neither were the Austrians good neighbors to the Grisons. The Tyrol
+and Engadine were constantly discussing and disputing about markets,
+privileges, and tolls. Once, indeed, in 1476, the Tyrolese had marched
+armed into the valley of Engadine, but were driven back into their own
+country, through the narrow Pass of Finstermunz, with bloody heads. Now
+there was a fresh cause of quarrel. In the division of the Toggenburger
+inheritance, the rights of Toggenburg in the Ten Jurisdictions had fallen
+to the counts of Matsch, Sax, and Montfort, and afterward, 1478-1489, by
+purchase, to the ducal house of Austria. Hence much trouble arose.
+
+As the Grisons had equal cause with the Confederates to fear the power
+and purposes of Emperor Maximilian, the Gray League, 1497, and that of
+God's House, 1498, made a friendly and defensive alliance with Zurich,
+Lucerne, Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden, Zug, and Glarus. The Ten Jurisdictions
+dared not join them for fear of Austria.
+
+Then the Emperor restrained his anger no longer. And, though already
+burdened with a heavy war in the Netherlands, he sent fresh troops into
+the Tyrol, and the forces of the Swabian League advanced and hemmed in
+Switzerland from the Grison Pass, near Luziensteig, between the Rhetian
+mountains and Germany, along the Lake of Constance and the Rhine, as far
+as Basel.
+
+Then Switzerland and Rhetia were in great danger. But the Grisons rose
+courageously to defend their freedom, as did all the Confederates. The
+Sargansers, also, and the Appenzellers hastened to the Schollenberg; the
+banners of Valais, Basel, and Schaffhausen soon floated in view of the
+enemy. No man stayed at home.
+
+It was in February, 1499, that the strife began. Then eight thousand
+imperialists entered the Grison territory of Munsterthal and Engadine;
+Louis of Brandis, the Emperor's general, with several thousand men,
+surprised and held the Pass of Luziensteig, and, by the treachery of
+four burghers, the little city of Maienfeld. But the Grisons retook the
+Luziensteig, and eight hundred Swabians here found their death; the rest
+fled to Balzers. Then the Confederates passed the Rhine near Azmoos, and,
+with the Grisons, obtained a great victory near Treisen. The Swabian
+nobility, with ten thousand soldiers, were posted near St. John's, at
+Hochst and Hard, between Bregenz and Fussach. Eight thousand Confederates
+killed nearly half of the enemy's army, ascended as far as the forests
+of Bregenz, and imposed contributions on the country. Ten thousand other
+Confederates passed victoriously over the Hegau, and in eight days burned
+twenty villages, hamlets, and castles. Skirmish followed quickly upon
+skirmish, battle upon battle.
+
+The enemy, indeed, issuing from Constance, succeeded in surprising the
+Confederate garrison of Ermatingen while asleep, and in murdering in
+their beds sixty-three defenceless men. But they bloodily expiated
+this in the wood of Schwaderlochs, whence eighteen thousand of them,
+vanquished by two thousand Confederates, fled in such haste that the city
+gates of Constance were too narrow for the fugitives, and the number
+of their dead exceeded that of the Swiss opposed to them. A body of
+Confederates on the upper Rhine penetrated into Wallgau, where the enemy
+were intrenched near Frastenz, and, fourteen thousand strong, feared
+not the valor of the Swiss. But when Henry Wolleb, the hero of Uri, had
+passed the Langengasterberg with two thousand brave men, and burned the
+strong intrenchment, his heroic death was the signal of victory to the
+Confederates. They rushed under the thunder of artillery into the ranks
+of Austria and dealt their fearful blows. Three thousand dead bodies
+covered the battle-field of Frastenz. Such Austrians as were left alive
+fled in terror through woods and waters. Then each Swiss fought as though
+victory depended on his single arm; for Switzerland and Swiss glory, each
+flew joyously to meet danger and death, and counted not the number of the
+enemy. And wherever a Swiss banner floated, there was more than one like
+John Wala of Glarus, who, near Gams in Rheinthal, measured himself singly
+with thirty horsemen.
+
+The Grisons, also, fought with no less glory. Witness the Malserhaide in
+Tyrol, where fifteen thousand men, under Austrian banners, behind strong
+intrenchments, were attacked by only eight thousand Grisons. The ramparts
+were turned, the intrenchments stormed. Benedict Fontana was first on the
+enemy's wall. He had cleared the way. With his left hand holding the wide
+wound from which his entrails protruded, he fought with his right and
+cried: "Forward, now, fellow-leaguers! let not my fall stop you! It is
+but one man the less! To-day you must save your free fatherland and
+your free leagues. If you are conquered, you leave your children in
+everlasting slavery." So said Fontana and died. The Malserhaide was full
+of Austrian dead. Nearly five thousand fell. The Grisons had only two
+hundred killed and seven hundred wounded.
+
+When Emperor Maximilian, in the Netherlands, heard of so many battles
+lost, he came and reproached his generals, and said to the princes of the
+German empire: "Send to me auxiliaries against the Swiss, so bold as
+to have attacked the empire. For these rude peasants, in whom there is
+neither virtue nor noble blood nor magnanimity, but who are full of
+coarseness, pride, perfidy, and hatred of the German nation, have drawn
+into their party many hitherto faithful subjects of the empire."
+
+But the princes of the empire delayed to send auxiliaries, and the
+Emperor then learned, with increasing horror, that his army sent over the
+Engadine mountains to suppress the Grison League had been destroyed in
+midsummer by avalanches, famine, and the masses of rock which the
+Grisons threw down from the mountains; then that on the woody height of
+Bruderholz, not far from Basel, one thousand Swiss had vanquished more
+than four thousand of their enemies; that, shortly after, in the same
+region near Dornach, six thousand Confederates had obtained a brilliant
+victory over fifteen thousand Austrians, killing three thousand men, with
+their general, Henry of Furstenberg. Then the Emperor reflected that
+within eight months the Swiss had been eight times victorious in eight
+battles. And he decided to end a war in which more than twenty thousand
+men had already fallen, and nearly two thousand villages, hamlets,
+castles, and cities been destroyed.
+
+Peace was negotiated and concluded on September 22, 1499, in the city of
+Basel. The Emperor acknowledged the ancient rights and the conquests
+of the Confederates, and granted to them, moreover, the ordinary
+jurisdiction over Thurgau, which, with the criminal jurisdiction and
+other sovereign rights, had, until then, belonged to the city of
+Constance. Thenceforward the emperors thought no more of dissolving the
+Confederacy, or of incorporating it with the German empire. In the
+fields of Frastenz, of Malserhaide, and Dornach were laid the first
+foundation-stones of Swiss independence of foreign power.
+
+The confederated cantons thankfully acknowledged what Basel and
+Schaffhausen had constantly done in these heroic days for the whole
+Confederacy, and that warlike Appenzell had never been backward at the
+call of glory and liberty. Therefore Basel, June 9, 1501, and flourishing
+Schaffhausen, August 9, 1501, were received into the perpetual Swiss
+bond, and finally, 1513, Appenzell, already united in perpetual alliance
+with most of the cantons, was acknowledged as coequal with all the
+Confederates.
+
+Thus, in the two hundred fifth year after the deed of William Tell, the
+Confederacy of the Thirteen Cantons was completed. But Valais and Grisons
+were considered as cantons allied to the Confederacy, as were St. Gallen,
+Muhlhausen, Rothweil in Swabia, and other cities--all free places,
+subject to no prince--united with the Swiss by a defensive alliance.
+
+At that period, the thirteen cantons of the Swiss Confederacy were not
+yet, as now, equal in virtue of the bond, nor bound together directly by
+one and the same covenant. They were properly united only with the three
+cantons of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden, as with a common centre, but
+among themselves by special treaties. Each canton was attentive to its
+own interests and glory, seldom to those of the others or to the welfare
+of the whole Confederacy. Fear of the ambition and power of neighboring
+lords and princes had drawn them together more and more. So long as this
+fear lasted, their union was strong.
+
+As the governments were independent of each other so far as their
+covenants allowed, and of foreign princes also, they called themselves
+free Swiss. But within the country districts there was little freedom for
+the people. Only in the shepherd cantons--Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden,
+also Zug, Glarus, and Appenzell--did the country people possess equal
+rights, and, in the city cantons, only the burghers of the cities; and
+often, even among these latter, only a few rich or ancient families. The
+rest of the people, dependent on the cities, having been either purchased
+or conquered, were subjects, often indeed serfs, and enjoyed only the
+limited rights which they had formerly possessed under the counts and
+princes. Even the shepherd cantons held subjects, whom they, like
+princes, governed by their bailiffs. And the Confederate cantons and
+cities would by no means allow their subjects to purchase their freedom,
+as the old counts and lords had formerly permitted the Confederates
+themselves to do.
+
+But the people cared little for liberty; made rude and savage by
+continued wars, they loved only quarrels and combats, revels and
+debauchery, when there was no war in their own country. The young men,
+greedy of booty, followed foreign drums and fought the battles of princes
+for hire. There were no good schools in the villages, and the clergy
+cared little for this. Indeed, the morals of the clergy were often no
+less depraved than those of the citizens and country people; even in the
+convents great disorders frequently prevailed with great wealth. Many of
+the priests were very ignorant; many drank, gambled, and blasphemed; many
+led shameless lives.
+
+In the chief cities of the cantons, debauchery and dissipation were
+rife. There was much division between citizens and councillors; envy and
+distrust between the different professions. The lords, when once seated
+in the great and small councils--legislative and executive--cared more
+for themselves and their families than for the welfare of the citizens;
+they endeavored to advance their sons and relatives, and to procure
+lucrative offices for them. In all the cantons there were certainly some
+great, patriotic souls who preferred the interests of their country to
+their own, but no one listened to them.
+
+As Switzerland had now no foreign wars to fear, and the neighboring kings
+and princes were pleased to have in their armies Swiss, for whose life
+and death they cared much less than for the life and death of their own
+subjects, the principal families of the city and country cantons took
+advantage of these circumstances to open fountains of wealth for
+themselves. The desire of the kings to enlist valiant Swiss favored the
+avidity of the council lords, as did the wish of the young men to get
+booty. In spite of the positive prohibition of the magistrates, thousands
+of young men often enlisted in foreign service, where most of them
+perished miserably, because no one cared for them. Therefore the
+governments judged it best to make treaties with the kings for the
+raising of Swiss regiments, commanded by national officers, subject to
+their own laws and regularly paid, so that each government could take
+care of its subjects when abroad. "Confederates! you require a vent for
+your energies," had Rudolf Reding of Schwyz already said, when, years
+before, he saw the free life of the young men after the Burgundian war.
+
+Now began the letting out of Swiss, Grisons, and Valaisians to foreign
+military service, by their governments. The first treaty of this nature
+was made by the King of France, 1479-1480, with the Confederates in
+Lucerne. Next the house of Austria hired mercenaries, 1499; the princes
+of Italy did the same, as did others afterward. Even the popes themselves
+wanted a lifeguard of Swiss; the first, 1503, was Pope Julius II, who was
+often engaged in war.
+
+Switzerland suffered much from this course. Many a field remained
+untilled, many a plough stood still, because the husbandman had taken
+mercenary arms. And, if he returned alive, he brought back foreign
+diseases and vices, and corrupted the innocent by evil example, for
+he had acquired but little virtue in the wars. Only the sons of the
+patricians and council lords obtained captaincies, commands, and riches,
+by which they increased their influence and consideration in the land,
+and could oppress others. They prided themselves on the titles of
+nobility and decorations conferred by kings, and imagined these to be of
+value, and that they themselves were more than other Swiss.
+
+When the kings perceived the cupidity and folly of the Swiss, they
+took advantage of them for their own profit, sent ambassadors into
+Switzerland, distributed presents, granted gratifications and pensions to
+their partisans in the councils, and for these the council lords became
+willing servants of foreign princes. Then one canton was French, another
+Milanese; one Venetian, another Spanish; but rarely was one Swiss. This
+redounded greatly to the shame of the Swiss. When the German Emperor and
+the King of France were, at the same time, canvassing the favor of the
+cantons and bargaining in competition for troops, so great was the
+contempt or insolence of the French ambassador at Bern, 1516, that he
+distributed the royal pensions to the lords by sound of trumpet. At
+Freiburg he poured out silver crowns upon the ground, and, while he
+heaped them up with a shovel, said to the bystanders, "Does not this
+silver jingle better than the Emperor's empty words?" So much had love of
+money debased the Swiss.
+
+The twelve cantons, Appenzell being the only exception, were at one
+moment allied with Milan against France, at the next with France against
+Milan. Milan was rightly called the Schwyzer's grave. It was not unusual
+for Confederates to fight against Confederates on foreign soil, and to
+kill each other for hire. The ecclesiastical lord, Matthew Schinner,
+Bishop of Sion in Valais, a very deceitful man, helped greatly to
+occasion this. According as he was hired, he intrigued in Switzerland,
+sometimes for the King of France, sometimes against France for the
+Pope, who, in payment, even made him cardinal and ambassador to the
+Confederacy.
+
+The mercenary wars of the Swiss upon foreign battle-fields were not wars
+for liberty or for honor; but these hirelings of princes maintained
+their reputation for valor even there. With the aid of several thousand
+Confederates, the King of France subjected the whole of Lombardy in the
+space of twenty days. But the expelled Duke of the country soon returned
+with five thousand Swiss, whom he had enlisted contrary to the will of
+the magistracy, to drive out the French. Then the King of France received
+twenty thousand men from the cantons with whom he was allied; maintained
+himself in Italy, and gave to the three cantons, Uri, Schwyz, and
+Unterwalden, 1502-1503, the districts of Palenza, Riviera, and Bellenz.
+But, as soon as the King thought he could do without the Swiss, he
+paid them badly and irregularly. Cardinal Schinner, pleased at this,
+immediately shook a bag of gold, with fifty-three thousand guilders, in
+favor of the Pope and of Venice. At once, 1512, twenty thousand Swiss
+and Grisons crossed the high Alps and joined the Venetians against the
+French. The Grisons took possession of Valtelina, Chiavenna, and Bormio.
+They asserted that, a century before, an ejected duke of Milan had ceded
+these valleys to the bishopric of Coire. The Confederates of the twelve
+cantons subjected Lugano, Locarno, and Valmaggia. The French were driven
+out of Lombardy, and the young duke Maximilian Sforza, son of him who had
+been dispossessed by them, was reinstated in his father's inheritance at
+Milan. Victorious for him, the Confederates beat the French near Novara,
+June 6, 1513; two thousand Swiss fell, it is true, but ten thousand of
+the enemy. Still more murderous was the two-days' battle of Melegnano,
+September 14, 1515, in which barely ten thousand Swiss fought against
+fifty thousand French. They lost the battle-field, indeed, but not their
+honor. They sadly retreated to Milan, with their field-pieces on their
+backs, their wounded in the centre of their army. The enemy lost the
+flower of their troops, and called this action the "Battle of the
+Giants."
+
+Then the King of France, Francis I, terrified by a victory which
+resembled a defeat, made, in the next year, a perpetual peace with the
+Confederates, and, by money and promises, persuaded some to furnish
+him with troops; the others, that they would allow no enrolling by his
+enemies. Thus the Confederates once more helped him against the Emperor
+and Pope and against Milan, and the King concluded a friendly alliance
+with them in 1521. During many years they shed their blood for him on the
+battle-fields of Italy, without good result, without advantage, except
+that the Confederacy stood godmother to his new-born son. Each canton
+sent to Paris, for the _fête_, a deputy with a baptismal present of fifty
+ducats. More agreeable to the King than this present was the promptitude
+with which the Swiss sent sixteen thousand of their troops to his
+assistance in Italy. However, as they had lost, April 20, 1522, three
+thousand men near Bicocca; as of nearly fifteen thousand who entered
+Lombardy, 1524, hardly four thousand came back; as, finally, in the
+battle near Pajia, February 24, 1525, in which the King himself became
+prisoner to the Emperor, the Swiss experienced a fresh loss of seven
+thousand men, they by degrees lost all taste for Italian wars.
+
+
+
+AMERIGO VESPUCCI IN AMERICA A.D. 1499
+
+AMERIGO VESPUCCI
+
+
+It was the claim of Amerigo Vespucci that he accompanied four expeditions
+to the New World, and that he wrote a narrative of each voyage. According
+to Amerigo, the first expedition sailed from Spain in 1497; the second,
+of which his own account is here given, in 1499; both by order of
+King Ferdinand. Grave doubt has been thrown upon the first of these
+expeditions, the sole authority for which is Vespucci himself.
+
+The name America was given to two continents in honor of this naval
+astronomer on the authority of an account of his travels published in
+1507, in which he is represented as having reached the mainland in 1497.
+The justice of this naming has always been and still remains a matter of
+warm dispute among historical critics.
+
+But at the age of almost fifty--he was born in Florence in 1451--Vespucci
+unquestionably promoted and made a voyage to the New World. In May, 1499,
+he sailed from Spain with Alonzo de Ojeda, who commanded four vessels.
+During the summer they explored the coast of Venezuela ("Little Venice"),
+a name first given by Ojeda to a gulf of the Caribbean Sea, on the shores
+of which were cabins built on piles over the water, reminding him of
+Venice in Italy. Ojeda, who was but little acquainted with navigation,
+entered upon this voyage more as a marauding enterprise than an
+expedition of discovery, and he gladly availed himself of Amerigo's
+scientific ability. Vespucci was also able to command the financial
+support of his wealthy acquaintances. It is said that many of the former
+sailors of Columbus shipped with this expedition.
+
+The following account was written by Amerigo in a letter to Lorenzo Pier
+Francesco, of the Medici family of Florence, from whom Vespucci had held
+certain business commissions in Spain. Respecting this letter an Italian
+critic observes that "it is the most ancient known writing of Amerigo
+relating to his voyages to the New World, having been composed within a
+month after his return from his second voyage, and remaining buried in
+our archives for a long time. It is a precious monument, for without it
+we should have been left in ignorance of the great additions which he
+made to astronomical science. The most rigorous examination of this
+letter cannot bring to light the least circumstance proving anything for
+or against the accuracy of his first voyage. The diffidence with which
+he commences the matter is, however, a strong indication that he had
+previously written an account of his first voyage to the same Lorenzo de'
+Medici, to whom he addressed this communication."
+
+
+MOST EXCELLENT AND DEAR LORD:
+
+It is a long time since I have written to your excellency, and for
+no other reason than that nothing has occurred to me worthy of being
+commemorated. This present fetter will inform you that about a month ago
+I arrived from the Indies, by the way of the great ocean, brought, by the
+grace of God, safely to this city of Seville. I think your excellency
+will be gratified to learn the result of my voyage, and the most
+surprising things which have been presented to my observation. If I am
+somewhat tedious, let my letter be read in your more idle hours, as fruit
+is eaten after the cloth is removed from the table. Your excellency will
+please to note that, commissioned by his highness the King of Spain, I
+set out with two small ships, on May 18, 1499, on a voyage of discovery
+to the southwest, by way of the great ocean, and steered my course along
+the coast of Africa, until I reached the Fortunate Islands, which are
+now called the Canaries. After having provided ourselves with all things
+necessary, first offering our prayers to God, we set sail from an island
+which is called Gomera, and, turning our prows southwardly, sailed
+twenty-four days with a fresh wind, without seeing any land.
+
+At the end of these twenty-four days we came within sight of land, and
+found that we had sailed about thirteen hundred leagues, and were at that
+distance from the city of Cadiz, in a southwesterly direction. When we
+saw the land we gave thanks to God, and then launched our boats, and,
+with sixteen men, went to the shore, which we found thickly covered with
+trees, astonishing both on account of their size and their verdure, for
+they never lose their foliage. The sweet odor which they exhaled--for
+they are all aromatic--highly delighted us, and we were rejoiced in
+regaling our nostrils.
+
+We rowed along the shore in the boats, to see if we could find any
+suitable place for landing, but, after toiling from morning till night,
+we found no way or passage which we could enter and disembark. We were
+prevented from doing so by the lowness of the land, and by its being so
+densely covered with trees. We concluded, therefore, to return to the
+ships, and make an attempt to land in some other spot.
+
+We observed one remarkable circumstance in these seas.
+
+It was that at fifteen leagues from the land we found the water fresh
+like that of a river, and we filled all our empty casks with it. Having
+returned to our ships, we raised anchor and set sail, turning our prows
+southwardly, as it was my intention to see whether I could sail around a
+point of land which Ptolemy calls the Cape of Cattegara, which is near
+the Great Bay. In my opinion it was not far from it, according to the
+degrees of latitude and longitude, which will be stated hereafter.
+Sailing in a southerly direction along the coast, we saw two large rivers
+issuing from the land, one running from west to east, and being four
+leagues in width, which is sixteen miles; the other ran from south to
+north, and was three leagues wide. I think that these two rivers, by
+reason of their magnitude, caused the freshness of the water in the
+adjoining sea. Seeing that the coast was invariably low, we determined to
+enter one of these rivers with the boats, and ascend it till we either
+found a suitable landing-place or an inhabited village.
+
+Having prepared our boats, and put in provision for four days, with
+twenty men well armed, we entered the river, and rowed nearly two days,
+making a distance of about eighteen leagues. We attempted to land in
+many places by the way, but found the low land still continuing, and so
+thickly covered with trees that a bird could scarcely fly through them.
+While thus navigating the river, we saw very certain indications that the
+inland parts of the country were inhabited; nevertheless, as our vessels
+remained in a dangerous place in case an adverse wind should arise, we
+concluded, at the end of two days, to return.
+
+Here we saw an immense number of birds, of various forms and colors; a
+great number of parrots, and so many varieties of them that it caused us
+great astonishment. Some were crimson-colored, others of variegated green
+and lemon, others entirely green, and others, again, that were black and
+flesh-colored. Oh! the song of other species of birds, also, was so sweet
+and so melodious, as we heard it among the trees, that we often lingered,
+listening to their charming music. The trees, too, were so beautiful and
+smelled so sweetly that we almost imagined ourselves in a terrestrial
+paradise; yet not one of those trees, or the fruit of them, was similar
+to the trees or fruit in our part of the world. On our way back we saw
+many people, of various descriptions, fishing in the river.
+
+Having arrived at our ships, we raised anchor and set sail, still
+continuing in a southerly direction, and standing off to sea about forty
+leagues. While sailing on this course, we encountered a current which ran
+from southeast to northwest; so great was it, and ran so furiously, that
+we were put into great fear, and were exposed to great peril. The current
+was so strong that the Strait of Gibraltar and that of the Faro of
+Messina appeared to us like mere stagnant water in comparison with it. We
+could scarcely make any headway against it, though we had the wind fresh
+and fair. Seeing that we made no progress, or but very little, and the
+danger to which we were exposed, we determined to turn our prows to the
+northwest.
+
+As I know, if I remember right, that your excellency understands
+something of cosmography, I intend to describe to you our progress in our
+navigation, by the latitude and longitude. We sailed so far to the south
+that we entered the torrid zone and penetrated the circle of Cancer. You
+may rest assured that for a few days, while sailing through the torrid
+zone, we saw four shadows of the sun, as the sun appeared in the zenith
+to us at midday. I would say that the sun, being in our meridian, gave us
+no shadow; but this I was enabled many times to demonstrate to all the
+company, and took their testimony of the fact. This I did on account of
+the ignorance of the common people, who do not know that the sun moves
+through its circle of the zodiac. At one time I saw our shadow to the
+south, at another to the north, at another to the west, and at another to
+the east, and sometimes, for an hour or two of the day, we had no shadow
+at all.
+
+We sailed so far south in the torrid zone that we found ourselves under
+the equinoctial line, and had both poles at the edge of the horizon.
+Having passed the line, and sailed six degrees to the south of it, we
+lost sight of the north star altogether, and even the stars of Ursa
+Minor, or, to speak better, the guardians which revolve about the
+firmament, were scarcely seen. Very desirous of being the author who
+should designate the other polar star of the firmament, I lost, many a
+time, my night's sleep while contemplating the movement of the stars
+around the southern pole, in order to ascertain which had the least
+motion, and which might be nearest to the firmament; but I was not able
+to accomplish it with such bad nights as I had, and such instruments as
+I used, which were the quadrant and astrolabe. I could not distinguish a
+star which had less than ten degrees of motion around the firmament; so
+that I was not satisfied within myself to name any particular one for the
+pole of the meridian, on account of the large revolution which they all
+made around the firmament.
+
+While I was arriving at this conclusion as the result of my
+investigations, I recollected a verse of our poet Dante, which may be
+found in the first chapter of his _Purgatory_, where he imagines he
+is leaving this hemisphere to repair to the other, and, attempting to
+describe the antarctic pole, says:
+
+"I turned to the right hand and fixed my mind On the other pole, and saw
+four stars Not seen before, since the time of our first parents: Joyous
+appeared the heavens for their glory. Oh, northern lands are widowed
+Since deprived of such a sight."
+
+It appears to me that the poet wished to describe in these verses, by the
+four stars, the pole of the other firmament, and I have little doubt,
+even now, that what he says may be true. I observed four stars in the
+figure of an almond, which had but little motion, and if God gives me
+life and health I hope to go again into that hemisphere, and not to
+return without observing the pole. In conclusion, I would remark that we
+extended our navigation so far south that our difference of latitude from
+the city of Cadiz was sixty degrees and a half, because, at that city,
+the pole is elevated thirty-five degrees and a half, and we had passed
+six degrees beyond the equinoctial line. Let this suffice as to our
+latitude. You must observe that this our navigation was in the months of
+July, August, and September, when, as you know, the sun is longest above
+the horizon in our hemisphere, and describes the greatest arch in the
+day and the least in the night. On the contrary, while we were at the
+equinoctial line, or near it, within four to six degrees, the difference
+between the day and the night was not perceptible. They were of equal
+length, or very nearly so.
+
+As to the longitude, I would say that I found so much difficulty in
+discovering it that I had to labor very hard to ascertain the distance I
+had made by means of longitude. I found nothing better, at last, than to
+watch the opposition of the planets during the night, and especially that
+of the moon, with the other planets, because the moon is swifter in her
+course than any other of the heavenly bodies. I compared my observations
+with the almanac of Giovanni da Monteregio, which was composed for the
+meridian of the city of Ferrara, verifying them with the calculations in
+the tables of King Alfonso, and, afterward, with the many observations I
+had myself made one night with another.
+
+On August 23, 1499--when the moon was in conjunction with Mars, which,
+according to the almanac, was to take place at midnight, or half an hour
+after--I found that when the moon rose to the horizon, an hour and a half
+after the sun had set, the planet had passed in that part of the east. I
+observed that the moon was about a degree and some minutes farther east
+than Mars, and at midnight she was five degrees and a half farther east,
+a little more or less. So that, making the proportion, if twenty-four
+hours are equal to three hundred and sixty degrees, what are five hours
+and a half equal to? I found the result to be eighty-two degrees and a
+half, which was equal to my longitude from the meridian of the city of
+Cadiz, then giving to every degree sixteen leagues and two-thirds, which
+is five thousand four hundred sixty-six miles and two-thirds. The reason
+why I give sixteen leagues to each degree is because, according to
+Tolomeo and Alfagrano, the earth turns twenty-four thousand miles, which
+is equal to six thousand leagues, which, being divided by three hundred
+sixty degrees, gives to each degree sixteen leagues and two-thirds. This
+calculation I certified many times conjointly with the pilots, and found
+it true and good.
+
+It appears to me, most excellent Lorenzo, that by this voyage most of
+those philosophers are controverted who say that the torrid zone cannot
+be inhabited on account of the great heat. I have found the case to
+be quite the contrary. I have found that the air is fresher and more
+temperate in that region than beyond it, and that the inhabitants are
+also more numerous here than they are in the other zones, for reasons
+which will be given below. Thus it is certain that practice is of more
+value than theory.
+
+Thus far I have related the navigation I accomplished in the south and
+west. It now remains for me to inform you of the appearance of the
+country we discovered, the nature of the inhabitants, and their customs,
+the animals we saw, and of many other things worthy of remembrance which
+fell under my observation. After we turned our course to the north, the
+first land we found to be inhabited was an island at ten degrees distant
+from the equinoctial line. When we arrived at it we saw on the sea-shore
+a great many people, who stood looking at us with astonishment. We
+anchored within about a mile of the land, fitted out the boats, and
+twenty-two men, well armed, made for land. The people, when they saw us
+landing, and perceived that we were different from themselves--because
+they have no beard and wear no clothing of any description, being also of
+a different color, they being brown and we white--began to be afraid of
+us, and all ran into the woods. With great exertion, by means of signs,
+we reassured them and negotiated with them. We found that they were of
+a race called cannibals, the greater part or all of whom live on human
+flesh.
+
+Your excellency may rest assured of this fact. They do not eat one
+another, but, navigating with certain barks which they call 'canoes,'
+they bring their prey from the neighboring islands or countries inhabited
+by those who are enemies or of a different tribe from their own. They
+never eat any women, unless they consider them outcasts. These things we
+verified in many places where we found similar people. We often saw the
+bones and heads of those who had been eaten, and they who had made the
+repast admitted the fact, and said that their enemies always stood in
+much greater fear on that account.
+
+Still they are a people of gentle disposition and beautiful stature. They
+go entirely naked, and the arms which they carry are bows and arrows and
+shields. They are a people of great activity and much courage. They are
+very excellent marksmen. In fine, we held much intercourse with them, and
+they took us to one of their villages, about two leagues inland, and gave
+us our breakfast. They gave whatever was asked of them, though I think
+more through fear than affection; and after having been with them all one
+day, we returned to the ships, still remaining on friendly terms with
+them.
+
+We sailed along the coast of this island, and saw by the seashore another
+large village of the same tribe. We landed in the boats, and found they
+were waiting for us, all loaded with provisions, and they gave us enough
+to make a very good breakfast, according to their ideas of dishes. Seeing
+they were such kind people, and treated us so well, we dared not take
+anything from them, and made sail till we arrived at a gulf which is
+called the Gulf of Paria. We anchored opposite the mouth of a great
+river, which causes the water of this gulf to be fresh, and saw a large
+village close to the sea. We were surprised at the great number of
+people who were seen there. They were without arms, and seemed peaceably
+disposed. We went ashore with the boats, and they received us with great
+friendship, and took us to their houses, where they had made very good
+preparations for breakfast. Here they gave us three sorts of wine to
+drink, not of the juice of the grape, but made of fruits, like beer, and
+they were excellent. Here, also, we ate many fresh acorns, a most royal
+fruit. They gave us many other fruits, all different from ours and of
+very good flavor, the flavor and odor of all being aromatic.
+
+They gave us some small pearls and eleven large ones, and they told us by
+signs that if we would wait some days they would go and fish for them
+and bring us many of them. We did not wish to be detained, so with many
+parrots of various colors, and in good friendship, we parted from them.
+From these people we learned that those of the before-mentioned island
+were cannibals and ate human flesh. We issued from this gulf and sailed
+along the coast, seeing continually great numbers of people, and when we
+were so disposed we treated with them, and they gave us everything we
+asked of them. They all go as naked as they were born, without being
+ashamed. If all were to be related concerning the little shame they have,
+it would be bordering on impropriety; therefore it is better to suppress
+it.
+
+After having sailed about four hundred leagues continually along the
+coast, we concluded that this land was a continent, which might be
+bounded by the eastern parts of Asia, this being the commencement of the
+western part of the continent, because it happened often that we saw
+divers animals, such as lions, stags, goats, wild hogs, rabbits, and
+other land animals which are not found in islands, but only on the
+mainland. Going inland one day with twenty men, we saw a serpent which
+was about twenty-four feet in length, and as large in girth as myself.
+We were very much afraid of it, and the sight of it caused us to return
+immediately to the sea. I oftentimes saw many very ferocious animals and
+serpents.
+
+Thus sailing along the coast, we discovered every day a great number of
+people, speaking various languages. When we had navigated four hundred
+leagues along the coast we began to find people who did not wish for
+our friendship, but stood waiting for us with arms, which were bows and
+arrows, and with some other arms which they use. When we went to the
+shore in our boats, they disputed our landing in such a manner that we
+were obliged to fight with them. At the end of the battle they found that
+they had the worst of it, for, as they were naked, we always made great
+slaughter. Many times not more than sixteen of us fought with two
+thousand of them, and in the end defeated them, killing many and robbing
+their houses.
+
+One day we saw a great many people, all posted in battle array to prevent
+our landing. We fitted out twenty-six men, well armed, and covered the
+boats, on account of the arrows which were shot at us, and which always
+wounded some of us before we landed. After they had hindered us as long
+as they could, we leaped on shore, and fought a hard battle with them.
+The reason why they had so much courage and fought with such great
+exertion against us was that they did not know what kind of a weapon the
+sword was, or how it cuts. While thus engaged in combat, so great was the
+multitude of people who charged upon us, throwing at us such a cloud of
+arrows, that we could not withstand the assault, and, nearly abandoning
+the hope of life, we turned our backs and ran to the boats. While thus
+disheartened and flying, one of our sailors, a Portuguese, a man of
+fifty-five years of age, who had remained to guard the boat, seeing the
+danger we were in, jumped on shore, and with a loud voice called out to
+us, "Children! turn your faces to your enemies, and God will give you
+the victory!" Throwing himself on his knees, he made a prayer, and then
+rushed furiously upon the Indians, and we all joined with him, wounded as
+we were. On that, they turned their backs to us and began to flee, and
+finally we routed them and killed one hundred fifty. We burned their
+houses also, at least one hundred eighty in number. Then, as we were
+badly wounded and weary, we returned to the ships, and went into a harbor
+to recruit, where we stayed twenty days, solely that the physician might
+cure us. All escaped except one, who was wounded in the left breast.
+
+After being cured, we recommenced our navigation, and, through the same
+cause, we often were obliged to fight with a great many people, and
+always had the victory over them. Thus continuing our voyage, we came
+upon an island, fifteen leagues distant from the mainland. As at our
+arrival we saw no collection of people, the island appearing favorably,
+we determined to attempt it, and eleven of us landed. We found a path, in
+which we walked nearly two leagues inland, and came to a village of about
+twelve houses, in which there were only seven women, who were so large
+that there was not one among them who was not a span and a half taller
+than myself. When they saw us, they were very much frightened, and the
+principal one among them, who was certainly a discreet woman, led us by
+signs into a house, and had refreshments prepared for us.
+
+We saw such large women that were about determining to carry off two
+young ones, about fifteen years of age, and make a present of them to
+their king, as they were, without doubt, creatures whose stature was
+above that of common men. While we were debating this subject, thirty-six
+men entered the house where we were drinking; they were of such large
+stature that each one was taller when upon his knees than I when standing
+erect. In fact, they were of the stature of giants in their size and
+in the proportion of their bodies, which corresponded well with their
+height. Each of the women appeared a Pantasilea, and the men Antei. When
+they came in, some of our own number were so frightened that they did not
+consider themselves safe. They had bows and arrows, and very large clubs
+made in the form of swords. Seeing that we were of small stature, they
+began to converse with us, in order to learn who we were and from what
+parts we came. We gave them fair words, for the sake of peace, and said
+that we were going to see the world. Finally, we held it to be our
+wisest course to part from them without questioning in our turn; so
+returned by the same path in which we had come, they accompanying us
+quite to the sea, till we went on board the ships.
+
+Nearly half the trees of this island are dye-wood, as good as that of
+the East. We went from this island to another in the vicinity, at ten
+leagues' distance, and found a very large village, the houses of which
+were built over the sea, like Venice, with much ingenuity. While we were
+struck with admiration at this circumstance, we determined to go and
+see them; and as we went to their houses, they attempted to prevent our
+entering. They found out at last the manner in which the sword cuts, and
+thought it best to let us enter. We found their houses filled with the
+finest cotton, and the beams of their dwellings were made of dye-wood.
+We took a quantity of their cotton and some dye-wood and returned to the
+ships.
+
+Your excellency must know that in all parts where we landed we found a
+great quantity of cotton, and the country filled with cotton-trees, so
+that all the vessels in the world might be loaded in these parts with
+cotton and dye-wood.
+
+At length we sailed three hundred leagues farther along the coast,
+constantly finding savage but brave people, and very often fighting with
+them and vanquishing them. We found seven different languages among them,
+each of which was not understood by those who spoke the others. It is
+said there are not more than seventy-seven languages in the world, but I
+say there are more than a thousand, as there are more than forty which I
+have heard myself.
+
+After having sailed along this coast seven hundred leagues or more,
+besides visiting numerous islands, our ships became greatly sea-worn
+and leaked badly, so that we could hardly keep them free with two pumps
+going. The men also were much fatigued and the provisions growing short.
+We were then, according to the decision of the pilots, within a hundred
+twenty leagues of an island called Hispaniola, discovered by the admiral
+Columbus six years before. We determined to proceed to it, and, as it
+was inhabited by Christians, to repair our ships there, allow the men a
+little repose, and recruit our stock of provisions; because from this
+island to Castile there are three hundred leagues of ocean, without any
+land intervening.
+
+In seven days we arrived at this island, where we stayed two months. Here
+we refitted our ships and obtained our supply of provisions. We afterward
+concluded to go to northern parts, where we discovered more than a
+thousand islands, the greater part of them being inhabited. The people
+were without clothing, timid, and ignorant, and we did whatever we wished
+to do with them. This last portion of our discoveries was very dangerous
+to our navigation, on account of the shoals which we found thereabout.
+In several instances we came near being lost. We sailed in this sea two
+hundred leagues directly north, until our people had become worn down
+with fatigue, through having been already nearly a year at sea. Their
+allowance was only six ounces of bread for eating, and but three small
+measures of water for drinking, per diem. And as the ships became
+dangerous to navigate with much longer, they remonstrated, saying that
+they wished to return to their homes in Castile, and not to tempt fortune
+and the sea any more. Whereupon we concluded to take some prisoners as
+slaves, and, loading the ships with them, to return at once to Spain.
+Going, therefore, to certain islands, we possessed ourselves by force
+of two hundred thirty-two, and steered our course for Castile. In
+sixty-seven days we crossed the ocean and arrived at the islands of
+the Azores, which belong to the King of Portugal and are three hundred
+leagues distant from Cadiz. Here, having taken in our refreshments, we
+sailed for Castile, but the wind was contrary and we were obliged to go
+to the Canary Islands, from there to the island of Madeira, and thence to
+Cadiz.
+
+We were absent thirteen months on this voyage, exposing ourselves to
+awful dangers, and discovering a very large country of Asia and a great
+many islands, the largest part of them inhabited. According to the
+calculations I have several times made with the compass, we have sailed
+about five thousand leagues. To conclude, we passed the equinoctial line
+six and a half degrees to the south, and afterward turned to the north,
+which we penetrated so far that the north star was at an elevation of
+thirty-five degrees and a half above our horizon. To the west we sailed
+eighty-four degrees distant from the meridian of the city and port of
+Cadiz. We discovered immense regions, saw a vast number of people, all
+naked and speaking various languages. On the land we saw numerous wild
+animals, various kinds of birds, and an infinite number of trees, all
+aromatic. We brought home pearls in their growing state, and gold in
+the grain; we brought two stones, one of emerald color and the other of
+amethyst, which was very hard, and at least a half a span long and three
+fingers thick. The sovereigns esteem them most highly, and have preserved
+them among their jewels. We brought also a piece of crystal, which some
+jewellers say is beryl, and, according to what the Indians told us, they
+had a great quantity of the same; we brought fourteen flesh-colored
+pearls, with which the Queen was highly delighted; we brought many other
+stones which appeared beautiful to us, but of all these we did not bring
+a large quantity, as we were continually busied in our navigation, and
+did not tarry long in any place.
+
+When we arrived at Cadiz we sold many slaves, finding two hundred
+remaining to us; the others, completing the number of two hundred
+thirty-two, having died at sea. After deducting the expense of
+transportation, we gained only about five hundred ducats, which, having
+to be divided into fifty-five parts, made each share very small. However,
+we contented ourselves with life, and rendered thanks to God that, during
+the whole voyage, out of fifty-seven Christian men, which was our number,
+only two had died, they having been killed by Indians.
+
+I have had two quartan agues since my return, but I hope, by the favor of
+God, to be well soon, and they do not continue long now, and are without
+chills. I have passed over many things worthy of remembrance, in order
+not to be more tedious than I can help, all which are reserved for the
+pen and in the memory.
+
+They are fitting out three ships for me here, that I may go on a new
+voyage of discovery; and I think they will be ready by the middle of
+September. May it please our Lord to give me health and a good voyage,
+as I hope again to bring very great news and discover the island of
+Trapodana, which is between the Indian Ocean and the Sea of Ganges.
+Afterward I intend to return to my country and seek repose in the days of
+my old age. I have resolved, most excellent Lorenzo, that, as I have thus
+given you an account by letter of what has occurred to me, to send you
+two plans and descriptions of the world, made and arranged by my own hand
+skill. There will be a map on a plane surface, and the other a view of
+the world in spherical form, which I intend to send you by sea, in the
+care of one Francesco Lotti, a Florentine, who is here. I think you will
+be pleased with them, particularly with the globe, as I made one not
+long since for these sovereigns, and they esteem it highly. I could have
+wished to have come with them personally, but my new departure for making
+other discoveries will not allow me that pleasure. There are not wanting
+in your city persons who understand the figure of the world, and who may,
+perhaps, correct something in it. Nevertheless, whatever may be pointed
+out for me to correct, let them wait till I come, as it may be that I
+shall defend myself and prove my accuracy.
+
+I suppose your excellency has learned the news brought by the fleet which
+the King of Portugal sent two years ago to make discoveries on the coast
+of Guinea. I do not call such a voyage as that one of discovery, but only
+a visit to discovered lands; because, as you will see by the map, their
+navigation was continually within sight of land, and they sailed round
+the whole southern part of Africa, which is proceeding by a way spoken of
+by all cosmographical authors. It is true that the navigation has been
+very profitable, which is a matter of great consideration in this
+kingdom, where inordinate covetousness reigns. I understand that they
+passed from the Red Sea and extended their voyage into the Persian Gulf
+to a city called Calicut, situated between the Persian Gulf and the river
+Indus. More lately the King of Portugal has received from sea twelve
+ships very richly laden, and he has sent them again to those parts, where
+they will certainly do a profitable business if they arrive safely.
+
+May our Lord preserve and increase the exalted state of your noble
+excellency as I desire. July 18, 1500.
+
+Your excellency's humble servant, AMERIGO VESPUCCI.
+
+
+
+RISE AND FALL OF THE BORGIAS
+
+A.D. 1502
+
+NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI
+
+
+The commencement of the sixteenth century found Italy suffering from the
+foreign interference of France and Spain. The chief Italian states at
+this period were the kingdom of Naples, the Papal States, the duchy of
+Milan, and the republics of Venice, Florence, and Genoa. Ferdinand V of
+Aragon and Louis XII of France, who had hereditary claims through his
+grandmother Valentina Visconti, had concluded a secret and perfidious
+treaty for the partition of the kingdom of Naples, the effects of which
+Frederick II, the King, vainly sought to avert. They conquered Naples in
+1501, but disagreed over the division of the spoil, and, the French
+army being defeated by the Spanish on the Garigliano in 1503, Spanish
+influence soon after became dominant in Italy.
+
+In the march of the French army on Naples in 1501, the French commander
+had for lieutenant Caesar Borgia, son of Pope Alexander VI, whose career
+furnishes a vivid illustration of the internal conditions of Italy at
+this period. Borgia, who had resigned from the cardinalate conferred on
+him by his father, had been created Duke of Valentinois by the King of
+France, had married the daughter of the King of Navarre, and was invested
+with the duchy of Romagna by his father in 1501.
+
+By force and treachery he reduced the cities of Romagna, which were
+ruled by feudatories of the papal see, and, with the assistance of his
+relations, endeavored to found an independent hereditary power in Central
+Italy.
+
+The contemporaneous account of these events, by the celebrated Niccolo
+Machiavelli, possesses a fascinating interest, which is greatly enhanced
+by the fact that Machiavelli himself was a participant in the events of
+which he writes.
+
+A Florentine by birth, Machiavelli was sent by his fellow-citizens, in
+1502, on a mission to Borgia, who had just returned from a visit to the
+King of France in Lombardy. During Borgia's absence, friends and former
+colleagues, alarmed at his ambition and cruelty, had entered into a
+league with his enemies, and invited the Florentines to join them.
+The Florentines refused, but sent Machiavelli to make professions of
+friendship and offers of assistance to the Duke, and at the same time to
+watch his movements, to discover his real intentions, and endeavor to
+obtain something in return for their friendship. Borgia, who had the
+reputation of being the closest man of his age, had to deal with a
+negotiator who, though young, was a match for him, and the account of the
+mission is very curious; there was deep dissimulation on both sides.
+
+Machiavelli returned to Florence in January, 1503, after three eventful
+months passed in the court and camp of Borgia.
+
+The treatise _The Prince_ has been described as "a display of cool,
+judicious, scientific atrocity on the part of Caesar Borgia (Duke
+Valentino), which seemed rather to belong to a fiend than to the most
+depraved of men. Principles which the most hardened ruffian would
+scarcely hint to his most trusted accomplice, or avow without the
+disguise of some palliating sophism even to his own mind, are professed
+without the slightest circumlocution, and assumed as the fundamental
+axioms of all political science."
+
+On being reproved for the maxims contained in the work, Machiavelli
+replied, "If I taught princes how to tyrannize, I also taught the people
+how to destroy them"; and in these words posterity has vindicated the
+reputation of the talented Italian statesman and author.
+
+Those who from a private station have ascended to the dignity of princes,
+by the favor of fortune alone, meet with few difficulties in their
+progress, but encounter many in maintaining themselves on the throne.
+Obstructed by no impediments during their journey, they soar to a great
+height, but all the difficulties arise after they are quietly seated.
+These princes are chiefly such as acquire their dominions by money or by
+favor. Such were the men whom Darius placed in Greece, in the cities of
+Ionia and of the Hellespont, whom, for their own security and glory, he
+raised to the rank of sovereigns.
+
+Such were the emperors who from a private station arrived at the empire
+by corrupting the soldiery. They sustained their elevation only by the
+pleasure and fortune of those who advanced them, two foundations equally
+uncertain and insecure. They had neither the experience nor the power
+necessary to maintain their position. For, unless men possess superior
+genius or courage, how can they know in what manner to govern others who
+have themselves always been accustomed to a private station? Deficient in
+knowledge, they will be equally destitute of power for want of troops
+on whose attachment and fidelity they can depend. Besides, those states
+which have suddenly risen, like other things in nature of premature and
+rapid growth, do not take sufficient root in the minds of men, but
+they must fall with the first stroke of adversity; unless the princes
+themselves--so unexpectedly exalted--possess such superior talents that
+they can discover at once the means of preserving their good-fortune,
+and afterward maintain it by having recourse to the same measures which
+others had adopted before them.
+
+To adduce instances of supreme power attained by good-fortune and
+superior talent, I may refer to two examples which have happened in our
+own time, viz., Francis Sforza and Caesar Borgia. The former, by lawful
+means and by his great abilities, raised himself from a private station
+to the dukedom of Milan, and maintained with but little difficulty
+what had cost him so much trouble to acquire. Caesar Borgia, Duke of
+Valentinois--commonly called the duke of Valentino--on the other hand,
+attained a sovereignty by the good-fortune of his father, which he lost
+soon after his father's decease; though he exerted his utmost endeavors,
+and employed every means that skill or prudence could suggest, to retain
+those states which he had acquired by the arms and good-fortune of
+another. For, though a good foundation may not have been laid before a
+man arrives at dominion, it may possibly be accomplished afterward by
+a ruler of superior mind; yet this can only be effected with much
+difficulty to the architect and danger to the edifice. If therefore we
+examine the whole conduct of Borgia, we shall see how firm a foundation
+he had laid for future greatness. This examination will not be
+superfluous--for I know no better lesson for the instruction of a prince
+than is afforded by the actions and example of the Duke--for, if the
+measures he adopted did not succeed, it was not his fault, but rather
+owing to the extreme perversity of fortune. Pope Alexander VI, wishing
+to give his son a sovereignty in Italy, had not only present but future
+difficulties to contend with. In the first place, he saw no means of
+making him sovereign of any state independent of the Church; and, if he
+should endeavor to dismember the ecclesiastical state, he knew that the
+Duke of Milan and the Venetians would never consent to it, because Faenza
+and Rimini were already under the protection of the latter; and the
+armies of Italy, from whom he might expect material service, were in the
+hands of those who had the most reason to apprehend the aggrandizement of
+the papal power, such as the Orsini, the Colonni, and their partisans.
+
+It was consequently necessary to dissolve these connections and to throw
+the Italian states into confusion in order to secure the sovereignty of a
+part. This was easy to accomplish. The Venetians, influenced by motives
+of their own, had determined to invite the French into Italy. The Pope
+made no opposition to their design; he even favored it by consenting to
+annul the first marriage of Louis XII, who therefore marched into Italy
+with the aid of the Venetians and the consent of Alexander. He was no
+sooner at Milan than the Pope availed himself of his assistance to
+overrun Romagna, which he acquired by the reputation of his alliance with
+the King of France.
+
+The Duke, having thus acquired Romagna, and weakened the Colonni, wished
+at the same time to preserve and increase his own principality; but there
+were two obstacles in his way. The first arose from his own people, upon
+whom he could not depend, the other from the designs of the French. He
+feared that the Orsini, of whose aid he had availed himself, might fail
+at the critical moment, and not only prevent his further acquisitions,
+but even deprive him of those he had made. And he had reason to apprehend
+the same conduct on the part of France, and was convinced of the trifling
+reliance he could place on the Orsini; for after the reduction of Faenza,
+when he made an attack upon Bologna, they manifested an evident want of
+activity. As to the King, his intentions were easily discerned; for when
+he had conquered the duchy of Urbino, and was about to make an irruption
+into Tuscany, the King obliged him to desist from the enterprise. The
+Duke determined, therefore, neither to depend on fortune nor on the arms
+of another prince. He began by weakening the party of the Orsini and the
+Colonni at Rome, by corrupting all the persons of distinction who adhered
+to them, either by bribes, appointments, or commands suited to their
+respective qualities, so that in a few months a complete revolution was
+effected in their attachment, and they all came over to the Duke.
+
+Having thus humbled the Colonni, he only waited an opportunity for
+destroying the Orsini. It was not long before one offered, of which he
+did not fail to avail himself. The Orsini, perceiving too late that the
+power of the Duke and the Church must be established upon their ruin,
+called a council of their friends at Magione, in Perugia, to concert
+measures of prevention. The consequence of their deliberations was the
+revolt of Urbino, the disturbances of Romagna, and the infinite dangers
+which threatened the Duke on every side, and which he finally surmounted
+by the aid of the French. His affairs once reestablished, he grew weary
+of relying on France and other foreign allies, and he resolved for the
+future to rely alone on artifice and dissimulation--a course in which
+he so well succeeded that the Orsini were reconciled to him through the
+intervention of Signor Paolo, whom he had gained over to his interests
+by all manner of rich presents and friendly offices. And this man, being
+deceived himself, so far prevailed on the credulity of the rest that they
+attended the Duke at an interview at Sinigaglia, where they were all
+put to death. Having thus exterminated the chiefs, and converted their
+partisans into his friends, the Duke laid the solid foundations of his
+power. He made himself master of all Romagna and the duchy of Urbino, and
+gained the affection of the inhabitants--particularly the former--by
+giving them a prospect of the advantages they might hope to enjoy from
+his government. As this latter circumstance is remarkable and worthy of
+imitation, I cannot suffer it to pass unnoticed.
+
+After the Duke had possessed himself of Romagna, he found it had been
+governed by a number of petty princes, more addicted to the spoliation
+than the government of their subjects, and whose political weakness
+rather served to create popular disturbances than to secure the blessings
+of peace. The country was infested with robbers, torn by factions, and a
+prey to all the horrors of civil commotions. He found that, to establish
+tranquillity, order, and obedience, a vigorous government was necessary.
+With this view, he appointed Ramiro d'Orco governor, a cruel but active
+man, to whom he gave the greatest latitude of power. He very soon
+appeased the disturbances, united all parties, and acquired the renown of
+restoring the whole country to peace.
+
+The Duke soon deemed it no longer necessary to continue so rigorous and
+odious a system. He therefore erected in the midst of the province a
+court of civil judicature, with a worthy and upright magistrate to
+preside over it, where every city had its respective advocate. He was
+aware that the severities of Ramiro had excited some hatred against him,
+and resolved to clear himself from all reproach in the minds of the
+people, and to gain their affection by showing them that the cruelties
+which had been committed did not originate with him, but solely in
+the ferocious disposition of his minister. Taking advantage of the
+discontent, he caused Ramiro to be massacred one morning in the
+market-place, and his body exposed upon a gibbet, with a cutlass near it
+stained with blood. The horror of this spectacle satisfied the resentment
+of the people and petrified them at once with terror and astonishment.
+
+The Duke had now delivered himself in a great measure from present
+enemies, and taken effectual means to secure himself by employing against
+them arms of his own, putting it out of the power of his neighbors to
+annoy him. To secure and increase his acquisitions, he had nothing to
+fear from anyone but the French. He well knew that the King of
+France, who had at last perceived his error, would oppose his further
+aggrandizement. He resolved, in the first place, to form new connections
+and alliances, and adopted a system of prevarication with France, as
+plainly appeared when their army was employed in Naples against the
+Spaniards who had laid siege to Gaeta. His design was to fortify himself
+against them, and he would certainly have succeeded if Alexander VI had
+lived a little longer. Such were the methods he took to guard against
+present dangers.
+
+Against those which were more remote--as he had reason to fear that the
+new pope would be inimical to him and seek to deprive him of what had
+been bestowed on him by his predecessor--he designed to have made four
+different provisions: In the first place, by utterly destroying the
+families of all those nobles whom he had deprived of their states, so
+that the future pope might not reestablish them; secondly, by attaching
+to his interests all the gentry of Rome, in order, by their means, to
+control the power of the Pope; thirdly, by securing a majority in the
+college of cardinals; fourthly and lastly, by acquiring so much power,
+during the lifetime of his father, that he might be enabled of himself
+to resist the first attack of the enemy. Three of these designs he had
+effected before the death of Alexander, and had made every necessary
+arrangement for availing himself of the fourth. He had put to death
+almost all the nobles whom he had despoiled, and had gained over all the
+Roman gentry; his party was the strongest in the college of cardinals;
+and, for a further augmentation of his power, he designed to have made
+himself master of Tuscany. He was already master of Perugia and Piombino,
+and had taken Pisa under his protection, of which he soon afterward took
+actual possession. His cautious policy with regard to the French was no
+longer necessary, as they had been driven from the kingdom of Naples
+by the Spaniards, and both of these people were under the necessity of
+courting his friendship. Lucca and Sienna presently submitted to him,
+either from fear or hatred of the Florentines. The latter were then
+unable to defend themselves; and, if this had been the case at the time
+of Alexander's death, the Duke's power and reputation would have been so
+great that he might have sustained his dignity without any dependence on
+fortune or the support of others.
+
+Alexander VI died five years after he had first unsheathed his sword. He
+left his son nothing firmly established but the single state of Romagna.
+All his other conquests were absolutely visionary, as he was not only
+enclosed between two hostile and powerful armies, but was himself
+attacked by a mortal disease. The Duke, however, possessed so much
+ability and courage, was so well acquainted with the arts either of
+gaining or ruining others as it suited his purpose, and so strong were
+the foundations he had laid in that short space of time, that if he had
+either been in health or not distressed by those two hostile armies, he
+would have surmounted every difficulty.
+
+As a proof of the soundness of the foundation he had laid, Romagna
+continued faithful to him and was firm to his interest for above a month
+afterward. Although the Baglioni, the Vitelli, and the Ursini all came
+to Rome at that time, yet--half dead as he was--they feared to attempt
+anything against him. If he could not elect a pope of his own choice,
+he was at least able to prevent the election of one unfriendly to his
+interests. If he had been in health when Alexander died, he would have
+succeeded in all his designs; for he said, the very day that Julius II
+was elected, that he had foreseen every obstacle which could arise on
+the death of his father, and had prepared adequate remedies, but that he
+could not foresee that at the time of his father's death his own life
+would be in such imminent hazard.[1]
+
+Upon a thorough review of the Duke's conduct and actions, I cannot
+reproach him with having omitted any precaution; and I feel that he
+merits being proposed as a model to all who by fortune or foreign arms
+succeed in acquiring sovereignty. For as he had a great spirit and vast
+designs, he could not have acted otherwise in his circumstances; and if
+he miscarried in them, it was solely owing to the sudden death of his
+father, and the illness with which he was himself attacked. Whoever,
+therefore, would secure himself in a new principality against the
+attempts of enemies, and finds it necessary to gain friends; to surmount
+obstacles by force of cunning; to make himself beloved and feared by the
+people, respected and obeyed by the soldiery; to destroy all those who
+can or may oppose his designs; to promulgate new laws in substitution of
+old ones; to be severe, indulgent, magnanimous, and liberal; to disband
+an army on which he cannot rely, and raise another in its stead; to
+preserve the friendship of kings and princes, so that they may be ever
+prompt to oblige and fearful to offend--such a one, I say, cannot have
+a better or more recent model for his imitation than is afforded by the
+conduct of Borgia.
+
+One thing blamable in his actions occurred on the election of Julius II
+to the pontificate. He could not nominate the prelate whom he wished,
+but he had it in his power to exclude anyone whom he disliked. He ought
+therefore never to have consented to the election of one of those
+cardinals whom he had formerly injured, and who might have reason to fear
+him after his election; for mankind injure others from motives either
+of hatred or fear. Among others whom he had injured were St. Peter ad
+Vincula Colonna, St. George, and Ascanius. All the other candidates for
+the pontificate had cause to fear him except the Cardinal of Rouen
+and the Spanish cardinals--the latter were united to him by family
+connections--and the Cardinal d'Amboise, who was too powerfully supported
+by France to have reason to fear him.
+
+The Duke ought by all means to have procured the election of a Spaniard,
+or, in case of failure, should have consented to the proposal of the
+Archbishop of Rouen, but on no account to the nomination of St. Peter ad
+Vincula. It is an error to think that new obligations will extinguish
+the memory of former injuries in the minds of great men. The Duke
+therefore in this election committed a fault which proved the occasion
+of his utter ruin[2].
+
+[Footnote 1: On August 18, 1503, he and his father drank, by mistake, a
+poison which they had presumably prepared for one of their guests. The
+father died, and Borgia's life was for a time in extreme danger.]
+
+[Footnote:2 Within thirteen months he lost all his sovereignties, and was
+imprisoned, but escaped to Spain, where he was killed in the attack on
+Viana in 1507.]
+
+
+
+PAINTING OF THE SISTINE CHAPEL
+
+THE SPLENDOR OF RENAISSANCE ART UNDER MICHELANGELO
+
+A.D. 1508
+
+CHARLES CLÉMENT
+
+
+In the history of the Renaissance the revival of art adds a new glory
+to that of letters, and among the masters of that revival there is none
+greater than Michelangelo Buonarroti, sculptor, painter, architect, poet,
+and heroic man. He was descended from an ancient but not distinguished
+Florentine family, and was born at Caprese, Italy, March 6, 1475. In 1488
+he was apprenticed to the painter Ghirlandajo. He studied antique marbles
+in the garden of San Marco, where he was discovered by Lorenzo de'
+Medici, who in 1489 took him into his palace. There the young student
+remained until his patron's death (1492), improving the great
+opportunities presented to him. The Mask of a Faun was sculptured during
+this time.
+
+Before the expulsion of the Medici he went to Bologna, and there executed
+several works. Returning to Florence in 1495, he was called next year
+to Rome, where he lived till 1501, producing works which displayed his
+extraordinary genius, the most important of them being the Pieta di San
+Pietro (1498). Again returning to Florence, he carved his first David
+from an immense block of Carrara marble. In 1505 he was summoned again
+to Rome, by Pope Julius II, to design his tomb, and this work occupied
+Michelangelo, from time to time, throughout the remainder of his life.
+He was forced--probably through the intrigues of Bramante, his rival in
+architecture--to leave Rome, and once more (1506) returned to Florence.
+In the intervals between all these dates he produced many of his
+masterpieces.
+
+From this period the historian follows Michelangelo through an important
+stage of his active career, showing how "the hand that rounded Peter's
+dome," and created so many other of the greatest works of art, toiled
+on with patient heroism, in spite of hinderances almost incredible. The
+painting of the Sistine Chapel, upon which his fame so largely rests, is
+here described in language that reveals the manhood no less clearly than
+the artistic genius of Michelangelo.
+
+In 1508 Michelangelo returned to Rome and resumed his labors on the
+mausoleum. He had soon again to abandon them. Bramante had persuaded the
+Pope that it was unlucky to have his tomb erected, but advised him to
+employ Michelangelo in painting the chapel built by his uncle Sixtus IV.
+It was, in effect, in the beginning of this year that he commenced this
+gigantic decoration, which was destined to be his most splendid work.
+We shall see the resistance he first opposed to Julius' desire, and the
+ardor with which he undertook and the rapidity with which he accomplished
+the work, once he made up his mind to accept it; but first, since, at the
+period we have come to, most of the statues which now adorn the tomb of
+Julius II at San Pietro in Vinculo, and those more numerous that belonged
+to the original project, but which have been dispersed, were blocked out
+or finished, I wish to give, in order not to return to the subject, a
+general idea of this monument, to show what, from reduction to reduction,
+the original design has become, and what annoyances it occasioned its
+author.
+
+The original magnificent design remained unmodified until 1513; but on
+Julius' death, his testamentary executors, the Cardinals Santiquatro and
+Aginense and the Duke of Urbino, reduced to six the number of statues
+that were to form the decoration, and reduced from ten thousand to six
+thousand ducats the sum to be employed on it.
+
+From 1513 to 1521 Leo X, who cared less to complete his predecessor's
+monument than to endow his native city, Florence, with the works of the
+great artist, employed Michelangelo almost exclusively in building the
+façade and sacristy of San Lorenzo. During the short, austere pontificate
+of Adrian VI, Michelangelo again devoted himself to the sculptures of the
+monument, but under Clement VII he had again to abandon them in order
+to execute in Florence the projects of Leo X, which the new Pope had
+adopted. Toward 1531 the Duke of Urbino at last obtained permission for
+Michelangelo to suspend the works at San Lorenzo in order to finish the
+tomb so long since begun. Nevertheless it does not appear that he was
+allowed much time to devote to it. At last, on the death of Clement
+VII, he thought he had regained his liberty, and could, after such long
+involuntary delay, fulfil his engagements; but hardly was Paul III
+installed than he sent for him, gave him the most cordial reception, and
+begged him to consecrate his talents to his service. Michelangelo replied
+that it was impossible; he was bound by treaty to terminate the mausoleum
+of Julius II Paul flew into a rage and said: "Thirty years have I desired
+this, and now that I am pope I am not to be allowed to satisfy it! I
+shall tear up this contract. I mean that you shall obey me." The Duke of
+Urbino loudly complained, openly accusing Michelangelo of want of good
+faith.
+
+The sculptor, not knowing which way to turn, besought the Pope to allow
+him to complete the work he was pledged to. He formed the wildest
+projects in order to escape the amicable compulsion of Paul, among others
+that of retiring to Carrara, where he had passed some tranquil years
+among the mountains of marble. The Pontiff, to put an end to all these
+discussions, issued a brief, dated September 18, 1537, wherein he
+declared Michelangelo, his heirs and successors, released from all
+obligations resulting from the different contracts entered into on the
+subject of the monument. This fashion of terminating things could not
+satisfy the Duke of Urbino nor relieve Michelangelo. The negotiations
+were again resumed, and it ended in their agreement that the monument
+should be raised in the form in which we now see it in the Church of
+San Pietro in Vinculo, and should be composed of the statue of
+"Moses" executed entirely by the hand of Michelangelo; of two figures
+personifying "Active Life" and "Contemplative Life," which were already
+much advanced, but were to be finished by Rafaello de Monte Lupo; of two
+other statues by this master--a "Madonna," after a model by Michelangelo,
+and the figure of "Julius," by Maso del Bosco.
+
+Such is the very abridged history of this monument, which was not
+entirely completed till 1550, after having caused for nearly half a
+century real torment to Buonarroti. The Duke of Urbino was not satisfied,
+neither was Michelangelo. The figures, originally intended to form part
+of a colossal whole under the great roof of St. Peter's, appear too large
+for the place they now occupy. The importance of the statue of "Moses"
+misleads the mind, suggesting the idea that the monument itself is raised
+to the memory of the Hebrew legislator, rather than to that of the
+warrior-pope. At all events, in this statue is centred the principal, we
+may say the unique, interest of the tomb. This prodigious work must be in
+the memory of all. Amid the masterpieces of ancient and modern sculpture
+the "Moses" remains ever unparalleled, a type, not irreproachable, but
+the most striking, of a new art. I do not speak of the consummate science
+which Michelangelo displays in the modelling of this statue; the Greeks
+were learned in another fashion, but were so equally with him. Whence
+comes it, nevertheless, that in spite of _bizarreries_ needless to defend
+or to deny, and although this austere figure is far from attaining or
+pretending to the serene and tranquil beauty which the ancients regarded
+as the supreme term of art, whence is it that it produces upon the most
+prejudiced mind an irresistible impression? It is that it is more than
+human, that it lifts the soul into a world of feelings and ideas of which
+the ancients knew less than we do. Their voluptuous art, in deifying
+the human form, held down thought to earth. The "Moses" of Michelangelo
+beheld God, heard that voice of thunder, and bears the terrible impress
+of what he saw and heard on Mount Sinai: his profound eye is scrutinizing
+the mysteries he vaguely sees in his prophetic dreams. Is it the Moses of
+the Bible? I cannot say. Is it in this way Praxiteles and Phidias
+would have represented Lycurgus and Solon? We may deny it boldly. The
+legislators in their hands would have been the embodiment of law; they
+would have represented an abstraction in a form whose harmonious beauty
+nothing could alter. Moses is not merely the legislator of a people. Not
+thought alone dwells beneath this powerful brow; he feels, he suffers,
+he lives in a moral world which Jehovah has opened to him, and, although
+above humanity, is a man.
+
+On his return to Rome in 1508, Michelangelo had found Julius II not
+cooled toward him, but preoccupied by new projects. The Pope made no
+allusion to his monument, and was absorbed in the reconstruction of St.
+Peter's, which he had confided to Bramante. Raphael was beginning at the
+same time the frescoes of the Stanza della Segnatura; and two biographers
+of Michelangelo, whose testimony, it is true, on this point may be
+suspected, agree in saying that the architect of St. Peter's, jealous
+of the superiority of the Florentine sculptor, fearing lest he should
+discover the mistakes committed in his recent constructions, and the
+malversations of which perhaps he was not innocent, advised the Pope to
+confide to him the painting of the ceiling of the chapel built by Sixtus
+IV, hoping to compromise and ruin him by engaging him in works of which
+he had no experience.
+
+Julius adopted the idea, sent for Michelangelo, and ordered him to begin
+forthwith. Buonarroti had had no practice in fresco-painting since his
+student days under Ghirlandajo. He knew that the painting of a ceiling
+was not an easy matter. He pleaded every excuse, proposed that the
+commission should be given to Raphael, saying that for his part, being
+but a sculptor, he could not succeed. The Pope was inflexible, and
+Michelangelo began the ceiling on May 10, 1508, the most prodigious
+monument perhaps that ever sprang from the human mind.
+
+Julius had ordered Bramante to construct the necessary scaffoldings,
+but the latter did it in so inefficient a manner that Michelangelo
+was obliged to dispense with his assistance, and construct the whole
+machinery himself. He had sent for some of his fellow-students from
+Florence, not, as Vasari, by some strange aberration, states, because
+he was ignorant of fresco-painting, since all the artists of the time
+understood it, and the pupil of Ghirlandajo had himself practised it, but
+because his fellow-students had had more experience in it, and he
+wished to be helped in a work of this importance. He was, however, so
+dissatisfied with their work that he effaced all that they did, and,
+without any assistance, if we are to believe his biographer, even
+grinding his own colors, he shut himself up in the chapel, beginning
+at dawn, quitting at nightfall, often sleeping in his clothes on the
+scaffolding, allowing himself but a slight repast at the end of the day,
+and letting no one see the works he had begun.
+
+Hardly had he set to work when unforeseen difficulties presented
+themselves, which were on the point of making him relinquish the whole
+thing. The colors, while still fresh, were covered with a mist, the cause
+of which he was unable to discover. Utterly discouraged, he went to the
+Pope and said: "I forewarned your holiness that painting was not my art;
+all I have done is lost, and, if you do not believe me, order someone to
+come and see it." Julius sent San Gallo, who saw that the accident was
+caused by the quality of the time, and that Michelangelo had made his
+plaster too wet. Buonarroti, after this, proceeded with the utmost ardor,
+and in the space of twenty months, without further accident, finished the
+first half.
+
+The mystery with which Michelangelo surrounded himself keenly excited
+public curiosity. In spite of the painter's objection, Julius frequently
+visited him in the chapel, and notwithstanding his great age ascended the
+ladder, Michelangelo extending a hand that he might with safety reach the
+platform. He grew impatient; he was eager that all Rome should share
+his admiration. It was in vain that Michelangelo objected that all the
+machinery would have to be reconstructed, that half the ceiling was
+not completed; the Pope would listen to nothing, and the chapel was
+accordingly opened to the public on the morning of November 1, 1509.
+Julius was the first to arrive before the dust occasioned by the taking
+down of the scaffolding was laid, and celebrated mass there the same day.
+
+The success was immense. Bramante, seeing that his evil intentions, far
+from succeeding, had only served to add to the glory of Michelangelo, who
+had come triumphant out of the trap he had laid for him, besought
+the Pope to permit Raphael to paint the other half of the chapel.
+Notwithstanding the affection he bore his architect, Julius adhered to
+his resolution, and Michelangelo resumed, after a brief interruption, the
+painting of the ceiling; but rumors of these cabals reached him. They
+troubled him, and he complained to the Pope of Bramante's conduct. It
+is probable that the coolness which always existed between Raphael and
+Michelangelo dates from this period.
+
+The second part of the ceiling, by much the most considerable, was
+finished in 1512. It is difficult to explain how Vasari, confusing the
+dates, and appearing to apply to the whole what referred only to the
+first part, could have stated that this immense work was completed in
+the space of twenty months. If anything could astonish, it is that
+Michelangelo was able in four years to accomplish so gigantic a work. It
+is needless, for the purpose of exciting our admiration, to endeavor to
+persuade us that it was done in a space of time materially insufficient.
+
+Such was the impatience of Julius that again he nearly quarrelled with
+Michelangelo. The latter, requiring to go to Florence on business, went
+to the Pope for money. "When do you mean to finish my chapel?" said the
+Pope. "As soon as I can," answered Michelangelo. "'As soon as I can! as
+soon as I can!'" replied the irascible Pontiff; "I'll have you flung off
+your scaffoldings;" and he touched him with his stick. Michelangelo went
+home, set his affairs in order, and was on the point of leaving, when the
+Pope sent him his favorite Accursio with his apology and five hundred
+ducats.
+
+This time, again, Michelangelo was unable to finish his work as
+completely as he would have wished. He desired to retouch certain
+portions; but, seeing the inconvenience of reërecting the scaffoldings,
+he determined to do nothing more, saying that what was wanting to his
+figures was not of importance. "You should put a little gold on them,"
+said the Pope; "my chapel will look very poor." "The people I have
+painted there," answered Michelangelo, "were poor." Accordingly nothing
+was changed.
+
+These paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine transcend all description.
+How give an idea of these countless sublime figures to those who have not
+trembled and turned pale in this awful temple? The immense superiority of
+Michelangelo is manifest in this chapel itself, where are paintings of
+Ghirlandajo, of Signorelli, which pale near those of the Florentine as
+the light of a lamp does in the light of the sun. Raphael painted about
+the same time, and under the influence of what he had seen in the
+Sistine, his admirable "Sibyls of the Pace"; but compare them! He also no
+doubt attained in some of his works--the "St. Paul" of the cartoon, the
+"Vision of Ezekiel," the "Virgin" of the Dresden Museum--the summit of
+sublime art; but that which is the exception with Sanzio is the rule with
+the great Buonarroti. Michelangelo lived in a superhuman world, and his
+daring, unexpected conceptions are so beyond and outside the habitual
+thoughts of men that they repel by their very elevation, and are far from
+fascinating all minds as do the wonderful and charming creations of the
+painter of Urbino.
+
+It is necessary, however, to combat the widespread opinion that
+Michelangelo understood only the extreme feelings, and could express
+these only by violent and exaggerated movements. All agree that his
+figures possess the highest qualities of art--invention, sublimity of
+style, breadth and science in the drawing, appropriateness and fitness of
+color, and this character, so striking in the ceiling of the Sistine that
+it is not of the painter that the paintings make you think, that looking
+at it you say to yourself, "This tragic heaven must have come thus all
+peopled with its gigantic forms"; and it is by an effort of the mind only
+we are brought to think of the creator of this sublime work. But it is
+denied that he understood grace, young and innocent beauty, the forms
+which express the tender and delicate feelings, those which the divine
+pencil of Raphael so admirably represented. I own that he took little
+heed of the pleasurable aspect of things; his austere genius was at ease
+only in grave thoughts; but I do not agree that he was always a stranger
+to gentle beauty, to feminine beauty in particular. I shall not cite
+the "Virgin" of the London Academy, nor in another order the admirable
+"Captive" of the Louvre Museum; but, without quitting the Sistine, could
+we dream of anything more marvellously beautiful than his "Adam" awaking
+for the first time to light? or more chaste, more graceful, more touching
+than his young "Eve" leaning toward her Creator, and breathing in through
+her half-opened lips the divine breath that is giving her life?
+
+What is the meaning of this terrible work? What means this long evolution
+of human destiny? Why did these two beings that we see beautiful and
+happy in the beginning, why did they people the earth with this ardent,
+restless, at once gigantic and powerless race? Ah! Greece would have made
+this ceiling an Olympus, inhabited by happy and divine men! Michelangelo
+put there great unhappy beings, and this painful poem of humanity
+is truer than the wondrous fictions of ancient poetry and art.
+"Michelangelo," says Condivi, "especially admired Dante. He also devoted
+himself earnestly to the reading of the Scriptures and the writings of
+Savonarola, for whom he had always great affection, having preserved in
+his mind the memory of his powerful voice." Besides, the country of the
+great Florentine, the glorious Italy of the Renaissance, was in a state
+of dissolution. Such studies, such reminiscences, such and so sad
+realities, may explain the visions that passed through the mind of the
+great artist during the four years of almost complete solitude he passed
+in the Sistine. The precise meaning of these compositions will probably
+never be known, but so long as men exist they will, as is the object of
+art, attract minds toward the dim world of the ideal.
+
+The year that followed the opening of the Sistine, and which preceded the
+death of Julius, appears, as do the first two of Leo X's pontificate, to
+have been the happiest and calmest of Michelangelo's life. The old Pope
+loved him, "showing him," says Condivi, "attentions he showed no other
+of those who approached him." He honored his probity, and even that
+independence of character of which he himself had more than once had
+experience; Michelangelo, on his side, forgave him his frequent outbursts
+of impetuosity, that were ever atoned for by prompt and complete
+acknowledgment.
+
+Michelangelo's sight, greatly enfeebled by this persistent work of four
+years, compelled him to take almost absolute repose. "The necessity he
+was under," says Vasari, "during this period of work of keeping his eyes
+turned upward, had so weakened his sight that for several months after he
+could not look at a drawing nor read a letter without raising it above
+his head." He enjoyed an uncontested glory in this interval of semirepose
+which followed his great effort. It is probable that his thoughts were
+now concentrated upon the sepulchral monument of his patron, the works
+for which he had been forced to postpone. But Leo X had other views. He
+was all-powerful in Florence, where, by the aid of Julius and the League
+of Cambray, he had reinstated his family in 1512; he now wished to endow
+his native city with monuments which, by recalling to the vanquished
+citizens of this glorious republic the magnificence of their early
+patrons, might help them to forget the institutions they had lost for
+the second time. The Church of San Lorenzo, built by Brunelleschi, where
+several members of his family were buried, had not been completed; he now
+determined to have the façade constructed. Several artists, among others
+San Gallo, the two Sanzovino, and Raphael, sent in plans for this
+important work, but Michelangelo's was preferred, and in 1515 he went to
+Carrara to order the necessary marbles.
+
+Leo did not leave him there long in quiet. Being informed that at
+Serrayezza, in the highest part of the mountains of Pietra Santa on
+the Florentine territory, there was marble equal in quality to that of
+Carrara, he ordered Michelangelo to go to Pietra Santa and work these
+quarries. In vain the latter pointed out the enormous expense of opening
+them, of cutting roads through the mountains, and making the marshes
+passable, besides the inferior quality of the marble. Leo would not
+listen. Michelangelo set out, made the roads, raised the marbles,
+remained from 1516 to 1521 in this desert, and the four years he passed
+there, in the full force of his age and genius, resulted in the transport
+of five columns, four of which remained on the seashore, and the fifth of
+which lies still useless and buried among the rubbish of the piazza of
+San Lorenzo.
+
+Without meaning to contest the debt which the arts owe Leo X, there are
+certain reservations that we must make on this score. A man of letters,
+of amiable manners, astute, somewhat of a mischief-maker, ever
+fluctuating between France and the Emperor, ever on the watch to provide
+for his family, and, to redeem these defects, having neither heroism nor
+the undoubted though mistaken love that Julius II bore to Italy, his
+political career cannot, I think, be defended. He had the merit of being
+the patron of Raphael, whose facile, flexible character pleased him, and
+who, thanks to his protection, marked every instant of his short life by
+some _chef d'oeuvre._ It must not be forgotten that it was by the most
+extravagant largesses, by making a traffic of everything, that he
+encouraged the pleiad of artists who shed such glory upon his name. His
+obstinacy in employing Michelangelo for so many years, in spite of his
+reluctance and entreaties, on a work which his own fickleness and the war
+in Lombardy ought to have made him abandon, has, there can be no doubt,
+deprived us of some admirable works. But for it Michelangelo would have
+finished the tomb of Julius II, and we should now possess a gigantic
+monument that would, no doubt, have rivalled the grandest works of
+ancient statuary.
+
+A few words of Condivi's show the grief and discouragement which the
+capriciousness of Leo, and the inutility of the work the master was
+employed on, caused Michelangelo. "On his return to Florence he found
+Leo's ardor entirely cooled. He continued a long time weighed down by
+grief, unable to do anything, having hitherto, to his great displeasure,
+been driven from one project to another." It was, however, about this
+period (1520) that Leo ordered the tombs of his brother Giuliano and his
+nephew Lorenzo, for the sacristy of the Church of San Lorenzo, which were
+not executed till ten years later; also plans for the library for the
+reception of the valuable manuscripts collected from Cosmo and Lorenzo
+the Magnificent, and which had been dispersed during the troubles of
+1494. He was at Florence when the Academy of Santa Maria Novella, of
+which he was a member, proposed to have transported from Ravenna to
+Florence the ashes of Dante, and addressed the noble supplication to the
+Pope which has been preserved by Gore, signed by the most illustrious
+names of the time, and among others that of Michelangelo, with this
+addition: "I, Michelangelo, sculptor, also beseech your holiness, and
+offer myself to execute a suitable monument for the divine poet in some
+fitting part of the city." Leo did not receive this project favorably,
+and it was abandoned.
+
+The statue "The Christ on the Cross," that had been ordered by Antonio
+Matelli, and which is now in the Church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva,
+was, it is probable, executed during Michelangelo's rare visits to Rome
+under Leo's pontificate. His discouragement had become such that he had
+it finished and put up, at the end of 1521, by a Florentine sculptor of
+the name of Federigo Frizzi. The statue of "Christ," one of the most
+finished, and displaying most knowledge, that issued from the hands of
+Michelangelo, is far, to my mind, from equalling other works of the
+great sculptor. Yet it was the rapidly acquired celebrity of the
+work terminated by Federigo Frizzi that decided Francis I on sending
+Primaticio to Italy, commissioning him to make a cast of the "Christ" of
+the Minerva, and to ask Michelangelo to execute a statue for him; also to
+deliver to him the flattering letter preserved in the valuable collection
+at Lille.
+
+Leo X died on December 1, 1521, a year after Raphael. His successor, the
+humble and austere Adrian VI, knew nothing about pictures, except those
+of Van Eyck and Albert Dürer. His simple manners formed a striking
+contrast to the ostentatious habits of Leo. During his pontificate, all
+the great works were stopped at Rome and slackened at Florence. While
+Michelangelo was obscurely working at the library of San Lorenzo, the
+great age of art was drawing to its close; Raphael and Leonardo were
+dead, and their pupils were already hurrying on to a rapid decadence.
+
+Characters were beginning to decline at the same time that talent did,
+and Michelangelo, who, as it were, opened this grand era, was destined to
+survive alone, like those lofty summits that first receive the morning
+light, and which are still lit up while all around has grown obscure and
+night is already profound.
+
+
+
+BALBOA DISCOVERS THE PACIFIC
+
+A.D. 1513
+
+MANUEL JOSÉ QUINTANA
+
+
+Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, the Spanish soldier and discoverer of the Pacific
+Ocean, was born in 1475, and died near Darien, the scene of his principal
+achievement, probably in 1517. Unfairly charged with conspiracy, after
+rendering great services to his country, he was beheaded just as he was
+completing preparations to explore the "South Sea," as he named the ocean
+which he had discovered.
+
+He first went to Darien from Española (Haiti) in 1510, promoted a
+settlement, and was made its alcalde. In 1512 Pasamonte, king's treasurer
+at Santo Domingo, commissioned him as governor. Balboa undertook many
+explorations, and was usually on friendly terms with the Indians, who
+told him of a great sea lying to the south, and of a country (Peru) rich
+in gold, far down the coast. He set out from Darien September 1, 1513,
+to discover the great sea and the country of which he thus heard. He had
+conquered the Indian king Careta, whose friendship he gained and whose
+daughter he married. He went by sea to his father-in-law's territory, and
+taking with him some of the King's Indians he moved into the territory of
+the cacique Ponca, an enemy of Careta.
+
+Quintana, whose account follows, is the favorite historian of this
+expedition. His _Lives of Celebrated Spaniards_ is regarded as one of the
+classics of Spanish prose literature.
+
+Ponca, not daring to await the coming of the allies, took refuge in the
+mountains, abandoning his land to the ravage and ruin prepared for it by
+the Indians and Spaniards. Balboa, however, did not pursue his success
+further at present; leaving to the future the conquest, or, as he termed
+it, the "pacification" of the interior, he returned to the coast, where
+it was more for the advantage, security, and subsistence of the colony to
+have his friends or his vassals stationed.
+
+Careta had for a neighbor a cacique called by some Comogre, by others
+Panquiaco, chief of about ten thousand Indians, among whom were three
+thousand warriors. Having heard of the valor and enterprise of the
+Castilians, this chief desired to enter into treaty and friendship with
+them; and a principal Indian, a dependent of Careta, having presented
+himself as the agent in this friendly overture, Vasco Nuñez, anxious
+to profit by the opportunity of securing such an ally, went with his
+followers to visit Comogre. No sooner was the cacique apprised of this
+visit than he sailed forth at the head of his principal vassals, and his
+seven sons, all still youths and the offspring of different wives, to
+receive the Spaniards. Great was the courtesy and kindness with which he
+treated his guests, who were lodged in different houses in the town, and
+provided with victuals in abundance, and with men and women to serve
+them. What chiefly attracted their attention was the habitation of
+Comogre, which, according to the memorials of the time, was an edifice of
+a hundred and fifty paces in length and fourscore in breadth, built on
+thick posts, surrounded by a lofty stone wall, and on the roof an attic
+story, of beautifully and skilfully interwoven wood. It was divided into
+several compartments, and contained its markets, its shops, and its
+pantheon for the dead; for it was in the corpses of the cacique's
+ancestors that the Spaniards first beheld these ghastly remains, dried
+and arranged as above described.
+
+The honors of the hospitality were confided to the eldest son of Comogre,
+a youth of more sagacity and intelligence than his brothers; he one day
+presented to Vasco Nuñez and to Colmenares, whom, from their manner and
+appearance, he recognized as chiefs of the party, sixty slaves, and four
+thousand pieces of gold of different weight. They immediately melted the
+gold, and, having separated a fifth for the King, began to divide it
+among themselves; this division begat a dispute that gave occasion to
+threats and violence, which being observed by the Indian, he suddenly
+overthrew the scales in which they were weighing the precious metal,
+exclaiming: "Why quarrel for such a trifle? If such is your thirst for
+gold that for its sake you forsake your own country and come to trouble
+those of strangers, I will show you a province where you may gather by
+the handful the object of your desire; but to succeed, you ought to be
+more numerous than you are, as you will have to contend with powerful
+kings, who will vigorously defend their dominions. You will first find a
+cacique who is very rich in gold, who resides at the distance of six suns
+from hence; soon you will behold the sea, which lies to that part,"
+and he pointed toward the south; "there you will meet with people who
+navigate in barks with sails and oars, not much less than your own, and
+who are so rich that they eat and drink from vessels made of the metal
+which ye so much covet."
+
+These celebrated words, preserved in all the records of the times, and
+repeated by all historians, were the first indications the Spaniards
+had of Peru. They were much excited on hearing them, and endeavored
+to extract from the youth further information of the country he had
+mentioned; he insisted on the necessity of having at least a thousand
+men, to give them a chance of success in its subjugation, offered to
+serve them himself as their guide, to aid them with his father's men, and
+to put his life in pledge for the veracity of his words.
+
+Balboa was transported by the prospect of glory and fortune which opened
+before him; he believed himself already at the gates of the East Indies,
+which was the desired object of the government and the discoverers of
+that period; he resolved to return in the first place to the Darien to
+raise the spirits of his companions with these brilliant hopes, and
+to make all possible preparations for realizing them. He remained,
+nevertheless, yet a few days with the caciques; and so strict was the
+friendship he had contracted with them that they and their families were
+baptized, Careta taking in baptism the name of Fernando, and Comogre that
+of Carlos. Balboa then returned to the Darien, rich in the spoils of
+Ponca, rich in the presents of his friends, and still richer in the
+golden hopes which the future offered him.
+
+At this time, and after an absence of six months, arrived the magistrate
+Valdivia, with a vessel laden with different stores; he brought likewise
+great promises of abundant aid in provisions and men. The succors,
+however, which Valdivia brought were speedily consumed; their seed,
+destroyed in the ground by storms and floods, promised them no resource
+whatever; and they returned to their usual necessitous state. Balboa then
+consented to their extending their incursions to more distant lands, as
+they had already wasted and ruined the immediate environs of Antigua,
+and he sent Valdivia to Spain to apprise the admiral of the clew he
+had gained to the South Sea, and the reported wealth of those regions.
+Valdivia took with him fifteen thousand pieces of gold, which belonged
+to the King as his fifth, and a charge to petition for the thousand men
+which were necessary to the expedition, and to prevent the adventurers
+being compelled to exterminate the tribes and caciques of the Indians,
+for otherwise, being so few in number, they would be driven, to avoid
+their own destruction, to the slaughter of all who would not submit
+themselves. This commission, however, together with the rich presents in
+gold sent by the chiefs of the Darien to their friends, and Valdivia,
+with all his crew, were no doubt swallowed by the sea, as no trace of
+them was ever afterward discovered.
+
+To the departure of Valdivia succeeded immediately the expedition to the
+gulf and the examination of the lands situated at its inner extremity.
+There lay the dominions of Dabaibe, of whose riches prodigious reports
+were spread, especially of an idol and a temple represented to be made
+entirely of gold. There Cemaco, and the Indians who followed him, had
+taken refuge, and had never lost either the wish or the hope of driving
+away the invading horde who had usurped their country.
+
+Balboa marched against them by land with sixty men, and Colmenares went
+by water with as many more to take the enemy by surprise. The former did
+not find Cemaco; but Colmenares was more fortunate, for he surprised the
+savages in Tichiri. He commanded the general to be shot with arrows in
+his presence, and sentenced the lords to be hanged. And so terrified were
+the Indians by this example that they never durst in future elevate their
+thoughts to independence.
+
+It was now deliberated to send new deputies to Spain to acquaint the King
+with the state of the colony, and on the road to touch at Espanola to
+entreat for necessary aid in case Valdivia might have perished on the
+voyage, which event had no doubt taken place. It is said that Balboa
+required this commission for himself, either ambitious of gaining favor
+at court or apprehensive that the colony at Darien might inflict upon him
+punishment due to usurpation; but his companions would not consent to his
+quitting them, alleging that, in losing him, they should feel deserted
+and without a guide or governor; he only was respected, and followed
+willingly by the soldiers; and he only was feared by the Indians. They
+suspected that, if they permitted of his departure, he would never
+return to share those labors and troubles which were from time to time
+accumulating upon them, as had already happened with others. They elected
+Juan de Caicedo, the inspector, who had belonged to the armament of
+Nicuesa, and Rodrigo Enriquez de Colmenares, both men of weight and
+expert in negotiation and held in general esteem. They believed that
+these would execute their charge satisfactorily, and that both would
+return, because Caicedo would leave his wife behind him; and Colmenares
+had realized much property, and a farm in the Darien, pledges of
+confidence in and adhesion to the country. It being thus impossible
+for Balboa to proceed to Spain, in protection of his own interests
+he manoeuvred for gaining at least the good graces of the treasurer,
+Pasamonte; and probably it was on this occasion that he sent him the rich
+present of slaves, pieces of gold, and other valuable articles, of which
+the licentiate Zuazo speaks in his letter to the Senor de Chieves. At the
+same time the new procurators took with them the fifth which belonged to
+the King, together with a donative made him by the colony; and, happier
+than their predecessors, they left the Darien in the end of October, and
+reached Spain the end of May in the year following.
+
+Soon after this departure, a slight disturbance happened, which, though
+at first it threatened to destroy the authority of Vasco Nuñez, served in
+fact to strengthen it. Under pretence that Bartolome Hurtado abused the
+particular favor of the Governor, Alonzo Perez de la Rua, and other
+unquiet spirits, raised a seditious tumult; their object was to seize
+ten thousand pieces which yet remained entire, and divide them at their
+pleasure. After some contests, in which there were many arrests and a
+great display of animosity, the malcontents plotted to surprise Vasco
+Nuñez and throw him into prison. He knew it, and quitted the town as
+if going to the chase, foreseeing that, when these turbulent men had
+obtained possession of the authority and the gold, they would so abuse
+the one and the other that all the rational part of the community would
+be in haste to recall him. And thus it was; masters of the treasure,
+Rua and his friends showed so little decency in the partition that the
+principal colonists, ashamed and disgusted, perceiving the immense
+distance that existed between Vasco Nuñez and these people, seized the
+heads of the sedition, secured them, and called back Balboa, whose
+authority and government they were anxious again to recognize.
+
+In the interim, two vessels, laden with provisions and carrying two
+hundred men, one hundred fifty of whom were soldiers commanded by
+Cristoval Serrano, arrived from Santo Domingo. They were all sent by the
+admiral, and Balboa received from the treasurer Pasamonte the title of
+governor of that land; that functionary conceiving himself authorized to
+confer such a power, and having become as favorable as he had formerly
+been the reverse. Exulting in his title and his opportune success,
+and secure of the obedience of his people, Vasco Nuñez liberated his
+prisoners, and resolved to sally forth into the environs and to occupy
+his men in expeditions and discoveries; but, while engaged in making his
+preparations, he received, to embitter his satisfaction, a letter from
+his friend Zamudio, informing him of the indignation which the charges of
+Encisco, and the first information of the treasurer, had kindled against
+him at court. Instead of his services being appreciated, he was accused
+as a usurper and intruder; he was made responsible for the injuries and
+prejudices of which his accuser loudly complained; and the founder and
+pacificator of the Darien was to be prosecuted for the criminal charges
+brought against him.
+
+This alloy, however, instead of subduing his spirit, animated him to new
+daring and impelled him to higher enterprises. Should he permit another
+to profit by his toils, to discover the South Sea, and to ravish from him
+the wealth and glory which were almost within his grasp? He did,
+indeed, still want the thousand men who were necessary to the projected
+expedition, but his enterprise, his experience, and his constancy
+impelled him to undertake it even without them. He would, by so signal
+a service, blot out the crime of his primary usurpation, and, if death
+should overtake him in the midst of his exertions, he should die
+laboring for the prosperity and glory of his country, and free from the
+persecution which threatened him. Full of these thoughts and resolved on
+following them, he discoursed with and animated his companions, selected
+one hundred ninety of the best armed and disposed, and, with a thousand
+Indians of labor, a few bloodhounds, and sufficient provisions, he set
+sail in a brigantine with ten canoes.
+
+He ascended first to the port and territory of Careta, where he was
+received with demonstrations of regard and welcome suitable to his
+relations with that cacique, and, leaving his squadron there, took his
+way by the sierras toward the dominion of Ponca. That chief had fled,
+as at the first time, but Vasco Nuñez, who had adopted the policy most
+convenient to him, desired to bring him to an amicable agreement, and, to
+that end, despatched after him some Indians of peace, who advised him
+to return to his capital and to fear nothing from the Spaniards. He was
+persuaded, and met with a kind reception; he presented some gold, and
+received in return some glass beads and other toys and trifles. The
+Spanish captains then solicited guides and men of labor for his journey
+over the sierras, which the cacique bestowed willingly, adding provisions
+in great abundance, and they parted friends.
+
+His passage into the domain of Quarequa was less pacific; whose chief,
+Torecha, jealous of this invasion and terrified by the events which had
+occurred to his neighbors, was disposed and prepared to receive the
+Castilians with a warlike aspect. A swarm of ferocious Indians, armed in
+their usual manner, rushed into the road and began a wordy attack upon
+the strangers, asking them what brought them there, what they sought
+for, and threatening him with perdition if they advanced. The Spaniards,
+reckless of their bravadoes, proceeded, nevertheless, and then the chief
+placed himself in front of his tribe, dressed in a cotton mantle and
+followed by the principal lords, and, with more intrepidity than fortune,
+gave the signal for combat. The Indians commenced the assault with loud
+cries and great impetuosity, but, soon terrified by the explosions of the
+crossbows and muskets, they were easily destroyed or put to flight by the
+men and bloodhounds who rushed upon them. The chief and six hundred men
+were left dead on the spot, and the Spaniards, having smoothed away
+that obstacle, entered the town, which they spoiled of all the gold and
+valuables it possessed. Here also they found a brother of the cacique and
+other Indians, who were dedicated to the abominations before glanced at;
+fifty of these wretches were torn to pieces by the dogs, and not without
+the consent and approbation of the Indians. The district was, by these
+examples, rendered so pacific and so submissive that Balboa left all his
+sick there, dismissed the guides given him by Ponca, and, taking fresh
+ones, pursued his road over the heights.
+
+The tongue of land which divides the two Americas is not, at its utmost
+width, above eighteen leagues, and in some parts becomes narrowed a
+little more than seven. And, although from the port of Careta to the
+point toward which the course of the Spaniards was directed was only
+altogether six days' journey, yet they consumed upon it twenty; nor is
+this extraordinary. The great cordillera of sierras which from north to
+south crosses the new continent, a bulwark against the impetuous assaults
+of the Pacific Ocean, crosses also the Isthmus of Darien, or, as may be
+more properly said, composes it wholly, from the wrecks of the rocky
+summits which have been detached from the adjacent lands; and the
+discoverers, therefore, were obliged to open their way through
+difficulties and dangers, which men of iron alone could have fronted and
+overcome. Sometimes they had to penetrate through thick entangled woods,
+sometimes to cross lakes, where men and burdens perished miserably; then
+a rugged hill presented itself before them; and next, perhaps, a deep and
+yawning precipice to descend; while, at every step, they were opposed by
+deep and rapid rivers, passable only by means of frail barks, or slight
+and trembling bridges; from time to time they had to make their way
+through opposing Indians, who, though always conquered, were always to be
+dreaded; and, above all, came the failure of provisions--which formed
+an aggregate, with toil, anxiety, and danger, such as was sufficient to
+break down bodily strength and depress the mind.
+
+At length the Quarequanos, who served as guides, showed them, at
+a distance, the height from whose summit the desired sea might be
+discovered. Balboa immediately commanded his squadron to halt, and
+proceeded alone to the top of the mountain; on reaching it he cast an
+anxious glance southward, and the Austral Ocean broke upon his sight[1].
+
+Overcome with joy and wonder, he fell on his knees, extending his arms
+toward the sea, and with tears of delight offered thanks to heaven for
+having destined him to this mighty discovery. He immediately made a sign
+to his companions to ascend, and, pointing to the magnificent spectacle
+extended before them, again prostrated himself in fervent thanksgiving
+to God. The rest followed his example, while the astonished Indians were
+extremely puzzled to understand so sudden and general an effusion of
+wonder and gladness. Hannibal on the summit of the Alps, pointing out to
+his soldiers the delicious plains of Italy, did not appear, according
+to the ingenious comparison of a contemporary writer, either more
+transported or more arrogant than the Spanish chief when, risen from the
+ground, he recovered the speech of which sudden joy had deprived him,
+and thus addressed his Castilians: "You behold before you, friends, the
+object of all our desires and the reward of all our labors. Before you
+roll the waves of the sea which has been announced to you, and which no
+doubt encloses the immense riches we have heard of. You are the first who
+have reached these shores and these waves; yours are their treasures,
+yours alone the glory of reducing these immense and unknown regions to
+the dominion of our King and to the light of the true religion. Follow
+me, then, faithful as hitherto, and I promise you that the world shall
+not hold your equals in wealth and glory."
+
+All embraced him joyfully and all promised to follow whithersoever he
+should lead. They quickly cut down a great tree, and, stripping it of its
+branches, formed a cross from it, which they fixed in a heap of stones
+found on the spot from whence they first descried the sea. The names of
+the monarchs of Castile were engraven on the trunks of the trees, and
+with shouts and acclamations they descended the sierra and entered the
+plain.
+
+They arrived at some bohios, which formed the population of a chief,
+called Chiapes, who had prepared to defend the pass with arms. The noise
+of the muskets and the ferocity of the war-dogs dispersed them in a
+moment, and they fled, leaving many captives; by these and by their
+Quarequano guides, the Spaniards sent to offer Chiapes secure peace
+and friendship if he would come to them, or otherwise the ruin and
+extermination of his town and his fields. Persuaded by them, the cacique
+came and placed himself in the hands of Balboa, who treated him with much
+kindness. He brought and distributed gold and received in exchange beads
+and toys, with which he was so diverted that he no longer thought of
+anything but contenting and conciliating the strangers. There Vasco Nuñez
+sent away the Quarequanos, and ordered that the sick, who had been left
+in their land, should come and join him. In the mean while he sent
+Francisco Pizarro, Juan de Ezcarag, and Alonzo Martin to reconnoitre the
+environs and to discover the shortest roads by which the sea might be
+reached. It was the last of these who arrived first at the coast, and,
+entering a canoe which chanced to lie there, and pushing it into the
+waves, let it float a little while, and, after pleasing himself with
+having been the first Spaniard who entered the South Sea, returned to
+seek Balboa.
+
+Balboa with twenty-six men descended to the sea, and arrived at the
+coast early in the evening of the 29th of that month; they all seated
+themselves on the shore and awaited the tide, which was at that time on
+the ebb. At length it returned in its violence to cover the spot where
+they were; then Balboa, in complete armor, lifting his sword in one hand,
+and in the other a banner on which was painted an image of the Virgin
+Mary with the arms of Castile at her feet, raised it, and began to march
+into the midst of the waves, which reached above his knees, saying in a
+loud voice: "Long live the high and mighty sovereigns of Castile! Thus in
+their names do I take possession of these seas and regions; and if any
+other prince, whether Christian or infidel, pretends any right to them, I
+am ready and resolved to oppose him, and to assert the just claims of my
+sovereigns."
+
+The whole band replied with acclamations to the vow of their captain,
+and expressed themselves determined to defend, even to death, their
+acquisition against all the potentates in the world; they caused this act
+to be confirmed in writing, by the notary of the expedition, Andres de
+Valderrabano; the anchorage in which it was solemnized was called the
+Gulf of San Miguel, the event happening on that day.
+
+[Footnote 1: Balboa had his first view of the Pacific from this "peak in
+Darien" September 25th.]
+
+
+
+CHRONOLOGY OF UNIVERSAL HISTORY
+
+EMBRACING THE PERIOD COVERED IN THIS VOLUME
+
+A.D. 1438-1516
+
+JOHN RUDD, LL.D. A.D. 1438-1516
+
+
+Events treated at length are here indicated in large type; the numerals
+following give volume and page.
+
+Separate chronologies of the various nations, and of the careers of
+famous persons, will be found in the INDEX VOLUME, with volume and page
+references showing where the several events are fully treated.
+
+
+A.D.
+
+1438. Gutenberg commences printing with movable type[1]. See "ORIGIN AND
+PROGRESS OF PRINTING," viii, i.
+
+All Europe ravaged by the plague; it is aggravated in England and France
+by a direful famine.
+
+1439. Death of Albert II; Ladislaus III, King of Poland, ascends the
+Hungarian throne.
+
+Pope Eugenius removes his council from Ferrara to Florence; here is
+signed a treaty for the ostensible union of the Latin and Greek churches.
+
+A standing army voted by the States-General of France.
+
+1440. Frederick III elected Emperor of Germany.
+
+"JOHN HUNYADY REPULSES THE TURKS." See viii, 30.
+
+1441. Hadji Kerai separates from the Golden Horde; he establishes the
+independent khanate of Crim Tartary, or the Crimea.
+
+1442. Alfonso V of Aragon takes the city of Naples; the whole kingdom
+submits to him; his rival, René of Anjou, returns to Provence.
+
+First modern importation of negro slaves into Europe. See "DISCOVERY OF
+THE CANARY ISLANDS AND THE AFRICAN COAST," viii, 276.
+
+1443. Rising of the Albanians, under Scanderbeg, against the Turks.
+
+1444. Battle of Varna; defeat of the Hungarians by the Turks and death
+of Ladislaus III, King of Poland and Hungary. John Hunyady assumes the
+government in Hungary during the minority of Ladislaus Posthumus.
+
+On the request of Frederick IV of Germany the Dauphin employs a part of
+the French army against Switzerland; battle of St. Jacob's; for ten hours
+1,600 Swiss resist 30,000 veterans; the Swiss perish; 10,000 of the
+victors are slain.
+
+1445. Corinth destroyed by the Turks.
+
+1447. Election of Pope Nicholas V, founder of the Vatican Library. See
+"REBUILDING OF ROME," viii, 46.
+
+Grammar-schools founded in London, England.
+
+1448. Amurath II, or Murad, defeats Hunyady at Cassova.
+
+1449. War between France and England renewed; Normandy conquered by the
+French; Rouen is surrendered.
+
+1450. Rebellion of Jack Cade in England. He was slain and his head stuck
+on London bridge.
+
+Milan surrenders to Francesco Sforza (Stormer, _i. e._, of cities),
+the natural son of a peasant who became a great _condottiere_. He is
+proclaimed duke.
+
+1451. Guienne conquered by the French from the English. Ghent revolts
+against Philip, Duke of Burgundy.
+
+1453. End of the Eastern empire. See "MAHOMET II TAKES CONSTANTINOPLE,"
+viii, 55.
+
+Submission of Ghent to the Duke of Burgundy after its forces had been
+defeated at Gaveren.
+
+Battle of Castillon; defeat of the English; loss of all the English
+conquests in France, except Calais; end of the Hundred Years' War.
+
+Emperor Frederick III creates Austria a duchy.
+
+1454. Mental aberration of Henry VI of England; the Duke of York
+protector.
+
+Publication of the first-known printing with movable type. See "ORIGIN
+AND PROGRESS OF PRINTING," viii, i.
+
+Venice by a treaty with Turkey secures trade privileges in Greece.
+
+1455. Beginning of the contest for the crown of England. See "WARS OF THE
+ROSES," viii, 72.
+
+1456. Battle of Belgrade; victory of Hunyady over the Turks. Athens
+conquered by the Turks.
+
+1457. Church of the Unitas Fratrum organized in Bohemia. Francis Foscaro,
+being deposed as doge of Venice after a reign of thirty-four years, dies
+of grief on hearing the bells rung to celebrate the election of his
+successor.
+
+At Mainz is published the Book of Psalms, the earliest work printed with
+its date.
+
+1458. Pope Pius II acknowledges Ferdinand I as King of Naples, strives
+to restore peace, and unite all powers in resistance to the Turkish
+aggressions.
+
+Genoa submits to the King of France, Charles VII.
+
+Election of Matthias, son of Hunyady, as King of Hungary.
+
+George Podibrad, leader of the church-reform party, chosen King of
+Bohemia. 1459. Silesia submits to Podibrad, King of Bohemia.
+
+1460. James II of Scotland takes up arms against the English; he is
+killed, by the bursting of a cannon, at the siege of Roxburgh castle; his
+son, James III, succeeds.
+
+Christian I of Denmark inherits Schleswig and Holstein.
+
+Discovery of the Cape Verd Islands by the Portuguese; they penetrate to
+the coast of Guinea.
+
+1461. Death of Charles VII of France; his son, Louis XI, involves himself
+in a contest with his leading nobles.
+
+Prince Henry of Portugal, just prior to his death, sends Peter Covilham
+and Alfonso Paiva, overland, to explore India.
+
+Trebizond, the last Greek capital, surrenders to the Ottoman Turks.
+
+1462. Accession of Ivan III, Grand Prince of Moscow. See "IVAN THE GREAT
+UNITES RUSSIA AND BREAKS THE TARTAR YOKE," viii, 109.
+
+1463. War between Venetians and Turks in Greece.
+
+Conference between the kings of France and Castile; the artful policy of
+Louis XI prolongs discord in Spain.
+
+1464. Queen Margaret invades England; her adherents are defeated at
+Hexham. See "WARS OF THE ROSES," viii, 72.
+
+Pope Pius II attempts the organization of a crusade against the Turks; he
+dies at Ancona; Paul II elected.
+
+Sforza, Duke of Milan, makes himself master of Milan.
+
+1465. Henry VI of England is imprisoned in the Tower of London.
+
+War between the League of the Public Good and Louis XI of France; treaty
+of Conflans; the King makes many promises, few of which he performs.
+
+King Matthias invites learned men from Italy to Hungary; he founds the
+University and Library of Budapest.
+
+Athens captured and pillaged by the Venetians, under Victor Capello.
+
+1466. Worn out by constant warfare the Teutonic Knights, by the treaty
+of Thorn, cede West Prussia to Casimir IV of Poland; they retain East
+Prussia as a fief of Poland.
+
+1467. Charles the Bold succeeds to the Duchy of Burgundy.
+
+A crusade against George Podibrad, King of Bohemia, proclaimed by Pope
+Paul II.
+
+1468. Visit of Louis XI to Charles the Bold at Péronne. See "CULMINATION
+OF THE POWER OF BURGUNDY," viii, 125.
+
+Founding of the Library of Venice.
+
+Ivan III repels an invasion of the Golden Horde and prepares the
+independence of Russia.
+
+1469. Marriage of Princess Isabella of Castile to Ferdinand of Aragon.
+
+Beginning of the reign of Lorenzo de' Medici in Florence. See "LORENZO
+DE' MEDICI RULES IN FLORENCE," viii, 134.
+
+About this time Peter Covilham (see 1461), his companion having died in
+India, penetrates into Abyssinia and is there detained. 1470. Restoration
+of Henry VI, by Earl Warwick, to the throne of England.
+
+Siege and capture of Negropont (Euboea) by the Turks; massacre of the
+inhabitants.
+
+Pomponius Laetus collects a society to study the antiquities of Rome; he
+is imprisoned and persecuted for his unguarded enthusiasm.
+
+1471. Edward IV reënters England; defeat of the Lancastrians at Barnet;
+Warwick--the King Maker--slain. See "WARS OF THE ROSES," viii, 72.
+
+Translation by Caxton of _Recueil des Histoires des Troyes_. See "ORIGIN
+AND PROGRESS OF PRINTING" (also plate), viii, 24.
+
+1472. Normandy ravaged by Charles the Bold.
+
+Philippe de Comines, the chronicler, enters into the service of Louis XI.
+
+1473. Resumption of the commotions in France; the Count of Armagnac
+assassinated; the Duke of Alençon arrested.
+
+1474. Ferdinand and Isabella commence their joint reign in Castile.
+Caxton publishes his first book, _The Game and Playe of the Chesse_.
+
+1475. Emperor Frederick IV refuses to give Charles, Duke of Burgundy, the
+title of king; war ensues; Charles conquers Lorraine.
+
+1476. Switzerland unsuccessfully invaded by the Duke of Burgundy.
+Assassination of Sforza, Duke of Milan; his son Gian Galeazzo Maria
+succeeds, under the regency of his mother, Bona.
+
+Sten Sture, Protector of Sweden, founds the University of Upsal; he
+checks the nobility and priesthood by summoning deputies of the towns and
+peasantry to attend the national Diet.
+
+1477. Maximilian, son of Emperor Frederick III, marries Mary of Burgundy.
+
+Italy invaded by the Turks; they advance to within sight of Venice.
+
+Publication of the first book printed in England, Caxton's _Dictes or
+Sayengis of the Philosophers_.
+
+René of Lorraine and his Swiss mercenaries overwhelm Charles the Bold at
+Nancy; he is slain.
+
+Burgundy is seized by Louis XI. See "DEATH OF CHARLES THE BOLD," viii,
+155.
+
+Grant of the Great Privilege of Holland and Zealand, by Mary, Duchess of
+Burgundy. The _Groot Privilegie_ was a recapitulation and recognition of
+ancient rights. Although afterward violated, and indeed abolished, it
+became the foundation of the republic.
+
+1478. Condemnation and death of the Duke of Clarence. He is said to have
+chosen to die by being drowned in a butt of Malmsey, a wine of which he
+had been inordinately fond.
+
+Conspiracy of the Pazzi, a powerful family of Florence, against the
+Medici; most of the conspirators massacred by the people; the others
+judicially punished.
+
+Sultan Mahomet II, of the Ottoman Empire, completes the subjugation of
+Albania.
+
+Novgorod taken by Ivan III, of Russia, who puts an end to its republic.
+
+1479. Battle of Guinegate; Maximilian defeats the French. Ferdinand the
+Catholic succeeds to the throne in Aragon; union of Castile and Aragon.
+
+1480. Founding of the Holy Office of the Inquisition in Spain, by
+Cardinal Mendozas. See "INQUISITION ESTABLISHED IN SPAIN," viii, 166.
+
+1481. Maine and Provence united to France.
+
+Battle of Bielawesch; the Nogay Tartars crush the Golden Horde and secure
+the independence of Russia.
+
+1482. Death of Mary of Burgundy; her infant son, Philip, succeeds to the
+sovereignty of the Netherlands.
+
+Ferdinand and Isabella begin a war for the conquest of Granada.
+
+1483. Usurpation of Richard III; murder of the princes. See "MURDER OF
+THE PRINCES IN THE TOWER," viii, 192.
+
+Death of Louis XI; Charles VII, his son, succeeds to the French throne.
+
+Renewal of the Union of Kalmar; Sweden and Norway acknowledge John I, but
+Sweden retains Sten Stur as Protector.
+
+Birth of Rabelais and Luther.
+
+1485. Landing of the Earl of Richmond in England; Battle of Bosworth;
+Richard III is slain; end of the Wars of the Roses and of the Plantagenet
+dynasty; Henry VII (Richmond) inaugurates the Tudor dynasty. See "WARS OF
+THE ROSES," viii, 72.
+
+Matthias of Hungary captures Vienna; Emperor Frederick III expelled from
+his hereditary dominions.
+
+1486. Excited to revolt by the severities of the Inquisition, the
+Aragonese put to death the chief inquisitor, Pedro Arbues.
+
+Unconscious doubling of the southern extremity of Africa by Bartholomew
+Diaz; he gives it the name of Cabo Tormentoso (Cape Stormy), afterward
+called the Cape of Good Hope. See "THE SEA ROUTE TO INDIA," viii, 299.
+
+1488. Battle of Sauchie Burn; James III of Scotland defeated and slain by
+his rebellious nobles.
+
+Citizens of Bruges capture and imprison, for four months, Maximilian,
+King of the Romans.
+
+1489. Bartholomew, brother of Christopher Columbus, tries to arouse
+maritime enterprise in England.
+
+1490. Ferdinand and Isabella conquer Granada. See "CONQUEST OF GRANADA,"
+viii, 202.
+
+Death of Matthias Corvinus; Ladislaus II, King of Bohemia, is elected
+king of the Hungarians.
+
+1491. Charles VIII of France sends back to her father his affianced
+bride, Margaret; compels Anne of Brittany to break her engagement to
+Maximilian and marries her himself, thus uniting Brittany and France.
+
+1492. Imposture of Perkin Warbeck in England. See "CONSPIRACY, REBELLION,
+AND EXECUTION OF PERKIN WARBECK," viii, 250. Expulsion of Jews from the
+Spanish dominions; this great exodus, hundreds of thousands in all, of
+a commercial hard-working race caused enormous injury to the land so
+depopulated.
+
+Columbus discovers the Bahamas, Cuba, and Haiti. See "COLUMBUS DISCOVERS
+AMERICA," viii, 224.
+
+1493. Death of Emperor Frederick IV; his son, Maximilian succeeds, the
+first to take the title Emperor of Germany without being crowned at Rome.
+
+Leaving a garrison in Espanola, Columbus returns to Spain. He starts on
+his second voyage; discovers Porto Rico.
+
+A papal bull grants to Spain the new world discovered by Columbus, and
+defines the rights of Spain and Portugal.
+
+1494. A treaty, that of Tordesillas, partitions the ocean between Spain
+and Portugal.
+
+Formation of the Christian Commonwealth at Florence. See "SAVONAROLA'S
+REFORMS AND DEATH," viii, 265.
+
+Sir Edward Poynings, Governor of Ireland, induces the parliament of that
+country to pass the act bearing his name, which gives full power to all
+the laws of England.
+
+1495. Conquest of Naples by Charles VIII of France; he retreats to
+France. Ferdinand II is restored to the throne of Naples.
+
+Maximilian establishes the Imperial Chamber.
+
+Extinction of the right of private warfare in Germany.
+
+1496. Encouraged by the success of Columbus, Henry VII of England sends
+out John Cabot and his son, Sebastian, on a voyage of discovery.
+
+Emanuel of Portugal fits out an expedition under Vasco da Gama to explore
+the eastern seas.
+
+1497. "DISCOVERY OF THE MAINLAND OF NORTH AMERICA BY THE CABOTS." See
+viii, 282.
+
+Sten Sture offends the Swedish nobility, is defeated and stripped of his
+protectorate by John II, who enforces the Union of Kalmar; he is crowned
+at Stockholm.
+
+Pinzon and Vespucci discover Central America.
+
+1498. Vasco da Gama rounds the Cape of Good Hope and reaches India. See
+"THE SEA ROUTE TO INDIA," viii, 299.
+
+Columbus makes his third voyage across the Western Ocean; he discovers
+South America; is arrested and returned to Spain in irons. See "COLUMBUS
+DISCOVERS SOUTH AMERICA," viii, 323.
+
+Arrest and execution of Savonarola at Florence. See "SAVONAROLA'S REFORMS
+AND DEATH," viii, 265.
+
+1499. Conquest of the duchy of Milan by the French. Unsuccessful war of
+Maximilian against the Swiss. See "ESTABLISHMENT OF Swiss INDEPENDENCE,"
+viii, 336.
+
+Venezuela reached by Ojeda and Vespucci. See "AMERIGO VESPUCCI IN
+AMERICA," viii, 346.
+
+In Persia the Shiah sect of Mahometans gain the ascendency which they
+have since retained. 1500. Voyage to and exploration of Labrador and
+Newfoundland by Caspar Cortereal, a Portuguese navigator.
+
+Brazil discovered by Pedro Alvarez Cabral, or Cabera; he takes possession
+of the country for the King of Portugal.
+
+1501. Emperor Maximilian creates the Aulic Council, a court of appeal on
+decisions by other German courts.
+
+Joint conquest and partition of Naples by Ferdinand of Aragon and Louis
+XII of France.
+
+Sten Sture regains ascendency in Sweden.
+
+Caesar Borgia makes himself master of Pesaro, Rimini, and Faenza; he is
+guilty of numerous atrocities.
+
+1502. Columbus on his fourth and last voyage reaches the isthmus of
+Panama.
+
+Caesar Borgia fails in his evil course. See "RISE AND FALL OF THE
+BORGIAS," viii, 360.
+
+Montezuma elected to the military leadership of the Aztecs.
+
+In Naples the French and Spanish quarrel and commence hostilities.
+
+1503. Marriage of James IV of Scotland with Margaret Tudor, daughter of
+Henry VII of England; this brought the Stuarts to the throne of England.
+
+Battle of Cerignola and Garigliano; the Spaniards defeat the French and
+become masters of Naples.
+
+Death of Sten Sture; the Swedish people support Svante Sture in
+opposition to the crown, the nobility, and priesthood.
+
+1504. Death of Isabella, Queen of Spain; the throne of Castile passes to
+her daughter, Joanna, and the latter's husband, Philip.
+
+Jealous of the new Indian trade of the Portuguese, the Venetians incite
+the mamelukes of Egypt and the sovereign of Calicut to begin hostilities
+against them.
+
+Citizens of Naples resist by violence the introduction of the
+Inquisition.
+
+Suppression of the Lordship of the Isles by James IV of Scotland.
+
+1505. Death of Ivan the Great; he is succeeded on the Russian throne by
+his son, Basil (Vasili IV).
+
+1506. Expulsion by the Genoese of their nobles and the French.
+
+Madagascar discovered by the Portuguese.
+
+Building of the Great Harry, the first ship of the royal navy of England.
+
+Beginning of the erection of St. Peter's, at Rome, by Bramante d'Urbino;
+Pope Julius II lays the first stone.
+
+1507. Louis XII goes to crush the revolt in Genoa; he succeeds.
+
+1508. Michelangelo begins the decoration of the Sistine chapel. See
+"PAINTING OF THE SISTINE CHAPEL," viii, 369.
+
+1509. Death of Henry VII; his son, Henry VIII, succeeds to the English
+throne; he marries Catherine of Aragon.
+
+Campaign of Cardinal Ximenes in Africa; Oran taken by the Spaniards.
+
+Diego Columbus, son of the discoverer, made governor of Spanish America,
+which is first settled this year.
+
+Subjugation of Porto Rico by Ponce de Leon; he later becomes governor of
+that island.
+
+1510. Occupation of Goa by the Portuguese under Albuquerque, Governor of
+the Indies.
+
+1511. Subjugation of Cuba by the Spaniards under Velasquez.
+
+Malacca taken by the Portuguese; it becomes the centre of their trade in
+the East.
+
+1512. War declared against France by Henry VIII of England.
+
+Battle of Ravenna; victory of the French; their general, Gaston de
+Foix, falls on the field; the revolted cities of Italy submit. Lombardy
+evacuated by the French; restoration of the Sforza dynasty, and of the
+Medici in Florence.
+
+1513. From the Isthmus of Panama Balboa discovers the Pacific Ocean. See
+"BALBOA DISCOVERS THE PACIFIC," viii, 381.
+
+Invasion of France by Henry VIII; defeat of the French at Guinegate,
+"Battle of the Spurs"; Térouanne and Tournai taken by the English.
+
+Battle of Flodden Field; the Scots, under James IV, having invaded
+England, are overwhelmed and their king slain.
+
+Expulsion of the French from Italy.
+
+Juan Ponce de Leon lands in Florida, in his search for the "Fountain of
+Eternal Youth."
+
+1514. Peace concluded with France and Scotland by Henry VIII of England.
+
+Smolensko renounces its subjection to Poland and becomes part of Russia.
+
+Ambassadors from Portugal present to Pope Leo X an elephant, a panther,
+with other animals and products of their new territories in the East.
+
+1515. Wolsey created cardinal, papal legate, and lord chancellor.
+
+Invasion of Italy by Francis I, who this year succeeded Louis XII as King
+of France; he recovers Genoa and Milan.
+
+1516. Death of Ferdinand the Catholic; Charles, his eldest grandson,
+succeeds to the throne of Spain.
+
+Publication of the Greek Testament, with a Latin translation, by Erasmus.
+
+Conclusion of the treaty of "Perpetual Peace" between France and
+Switzerland.
+
+Rise of the piratical power of the Barbarossas in Algiers.
+
+[Footnote:1 Date uncertain.]
+
+
+END OF VOLUME VIII
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Great Events by Famous Historians,
+Vol. 8, by Editor-in-Chief: Rossiter Johnson
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10103 ***
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+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
+jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize
+this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright
+status under the laws that apply to them.
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+++ b/README.md
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #10103 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10103)
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Great Events by Famous Historians, Vol.
+8, by Editor-in-Chief: Rossiter Johnson
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Great Events by Famous Historians, Vol. 8
+       The Later Renaissance: From Gutenberg To The Reformation
+
+Author: Editor-in-Chief: Rossiter Johnson
+
+Release Date: November 17, 2003 [EBook #10103]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GREAT EVENTS V8 ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Jayam Subramanian and PG Distributed
+Proofreaders
+
+
+
+
+
+BINDING Vol. VIII
+
+The binding of this volume is a facsimile of the original in the British
+Museum, and is considered the most artistic mosaic binding design in
+existence.
+
+It was executed about 1710, by Antoine Michel Padeloup, Royal Binder of
+both France and Portugal.
+
+He presented it to Francoise Marie de Bourbon, daughter of Louis XIV and
+Madame de Montespan, on the anniversary of her marriage to Philippe, Duke
+of Orleans, who afterward became Regent of France.
+
+During the Reign of Terror this volume found its way to England, where it
+was sold at a handsome price. It was bequeathed to the British Museum by
+Felix Slade, Esq.
+
+
+
+
+THE GREAT EVENTS
+
+BY
+
+FAMOUS HISTORIANS
+
+A COMPREHENSIVE AND READABLE ACCOUNT OF THE WORLD'S HISTORY, EMPHASIZING
+THE MORE IMPORTANT EVENTS, AND PRESENTING THESE AS COMPLETE NARRATIVES IN
+THE MASTER-WORDS OF THE MOST EMINENT HISTORIANS
+
+NON-SECTARIAN NON-PARTISAN NON-SECTIONAL
+
+ON THE PLAN EVOLVED FROM A CONSENSUS OF OPINIONS GATHERED FROM THE
+MOST DISTINGUISHED SCHOLARS OF AMERICA AND EUROPE, INCLUDING BRIEF
+INTRODUCTIONS BY SPECIALISTS TO CONNECT AND EXPLAIN THE CELEBRATED
+NARRATIVES, ARRANGED CHRONOLOGICALLY, WITH THOROUGH INDICES,
+BIBLIOGRAPHIES, CHRONOLOGIES, AND COURSES OF READING
+
+EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
+
+ROSSITER JOHNSON, LL.D.
+
+ASSOCIATE EDITORS
+
+CHARLES F. HORNE, Ph.D. JOHN RUDD, LL.D.
+
+_With a staff of specialists
+
+VOLUME VIII
+
+The National Alumni_
+
+1905
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+VOLUME VIII
+
+
+_An Outline Narrative of the Great Events_ CHARLES F. HORNE
+
+_Origin and Progress of Printing (A.D. 1438)_ HENRY GEORGE BOHN
+
+_John Hunyady Repulses the Turks (A.D. 1440-1456)_ ARMINIUS VAMBERY
+
+_Rebuilding of Rome by Nicholas V, the "Builder-pope_" _(A.D. 1447-1455)_
+MRS. MARGARET OLIPHANT
+
+_Mahomet II Takes Constantinople (A.D. 1453)_ _End of the Eastern Empire_
+GEORGE FINLAY
+
+_Wars of the Roses (A.D. 1455-1485)_ _Death of Richard III at Bosworth_
+DAVID HUME
+
+_Ivan the Great Unites Russia and Breaks the Tartar_ _Yoke (A.D.
+1462-1505)_ ROBERT BELL
+
+_Culmination of the Power of Burgundy_ _Treaty of Péronne (A.D. 1468)_
+P.F. WILLERT
+
+_Lorenzo de'Medici Rules in Florence_ _Zenith of Florentine Glory (A.D.
+1469)_ OLIPHANT SMEATON
+
+_Death of Charles the Bold (A.D. 1477) Louis XI Unites Burgundy with
+the Crown of France_ PHILIPPE DE COMINES
+
+_Inquisition Established in Spain (A.D.1480),_ WILLIAM H. RULE JAMES
+BALMES
+
+_Murder of the Princes in the Tower (A.D.1483)_ JAMES GAIRDNER
+
+_Conquest of Granada_ (A.D.1490) WASHINGTON IRVING
+
+_Columbus Discovers America_ (A.D.1492) CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS FERDINAND
+COLUMBUS
+
+_Conspiracy, Rebellion, and Execution of Perkin Warbeck_ (A.D.1492)
+FRANCIS BACON
+
+_Savonarola's Reforms and Death_ The French Invade Italy_ (A.D.1494)
+PASQUALE VILLARI JEAN C. L. SISMONDI
+
+_Discovery of the Mainland of North America by the Cabots_ (A.D.1497)
+SAMUEL EDWARD DAWSO
+
+_The Sea Route to India Vasco da Gama Sails around Africa_ (A.D.1498)
+GASPAR CORREA
+
+_Columbus Discovers South America (A.D.1498)_ CLEMENTS ROBERT MARKHAM
+
+_Establishment of Swiss Independence (A.D.1499)_ HEINRICH ZSCHOKKE
+
+_Amerigo Vespucci in America (A.D.1499)_ AMERIGO VESPUCCI
+
+_Rise and Fall of the Borgias (A.D.1502)_ NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI
+
+_Painting of the Sistine Chapel (A.D.1508)_ _The Splendor of Renaissance
+Art under Michelangelo_ CHARLES CLEMENT
+
+_Balboa Discovers the Pacific (A.D.1513)_ MANUEL JOSE QUINTANA
+
+_Universal Chronology (A.D.1438-1516)_ JOHN RUDD
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+VOLUME VIII
+
+_Murder of the princes, sons of King Edward IV, in _the Tower of London
+(page 194)1_ Painting by Otto Seitz.
+
+_Facsimile of a page from Caxton's_ Recuyell of the Historyes of
+Troye--_the first book printed in the English language_
+
+_Louis XI at his devotions in the castle of Péronne while held a prisoner
+by Charles the Bold_ Painting by Hermann Kaulbach.
+
+_Pope Sixties V and the Grand Inquisitor_ Painting by Jean Paul Laurens.
+
+
+
+AN OUTLINE NARRATIVE
+
+TRACING BRIEFLY THE CAUSES, CONNECTIONS, AND CONSEQUENCES OF
+
+THE GREAT EVENTS
+
+(THE LATER RENAISSANCE: FROM GUTENBERG TO THE REFORMATION)
+
+CHARLES F. HORNE
+
+The Renaissance marks the separation of the mediaeval from the modern
+world. The wide difference between the two epochs of Teutonic history
+arises, we are apt somewhat glibly to say, from the fact that our
+ancestors worshipped and were ruled by brute force, whereas we follow the
+broad light of intellect. Perhaps both statements require modification;
+yet in a general way they do suggest the change which by a thousand
+different agencies has, in the course of the last four centuries, been
+forced upon the world. Mediaeval Europe was a land not of equals, but of
+lords and slaves. The powerful nobles regarded themselves as of wholly
+different clay from the hapless peasants whom they trampled under foot,
+serfs so ignorant, so brutalized by want, that they were often little
+better than the beasts with which they herded. Gradually the tradesmen,
+the middle classes, forced their way to practical equality with the
+nobles. Then came the turn of the masses to do the same. The beginnings
+of the merchants' movement we have already traced in the preceding
+volumes; the end of the peasants' effort is perhaps even to-day scarce
+yet accomplished.
+
+In dealing with modern history, therefore, every writer is apt to begin
+with a different date. Some go back as far as Petrarch, who reintroduced
+the study of ancient art and learning; that is, they regard our world as
+a direct continuation of the Roman, with the thousand years of the Middle
+Ages gaping between like an earthquake gulf of barbarism, that was
+bridged at last. Some take the invention of printing as a starting-point,
+feeling that the chief element of our progress has been the gathering of
+information by the poorer classes. Some, looking to political changes,
+turn to the reign of Louis XI of France, noting him as the first modern
+king, or to the downfall of Charles the Bold, the last great feudal
+noble. Others name later starting-points such as the establishment of
+modern art by Michelangelo and Raphael at Rome, the discovery of America,
+with its opening of vast new lands for the pent-up population of narrow
+Europe, or the Reformation, which has been called man's revolt against
+superstition, the establishment of the independence of thought.
+
+All of these epochs fall within the limits of the Renaissance, and all,
+except that of Petrarch, within the later Renaissance which we are now
+considering. The period is therefore worth careful study.
+
+INTELLECTUAL SUPREMACY OF ITALY
+
+Gutenberg's invention had no immediate effect upon his world.[1] Indeed,
+so little enthusiasm did it arouse that while the inventor's plans were
+probably evolved as early as 1438, it was not until 1454 or thereabouts
+that the first completed book was issued from his press. His business
+partner, Faust, sold his wares in wealthy Paris without explaining that
+these were different from earlier hand-written books; and when their
+cheapness, as well as their exact similarity, was discovered, the
+merchant was suspected of having sold himself to the devil. Hence
+probably originated the Faust legend. Superstition, it is evident, had
+still an extended course to run.
+
+It is worth noting that to sell his books Faust left Germany for Paris,
+and that while printing-presses multiplied but slowly in the land of
+their origin, the new art was instantly seized upon in Italy, was there
+made widest use of and pushed to its perfection. In fact, through all the
+Middle Ages the Romance or semi-Teutonic peoples of Italy, France, and
+Spain were intellectually in advance of the more wholly Teutonic races of
+the North. Many of their descendants believe half contemptuously that the
+difference has not even yet been overcome.
+
+Italy at this time held clearly the intellectual supremacy of the western
+world, and Florence under the Medici, Cosmo and then Lorenzo, held the
+supremacy of Italy.[2] Not only in thought, but in art, was there an
+outburst brilliant beyond all earlier times. A friend and pupil of Cosmo
+de' Medici was made pope at Rome, and under the name of Nicholas V
+originated vast schemes for the rebuilding and beautifying of his city of
+ruins.[3] Modern Rome with all its beautiful churches and wonders of art
+rose from the hands of Nicholas and his immediate successors. It was
+their idea that the city should no longer be remembered by its heathen
+greatness, but by its Christian splendor; that the sight of it should
+impress upon pilgrims not the decay of the world, but the glory and
+majesty of the Church. Nicholas also continued the work of Petrarch,
+gathering vast stores of ancient manuscripts, refounding and practically
+beginning the enormous Vatican Library. He established that alliance of
+the Church with the new culture of the age which for a century continued
+to be an honor and distinguishment to both.
+
+In his pontificate occurred the fall of Constantinople, bringing with
+it the definite establishment of the Turks in Europe and the final
+extinction of that Roman Empire of the East which had originated with
+Constantine. For this reason the date of its fall (1453) is also employed
+as marking the beginning of modern Europe. It was at least the closing of
+the older volume, the final not undramatic exit of the last remnant of
+the ancient world, with its long decaying arts and arrogance, its wealth,
+its literature, and its law.[4]
+
+Greek scholars fleeing from the sack of their city brought many
+marvellous old manuscripts to Western Europe and were eagerly welcomed by
+Pope Nicholas and all of Italy. Nicholas even preached a crusade against
+the terrible Turks, and tried once more to rouse Europe to ancient
+enthusiasms. But he failed, and died, they say, heartbroken at his
+helplessness.
+
+THE CLASH OF RACES IN THE EAST
+
+The Turks had recovered from their defeat by the Tartars of Timur, and
+became once more an active menace. With Constantinople in their power,
+they attacked the Venetians and compelled those wealthy traders to pay
+them tribute. Venice by sea and Hungary on land remained for a century
+the bulwarks of Christendom, and were forced, almost unaided, to
+withstand all the assaults of the East. They wellnigh perished in the
+effort. In Hungary this was the period of the great hero, Hunyady, a
+man of unknown birth and no official rank, who roused his countrymen to
+repeated effort and led them to repeated victories and defeats against
+the vastly more numerous invaders.[5]
+
+Hunyady died, worn out with ceaseless warfare, and his son, Matthias,
+was elected by acclamation to be monarch of the land the father had
+preserved. This was the proudest era in the history of the Hunnish race.
+Under Matthias they even resumed their German warfare of five centuries
+before, and won from a Hapsburg emperor his city of Vienna, ancient
+capital of Austria, the eastmark or borderland which had been erected by
+Otto the Great to hold the Huns in check. For a few years Matthias placed
+his kingdom amid the foremost states of Europe; but with his death came
+renewed disunion and disorder to his lawless people, and the fierce,
+fanatic Turks returned again to their assaults.
+
+Further north the yellow races were less successful. Along the shifting
+borderlands of Asia which mark the line of demarcation between the two
+mightier families of man, the tide turned ever more steadily in the
+Aryans' favor. The Russians, under their chief, Ivan III, threw off the
+galling Tartar yoke which they had borne for over two hundred years.
+Ivan concentrated in his own hands the power of all the little Russian
+duchies, overthrew the celebrated Russian republic of Novgorod the Great,
+and defied the Tartars. Equally noteworthy to modern eyes was his wedding
+with Sophia, heiress of the last of the emperors of the East. When that
+outworn empire perished with the fall of Constantinople, Ivan succeeded
+nominally at least to its heirship. Hence it is that his successors have
+assumed the title of caesar or kaiser or czar and have grown to look upon
+themselves as inheritors of the ancient supremacy of Rome.[6]
+
+The fifteenth century was thus a time of many changes in Eastern Europe.
+Not only did the Eastern Empire disappear at last, not only did Hungary
+rise to the brief zenith of her glory, there was a sort of general
+movement, sometimes spoken of as the "Slavonic reaction," against the
+hitherto successful Teutons. The Slavic Bohemians in their "Hussite" wars
+repelled all the religious fighting strength of Europe. The Poles began
+to win back territory from the German empire, and especially from their
+hereditary foes the "Teutonic Knights" of Prussia. And Russia, greatest
+of all the Slav countries, grew into a strong kingdom. She and Turkey,
+rising as twin menaces to the West, assumed at almost the same period
+that threatening aspect which Turkey has only lately lost, and Russia, to
+some statesmen's eyes, still holds.
+
+POLITICAL CHANGES IN WESTERN EUROPE
+
+Turn now to the affairs of Western Europe. The feebleness of the German
+empire continued. For over half a century it was nominally ruled by
+Frederick III (1440-1493), the lazy and feeble emperor who let Matthias
+of Hungary expel him from Vienna, and never made any vigorous effort to
+recover his capital. He was succeeded by his son Maximilian, a man of far
+other temper, full of courage, energy, and hardihood. Maximilian has been
+called "the last of the knights," and indeed his whole career may well
+exemplify the changing times. The one achievement of his life was the
+recovery of Vienna from the Hungarians, and in that he was successful
+only because the heirs of Matthias were being overwhelmed by the Turks.
+
+The remainder of his career was spent in learning bitterly how little
+real power he had as emperor. He attempted to bring the Swiss once more
+under the imperial dominion, but the little armies he could scrape
+together against them were repeatedly defeated.[7] He was always
+declaring war against this kingdom or that, and summoning his great
+lords to aid him in upholding the glory of the empire. They persistently
+declined; and he was helpless. At one time having pledged his alliance to
+the English king, Henry VII, against France, he preserved his knightly
+word by going alone and serving as a volunteer in Henry's army, whither
+his people would not follow him. Instead they stayed at home and demanded
+from him constitutions and courts of law and other internal reforms,
+uninteresting matters about which the gallant soul of Maximilian cared
+not a straw and which he gave his subjects under protest.
+
+To the westward of him a far subtler monarch, by far subtler means, was
+strengthening the power of France and making smooth her way toward that
+supremacy over European affairs which she was later to assert. Louis XI
+(1461-1483) is called the first modern king, though it is little flattery
+to modern statecraft to compare its methods with his, and perhaps our
+recent governments have truly outgrown them. Louis was no warrior,
+although under compulsion he showed possibilities of becoming an able
+general. He preferred to send others who should do his fighting for him,
+to embroil his opponents one with another, and then reap the fruit of
+their mutual exhaustion. He was passed master of all falsity and craft;
+and by his shrewdness he brought to his country peace and prosperity.
+Typically does he represent his age in which intellectual ability, though
+sometimes wholly divorced from nobleness of soul, began to dominate brute
+force.
+
+Charles the Bold stands as the representative of this brute force. He was
+the mightiest of the French nobles. His ancestors, a younger branch
+of the royal family, had been made dukes of Burgundy, and by skilful
+alliances and rapid changes of side through the long Hundred Years' War,
+they had steadily added to their possessions and their powers. The father
+of Charles found himself stronger than his king, possessor not only of
+Burgundy, but of many other fiefs from Germany as well as France, and
+lord of the Netherlands as well.[8]
+
+Charles was thus the last of those great, overgrown vassals so
+characteristic of feudal times. Like Hugh Capet in France, like William
+the Conqueror in England, he hoped to establish himself as an independent
+king. He opened negotiations for this purpose with the Emperor Frederick,
+Maximilian's father. He made himself practically independent of France.
+He wielded a military power greater than that of any other prince of the
+moment, and he knew it and charged like a mad bull at whoever seemed to
+interpose in his designs.
+
+Over such a man Louis XI's cunning had full play. He involved Charles in
+fights with every neighbor. Finally he lured him into conflict with the
+Swiss, and those hardy mountaineers won the repute of being the best
+soldiers of Europe by defeating Charles again and again till they left
+him slain on the field of Nancy (1477).[9] Louis promptly seized most of
+his dead vassal's domains. Maximilian, having wedded Charles' daughter,
+inherited the remainder; and the old Burgundian kingdom, so nearly
+revived to stretch as a permanent dividing land between France and
+Germany, disappeared forever.
+
+What Louis had done with Burgundy he attempted with his other
+semi-independent duchies. The Hundred Years' War had almost destroyed
+central government in France. Louis, by means as secret and varied as his
+cunning could suggest, gradually reestablished an undisputed leadership
+above his lords. Fortunately for France, perhaps, England was prevented
+by a long series of civil wars from interfering in her neighbor's
+affairs. These wars, though they originated before Louis' time, were
+constantly fomented and kept alive by him, and England thus paid dearly
+for having become a source of danger to France.
+
+The Wars of the Roses,[10] as they are called, caused deep-seated changes
+in England's life and society. They mark for her the transition from the
+mediaeval to the modern era which was everywhere taking place. Beginning
+as a contest between two rival branches of the Plantagenets for the
+kingship, these wars remained aristocratic throughout. That is to say,
+the common people took little interest in them, while the nobles,
+espousing sides, fought savagely and murderously, giving one another
+no quarter, sparing the lesser folk, but executing as traitors their
+prisoners of rank. When one side seemed hopelessly overcome, Louis would
+lend them arms and money wherewith to seek revenge once more. Thus almost
+all the old nobility of England perished; and both lines of kings became
+extinct, Richard III, their last representative, being accused of
+murdering all his relatives or possible rivals.[11] At last, Richard too
+was slain, and a new family of rulers, only remotely connected with the
+old, was inaugurated by Henry Tudor, grandson of a private gentleman of
+Wales. This new king, Henry VII (1485-1509), found no powerful lords to
+oppose his will. One or two impostors were raised against him,[12] France
+making anxious efforts to prolong the troubles of her dangerous
+neighbor; but the attempts failed through the utter completeness of the
+aristocracy's exhaustion.
+
+Thus in England as in France, though by widely differing chances, the
+kingly power had triumphed over feudalism. Monarchs began to come into
+direct contact, not always pleasant, with the entire mass of their
+subjects, the "third estate," the common people.
+
+RISE OF SPANISH POWER
+
+Spain also was to pass through a similar experience. Indeed, one of the
+most striking facts of this age of the Renaissance is the swift and
+spectacular rise of Spain from a land of feebleness and internal strife
+into the most powerful kingdom of Europe. We have seen the Spanish
+peninsula in previous ages the seat of endless strife between Saracens
+and Christians. Gradually the Moors had been driven back, and the little
+independent Christian states had been united by the fortunes of war and
+marriage into three--Portugal on the Atlantic coast, Castile occupying
+the larger part of the mainland, and Aragon, a maritime kingdom, less
+extensive in Spain, but extending its sovereignty over many of the
+Mediterranean isles, over Sicily and southern Italy. In 1469 Isabella,
+heiress of Castile, and Ferdinand, heir of Aragon, were wedded; and
+soon afterward their countries were united under their joint rule. The
+combined strength of both was then devoted to a long religious war
+against the Moors. Granada, the last and most famous of the Moorish
+capitals and strongholds, was finally captured in 1492.[13] The followers
+of Mahomet were driven out of Western Europe during the same period that,
+under Turkish leadership, they had at last won Constantinople in the
+East.
+
+The whole Spanish peninsula with the exception of Portugal was thus
+united under Ferdinand and Isabella, greatest of the sovereigns of
+Spain. The ages of battle with the Moors had bred a nation of cavaliers,
+intensely loyal, passionately religious. They were splendid fighters, but
+stern, hard-hearted, merciless men. Isabella, "the Saint," most holy and
+pure-souled of women, herself introduced into her country the terrible
+Inquisition.[14] Jews and Moors were given little peace in life unless
+they turned Christian. Heretics and relapsed converts from the other
+faiths were burned to death. The Queen declared she would approve all
+possible torture to men's bodies, when necessary in order to save their
+souls.
+
+If such were the women of Spain, what was to be expected of the men? How
+could even Ferdinand, "the Wise," keep them employed now that there
+were no longer Moors to fight against? Uprisings, rebellions, began to
+threaten Spain with such desolation as England had endured. But a higher
+Providence solved for Ferdinand his impossible problem: the age of
+maritime discovery began.[15]
+
+THE ERA OF DISCOVERY
+
+The Portuguese from their Atlantic seaboard had already begun to explore
+southward along the African coast. In 1402 they had settled the Canary
+Isles. In 1443 they reached southward beyond the sands of the Sahara and
+saw Cape Verd, discovered that Africa was not all burning desert,
+that heat would not forever increase as they went southward. In 1487
+Bartholomew Diaz, after almost a year of sailing, reached the Cape of
+Good Hope, the southern point of the vast African continent; and in 1497
+Vasco da Gama rounded the cape and sailed on to India[16]. He had found a
+way of bringing Indian spices, silks, and jewels to Europe, bringing them
+in quantities and without paying tribute to the Turks, without crossing
+the deadly deserts of Arabia. He had made his little country wealthy.
+
+Meanwhile, stimulated by Portuguese success, the mariners of other
+nations began to brave the giant storms of the Atlantic. The Turks had
+made trade with the far East wellnigh impossible. Portugal was not the
+only land to seek a sea-route to India. Venice and Genoa saw before them
+the threat of ruin to their most profitable commerce. So we may even say
+that it was the Turks who set the Genoese captain Columbus to planning
+his great voyage; it was the conquest of the Moors that set Isabella free
+to listen to him, and offer her crown jewels for the expedition which
+should convert other heathen, establish other inquisitions; and it was
+the downfall of the Moors which left the Spanish warriors so eager to
+throng to adventure and warfare in the West, once Columbus had shown the
+way.
+
+For a time the theatre of great events shifts to the new continent.
+The Portuguese explorers had doubled the size of the known world. The
+Spaniards doubled it again. But the credit must not be given wholly
+to Spain. Though it was the liberality of her monarchs which had made
+discovery possible, and though it was the daring of her warriors that
+laughed at danger and made conquest sure, yet the Spaniards were not
+sailors. It was to Italy, the home of commerce, that they turned for
+their captains and their pilots. Columbus, the Genoese, had discovered
+the islands along the coast. England, wishing to have a share in this
+world of wonders, sent a Venetian mariner, John Cabot; and he and his son
+sailed along our northern mainland in English ships.[17] Columbus touched
+the coast of South America in 1498.[18] A Florentine, Amerigo Vespucci,
+was the first to cruise far along this southern coast, probably in 1499,
+and it was his name which Europe gave to the new lands.[19]
+
+Following the discovery came settlement, warfare with the unhappy
+Indians, a fierce and frantic search for gold. It was while engaged in
+this work that Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama, saw the vast
+waters of the Pacific, and riding out into them upon his warhorse took
+possession, in the name of Spain, of the largest ocean of the globe.[20]
+Men recognized at last that these were not the Asiatic shores, but a
+wholly new continent which they had found.
+
+RELIGIOUS CHANGES
+
+Let us pause to recapitulate the wonders which this age of the
+Renaissance had seen--a new world of Africa discovered in the South, a
+new world of America in the West, the rise of Spain, the conquest of the
+last of the western Saracens at Granada and the rise of the Turks in the
+East, the rise of Russia, the downfall of the last vestige of the ancient
+empire of Rome, the last expiring effort of feudalism in Charles the
+Bold, and of errant knighthood in Maximilian; the beginning of modern
+statecraft in Louis XI of France, Henry VII of England, and Ferdinand the
+Wise of Spain; the spread of printing and with it the spread of thought
+and knowledge among the masses; and, sometimes accounted greatest of all,
+came the wonderful awakening of art in Italy. We have traced the early
+part of this under the Medici and Pope Nicholas. Lorenzo de'Medici was
+the centre of its later development.[21] From his court went forth that
+galaxy of artists which the world of art unites in calling the unequalled
+masters of all ages--Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, and a host of
+others.[22]
+
+Unfortunately in Italy at least the great movement in art and literature
+took an antireligious, sometimes an antipatriotic, tone. Lorenzo was
+openly defiant and scornful of the teachings of the Church, and after his
+death a French king, Charles VIII, was able to enter Italy and march from
+end to end of it without opposition. Religion seemed dying there, and
+love of country dead.
+
+Florence underwent an extravagant though brief religious revival. The
+monk Savonarola preached against wickedness in high places, and thundered
+at the Florentines for their presumption and vanity. The impressionable
+people wept, they appointed a "day of vanities" and laid all their rich
+robes and jewels at Savonarola's feet. They made him ruler of the city.
+But, alas! they soon tired of his severities, sighed for their vanities
+back again, and at last burned the reformer at the stake.[23]
+
+In Rome itself there arose popes, Lorenzo's followers, who preferred
+art to Christianity, or others like the terrible Alexander Borgia, who
+adopted the maxims of the new statecraft. Alexander, a worthy disciple of
+Louis XI, admired falsehood before truth, and sought to win his aims by
+poisoning his enemies. The career of his nephew Caesar Borgia has supplied
+history with its most awful picture of successful crime, and the book
+written in his praise by Macchiavelli has given us a new word for Satanic
+subtlety and treachery. We call it Macchiavellian. The rest of Europe
+shrank from Italy in fear, and named it "poisoning Italy."[24]
+
+Against the spiritual dominance of such a land the world was surely ready
+for revolt. The mind of man, so long and slowly awakening, and at last so
+intensely roused, seeing great discoveries on every hand, was no longer
+to be controlled by authority. The time was ripe for the Reformation.
+
+[FOR THE NEXT SECTION OF THIS GENERAL SURVEY SEE VOLUME IX]
+
+[Footnote 1: See _Origin and Progress of Printing_, page 5.]
+
+[Footnote 2: See _Beginning and Progress of the Renaissance_, vol. ix, p.
+110.]
+
+[Footnote 3: See _Rebuilding of Rome by Nicholas V_, page 46.]
+
+[Footnote 4: See _Mahomet II Takes Constantinople_, page 55.]
+
+[Footnote 5: See _John Hunyady Repulses the Turks_, page 30.]
+
+[Footnote 6: See _Ivan the Great Unites Russia_, page 109.]
+
+[Footnote 7: See _Establishment of Swiss Independence_, page 336.]
+
+[Footnote 8: See _Culmination of the Power of Burgundy_, page 125.]
+
+[Footnote 9: See _Death of Charles the Bold_, page 155.]
+
+[Footnote 10: See _Wars of the Roses_, page 72.]
+
+[Footnote 11: See _Murder of the Princes in the Tower_, page 192,]
+
+[Footnote 12: See _Conspiracy, Rebellion, and Execution of Perkin
+Warbeck_, page 250.]
+
+[Footnote 13: See _Conquest of Granada_, page 202.]
+
+[Footnote 14: See _Inquisition Established in Spain_, page 166.]
+
+[Footnote 15: See _Columbus Discovers America_, page 224.]
+
+[Footnote 16: See _The Sea Route to India_, page 299.]
+
+[Footnote 17: See _Discovery of the Mainland of North America by the
+Cabots_, page 282.]
+
+[Footnote 18: See _Columbus Discovers South America_, page 323.]
+
+[Footnote 19: See _Amerigo Vespucci in America_, page 346.]
+
+[Footnote 20: See _Balboa Discovers the Pacific_, page 381.]
+
+[Footnote 21: See _Lorenzo de'Medici Rules in Florence_, page 134.]
+
+[Footnote 22: See _Painting of the Sistine Chapel_, page 369.]
+
+[Footnote 23: See _Savonarola's Reforms and Death_, page 265.]
+
+[Footnote 24: See _Rise and Fall of the Borgias_, page 360.]
+
+
+
+ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF PRINTING
+
+A.D. 1438
+
+HENRY GEORGE BOHN
+
+
+It was perhaps not altogether fortuitous that the invention of printing
+came concurrently with the Revival of Learning. Men's minds were turned
+toward practical experiment in that art by the very influences made
+active through the labors of those scholars who ushered in the
+Renaissance. "The art preservative of all other arts" has also preserved
+the records of its own beginnings and development, although of its
+earlier sources our knowledge is very obscure, and even the modern
+achievement, which antiquity in various ways foreshadowed, is itself a
+subject of uncertainty and dispute.
+
+Bohn, in his admirable survey of the origin and progress of modern
+printing, gives us a full and accurate account, from the earliest
+evidences and conjectures relating to antiquity to the latter part of the
+nineteenth century, confining himself, however, to European developments.
+But before the middle of the sixteenth century printing was introduced
+into Spanish America. Existing books show that in Mexico there was a
+press as early as 1540; but it is impossible to name positively the first
+book printed on this continent. North of Mexico the first press was used,
+1639, by an English Non-conformist clergyman named Glover. In 1660 a
+printer with press and types was sent from England by the corporation for
+propagating the gospel among the Indians of New England in the Indian
+language. This press was taken to a printing-house already established at
+Cambridge, Mass. It was not until several years later that the use of a
+press in Boston was permitted by the colonial government, and until near
+the end of the seventeenth century no presses were set up in the colonies
+outside of Massachusetts.
+
+In 1685 printing began in Pennsylvania, a few years later in New York,
+and in Connecticut in 1709. From 1685 to 1693 William Bradford, an
+English Quaker, conducted a press in Philadelphia, and in the latter
+year he removed his plant to New York. He was the first notable American
+printer, and became official printer for Pennsylvania, New York, New
+Jersey, Rhode Island, and Maryland. His first book was an almanac for
+1686. In 1725 he founded the _New York Gazette_, the first newspaper in
+New York. But the first newspaper published in the English colonies was
+the _Boston News-Letter_, founded in 1704 by John Campbell, a bookseller
+and postmaster in Boston. Only four American periodicals had been
+established when, in 1729, Benjamin Franklin, who was already printer
+to the Pennsylvania Assembly, became proprietor and editor of the
+_Pennsylvania Gazette_.
+
+Until the last quarter of the eighteenth century the progress of printing
+in America was slow. But in 1784 the first daily newspaper, the _American
+Daily Advertiser_, was issued in Philadelphia, and from this time
+periodical publications multiplied and the printing of books increased,
+until the agency and influence of the press became as marked in the
+United States as in the leading countries of Europe.
+
+Even since the time when Bohn wrote, the progress made in various
+branches of the printer's art has been such as might have astonished
+that famous publisher of so many standard works. Recent improvements
+for increasing the capacity of the press, and often the quality of its
+productions, are quite comparable to those which our own time has seen in
+other departments of industry, as in the applications of electricity and
+the like. In addition to the further development of stereotyping, there
+has been marvellous improvement in nearly all the machinery and processes
+of printing. This is especially marked in rapid color-printing, and in
+the successors of inadequate typesetting-machines--in the linotype, the
+monotype, the typograph, etc.
+
+Most wonderful of all, perhaps, is the improved printing-press itself,
+in various classes, each adapted to its special purpose. The sum of all
+improvements in this department of mechanical invention is seen in the
+great cylinder-presses now in general use, especially the one known as
+the web perfecting press. This is a machine of great size and intricate
+construction, which yet does its complex work with an accuracy that
+almost seems to denote conscious intelligence. It prints from an immense
+roll of paper, making the impression from curved stereotype plates, runs
+at high speed, prints both sides of the paper at one run, and folds,
+pastes, and performs other processes as provided for. By doubling and
+quadrupling the parts, the ordinary speed of about twenty-four thousand
+impressions an hour may be increased to one hundred thousand an hour.
+The multicolor web perfecting press prints four or more colors at one
+revolution of the impression cylinder.
+
+To meet the demands of such an enormous consumption of paper as the
+modern press requires, it was necessary to invent other processes and to
+utilize more abundant and cheaper material for paper-making than those
+formerly employed. This requirement has been supplied in recent years
+mainly through the extensive manufacture of paper from wood-pulp. This
+method, together with improved processes in the use of other materials,
+has removed all fear of a paper famine such as has sometimes threatened
+the printing industry in the past.
+
+"Nature does not advance by leaps," says an old proverb; neither does her
+offspring, Art. All the great boons vouchsafed to man by a munificent
+providence are of gradual development; and though some may appear to have
+come upon us suddenly, reflection and inquiry will always show that they
+have had their previous stages.
+
+Indeed, nothing in this great world which concerns the well-being of man
+takes place by accident, but is brought forward by divine will, precisely
+at the moment most suitable to our condition. So it was with astronomy,
+the mariner's compass, the steam-engine, gas, the electric telegraph, and
+many other of those blessings which have progressed with civilization.
+The elements were there and known, but the time had not arrived for their
+fructification.
+
+And so it is with printing: although its invention is placed in the
+middle of the fifteenth century, and almost the very year fixed, this can
+only be regarded as a matured stage of it. To illustrate this, I propose
+to begin with a cursory view of its primitive elements, of which the very
+first were no doubt initiative marks and numerals.
+
+The use of numerals has been denominated "the foundation of all the arts
+of life"; and we know with certainty that several nations, and among them
+the Mexicans, had numerals before they were acquainted with letters. The
+first method of reckoning was with the fingers, but small stones were
+also used--hence the words "calculate" and "calculation," which are
+derived from _calculus_, the Latin for a pebble-stone.
+
+The Chinese counted for many years with notched sticks; and even in
+England, in comparatively modern times, accounts were kept by tallies, in
+which notches were cut alike in two parallel pieces of wood. Shakespeare
+alludes to "the score and the tally" in his _Henry VI_; and this mode
+of keeping accounts is still adopted by some of the bakers and dyers in
+Warwickshire and Cheshire. And tallies are occasionally produced in the
+small-debt courts, where they are admitted as authentic proofs of debt.
+Hence the origin and name of the "tally court of the exchequer." The
+Peruvians, at the time they were conquered by Pizarro, counted with
+knotted strings.
+
+After numerals, came picture-writing, hieroglyphics, and symbolic
+characters, such are were used by the Egyptians, the Chinese, and the
+Mexicans; which, however unconnected they may be with each other, are
+of the same general character. Indeed, the Chinese have never advanced
+beyond symbolic characters, of which it is said they have more than one
+hundred thousand combinations or varieties.
+
+Rude as these conditions of humanity may seem, they are matched in modern
+England, even at a very recent date, if we may credit a well-known story:
+A rustic shopkeeper in a remote district, being unable to read or write,
+contrived to keep his accounts by picture-writing, and charged his
+customer, the miller, with a cheese instead of a grindstone, from having
+omitted to mark a hole in the centre.
+
+After picture and symbolic writings would follow phonetic characters,
+or marks for sounds; that is, the alphabet. Even the alphabet, which in
+civilized countries has now existed for more than three thousand years,
+was perfected by degrees; for it has been clearly ascertained that
+the earliest known did not comprise more than one-half or, at most,
+two-thirds of the letters which eventually formed its complement. Thus,
+the Pelasgian alphabet, which is derived from the Phoenician, and is the
+parent of the Greek and Roman, consisted originally of only twelve or
+thirteen letters.
+
+The invention of the alphabet, which, in a small number of elementary
+characters, is capable of six hundred and twenty sextillions of
+combinations, and of exhibiting to the sight the countless conceptions of
+the mind which have no corporeal forms, is so wonderful that great men of
+all ages have shrunk from accounting for it otherwise than as a boon of
+divine origin. This feeling is strengthened by the singular circumstance
+that so many alphabets bear a strong similarity to each other, however
+widely separated the countries in which they arose.
+
+In Egypt the invention of the alphabet is by some ascribed to Syphoas,
+nearly two thousand years before the Christian era, but more commonly
+to Athotes, Thoth, or Toth, a deity always figured with the head of the
+ibis, and very familiar in Egyptian antiquities. Cadmus is accredited
+with having introduced it from Egypt into Greece about five centuries
+later.
+
+From the alphabet the gradation is natural to compounds of letters and
+written language, and, though speech is one of the greatest gifts to man,
+it is writing which distinguishes him from the uncivilized savage. The
+practice of writing is of such remote antiquity that neither sacred nor
+profane authors can satisfactorily trace its origin. The philosopher may
+exclaim with the poet:
+
+"Whence did the wondrous mystic art arise. Of painting speech and
+speaking to the eyes? That we, by tracing magic lines, are taught How
+both to color and embody thought?"
+
+The earliest writing would probably have been with chalk, charcoal,
+slate, or perhaps sand, as children from time immemorial have been taught
+to read and write in India. The Romans used white walls for writing
+inscriptions on, in red chalk--answering the purpose of our
+posting-bills--of which several instances were found on the walls of
+Pompeii. Plutarch informs us that tradesmen wrote in some such manner
+over their doors, and that auction bills ran thus:
+
+"Julius Proculus will this day have an auction of his superfluous goods,
+to pay his debts."
+
+Next seems to have followed writing or engraving on stone, wood, ivory,
+and metals, of which we have many early evidences. The Decalogue, or the
+Ten Commandments, given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai, was originally,
+we are told in the Bible, written upon two tables of stone; the pillars
+of Seth were of brick and stone; the laws of the Greeks were graven on
+tables of brass, which were called _cyrbes_. Herodotus mentions a letter
+written with a style on stone slabs, which Themistocles, the Athenian
+general, sent to the Romans about B.C. 500; and we have another evidence
+of the same period still existing--the so-called Borgian inscription,
+which is a passport graven in bronze, entitling the holder to hospitable
+reception wherever he demanded it. Upward of three thousand of such
+engraved tablets, including the famous Roman laws of the Twelve Tables,
+were consumed in the great fire which destroyed the Capitol in the time
+of Vespasian.
+
+I could cite a great many other evidences of early writing on stone or
+brass, but will merely recommend you to see the Rosetta[25] inscription,
+which is conspicuously placed in the British Museum. It is this very
+interesting stone which, being partly Greek and partly Egyptian, has
+enabled us to decipher so many Egyptian monuments.
+
+Pliny informs us that table-books of wood--generally made of box or
+citron wood--were in use before the time of Homer, that is, nearly three
+thousand years ago; and in the Bible we read of table-books in the time
+of Solomon. These table-books were called by the Romans _pugillares_,
+which may be translated "hand-books"; the wood was cut into thin slices,
+finely planed and polished, and written upon with an iron instrument
+called a _stylus_. At a later period, tables, or slices of wood, were
+usually covered with a thin layer of hard wax, so that any matter written
+upon them might be effaced at pleasure, and the tables used again. Such
+practice continued as late as A.D. 1395. In an account roll of Winchester
+College of that year we find that a table covered with green wax was kept
+in the chapel for noting down with a style the daily or weekly duties
+assigned to the officers of the choir. Ivory also was used in the same
+way.
+
+Wooden table-books, as we learn from Chaucer, were used in England as
+late as the fifteenth century. When epistles were written upon tables of
+wood they were usually tied together with cord, the seal being put upon
+the knot. Some of the table-books must have been large and heavy, for
+in Plautus a schoolboy seven years old is represented as breaking his
+master's head with his table-book.
+
+Writing seems also to have been common, at a very early period, on palm
+and olive leaves, and especially on the bark of trees--a material used
+even in the present time in some parts of Asia. The bark is generally cut
+into thin flat pieces, from nine to fifteen inches long and two to four
+inches wide, and written on with a sharp instrument. Indeed, the tree,
+whether in planks, bark, or leaves, seems in ancient times to have
+afforded the principal materials for writing on. Hence the word _codex_,
+originally signifying the "trunk or stem of a tree," now means a
+manuscript volume. _Tabula_, which properly means a "plank" or "board,"
+now also signifies the plate of a book, and was so used by Addison, who
+calls his plates "tables." _Folium_ ("a leaf") has given us the word
+"folio"; and the word _liber_, originally meaning the "inner bark of a
+tree," was afterward used by the Romans to signify a book; whence we
+derive our words, "library," "librarian," etc. One more such etymology,
+the most interesting of all, is the Greek name for the bark of a tree,
+_biblos_, whence is derived the name of our sacred volume.
+
+Before I leave this stage of the subject, I will mention the way in which
+the Roman youth were taught writing. Quintilian tells us that they were
+made to write through perforated tablets, so as to draw the stylus
+through a kind of furrow; and we learn from Procopius that a similar
+contrivance was used by the emperor Justinian for signing his name. Such
+a tablet would now be called a stencil-plate, and is what to the present
+day is found the most rapid and convenient mode of marking goods, only
+that a brush is used instead of an iron pen or style.
+
+Writing and materials have so much to do with the invention of printing
+that I feel obliged to tarry a little longer at this preliminary stage.
+The most important of all the ancient materials for writing upon were
+papyrus, parchment, and vellum; and on these substances nearly all our
+most valuable manuscripts were written. Papyrus, or paper-rush, is a
+large fibrous plant which abounds in the marshes of Egypt, especially
+near the borders of the Nile. It was manufactured into a thick sort of
+paper at a very early period, Pliny says three centuries before the reign
+of Alexander the Great; and Cassiodorus, who lived in the sixth century,
+states that it then covered all the desks of the world. Indeed, it had
+become so essential to the Greeks and Romans that the occasional scarcity
+of it is recorded to have produced riots. Every man of rank and education
+kept _librarii_, or book-writers, in his house; and many _servi_, or
+slaves, were trained to this service, so that they were a numerous class.
+
+Papyrus is a very durable substance, made of the innermost pellicles of
+the stalk, glued together transversely, with the glutinous water of
+the Nile. It was for many centuries the great staple of Egypt, and was
+exported in large quantities to almost every part of Europe and Asia, but
+never, it would appear, to England or Germany. After the seventh century
+its use was gradually superseded by the introduction of parchment; and
+before the end of the twelfth century it had gone generally out of use.
+From "papyrus" the name of "paper," which, with slight variations, is
+common to many languages, is no doubt derived.
+
+Parchment and vellum--which are made from the skin of animals, the former
+from sheep or goat, the latter from calf, both prepared with lime--were
+in use at a very early period, long before their accredited introduction.
+It has been by some supposed that Eumenes, King of Pergamus, who lived
+about B.C. 190, was the inventor of parchment; but it was known much
+earlier, as may be seen by several references to it in the Bible (Isaiah,
+viii. i; Jeremiah, xxxvi. 2; Ezekiel, xi. 9). It is, however, very
+probable that it may have been brought to perfection at Pergamus, as it
+was one of the principal articles of commerce of that kingdom.
+
+Parchment, in early times, was not only expensive, but often very
+difficult to procure; whence arose the practice of erasing old writing
+from it, and engrossing it a second time. Such manuscripts are called
+"palimpsests." Modern art has found the means of discharging the more
+recent ink, and thus restoring the original writing, by which means we
+have recovered many valuable pieces, particularly Cicero's lost book, _de
+Republica_ and some fragments of his _Orations_.
+
+The most ancient manuscripts, both on papyrus and parchment, were kept
+in rolls, called in Latin _volumina_, whence our English word "volume."
+Chinese paper, made from the bark of the bamboo, the mulberry, or the
+khu-ku tree, and so extremely thin that it can only be used on one side,
+is supposed to have been invented fifty years before the Christian era
+or earlier. Chinese rice-paper is made from the stems of the bread-fruit
+tree, cut into slices and pressed. The skins of all kinds of animals
+are used--among them the African skin, of a brown color, upon which the
+Hebrew Pentateuch and service-books used in the Jewish synagogues were
+formerly written. Silk-paper was prepared for the most part in Spain
+and its colonies, but was never brought to much perfection. Asbestos, a
+fibrous mineral, was made into paper, tolerably light and pliant, which,
+being incombustible, was denominated "eternal paper." Herodotus tells
+us that cloth was made of asbestos by the Egyptians; and Pliny mentions
+napkins made of it in A.D. 74. We know by tradition that the intestines
+of a serpent served for Homer's _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_; and that the
+_Koran_ was written in part on shoulder-bones of mutton, kept in a
+domestic chest by one of Mahomet's wives.
+
+We now come to the great period of writing-papers made from cotton and
+linen rags, as used at the present day, and which from the first were
+so perfect that they have since undergone no material improvement.
+Cotton-paper was an Eastern invention, probably introduced in the ninth
+century, although not generally used in Europe till about the twelfth and
+thirteenth centuries. Greek manuscripts are found upon it of the earlier
+period, and Italian manuscripts of the later. It seems to have prevailed
+at particular periods, in particular countries, according to the
+facilities for procuring it, as it now does almost exclusively in
+America. Linen paper, the most valuable and important of all the bases
+available for writing or printing, is likewise supposed to have been
+introduced into Europe from the East, early in the thirteenth century,
+although not in general use till the fourteenth.
+
+Before the end of the fourteenth century, paper-mills had been
+established in many parts of Europe, first in Spain, and then
+successively in Italy, Germany, Holland, and France. They seem to have
+come late into England, for Caxton printed all his books on paper
+imported from the Low Countries; and it was not till Winkin de Worde
+succeeded him, in 1495, that paper was manufactured in England. The
+Chinese are supposed to have used it for centuries before, and appear to
+have the best title to be considered the inventors of both cotton and
+linen paper.
+
+Paper may be made of many other materials, such as hay, straw, nettles,
+flax, grasses, parsnips, turnips, colewort leaves, wood-shavings, indeed
+of anything fibrous; but as the invention of printing is not concerned in
+them, I see no occasion to consider their merits.
+
+Before I pass from paper, it may not be irrelevant to say a word or
+two on the names by which we distinguish the sorts and sizes. The
+term "post-paper" is derived from the ancient water-mark, which was a
+post-horn, and not from its suitableness to transport by post, as many
+suppose. The original watermark of a fool's cap gave the name to that
+paper, which it still retains, although the fool's cap was afterward
+changed to a cap of liberty, and has since undergone other changes. The
+smaller size, called "pot-paper," took its name from having at first
+been marked with a flagon or pot. Demy-paper, on which octavo books
+are usually printed, is so called from being originally a "demi" or
+half-sized paper; the term is now, however, equally applied to hard or
+writing papers. Hand-cap, which is a coarse paper used for packing, bore
+the water-mark of an open hand.
+
+I will now say a few words about pens and ink, for without them we could
+neither have had printing nor books. Pens are of great antiquity, and are
+frequently alluded to in the Bible. Pens of iron, which may mean styles,
+are mentioned by Job and Jeremiah. Reed pens are known to have been in
+common use by the ancients, and some were discovered at Pompeii. Pens of
+gold and silver are alluded to by the classical writers, and there
+is evidence of the use of quills in the seventh century. Of whatever
+material the pen was made, it was called a _calamus_, whence our familiar
+saying, "_currente calamo_" ("with a flowing pen"). The use of styles, or
+iron pens, must have been very prevalent in ancient days, as Suetonius
+tells us that the emperor Caligula incited the people to massacre a Roman
+senator with their styles; and, previous to that, Caesar had wounded
+Cassius with his style.
+
+The next, and not the least important, ingredient in writing and printing
+is ink. Staining and coloring matters were well known to the ancients at
+a very early period, witness the lustrous pigments on Etruscan vases more
+than two thousand years ago; and inks are often mentioned in the Bible.
+Gold, silver, red, blue, and green inks were thoroughly understood in
+the Middle Ages, and perhaps earlier; and the black writing-ink of the
+seventh down to the tenth century, as seen in our manuscripts, was in
+such perfection that it has retained its lustre better than some of
+later ages. Printing-ink, by the time it began to be currently used for
+book-printing in the fifteenth century, had attained a perfection which
+has never been surpassed, and indeed scarcely equalled.
+
+Paper and ink being at their highest point, we will now consider the
+advances which had in the mean time been made in engraving and type or
+letter cutting. It will be seen that the material elements of printing
+were by degrees converging to a culminating point. The evidences of
+engraving, both in relief and intaglio, are of very ancient date. I need
+hardly remind you of the exquisite workmanship on coins, cameos, and
+seals, many centuries before the Christian era, to illustrate the high
+state of cultivation at which the arts must then have arrived. The art of
+casting and chasing in bronze was extensively practised in the twelfth
+century, and I have seen a specimen with letters so cut in relief that
+they might be separated to form movable type. The goldsmiths were
+certainly among the greatest artists of the early ages, and were
+competent to execute forms or moulds of any kind to perfection.
+
+In the British Museum is a brass signet stamp, more than two thousand
+years old, on which two lines of letters are very neatly engraved
+in relief, in the reversed order necessary for printing; and as the
+interstices are cut away very deeply and roughly, there is little doubt
+but that this stamp was used with ink on papyrus, parchment, or
+linen, for paper was not then known. Indeed, the experiment of taking
+impressions from it in printing-ink has been tried, and found to answer
+perfectly. A large surface so engraved would at once have given to the
+world an equivalent to what is now regarded as the most advanced state of
+the art of printing; that is, a stereotype plate. Vergil mentions brands
+for marking cattle with their owner's name; probably this kind of brass
+stamp, but larger.
+
+I could cite many more examples of ancient engraving which would yield
+impressions on paper, either by pressure or friction. But our business is
+with printing rather than engraving; I will, therefore, go back to the
+subject, and cite a very early and interesting example of stamping
+engraved letters on clay. I mean the Babylonian bricks, supposed to be
+four thousand years old, mostly sun-baked, but some apparently kiln-burnt
+almost to vitrification. Of these there are now many examples in England,
+added to our stores by the indefatigable researches of Layard, Rawlinson,
+and others. These bricks, which are about a foot square and three inches
+thick, are on one side covered with hieroglyphics, evidently impressed
+with a stamp, just as letters are now stamped on official papers.
+
+Another evidence of the same kind, and of about the same age, is the
+famous Babylonian cylinder found in the ruins of Persepolis, and now
+preserved in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge. It is about
+seven inches high, barrel-shaped, and covered with inscriptions in the
+cuneiform character, disposed in vertical lines, and affording a positive
+example of an indented surface produced by mechanical impression. Such
+cylinders are supposed to have been memorials of matters of national or
+family importance, and were in early ages, as we know by tradition, very
+numerous. Stamped or printed blocks of lead, bearing the names of Roman
+authorities, are to be found in the British Museum.
+
+Printing on leather was practised by the Egyptians, as we discover from
+their mummies, which have bandages of leather round their heads, with the
+name of the deceased printed on them. And in Pompeii a loaf was found on
+which the name of the baker and its quality were printed. Among ancient
+testimonies, one of the most interesting is that afforded by Cicero in
+his _de Natura Deorum_. He orders types to be made of metal, and calls
+them _forma literarum_--the very words used by our first printers; and in
+another place he gives a hint of separate cut letters when he speaks of
+the impossibility of the most ingenious man throwing the twenty-four
+letters of the alphabet together by chance, and thus producing the famous
+_Annals_ of Ennius. He makes that observation in opposition to the
+atheistical argument of the creation of the world by chance.
+
+We have besides, in what is generally classed as a manuscript, a
+reasonable although disputed evidence of an elementary stage of printing;
+I mean the _Codex Argenteus_ (or _Silver Book_) of Upsala, which contains
+a portion of the gospels in Mesogothic, supposed to be of the fourth or
+fifth century, the work of Ulfilas. In this codex the first lines of each
+gospel and of the Lord's Prayer are in large gold letters, apparently
+printed by a stamp, in the manner of a bookbinder, as there are
+indentations on the back of the vellum. The small letters are written in
+silver. The whole is on a light purple or violet colored vellum.
+
+Having said enough, I think, of the ancients' knowledge of type-forms and
+printing materials, I pass on to the recognized establishments of the art
+in the fifteenth century; for, whatever knowledge the ancients had
+of printing, it would appear to have yielded no immediate fruits to
+posterity.
+
+But before I proceed to modern times, I am bound to note that the
+Chinese, who seem to have been many centuries in advance of Europe in
+most of the industral arts, are supposed to have practised
+block-printing, just as they do now, more than a thousand years ago. Nor
+does the complicated nature of their written language, which consists of
+more than one hundred thousand word-signs, admit of any readier mode. But
+they print, or rather rub off, impressions with such speed--seven
+hundred sheets per hour--that, until the introduction of steam, they far
+outstripped Europeans. Gibbon, it will be remembered, regrets that the
+emperor Justinian, who lived in the sixth century, did not introduce the
+art of printing from the Chinese, instead of their silk manufacture.
+
+Block-printing ushered in the great epoch; and the first dawn of it
+in Europe seems to have been single prints of saints and scriptural
+subjects, with a line or two of description engraved on the same wooden
+plate. These are for the most part lost; but there is one in existence,
+large and exceedingly fine, of St. Christopher, with two lines of
+inscription, dated 1423, believed to have been printed with the ordinary
+printing-press. It was found in the library of a monastery near Augsburg,
+and is therefore presumed to be of German execution. Till lately this was
+the earliest-dated evidence of block-printing known; but there has since
+been discovered at Malines, and deposited at Brussels, a wood-cut
+of similar character, but assumed to be Dutch or Flemish, dated
+"MCCCCXVIII"; and though there seems no reason to doubt the genuineness
+of the cut, it is asserted that the date bears evidence of having been
+tampered with.
+
+There is a vague tradition, depending entirely on the assertion of a
+writer named Papillon, not a very reliable authority, which would give
+the invention of wood-cut-printing to Venice, and at a very early period.
+He asserts that he once saw a set of eight prints, depicting the deeds
+of Alexander the Great, each described in verse, which were engraved in
+relief, and printed by a brother and sister named Cunio, at Ravenna,
+in 1285. But though the assertion is accredited by Mr. Ottley, it is
+generally disbelieved.
+
+There is reason to suppose that playing-cards, from wooden blocks, were
+produced at Venice long before the block-books, even as early as 1250;
+but there is no positive evidence that they were printed; and some insist
+that they were produced either by friction or stencil-plates. It seems,
+however, by no means unlikely that cards, which were in most extensive
+use in the Middle Ages, should, for the sake of cheapness, have been
+printed quite as early, if not earlier, than even figures of saints; and
+the same artists are presumed to have produced both.
+
+From single prints, with letter-press inscriptions, the next stage, that
+of a series of prints accompanied by letter-press, was obvious. Such are
+our first recognized block-books, among which are the Apocalypse, and the
+_Biblia Pauperum_ (or _Poor Man's Bible_), supposed to have been printed
+at Haarlem by Laurence Koster, between 1420 and 1430; I say supposed,
+because we have no positive evidence either of the person, place, or
+date; and Erasmus, who was born at Rotterdam in 1467, and always ready
+to advance the honor of his country, is silent on the subject. We rely
+chiefly upon the testimony of Ulric Zell, an eminent printer of Cologne,
+who is quoted in the _Cologne Chronicle_ of 1499, and Hadrian Junius, a
+Dutch historian of repute, who wrote in the next century. Both agree in
+ascribing the invention of book-printing from wooden blocks, as well as
+the first germ of movable wood and metallic type printing, to Haarlem;
+and Junius adds the name of Laurence Koster. His surname of Koster is
+derived from his office, which was that of custodian, sexton, or warden
+of the Cathedral Church of Haarlem. The story told of the accident by
+which the discovery was made is as follows:
+
+Koster, as he was one day walking in a wood adjoining the city, about the
+year 1420, cut some letters on the bark of a beech tree, from which he
+took impressions on paper for the amusement of his brother-in-law's
+children. The idea then struck him of enlarging their application;
+and, being a man of an ingenious turn, he invented a thicker and more
+tenacious ink than was in common use, which blotted, and began to print
+figures from wooden tablets or blocks, to which he added several lines of
+letters, first solid, and then separate or movable. These wooden types
+are said to have been fastened together with string.
+
+One thing seems pretty clear, which is, that, whether or not Koster was
+the printer, the first block-books were produced somewhere in Holland, as
+several are in Dutch, a language seldom, if ever, printed out of its own
+country. They were generally printed in light-brown ink, like a sepia
+drawing, which, I think, was adopted with a view to their being
+colored--a condition in which we find the greater part of them. When
+these prints were colored they presented very much the appearance of the
+Low Country stained-glass windows.
+
+Block-books continued to be printed and reprinted, first in Holland and
+afterward in Germany, with considerable activity, for twenty or thirty
+years, during which period we had several editions of the _Biblia
+Pauperum_, the _Ars Moriendi_ (or _Art of Dying),_ the _Speculum Humanae
+Salvationis_, and many others, chiefly devoted to the promulgation of
+scripture history. The earliest ones are printed, or rather transferred
+by friction--and therefore on one side only of the paper--entirely from
+solid blocks; later on, some portions were printed with movable types of
+wood; and at last the letter-press was entirely of movable metal types.
+Junius says that Koster by degrees exchanged his wooden types for leaden
+ones, and these for pewter; and I will add that it is not unlikely they
+may have been cast in lead or pewter plates from the wooden blocks, as
+metal-casting was well understood at the time.
+
+The pretensions of Haarlem and Koster have for more than a century been a
+matter of fierce controversy; and there have been upward of one hundred
+and fifty volumes written for or against, without any approach to a
+satisfactory decision. This one thing is certain, that, whether or not we
+owe the first idea of movable type to Laurence Koster or to Haarlem, we
+do not owe to the period any very marked use of it; that was reserved for
+a later day.
+
+There is a story current, dependent on the authority of Junius, that
+Koster's principal workman, assumed to be Hans or John Faust--and some,
+to reconcile improbabilities, even say John Gutenberg--who had been sworn
+to secrecy, decamped one Christmas Eve, after the death of Koster, while
+the family were at church, taking with him types and printing apparatus
+and, after short sojourns at Amsterdam and Cologne, got to Mainz or
+Mayence with them, and there introduced printing. He is said by Junius
+to have printed, about the year 1442--that is, two years after Koster's
+death--the _Doctrinale_ of Alexander Gallus and the _Tracts_ of Peter of
+Spain, with the very types which Koster made use of in Haarlem; but as no
+volume of this kind has ever been discovered, nor any trace of one, the
+entire story is generally regarded as apocryphal. Laurence Koster died
+in 1440, at the age of seventy; therefore any printing attributed to him
+must be within that period.
+
+What has hitherto been advanced proves only that mankind had walked for
+many centuries on the borders of the two great inventions, chalcography
+and typography, without having fully and practically discovered either of
+them.
+
+We now come to the great epoch of printing--I mean the complete
+introduction, if not actually the first invention, of movable metal
+or fusile types. This took place at Mainz, in or before 1450, and the
+general consent of Europe assigns the credit of it to Gutenberg. Of a man
+who has conferred such vast obligations on all succeeding ages, it may be
+desirable to say a few words.
+
+John Gutenberg was born at Mainz in 1397, of a patrician and rather
+wealthy family. He left his native city, it is said, because implicated
+in an insurrection of the citizens against the nobility, and settled
+at Strasburg, where, in 1427, we find him an established merchant, and
+sustaining a suit of breach of promise brought against him by a lady
+named Ann of the Iron Door, whom he afterward married. While resident
+here, and before 1439, his attention appears to have been actively
+directed to the art of printing, as we learn by a legal document of the
+time, found of late years in the archives of Strasburg. He is there
+stated to have entered into an engagement with three persons, named
+Dreizehn, Riffe, and Heilmann, to reveal to them "a secret art of
+printing which he had lately discovered," and to take them into
+partnership for five years, upon the payment of certain sums.
+
+The death of Dreizehn before he had paid up all his instalments led to a
+suit on the part of his relations, which ended in Gutenberg's favor. In
+the course of the evidence one of the witnesses, a goldsmith, deposed to
+having received from Gutenberg three or four years previously--that
+is, about 1435--upward of three hundred florins for materials used in
+printing. Other witnesses proved the anxiety that Gutenberg had shown to
+have four pages of type distributed which appear to have been screwed up
+in chase, and lying on a press on the deceased's premises.
+
+This would be evidence that Gutenberg had arrived at a knowledge of
+movable types, either of wood or metal, and probably of both, before
+1440; and, had it not been for the rupture of the partnership before
+anything had been printed by the new process, Strasburg might have
+claimed the honor which is now given to Mainz.
+
+Soon after this--it is supposed in 1444--Gutenberg returned to his native
+city, by leave of the town council, which he was obliged to ask, bringing
+with him all his materials. In 1446 he entered into a partnership with
+John Faust--a wealthy and skilful goldsmith and engraver--who
+engaged, upon being taught the secrets of the art and admitted into a
+participation of the profits, to advance the necessary funds, which he
+did to the extent of two thousand two hundred florins. Goldsmiths, it
+should be borne in mind, were then the great artists in all kinds of
+metal work, and extremely skilful in modelling, engraving, and casting,
+which were exactly the arts required for type-founding.
+
+The new partnership immediately commenced operations, hired a house
+called Zumjungen, and took into their employ Peter Schoeffer, who had
+been Faust's apprentice, as their assistant. Faust is supposed to have
+employed himself in cutting the type, which is an extremely slow process,
+till Peter Schoeffer, afterward his son-in-law, suggested an improved
+mode of casting it in copper matrices struck by steel punches, pretty
+much in the same manner as was till recently practised throughout Europe.
+The firm had for some time previously adopted a method of casting type in
+moulds of plaster, which was a tedious process, as every letter required
+a new mould.
+
+Although to Gutenberg are undoubtedly due all the main features of
+metal-type printing, yet we owe, perhaps, to the practical skill of
+Faust, and the taste of Schoeffer, who was an accomplished penman, the
+exquisite finish and perfection with which their first joint effort came
+forth to the world. This was a Latin Vulgate, printed in a large cut
+metal type, and commonly called the Mazarin Bible, because the first copy
+known to bibliographers was found in the library of Cardinal Mazarin.
+It consists of six hundred and forty-one leaves, forming two, sometimes
+four, large volumes in folio; some copies on paper of beautiful texture,
+some on vellum. It was without date or names of the printers, as it was
+evidently intended to present the appearance of a manuscript; but it is
+supposed, on good evidence, to have been printed between 1450 and 1455,
+and it is not improbable the volumes were all that time, that is,
+five years, and some say more, at press; for we know, by certain
+technicalities, that every page was printed off singly.
+
+These precious volumes, as splendid as they are wonderful, have excited
+the admiration of all beholders. The sharpness and elegant uniformity of
+the type, the lustre of the ink, and the purity of the paper leave that
+first great monument of the typographic art unsurpassed by any subsequent
+effort; nor could it be exceeded with all the appliances of the present
+day.
+
+"It is a striking circumstance," says Mr. Hallam, "that the high-minded
+inventors of this great art tried, at the very outset, so bold a flight
+as the printing of an entire Bible, and executed it with astonishing
+success. It was Minerva leaping on earth in her divine strength and
+radiant armor, ready, at the moment of her nativity, to subdue and
+destroy her enemies."
+
+There is a curious story current about this Bible, which, as it is
+connected with a popular fiction, I will venture to repeat. It is that
+Faust went to Paris with some of his Bibles for sale, one of which,
+printed on vellum and richly illuminated, he sold to the King for seven
+hundred and fifty crowns, and another to the Archbishop of Paris for
+three hundred crowns, and to the poorer clergy and the laity copies on
+paper as low as fifty crowns, and even less. Faust does not appear to
+have disclosed the secret of how they were produced, and probably let it
+be supposed that they were manuscript; for the aim of the first printers
+was to make their books equal in beauty to the finest manuscripts, and
+as far as possible undistinguishable from them, to which end the large
+capitals and decorations were filled in by hand.
+
+The Archbishop, proud of his purchase, showed it to the King, who,
+comparing it with his own, found with surprise that they tallied so
+exactly in every respect, excepting the illuminated ornaments, as
+convinced them that they were produced by some other art than
+transcription; and on further inquiry they found that Faust had sold
+a considerable number exactly similar. Orders, therefore, were given
+without delay to apprehend and prosecute him as a practitioner of the
+black art in multiplying Holy Writ by aid of the devil. Hence arose the
+popular fiction of the Devil and Dr. Faustus, which, under different
+phases, has found its way into every country in Europe, and probably gave
+rise to Goethe's celebrated drama.
+
+In 1455, as we find by a notarial document, dated November 6th of that
+year, Faust separated from Gutenberg, and successfully instituted
+proceedings against him for money advanced. Gutenberg, who had exhausted
+all his means in bringing his invention to maturity, was obliged to
+mortgage and in the end surrender all his materials, and, it should seem,
+his printed stock. His impoverishment may easily be accounted for when we
+are told, as a received fact, that before the first four sheets of his
+Bible were completed he had already expended four thousand crowns upon
+it--a large sum in those days. Of this his then wealthier partner reaped
+all the subsequent advantage.
+
+After this period, Faust, and his son-in-law, Peter Schoeffer, in
+possession of the materials, printed on their own account, and, within
+eighteen months of their separation from Gutenberg, produced the
+celebrated Latin Psalter of 1457, the first book in any country which
+bears a complete imprint--that is, the name of the printer, place, and
+date. This magnificent volume, of which the whole edition was printed on
+vellum, is now even rarer than the Mazarin Bible, and of extraordinary
+value; the letters are very large and bold, cast in metal type, and the
+ornamental initials are beautifully cut in wood.
+
+Two years later, that is, in 1459, Faust and Schoeffer produced an
+almost fac-simile reprint of the Psalter, and in the same year _Durandi
+Rationale Divinorum Officiorum_, the latter with an entirely new font of
+metal type--the first cast from Schoeffer's punches--which some, in the
+erroneous belief that the Psalter was printed from wooden types, have
+asserted to be the first dated book printed with metal type. Then
+followed, in 1460, the _Constitutiones Clementis V_, a handsome folio,
+and in 1462 their famous Latin Bible, the first one with a date.
+
+In the mean time, Gutenberg, undaunted by the loss of all that had cost
+him so many years of unremitted application and his whole fortune, began
+afresh; and this time, it should seem, with better success, as we find
+him, in 1459, undertaking to present, for certain considerations, all the
+books he had then printed, or might thereafter print, to a convent where
+his sister was a nun. No book, however, has yet been discovered bearing
+the name of Gutenberg; and we can only guess what came from his press by
+a peculiarity of type, of which, after the first Bible, the most marked
+is the famous _Catholicon_, dated 1460--a kind of universal dictionary,
+the germ of all future cyclopaedias, and which became so popular that
+more than forty editions were printed of it in as many years. In 1465
+Gutenberg retired from printing, being appointed to a lucrative office at
+the court of the Archbishop of Mainz, and in 1467 he died.
+
+And here we take leave of Gutenberg, with admiration for his patience,
+his perseverance, and his self-sacrifice in a cause which has produced
+such glorious fruits. He was one of those noble spirits who are endowed
+with a perception of what is good, and pursue it independent of worldly
+considerations. Posterity has done him tardy justice in erecting a marble
+monument to his memory and establishing a jubilee, which gave rise to one
+of the most touching of Mendelssohn's compositions.
+
+By this time the secret had transpired to the neighboring states, and
+Mentelin, of Strasburg, and Pfister, or Bamberg, were, before the
+beginning of 1462, in full activity. Indeed, Pfister is, by some, thought
+to have printed before 1460; and his finely executed Latin Bible, in cast
+type, was for many years regarded as the first.
+
+At this critical period, when the art was reaching its zenith, the
+operations of the Mainz printers were suddenly brought to a standstill
+by the siege and capture of the city in 1462. The occasion of this was a
+fierce dispute between the Pope and the people as to who had the right of
+appointment to the archbishopric, lately become vacant. The original hive
+of workmen dispersed to other states, and by degrees the mysteries of the
+art became spread over the civilized world. Such, indeed, was the fame
+printing had acquired, and its manifest importance, that every crowned
+head sought to introduce it into his kingdom, and welcomed the fugitives.
+Within a few years of this period the art had been carried by the
+scattered German workmen into Italy, France, Spain, and Switzerland; and
+before the close of the fifteenth century it was practised in more than
+two hundred twenty different places.
+
+Before entering upon the history of printing in England, I will take
+leave to call your attention to a few prominent facts connected with its
+progress abroad, as well as to some points of its early condition which
+could not be conveniently introduced in chronological order. All the
+books printed previously to 1465 are in the Gothic, or black letter,
+which still remained the favorite in Germany and the Low Countries long
+after the Italians introduced their beautiful Roman letter. The first
+books in which any Greek type occurs are Cicero's _Offices_, printed
+by Faust and Schoeffer in 1465, directly after the resumption of their
+establishment; and _Lactantius_, printed the same year by Sweynheim and
+Pannartz, in the monastery of Soubiaco at Rome. The first book printed
+entirely in Greek was Constantine Lascar's _Greek Grammar_, Milan, 1476.
+
+One of the earliest of the Italian books, and, to use the words of
+Dr. Dibdin, perhaps the most notorious volume in existence, was the
+celebrated Boccaccio, printed at Venice by Valdarfer in 1471. This book
+deserves particular mention, because of an extraordinary contest which
+once took place for its possession between two wealthy bibliomaniacs. It
+was a small black-letter folio, in faded yellow morocco, and supposed
+to be unique. Its history is this: In the early part of the eighteenth
+century it had come accidentally into the possession of a London
+bookseller, who successively offered it to Harley, Earl of Oxford, and
+to Lord Sunderland; then the two principal collectors, for one hundred
+guineas; but both were staggered at the price and higgled about the
+purchase. An ancestor of the late Duke of Roxburghe, whom nobody dreamed
+of as a collector, hearing of the book, secured it, and then invited the
+two noblemen to dinner, with the view of parading his trophy. In due
+course he led the conversation to the book, and, after letting them
+expatiate on its rarity, told them he thought he had a copy in his
+bookcase, which they emphatically declared to be impossible, and
+challenged him to produce it. On producing the book, about the purchase
+of which they had only been temporizing, they were not a little
+chagrined.
+
+This same copy made its appearance again, half a century later, at the
+Duke of Roxburghe's sale in 1812, a time when bibliomania was at its
+height. Loud notes of preparation foretold that it would sell for a
+considerable sum; five hundred and even one thousand guineas were
+guessed, as it was known that Lord Spencer, the Duke of Devonshire, and
+the Marquis of Blandford were all bent on its possession, but nobody
+anticipated the extravagant sum it was to realize. After a very spirited
+competition, it was knocked down to the Marquis of Blandford for two
+thousand sixty pounds. This book was resold at the Marquis of Blandford's
+sale, in 1819, for eight hundred seventy-five guineas, and passed to Lord
+Spencer, in whose extraordinary library it now reposes.
+
+Before the commencement of the sixteenth century, that is, within forty
+or fifty years of the invention of printing with movable type, upward of
+twenty thousand volumes had issued from at least a thousand different
+presses. All the principal Latin classics, many of the Greek, and upward
+of two hundred fifty editions of the Bible, or parts of the Bible, had
+appeared.
+
+One of the most active and enterprising of the early printers was Anthony
+Koburger of Nuremberg, an accomplished scholar, who began there in 1472,
+and before the year 1500 had printed thirteen large editions of the Bible
+in folio, and a prodigious number of other books. He kept twenty-four
+presses at work, employing one hundred workmen, and had sixteen shops for
+the sale of books in the principal cities of Germany, besides factors
+and agents all over Europe. He printed, in 1493, that grand volume, the
+_Nuremberg Chronicle_, which is illustrated with upward of one thousand
+woodcuts by Michael Wohlgemuth, the master of Albert Dürer, and is
+curious as being one of the first books in which cross-hatchings occur in
+wood-engraving.
+
+The sixteenth century opened with another invention in type, the Italic,
+which was beautifully exemplified in a pocket edition of Vergil, the
+first of a portable series of classical works commenced in 1501 at Venice
+by the celebrated Aldus Manutius, who, after some years of preparation,
+had entered actively on his career as a printer in 1494, and deservedly
+ranks as one of the best scholars of any age.
+
+Then came the Giunti, the learned family of the Stephenses, of whom
+Robert is accredited as the author of the present divisions of our
+New Testament into chapters, and Henry, author of the great Greek
+_Thesaurus_, the most valuable Greek lexicon ever published. To the
+opprobrium of the age, he died in an almshouse.
+
+Among many others immortalized by their successful contributions to the
+great cause we must not forget the Plantins, whose memories are still so
+cherished at Antwerp that their printing establishment remains to this
+day untouched, just as it was left two centuries ago, with all the
+freshness of a chamber in Pompeii, the type and chases of their famous
+Polyglot lying about, as if the workmen had but just left the office.
+
+The accordance of the art of printing with the spirit of the times which
+gave it birth must be regarded as singularly providential. The Protestant
+Reformation in Germany was brought about by Luther's accidentally
+meeting, in a monastic library, with one of Gutenberg's printed Latin
+Bibles, when at the age of twenty. "A mighty change," says Luther, "then
+came over me," and all his subsequent efforts are to be attributed to
+that event. His recognition of the importance of printing is given in
+these words: "Printing is the best and highest gift, the _summum et
+postremum donum_ by which God advanceth the Gospel. Thanks be to God that
+it hath come at last. Holy fathers now at rest would rejoice to see this
+day of the revealed Gospel."
+
+William Caxton, by common consent, is the introducer of the art of
+printing into England. He was born about 1422, in Kent, and received
+what was then thought a liberal education. His father must have been in
+respectable circumstances, as there was at that time a law in full force
+prohibiting any youth from being apprenticed to trade whose parent was
+not possessed of a certain rental in land. In his eighteenth year Caxton
+was apprenticed to Robert Large, an eminent London mercer, who in 1430
+was sheriff and in 1439 Lord Mayor of London. At his death, in 1441,
+he bequeathed Caxton a legacy of twenty marks--a large sum in those
+days--and an honorable testimony to his fidelity and integrity. Soon
+after this the Mercers' Company appointed him their agent in the Low
+Countries, in which employment he spent twenty-three years.
+
+In 1464 he was one of two commissioners officially employed by Edward IV
+to negotiate a commercial treaty with Philip of Burgundy; and in 1468,
+when the King's sister, Margaret of York, married Charles of Burgundy,
+called "the Bold," he attached himself to their household, probably
+in some literary capacity, as in the next year we find him busied in
+translating at her request. During the greater part of this long period
+he was residing or travelling in the midst of the countries where the new
+art of printing was the great subject of interest, and would naturally
+take some measures to acquaint himself with it. Indeed, it has been said
+that he had a secret commission from Edward IV to learn the art, and to
+bribe some of the foreign workmen into England. Be this as it may, we
+know that Caxton acquired a complete knowledge of it while abroad, for
+he tells us so, and that he had printed at Cologne the _Recueil des
+Histoires de Troye_ (or _Romance History of Troy_), in 1465, and in 1472
+an English edition of the same, translated by himself. These two early
+productions are remarkable as being the first books printed in either the
+French or English language[26]. The English edition was sold at the Duke
+of Roxburghe's sale for one thousand sixty pounds, and is now in the
+possession of the Duke of Devonshire.
+
+Caxton returned to England about 1474, bringing with him presses and
+types, and established himself in one of the chapels of Westminster
+Abbey, called the Eleemosynary, Almondry, or Arm'ry, supposed to have
+been on the site of Henry VII's chapel. A printer would naturally resort
+to the abbey for patronage, as in those days it was the head-quarters
+of learning as well as of religion. Before the foundation of grammar
+schools, there was usually a _scholasticus_ attached to the abbeys and
+cathedral churches, who directed and superintended the education of the
+neighboring nobility and gentry. He was, besides, one of the members of
+the _scriptorium_, a large establishment within the abbey, where school
+and other books used to be written.
+
+The first book Caxton printed, after he returned to England and
+established himself at the Almonry, is supposed to be _The Game and Play
+of Chesse_, dated 1474. But some have raised doubts whether this was
+printed in England, as there is no actual evidence of it. One of the
+arguments is that the type is exactly the same as what he had previously
+used at Cologne; but this is no evidence at all, as both the type and
+paper used in England for many years came from Cologne, and there is no
+doubt that Caxton brought some with him. A second edition of the book of
+chess, with woodcuts, was printed two or three years later, and this is
+generally admitted to have been printed in England.
+
+The first book with an unmistakable imprint was his _Dictes and Sayings
+of Philosophers_, which had been translated for him by the gallant but
+unfortunate Lord Rivers, who was murdered in Pomfret castle by order of
+Richard III. The colophon of this states that it was printed in the Abbey
+of Westminster in 1477. He appears to have printed but one single volume
+upon vellum, which is _The Doctrynal of Sapience_, 1489, of which a copy,
+formerly in the King's Library at Windsor, is now in the British Museum.
+This is a very interesting work as connected with Caxton, being entirely
+translated by himself into English verse. It is an allegorical fiction,
+in which the whole system of literature and science comes under
+consideration.
+
+Caxton died in 1491, after having produced, within twenty years of his
+active career, more than fifty volumes of mark, including Chaucer, Gower,
+Lydgate, and his own _Chronicle_ of England. Before Caxton's time the
+youths of England were supplied with their school-books and their
+reading, which was necessarily very limited, by the Company of
+Stationers, or text-writers, who wrote and sold, by an exclusive royal
+privilege, the school-books then in use. These were chiefly the A B Cs,
+(called _Absies_), the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, and the address to the
+Virgin Mary, called _Ave Maria_.
+
+The location of these stationers was in the neighborhood of St. Paul's
+Cathedral, whence arose the names Paternoster Row, Creed Lane, Amen
+Corner, and Ave Maria Lane. Manuscripts of a higher order, that is, in
+the form of books, were mostly supplied by the monks, and were scarcely
+accessible to any but the wealthy, from their extreme cost. Thus, a
+Chaucer, which may now be bought for a few shillings, then cost more than
+a hundred pounds; and we read of two hundred sheep and ten quarters of
+wheat being given for a volume of homilies.
+
+Minstrels, instead of books, were in early times the principal medium of
+communication between authors and the public; they wandered up and down
+the country, chanting, singing, or reciting, according to the taste of
+their customers, and had certain privileges of entertainment in the halls
+of the nobility.
+
+It may be wondered that Caxton, like many of the foreign printers, did
+not begin with, or at least some time during his career print, the
+Scriptures, especially as Wycliffe's translation had already been made.
+But there were good reasons. Religious persecution ran high, and the
+clergy were extremely jealous of the propagation of the Scriptures among
+the people. Knighton had denounced the reading of the Bible, lamenting
+lest this jewel of the Church, hitherto the exclusive property of the
+clergy and divines, should be made common to the laity; and Archbishop
+Arundel had issued an enactment that no part of the Scriptures in English
+should be read, either in public or private, or be thereafter translated,
+under pain of the greater excommunication. The Star Chamber, too, was big
+with terrors. A little later, Erasmus' edition of the New Testament was
+forbidden at Cambridge; and in the county of Surrey the Vicar of Croydon
+said from the pulpit, "We must root out printing, or printing will root
+out us."
+
+Winkin de Worde, who had come in his youth with Caxton to England and
+continued with him in the superintendence of his office to the day of his
+death, succeeded to the business, and conducted it with great spirit
+for the next forty years. He began by entirely remodelling his fonts
+of Gothic type, and introduced both Roman and Italic; became his own
+founder, instead of importing type from the Low Countries; promoted the
+manufacture of paper in this country; and such was his activity that he
+printed the extraordinary number of four hundred eight different works.
+He deserves, perhaps, more praise than he has ever received for the
+important part he played in establishing and advancing the art in
+England.
+
+But no one of our early printers deserves more grateful remembrance than
+Richard Grafton, who, in 1537, was the first publisher of the Bible in
+England. I say in England, because the first Bible, known as Coverdale's,
+and several editions of the Testament, translated by Tyndale, had been
+previously printed abroad in secrecy. Grafton's first edition of the
+Bible was a reprint of Coverdale and Tyndale's translation, with slight
+alterations, by one who assumed the name of Thomas Matthew, but whose
+real name was John Rogers, then Prebendary of St. Paul's, and afterward
+burned as a heretic in Smithfield. Even this was printed secretly abroad,
+nobody yet knows where, and did not have Grafton's name attached to it
+till the King had granted him a license under the privy seal. Though this
+year, 1537, has by the annalists of the Bible been called the first year
+of triumph, on account of the King's license, yet Bibles were still apt
+to be dangerous things to all concerned; and what was permitted one day
+was not unlikely, by a change in religion or policy, to be interdicted
+the next with severe visitations.
+
+Although Henry VIII had recently completed his breach with Rome and
+been excommunicated, he alternately punished the religious movements of
+Protestants and Catholics, according to his caprice; and it was but a few
+years previously that the reading of the Bible had been prohibited by
+act of parliament, that men had been burned at the stake for having even
+fragments of it in their possession, and that Tyndale's translation of
+the new Testament had been bought up and publicly burned (1534) by order
+of Cuthbert Tunstall, Bishop of London; and even as late as May, 1536,
+the reading of the sacred volume had been strictly forbidden.
+
+Grafton, therefore, must have been a bold man to face the danger. Thus,
+in 1538, when a new edition of the Bible, commonly called the "Great
+Bible," afterward published in 1539, was secretly printing in Paris at
+the instance of Lord Cromwell, under the superintendence of Grafton,
+Whitchurch, and Coverdale, the French inquisitors of the faith
+interfered, charging them with heresy, and they were fortunate in making
+their escape to England.
+
+Shortly after the death of Caxton's patron, Lord Cromwell, Grafton was
+imprisoned for the double offence of printing Matthew's Bible and the
+Great Bible, notwithstanding the King's license; and though after a while
+released, he was again imprisoned in the reign of Philip and Mary on
+account of his Protestant principles; and, after all his services to
+religion and literature, died in poverty in 1572.
+
+Printing was now spreading all over England. It had already begun at
+Oxford in 1478--some say earlier--at Cambridge soon after, although the
+first dated work is 1521; at St. Albans in 1480; York in 1509; and other
+places by degrees.
+
+Printing did not reach Scotland till 1507, and then but imperfectly, and
+Ireland not till 1551, owing, it is said, to the jealousy with which it
+was regarded by the priesthood.
+
+We will now take a rapid survey of the vast strides printing has made of
+late years in England, and therewith close. The principal movements have
+been in stereotyping, electrotyping, the improvement of presses, and the
+application of steam power. Stereotyping is the transfer of pages of
+movable type into solid metal plates, by the medium of moulds formed of
+plaster of Paris, _papier-mâché,_ gutta-percha, or other substances. This
+art is supposed to have been invented, in or about 1725, by William Ged,
+a goldsmith of Edinburgh. A small capitalist, who had engaged to embark
+with him, withdrawing from the speculation in alarm, he accepted
+overtures from a Mr. William Fenner, and in 1729 came to London. Here
+he obtained three partners, in conjunction with whom he entered into a
+contract with the University of Cambridge for stereotyping Bibles and
+prayer-books. But the workmen, fearing that stereotyping would eventually
+ruin their trade, purposely made errors, and, when their masters were
+absent, battered the type, so that the only two prayer-books completed
+were suppressed by authority, and the plates destroyed. Upon this the
+art got into disrepute, and Ged, after much ill-treatment, returned to
+Edinburgh, impoverished and disheartened. Here his friends, desirous that
+a memorial of his art should be published, entered into a subscription to
+defray the expense; and a Sallust, printed in 1736, and composed and cast
+in the night-time to avoid the jealous opposition of the workmen, is now
+the principal evidence of his claim to the invention.
+
+But the time had not come; for without a very large demand, such as could
+not exist in those days, stereotyping would be of no advantage. Books
+which sell by hundreds of thousands, and are constantly reprinting, such
+as Bibles, prayer-books, school-books, Shakespeares, Bunyans, Robinson
+Crusoes, Uncle Toms, and very popular authors and editions, will pay for
+stereotyping; but for small numbers it is a loss. After the invention had
+been neglected long enough to be forgotten, Earl Stanhope, who had for
+several years devoted himself earnestly to the subject, and made many
+experiments, resuscitated it, in a very perfect manner, in 1803; and his
+printer, Mr. Wilson, sold the secret to both universities and to most of
+the leading printers. To the art of stereotyping the public is mainly
+indebted for cheap literature, for when the plates are once produced the
+chief expense is disposed of.
+
+Something akin to stereotyping is another method of printing, called
+logography, invented by John Walter of the London _Times_, in 1783, and
+for which he took out a patent. This means a system of printing from type
+cast in words instead of single letters, which it was thought would save
+time and corrections when applied to newspapers, but it was not found to
+answer. A joke of the time was a supposed order to the type-founder for
+some words of frequent occurrence, which ran thus: "Please send me a
+hundredweight, sorted, of murder, fire, dreadful robbery, atrocious
+outrage, fearful calamity, alarming explosion, melancholy accident; an
+assortment of honourable member, whig, tory, hot, cold, wet, dry; half
+a hundred weight, made up in pounds, of butter, cheese, beef, mutton,
+tripe, mustard, soap, rain, etc., and a few devils, angels, women,
+groans, hisses, etc." This method of printing did not succeed; for if
+twenty-four letters will give six hundred sextillions of combinations, no
+printing-office could keep a sufficient assortment of even popular words.
+
+[Footnote 1: See Vol 1, 8]
+
+[Footnote 2: See accompanying fac-simile of a page of the English
+edition--a reproduction as faithful as possible in text, color, texture
+of paper, etc.]
+
+
+
+JOHN HUNYADY REPULSES THE TURKS[1]
+
+A.D. 1440-1456
+
+ARMINIUS VAMBÉRY
+
+
+From the time (1354) when the Turks took Gallipoli and secured their
+first dominion in Europe, the Ottoman power on that side of the
+Hellespont was gradually increased. In 1360 Amurath I crossed from Asia
+Minor, ravaged an extensive district, and took Adrianople, which he made
+the first seat of his royalty and the first shrine of Mahometanism in
+Europe. He next turned toward Bulgaria and Servia, where in the warlike
+Slavonic tribes he found far stronger foes than the Greek victims of
+earlier Turkish conquests.
+
+Pope Urban V preached a crusade against the Turks; and Servia, Hungary,
+Bosnia, and Wallachia leagued themselves to drive the Ottomans out of
+Europe. Amurath defeated them and added new territory to his previous
+acquisitions. A peace was made in 1376, but a new though fruitless
+attempt of the Slavonic peoples against him gave Amurath a pretext for
+further assault upon southeastern Europe. In 1389 he conquered and
+annexed Bulgaria and subjugated the Servians. In the same year Amurath
+was assassinated.
+
+Bajazet I, the son and successor of Amurath, still further extended
+the Turkish conquests. Under Bajazet's son, Mahomet I (1413-1421),
+comparative peace prevailed; but his son, Amurath II, rekindled the
+flames of war. A strong combination, including, with other peoples,
+the Hungarians and Poles, was made against him. In the struggle that
+followed, and which for a time promised the complete expulsion of the
+Turks from Europe, the great leader was the Hungarian, John Hunyady, born
+in 1388. According to some writers, he was a Wallach and the son of a
+common soldier. Creasy calls him "the illegitimate son of Sigismund, King
+of Hungary, and the fair Elizabeth Morsiney." With him appeared a new
+spirit, such as the Ottomans up to that time could not have expected to
+encounter in that part of Europe. In Vambéry's narrative we have the
+authority of Hungary's greatest historian for the leading events in the
+life of her greatest hero.
+
+In Europe a new power pulsating with youthful life had arrived from
+somewhere in the interior of Asia with the intention of conquering the
+world. This power was the Turk--not merely a single nation, but a whole
+group of peoples clustered round a nation, inspired by one single idea
+which urged them ever forward--"There is no god but God, and Mahomet is
+the apostle of God."
+
+The Mahometan flood already beat upon the bounds of Catholic Christendom,
+in the forefront of which stood Hungary. Hungary's King, Sigismund, was
+able for a moment in 1396 to unite the nations of Europe against the
+common danger, but the proud array of mail-clad knights were swept away
+like chaff before the steady ranks of the janizaries.
+
+And herewith began the long series of desolating inroads into Hungary,
+for the Turks were wont to suck the blood of the nation they had marked
+down as their prey. They took the country by surprise, secretly,
+suddenly, like a summer storm, appearing in overwhelming numbers,
+burning, murdering, robbing, especially men in the hopes of a rich
+ransom, or children whom they might bring up as Mahometans and
+janizaries. This body, the flower of the Turkish armies, owed its origin
+for the most part to the Christian children thus stolen from their
+parents and their country. This infantry of the janizaries was the first
+standing army in Europe. Living constantly together under a common
+discipline, like the inmates of a cloister, they rushed blindly forward
+to the cry of "God and his Prophet!" like some splendid, powerful wild
+beast eager for prey. The Turkish sultans published the proud order:
+"Forward! Let us conquer the whole world; wheresoever we tie up our
+horses' heads, that land is our own."
+
+To resist such a nation, that would not listen to negotiation, but only
+thirsted for war and conquest, seemed already an impossibility. Europe
+trembled with fear at the reports of the formidable attacks designed
+against her, and listened anxiously for news from distant Hungary, which
+lay, so to say, in the lion's very mouth.
+
+Against such an enemy a soldier of the modern type was useless, one who
+slays only in defence of his own life and at the word of command, whose
+force consists in the high development of the military art and the
+murderous instruments of modern technical science. What was wanted was a
+heroic soul, inspired by a burning faith like to that which impelled the
+Mahometan soldier. This heroic soul, this burning faith, united to
+the tenacious energy of youth, were all found united in John Hunyady,
+accompanied withal by a singular talent for leadership in war. He could
+not rely for support upon the haughty magnates who could trace their
+descent back for centuries and despised the parvenu with a shorter
+pedigree and a smaller estate. He was consequently obliged to cast in
+his lot with the mass of the lesser nobility, individually weaker, it is
+true, but not deficient in spirit and a consciousness of their own worth.
+Of this class he soon became the idolized leader. Around him gathered the
+hitherto latent forces of Hungarian society, especially from Transylvania
+and South Hungary and the Great Hungarian Plain, which suffered most from
+the incursions of the Turks, and were therefore most impressed with the
+necessity of organizing a system of defence. It was these who were the
+first to be inspired by Hurvyady's heroic spirit.
+
+Before commencing his career as independent commander he, following
+his father's example, attached himself to the court of Sigismund, the
+Emperor-king, in whose train he visited the countries of Western Europe,
+Germany, England, and Italy, till he at length returned home, his mind
+enriched by experience but with the fervor of his first faith unchilled.
+
+When over fifty years old, he repaired at his sovereign's command to the
+south of Hungary to organize the resistance to the Turks. At first he
+was appointed ban of Severin, and as such had the chief command of the
+fortified places built by the Hungarians for the defence of the Lower
+Danube. After that he became waywode of Transylvania, the civil and
+military governor of the southeastern corner of the Hungarian kingdom.
+
+Before, however, he had reached these dignities he had fought a
+succession of battles and skirmishes with such success that for the
+fanatical Turkish soldiery his form, nay, his very name, was an object
+of terror. It was Hunyady alone whom they sought to slay on the field of
+battle, well persuaded that, he once slain, they would easily deal with
+the rest of Hungary. Thus in 1442 a Turkish leader, named Mezid Bey,
+burst into Transylvania at the head of eighty thousand men in pursuance
+of the Sultan's commands, with no other aim than to take Hunyady dead or
+alive.
+
+Nor, indeed, did Hunyady keep them waiting for him. He hurried at the
+head of his troops to attack the Turkish leader, who was laying siege to
+Hermannstadt. Upon this, Mezid Bey, calling his bravest soldiers around
+him, described to them once more Hunyady's appearance, his arms, his
+dress, his stature, and his horse, that they might certainly recognize
+him. "Slay him only," he exclaimed, "and we shall easily deal with the
+rest of them; we shall drive them like a flock of sheep into the presence
+of our august master."
+
+On that occasion was seen with what self-sacrificing enthusiasm his
+soldiers loved their heroic leader. When they learned from their spies
+the purpose of the Turks, they took all possible measures to secure his
+precious life. One of their number, Simon Kemeny, who bore a striking
+resemblance to Hunyady, determined to sacrifice himself for his leader.
+He announced that he would put on Hunyady's clothes and armor. The Turks
+would then attack him under the belief that he was the celebrated chief,
+and while they were thus engaged the real Hunyady would fall upon them
+unexpectedly and put them to flight. At first Hunyady would by no means
+consent to this plan, as he did not wish to expose Kemeny to such mortal
+danger; but at last, seeing the great military advantages likely to
+accrue from it, he consented.
+
+And so, indeed, it fell out. As soon as the battle began, the Turks,
+perceiving Simon Kemeny in the garb of Hunyady, directed all their force
+against him. Kemeny, after a stout defence, fell, together with a great
+number of his followers, and the Turks, seeing him fall, set up a general
+cry of triumph and exultation. Just at this critical moment they were
+hotly attacked in the flank by the genuine Hunyady. Thus attacked in the
+very moment when they imagined that they had already gained the day,
+the Turks were thrown into confusion and took wildly to flight. Twenty
+thousand corpses were left on the battlefield; among them lay Mezid Bey
+himself, together with his sons.
+
+Fearful was the rage of the Turkish Sultan when he heard of the defeat
+and death of Mezid Bey, and he at once despatched another army against
+Hunyady, which like the first numbered eighty thousand men. This time,
+however, Hunyady did not let them enter Transylvania, but waited for
+them at the pass known as the Iron Gate, among the high mountains on the
+southern boundary of Hungary.
+
+The Hungarian army was not more than fifteen thousand men, so that the
+Turks were at least five times as strong. But the military genius of
+Hunyady made up for the small number of his followers. He posted them in
+a strong position in the rough pass, and attacked the enemy in places
+where it was impossible for him to make use of his strength. Thus more
+than half the Turkish army perished miserably in the battle. Again their
+commander-in-chief fell on the field, together with six subordinate
+commanders, while two hundred horse-tail standards fell into Hunyady's
+hands as trophies of his victory.
+
+These two splendid victories filled all Europe with joy and admiration.
+Christendom again breathed freely; for she felt that a champion sent by a
+special providence had appeared, who had both the courage and the ability
+to meet and to repel the haughty and formidable foe. But Hunyady was not
+content with doing so much. He thought that by this time he might
+carry the war into the enemy's country. The plan of operations was
+exceptionally daring, yet Hunyady had not resolved on it without careful
+consideration. In the mean time, through Hunyady's exertions, Wladislaw
+III, the young King of Poland, had been elected king of Hungary. Hunyady
+gained the new King over to his plans, and by this means secured the
+coöperation of the higher aristocracy and the armed bands which they
+were bound to lead into the field at the King's summons. Hunyady counted
+besides on the assistance of Europe; in the first place on the popes, who
+were zealous advocates of the war against the Mahometans; next on Venice,
+which, as the first commercial city and state at that time, had suffered
+severe losses owing to the spread of Turkish dominions; on the gallant
+Poles, whose King now wore the Hungarian crown; and lastly upon the
+peoples of Christendom in general, whose enthusiasm for a war against the
+infidels had been quickened by the report of Hunyady's victories. And,
+indeed, at his request the Pope sent some small sums of money, the Poles
+furnished an auxiliary force, while numerous volunteers from the rest of
+Europe flocked to serve under his banner.
+
+Although the assistance thus furnished was comparatively unimportant, it
+nevertheless served to increase his zeal for the daring undertaking. He
+and his heroic companions were not only proud of defending their own
+native country, but felt that they were the champions of all Christendom
+against Ottoman aggression, and their religious enthusiasm kept pace with
+their patriotism. If they did not get regiments sent to their aid, they
+felt that the eyes of all Europe were upon them, ready to grieve at their
+possible ill-success, while their victories would be celebrated with the
+_Te Deum_ in the cathedrals of every capital in Europe.
+
+The aggressive campaign was commenced without delay; Hunyady's resolves
+were at once translated into fact; he would not allow the beaten foe
+time to recover breath. His plan was to cross the Danube, and penetrate
+through the passes of the Balkan to Philippopolis, at that time the
+capital of the Sultan's dominions, where he kept the main body of his
+army. About Christmas, a season in which the Turk does not like to fight,
+amid heavy snow and severe cold, the Hungarian army of about thirty
+thousand men pressed forward. Hunyady marched in advance with the
+vanguard of twelve thousand picked men; after him the King and the Pope's
+legate, with the rest of the army. The Sultan, however, with a large body
+of men had occupied the passes of the Balkans and prevented their further
+advance. This impediment, coupled with the cold and severe weather,
+depressed the spirits of the troops, worn out with fatigue. Hunyady,
+however, raised their spirits by gaining a victory; lighting one night
+upon a body of the enemy, twenty thousand in number, he attacked them at
+once and after a few hours' struggle succeeded in dispersing them.
+
+Later on he took two large towns with their citadels, and in three
+engagements triumphed over three separate divisions of the enemy.
+Learning that a still larger body of Turks was attempting to cut off his
+communications with the King's army, he attacked that also and put it to
+flight. After that he joined his corps with the main army under the King,
+and, indeed, none too soon. Sultan Amurath suddenly arrived with the main
+body of his forces, which he strongly intrenched in the narrowest passes
+of the Balkans. Hunyady saw that these intrenchments could not be forced,
+and did all he could to entice his enemy down into the plain. This he
+succeeded in doing. In the battle that ensued the King, too, played
+a conspicuous part and received a wound. In the end, however, the
+Hungarians gained the victory, and the younger brother of the Grand
+Vizier was taken prisoner. So much success was sufficient for Hunyady for
+the time, especially as the natural obstacles had proved insurmountable.
+The Hungarian army returned home in good order, and the young King made
+a triumphal entry into his capital, preceded by a crowd of Turkish
+prisoners and captured Turkish ensigns. These last trophies of victory
+were deposited in the Coronation Church in the fortress of Buda.
+
+And now something happened which had hitherto been deemed incredible:
+the Sultan sued for peace--a true believer and a sovereign, from an
+"unbelieving giaour." The peace was concluded, and Hungary again became
+possessed of those dependent (South Slavonic) provinces which lay between
+the territories of the Sultan and the kingdom of Hungary in the narrower
+sense of the word. In three short years Hunyady had undone the work of
+years on the part of the Turks. The Sultan, however, soon repented of
+what he had done, and continually delayed the fulfilment of his promise
+to evacuate certain frontier fortresses. For this cause the young King,
+especially incited thereto by the Pope, determined to renew the war.
+Hunyady at first opposed the King's resolution, and wished to wait; later
+on he was gained over to the King's view, and took up the matter with his
+whole soul. The opportunity was inviting, for the Sultan with his main
+army was engaged somewhere in Asia, and the Venetians promised to prevent
+with their fleet his return to Europe across the narrow seas in the
+neighborhood of Constantinople.
+
+The Hungarian army, indeed, set out (1444) on its expedition, and,
+continually expecting the arrival of the troops of their allies--the
+Emperor of Constantinople and the princes of Albania--penetrated ever
+farther and farther into the hostile territory. They were to be joined by
+their allies at the town of Varna on the shores of the Black Sea. When,
+however, the Hungarians had arrived at that town, they found no trace of
+their expected allies, but on the contrary learned with certainty that
+the Sultan had succeeded in eluding the vigilance of the Venetians, had
+brought his army in small boats over into Europe, and was now following
+fast on their track.
+
+Thus all hope of aid from allies was at an end; the brave general and his
+small Hungarian force had to rely on their own resources, separated as
+they were by some weeks' journey from their own country, while the enemy
+would be soon upon them in numbers five times their own. Yet, even so,
+Hunyady's faith and courage did not desert him. The proverb says, "If thy
+sword be short, lengthen it by a step forward." And Hunyady boldly,
+but yet with the caution that behooved a careful general, took up his
+position before the Sultan's army. Both he and his Hungarians fought with
+dauntless courage, availing themselves of every advantage and beating
+back every assault. Already victory seemed to be assured. A few hours
+after the battle had begun both the Turkish wings had been broken, and
+even the Sultan and the brave janizaries were thinking of flight, when
+the young King, the Pole Wladislaw, whom Hunyady had adjured by God to
+remain in a place of safety until the combat should be decided, was
+persuaded by his Polish suite to fling himself, with the small band in
+immediate attendance upon him, right on the centre of the janizaries, so
+that he too might have a share in the victory and not leave it all
+to Hunyady. The janizaries wavered for a moment under this new and
+unexpected attack, but, soon perceiving that they had to do with the King
+of Hungary, they closed round his band, which had penetrated far into
+their ranks. The King's horse was first hamstrung, and, as it fell, the
+King's head was severed from his body, stuck upon the point of a spear,
+and exposed to the view of both armies. The Hungarians, shocked at the
+unexpected sight, wavered, and, feeling themselves lost, began to fly.
+All the entreaties and exhortations of Hunyady were in vain. Such was the
+confusion that he could be neither seen nor heard, and in a few minutes
+the whole Hungarian army was in headlong flight.
+
+Hunyady, left to himself, had also to seek safety in flight. Alone,
+deserted by all, he had to make his way from one place of concealment to
+another, till after some weeks' wandering he arrived in Hungary. The bad
+news had preceded him, and in consequence everything was in confusion.
+Again arose that difficult question: Who should be the new king under
+such difficult circumstances? The Sultan's army had, however, suffered
+so much in the battle of Varna that for the time he left the Hungarians
+unmolested.
+
+The nation was disposed to choose for its king the child Ladislaus, son
+of King Albert, the predecessor of Wladislaw. The child, however, was in
+the power of the neighboring Prince, Frederick, the Archduke of Austria,
+who was not disposed to let him go out of his hands without a heavy
+ransom. In these circumstances the more powerful nobles in Hungary took
+advantage of the confusion to strengthen each his own position at the
+expense of the nation. At first the government of the country was
+intrusted to a number of captains, but this proved so evidently
+disastrous that the better sort of people succeeded in having them
+abolished and Hunyady established as sole governor. For all that,
+however, Hunyady had a good deal of trouble with the chief aristocrats,
+Garay, Czillei, Ujlaki, who, envying the parvenu his sudden promotion and
+despising his obscure origin, took up arms to resist his authority. Thus
+Hunyady, instead of blunting the edge of his sword upon foreign foes, had
+to bridle the insubordination of his own countrymen. Luckily it did not
+take long to force the discontented to own the weight of his arm and his
+superiority as a military leader.
+
+Order being thus to some extent reestablished at home, Hunyady was again
+able to turn his attention to the Turks. He felt that he had in fact
+gained the battle of Varna, which was only lost through the jealous humor
+of a youthful king; that it behooved him not to stop half way; that it
+was his duty to continue offensive operations. But in so doing he had to
+rely upon his own proper forces. It is true that he was governor of the
+country, but for the purpose of offensive warfare beyond the frontier he
+could not gain the consent of the great nobles.
+
+Luckily his private property had enormously increased by this time. The
+Hungarian constitution required the King to bestow the estates of such
+noblemen as died without male heirs, or had been condemned for any
+offence, on such noblemen as had approved themselves valiant defenders
+of the country. Now where could be found a more worthy recipient of such
+estates than Hunyady, to whom the public treasury was besides a debtor on
+account of the sums he disbursed for the constant warfare he maintained
+against the Turks? Especially in the south of Hungary a whole series
+of lordly estates, many of them belonging to the crown, had come into
+Hunyady's hands, either as pledges for the repayment of the money he had
+paid his soldiers, or as his own private property.
+
+The yearly revenue arising from these vast estates was employed by
+Hunyady, not in personal expenditure, but in the defence of his country.
+He himself lived as simply as any of his soldiers, and recognized no
+other use of money than as a weapon for the defence of Christendom
+against Islam. In the early morning, while all his suite slept, he passed
+hours in prayer before the altar in the dimly lighted church, imploring
+the help of the Almighty for the attainment of his sole object in
+life--the destruction of the Turkish power. At last, 1448, he set out
+against the Sultan with an army of twenty-four thousand of his most
+trusty soldiers.
+
+This time it was on the frontier of Servia, on the "Field of Blackbirds,"
+that Hunyady encountered Sultan Amurath, who had an army of one hundred
+and fifty thousand men--again more than five times the number of the
+Christians. Hunyady at first withdrew himself into his intrenched camp,
+but in a few days felt himself strong enough to engage with the enemy on
+the open field. The battle lasted without interruption for two days and a
+night. Hunyady himself was several times in deadly peril. Once his horse
+was shot under him. He was to be found wherever assistance, support,
+encouragement, were needed. At last, on the morning of the third day,
+as the Turks, who had received reinforcements, were about to renew the
+attack, the Waywode of Wallachia passed over to the side of the Turks.
+The Waywode belonged to the Orthodox Eastern Church. He had joined
+Hunyady on the way, and his desertion transferred six thousand men from
+one side to the other, and decided the battle in favor of the Turks.
+The Hungarians, worn out by fatigue, fell into a discouragement, while
+Hunyady had no fresh troops to bring up to their support. The battle came
+to a sudden end. Seventeen thousand Hungarian corpses strewed the field,
+but the loss of the Turks was more than thirty thousand men.
+
+Hunyady, again left to himself, had again to make his escape. At first
+he only dismissed his military suite; afterward he separated from his
+faithful servant in the hope that separately they might more easily
+baffle their pursuers. Next he had to turn his horse adrift, as the poor
+animal was incapable of continuing his journey. Thus he made his way
+alone and on foot toward the frontiers of his native land. After a while,
+looking down from the top of a piece of elevated ground, he perceived a
+large body of Turks, from whom he hid himself in a neighboring lake. He
+thus escaped this danger, but only to encounter another. At a turn of
+the road he came so suddenly upon a party of Turkish plunderers as to be
+unable to escape from them, and thus became their prisoner. But the Turks
+did not recognize him, and, leaving him in the hands of two of their
+number, the rest went on in search of more prey. His two guards soon came
+to blows with one another about a heavy gold cross which they had found
+on the person of their captive, and, while they were thus quarrelling,
+Hunyady suddenly wrenched a sword out of the hand of one of the two Turks
+and cut off his head, upon which the other took to flight, and Hunyady
+was again free.
+
+In the mean time, however, George, the Prince of Servia, who took part
+with the aristocratic malcontents, and who, although a Christian, out of
+pure hatred to Hunyady had gone over to the side of the Turks, had given
+strict orders that all Hungarian stragglers were to be apprehended and
+brought before him. In this way Hunyady fell into the hands of some
+Servian peasants, who delivered him to their Prince. Nor did he regain
+his liberty without the payment of a heavy ransom, leaving his son
+Ladislaus as hostage in his stead.
+
+He thus returned home amid a thousand perils, and with the painful
+experience that Europe left him to his own resources to fight as best he
+could against the ever-advancing Turks. The dependencies of the Hungarian
+crown, Servia and Wallachia--on whose recovery he had spent so much
+blood and treasure--instead of supporting him, as might be expected of
+Christian countries, threw themselves in a suicidal manner into the arms
+of the Turks. They hoped by their ready submission to find favor in the
+eyes of the irresistible conquerors, by whom, however, they were a little
+later devoured.
+
+After these events Hunyady continued to act as governor or regent of
+Hungary for five years more, by which time the young Ladislaus, son of
+King Albert, attained his majority. In 1453 Hunyady finally laid down his
+dignity as governor, and gave over the power into the hands of the young
+King, Ladislaus V, whom Hunyady had first to liberate by force of arms
+from his uncle, Frederick of Austria, before he could set him on the
+throne of Hungary. The young King, of German origin, had hardly become
+emancipated from his guardian when he fell under the influence of his
+other uncle, Ulric Czillei. This Czillei was a great nobleman of Styria,
+but was withal possessed of large estates in Hungary. As a foreigner and
+as a relative of King Sigismund, he had long viewed with an evil eye
+Hunyady's elevation. On one occasion Hunyady had to inflict punishment
+on him. He consequently now did everything he could to induce the young
+King, his nephew, to hate the great captain as he himself did. He sought
+to infuse jealousy into his mind and to lead him to believe that Hunyady
+aimed at the crown. His slanders found the readier credence in the
+mind of the youthful sovereign as he was completely stupefied by an
+uninterrupted course of debauchery. At last the King was brought to agree
+to a plan for ensnaring the great man who so often jeoparded his life and
+his substance in the defence of his country and religion. They summoned
+him in the King's name to Vienna, where Ladislaus, as an Austrian prince,
+was then staying, with the intention of waylaying and murdering him. But
+Hunyady got wind of the whole plot, and when he arrived at the place of
+ambush it was at the head of two thousand picked Hungarian warriors. Thus
+it was Czillei who fell into the snare. "Wretched creature!" exclaimed
+Hunyady; "thou hast fallen into the pit thou diggedst for me; were it not
+that I regard the dignity of the King and my own humanity, thou shouldst
+suffer a punishment proportioned to thy crime. As it is, I let thee off
+this time, but come no more into my sight, or thou shalt pay for it with
+thy life."
+
+Such magnanimity, however, did not disarm the hostility of those who
+surrounded the King. On the pretence of treason against the King, Hunyady
+was deprived of all his offices and all his estates. The document is
+still to be seen in the Hungarian state archives, in which the King, led
+astray by the jealousies that prevailed among his councillors, represents
+every virtue of the hero as a crime, and condemns him to exile.
+
+Fortunately Czillei himself soon fell into disfavor; the Germans
+themselves overthrew him; and the King, now better informed, replaced
+Hunyady in the post of captain-general of the kingdom.
+
+Hunyady, who meanwhile had been living retired in one of his castles, now
+complied with the King's wish without difficulty or hesitation, and again
+assumed the highest military command. Instead of seeking how to revenge
+himself after the manner of ordinary men, he only thought of the great
+enemy of his country, the Turk. And indeed, as it was, threatening clouds
+hung over the horizon in the southeast.
+
+A new sultan had come to the throne, Mahomet II, one of the greatest
+sovereigns of the house of Othman. He began his reign with the occupation
+of Constantinople, 1453, and thus destroyed the last refuge of the
+Byzantine empire. At the news of this event all Europe burst into a
+chorus of lamentation. The whole importance of the Eastern question at
+once presented itself before the nations of Christendom. It was at once
+understood that the new conqueror would not remain idle within the
+crumbling walls of Constantinople.
+
+And, indeed, in no long time was published the proud _mot d'ordre_, "As
+there is but one God in heaven, so there shall be but one master upon
+earth."
+
+Hunyady looked toward Constantinople with heavy heart. He foresaw the
+outburst of the storm which would in the first place fall upon his own
+country, threatening it with utter ruin. Hunyady, so it seemed, was again
+left alone in the defence of Christendom.
+
+The approaching danger was delayed for a few years, but in 1456 Mahomet,
+having finally established himself in Constantinople, set out with the
+intention of striking a fatal blow against Hungary. On the borders of
+that country, on the bank of the Danube, on what was, properly speaking,
+Servian territory, stood the fortress of Belgrad. When the danger from
+the Turks became imminent, the kings of Hungary purchased the place from
+the despots of Servia, giving them in exchange several extensive estates
+in Hungary, and had at great expense turned it into a vast fortress, at
+that time supposed to be impregnable.
+
+Mahomet determined to take the place, and to this end made the most
+extensive preparations. He led to the walls of Belgrad an army of not
+less than one hundred and fifty thousand men. The approach of this
+immense host so terrified the young King that he left Hungary and took
+refuge in Vienna along with his uncle and counsellor, Czillei.
+
+Hunyady alone remained at his post, resolute like a lion attacked. The
+energy of the old leader--he was now nearly sixty-eight--was only steeled
+by the greatness of the danger; his forethought and his mental resources
+were but increased. As he saw that it would be impossible to do anything
+with a small army, he sent his friend, John Capistran, an Italian
+Franciscan, a man animated by a burning zeal akin to his own, to preach a
+crusade against the enemies of Christendom through the towns and villages
+of the Great Hungarian Plain. This the friar did to such effect that in a
+few weeks he had collected sixty thousand men, ready to fight in defence
+of the cross. This army of crusaders--the last in the history of the
+nations--had for its gathering cry the bells of the churches; for its
+arms, scythes and axes; Christ for its leader, and John Hunyady and John
+Capistran for his lieutenants.
+
+The two greatest leaders in war of that day contended for the possession
+of Belgrad. The same army now surrounded that fortress which a few years
+before had stormed Constantinople, reputed impregnable. The same hero
+defended it who had so often in the course of a single decade defeated
+the Turkish foe in an offensive war, and who now, regardless of danger,
+with a small but faithful band of followers, was prepared to do all that
+courage, resolution, and prudence might effect.
+
+Many hundred large cannon began to break down the stone ramparts; many
+hundred boats forming a river flotilla covered the Danube, so as to cut
+off all communication between the fortress and Hungary. During this time
+Hunyady's son Ladislaus and his brother-in-law Michael Szilagyi were in
+command in the fortress. Hunyady's first daring plan was to force his way
+through the blockading flotilla, and enter Belgrad before the eyes of
+the whole Turkish army, taking with him his own soldiers and Capistran's
+crusaders. The plan completely succeeded. With his own flotilla of
+boats he broke through that of the Turks and made his entrance into the
+fortress in triumph. After this the struggle was continued with equal
+resolution and ability on both sides; such advantage as the Christians
+derived from the protection afforded by the fortifications being fully
+compensated by the enormous superiority in numbers both of men and cannon
+on the part of the Turks.
+
+Without example in the history of the storming of fortresses was the
+stratagem practised by Hunyady when he permitted the picked troops of the
+enemy, the janizaries, to penetrate within the fortification, and there
+destroyed them in the place they thought they had taken. Ten thousand
+janizaries had already swarmed into the town, and were preparing to
+attack the bridges and gates of the citadel, when Hunyady ordered lighted
+fagots, soaked in pitch and sulphur and other combustibles, to be flung
+from the ramparts into the midst of the crowded ranks of the janizaries.
+The fire seized on their loose garments, and in a short time the whole
+body was a sea of fire. Everyone sought to fly. Then it was that Hunyady
+sallied out with his picked band, while Capistran, with a tall cross in
+his hand and the cry of "Jesus" on his lips, followed with his crowd of
+fanatics, the cannon of the fortress played upon the Turkish camp, the
+Sultan himself was wounded and swept along by the stream of fugitives.
+Forty thousand Turks were left dead upon the field, four thousand were
+taken prisoners, and three thousand cannon were captured.
+
+According to the opinion of Hunyady himself, the Turks had never suffered
+such a severe defeat. Its value as far as the Hungarians were concerned
+was heightened by the fact that the ambitious Sultan was personally
+humiliated. There was now great joy in Europe. At the news of the
+brilliant victory the _Te Deum_ was sung in all the more important cities
+throughout Europe, and the Pope wished to compliment Hunyady with a
+crown.
+
+A crown of another character awaited him--that of his Redeemer, in whose
+name he lived, fought, and fell. The exhalations from the vast number of
+unburied or imperfectly buried bodies, festering in the heat of summer,
+gave rise to an epidemic in the Christian camp, and to this the great
+leader fell a victim. Hunyady died August 11, 1456, in the sixty-eighth
+year of his age. He died amid the intoxication of his greatest victory,
+idolized by his followers, having once more preserved his country from
+imminent ruin. Could he have desired a more glorious death?
+
+He went to his last rest with the consciousness that he had fulfilled his
+mission, having designed great things and having accomplished them. And
+the result of his lifelong efforts survived him. His great enemy, the
+Turk, for the next half-century could only harass the frontier of his
+native land; and his country, a few years after his death, placed on the
+royal throne his son Matthias.
+
+[Footnote 1: By permission of Selmar Hess.]
+
+
+
+REBUILDING OF ROME BY NICHOLAS V, THE "BUILDER-POPE"
+
+A.D. 1447-1455
+
+MRS. MARGARET OLIPHANT
+
+
+Of those pontiffs who are called the pride of modern Rome--through whom
+the city "rose most gloriously from her ashes"--Nicholas V (Tommaso
+Parentucelli) was the first. He was born at Sarzana, in the republic of
+Genoa, about 1398, was ordained priest at the age of twenty-five, became
+Archbishop of Bologna, and in 1447 was elevated to the papal chair. His
+election was largely due to the influential part he had taken at the
+councils of Basel, 1431-1449, and Ferrara-Florence, 1438-1445. In 1449,
+by prevailing upon the Antipope, Felix V, to abdicate, he restored the
+peace of the Church. He endeavored, but in vain, to arouse Europe to its
+duty of succoring the Greek empire.
+
+Although the coming Reformation was already casting its shadow before,
+Nicholas stood calm in face of the inevitable event, devoting himself to
+the spiritual welfare of the Church and to the interests of learning and
+the arts. But he is chiefly remembered as the first pope to conceive a
+systematic plan for the reconstruction and permanent restoration of Rome.
+He died before that purpose could be executed in accordance with his
+great designs; but others, entering into his labors, carried his work to
+a fuller accomplishment.
+
+It was to the centre of ecclesiastical Rome, the shrine of the apostles,
+the chief church of Christendom and its adjacent buildings, that the care
+of the Builder-pope was first directed. The Leonine City of Borgo, as
+it is more familiarly called, is that portion of Rome which lies on the
+right side of the Tiber, and which extends from the castle of St. Angelo
+to the boundary of the Vatican gardens--enclosing the Church of St.
+Peter, the Vatican palace with all its wealth, and the great Hospital of
+Santo Spirito, surrounded and intersected by many little streets, and
+joining to the other portions of the city by the bridge of St. Angelo.
+
+Behind the mass of picture-galleries, museums, and collections of all
+kinds, which now fill up the endless halls and corridors of the papal
+palace, comes a sweep of noble gardens full of shade and shelter from the
+Roman sun, such a resort for the
+
+  "learnèd leisure
+  Which in trim gardens takes its pleasure"
+
+as it would be difficult to surpass. In this fine extent of wood and
+verdure the Pope's villa or casino, now the only summer palace which the
+existing Pontiff chooses to permit himself, stands as in a domain, small
+yet perfect. Almost everything within these walls has been built or
+completely transformed since the days of Nicholas. But, then as now,
+here was the heart and centre of Christendom, the supreme shrine of the
+Catholic faith, the home of the spiritual ruler whose sway reaches over
+the whole earth. When Nicholas began his reign, the old Church of St.
+Peter was the church of the Western world, then, as now, classical
+in form, a stately basilica without the picturesqueness and romantic
+variety, and also, as we think, without the majesty and grandeur, of a
+Gothic cathedral, yet more picturesque if less stupendous in size and
+construction, than the present great edifice, so majestic in its own
+grave and splendid way, with which, through all the agitations of the
+recent centuries, the name of St. Peter has been identified. The earlier
+church was full of riches and of great associations, to which the
+wonderful St. Peter's we all know can lay claim only as its successor and
+supplanter. With its flight of broad steps, its portico and colonnaded
+façade crowned with a great tower, it dominated the square, open and
+glowing in the sun, without the shelter of the great existing colonnades
+or the sparkle of the fountains.
+
+Behind was the little palace begun by Innocent III, to afford a shelter
+for the popes in dangerous times, or on occasion to receive the foreign
+guests whose object was to visit the shrine of the apostles. Almost
+all the buildings then standing have been replaced by greater, yet the
+position is the same, the shrine unchanged, though everything else then
+existing has faded away, except some portion of the old wall which
+enclosed this sacred place in a special sanctity and security, which was
+not, however, always respected. The Borgo was the holiest portion of all
+the sacred city. It was there that the blood of the martyrs had been
+shed, and where from the earliest age of Christianity their memory and
+tradition had been preserved. It was not necessary for us to enter into
+the question whether St. Peter ever was in Rome, which many writers have
+laboriously contested. So far as the record of the Acts of the Apostles
+is concerned, there is no evidence at all for or against, but tradition
+is all on the side of those who assert it. The position taken by Signor
+Lanciani on this point seems to us a very sensible one. "I write about
+the monuments of ancient Rome," he says, "from a strictly archaeological
+point of view, avoiding questions which pertain, or are supposed to
+pertain, to religious controversy.
+
+"For the archaeologist the presence and execution of SS. Peter and Paul in
+Rome are facts established beyond a shadow of doubt by purely monumental
+evidence. There was a time when persons belonging to different creeds
+made it almost a case of conscience to affirm or deny _a priori_ those
+facts, according to their acceptance or rejection of the tradition of
+any particular church. This state of feeling is a matter of the past, at
+least for those who have followed the progress of recent discoveries and
+of critical literature. There is no event of the Imperial age and of
+Imperial Rome which is attested by so many noble structures, all of which
+point to the same conclusion--the presence and execution of the apostles
+in the capital of the Empire. When Constantine raised the monumental
+basilicas over their tombs on the Via Cornelia and the Via Ostiensis;
+when Eudoxia built the Church ad Vincula; when Damascus put a memorial
+tablet in the Platonia and Catacombos; when the houses of Pudens and
+Aquila and Prisca were turned into oratories; when the name of Nymphae
+Sancti Petri was given to the springs in the catacombs of the Via
+Nomentana; when the 29th of June was accepted as the anniversary of St.
+Peter's execution; when sculptors, painters, medallists, goldsmiths,
+workers in glass and enamel, and engravers of precious stones all began
+to reproduce in Rome the likeness of the apostle at the beginning of the
+second century, and continued to do so till the fall of the Empire--must
+we consider them as laboring under a delusion, or conspiring in the
+commission of a gigantic fraud? Why were such proceedings accepted
+without protest from whatever city, whatever community--if there were
+any other--which claimed to own the genuine tombs of SS. Peter and Paul?
+These arguments gain more value from the fact that the evidence on the
+other side is purely negative."
+
+This is one of those practical arguments which are always more
+interesting than those which depend upon theories and opinions. However,
+there are many books on both sides of the question which may be
+consulted. We are content to follow Signor Lanciani. The special sanctity
+and importance of Il Borgo originated in this belief. The shrine of the
+apostle was its centre and glory. It was this that brought pilgrims from
+the far corners of the earth before there was any masterpiece of art to
+visit, or any of those priceless collections which now form the glory
+of the Vatican. The spot of the apostles' execution was indicated "by
+immemorial tradition" as between the two goals (_inter duas metas_) of
+Nero's Circus, which spot Signor Lanciani tells us is exactly the site
+of the obelisk now standing in the piazza of St. Peter. A little chapel,
+called the Chapel of the Crucifixion, stood there in the early ages,
+before any great basilica or splendid shrine was possible.
+
+This sacred spot, and the church built to commemorate it, were naturally
+the centre of all those religious traditions which separate Rome from
+every other city. It was to preserve them from assault, "in order that
+it should be less easy for the enemy to make depredations and burn the
+Church of St. Peter, as they have heretofore done," that Leo IV, the
+first pope whom we find engaged in any real work of construction, built a
+wall round the mound of the Vatican, and Colle Vaticano--"little hill,"
+not so high as the seven hills of Rome--where against the strong wall
+of Nero's Circus Constantine had built his great basilica. At that
+period--in the middle of the ninth century--there was nothing but the
+church and shrine--no palace and no hospital. The existing houses were
+given to the Corsi, a family which had been driven out of their island,
+according to Platina, by the Saracens, who shortly before had made an
+incursion up to the very walls of Rome, whither the peoples of the coast
+(_luoghi maritimi del Mar Terreno_) from Naples northward had apparently
+pursued the corsairs, and helped the Romans to beat them back. One other
+humble building of some sort, "called Burgus Saxonum, Vicus Saxonum,
+Schola Saxonum, and simply Saxia or Sassia," it is interesting to know,
+existed close to the sacred centre of the place, a lodging built for
+himself by Ina, King of Wessex, in 727. Thus the English have a national
+association of their own with the central shrine of Christianity.
+
+There was also a Schola Francorum in the Borgo. The pilgrims must have
+built their huts and set up some sort of little oratory--favored, as
+was the case even in Pope Nicholas' day, by the excellent quarry of
+the Circus close at hand--as near as possible to the great shrine
+and basilica which they had come so far to say their prayers in, and
+attracted, too, no doubt, by the freedom of the lonely suburb between the
+green hill and the flowing river. Leo IV built his wall round this little
+city, and fortified it by towers. "In every part he put sculptors of
+marble and wrote a prayer," says Platina. One of these gates led to St.
+Pellegrino, another was close to the castle of St. Angelo, and was "the
+gate by which one goes forth to the open country." The third led to the
+School of the Saxons; and over each was a prayer inscribed. These three
+prayers were all to the same effect--"that God would defend this new city
+which the Pope had enclosed with walls and called by his own name, the
+Leonine City, from all assaults of the enemy, either by fraud or by
+force."
+
+The greatest, however, of all the conceptions of Pope Nicholas, the very
+centre of his great plan, was the library of the Vatican, which he began
+to build and to which he left all the collections of his life. Vespasian
+gives us a list of the principal among these five thousand volumes, the
+things which he prized most, which the Pope bequeathed to the Church and
+to Rome. These cherished rolls of parchment, many of them translations
+made under his own eyes, were enclosed in elaborate bindings ornamented
+with gold and silver. We are not, however, informed whether any of the
+great treasures of the Vatican library came from his hands--the good
+Vespasian taking more interest in the work of his scribes than in
+codexes. He tells us of five hundred scudi given to Lorenzo Valle with a
+pretty speech that the price was below his merits, but that eventually he
+should have more liberal pay; of fifteen hundred scudi given to Guerroni
+for a translation of the _Iliad_, and so forth. It is like a bookseller
+of the present day vaunting his new editions to a collector in search of
+the earliest known. But Pope Nicholas, like most other patrons of his
+time, knew no Greek, nor probably ever expected that it would become a
+usual subject of study, so that his translations were precious to him,
+the chief way of making his treasures of any practical use.
+
+The greater part, alas! of all his splendor has passed away. One pure and
+perfect glory, the little Chapel of San Lorenzo, painted by the tender
+hand of Fra Angelico, remains unharmed, the only work of that grand
+painter to be found in Rome. If one could have chosen a monument for the
+good Pope, the patron and friend of art in every form, there could not
+have been a better than this. Fra Angelico seems to have been brought to
+Rome by Pope Eugenius, but it was under Nicholas, in two or three years
+of gentle labor, that the work was done. It is, however, impossible to
+enumerate all the undertakings of Pope Nicholas. He did something to
+reestablish or decorate almost all the great basilicas. It is feared--but
+here our later historians speak with bated breath, not liking to bring
+such an accusation against the kind Pope, who loved men of letters--that
+the destruction of St. Peter's, afterward ruthlessly carried out by
+succeeding popes, was in his plan, on the pretext, so constantly
+employed, and possibly believed in, of the instability of the ancient
+building. But there is no absolute certainty of evidence, and at all
+events he might have repented, for he certainly did not do that deed. He
+began the tribune, however, in the ancient church, which may have been a
+preparation for the entire renewal of the edifice; and he did much toward
+the decoration of another round church, that of the Madonna delle Febbre,
+an ill-omened name, attached to the Vatican. He also built the Belvedere
+in the gardens, and surrounded the whole with strong walls and towers
+(round), one of which, according to Nibby, still remained fifty years
+ago, which very little of Nicholas' building has done. His great sin was
+one which he shared with all his brother-popes, that he boldly treated
+the antique ruins of the city as quarries for his new buildings, not
+without protest and remonstrance from many, yet with the calm of a mind
+preoccupied and seeing nothing so great and important as the work upon
+which his own heart was set.
+
+This excellent Pope died in 1455, soon after having received the news of
+the downfall of Constantinople, which is said to have broken his heart.
+He had many ailments, and was always a small and spare man of little
+strength of constitution; "but nothing transfixed his heart so much as to
+hear that the Turks had taken Constantinople and killed the Europeans,
+with many thousands of Christians, among them that same 'Imperadore
+de Gostantinopli' whom he had seen seated in state at the Council of
+Ferrara, listening to his own and other arguments, only a few years
+before--as well as the greater part, no doubt, of his own clerical
+opponents there. When he was dying, 'being not the less of a strong
+spirit,' he called the cardinals round his bed, and many prelates with
+them, and made them a last address. His pontificate had lasted a little
+more than eight years, and to have carried out so little of his great
+plan must have been heavy on his heart; but his dying words are those
+of one to whom the holiness and unity of the Church came before all. No
+doubt the fear that the victorious Turks might spread ruin over the whole
+of Christendom was first in his mind at that solemn hour.
+
+"'Knowing, my dearest brethren, that I am approaching the hour of my
+death, I would, for the great dignity and authority of the apostolic see,
+make a serious and important testimony before you, not committed to the
+memory of letters, not written, neither on a tablet nor on parchment, but
+given by my living voice, that it may have more authority. Listen, I pray
+you, while your little Pope Nicholas, in the very instant of dying, makes
+his last will before you. In the first place I render thanks to the
+Highest God for the measureless benefits which, beginning from the day of
+my birth until the present day, I have received of his infinite mercy.
+And now I recommend to you this beautiful Spouse of Christ, whom, so
+far as I was able, I have exalted and magnified, as each of you is well
+aware; knowing this to be the honor of God, for the great dignity that is
+in her, and the great privileges that she possesses, and so worthy, and
+formed by so worthy an Author, who is the Creator of the universe. Being
+of sane mind and intellect, and having done that which every Christian is
+called to do, and specially the Pastor of the Church, I have received the
+most sacred body of Christ with penitence, taking it from his table with
+my two hands, and praying the Omnipotent God that he would pardon my
+sins. Having had these sacraments I have also received the extreme
+unction, which is the last sacrament for the redeeming of my soul.
+Again I recommend to you, as long as I am able, the Roman Church,
+notwithstanding that I have already done so; for this is the most
+important duty you have to fufil in the sight of God and men. This is the
+true Spouse of Christ which he bought with his blood. This is the robe
+without seam, which the impious Jews would have torn, but could not. This
+is that ship of St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles, agitated and tossed
+by varied fortunes of the winds, but sustained by the Omnipotent God, so
+that she could never be submerged or shipwrecked. With all the strength
+of your souls sustain her and rule her: she has need of your good works,
+and you should show a good example by your lives. If you with all your
+strength care for her and love her, God will reward you, both in this
+present life and in the future with life eternal; and to do this with all
+the strength we have, we pray you, do it diligently, dearest brethren.'
+
+"Having said this he raised his hands to heaven and said: 'Omnipotent
+God, grant to the holy Church, and to these fathers, a pastor who will
+preserve her and increase her; give to them a good pastor who will rule
+and govern thy flock the most maturely that one can rule and govern. And
+I pray for you and comfort you as much as I know and can. Pray for me to
+God in your prayers.' When he had ended these words he raised his right
+arm and, with a generous soul, gave the benediction,' _Benedict vos Deus,
+Pater et Filius et Spiritus Sanctus_'--speaking with a raised voice and
+solemnly, _in modo pontificate_"
+
+These tremulous words, broken and confused by the weakness of his last
+hours, were taken down by the favorite scribe, Giannozzo Manetti, in the
+chamber of the dying Pope; with much more of the most serious matter
+to the Church and to Rome. His eager desire to soften all possible
+controversies and produce in the minds of the conclave about his bed, so
+full of ambition and the force of life, the softened heart which would
+dispose them to a peaceful and conscientious election of his successor,
+is very touching, coming out of the fogs and mists of approaching death.
+
+In the very age that produced the Borgias, and himself the head of that
+band of elegant scholars and connoisseurs, everything but Christian,
+to whom Rome owes so much of her external beauty and splendor, it is
+pathetic to stand by this kind and gentle spirit as he pauses on the
+threshold of a higher life, subduing the astute and worldly minded
+churchmen around him with the tender appeal of the dying father, their
+_Papa Niccolato_, familiar and persuasive--beseeching them to be of one
+accord without so much as saying it, turning his own weakness to account
+to touch their hearts, for the honor of the Church and the welfare of the
+flock.
+
+
+
+MAHOMET II TAKES CONSTANTINOPLE.
+
+END OF THE EASTERN EMPIRE
+
+A.D. 1453
+
+GEORGE FINLAY
+
+
+By the greater number of historians the fall of Constantinople under the
+Moslem power is considered as the decisive event which separates the
+modern from the mediaeval period. From the same event dates the final
+establishment of the Ottoman empire both in Asia Minor and in Europe. At
+that moment, when the Moorish power in Spain had been almost destroyed,
+Christian Europe was threatened for the second time with Mahometan
+conquest.
+
+From 1354, when Suleiman crossed the Hellespont and captured Gallipoli,
+the Turks from Asia Minor had kept their foothold on European soil. Under
+Amurath I (1359-1389), Bajazet I (1389-1403), Mahomet I and Amurath
+II (1404-1451)--the last of whom, in 1422, unsuccessfully besieged
+Constantinople--the Ottoman dominions in Europe were much extended. When
+Mahomet II, son of Amurath II, became Sultan (1451), the Turks were so
+strongly established, and the Eastern Empire was so much weakened, that
+he was prepared to finish the work of his predecessors and make the
+Ottoman power in Europe what it has ever since been.
+
+Mahomet "the Conqueror"--such was his surname--had for his adversary
+Constantine XIII, the last of the Greek emperors, who was proclaimed in
+1448, with the consent of Amurath II, whose power is thus attested. The
+Empire was torn by the quarrels of political factions and by theological
+dissensions. When Mahomet succeeded to the sultanate he was but
+twenty-one years old, but had already given proof of great talents,
+learning, and ambition, all guided by a judgment of remarkable maturity.
+
+The first object of Mahomet's ambition was the conquest of
+Constantinople, the natural capital of his dominions. As long as it was
+held by Eastern Christians the Ottoman empire was open to invasion
+by those of the West. The first threatening act of Mahomet was the
+construction of a fortress on Constantine's territory, at the narrowest
+part of the Bosporus, and within five miles of Constantinople.
+Constantine was too weak to resent the menace with vigor, and Mahomet
+treated his mild protest with contempt, denying the right of a vassal of
+the Porte to dispute the Sultan's will. A feeble resistance by some
+of the Greeks only gave Mahomet pretexts for further aggression, soon
+followed by his formal declaration of war.
+
+
+Both parties began to prepare for the mortal contest. The siege of
+Constantinople was to be the great event of the coming year. The Sultan,
+in order to prevent the Emperor's brothers in the Peloponnesus from
+sending any succors to the capital, ordered Turakhan, the Pacha of
+Thessaly, to invade the peninsula. He himself took up his residence at
+Adrianople, to collect warlike stores and siege artillery. Constantine,
+on his part, made every preparation in his power for a vigorous defence.
+He formed large magazines of provisions, collected military stores, and
+enrolled all the soldiers he could muster among the Greek population of
+Constantinople. But the inhabitants of that city were either unable or
+unwilling to furnish recruits in proportion to their numbers. Bred up in
+peaceful occupation, they probably possessed neither the activity nor the
+habitual exercise which was required to move with ease under the weight
+of armor then in use. So few were found disposed to fight for their
+country that not more than six thousand Greek troops appeared under arms
+during the whole siege.
+
+The numerical weakness of the Greek army rendered it incapable of
+defending so large a city as Constantinople, even with all the advantage
+to be derived from strong fortifications. The Emperor was therefore
+anxious to obtain the assistance of the warlike citizens of the Italian
+republics, where good officers and experienced troops were then numerous.
+As he had no money to engage mercenaries, he could only hope to succeed
+by papal influence. An embassy was sent to Pope Nicholas V, begging
+immediate aid, and declaring the Emperor's readiness to complete the
+union of the churches in any way the Pope should direct. Nicholas
+despatched Cardinal Isidore, the Metropolitan of Kiev, who had joined the
+Latin Church, as his legate. Isidore had represented the Russian Church
+at the Council of Florence; but on his return to Russia he was imprisoned
+as an apostate, and with difficulty escaped to Italy. He was by birth
+a Greek; and being a man of learning and conciliatory manners, it was
+expected that he would be favorably received at Constantinople.
+
+The Cardinal arrived at Constantinople in November, 1452. He was
+accompanied by a small body of chosen troops, and brought some
+pecuniary aid, which he employed in repairing the most dilapidated
+part of the fortifications. Both the Emperor and the Cardinal deceived
+themselves in supposing that the dangers to which the Greek nation and
+the Christian Church were exposed would induce the orthodox to yield
+something of their ecclesiastical forms and phrases. It was evident that
+foreign aid could alone save Constantinople, and it was absurd to imagine
+that the Latins would fight for those who treated them as heretics and
+who would not fight for themselves. The crisis therefore compelled the
+Greeks to choose between union with the Church of Rome or submission to
+the Ottoman power. They had to decide whether the preservation of the
+Greek empire was worth the ecclesiastical sacrifices they were called
+upon to make in order to preserve their national independence.
+
+In the mean time the emperor Constantine celebrated his union with the
+papal Church, in the Cathedral of St. Sophia, on December 12, 1452. The
+court and the great body of the dignified clergy ratified the act by
+their presence; but the monks and the people repudiated the connection.
+In their opinion, the Church of St. Sophia was polluted by the ceremony,
+and from that day it was deserted by the orthodox. The historian Ducas
+declares that they looked upon it as a haunt of demons, and no better
+than a pagan shrine. The monks, the nuns, and the populace publicly
+proclaimed their detestation of the union; and their opposition was
+inflamed by the bigotry of an ambitious pedant, who, under the name of
+Georgius Scholarius, acted as a warm partisan of the union at the Council
+of Florence, and under the ecclesiastical name of Gennadius is known in
+history as the subservient patriarch of Sultan Mahomet II. On returning
+from Italy, he made a great parade of his repentance for complying
+with the unionists at Florence. He shut himself up in the monastery
+of Pantokrator, where he assumed the monastic habit and the name of
+Gennadius, under which he consummated the union between the Greek Church
+and the Ottoman administration.
+
+At the present crisis he stepped forward as the leader of the most
+bigoted party, and excited his followers to the most furious opposition
+to measures which he had once advocated as salutary for the Church, and
+indispensable to the preservation of the State. The unionists were now
+accused of sacrificing true religion to the delusion of human policy, of
+insulting God to serve the Pope, and of preferring the interests of their
+bodies to the care of their souls. In place of exhorting their countrymen
+to aid the Emperor, who was straining every nerve to defend their
+country--in place of infusing into their minds the spirit of patriotism
+and religion, these teachers of the people were incessantly inveighing
+against the wickedness of the unionists and the apostasy of the Emperor.
+So completely did their bigotry extinguish every feeling of patriotism
+that the grand duke Notaras declared he would rather see Constantinople
+subjected to the turban of the Sultan than to the tiara of the Pope.
+
+His wish was gratified; but, in dying, he must have felt how fearfully he
+had erred in comparing the effects of papal arrogance with the cruelty of
+Mahometan tyranny. The Emperor Constantine, who felt the importance of
+the approaching contest, showed great prudence and moderation in his
+difficult position. The spirit of Christian charity calmed his temper,
+and his determination not to survive the empire gave a deliberate
+coolness to his military conduct. Though his Greek subjects often raised
+seditions, and reviled him in the streets, the Emperor took no notice of
+their behavior. To induce the orthodox to fight for their country, by
+having a leader of their own party, he left the grand duke Notaras in
+office; yet he well knew that this bigot would never act cordially with
+the Latin auxiliaries, who were the best troops in the city; and the
+Emperor had some reason to distrust the patriotism of Notaras, seeing
+that he hoarded his immense wealth, instead of expending a portion of it
+for his country.
+
+The fortifications were not found to be in a good state of repair.
+Two monks who had been intrusted with a large sum for the purpose of
+repairing them had executed their duty in an insufficient and it was
+generally said in a fraudulent manner. The extreme dishonesty that
+prevailed among the Greek officials explains the selection of monks as
+treasurers for military objects; and it must lessen our surprise at
+finding men of their religious professions sharing in the general
+avarice, or tolerating the habitual peculations of others.
+
+Cannon were beginning to be used in sieges, but stone balls were used in
+the larger pieces of artillery; and the larger the gun, the greater was
+the effect it was expected to produce. Even in Constantinople there was
+some artillery too large to be of much use, as the land wall had not been
+constructed to admit of their recoil, and the ramparts were so weak as
+to be shaken by their concussion. Constantine had also only a moderate
+supply of gunpowder. The machines of a past epoch in military science,
+but to the use of which the Greeks adhered with their conservative
+prejudices, were brought from the storehouses, and planted on the walls
+beside the modern artillery. Johann Grant, a German officer, was the most
+experienced artilleryman and military engineer in the place.
+
+A considerable number of Italians hastened to Constantinople as soon as
+they heard of its danger, eager to defend so important a depot of Eastern
+commerce. The spirit of enterprise and the love of military renown had
+become as much a characteristic of the merchant nobles of the commercial
+republics as they had been, in a preceding age, distinctions of the
+barons in feudal monarchies. All the nations who then traded with
+Constantinople furnished contingents to defend its walls. A short time
+before the siege commenced, John Justiniani arrived with two Genoese
+galleys and three hundred chosen troops, and the Emperor valued his
+services so highly that he was appointed general of the guard. The
+resident bailo of the Venetians furnished three large galeases and a body
+of troops for the defence of the port. The consul of Catalans, with his
+countrymen and the Aragonese, undertook the defence of the great palace
+of Bukoleon and the port of Kontoskalion. Cardinal Isidore, with the
+papal troops, defended the Kynegesion, and the angle of the city at the
+head of the port down to St. Demetrius. The importance of the aid which
+was afforded by the Latins is proved by the fact that of twelve military
+divisions, into which Constantine divided the fortifications, the
+commands of only two were intrusted to the exclusive direction of Greek
+officers. In the others, Greeks shared the command with foreigners, or
+aliens alone conducted the defence.
+
+When all Constantine's preparations for defence were completed, he found
+himself obliged to man a line of wall on the land side of about five
+miles in length, every point of which was exposed to a direct attack. The
+remainder of the wall toward the port and the Propontis exceeded nine
+miles in extent, and his whole garrison hardly amounted to nine thousand
+men. His fleet consisted of only twenty galleys and three Venetian
+galeases, but the entry of the port was closed by a chain, the end of
+which, on the side of Galata, was secured in a strong fort of which the
+Greeks kept possession. During the winter the Emperor sent out his fleet
+to ravage the coast of the Propontis as far as Cyzicus, and the spirit of
+the Greeks was roused by the booty they made in these expeditions.
+
+Mahomet II spent the winter at Adrianople, preparing everything necessary
+for commencing the siege with vigor. His whole mind was absorbed by
+the glory of conquering the Roman Empire and gaining possession of
+Constantinople, which for more than eleven hundred fifty years had been
+the capital of the East. While the fever of ambition inflamed his soul,
+his cooler judgment also warned him that the Ottoman power rested on a
+perilous basis as long as Constantinople, the true capital of his
+empire, remained in the hands of others. Mahomet could easily assemble a
+sufficient number of troops for his enterprise, but it required all his
+activity and power to collect the requisite supplies of provisions
+and stores for the immense military and naval force he had ordered to
+assemble, and to prepare the artillery and ammunition necessary to insure
+success.
+
+Early and late, in his court and in his cabinet, the young Sultan could
+talk of nothing but the approaching siege. With the writing-reed and
+a scroll of paper in his hand he was often seen tracing plans of the
+fortifications of Constantinople, and marking out positions for his own
+batteries. Every question relating to the extent and locality of the
+various magazines to be constructed in order to maintain the troops was
+discussed in his presence; he himself distributed the troops in their
+respective divisions and regulated the order of their march; he issued
+the orders relating to the equipment of the fleet, and discussed the
+various methods proposed for breaching, mining, and scaling the walls.
+His enthusiasm was the impulse of a hero, but the immense superiority of
+his force would have secured him the victory with any ordinary degree of
+perseverance.
+
+The Ottomans were already familiar with the use of cannon. Amurath II had
+employed them when he besieged Constantinople in 1422; but Mahomet now
+resolved on forming a more powerful battering-train than had previously
+existed. Neither the Greeks nor Turks possessed the art of casting large
+guns. Both were obliged to employ foreigners. An experienced artilleryman
+and founder named Urban, by birth a Wallachian, carried into execution
+the Sultan's wishes. He had passed some time in the Greek service; but,
+even the moderate pay he was allowed by the Emperor having fallen in
+arrear, he resigned his place and transferred his services to the Sultan,
+who knew better how to value warlike knowledge. He now gave Mahomet
+proof of his skill by casting the largest cannon which had ever been
+fabricated. He had already placed one of extraordinary size in the
+new castle of the Bosporus, which carried across the straits. The gun
+destined for the siege of Constantinople far exceeded in size this
+monster, and the diameter of its mouth must have been nearly two feet
+and a half. Other cannon of great size, whose balls of stone weighed one
+hundred fifty pounds, were also cast, as well as many guns of smaller
+calibre. All these, together with a number of ballistae and other ancient
+engines still employed in sieges, were mounted on carriages in order to
+transport them to Constantinople. The conveyance of this formidable train
+of artillery, and of the immense quantity of ammunition required for its
+service, was by no means a trifling operation.
+
+The first division of the Ottoman army moved from Adrianople in February,
+1453. In the mean time a numerous corps of pioneers worked constantly at
+the road, in order to prepare it for the passage of the long train of
+artillery and baggage wagons. Temporary bridges, capable of being
+taken to pieces, were erected by the engineers over every ravine and
+water-course, and the materials for every siege advanced steadily, though
+slowly, to their destination. The extreme difficulty of moving the
+monster cannon with its immense balls retarded the Sultan's progress, and
+it was the beginning of April before the whole battering-train reached
+Constantinople, though the distance from Adrianople is barely a hundred
+miles. The division of the army under Karadja Pacha had already reduced
+Mesembria and the castle of St. Stephanus. Selymbria alone defended
+itself, and the fortifications were so strong that Mahomet ordered it to
+be closely blockaded, and left its fate to be determined by that of the
+capital.
+
+On April 6th Sultan Mahomet II encamped on the slope of the hill facing
+the quarter of Blachern, a little beyond the ground occupied by the
+crusaders in 1203, and immediately ordered the construction of lines
+extending from the head of the port to the shore of the Propontis. These
+lines were formed of a mound of earth, and they served both to restrain
+the sorties of the besieged and to cover the troops from the fire of
+the enemy's artillery and missiles. The batteries were then formed; the
+principal were erected against the gate of Charsias, in the quarter of
+Blachern, and against the gate of St. Romanus, near the centre of the
+city wall. It was against this last gate that the fire of the monster gun
+was directed and the chief attack was made.
+
+The land forces of the Turks probably amounted to about seventy thousand
+men of all arms and qualities; but the real strength of the army lay in
+the corps of janizaries, then the best infantry in Europe, and their
+number did not exceed twelve thousand. At the same time, twenty thousand
+cavalry, mounted on the finest horses of the Turkoman breed, and hardened
+by long service, were ready to fight either on horseback or on foot,
+under the eye of their young Sultan. The fleet which had been collected
+along the Asiatic coast, from the ports of the Black Sea to those of
+the Aegean, brought additional supplies of men, provisions, and military
+stores. It consisted of three hundred twenty vessels of various sizes
+and forms. The greater part were only half-decked coasters, and even the
+largest were far inferior in size to the galleys and galeases of the
+Greeks and Italians.
+
+The fortifications of Constantinople toward the land side vary so little
+from a straight line that they afford great facilities for attack. The
+defences had been originally constructed on a magnificent scale and with
+great skill, according to the ancient art of war. Even though they were
+partly ruined by time and weakened by careless reparations, they still
+offered a formidable obstacle to the imperfect science of the engineers
+in Mahomet's army. Two lines of wall, each flanked with its own towers,
+rose one above the other, overlooking a broad and deep ditch. The
+interval between these walls enabled the defenders to form in perfect
+security, and facilitated their operations in clearing the ditch and
+retarding the preparation for assault. The actual appearance of the low
+walls of Constantinople, with the ditch more than half filled up, gives
+only an incorrect picture of their former state.
+
+Mahomet had made his preparations for the siege with so much skill that
+his preliminary works advanced with unexpected rapidity. The numerical
+superiority of his army, and the precautions he had adopted for
+strengthening his lines, rendered the sorties of the garrison useless.
+The ultimate success of the defence depended on the arrival of assistance
+from abroad; but the numbers of the Ottoman fleet seemed to render even
+this hope almost desperate. An incident occurred that showed the
+immense advantage conferred by skill, when united with courage, over an
+apparently irresistible superiority of force in naval warfare. Four large
+ships, laden with grain and stores, one of which bore the Greek and the
+other the Genoese flag, had remained for some time wind-bound at Chios,
+and were anxiously expected at Constantinople. At daybreak these ships
+were perceived by the Turkish watchmen steering for Constantinople, with
+a strong breeze in their favor. The war-galleys of the Sultan immediately
+got under way to capture them. The Sultan himself rode down to the point
+of Tophane to witness a triumph which he considered certain and which he
+thought would reduce his enemy to despair. The Greeks crowded the walls
+of the city, offering up prayers for their friends and trembling for
+their safety in the desperate struggle that awaited them. The Christians
+had several advantages which their nautical experience enabled them to
+turn to good account. The good size of their ships, the strength of their
+construction, their weight, and their high bulwarks were all powerful
+means of defence when aided by a stiff breeze blowing directly in the
+teeth of their opponents. The Turks were compelled to row their galleys
+against this wind and the heavy sea it raised. In vain they attacked the
+Christians with reckless valor, fighting under the eye of their fiery
+sovereign. The skill of their enemy rendered all their attacks abortive.
+In vain one squadron attempted to impede the progress of the Christians,
+while another endeavored to run alongside and carry them by boarding.
+Every Turkish galley that opposed their progress was crushed under the
+weight of their heavy hulls, while those that endeavored to board had
+their oars shivered in the shock, and drifted helpless far astern. The
+few that succeeded for a moment in retaining their place alongside were
+either sunk by immense angular blocks of stone that were dropped on their
+frail timbers, or were filled with flames and smoke by the Greek fire
+that was poured upon them. The rapidity with which the best galleys were
+sunk or disabled appalled the bravest; and at last the Turks shrank from
+close combat on an element where they saw that valor without experience
+was of no avail. The Christian ships, in the mean time, held steadily on
+their course, under all the canvas their masts could carry, until they
+rounded the point of St. Demetrius and entered the port, where the chain
+was joyfully lowered to admit them.
+
+The young Sultan, on seeing the defeat of his galleys, lost all command
+over his temper. He could hardly be restrained from urging his horse into
+the sea, and in his frantic passion heaped every term of abuse and
+insult on his naval officers. He even talked of ordering his admiral,
+Baltaoghlu, to be impaled on the spot; but the janizaries present
+compelled even Mahomet to restrain his vengeance. This check revealed to
+Mahomet the extent of the danger to which his naval force was exposed
+should either the Genoese or Venetians send a powerful fleet to the
+assistance of the emperor Constantine.
+
+This naval discomfiture was also attended by some disasters on shore. The
+monster cannon burst before it had produced any serious impression on the
+walls. Its loss, however, was soon replaced; but the Ottoman army was
+repulsed in a general attack. An immense tower of timber, mounted on many
+wheels, and constructed on the model used in sieges from the time of the
+ancient Greeks and Romans, was dragged up to the edge of the ditch. Under
+its cover, workmen were incessantly employed throwing materials into the
+ditch to enable the tower itself to approach the walls, while the fire of
+several guns and the operations of a corps of miners ruined the opposite
+tower of the city. The progress of the besiegers induced them to risk an
+assault, in which they were repulsed, after a hard-fought struggle: and
+during the following night John Justiniani made a great sortie, during
+which his workmen cleared the ditch, and his soldiers filled the tower
+with combustible materials and burned it to the ground. Its exterior,
+having been protected by a triple covering of buffalo-hides, was found to
+be impervious even to Greek fire.
+
+In order to counteract the effect of these defeats, which had depressed
+the courage of the Ottomans and raised the spirits of the Greeks, the
+Sultan resolved to adopt measures for placing his fleet in security, and
+facilitating the communication between the army before Constantinople and
+the naval camp on the Bosporus. The Venetians had recently transported
+a number of their galleys from the river Adige overland to the lake
+of Garda. This exploit, which had been loudly celebrated at the time,
+suggested to the Sultan the idea of transporting a number of vessels from
+the Bosporus into the port of Constantinople, where the smooth water and
+the command of the shore would secure to his ships the mastery of the
+upper half of that extensive harbor. The distance over which it was
+necessary to transport the galleys was only five miles, but a steep
+hill presented a formidable obstacle to the undertaking. Mahomet,
+nevertheless, having witnessed the transport of his monster cannon
+over rivers and hills, was persuaded that his engineers would find no
+difficulty in moving his ships overland. A road was accordingly made, and
+laid with strong planks and wooden rails, which were plastered over with
+tallow. It extended from the station occupied by the fleet at Dolma
+Baktshe to the summit of the ridge near the Cemetery of Pera. On this
+inclined plane, with the assistance of windlasses and numerous yokes of
+oxen, the vessels were hauled up one after the other to the summit of the
+hill, from whence they descended with difficulty to the point beyond
+the present arsenal, where they were launched into the port under the
+protection of batteries prepared for their defence. Historians, wishing
+to give a dramatic character to their pages, have attributed marvellous
+difficulties to this daring exploit. It was a well-conceived and
+well-executed undertaking, for a division of the Ottoman fleet was
+conveyed into the port in a single night, where the Greeks, at the
+dawn of day, were amazed at beholding the hostile ships safe under the
+protection of inexpugnable batteries.
+
+To establish an easy and rapid communication between the naval camp
+on the Bosporus and the army before Constantinople, Mahomet ordered a
+floating bridge to be constructed across the port, from the point near
+the old foundry, on the side of Galata, to that near the angle of the
+city walls, near Haivan Serai, the ancient amphitheatre. The roadway of
+this bridge was supported on the enormous jars used for storing oil and
+wine, numbers of which were easily collected in the suburbs of Galata.
+These jars, when bound together with their mouth inverted in the water,
+formed admirable pontoons. Artillery was mounted on this bridge and the
+galleys were brought up to the city walls, which were now assailed from
+a quarter hitherto safe from attack. The Genoese under Justiniani on one
+occasion, and the Venetians on another, were defeated in their attempts
+to burn the Turkish fleet and destroy the bridge. The fire of the
+artillery rendered the attacks of the Italians abortive, and their
+failure afforded a decisive proof that the defence of the city was
+becoming desperate. To avoid the admission of their inferiority in
+force, the defeated parties threw the blame on one another, and their
+dissensions became so violent that the Emperor could hardly appease the
+quarrel.
+
+During all the labors of the besiegers in other quarters, the approaches
+were pushed vigorously forward against the land wall. Though the activity
+in other and more novel operations might attract greater attention, the
+industry of those engaged in filling up the ditch, and the fire of the
+breaching batteries, never relaxed. Though all attempts to cross the
+ditch at the gate of St. Romanus were long baffled by the Greeks, and
+the mining operations at Blachern were discovered and defeated by Johann
+Grant, still the superior number and indefatigable perseverance of the
+Ottomans at last filled up the ditch, and the fire of their guns ruined
+the walls. A visible change in the state of the fortifications encouraged
+the assailants, and showed the besieged that the enemy was gradually
+gaining a decided advantage. At the commencement of the siege, the
+Ottoman engineers had displayed so little knowledge of the mode of using
+artillery to effect a breach that a Hungarian envoy from John Hunyady,[1]
+who visited Mahomet's camp, ridiculed the idea of their producing any
+effect on the walls of Constantinople. This stranger was said to have
+taught the Turks to fire in volleys, and to cut the wall in rectangular
+sections, in order to produce a practicable breach.
+
+The batteries at length effected a practicable breach at the gate of St.
+Romanus. Before issuing his final orders for the assault, Mahomet
+II summoned the Emperor to surrender the city, and offered him a
+considerable appanage as a vassal of the Porte elsewhere. Constantine
+rejected the insulting offer, and the Sultan prepared to take
+Constantinople by storm. Four days were employed in the Ottoman camp
+making all the arrangements necessary for a simultaneous attack by land
+and sea along the whole line of the fortifications, from the modern
+quarter of Phanar to the Golden Gate. The Greeks and Latins within the
+walls were not less active in their exertions to meet the crisis. The
+Latins were sustained by their habits of military discipline, and their
+experiences of the chances of war; the Greeks placed great confidence in
+some popular prophecies which foretold the ultimate defeat of the Turks.
+They felt a pious conviction that the imperial and orthodox city would
+never fall into the hands of infidels. But the emperor Constantine was
+deceived by no vain hopes. He knew that human prudence and valor could do
+no more than had been done to retard the progress of the besiegers.
+
+Time had been gained, but the Greeks showed no disposition to fight for a
+heretical emperor, and no succors arrived from the Pope and the western
+princes. Constantine could now only hope to prolong the defence for a
+few hours, and, when the city fell, to bring his own life to a glorious
+termination by dying on the breach.
+
+On the night before the assault, the Emperor rode round to all the posts
+occupied by the garrison, and encouraged the troops to expect victory by
+his cheerful demeanor. He then visited the Church of St. Sophia, already
+deserted by the orthodox, where with his attendants he partook of the
+holy sacrament according to the Latin form. He returned for a short time
+to the imperial palace, and, on quitting it to take his station at the
+great breach, he was so overcome by the certainty that he should
+never again behold those present that he turned to the members of his
+household, many of whom had been the companions of his youth, and
+solemnly asked them to pardon every offence he had ever given them. Tears
+burst from all present as Constantine mounted his horse and rode slowly
+forward to meet his fate.
+
+The contrast between the city of the Christians and the camp of the
+Mahometans was not encouraging. Within the walls an emperor in the
+decline of life commanded a small and disunited force, with twenty
+leaders under his orders, each at the head of an almost independent band
+of Greek, Genoese, Venetian, or Catalan soldiers. So slight was the tie
+which bound these various chiefs together that, even when they were
+preparing for the final assault, the Emperor was obliged to use all his
+authority and personal influence to prevent Justiniani and the grand duke
+Notaras from coming to blows. Justiniani demanded to be supplied with
+some additional guns for the defence of the great breach, but Notaras,
+who had the official control over the artillery, peremptorily refused the
+demand.
+
+In the Turkish camp, on the other hand, perfect unity prevailed, and a
+young, ardent, and able sovereign concentrated in his hands the most
+despotic authority over a numerous and well-disciplined army. To excite
+the energy of that army to the highest pitch of enthusiasm, the Sultan
+proclaimed to his troops that he granted them the whole plunder of
+Constantinople, reserving to himself only the public buildings. The day
+of the battle was regarded as a religious festival in the Ottoman camp,
+and on the previous night lamps were hung out before every tent, and
+fires were kindled on every eminence in or near the lines. Thousands of
+lanterns were suspended from the flagstaffs of the batteries and from the
+masts and yards of the ships, and were reflected in the waters of
+the Propontis, the Golden Horn, and the Bosporus. The whole Ottoman
+encampment was resplendent with the blaze of this illumination. Yet a
+deep silence prevailed during the whole night, except when the musical
+cadence of the solemn chant of the call to prayers showed the Greeks the
+immense numbers and the strict discipline of the host.
+
+Before the dawn of day, on the morning of May 29, 1453, the signal was
+given for the attack. Column after column marched forward, and took up
+its ground before the portion of the wall it was ordered to assail. The
+galleys, fitted with towers and scaling-platforms, advanced against the
+fortifications of the port protected by the guns on the bridge. But the
+principal attack was directed against the breach at the gate of St.
+Romanus, where two flanking towers had fallen into the ditch and opened
+a passage into the interior of the city. The gate of Charsias and the
+quarter of Blachern were also assailed by chosen regiments of janizaries
+in overwhelming numbers. The attack was made with daring courage, but for
+more than two hours every point was successfully defended. In the port,
+the Italian and Greek ships opposed the Turkish galleys so effectually
+that the final result appeared to favor the besieged. But on the land
+side, one column of troops followed the other in an incessant stream. The
+moment a division fell back from the assault, new battalions occupied its
+place. The valor of the besieged was for some time successful, but they
+were at last fatigued by their exertions, and their scanty numbers were
+weakened by wounds and death. Unfortunately, Justiniani, the protostrator
+or marshal of the army, and the ablest officer in the place, received a
+wound which induced him to retire on board his ship to have it dressed.
+Until that moment he and the Emperor had defended the great breach with
+advantage; but after his retreat Sagan Pacha, observing that the energy
+of the defenders was relaxed, excited the bravest of the janizaries to
+mount to the assault. A chosen company led by Hasan of Ulubad, a man of
+gigantic frame, first crossed the ruins of the wall, and their leader
+gained the summit of the dilapidated tower which flanked the breach.
+The defenders, headed by the emperor Constantine, made a desperate
+resistance. Hasan and many of his followers were slain, but the
+janizaries had secured the vantage-ground, and, fresh troops pouring in
+to their aid, they surrounded the defenders of the breach. The Emperor
+fell amid a heap of slain, and a column of janizaries rushed into
+Constantinople over his lifeless body.
+
+About the same time another corps of the Ottomans forced an entrance into
+the city at the gate of the Circus, which had been left almost without
+defence, for the besieged were not sufficiently numerous to guard the
+whole line of the fortifications, and their best troops were drawn to the
+points where the attacks were fiercest. The corps that forced the gate of
+the Circus took the defenders of the gate of Charsias in the rear, and
+overpowered all resistance in the quarter of Blachern.
+
+Several gates were now thrown open, and the army entered Constantinople
+at several points. The cry that the enemy had stormed the walls preceded
+their march. Senators, priests, monks, and nuns, men, women, and
+children, all rushed to seek safety in St. Sophia's. A prediction current
+among the Greeks flattered them with the vain hope that an angel would
+descend from heaven and destroy the Mahometans, in order to reveal the
+extent of God's love for the orthodox. St. Sophia's, which for some time
+they had forsaken as a spot profaned by the Emperor's attempt at a union
+of the Christian world, was again revered as the sanctuary of orthodoxy,
+and was crowded with the flower of the Greek nation, confident of
+a miraculous interposition in favor of their national pride and
+ecclesiastical prejudices.
+
+The besiegers, when they first entered the city, fearing lest they might
+encounter serious resistance in the narrow streets, put every soul they
+encountered to the sword. But as soon as they were fully aware of the
+small number of the garrison, and the impossibility of any further
+opposition, they began to make prisoners. At length they reached St.
+Sophia's, and, rushing into that magnificent temple, which could with
+ease contain twenty thousand persons, they performed deeds of plunder and
+violence not unlike the scenes which the crusaders had enacted in the
+same spot in 1204. The men, women, and children who had sought safety
+in the building were divided among the soldiers as slaves, without any
+reference to their rank or respect for their ties of blood, and hurried
+off to the camp, or placed under the guard of comrades, who formed a
+joint alliance for the security of their plunder. The ecclesiastical
+ornaments and church plate were poor indeed when compared with the
+immense riches of the Byzantine cathedral in the time of the crusaders;
+but whatever was movable was immediately divided among the soldiers with
+such celerity that the mighty temple soon presented few traces of having
+been a Christian church.
+
+While one division of the victorious army was engaged in plundering the
+southern side of the city, from the gate of St. Romanus to the Church
+of St. Sophia, another, turning to the port, made itself master of the
+warehouses that were filled with merchandise, and surrounded the Greek
+troops under the grand duke Notaras. The Greeks were easily subdued,
+and Notaras surrendered himself a prisoner. About midday the Turks were
+in possession of the whole city, and Mahomet II entered his new capital
+at the gate of St. Romanus, riding triumphantly past the body of the
+emperor Constantine, which lay concealed among the slain in the breach
+he had defended. The Sultan rode straight to the Church of St. Sophia,
+where he gave the necessary orders for the preservation of all the
+public buildings. Even during the license of the sack, the severe
+education and grave character of the Ottomans exerted a powerful
+influence on their conduct, and on this occasion there was no example
+of the wanton destruction and wilful conflagrations that had signalized
+the Latin conquest. To convince the Greeks that their orthodox empire
+was extinct, Mahomet ordered a mollah to ascend the bema and address
+a sermon to the Mussulmans, announcing that St. Sophia was now a mosque
+set apart for the prayers of the true believers. To put an end to all
+doubts concerning the death of the Emperor, he ordered Constantine's
+head to be brought and exposed to the people of the capital, from
+whence it was afterward sent as a trophy to be seen by the Greeks of
+the principal cities in the Ottoman empire.
+
+[Footnote 1: The great Hungarian leader, who long fought against the
+Turks, and signally defeated them at Belgrad in 1456.--ED.]
+
+
+
+WARS OF THE ROSES
+
+DEATH OF RICHARD III AT BOSWORTH
+
+A.D. 1455-1485
+
+DAVID HUME
+
+
+Historians themselves declare that no part of English history since the
+Norman Conquest is so obscure and uncertain as that of the Wars of the
+Roses. "All we can distinguish with certainty through the deep cloud
+which covers that period is a scene of horror and bloodshed, savage
+manners, arbitrary executions and treacheries, dishonorable conduct in
+all parties." These brutal aspects of that horrid drama of history,
+running through more than the course of a full generation, are depicted
+for the mimic stage by Shakespeare, in _Henry VI and Richard III_, with
+a vividness that brings before us the ghastly realities of the historic
+theatre itself, and with such realization of the rude forces at work
+as calls for all the poet's refining art to make their representation
+tolerable to modern spectators.
+
+But the historians, while consciously failing to discover the hidden
+motives of intrigue and treachery which throughout actuated the parties
+to this fearful struggle of Englishmen with Englishmen, have nevertheless
+recorded for us its main outlines and leading episodes with sufficient
+clearness. We are enabled to see England as she was in that great
+transition of her "making"--in the throes of civil strife, again to be
+endured two centuries later--through which she must pass before she could
+become a "land of settled government."
+
+During the weak reign of Henry VI, France was delivered from English
+rule, mainly through the heroism of Jeanne d'Arc. In 1450 the commons
+rose against King Henry and the house of Lancaster, to which he belonged,
+and declared in favor of the house of York--these houses having already
+come into serious rivalry for the supreme power. The disasters in France
+strengthened the Yorkists, and brought their representative, Richard,
+Duke of York, to the front, with armed forces to support his claims.
+In 1452 he marched upon London, demanding the removal of the Duke of
+Somerset, Henry's chief minister, but a conflict was temporarily averted.
+When, in 1454, King Henry became insane, the Duke of York was made
+protector by parliament. He might now have seized the crown, but his
+forbearance was taken advantage of by the rival party, and "proved the
+source of all those furious wars which ensued"--the Wars of the Roses,
+beginning with the first battle of St. Albans, in 1455, and ending with
+the death of Richard III at Bosworth Field, in 1485.
+
+The wars were signalized by twelve pitched battles; they cost the lives
+of about eighty princes of the blood; and during their ravages the
+ancient nobility of England was almost annihilated. Yet in these fierce
+wars comparatively little damage was done to the general population or to
+industry and trade. The wars derived their name from the fact that the
+partisans of the house of Lancaster took the red rose as their badge, and
+those of York chose the white rose.
+
+The enemies of the Duke of York soon found it in their power to make
+advantage of his excessive caution. Henry being so far recovered from his
+distemper as to carry the appearance of exercising the royal power, they
+moved him to resume his authority, to annul the protectorship of the
+Duke, and to commit the administration into the hands of Somerset (1455).
+Richard, sensible of the dangers which might attend his former acceptance
+of the parliamentary commission should he submit to the annulling of it,
+levied an army, but still without advancing any pretensions to the crown.
+He complained only of the King's ministers, and demanded a reformation of
+the government.
+
+A battle was fought at St. Albans, in which the Yorkists were superior,
+and, without suffering any material loss, slew about five thousand
+of their enemies, among whom were the Duke of Somerset, the Earl
+of Northumberland, the Earl of Stafford, eldest son of the Duke of
+Buckingham, Lord Clifford, and many other persons of distinction. The
+King himself fell into the hands of the Duke of York, who treated him
+with great respect and tenderness; he was only obliged--which he regarded
+as no hardship--to commit the whole authority of the crown into the hands
+of his rival.
+
+Affairs did not immediately proceed to the last extremities; the
+nation was kept some time in suspense; the vigor and spirit of Queen
+Margaret,[1] supporting her small power, still proved a balance to the
+great authority of Richard, which was checked by his irresolute temper.
+A parliament, which was soon after assembled, plainly discovered, by the
+contrariety of their proceedings, the contrariety of the motives by which
+they were actuated. They granted the Yorkists a general indemnity; and
+they restored the protectorship to the Duke, but at the same time they
+renewed their oaths of fealty to Henry, and fixed the continuance of the
+protectorship to the majority of his son Edward.
+
+It was not found difficult to wrest power from hands so little tenacious
+as those of the Duke of York. Margaret, availing herself of that Prince's
+absence, produced her husband before the House of Lords; and as his state
+of health permitted him at that time to act his part with some tolerable
+decency, he declared his intentions of resuming the government, and of
+putting an end to Richard's authority. The House of Lords assented to
+Henry's proposal, and the King was declared to be reinstated. Even the
+Duke of York acquiesced in this irregular act of the peers, and no
+disturbance ensued. But that Prince's claim to the crown was too well
+known, and the steps which he had taken to promote it were too evident
+ever to allow sincere trust and confidence to have place between the
+parties.
+
+The court retired to Coventry, and invited the Duke of York and the Earls
+of Salisbury and Warwick to attend the King's person. When they were on
+the road, they received intelligence that designs were formed against
+their liberties and lives. They immediately separated themselves; Richard
+withdrew to his castle of Wigmore; Salisbury to Middleham, in Yorkshire;
+and Warwick to his government of Calais, which had been committed to him
+after the battle of St. Albans, and which, as it gave him the command of
+the only regular military force maintained by England, was of the utmost
+importance in the present juncture. Still, men of peaceable dispositions,
+and among the rest Bourchier, Archbishop of Canterbury, thought it not
+too late to interpose with their good offices in order to prevent that
+effusion of blood with which the kingdom was threatened; and the awe in
+which each party stood of the other rendered the mediation for some time
+successful.
+
+It was agreed that all the great leaders on both sides should meet in
+London and be solemnly reconciled. The Duke of York and his partisans
+came thither with numerous retinues, and took up their quarters near each
+other for mutual security. The leaders of the Lancastrian party used the
+same precaution. The mayor, at the head of five thousand men, kept a
+strict watch night and day, and was extremely vigilant in maintaining
+peace between them. Terms were adjusted, which removed not the ground of
+difference. An outward reconciliation only was procured; and in order to
+notify this accord to the whole people, a solemn procession to St. Paul's
+was appointed, where the Duke of York led Queen Margaret, and a leader of
+one party marched hand in hand with a leader of the opposite. The less
+real cordiality prevailed, the more were the exterior demonstrations of
+amity redoubled. But it was evident that a contest for a crown could
+not thus be peaceably accommodated, that each party watched only for an
+opportunity of subverting the other, and that much blood must yet be
+spilt ere the nation could be restored to perfect tranquillity or enjoy a
+settled and established government.
+
+Even the smallest accident, without any formed design, was sufficient, in
+the present disposition of men's minds, to dissolve the seeming harmony
+between the parties; and, had the intentions of the leaders been ever so
+amicable, they would have found it difficult to restrain the animosity of
+their followers. One of the King's retinue insulted one of the Earl of
+Warwick's; their companions on both sides took part in the quarrel; a
+fierce combat ensued; the Earl apprehended his life to be aimed at; he
+fled to his government of Calais; and both parties, in every county of
+England, openly made preparations for deciding the contest by war and
+arms.
+
+The Earl of Salisbury, marching to join the Duke of York, was overtaken
+at Blore Heath, on the borders of Staffordshire, by Lord Audley, who
+commanded much superior forces; and a small rivulet with steep banks ran
+between the armies. Salisbury here supplied his defect in numbers by
+stratagem a refinement of which there occur few instances in the English
+civil wars, where a headlong courage, more than military conduct, is
+commonly to be remarked. He feigned a retreat, and allured Audley to
+follow him with precipitation; but when the van of the royal army had
+passed the brook, Salisbury suddenly turned upon them, and partly by the
+surprise, partly by the division of the enemy's forces, put this body to
+rout; the example of flight was followed by the rest of the army; and
+Salisbury, obtaining a complete victory, reached the general rendezvous
+of the Yorkists at Ludlow. The Earl of Warwick brought over to this
+rendezvous a choice body of veterans from Calais, on whom, it was
+thought, the fortune of the war would much depend; but this reënforcement
+occasioned, in the issue, the immediate ruin of the Duke of York's party.
+When the royal army approached, and a general action was every hour
+expected, Sir Andrew Trollop, who commanded the veterans, deserted to
+the King in the night-time; and the Yorkists were so dismayed at this
+instance of treachery, which made every man suspicious of his fellow,
+that they separated next day without striking a blow; the Duke fled to
+Ireland; the Earl of Warwick, attended by many of the other leaders,
+escaped to Calais, where his great popularity among all orders of men,
+particularly among the military, soon drew to him partisans, and rendered
+his power very formidable. The friends of the house of York in England
+kept themselves everywhere in readiness to rise on the first summons from
+their leaders.
+
+After meeting with some successes at sea, Warwick landed in Kent, with
+the Earl of Salisbury and the Earl of March, eldest son of the Duke of
+York; and being met by the Primate, by Lord Cobham, and other persons of
+distinction, he marched, amid the acclamations of the people, to London.
+The city immediately opened its gates to him; and, his troops increasing
+on every day's march, he soon found himself in a condition to face the
+royal army, which hastened from Coventry to attack him. The battle was
+fought at Northampton, and was soon decided against the royalists by the
+infidelity of Lord Grey of Ruthin, who, commanding Henry's van, deserted
+to the enemy during the heat of action, and spread a consternation
+through the troops. The Duke of Buckingham, the Earl of Shrewsbury, the
+Lords Beaumont and Egremont, and Sir William Lucie were killed in the
+action or pursuit; the slaughter fell chiefly on the gentry and nobility;
+the common people were spared by orders of the Earls of Warwick and
+March. Henry himself, that empty shadow of a king, was again taken
+prisoner; and as the innocence and simplicity of his manners, which bore
+the appearance of sanctity, had procured him the tender regard of
+the people, the Earl of Warwick and the other leaders took care to
+distinguish themselves by their respectful demeanor toward him.
+
+A parliament was summoned in the King's name, and met at Westminster,
+where the Duke soon after appeared from Ireland. This Prince had never
+hitherto advanced openly any claim to the crown. He advanced toward the
+throne; and being met by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who asked him
+whether he had yet paid his respects to the King, he replied that he knew
+of none to whom he owed that title. He then stood near the throne, and,
+addressing himself to the House of Peers, he gave them a deduction of his
+title by descent, and pleaded his cause before them. The lords remained
+in suspense, and no one ventured to utter a word. Richard was much
+disappointed at their silence; but, desiring them to reflect on what he
+had proposed to them, he departed the house.
+
+The peers, after deliberating, declared the title of the duke of York to
+be certain and indefeasible; but in consideration that Henry had
+enjoyed the crown, without dispute or controversy, during the course of
+thirty-eight years, they determined that he should continue to possess
+the title and dignity during the remainder of his life; that the
+administration of the government, meanwhile, should remain with Richard;
+that he should be acknowledged the true and lawful heir of the monarchy;
+that everyone should swear to maintain his succession, and it should
+be treason to attempt his life. The act thus passed with the unanimous
+consent of the whole legislative body.
+
+The Duke, apprehending his chief danger to arise from Queen Margaret,
+sought a pretence for banishing her the kingdom; he sent her in the
+King's name a summons to come immediately to London, intending, in case
+of her disobedience, to proceed to extremities against her. But the Queen
+needed not this menace to excite her activity in defending the rights of
+her family. After the defeat of Northampton she had fled with her infant
+son to Durham, thence to Scotland; but soon returning she applied to the
+northern barons, and employed every motive to procure their assistance.
+Her affability, insinuation, and address--qualities in which she
+excelled--her caresses, her promises, wrought a powerful effect on
+everyone who approached her; the admiration of her great qualities was
+succeeded by compassion toward her helpless condition; the nobility of
+that quarter, who regarded themselves as the most warlike in the kingdom,
+were moved by indignation to find the southern barons pretend to dispose
+of the crown and settle the government. And, that they might allure
+the people to their standard, they promised them the spoils of all the
+provinces on the other side of the Trent. By these means the Queen had
+collected an army twenty thousand strong, with a celerity which was
+neither expected by her friends nor apprehended by her enemies.
+
+The Duke of York, informed of her appearance in the north, hastened
+thither with a body of five thousand men, to suppress, as he imagined,
+the beginnings of an insurrection; when, on his arrival at Wakefield, he
+found himself so much outnumbered by the enemy. He threw himself into
+Sandal castle, which was situated in the neighborhood; and he was advised
+by the Earl of Salisbury and other prudent counsellors to remain in that
+fortress till his son, the Earl of March, who was levying forces in the
+borders of Wales, could advance to his assistance. But the Duke, though
+deficient in political courage, possessed personal bravery in an eminent
+degree; and notwithstanding his wisdom and experience, he thought that he
+should be forever disgraced if, by taking shelter behind walls, he should
+for a moment resign the victory to a woman. He descended into the plain
+and offered battle to the enemy, which was instantly accepted. The great
+inequality of numbers was sufficient alone to decide the victory; but the
+Queen, by sending a detachment, who fell on the back of the Duke's army,
+rendered her advantage still more certain and undisputed. The Duke
+himself was killed in the action; and as his body was found among the
+slain, the head was cut off by Margaret's orders and fixed on the gates
+of York, with a paper crown upon it, in derision of his pretended title.
+
+The Queen, after this important victory, divided her army. She sent the
+smaller division, under Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pembroke, half brother to
+the King, against Edward the new Duke of York. She herself marched with
+the larger division toward London, where the Earl of Warwick had been
+left with the command of the Yorkists. Pembroke was defeated by Edward
+at Mortimer's Cross, in Herefordshire, his army was dispersed, and he
+himself escaped by flight.
+
+Margaret compensated this defeat by a victory which she obtained over the
+Earl of Warwick. That nobleman, on the approach of the Lancastrians, led
+out his army, reënforced by a strong body of the Londoners, who were
+affectionate to his cause; and he gave battle to the Queen at St.
+Albans. While the armies were warmly engaged, Lovelace, who commanded a
+considerable body of the Yorkists, withdrew from the combat; and this
+treacherous conduct decided the victory in favor of the Queen. The person
+of the King fell again into the hands of his own party. Lord Bonville, to
+whose care he had been intrusted by the Yorkists, remained with him after
+the defeat, on assurances of pardon given him by Henry; but Margaret,
+regardless of her husband's promise, immediately ordered the head of that
+nobleman to be struck off by the executioner. Sir Thomas Kiriel, a brave
+warrior, who had signalized himself in the French wars, was treated in
+the same manner.
+
+The Queen made no great advantage of this victory. Young Edward advanced
+upon her from the other side, and, collecting the remains of Warwick's
+army, was soon in a condition of giving her battle with superior forces.
+She found it necessary to retreat to the north. Edward entered the
+capital amid the acclamations of the citizens, and immediately opened a
+new scene to his party. This Prince, in the bloom of youth, remarkable
+for the beauty of his person, for his bravery, his activity, his
+affability, and every popular quality, found himself so much possessed of
+public favor that, elated with the spirit natural to his age, he resolved
+no longer to confine himself within those narrow limits which his father
+had prescribed to himself, and which had been found by experience so
+prejudicial to his cause. He determined to assume the name and dignity
+of king, to insist openly on his claim, and thenceforth to treat the
+opposite party as traitors and rebels to his lawful authority. His army
+was ordered to assemble in St. John's Fields, and great numbers of
+people surrounded them. They were asked whether they would have Henry of
+Lancaster for king. They unanimously exclaimed against the proposal It
+was then demanded whether they would accept of Edward, eldest son of
+the late Duke of York. They expressed their assent by loud and joyful
+acclamations. A great number of bishops, lords, magistrates, and other
+persons of distinction were next assembled at Baynard's castle, who
+ratified the popular election; and the new king was on the subsequent day
+proclaimed in London by the title of Edward IV.
+
+In this manner ended the reign of Henry VI, a monarch who while in his
+cradle had been proclaimed king both of France and England, and who began
+his life with the most splendid prospects that any prince in Europe had
+ever enjoyed.
+
+Young Edward, now in his twentieth year, was bold, active, and
+enterprising. The very commencement of his reign gave symptoms of his
+sanguinary disposition. The scaffold, as well as the field, incessantly
+streamed with the noblest blood of England. Queen Margaret had prudently
+retired northward among her own partisans, and she was able in a few days
+to assemble an army sixty thousand strong in Yorkshire. The King and the
+Earl of Warwick hastened, with an army of forty thousand men, to check
+her progress; and when they reached Pomfret they despatched a body of
+troops, under the command of Lord Fitzwalter, to secure the passage of
+Ferrybridge over the river Are, which lay between them and the enemy.
+Fitzwalter took possession of the post assigned him, but was not able
+to maintain it against Lord Clifford, who attacked him with superior
+numbers. The Yorkists were chased back with great slaughter, and Lord
+Fitzwalter himself was slain in the action.
+
+The Earl of Warwick, dreading the consequences of this disaster, at a
+time when a decisive action was every hour expected, immediately ordered
+his horse to be brought him, which he stabbed before the whole army, and,
+kissing the hilt of his sword, swore that he was determined to share the
+fate of the meanest soldier. A proclamation was at the same time issued,
+giving to everyone full liberty to retire, but menacing the severest
+punishment to those who should discover any symptoms of cowardice in the
+ensuing battle. Lord Falconberg was sent to recover the post which had
+been lost. He passed the river some miles above Ferrybridge, and, falling
+unexpectedly on Lord Clifford, revenged the former disaster by the defeat
+of the party and the death of their leader.
+
+The hostile armies met at Touton, and a fierce and bloody battle ensued.
+While the Yorkists were advancing to the charge, there happened a great
+fall of snow, which, driving full in the faces of their enemies,
+blinded them; and this advantage was improved by a stratagem of Lord
+Falconberg's. That nobleman ordered some infantry to advance before the
+line, and, after having sent a volley of flight arrows (as they were
+called) amid the enemy, immediately to retire. The Lancastrians,
+imagining that they were gotten within reach of the opposite army,
+discharged all their arrows, which thus fell short of the Yorkists. After
+the quivers of the enemy were emptied, Edward advanced his line and did
+execution with impunity on the dismayed Lancastrians. The bow, however,
+was soon laid aside, and the sword decided the combat, which ended in a
+total victory on the side of the Yorkists. Edward issued orders to give
+no quarter. The routed army was pursued to Tadcaster with great bloodshed
+and confusion, and above thirty-six thousand men are computed to have
+fallen in the battle and pursuit. Henry and Margaret had remained at York
+during the action; but, learning the defeat of their army, they fled into
+Scotland.
+
+Scotland had never exerted itself to take advantage either of the wars
+which England carried on with France or of the civil commotions between
+the contending families. James I avoided all hostilities with foreign
+nations. After the murder of that excellent Prince, the minority of
+his son and successor, James II, and the distractions incident to it,
+retained the Scots in the same state of neutrality. But when the quarrel
+commenced between the houses of York and Lancaster, and became absolutely
+incurable but by the total extinction of one party, James, who had now
+risen to man's estate, was tempted to seize the opportunity, and he
+endeavored to recover those places which the English had formerly
+conquered from his ancestors. He laid siege to the castle of Roxburghe in
+1460, and had provided himself with a small train of artillery for that
+enterprise; but his cannon was so ill-framed that one of them burst as he
+was firing it, and put an end to his life in the flower of his age.
+
+His son and successor, James III, was also a minor on his accession; the
+usual distractions ensued in the government: the Queen Dowager, Anne
+of Gueldres, aspired to the regency; the family of Douglas opposed her
+pretensions; and Queen Margaret, when she fled into Scotland, found there
+a people little less divided by faction than those by whom she had been
+expelled. Though she pleaded the connections between the royal family
+of Scotland and the house of Lancaster, she could engage the Scottish
+council to go no further than to express their good wishes in her favor;
+but on her offer to deliver to them immediately the important fortress of
+Berwick, and to contract her son in marriage with a sister of King James,
+she found a better reception; and the Scots promised the assistance of
+their arms to reinstate her family upon the throne. But Edward did not
+pursue the fugitive King and Queen into their retreat; he returned to
+London, where a parliament was summoned for settling the government.
+
+On the meeting of this assembly, Edward found the good effects of his
+vigorous measure in assuming the crown, as well as of his victory at
+Touton, by which he had secured it. The parliament no longer hesitated
+between the two families, or proposed any of those ambiguous decisions
+which could only serve to perpetuate and to inflame the animosities
+of party. They recognized the title of Edward, by hereditary descent,
+through the family of Mortimer, and declared that he was king by right,
+from the death of his father, who had also the same lawful title; and
+that he was in possession of the crown from the day that he assumed the
+government, tendered to him by the acclamations of the people. They
+reinstated the King in all the possessions which had belonged to the
+crown at the pretended deposition of Richard II.
+
+But the new establishment seemed precarious and uncertain, not only from
+the domestic discontents of the people, but from the efforts of foreign
+powers. Louis, the eleventh of the name, had succeeded to his father,
+Charles, in 1460, and was led from the obvious motives of national
+interest to feed the flames of civil discord among such dangerous
+neighbors by giving support to the weaker party. But the intriguing
+and politic genius of this Prince was here checked by itself: having
+attempted to subdue the independent spirit of his own vassals, he had
+excited such an opposition at home as prevented him from making all the
+advantage, which the opportunity afforded, of the dissensions among the
+English. He sent, however, a small body to Henry's assistance under
+Varenne, seneschal of Normandy, 1462, who landed in Northumberland
+and got possession of the castle of Alnwick; but as the indefatigable
+Margaret went in person to France, where she solicited larger supplies,
+and promised Louis to deliver up Calais if her family should by his means
+be restored to the throne of England, he was induced to send along with
+her a body of two thousand men-at-arms, which enabled her to take the
+field and to make an inroad into England, 1464. Though reënforced by a
+numerous train of adventurers from Scotland, and by many partisans of
+the family of Lancaster, she received a check at Hedgeley Moor from Lord
+Montacute, or Montagu, brother to the Earl of Warwick and warden of the
+east marches between Scotland and England. Montagu was so encouraged with
+this success that, while a numerous reinforcement was on its march to
+join him by orders from Edward, he yet ventured, with his own troops
+alone, to attack the Lancastrians at Hexham; and he obtained a complete
+victory over them. The Duke of Somerset, the Lords Roos and Hungerford,
+were taken in the pursuit, and immediately beheaded by martial law at
+Hexham. Summary justice was in like manner executed at Newcastle on Sir
+Humphrey Nevil, and several other gentlemen. All those who were spared in
+the field suffered on the scaffold, and the utter extermination of their
+adversaries was now become the plain object of the York party; a conduct
+which received but too plausible an apology from the preceding practice
+of the Lancastrians.
+
+The fate of the unfortunate royal family, after this defeat, was
+singular. Margaret, flying with her son into a forest, where she
+endeavored to conceal herself, was beset, during the darkness of the
+night, by robbers, who, either ignorant or regardless of her quality,
+despoiled her of her rings and jewels, and treated her with the utmost
+indignity. The partition of this rich booty raised a quarrel among them;
+and, while their attention was thus engaged, she took the opportunity of
+making her escape with her son into the thickest of the forest, where she
+wandered for some time, overspent with hunger and fatigue and sunk with
+terror and affliction. While in this wretched condition, she saw a robber
+approach with his naked sword; and, finding that she had no means of
+escape, she suddenly embraced the resolution of trusting entirely for
+protection to his faith and generosity. She advanced toward him, and,
+presenting to him the young Prince, called out to him, "Here my friend, I
+commit to your care the safety of your King's son."
+
+The man, whose humanity and generous spirit had been obscured, not
+entirely lost, by his vicious course of life, was struck with the
+singularity of the event, was charmed with the confidence reposed in him,
+and vowed not only to abstain from all injury against the Princess, but
+to devote himself entirely to her service. By his means she dwelt some
+time concealed in the forest, and was at last conducted to the sea-coast,
+whence she made her escape into Flanders. She passed thence into her
+father's court, where she lived several years in privacy and retirement.
+Her husband was not so fortunate or so dexterous in finding the means of
+escape. Some of his friends took him under their protection and conveyed
+him into Lancashire, where he remained concealed during a twelvemonth;
+but he was at last detected, delivered up to Edward, and thrown into the
+Tower. The safety of his person was owing less to the generosity of his
+enemies than to the contempt which they had entertained of his courage
+and his understanding.
+
+The imprisonment of Henry, the expulsion of Margaret, the execution and
+confiscation of all the most eminent Lancastrians, seemed to give full
+security to Edward's government. But his amorous temper led him into
+a snare, which proved fatal to his repose and to the stability of his
+throne. Jaqueline of Luxemburg, Duchess of Bedford, had, after her
+husband's death, so far sacrificed her ambition to love that she espoused
+in second marriage Sir Richard Woodeville, a private gentleman, to
+whom she bore several children, and among the rest Elizabeth, who was
+remarkable for the grace and beauty of her person, as well as for other
+amiable accomplishments. This young lady had married Sir John Gray of
+Groby, by whom she had children; and her husband being slain in the
+second battle of St. Albans, fighting on the side of Lancaster, and his
+estate being for that reason confiscated, his widow retired to live with
+her father, at his seat of Grafton, in Northamptonshire. The King came
+accidentally to the house after a hunting party, in order to pay a visit
+to the Duchess of Bedford, and, as the occasion seemed favorable for
+obtaining some grace from this gallant monarch, the young widow flung
+herself at his feet, and with many tears entreated him to take pity on
+her impoverished and distressed children. The sight of so much beauty in
+affliction strongly affected the amorous Edward, love stole sensibly into
+his heart under the guise of compassion; and her sorrow, so becoming a
+virtuous matron, made his esteem and regard quickly correspond to his
+affection. He raised her from the ground with assurances of favor; he
+found his passion increase every moment by the conversation of the
+amiable object; and he was soon reduced, in his turn, to the posture and
+style of a supplicant at the feet of Elizabeth. But the lady, either
+averse to dishonorable love from a sense of duty, or perceiving that
+the impression which she had made was so deep as to give her hopes of
+obtaining the highest elevation, obstinately refused to gratify his
+passion; and all the endearments, caresses, and importunities of
+the young and amiable Edward proved fruitless against her rigid and
+inflexible virtue. His passion, irritated by opposition and increased by
+his veneration for such honorable sentiments, carried him at last beyond
+all bounds of reason, and he offered to share his throne, as well as his
+heart, with the woman whose beauty of person and dignity of character
+seemed so well to entitle her to both. The marriage was privately
+celebrated at Grafton; the secret was carefully kept for some time; no
+one suspected that so libertine a prince could sacrifice so much to a
+romantic passion; and there were, in particular, strong reasons which
+at that time rendered this step, to the highest degree, dangerous and
+imprudent.
+
+The King, desirous to secure his throne, as well by the prospect of
+issue as by foreign alliances, had, a little before, determined to make
+application to some neighboring princess; and he had cast his eye on Bona
+of Savoy, sister to the Queen of France, who, he hoped, would by her
+marriage insure him the friendship of that power which was alone both
+able and inclined to give support and assistance to his rival. To render
+the negotiation more successful, the Earl of Warwick had been despatched
+to Paris, where the Princess then resided; he had demanded Bona in
+marriage for the King; his proposals had been accepted; the treaty was
+fully concluded; and nothing remained but the ratification of the terms
+agreed on, and the bringing over the Princess to England. But when the
+secret of Edward's marriage broke out, the haughty Earl, deeming himself
+affronted, both by being employed in this fruitless negotiation and by
+being kept a stranger to the King's intentions, who had owed everything
+to his friendship, immediately returned to England, inflamed with rage
+and indignation. The influence of passion over so young a man as Edward
+might have served as an excuse for his imprudent conduct had he deigned
+to acknowledge his error or had pleaded his weakness as an apology; but
+his faulty shame or pride prevented him from so much as mentioning the
+matter to Warwick; and that nobleman was allowed to depart the court,
+full of the same ill-humor and discontent which he had brought to it.
+
+Every incident now tended to widen the breach between the King and this
+powerful subject. The Queen, who lost not her influence by marriage, was
+equally solicitous to draw every grace and favor to her own friends and
+kindred and to exclude those of the Earl, whom she regarded as her mortal
+enemy.
+
+The Earl of Warwick could not suffer with patience the least diminution
+of that credit which he had long enjoyed, and which he thought he had
+merited by such important services. Edward also, jealous of that power
+which had supported him, was well pleased to raise up rivals to the
+Earl of Warwick; and he justified, by this political view, his extreme
+partiality to the Queen's kindred. But the nobility of England, envying
+the sudden growth of the Woodevilles, was more inclined to take part with
+Warwick's discontent.
+
+An extensive and dangerous combination was insensibly formed against
+Edward and his ministry. While this cloud was gathering at home, Edward
+endeavored to secure himself against his factious nobility by entering
+into foreign alliances. But whatever ambitious schemes the King might
+have built on these alliances, they were soon frustrated by intestine
+commotions, which engrossed all his attention. These disorders probably
+arose not immediately from the intrigues of the Earl of Warwick, but from
+accident, aided by the turbulent spirit of the age, by the general humor
+of discontent which that popular nobleman had instilled into the nation,
+and perhaps by some remains of attachment to the house of Lancaster. The
+hospital of St. Leonard's, near York, had received, from an ancient
+grant of King Athelstane, a right of levying a thrave of corn upon every
+ploughland in the county. The country people complained that the revenue
+of the hospital was no longer expended for the relief of the poor, but
+was secreted by the managers, and employed to their private purposes.
+After long repining at the contribution, they refused payment;
+ecclesiastical and civil censures were issued against them; their goods
+were distrained, and their persons thrown into jail; till, as their
+ill-humor daily increased, they rose in arms, fell upon the officers
+of the hospital, whom they put to the sword, and proceeded in a body,
+fifteen thousand strong, to the gates of York. Lord Montagu, who
+commanded in those parts, opposed himself to their progress; and having
+been so fortunate in a skirmish as to seize Robert Hulderne, their
+leader, he ordered him immediately to be led to execution, according to
+the practice of the times.
+
+The rebels, however, still continued in arms; and being soon headed by
+men of greater distinction--Sir Henry Nevil, son of Lord Latimer, and Sir
+John Coniers--they advanced southward, and began to appear formidable to
+the Government. Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, was ordered by Edward to march
+against them at the head of a body of Welshmen; and he was joined by five
+thousand archers, under the command of Stafford, Earl of Devonshire. But
+a trivial difference about quarters having begotten an animosity between
+these two noblemen, the Earl of Devonshire retired with his archers, and
+left Pembroke alone to encounter the rebels.
+
+The two armies approached each other near Banbury, 1469, and Pembroke,
+having prevailed in a skirmish, and having taken Sir John Nevil prisoner,
+ordered him immediately to be put to death, without any form of process.
+This execution enraged without terrifying the rebels; they attacked the
+Welsh army, routed them, put them to the sword without mercy; and, having
+seized Pembroke, they took immediate revenge upon him for the death
+of their leader. The King, imputing this misfortune to the Earl of
+Devonshire, who had deserted Pembroke, ordered him to be executed in a
+like summary manner.
+
+Soon after there broke out another rebellion. It arose in Lincolnshire,
+and was headed by Sir Robert Welles. The army of the rebels amounted to
+thirty thousand men. The King fought a battle with the rebels, defeated
+them, took Sir Robert Welles and Sir Thomas Launde prisoners, and
+ordered them immediately to be beheaded. Edward during these transactions
+had entertained so little jealousy of the Earl of Warwick or the Duke of
+Clarence that he sent them with commissions of array to levy forces
+against the rebels; but these malecontents, as soon as they left the
+court, raised troops in their own name, issued declarations against the
+Government, and complained of grievances, oppressions, and bad ministers.
+The unexpected defeat of Welles disconcerted all their measures; and
+they retired northward into Lancashire, where they expected to be joined
+by Lord Stanley, who had married the Earl of Warwick's sister. But as
+that nobleman refused all concurrence with them, and as Lord Montagu
+also remained quiet in Yorkshire, they were obliged to disband their
+army and to fly into Devonshire, where they embarked and made sail
+toward Calais.
+
+The King of France received Warwick with the greatest demonstrations
+of regard, and hoped to make him his instrument in overturning the
+government of England and reestablishing the house of Lancaster. No
+animosity was ever greater than that which had long prevailed between
+that house and the Earl of Warwick. But his present distresses and the
+entreaties of Louis made him hearken to terms of accommodation; and
+Margaret being sent for from Angers, where she then resided, an agreement
+was soon concluded between them. It was stipulated that Warwick should
+espouse the cause of Henry and endeavor to restore him to liberty and to
+reestablish him on the throne; that the administration of the government
+during the minority of young Edward, Henry's son, should be intrusted
+conjointly to the Earl of Warwick and the Duke of Clarence; that Prince
+Edward should marry the Lady Anne, second daughter of that nobleman; and
+that the crown, in case of the failure of male issue in that Prince,
+should descend to the Duke of Clarence, to the entire exclusion of King
+Edward and his posterity. The marriage of Prince Edward with the Lady
+Anne was immediately celebrated in France.
+
+Edward foresaw that it would be easy to dissolve an alliance composed
+of such discordant parts. For this purpose he sent over a lady of great
+sagacity and address, who belonged to the train of the Duchess of
+Clarence, and who, under color of attending her mistress, was empowered
+to negotiate with the Duke, and to renew the connections of that Prince
+with his own family. She represented to Clarence that he had unwarily,
+to his own ruin, become the instrument of Warwick's vengeance, and had
+thrown himself entirely in the power of his most inveterate enemies;
+that the mortal injuries which the one royal family had suffered from
+the other were now past all forgiveness, and no imaginary union of
+interests could ever suffice to obliterate them; that, even if the
+leaders were willing to forget past offences, the animosity of their
+adherents would prevent a sincere coalition of parties, and would, in
+spite of all temporary and verbal agreements, preserve an eternal
+opposition of measures between them; and that a prince who deserted his
+own kindred, and joined the murderers of his father, left himself
+single, without friends, without protection, and would not, when
+misfortunes inevitably fell upon him, be so much as entitled to any pity
+or regard from the rest of mankind. Clarence was only one-and-twenty
+years of age, and seems to have possessed but a slender capacity; yet
+could he easily see the force of these reasons; and, upon the promise
+of forgiveness from his brother, he secretly engaged, on a favorable
+opportunity, to desert the Earl of Warwick and abandon the Lancastrian
+party.
+
+During this negotiation Warwick was secretly carrying on a correspondence
+of the same nature with his brother, the Marquis of Montagu, who was,
+entirely trusted by Edward; and like motives produced a like resolution
+in that nobleman. The Marquis, also, that he might render the projected
+blow the more deadly and incurable, resolved on his side to watch a
+favorable opportunity for committing his perfidy, and still to maintain
+the appearance of being a zealous adherent to the house of York.
+
+After these mutual snares were thus carefully laid, the decision of the
+quarrel advanced apace. Louis prepared a fleet to escort the Earl of
+Warwick, and granted him a supply of men and money. The Duke of Burgundy,
+on the other hand, anxious to support the reigning family in England,
+fitted out a larger fleet, with which he guarded the Channel. Edward was
+not sensible of his danger; he made no suitable preparations against
+the Earl of Warwick; he even said that the Duke might spare himself the
+trouble of guarding the seas, and that he wished for nothing more than to
+see Warwick set foot on English ground.
+
+The event soon happened of which Edward seemed so desirous. A storm
+dispersed the Duke of Burgundy's navy, and left the sea open to Warwick.
+That nobleman seized the opportunity, and, setting sail, quickly landed
+at Dartmouth with the Duke of Clarence, the earls of Oxford and Pembroke,
+and a small body of troops, while the King was in the North, engaged in
+suppressing an insurrection which had been raised by Lord Fitz-Hugh,
+brother-in-law to Warwick. The scene which ensues resembles more
+the fiction of a poem or romance than an event in true history. The
+prodigious popularity of Warwick, the zeal of the Lancastrian party,
+the spirit of discontent with which many were infected, and the general
+instability of the English nation occasioned by the late frequent
+revolutions drew such multitudes to his standard that in a very few days
+his army amounted to sixty thousand men and was continually increasing.
+Edward hastened southward to encounter him; and the two armies approached
+each other near Nottingham, where a decisive action was every hour
+expected.
+
+The rapidity of Warwick's progress had incapacitated the Duke of Clarence
+from executing his plan of treachery; and the Marquis of Montagu had here
+the opportunity of striking the first blow. He communicated the design to
+his adherents, who promised him their concurrence; they took to arms in
+the night-time, and hastened with loud acclamations to Edward's quarters;
+the King was alarmed at the noise, and, starting from bed, heard the cry
+of war usually employed by the Lancastrian party. Lord Hastings, his
+chamberlain, informed him of the danger, and urged him to make his escape
+by speedy flight from an army where he had so many concealed enemies and
+where few seemed zealously attached to his service. He had just time to
+get on horseback and to hurry with a small retinue to Lynne, in Norfolk,
+where he luckily found some ships ready, on board of which he instantly
+embarked. The Earl of Warwick, in eleven days after his first landing,
+was left entire master of the kingdom. But Edward's danger did not end
+with his embarkation. The Easterlings or Hanse Towns were then at war
+both with France and England; and some ships of these people, hovering on
+the English coast, espied the King's vessels and gave chase to them; nor
+was it without extreme difficulty that he made his escape into the port
+of Alkmaar in Holland.
+
+Immediately after Edward's flight had left the kingdom at Warwick's
+disposal, that nobleman hastened to London; and taking Henry from his
+confinement in the Tower, into which he himself had been the chief
+cause of throwing him, he proclaimed him King with great solemnity.
+A parliament was summoned, in the name of that Prince, to meet at
+Westminster. The treaty with Margaret was here fully executed; Henry
+was recognized as lawful king; but, his incapacity for government being
+avowed, the regency was intrusted to Warwick and Clarence till the
+majority of Prince Edward; and in default of that Prince's issue,
+Clarence was declared successor to the crown.
+
+The ruling party were more sparing in their executions than was usual
+after any revolution during those violent times. The only victim
+of distinction was John Tibetot, Earl of Worcester. All the other
+considerable Yorkists either fled beyond sea or took shelter in
+sanctuaries, where the ecclesiastical privileges afforded them
+protection. In London alone it is computed that no less than two thousand
+persons saved themselves in this manner, and among the rest Edward's
+Queen, who was there delivered of a son, called by his father's name.
+Queen Margaret had not yet appeared in England, but, on receiving
+intelligence of Warwick's success, was preparing with Prince Edward for
+her journey. All the banished Lancastrians flocked to her, and, among the
+rest, the Duke of Somerset, son of the Duke beheaded after the battle
+of Hexham. This nobleman, who had long been regarded as the head of
+the party, had fled into the Low Countries on the discomfiture of
+his friends; and as he concealed his name and quality, he had there
+languished in extreme indigence. But both Somerset and Margaret were
+detained by contrary winds from reaching England, till a new revolution
+in that kingdom, no less sudden and surprising than the former, threw
+them into greater misery than that from which they had just emerged.
+
+The Duke of Burgundy equipped four large vessels, in the name of some
+private merchants, at Terveer, in Zealand; and, causing fourteen ships to
+be secretly hired from the Easterlings, he delivered this small squadron
+to Edward, who, receiving also a sum of money from the Duke, immediately
+set sail for England, 1471.
+
+Edward, impatient to take revenge on his enemies and to recover his lost
+authority, made an attempt to land with his forces, which exceeded not
+two thousand men, on the coast of Norfolk; but being there repulsed, he
+sailed northward and disembarked at Ravenspur, in Yorkshire. Finding that
+the new magistrates, who had been appointed by the Earl of Warwick, kept
+the people everywhere from joining him, he pretended, and even made oath,
+that he came, not to challenge the crown, but only the inheritance of the
+house of York, which of right belonged to him, and that he did not intend
+to disturb the peace of the kingdom. His partisans every moment flocked
+to his standard; he was admitted into the city of York; and he was soon
+in such a situation as gave him hopes of succeeding in all his claims and
+pretensions.
+
+Warwick assembled an army at Leicester, with an intention of meeting and
+of giving battle to the enemy, but Edward, by taking another road, passed
+him unmolested and presented himself before the gates of London. Edward's
+entrance into London made him master not only of that rich and powerful
+city, but also of the person of Henry, who, destined to be the perpetual
+sport of fortune, thus fell again into the hands of his enemies. It does
+not appear that Warwick, during his short administration, which had
+continued only six months, had been guilty of any unpopular act, or had
+anywise deserved to lose that general favor with which he had so lately
+overwhelmed Edward. But this Prince, who was formerly on the defensive,
+was now the aggressor. Everyone who had been disappointed in the hopes
+which he had entertained from Warwick's elevation either became a cool
+friend or an open enemy to that nobleman; and each malecontent, from
+whatever cause, proved an accession to Edward's army.
+
+The King, therefore, found himself in a condition to face the Earl of
+Warwick, who, being reënforced by his son-in-law the Duke of Clarence,
+and his brother the Marquis of Montagu, took post at Barnet, in the
+neighborhood of London. Warwick was now too far advanced to retreat, and,
+as he rejected with disdain all terms of peace offered him by Edward and
+Clarence, he was obliged to hazard a general engagement. The battle was
+fought with obstinacy on both sides. The two armies, in imitation of
+their leaders, displayed uncommon valor; and the victory remained long
+undecided between them. But an accident threw the balance to the side of
+the Yorkists. Edward's cognizance was a sun; that of Warwick a star
+with rays; and the mistiness of the morning rendering it difficult to
+distinguish them, the Earl of Oxford, who fought on the side of the
+Lancastrians, was by mistake attacked by his friends and chased off the
+field of battle. Warwick, contrary to his more usual practice, engaged
+that day on foot, resolving to show his army that he meant to share every
+fortune with them, and he was slain in the thickest of the engagement;
+and as Edward had issued orders not to give any quarter, a great and
+undistinguished slaughter was made in the pursuit. There fell about one
+thousand five hundred on the side of the victors.
+
+The same day on which this decisive battle was fought, Queen Margaret
+and her son, now about eighteen years of age and a young prince of great
+hopes, landed at Weymouth, supported by a small body of French forces.
+When this Princess received intelligence of her husband's captivity, and
+of the defeat and death of the Earl of Warwick, her courage, which had
+supported her under so many disastrous events, here quite left her; and
+she immediately foresaw all the dismal consequences of this calamity. At
+first she took sanctuary in the Abbey of Beaulieu; but being encouraged
+by men of rank, who exhorted her still to hope for success, she resumed
+her former spirit and determined to defend to the utmost the ruins of her
+fallen fortunes. She advanced through the counties of Devon, Somerset,
+and Gloucester, increasing her army on each day's march, but was at last
+overtaken by the rapid and expeditious Edward at Tewkesbury, on the banks
+of the Severn. The Lancastrians were here totally defeated; the Earl
+of Devonshire and Lord Wenlock were killed in the field; the Duke of
+Somerset and about twenty other persons of distinction, having taken
+shelter in a church, were surrounded, dragged out, and immediately
+beheaded; about three thousand of their side fell in battle; and the army
+was entirely dispersed.
+
+Queen Margaret and her son were taken prisoners and brought to the King,
+who asked the Prince, after an insulting manner, how he dared to invade
+his dominions. The young Prince, more mindful of his high birth than
+of his present fortune, replied that he came thither to claim his just
+inheritance. The ungenerous Edward, insensible to pity, struck him on the
+face with his gauntlet; and the Dukes of Clarence and Gloucester, Lord
+Hastings, and Sir Thomas Gray, taking the blow as a signal for further
+violence, hurried the Prince into the next apartment and there despatched
+him with their daggers. Margaret was thrown into the Tower; King Henry
+expired in that confinement a few days after the battle of Tewkesbury;
+but whether he died a natural or violent death is uncertain. It is
+pretended, and was generally believed, that the Duke of Gloucester killed
+him with his own hands; but the universal odium which that Prince had
+incurred, perhaps inclined the nation to aggravate his crimes without any
+sufficient authority.
+
+All the hopes of the house of Lancaster seemed now to be utterly
+extinguished. Every legitimate prince of that family was dead; almost
+every great leader of the party had perished in battle or on the
+scaffold; the Earl of Pembroke, who was levying forces in Wales,
+disbanded his army when he received intelligence of the battle of
+Tewkesbury, and he fled into Brittany with his nephew, the young Earl of
+Richmond. The bastard of Falconberg, who had levied some forces, and
+had advanced to London during Edward's absence, was repulsed; his men
+deserted him; he was taken prisoner and immediately executed; and peace
+being now fully restored to the nation, a parliament was summoned, which
+ratified, as usual, all the acts of the victor, and recognized his legal
+authority.
+
+This Prince, who had been so firm and active and intrepid during the
+course of adversity, was still unable to resist the allurements of a
+prosperous fortune; and he devoted himself, as before, to pleasure and
+amusement, after he became entirely master of his kingdom. But while he
+was thus indulging himself in pleasure, he was roused from his lethargy
+by a prospect of foreign conquests. He passed over to Calais, 1475, with
+an army of one thousand five hundred men-at-arms and fifteen thousand
+archers, attended by all the chief nobility of England, who,
+prognosticating future successes from the past, were eager to appear on
+this great theatre of honor. But all their sanguine hopes were damped
+when they found, on entering the French territories, that neither did the
+constable open his gates to them nor the Duke of Burgundy bring them the
+smallest assistance. That Prince, transported by his ardent temper, had
+carried all his armies to a great distance, and had employed them in wars
+on the frontiers of Germany and against the Duke of Lorraine; and though
+he came in person to Edward, and endeavored to apologize for this breach
+of treaty, there was no prospect that they would be able this campaign to
+make a conjunction with the English. This circumstance gave great disgust
+to the King, and inclined him to hearken to those advances which Louis
+continually made him for an accommodation.
+
+Louis was sensible that the warlike genius of the people would soon
+render them excellent soldiers, and, far from despising them for their
+present want of experience, he employed all his art to detach them from
+the alliance of Burgundy. When Edward sent him a herald to claim the
+crown of France, and to carry him a defiance in case of refusal, so far
+from answering to this bravado in like haughty terms, he replied with
+great temper, and even made the herald a considerable present. He took
+afterward an opportunity of sending a herald to the English camp, and
+having given him directions to apply to Lords Stanley and Howard, who,
+he heard, were friends to peace, he desired the good offices of these
+noblemen in promoting an accommodation with their master. As Edward was
+now fallen into like dispositions, a truce was soon concluded on terms
+more advantageous than honorable to Louis. He stipulated to pay Edward
+immediately seventy-five thousand crowns, on condition that he should
+withdraw his army from France, and promised to pay him fifty thousand
+crowns a year during their joint lives. In order to ratify this treaty,
+the two monarchs agreed to have a personal interview. Edward and Louis
+conferred privately together; and having confirmed their friendship, and
+interchanged many mutual civilities, they soon after parted. As the two
+armies, after the conclusion of the truce, remained some time in the
+neighborhood of each other, the English were not only admitted freely
+into Amiens, where Louis resided, but had also their charges defrayed,
+and had wine and victuals furnished them in every inn without any payment
+being demanded.
+
+This treaty did very little honor to either of these monarchs. It
+discovered the imprudence of Edward, who had taken his measures so ill
+with his allies as to be obliged, after such an expensive armament, to
+return without making any acquisitions adequate to it. It showed the want
+of dignity in Louis, who, rather than run the hazard of a battle,
+agreed to subject his kingdom to a tribunal, and thus acknowledge the
+superiority of a neighboring prince possessed of less power and territory
+than himself. But Louis thought that all the advantages of the treaty
+were on his side, and that he had overreached Edward by sending him out
+of France on such easy terms.
+
+The most honorable part of Louis' treaty with Edward was the stipulation
+for the liberty of Queen Margaret, who, though after the death of her
+husband and son she could no longer be formidable to Government, was
+still detained in custody by Edward. Louis paid fifty thousand crowns for
+her ransom; and that Princess, who had been so active on the stage of
+the world, and who had experienced such a variety of fortune, passed the
+remainder of her days in tranquillity and privacy till the year 1482,
+when she died; an admirable princess, but more illustrious by her
+undaunted spirit in adversity than by her moderation in prosperity.
+She seems neither to have enjoyed the virtues nor been subject to the
+weaknesses of her sex, and was as much tainted with the ferocity as
+endowed with the courage of that barbarous age in which she lived.
+
+The Duke of Clarence, by all his services in deserting Warwick, had never
+been able to regain the King's friendship, which he had forfeited by his
+former confederacy with that nobleman. He was still regarded at court as
+a man of a dangerous and a fickle character; and the imprudent openness
+and violence of his temper, though they rendered him much less dangerous,
+tended extremely to multiply his enemies and to incense them against him.
+Among others, he had had the misfortune to give displeasure to the Queen
+herself, as well as to his brother, the Duke of Gloucester, a prince
+of the deepest policy, of the most unrelenting ambition, and the least
+scrupulous in the means which he employed for the attainment of his ends.
+A combination between these potent adversaries being secretly formed
+against Clarence, it was determined to begin by attacking his friends. He
+was alarmed when he found acts of tyranny exercised on all around him;
+but, instead of securing his own life against the present danger by
+silence and reserve, he was open and loud in justifying the innocence of
+his friends and in exclaiming against the iniquity of their prosecutors.
+The King, highly offended with his freedom, or using that pretence
+against him, committed him to the Tower, 1478, summoned a parliament, and
+tried him for his life. Clarence was pronounced guilty by the peers. The
+House of Commons was no less slavish and unjust; they both petitioned
+for the execution of the Duke and afterward passed a bill of attainder
+against him.
+
+The only favor which the King granted him after his condemnation was to
+leave him the choice of his death; and he was privately drowned in a butt
+of malmsey in the Tower--a whimsical choice, which implies that he had an
+extraordinary passion for that liquor.
+
+The Duke left two children by the elder daughter of the Earl of Warwick:
+a son, created an earl by his grandfather's title, and a daughter,
+afterward Countess of Salisbury. Both this Prince and Princess were also
+unfortunate in their end, and died violent deaths--a fate which, for many
+years, attended almost all the descendants of the royal blood of England.
+There prevails a report that a chief source of the violent prosecution of
+the Duke of Clarence, whose name was George, was a current prophecy that
+the King's son should be murdered by one the initial letter of whose name
+was G. It is not impossible but, in those ignorant times, such a silly
+reason might have some influence; but it is more probable that the whole
+story is the invention of a subsequent period, and founded on the murder
+of these children by the Duke of Gloucester.
+
+All the glories of Edward's reign terminated with the civil wars, where
+his laurels, too, were extremely sullied with blood, violence, and
+cruelty. His spirit seems afterward to have been sunk in indolence and
+pleasure, or his measures were frustrated by imprudence and the want
+of foresight. While he was making preparations for a French war he was
+seized with a distemper, of which he expired, 1483, in the forty-second
+year of his age and the twenty-third of his reign.
+
+During the latter years of Edward IV the nation, having in a great
+measure forgotten the bloody feuds between the two roses, and peaceably
+acquiescing in the established government, was agitated only by some
+court intrigues, which, being restrained by the authority of the King,
+seemed nowise to endanger the public tranquillity. But Edward knew that,
+though he himself had been able to overawe rival factions, many disorders
+might arise from their contests during the minority of his son; and he
+therefore took care, in his last illness, to summon together several of
+the leaders on both sides, and, by composing their ancient quarrels, to
+provide as far as possible for the future tranquillity of the government.
+After expressing his intentions that his brother, the Duke of Gloucester,
+then absent in the North, should be intrusted with the regency, he
+recommended to them peace and unanimity during the tender years of his
+son, and engaged them to embrace each other with all the appearance of
+the most cordial reconciliation. But this temporary or feigned agreement
+lasted no longer than the King's life; he had no sooner expired than the
+jealousies of the parties broke out afresh; and each of them applied, by
+separate messages, to the Duke of Gloucester, and endeavored to acquire
+his favor and friendship.
+
+This Prince, during his brother's reign, had endeavored to live on good
+terms with both parties, and his high birth, his extensive abilities, and
+his great services had enabled him to support himself without falling
+into a dependence on either. But the new situation of affairs, when the
+supreme power was devolved upon him, immediately changed his measures,
+and he secretly determined to preserve no longer that neutrality which
+he had hitherto maintained. His exorbitant ambition, unrestrained by any
+principle either of justice or humanity, made him carry his views to the
+possession of the crown itself, and, as this object could not be
+attained without the ruin of the Queen and her family, he fell, without
+hesitation, into concert with the opposite party. But, being sensible
+that the most profound dissimulation was requisite for effecting his
+criminal purposes, he redoubled his professions of zeal and attachment
+to that Princess; and he gained such credit with her as to influence
+her conduct in a point which, as it was of the utmost importance, was
+violently disputed between the opposite factions.
+
+The young King, at the time of his father's death, resided in the castle
+of Ludlow, on the borders of Wales, whither he had been sent, that
+the influence of his presence might overawe the Welsh and restore the
+tranquillity of that country, which had been disturbed by some late
+commotions.
+
+The Duke of Gloucester, being the nearest male of the royal family
+capable of exercising the government, seemed entitled, by the customs of
+the realm, to the office of protector; and the council, not waiting for
+the consent of parliament, made no scruple of investing him with that
+high dignity. The general prejudice entertained by the nobility against
+the Queen and her kindred occasioned this precipitation and irregularity;
+and no one foresaw any danger to the succession, much less to the lives
+of the young princes, from a measure so obvious and so natural. Besides
+that the Duke had hitherto been able to cover, by the most profound
+dissimulation, his fierce and savage nature, the numerous issue of
+Edward, together with the two children of Clarence, seemed to be an
+eternal obstacle to his ambition; and it appeared equally impracticable
+for him to destroy so many persons possessed of a preferable title and
+imprudent to exclude them.
+
+But a man who had abandoned all principles of honor and humanity was
+soon carried by his predominant passion beyond the reach of fear or
+precaution; and Gloucester, having so far succeeded in his views, no
+longer hesitated in removing the other obstructions which lay between
+him and the throne. The death of the Earl of Rivers[2], and of other
+prisoners detained in Pomfret, was first determined; and he easily
+obtained the consent of the Duke of Buckingham, as well as of Lord
+Hastings, to this violent and sanguinary measure. Orders were accordingly
+issued to Sir Richard Ratcliffe, a proper instrument in the hands of
+this tyrant, to cut off the heads of the prisoners. The Protector then
+assailed the fidelity of Buckingham by all the arguments capable of
+swaying a vicious mind, and he easily obtained from him a promise of
+supporting him in all his enterprises.
+
+The Duke of Gloucester, knowing the importance of gaining Lord Hastings,
+sounded at a distance his sentiments, but found him impregnable in his
+allegiance and fidelity to the children of Edward, who had ever honored
+him with his friendship. He saw, therefore, that there were no longer any
+measures to be kept with him; and he determined to ruin utterly the man
+whom he despaired of engaging to concur in his usurpation. On the very
+day when Rivers, Gray, and Vaughan were executed, or rather murdered, at
+Pomfret, by the advice of Hastings, the Protector summoned a council
+in the Tower, whither that nobleman, suspecting no design against him,
+repaired without hesitation. The Duke of Gloucester was capable of
+committing the most bloody and treacherous murders with the utmost
+coolness and indifference. On taking his place at the council table he
+appeared in the easiest and most jovial humor imaginable. He seemed to
+indulge himself in familiar conversation with the councillors before they
+should enter on business, and having paid some compliments to Morton,
+Bishop of Ely, on the good and early strawberries which he raised in his
+garden at Holborn, he begged the favor of having a dish of them, which
+that prelate immediately despatched a servant to bring to him. The
+Protector left the council, as if called away by some other business,
+but, soon after returning with an angry and inflamed countenance, he
+asked them what punishment those deserved that had plotted against _his_
+life, who was so nearly related to the King, and was intrusted with the
+administration of government. Hastings replied that they merited the
+punishment of traitors. "These traitors," cried the Protector, "are the
+sorceress, my brother's wife, and Jane Shore, his mistress, with others
+their associates; see to what a condition they have reduced me by their
+incantations and witchcraft!" Upon which he laid bare his arm, all
+shrivelled and decayed; but the councillors, who knew that this infirmity
+had attended him from his birth, looked on each other with amazement;
+and, above all, Lord Hastings, who, as he had since Edward's death
+engaged in an intrigue with Jane Shore, was naturally anxious concerning
+the issue of these extraordinary proceedings.
+
+"Certainly, my lord," said he, "if they be guilty of these crimes, they
+deserve the severest punishment." "And do you reply to me," exclaimed the
+Protector, "with your _ifs_ and your _ands_? You are the chief abettor of
+that witch, Shore; you are yourself a traitor; and I swear by St. Paul
+that I will not dine before your head be brought me." He struck the table
+with his hand; armed men rushed in at the signal; the councillors were
+thrown into the utmost consternation; and one of the guards, as if by
+accident or mistake, aimed a blow with a pole-axe at Lord Stanley, who,
+aware of the danger, slunk under the table; and though he saved his life,
+he received a severe wound in the Protector's presence. Hastings was
+seized, and instantly beheaded on a timber-log which lay in the court of
+the Tower.
+
+Lord Stanley, the Archbishop of York, the Bishop of Ely, and other
+councillors were committed prisoners in different chambers of the Tower.
+These acts of violence, exercised against the nearest connections of the
+late King, prognosticated the severest fate to his defenceless children;
+and after the murder of Hastings, the Protector no longer made a secret
+of his intentions to usurp the crown. The licentious life of Edward
+afforded a pretence for declaring his marriage with the Queen invalid and
+all his posterity illegitimate. It was also maintained that the act of
+attainder passed against the Duke of Clarence had virtually incapacitated
+his children from succeeding to the crown; and, these two families being
+set aside, the Protector remained the only true and legitimate heir of
+the house of York. The Protector resolved to make use of another plea,
+still more shameful and scandalous. His partisans were taught to maintain
+that both Edward IV and the Duke of Clarence were illegitimate, and that
+the Duke of Gloucester alone appeared to be the true offspring of the
+Duke of York.
+
+In a few days the Duke of Buckingham went to Baynard's castle, where
+the Protector then resided, to make him a tender of the crown. Richard
+refused to appear, and pretended to be apprehensive for his personal
+safety; a circumstance taken notice of by Buckingham, who observed "that
+the Prince was ignorant of the whole design." At last he was persuaded to
+step forth, but he still kept at some distance; and he asked the meaning
+of the intrusion and importunity. Buckingham told him that the nation
+was resolved to have him for King. The Protector declared his purpose of
+maintaining his loyalty to the present sovereign. He was told that the
+people had determined to have another prince; and if he rejected their
+unanimous voice, they must look out for one who would be more compliant.
+This argument was too powerful to be resisted; he was prevailed on to
+accept of the crown; and he thenceforth acted as legitimate and rightful
+sovereign.
+
+This ridiculous farce was soon after followed by a scene truly
+tragical--the murder of the two young princes. Richard gave orders to Sir
+Robert Brakenbury, constable of the Tower, to put his nephews to death,
+but this gentleman, who had sentiments of honor, refused to have any hand
+in the infamous office. The tyrant then sent for Sir James Tyrrel, who
+promised obedience; and he ordered Brakenbury to resign to this gentleman
+the keys and government of the Tower for one night. Tyrrel, choosing
+three associates, Slater, Dighton, and Forest, came in the night-time to
+the door of the chamber where the princes were lodged, and, sending in
+the assassins, he bade them execute their commission, while he himself
+stayed without. They found the young princes in bed and fallen into a
+profound sleep. After suffocating them with the bolster and pillows, they
+showed their naked bodies to Tyrrel, who ordered them to be buried at the
+foot of the stairs, deep in the ground, under a heap of stones, 1483.
+
+These circumstances were all confessed by the actors in the following
+reign; they were never punished for the crime, probably because Henry,
+whose maxims of government were extremely arbitrary, desired to establish
+it as a principle that the commands of the reigning sovereign ought to
+justify every enormity in those who paid obedience to them. But there is
+one circumstance not so easy to be accounted for: it is pretended that
+Richard, displeased with the indecent manner of burying his nephews, whom
+he had murdered, gave his chaplain orders to dig up the bodies, and to
+inter them in consecrated ground; and as the man died soon after, the
+place of their burial remained unknown, and the bodies could never be
+found by any search which Henry could make for them. Yet in the reign of
+Charles II, when there was occasion to remove some stones and to dig in
+the very spot which was mentioned as the place of their first interment,
+the bones of two persons were there found, which by their size exactly
+corresponded to the age of Edward and his brother. They were concluded
+with certainty to be the remains of those princes, and were interred
+under a marble monument by orders of King Charles.
+
+The first acts of Richard's administration were to bestow rewards on
+those who had assisted him in usurping the crown, and to gain by favors
+those who, he thought, were best able to support his future government.
+
+But the person who, both from the greatness of his services and the power
+and splendor of his family, was best entitled to favors under the new
+government, was the Duke of Buckingham, and Richard seemed determined to
+spare no pains or bounty in securing him to his interests. But it was
+impossible that friendship could long remain inviolate between two men of
+such corrupt minds as Richard and the Duke of Buckingham. The Duke,
+soon after Richard's accession, began to form a conspiracy against the
+government, and attempted to overthrow that usurpation which he himself
+had so zealously contributed to establish. Never was there in any country
+a usurpation more flagrant than that of Richard, or more repugnant to
+every principle of justice and public interest. To endure such a bloody
+usurper seemed to draw disgrace upon the nation, and to be attended with
+immediate danger to every individual who was distinguished by birth,
+merit, or services. Such was become the general voice of the people; all
+parties were united in the same sentiments; and the Lancastrians, so long
+oppressed, and of late so much discredited, felt their blasted hopes
+again revive, and anxiously expected the consequences of these
+extraordinary events.
+
+The Duke of Buckingham, whose family had been devoted to that interest,
+and who, by his mother, a daughter of Edmund, Duke of Somerset, was
+allied to the house of Lancaster, was easily induced to espouse the
+cause of this party, and to endeavor the restoring of it to its ancient
+superiority. Morton, Bishop of Ely, a zealous Lancastrian, whom the King
+had imprisoned, and had afterward committed to the custody of Buckingham,
+encouraged these sentiments; and by his exhortations the Duke cast his
+eye toward the young Earl of Richmond as the only person who could free
+the nation from the tyranny of the present usurper.
+
+Henry, Earl of Richmond, was at this time detained in a kind of honorable
+custody by the Duke of Brittany, and his descent, which seemed to give
+him some pretensions to the crown, had been a great object of jealousy
+both in the late and in the present reign. Symptoms of continued jealousy
+in the reigning family of England seemed to give some authority to
+Henry's pretensions, and made him the object of general favor and
+compassion, on account of dangers and persecutions to which he was
+exposed. The universal detestation of Richard's conduct turned still more
+the attention of the nation toward Henry; and as all the descendants of
+the house of York were either women or minors, he seemed to be the only
+person from whom the nation could expect the expulsion of the odious and
+bloody tyrant. But notwithstanding these circumstances, which were so
+favorable to him, Buckingham and the Bishop of Ely well knew that there
+would still lie many obstacles in his way to the throne. It was therefore
+suggested by Morton, and readily assented to by the Duke, that the only
+means of overturning the present usurpation was to unite the opposite
+factions by contracting a marriage between the Earl of Richmond and the
+princess Elizabeth, eldest daughter of King Edward, and thereby blending
+together the opposite pretensions of their families.
+
+The plan being laid upon the solid foundations of good sense and sound
+policy, it was secretly communicated to the principal persons of both
+parties in all the counties of England, and a wonderful alacrity appeared
+in every order of men to forward its success and completion. But it was
+impossible that so extensive a conspiracy could be conducted in so secret
+a manner as entirely to escape the jealous and vigilant eye of Richard;
+and he soon received intelligence that his enemies, headed by the Duke
+of Buckingham, were forming some design against his authority. He
+immediately put himself in a posture of defence by levying troops in the
+North; and he summoned the Duke to appear at court, in such terms as
+seemed to promise him a renewal of their former amity. But that nobleman,
+well acquainted with the barbarity and treachery of Richard, replied only
+by taking arms in Wales, and giving the signal to his accomplices for a
+general insurrection in all parts of England.
+
+But at that very time there happened to fall such heavy rains, so
+incessant and continued, as exceeded any known in the memory of man; and
+the Severn, with the other rivers in that neighborhood, swelled to a
+height which rendered them impassable and prevented Buckingham from
+marching into the heart of England to join his associates. The Welshmen,
+partly moved by superstition at this extraordinary event, partly
+distressed by famine in their camp, fell off from him; and Buckingham,
+finding himself deserted by his followers, put on a disguise and took
+shelter in the house of Banister, an old servant of his family. But being
+detected in his retreat, he was brought to the King at Salisbury, and was
+instantly executed, according to the summary method practised in that
+age. The other conspirators, who took arms in four different places, at
+Exeter, at Salisbury, at Newbury, and at Maidstone, hearing of the
+Duke of Buckingham's misfortunes, despaired of success and immediately
+dispersed themselves.
+
+The King, everywhere triumphant and fortified by this unsuccessful
+attempt to dethrone him, ventured at last to summon a parliament--a
+measure which his crimes and flagrant usurpation had induced him hitherto
+to decline. His enemies being now at his feet, the parliament had no
+choice left but to recognize his authority and acknowledge his right to
+the crown. His only son, Edward, then a youth of twelve years of age, was
+created prince of Wales.
+
+Sensible that the only circumstance which could give him security was
+to gain the confidence of the Yorkists, Richard paid court to the Queen
+Dowager with such art and address, made such earnest protestations of
+his sincere good-will and friendship, that this Princess ventured to put
+herself and her daughters into the hands of the tyrant. He now thought it
+in his power to remove the chief perils which threatened his government.
+The Earl of Richmond, he knew, could never be formidable but from his
+projected marriage with the princess Elizabeth, the true heir of the
+crown; and he therefore intended to espouse, himself, this Princess, and
+thus to unite in his own family their contending titles. He flattered
+himself that the English nation, seeing all danger removed of a disputed
+succession, would then acquiesce under the dominion of a prince who
+was of mature years, of great abilities, and of a genius qualified for
+government, and that they would forgive him all the crimes which he had
+committed in paving his way to the throne.
+
+But the crimes of Richard were so horrid, and so shocking to humanity,
+that every person of probity and honor was earnest to prevent the sceptre
+from being any longer polluted by that bloody and faithless hand which
+held it. All the exiles flocked to the Earl of Richmond in Brittany, and
+exhorted him to hasten his attempt for a new invasion, and to prevent the
+marriage of the princess Elizabeth, which must prove fatal to all his
+hopes.
+
+The Earl set sail from Harfleur, in Normandy, with a small army of about
+two thousand men; and after a navigation of six days he arrived at
+Milford Haven, in Wales, where he landed without opposition. He directed
+his course to that part of the kingdom, in hopes that the Welsh, who
+regarded him as their countryman, and who had been already prepossessed
+in favor of his cause by means of the Duke of Buckingham, would join his
+standard, and enable him to make head against the established government.
+Richard, who knew not in what quarter he might expect the invader, had
+taken post at Nottingham, in the centre of the kingdom; and having
+given commissions to different persons in the several counties, whom he
+empowered to oppose his enemy, he purposed in person to fly, on the first
+alarm, to the place exposed to danger.
+
+Henry, advancing toward Shrewsbury, received every day some reënforcement
+from his partisans. The two rivals at last approached each other at
+Bosworth, near Leicester, Henry at the head of six thousand men, Richard
+with an army of above double the number; and a decisive action was every
+hour expected between them. Stanley, who commanded above seven thousand
+men, took care to post himself at Atherstone, not far from the hostile
+camps; and he made such a disposition as enabled him on occasion to join
+either party.
+
+The van of Richmond's army, consisting of archers, was commanded by the
+Earl of Oxford; Sir Gilbert Talbot led the right wing; Sir John Savage
+the left; the Earl himself, accompanied by his uncle the Earl of
+Pembroke, placed himself in the main body. Richard also took post in
+_his_ main body, and intrusted the command of his van to the Duke of
+Norfolk; as his wings were never engaged, we have not learned the names
+of the several commanders. Soon after the battle began, Lord Stanley,
+whose conduct in this whole affair discovers great precaution and
+abilities, appeared in the field, and declared for the Earl of Richmond.
+This measure, which was unexpected to the men, though not to their
+leaders, had a proportional effect on both armies: it inspired unusual
+courage into Henry's soldiers; it threw Richard's into dismay and
+confusion. The intrepid tyrant, sensible of his desperate situation, cast
+his eye around the field, and, descrying his rival at no great distance,
+he drove against him with fury, in hopes that either Henry's death or his
+own would decide the victory between them. He killed with his own hand
+Sir William Brandon, standard-bearer to the Earl; he dismounted Sir John
+Cheyney. He was now within reach of Richmond himself, who declined not
+the combat, when Sir William Stanley,[3] breaking in with his troops,
+surrounded Richard, who, fighting bravely to the last moment, was
+overwhelmed by numbers, and perished by a fate too mild and honorable
+for his multiplied and detestable enormities. His men everywhere sought
+safety by flight.
+
+There fell in this battle about four thousand of the vanquished. The loss
+was inconsiderable on the side of the victors. Sir William Catesby, a
+great instrument of Richard's crimes, was taken, and soon after beheaded,
+with some others, at Leicester. The body of Richard was found in the
+field, covered with dead enemies, and all besmeared with blood. It was
+thrown carelessly across a horse, was carried to Leicester amid the
+shouts of the insulting spectators, and was interred in the Gray Friars'
+Church of that place.
+
+The historians who favor Richard--for even this tyrant has met with
+partisans among the later writers--maintain that he was well qualified
+for government had he legally obtained it, and that he committed no
+crimes but such as were necessary to procure him possession of the crown;
+but this is a poor apology when it is confessed that he was ready to
+commit the most horrid crimes which appeared necessary for that purpose;
+and it is certain that all his courage and capacity--qualities in which
+he really seems not to have been deficient--would never have made
+compensation to the people for the danger of the precedent and for the
+contagious example of vice and murder exalted upon the throne. This
+Prince was of a small stature, hump-backed, and had a harsh, disagreeable
+countenance; so that his body was in every particular no less deformed
+than his mind.
+
+[Footnote 1: Wife of Henry VI.]
+
+[Footnote 2: The Queen's brother.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Brother of Lord Stanley, _above_.]
+
+
+
+IVAN THE GREAT UNITES RUSSIA AND BREAKS THE TARTAR YOKE
+
+A.D. 1462-1505
+
+Robert Bell
+
+
+At the birth of Ivan III (1440) Russia was all but stifled between the
+great Lithuanian empire of the Poles and the vast possessions of the
+Mongols. In vain had a succession of Muscovite princes endeavored to give
+unity to the little Russian state. Between the grand princes of Moscow
+and those of Lithuania stood Novgorod and Pskof, the two chief Russian
+republics, hesitating to declare their allegiance.
+
+By the creation of new appanages the Russian princes continually
+destroyed the very unity for which they labored. Moreover, at a time when
+the great nations of the West were organizing, Muscovy or Russia had
+no settled relations with their civilization. The opening of the
+Renaissance, the progress of discovery, the invention of printing--by
+these the best spirits in Russia were stirred to fresh aspirations for
+national organization and participation in the great European movement.
+
+According to the tradition, her deliverer had been foretold and was
+expected. His triumphs were predicted at his birth. The man through whom,
+or at least in whose name, Russia was to be restored to herself, to be
+freed from the Mongol yoke, and brought into living connection with
+Western Europe, was Ivan, son and heir of Vasili the Blind, Grand Prince
+of Moscow.
+
+This child became Ivan III, surnamed the "Great," because during his
+reign, 1462-1505, the expectations of his country were largely realized.
+He was the first who could call himself "Ruler of all the Russias," and
+he is regarded as the original founder of the Russian empire. Already,
+at his accession, the Muscovite principalities were beginning to draw
+together, and circumstances were favorable to the prosecution of the task
+upon which he was called to enter--the completing of their union and the
+securing of their national independence.
+
+Ivan was a man of great cunning and prudence, and was remarkable
+for indomitable perseverance, which carried him triumphantly to the
+conclusions of his designs in a spirit of utter indifference to the
+ruin or bad faith that tracked his progress. Such a man alone, who was
+prepared to sacrifice the scruples of honor and the demands of justice,
+was fit to meet the difficulties by which the grand princedom of Moscow
+was surrounded. He saw them all clearly, resolved upon the course he
+should take; and throughout a long reign, in which the paramount ambition
+of rendering Russia independent and the throne supreme was the leading
+feature of his policy, he pursued his plans with undeviating consistency.
+
+But that policy was not to be accomplished by open and responsible
+acts. The whole character of Ivan was tinged with the duplicity of the
+churchmen who held a high place in his councils. His proceedings were
+neither direct nor at first apparently conducive to the interests of
+the empire, but the great cause was secretly advancing against all
+impediments. While he forbore to risk his advantages, he left an
+opportunity for disunion among his enemies, by which he was certain to
+gain in the end. He never committed himself to a position of the security
+of which he was not sure; and he carried this spirit of caution to
+such an extremity that many of the early years of his reign present a
+succession of timid and vacillating movements, that more nearly resemble
+the subterfuges of a coward than the crafty artifices of a despot.
+
+The objects, of which he never lost sight, were to free himself from
+enemies abroad and to convert the princedom at home into an autocracy. So
+extensive a design could not have been effected by mere force of arms,
+for he had so many domestic and foreign foes to meet at once, and so many
+points of attack and defence to cover, that it was impossible to conduct
+so grand a project by military means alone. That which he could not
+effect, therefore, by the sword, he endeavored to perform by diplomatic
+intrigue; and thus, between the occasional victories of his armies and
+the still more powerful influence of his subtle policy, he reduced
+his foes and raised himself to an eminence to which none of his most
+ambitious predecessors had aspired. The powers against whom he had
+to wage this double war of arms and diplomacy were the Tartars and
+Lithuanians, beyond the frontier; and the independent republics of
+Novgorod, Vyatka, and Pskof, and the princes of the yet unsettled
+appanages within. The means he had at his command were fully sufficient
+to have enabled him to subdue those princes of the blood who exhibited
+faint signs of discontent in their appanages, and who could have been
+easily reached through the widely diffused agency of the boyars; but the
+obstinate republics of the North were more difficult of access. They
+stood boldly upon their independence, and every attempt to reduce them
+was followed by as fierce a resistance, and by such a lavish outlay of
+the wealth which their commercial advantages had enabled them to amass
+that the task was one of extraordinary difficulty. Kazan, the first
+and greatest of the Tartar cities, too, claimed a sovereignty over the
+republics, which Ivan was afraid to contest, lest that which was but a
+vague and empty claim might end in confirmed authority. It was better to
+permit the insolent republicans to maintain their entire freedom than
+to hazard, by indiscretion, their transferrence to the hands of those
+Tartars who were loosened from the parent stock.
+
+His first act, therefore, was to acknowledge, directly or indirectly,
+according to the nature of their different tenures, the rights of all his
+foes within and without. He appeared to admit the justice of things as
+he found them; betrayed his foreign enemies into a confidential reliance
+upon his acquiescence in their exactions; and even yielded, without a
+murmur, to an abuse of those pretensions to which he affected to submit,
+but which he was secretly resolved to annihilate. This plausible
+conformity procured him time to prepare and mature his designs; and so
+insidiously did he pursue his purpose that he extended that time by
+a servility which nearly forfeited the attachment of the people. The
+immediate object of consideration was obviously the Golden Horde, because
+all the princes and republics, and even the Poles and Lithuanians, were
+interested in any movement that was calculated to embarrass the common
+enemy. Ivan's policy was to unite as many of his enemies as he could
+against a single one, and, finally, to subdue them all by the aid of each
+other. Had he ventured upon any less certain course, he must have risked
+a similar combination against himself. He began by withholding the
+ordinary tribute from the Khan, but without exhibiting any symptoms of
+inallegiance. He merely evaded the tax, while he acknowledged the right;
+and his dissimulation succeeded in blinding the Tartar, who still
+believed that he held the Grand Prince as a tributary, although he
+did not receive his tribute. The Khan, completely deceived, not only
+permitted this recusancy to escape with impunity, but was further
+prevailed upon to withdraw the Tartar residents and their retinues, and
+the Tartar merchants who dwelt in Moscow and who infested, with the
+haughty bearing of masters, even the avenues of the Kremlin.
+
+This latter concession was purchased by bribery, for Ivan condescended to
+buy the interference of a Tartar princess. So slavish and degrading
+was his outward seeming that his wife, a noble and spirited lady, the
+daughter of the Emperor of Byzantium, could with difficulty prevail upon
+him to forego the humiliating usages which had hitherto attended the
+reception of the Mongol envoys. It had been customary on the part of the
+grand princes to go forward to meet the Tartar minister, to spread a
+carpet of fur under his horse's feet, to hear the Khan's letter read upon
+their knees, to present to the envoy a cup of koumiss, and to lick from
+the mane of the horse the drops which had fallen from the lips of the
+negotiator: and these disagreeable customs Ivan would have complied with
+but for the successful remonstrances of the Princess.
+
+Kazan presented the most alluring point of actual attack. The horde that
+had established that city subsisted by predatory excursions, and even the
+other bands of the barbarians were not unwilling to witness the descent
+of the Russians upon one of their own tribes that had acquired so much
+power. The project was favored by so many circumstances that, although
+his policy was evidently at this period to preserve peace as long as he
+could, he was tempted to make a general levy, and to assemble the whole
+flower of the population for the purpose of driving out of his dominions
+the bold invaders who had intrenched themselves within the walls of a
+fortified town. This was about 1468. At that very time the army of the
+Golden Horde, inspired by some sudden impulse, was advancing into Russia.
+It appears, however, that the multitudes assembled by Ivan were so
+numerous that the Khan's troops retired upon the mere rumor of their
+approach; so that the display of his resources had all the effect he
+desired, and he won a signal victory without striking a blow. The old
+Russian annalist dwells, with some pomp of words, upon this bloodless
+triumph, and, in the true vein of hyperbole, says that the Russian army
+shone like the waves of the sea illuminated by the sunbeams. We take the
+expression for all it is worth, when we estimate the force as having been
+more numerous than that of the Tartars.
+
+It does not appear that Ivan was yet prepared, even with this great
+armament, to risk his future objects by any hostile collision, so long
+as such an extremity could be averted by intrigue; for in the following
+year, when the anticipated march against Kazan was at last commenced,
+he suddenly paused in the midst of his course, although the result was
+almost certain. Were it of much consequence, it would not be easy to
+decide the cause of this strange and abrupt proceeding; but it was
+evident that the soldiery were resolved not to return home without
+spoils. They rushed onward to the city; and even the general, who was
+instructed by Ivan to countermand the attack, in vain attempted to
+restrain them. With a leader of their own choosing, they fell upon Kazan,
+and utterly routed the inhabitants. The Grand Prince, perceiving that
+the enemy was powerless, now no longer hesitated; but, engaging all the
+princes in his service, and throwing his own guards into the ranks, he
+despatched his colossal forces to reduce the already dismembered hold of
+the Tartars of Kazan. The event was a complete victory, but Ivan remained
+safe at Moscow, to watch the issue of an undertaking which he could not
+reasonably have feared.
+
+The subjugation of Kazan left the field clear for his designs upon the
+three domestic republics. Vyatka, insolent in its own strength, declared
+itself neutral between Moscow and Kazan; and on the fall of the latter
+city, Novgorod, apprehensive that Ivan would turn his arms immediately
+against her, called upon the people of Pskof for aid, expressing her
+determination to march at once against the Grand Prince, in order to
+anticipate and avert his intentions. The Novgorodians were the more
+determined upon this bold measure by the personal pusillanimity which
+Ivan betrayed in a war where the advantages lay entirely at his own side.
+They calculated upon the terror they should inspire; and judged that if
+they could not succeed in vanquishing the Grand Prince, they should, at
+all events, be enabled to secure their own terms. Marpha, a rich and
+influential woman, the widow of a _posadnik_, and who was enamoured of a
+Lithuanian chief, conceiving the romantic design of bestowing her country
+as a marriage dower upon her lover, exerted all her power to kindle the
+enthusiasm and assist the project of the citizens. Her hospitality was
+unbounded. She threw open her palace to the people; lavished her wealth
+among them in sumptuous entertainments and exhibitions, and caused the
+_vetchooi kolokol_ ("assembling-bell"), which summoned the popular
+meetings to the market-place, to be rung as the signal of these orgies of
+licentiousness. The great bell in Novgorod was the type of the republican
+independence of the citizens, and represented the excesses into which
+they were not unwilling to plunge whenever it was necessary to testify
+their sense of that wild liberty which they had established among
+themselves. It was tolled on all occasions of a public nature, and the
+people gathered in multitudes at the well-known call. If any individual
+were accused of a crime against the republic or of any offence against
+the laws, the judges appeared at the sound of the bell to hold a summary
+court of justice, and the citizens surrounded the trial-seat, prepared to
+execute the sentence. Every citizen, with his sons, attended, carrying
+each two stones under his arms; and, if the accused were found guilty,
+lapidation instantly followed. The house of the culprit was also
+immediately plundered, cast down, confiscated, and sold for the benefit
+of the corporation. Except in China, where a law still more sanguinary
+and destructive prevails in cases of murder, there is hardly a similar
+instance of deliberate legal severity to be found among nations elevated
+above barbarism.
+
+Inspired by the revelries of the ambitious Marpha, and the patriotic
+associations she awakened, the Novgorodians expelled the officer of the
+Grand Prince; possessed themselves of some land that belonged to him in
+right of his fief; and, to confirm their revolt against his authority,
+submitted themselves, by treaty, to Casimir, Prince of Lithuania. In this
+position of affairs, Ivan wisely resolved to leave Vyatka to its own
+course, confining his attention solely to Novgorod, and seeking to win
+over Pskof and its twelve tributary cities, so that he might combine them
+against the turbulent republic. The fall of Novgorod accomplished, the
+conquest of the other obstinate cities was easily effected.
+
+The polite, cool, and persevering means he brought into operation against
+the refractory republic were admirably seconded by the machinery of
+communication which had been previously established in the persons of
+the boyars, whose local influence was of the first consequence on this
+occasion. As the tide of these numerous negotiations changed, Ivan
+assumed the humility or the pride, the generosity or the severity,
+adapted to the immediate purpose; and, working upon the characters of the
+individuals as well as their interests, he succeeded in gaining a great
+moral lever before he unsheathed a sword. He made allies of all the
+classes and princes that lay in his way to the heart of the independent
+corporation. He represented to the nobles the anomalous nature and
+usurpation of the democratic institutions of Novgorod, and he roused
+their pride into resentment. He gained over the few princes who still
+held trembling appanages by painting to them in strong colors the
+enormous opulence and commercial monopolies of the republic; and he
+filled the whole population with revenge against the fated city, by
+exaggerated accounts of its treasonable designs against the internal
+security of the empire. Thus, by artful insinuations of the personal
+advantages and general benefits that were to spring from the overthrow
+of Novgorod, he succeeded in neutralizing all the opposition he had any
+reason to apprehend, and in exciting increased enthusiasm on the part of
+the people.
+
+Having made these subtle preparations to facilitate his proceedings, he
+sent an ambassador to the citizens calling upon them to acknowledge his
+authority; and only awaited their decisive refusal, which he anticipated,
+as an excuse for immediate hostilities. The Novgorodians returned an
+answer couched in terms of scorn and defiance. His reply was carried by
+three formidable armies, which, breaking in on the Novgorodian territory
+on three different sides, prostrated the hopes of the citizens by
+overwhelming masses, against which their gallant resistance was of no
+avail. In this brief and desperate struggle, Ivan possessed extraordinary
+superiority by the recent acquisition of firearms and cannon, the use of
+which he had learned from Aristotle of Bologna, an Italian, whom he had
+taken into his service as an architect, mintmaster, and founder. The
+triumph of the arms of the Grand Prince was rapidly followed by the
+incursions of swarms of the peasantry, who, secretly urged forward
+by Ivan, rushed upon the routed enemy, and completed the work of
+devastation. This licentious exhibition of popular feeling Ivan affected
+to repress, and, availing himself of the opportunity it afforded to
+assume toward the Novgorodians a moderation he did not feel, he pretended
+to protect them against any greater violence than was merely necessary
+to establish his right to the recovery of the domains of which they had
+despoiled him, and the payment of the ransom that was customary under
+such circumstances. Here his deep and crafty genius had room for
+appropriate display. He did not consider it prudent to seize upon the
+republic at once, as, in that event, he was bound to partition it among
+his kinsmen, by whose aid, extended upon special promises, he had
+overthrown it; so he contented himself with a rich ransom, having already
+beggared it by suffering lawless followers to plunder it uninterruptedly
+before he interfered, and by demanding an act of submission. But in this
+act he contrived to insert some words of ambiguous tendency, under the
+shelter of which he might, when his own time arrived, leap upon his prey
+with impunity.
+
+The confusion into which the Novgorodians were thrown and the great
+reduction of strength which they suffered in the contest enabled Ivan
+to deprive them of some of their tributaries, under the pretence of
+rendering them a service, so that their exhaustion was seized upon as a
+fresh source of injustice. The Permians having offered some indignity
+to the republic, Ivan interfered, and transferred the commerce of that
+people with Germany to Moscow; and, on another occasion, when the Livoman
+knights attempted an aggression, Ivan sent his ambassadors and troops
+to force a negotiation in his own name; thus actually depriving both
+Novgorod and Pskof, they being mutually concerned, of the right of making
+peace and war in their own behalf. By insidious measures like these he
+continued to oppress and absorb the once independent city that claimed
+and kept so towering an ascendency. But not satisfied with such means of
+accumulating the supreme power, he sowed dissensions between the rich
+classes and the poor, and after fomenting fictitious grievances,
+terminating in open quarrel, he succeeded in having all complaints laid
+before him for decision. Then, going among them, he impoverished the
+wealthy by the lavish presents his visits demanded, and captivated the
+imagination of the multitude by the dazzling splendor of his retinues and
+the flexible quality of his justice. The time was now approaching for
+a more explicit declaration of his views. On pretence of these
+disagreements he loaded some of the principal citizens, the oligarchs of
+the republic, with chains and sent them to Moscow. It was so arranged
+that these nobles were denounced by the mob; and Ivan, in acceding to
+their demand for vengeance, secured the allegiance of the great bulk of
+the population. The stratagem succeeded; and with each new violation of
+justice he gained an accession of popular favor.
+
+The progress of the scheme against the liberties of Novgorod was slow,
+but inevitable. The inhabitants gradually referred all their disputes to
+the Grand Prince; and he, profiting by the growing desire to erect him
+into the sole judge of their domestic grievances, at length summoned the
+citizens to appear before him at Moscow. The demand was as unexpected as
+it was extraordinary.
+
+Never before had the Novgorodians gone out from their own walls to sue or
+receive judgment; but so seductive and treacherous were the professions
+of Ivan that, unsuspicious of his designs, they consented to appear
+before his throne. Throughout the whole of these encroachments on the
+ancient usages in which the rights of the people resided, he appeared to
+be lifted above all personal or tyrannical views. Marpha, the ambitious
+widow, who had stirred up the revolt and sought to attach Novgorod to
+Lithuania, had never been molested; and even the principal persons who
+were most conspicuous in resisting his authority at the outset were
+suffered to remain unharmed. These instances of magnanimity, as they were
+believed to be, lulled the distrust of the citizens, and seduced them by
+degrees to abandon their old customs one by one at his bidding. For seven
+years he continued with unwearied perseverance to wean them from all
+those distinctive habits that marked their original character and
+separated them from the rest of the empire; and at last, when he thought
+that he had succeeded in obliterating their attachment to the republican
+form of government, he advanced his claim to the absolute sovereignty,
+which was now sanctioned by numberless acts of submission, and by
+traitorous voices of assent within the council of the citizens.
+
+At an audience to which he admitted an envoy, that officer, either
+wilfully or by accident, addressed him by the name of sovereign; and
+Ivan, instantly seizing upon the inadvertency, claimed all the privileges
+of an absolute master. He required that the republic should surrender its
+expiring rights into his hands, and take a solemn oath of allegiance;
+that his boyars should be received within its gates, with full authority
+to exercise their almost irresponsible control over the city; that the
+palace of Yaroslaff, the temple of Novgorodian liberty, should be given
+up to his viceroy; that the forum should be abolished; and that the
+popular assemblies, and all the corresponding immunities of the people,
+should be abrogated forever.
+
+The veil was dropped too suddenly. The citizens were not prepared for so
+abrupt and uncompromising an assertion of authority. Hitherto they had
+admitted the innovations of the Grand Prince, but it was of their
+own free will. They did not expect that he would ground any right of
+sovereignty upon their voluntary acquiescence in his character of
+arbitrator and ally; and the news of his despotic claim filled them with
+despair and indignation. The great bell, which had formerly been the
+emblem of their citizenship, now tolled for the last time. They assembled
+in the market-place in tumultuous crowds, and summoning the treacherous
+or imprudent envoy before them, they tried him by a clamorous and summary
+process, and, before the sentence was completed, tore him limb from limb.
+Believing that some of the nobles were accessory to the surrender of
+their freedom, they fell upon those they suspected, and murdered them in
+the streets, thus hastening, and confirming by their intemperance, the
+final alienation of the wealthy classes from their cause; and having by
+these acts of unbridled desperation given the last demonstrations of
+their independence, they once more threw themselves into the arms of
+Lithuania, which were open to receive them.
+
+But Ivan was prepared for this demonstration of passion. His measures
+were too deeply taken to suffer surprise by any course which the
+Novgorodians, in their righteous hatred of oppression, might think fit
+to adopt. When he learned the reception they gave to his mandate, he
+affected the most painful astonishment. He declared that he alone was the
+party aggrieved, that he alone was deceived; that they had laid snares
+for his counsel and countenance; and that even when, yielding to their
+universal requisition, he had consented to take upon him the toils of
+government, they had the audacity to confront him with an imposition in
+the face of Russia, to shed the blood of their fellow-men, and to insult
+heaven and the empire by calling into the sacred limits the soldiers of
+an adverse religion and a foreign power. These ingenious remonstrances
+were addressed to the priests, the nobles, and the people, and had the
+desired effect. The bishops embarked zealously in the crusade, and the
+people entered willingly into the delusion. The dependent republic of
+Pskof and the principality of Twer, paralyzed in the convulsion, appeared
+to waver; but Ivan, resolved to deprive Novgorod of any help they might
+ultimately be tempted to offer, drew out their military strength, under
+the form of a contingency, and left them powerless. Yet, although
+strongly reënforced on all sides, he still avoided a contest. With
+a mingled exhibition of revenge and attachment, he threatened and
+propitiated in the same breath.
+
+"I will reign supreme at Novgorod," he exclaimed; "as I do at Moscow. You
+must surrender all to me; your posadnik, and the bell that calls your
+national council together;" and at the same time he professed his
+determination to respect those very liberties which by these demands were
+to be sacrificed forever. The Novgorodians, terrified by the immense
+force Ivan had collected, which it seemed he only used to menace, and not
+to destroy, attempted to capitulate; but he was insensible to all their
+representations, and, even while he promised them their freedom, he
+refused to grant it. The armament, mighty as it was, which he had
+prepared, was kept aloof to threaten and not to strike. He acted as if he
+feared to risk the issue of a contest with any of his enemies, or as if
+he were unwilling to suffer the loss consequent even upon victory. He
+wanted to overbear by terror rather than by arms, so that the fearful
+agency of his name might do the work of conquest more powerfully and at
+less cost than his armies, which must have been thinned by battles, and
+might have been subdued by fortune. So long as he could preserve his
+terrible ascendency by the force of the fear which he inspired, he was
+secure; but the single defeat, or the doubtful issue of a solitary
+struggle, might reduce the potent charm of his unvanquished power. In
+this way he drew the chain tighter; and in the agonies of the protracted
+and narrowing pressure, Novgorod, unable to resist, died in agonies of
+despair.
+
+The surrender of the liberties of the republic was complete. On taking
+possession of the city, Ivan seized upon the person of the popular
+Marpha, and sent her and seven of the principal citizens as prisoners
+to Moscow, confiscating their properties in the name of the state. The
+national assemblies and municipal privileges ceased January 15, 1478, on
+which day the people took the oath of servitude; and on the 18th, the
+boyars and their immediate followers, and the wealthy and the influential
+classes of the inhabitants, voluntarily came forward and entered into the
+service of the Grand Prince. The revenues of the clergy, which were
+by the act of submission transferred to the treasury of Ivan, were
+immediately devoted by him to the service of three hundred thousand
+followers of boyars, through whose intermediate agency he intended to
+assert and maintain his unlimited and supreme authority over the fallen
+city. But not alone did he possess himself of the private property of
+some of the principal persons who had rendered themselves prominent in
+the recent declaration of independence, but he demanded a surrender of a
+great part of the territories that belonged by charter to the public.
+He also further enriched himself, and impoverished the Novgorodians, by
+seizing upon all the gold and valuables to which he could, with any show
+of propriety, lay claim. He is said to have conveyed to Moscow no less
+than three hundred cart-loads of gold, silver, and precious stones,
+besides furs, cloths, and merchandise to a considerable amount.
+
+The settlement of his power in Novgorod had scarcely been concluded when
+intelligence was received that the Tartars of the Golden Horde were
+preparing for a third invasion. The enormous physical force that was at
+Ivan's disposal, the late accession of strength and increase of domain,
+by which his means were not only improved, but the number and means of
+his opponents were reduced, and the general state of the country, which
+was, in all respects, favorable to the objects of his ambition, deprived
+such a movement of its wonted terrors. Ivan had nothing to fear from the
+approach of the enemy. He was surrounded by the princes of the blood, who
+had warmly embarked in the common cause; he had an immense army at his
+command, panting for new fields of spoil and glory; he had broken up his
+domestic enemies in the North, and dismembered or attached the insurgent
+republics. He had left Lithuania to the rapacious guardianship of the
+Khan of the Crimea, who was sufficiently formidable to neutralize the
+incursions of the duchy upon the frontier; and on every side he found an
+ardent population impatient to expel the invader. Yet, encouraging
+as these circumstances were, and although they seemed to present the
+fortunate opportunity for carrying into execution his cherished plan of
+autocracy, Ivan held back. He alone of all Russia was intimidated. His
+project of empire was so lofty and comprehensive that he appeared to
+shrink from any collision that could even remotely peril its ultimate
+success. He was so dismayed that he forced the Princess to fly from
+Moscow and seek a temporary shelter in the North. Terror-struck and
+unmanned, he deserted the army, and shut himself up in the capital for
+security; and when the armed population, pouring forth from all quarters,
+and animated by one spirit of resistance, had advanced as far as the
+Oka to meet the Tartars, he recalled his son to the capital, as if he
+apprehended the consummation of some evil either in his own person or
+that of his heir. But the voice of the general indignation reached him in
+his retreat, and even his son refused to leave his post in the army. The
+murmurs of a disappointed people rose into clamors which he could not
+affect to misunderstand. They reproached him with having burdened them
+with taxes, without having paid the Khan his tribute; and that, now
+the Tartars had come into Russia to demand restitution, he fled from
+vindication of his own acts, and left the people to extricate themselves
+from a dilemma into which he had brought them.
+
+In this difficulty Ivan had no choice left but to submit to the will of
+the country. He accordingly convoked a meeting of the bishops and boyars
+for the purpose of asking their advice; but their counsel was even still
+more conclusive; and the reluctant Prince was compelled to rejoin the
+army. The fear by which he was moved, however, could not be concealed,
+and it gradually infected the ranks of the soldiery. He had no sooner
+taken his station at the head of the army than he became spellbound. A
+river, the Lugra, divided him from the enemy; he could not summon courage
+to attempt it, but stood gazing in disastrous terror upon the foe, with
+whom he opened negotiations to beg for terms. In the mean time the news
+of his indecision spread, and the people at Moscow grew turbulent. The
+Primate, perceiving the disaffection that was springing up, addressed the
+Prince in the language of despair. He represented to him the state of the
+public mind, and the inglorious procedure of suing for a peace where he
+could insure a victory and dictate his own terms. "Would you," exclaimed
+the Primate, "give up Russia to fire and sword, and the churches to
+plunder? Whither would you fly? Can you soar upward like the eagle? Can
+you make your nest amid the stars? The Lord will cast you down from even
+that asylum. No! you will not desert us. You would blush at the name of
+fugitive and traitor to your country!"
+
+Ivan was surrounded by two hundred thousand soldiers; reënforcements
+were thronging constantly to his side; the enemy was cut off from all
+assistance from his ally of Lithuania; and one word of encouragement
+would have set all these advantages into action. The troops only awaited
+the signal to rush upon the invaders; but Ivan, amid these flattering
+and animated circumstances, was dispirited. Even the voice of the Church
+addressed him in vain. He was utterly paralyzed; and cowardice had so
+completely taken possession of his mind that when the early winter had
+set in and frozen the river, so as to obliterate the obstacle that
+separated him from the troops of the Khan, he was seized with
+consternation, and fled in the wildest disorder from his position. He was
+so alarmed that he could not even preserve any regularity on the retreat,
+and all was confusion and panic.
+
+So disgraceful an abandonment of his duty, which in other times must have
+cost him his throne, if not his life, was not visited with that rigor by
+the Russians which so glaring a defection deserved. The sovereign Prince
+was removed to too great a distance from the people to be judged of with
+precision or promptitude. The motives of his acts were not accessible
+to the multitude, who, accustomed to despotism, had not yet learned to
+question the wisdom of their rulers. The rapid advances that had been
+made toward the concentration of the governing power in the autocratical
+form, limited still more the means of popular observation and the vigor
+of the popular check upon the supreme authority. The Grand Prince stood
+so much aloof from his subjects, surrounded by special advisers and
+court favorites, that even the language of remonstrance, which sometimes
+reached his ears, was so softened in its progress that its harshness
+was that of subservient admonition; and he was as little shaken by
+the smothered discontent of the people as they were roused by an open
+sacrifice of their interests. But not alone was this reverence for the
+autocracy so great as to protect the autocrat from violent reprisals on
+the part of his subjects; but the national veneration for the descendant
+of St. Vladimir and the stock of Rurik was sufficient to absorb all the
+indignation which the weakness or the wickedness of the Prince might have
+aroused.
+
+Ivan, however, independently of those acts of prejudice and ignorance
+which preserved him from the wrath which he had so wantonly provoked,
+was destined to find all the unfavorable circumstances of his position
+changed into the most extraordinary and unexpected advantages. In the
+crisis of his despair the fortunes of the day turned to his favor. While
+he hung behind the Lugra, seeking a base and humiliating compromise at
+the hands of the enemy, his lieutenant of Svenigorod, and his ally the
+Khan of the Crimea, advanced upon the Golden Horde, and pushed their
+victorious arms into the very den of the Tartars, at the time that
+the Tartar forces were drawn off in the invasion of Russia. Speedy
+intelligence of this disaster having reached the enemy, he made a
+precipitate retreat, in the hope of reaching his fastnesses on the
+frontier in time to avert the destruction that threatened him; but
+the Russians had been too rapid in their movements; and the work of
+devastation, begun by them, was completed by a band of marauding Tartars,
+who entered soon after they retired, and, carrying away the women and
+the remnant of the treasures left behind, reduced the city of the Golden
+Horde to ashes before the distant army could accomplish its retrograde
+march. Nor was this all the triumph that Ivan was called upon to share,
+without any participation in the danger. The return of the Tartars was
+arrested midway by a hetman of the Cossacks and the mirza of the
+Nogais, who, falling upon the confused and disorderly ranks, on their
+ill-conducted flight homeward, cut them in pieces, and left scarcely a
+living vestige on the field of the ancient and implacable enemies of the
+country.
+
+The extinction of the Tartars was final. The Golden Horde was
+annihilated, and the scourge of Russia and her princes was no more. In
+a better educated state of society, these events, so sudden and so
+important, must have been attributed to proximate and obvious causes--the
+combinations of operations over which Ivan had no control, and the
+dismay into which the Tartars were surprised, followed up quickly by
+overwhelming masses who possessed the superiority in numbers and in plan.
+Ivan, who could lay no claim to the honors of the enterprise, would not
+have been associated in its results had the people been instructed in
+the respect which was due to themselves. But the Russians, profoundly
+venerating the person of the Grand Prince, and accustomed to consider
+him as the depository of a wisdom refined above the sphere of ordinary
+mortality, did not hesitate to ascribe this transcendent exploit to the
+genius of the reluctant autocrat. They looked back upon his pusillanimity
+with awe, and extracted from his apparent fears the subtle elements of a
+second providence. He was no longer the coward and the waverer. He had
+seen the body of the future, before its extreme shadows had darkened
+other men's vision; and the whole course of his timid bearing, even
+including his flight from the Lugra, was interpreted into a prudent
+and prophetic policy, wonderful in its progress and sublime in its
+consequences. Without risking a life, or spilling a drop of blood, and
+merely by an evasive diversion of his means, he had vanquished the
+Asiatic spoiler; and at the very moment that the people were disposed to
+doubt his skill and his courage, he had actually destroyed the giant by
+turning the arms of his own nation against him. Such was the unanimous
+feeling of Russia. Transferring the glory of their signal deliverance
+from those who had achieved it to him who had evaded the responsibility
+of the attempt, they worshipped, in the Grand Prince, the incarnation of
+the new-born liberty.
+
+
+
+CULMINATION OF THE POWER OF BURGUNDY
+
+TREATY OF PÉRONNE
+
+A.D. 1468
+
+P. F. WILLERT
+
+
+From the planting of the Burgundian branch of the house of Valois, in
+1364, arose a formidable rival of the royal power in France. During the
+next hundred years the dukes of Burgundy played prominent parts in French
+history, and then appeared one of the line who advanced his house to its
+loftiest eminence. This was Charles, surnamed the "Bold," son of Philip,
+misnamed the "Good." Charles was born in 1433, and became Duke of
+Burgundy in 1467. He "held the rank of one of the first princes in Europe
+without being a king, and without possessing an inch of ground for which
+he did not owe service to some superior lord." Some of his territories
+were held of the Holy Roman Empire, and some of the French crown, and
+he was at once a vassal of France and of the Emperor. His dominions
+contained many prosperous and wealthy cities.
+
+But the possessions of Charles lacked unity alike in territorial
+compactness, political distinction, and local rule, and in national
+characteristics, language, and laws. His peculiar position exposed him
+to the jealous rivalry of Louis XI of France. The King's object was the
+consolidation of his monarchy, while Charles aimed to extend his duchy
+at the expense of Louis' territories. Thus the two rivals became deadly
+enemies.
+
+Charles conceived the design of restoring the old kingdom of Burgundy. In
+1467, having secured alliances with Brittany and England, he prepared for
+a campaign of conquest. But Louis offered him advantageous terms of peace
+and invited him to a conference. While Charles hesitated, Louis stirred
+to revolt the Duke's subjects in Liege, with whom Burgundy had lately
+been at war. The negotiations between Louis and Charles, and the events
+which followed, form the subject of Willert's narrative.
+
+Many messengers came and went, yet Charles hesitated to accept peace even
+on terms so greatly to his advantage. The King, if he could but see the
+Duke, felt sure he might end this uncertainty, perhaps even obtain more
+favorable concessions.
+
+When once the idea of a personal interview had possessed him he was deaf
+to the warnings and entreaties of his more prudent or honest advisers.
+
+Charles did not seem anxious to meet the King, and when at length
+he yielded to the representations of the King's envoy, he sent a
+safe-conduct in the most explicit terms: "Sir, if it be your pleasure to
+visit this town of Péronne to confer with us, I swear to you and promise
+by my faith and on my honor that you may come, stay, and return at your
+good pleasure, without let or harm, notwithstanding any cause that may
+now be or hereafter may arise."
+
+After receiving this assurance, Louis might fairly suppose that he had
+nothing to fear. He had before trusted himself safely to Charles' honor.
+Nor had he himself abused the chance which once delivered his rival into
+his hands unprotected by promise or oath. He therefore set out at once
+for Péronne, accompanied only by some eighty archers of his Scotch
+guard and by his personal attendants. He was met at the frontier by
+a Burgundian escort under Philip de Crèvecoeur, and he found Charles
+himself waiting to receive him at the banks of a little river not far
+from Péronne. The princes greeted each other with respect on the one
+side, and with hearty affection on the other. They entered the town side
+by side, the King's arm resting on his kinsman's shoulder. The castle of
+Péronne was small and inconvenient; the King was therefore lodged in
+the house of one of the richest citizens. He had scarcely reached his
+quarters when the Marshal of Burgundy joined Charles' army with the
+forces he commanded. With him came Philip of Savoy and two of his
+brothers, Antony de Châteauneuf, and other men who had shared largely in
+the King's favor, but who had fled from his resentment after betraying
+his confidence. These his enemies might consider the occasion favorable
+for a bold stroke. If they acted without the connivance of Charles he
+might be grateful to those who satisfied his enmity without irretrievably
+compromising his honor. Louis therefore asked to be allowed to move into
+the castle, where his archers could at any rate defend him against a
+surprise. On the next day the conference began; all that he could demand
+was offered to Charles if only he would abandon the alliance of Brittany
+and England. But he was determined not to give way, and was insensible to
+the blandishments of his guest, who may have been tormented by painful
+misgivings as he looked from his prison-like rooms at a gloomy tower in
+which Charles the Simple had been confined, and, it was said, murdered by
+a rebellious vassal.
+
+At the first suggestion of the interview with the King, Charles had
+objected that he could scarcely believe in his sincere desire for peace
+while his envoys were encouraging rebels. Cardinal Balue replied that
+when the people of Liège learned that the King and Duke had met, they
+would not venture upon any hostile movement. But the French agents were
+not informed of their master's intended visit to Péronne, and did not
+attempt to discourage a premature attack. It is indeed doubtful whether
+they could in any case have changed the course of events.
+
+The first rumors of what had happened in a popular outbreak at Liège
+reached Péronne on the night of October 10th. As was natural, they were
+greatly exaggerated. Tongres had been sacked, the garrison put to the
+sword; Humbercourt, the Burgundian Governor, and the Bishop murdered;
+the King's envoys had been seen leading and encouraging the assailants.
+Charles broke into cries of rage: "The traitor King! So he is only come
+to cheat me by a false pretence of peace! By St. George, he and those
+villains of Liège shall pay dearly for this!" He did not pause to
+consider whether it was likely that Louis had been simple enough to
+provoke a catastrophe fatal to his hopes and dangerous to his safety. If
+Comines, the Duke's chamberlain, and another favorite attendant, who were
+with their master at the time, had not done their best to soothe him it
+is probable that the donjon of Péronne would once more have closed upon a
+captive king. Charles was at little pains to conceal his rage; and when
+Louis was told that the gates of town and castle were guarded to prevent
+the escape of a thief who had stolen a casket of jewels, he knew that he
+was a prisoner. Yet, however bitter his self-reproach, however gloomy his
+forebodings, he did not lose his presence of mind. His attendants were
+allowed free access to the castle; he had brought with him fifteen
+thousand gold crowns, and these he anxiously employed to secure the good
+offices of Charles' advisers. For three nights the angry agitation and
+perplexity of Charles were so great that he did not undress. He would
+throw himself on his bed for a time and then start up and pace about his
+room, uttering threats and invectives against the King.
+
+Nothing was done or decided on the first day, October 11, 1468. On the
+second a council was held which sat late into the night. A minority of
+the council, the enemies of Louis, or those who were only anxious to
+flatter the passions of their master, advised him to use to the full
+the opportunity which chance and the foolhardiness and duplicity of his
+adversary had placed in his hands. They urged him to keep the King in
+secure confinement after providing for the virtual partition of the
+kingdom among the great feudatories. The majority, those who had some
+regard for the honor of the house of Burgundy, the lawyers, who respected
+the letter, if not the spirit, of an agreement, perhaps also the more
+far-sighted politicians, were of a different opinion. The fame of the
+Duke would suffer irreparable injury by so flagrant a violation of his
+plighted word. The advantages, moreover, to be gained by the captivity,
+the deposition, perhaps the death of the King, were uncertain. The heir
+to the throne was entirely in the hands of the Bretons, and was not
+likely to be eager to advance the interests of Burgundy. A large and
+well-disciplined army, commanded by experienced captains, was assembled
+on the frontiers. If they could not rescue their master, they would at
+least endeavor to avenge him, while the new King could acquire an easy
+popularity by execrating a crime of which he and Francis of Brittany
+would reap all the advantage. It was a wiser course to accept the terms
+which the King in his alarm proffered--the settlement in favor of
+Burgundy of all the disputed questions which had arisen out of the
+treaties of Arras and Conflans--and it might be possible to humiliate and
+disgrace Louis by compelling him to take part in the punishment of his
+allies, the citizens of Liège, who by their trust in him had been lured
+to destruction.
+
+Charles left the council apparently undecided, and passed the night in as
+great a storm of passion as the two preceding. The conflict within him
+doubtless fanned his wrath. Comines, who shared his room, endeavored to
+calm him, and to persuade him to embrace the course most consistent with
+his interests and the King's safety; for so great a prince, if once a
+captive, might scarcely hope to leave his prison alive. Toward morning
+Charles determined to content himself with insisting that Louis should
+sign a peace on such terms as he should dictate, and accompany him
+against Liege. The King, says Comines, had a friend who informed him that
+he would be safe if he agreed to these conditions, but that otherwise his
+peril would be extreme. This friend was Comines himself, and Louis never
+forgot so timely a service. The two days during which his fate was being
+decided had been passed by him in the greatest agony of mind. Though he
+had been allowed to communicate freely with the French nobles and his own
+attendants, he had been ominously neglected by the Burgundian courtiers.
+As soon as the Duke had determined what conditions he intended to impose,
+he hastened to the castle to visit his captive. The memorable interview
+is described by two eye-witnesses--Comines and Olivier de la Marche.
+Charles entered the King's presence with a lowly obeisance; but his
+gestures and his unsteady voice betrayed his suppressed passion. The King
+could not conceal his fear. "My brother," he asked, "am I not safe in
+your dominions?"
+
+"Yes, sire, so safe that if I saw a cross-bow pointed at you I would
+throw myself before you to shield you from the bolt."
+
+He then asked the King to swear a peace on the proposed basis: (i) The
+faithful execution of the treaty of Conflans; (2) the abolition of the
+jurisdiction of the Parliament of Paris over Flanders; (3) the surrender
+of all regalian rights in Picardy; (4) the release of the Duke from all
+fealty to the King if the treaty was in any way infringed or imperfectly
+executed. Louis agreed, and Charles requested his assistance in punishing
+the rebellion of Liège. The King expressed his perfect readiness. The
+princes then signed a draft of the treaty and swore to execute it
+faithfully on the cross of St. Laud. Charles had insisted that Louis
+should swear on the relic, a fragment of the true Cross once kept in the
+Church of St. Laud at Angers, which the King always carried with him,
+esteeming it highly, because he believed that whoever forswore himself on
+it would surely die within the year. The Duke at the same time promised
+to do homage for the fiefs he held of the crown of France, but the
+execution of this promise was evaded.
+
+On the 15th the Duke, with an army of forty thousand men, and the King
+with his slender escort, and some three hundred men-at-arms who joined
+him by the way, began their march on Liège. Louis was not less anxious
+than his companion that Dammartin should not attempt a forcible rescue.
+Victory or defeat would have been alike dangerous to his safety. Twice
+at Charles' request orders were sent to disband, or at least remove, the
+French army from the frontier. The King's letters were delivered by his
+messenger in the persistent presence of a Burgundian who prevented the
+possibility of any private communication. Louis' crafty old soldier,
+Dammartin, paid little attention to such orders. He sent word to the Duke
+that, unless his master soon returned, all France would come to fetch
+him.
+
+The first divisions of the Burgundian army reached Liège October 22d. The
+citizens, whose walls had been destroyed and artillery confiscated, were
+in no position to resist an army which might have conquered an emperor.
+At the suggestion of the legate they released their bishop, begging him
+to intercede on their behalf, and offered to surrender their goods to the
+Duke's discretion if only he would spare their lives. Charles would
+not listen to their overtures; he swore that he would have town and
+inhabitants at his discretion or that he and his army should perish in
+the attempt.
+
+The townsmen, with the boldness of despair, sallied forth to meet the
+advance guard of their enemies; they were driven back with great loss.
+Four days later, the 26th, the Duke and main body of the army had not
+come up. The troops, who had repulsed the sally on the 22d, had as yet
+met with little resistance, and thought themselves strong enough to
+occupy an open town defended only by ill-armed traders and mechanics.
+The weather was cold and rainy, the temptation of securing comfortable
+quarters and the undivided profits of the sack irresistible. The
+assailants occupied one of the suburbs, but their advance was checked by
+some hastily constructed defences. At nightfall the citizens came
+out through the breaches of their walls; they were enabled, by their
+knowledge of the rough and precipitous ground, to fall unobserved upon
+the rear of the enemy; eight hundred Burgundians were killed, and the
+rout would have been complete had not the Duke with the main body of
+his army pushed forward to the assistance of a division which was still
+holding its ground.
+
+On the next day the King arrived, and soon after took up his quarters
+close to those of the Duke. He showed himself to the men, who had
+placed their trust in him, wearing the St. Andrew's cross, the badge
+of Burgundy, and replying "_Vive Bourgogne!_" to their cries of "_Vive
+France!_" That night there was a great and sudden alarm. The Duke of
+Burgundy, though brave, was sometimes wanting in presence of mind, and on
+this occasion appeared more troubled in the King's presence than pleased
+his friends. Louis took the command, giving his orders with great
+coolness and prudence. Even as a general he gained by comparison with his
+rival. He was indeed not less anxious than Charles that the Burgundian
+army should suffer no reverse. He feared everything that might arouse the
+ready suspicion and ungovernable temper of the Duke. On the evening of
+the 29th a few hundred men, colliers and miners from the mountainous
+district of Franchemont, led by the owners of the house in which the King
+and Duke were sleeping, made a desperate attempt to surprise the princes
+in their beds. They would have succeeded had they not delayed to attack
+a barn in which three hundred Burgundian men-at-arms were posted. Only
+a few followed their guides straight to the quarters of the sovereigns.
+They were unable, therefore, to overcome the resistance of the guard
+before the noise of the conflict had aroused the camp. The assailants
+were overwhelmed by numbers, and fell fighting to the last. The assault
+had been ordered for the next day, but this bold and unexpected attack so
+surprised and disconcerted the Burgundians that the King thought he might
+be able to persuade the Duke to agree to a capitulation, or at least to
+postpone the assault. He only obtained a contemptuous request that he
+should consult his own safety by retiring to Namur. This reflection on
+his courage stimulated him to greater ostentation of zeal. He could
+scarcely be restrained from leading the assault.
+
+The citizens were worn out by guarding an open town against a powerful
+army for more than a week; they imagined that as it was a Sunday they
+would not be attacked till the morrow. The assailants entered the town
+with little or no resistance. Yet the fury and license of the soldiery
+could not have been greater had their passions been excited by an
+obstinate and bloody struggle. The horrors of the sack of Dinant[1] were
+surpassed, although many of the citizens were able to escape across the
+Meuse. The deliberate vengeance of the Duke was more searching and not
+less cruel than the lust and rapine of his army; all prisoners who would
+not pay a heavy ransom were drowned. Although the cold was so intense
+that wine froze, and that his men lost fingers and toes from frost-bites,
+Charles did not shrink from the labor of hunting down those who had fled
+to the mountains, and burning the villages in which they had sought a
+refuge. He had previously taken leave of the King.
+
+Four or five days after the occupation of Liège, Louis had expressed a
+wish to depart. If he could be of any further use, his brother might
+command his services; but he was anxious to see that their treaty was
+registered by the Parliament of Paris, without which it could not be
+valid. The Duke seemed unwilling to let his prey escape, but could find
+no pretence for his detention. Next year, said the King, he would come
+again and spend a month pleasantly with his dear brother in festivities
+and good cheer. The treaty, now drawn up in its final shape by the
+Burgundian lawyers, was read over to Louis, in order that he might object
+to any article of which he disapproved. But he readily ratified all that
+he had promised at Pèronne. It had seemed useless to require him to
+bestow Normandy on Charles of France; nor is the question of his appanage
+mentioned in the treaty itself. But the King was compelled to promise
+to invest his brother with Champagne and Brie. These provinces, lying
+between Burgundy and the Low Countries, would, in the hands of an ally,
+serve to consolidate the Duke's dominions, and could be easily defended
+in case the King attempted to resume his concessions. Just before the
+princes departed, Louis said, as if the thought had suddenly occurred:
+"What do you wish me to do if my brother is not content with the appanage
+I offer him for your sake?" Charles answered carelessly: "If he will
+not take it, I leave the matter to you two to settle; only let him be
+satisfied." The King considered the thoughtless admission into which he
+had tricked his rival most important, since he fancied that it released
+him, so far as his brother's appanage was concerned, from the fearful
+obligation of his oath.
+
+But notwithstanding this last advantage, we cannot doubt that Louis felt
+bitterly disappointed and ashamed. Although all songs, caricatures,
+and writings reflecting on the perfidy of the Duke of Burgundy, and
+by implication on the folly of the King, were forbidden under severe
+penalties, and even all manner of talking birds which might be taught the
+hateful word "Peronne" had been seized by the royal officers, he had not
+the heart to visit Paris. The parliament was summoned to meet him at
+Senlis. He ordered it to register the treaty without comment, and
+hastened southward to hide his mortification in his favorite castles of
+Touraine.
+
+[Footnote 1: By Burgundians in 1466.]
+
+
+
+LORENZO DE' MEDICI RULES IN FLORENCE
+
+ZENITH OF FLORENTINE GLORY
+
+A.D. 1469
+
+OLIPHANT SMEATON
+
+
+During the twelfth century several of the Italian cities--especially
+Florence and Venice--rose to great wealth and power. Venice, through her
+favorable situation, became preeminent in commerce, while Florence was
+coming to be the most important industrial centre of Europe. In the
+thirteenth century Florence was the scene of continual strife between the
+Guelfs and Ghibellines, but she not only continued to develop in material
+prosperity, but also attained to intellectual activities whereby in the
+next century she gained a higher distinction. She took the foremost
+part in the Renaissance, and was the birthplace or the home of Dante,
+Boccaccio, and other leaders of the modern movement.
+
+In the fifteenth century Florence reached a still loftier eminence under
+the Medici, a family celebrated for the statesmen which it produced and
+for its patronage of letters and art. Its most illustrious members were
+Cosmo (1389-1464) and his grandson Lorenzo, surnamed the "Magnificent."
+Lorenzo was born January 1, 1449, when the second great period of the
+Renaissance was nearing its close. That was the "period of arrangement
+and translation; the epoch of the formation of the great Italian
+libraries; the age when, in Florence around his grandfather Cosmo,
+in Rome around Pope Nicholas V, and in Naples around Alfonso the
+Magnanimous, coteries of the leading humanists were gathered, engaged in
+labors which have made posterity eternally their debtors."
+
+Conjointly with his younger brother Giuliano, Lorenzo, on the death of
+his father Piero, in 1469, succeeded to the vast wealth and political
+power of the family. In 1478 the death of Giuliano left Lorenzo sole
+ruler of Florence.
+
+To few men has either the power or the opportunity been given to
+influence their epoch, intellectually and politically, to a degree so
+marked as was the lot of Lorenzo de' Medici. One of the most marvellously
+many-sided of the many-sided men who adorned the Italy of the fifteenth
+century, he did more to place Florence in the forefront of the world's
+culture than any other citizen who claimed Val d'Arno[1] as his
+birthplace. His influence was great because he was in sympathy so
+catholic with all the varied life of his age and circle. While during the
+one hour he would be found learnedly discussing the rival claims of the
+Platonic and Aristotelian philosophers with Ficino and Landino, the next
+might witness him the foremost reveller in the Florentine carnival,
+crowned with flowers and with the winecup in his hand, gayly carolling
+the _ballate_ he had composed for the occasion; while the third might
+behold him surrounded by the leading painters and sculptors of Tuscany,
+discoursing profoundly on the aims and mission of art. Truly a unique
+personality, at one and the same time the glorious creation and the
+splendid epitome of the spirit of the Renaissance!
+
+When Lorenzo de' Medici consented to assume the "position" occupied by
+his father Piero and his grandfather Cosmo, he was not the raw youth his
+immature years would lead one to suppose. Although intellectual maturity
+is reached at an earlier age in the sunny South than in the fog-haunted
+lands of Northern Europe, Lorenzo had enjoyed a long apprenticeship
+before being called to undertake the duties devolving on him as the
+uncrowned king of Florence. From his thirteenth year he had been the
+companion and shared the counsels, first of his grandfather and father,
+and subsequently of his father alone. From the former especially he
+learned many important lessons in statecraft. The matter is open to
+question, however, if any advice had more far-reaching results or was
+laid more carefully to heart than this which is contained in more
+than one of Cosmo's letters: "Never stint your favors to the cause
+of learning, and cultivate sedulously the friendship of scholars and
+humanists." Toward such a course Lorenzo's inclinations, as well as his
+interests, pointed, and during his life Florence was the Athens not only
+of Italy but of Europe as a whole. Here, among many others, were to be
+found such "epoch-makers" as Poliziano, Ficino, and Landino, Pico della
+Mirandola, Leo Battista Alberti, Michelangelo, Luigi Pulci--men who
+glorified their age by crowning it with the nimbus of their genius.
+
+The literary and artistic greatness of Florence was not due, however,
+to the comparative intellectual poverty of the other states in Italy.
+Florence was only _primus inter pares_--greatest among many that were
+great. When the fact is recalled that such contemporaries as Pomponius
+Laetus, Bartolommeo Sacchi, Molza, Alessandro Farnese (Paul III),
+Platina, Sabellicus at Rome; Pontanus, Sannazaro, and Porcello in Naples;
+and Pomponasso and Boiardo at Ferrara, were then at or nearing their
+prime, the position of Florence as the acknowledged centre of European
+culture was conceded by sense of right alone. Than this nothing proves
+more emphatically the strides learning had been making. It was no longer
+the prerogative of the few, but the privilege of the many. From the
+first, Lorenzo recognized what a strong card he held in the affection and
+respect of the Italian as well as of the Florentine humanists.
+
+The great secret of Lorenzo's preëminence in European and Italian, as
+well as in Tuscan, politics lies in the fact that he was able to unite
+the sources of administrative, legislative, and judicial power in
+himself. All the public offices in Florence were held by his dependents,
+and so entirely was the state machinery controlled by him that we find
+such men as Louis XI and the emperor Maximilian, Alfonso of Naples,
+and Pope Innocent VIII recognizing his authority and appealing to him
+personally, in place of to the seigniory, to effect the ends they
+desired. Such power enabled him to avoid the risks his grandfather Cosmo
+had been compelled to run to maintain his authority. The Medicean
+faction was better in hand than in his grandfather's days, and Lorenzo,
+therefore, in playing the _rôle_ of the peacemaker of Italy, at the time
+when he held the "balance of power" through his treaties with Milan,
+Naples, and Ferrara, could speak with a decision that carried weight when
+he found it necessary to threaten a restless "despot" with a political
+combination that might depose him.
+
+Lorenzo's services to learning were inspired by feelings infinitely more
+noble than those actuating his political plans. A patriotism as lofty as
+it was beneficent led him to desire that his country should be in the
+van of Italian progress in Renaissance studies. His sagacious prevision
+enabled him to proportion the nature and extent of the benefit he
+conferred to the need it was intended to supply. Many statesmen do more
+harm than good by failing to appreciate this law of supply and demand.
+They grant more than is required, and that which should have been a boon
+becomes a burden. Charles V, at the time of the Reformation, on more
+than one occasion committed this error, as also did Wolsey and Mazarin.
+Lorenzo, like Richelieu, recognized the value of moderation in giving,
+and caused every favor to be regarded as a possible earnest of others to
+come.
+
+The earlier years of his power were associated with many stirring events
+which exercised no inconsiderable influence on the state of learning. For
+example, his skilful playing off of Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza of Milan
+against Ferrante, King of Naples, led to greater attention being directed
+by the Florentines to Neapolitan and Milanese affairs, with the result
+that humanists and artists from both these places paid frequent visits to
+Florence, where they were welcomed by Lorenzo as his guests. Then when
+the revolt of the small city of Volterra from Florentine rule was
+suppressed by Lorenzo's agents, with a rigorous severity that cast a
+stain on their master's name, owing to many unoffending scholars having
+suffered to the extent of losing their all, Lorenzo made noble amends.
+Not only did he generously assist the inhabitants to repair their losses,
+not only did he make grants to the local scholars and send them copies of
+many of the codices in his own library to supply the loss of their books
+which had been burned by the soldiery, but he purchased large estates in
+the neighborhood, that the citizens might benefit by his residence among
+them. In this way, too, he brought the Volterran scholars into more
+intimate relations with the Florentine humanists, and thus contributed to
+the further diffusion of the benefits of the Renaissance.
+
+All was not plain sailing, however, as regards the progress of the "New
+Learning." Despite his efforts, Lorenzo could not prevent its development
+being checked during the papal-Neapolitan quarrel with Florence. That war
+originated in a dispute with Pope Sixtus IV, who kept Italy in a ferment
+during the whole duration of his pontificate, 1471-1484. Were no other
+proof forthcoming of Lorenzo's marvellous diplomatic genius than this one
+fact, that he checkmated the political schemes of Sixtus, and finally
+so neutralized his influence as to render him wellnigh impotent for
+evil-doing, such an achievement was sufficient to stamp him one of the
+greatest masters of statecraft Europe has known. In any estimate of his
+ability we must take into account the unsatisfactory character of many of
+the instruments wherewith he had to achieve his purposes, and also the
+fact that he had neither a great army at his back with which to enforce
+the fulfilment of treaty obligations--for Florence never was a city of
+soldiers--nor had he the prestige of an official position to lend weight
+to his words. To all intents and purposes he was a private citizen of
+the Florentine republic. Yet such was the dynamic power of the man's
+marvellous personality, and the reputation he had earned, even in his
+early years, for supreme prescience and far-reaching diplomatic subtlety,
+that far and wide he was regarded as the greatest force in Italian
+politics. Sixtus sallied forth to crush; he returned to the Vatican a
+crushed and a discredited man, to die of sheer chagrin over his defeat by
+Lorenzo in his designs upon Ferrara.
+
+Then followed the memorable dispute, in 1472-1473, over the bishopric of
+Pisa, when the Pope's nominee, Francesco Salviati, was refused possession
+of his see, Pisa being one of the Tuscan towns under the control of
+Florence. To this Sixtus retaliated by seeking the friendship of Ferrante
+of Naples, a move Lorenzo anticipated by forming the league between
+Florence, Milan, and Venice. This league thoroughly alarmed both the Pope
+and Ferrante, and on the latter visiting Rome in 1475 a papal-Neapolitan
+alliance was formed.
+
+Even then hostilities might not have broken out had the young Duke
+of Milan not been assassinated in 1476, leaving an infant heir. This
+entailed a long minority, with all its dangers, and the apprehensions
+regarding these were not fanciful, inasmuch as Lodovico Sforza, uncle of
+the baby Duke, usurped the position under pretext of acting as regent.
+These crimes were plainly responsible for the Pazzi conspiracy in 1478
+against the Medici themselves, a conspiracy which resulted in Giuliano,
+the younger brother of Lorenzo, being murdered in the cathedral, during
+mass, on the Sunday before Ascension, while Lorenzo himself was slightly
+wounded. That Sixtus and his nephew were accessories before the fact
+is now regarded as unquestionable. The vengeance taken by the enraged
+Florentines on the conspirators, their relatives, friends, and property,
+was terrible; the innocent, alas! being sacrificed indiscriminately with
+the guilty.
+
+The Archbishop of Pisa, Francesco Salviati, had entered eagerly into
+the scheme, and, although his sacred office prevented him from actually
+assisting in the deed, he was present in the cathedral until the signal
+was given for the perpetration of the deed, when he left the building to
+secure the Palazzo Publico. He was therefore summarily hanged with
+the others from the windows of the civic buildings. Sixtus made the
+execution, or the "murder" as he called it, of Salviati, his pretext for
+calling on his allies to make war on Florence. When he saw, however, that
+this action was only throwing the city more completely than ever into the
+arms of the Medici, he changed his tactics and said he had no quarrel
+with "his well-beloved children of Florence," but only with "that son of
+iniquity and child of perdition, Lorenzo de' Medici," and those who had
+aided and abetted him, among whom the humanists were expressly mentioned.
+Against Lorenzo and his associates a brief of excommunication was
+launched, and the city was urged to regain the papal favor by
+surrendering the offenders.
+
+The result might have been predicted. The "brief" only tended to knit the
+bonds of association closer between Lorenzo and the "City of the Flower,"
+while the humanists to a man rallied round their patron. Even the
+choleric Filelfo, now a very old man, who had been on anything but
+friendly terms with the Medici, addressed two bitter satires to Sixtus,
+in which the Pope was styled the real aggressor, while the great humanist
+offered to write a history of the whole transaction, that posterity might
+know the true facts. The only power which gave its adhesion to Sixtus was
+Naples, while Venice, Ferrara, and Milan declared for Florence.
+
+Thus commenced that tedious war which not only ruined so many Florentine
+merchants, but retarded the cause of learning so materially. When the
+people were groaning under heavy taxes, when all coin which Lorenzo
+could scrape together had to be poured out to pay the _condottieri_, or
+soldiers of fortune, by whom the battles of Florence were fought, there
+was of course but short commons for the humanists who had made Florence
+their home. Many of those adapted themselves to circumstances, but
+others, to whom money was their god, left the banks of the Arno for those
+southern cities where the pinch of scarcity did not prevail.
+
+In this campaign the Florentines gained but little prestige. The larger
+share of the cost was quietly suffered by their allies to fall on the
+city of bankers. The Milanese were occupied with their own affairs,
+owing to the _coup d'état_ accomplished by Lodovico Sforza. The Duke of
+Ferrara withdrew owing to some disagreement with the condottieri
+engaged by Lorenzo. The Venetians only despatched a small contingent
+under Carlo Montone and Diefebo d'Anguillari; accordingly, in the end,
+the whole burden of the struggle fell on Florence. The Magnifico's
+position gradually became precarious, inasmuch as many persons declared
+the war to be in reality a personal quarrel between Pope Sixtus and
+the Medici. Complaints began to be heard that the public treasury was
+exhausted and the commerce of the city ruined, while the citizens were
+burdened with oppressive taxes. Lorenzo had the mortification of being
+told that sufficient blood had been shed, and that it would be expedient
+for him rather to devise some means of effecting a peace than of making
+further preparations for the war.
+
+In these circumstances, and confronted by one of the most dangerous
+crises of his whole life, Lorenzo rose to the occasion and effected a
+solution of the difficulty by daring to perform what was undoubtedly one
+of the bravest acts ever achieved by a diplomatist. By some statesmen
+it might be condemned as foolhardy, by others as quixotic. Its very
+foolhardiness and quixotry fascinated the man it was intended to
+influence, the blood-thirsty, cruel, and pitiless Ferrante of Naples, who
+was restrained from crime by the fear neither of God nor man, and who
+had actually slain the condottiere Piccinino when he visited him under a
+safe-conduct from the monarch's best ally. But the Renaissance annals are
+filled with the records of men and women whose natures are marvellous
+studies of contrasted and contradictory traits. Such was the Neapolitan
+tyrant. While a monster in much, he had his vulnerable points. He was
+ambitious to pose as a friend of the "New Learning," and he knew that
+Lorenzo was not only the most munificent patron, but also one of the most
+illustrious exponents, of the Renaissance principles.
+
+Although his enemy, Ferrante received Lorenzo with every demonstration of
+respect and satisfaction. He lost sight of the hostile diplomatist in
+the great humanist. Two Neapolitan galleys were sent to conduct him
+to Naples, and he was welcomed on landing with much pomp. Never did
+Lorenzo's supreme diplomatic genius, never did his versatile powers as a
+statesman, as a scholar, as a patron of letters, and as a brilliant man
+of the world, blaze forth in more splendid effulgence than during his
+three-months' stay in Naples. Though opposed by all the papal authority
+and resources; though Sixtus by turns threatened, cajoled, entreated,
+promised, in order to prevent Lorenzo having any success, the successor
+of St. Peter was beaten all along the line, and the Magnifico carried
+away with him a treaty, signed and sealed, which practically meant that
+henceforth Naples and the papacy would be in antagonistic camps.
+
+It was the Renaissance card which won the trick. With startling boldness,
+yet with consummate art, Lorenzo played the game of flattering Ferrante.
+No ordinary adulation, however, would have had success with the
+Neapolitan Phaleris. He was too strong-minded a man for anything of that
+kind. But to be hailed by the great Renaissance patron of the period,
+by one also who was himself one of the leading humanists, as a
+brother-humanist and a fellow-patron of learning, was a delicate incense
+to his vanity which he could not resist. He liked to be consulted on
+matters of literary moment, and, when he blundered, Lorenzo was too
+shrewd a student of human nature to correct him.
+
+Another fact in Lorenzo's favor was that he had the warm support not only
+of the beautiful Ippolyta Maria, daughter of Cosmo's friend, Francesco
+Sforza of Milan, and now wife of Alfonso, Duke of Calabria, King
+Ferrante's heir, as well as of Don Federigo, the monarch's younger son,
+who, along with Ippolyta, was a friend to the "New Learning," but he also
+had the whole body of Neapolitan humanists on his side, scarce one of
+whom but had experienced in some form or another the Medicean bounty.
+Such powerful advocacy was not without its influence in bringing about
+the result; while Ferrante more and more realized that if the Florentine
+Medici were crushed he would have no ally to whom to look for help when
+the inevitable shuffle of the political cards took place on the death of
+Sixtus.
+
+In February, 1480, therefore, Lorenzo returned in triumph to Florence,
+to be received with rapture by his fellow-citizens. Had he delayed a few
+months longer, his visit and his _ad-miseri-cordiam_ appeals would not
+have been needed. In August of that year Keduk Achmed, one of the Turkish
+Sultan's (Mahomet II) ablest generals, besieged and took the city of
+Otranto. In face of the common danger to all Italy, Sixtus was compelled
+to accept the treaty made by Ferrante with Lorenzo, and a general peace
+ensued. The decade accordingly closed with an absolution for all offences
+granted by the Pope to Florence, conditional on the Tuscan republic
+contributing its share to the expenses of the military preparations to
+resist the invasion of the Turk.
+
+Notwithstanding the war, the progress of the Renaissance during the first
+decade of Lorenzo's rule was very marked. To the rapid diffusion of
+printing this was largely due. Lorenzo had not imbibed the prejudices
+against the new art entertained by Cosmo and Federigo of Montefeltro. He
+looked at the practical, not the sentimental, side of the question as
+regards the new invention. Having seen that the press could throw off, in
+a few days, scores of copies of any work, of which it took an amanuensis
+months to produce one; also that the scholars of all Italy could be
+furnished almost immediately, and at a low price, with the texts of any
+manuscript they desired, while they had to wait months for a limited
+number of copies whose cost was wellnigh prohibitive, he supported the
+new invention from the outset. Having resolved to further his father's
+efforts to establish printing in Florence, he stimulated the local
+goldsmith, Bernardo Cennini, to turn his attention to type-casting in
+metal, and even agreed to pay him an annual grant from the year 1471
+until he had fairly settled himself in business. Nor did he confine his
+favors to him. John of Mainz and Nicholas of Breslau, who arrived in
+Florence, the former in 1472 and the latter in 1477, also participated
+in his open-hearted liberality. Printing struck its roots deep into the
+Tuscan community and flourished excellently. Though the Florentine craft
+never attained the reputation of the Venetian Aldi and Asolani, the
+Giunti of Rome, the Soncini of Fano, the Stephani of Paris, and Froben
+of Basel, it had the name, for a time at least, of being one of the most
+accurate of all presses.
+
+To Lorenzo it owed this celebrity. At an early date he perceived that the
+new art would be of little value if there were not careful press readers.
+He was therefore among the first to induce scholars of distinction to
+engage in this task. For example, he enlisted the aid of Cristoforo
+Landino, who in his _Disputationes Camaldunenses_ had really inaugurated
+the science of textual criticism by urging that a careful comparison
+of the various codices should constitute the preliminary step in any
+reproduction of the classics. Landino's work on Vergil and Horace merits
+the warmest praise. Lorenzo also impressed Poliziano into the work, whose
+labors in marking the various readings, in adding _scholia_ and "notes"
+illustrative of the text of Catullus, Propertius, Ovid, etc., were of the
+utmost value. To Lorenzo and to his younger brother Giuliano, another
+great humanist, Giorgio Merula of Milan, dedicated his _Plautus_,
+published in Venice in 1472, showing at how early an age the Magnifico
+had taken his place among the recognized patrons of the Italian
+Renaissance.
+
+We ought not, moreover, to omit mention of another achievement of
+Lorenzo, though performed in a sphere of effort lying outside of the
+strict limits of our Renaissance survey. Seeing it was the "Revival of
+Letters," however, which induced the revival of the cultivation of the
+vernacular Italian literature, surely it is not out of place to refer to
+it here. Early in life Lorenzo became imbued with the conviction that his
+native tongue was unsurpassed as a medium for "the expression of noble
+thoughts in noble numbers." Not only did he encourage others to study
+Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio, but by following out his own precepts
+he became one of the great Italian poets. His _Selve d'Amore,_ his
+_Corinto_, his _Ambra_, his _La Nencia da Barberino_, his _Laude_, his
+_Sonetti_, his _Cansoni_, etc., are all poems that live in the Italian
+literature of to-day. Not as a man ashamed of the vernacular, and forced
+to use it because he can command no better, does Lorenzo write. "He is
+sure of the justice of his cause, and determined by precept and example
+and by the prestige of his princely rank to bring the literature he loves
+into repute again."
+
+But of these poems we cannot here take further note. By the scholars of
+the Renaissance such work was looked askance at. If they did produce any
+of these "trifles," as they were called, they almost blushed to own them,
+and were ashamed to communicate them to each other. That he dared to
+be natural says much for Lorenzo, and it was largely due to his
+encouragement that Cristoforo Landino undertook his great work on
+"Dante," to which we owe so much to-day.
+
+In conjunction with his patronage of printing, there was no line of
+effort in which Lorenzo did more real good than in collecting manuscripts
+and antiquities, and in making them practically public property. On this
+account he is styled, by Niccolo Leonicino, "Lorenzo de' Medici, the
+great patron of learning in this age, whose messengers are dispersed
+through every part of the earth for the purpose of collecting books on
+every science, and who has spared no expense in procuring for your use,
+and that of others who may devote themselves to similar studies, the
+materials necessary for your purpose." The agents he employed travelled
+through Italy, Greece, Europe, and the East--Hieronymo Donato, Ermolao
+Barbaro, and Paolo Cortesi being the names of some of his most trusted
+"commissioners." But the coadjutor whose aid he principally relied on, to
+whom he committed the care and arrangement of his vast museum and great
+library, was Poliziano, who himself made frequent excursions throughout
+Europe, Asia, and Northern Africa to discover and purchase such remains
+of antiquity as suited the purposes of his patron. Another successful
+agent, though at a later date, was Giovanni Lascaris, who twice journeyed
+into the East in search of manuscripts and curios. In the second of these
+he brought back upward of two hundred copies of valuable codices from the
+monasteries on Mount Athos.
+
+To still another service rendered by Lorenzo to the cause of the
+Renaissance attention must be called--the founding of the Florentine
+Academy for the study of Greek. This institution, distinct, be it
+remembered, from the _Uffiziali dello Studio_ (or high-school),
+exercised a marvellous influence on the progress of the "New Learning."
+Accordingly, as Roscoe says, succeeding scholars have been profuse in
+their acknowledgments to Lorenzo, who first formed the establishment from
+which, to use their own classical figure, as from the Trojan horse,
+so many illustrious champions have sprung, and by means of which the
+knowledge of the Greek tongue was extended not only throughout Italy,
+but throughout Europe as well, from all the countries of which numerous
+pupils flocked to Florence--pupils who afterward carried the learning
+they had received to their native lands.
+
+Of this institution the first public professor was Joannes Argyropoulos,
+who, having enjoyed the patronage of Cosmo and Piero, and directed the
+education of Lorenzo, was selected by the latter as the fittest person to
+be the earliest occupant of the chair. During his tenure of it he sent
+out such pupils as Poliziano, Donato Acciaiuoli, Janus Pannonius, and
+the famous German humanist Reuchlin. Argyropoulos did not hold the
+appointment long. His death took place at Rome in 1471, and he was
+succeeded first by Theodore of Gaza, and then by Chalcondylas. Poliziano
+certainly discharged the duties of the office frequently, but at first
+only as _locum tenens_. He was then almost incessantly engaged in
+travelling for his patron in Greece and Asia Minor, and was too valuable
+a coadjutor to be tied down to the routine of teaching until he had
+completed his work. During the next decade he became the "professor," and
+discharged the duties with a genius and an adaptability to circumstances
+that won for him the admiration and love of all his students.
+
+This decade was also remarkable for the commencement of the devotion to
+the cultivation of literary style, a pursuit yet to reach its culmination
+in Poliziano in Florence and in Bembo and Sadoleto in Rome. Originality
+gradually gave place to conventionality, until men actually came to
+prefer the absurdities of Ciceronianism, and a cold, colorless adherence
+to hard-and-fast rules of composition, to a work throbbing with the
+pulsation of virile life. Humanism was beginning to take flight from
+Italy, to find a home and a welcome beyond the Alps.
+
+The final decade of Lorenzo's life constituted the midsummer bloom of
+the Tuscan renaissance, the meridian of the intellectual and artistic
+supremacy of Florence. In Lorenzo it found its fullest expression. He was
+typical of its spiritual as well as of its moral meaning; typical, too,
+of that mental unrest which sought escape from the pressing problems of
+an enigmatic present by reverting to the study of a classic past whose
+ethical, social, and political difficulties were rarely of a complex
+character, but concerned themselves principally with what may be termed
+the elementary verities of man's relations to the Deity and to his
+fellows.
+
+Lorenzo's amazing versatility has been pronounced a fault by some who
+believed they detected in him the potential capacity of rivalling
+Dante, Petrarch, and Ariosto on their own ground, had he only
+conserved his energies. This is a foolish supposition. Lorenzo's
+many-sidedness was but the reflection in himself, as the most accurate
+mirror of the time, of all that wondrous susceptibility to beauty, that
+eager craving after the realization of the [greek: to kalon] ("the Good")
+so characteristic of the best Hellenic genius, whether we study it in the
+dramas of Sophocles or the _Republic_ of Plato or in the statesmanship of
+Pericles. If Lorenzo had resembled his grandfather and concentrated his
+energies upon finance and politics, there might have been a line of
+reigning Medicean princes in Florence half a century earlier than
+actually was the case, but Europe would have been distinctly the loser
+by the absence of the greatest personal force making for culture which
+characterized the Renaissance.
+
+This last decade of Lorenzo's life--from his thirty-first to his
+forty-second year--was memorable in many respects. In the year 1481 he
+was again exposed to the danger of assassination. Battista Frescobaldi
+and two assistants in the Church of the Carmeli, and again on Ascension
+Day, made an attempt to stab him, but were frustrated by the vigilance of
+Lorenzo's friends. There is no doubt that this second attempt was also
+instigated by Girolamo Riario, the nephew of Sixtus IV. Thereafter
+Lorenzo never moved out without a strong bodyguard of friends and
+adherents--a precaution rendered necessary by the repeated plots that
+were being hatched against him by his enemies.
+
+No sooner had the presence of the Turks at Otranto, in the extreme
+southeast of Italy, been rendered a thing of the past by the surrender of
+the Moslem garrison to the Duke of Calabria in September, 1481, than
+the peninsula was again ranged in opposing camps by the attempt of the
+Venetians, assisted by Sixtus and his nephew, to dispossess Ercole
+d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, of his dominions. The Duke had married
+the daughter of Ferdinand, King of Naples, an alliance which, by
+strengthening him, gave on that account great offence to the Venetians.
+They therefore sought to provoke him by insisting on their monopoly of
+the manufacture of salt in North Italy, and by building a fortress on
+a part of the Ferrarese territory which they pretended was within the
+limits of their own. When he remonstrated, they declined to remove it. In
+vain he appealed to Sixtus. The latter was one of the wolves waiting to
+devour him. He then turned to Lorenzo.
+
+To the inexpressible chagrin of Venice and of Sixtus, the Magnifico
+promptly espoused his cause, formed an alliance with Ferdinand and other
+states, and, before the Pope and the Venetians were aware he had moved,
+they found themselves confronted by Naples, Florence, Milan, Bologna,
+Mantua, and Faenza. The allies were commanded by Federigo of Montefeltro,
+Duke of Urbino, while the Venetian-papal troops were placed under Ruberto
+Malatesta of Rimini. In this campaign, however, Lorenzo was really the
+master-spirit. Although successes were won on both sides, a more than
+usually tragic complexion was given to the war by the death of the two
+commanders of the opposing forces. They had been friends from youth, and
+such a trifle as the fact that they were hired to fight against each
+other never disturbed the tenor of their mutual regard. Armstrong says no
+more than the truth when he remarks: "It was a pathetic coincidence.
+The two rival generals had bequeathed to each other the care of their
+children and estates, a characteristic illustration of the easy
+good-fellowship in this game of Italian war."
+
+The war dragged on with varying results until Lorenzo played his reserve
+card. He induced the Slavic Archbishop of Carniola, who, visiting Rome
+as the emperor Frederick's envoy, had been shocked by the shameless
+immorality of the Pope's life, to begin an agitation for a general
+council. In this he was supported by several of the rulers in Northern
+Italy and Eastern Europe. The move was so far successful. The Pope became
+alarmed, and hurriedly broke off his alliance with Venice, on the plea
+that the prevention of fresh schism in the Church must take precedence of
+every other consideration. The real fact of the matter was he dreaded the
+fate of Pope John XXIII, for he knew the actions of his nephew Girolamo
+Riario would not stand conciliar examination. Moreover, his other nephew,
+Giuliano della Rovere, afterward Pope Julius II, a bitter enemy to
+Girolamo, and Lorenzo's warm friend, had, during the disgrace of his
+cousin, gained the Pope's ear and told him some plain but wholesome
+truths regarding the unpleasant consequences of a permanent rupture with
+Lorenzo.
+
+All these considerations induced Sixtus to yield and leave Venice to
+prosecute the war alone. This it did against a quadruple alliance, for
+the Pope, when the haughty republic of the lagoons refused to disgorge
+its Ferrarese prey at his orders, promptly changed sides, and was as keen
+against the aggressor as he had previously been favorable to it. The
+Venetians sustained two severe defeats, while their fleet was almost
+shattered by a storm. The pecuniary strain was beyond their resources
+longer to maintain. They therefore resorted to the customary project of
+inducing some other power to intervene. In this case they took the step
+of inviting the Duke of Orleans to lay claim to the dukedom of Milan, and
+the Duke of Lorraine to the throne of Naples. The move was successful
+as regards Ludovico of Milan; he withdrew from the alliance, and much
+against the wish of the other allies the peace of Bagnolo was concluded
+in August, 1484. To Sixtus the news came as the knell of his dearest
+hopes. He gave way to one wild outburst of passion, in which he cursed
+all who had been engaged in making peace, then apoplexy supervened, and
+within a few hours he was a corpse. He was succeeded by Cardinal Cybo, a
+warm friend toward the Medici, and one who had such a profound admiration
+for the genius of Lorenzo in statecraft that he seldom took any step
+without consulting him, though unfortunately he did not always follow the
+Magnifico's advice.
+
+If no one else reaped honor and glory from this Ferrarese war, Lorenzo
+undoubtedly did so. By both sides the fact was admitted that he had acted
+throughout as a far-seeing, sagacious diplomatist, who, while giving
+preeminence, as was natural, to the welfare of his own state, had sought
+to conserve the cause of letters, even amid the turmoil incident upon the
+collision of political interests. He had proved the friend even of the
+enemies of his own country, when once they had passed from the scene
+of conflict, as, for example, when he dared Girolamo Riario to raise a
+finger in the direction of dispossessing the son of the Pope's general,
+Ruberto Malatesta, of his Rimini estates. He was the friend of the
+oppressed everywhere, and in more cases than one his powerful protection
+saved the children of his friends from being robbed by powerful
+relatives. This connection between Florence, Naples, Milan, Rome, and
+Ferrara tended to the promotion of intellectual intercourse between
+them. As printing was now being briskly prosecuted all over Northern and
+Central Italy, the interchange of literature went on ceaselessly among
+them.
+
+This, however, was Lorenzo's last great war. True, he was implicated in
+the prolonged quarrel between the papacy and King Ferrante of Naples, yet
+it was more as a mediator between the two antagonists than as the ally
+of the last-named that he took part in it; although, as Armstrong points
+out, he paid for the services of Trivulsio and four hundred cross-bowmen,
+that by enabling the Neapolitans to check San Severino, the leader of the
+papal-Venetian troops, he might induce Innocent VIII to lose heart and
+retire from the struggle.
+
+Lorenzo, during the last six years of his life, or, to speak more
+definitely, after the peace of Bagnolo, had become in Italian, as he was
+rapidly becoming in European, politics the master-spirit that inspired
+the moves on the diplomatic chess-board. In the mind of the historical
+student whose attention is directed to this period, admiration and wonder
+go hand-in-hand as we contemplate the marvellous sagacity and prevision
+of the man, together with the skill wherewith he made Florence--the
+weakest from a military point of view of the five greater Italian
+powers--the one which exercised the most preponderating influence
+upon the affairs of the peninsula. His supreme genius conceived and
+consummated the great scheme for ensuring the peace of Italy by a triple
+alliance of the three larger states--Florence, Milan, and Naples--against
+the other two, Venice and the papacy.
+
+As showing how entirely it was dependent upon him, the alliance was
+operative only so long as he was alive to bind the antagonistic forces of
+Naples and Milan together by the link of his own personal influence.
+He, in a word, was the subtle acid holding in chemical combination many
+mutually repellent substances. When his influence was withdrawn by death,
+within a few months they had all fallen apart, the triple alliance was
+forgotten and Italy was doomed. Even by those with whom he was nominally
+at war he was resorted to for advice. He it was that kept Innocent VIII
+from taking up a position that would have rendered the papacy ridiculous
+in the eyes of Europe, when he sought to threaten Naples with
+consequences he was powerless to inflict.
+
+Many writers have accused Lorenzo of cowardice, of pusillanimity, of want
+of political resolution on account of this very course of action, namely,
+that he assisted the enemies of Florence to extricate themselves from
+their dilemmas. Such criticism fails entirely to understand both the aim
+and the scope of his policy. He desired to keep Italy for the Italians.
+His clear-sighted sagacity saw nothing but danger in the plans of
+Ludovico of Milan to invite the French King into Italy, or in those of
+Venice to encourage the Duke of Lorraine to press his claims upon Milan.
+The intervention of either France or Spain in Italy was, in his idea,
+fraught only with dire disaster. Fain would he have patched up the
+quarrel between Naples and the papacy by mutual concessions, because
+he foresaw what would happen if the colossal northern powers had their
+cupidity aroused regarding Italy, and learned how defenceless she really
+was. Because he foresaw so clearly the horrors of the invasion of 1494
+and 1527, he acted as he did, even toward those who were enemies of
+Florence. His alarm appears in the letter, dated July, 1489, which he
+addressed to his ambassador in Rome: "I dislike these Ultramontanes and
+barbarians beginning to interfere in Italy. We are so disunited and so
+deceitful that I believe that nothing but shame and loss would be our
+lot; recent experience may serve to foretell the future." How true a
+prophet he was, the subsequent course of Italian history revealed!
+
+Anxious though the situation was, crucial though many of the problems
+he had to solve undoubtedly were, yet the statement may be accepted as
+approximately true that the last three or four years of Lorenzo's
+life were spent amid profound peace--at least as far as Florence was
+concerned. Roscoe's picture is highly colored, but not overcolored:
+
+"At this period the city of Florence was at its highest degree
+of prosperity. The vigilance of Lorenzo had secured it from all
+apprehensions of external attack; and his acknowledged disinterestedness
+and moderation had almost extinguished that spirit of dissension for
+which it had been so long remarkable. The Florentines gloried in their
+illustrious citizen, and were gratified by numbering in their body a man
+who wielded in his hand the fate of nations and attracted the respect
+and admiration of all Europe; the administration of justice engaged his
+constant attention, and he carefully avoided giving rise to an idea that
+he was himself above the control of the law."
+
+And Guicciardini adds: "This season of tranquillity was prosperous beyond
+any that Italy had experienced during the long course of a thousand
+years. Abounding in men eminent in the administration of public affairs,
+skilled in every honorable science and every useful art, it stood high in
+the estimation of foreign nations; which extraordinary felicity, acquired
+at many different opportunities, several circumstances contributed to
+preserve, but among the rest no small share of it was by general consent
+ascribed to the industry and the virtue of Lorenzo de' Medici, a citizen
+who rose so far above the mediocrity of a private station that he
+regulated by his counsels the affairs of Florence, then more important by
+its situation, by the genius of its inhabitants, and the promptitude
+of its resources than by the extent of its dominions, and who, having
+obtained the implicit confidence of the Roman pontiff Innocent VIII,
+rendered his name great and his authority important in the affairs of
+Italy."
+
+Though he had never allowed the demands of civic affairs to interfere
+with his interest in the progress of the Renaissance, war-time, as we
+have said, is not favorable to the cultivation of letters. While
+the connection between the states during the course of hostilities
+undoubtedly promoted the increase of mutual interest in each other's
+intellectual development, the fact that the Magnifico had to disburse
+enormous sums for the prosecution of the campaigns necessarily limited
+his ability to extend the same princely patronage to the cause of
+learning. But with the conclusion of peace he resumed the original scale
+of his benefactions, and the last four years of his life were, perhaps,
+the most fruitful of all in sterling good achieved in the fostering of
+the Renaissance.
+
+He encouraged the printers to double their output; he munificently
+assisted such undertakings as the first edition of Homer, edited by the
+famous scholars Demetrius Chalcondyles and Demetrius Cretensis, as well
+as other editions of the classics prepared by Poliziano, Marullus, and
+others. In the final estimate of his influence upon his age we hope to
+show that his aim was as pure as the prosecution of its realization was
+determined. He encouraged foreigners to come to Florence to study
+Greek, and, when their funds failed them, in many cases he generously
+entertained them at his own expense. Grocyn and Linacre, as well as
+Reuchlin, testify to the wise generosity of the great Magnifico, and all
+three declare that to him, more than to any other man, the Renaissance
+owed not only its development, but even the character it assumed in Italy
+in the second last decade of the fifteenth century.
+
+The end came when he was literally in his prime. Only forty-two years of
+age, he might reasonably have looked forward to many years of active work
+and the enjoyment of his honors! But Lorenzo, although not a vicious, was
+a pleasure-loving man, and he had drained the cup of enjoyment to the
+very lees. His constitution was undermined by worry and late vigils, by
+the very intensity of interest wherewith he had devoted himself to the
+pleasures of the moment. Accordingly, late in 1491 he began to feel the
+gout, from which he had suffered for some years, becoming so troublesome
+that he was unable for the duties devolving on him. He had lost his
+wife, Clarice Orsini, in July, 1487, at a time when he was absent at the
+sulphur baths of Filetta, striving to obtain relief from pain; therefore
+his last years were lonely indeed.
+
+Life had lost its relish to the dying Magnifico. The only thing over
+which he showed a flash of the old interest was in March, 1492, when his
+son Giovanni (afterward Leo X), on being made a cardinal by Innocent
+VIII, was invested with the _insignia_ in the Abbey Church of Fiesole.
+Although then within a month of his end, although, moreover, so weak that
+he was unable to attend the investiture mass or to head his table at the
+banquet which followed, he caused himself to be carried in a litter into
+the hall, where he publicly paid reverence to his son as a prince of
+the Church. He then embraced him as a father and gave him his paternal
+blessing. That done, and after addressing a few words of welcome to his
+guests collectively, he was slowly borne back to his chamber to die.
+Nevermore was he seen in public.
+
+His ruling passion was, however, strong in death. In place of surrounding
+himself with clergy, his last hours were spent with the humanists and
+scholars he had loved so well. To his beautiful villa of Careggi, and
+to that room facing the south which he called his own, he retired, and
+summoned Ficino, Poliziano, and Pico della Mirandola to bear him company
+until he dipped his feet in the River of Death. They discussed many
+things, but principally the consolations afforded by philosophy. Then
+they reverted to the subject of the classics, and to the valuable codices
+which Lascaris was bringing back from Greece.
+
+But hope at last burned low, and the physicians had to confess that the
+case was beyond their skill. How rudimentary as regards medical science
+that skill was may be judged from the fact that the staple remedy
+prescribed by the great Milanese doctor, Lazaro da Ficino, who had been
+called in to consult with Lorenzo's own medical man, Pier Leoni of
+Spoleto, was a potion compounded of crushed pearls and jewels. As might
+have been expected, such a treatment accelerated rather than retarded the
+disease.
+
+The last hours of Lorenzo, and particularly his historic interview with
+Savonarola, have often been described and are to this day the subject
+of debate. There are two sides to every story, and this one of the last
+visit of the haughty prior of San Marco's to the dying Magnifico is no
+exception. Poliziano relates the incident in one form, the followers
+of Savonarola in another; but neither report is absolutely authentic.
+Suffice it for us that Benedetto, writing a week after the Magnifico's
+death, says of the matter: "Our dear friend and master died so nobly,
+with all the patience, the reverence, the recognition of God which the
+best of holy men and a soul divine could show, with words upon his lips
+so kind, that he seemed a new St. Jerome."
+
+Perhaps the most reasonable attitude to assume toward the problem is that
+Lorenzo died as he lived, feeling that strange, restless curiosity as to
+what was summed up in the idea of a "future life" which he had manifested
+all his days: "If I believe aught implicitly," he is reported to have
+said in earlier years to Alberti, "I believe in Plato's doctrine of
+immortality in the _Phaedo,_ for religion is too much a matter of
+temperament for us to lay down hard-and-fast rules about it." Lorenzo
+outwardly conformed in his dying hours to the rites of the Catholic
+Church. He received the _viaticum_ kneeling, he repeated the responses in
+an earnest and fervent tone, and then, when he felt that the grains in
+the hour-glass of life were running out, he pressed a crucifix to his
+lips and so passed within the veil. As a humanist he had been reared, as
+a humanist he had lived and labored, as a humanist he died, maintaining
+to the very last his interest in those studies which it had been his
+life's passion to pursue.
+
+The sun of the Florentine renaissance had set forever!
+
+[Footnote 1: By permission of Selmar Hess.]
+
+
+
+DEATH OF CHARLES THE BOLD
+
+LOUIS XI UNITES BURGUNDY WITH THE CROWN OF FRANCE
+
+A.D. 1477
+
+PHILIPPE DE COMINES
+
+
+During the greater part of his rule as duke of Burgundy, Charles the
+Bold was at war with Louis XI of France, notwithstanding the treaty of
+Péronne, 1468, which the French monarch accepted under duress. Meanwhile
+it was the constant aim of Charles to enlarge his dukedom, and when, in
+1475, he had made another peace with Louis, the Duke turned anew to his
+scheme of conquest.
+
+Charles soon made himself master of Lorraine, which he had long coveted,
+and then, 1476, invaded Switzerland. "It was reserved for a small people,
+already celebrated for their heroic valor and their love of liberty, to
+beat this powerful man." Crossing the Jura, Charles besieged the little
+town of Granson, and after its capitulation he hanged or drowned all the
+defenders. When the news of this barbarity had spread through Switzerland
+the eight cantons arose, and almost under the walls of Granson the Swiss
+inflicted upon Charles a crushing defeat. In June, 1476, the Duke saw his
+second army destroyed by the Swiss and the Lorrainers, whom Comines calls
+Germans. In the following winter Charles assembled a third army and
+marched against Nancy, the capital of Lorraine, which was then held by
+the same allies. They were commanded by the Duke of Lorraine, who went to
+the relief of the garrison at Nancy from St. Nicholas, six miles away.
+
+Comines, whose account is given below, was a French statesman and
+historian, who, after being for a time in the service of Charles the
+Bold, went over to Louis and became his personal counsellor. He was
+therefore intimately versed in the history of these times.
+
+The Duke of Lorraine and his army of Germans broke up from St. Nicholas,
+and advanced toward the Duke of Burgundy, with a resolution to give him
+battle. The Count of Campobasso joined them that very day, and carried
+off with him about eightscore men-at-arms; and it grieved him much that
+he could do his master no greater mischief. The garrison of Nancy had
+intelligence of his design, which in some measure encouraged them to hold
+out; besides, another person had got over the works, and assured them
+of relief, otherwise they were just upon surrendering, and would have
+capitulated in a little time, had it not been for the treachery of this
+Count; but God had determined to finish this mystery.
+
+The Duke of Burgundy, having intelligence of the approach of the Duke of
+Lorraine's army, called a kind of council, contrary to his custom, for
+generally he followed his own will. It was the opinion of most of his
+officers that his best way would be to retire to Pont-à-Mousson, which
+was not far off, and dispose his army in the towns about Nancy; affirming
+that, as soon as the Germans had thrown a supply of men and provisions
+into Nancy, they would march off again; and the Duke of Lorraine being in
+great want of money, it would be a great while before he would be able to
+assemble such an army again; and that their supplies of provisions could
+not be so great but, before half the winter was over, they would be in
+the same straits as they were now; and that in the mean time the Duke
+might raise more forces and recruit himself; for I have been told by
+those who ought to know best, that the Duke of Burgundy's army did not
+then consist of full four thousand men, and of that number not above one
+thousand two hundred were in a condition to fight. Money he did not want;
+for in the castle of Luxembourg--which was not far off--there were in
+ready cash four hundred fifty thousand crowns, which would have raised
+men enough. But God was not so merciful to him as to permit him to take
+this wise counsel or discern the vast multitude of enemies who on every
+side surrounded him. Therefore he chose the worst plan, and, like a rash
+and inconsiderate madman, resolved to try his fortune, and engage the
+enemy with his weak and shattered army, notwithstanding the Duke of
+Lorraine had a numerous force of Germans, and the King's army was not far
+off.
+
+As soon as the Count of Campobasso arrived in the Duke of Lorraine's
+army, the Germans sent him word to leave the camp immediately, for they
+would not entertain such traitors among them. Upon which message he
+retired with his party to Condé, a castle and pass not far off, where he
+fortified himself with carts and other things as well as he could,
+in hopes that, if the Duke of Burgundy were routed, he might have an
+opportunity of coming in for a share of the plunder, as he did afterward.
+Nor was this practice with the Duke of Lorraine the most execrable action
+that Campobasso was guilty of; but, before he left the army, he conspired
+with several other officers--finding it was impracticable to attempt
+anything against the Duke of Burgundy's person--to leave him just as they
+came to the charge; for at that time he supposed it would put the army
+into the greatest terror and consternation; and if the Duke fled, he was
+sure he could not escape alive, for he had ordered thirteen or fourteen
+sure men, some to run as soon as the Germans came up to charge them, and
+others to watch the Duke of Burgundy and kill him in the rout; which was
+well enough contrived, for I myself have seen two or three of those who
+were thus employed to kill the Duke. Having thus settled his conspiracy
+at home, he went over to the Duke of Lorraine upon the approach of the
+German army; but, finding they would not entertain him, he retired to
+Condé, as I said before.
+
+The German army marched forward, and with them a considerable body of
+French horse, whom the King had given leave to be present in that action.
+Several parties lay in ambush not far off, that, if the Duke of Burgundy
+were routed, they might surprise some person of quality or take some
+considerable booty. By this everyone may see into what a deplorable
+condition this poor Duke had brought himself by his contempt of good
+counsel. Both armies being joined, the Duke of Burgundy's forces, which
+had been twice beaten before, and were weak and ill-provided besides,
+were quickly broken and entirely defeated. Many saved themselves by
+flight; the rest were either taken or killed; and among them the Duke of
+Burgundy himself was killed on the spot. Not having been in the battle
+myself, I will say nothing of the manner of his death; but I was told by
+some that they saw him beaten down, but, being prisoners themselves, were
+not able to assist him; yet, while they were in sight, he was not killed,
+but a great body of men coming that way afterward, they killed and
+stripped him in the throng, not knowing who he was. This battle was
+fought on January 5, 1476, upon the eve of Twelfth-day.
+
+The King having established posts in all parts of his kingdom--which
+before never had been done--it was not long ere he received the news of
+the Duke of Burgundy's defeat; and he was in hourly expectation of the
+report, for letters of advice had reached him before, importing that
+the German army was advancing toward the Duke of Burgundy's, and that a
+battle was expected between them. Upon which many persons kept their ears
+open for the news, in order to carry it to the King. For his custom was
+to reward liberally any person who brought him the first tidings of any
+news of importance, and to remember the messenger besides. His majesty
+also took great delight in talking of it before it arrived, and would
+say, "I will give so much to any man who first brings me such and such
+news." The Lord du Bouchage and I, being together, happened to receive
+the first news of the battle of Morat, and we went with it to the King,
+who gave each of us two hundred marks of silver. The Lord du Lude,
+who lay without the Plessis, had the first news of the arrival of the
+courier, with the letters concerning the battle of Nancy; he commanded
+the courier to deliver him the packet, and as he was a great favorite of
+the King's he durst not refuse him. By break of day the next morning,
+the Lord du Lude knocked at the door next to the King's chamber, and, it
+being opened, he delivered in the packet from the Lord of Craon and other
+officers. But none of the first letters gave any certainty of the Duke's
+death; they only stated that he was seen to run away, and that it was
+supposed he had made his escape.
+
+The King was at first so transported with joy at the news he scarce knew
+how to behave himself; however, his majesty was still in some perplexity.
+On one hand, he was afraid that if the Duke should be taken prisoner by
+the Germans, by means of his money, of which he had great store, he would
+make some composition with them. On the other, he was doubtful, if the
+Duke had made his escape, though defeated for the third time, whether he
+should seize upon his towns in Burgundy or not; which he judged not very
+difficult to do, since most of the brave men of that country had been
+slain in those three battles. As to this last point, he came to this
+resolution--which I believe few were acquainted with but myself--that if
+the Duke were alive and well, he would command the army which lay ready
+in Champagne and Barrois to march immediately into Burgundy, and
+seize upon the whole country while it was in that state of terror and
+consternation; and when he was in possession of it he would inform the
+Duke that the seizure he had made was only to preserve it for him, and
+secure it against the Germans, because it was held under the sovereignty
+of the crown of France, and therefore he was unwilling it should fall
+into their hands, and whatever he had taken should be faithfully
+restored; and truly I am of opinion his majesty would have done it,
+though many people who are ignorant of the motives that guided the King
+will not easily believe it. But this resolution was altered as soon as he
+was certain of the Duke of Burgundy's death.
+
+Upon the King's receiving the above-mentioned first letter--which gave no
+account of the Duke's death--he immediately sent to Tours, to summon all
+his captains and other great personages to attend him. Upon their arrival
+he communicated his letters to them. They all pretended great joy; but
+to such as more narrowly observed their behavior, it was easy to be
+discerned that most of them did but feign it; and, notwithstanding all
+their outward dissimulation, they had been better pleased if the Duke of
+Burgundy had been successful. The reason of this might be, because the
+King was greatly feared, and now, if he should find himself clear and
+secure from his enemies, they were afraid they would be reduced, or at
+least their offices and pensions retrenched; for there were several
+present who had been engaged against him with his brother the Duke of
+Guienne in the confederacy called the "Public Good." After his majesty
+had discourse with them for some time, he went to mass, and then ordered
+dinner to be laid in his chamber, and made them all dine with him; there
+being with him his chancellor and some other lords of his council.
+The King's discourse at dinner-time was about this affair, and I well
+remember that myself and others took particular notice how those who were
+present dined; but to speak truth--whether for joy or sorrow I cannot
+tell--there was not one of them that half filled his belly; and certainly
+it could not have been from modesty or bashfulness before the King, for
+there was not one among them but had dined with his majesty many times
+before.
+
+As soon as the King rose from table he retired, and distributed to some
+persons certain lands belonging to the Duke of Burgundy, as though he had
+been dead. He despatched the Bastard of Bourbon, Admiral of France, and
+myself into those parts, with full power to receive the homage of all
+such as were willing to submit and become his subjects. He ordered us to
+set out immediately, and gave us commission to open all his letters and
+packets which we might meet by the way, that thereby we might ascertain
+whether the Duke was dead or alive. We departed with all speed, though it
+was the coldest weather I ever felt in my life. We had not ridden above
+half a day's journey when we met a courier, and commanding him to deliver
+his letters we learned by them that the Duke of Burgundy was slain, and
+that his body had been found among the dead, and recognized by an Italian
+page that attended him and by one Monsieur Louppe, a Portuguese, who was
+his physician, and who assured the Lord of Craon that it was the Duke his
+master, and the Lord of Craon notified the same at once to the King.
+
+Upon receiving this news we rode directly to the suburbs of Abbeville,
+and were the first that announced the intelligence to the Duke's
+adherents in those parts. We found the inhabitants of the town in treaty
+with the Lord of Torcy, for whom they had held a great affection for a
+long time. The soldiers and officers of the Duke of Burgundy negotiated
+with us, by means of a messenger whom he had sent to them beforehand; and
+in confidence of success they dismissed four hundred Flemings who
+were then quartered in the town. The citizens, laying hold of this
+opportunity, opened the gates immediately to the Lord of Torcy, to the
+great prejudice and disadvantage of the captains and officers of the
+garrison--for there were seven or eight of them to whom, by virtue of the
+King's authority, we had promised money, and pensions for life; but they
+never enjoyed the benefit of that promise, because the town was not
+surrendered by them. Abbeville was one of the towns that Charles VII
+delivered up by the treaty of Arras in the year 1435, which towns were to
+return to the crown of France upon default of issue male; so that their
+admitting us so easily is not so much to be wondered at.
+
+From thence we marched to Dourlans, and sent a summons to Arras, the
+chief town in Artois, and formerly part of the patrimony of the earls of
+Flanders, which for want of heirs male always descended to the daughters.
+The Lord of Ravestein and the Lord des Cordes, who were in the town of
+Arras, offered to enter into a treaty with us at Mount St. Eloy and to
+bring some of the chief citizens with them. It was concluded that I
+and some others should meet them in the King's behalf; but the Admiral
+refused to go himself, because he presumed they would not consent to
+grant all our demands. I had not been long at the place of appointment
+when the two above-mentioned lords of Ravestein and Des Cordes arrived,
+attended by several persons of quality, and by certain commissioners on
+the part of the city, one of whom was their pensionary, named Monsieur
+John de la Vaquerie, whom they appointed to be their spokesman, and who
+since that time has been made first president of the Parliament of Paris.
+
+We demanded in the King's name to have the gates immediately opened and
+to be received into the town, for both the town and the whole country
+belonged to the King by right of confiscation; and if they refused
+to obey this summons, they would be in danger of being besieged, and
+compelled to submit by force, since their Duke was defeated, and his
+dominions utterly unprovided with means of defence, upon account of their
+irrecoverable losses in the three late battles. The lords returned answer
+by their speaker Monsieur John de la Vaquerie that the county of Artois
+belonged to the lady of Burgundy, daughter of Duke Charles, and descended
+to her in a right line from Margaret, Countess of Flanders, Artois,
+Burgundy, Nevers, and Rethel, who was married to Philip I, Duke of
+Burgundy, son of King John of France, and younger brother to King Charles
+V; wherefore they humbly entreated the King that he would observe and
+continue the truce that had existed between him and the late Duke of
+Burgundy, her father.
+
+Our conference was but short, for we expected to receive this answer; but
+the chief design of my going thither was to have a private conference
+with some persons that were thereto try if I could bring them over to the
+King's interest. I made overtures to some of them, who soon afterward did
+his majesty signal service. We found the whole country in a state of very
+great consternation, and not without cause; for in eight days' time they
+would scarce have been able to raise eight men-at-arms, and for other
+soldiers there were not in the whole country above one thousand five
+hundred--reckoning horse and foot together--that had escaped from the
+battle in which the Duke of Burgundy was slain, and they were quartered
+about Namur and Hainault. Their former haughty language was much altered
+now, and they spoke with more submission and humility; not that I would
+upbraid them with excessive arrogance in times past, but, to speak
+impartially, in my time they thought themselves so powerful that they
+spoke neither of nor to the King with the same respect as they have done
+since; and if people were wise, they would always use such moderate
+language in their days of prosperity that in the time of adversity they
+would not need to change it.
+
+I returned to the Admiral, to give him an account of our conference; and
+there I was informed that the King was coming toward us, and that upon
+receiving the news of the Duke's death he immediately set out, having
+despatched several letters in his own and his officers' names to send
+after him what forces could presently be assembled, with which he hoped
+to reduce the provinces I have just mentioned to his obedience.
+
+The King was overjoyed to see himself rid of all those whom he hated
+and who were his chief enemies; on some of them he had been personally
+revenged, as on the Constable of France, the Duke of Nemours, and several
+others. His brother, the Duke of Guienne, was dead, and his majesty
+came to the succession of the duchy. The whole house of Anjou was
+extinct--René, King of Sicily, John and Nicholas, Dukes of Calabria, and
+since them their cousin, the Count du Maine, afterward made count of
+Provence. The Count d'Armagnac had been killed at Lestore, and the
+King had got the estates and movables of all of them. But the house
+of Burgundy, being greater and more powerful than the rest, having
+maintained war with Charles VII, our master's father, for two-and-thirty
+years together without any cessation, by the assistance of the English,
+and having their dominions bordering upon the King's and their subjects
+always inclinable to invade his kingdom, the King had reason to be more
+than ordinarily pleased at the death of that Duke, and he triumphed more
+in his ruin than in that of all the rest of his enemies, as he thought
+that nobody, for the future, either of his own subjects or his neighbors,
+would be able to oppose him or disturb the tranquillity of his reign. He
+was at peace with England, and made it his chief business to continue so;
+yet, though he was freed in this manner from all his apprehensions, God
+did not permit him to take such courses in the management of his affairs
+as were most proper to promote his own interests and designs.
+
+And certainly, although God Almighty has shown, and does still show, that
+his determination is to punish the family of Burgundy severely, not only
+in the person of the Duke, but in its subjects and estates, yet I think
+the King our master did not take right measures to gain his end. For, if
+he had acted prudently, instead of pretending to conquer them, he should
+rather have endeavored to annex all those large territories, to which he
+had no just title, to the crown of France by some treaty of marriage;
+or to have gained the hearts and affections of the people, and so have
+brought them over to his interest, which he might, without any great
+difficulty, have effected, considering how their late afflictions had
+impoverished and dejected them. If he had acted after that manner, he
+would not only have prevented their ruin and destruction, but extended
+and strengthened his own kingdom, and established them all in a firm and
+lasting peace. He might by this means have eased, his own country of
+its intolerable grievances, and particularly of the marches and
+counter-marches of his troops, which are commanded continually up and
+down from one end of the kingdom to the other, sometimes upon very slight
+occasions.
+
+In the Duke of Burgundy's lifetime the King often talked with me about
+this affair, and told me what he would do if he should outlive the Duke,
+and his discourse at that time was very rational and wise; he told me
+he would propose a match between his son and the Duke of Burgundy's
+daughter, and if she would not consent to that, on the ground that the
+Dauphin was too young, he would then endeavor to marry her to some young
+prince of his kingdom, by which means he might keep her and her subjects
+in amity, and obtain without war what he intended to lay claim to for
+himself; and this was his resolution not more than a week before he heard
+of the Duke of Burgundy's death; but the very day he received that news
+his mind began to change, and this wise counsel was laid aside when the
+Admiral and I were despatched into those provinces. However, the King
+spoke little of what he intended to do--only to some few that were about
+him he promised sundry of the Duke's lordships and possessions.
+
+As the King was upon the road toward us, he received from all parts the
+welcome news of the delivering up the castles of Han and Bohain, and that
+the inhabitants of St. Quentin had secured that town for themselves, and
+opened their gates to their neighbor, the Lord of Mouy. He was certain
+of Peronne, which was commanded by Master William Bische, and, by the
+overtures that we and several other persons had made him, he was in great
+hopes that the Lord des Cordes would strike in with his interest. To
+Ghent he sent his barber, Master Oliver, [1] born in a small village
+not far off; and other agents he sent to other places, with great
+expectations from all of them; and most of them promised him very fair,
+but performed nothing. Upon the King's arrival near Peronne, I went to
+wait on his majesty, and at the same time William Bische and others
+brought him the surrender of the town of Péronne, with which he was
+extremely pleased.
+
+The King stayed there that day, and I dined with him, according to my
+usual custom, for it was his humor to have seven or eight always with him
+at table, and sometimes many more. After dinner he withdrew, and seemed
+not to be at all pleased with the Admiral's little exploit and mine; he
+told us he had sent his barber, Master Oliver, to Ghent, and he doubted
+not but he would persuade that town to submit to him; and Robinet
+Dodenfort to St. Omer, as he had great interest there; and these his
+majesty extolled as fit persons to manage such affairs, to receive the
+keys of great towns, and to put garrisons of his troops into them. He
+also mentioned others whom he had employed in the same negotiation in
+other places.
+
+While the King was busy in subduing towns and places in the marches of
+Picardy, his army was in Burgundy, under the command, apparently, of the
+Prince of Orange, a native and subject of the county of Burgundy, but one
+who had recently, for the second time, become an enemy of Duke Charles,
+so that the King made use of him, because he was a powerful noble in both
+the county and duchy of Burgundy, and was likewise well connected and
+greatly beloved. But the Lord of Craon was the King's lieutenant, and had
+the real charge of the army, and was the person in whom the King reposed
+most confidence; for he was a man of great wisdom, and thoroughly devoted
+to his master, though somewhat too fond of gain. This Lord of Craon, when
+he drew near Burgundy, sent forward the Prince of Orange and others to
+Dijon to use persuasion, and require the people to render obedience to
+the King; and they managed the matter so adroitly, principally by means
+of the Prince of Orange, that the city of Dijon and all the other towns
+in the duchy of Burgundy, together with many in the county, gave their
+allegiance to the King.
+
+[Footnote 1: This personage will be familiar to all who have read
+Sir Walter Scott's novel of _Quentin Durward_. Oliver le Mauvais was
+_valet-de-chambre_ and chief barber to Louis XI; in October, 1474, he
+received letters of nobility from that Prince, authorizing him to change
+his name of Mauvais to that of Le Dain. On November 19, 1477, the King
+conferred the estates of the deceased Count of Meulant on Oliver le Dain
+and his heirs; and to this gift he added the Forest of Senart in October,
+1482. On May 21, 1484, Oliver was hanged "for various great crimes,
+offences, and malefactions."]
+
+
+
+INQUISITION ESTABLISHED IN SPAIN
+
+A.D. 1480
+
+WILLIAM H. RULE JAMES BALMES
+
+
+Prior to the twelfth century the church authorities had been content with
+defining heresy, while the treatment of heretics was left to secular
+magistrates. But the spread of heresy at the end of the twelfth century
+caused the episcopal authorities to look for some occasion for enlarging
+their prerogatives. In 1204 Pope Innocent III appointed a papal delegate
+with authority to judge and punish misbelievers. From this germ sprung
+the Holy Office, commonly known as the Inquisition.
+
+This papal act met with some opposition from the bishops, upon whose
+prerogatives it encroached; and it provoked rebellion among those against
+whom it was directed, the Albigenses of Southern France, whose doctrines
+were spreading into Italy. In 1208 Innocent began a crusade against them,
+which was led by Arnold of Citeaux and Simon de Montfort, and proved a
+bloody war of extermination, lasting several years.
+
+Meanwhile the papacy gradually proceeded in the design of creating
+a tribunal under its own direct control. Such a tribunal was soon
+practically instituted. Its leading spirit was St. Dominic, founder of
+the Dominican order of preaching friars, but the title of Inquisitor was
+not yet adopted at the time of his death, in 1221. St. Dominic, however,
+is with good reason regarded as the founder of the Inquisition.
+
+After the death of St. Dominic the Inquisition gradually assumed a more
+definite and avowed character, and its repressive hand, inflicting
+terrible punishments upon accused heretics, was soon felt throughout
+Southern Europe, and later in the Netherlands, the order of St. Dominic
+at first furnishing its principal agents.
+
+But later the Inquisition entered upon another stage, under Spanish
+direction, through a specific organization, practically independent of
+papal or royal control, though acting under the sanction of both church
+and state. It became "the most formidable of irresponsible engines in the
+annals of religious institutions." Two points of view--Protestant and
+Catholic--are here presented of the Spanish history of the Holy Office.
+
+
+WILLIAM H. RULE
+
+
+"Better and happier luck for Spain"--I translate the words of
+Mariana--"was the establishment in Castile, which took place about this
+time, of a new and holy tribunal of severe and grave judges, for the
+purpose of making inquest and chastising heretical pravity and apostasy,
+judges other than the bishops, on whose charge and authority this office
+was anciently incumbent. For this intent the Roman pontiffs gave them
+authority, and order was given that the princes should help them with
+their favor and arm. These judges were called 'inquisitors,' because of
+the office which they exercised of hunting out and making inquest, a
+custom now very general in Italy, France, Germany, and also in the
+kingdom of Aragon. Castile, henceforth, would not suffer any nation to go
+beyond her in the desire which she always had to punish such enormous and
+wicked excesses. We find mention, before this, of some inquisitors who
+discharged this function, but not in the manner and force of those who
+followed them.
+
+"The chief author and instrument of this salutary grant was the Cardinal
+of Spain (Mendoza), who had seen that, in consequence of the great
+liberty of past years, and from the mingling of Moors and Jews with
+Christians in all sorts of conversation and trade, many things went out
+of order in the kingdom. With that liberty it was impossible that some of
+the Christians should not be infected. Many more, leaving the religion
+which they had voluntarily embraced as converts from Judaism, again
+apostatized and returned to their old superstition--an evil which
+prevailed more in Seville than in any other part. In that city,
+therefore, secret searches were first made, and they severely punished
+those whom they found guilty. If their delinquency was considerable after
+having kept them long time imprisoned, and after having tormented them,
+they burned them. If it was light, they punished the offenders, with the
+perpetual dishonor of their family. Of not a few they confiscated the
+goods, and condemned them to imprisonment for life. On most of them they
+put a _sambenito_, which is a sort of scapulary of yellow color, with a
+red St. Andrew's cross, that they might go marked among their neighbors,
+and bear a signal that should affright and scare by the greatness of the
+punishment and of the disgrace; a plan which experience has shown to
+be very salutary, although, at first, it seemed very grievous to the
+natives."
+
+Cardinal Mendoza might have been an instrument of establishing the new
+tribunal in Spain, but no author was wanted for that work. Pope Gregory
+IX, fit successor of Innocent III, had completed in Spain, as in the
+county of Toulouse and kingdom of France, the scheme which his uncle
+Innocent began. By a bull, dated May 26, 1232, he appointed Dominican
+friars inquisitors in Aragon, and forthwith proceeded to confer the same
+benefit on the kingdoms of Navarre, Castile, and Portugal; Granada being
+in possession of the Moors. Ten years later, in a council at Tarragona,
+the chief technicalities of the Spanish Inquisition were settled. At the
+invitation of Peter, Archbishop of Tarragona, Raymund of Peñaforte, the
+Pope's penitentiary, presided. The definitions of the council are notable
+for the determination they evidence to conduct the affairs of the
+tribunal with entire legal precision and formality. The "vocabulary" was
+now settled, and one has only to turn to the _Acts_ of the Council of
+Tarragona to find the exact meaning of "heretic, believer, suspected,
+simple, vehement, most vehement, favorer, concealer, receiver,
+receptacle, defender, abettor, relapsed."
+
+As everyone may well know, no inconsiderable part of the Spanish
+population consisted of Jews, many of whose ancestors had taken refuge in
+that country, or had settled there for purposes of commerce, ages before
+the birth of our Lord, and their number had been increased from time to
+time, in consequence of imperial edicts which drove them from Italy,
+or by the attractions of honor and wealth in Spain. They were the most
+industrious and therefore the most wealthy people in those kingdoms,
+and had possessed great influence. Their learned men occupied important
+stations as physicians, agents of government, and even officers of
+state; while the "New Christians," or Jews professedly converted to
+Christianity, were intermarried with the highest families in Spain, and
+all this had taken place in spite of the enmity of the clergy, popular
+bigotry, and the adverse legislation of _cortes_ or parliaments. But the
+wealth which procured Jews and New Christians so much worldly influence
+became the occasion of great suffering. The "Old Christians," being less
+industrious, and therefore less affluent, were frequently their debtors.
+And although usury was checked by legislators, who dreaded its pressure
+on themselves, and debts were often repudiated, the Jews maintained their
+position of creditors; and, as the _Cartilla_ says, creditors are often
+unreasonable persons, or, at least, are considered to be such. Christians
+of pure blood, therefore, finding themselves involved in long reckonings,
+became increasingly impatient, and, under a cloak of zeal for the
+Catholic religion, were incessantly embroiling them with the magistracy
+or stirring up the populace against them.
+
+Llorente estimates the number of Jews who perished under the fury of
+mobs, in the year 1391, at upward of one hundred thousand. To evade
+persecution, multitudes submitted to be baptized. More than a million had
+changed name at the end of the fourteenth century. After those tumults
+controversial preachers, such as San Vicente Ferrer, declaimed for popery
+against Judaism; and in the first ten years of the fifteenth century a
+second multitude of forced converts threw themselves into the bosom of
+the Romish Church, to the discouragement of their brethern and to their
+own confusion at last. They were set under the keenest vigilance of the
+inquisitors, without being able even to counterfeit any attachment to the
+Church, whose most grievous yoke they had put on, but which in heart they
+hated.
+
+Now the Church gloried over the declension of Judaism. In presence of
+Benedict XIII, antipope, a Spaniard, wandering in Spain, because in
+Rome they would not own him, a formal disputation was carried on for
+sixty-nine days between Jerome of Santa Fé and other converts--or, as
+the Jews not improperly called them, apostates--on the one side, and a
+company of rabbis on the other. Such a controversy, carried on even
+in the presence of a half-pope, could only come to the prescribed
+conclusion; and after seeing all persuasion and corruption exhausted to
+bring over the Hebrews to his sect, but without much success, Benedict
+closed the debate, pronounced the Jews vanquished, and gave them notice
+of severer measures. The richer from interest, the poorer from bigotry,
+and the priesthood from instinct, poured contempt even on proselytes,
+whom they classified according to their supposed degrees of heterodoxy.
+Some were called "converts," to note the newness of their Christianity;
+others "confessed," to tell that they had confessed the falseness of
+Judaism. Sometimes they were branded as "maranos," from the words _maran
+atha_, which the priests, in their ignorance, took to mean "accursed."
+The whole were spoken of as a generation of maranos, or, worst of all in
+the imagination of a papist, "Jews." Goaded by the cowardly persecution,
+the proselytes groaned after deliverance; a few even dared to renounce
+the profession of a faith they never held, and many resumed the practice
+of Jewish rites in private. This opened a new field to the zeal of the
+inquisitors; but the labor of suppressing a revolt so widely spread, so
+rapidly extending, and even infecting the Romish families with whom the
+imperfect converts were united, was more than the inquisitors could
+undertake without a more powerfully organized system of their own.
+
+I believe that the fear of the Bible and the hatred of the Jews of Spain,
+first imprinted in the page of history by the Council of Illiberis in the
+beginning of the fourth century, was in course of time much aggravated by
+the earnest love of the Spanish Jews for the original scriptures of the
+Old Testament. It was not until the eleventh century that rabbinical
+tradition gained much hold in the Jewish mind in Spain, but, from the
+first, Christians had cursed Jews in sincere but blind zeal against
+the descendants, as they thought, of those who crucified our Lord in
+Jerusalem. Yet the Sephardim in Spain could have had no knowledge of the
+Crucifixion until some weeks, at soonest, after it had taken place, and
+perhaps never knew of the hostility of the Jews in Jerusalem against the
+Saviour.
+
+Until the dispersion of the Eastern colleges in the eleventh century,
+no great rabbis came into Spain with pretension of authority to enforce
+Talmudical traditions. When zealots of the sort did come, they found a
+community of Hebrews far superior to the Jews of Palestine. No Assyrian
+had bribed them to worship the gods of Nineveh. Their neighbors the
+Carthaginians, so long as Carthage stood, had persisted in worshipping
+the Baal and the Ashtaroth that recreant Israelites in Samaria and Jews
+in Jerusalem worshipped for ages; but, while those gods had altars in
+Sidon and in Carthage, we do not hear of any altars being raised to
+them in "the captivity of Jerusalem, which was in Sepharad," or Spain
+(Obadiah, 20); neither do we hear that those Jews betrayed any ambition
+to make a hedge to protect God's law, instead of taking care to keep it.
+But the first propagators of traditionism in Spain came from the East, on
+the breaking up of the great schools of Babylonia by the Persians.
+
+Ancient or Karaite synagogues remained in Spain until the expulsion of
+Jews at the close of the fifteenth century, and yet much later in the
+provinces that were not annexed to the United Kingdom of Castilla and
+Leon under Ferdinand and Isabella. Some of the strongest features of
+biblical learning imparted to the literature of the Reformation in its
+earlier stages proceeded from the converted Jews of Spain.
+
+About the year 1470, when the persecution of both Jews and Mahometans was
+at its height--except in the kingdom of Granada--and when the testimony
+quoted from the Old Testament against worship of images must have been
+extremely galling to the worshippers, the priests thought it necessary
+to enforce the prohibition of vernacular versions of the Bible. Such
+versions, we know, were then circulated more freely in France, Spain,
+and Portugal. In Spain, one of the chief translators was Rabbi Moses of
+Toledo. To put a stop to Bible-reading, an appeal was made to Pope Paul
+II, who prohibited the translation of the holy Scriptures "into the
+languages of the nations." This authority was quoted in the Council of
+Trent by Cardinal Pacheco, in justification of the practice of the Church
+of Rome in his day; but another cardinal, Madrucci, arguing against him,
+replied with cutting calmness that "Paul, of popes the second," or
+any other pope, might be easily deceived in judging of the fitness or
+unfitness of a law, but not so Paul the Apostle, who taught that God's
+word should never depart from the mouth of the faithful.
+
+During the persecutions of the fifteenth century, while Ferdinand and
+Isabella made progress in reconquering the kingdom of Granada from the
+Moors, and Mahometanism, like Judaism, was declining, the Moriscoes, a
+middle class, resembling the New Christians, and not less dangerous to
+Romanism, also challenged the powers of the Inquisition. No other country
+in popedom was at that time more deeply imbued with disaffection of the
+doctrines and worship of the Church of Rome. Then in 1477, one Brother
+Philip de' Barberi, a Sicilian inquisitor, came to the court of Ferdinand
+and Isabella, who were sovereigns of Sicily, to solicit the confirmation
+of some privileges recently granted to the Holy Office in that island;
+and, having observed the peril of the Church within the enlarged and
+united dominions of "the Catholic kings" under whose rule nearly all
+Spain was comprehended, advised the creation of one undivided court of
+inquisition, like that of Sicily, as the only means of defence against
+the maranos, Moriscoes, Jews, and Mussulmans.
+
+The advice was quickly taken. First of all, the Dominicans, and after
+them the dignitaries of the secular clergy, crowded round the throne to
+pray for a reformation of the Inquisition after the Sicilian model. They
+appealed to the greed of King Ferdinand by offering him the proceeds of
+a confiscation, which might be rapidly effected, in pursuance of laws of
+the Church to that intent provided. They appealed to the piety of Queen
+Isabella, and were careful that tales of Jewish murders and Jewish
+desecrations should be poured incessantly into the royal ear. Ferdinand
+had no scruple. He sincerely prayed the Pope to sanction such a measure,
+and, swiftly as couriers could bring it, came the desired bull. Isabella
+could not blame the zeal of priests and monks; for she, too, was a
+zealot. She could not gainsay the urgency of the nuncio. She could not
+quench in her husband's bosom the thirst of gold. But she had brought
+half the kingdom as her dower; and therefore some deference was due to
+her conscience and judgment, and both in conscience and judgment she
+desired gentler measures. During two or three years her orator and
+confessor wrote books, and preachers were permitted to publish arguments,
+and disputants to enter into conferences, for the conviction of the Jews.
+
+At her majesty's request, Cardinal Mendoza issued a constitution in
+Seville, in 1478, containing "the form that should be observed with a
+Christian from the day of his birth, as well in the sacrament of baptism
+as in all other sacraments which he ought to receive, and of what he
+should be taught, and ought to do and believe as a faithful Christian,
+every day, and at all times of his life, until the day of his death. And
+he ordered this to be published in all the churches of the city, and put
+in tables in each parish, as a settled constitution. He also published a
+summary of what curates and clerks should teach their parishioners, and
+what the parishioners should observe and show to their children." Thus
+does Hernando del Pulgar, in his _Chronicle of the Catholic Sovereigns_,
+describe what some too hastily call a catechism. It was merely a standard
+of things to be believed and done, set forth by authority. The King and
+Queen also, _not the Cardinal_, commanded "some friars, clerks, and other
+religious persons to teach the people." But no true Jew would let himself
+be taught that idolatry is not damnable; and even the less discouraging
+issues of controversy with the vacillating or the ignorant were not
+honestly reported.
+
+The constitution of Cardinal Mendoza and the harangues of the friars were
+ineffectual, as well they might be, for the Jews knew that the Christians
+had a sacred book, said to be written by divine inspiration, as well as
+the Law of Moses; and if that book was not put into their hands, they
+could scarcely be expected to believe a religion whose chief written
+authority was kept out of sight. That it was, indeed, kept out of sight
+was undeniable; and the notorious Alfonso de Castro, chaplain of Philip
+II, boasted in his book against heresies that there was "an edict of
+the most illustrious and Catholic sovereigns of Spain, Ferdinand and
+Isabella, in which, under the severest penalties, they forbade anyone to
+translate the holy Scriptures into a vulgar language, or to have any such
+version in his possession. For they were afraid lest any occasion
+of error should be given to the people over whom God had made them
+governors." The clergy maintained that conversion to the truth by
+argument was impossible, and, at their instance, the bull was no longer
+kept in reserve, but was published in 1480.
+
+The Queen's trial of humanity was ended; but a question of policy
+remained. The King and Queen remembered that they had an interest in
+Spain as well as the Pope, but they scarcely knew how that interest
+could be guarded if the inquisitors were allowed absolute power over the
+persons and property of their subjects. To have proposed lay assessors
+and open court would have provoked a quarrel with the Pope, then powerful
+enough to raise Europe in arms against them; therefore they modestly
+requested no more than that some priests nominated by the King should
+be associated with some others nominated by the Pope; or that the King
+should name all, and the Pope confirm his nominations. The "Catholic
+sovereigns" calculated that nominees of Rome would, of course, prefer the
+rights of the Church to those of the crown, but they fancied, or they
+wished to fancy, that priests of their own choice would prefer their
+interests to those of a stranger. This was an illusion, and therefore
+Rome made little difficulty; and after due correspondence, and some
+changes, the Supreme Council of the Spanish Inquisition was constituted
+thus:
+
+Inquisitor-general--Friar Thomas de Torquemada, of whom Llorente says
+that it was hardly possible that there could have been another man so
+capable of fulfilling the intentions of King Ferdinand, by multiplying
+confiscations; those of the court of Rome, by propagating their
+jurisdictional and pecuniary maxims; and those of the projectors of the
+Inquisition, by infusing terror into the people by public executions.
+
+
+Two assessors--Juan Gutierrez de Chabes and Tristan de Medina,
+jurisconsults.
+
+Three King's counsellors--Don Alonso Carillo, a bishop-elect, with Sancho
+Valasquez de Cuellar and Poncio de Valencia, doctors of civil law. In
+matters relating to royal power they were to have a definite vote; but in
+affairs of spiritual jurisdiction they could only be suffered to offer an
+opinion, inasmuch as a spiritual power resided in the chief inquisitor
+alone.
+
+Under the jurisdiction of the supreme council were four subordinate
+tribunals, and eventually several others were added, while some
+inquisitors, hitherto holding special powers from the Pope, were stripped
+of their independence, that the court of Rome might have one uniform
+action throughout Spain. As the Holy Office advanced in labor and
+experience, the supreme council was enlarged, and at last it consisted of
+a president--inquisitor-general for the time being; six counsellors
+with the title of apostolic; a fiscal; a secretary of the chamber;
+two secretaries of the council; an alguazil-in-chief, or sheriff; one
+receiver; two reporters; four apparitors; one solicitor; and as many
+consulters as circumstances might require. Of course these were all
+maintained in a style worthy of their office. The Inquisitor-general, or
+president of the council, exerted an absolute power over every Spanish
+subject, so that he almost ceased to be himself a subject. He alone
+consulted with the King concerning the appointment of inquisitors to
+preside over all the provincial tribunals. Each of those inferior
+inquisitions was managed by three inquisitors, two secretaries, one
+under-sheriff, one receiver, and a certain number of triers and
+consulters. Their functions were considerably restricted, leaving
+all capital cases and ultimate decisions in the hands of the Madrid
+"Supreme."
+
+But while Ferdinand, Isabella, Torquemada, and the nuncio were concerting
+their plans and preparing death for heretics, what said Spain to it?
+Neither was clergy nor laity content. After the bull of Sixtus IV
+empowering the King to name inquisitors furnished with absolute
+authority, and to remove them at pleasure, had arrived, but lay
+unpublished in consequence of the Queen's repugnance, a provincial synod
+sat at Seville, where the regal court then was, 1478. Had the clergy of
+Castile desired the Inquisition, the synod would have said so; but so far
+were they from approving of such a tribunal, to which every bishop would
+be subject, but where no bishop would any longer have a voice, that they
+passed over the affair of heresy in silence, not consenting to accept the
+Inquisition, yet not presuming to remonstrate against it. Then would have
+been the time for the clergy to add their power to that of the throne for
+the suppression of false doctrine, believing, as they did believe, that
+forcible suppression was not only lawful, but meritorious in the sight of
+God; and so they would probably have done if inquisitor and bishop were
+to have had coördinate jurisdiction, as in the first inquisition of
+Toulouse, and in the early Italian inquisition; but they saw, with alarm,
+that the episcopate was to be despoiled of its authority at a stroke.
+
+A few months before the publication of the bull, but long after every
+person in Spain knew the purport of its contents, and in the certainty
+that it would be carried into execution, the Cortes of Toledo met;
+but, instead of avoiding any act that would interfere with the new
+jurisdiction then to be introduced, they made several provisions for
+separating Jews and Christians by the enclosure of Jewries in the towns,
+and for compelling the former to wear a peculiar garb, and abstain from
+exercising the vocation of surgeon or physician or innkeeper or barber
+or apothecary among Christians. The parliament plainly ignored the
+Inquisition in making this enactment on their own authority.
+
+And what said the magistracy and the people? Seville represented
+the general state of feeling at the time. There, when a company of
+inquisitors presented themselves, conducted into the city by men and
+horses which had been impressed for the purpose by royal order, the civil
+authorities refused to help them, notwithstanding the injunctions of the
+bull, the obligations of canon law, and a mandate from the Crown. The new
+inquisitors found themselves unable to act for want of help; meanwhile
+the objects of their mission forsook the city, and found shelter in the
+neighboring districts; and Ferdinand had to issue specific orders to
+overpower the hostility of all the classes of the people and to compel
+the magistrates to assist the new set of officers ecclesiastic. These
+orders were most reluctantly obeyed.
+
+Thus fortified, the inquisitors took up their abode in the Dominican
+convent of St. Paul, and issued their first mandate January 2, 1481.
+They said that they were aware of the flight of the New Christians, and
+commanded the Marquis of Cadiz, the Count of Arcos, and all the dukes,
+marquises, counts, gentlemen, rich men, and others of the kingdom of
+Castile to arrest the fugitives and send them to Seville within a
+fortnight, sequestrating their property. All who failed to do this were
+excommunicated as abettors of heresy, deposed from their dignities, and
+deprived of their estates; and their subjects were to be absolved from
+homage and obedience. Crowds of fugitives were driven back into Seville,
+bound like felons; the dungeons and apartments of the convent overflowed
+with prisoners; and the King assigned the castle of Triana, on the
+opposite bank of the Guadalquiver, to the "New and Holy Tribunal," to be
+a place of safe custody. There the inquisitors, elate with triumph over
+the reluctant magistrates and panic-stricken people, shortly afterward
+erected a tablet with an inscription in memory of the first establishment
+of the modern Inquisition in Western Europe. The concluding sentences
+of the inscription were: "God grant that, for the protection and
+augmentation of the faith, it may abide unto the end of time!--Arise, O
+Lord, judge thy cause!--Catch ye the foxes!"
+
+Their second edict was one of "grace." It summoned all who had
+apostatized to present themselves before the inquisitors within a term
+appointed, promising that all who did so, with true contrition and
+purpose of amendment, should be exempted from confiscation of their
+property--it was understood that they should be punished in some other
+way--but threatening that, if they allowed that term to pass over without
+repentance, they should be dealt with according to the utmost rigor of
+the law. Many ran to the convent of St. Paul, hoping to merit some small
+measure of indulgence. But the inquisitors would not absolve them until
+they had disclosed the names, calling, residence, and given a description
+of all others whom they had seen, heard, or understood to have
+apostatized in like manner. After getting this information, they bound
+the terrified informers to secrecy. This first object being accomplished,
+they sent out a third monition, requiring all who knew any that had
+apostatized into the Jewish heresy to inform against them within six
+days, under the usual penalties. But they had already marked the very
+men; and those suspected converts suddenly saw the apparitors inside
+their houses, and were dragged away to the dungeons. New Christians who
+had preserved any of the familiar usages of their forefathers, such as
+putting on clean clothes on Saturday, who stripped the fat from beef or
+mutton, who killed poultry with a sharp knife, covered the blood, and
+muttered a few Hebrew words, who had eaten flesh in Lent, blessed their
+children, laying hands on their heads, who observed any peculiarity of
+diet or distinction of feast or fast, mourned for the dead after their
+ancient manner, or whose friends had presumed to turn the face toward a
+wall when in the agony of death, all such being vehemently suspected of
+apostasy, were to be punished accordingly. Thirty-six elaborate articles
+were furnished whereby everyone was instructed how to ensnare his
+neighbor.
+
+But what shall we say of a faith that could only hope to be kept alive
+in the world by the extinction of charity, honor, pity, and humanity?
+Llorente describes the immediate issue:
+
+"Such opportune measures for multiplying victims could not but produce
+the desired effect. Hence, on January 6, 1481, there were burned six
+unhappy persons; sixteen on March 26th; many on April 21st; and by
+November 4th, two hundred ninety-eight in all. Besides these, the
+inquisitors condemned seventy-nine to perpetual imprisonment. And all
+this in the city of Seville only; since, as regards the territories of
+this archbishopric and of the bishopric of Cadiz, Juan de Mariana says
+that, in the single year of 1481, two thousand Judaizers were burned in
+person, and very many in effigy, of whom the number is not known, besides
+seventeen thousand subjected to cruel penance. Among those burned were
+many principal persons and rich inhabitants, whose property went into the
+treasury.
+
+"As so many persons were to be put to death by fire, the Governor of
+Seville caused a permanent raised pavement, or platform of masonry, to
+be constructed outside the city, which has lasted to our time [until
+the French invasion, if not later], retaining its name of _Quemadero_
+('Burning-place'); and at the four corners four large hollow statues of
+limestone, within which they used to place the impenitent alive, that
+they might die by slow heat. I leave my readers to consider whether this
+punishment of an error of the understanding was consistent or not with
+the doctrine of the Gospel?
+
+"Fear caused an immense multitude of others of the same class of New
+Christians to emigrate to France, Portugal, and even Africa. But many
+others, whose effigies had been burned, appealed to Rome, complaining of
+the injustice of those proceedings; in consequence of which appeals the
+Pope wrote, on January 29, 1482, to Ferdinand and Isabella, saying that
+there were innumerable complaints against the inquisitors, Fray Miguel
+Morillo and Fray Juan de San Martin especially, because they had not
+confined themselves to canon law, but declared many to be heretics that
+were not. His holiness said that, but for the royal nomination, he would
+have deprived them of their office; but that he revoked the power he had
+given to the sovereign to nominate others, supposing that fit persons
+would be found among those nominated by the general or the provincial of
+the Dominicans, to whom the privilege belonged, and in prejudice of
+whose privilege the former nomination by Ferdinand and Isabella had been
+allowed."
+
+So adroitly did the Pope take the absolute control of the Inquisition
+into his own hands under pretence of impartial justice, and leave the
+weaker tyrant to eat the fruit of his doings. But since that time pope
+and king have been again united in the management of the Holy Office, the
+latter, however, in abject subservience to the former. Neither in the
+appeals nor in the brief was there anything that could divert Torquemada
+from the prosecution of his purposes; and therefore he hastened to bring
+Aragon under his jurisdiction. Ferdinand convened the cortes of that
+kingdom in the city of Tarragona, April, 1484; in that assembly appointed
+a junta to prepare measures for the establishment of another tribunal;
+and then Torquemada, in pursuance of the latest pontifical decision,
+created Friar Caspar Inglar, a preacher of the Dominican community, and
+Pedro Arbues de Epila, a canon of the metropolitan church, inquisitors.
+The King gave a mandate to the civil authorities--a firman, it might
+be called--compelling them to lend aid to the new officers; and, on
+September 13th following, the Grand Justice of Aragon, with his five
+lieutenants of the long robe and various other magistrates, swore upon
+the holy Gospels that they would give men and arms to defend and to
+enforce the authority of the Holy Inquisition. And as they swore
+thus, the King's chief secretary for Aragon, the prothonotary, the
+vice-chancellor, the royal treasurer--whose own father and grandfather
+were Jews, and persecuted by the old inquisitors--together with a
+multitude of persons of high rank and office, in whose veins flowed
+Jewish blood, and whose descendants are now among the first families in
+Spain, looked on with dismay, and sent a deputation to Rome, bearing
+remonstrance against the newly created Inquisition; and deputed others
+to present their appeal to the same effect at the court of Ferdinand
+and Isabella. All these deputies were afterward proceeded against as
+hinderers of the Holy Office; and meanwhile the inquisitors, in contempt
+of opposition, set themselves to work without delay.
+
+In the months of May and June, 1485, two acts of faith were celebrated in
+Saragossa, capital of Aragon, and a large number of New Christians burned
+alive. The public was enraged, certainly, but helpless; yet not so
+helpless but that many awoke to a conviction that, since the inquisitors
+had resorted to terror for the conservation of the faith, they ought to
+be restrained by terror in their turn.
+
+In the night of September 14, 1485, one of the inquisitors, Pedro Arbues,
+covered as usual with a coat of mail under his robes, and wearing a steel
+skull-cap under his hat--for he was every moment conscious of guilt and
+apprehensive of retribution--took a lantern in one hand and a bludgeon in
+the other; and, like a sturdy soldier of his peculiar Church, walked from
+his house to the cathedral of that same Saragossa, to join in matins. He
+knelt down by one of the pillars, setting his lantern on the pavement.
+His right hand held the weapon of defence, yet stealthily half covered
+with the cloak. The canons, in their places, were chanting hymns. Two men
+came and knelt down near him. They understood, as most Spaniards do, how
+most effectually to attack a man, and how to kill him quickest. Therefore
+one of them suddenly disabled him on one side by a blow on the left arm.
+The other swung his cudgel at the back of his head, just below the edge
+of the steel cap, and laid him prone. He never spoke again, but expired
+in a few hours. This murder, as might be expected, was well made use of
+by the priests, serving them to plead the necessity of an inquisition to
+repress violence; and the inhabitants of the city were instantly overawed
+by a display of high judicial authority which they had no power to
+resist.
+
+Queen Isabella, horrified at the murder of her confessor--for "confessor
+of the kings" was an honorary dignity conferred on each inquisitor in
+Spain--erected a monument to his memory at her own expense; and when the
+murders perpetrated by Arbues himself had somewhat faded out of public
+memory, he was beatified at Rome, and a chapel was constructed for his
+veneration in the church where he had fallen. Therein his remains were
+laid; and over the spot where he received the mortal blow a stone was
+placed, with the inscription: "_Siste, viator,_" etc. "Stay, traveller!
+Thou adorest the place (_locum adoras_) where the blessed Pedro de Arbues
+was laid low by two missiles. Epila gave him birth. This city gave him a
+canonry. The apostolic see elected him to be the first Father Inquisitor
+of the Faith. Because of his zeal he became hateful to the Jews; by whom
+slain, he fell here a martyr in the year 1485. The most serene Ferdinand
+and Isabella reared a marble mausoleum, where he became famous for
+miracles. Alexander VII, Pontifex Maximus, wrote him into the number of
+holy and blessed martyrs on the 17th day of April in the year 1664. The
+tomb having been opened, the sacred ashes were translated, and placed
+under the altar of the chapel (built by the chapter, with the material
+of the tomb, in the space of sixty-five days), with solemn rite and
+veneration, on the 23d day of September, in the year 1664."
+
+The intelligence of that murder threw all Aragon into commotion. The
+powers, ecclesiastical and royal, panted for vengeance, and the murderers
+were put to a most painful death. The Jews and New Christians trembled
+with terror and rage. The inhabitants of many towns, Teruel, Valencia,
+Lerida, and Barcelona included, compelled the inquisitors to cease from
+inquest; and it was only by means of military force, after edicts and
+bulls had failed, that the King and Pope together could quash two years'
+public resistance. In Saragossa, where the murder had been contrived by a
+party of chief inhabitants, a consciousness of guilt weakened their hands
+and they endeavored to save themselves by flight. Thousands of people
+deserted the city, although they had no participation in the deed and
+were everywhere treated as rebels; and in that migration incidents
+occurred which might throw a tinge of horrible romance on our history.
+Let me briefly mention two.
+
+An inhabitant of Saragossa found his way to Tudela, and there begged for
+shelter and concealment in the house of Don Jaime, Infante of Navarre,
+legitimate son of the Queen of Navarre and nephew of King Ferdinand
+himself. The Infante could not refuse asylum and hospitality to an
+innocent fugitive. He allowed the man to hide himself for a few days and
+then pass on to France. For this act of humanity Don Jaime was arrested
+by the inquisitors, thrown into prison as an impeder of the Holy Office,
+brought thence to Saragossa, a place quite beyond the jurisdiction of
+Navarre, and there made to do open penance in the cathedral, in presence
+of a great congregation at high mass. And what penance! The Archbishop
+of Saragossa presided; but this Archbishop was a boy of seventeen, an
+illegitimate son of the King; and he it was that commanded two priests to
+flog his father's lawful nephew, the Infante of Navarre, with rods. They
+whipped Don Jaime around the church accordingly.
+
+The other case was diabolical. Gaspar de Santa Cruz escaped to Toulouse,
+where he died and was buried after his effigy had been burned in
+Saragossa. In this city lived a son of his, who, in duty bound, had
+helped him to make good his retreat. This son was delated as an impeder
+of the Holy Office, arrested, brought out at an act of faith, made
+to read a condemnation of his deceased father, and then sent to the
+inquisitor at Toulouse, who took him to his father's grave, and compelled
+him to dig up the corpse and burn it with his own hands. Whether the
+inquisitors were most barbarous or the young man most vile, it may be
+difficult to say. But it is a most infamous glory of the Inquisition
+that, for satisfaction of its own requirements, the express laws of God
+and man and the first instincts of humanity are equally set at naught.
+
+The Arch-inquisitor of Spain, shortly after his accession to the office,
+summoned the subalterns from their stations to meet him at Seville, and
+framed, with them, a set of instructions for uniform administration. They
+were published, twenty-eight in number, on October 29, 1484. On January
+9, 1485, eleven more were added. The spirit of these instructions
+pervades the _Directory_ of Eymeric, into which they were incorporated by
+his commentator. It is only important to mention here that on the present
+occasion an agent was appointed to represent this Inquisition at Rome,
+and there to defend the inquisitors on occasion of appeals from the
+subjects of inquisitorial violence or from their friends or their
+survivors. And this was in spite of a bull sent into Spain two years
+before, appointing the Archbishop of Seville sole judge of such appeals.
+But that bull was a mere feint for conciliation and never acted on at
+Rome.
+
+We must not fail to mark this point in the history, forasmuch as here
+begins the practically juridical relation between the court of Rome as
+supreme, and the provinces of the Roman Church as subordinate, in matters
+concerning inquisition.
+
+
+JAMES BALMES
+
+
+As to the Spanish Inquisition, which was only an extension of that which
+was established in other countries, we must divide it, with respect to
+its duration, into three great periods. We omit the time of its existence
+in the kingdom of Aragon, before its introduction into Castile. The
+first of these comprehends the time when the Inquisition was principally
+directed against the relapsed Jews and Moors, from the day of its
+installation under the Catholic sovereigns till the middle of the
+reign of Charles V. The second extends from the time when it began to
+concentrate its efforts to prevent the introduction of Protestantism into
+Spain until that danger entirely ceased; that is, from the middle of the
+reign of Charles V till the coming of the Bourbons. The third and last
+period is that when the Inquisition was limited to repress infamous
+crimes and exclude the philosophy of Voltaire; this period was continued
+until its abolition, in the beginning of the nineteenth century.
+
+It is clear that, the institution being successively modified according
+to circumstances at these different epochs--although it always remained
+fundamentally the same--the commencement and termination of each of these
+three periods which we have pointed out cannot be precisely marked;
+nevertheless, these three periods really existed in its history, and
+present us with very different characters.
+
+Everyone knows the peculiar circumstances in which the Inquisition was
+established in the time of the Catholic sovereigns; yet it is worthy of
+remark that the bull of establishment was solicited by Queen Isabella;
+that is, by one of the most distinguished sovereigns in our history--by
+that Queen who still, after three centuries, preserves the respect and
+admiration of all Spaniards. Isabella, far from opposing the will of the
+people in this measure, only realized the national wish. The Inquisition
+was established chiefly against the Jews. Before the Inquisition
+published its first edict, dated Seville, in 1481, the Cortes of Toledo,
+in 1480, had adopted severe measures on the subject. To prevent the
+injury which the intercourse between Jews and Christians might occasion
+to the Catholic faith, the cortes had ordered that unbaptized Israelites
+should be obliged to wear a distinctive mark, dwell in separate quarters,
+called _juiveries_, and return there before night. Ancient regulations
+against them were renewed; the professions of doctor, surgeon,
+shopkeeper, barber, and tavern-keeper were forbidden them. Intolerance
+was, therefore, popular at that time. If the Inquisition be justified in
+the eyes of friends to monarchy, by conformity with the will of kings, it
+has an equal claim to be so in the eyes of lovers of democracy.
+
+No doubt the heart is grieved at reading the excessive severities
+exercised at that time against the Jews; but must there not have been
+very grave causes to provoke such excesses? The danger which the Spanish
+monarchy, not yet well established, would have incurred if the Jews, then
+very powerful on account of their riches and their alliances with the
+most influential families, had been allowed to act without restraint, has
+been pointed out as one of the most important of these causes. It was
+greatly to be feared that they would league with the Moors against the
+Christians. The respective positions of the three nations rendered this
+league natural; this is the reason why it was looked upon as necessary to
+break a power which was capable of compromising anew the independence of
+the Christians. It is necessary also to observe that at the time when the
+Inquisition was established the war of eight hundred years against the
+Moors was not yet finished. The Inquisition was projected before 1474; it
+was established in 1480, and the conquest of Granada did not take place
+till 1492. Thus it was founded at the time when the obstinate struggle
+was about to be decided; it was yet to be known whether the Christians
+would remain masters of the whole peninsula or whether the Moors should
+retain possession of one of the most fertile and beautiful provinces;
+whether these enemies, shut up in Granada, should preserve a position
+excellent for their communication with Africa, and a means for all the
+attempts which, at a later period, the Crescent might be disposed to make
+against us. Now, the power of the Crescent was very great, as was clearly
+shown by its enterprises against the rest of Europe in the next century.
+In such emergencies, after ages of fighting, and at the moment which was
+to decide the victory forever, have combatants ever been known to conduct
+themselves with moderation and mildness?
+
+It cannot be denied that the system of repression pursued in Spain, with
+respect to the Jews and the Moors, was inspired, in great measure, by the
+instinct of self-preservation: we can easily believe that the Catholic
+princes had this motive before them when they decided on asking for the
+establishment of the Inquisition in their dominions. The danger was not
+imaginary; it was perfectly real. In order to form an idea of the turn
+which things might have taken if some precaution had not been adopted,
+it is enough to recollect the insurrections of the last Moors in later
+times.
+
+Yet it would be wrong, in this affair, to attribute all to the policy
+of royalty; and it is necessary here to avoid exalting too much the
+foresight and designs of men; for my part, I am inclined to think that
+Ferdinand and Isabella naturally followed the generality of the nation,
+in whose eyes the Jews were odious when they persevered in their creed,
+and suspected when they embraced the Christian religion. Two causes
+contributed to this hatred and animadversion: first, the excited state of
+religious feeling then general in all Europe, and especially in Spain;
+second, the conduct by which the Jews had drawn upon themselves the
+public indignation.
+
+The necessity of restraining the cupidity of the Jews, for the sake of
+the independence of the Christians, was of ancient date in Spain: the old
+assemblies of Toledo had attempted it. In the following centuries the
+evil reached its height; a great part of the riches of the peninsula had
+passed into the hands of the Jews, and almost all the Christians found
+themselves their debtors. Thence the hatred of the people against the
+Jews; thence the frequent troubles which agitated some towns of the
+peninsula; thence the tumults which more than once were fatal to the
+Jews, and in which their blood flowed in abundance. It was difficult for
+a people accustomed for ages to set themselves free by force of arms to
+resign themselves peacefully and tranquilly to the lot prepared for them
+by the artifices and exactions of a strange race, whose name, moreover,
+bore the recollection of a terrible malediction.
+
+In later times an immense number of Jews were converted to the Christian
+religion; but the hatred of the people was not extinguished thereby,
+and mistrust followed these converts into their new state. It is very
+probable that a great number of these conversions were hardly sincere,
+as they were partly caused by the sad position in which the Jews who
+continued in Judaism were placed. In default of conjectures founded on
+reason in this respect, we will regard as a sufficient corroboration of
+our opinion the multitude of Judaizing Christians who were discovered as
+soon as care was taken to find out those who had been guilty of apostasy.
+However this may be, it is certain that the distinction between New and
+Old Christians was introduced; the latter denomination was a title
+of honor, and the former a mark of ignominy; the converted Jews were
+contemptuously called _maranos_ ("impure men," "pigs"). With more or
+less foundation, they were accused of horrible crimes. In their dark
+assemblies they committed, it was said, atrocities which could hardly be
+believed for the honor of humanity. For example, it was said that, to
+revenge themselves on the Christians and in contempt of religion, they
+crucified Christian children, taking care to choose for the purpose the
+greatest day among Christian solemnities. There is the often-repeated
+history of the knight of the house of Guzman, who, being hidden one night
+in the house of a Jew whose daughter he loved, saw a child crucified at
+the time when the Christians celebrated the institution of the sacrifice
+of the eucharist. Besides infanticide, there were attributed to the Jews
+sacrileges, poisonings, conspiracies, and other crimes. That these rumors
+were generally believed by the people is proved by the fact that the Jews
+were forbidden by law to exercise the professions of doctor, surgeon,
+barber, and tavern-keeper; this shows what degree of confidence
+was placed in their morality. It is useless to stay to examine the
+foundations for these sinister accusations. We are not ignorant how far
+popular credulity will go, above all when it is under the influence of
+excited feelings, which makes it view all things in the same light. It is
+enough for us to know that these rumors circulated everywhere and with
+credit, to understand what must have been the public indignation against
+the Jews, and consequently how natural it was that authority, yielding
+to the impulse of the general mind, should be urged to treat them with
+excessive rigor.
+
+The situation in which the Jews were placed is sufficient to show that
+they might have attempted to act in concert to resist the Christians;
+what they did after the death of St. Peter Arbues shows what they
+were capable of doing on other occasions. The funds necessary for the
+accomplishment of the murder--the pay of the assassins, and the other
+expenses required for the plot--were collected by means of voluntary
+contributions imposed on themselves by all the Jews of Aragon. Does not
+this show an advanced state of organization, which might have become
+fatal if it had not been watched?
+
+In alluding to the death of St. Peter Arbues, I wish to make an
+observation on what has been said on this subject as proving the
+unpopularity of the establishment of the Inquisition in Spain. What more
+evident proof, we shall be told, can you have than the assassination of
+the inquisitor? Is it not a sure sign that the indignation of the people
+was at its height and that they were quite opposed to the Inquisition?
+Would they otherwise have been hurried into such excesses? If by "the
+people" you mean the Jews and their descendants, I will not deny that the
+establishment of the Inquisition was indeed very odious to them, but it
+was not so with the rest of the nation. The event we are speaking of gave
+rise to a circumstance which proves just the reverse. When the report of
+the death of the inquisitor was spread through the town, they went in
+crowds in pursuit of the New Christians, so that a bloody catastrophe
+would have ensued had not the young Archbishop of Saragossa, Alphonsus of
+Aragon, presented himself to the people on horseback, and calmed them by
+the assurance that all the rigor of the laws should fall on the heads of
+the guilty. Was the Inquisition as unpopular as it has been represented?
+and will it be said that its adversaries were the majority of the people?
+Why, then, could not the tumult of Saragossa have been avoided in spite
+of all the precautions which were no doubt taken by the conspirators, at
+that time very powerful by their riches and influence?
+
+At the time of the greatest rigor against the Judaizing Christians, there
+is a fact worthy of attention. Persons accused, or threatened with the
+pursuit of the Inquisition, took every means to escape the action of that
+tribunal: they left the soil of Spain and went to Rome. Would those
+who imagine that Rome has always been the hot-bed of intolerance, the
+firebrand of persecution, have imagined this? The number of causes
+commenced by the Inquisition, and summoned from Spain to Rome, is
+countless, during the first fifty years of the existence of that
+tribunal; and it must be added that Rome always inclined to the side of
+indulgence. I do not know that it would be possible to cite one accused
+person who, by appealing to Rome, did not ameliorate his condition. The
+history of the Inquisition at that time is full of contests between the
+kings and popes; and we constantly find, on the part of the holy see,
+a desire to restrain the Inquisition within the bounds of justice and
+humanity. The line of conduct prescribed by the court of Rome was not
+always followed as it ought to have been. Thus we see the popes compelled
+to receive a multitude of appeals, and mitigate the lot that would have
+befallen the appellants if their cause had been definitely decided in
+Spain. We also see the Pope name the judge of appeal, at the solicitation
+of the Catholic sovereigns, who desired that causes should be finally
+decided in Spain: the first of these judges was Inigo Manrique,
+Archbishop of Seville. Nevertheless, at the end of a short time, the same
+Pope, in a bull of August 2, 1483, said that he had received new appeals,
+made by a great number of the Spaniards of Seville, who had not dared to
+address themselves to the judge of appeal for fear of being arrested.
+Such was then the excitement of the public mind; such was at that time
+the necessity of preventing injustice or measures of undue severity. The
+Pope added that some of those who had had recourse to his justice had
+already received the absolution of the apostolical penitentiary, and that
+others were about to receive it; he afterward complained that indulgences
+granted to divers accused persons had not been sufficiently respected
+at Seville; in fine, after several other admonitions, he observed to
+Ferdinand and Isabella that mercy toward the guilty was more pleasing
+to God than the severity which it was desired to use; and he gave the
+example of the good shepherd following the wandering sheep. He ended by
+exhorting the sovereigns to treat with mildness those who voluntarily
+confessed their faults, desiring them to allow them to reside at Seville
+or in some other place they might choose; and to allow them the enjoyment
+of their property, as if they had not been guilty of the crime of heresy.
+
+Moreover, it is not to be supposed that the appeals admitted at Rome, and
+by virtue of which the lot of the accused was improved, were founded on
+errors of form and injustice committed in the application of the law. If
+the accused had recourse to Rome, it was not always to demand reparation
+for an injustice, but because they were sure of finding indulgence. We
+have a proof of this in the considerable number of Spanish refugees
+convicted at Rome of having fallen into Judaism. Two hundred fifty of
+them were found at one time, yet there was not one capital execution.
+Some penances were imposed on them, and, when they were absolved, they
+were free to return home without the least mark of ignominy. This took
+place at Rome in 1498.
+
+It is a remarkable thing that the Roman Inquisition was never known to
+pronounce the execution of capital punishment, although the apostolic see
+was occupied during that time by popes of extreme rigor and severity in
+all that relates to the civil administration. We find in all parts of
+Europe scaffolds prepared to punish crimes against religion; scenes which
+sadden the soul were everywhere witnessed. Rome is an exception to the
+rule--Rome, which it has been attempted to represent as a monster of
+intolerance and cruelty. It is true that the popes have not preached,
+like Protestants, universal toleration; but facts show the difference
+between popes and Protestants. The popes, armed with a tribunal
+of intolerance, have not spilled a drop of blood; Protestants and
+philosophers have shed torrents. What advantage is it to the victim to
+hear his executioners proclaim toleration? It is adding the bitterness of
+sarcasm to his punishment.
+
+The conduct of Rome in the use which she made of the Inquisition is the
+best apology of Catholicity against those who attempt to stigmatize her
+as barbarous and sanguinary. In truth, what is there in common between
+Catholicity and the excessive severity employed in this place or that, in
+the extraordinary situation in which many rival races were placed, in the
+presence of danger which menaced one of them, or in the interest which
+the kings had in maintaining the tranquillity of their states and
+securing their conquests from all danger?
+
+I will not enter into a detailed examination of the conduct of the
+Spanish Inquisition with respect to Judaizing Christians; and I am
+far from thinking that the rigor which it employed against them was
+preferable to the mildness recommended and displayed by the popes. What
+I wish to show here is that rigor was the result of extraordinary
+circumstances--the effect of the national spirit and of the severity of
+customs in Europe at that time. Catholicity cannot be reproached with
+excesses committed for these different reasons. Still more, if we pay
+attention to the spirit which prevails in all the instructions of
+the popes relating to the Inquisition, if we observe their manifest
+inclination to range themselves on the side of mildness, and to suppress
+the marks of ignominy with which the guilty, as well as their families,
+were stigmatized, we have a right to suppose that, if the popes had not
+feared to displease the kings too much, and to excite divisions which
+might have been fatal, their measures would have been carried still
+further. If we recollect the negotiations which took place with respect
+to the noisy affair of the claims of the Cortes of Aragon, we shall see
+to which side the court of Rome leaned.
+
+As we are speaking of intolerance with regard to the Judaizers, let us
+say a few words as to the disposition of Luther toward the Jews. Does
+it not seem that the pretended reformer, the founder of independence of
+thought, the furious declaimer against the oppression and tyranny of the
+popes, should have been animated with the most humane sentiments toward
+that people? No doubt the eulogists of this chieftain of Protestantism
+ought to think thus also. I am sorry for them; but history will not allow
+us to partake of this delusion. According to all appearances, if the
+apostate monk had found himself in the place of Torquemada, the Judaizers
+would not have been in a better position. What, then, was the system
+advised by Luther, according to Seckendorff, one of his apologists?
+"Their synagogues ought to be destroyed, their houses pulled down, their
+prayer-books, the _Talmud_, and even the books of the Old Testament to
+be taken from them; their rabbis ought to be forbidden to teach, and be
+compelled to gain their livelihood by hard labor." The Inquisition, at
+least, did not proceed against the Jews, but against the Judaizers; that
+is, against those who, after being converted to Christianity, relapsed
+into their errors, and added sacrilege to their apostasy by the external
+profession of a creed which they detested in secret, and which they
+profaned by the exercise of their old religion. But Luther extended his
+severity to the Jews themselves; so that, according to his doctrines, no
+reproach can be made against the sovereigns who expelled the Jews from
+their dominions.
+
+The Moors and the Moriscoes no less occupied the attention of the
+Inquisition at that time; and all that has been said on the subject of
+the Jews may be applied to them with some modifications. They were
+also an abhorred race--a race which had been contended with for eight
+centuries. When they retained their religion, the Moors inspired hatred;
+when they abjured it, mistrust; the popes interested themselves in their
+favor also in a peculiar manner. We ought to remark a bull issued in
+1530, which is expressed in language quite evangelical: it is there said
+that the ignorance of these nations is one of the principal causes of
+their faults and errors; the first thing to be done to render their
+conversion solid and sincere was, according to the recommendation
+contained in this bull, to endeavor to enlighten their minds with sound
+doctrine.
+
+It will be said that the Pope granted to Charles V the bull which
+released him from the oath taken in the Cortes of Saragossa in the year
+1519, an oath by which he had engaged not to make any change with respect
+to the Moors; whereby, it is said, the Emperor was enabled to complete
+their expulsion. But we must observe that the Pope for a long time
+resisted that concession; and that if he at length complied with the
+wishes of the Emperor, it was only because he thought that the expulsion
+of the Moors was indispensable to secure the tranquillity of the kingdom.
+Whether this was true or not, the Emperor, and not the Pope, was the
+better judge; the latter, placed at a great distance, could not know the
+real state of things in detail. Moreover, it was not the Spanish monarch
+alone who thought so; it is related that Francis I, when a prisoner at
+Madrid, one day conversing with Charles V, told him that tranquillity
+would never be established in Spain if the Moors and Moriscoes were not
+expelled.
+
+
+
+MURDER OF THE PRINCES IN THE TOWER
+
+A.D. 1483
+
+JAMES GAIRDNER
+
+
+The brief reign of Richard III, 1483-1485, left for historians one
+subject of dispute which even to our own day has not been finally
+determined--his alleged murder of his nephews, King Edward V and Richard,
+Duke of York, sons of Edward IV. These princes at the supposed time of
+their death were about thirteen and nine years of age respectively.
+
+Before his usurpation Richard III, last of the Plantagenet line, was
+known as the Duke of Gloucester. He served in the Wars of the Roses, and
+on the death of Edward IV, April, 1483, he seized the young Edward V and
+caused himself to be proclaimed protector. He then caused his parliament
+to set the two princes aside as illegitimate, and they were imprisoned
+in the Tower of London. On June 26, 1483, Richard assumed the crown, and
+soon after the death of the princes was publicly announced.
+
+In Gairdner's discussion we have the results of the best historical
+inquiries concerning this most important question of Richard's career.
+
+A great amount of public anxiety prevailed touching the two young princes
+in the Tower. They were virtually prisoners, and their confinement
+created great dissatisfaction. A movement in their behalf was gotten up
+in the South of England while Richard was away. In Kent, Sussex,
+and Essex, in Hampshire, Wiltshire, and Dorset, even as far west as
+Devonshire, cabals were formed for their liberation, which all appear to
+have been parts of one great conspiracy organized in secret by the Duke
+of Buckingham. By the beginning of October some disturbances had actually
+taken place, and the following letter was written in consequence by the
+Duke of Norfolk to one of his dependents in Norfolk:
+
+"_To my right well-beloved friend, John Paston, be this delivered in
+haste_.
+
+"Right well-beloved friend, I commend me to you. It is so that the
+Kentish men be up in the Weald and say that they will come and rob the
+city, which I shall let [_i. e.,_ prevent] if I may.
+
+"Therefore I pray you, that with all diligence you make you ready and come
+hither, and bring with you six tall fellows in harness; and ye shall not
+lose your labor, that knoweth God; who have you in his keeping.
+
+"Written at London the 10th day of October.
+
+"Your friend,
+
+"J. NORFOLK."
+
+The rumor of the projected movement in behalf of the princes was speedily
+followed by the report that they were no more. Of course they had been
+removed by violence. Regarding the time and manner of the deed no news
+could then be obtained, but the news that the deposed King and his
+brother had been assassinated was spread with horror and amazement
+through the land. Among all the inhumanities of the late civil war there
+had been nothing so unnatural as this. To many the tale seemed too cruel
+to be true. They believed that the princes must have been sent abroad
+to defeat the intrigues of their friends. But time passed away and they
+never appeared again. After many years, indeed, an impostor counterfeited
+the younger; but even he, to give credit to his pretensions, expressly
+admitted the murder of his elder brother.
+
+Nevertheless, there have been writers in modern days who have shown
+plausible grounds for doubting that the murder really took place. Two
+contemporary writers, they say, mention the fact only as a report; a
+third certainly states it, incorrectly, at least, in point of time; and
+Sir Thomas More, who is the only one remaining, relates it with certain
+details which it does seem difficult to accept as credible. More's
+account, however, must bear some resemblance to the truth. It is mainly
+founded upon the confession of two of the murderers, and is given by the
+writer as the most trustworthy report he had met with. If, therefore, the
+murder be not itself a fiction, and the confession, as has been surmised,
+a forgery, we should expect the account given by Sir Thomas More to be in
+the main true, clear, and consistent, though Horace Walpole and others
+have maintained that it is not so. The substance of the story is as
+follows: Richard, some time after he had set out on his progress, sent
+a special messenger and confidant, by name John Green, to Sir Robert
+Brackenbury, the constable of the Tower, commanding him to put the two
+princes to death. Brackenbury refused to obey the order, and Green
+returned to his master at Warwick. The King was bitterly disappointed.
+"Whom shall a man trust," he said, "when those who I thought would most
+surely serve me, at my command will do nothing for me?" The words were
+spoken to a private attendant or page, who told him, in reply, that there
+was one man lying on a pallet in the outer chamber who would hardly
+scruple to undertake anything whatever to please him. This was Sir James
+Tyrell, who is described by More as an ambitious, aspiring man, jealous
+of the ascendency of Sir Richard Ratcliffe and Sir William Catesby.
+Richard at once acted upon the hint, and calling Tyrell before him
+communicated his mind to him and gave him a commission for the execution
+of his murderous purpose. Tyrell went to London with a warrant
+authorizing Brackenbury to deliver up to him for one night all the keys
+of the Tower. Armed with this document he took possession of the place,
+and proceeded to the work of death by the instrumentality of Miles
+Forest, one of the four jailers in whose custody the princes were, and
+John Dighton, his own groom. When the young princes were asleep, these
+men entered their chamber, and, taking up the pillows, pressed them hard
+down upon their mouths till they died by suffocation. Then, having caused
+Sir James to see the bodies, they buried them at the foot of a staircase.
+But "it was rumored," says More, "that the King disapproved of their
+being buried in so vile a corner; whereupon they say that a priest of Sir
+Robert Brackenbury's took up the bodies again, and secretly interred
+them in such place as, by the occasion of his death, could never come to
+light." Sir James, having fulfilled his mission, returned to the King,
+from whom he received great thanks, and who, Sir Thomas informs us, "as
+some say, there made him a knight."
+
+It has been maintained that this story will not bear criticism. What
+could have induced Richard to time his cruel policy so ill and to arrange
+it so badly? The order for the destruction of the children could have
+been much more easily, safely, and secretly executed when he was in
+London than when he was at Gloucester or Warwick. Fewer messages
+would have sufficed, and neither warrants nor letters would have been
+necessary. Was it a sudden idea which occurred to him upon his progress?
+If so, he might surely have waited for a better opportunity. If not, he
+might at least have taken care to sift Brackenbury before leaving London,
+so as to be sure of the two he intended to employ. Is it likely that
+Richard would have given orders for the commission of a crime, without
+having good reason to rely upon his intended agent's boldness and
+depravity?
+
+But, having tried Sir Robert's scruples, and found them somewhat stronger
+than he anticipated, what follows? It might have been expected that
+Sir Robert's respect for his master, if he had any, would have been
+diminished; that the favor of his sovereign would have been withdrawn
+from him; and perhaps that the tyrant, having seen an instance of the
+untrustworthiness of men in matters criminal and dangerous, would have
+learned to become a little more circumspect. But the facts are quite
+otherwise. Sir Robert continued long after in the good graces of his
+sovereign, always remained faithful to him, even when many others
+deserted him, and finally fell in battle bravely fighting in his cause.
+Richard did not become more cautious, but, on the contrary, more
+imprudent than ever. He complained loudly of his disappointment, even in
+the presence of a page. This page is nameless in the story, but he serves
+to introduce to the King not less a person than Sir James Tyrell, who is
+represented as willing to do anything to obtain favor, and envious of the
+influence possessed by others. He undertakes and executes the task
+which Brackenbury had refused, and for this service we are told he
+was knighted. All this greatly misrepresents Sir James' position and
+influence, if not his character. He not only was a knight long before
+this, but had been in the preceding year created by Richard himself
+a knight banneret for his distinguished services during the Scotch
+campaign. He had been, during Edward IV's reign, a commissioner for
+executing the office of lord high constable. He was then master of the
+King's henchmen, or pages. He was also master of the horse. If his mere
+position in the world did not make him disdain to be a hired assassin,
+he at least did not require to be recommended through the medium of that
+nameless page.
+
+Moreover, it appears that the fact of the princes having been murdered
+was held in great doubt for a long time afterward. Even More himself,
+writing about thirty years later, is obliged to acknowledge that the
+thing had "so far come in question that some remained long in doubt
+whether they were in Richard's days destroyed or no." This is certainly
+remarkable, when it is considered that it was of the utmost importance
+for Henry VII to terminate all controversy upon the question. Yet Sir
+Thomas tells us that these doubts arose not only from the uncertainty men
+were in whether Perkin Warbeck was the true duke of York, "but for that
+also that all things were so covertly demeaned, one thing pretended and
+another meant, that there was nothing so plain and openly proved but that
+yet, for the common custom of close and covert dealing, men had it ever
+inwardly suspect." All this, it is urged, may very well suggest that
+the doubts were reasonable, and that the princes in reality were not
+destroyed in the days of Richard III. And, indeed, when we consider how
+many persons, according to More's account, took part in the murder or
+had some knowledge of it, it does appear not a little strange that there
+should have been any difficulty in establishing it on the clearest
+evidence. For besides Tyrell, Dighton, and Forest, the chief actors,
+there were Brackenbury, Green the page, one Black Will, or Will
+Slaughter, who guarded the princes, and the priest who buried them, all
+fully aware of the circumstances of the crime.
+
+In Henry VII's time Brackenbury was dead, and so it is said was the
+priest; Forest, too, had ended his days miserably in a sanctuary. But it
+does not appear what had become of either Green or the page. Tyrell and
+Dighton were the only persons said to have been examined; and though we
+are told that they both confessed, yet there is a circumstance that
+makes the confession look exceedingly suspicious. Tyrell was detained in
+prison, and afterward executed, for a totally different offence; while,
+as Bacon tells us, "John Dighton, _who it seemeth spake best for the
+King,_ was forthwith set at liberty." Taking Bacon's view of the
+circumstances of the disclosure as if it were infallible, the sceptics
+here find matter of very grave suspicion. "In truth," says Walpole,
+"every step of this pretended discovery, as it stands in Lord Bacon,
+warns us to give no heed to it. Dighton and Tyrell agreed both in a tale,
+_as the King gave out_. Their confession, therefore, was not publicly
+made; and as Sir James Tyrell, too, was suffered to live, but was shut
+up in the Tower and put to death afterward for we know not what treason,
+what can we believe but that Dighton was some low mercenary wretch, hired
+to assume the guilt of a crime he had not committed, and that Sir James
+Tyrell never did, never would, confess what he had not done, and was
+therefore put out of the way on a fictitious imputation? It must be
+observed, too, that no inquiry was made into the murder on the accession
+of Henry VII--the natural time for it, when the passions of men were
+heated, and when the Duke of Norfolk, Lord Lovel, Catesby, Ratcliffe, and
+the real abettors or accomplices of Richard were attainted and executed.
+No mention of such a murder was made in the very act of parliament that
+attainted Richard himself and which would have been the most heinous
+aggravation of his crimes. And no prosecution of the supposed assassins
+was ever thought of till eleven years afterward, on the appearance of
+Perkin Warbeck." Such are the striking arguments by which it has been
+sought to cast a doubt upon the murder, and particularly More's account
+of it.
+
+To all which it may be replied, in the first place, that it is by no
+means necessary to suppose More's narrative, though it appeared to him
+the most credible account he had heard, absolutely correct in all its
+details, especially in those which he mentions as mere reports. His
+authority was evidently the alleged confession of Tyrell and Dighton,
+obtained second-hand. This, though true in the main, may not have been
+absolutely correct, even as it was first delivered, and may have been
+somewhat less accurate as it was reported to Sir Thomas, who perhaps
+added from hearsay a few errors of his own, like that about Sir James
+Tyrell's knighthood.
+
+Secondly, the argument with regard to Richard's imprudence, in pursuing
+the course ascribed to him, goes but little way to discredit the facts,
+unless it can be shown that caution and foresight were part of his
+ordinary character. The prevailing notion of Richard III, indeed, is of a
+cold, deeply politic, scheming, and calculating villain. But I confess I
+am not satisfied of the justice of such a view. Not only Richard, but
+all his family, appear to me to have been headstrong and reckless as
+to consequences. His father lost his life by a chivalrous and quixotic
+impetuosity; his brother Edward lost his kingdom once by pure
+carelessness; his brother Clarence fell, no less by lack of wisdom than
+by lack of honesty; and he himself, at Bosworth, threw away his life by
+his eagerness to terminate the contest in a personal engagement. Had
+Richard fully intended to murder his nephews at the time he determined
+upon dethroning the elder, I have very little doubt that he would have
+kept his northern forces in London to preserve order in the city till
+after the deed was done. I for my part do not believe that such was his
+intention from the first. How much more probable, indeed, that after he
+had left London the contemplated rising in favor of the princes suggested
+to him an action which cost him his peace of mind during the whole of his
+after-life!
+
+Thirdly, the doubts of contemporaries do not appear to have been very
+general. The expression of Sir Thomas More is only "that some remained in
+doubt"; and More is not a writer who would have glossed over a fact to
+please the court. As to Perkin Warbeck, who pretended to be the younger
+of the princes, Henry VII's neglect to confute his pretensions may have
+arisen from other causes than a suspicion that he was the true duke of
+York. There is no reason to suppose that his followers in England were
+numerous. The belief in the murder appears to have been general. It
+was mentioned as a fact by the Chancellor of France, in addressing the
+estates-general which met at Tours in the following January. It was
+acknowledged to be true in part by Warbeck himself, who, it has been
+shown since Walpole's time, in personating the Duke of York, admitted
+that his brother Edward had been murdered, though he asserted that he
+himself had providentially escaped. It is evident that no one dreamed in
+those days that the story of the murder was altogether a fiction. The
+utmost that any well-informed person could doubt was whether it had been
+successfully accomplished as to both the victims.
+
+With regard to the confessions of Tyrell and Dighton, Bacon has certainly
+spoken without warrant in stating that they were examined at the time of
+Warbeck's appearance. The time when they were examined is stated by
+Sir Thomas More to have been when Tyrell was confined in the Tower for
+treason against Henry VII, which was in 1502, three years after Warbeck's
+execution. Before that date there is no ground for believing that
+Tyrell's guilt in regard to the murder was generally known. Before that
+date, indeed, the world seems to have had no conception in what manner
+the crime was committed, and the common story seems to have been that
+Richard had put his nephews to the sword; but the confession of Tyrell at
+once put an end to this surmise, and we hear of it no longer. Henry VII
+assuredly did not for a long time treat him as a criminal; for not only
+did he hold under Henry the office of captain of Guisnes, but he was
+employed by the King in an expedition against Flanders. Nay, even after
+Warbeck had been taken and confessed his imposture, Tyrell was employed
+on an important embassy to Maximilian, King of the Romans. It is quite
+clear, therefore, that he was never questioned about the murder in
+consequence of Warbeck's pretensions. But being afterward condemned to
+death on a charge of treason--not an unknown charge, as Walpole imagines,
+but a charge of having treasonably aided the escape of the Earl of
+Suffolk--he was then, as More says, examined about it in the Tower,
+having probably made a voluntary confession of guilt to ease his
+conscience before his execution.
+
+No doubt, after all, the murder rests upon the testimony of only a very
+few original authorities, but this is simply owing to the scantiness of
+contemporary historians. It is true, also, that of these there are two
+who only mention it as a report; but it must be observed that neither of
+them expresses the smallest doubt of its truth, and one of them more than
+hints that he believes it as a fact. How, indeed, could there possibly
+be two opinions about a rumor of this kind, seeing that it was never
+contradicted by the King himself? Assuredly from this time the conduct
+both of Richard and his enemies was distinctly governed by the belief
+that his nephews were no longer alive.
+
+Moreover, the truth of the story seems to be corroborated by a discovery
+which took place in the reign of Charles II. In the process of altering
+the staircase leading to the chapel in the White Tower, the skeletons of
+two young lads, whose apparent ages agreed with those of the unfortunate
+princes, were found buried under a heap of stones. Their place of
+sepulture corresponded with the situation mentioned in the confession of
+the murderers, so that the report alluded to by More of the removal of
+the bodies seems to have been a mistake. The antiquaries of the day had
+no doubt they were the remains of young Edward V and his brother, and
+King Charles caused them to be fittingly interred in Henry VII's chapel
+at Westminster. A Latin inscription marks the spot and tells of the
+discovery.
+
+We have no doubt, therefore, that the dreadful deed was done. It was
+done, indeed, in profound secrecy; the fact, I suspect, remained some
+little time unknown; and for years after there was no certainty as to the
+way it was performed. Years elapsed even before the world suspected the
+foul blot upon Tyrell's knighthood, and he enjoyed the favor both of
+Richard and of his successor; but at last the truth came out.
+
+As to the other agents in the business, various entries in the Patent
+Rolls, and in the Docket Book of King Richard's grants, show that they
+did not pass unrewarded. Before the murder Green had been appointed
+comptroller of the customs at Boston, and had also been employed to
+provide horse meat and litter for the King's stables; afterward, if we
+may trust a note by Strype--but I own I cannot find his authority--he
+was advanced to be receiver of the Isle of Wight and of the castle and
+lordship of Portchester. To Dighton was granted the office of bailiff of
+Ayton in Staffordshire. Forest died soon after, and it appears he was
+keeper of the wardrobe at Barnard castle, but whether appointed before
+or after the murder there is no evidence to show. Brackenbury received
+several important grants, some of which were of lands of the late Lord
+Rivers.
+
+And yet hitherto Richard's life, though not unmarked by violence, had
+been free from violence to his own flesh and blood. Even his most
+unjustifiable measures were somewhat in the nature of self-defence; or if
+in any case he had stained his hands with the blood of persons absolutely
+innocent, it was not in his own interest, but in that of his brother,
+Edward IV. The rough and illegal retribution which he dealt out to
+Rivers, Vaughan, Hawte, Lord Richard Grey, and Lord Hastings was not more
+severe than perhaps law itself might have authorized. The disorders of
+civil war had accustomed the nation to see justice sometimes executed
+without the due formalities; and his neglect of those formalities had
+not hitherto made him unpopular. But the license of unchecked power is
+dangerous, no less to those who wield than to those who suffer it; and it
+was peculiarly so to one of Richard's violent and impatient temper. He
+had been allowed so far to act upon his own arbitrary judgment or will
+that expediency was fast becoming his only motive and extinguishing
+within him both humanity and natural affection.
+
+Nevertheless, he was not yet sunk so low as to regard his own unnatural
+conduct with indifference. Deep and bitter remorse deprived him of all
+that tranquillity in the possession of power for the attainment of which
+he had imbrued his hands in blood. "I have heard by credible report,"
+says Sir Thomas More, "of such as were secret with his chamberers, that
+after this abominable deed done he never had quiet in his mind, he never
+thought himself sure. Where he went abroad, his eyes whirled about, his
+body privily fenced, his hand ever on his dagger, his countenance and
+manner like one always ready to strike again. He took ill rest at nights,
+lay long waking and musing; sore wearied with care and watch, he rather
+slumbered than slept. Troubled with fearful dreams, suddenly sometimes
+started he up, leapt out of his bed and ran about the chamber. So was his
+restless heart continually tossed and tumbled with the tedious impression
+and stormy remembrance of his most abominable deed."
+
+Such was the awful retribution that overtook this inhuman King during the
+two short years that he survived his greatest crime, till the battle of
+Bosworth completed the measure of his punishment. His repentance came too
+late.
+
+
+
+CONQUEST OF GRANADA
+
+A.D. 1490
+
+WASHINGTON IRVING
+
+
+Although the Moors held Spain for over seven hundred and fifty years,
+they never had possession of the entire country. In the North, fragments
+of the Visigothic Christian kingdoms survived, and at length these grew
+into a strong power destined to drive out the Arabs, who had so long made
+the Spanish peninsula a seat of Mahometan civilization.
+
+The Moorish power reached its height in the tenth century, and gradually
+declined in the eleventh, when it broke up into petty and short-lived
+kingdoms. The Almoravides from Africa began their rule in Spain about
+1090. This dynasty was overthrown by the Almohades in 1145, and the
+latter became extinct in Spain in 1257.
+
+After the disruption of the realm of the Almohades, the Moorish kingdom
+of Granada was established, and was held in vassalage to Castile, of
+which Ferdinand and Isabella, in 1474, became joint sovereigns. The Moors
+made Granada, their capital, a large and powerful city, and there in the
+thirteenth century they built their magnificent palace and citadel, the
+Alhambra, the finest example of Moorish architecture and decorative art.
+
+In 1482, having prepared themselves for what proved a final struggle with
+the Moors, Ferdinand and Isabella began the war against Boabdil, the King
+of Granada, who the year before had seized the throne from his father,
+Muley Hasan. After some early reverses and later interruptions--during
+which the wavering Ferdinand was held to his purpose by the rebukes
+and encouragement of his stout-hearted Queen--the Christian sovereigns
+reduced the strongholds of the Moors, until by 1490 the more important
+half of the kingdom of Granada had been conquered. The city and its
+small surrounding district alone remained to Boabdil. On April 23, 1491,
+Ferdinand and Isabella encamped before Granada with fifty thousand foot
+soldiers and ten thousand horse, and the last contest began.
+
+Though Granada was shorn of its glories, and nearly cut off from all
+external aid, still its mighty castles and massive bulwarks seemed to set
+all attacks at defiance. Being the last retreat of Moorish power, it had
+assembled within its walls the remnants of the armies that had contended,
+step by step, with the invaders, in their gradual conquest of the land.
+All that remained of high-born and high-bred chivalry was here; all that
+was loyal and patriotic was roused to activity by the common danger; and
+Granada, that had so long been lulled into inaction by vain hopes of
+security, now assumed a formidable aspect in the hour of its despair.
+
+Ferdinand saw that any attempt to subdue the city by main force would be
+perilous and bloody. Cautious in his policy, and fond of conquests gained
+by art rather than valor, he determined to reduce the place by famine.
+For this purpose, his armies penetrated into the very heart of the
+Alpujarras, and ravaged the valleys and sacked and burned the towns upon
+which the city depended for its supplies. Scouting parties, also,
+ranged the mountains behind Granada and captured every casual convoy of
+provisions. The Moors became more daring as their situation became more
+hopeless. Never had Ferdinand experienced such vigorous sallies and
+assaults. Musa[1], at the head of his cavalry, harassed the borders of
+the camp, and even penetrated into the interior, making sudden spoil and
+ravage, and leaving his course to be traced by the slain and wounded.
+
+To protect his camp from these assaults, Ferdinand fortified it with deep
+trenches and strong bulwarks. It was of a quadrangular form, divided into
+streets like a city, the troops being quartered in tents, and in booths
+constructed of bushes and branches of trees. When it was completed, Queen
+Isabella came in state, with all her court, and the Prince and Princess,
+to be present at the siege. This was intended to reduce the besieged to
+despair by showing the determination of the sovereigns to reside in the
+camp until the city should surrender. Immediately after her arrival, the
+Queen rode forth to survey the camp and its environs: wherever she went
+she was attended by a splendid retinue; and all the commanders vied with
+each other in the pomp and ceremony with which they received her. Nothing
+was heard, from morning until night, but shouts and acclamations and
+bursts of martial music; so that it appeared to the Moors as if a
+continual festival and triumph reigned in the Christian camp.
+
+The arrival of the Queen, however, and the menaced obstinacy of the siege
+had no effect in damping the fire of the Moorish chivalry. Musa inspired
+the youthful warriors with the most devoted heroism. "We have nothing
+left to fight for," said he, "but the ground we stand on; when this is
+lost, we cease to have a country and a name."
+
+Finding the Christian King forbore to make an attack, Musa incited his
+cavaliers to challenge the youthful chivalry of the Christian army to
+single combat or partial skirmishes. Scarce a day passed without gallant
+conflicts of the kind, in sight of the city and the camp. The combatants
+rivalled each other in the splendor of their armor and array, as well as
+in the prowess of their deeds. Their contests were more like the stately
+ceremonials of tilts and tournaments than the rude conflicts of the
+field. Ferdinand soon perceived that they animated the fiery Moors with
+fresh zeal and courage, while they cost the lives of many of his bravest
+cavaliers; he again, therefore, forbade the acceptance of any individual
+challenges, and ordered that all partial encounters should be avoided.
+The cool and stern policy of the Catholic sovereign bore hard upon the
+generous spirits of either army, but roused the indignation of the Moors
+when they found that they were to be subdued in this inglorious manner.
+"Of what avail," said they, "are chivalry and heroic valor? The crafty
+monarch of the Christians has no magnanimity in warfare; he seeks to
+subdue us through the weakness of our bodies, but shuns to encounter the
+courage of our souls."
+
+When the Moorish knights beheld that all courteous challenges were
+unavailing, they sought various means to provoke the Christian warriors
+to the field. Sometimes a body of them, fleetly mounted, would gallop up
+to the skirts of the camp, and try who should hurl his lance farthest
+within the barriers, having his name inscribed upon it, or a label
+affixed to it containing some taunting defiance. These bravadoes caused
+great irritation, but still the Spanish warriors were restrained by the
+prohibition of the King.
+
+Among the Moorish cavaliers was one named Yarfe, renowned for his great
+strength and daring spirit; but whose courage partook of fierce audacity
+rather than chivalric heroism. In one of these sallies, when they
+were skirting the Christian camp, this arrogant Moor outstripped his
+companions, overleaped the barriers, and, galloping close to the royal
+quarters, launched his lance so far within that it remained quivering
+in the earth close by the pavilions of the sovereigns. The royal guards
+rushed forth in pursuit, but the Moorish horsemen were already beyond the
+camp, and scouring in a cloud of dust for the city. Upon wresting the
+lance from the earth, a label was found upon it importing that it was
+intended for the Queen.
+
+Nothing could equal the indignation of the Christian warriors at the
+insolence of the bravado and the discourteous insult offered to the
+Queen. Hernando Perez del Pulgar, surnamed "he of the exploits," was
+present, and resolved not to be outbraved by this daring infidel. "Who
+will stand by me," said he, "in an enterprise of desperate peril?" The
+Christian cavaliers well knew the harebrained valor of Hernando del
+Pulgar, yet not one hesitated to step forward. He chose fifteen
+companions, all men of powerful arm and dauntless heart. In the dead
+of the night he led them forth from the camp, and approached the city
+cautiously, until he arrived at a postern-gate, which opened upon the
+Darro and was guarded by foot-soldiers. The guards, little thinking of
+such an unwonted and partial attack, were for the most part asleep.
+The gate was forced, and a confused and chance-medley skirmish ensued;
+Hernando del Pulgar stopped not to take part in the affray; putting spurs
+to his horse, he galloped furiously through the streets, striking fire
+out of the stones at every bound. Arrived at the principal mosque, he
+sprang from his horse, and, kneeling at the portal, took possession of
+the edifice as a Christian chapel, dedicating it to the blessed Virgin.
+In testimony of the ceremony, he took a tablet which he had brought with
+him, on which was inscribed in large characters "Ave Marie," and nailed
+it to the door of the mosque with his dagger. This done, he remounted his
+steed and galloped back to the gate. The alarm had been given--the city
+was in an uproar--soldiers were gathering from every direction. They were
+astonished at seeing a Christian warrior galloping from the interior of
+the city. Hernando del Pulgar overturned some, cut down others, rejoined
+his companions, who still maintained possession of the gate by dint of
+hard fighting, and all made good their retreat to the camp. The Moors
+were at a loss to imagine the meaning of this wild and apparently
+fruitless assault; but great was their exasperation, on the following
+day, when the trophy of hardihood and prowess, the "_Ave Maria_" was
+discovered thus elevated in bravado in the very centre of the city.
+The mosque thus boldly sanctified by Hernando del Pulgar was actually
+consecrated into a cathedral after the capture of Granada.
+
+The royal encampment lay at such a distance from Granada that the general
+aspect of the city only could be seen as it rose gracefully from the
+vega, covering the sides of the hills with palaces and towers. Queen
+Isabella had expressed an earnest desire to behold, nearer at hand, a
+city whose beauty was so renowned throughout the world; and the Marquis
+of Cadiz, with the accustomed courtesy, prepared a great military escort
+and guard to protect the Queen and the ladies of the court while they
+enjoyed this perilous gratification.
+
+A magnificent and powerful train issued forth from the Christian camp.
+The advance guard was composed of legions of cavalry, heavily armed,
+that looked like moving masses of polished steel. Then came the King
+and Queen, with the Prince and Princess and the ladies of the court,
+surrounded by the royal bodyguard, sumptuously arrayed, composed of
+the sons of the most illustrious houses of Spain; after these was the
+rearguard, composed of a powerful force of horse and foot; for the
+flower of the army sallied forth that day. The Moors gazed with fearful
+admiration at this glorious pageant, wherein the pomp of the court was
+mingled with the terrors of the camp. It moved along in a radiant line,
+across the vega, to the melodious thunders of martial music; while banner
+and plume and silken scarf and rich brocade gave a gay and gorgeous
+relief to the grim visage of iron war that lurked beneath.
+
+The army moved toward the hamlet of Zubia, built on the skirts of the
+mountain to the left of Granada, and commanding a view of the Alhambra
+and the most beautiful quarter of the city. As they approached the hamlet
+the Marquis of Villena, the count Ureña, and Don Alonzo de Aguilar filed
+off with their battalions, and were soon seen glittering along the side
+of the mountain above the village. In the mean time the Marquis of Cadiz,
+the Count de Tendilla, the Count de Cabra, and Don Alonzo Fernandez,
+Senior of Alcandrete and Montemayor, drew up their forces in battle array
+on the plain below the hamlet, presenting a living barrier of loyal
+chivalry between the sovereigns and the city. Thus securely guarded, the
+royal party alighted, and, entering one of the houses of the hamlet,
+which had been prepared for their reception, enjoyed a full view of the
+city from its terraced roof.
+
+While grim tranquillity prevailed along the Christian line, there rose a
+mingled shout and sound of laughter near the gate of the city. A Moorish
+horseman, armed at all points, issued forth, followed by a rabble, who
+drew back as he approached the scene of danger. The Moor was more robust
+and brawny than was common with his countrymen. His visor was closed; he
+bore a huge buckler and a ponderous lance; his cimeter was of a Damascus
+blade, and his richly ornamented dagger was wrought by an artificer
+of Fez. He was Yarfe, the most insolent, yet valiant, of the Moslem
+warriors. As he rode slowly along in front of the army, his very steed,
+prancing with fiery eye and distended nostril, seemed to breathe defiance
+to the Christians.
+
+But what were the feelings of the Spanish cavaliers when they beheld,
+tied to the tail of his steed, and dragged in the dust, the inscription
+"Ave Maria," which Hernando Perez del Pulgar had affixed to the door of
+the mosque! A burst of horror and indignation broke forth from the
+army. Hernando del Pulgar was not at hand, but one of his young
+companions-in-arms, Garcilasso de la Vega by name, putting spurs to his
+horse, galloped to the hamlet of Zubia, threw himself on his knees before
+the King, and besought permission to accept the defiance of this insolent
+infidel and to revenge the insult offered to our blessed Lady. The
+request was too pious to be refused; Garcilasso remounted his steed; he
+closed his helmet, graced by four sable plumes, grasped his buckler of
+Flemish workmanship and his lance of matchless temper, and defied the
+haughty Moor in the midst of his career.
+
+A combat took place in view of the two armies and of the Castilian court.
+The Moor was powerful in wielding his weapons and dexterous in managing
+his steed. He was of larger frame than Garcilasso and more completely
+armed; and the Christians trembled for their champion. The shock of their
+encounter was dreadful; their lances were shivered and sent up splinters
+in the air. Garcilasso was thrown back in the saddle--his horse made a
+wild career before he could recover, gather up the reins, and return
+to the conflict. They now encountered each other with swords. The Moor
+circled round his opponent as hawk circles whereabout to make a swoop;
+his Arabian steed obeyed his rider with matchless quickness; at every
+attack of the infidel it seemed as if the Christian knight must sink
+beneath his flashing cimeter. But if Garcilasso were inferior to him in
+power, he was superior in agility; many of his blows he parried; others
+he received upon his Flemish shield, which was proof against the Damascus
+blade. The blood streamed from numerous wounds received by either
+warrior.
+
+The Moor, seeing his antagonist exhausted, availed himself of his
+superior force, and, grappling, endeavored to wrest him from his saddle.
+They both fell to earth; the Moor placed his knee upon the breast of his
+victim, and, brandishing his dagger, aimed a blow at his throat. A cry of
+despair was uttered by the Christian warriors, when suddenly they beheld
+the Moor rolling lifeless in the dust. Garcilasso had shortened his
+sword, and, as his adversary raised his arm to strike, had pierced him to
+the heart.
+
+The laws of chivalry were observed throughout the combat--no one
+interfered on either side. Garcilasso now despoiled his adversary;
+then, rescuing the holy inscription of "Ave Maria" from its degrading
+situation, he elevated it on the point of his sword, and bore it off as a
+signal of triumph amid the rapturous shouts of the Christian army.
+
+The sun had now reached the meridian, and the hot blood of the Moors was
+inflamed by its rays and by the sight of the defeat of their champion.
+Musa ordered two pieces of ordnance to open a fire upon the Christians.
+A confusion was produced in one part of their ranks. Musa called to the
+chiefs of the army: "Let us waste no more time in empty challenges; let
+us charge upon the enemy; he who assaults has always an advantage in the
+combat." So saying, he rushed forward, followed by a large body of
+horse and foot, and charged so furiously upon the advance guard of the
+Christians that he drove it in upon the battalion of the Marquis of
+Cadiz.
+
+The gallant Marquis now gave the signal to attack. "Santiago!" was
+shouted along the line; and he pressed forward to the encounter, with
+his battalion of twelve hundred lances. The other cavaliers followed his
+example, and the battle instantly became general.
+
+When the King and Queen beheld the armies thus rushing to the combat,
+they threw themselves on their knees and implored the holy Virgin to
+protect her faithful warriors. The Prince and Princess, the ladies of the
+court, and the prelates and friars who were present did the same; and
+the effect of the prayers of these illustrious and saintly persons was
+immediately apparent. The fierceness with which the Moors had rushed to
+the attack had suddenly cooled; they were bold and adroit for a skirmish,
+but unequal to the veteran Spaniards in the open field. A panic seized
+upon the foot-soldiers--they turned and took to flight. Musa and his
+cavaliers in vain endeavored to rally them. Some took refuge in the
+mountains; but the greater part fled to the city in such confusion that
+they overturned and trampled upon each other. The Christians pursued them
+to the very gates. Upward of two thousand were either killed, wounded, or
+taken prisoners, and the two pieces of ordnance brought off as trophies
+of the victory. Not a Christian lance but was bathed that day in the
+blood of an infidel. Such was the brief but bloody action, which was
+known among the Christian warriors by the name of the "Queen's skirmish";
+for when the Marquis of Cadiz waited upon her majesty he attributed the
+victory entirely to her presence. The Queen, however, insisted that it
+was all owing to her troops being led on by so valiant a commander. Her
+majesty had not yet recovered from her agitation at beholding so terrible
+a scene of bloodshed; though certain veterans present pronounced it as
+gay and gentle a skirmish as they had ever witnessed.
+
+The ravages of war had as yet spared a little portion of the vega of
+Granada. A green belt of gardens and orchards still flourished around the
+city, extending along the banks of the Xenel and the Darro. They had been
+the solace and delight of the inhabitants in their happier days, and
+contributed to their sustenance in this time of scarcity. Ferdinand
+determined to make a final and exterminating ravage to the very walls of
+the city, so that there should not remain a single green thing for the
+sustenance of man or beast.
+
+As the evening advanced the bustle in the camp subsided. Everyone sought
+repose, preparatory to the next day's trial. The King retired early, that
+he might be up with the crowing of the cock to head the destroying army
+in person. The Queen had retired to the innermost part of her pavilion,
+where she was performing her orisons before a private altar. While thus
+at her prayers she was suddenly aroused by a glare of light and wreaths
+of suffocating smoke. In an instant the whole tent was in a blaze; there
+was a high gusty wind, which whirled the light flames from tent to tent,
+and wrapped the whole in one conflagration.
+
+Isabella had barely time to save herself by instant flight. Her first
+thought, on being extricated from her tent, was for the safety of the
+King. She rushed to his tent, but the vigilant Ferdinand was already at
+the entrance of it. Starting from bed at the first alarm, and fancying it
+an assault of the enemy, he had seized his sword and buckler, and sallied
+forth undressed, with his cuirass upon his arm. The late gorgeous camp
+was now a scene of wild confusion. The flames kept spreading from one
+pavilion to another, glaring upon the rich armor and golden and silver
+vessels, which seemed melting in the fervent heat. The ladies of the
+court fled, shrieking and half dressed, from their tents. There was an
+alarm of drum and trumpet, and a distracted hurry about the camp of men
+half armed.
+
+The idea that this was a stratagem of the Moors soon subsided; but it was
+feared they might take advantage of it to assault the camp. The Marquis
+of Cadiz, therefore, sallied forth with three thousand horse to check any
+advance from the city. When they emerged from the camp they found the
+whole firmament illuminated. The flames whirled up in long light spires,
+and the air was filled with sparks and cinders. A bright glare was thrown
+upon the city, revealing every battlement and tower. Turbaned heads were
+seen gazing from every roof, and armor gleamed along the walls; yet not a
+single warrior sallied from the gates. The Moors suspected some stratagem
+on the part of the Christians, and kept quietly within their walls. By
+degrees the flames expired; the city faded from sight; all again became
+dark and quiet, and the Marquis of Cadiz returned with his cavalry to the
+camp. When the day dawned on the Christian camp nothing remained of
+that beautiful assemblage of stately pavilions but heaps of smouldering
+rubbish. The fire at first had been attributed to treachery, but on
+investigation it proved to be entirely accidental.
+
+The wary Ferdinand knew the sanguine temperament of the Moors, and
+hastened to prevent their deriving confidence from the night's disaster.
+At break of day the drums and trumpets sounded to arms, and the Christian
+army issued from among the smoking ruins of their camp, in shining
+squadrons, with flaunting banners and bursts of martial melody, as though
+the preceding night had been a time of high festivity instead of terror.
+
+The Moors had beheld the conflagration with wonder and perplexity. When
+the day broke and they looked toward the Christian camp, they saw
+nothing but a dark smoking mass. Their scouts came in with the joyful
+intelligence that the whole camp was a scene of ruin. Scarce had the
+tidings spread throughout the city when they beheld the Christian army
+advancing toward their walls. They considered it a feint to cover their
+desperate situation and prepare for a retreat. Boabdil had one of his
+impulses of valor--he determined to take the field in person, and to
+follow up this signal blow which Allah had inflicted on the enemy. The
+Christian army approached close to the city, and were laying waste the
+gardens and orchards, when Boabdil sallied forth, surrounded by all that
+was left of the flower and chivalry of Granada. There was not so much one
+battle as a variety of battles; every garden and orchard became a scene
+of deadly contest; every inch of ground was disputed, with an agony of
+grief and valor, by the Moors; every inch of ground that the Christians
+advanced they valiantly maintained; but never did they advance with
+severer fighting or greater loss of blood.
+
+The cavalry of Musa was in every part of the field; wherever it came it
+gave fresh ardor to the fight. The Moorish soldier, fainting with heat,
+fatigue, and wounds, was roused to new life at the approach of Musa; and
+even he who lay gasping in the agonies of death, turned his face
+toward him, and faintly uttered cheers and blessings as he passed. The
+Christians had by this time gained possession of various towers near the
+city, from whence they had been annoyed by cross-bows and arquebuses. The
+Moors, scattered in various actions, were severely pressed. Boabdil,
+at the head of the cavaliers of his guard, displayed the utmost valor,
+mingling in the fight in various parts of the field, and endeavoring to
+inspirit the foot soldiers in the combat. But the Moorish infantry was
+never to be depended upon. In the heat of the action a panic seized upon
+them; they fled, leaving their sovereign exposed with his handful of
+cavaliers to an overwhelming force. Boabdil was on the point of falling
+into the hands of the Christians, when, wheeling round, with his
+followers, they threw the reins on the necks of their fleet steeds and
+took refuge by dint of hoof within the walls of the city.
+
+Musa endeavored to retrieve the fortune of the field. He threw himself
+before the retreating infantry, calling upon them to turn and fight for
+their homes, their families, for everything that was sacred and dear to
+them. It was all in vain--they were totally broken and dismayed, and fled
+tumultuously for the gates. Slowly and reluctantly Musa retreated to the
+city, and he vowed nevermore to sally forth with foot soldiers to the
+field. In the mean time the artillery thundered from the walls and
+checked all further advances of the Christians. King Ferdinand,
+therefore, called off his troops, and returned in triumph to the ruins of
+his camp, leaving the beautiful city of Granada wrapped in the smoke of
+her fields and gardens and surrounded by the bodies of her slaughtered
+children. Such was the last sally made by the Moors in defence of their
+favorite city.
+
+They now shut themselves up gloomily within their walls; there were no
+longer any daring sallies from their gates. For a time they flattered
+themselves with hopes that the late conflagration of the camp would
+discourage the besiegers; that, as in former years, their invasion would
+end with the summer, and that they would again withdraw before the
+autumnal rains. The measures of Ferdinand and Isabella soon crushed these
+hopes. They gave orders to build a regular city upon the site of their
+camp, to convince the Moors that the siege was to endure until the
+surrender of Granada. Nine of the principal cities of Spain were charged
+with the stupendous undertaking; and they emulated each other with a zeal
+worthy of the cause. To this city it was proposed to give the name of
+Isabella, so dear to the army and the nation; but that pious Princess,
+calling to mind the holy cause in which it was erected, gave it the name
+of Santa Fé, or the "City of the Holy Faith," and it remains to this day
+a monument of the piety and glory of the Catholic sovereigns.
+
+In the mean time the besieged city began to suffer the distress of
+famine. Its supplies were all cut off; a cavalcade of flocks and herds,
+and mules laden with money, coming to the relief of the city from the
+mountains of the Alpujarras[2], was taken by the Marquis of Cadiz and led
+in triumph to the camp, in sight of the suffering Moors. Autumn arrived,
+but the harvests had been swept from the face of the country; a rigorous
+winter was approaching, and the city was almost destitute of provisions.
+The people sank into deep despondency. They called to mind all that
+had been predicted by astrologers at the birth of their ill-starred
+sovereign, and all that had been foretold of the fate of Granada at the
+time of the capture of Zahara.
+
+Boabdil was alarmed by the gathering dangers from without and by the
+clamors of his starving people. He summoned a council, composed of the
+principal officers of the army, the alcaids of the fortresses, the
+_xequis_ or sages of the city, and the _alfaquis_ or doctors of the
+faith. They assembled in the great hall of audience of the Alhambra, and
+despair was painted in their countenances. Boabdil demanded of them
+what was to be done in their present extremity; and their answer was,
+"Surrender." The venerable Abul Kazim Abdalmalek, governor of the city,
+represented its unhappy state: "Our granaries are nearly exhausted, and
+no further supplies are to be expected. The provender for the war-horses
+is required as sustenance for the soldiery; the very horses themselves
+are killed for food; of seven thousand steeds which once could be sent
+into the field, three hundred only remain. Our city contains two hundred
+thousand inhabitants, old and young, with each a mouth that calls
+piteously for bread."
+
+The xequis and principal citizens declared that the people could no
+longer sustain the labors and sufferings of a defence. "And of what avail
+is our defence," said they, "when the enemy is determined to persist in
+the siege?--what alternative remains but to surrender or to die?"
+
+The heart of Boabdil was touched by this appeal, and he maintained a
+gloomy silence. He had cherished some faint hope of relief from the
+Sultan of Egypt or the Barbary powers, but it was now at an end; even
+if such assistance were to be sent, he had no longer a seaport where it
+might debark. The counsellors saw that the resolution of the King was
+shaken, and they united their voices in urging him to capitulate.
+
+The valiant Musa alone arose in opposition: "It is yet too early," said
+he, "to talk of a surrender. Our means are not exhausted; we have yet one
+source of strength remaining, terrible in its effects, and which often
+has achieved the most signal victories--it is our despair. Let us rouse
+the mass of the people; let us put weapons in their hands; let us fight
+the enemy to the very utmost, until we rush upon the points of their
+lances. I am ready to lead the way into the thickest of their squadrons;
+and much rather would I be numbered among those who fell in the defence
+of Granada than of those who survived to capitulate for her surrender!"
+The words of Musa were without effect. Boabdil yielded to the general
+voice; it was determined to capitulate with the Christian sovereigns; and
+the venerable Abul Kazim was sent forth to the camp empowered to treat
+for terms.
+
+The old Governor was received with great distinction by Ferdinand and
+Isabella, who appointed Gonsalvo of Cordova and Fernando de Zafra,
+secretary to the King, to confer with him. All Granada awaited, in
+trembling anxiety, the result of his negotiations. After repeated
+conferences he at length returned with the ultimate terms of the Catholic
+sovereigns. They agreed to suspend all attack for seventy days, at the
+end of which time, if no succor should arrive to the Moorish King, the
+city of Granada was to be surrendered.
+
+All Christian captives should be liberated without ransom. Boabdil and
+his principal cavaliers should take an oath of fealty to the Castilian
+crown, and certain valuable territories in the Alpujarra mountains should
+be assigned to the Moorish monarch for his maintenance. The Moors of
+Granada should become subjects of the Spanish sovereigns, retaining their
+possessions, their arms and horses, and yielding up nothing but their
+artillery. They should be protected in the exercise of their religion,
+and governed by their own laws, administered by cadis of their own faith,
+under governors appointed by the sovereigns. They should be exempted from
+tribute for three years, after which term they should pay the same that
+they had been accustomed to render to their native monarchs. Those who
+chose to depart for Africa within three years should be provided with a
+passage for themselves and their effects, free of charge, from whatever
+port they should prefer.
+
+For the fulfilment of these articles four hundred hostages from the
+principal families were required, previous to the surrender, to be
+subsequently restored. The son of the King of Granada, and all other
+hostages in possession of the Castilian sovereigns, were to be restored
+at the same time. Such were the conditions that the vizier Abul Kazim
+laid before the council of Granada as the best that could be obtained
+from the besieging foe. When the members of the council found that the
+awful moment had arrived when they were to sign and seal the perdition of
+their empire and blot themselves out as a nation, all firmness deserted
+them and many gave way to tears. Musa alone retained an unaltered mien.
+"Leave, seniors," cried he, "this idle lamentation to helpless women and
+children: we are men--we have hearts, not to shed tender tears, but
+drops of blood. I see the spirit of the people so cast down that it is
+impossible to save the kingdom. Yet there still remains an alternative
+for noble minds--a glorious death! Let us die defending our liberty and
+avenging the woes of Granada. Our mother Earth will receive her children
+into her bosom, safe from the chains and oppressions of the conqueror;
+or, should any fail a sepulchre to hide his remains, he will not want a
+sky to cover him. Allah forbid it should be said the nobles of Granada
+feared to die in her defence!"
+
+Musa ceased to speak, and a dead silence reigned in the assembly. Boabdil
+looked anxiously around and scanned every face; but he read in them all
+the anxiety of careworn men, in whose hearts enthusiasm was dead, and
+who had grown callous to every chivalrous appeal. "Allah Akbar! God
+is great!" exclaimed he; "there is no god but God, and Mahomet is his
+prophet! It is in vain to struggle against the will of heaven. Too surely
+was it written in the book of fate that I should be unfortunate and the
+kingdom expire under my rule."
+
+"Allah Akbar! God is great!" echoed the viziers and alfaquis; "the will
+of God be done!" So they all accorded with the King that these evils were
+preordained; that it was hopeless to contend with them; and that the
+terms offered by the Castilian monarchs were as favorable as could be
+expected.
+
+When Musa saw that they were about to sign the treaty of surrender, he
+rose in violent indignation: "Do not deceive yourselves," cried he, "nor
+think the Christians will be faithful to their promises, or their King as
+magnanimous in conquest as he has been victorious in war. Death is the
+least we have to fear. It is the plundering and sacking of our city, the
+profanation of our mosques, the ruin of our homes, the violation of our
+wives and daughters--cruel oppression, bigoted intolerance, whips and
+chains, the dungeon, the fagot, and the stake--such are the miseries and
+indignities we shall see and suffer; at least, those grovelling souls
+will see them who now shrink from an honorable death. For my part, by
+Allah, I will never witness them!"
+
+With these words he left the council chamber and strode gloomily through
+the Court of Lions and the outer halls of the Alhambra, without deigning
+to speak to the obsequious courtiers who attended in them. He repaired
+to his dwelling, armed himself at all points, mounted his favorite
+war-horse, and, issuing forth from the city by the gate of Elvira, was
+never seen or heard of more.[3]
+
+The capitulation for the surrender of Granada was signed on November 25,
+1491, and produced a sudden cessation of those hostilities which had
+raged for so many years. Christian and Moor might now be seen mingling
+courteously on the banks of the Xenel and the Darro, where to have met
+a few days previous would have produced a scene of sanguinary contest.
+Still, as the Moors might be suddenly aroused to defence, if, within the
+allotted term of seventy days, succors should arrive from abroad, and as
+they were at all times a rash, inflammable people, the wary Ferdinand
+maintained a vigilant watch upon the city, and permitted no supplies of
+any kind to enter. His garrisons in the seaports, and his cruisers in the
+Straits of Gibraltar, were ordered likewise to guard against any relief
+from the Grand Sultan of Egypt or the princes of Barbary. There was no
+need of such precautions. Those powers were either too much engrossed by
+their own wars or too much daunted by the success of the Spanish arms, to
+interfere in a desperate cause; and the unfortunate Moors of Granada were
+abandoned to their fate.
+
+The month of December had nearly passed away; the famine became extreme,
+and there was no hope of any favorable event within the terms specified
+in the capitulation. Boabdil saw that to hold out to the end of the
+allotted time would but be to protract the miseries of his people. With
+the consent of his council, he determined to surrender the city on
+January 6th. On December 30th he sent his grand vizier Yusef Aben Comixa,
+with the four hundred hostages, to King Ferdinand, to make known his
+intention; bearing him, at the same time, a present of a magnificent
+cimeter, and two Arabian steeds superbly caparisoned.
+
+The unfortunate Boabdil was doomed to meet with trouble to the end of his
+career. The very next day, the santon or dervis Hamet Aben Zarrax, who
+had uttered prophecies and excited commotions on former occasions,
+suddenly made his appearance. Whence he came no one knew; it was rumored
+that he had been in the mountains of the Alpujarras and on the coast of
+Barbary, endeavoring to rouse the Moslems to the relief of Granada. He
+was reduced to a skeleton; his eyes glowed like coals in their sockets,
+and his speech was little better than frantic raving. He harangued the
+populace in the streets and squares, inveighed against the capitulation,
+denounced the King and nobles as Moslems only in name, and called upon
+the people to sally forth against the unbelievers, for that Allah had
+decreed them a signal victory.
+
+Upward of twenty thousand of the populace seized their arms and paraded
+the streets with shouts and outcries. The shops and houses were shut up;
+the King himself did not dare to venture forth, but remained a kind of
+prisoner in the Alhambra. The turbulent multitude continued roaming and
+shouting and howling about the city during the day and a part of the
+night. Hunger and a wintry tempest tamed their frenzy; and when morning
+came the enthusiast who had led them on had disappeared. Whether he had
+been disposed of by the emissaries of the King or by the leading men of
+the city is not known; his disappearance remains a mystery.
+
+The Moorish King now issued from the Alhambra, attended by his principal
+nobles, and harangued the populace. He set forth the necessity of
+complying with the capitulation, from the famine that reigned in the
+city, the futility of defence, and from the hostages having already been
+delivered into the hands of the besiegers. The volatile population agreed
+to adhere to the capitulation, and there was even a faint shout of "Long
+live Boabdil the unfortunate!" and they all returned to their homes in
+perfect tranquillity.
+
+Boabdil immediately sent missives to King Ferdinand, apprising him of
+these events, and of his fears lest further delay should produce new
+tumults. He proposed, therefore, to surrender the city on the following
+day. The Castilian sovereigns assented, with great satisfaction; and
+preparations were made in city and camp for this great event, that was to
+seal the fate of Granada.
+
+It was a night of doleful lamentings within the walls of the Alhambra;
+for the household of Boabdil were preparing to take a last farewell of
+that delightful abode. All the royal treasures and the most precious
+effects of the Alhambra were hastily packed upon mules; the beautiful
+apartments were despoiled, with tears and wailings, by their own
+inhabitants. Before the dawn of day a mournful cavalcade moved obscurely
+out of a postern gate of the Alhambra and departed through one of the
+most retired quarters of the city. It was composed of the family of the
+unfortunate Boabdil, which he sent off thus privately that they might not
+be exposed to the eyes of scoffers or the exultation of the enemy. The
+city was yet buried in sleep as they passed through its silent streets.
+The guards at the gate shed tears as they opened it for their departure.
+They paused not, but proceeded along the banks of the Xenel on the road
+that leads to the Alpujarras, until they arrived at a hamlet at some
+distance from the city, where they halted and waited until they should be
+joined by King Boabdil.
+
+The sun had scarcely begun to shed his beams upon the summits of the
+snowy mountains which rise above Granada when the Christian camp was in
+motion. A detachment of horse and foot, led by distinguished cavaliers,
+and accompanied by Hernando de Talavera, Bishop of Avila, proceeded to
+take possession of the Alhambra and the towers. It had been stipulated
+in the capitulation that the detachment sent for this purpose should
+not enter by the streets of the city; a road had therefore been opened,
+outside of the walls, leading by the Puerta de los Milinos (or "Gate of
+the Mills"), to the summit of the Hill of Martyrs, and across the hill to
+a postern gate of the Alhambra.
+
+When the detachment arrived at the summit of the hill the Moorish King
+came forth from the gate, attended by a handful of cavaliers, leaving his
+vizier Yusef Aben Comixa to deliver up the palace. "Go, senior," said
+he to the commander of the detachment, "go and take possession of those
+fortresses, which Allah has bestowed upon your powerful sovereigns,
+in punishment of the sins of the Moors." He said no more, but passed
+mournfully on along the same road by which the Spanish cavaliers had
+come, descending to the vega to meet the Catholic sovereigns. The troops
+entered the Alhambra, the gates of which were wide open, and all its
+splendid courts and halls silent and deserted.
+
+In the mean time the Christian court and army poured out of the city
+of Santa Fé and advanced across the vega. The King and Queen, with the
+Prince and Princess, and the dignitaries and ladies of the court, took
+the lead, accompanied by the different orders of monks and friars, and
+surrounded by the royal guards splendidly arrayed. The procession moved
+slowly forward and paused at the village of Armilla, at the distance of
+half a league from the city.
+
+The sovereigns waited here with impatience, their eyes fixed on the lofty
+tower of the Alhambra, watching for the appointed signal of possession.
+The time that had elapsed since the departure of the detachment seemed
+to them more than necessary for the purpose, and the anxious mind of
+Ferdinand began to entertain doubts of some commotion in the city. At
+length they saw the silver cross, the great standard of this crusade,
+elevated on the Torre de la Vala (or "Great Watch-tower") and sparkling
+in the sunbeams. This was done by Hernando de Talavera, Bishop of Avila.
+Beside it was planted the pennon of the glorious apostle St. James, and a
+great shout of "Santiago! Santiago!" rose throughout the army. Lastly
+was reared the royal standard by the king of arms, with the shout of
+"Castile! Castile! For King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella!" The words were
+echoed by the whole army, with acclamations that resounded across the
+vega. At sight of these signals of possession the sovereigns sank upon
+their knees, giving thanks to God for this great triumph; the whole
+assembled host followed their example, and the choristers of the royal
+chapel broke forth into the solemn anthem of _Te Deum laudamus_.
+
+The procession now resumed its march with joyful alacrity, to the sound
+of triumphant music, until they came to a small mosque, near the banks
+of the Xenel, and not far from the foot of the Hill of Martyrs, which
+edifice remains to the present day, consecrated as the hermitage of St.
+Sebastian. Here the sovereigns were met by the unfortunate Boabdil,
+accompanied by about fifty cavaliers and domestics. As he drew near he
+would have dismounted in token of homage, but Ferdinand prevented him. He
+then proffered to kiss the King's hand, but this sign of vassalage was
+likewise declined; whereupon, not to be outdone in magnanimity, he leaned
+forward and kissed the right arm of Ferdinand. Queen Isabella also
+refused to receive this ceremonial of homage, and, to console him under
+his adversity, delivered to him his son, who had remained as hostage ever
+since Boabdil's liberation from captivity. The Moorish monarch pressed
+his child to his bosom with tender emotion, and they seemed mutually
+endeared to each other by their misfortunes.
+
+He then delivered the keys of the city to King Ferdinand, with an air of
+mingled melancholy and resignation. "These keys," said he, "are the last
+relics of the Arabian empire in Spain; thine, O King, are our trophies,
+our kingdom, and our person. Such is the will of God! Receive them with
+the clemency thou hast promised, and which we look for at thy hands."
+
+King Ferdinand restrained his exultation with an air of serene
+magnanimity. "Doubt not our promises," replied he, "nor that thou shalt
+regain from our friendship the prosperity of which the fortune of war has
+deprived thee."
+
+On receiving the keys, King Ferdinand handed them to the Queen; she in
+her turn presented them to her son Prince Juan, who delivered them to the
+Count de Tendilla, that brave and loyal cavalier being appointed alcaid
+of the city and captain-general of the kingdom of Granada.
+
+Having surrendered the last symbol of power, the unfortunate Boabdil
+continued on toward the Alpujarras, that he might not behold the entrance
+of the Christians into his capital. His devoted band of cavaliers
+followed him in gloomy silence; but heavy sighs burst from their bosoms
+as shouts of joy and strains of triumphant music were borne on the breeze
+from the victorious army.
+
+Having rejoined his family, Boabdil set forward with a heavy heart
+for his allotted residence in the valley of Purchena. At two leagues'
+distance, the cavalcade, winding into the skirts of the Alpujarras,
+ascended an eminence commanding the last view of Granada. As they arrived
+at this spot the Moors paused involuntarily to take a farewell gaze at
+their beloved city, which a few steps more would shut from their sight
+forever. The Moorish cavaliers gazed with a silent agony of tenderness
+and grief upon that delicious abode, the scene of their loves and
+pleasures. While they yet looked, a light cloud of smoke burst forth from
+the citadel, and presently a peal of artillery, faintly heard, told that
+the city was taken possession of, and the throne of the Moslem kings was
+lost forever.
+
+The unhappy Boabdil was not to be consoled; his tears continued to flow.
+"Allah Akbar!" exclaimed he; "when did misfortunes ever equal mine?" From
+this circumstance the hill, which is not far from the Padul, took the
+name of Feg Allah Akbar; but the point of view commanding the last
+prospect of Granada is known among Spaniards by the name of _El ultimo
+suspiro del Moro_("The last sigh of the Moor").
+
+The sovereigns did not enter the city on this day of its surrender, but
+waited until it should be fully occupied by their troops and public
+tranquillity insured. In a little while every battlement glistened with
+Christian helms and lances, the standard of the faith and of the realm
+floated from every tower, and the thundering salvoes of the ordnance told
+that the subjugation of the city was complete. The grandees and cavaliers
+now knelt and kissed the hands of the King and Queen and the prince Juan,
+and congratulated them on the acquisition of so great a kingdom, after
+which the royal procession returned in state to Santa Fé.
+
+It was on January 6th, the day of kings and festival of the Epiphany,
+that the sovereigns made their triumphal entry. The King and Queen looked
+on this occasion as more than mortal; the venerable ecclesiastics, to
+whose advice and zeal this glorious conquest ought in a great measure to
+be attributed, moved along with hearts swelling with holy exultation, but
+with chastened and downcast looks of edifying humility; while the hardy
+warriors, in tossing plumes and shining steel, seemed elevated with a
+stern joy at finding themselves in possession of this object of so many
+toils and perils. As the streets resounded with the tramp of steed and
+swelling peals of music, the Moors buried themselves in the deepest
+recesses of their dwellings. There they bewailed in secret the fallen
+glory of their race, but suppressed their groans, lest they should be
+heard by their enemies and increase their triumph.
+
+The royal procession advanced to the principal mosque, which had been
+consecrated as a cathedral. Here the sovereigns offered up prayers and
+thanksgivings, and the choir of the royal chapel chanted a triumphant
+anthem, in which they were joined by all the courtiers and cavaliers.
+Nothing could exceed the thankfulness to God of the pious King Ferdinand
+for having enabled him to eradicate from Spain the empire and name of
+that accursed heathen race, and for the elevation of the cross in that
+city wherein the impious doctrines of Mahomet had so long been cherished.
+In the fervor of his spirit he supplicated from heaven a continuance
+of its grace, and that this glorious triumph might be perpetuated. The
+prayer of the pious monarch was responded by the people, and even his
+enemies were for once convinced of his sincerity.
+
+It had been a last request of the unfortunate Boabdil, and one which
+showed how deeply he felt the transition of his fate, that no person
+might be permitted to enter or depart by the gate of the Alhambra,
+through which he had sallied forth to surrender his capital. His request
+was granted; the portal was closed up, and remains so to the present
+day--a mute memorial of that event.
+
+The Spanish sovereigns fixed their throne in the presence chamber of
+the palace, so long the seat of Moorish royalty. Hither the principal
+inhabitants of Granada repaired, to pay them homage and kiss their hands
+in token of vassalage; and their example was followed by deputies from
+all the towns and fortresses of the Alpujarras which had not hitherto
+submitted.
+
+Thus terminated the war of Granada, after ten years of incessant
+fighting; equalling the far-famed siege of Troy in duration, and ending,
+like that, in the capture of the city. Thus ended also the dominion of
+the Moors in Spain, having endured seven hundred seventy-eight years,
+from the memorable defeat of Roderick, the last of the Goths, on the
+banks of the Guadalete. This great triumph of our holy Catholic faith
+took place in the beginning of January, 1492, being three thousand six
+hundred fifty-five years from the population of Spain by the patriarch
+Tubal; three thousand seven hundred ninety-seven from the general deluge;
+five thousand four hundred fifty-three from the creation of the world,
+according to Hebrew calculation; and in the month Rabic, in the eight
+hundred ninety-seventh year of the Hegira, or flight of Mahomet.
+
+[Footnote 1: Musa ben Abil Gazan, Boabdil's best cavalier--a fiery
+soldier, of royal lineage.]
+
+[Footnote 2: A mountainous region in the provinces of Granada and
+Almeria.]
+
+[Footnote 3: So say Arabian historians. According to another account,
+Musa, meeting a party of Andalusian cavaliers, killed several of them,
+but, being disabled by wounds, threw himself into the Xenel and was
+drowned.]
+
+
+
+COLUMBUS DISCOVERS AMERICA
+
+A.D. 1492
+
+CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS FERDINAND COLUMBUS
+
+
+The year 1492, in which Columbus discovered America, is adopted by some
+writers as separating the modern from the mediaeval period in history.
+It marks the culmination of the wonderful achievements in discovery
+for which the fifteenth century is so memorable. By 1492 the world had
+advanced far beyond the ignorance of the period when Marco Polo made and
+described his famous travels from Europe to the East, 1324, and when Sir
+John Mandeville's extravagant account of Eastern journeys, 1357-1371, was
+published. European knowledge of the Orient had been greatly increased
+by the crusades, and this, together with the spread of commerce, had
+quickened the desire of Western peoples for still further explorations of
+the world.
+
+During the first half of the fifteenth century the Portuguese were most
+enterprising in the work of discovery, and before 1500 they had searched
+the western coast of Africa, passed the equator, and seen the Cape of
+Good Hope, which Vasco da Gama doubled in 1497, on his way to India.
+
+Meanwhile Christopher Columbus, a native of Genoa, a famous maritime
+city, was planning a route of his own for a voyage to the East
+Indies--the great object, at that period, of all ambitious navigators.
+As the Portuguese sought, and at last found, an ocean route by the east
+around Africa, so Columbus meditated a westward voyage, and was the first
+to seek India in that direction. After vainly submitting his plan to John
+II of Portugal, to the Genoese Government, and to Henry VII of England,
+he appealed--at first without success--to Ferdinand and Isabella of
+Castile. But at the end of their war with Granada, 1492, he obtained a
+better hearing, and gained the favor of Isabella, who joined the Pinzons,
+merchants of Palos, in fitting out for him three small vessels, the Niña,
+the Santa Maria, and the Pinta. With the concurrence of Ferdinand, she
+made Columbus, for himself and his heirs, admiral in all the regions that
+he should discover, and viceroy in any lands acquired by him for Spain.
+
+When the bold mariner sailed from Saltes, an island near Palos, a small
+town in the province of Huelva, Spain, he had complete confidence in his
+theory of finding new lands to the west. And his unshakable faith in his
+idea and in his purpose constitutes the most heroic aspect of his first
+voyage.
+
+Of recent years great interest and much historical discussion have been
+aroused in connection with real or imagined pre-Columbian discoveries of
+America, especially with the discovery by the Northmen. But all attempts
+to diminish the glory of Columbus' achievement, by proving that the
+results of previous discoveries were known to him, have, as Hubert
+Howe Bancroft declares, signally failed. Columbus was not the first
+to conceive the possibility of reaching the East by sailing west.
+Toscanelli, the Italian astronomer, who made the map which Columbus used,
+and others among his contemporaries entertained the theory; but the
+Genoese sailor was the first to act upon this belief.
+
+Supposing, as he did to his latest day, that he had found the eastern
+coast of India, and not another continent, Columbus gave the name of
+Indies to the islands he discovered, whose inhabitants he also called
+Indians; yet he did not have the honor of giving his own name to the New
+World which he made known to mankind.
+
+In the following pages his own unstudied account of the first voyage and
+discovery, and the narrative from the biography of Columbus by his son,
+furnish a very complete history of the enterprise from which so large a
+part of the world's later development has followed. It should be noted,
+however, that both of the accounts manifest the not unnatural desire to
+give full prominence to the part taken by Columbus himself. His able
+coadjutors, the Pinzons, scarce receive such adequate mention as they are
+given by more modern narrators.
+
+The letter to Gabriel Sanchez appears here in a careful edition, one
+of the treasured possessions of the New York Public Library--Lenox
+Library--through the courtesy of whose officers it is presented in this
+work. It is the first letter of Columbus, giving the earliest information
+of his discovery, and is here rendered in a new translation, as contained
+in the little volume published in 1892 by the trustees of the Lenox
+Library, as a "tribute to the memory of the great discoverer."
+
+
+CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS
+
+[Letter of Christopher Columbus, to whom our age owes much, concerning
+the islands recently discovered in the Indian sea[1], for the search of
+which, eight months before, he was sent under the auspices and at the
+cost of the most invincible Ferdinand, King of Spain[2]; addressed to
+the magnificent lord Raphael Sanxis[3], treasurer of the same most
+illustrious King, and which the noble and learned man Leander de Cosco
+has translated from the Spanish language into Latin, on the third of the
+calends of May[4], 1493, the first year of the pontificate of Alexander
+VI.]
+
+Because my undertakings have attained success, I know that it will be
+pleasing to you; these I have determined to relate, so that you may be
+made acquainted with everything done and discovered in this our voyage.
+On the thirty-third day after I departed from Cadiz,[5] I came to the
+Indian sea, where I found many islands inhabited by men without number,
+of all which I took possession for our most fortunate King, with
+proclaiming heralds and flying standards, no one objecting. To the first
+of these I gave the name of the blessed Saviour,[6] on whose aid relying
+I had reached this as well as the other islands. But the Indians call
+it Guanahani. I also called each one of the others by a new name. For I
+ordered one island to be called Santa Maria of the Conception,[7] another
+Fernandina,[8] another Isabella,[9] another Juana,[10] and so on with the
+rest.
+
+As soon as we had arrived at that island which I have just now said
+was called Juana, I proceeded along its coast toward the west for some
+distance. I found it so large and without perceptible end, that I
+believed it to be not an island, but the continental country of
+Cathay;[11] seeing, however, no towns or cities situated on the
+sea-coast, but only some villages and rude farms, with whose inhabitants
+I was unable to converse, because as soon as they saw us they took
+flight, I proceeded farther, thinking that I would discover some city or
+large residences.
+
+At length, perceiving that we had gone far enough, that nothing new
+appeared, and that this way was leading us to the north, which I wished
+to avoid, because it was winter on the land, and it was my intention to
+go to the south, moreover the winds were becoming violent, I therefore
+determined that no other plans were practicable, and so, going back, I
+returned to a certain bay that I had noticed, from which I sent two of
+our men to the land, that they might find out whether there was a king in
+this country, or any cities. These men travelled for three days, and they
+found people and houses without number, but they were small and without
+any government, therefore they returned.
+
+Now in the mean time I had learned from certain Indians, whom I had
+seized there, that this country was indeed an island, and therefore I
+proceeded toward the east, keeping all the time near the coast, for three
+hundred twenty-two miles, to the extreme ends of this island. From
+this place I saw another island to the east, distant from this Juana
+fifty-four miles, which I called forthwith Hispana,[12] and I sailed to
+it; and I steered along the northern coast, as at Juana, toward the east,
+five hundred sixty-four miles. And the said Juana and the other islands
+there appear very fertile. This island is surrounded by many very safe
+and wide harbors, not excelled by any others that I have ever seen. Many
+great and salubrious rivers flow through it. There are also many very
+high mountains there.
+
+All these islands are very beautiful, and distinguished by various
+qualities; they are accessible, and full of a great variety of trees
+stretching up to the stars; the leaves of which I believe are never shed,
+for I saw them as green and flourishing as they are usually in Spain in
+the month of May; some of them were blossoming, some were bearing fruit,
+some were in other conditions; each one was thriving in its own way. The
+nightingale and various other birds without number were singing in the
+month of November, when I was exploring them. There are besides in the
+said island Juana seven or eight kinds of palm-trees, which far excel
+ours in height and beauty, just as all the other trees, herbs, and fruits
+do. There are also excellent pine-trees, vast plains and meadows, a
+variety of birds, a variety of honey, and a variety of metals, excepting
+iron. In the one which was called Hispana, as we said above, there are
+great and beautiful mountains, vast fields, groves, fertile plains, very
+suitable for planting and cultivating, and for the building of houses.
+
+The convenience of the harbors in this island, and the remarkable number
+of rivers contributing to the healthfulness of man, exceed belief, unless
+one has seen them. The trees, pasturage, and fruits of this island differ
+greatly from those of Juana. This Hispana, moreover, abounds in different
+kinds of spices, in gold, and in metals. On this island, indeed, and on
+all the others which I have seen, and of which I have knowledge, the
+inhabitants of both sexes go always naked, just as they came into the
+world, except some of the women, who use a covering of a leaf or some
+foliage, or a cotton cloth, which they make themselves for that purpose.
+
+All these people lack, as I said above, every kind of iron; they are also
+without weapons, which indeed are unknown; nor are they competent to use
+them, not on account of deformity of body, for they are well formed, but
+because they are timid and full of fear. They carry for weapons, however,
+reeds baked in the sun, on the lower ends of which they fasten some
+shafts of dried wood rubbed down to a point; and indeed they do not
+venture to use these always; for it frequently happened, when I sent two
+or three of my men to some of the villages, that they might speak with
+the natives, a compact troop of the Indians would march out, and as soon
+as they saw our men approaching they would quickly take flight, children
+being pushed aside by their fathers, and fathers by their children. And
+this was not because any hurt or injury had been inflicted on any one of
+them, for to everyone whom I visited and with whom I was able to converse
+I distributed whatever I had, cloth and many other things, no return
+being made to me; but they are by nature fearful and timid. Yet when they
+perceive that they are safe, putting aside all fear, they are of simple
+manners and trustworthy, and very liberal with everything they have,
+refusing no one who asks for anything they may possess, and even
+themselves inviting us to ask for things.
+
+They show greater love for all others than for themselves; they give
+valuable things for trifles, being satisfied even with a very small
+return, or with nothing; however, I forbade that things so small and of
+no value should be given to them, such as pieces of plates, dishes, and
+glass, likewise keys and shoe-straps; although, if they were able to
+obtain these, it seemed to them like getting the most beautiful jewels
+in the world. It happened, indeed, that a certain sailor obtained in
+exchange for a shoe-strap as much worth of gold as would equal three
+golden coins; and likewise other things for articles of very little
+value, especially for new silver coins, and for some gold coins, to
+obtain which they gave whatever the seller desired, as for instance an
+ounce and a half and two ounces of gold, or thirty and forty pounds of
+cotton, with which they were already acquainted. They also traded cotton
+and gold for pieces of bows, bottles, jugs and jars, like persons without
+reason, which I forbade because it was very wrong; and I gave to them
+many beautiful and pleasing things that I had brought with me, no value
+being taken in exchange, in order that I might the more easily make them
+friendly to me, that they might be made worshippers of Christ, and that
+they might be full of love toward our King, Queen, and Prince, and the
+whole Spanish nation; also that they might be zealous to search out and
+collect, and deliver to us, those things of which they had plenty, and
+which we greatly needed.
+
+These people practise no kind of idolatry; on the contrary they firmly
+believe that all strength and power, and in fact all good things, are
+in heaven, and that I had come down from thence with these ships and
+sailors; and in this belief I was received there after they had put
+aside fear. Nor are they slow or unskilled, but of excellent and acute
+understanding; and the men who have navigated that sea give an account of
+everything in an admirable manner; but they never saw people clothed, nor
+these kind of ships.
+
+As soon as I reached that sea, I seized by force several Indians on the
+first island, in order that they might learn from us, and in like manner
+tell us about those things in these lands of which they themselves had
+knowledge; and the plan succeeded, for in a short time we understood them
+and they us, sometimes by gestures and signs, sometimes by words; and
+it was a great advantage to us. They are coming with me now, yet always
+believing that I descended from heaven, although they have been living
+with us for a long time, and are living with us today. And these men were
+the first who announced it wherever we landed, continually proclaiming to
+the others in a loud voice, "Come, come, and you will see the celestial
+people." Whereupon both women and men, both children and adults, both
+young men and old men, laying aside the fear caused a little before,
+visited us eagerly, filling the road with a great crowd, some bringing
+food and some drink, with great love and extraordinary good-will.
+
+On every island there are many canoes of a single piece of wood, and,
+though narrow, yet in length and shape similar to our row-boats, but
+swifter in movement. They steer only by oars. Some of these boats are
+large, some small, some of medium size. Yet they row many of the larger
+row-boats with eighteen cross-benches, with which they cross to all those
+islands, which are innumerable, and with these boats they perform their
+trading, and carry on commerce among them. I saw some of these row-boats
+or canoes which were carrying seventy and eighty rowers.
+
+In all these islands there is no difference in the appearance of the
+people, nor in the manners and language, but all understand each other
+mutually; a fact that is very important for the end which I suppose to be
+earnestly desired by our most illustrious King, that is, their conversion
+to the holy religion of Christ, to which in truth, as far as I can
+perceive, they are very ready and favorably inclined.
+
+I said before how I proceeded along the island Juana in a straight line
+from west to east three hundred twenty-two miles, according to which
+course, and the length of the way, I am able to say that this Juana is
+larger than England and Scotland together; for, besides the said three
+hundred twenty-two thousand paces, there are two more provinces in that
+part which lies toward the west, which I did not visit; one of these the
+Indians call Anan, whose inhabitants are born with tails. They extend to
+one hundred eighty miles in length, as I have learned from those Indians
+I have with me, who are all acquainted with these islands. But the
+circumference of Hispana is still greater than all Spain from Colonia to
+Fontarabia[13]. This is easily proved, because its fourth side, which I
+myself passed along in a straight line from west to east, extends five
+hundred forty miles.
+
+This island is to be desired and is very desirable, and not to be
+despised; in which, although, as I have said, I solemnly took possession
+of all the others for our most invincible King, and their government is
+entirely committed to the said King, yet I especially took possession of
+a certain large town, in a very convenient location, and adapted to all
+kinds of gain and commerce, to which we give the name of our Lord of the
+Nativity. And I commanded a fort to be built there forthwith, which
+must be completed by this time; in which I left as many men as seemed
+necessary, with all kinds of arms, and plenty of food for more than
+a year. Likewise one caravel, and for the construction of others
+men skilled in this trade and in other professions; and also the
+extraordinary good-will and friendship of the King of this island toward
+us. For those people are very amiable and kind, to such a degree that the
+said King gloried in calling me his brother. And if they should change
+their minds, and should wish to hurt those who remained in the fort, they
+would not be able, because they lack weapons, they go naked, and are too
+cowardly. For that reason those who hold the said fort are at least
+able to resist easily this whole island, without any imminent danger to
+themselves, so long as they do not transgress the regulations and command
+which we gave.
+
+In all these islands, as I have understood, each man is content with only
+one wife, except the princes or kings, who are permitted to have twenty.
+The women appear to work more than the men. I was not able to find out
+surely whether they have individual property, for I saw that one man had
+the duty of distributing to the others, especially refreshments, food,
+and things of that kind. I found no monstrosities among them, as very
+many supposed, but men of great reverence, and friendly. Nor are they
+black like the Ethiopians. They have straight hair, hanging down. They do
+not remain where the solar rays send out the heat, for the strength of
+the sun is very great here, because it is distant from the equinoctial
+line, as it seems, only twenty-six degrees. On the tops of the mountains,
+too, the cold is severe, but the Indians, however, moderate it, partly
+by being accustomed to the place, and partly by the help of very hot
+victuals, of which they eat frequently and immoderately. And so I did not
+see any monstrosity, nor did I have knowledge of them anywhere, excepting
+a certain island named Charis,[14] which is the second in passing from
+Hispana to India.
+
+This island is inhabited by a certain people who are considered very
+warlike by their neighbors. These eat human flesh. The said people have
+many kinds of row-boats, in which they cross over to all the other Indian
+islands, and seize and carry away everything that they can. They differ
+in no way from the others, only that they wear long hair like the women.
+They use bows and darts made of reeds, with sharpened shafts fastened to
+the larger end, as we have described. On this account they are considered
+warlike, wherefore the other Indians are afflicted with continual fear,
+but I regard them as of no more account than the others. These are
+the people who visit certain women, who alone inhabit the island
+Mateunin[15], which is the first in passing from Hispana to India. These
+women, moreover, perform no kind of work of their sex, for they use bows
+and darts, like those I have described of their husbands; they protect
+themselves with sheets of copper, of which there is great abundance among
+them.
+
+They tell me of another island, greater than the aforesaid Hispana, whose
+inhabitants are without hair, and which abounds in gold above all the
+others. I am bringing with me men of this island and of the others that I
+have seen, who give proof of the things that I have described.
+
+Finally, that I may compress in few words the brief account of our
+departure and quick return, and the gain, I promise this, that if I am
+supported by our most invincible sovereigns with a little of their help,
+as much gold can be supplied as they will need, indeed as much of spices,
+of cotton, of chewing-gum (which is only found in Chios), also as much of
+aloes-wood, and as many slaves for the navy, as their majesties will wish
+to demand. Likewise rhubarb and other kinds of spices, which I suppose
+these men whom I left in the said fort have already found, and will
+continue to find; since I remained in no place longer than the winds
+forced me, except in the town of the Nativity, while I provided for the
+building of the fort and for the safety of all. Which things, although
+they are very great and remarkable, yet they would have been much greater
+if I had been aided by as many ships as the occasion required.
+
+Truly great and wonderful is this, and not corresponding to our merits,
+but to the holy Christian religion, and to the piety and religion of our
+sovereigns, because what the human understanding could not attain, that
+the divine will has granted to human efforts. For God is wont to listen
+to his servants who love his precepts, even in impossibilities, as has
+happened to us on the present occasion, who have attained that which
+hitherto mortal men have never reached. For if anyone has written or
+said anything about these islands, it was all with obscurities and
+conjectures; no one claims that he had seen them; from which they seemed
+like fables. Therefore let the King and Queen, the princes and their most
+fortunate kingdoms, and all other countries of Christendom, give thanks
+to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who has bestowed upon us so great
+a victory and gift. Let religious processions be solemnized; let sacred
+festivals be given; let the churches be covered with festive garlands.
+Let Christ rejoice on earth, as he rejoices in heaven, when he foresees
+coming to salvation so many souls of people hitherto lost. Let us be glad
+also, as well on account of the exaltation of our faith as on account
+of the increase of our temporal affairs, of which not only Spain, but
+universal Christendom, will be partaker. These things that have been done
+are thus briefly related. Farewell. Lisbon, the day before the ides of
+March.[16]
+
+CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, Admiral of the Ocean Fleet.
+
+Epigram of R. L. de Corbaria, Bishop of Monte Peloso
+
+"To THE MOST INVINCIBLE KING OF SPAIN
+
+"No region now can add to Spain's great deeds: To such men all the world
+is yet too small. An Orient land, found far beyond the waves, Will add,
+great Betica, to thy renown. Then to Columbus, the true finder, give Due
+thanks; but greater still to God on high, Who makes new kingdoms for
+himself and thee: Both firm and pious let thy conduct be."
+
+
+FERDINAND COLUMBUS
+
+All the conditions which the admiral demanded being conceded by their
+Catholic majesties, he set out from Granada on May 21, 1492, for Palos,
+where he was to fit out the ships for his intended expedition. That town
+was bound to serve the crown for three months with two caravels, which
+were ordered to be given to Columbus; and he fitted out these and a third
+vessel with all care and diligence. The ship in which he personally
+embarked was called the Santa Maria; the second vessel, named the Pinta,
+was commanded by Martin Alonso Pinzon; and the third, named the Nina,
+which had square sails, was under the command of Vincent Yanez Pinzon,
+the brother of Alonso, both of whom were inhabitants of Palos. Being
+furnished with all necessaries, and having ninety men to navigate the
+three vessels, Columbus set sail from Palos on August 3, 1492, shaping
+his course directly for the Canaries.
+
+During this voyage, and indeed in all the _four_ voyages which he made
+from Spain to the West Indies, the admiral was very careful to keep an
+exact journal of every occurrence which took place; always specifying
+what winds blew, how far he sailed with each particular wind, what
+currents were found, and everything that was seen by the way, whether
+birds, fishes, or any other thing. Although to note all these particulars
+with a minute relation of everything that happened, showing what
+impressions and effects answered to the course and aspect of the stars,
+and the differences between the seas which he sailed and those of our
+countries, might all be useful; yet, as I conceive that the relation of
+these particulars might now be tiresome to the reader, I shall only give
+an account of what appears to me necessary and convenient to be known.
+
+On Saturday, August 4th, the next day after sailing from Palos, the
+rudder of the Pinta broke loose. The admiral strongly suspected that
+it was occasioned by the contrivance of the master on purpose to avoid
+proceeding on the voyage, which he had endeavored to do before they left
+Spain, and he therefore ranged up alongside of the disabled vessel to
+give every assistance in his power, but the wind blew so hard that he was
+unable to afford any aid. Pinzon, however, being an experienced seaman,
+soon made a temporary repair by means of ropes, and they proceeded on
+their voyage. But on the following Tuesday, the weather becoming rough
+and boisterous, the fastenings gave way, and the squadron was obliged to
+lay to for some time to renew the repairs. From this misfortune of twice
+breaking the rudder, a superstitious person might have foreboded the
+future disobedience of Pinzon to the admiral; as through his malice the
+Pinta twice separated from the squadron, as shall be afterward related.
+Having applied the best remedy they could to the disabled state of the
+rudder, the squadron continued its voyage, and came in sight of the
+Canaries at daybreak of Thursday, August 9th; but owing to contrary
+winds, they were unable to come to anchor at Gran Canaria until the 12th.
+The admiral left Pinzon at Gran Canaria to endeavor to procure another
+vessel instead of that which was disabled, and went himself with the Niña
+on the same errand to Gomera.
+
+The admiral arrived at Gomera on Sunday, August 12th, and sent a boat on
+shore to inquire if any vessel could be procured there for his purpose.
+The boat returned next morning, and brought intelligence that no vessel
+was then at that island, but that Doña Beatrix de Bobadilla, the
+proprietrix of the island, was then at Gran Canaria in a hired vessel of
+forty tons belonging to one Gradeuna of Seville, which would probably
+suit his purpose and might perhaps be got. He therefore determined to
+await the arrival of that vessel at Gomera, believing that Pinzon might
+have secured a vessel for himself at Gran Canaria, if he had not been
+able to repair his own. After waiting two days, he despatched one of his
+people in a bark which was bound from Gomera to Gran Canaria, to acquaint
+Pinzon where he lay, and to assist him in repairing and fixing the
+rudder. Having waited a considerable time for an answer to his letter, he
+sailed with the two vessels from Gomera on August 23d for Gran Canaria,
+and fell in with the bark on the following day, which had been detained
+all that time on its voyage by contrary winds. He now took his man from
+the bark, and, sailing in the night past the island of Teneriffe, the
+people were much astonished at observing flames bursting out of the lofty
+mountain called El Pico (or the Peak of Teneriffe). On this occasion the
+admiral was at great pains to explain the nature of this phenomenon to
+the people by instancing the example of Aetna and several other known
+volcanoes.
+
+Passing by Teneriffe, they arrived at Gran Canaria on Saturday, August
+25th, and found that Pinzon had only got in there the day before. From
+him the admiral was informed that Doña Beatrix had sailed for Gomera on
+the 20th with the vessel which he was so anxious to obtain. His officers
+were much troubled at the disappointment; but he, who always endeavored
+to make the best of every occurrence, observed to them that since it had
+not pleased God that they should get this vessel it was perhaps better
+for them, as they might have encountered much opposition in pressing it
+into the service, and might have lost a great deal of time in shipping
+and unshipping the goods. Wherefore, lest he might again miss it if he
+returned to Gomera, he resolved to make a new rudder for the Pinta at
+Gran Canaria, and ordered the square sails of the Nina to be changed to
+_round_ ones, like those of the other two vessels, that she might be able
+to accompany them with less danger and agitation.
+
+The vessels being all refitted, the admiral weighed anchor from Gran
+Canaria on Saturday, September 1st, and arrived next day at Gomera, where
+four days were employed in completing their stores of provisions and
+of wood and water. On the morning of Thursday, September 6, 1492,
+the admiral took his departure from Gomera, and commenced his great
+undertaking by standing directly westward, but made very slow progress at
+first on account of calms. On Sunday, September 9th, about daybreak, they
+were nine leagues west of the island of Ferro. Now, losing sight of
+land and stretching out into utterly unknown seas, many of the people
+expressed their anxiety and fear that it might be long before they should
+see land again; but the admiral used every endeavor to comfort them with
+the assurance of soon finding the land he was in search of, and raised
+their hopes of acquiring wealth and honor by the discovery. To lessen the
+fear which they entertained of the length of way they had to sail, he
+gave out that they had only proceeded fifteen leagues that day, when the
+actual distance sailed was eighteen; and, to induce the people to believe
+that they were not so far from Spain as they really were, he resolved to
+keep considerably short in his reckoning during the whole voyage, though
+he carefully recorded the true reckoning every day in private.
+
+On Wednesday, September 12th, having got to about one hundred fifty
+leagues west of Ferro, they discovered a large trunk of a tree,
+sufficient to have been the mast of a vessel of one hundred twenty tons,
+and which seemed to have been a long time in the water. At this distance
+from Ferro, and for somewhat farther on, the current was found to set
+strongly to the northeast. Next day, when they had run fifty leagues
+farther westward, the needle was observed to vary half a point to the
+eastward of north, and next morning the variation was a whole point
+east. This variation of the compass had never been before observed, and
+therefore the admiral was much surprised at the phenomenon, and concluded
+that the needle did not actually point toward the polar star, but to some
+other fixed point. Three days afterward, when almost one hundred leagues
+farther west, he was still more astonished at the irregularity of the
+variation; for, having observed the needle to vary a whole point to the
+eastward at night, it pointed directly northward in the morning.
+
+On the night of Saturday, September isth, being then almost three
+hundred leagues west of Ferro, they saw a prodigious flash of light,
+or fire-ball, drop from the sky into the sea, at four or five leagues'
+distance from the ships, toward the southwest. The weather was then quite
+fair and serene like April, the sea perfectly calm, the wind favorable
+from the northeast, and the current setting to the northeast. The people
+in the Nina told the admiral that they had seen the day before a heron,
+and another bird which they called _rabo-de-junco._ These were the first
+birds which had been seen during the voyage, and were considered as
+indications of approaching land. But they were more agreeably surprised
+next day, Sunday, September 16th, by seeing great abundance of yellowish
+green sea-weeds, which appeared as if newly washed away from some rock
+or island. Next day the seaweed was seen in much greater quantity, and a
+small live lobster was observed among the weeds; from this circumstance
+many affirmed that they were certainly near the land.
+
+The sea-water was afterward noticed to be only half so salt as before;
+and great numbers of tunny-fish were seen swimming about, some of which
+came so near the vessel that one was killed by a bearded iron. Being now
+three hundred sixty leagues west from Ferro, another of the birds called
+rabo-de-junco was seen. On Tuesday, September 18th, Martin Alonso Pinzon,
+who had gone ahead of the admiral, in the Pinta, which was an excellent
+sailer, lay to for the admiral to come up, and told him that he had seen
+a great number of birds fly away westward, for which reason he was in
+great hopes to see land that night;
+
+Pinzon even thought that he saw land that night about fifteen leagues
+distant to the northward, which appeared very black and covered with
+clouds. All the people would have persuaded the admiral to try for land
+in that direction; but, being certainly assured that it was not land,
+and having not yet reached the distance at which he expected to find the
+land, he would not consent to lose time in altering his course in that
+direction. But as the wind now freshened, he gave orders to take in the
+topsails at night, having now sailed eleven days before the wind due
+westward with all their sails up.
+
+All the people in the squadron being utterly unacquainted with the seas
+they now traversed, fearful of their danger at such unusual distance from
+any relief, and seeing nothing around but sky and water, began to mutter
+among themselves, and anxiously observed every appearance. On September
+19th a kind of sea-gull called _alcatras_ flew over the admiral's ship,
+and several others were seen in the afternoon of that day, and, as the
+admiral conceived that these birds would not fly far from land, he
+entertained hopes of soon seeing what he was in quest of. He therefore
+ordered a line of two hundred fathoms to be tried, but without finding
+any bottom. The current was now found to set to the southwest.
+
+On Thursday, September 20th, two alcatrases came near the ship about two
+hours before noon, and soon afterward a third. On this day likewise they
+took a bird resembling a heron, of a black color with a white tuft on its
+head, and having webbed feet like a duck. Abundance of weeds were seen
+floating in the sea, and one small fish was taken. About evening three
+land birds settled on the rigging of the ship and began to sing. These
+flew away at daybreak, which was considered a strong indication of
+approaching the land, as these little birds could not have come from any
+far distant country; whereas the other large fowls, being used to water,
+might much better go far from land. The same day an alcatras was seen.
+
+Friday, the 21st, another alcatras and a rabo-de-junco were seen, and
+vast quantities of weeds as far as the eye could carry toward the north.
+These appearances were sometimes a comfort to the people, giving them
+hopes of nearing the wished-for land; while at other times the weeds were
+so thick as in some measure to impede the progress of the vessels, and
+to occasion terror lest what is fabulously reported of St. Amaro in the
+frozen sea might happen to them, that they might be so enveloped in the
+weeds as to be unable to move backward or forward; wherefore they steered
+away from those shoals of weeds as much as they could.
+
+Next day, being Saturday, September 22d, they saw a whale and several
+small birds. The wind now veered to the southwest, sometimes more and
+sometimes less to the westward; and though this was adverse to the
+direction of their proposed voyage, the admiral, to comfort the people,
+alleged that this was a favorable circumstance; because, among other
+causes of fear, they had formerly said they should never have a wind to
+carry them back to Spain, as it had always blown from the east ever since
+they left Ferro. They still continued, however, to murmur, alleging that
+this southwest wind was by no means a settled one, and, as it never blew
+strong enough to swell the sea, it would not serve to carry them back
+again through so great an extent of sea as they had now passed over.
+In spite of every argument used by the admiral, assuring them that the
+alterations in the wind were occasioned by the vicinity of the land, by
+which likewise the waves were prevented from rising to any height, they
+were still dissatisfied and terrified.
+
+On Sunday, September 23d, a brisk gale sprung up west-northwest, with a
+rolling sea, such as the people had wished for. Three hours before noon
+a turtle-dove was observed to fly over the ship; toward evening an
+alcatras, a river fowl, and several white birds were seen flying about,
+and some crabs were observed among the weeds. Next day another alcatras
+was seen and several small birds which came from the west. Numbers of
+small fishes were seen swimming about, some of which were struck with
+harpoons, as they would not bite at the hook.
+
+The more that the tokens mentioned above were observed, and found not
+to be followed by the so anxiously looked-for land, the more the people
+became fearful of the event and entered into cabals against the admiral,
+who they said was desirous to make himself a great lord at the expense
+of their danger. They represented that they had already sufficiently
+performed their duty in adventuring farther from land and all possibility
+of succor than had ever been done before, and that they ought not to
+proceed on the voyage to their manifest destruction. If they did they
+would soon have reason to repent their temerity, as provisions would soon
+fall short, the ships were already faulty and would soon fail, and it
+would be extremely difficult to get back so far as they had already gone.
+None could condemn them in their own opinion for now turning back,
+but all must consider them as brave men for having gone upon such an
+enterprise and venturing so far. That the admiral was a foreigner who
+had no favor at court; and as so many wise and learned men had already
+condemned his opinions and enterprise as visionary and impossible, there
+would be none to favor or defend him, and they were sure to find more
+credit if they accused him of ignorance and mismanagement than he would
+do, whatsoever he might now say for himself against them.
+
+Some even proceeded so far as to propose, in case the admiral should
+refuse to acquiesce in their proposals, that they might make a short end
+of all disputes by throwing him overboard; after which they could give
+out that he had fallen over while making his observations, and no one
+would ever think of inquiring into the truth. They thus went on day after
+day, muttering, complaining, and consulting together; and though the
+admiral was not fully aware of the extent of their cabals, he was not
+entirely without apprehensions of their inconstancy in the present trying
+situation, and of their evil intentions toward him. He therefore exerted
+himself to the utmost to quiet their apprehensions and to suppress
+their evil design, sometimes using fair words, and at other times fully
+resolved to expose his life rather than abandon the enterprise; he put
+them in mind of the due punishment they would subject themselves to if
+they obstructed the voyage. To confirm their hopes, he recapitulated
+all the favorable signs and indications which had been lately observed,
+assuring them that they might soon expect to see the land. But they, who
+were ever attentive to these tokens, thought every hour a year in their
+anxiety to see the wished-for land.
+
+On Tuesday, September 25th, near sunset, as the admiral was discoursing
+with Pinzon, whose ship was then very near, Pinzon suddenly called out,
+"Land! land, sir! let not my good news miscarry," and pointed out a large
+mass in the southwest, about twenty-five leagues distant, which seemed
+very like an island. This was so pleasing to the people that they
+returned thanks to God for the pleasing discovery; and, although the
+admiral was by no means satisfied of the truth of Pinzon's observation,
+yet to please the men, and that they might not obstruct the voyage, he
+altered his course and stood in that direction a great part of the night.
+Next morning, the 26th, they had the mortification to find the supposed
+land was only composed of clouds, which often put on the appearance of
+distant land; and, to their great dissatisfaction, the stems of the ships
+were again turned directly westward, as they always were unless when
+hindered by the wind. Continuing their course, and still attentively
+watching for signs of land, they saw this day an alcatras, a
+rabo-de-junco, and other birds as formerly mentioned.
+
+On Thursday, September 27th, they saw another alcatras coming from the
+westward and flying toward the east, and great numbers of fish were seen
+with gilt backs, one of which they struck with a harpoon. A rabo-de-junco
+likewise flew past; the currents for some of the last days were not so
+regular as before but changed with the tide, and the weeds were not
+nearly so abundant.
+
+On Friday, the 28th, all the vessels took some of the fishes with gilt
+backs; and on Saturday, the 29th, they saw a rabo-de-junco, which,
+although a sea-fowl, never rests on the waves, but always flies in the
+air, pursuing the alcatrases. Many of these birds are said to frequent
+the Cape de Verd Islands. They soon afterward saw two other alcatrases
+and great numbers of flying-fishes. These last are about a span long, and
+have two little membranous wings like those of a bat, by means of which
+they fly about a pike-length high from the water and a musket-shot in
+length, and sometimes drop upon the ships. In the afternoon of this day
+they saw abundance of weeds lying in length north and south, and three
+alcatrases pursued by a rabo-de-junco.
+
+On the morning of Sunday, September 30th, four rabo-de-juncos came to the
+ship; and from so many of them coming together it was thought the land
+could not be far distant, especially as four alcatrases followed soon
+afterward. Great quantities of weeds were seen in a line stretching from
+west-north-west to east-north-east, and a great number of the fishes
+which are called _emperadores_, which have a very hard skin and are not
+fit to eat. Though the admiral paid every attention to these indications,
+he never neglected those in the heavens, and carefully observed the
+course of the stars. He was now greatly surprised to notice at this time
+that Charles' Wain, or the Ursa Major constellation, appeared at night
+in the west, and was north-east in the morning. He thence concluded that
+their whole night's course was only nine hours, or so many parts in
+twenty four of a great circle; and this he observed to be the case
+regularly every night. It was likewise noticed that the compass varied
+a whole point to the northwest at nightfall, and came due north every
+morning at daybreak. As this unheard-of circumstance confounded and
+perplexed the pilots, who apprehended danger in these strange regions and
+at such unusual distance from home, the admiral endeavored to calm their
+fears by assigning a cause for this wonderful phenomenon. He alleged that
+it was occasioned by the polar star making a circuit round the pole, by
+which they were not a little satisfied.
+
+Soon after sunrise on Monday, October 1st, an alcatras came to the ship,
+and two more about ten in the morning, and long streams of weeds floated
+from east to west. That morning the pilot of the admiral's ship said that
+they were now five hundred seventy-eight leagues west from the island
+of Ferro. In his public account the admiral said they were five hundred
+eighty-four leagues to the west; but in his private journal he made the
+real distance seven hundred seven leagues, or one hundred twenty-nine
+more than was reckoned by the pilot. The other two ships differed much in
+their computation from each other and from the admiral's pilot. The pilot
+of the Nina, in the afternoon of the Wednesday following, said they
+had only sailed five hundred forty leagues, and the pilot of the Pinta
+reckoned six hundred thirty-four. Thus they were all much short of the
+truth; but the admiral winked at the gross mistake, that the men, not
+thinking themselves so far from home, might be the less dejected.
+
+The next day, being Tuesday, October 2d, they saw abundance of fish,
+caught one small tunny, and saw a white bird with many other small birds,
+and the weeds appeared much withered and almost fallen to powder. Next
+day, seeing no birds, they suspected that they had passed between some
+islands on both hands, and had slipped through without seeing them, as
+they guessed that the many birds which they had seen might have been
+passing from one island to another. On this account they were very
+earnest to have the course altered one way or the other, in quest of
+these imaginary lands. But the admiral, unwilling to lose the advantage
+of the fair wind which carried him due west, which he accounted his
+surest course, and afraid to lessen his reputation by deviating from
+course to course in search of land, which he always affirmed that he well
+knew where to find, refused his consent to any change. On this the people
+were again ready to mutiny, and resumed their murmurs and cabals against
+him. But it pleased God to aid his authority by fresh indications of
+land.
+
+On Thursday, October 4th, in the afternoon, above forty sparrows together
+and two alcatrases flew so near the ship that a seaman killed one of
+them with a stone. Several other birds were seen at this time, and many
+flying-fish fell into the ships. Next day there came a rabo-de-junco and
+an alcatras from the westward, and many sparrows were seen. About sunrise
+on Sunday, October 7th, some signs of land appeared to the westward, but
+being imperfect no person would mention the circumstance. This was owing
+to fear of losing the reward of thirty crowns yearly for life which
+had been promised by their Catholic majesties to whoever should first
+discover land; and to prevent them from calling out "Land, land!" at
+every turn without just cause, it was made a condition that whoever said
+he saw land should lose the reward if it were not made out in three days,
+even if he should afterward actually prove the first discoverer. All on
+board the admiral's ship, being thus forewarned, were exceedingly careful
+not to cry out "Land!" on uncertain tokens; but those in the Niña, which
+sailed better and always kept ahead, believing that they certainly saw
+land, fired a gun and hung out their colors in token of the discovery;
+but the farther they sailed, the more the joyful appearance lessened,
+till at last it vanished away. But they soon afterward derived much
+comfort by observing great flights of large fowl and others of small
+birds going from the west toward the southwest.
+
+Being now at a vast distance from Spain, and well assured that such small
+birds would not go far from land, the admiral now altered his course
+from due west which had been hitherto, and steered to the southwest. He
+assigned as a reason for now changing his course, although deviating
+little from his original design, that he followed the example of the
+Portuguese, who had discovered most of their islands by attending to the
+flight of birds, and because these they now saw flew almost uniformly in
+one direction. He said likewise that he had always expected to discover
+land about the situation in which they now were, having often told them
+that he must not look to find land until they should get seven hundred
+fifty leagues to the westward of the Canaries, about which distance he
+expected to fall in with Hispaniola, which he then called Cipango;[17]
+and there is no doubt that he would have found this island by his direct
+course, if it had not been that it was reported to extend from north to
+south. Owing therefore to his not having inclined more to the south, he
+had missed that and others of the Caribbee islands, whither those birds
+were now bending their flight, and which had been for some time upon his
+larboard hand. It was from being so near the land that they continually
+saw such great numbers of birds; and on Monday, October 8th, twelve
+singing birds of various colors came to the ship, and after flying round
+it for a short time held on their way. Many other birds were seen from
+the ship flying toward the southwest, and that same night great numbers
+of large fowl were seen, and flocks of small birds proceeding from the
+northward, and all going to the southwest. In the morning a jay was seen,
+with an alcatras, several ducks, and many small birds, all flying the
+same way with the others, and the air was perceived to be fresh and
+odoriferous as it is at Seville in the month of April. But the people
+were now so eager to see land and had been so often disappointed that
+they ceased to give faith to these continual indications; insomuch that
+on Wednesday, the 10th, although abundance of birds were continually
+passing both by day and night, they never ceased to complain. The admiral
+upbraided their want of resolution, and declared that they must persist
+in their endeavors to discover the Indies, for which he and they had been
+sent out by their Catholic majesties.
+
+It would have been impossible for the admiral to have much longer
+withstood the numbers which now opposed him; but it pleased God that, in
+the afternoon of Thursday, October 11th, such manifest tokens of being
+near the land appeared that the men took courage and rejoiced at their
+good-fortune as much as they had been before distressed. From the
+admiral's ship a green rush was seen to float past, and one of those
+green fish which never go far from the rocks. The people in the Pinta saw
+a cane and a staff in the water, and took up another staff very curiously
+carved, and a small board, and great plenty of weeds were seen which
+seemed to have been recently torn from the rocks. Those of the Niña,
+besides similar signs of land, saw a branch of a thorn full of red
+berries, which seemed to have been newly torn from the tree.
+
+From all these indications the admiral was convinced that he now drew
+near to the land, and after the evening prayers he made a speech to the
+men, in which he reminded them of the mercy of God in having brought them
+so long a voyage with such favorable weather, and in comforting them with
+so many tokens of a successful issue to their enterprise, which were now
+every day becoming plainer and less equivocal. He besought them to be
+exceedingly watchful during the night, as they well knew that in the
+first article of the instructions, which he had given to all the three
+ships before leaving the Canaries, they were enjoined, when they should
+have sailed seven hundred leagues west without discovering land, to lay
+to every night from midnight till daybreak. And, as he had very confident
+hopes of discovering land that night, he required every one to keep watch
+at their quarters; and, besides the gratuity of thirty crowns a year for
+life, which had been graciously promised by their sovereigns to him that
+first saw the land, he engaged to give the fortunate discoverer a velvet
+doublet from himself.
+
+After this, as the admiral was in his cabin, about ten o'clock at night,
+he saw a light on shore; but it was so unsteady that he could not
+certainly affirm that it came from land. He called to one Pedro Gutierrez
+and desired him to try if he could perceive the same light, who said he
+did; but one Rodrigo Sanchez of Segovia, on being desired to look the
+same way, could not see it, because he was not up time enough, as neither
+the admiral nor Gutierrez could see it again above once or twice for a
+short space, which made them judge it to proceed from a candle or torch
+belonging to some fisherman or traveller, who lifted it up occasionally
+and lowered it again, or perhaps from people going from one house to
+another, because it appeared and vanished again so suddenly. Being now
+very much on their guard, they still held on their course until about two
+in the morning of Friday, October 12th, when the Pinta, which was always
+far ahead, owing to her superior sailing, made the signal of seeing land,
+which was first discovered by Rodrigo de Triana at about two leagues from
+the ship. But the thirty crowns a year were afterward granted to the
+admiral, who had seen the light in the midst of darkness, a type of the
+spiritual light which he was the happy means of spreading in these dark
+regions of error. Being now so near land, all the ships lay to, everyone
+thinking it long till daylight, that they might enjoy the sight they had
+so long and anxiously desired.
+
+When daylight appeared, the newly discovered land was perceived to
+consist of a flat island fifteen leagues in length, without any hills,
+all covered with trees, and having a great lake in the middle. The island
+was inhabited by great abundance of people, who ran down to the shore
+filled with wonder and admiration at the sight of the ships, which they
+conceived to be some unknown animals. The Christians were not less
+curious to know what kind of people they had fallen in with, and the
+curiosity on both sides was soon satisfied, as the ships soon came to
+anchor. The admiral went on shore with his boat well armed, and having
+the royal standard of Castile and Leon displayed, accompanied by the
+commanders of the other two vessels, each in his own boat, carrying the
+particular colors which had been allotted for the enterprise, which were
+white with a green cross and the letter F on one side, and on the other
+the names of Ferdinand and Isabella crowned.
+
+The whole company kneeled on the shore and kissed the ground for joy,
+returning God thanks for the great mercy they had experienced during
+their long voyage through seas hitherto unpassed, and their now happy
+discovery of an unknown land.
+
+The admiral then stood up, and took formal possession in the usual words
+for their Catholic majesties of this island, to which he gave the name
+of San Salvador. All the Christians present admitted Columbus to the
+authority and dignity of admiral and viceroy, pursuant to the commission
+which he had received to that effect, and all made oath to obey him as
+the legitimate representative of their Catholic majesties, with such
+expressions of joy and acknowledgment as became their mighty success; and
+they all implored his forgiveness of the many affronts he had received
+from them through their fears and want of confidence. Numbers of the
+Indians or natives of the island were present at these ceremonies; and,
+perceiving them to be peaceable, quiet, and simple people, the admiral
+distributed several presents among them. To some he gave red caps, and
+to others strings of glass beads, which they hung about their necks, and
+various other things of small value, which they valued as if they had
+been jewels of high price.
+
+After the ceremonies, the admiral went off in his boat, and the Indians
+followed him even to the ships, some by swimming and others in their
+canoes, carrying parrots, clews of spun cotton yarn, javelins, and other
+such trifling articles, to barter for glass beads, bells, and other
+things of small value. Like people in the original simplicity of nature,
+they were all naked, and even a woman who was among them was entirely
+destitute of clothing. Most of them were young, seemingly not above
+thirty years of age, of a good stature, with very thick black lank hair,
+mostly cut short above their ears, though some had it down to their
+shoulders, tied up with a string about their head like women's tresses.
+Their countenances were mild and agreeable and their features good; but
+their foreheads were too high, which gave them rather a wild appearance.
+They were of a middle stature, plump, and well shaped, but of an olive
+complexion, like the inhabitants of the Canaries, or sunburnt peasants.
+Some were painted with black, others with white, and others again with
+red; in some the whole body was painted, in others only the face, and
+some only the nose and eyes. They had no weapons like those of Europe,
+neither had they any knowledge of such; for when our people showed them a
+naked sword, they ignorantly grasped it by the edge. Neither had they any
+knowledge of iron, as their javelins were merely constructed of wood,
+having their points hardened in the fire, and armed with a piece of
+fish-bone. Some of them had scars of wounds on different parts, and,
+being asked by signs how these had been got, they answered by signs that
+people from other islands came to take them away, and that they had been
+wounded in their own defence. They seemed ingenious and of a voluble
+tongue, as they readily repeated such words as they once heard. There was
+no kind of animals among them excepting parrots, which they carried to
+barter with the Christians among the articles already mentioned, and in
+this trade they continued on board the ships till night, when they all
+returned to the shore.
+
+In the morning of the next day, being October 13th, many of the natives
+returned on board the ships in their boats or canoes, which were all of
+one piece hollowed like a tray from the trunk of a tree; some of these
+were so large as to contain forty or forty-five men, while others were so
+small as only to hold one person, with many intermediate sizes between
+these extremes. These they worked along with paddles formed like a
+baker's peel or the implement which is used in dressing hemp. These oars
+or paddles were not fixed by pins to the sides of the canoes like ours,
+but were dipped into the water and pulled backward as if digging. Their
+canoes are so light and artfully constructed that if overset they soon
+turn them right again by swimming; and they empty out the water by
+throwing them from side to side like a weaver's shuttle, and when half
+emptied they ladle out the rest with dried calabashes cut in two, which
+they carry for that purpose.
+
+This second day the natives, as said before, brought various articles to
+barter for such small things as they could procure in exchange. Jewels or
+metals of any kind were not seen among them, except some small plates of
+gold which hung from their nostrils; and on being questioned from whence
+they procured the gold, they answered by signs that they had it from
+the south, where there was a king who possessed abundance of pieces and
+vessels of gold; and they made our people to understand that there were
+many other islands and large countries to the south and southwest. They
+were very covetous to get possession of anything which belonged to the
+Christians, and being themselves very poor, with nothing of value to give
+in exchange, as soon as they got on board, if they could lay hold of
+anything which struck their fancy, though it were only a piece of a
+broken glazed earthen dish or porringer, they leaped with it into the sea
+and swam on shore with their prize. If they brought anything on board
+they would barter it for anything whatever belonging to our people, even
+for a piece of broken glass; insomuch that some gave sixteen large clews
+of well-spun cotton yarn, weighing twenty-five pounds, for three small
+pieces of Portuguese brass coin not worth a farthing. Their liberality in
+dealing did not proceed from their putting any great value on the things
+themselves which they received from our people in return, but because
+they valued them as belonging to the Christians, whom they believed
+certainly to have come down from heaven, and they therefore earnestly
+desired to have something from them as a memorial. In this manner all
+this day was spent, and the islanders, as before, went all on shore at
+night.
+
+[Footnote 1: In the other editions this part of the sentence reads,
+"concerning the islands of India beyond the Ganges, recently
+discovered."]
+
+[Footnote 2: The name of Isabella (Helisabet) is also omitted in the
+title of one of Plannck's editions; it is found in the two other Roman
+editions.]
+
+[Footnote 3: The correct form is Gabriel Sanchez.]
+
+[Footnote 4: April 29th.]
+
+[Footnote 5: A mistake of the Latin translator. Columbus sailed from
+Palos, August 3, 1492; on September 8th he left the Canaries, and on
+October 11th, or thirty-three days later, he reached the Bahamas.]
+
+[Footnote 6: In Spanish, San Salvador, one of the Bahama Islands. It
+has been variously identified with Grand Turk, Cat, Watling, Mariguana,
+Samana, and Acklin Islands. Watling's Island seems to have much in its
+favor.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Perhaps Crooked Island, or, according to others, North
+Caico.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Identified by some with Long Island, by others with Little
+Inagua.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Identified variously with Fortune Island and Great Inagua.]
+
+[Footnote 10: The island of Cuba.]
+
+[Footnote 11: China.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Hispaniola, or Hayti.]
+
+[Footnote:13 From Catalonia by the sea-coast to Fontarabia in Biscay.]
+
+[Footnote 14: Identified with Dominica.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Supposed to be Martinique.]
+
+[Footnote 16: March 14, 1493.]
+
+[Footnote 17: The name given by Marco Polo to an island or islands
+supposed to be the modern Japan, for outlying portions of which Columbus
+mistook the West Indies.]
+
+
+
+CONSPIRACY, REBELLION, AND EXECUTION OF PERKIN WARBECK
+
+A.D. 1492
+
+FRANCIS BACON
+
+
+Soon after his accession to the throne of England, Henry VII married
+Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV, uniting the rival houses of
+York and Lancaster. But notwithstanding this adjustment of the rival
+interests, the rule of Henry, the Lancastrian, failed to satisfy the
+Yorkists; and this party, with the aid of Margaret of Burgundy--sister of
+Edward IV--and James IV of Scotland, set up two impostors, one after the
+other, to claim the English throne. At the same time there was living a
+real heir of the house of York--young Edward, Earl of Warwick, son of the
+Duke of Clarence, brother to Edward IV. Henry had taken the precaution to
+keep this genuine Yorkist in the Tower.
+
+In 1487 a spurious earl of Warwick appeared in Ireland. Receiving
+powerful support in that country, he was actually crowned in the
+Cathedral of Dublin. In order to defeat this imposture Henry exhibited
+the real earl to the people of London. He also vanquished the army of
+the pretender at Stoke, in June, 1487. This false earl was found to be
+Lambert Simnel, son of an Oxford joiner. He became a scullion in King
+Henry's kitchen.
+
+The second of these impostors, known as Perkin Warbeck, contrived to make
+himself a figure of some importance in the history of England. Supposedly
+born in Flanders, he first appears upon the historic stage in 1492, when
+he landed at Cork. Going soon after to France, he was recognized by the
+court as Duke of York, according to his claim. How he was coached for his
+part, and how the drama in which he played it was acted out, are told by
+Bacon in what is perhaps the best specimen we have of that great author's
+style in historical composition.
+
+Warbeck was executed in 1499, and, although Bacon gives us no dates,
+the whole history, covering about seven years, may be said to form
+a practically continuous series of incidents. The character of this
+adventurer has been made quite prominent in literature, having been the
+subject of Ford's tragedy, _The Chronicle History of Perkin Warbeck_
+(1634), of a play by Charles Macklin, _King Henry VII, or the Popish
+Impostor_ (1716), and of Joseph Elderton's drama, _The Pretender_.
+
+This youth of whom we are now to speak was such a mercurial as the like
+hath seldom been known, and could make his own part if at any time he
+chanced to be out. Wherefore, this being one of the strangest examples of
+a personation that ever was in elder or later times, it deserveth to be
+discovered and related at the full--although the King's manner of showing
+things by pieces and by dark lights hath so muffled it that it hath been
+left almost as a mystery to this day.
+
+The Lady Margaret,[1] whom the King's friends called Juno, because she
+was to him as Juno was to Aeneas, stirring both heaven and hell to do him
+mischief, for a foundation of her particular practices against him, did
+continually, by all means possible, nourish, maintain, and divulge the
+flying opinion that Richard, Duke of York, second son to Edward IV, was
+not murdered in the Tower, as was given out, but saved alive. For that
+those who were employed in that barbarous act, having destroyed the elder
+brother, were stricken with remorse and compassion toward the younger,
+and set him privily at liberty to seek his fortune.
+
+There was a townsman of Tournai, that had borne office in that town,
+whose name was John Osbeck, a convert Jew, married to Catherine de Faro,
+whose business drew him to live for a time with his wife at London, in
+King Edward's days. During which time he had a son[2] by her, and being
+known in the court, the King, either out of a religious nobleness because
+he was a convert, or upon some private acquaintance, did him the honor to
+be godfather to his child, and named him Peter. But afterward, proving a
+dainty and effeminate youth, he was commonly called by the diminutive
+of his name, Peterkin or Perkin. For as for the name of Warbeck, it was
+given him when they did but guess at it, before examinations had been
+taken. But yet he had been so much talked of by that name, as it stuck by
+him after his true name of Osbeck was known.
+
+While he was a young child, his parents returned with him to Tournai.
+There he was placed in the house of a kinsman of his called John
+Stenbeck, at Antwerp, and so roved up and down between Antwerp and
+Tournai, and other towns of Flanders, for a good time, living much in
+English company and having the English tongue perfect. In which time,
+being grown a comely youth, he was brought by some of the espials of the
+Lady Margaret into her presence. Who, viewing him well, and seeing that
+he had a face and personage that would bear a noble fortune, and finding
+him otherwise of a fine spirit and winning behavior, thought she had now
+found a curious piece of marble to carve out an image of a Duke of York.
+She kept him by her a great while, but with extreme secrecy.
+
+The while she instructed him by many cabinet conferences. First, in
+princely behavior and gesture, teaching him how he should keep state, and
+yet with a modest sense of his misfortunes. Then she informed him of all
+the circumstances and particulars that concerned the person of Richard,
+Duke of York, which he was to act, describing unto him the personages,
+lineaments, and features of the King and Queen, his pretended parents;
+and of his brother and sisters, and divers others, that were nearest him
+in his childhood; together with all passages, some secret, some common,
+that were fit for a child's memory, until the death of King Edward. Then
+she added the particulars of the time from the King's death, until he and
+his brother were committed to the Tower, as well during the time he was
+abroad as while he was in sanctuary. As for the times while he was in the
+Tower, and the manner of his brother's death, and his own escape, she
+knew they were things that a very few could control. And therefore she
+taught him only to tell a smooth and likely tale of those matters,
+warning him not to vary from it.
+
+It was agreed likewise between them what account he should give of his
+peregrination abroad, intermixing many things which were true, and such
+as they knew others could testify, for the credit of the rest, but still
+making them to hang together with the part he was to play. She taught him
+likewise how to avoid sundry captious and tempting questions which were
+like to be asked of him. But, this she found him so nimble and shifting
+as she trusted much to his own wit and readiness, and therefore labored
+the less in it.
+
+Lastly, she raised his thoughts with some present rewards and further
+promises, setting before him chiefly the glory and fortune of a crown
+if things went well, and a sure refuge to her court if the worst should
+fall. After such time as she thought he was perfect in his lesson, she
+began to cast with herself from what coast this blazing star should first
+appear, and at what time it must be upon the horizon of Ireland, for
+there had the like meteor strong influence before. The time of the
+apparition to be when the King should be engaged in a war with France.
+But well she knew that whatsoever should come from her would be held
+suspected. And therefore, if he should go out of Flanders immediately
+into Ireland, she might be thought to have some hand in it. And besides
+the time was not yet ripe, for that the two kings were then upon terms of
+peace. Therefore she wheeled about; and to put all suspicion afar off,
+and loath to keep him any longer by her, for that she knew secrets
+are not long-lived, she sent him unknown into Portugal, with the Lady
+Brampton, an English lady, that embarked for Portugal at that time, with
+some _privado_ of her own, to have an eye upon him, and there he was to
+remain, and to expect her further directions.
+
+In the mean time she omitted not to prepare things for his better welcome
+and accepting, not only in the kingdom of Ireland, but in the court of
+France. He continued in Portugal about a year, and by that time the King
+of England called his parliament and declared open war against France.
+Now did the sign reign, and the constellation was come, under which
+Perkin should appear. And therefore he was straight sent unto by the
+Duchess to go for Ireland, according to the first designment. In Ireland
+he did arrive, at the town of Cork. When he was thither come, his own
+tale was, when he made his confession afterward, that the Irishmen,
+finding him in some good clothes, came flocking about him, and bare him
+down that he was the Duke of Clarence that had been there before. And
+after, that he was the base son of Richard III. And lastly, that he was
+Richard, Duke of York, second son to Edward IV. But that he, for his
+part, renounced all these things, and offered to swear upon the holy
+evangelists that he was no such man; till at last they forced it upon
+him, and bade him fear nothing, and so forth. But the truth is that
+immediately upon his coming into Ireland he took upon him the said person
+of the Duke of York, and drew unto him complices and partakers by all the
+means he could devise. Insomuch as he wrote his letters unto the Earls
+of Desmond and Kildare to come in to his aid, and be of his party; the
+originals of which letters are yet extant.
+
+Somewhat before this time, the Duchess had also gained unto her a near
+servant of King Henry's own, one Stephen Frion, his secretary for the
+French tongue; an active man, but turbulent and discontented. This Frion
+had fled over to Charles, the French King, and put himself into his
+service, at such time as he began to be in open enmity with the King. Now
+King Charles, when he understood of the person and attempts of Perkin,
+ready of himself to embrace all advantages against the King of England,
+instigated by Frion, and formerly prepared by the Lady Margaret,
+forthwith despatched one Lucas and this Frion, in the nature of
+ambassadors to Perkin, to advertise him of the King's good inclination
+to him, and that he was resolved to aid him to recover his right against
+King Henry, a usurper of England and an enemy of France; and wished him
+to come over unto him at Paris.
+
+Perkin thought himself in heaven now that he was invited by so great a
+king in so honorable a manner. And imparting unto his friends in Ireland,
+for their encouragement, how fortune called him, and what great hopes
+he had, sailed presently into France. When he was come to the court of
+France, the King received him with great honor; saluted and styled him by
+the name of the Duke of York; lodged him and accommodated him in great
+state; and, the better to give him the representation and the countenance
+of a prince, assigned him a guard for his person, whereof Lord Congresall
+was captain. The courtiers likewise, though it be ill mocking with the
+French, applied themselves to their King's bent, seeing there was reason
+of state for it. At the same time there repaired unto Perkin divers
+Englishmen of quality--Sir George Neville, Sir John Taylor, and about one
+hundred more--and among the rest this Stephen Frion, of whom we spake,
+who followed his fortune both then and for a long time after, and was,
+indeed, his principal counsellor and instrument in all his proceedings.
+
+But all this on the French King's part was but a trick, the better to bow
+King Henry to peace. And therefore, upon the first grain of incense that
+was sacrificed upon the altar of peace at Boulogne, Perkin was smoked
+away. Yet would not the French King deliver him up to King Henry, as
+he was labored to do, for his honor's sake, but warned him away and
+dismissed him. And Perkin, on his part, was ready to be gone, doubting he
+might be caught up underhand. He therefore took his way into Flanders,
+unto the Duchess of Burgundy, pretending that, having been variously
+tossed by fortune, he directed his course thither as to a safe harbor,
+noways taking knowledge that he had ever been there before, but as if
+that had been his first address. The Duchess, on the other part, made it
+as new strange to see him, pretending, at the first, that she was taught
+and made wise, by the example of Lambert Simnel, how she did admit of
+any counterfeit stuff, though, even in that, she said she was not fully
+satisfied.
+
+She pretended at the first, and that was ever in the presence of others,
+to pose him and sift him, thereby to try whether he were indeed the very
+Duke of York or no. But, seeming to receive full satisfaction by his
+answers, she then feigned herself to be transported with a kind of
+astonishment, mixed of joy and wonder, at his miraculous deliverance,
+receiving him as if he were risen from death to life, and inferring that
+God, who had in such wonderful manner preserved him from death, did
+likewise reserve him for some great and prosperous fortune. As for his
+dismission out of France, they interpreted it, not as if he were detected
+or neglected for a counterfeit deceiver, but, contrariwise, that it did
+show manifestly unto the world that he was some great matter, for that it
+was his abandoning that, in effect, made the peace, being no more but the
+sacrificing of a poor, distressed prince unto the utility and ambition of
+two mighty monarchs.
+
+Neither was Perkin, for his part, wanting to himself, either in gracious
+or princely behavior, or in ready or apposite answers, or in contenting
+and caressing those that did apply themselves unto him, or in petty scorn
+and disdain to those that seemed to doubt of him; but in all things did
+notably acquit himself, insomuch as it was generally believed, as well
+among great persons as among the vulgar, that he was indeed Duke Richard.
+Nay, himself, with long and continued counterfeiting, and with oft
+telling a lie, was turned by habit almost into the thing he seemed to be,
+and from a liar to a believer. The Duchess, therefore, as in a case out
+of doubt, did him all princely honor, calling him always by the name of
+her nephew, and giving the delicate title of the "White Rose of England,"
+and appointed him a guard of thirty persons, halberdiers, clad in a
+party-colored livery of murrey and blue, to attend his person. Her court
+likewise, and generally the Dutch and strangers, in their usage toward
+him, expressed no less respect.
+
+The news hereof came blazing and thundering over into England that the
+Duke of York was sure alive. As for the name of Perkin Warbeck, it was
+not at that time come to light, but all the news ran upon the Duke of
+York; that he had been entertained in Ireland, bought and sold in France,
+and was now plainly avowed and in great honor in Flanders. These fames
+took hold of divers; in some upon discontent, in some upon ambition, in
+some upon levity and desire of change, and in some few upon conscience
+and belief, but in most upon simplicity, and in divers out of dependence
+upon some of the better sort, who did in secret favor and nourish these
+bruits. And it was not long ere these rumors of novelty had begotten
+others of scandal and murmur against the King and his government, taxing
+him for a great taxer of his people and discountenancer of his nobility.
+The loss of Britain and the peace with France were not forgotten. But
+chiefly they fell upon the wrong that he did his Queen, in that he did
+not reign in her right. Wherefore they said that God had now brought to
+light a masculine branch of the house of York, that would not be at his
+courtesy, howsoever he did depress his poor lady.
+
+And yet, as it fareth with things which are current with the multitude
+and which they affect, these fames grew so general as the authors were
+lost in the generality of the speakers; they being like running weeds
+that have no certain root, or like footings up and down, impossible to be
+traced. But after a while these ill-humors drew to a head, and settled
+secretly in some eminent persons, which were Sir William Stanley, lord
+chamberlain of the King's household, the Lord Fitzwater, Sir Simon
+Montfort, and Sir Thomas Thwaites. These entered into a secret conspiracy
+to favor Duke Richard's title. Nevertheless, none engaged their fortunes
+in this business openly but two, Sir Robert Clifford and Master William
+Barley, who sailed over into Flanders, sent, indeed, from the party of
+the conspirators here, to understand the truth of those things
+that passed there, and not without some help of moneys from hence;
+provisionally to be delivered, if they found and were satisfied that
+there was truth in these pretences. The person of Sir Robert Clifford,
+being a gentleman of fame and family, was extremely welcome to the Lady
+Margaret, who, after she had conference with him, brought him to the
+sight of Perkin, with whom he had often speech and discourse. So that in
+the end, won either by the Duchess to affect or by Perkin to believe, he
+wrote back into England that he knew the person of Richard, Duke of York,
+as well as he knew his own, and that this young man was undoubtedly he.
+By this means all things grew prepared to revolt and sedition here,
+and the conspiracy came to have a correspondence between Flanders and
+England.
+
+The King, on his part, was not asleep, but to arm or levy forces yet,
+he thought, would but show fear, and do this idol too much worship.
+Nevertheless, the ports he did shut up, or at least kept a watch on them,
+that none should pass to or fro that was suspected; but for the rest, he
+chose to work by counter-mines. His purposes were two--the one to lay
+open the abuse, the other to break the knot of the conspirators. To
+detect the abuse there were but two ways--the first, to make it manifest
+to the world that the Duke of York was indeed murdered; the other to
+prove that, were he dead or alive, yet Perkin was a counterfeit. For the
+first, thus it stood. There were but four persons that could speak upon
+knowledge to the murder of the Duke of York--Sir James Tyrell, the
+employed man from King Richard; John Dighton and Miles Forest, his
+servants, the two butchers or tormentors; and the priest of the Tower,
+that buried them. Of which four, Miles Forest and the priest were dead,
+and there remained alive only Sir James Tyrell and John Dighton.
+
+These two the King caused to be committed to the Tower. and examined
+touching the manner of the death of the two innocent princes. They agreed
+both in a tale, as the King gave out, to this effect: That King Richard,
+having directed his warrant for the putting of them to death to
+Brackenbury, the lieutenant of the Tower, was by him refused. Whereupon
+the King directed his warrant to Sir James Tyrell, to receive the key of
+the Tower from the lieutenant, for the space of a night, for the King's
+special service. That Sir James Tyrell accordingly repaired to the Tower
+by night, attended by his two servants aforenamed, whom he had chosen for
+that purpose. That himself stood at the stair-foot, and sent these two
+villains to execute the murder. That they smothered them in their beds,
+and, that done, called up their master to see their naked dead bodies,
+which they had laid forth. That they were buried under the stairs, and
+some stones cast upon them. That when the report was made to King Richard
+that his will was done, he gave Sir James Tyrell great thanks, but took
+exception to the place of their burial, being too base for them that were
+king's children. Whereupon another night, by the King's warrant renewed,
+their bodies were removed by the priest of the Tower, and buried by him
+in some place which, by means of the priest's death soon after, could not
+be known.
+
+Thus much was then delivered abroad to be the effect of those
+examinations; but the King, nevertheless, made no use of them in any
+of his declarations, whereby, as it seems, those examinations left the
+business somewhat perplexed. And, as for Sir James Tyrell, he was soon
+after beheaded in the Tower-yard for other matters of treason. But John
+Dighton, who, it seemeth, spake best for the King, was forthwith set
+at liberty, and was the principal means of divulging this tradition.
+Therefore, this kind of proof being left so naked, the King used the more
+diligence in the latter for the tracing of Perkin. To this purpose he
+sent abroad into several parts, and especially into Flanders, divers
+secret and nimble scouts and spies, some feigning themselves to fly over
+unto Perkin and to adhere to him, and some, under other pretence, to
+learn, search, and discover all the circumstances and particulars of
+Perkin's parents, birth, person, travels up and down, and in brief to
+have a journal, as it were, of his life and doings. Others he employed,
+in a more special nature and trust, to be his pioneers in the main
+counter-mine.
+
+The King of Scotland--James IV--having espoused the cause of Warbeck, and
+attended him upon an invasion of England, though he would not formally
+retract his judgment of Perkin, wherein he had engaged himself so far,
+yet in his private opinion, upon often speech with the Englishmen, and
+diverse other advertisements, began to suspect him for a counterfeit.
+Wherefore in a noble fashion he called him unto him, and recounted the
+benefits and favors that he had done him in making him his ally, and in
+provoking a mighty and opulent king, by an offensive war, in his quarrel,
+for the space of two years together; nay, more, that he had refused an
+honorable peace, whereof he had a fair offer, if he would have delivered
+him; and that, to keep his promise with him, he had deeply offended both
+his nobles and people, whom he might not hold in any long discontent; and
+therefore required him to think of his own fortunes, and to choose out
+some fitter place for his exile; telling him withal that he could not say
+but that the English had forsaken him before the Scottish, for that,
+upon two several trials, none had declared themselves on his side;
+but nevertheless he would make good what he said to him at his first
+receiving, which was that he should not repent him for putting himself
+into his hands; for that he would not cast him off, but help him with
+shipping and means to transport him where he should desire. Perkin, not
+descending at all from his stage-like greatness, answered the King in
+few words, that he saw his time was not yet come; but, whatsoever his
+fortunes were, he should both think and speak honor of the King. Taking
+his leave, he would not think on Flanders, doubting it was but hollow
+ground for him since the treaty of the Archduke, concluded the year
+before; but took his lady, and such followers as would not leave him, and
+sailed over into Ireland.
+
+When Perkin heard of the late Cornwall insurrection he began to take
+heart again, and advised upon it with his council, which were principally
+three--Herne, a mercer, that fled for debt; Skelton, a tailor; and
+Astley, a scrivener; for Secretary Frion was gone. These told him that he
+was mightily overseen, both when he went into Kent and when he went into
+Scotland--the one being a place so near London and under the King's
+nose; and the other a nation so distasted with the people of England,
+that if they had loved him ever so well, yet they could never have taken
+his part in that company. But if he had been so happy as to have been in
+Cornwall at the first, when the people began to take arms there, he had
+been crowned at Westminster before this time; for these kings, as he
+had now experience, would sell poor princes for shoes. But he must rely
+wholly upon people; and therefore advised him to sail over with all
+possible speed into Cornwall; which accordingly he did, having in his
+company four small barks, with some sixscore or sevenscore fighting men.
+
+He arrived in September at Whitsand Bay, and forthwith came to Bodmin,
+the blacksmith's town, where they assembled unto him to the number
+of three thousand men of the rude people. There he set forth a new
+proclamation stroking the people with fair promises, and humoring them
+with invectives against the King and his government. And as it fareth
+with smoke, that never loseth itself till it be at the highest, he did
+now before his end raise his style, entitling himself no more Richard,
+Duke of York, but Richard IV, King of England. His council advised him
+by all means to make himself master of some good walled town; as well to
+make his men find the sweetness of rich spoils, and to allure to him all
+loose and lost people, by like hopes of booty as to be a sure retreat to
+his forces in case they should have any ill day or unlucky chance of the
+field. Wherefore they took heart to them and went on, and besieged the
+city of Exeter, the principal town for strength and wealth in those
+parts.
+
+Perkin, hearing the thunder of arms, and preparations against him from so
+many parts, raised his siege, and marched to Taunton, beginning already
+to squint one eye upon the crown and another upon the sanctuary; though
+the Cornish men were become, like metal often fired and quenched,
+churlish, and that would sooner break than bow; swearing and vowing not
+to leave him till the uttermost drop of their blood were spilt. He was at
+his rising from Exeter between six and seven thousand strong, many having
+come unto him after he was set before Exeter, upon fame of so great an
+enterprise, and to partake of the spoil, though upon the raising of his
+siege some did slip away.
+
+When he was come near Taunton, he dissembled all fear, and seemed all the
+day to use diligence in preparing all things ready to fight. But about
+midnight he fled with threescore horses to Bewdley[3], in the New Forest,
+where he and divers of his company registered themselves sanctuary-men,
+leaving his Cornish men to the four winds, but yet thereby easing them
+of their vow, and using his wonted compassion not to be by when his
+subjects' blood should be spilt. The King, as soon as he heard of
+Perkin's flight, sent presently five hundred horse to pursue and
+apprehend him before he should get either to the sea or to that same
+little island called a sanctuary. But they came too late for the latter
+of these. Therefore all they could do was to beset the sanctuary, and to
+maintain a strong watch about it, till the King's pleasure were further
+known.
+
+Perkin, having at length given himself up, was brought into the King's
+court, but not to the King's presence; though the King, to satisfy his
+curiosity, saw him sometimes out of a window or in passage. He was in
+show at liberty, but guarded with all care and watch that were possible,
+and willed to follow the King to London. But from his first appearance
+upon the stage in his new person of a sycophant or juggler, instead of
+his former person of a prince, all men may think how he was exposed to
+the derision not only of the courtiers, but also of the common people,
+who flocked about him as he went along, that one might know afar off
+where the owl was by the flight of birds; some mocking, some wondering,
+some cursing, some prying and picking matter out of his countenance and
+gesture to talk of; so that the false honor and respects, which he had so
+long enjoyed, were plentifully repaid in scorn and contempt.
+
+As soon as he was come to London the King gave also the city the solace
+of this May-game; for he was conveyed leisurely on horseback, but not in
+any ignominious fashion, through Cheapside and Cornhill, to the Tower,
+and from thence back again unto Westminster, with the churme of a
+thousand taunts and reproaches. But to amend the show, there followed a
+little distance of Perkin an inward counsellor of his, one that had been
+sergeant farrier to the King. This fellow, when Perkin took sanctuary,
+chose rather to take a holy habit than a holy place, and clad himself
+like a hermit, and in that weed wandered about the country till he was
+discovered and taken. But this man was bound hand and foot upon the
+horse, and came not back with Perkin, but was left at the Tower, and
+within few days after executed.
+
+Soon after, now that Perkin could tell better what himself was, he was
+diligently examined; and after his confession taken, an extract was made
+of such parts of it as were thought fit to be divulged, which was printed
+and dispersed abroad; wherein the King did himself no right; for as there
+was a labored tale of particulars of Perkin's father and mother and
+grandsire and grandmother and uncles and cousins, by names and surnames,
+and from what places he travelled up and down; so there was little or
+nothing to purpose of anything concerning his designs or any practices
+that had been held with him; nor the Duchess of Burgundy herself, that
+all the world did take knowledge of, as the person that had put life and
+being into the whole business, so much as named or pointed at. So that
+men, missing of that they looked for, looked about for they knew not
+what, and were in more doubt than before; but the King chose rather not
+to satisfy than to kindle coals.
+
+It was not long but Perkin, who was made of quicksilver, which is hard to
+hold or imprison, began to stir. For, deceiving his keepers, he took him
+to his heels, and made speed to the sea-coasts. But presently all corners
+were laid for him, and such diligent pursuit and search made as he was
+fain to turn back and get him to the house of Bethlehem, called the
+priory of Sheen (which had the privilege of sanctuary), and put himself
+into the hands of the prior of that monastery. The prior was thought a
+holy man and much reverenced in those days. He came to the King, and
+besought the King for Perkin's life only, leaving him otherwise to the
+King's discretion. Many about the King were again more hot than ever to
+have the King take him forth and hang him. But the King, that had a high
+stomach and could not hate any that he despised, bid, "Take him forth and
+set the knave in the stocks"; and so, promising the prior his life, he
+caused him to be brought forth. And within two or three days after, upon
+a scaffold set up in the palace court at Westminster, he was fettered and
+set in the stocks for the whole day. And the next day after the like was
+done by him at the cross in Cheapside, and in both places he read his
+confession, of which we made mention before; and was from Cheapside
+conveyed and laid up in the Tower.
+
+But it was ordained that this winding-ivy of a Plantagenet should kill
+the true tree itself. For Perkin, after he had been a while in the Tower,
+began to insinuate himself into the favor and kindness of his keepers,
+servants of the lieutenant of the Tower, Sir John Digby, being four in
+number--Strangeways, Blewet, Astwood, and Long Roger. These varlets, with
+mountains of promises, he sought to corrupt, to obtain his escape; but
+knowing well that his own fortunes were made so contemptible as he could
+feed no man's hopes, and by hopes he must work, for rewards he had none,
+he had contrived with himself a vast and tragical plot; which was, to
+draw into his company Edward Plantagenet, Earl of Warwick, then prisoner
+in the Tower, whom the weary life of a long imprisonment, and the often
+and renewing fears of being put to death, had softened to take any
+impression of counsel for his liberty.
+
+This young Prince he thought these servants would look upon, though not
+upon himself; and therefore, after that, by some message by one or two of
+them, he had tasted of the Earl's consent, it was agreed that these four
+should murder their master, the lieutenant, secretly, in the night, and
+make their best of such money and portable goods of his as they should
+find ready at hand, and get the keys of the Tower, and presently let
+forth Perkin and the Earl. But this conspiracy was revealed in time,
+before it could be executed. And in this again the opinion of the King's
+great wisdom did surcharge him with a sinister fame, that Perkin was but
+his bait to entrap the Earl of Warwick. And in the very instant while
+this conspiracy was in working, as if that also had been the King's
+industry, it was fated that there should break forth a counterfeit Earl
+of Warwick, a cordwainer's son, whose name was Ralph Wilford; a young man
+taught and set on by an Augustin friar, called Patrick. They both from
+the parts from Suffolk came forward into Kent, where they did not only
+privily and underhand give out that this Wilford was the true Earl of
+Warwick, but also the friar, finding some light credence in the people,
+took the boldness in the pulpit to declare as much, and to incite
+the people to come in to his aid. Whereupon they were both presently
+apprehended, and the young fellow executed, and the friar condemned to
+perpetual imprisonment.
+
+This also happening so opportunely, to represent the danger to the King's
+estate from the Earl of Warwick, and thereby to color the King's severity
+that followed; together with the madness of the friar so vainly and
+desperately to divulge a treason before it had gotten any manner of
+strength; and the saving of the friar's life, which nevertheless was,
+indeed, but the privilege of his order; and the pity in the common
+people, which, if it run in a strong stream, doth ever cast up scandal
+and envy, made it generally rather talked than believed that all was
+but the King's device. But howsoever it were, hereupon Perkin, that had
+offended against grace now the third time, was at last proceeded with,
+and by commissioners of oyer and determiner, arraigned at Westminster
+upon divers treasons committed and perpetrated after his coming on
+land within this kingdom, for so the judges advised, for that he was a
+foreigner, and condemned, and a few days after executed at Tyburn; where
+he did again openly read his confession, and take it upon his death to be
+true. This was the end of this little cockatrice of a king that was able
+to destroy those that did not espy him first. It was one of the longest
+plays of that kind that had been in memory, and might perhaps have had
+another end if he had not met with a king wise, stout, and fortunate.
+
+[Footnote 1: Sister to Edward IV, and widow of Charles _le Téméraire_,
+Duke of Burgundy.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Bernard André, the poet laureate of Henry VII, states in his
+manuscript life of his patron, that Perkin, when a boy, was "_servant_ in
+England to a Jew named Edward, who was baptized, and adopted as godson by
+Edward IV, and was on terms of intimacy with the King and his family."
+Speed, mistranslating André's words, makes Perkin the _son_ of the Jew,
+instead of the servant; and Bacon amplifies the error, and transforms
+John Osbeck into the convert Jew, who, having a handsome wife, it might
+be surmised why the licentious King "should become gossip in so mean a
+house." Hume adds: "People thence accounted for that resemblance which
+was afterward remarked between young Perkin and that monarch." The
+surmise of Bacon, grounded upon the error of Speed, is clinched into the
+positive assertion of Hume as to a popular belief for which there is not
+the slightest ground.--_Charles Knight_.]
+
+[Footnote:3 The Abbey of Beaulieu, near Southampton.]
+
+
+
+SAVONAROLA'S REFORMS AND DEATH
+
+THE FRENCH INVADE ITALY
+
+A.D. 1494
+
+PASQUALE VILLARI JEAN C. L. SISMONDI
+
+
+Girolamo Savonarola, the great moral, political, and religious reformer
+of Italy, was born in Ferrara, September 21, 1452. He was of noble
+family, studied medicine, but renounced his intended profession and
+became a Dominican monk. In 1491 he became prior of St. Mark's, Florence.
+When he began to preach in the Church of St. Mark on the sins of the
+time, he applied to Italy the prophetic language of the Apocalypse. He
+predicted the restoration of the Church in Italy through severe divine
+viistations. His power in the pulpit was overwhelming, and the fame
+of his preaching was spread abroad, many regarding him as an inspired
+prophet. In his denunciations he spared neither wealth nor position,
+laity nor clergy, and he exhorted the people to order their lives by the
+simple rules of Scripture.
+
+Savonarola refused to pay the customary homage of his office to the ruler
+of Florence, who at this time was Lorenzo de' Medici. His own office,
+the preacher declared, was received, not from Lorenzo, but from God.
+Overlooking the slight, Lorenzo tried by all means to win Savonarola's
+favor, but the reformer persisted in denouncing him. When a committee
+asked the preacher to desist from his denunciations and prophetic
+warnings, he bade them tell Lorenzo to repent of his sins, adding that,
+if he threatened banishment, the ruler himself would soon depart, while
+his censor would remain in Florence.
+
+In 1492 Lorenzo died and his son Piero succeeded him. But Savonarola now
+became the most powerful man in the republic, and he exerted himself for
+reformation of his own monastery, the Church, and the state itself. Soon
+he prophesied the downfall of the Medici, against whom he arrayed a
+considerable part of the Florentine people. He predicted that one should
+come over the Alps and wreak vengeance upon the tyrants of Italy. In 1494
+Charles VIII of France invaded Italy, warred against Naples, and advanced
+on Florence. Piero de' Medici, thoroughly frightened, surrendered his
+strongholds and agreed to pay Charles two hundred thousand ducats.
+
+Of Savonarola's career from this time, and the state of Florence up to
+the day of his death, the two authors here selected give faithful and
+vivid narratives. In _Romola_ George Eliot portrays the character and
+acts of this great reformer with a legitimate intensifying, for artistic
+purposes, of the certified facts of history.
+
+PASQUALE VILLARI
+
+The month of November, 1494, began under sinister auspices in Florence.
+The unexpected, almost incredible news of the surrender of fortresses
+which had cost the republic prolonged sieges and enormous expense, and
+formed the key of the whole Tuscan territory, instantly raised a tumult
+among the people, and the general fury was increased by letters received
+from the French camp, and the accounts of the returned envoys. For they
+told with what ease honorable terms might have been wrested from the
+King; with what a mixture of cowardice and self-assertion Piero de'
+Medici had placed the whole republic at the mercy of Charles VIII.
+
+All gave free vent to their indignation, and the people began to gather
+in the streets and squares. Some of the crowd were seen to be armed with
+old weapons which had been hidden away for more than half a century; and
+from the wool and silk manufactories strong, broad-set, dark-visaged men
+poured forth. On that day it seemed as though the Florentines had leaped
+back a century, and that, after patient endurance of sixty years'
+tyranny, they were now decided to reconquer their liberty by violence and
+bloodshed.
+
+Nevertheless, in the midst of this general excitement, men's minds were
+daunted by an equally general feeling of uncertainty and distrust. It
+was true that the Medici had left no soldiers in Florence, and that the
+people could at any moment make themselves masters of the whole city; but
+they knew not whom to trust, nor whom to choose as their leader. The old
+champions of liberty had nearly all perished during the last sixty years,
+either at the block or in persecution and exile. The few men at all
+familiar with state affairs were those who had always basked in the favor
+of the Medici; and the multitude just freed from slavery would inevitably
+recur to license if left to themselves. This, therefore, was one of
+those terrible moments when no one could foretell what excesses and what
+atrocities might not be committed. All day the people streamed aimlessly
+through the streets, like an impetuous torrent; they cast covetous
+glances on the houses of the citizens who had amassed wealth by acts
+of oppression; but they had no one to lead them; only, at the hour of
+Savonarola's sermon, they all flocked instinctively to the Duomo. Never
+had so dense a throng been gathered within its walls; all were too
+closely packed to be able to move; and when at last Savonarola mounted
+the pulpit he looked down upon a solid and motionless mass of upturned
+faces. Unusual sternness and excitement were depicted on every
+countenance, and he could see steel corselets flashing here and there in
+the cloaked crowd.
+
+The friar was now the only man having any influence over the people, who
+seemed to hang on his words and look for safety to him alone. One hasty
+word from his mouth would have sufficed to cause all the houses of the
+principal citizens to be sacked, to revive past scenes of civil warfare,
+and lead to torrents of blood. For the people had been cruelly trampled
+on, and were now panting for a cruel revenge. He therefore carefully
+abstained from all allusion to politics; his heart was overflowing with
+pity; he bent forward with outstretched arms from the pulpit, and, in
+tones which echoed throughout the building, proclaimed the law of peace
+and charity and union.
+
+"Behold the sword has come upon you, the prophecies are fulfilled, the
+scourges begun! Behold! these hosts are led by the Lord! O Florence! the
+time of singing and dancing is at an end; now is the time to shed floods
+of tears for thy sins. Thy sins, O Florence! thy sins, O Rome! thy sins,
+O Italy! They have brought these chastisements upon thee! Repent ye,
+then; give alms, offer up prayers, be united! O my people! I have long
+been as thy father; I have labored all the days of my life to teach ye
+the truths of faith and of godly living, yet have I received naught but
+tribulation, scorn, and contumely; give me at least the consolation of
+seeing ye do good deeds! My people, what desire hath ever been mine but
+to see ye saved, to see ye united? 'Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven
+is at hand!' But I have said this so many times, I have cried to ye so
+many times; I have wept for thee, O Florence! so many times, that it
+should be enough. To thee I turn, O Lord, to thee, who didst die for love
+of us and for our sins; forgive, forgive, O Lord, the Florentine people,
+that would fain be thy people."
+
+In this strain he continued to exhort his hearers to charity, faith, and
+concord with such succeeding earnestness and fervor that he was exhausted
+and almost ill for several days after. These sermons were less eloquent
+than some of the others, since he was too deeply moved for reflection or
+for studied effects; but the tenderness with which he spoke dominated and
+soothed the people, who, fresh from the tumults without, entered this
+place of peace to hear the words of the Gospel. So magical was the power
+of Savonarola's voice in those days that, in all this great stir of
+public excitement, not a single excess was committed, and the revolution
+that seemed on the point of being effected by violence on the Piazza was
+quietly and peacefully accomplished within the walls of the palace.
+And this miracle, unprecedented in Florentine history, is unanimously
+attributed by the historians of the time to Savonarola's beneficial
+ascendency over the minds of the people.
+
+On November 4th, the seigniory called a special meeting of the Council of
+Seventy, in order to decide what course to adopt. All the members were
+adherents and nominees of the Medici, but were so enraged by the cowardly
+surrender of the fortresses that they already had the air of a republican
+assembly. According to the old Florentine law and custom, no one was
+allowed to speak unless invited to do so by the seigniory, and was then
+only expected to support the measures which they had proposed. But in
+moments of public excitement neither this nor any other law was observed
+in Florence. On this day there was great agitation in the council; the
+safety of the country was at stake; the seigniory asked everyone for
+advice, and all wished to speak. Yet so much were men's minds daunted by
+the long habit of slavery that when Messer Luca Corsini broke through the
+old rule, and, rising to his feet uninvited, began to remark that things
+were going badly, the city falling into a state of anarchy, and that some
+strong remedy was required, everyone felt amazed. Some of his colleagues
+began to murmur, others to cough; and at last he began to falter and
+became so confused that he could not go on with his speech.
+
+However, the debate was soon reopened by Jacopo di Tanai de' Nerli, a
+youth of considerable spirit, who warmly seconded Corsini's words; but
+he too presently began to hesitate, and his father, rising in great
+confusion, sought to excuse him in the eyes of the assembly by saying
+that he was young and foolish.
+
+Lastly Piero di Gino Capponi rose to his feet. With his finely
+proportioned form, white hair, fiery glance, and a certain air of buoyant
+courage like that of a war-horse at sound of trumpet, he attracted
+universal attention and reduced all to silence. He was known to be a man
+of few but resolute words and of still more resolute deeds. He now spoke
+plainly and said: "Piero de' Medici is no longer fit to rule the state;
+the republic must provide for itself; _the moment has come to shake off
+this baby government_. Let ambassadors be sent to King Charles, and,
+should they meet Piero by the way, let them pass him without salutation;
+and let them explain that he has caused all the evil, and that the city
+is well disposed to the French. Let honorable men be chosen to give a
+fitting welcome to the King; but, at the same time, let all the captains
+and soldiery be summoned in from the country and hidden away in cloisters
+and other secret places. And besides the soldiery let all men be prepared
+to fight in case of need, so that when we shall have done our best to act
+honestly toward this most Christian monarch, and to satisfy with money
+the avarice of the French, we may be ready to face him and show our teeth
+if he should try us beyond our patience, either by word or deed. And
+above all," he said in conclusion, "it must not be forgotten to send
+Father Girolamo Savonarola as one of the ambassadors, for he has gained
+the entire love of the people." He might have added: because he has the
+entire respect of the King; for Charles had conceived an almost religious
+veneration for the man who had so long foretold his coming, and declared
+it to be ordained by the Lord.
+
+The new ambassadors were elected on November 5th, and consisted of
+Pandolfo Rocellai, Giovanni Cavalcanti, Piero Capponi, Tanai de' Nerli,
+and Savonarola. The latter allowed the others to precede him to Lucca,
+where they hoped to meet the King, while he followed on foot according
+to his usual custom, accompanied by two of his brethren. But, before
+starting, he again addressed the people, and preached a sermon ending
+with these words: "The Lord hath granted thy prayers, and wrought a great
+revolution by peaceful means. He alone came to rescue the city when it
+was forsaken of all. Wait and thou shalt see the disasters which will
+happen elsewhere. Therefore be steadfast in good works, O people of
+Florence; be steadfast in peace! If thou wouldst have the Lord steadfast
+in mercy, be thou merciful toward thy brethren, thy friends, and thy
+enemies; otherwise thou too shalt be smitten by the scourges prepared for
+the rest of Italy. '_Misericordiam volo_,' crieth the Lord unto ye. Woe
+to him that obeyeth not his commands!" After delivering this discourse
+he started for Pisa, where the other ambassadors, and also the King,
+speedily arrived.
+
+Meanwhile disturbances went on increasing, and the populace seemed
+already intoxicated with license. The dwellings of Giovanni Guidi, notary
+and chancellor of the Riformagioni, and of Antonio Miniati, manager of
+the Monte, were put to the sack, for both these men, having been faithful
+tools of the Medici, and their subtle counsellors in the art of burdening
+the people with insupportable taxes, were objects of general hatred. The
+house of Cardinal Giovanni de' Medici was also pillaged, together with
+the garden by St. Mark's, in which so many treasures of art had been
+collected by Lorenzo. So far, with the exception of a few dagger-thrusts,
+no blood had been shed; but many were eager for conflict, and it would
+have certainly begun had not Savonarola's partisans done their best to
+keep the peace, and had not the friar been hourly expected from Pisa,
+whither he had repaired on the 13th day of the month with a second
+embassy. The seigniory also endeavored to quell the disturbances by means
+of edicts of the severest kind.
+
+But the popular discontent was now heightened by the arrival of other
+envoys from Pisa with very unsatisfactory tidings. They had informed the
+King that Florence was friendly to him, and already preparing to welcome
+him with all the honors due to his royalty; they only asked that, being
+received as a friend, he should bear himself in that light, and deign to
+name his terms at once, so that free vent might be given to the public
+joy. But the only reply Charles condescended to give was that, "Once in
+the great town, all should be arranged." And it was evident from his
+majesty's coldness that the solicitations of Piero de' Medici, his
+earnest prayers, lavish promises of money, and submissive obedience had
+turned him not in his favor. Consequently the ambassadors had to leave
+without any definite answer, and could only say that the monarch was by
+no means well disposed to the republic.
+
+But when the foiled envoys had left Pisa, Savonarola repaired to the
+French camp, and, passing through that great host of armed men, made his
+way to the King's presence. Charles, who was surrounded by his generals,
+received him very kindly, and thereupon, without wasting much time in
+preliminaries, the friar, in sonorous and almost commanding accents,
+addressed him with a short exhortation beginning as follows: "O most
+Christian King, thou art an instrument in the hand of the Lord, who
+sendeth thee to relieve the woes of Italy, as for many years I have
+foretold; and he sendeth thee to reform the Church, which now lieth
+prostrate in the dust. But if thou be not just and merciful; if thou
+shouldst fail to respect the city of Florence, its women, its citizens,
+and its liberty; if thou shouldst forget the task the Lord hath sent thee
+to perform, then will he choose another to fulfil it; his hand shall
+smite thee, and chastise thee with terrible scourges. These things say I
+unto you in the name of the Lord." The King and his generals seemed much
+impressed by Savonarola's menacing words, and to have full belief in
+them. In fact, it was the general feeling of the French that they were
+divinely guided to fulfil the Lord's work, and Charles felt a strong
+veneration for the man who had prophesied his coming and foretold the
+success of his expedition. Consequently the friar's exhortation inspired
+him with real terror, and also decided him to behave more honorably to
+the Florentines. Thus, when Savonarola returned to the city shortly
+after the other ambassadors, he was the bearer of more satisfactory
+intelligence.
+
+As the King's intentions were still unknown, fresh relays of ambassadors
+were sent out to him. But meanwhile French officers and men passed the
+gates in little bands of fifteen or so at a time, and were seen roving
+about the town unarmed, jaunty, and gallant, bearing pieces of chalk in
+their hands to mark the houses on which their troops were to be billeted.
+While affecting an air of contemptuous indifference, they were unable to
+hide their amazement at the sight of so many splendid buildings, and at
+every turn were confounded by the novel scenes presented to their gaze.
+But what struck them most of all was the grim severity of the palaces,
+which appeared to be impregnable strongholds, and the towns still scarred
+with the marks of fierce and sanguinary faction fights. Then, on November
+15th, they witnessed a sight that sent a thrill of fear to their souls.
+Whether by accident or design, a rumor suddenly spread through the town
+that Piero de' Medici was nearing the gates. Instantly the bell of the
+seigniory clanged the alarm; the streets swarmed with a furious mob;
+armed men sprang, as by magic, from the earth, and rushed toward the
+Piazza; palace doors were barred; towers bristled with defenders;
+stockades began to be built across the streets, and on that day the
+French took their first lesson in the art of barricades. It was soon
+ascertained that the rumor was false, and the tumult subsided as quickly
+as it had risen. But the foreign soldiers were forced to acknowledge that
+their tactics and stout battalions would be almost powerless, hemmed in
+those streets, against this new and unknown mode of warfare. In fact, the
+Florentines looked on the Frenchmen with a certain pert assurance, as if
+they would say, "We shall see!" For, having now regained its liberty,
+this people thought itself master of the world, and almost believed that
+there was nothing left for it to fear.
+
+Meanwhile splendid preparations were being made in the Medici palace for
+the reception of King Charles; his officers were to be lodged in the
+houses of the principal citizens, and the streets through which he was to
+pass were covered with awnings and draped with hangings and tapestries.
+On November 17th the seigniory assembled on a platform erected by the San
+Frediano gate; and numbers of young Florentine nobles went forth to meet
+the King, who made his state entry at the twenty-first hour of the day.
+The members of the seigniory then rose and advanced toward him to pay
+their respects, while Messer Luca Corsini, being deputed to that office,
+stood forth to read a written address. But just at that moment rain began
+to fall, the horses grew restless and hustled against one another, and
+the whole ceremony was thrown into confusion.
+
+Only Messer Francesco Gaddi, one of the officers of the palace, had
+sufficient presence of mind to press his way through the throng and make
+a short speech suited to the occasion in French, after which the King
+moved forward under a rich canopy. The monarch's appearance was in
+strange contrast with that of the numerous and powerful army behind him.
+He seemed almost a monster, with his enormous head, long nose, wide,
+gaping mouth, big, white, purblind eyes, very diminutive body,
+extraordinarily thin legs, and misshapen feet. He was clad in black
+velvet and a mantle of gold brocade, bestrode a tall and very beautiful
+charger, and entered the city riding with his lance levelled--a martial
+attitude then considered as a sign of conquest. All this rendered the
+meanness of his person the more grotesquely conspicuous. By his side rode
+the haughty Cardinal of St. Piero in Vincoli, the Cardinal of St. Malo,
+and a few marshals. At their heels came the royal bodyguard of one
+hundred bowmen, composed of the finest young men in France, and then
+two hundred French knights marching on foot with splendid dresses and
+equipment. These were followed by the Swiss vanguard, resplendent and
+party-colored, bearing halberds of burnished steel, and with rich waving
+plumes on their officers' helmets. The faces of these men expressed the
+mountaineer spirit of daring, and the proud consciousness of being the
+first infantry in Europe; while the greater part of them had scornfully
+thrown aside the cuirass, preferring to fight with their chests bared.
+
+The centre consisted of Gascon infantry, small, light, agile men, whose
+numbers seemed to multiply as the army advanced. But the grandest sight
+was the cavalry, comprising the flower of the French aristocracy, and
+displaying finely wrought weapons, mantles of gorgeous brocade, velvet
+banners embroidered with gold, chains of gold, and other precious
+ornaments. The cuirassiers had a terrible aspect, for their horses seemed
+like monsters with their cropped tails and ears. The archers were men of
+extraordinary height, armed with very long wooden bows; they came
+from Scotland and other northern countries, and, in the words of a
+contemporary historian, "seemed to be beast-like men" _("parevano uomini
+bestiali")_.
+
+This well-ordered and disciplined army, composed of so many different
+nationalities, with such varied attire and strange weapons, was as new
+and amazing a sight to Florence as to almost all Italy, where no standing
+armies were as yet in existence, and mercenaries the only soldiery known.
+It is impossible to give the number of the forces accompanying the King
+to Florence, for his artillery were marching toward Rome by another
+route; he had left garrisons in many strongholds, and sent on another
+body of men by Romagna. Gaddi, who witnessed the entrance of the French,
+says that their numbers amounted to twelve thousand; Rinuccini, who was
+also present, estimated them at a lower figure; others at a higher. In
+any case the city and suburbs were crammed with them.
+
+The procession marched over the Ponte Vecchio ("Old Bridge"), which was
+gay with festive decorations and sounds of music, wound across the Piazza
+amid a crowd of triumphal cars, statues, etc., and, passing the Canto dei
+Pazzi, made the tour of the Cathedral Square, and halted before the great
+door of the church. The people shouted the name of France with cries
+of applause, but the King only smiled inanely and stammered some
+inappropriate words in Italian. Entering the Duomo, he was met by the
+seigniory, who, to avoid the pressure of the armed host, had been obliged
+to come around by the back streets. After joining in prayers with their
+royal guest, they escorted him to the sumptuous palace of the Medici, and
+the soldiers dispersed to their quarters. That night and the next the
+whole city was a blaze of illuminations; the intervening day was devoted
+to feasting and amusements, and then the terms of the treaty began to be
+discussed.
+
+The terms of the treaty stood as follows: That there should be a good
+and faithful friendship between the republic and the King; that their
+subjects should have reciprocal protection; that the King should receive
+the title of restorer and protector of the liberty of Florence; that he
+should be paid one hundred twenty thousand florins in three instalments;
+that he was not to retain the fortresses for more than two years; and if
+the Neapolitan expedition finished before that date, he was then to give
+them up without delay; that the Pisans were to receive pardon as soon as
+they should resume their allegiance to Florence. It was also stipulated
+that the decree putting a price on the heads of the Medici should be
+revoked, but that the states of Giuliano and Cardinal Giovanni were to
+remain confiscated until all Piero's debts had been paid, and that the
+said Piero was to remain banished to a distance of two hundred miles, and
+his brothers of one hundred, from the Tuscan border. After the agreement
+had been drawn up in regular official form, the contracting parties met
+in the Duomo to swear to the observance of all its clauses, and in the
+evening there was a general illumination of the city, although the people
+gave no signs of their previous good-will toward the King.
+
+But no sooner was one difficulty disposed of than another arose. When
+all was concluded Charles relapsed into his normal state of inertia, and
+showed no disposition to depart. The city was thronged by the French
+quartered in the houses, and the Italian soldiery hidden on all sides;
+the shops were shut up and all traffic suspended; everything was in a
+state of uncertainty and disorder, and the continual quarrels between the
+natives and the foreigner might at any moment provoke the most serious
+complications. There were perpetual robberies and murders by night--a
+most unusual state of things for Florence; and the people seemed to be on
+the verge of revolt at the least provocation. Thus matters went on from
+day to day, and consequently all honest citizens vainly did their utmost
+to hasten the King's departure. And the universal suspense was heightened
+by the impossibility of finding any way of forcing him to a decision.
+
+At last another appeal was made to Savonarola, who was exerting all his
+influence to keep the people quiet, and whose peaceful admonitions during
+this period of danger and confusion had been no less efficacious than the
+heroic defiance of Piero Capponi. The friar's sermons at this time were
+always directed to the general welfare. He exhorted the citizens "to lay
+aside their animosities and ambitions; to attend the councils at the
+palace in a righteous spirit, and with a view, not to their personal
+interest, but to the general good, and with the firm resolve to promote
+the unity and concord of their city. Then, indeed, would they be
+acceptable in the Lord's sight." He addressed himself to every class
+of the people in turn, proving to all that it would be to their own
+advantage, both in this life and the next, to labor for the defence of
+liberty and the establishment of unity and concord. When asked to seek
+the King and endeavor to persuade him to leave, he cheerfully undertook
+the task and hastened to the royal abode. The officers and lords in
+attendance were at first inclined to refuse him admittance, fearing that
+his visit might defeat their plan of pillaging the treasures of this
+sumptuous palace. But, remembering the veneration in which the friar was
+held by the King, they dared not refuse his demand and allowed him to
+pass. Charles, surrounded by his barons, received him very graciously,
+and Savonarola went straight to the point by saying: "Most Christian
+Prince, thy stay here is causing great injury both to our own city and
+thy enterprise. Thou losest time, forgetful of the duty imposed on thee
+by Providence, and to the serious hurt of thy spiritual welfare and
+worldly fame. Hearken now to the voice of God's servant! Pursue thy
+journey without delay. Seek not to bring ruin on this city, and thereby
+rouse the anger of the Lord against thee."
+
+So at last, on November 28th, at the twenty-second hour of the day, the
+King departed with his army, leaving the people of Florence very badly
+disposed toward him. Among their many just causes of complaint was
+the sack of the splendid palace in which he had been so liberally and
+trustfully entertained. Nor were common soldiers and inferior officers
+alone concerned in this robbery; the hands of generals and barons were
+equally busy, and the King himself carried off objects of the greatest
+value; among other things a precious intaglio representing a unicorn,
+estimated by Comines to be worth about seven thousand ducats. With such
+an example set by their sovereign, it may be easily imagined how the
+others behaved; and Comines himself tells us that "they shamelessly took
+possession of everything that tempted their greed." Thus the rich and
+marvellous collections formed by the Medici were all lost, excepting what
+had been placed in safety at St. Mark's, for the few things left
+behind by the French were so much damaged that they had to be sold.
+Nevertheless, the inhabitants were so rejoiced to be finally rid of their
+dangerous guests that no one mourned over these thefts. On the contrary,
+public thanksgivings were offered up in the churches, the people went
+about the streets with their old gayety and lightheartedness, and the
+authorities began to take measures to pro vide for the urgent necessities
+of the new republic.
+
+During this interval the aspect of Florentine affairs had entirely
+changed. The partisans of the Medici had disappeared from the city as if
+by magic; the popular party ruled over everything, and Savonarola ruled
+the will of the whole population. He was unanimously declared to have
+been a prophet of all that had occurred, the only man that had succeeded
+in controlling the King's conduct on his entry into Florence, the only
+man who had induced him to depart; accordingly all hung on Savonarola's
+lips for counsel, aid, and direction as to their future proceedings. And,
+as though the men of the old state saw the need of effacing themselves to
+make way for new blood, several prominent representatives and friends of
+the Medici house died during this period. Angelo Poliziano had passed
+away this year, on September 24th, "loaded with as much infamy and public
+opprobrium as a man could well bear." He was accused of numberless vices
+and unlimited profligacy; but the chief cause of all the hatred lavished
+on him was the general detestation already felt for Piero de' Medici,
+the approach of his downfall and that of all his adherents. Nor was the
+public rancor at all softened by the knowledge that the last utterances
+of the illustrious poet and learned scholar had been the words of a
+penitent Christian. He had requested that his body should be clothed in
+the Dominican habit and interred in the Church of St. Mark, and there
+his ashes repose beside the remains of Giovanni Picodella Mirandola, who
+expired on the very day of Charles VIII's entry into Florence. Pico had
+long entertained a desire to join the fraternity of St. Mark's, but,
+delaying too long to carry out his intent, was surprised by death at the
+early age of thirty-two years. On his death-bed he, too, had besought
+Savonarola to allow him to be buried in the robe he had yearned to wear.
+
+The end of these two celebrated Italians recalled to mind the last hours
+and last confession of Lorenzo the Magnificent, and was by many regarded
+as a sign that the Medicean adherents had been unwilling to pass away
+without acknowledging their crimes, without asking pardon from the people
+whom they had so deeply oppressed, and from the friar, who was, as it
+were, the people's best representative. It was certainly remarkable that
+all these men should turn to the convent of St. Mark, whence had issued
+the first cry of liberty, and the first sign of war against the tyranny
+of the Medici.
+
+
+JEAN C. L. SISMONDI
+
+At the moment that Florence expelled the Medici, the republic was divided
+among three different parties. The first was that of the enthusiasts,
+directed by Girolamo Savonarola, who promised the miraculous protection
+of the Divinity for the reform of the Church and establishment of
+liberty. These demanded a democratic constitution; they were called the
+"Piagnoni." The second consisted of men who had shared power with the
+Medici, but who had separated from them; who wished to possess alone the
+powers and profits of government, and who endeavored to amuse the people
+by dissipations and pleasures, in order to establish at their ease an
+aristocracy. These were called the "Arabbiati." The third party was
+composed of men who remained faithful to the Medici, but, not daring to
+declare themselves, lived in retirement; they were called "Bigi."
+
+These three parties were so equally balanced in the _balia_ named by the
+parliament, on December 2, 1494, that it soon became impossible to carry
+on the government. Girolamo Savonarola took advantage of this state of
+affairs to urge that the people had never delegated their power to a
+balia which did not abuse the trust.
+
+"The people," he said, "would do much better to reserve this power to
+themselves, and exercise it by a council, into which all the citizens
+should be admitted." His proposition was agreed to; more than one
+thousand eight hundred Florentines furnished proof that either they,
+their fathers, or their grandfathers had sat in the magistracy; they were
+consequently acknowledged citizens and admitted to sit in the general
+council. This council was declared sovereign on July 1, 1495; it was
+invested with the election of magistrates, hitherto chosen by lot, and
+a general amnesty was proclaimed, to bury in oblivion all the ancient
+dissensions of the Florentine republic.
+
+So important a modification of the constitution seemed to promise this
+republic a happier futurity. The friar Savonarola, who had exercised such
+influence in the council, evinced at the same time an ardent love of
+mankind, deep respect for the rights of all, great sensibility, and an
+elevated mind. Though a zealous reformer of the Church, and in this
+respect a precursor of Luther, who was destined to begin his mission
+twenty years later, he did not quit the pale of orthodoxy; he did not
+assume the right of examining doctrine; he limited his efforts to the
+restoration of discipline, the reformation of the morals of the clergy,
+and the recall of priests, as well as other citizens, to the practice of
+the gospel precepts. But his zeal was mixed with enthusiasm; he believed
+himself under the immediate inspiration of Providence; he took his own
+impulses for prophetic revelations, by which he directed the politics of
+his disciples, the Piagnoni.
+
+He had predicted to the Florentines the coming of the French into Italy;
+he had represented to them Charles VIII as an instrument by which the
+Divinity designed to chastise the crimes of the nation; he had counselled
+them to remain faithful to their alliance with that King, the instrument
+of Providence, even though his conduct, especially in reference to the
+affairs of Pisa, had been highly culpable.
+
+This alliance, however, ranged the Florentines among the enemies of Pope
+Alexander VI, one of the founders of the league which had driven the
+French out of Italy. He accused them of being traitors to the Church and
+to their country for their attachment to a foreign prince. Alexander,
+equally offended by the projects of reform and by the politics of
+Savonarola, denounced him to the Church as a heretic, and interdicted him
+from preaching. The monk at first obeyed, and procured the appointment of
+his friend and disciple the Dominican friar, Buonvicino of Pescia, as
+his successor in the Church of St. Mark; but on Christmas Day, 1497, he
+declared from the pulpit that God had revealed to him that he ought not
+to submit to a corrupt tribunal; he then openly took the sacrament with
+the monks of St. Mark, and afterward continued to preach. In the course
+of his sermons he more than once held up to reprobation the scandalous
+conduct of the Pope, whom the public voice accused of every vice
+and every crime to be expected in a libertine so depraved--a man so
+ambitious, perfidious, and cruel--a monarch and a priest intoxicated with
+absolute power.
+
+In the mean time the rivalry encouraged by the court of Rome between
+the religious orders soon procured the Pope a champion eager to combat
+Savonarola; he was a Dominican--the general of the Augustines, that
+Order whence Martin Luther was soon to issue. Friar Mariano di Ghinazzano
+signalized himself by his zeal in opposing Savonarola. He presented to
+the Pope Friar Francis of Apulia, of the order of Minor Observantines,
+who was sent to Florence to preach against the Florentine monks, in the
+Church of Santa Croce. This preacher declared to his audience that he
+knew Savonarola pretended to support his doctrine by a miracle. "For me,"
+said he, "I am a sinner; I have not the presumption to perform miracles;
+nevertheless, let a fire be lighted, and I am ready to enter it with
+him. I am certain of perishing, but Christian charity teaches me not to
+withhold my life if in sacrificing it I might precipitate into hell a
+heresiarch, who has already drawn into it so many souls."
+
+This strange proposition was rejected by Savonarola; but his friend and
+disciple, Friar Dominic Buonvicino, eagerly accepted it. Francis of
+Apulia declared that he would risk his life against Savonarola only.
+Meanwhile a crowd of monks, of the Dominican and Franciscan orders,
+rivalled each other in their offers to prove by the ordeal of fire, on
+one side the truth, on the other the falsehood, of the new doctrine.
+Enthusiasm spread beyond the two convents; many priests and seculars,
+and even women and children, more especially on the side of Savonarola,
+earnestly requested to be admitted to the proof. The Pope warmly
+testified his gratitude to the Franciscans for their devotion. The
+Seigniory of Florence consented that two monks only should devote
+themselves for their respective orders, and directed the pile to be
+prepared. The whole population of the town and country, to which a signal
+miracle was promised, received the announcement with transports of joy.
+
+On April 17, 1498, a scaffold, dreadful to look on, was erected in the
+public square of Florence; two piles of large pieces of wood, mixed with
+fagots and broom, which should quickly take fire, extended each eighty
+feet long, four feet thick, and five feet high; they were separated by a
+narrow space of two feet, to serve as a passage by which the two priests
+were to enter and pass the whole length of the piles during the fire.
+
+Every window was full; every roof was covered with spectators; almost
+the whole population of the republic was collected round the place. The
+portico called the Loggia dei Lanzi, divided in two by a partition, was
+assigned to the two orders of monks. The Dominicans arrived at their
+station chanting canticles and bearing the holy sacrament. The
+Franciscans immediately declared that they would not permit the host to
+be carried amid flames. They insisted that the friar Buonvicino should
+enter the fire, as their own champion was prepared to do, without this
+divine safeguard. The Dominicans answered that "they would not separate
+themselves from their God at the moment when they implored his aid." The
+dispute upon this point grew warm.
+
+Several hours passed away. The multitude, which had waited long and began
+to feel hunger and thirst, lost patience; a deluge of rain suddenly fell
+upon the city, and descended in torrents from the roofs of the houses;
+all present were drenched. The piles were so wet that they could
+no longer be lighted; and the crowd, disappointed of a miracle so
+impatiently looked for, separated, with the notion of having been
+unworthily trifled with. Savonarola lost all his credit; he was
+henceforth rather looked on as an impostor.
+
+Next day his convent was besieged by the Arabbiati, eager to profit by
+the inconstancy of the multitude; he was arrested with his two friends,
+Domenico Buonvicino and Silvestro Marruffi, and led to prison. The
+Piagnoni, his partisans, were exposed to every outrage from the populace;
+two of them were killed, their rivals and old enemies exciting the
+general ferment for their destruction. Even in the seigniory the majority
+was against them, and yielded to the pressing demands of the Pope. The
+three imprisoned monks were subjected to a criminal prosecution.
+
+Alexander VI despatched judges from Rome with orders to condemn the
+accused to death. Conformably with the laws of the Church, the trial
+opened with the torture. Savonarola was too weak and nervous to support
+it; he vowed in his agony all that was imputed to him, and, with his two
+disciples, was condemned to death. The three monks were burned alive, May
+23, 1498, in the same square where, six weeks before, a pile had been
+raised to prepare them a triumph.
+
+
+
+DISCOVERY OF THE MAINLAND OF NORTH AMERICA BY THE CABOTS
+
+A.D. 1497
+
+SAMUEL EDWARD DAWSON
+
+
+Newfoundland prides herself on being the oldest colony of the English
+crown. By virtue of John Cabot's discovery, in A.D. 1497, she also claims
+the honor of being the first portion of the New-World continent to be
+discovered and made known by Europeans. This was fourteen months before
+Columbus, on his third expedition, beheld the American mainland.
+
+At the close of the fifteenth century, the impelling motive of discovery
+among the Old-World nations, and their adventurous mariners, was the hope
+of finding a short western passage to the riches of the East Indies. This
+was the chief lure of the period, added to the ambition of Old-World
+monarchs to extend their territorial possessions and bring them within
+the embrace of their individual flags. Henry VII of England aided the
+Cabots, father and son, to fit out two expeditions from Bristol to
+explore the coasts of the New World and extend the search for hitherto
+unknown countries. The result of these enterprises was the discovery of
+Newfoundland and Labrador as well as other lands, and England's claim to
+the possession of the greater portion of the North American continent.
+
+Probably no question in the history of this continent has been the
+subject of so much discussion as the lives and voyages of the two Cabots.
+Their personal character, their nationality, the number of voyages they
+made, and the extent and direction of their discoveries have been, and
+still are, keenly disputed over. The share, moreover, of each in
+the credit due for the discoveries made is a very battle-ground for
+historians. Some learned writers attribute everything to John Cabot;
+others would put him aside and award all the credit to his second son,
+Sebastian. The dates even of the voyages are disputed; and very learned
+professors of history in Portugal do not hesitate to declare that the
+voyages are apocryphal, the discoveries pretended, and the whole question
+a mystification.
+
+Nevertheless, solely upon the discoveries of the Cabots have always
+rested the original claims of the English race to a foothold upon this
+continent. In the published annals of England, however, no contemporary
+records of them exist; nor was there for sixty years in English
+literature any recognition of their achievements. The English claims rest
+almost solely upon second-hand evidence from Spanish and Italian authors,
+upon contemporary reports of Spanish and Italian envoys at the English
+court, upon records of the two letters-patent issued, and upon two or
+three entries lately discovered in the accounts of disbursements from
+the privy purse of King Henry VII. These are our title-deeds to this
+continent. The evidence is doubtless conclusive, but the whole subject of
+western discovery was undervalued and neglected by England for so long
+a period that it is no wonder if Portuguese savants deny the reality of
+those voyages, seeing that their nation has been supplanted by a race
+which can show so little original evidence of its claims.
+
+It is not my intention to wander over all the debatable ground of the
+Cabot voyages, where every circumstance bristles with conflicting
+theories. The original authorities are few and scanty, but mountains of
+hypotheses have been built upon them, and too often the suppositions of
+one writer have been the facts of a succeeding one. Step by step the
+learned students before alluded to have established certain propositions
+which appear to me to be true, and which I shall accept without further
+discussion. Among these I count the following:
+
+1. That John Cabot was a Venetian, of Genoese birth, naturalized at
+Venice on March 28, 1476, after the customary fifteen years of residence,
+and that he subsequently settled in England with all his family.
+
+2. That Sebastian, his second son, was born in Venice, and when very
+young was taken by his father to England with the rest of the family.
+
+3. That on petition of John Cabot and his three sons, Lewis, Sebastian,
+and Sancio, letters-patent of King Henry VII were issued, under date
+March 5, 1496, empowering them, at their own expense, to discover
+and take possession for England of new lands not before found by any
+Christian nation.
+
+4. That John Cabot, accompanied perhaps by his son Sebastian, sailed from
+Bristol early in May, 1497. He discovered and landed upon some part
+of America between Cape Cod, in Massachusetts, and Cape Chidley, in
+Labrador; that he returned to Bristol before the end of July of the same
+year; that, whatever might have been the number of vessels which started,
+the discovery was made by John Cabot's own vessel, the Matthew of
+Bristol, with a crew of eighteen men.
+
+5. That thereupon, and in consideration of this discovery made by John
+Cabot, King Henry VII granted new letters-patent, drawn solely to John
+Cabot, authorizing a second expedition on a more extended scale and with
+fuller royal authority, which letters-patent were dated February 3, 1498;
+that this expedition sailed in the spring of 1498, and had not returned
+in October. It consisted of several ships and about three hundred men.
+That John and Sebastian Cabot sailed on this voyage. When it returned
+is not known. From the time of sailing of this expedition John Cabot
+vanishes into the unknowable, and from thenceforth Sebastian alone
+appears in the historic record.
+
+These points are now fully supported by satisfactory evidence, mostly
+documentary and contemporary. As for John Cabot, Sebastian said he died,
+which is one of the few undisputed facts in the discussion; but if
+Sebastian is correctly reported in Ramusio to have said that he died at
+the time when the news of Columbus' discoveries reached England, then
+Sebastian Cabot told an untruth, because the letters-patent of 1498 were
+addressed to John Cabot alone. The son had a gift of reticence concerning
+others, including his father and brothers, which in these latter days has
+been the cause of much wearisome research to scholars. To avoid further
+discussion of the preceding points is, however, a great gain.
+
+From among the numerous opinions concerning the landfall of John Cabot
+three theories emerge which may be seriously entertained, all three being
+supported by evidence of much weight: 1. That it was in Newfoundland. 2.
+That it was on the Labrador coast. 3. That it was on the island of Cape
+Breton.
+
+Until a comparatively recent period it was universally held by English
+writers that Newfoundland was the part of North America first seen by
+Cabot. The name "Newfoundland" lends itself to this view; for in the
+letters-patent of 1498 the expression "Londe and iles of late founde,"
+and the wording of the award recorded in the King's privy-purse accounts,
+August 10, 1497, "To hym that founde the new ile £I0," seem naturally to
+suggest the island of Newfoundland of our day; and this impression
+is strengthened by reading the old authors, who spell it, as Richard
+Whitbourne in 1588, "New-found-land," in three words with connecting
+hyphens, and often with the definite article, "The Newe-found-land." A
+cursory reading of the whole literature of American discovery before
+1831 would suggest that idea, and some writers of the present day still
+maintain it. Authors of other nationalities have, however, always
+disputed it, and have pushed the English discoveries far north to
+Labrador, and even to Greenland. Champlain, who read and studied
+everything relating to his profession, concedes to the English the coast
+of Labrador north of 56° and the regions about Davis Straits; and the
+maps, which for a long period, with a few notable exceptions, were
+made only by Spaniards, Portuguese, and Italians, bear out Champlain's
+remonstrances. It seems, moreover, on a cursory consideration of the
+maps, probable that a vessel on a westerly course passing south of
+Ireland should strike somewhere on the coast of Newfoundland about Cape
+Bonavista, and, Cabot being an Italian, that very place suggests itself
+by its name as his probable landfall. The English, who for the most part
+have had their greatness thrust upon them by circumstances, neglected
+Cabot's discoveries for fifty years, and during that time the French and
+Portuguese took possession of the whole region and named all the coasts;
+then, when the troubled reign of Henry VIII was over, the English people
+began to wake up, and in fact rediscovered Cabot and his voyages. A
+careful study, however, of the subject will be likely to lead to the
+rejection of the Newfoundland landfall, plausible as it may at first
+sight appear.
+
+In the year 1831 Richard Biddle, a lawyer of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania,
+published a memoir of Sebastian Cabot which led the way to an almost
+universal change of opinion. He advanced the theory that Labrador was the
+Cabot landfall in 1497. His book is one of great research, and, though
+confused in its arrangement, is written with much vigor and ability. But
+Biddle lost the historian in the advocate. His book is a passionate brief
+for Sebastian Cabot; for he strangely conceives the son to have been
+wronged by the ascription to John Cabot of any portion of the merit of
+the discovery of America. Not only would he suppress the elder Cabot, but
+he covers the well-meaning Hakluyt with opprobrium and undermines his
+character by insinuations, much as a criminal lawyer might be supposed to
+do to an adverse witness in a jury trial. Valuable as the work is, there
+is a singular heat pervading it, fatal to the true historic spirit.
+Hakluyt is the pioneer of the literature of English discovery and
+adventure--at once the recorder and inspirer of noble effort. He is more
+than a translator; he spared no pains nor expense to obtain from the lips
+of seamen their own versions of their voyages, and, if discrepancies are
+met with in a collection so voluminous, it is not surprising and need not
+be ascribed to a set purpose; for Hakluyt's sole object in life seems
+to have been to record all he knew or could ascertain of the maritime
+achievements of the age.
+
+Biddle's book marks an epoch in the controversy. In truth, he seems to
+be the first who gave minute study to the original authorities and broke
+away from the tradition of Newfoundland. He fixed the landfall on the
+coast of Labrador; and Humboldt and Kohl added the weight of their great
+learning to his theory. Harrisse, who in his _John and Sebastian Cabot_
+had written in favor of Cape Breton, has, in his latest book, _The
+Discovery of America_, gone back to Labrador as his faith in the
+celebrated map of 1544 gradually waned and his esteem for the character
+of Sebastian Cabot faded away. Such changes of view, not only in this
+but in other matters, render Mr. Harrisse's books somewhat confusing,
+although the student of American history can never be sufficiently
+thankful for his untiring research.
+
+The discovery in Germany by von Martius in 1843 of an engraved
+_mappemonde_ bearing date of 1544, and purporting to be issued under the
+authority of Sebastian Cabot, soon caused a general current of opinion in
+favor of a landfall in Cape Breton. The map is unique and is now in the
+National Library at Paris. It bears no name of publisher nor place of
+publication. Around it for forty years controversy has waxed warm. Kohl
+does not accept the map as authentic; D'Avezac, on the contrary, gives it
+full credence. The tide of opinion has set of late in favor of it, and
+in consequence in favor of the Cape Breton landfall, because it bears,
+plainly inscribed upon that island, the words "_prima tierra vista_," and
+the legends which are around the map identify beyond question that as
+the landfall of the first voyage. Dr. Deane, in _Winter's Narrative and
+Critical History,_ supports this view. Markham, in his introduction to
+the volume of the Hakluyt Society for 1893, also accepts it; and our
+own honorary secretary (the late Sir John Bourinot), in his learned and
+exhaustive monograph on Cape Breton, inclines to the same theory.
+
+I do not propose here to discuss the difficult problems of this map.
+For many years, under the influence of current traditions and cursory
+reading, I believe the landfall of John Cabot to have been in
+Newfoundland; but a closer study of the original authorities has led me
+to concur in the view which places it somewhere on the island of Cape
+Breton.
+
+At the threshold of an inquiry into the "_prima tierra vista_" or
+landfall of 1497, it is before all things necessary to distinguish
+sharply, in every recorded detail, between the first and second voyages.
+I venture to think that, if this had always been done, much confusion
+and controversy would have been avoided. It was not done by the older
+writers, and the writers of later years have followed them without
+sufficiently observing that the authorities they were building upon were
+referring almost solely to the second voyage. Even when some occasional
+detail of the first voyage was introduced, the circumstances of the
+second voyage were interwoven and became dominant in the narrative, so
+that the impression of one voyage only remains upon the mind. We must
+therefore always remember the antithesis which exists between them. Thus,
+the first voyage was made in one small vessel with a crew of eighteen
+men, the second with five ships and three hundred men. The first voyage
+was undertaken with John Cabot's own resources, the second with the royal
+authority to take six ships and their outfit on the same conditions as
+if for the King's service. The first voyage was a private venture, the
+second an official expedition. The first voyage extended over three
+months and was provisioned for that period only; the second was
+victualled for twelve months and extended over six months at least, for
+how much longer is not known. The course of the first voyage was south of
+Ireland, then for a while north and afterward west, with the pole star on
+the right hand. The course of the second, until land was seen, was north,
+into northern seas, toward the north pole, in the direction of Iceland,
+to the cape of Labrador, at 58° north latitude. On the first voyage no
+ice was reported; on the second the leading features were bergs and floes
+of ice and long days of arctic summer. On the first voyage Cabot saw no
+man; on the second he found people clothed with "beastes skynnes." During
+the whole of the first voyage John Cabot was the commander; on the second
+voyage he sailed in command, but who brought the expedition home and when
+it returned are not recorded. It is not known how or when John Cabot
+died; and, although the letters-patent for the second voyage were
+addressed to him alone, his son Sebastian during forty-five years took
+the whole credit in every subsequent mention of the discovery of America,
+without any allusion to his father. This antithesis may throw light upon
+the suppression of his father's name in all the statements attributed to
+or made by Sebastian Cabot. He may always have had the second voyage in
+his mind. His father may have died on the voyage. He was marvellously
+reticent about his father. The only mention which occurs is on the map
+seen by Hakluyt, and on the map of 1544, supposed, somewhat rashly, to be
+a transcript of it. There the discovery is attributed to John Cabot and
+to Sebastian his son, and that has reference to the first voyage. From
+these considerations it would appear that those who place the landfall
+at Labrador are right; but it is the landfall of the second voyage--the
+voyage Sebastian was always talking about--not the landfall of John Cabot
+in 1497.
+
+If Sebastian Cabot had not been so much wrapped up in his own vainglory,
+we might have had a full record of the eventful voyage which revealed to
+Europe the shores of our Canadian dominion first of all the lands on the
+continents of the western hemisphere. Fortunately, however, there resided
+in London at that time a most intelligent Italian, Raimondo di Soncino,
+envoy of the Duke of Milan, Ludovico Sforza, one of those despots of the
+Renaissance who almost atoned for their treachery and cruelty by their
+thirst for knowledge and love of arts. Him Soncino kept informed of
+all matters going on at London, and especially concerning matters of
+cosmography, to which the Duke was much devoted. From his letters we are
+enabled to retrace the momentous voyage of the little Matthew of Bristol
+across the western ocean--not the sunny region of steady trade-winds, by
+whose favoring influence Columbus was wafted to his destination, but the
+boisterous reaches of the northern Atlantic--over that "still vexed sea"
+which shares with one or two others the reputation of being the most
+storm-tossed region in the world of ocean. That the land discovered was
+supposed to be a part of Asia appears very clearly from the same letters.
+It was in the territory of the Grand Cam. The land was good and the
+climate temperate; and Cabot intended on his next voyage, after occupying
+that place, to proceed farther westward until he should arrive at the
+longitude of Japan, which island he evidently thought to be south of his
+landfall and near the equator.
+
+It should be carefully noted that, in all the circumstances on record
+which are indisputably referable to this first voyage, nothing has been
+said of ice or of any notable extension of daylight. These are the marks
+of the second voyage; for if anything unusual had existed in the length
+of the day it would have been at its maximum on Midsummer's Day, June
+24th, the day he made land. Nothing is reported in these letters which
+indicates a high latitude. Now Labrador is a cold, waste region of rocks,
+swamps, and mountains. Even inside the Straits of Belle-Isle it is so
+barren and forbidding as to call forth Cartier's oft-cited remark that
+"it was like the land God gave to Cain." The coast of Labrador is not the
+place to invite a second voyage, if it be once seen; but the climate of
+Cape Breton is very pleasant in early summer and the country is well
+wooded.
+
+From the contemporary documents relating specially to the first voyage,
+it is beyond question that Cabot saw no human being on the coast, though
+he brought back evidences of their presence at some previous time. It is
+beyond doubt, also, on the same authority, that the voyage lasted not
+longer than three months, and that provisions gave out, so that he had
+not time to land on the return voyage. It was, in fact, a reconnoitring
+expedition to prepare the way for a greater effort, and establish
+confidence in the existence of land across the ocean easily reached from
+England. The distance sailed is given by Soncino at four hundred leagues;
+but Pasqualigo, writing to Venice, gives it at seven hundred leagues,
+equivalent to two thousand two hundred twenty-six miles, which is very
+nearly the distance between Bristol and Cape Breton as now estimated.
+
+All these circumstances concerning the first voyage are derived from John
+Cabot's own reports, and are extracted from documents dated previous to
+the return of the second expedition, and therefore are, of necessity,
+free from admixture with extraneous incidents. Antonio Galvano, an
+experienced Portuguese sailor and cosmographer, writing in 1563, like the
+others, knows of one voyage only, which he fixes in 1496. He interweaves,
+like them, in his narrative many circumstances of the second voyage, but
+it is important to note that from some independent source is given the
+landfall at 45°, the latitude very nearly of Cape Breton, on the island
+of Cape Breton. Another point is also recorded in the letters that, on
+the return voyage, Cabot passed two islands to the right, which the
+shortness of his provisions prevented him from examining. This note
+should not be considered identical with the statement recorded by Soncino
+in his first letter, for this last writer evidently means to indicate the
+land which Cabot found and examined; he says that Cabot discovered two
+large and fertile islands, but the two islands of Pasqualigo were passed
+without examination. They were probably the islands of St. Pierre and
+Miquelon; but that John Cabot had no idea of a northward voyage at that
+time in his mind would appear from his intention to sail farther to
+the east on his next voyage until he reached the longitude of Cipango.
+Moreover, the reward recorded in the King's privy-purse accounts "to hym
+that founde the new ile," and the wording, thrice repeated, of the second
+letters-patent, "the land and isles of late found by the said John,"
+indicate that it was not at that time known whether the mainland of
+Cathay had been reached, or, as in the discoveries of Columbus, islands
+upon the coast of Asia.
+
+From the preceding narrative, based solely upon documents written within
+twelve months of the event--which documents are records of statements
+taken from the lips of John Cabot, the chief actor, at the very time of
+his return from the first voyage--it will, I trust, appear that in 1497,
+at a time of year when the ice was not clear from the coasts of Labrador,
+he discovered a part of America in a temperate climate, and that this
+was done without the name of Sebastian Cabot once coming to the surface,
+excepting when it appears in the patent of 1496, together with the names
+of Lewis and Sancio, his brothers. While the circumstances recorded
+are incompatible with a landfall at Labrador, they do not exclude the
+possibility of a landfall on the eastern coast of Newfoundland, which is
+so varied in its character as to correspond with almost any conditions
+likely to be found in a landfall on the American coast; but inasmuch as,
+from other reasons, it will, I think, appear that the landfall was at
+Cape Breton, it will be a shorter process to prove by a positive argument
+where it was than to show by a negative argument where it was not.
+
+I might here borrow the quaint phrase of Herodotus and say, "Now I have
+done speaking of" John Cabot. He has, beyond doubt, discovered the
+eastern coast of this our Canada, and he has organized a second
+expedition, and he has sailed in command. Forthwith, upon such sailing,
+he vanishes utterly, and his second son, Sebastian, both of his brothers
+having in some unknown way also vanished, emerges, and from henceforth
+becomes the whole Cabot family. It behooves us, therefore, if we wish to
+grasp the whole subject, to inquire what manner of man he was.
+
+Sebastian Cabot was born in Venice, and, when still very young, was
+taken to England with the rest of his family by his father. He was then,
+however, old enough to have learned the humanities and the properties of
+the sphere, and to this latter knowledge he became so addicted that he,
+early in life, formed fixed ideas. He is probably entitled to the merit
+of having urged the practical application of the truths that the shortest
+course from point to point upon the globe lies upon a great circle, and
+also that the great circle uniting Western Europe with Cathay passes over
+the north pole. This fixed idea of the younger Cabot pervaded all his
+life and shows in all his reported conversations. He adhered to it with
+the pertinacity of a Columbus, and, in his later life after his return
+to England, his efforts, which in youth were directed to a northwest
+passage, went out toward a northeast passage to Cathay. John Cabot's
+genius was more practical, as the second letter of Raimondo di Soncino
+shows. His intention was to occupy on the second voyage the landfall
+he had made and then push on to the east (west, as we call it now) and
+south. The diversion of that expedition to the coast of Labrador would
+indicate that the death of the elder Cabot and the assumption of command
+by his son occurred early in the voyage. Sebastian Cabot seems to have
+been not so much a great sailor as a great nautical theorizer. Gomara
+says he discovered nothing for Spain; and beyond doubt his expedition to
+La Plata cannot be considered successful, for it was intended to reach
+the Moluccas. One fixed idea of his life was the course to Cathay by the
+north. That idea he monopolized to himself. He overvalued its importance
+and thought to be the Columbus of a new highway to the east. Hence he
+may have underrated his father's achievements as he brooded over what he
+considered to be his own great secret. He theorized on the sphere and he
+theorized on the variation of the compass, and he theorized on a method
+of finding longitude by the variation of the needle; so that even Richard
+Eden, who greatly admired him, wrote as follows: "Sebastian Cabot on
+his death-bed told me that he had the knowledge thereof (longitude by
+variation) by divine revelation, yet so that he might not teach any man.
+But I thinke that the goode olde man in that extreme age somewhat doted,
+and had not, yet even in the article of death, utterly shaken off all
+worldlye vaine glorie." These words would seem to contain the solution
+of most of the mystery of the suppression of John Cabot's name in the
+narratives of Peter Martyr, Ramusio, Gomara, and all the other writers
+who derived their information from Sebastian Cabot during his long
+residence in Spain.
+
+And now we may pass on to the consideration of the second voyage; and
+first among the writers, in order of time as also in order of importance,
+is Peter Martyr of Anghiera, who published his _Decades of the New World_
+in 1516. Sebastian Cabot had then been in Spain for four years, high in
+office and in royal favor. Peter Martyr was his "familiar friend and
+comrade," and tells the Pope, to whom these _Decades_ were addressed as
+letters, that he wrote from information derived from Cabot's own lips.
+Here, I venture to think, many of the writers on this subject have gone
+astray; for the whole question changes. Martyr knows of only one voyage,
+and that was beyond doubt the voyage of 1498; he knows of only one
+discoverer, and that the man from whose lips he writes the narrative. The
+landfall is far north, in a region of ice and perpetual daylight. At the
+very outset the subject is stated to be "those northern seas," and then
+Peter Martyr goes on to say that Sebastian Cabot furnished two ships at
+his own charges; and that, with three hundred men, he sailed toward the
+north pole, where he saw land, and that then he was compelled to turn
+westward; and after that he coasted to the south until he reached the
+latitude of Gibraltar; and that he was west of the longitude of Cuba.
+In other words, he struck land far in the north, and from that point he
+sailed south along the coast as far as Cape Hatteras. That Labrador was
+the landfall seems clear; for he met large masses of ice in the month of
+July. These were not merely the bergs of the western ocean, but masses of
+field-ice, which compelled him to change his course from north to west,
+and finally to turn southward. The same writer states that Cabot himself
+named a portion of the great land he coasted "Baccalaos," because of the
+quantity of fish, which was so great that they hindered the sailing of
+his ships, and that these fishes were called baccalaos by the natives.
+This statement has given rise to much dispute. As to the quantity
+of fish, all succeeding writers concur that it was immense beyond
+conception; and probably the swarming of the salmon up the rivers of our
+Pacific coast may afford a parallel; but that Cabot did not so name the
+country is abundantly clear. A very exhaustive note on the word will be
+found at page 131 of Dr. Bourinot's _Cape Breton_.
+
+Bearing in mind the preceding considerations, the study of the early
+maps will become profitable, and I would now direct attention to them to
+ascertain what light they may throw upon the landfall of John Cabot and
+the island of St. John opposite to it. It must be remembered that John
+Cabot took the time to go on shore at his landfall, and planted the
+banners of England and St. Mark there. At that time of year and in that
+latitude it was light at half-past three, but it was five when he saw
+land, and he had to reach it and perform the ceremonies appropriate for
+such occasions; so the island opposite could not be far away. The island,
+then, will be useful to identify the landfall if we find it occurring
+frequently on the succeeding maps.
+
+Don Pedro de Ayala, joint Spanish ambassador at London, wrote, on July
+25, 1498, to his sovereigns that he had procured and would send a copy of
+John Cabot's chart of his first voyage. This map of Juan de la Cosa is
+evidence that Ayala fulfilled his promise. It is a manuscript map made at
+the end of the year 1500, by the eminent Biscayan pilot, who, if not the
+equal of Columbus in nautical and cosmographical knowledge, was easily
+the second to him. Upon it there is a continuous coast line from Labrador
+to Florida, showing that the claim made by Sebastian Cabot of having
+coasted from a region of ice and snow to the latitude of Gibraltar was
+accepted as true by La Cosa, whatever later Spanish writers may have
+said. Recent writers of authority have arrived at the conclusion that,
+immediately after Columbus and Cabot had opened the way, many independent
+adventurers visited the western seas; for there are a number of
+geographical facts recorded on the earliest charts not easy to account
+for on any other hypothesis. Dr. Justin Winsor shows that La Cosa, and
+others of the great sailors of the earliest years of discovery, soon
+recognized that they had encountered a veritable barrier to Asia,
+consisting of islands, or an island of continental size, through which
+they had to find a passage to the golden East. Their views were not,
+however, generally accepted.
+
+That La Cosa based the northern part of his map upon Cabot's discoveries
+is demonstrated by the English flags marked along the coast and the
+legend "_Mar descubierto por Ingleses_," because no English but the Cabot
+expeditions had been there; and what is evidently intended for Cape Race
+is called "Cavo de Ynglaterra." The English flags mark off the coast from
+that cape to what may be considered as Cape Hatteras. Cabot, as before
+stated, confidently expected to reach Cathay. He sailed for that as his
+objective point, and he was looking for a broad western ocean, so that
+narrow openings were to him simply bays of greater or less depth. The
+sailors of those early voyages coasted from headland to headland, as
+plainly appears from many of the maps upon which the recesses of the
+sinuosities of the coast are not completed lines, and it must be borne in
+mind that in sailing between Newfoundland and Cape Breton the bold and
+peculiar contours of both can be seen at the same time. This is possible
+in anything like clear weather, but, in the bright weather of Midsummer
+Day, Cape Ray would necessarily have been seen from St. Paul's, and the
+opening might well have been taken for a deep indentation of the coast.
+Between "Cavo descubierto" and "Cavo St. Jorge" such an indentation is
+shown on the map, but the line is closed, showing that Cabot did not sail
+through.
+
+Cavo descubierto ("the Discovered Cape"), and, close to it, "_Mar
+descubierto por Ingleses!_" What can be more evident than that the spot
+where Europeans first touched the American continent is thus indicated?
+Why otherwise should it especially be called "the Discovered Cape" if not
+because this cape was first discovered? It is stated elsewhere that on
+the same day, opposite the land, an island was also discovered; and in
+fact upon the Madrid fac-simile two small islands are found, one of which
+is near Cavo descubierto. The name "the Discovered Cape" at the extreme
+end of a series of names tells its own story. Cabot overran Cape Race
+and went south of St. Pierre and Miquelon without seeing them, and,
+continuing on a westerly course, hit Cape Breton at its most easterly
+point. An apt illustration occurs in a voyage made by the ship
+Bonaventure in 1591, recorded in Hakluyt. She overshot Cape Race without
+knowing it and came to the soundings on the bank south of St. Peter's,
+where they found twenty fathoms, and then the course was set northwest by
+north for Cape Ray. The course was sharply altered toward a definite
+and known point, but, if he did not see Cape Race, not knowing what was
+before him, Cabot would have had no object in abruptly altering his
+course, but, continuing his westerly course, would strike the east point
+of Cape Breton. That point, then, and not Cape North, would be "the
+Discovered Cape"--the _prima vista_--and there, not far off "over against
+the land," "opposite the land" (_exadverso_), he would find Scatari
+Island, which would be the island of St. John, so continually attendant
+on Cape Breton upon the succeeding maps. If this theory be accepted, all
+becomes clear, and the little Matthew, having achieved success, having
+demonstrated the existence of Cathay within easy reach of England,
+returned home, noticing and naming the salient features of the south
+coast of Newfoundland. She had not too much time to do it, for she was
+back in Bristol in thirty-four days at most. This theory is further
+confirmed by the circumstance recorded by Pasqualigo that, as Cabot
+returned, he saw two islands on the right which he had not time to
+examine, being short of provisions. These islands would be St. Pierre and
+Miquelon; for there are two, and only two, important islands possible to
+be seen at the right on the south coast of Newfoundland on the homeward
+course. La Cosa, beside the two small islands above noted, has marked on
+his map three larger islands, I. de la Trinidad, S. Grigor, and I. Verde,
+but they are not laid down on the map in the places of St. Pierre and
+Miquelon, nor are there any islands existing in the positions shown. I.
+de la Trinidad is doubtless the peninsula of Burin, as would appear by
+its position almost in contact with the land, and its very peculiar
+shape. In coasting along, it would appear as an island, for the isthmus
+is very narrow, and St. Pierre and Miquelon would be clearly seen as
+islands on the right. As for the bearings of the coast, it will appear by
+a comparison with Champlain's large map that they are compass bearings,
+for they are the same on both.
+
+I have dwelt at length upon the map of La Cosa, because, for our northern
+coasts, it is in effect John Cabot's map. After the return of the second
+expedition, the English made a few voyages, but soon fell back into the
+old rut of their Iceland trade. The expedition was beyond question a
+commercial failure, and therefore, like the practical people they are,
+they neglected that new continent which was destined to become the chief
+theatre for the expansion of their race. Their fishermen were for many
+years to be found in small numbers only on the coast, and, as before,
+their supply of codfish was drawn from Iceland, where they could sell
+goods in exchange.
+
+Meantime the Bretons and Normans, and the Basques of France and Spain,
+and the Portuguese grasped that which England practically abandoned. That
+landfall which Cabot gave her in 1497 cost much blood and treasure to win
+back in 1758. The French fishermen were on the coast as early as 1504,
+and the names on La Cosa's map were displaced by French names still
+surviving on the south coast and on what is called the "French shore" of
+Newfoundland. Robert Thorne in 1527--and no doubt others unrecorded--in
+vain urged upon the English government to vindicate its right. According
+to the papal bulls and the treaty of Tordesillas, the new lands were
+Portuguese east of a meridian three hundred seventy leagues west of
+the Cape de Verd Islands and Spanish to the west of it. Baccalaos and
+Labrador were considered to be Portuguese; and, upon the maps, when any
+mention is made of English discoveries they are accordingly relegated to
+Greenland or the far north of Labrador. The whole claim of England went
+by abandonment and default. The Portuguese, as the Rev. Dr. Patterson has
+shown, named all the east coast of Newfoundland, and their traces are
+even yet found on the coasts of Nova Scotia and of Cape Breton.
+
+Therefore it is that the maps we have now to refer to are not so much
+Spanish as Portuguese. They will tell us nothing of the English, nor of
+Cabot, but we shall be able to follow his island of St. John--the only
+one of his names which survived. The outlines of some very early maps are
+given by Kunstmann, Kretschmer, and Winsor, but until 1505 they have
+no bearing upon our problem. In that year Reinel's map was made, and,
+although Newfoundland forms part of _terra firma_, the openings north
+and south of it are plainly indicated by unclosed lines. Cape Race has
+received its permanent name, "_Raso_" and, although only the east coast
+of Newfoundland is named, there is no possibility of mistaking the
+easternmost point of Cape Breton. Just opposite _(ex adverso_) is laid
+down and named the island of Sam Joha, in latitude 46°, the precise
+latitude of Scatari Island. Here, then, in 1505, is in this island of
+St. John an independent testimony to the landfall of 1497--not off Cape
+North, which does not yet appear, nor inside the gulf, for it is not even
+indicated--but in the Atlantic Ocean, at the cape of Cape Breton--the
+"Cavo descubierto" of La Cosa.
+
+I have not considered it necessary to prove that if Cabot's landfall were
+Cape North he could not have discovered the low lying shore of Prince
+Edward Island on the same day. I have preferred to show that Prince
+Edward Island was not known as an island and did not appear on any map
+for one hundred years after John Cabot's death. If Cabot had possessed a
+modern map, and had been looking for Prince Edward Island, and had pushed
+on without landing at the north cape of Cape Breton, and had shaped his
+course southward, he might have seen it in a long Midsummer Day, but
+Cabot did not press on. He landed and examined the country, and found
+close to it St. John's Island, which he also examined. Upon that
+easternmost point of this Nova Scotian land of our common country John
+Cabot planted the banner of St. George on June 24, 1497, more than one
+year before Columbus set foot upon the main continent of America, and
+now, after four hundred years, despite all the chances and changes of
+this Western World, that banner is floating there, a witness to our
+existing union with our distant mother-land across the ocean.
+
+
+
+THE SEA ROUTE TO INDIA
+
+VASCO DA GAMA SAILS AROUND AFRICA
+
+A.D. 1498
+
+CASPAR CORREA[1]
+
+
+The same goal which attracted the Spaniards westward drew the Portuguese
+south, the desire to find a sea route to India, and thus garner the
+enormous profits of the trade in spices and other Indian wealth. In the
+early years of the fifteenth century the Portuguese, overshadowed by the
+Spanish kingdom, which almost enclosed their country, realized that they
+could extend their territory only by colonizing beyond seas. They began,
+therefore, to send out expeditions, and in 1410 discovered the island
+of Madeira. Soon afterward discoveries were undertaken by Prince Henry,
+called the "Navigator," whose whole life was given to these enterprises.
+Before his death, 1460, his Portuguese mariners, in successive voyages,
+had worked their way well down the western coast of Africa. In 1462 an
+expedition reached Sierra Leone, almost half way down the continent. Nine
+years later the equator was passed, and in 1486 Bartholomew Dias sailed
+around the southern point of Africa, which he had been sent to discover.
+On his return voyage, 1487, he found the Cape of Good Hope, having before
+doubled it without knowing that he had done so.[2]
+
+To Portuguese navigators the way to India by this route was soon made
+clear. In 1497 Vasco da Gama was placed by King Emanuel I of Portugal in
+command of an expedition of three small ships sent to discover such a
+route. He sailed from Lisbon in July of that year, in November doubled
+the Cape of Good Hope, arrived at Calicut, on the Malabar coast of
+India, in May, 1498, and in September, 1499, returned to Lisbon. He was
+accompanied by his brother Paulo, who, with other of the celebrated
+navigator's companions, appears in the following account of this great
+achievement. The quaint narrative was written by the chronicler who
+accompanied the expedition in person.
+
+The ships being equipped and ready, one Sunday the King went with Queen
+Dona Maria to hear mass, which was said pontifically by the bishop
+Calcadilha, who also made a discourse in praise of the voyage, and holy
+design of the King in regard to the new discovery which he was commanding
+to be made; and he called upon the people to pray to the Lord that the
+voyage might be for his holy service, and for the exalting of his holy
+faith, and for the increase of the good and honor of the kingdom of
+Portugal. At the mass the good brothers Da Gama and their associates were
+present, richly dressed, and the King showed them great honor and favor,
+as they stood close to the curtain, where also were the principal lords
+of the realm and gentlemen of the court. Mass being over, the King came
+out from the curtain and spoke to the captains, who placed themselves on
+their knees before him; and they spoke to him, saying:
+
+"Sire, the honor we are receiving from your highness is so great that
+with a hundred bodies and lives which we might expend in your service we
+never could repay the least part of it, since greater honors were never
+shown by a sovereign to his vassals than you have shown us, as the great
+prince, king, and lord that you are, with such magnanimity and honor
+that, if at this very moment we should die, our lineage should remain in
+the highest degree of honor which is possible, only because your highness
+has chosen and sent us for this work, while you have so many and such
+noble vassals to whom to commit it; for which we are already recompensed
+before rendering this service, and until we end our lives in performing
+it. For this we beg of the mercy of the Lord, that he direct us, and we
+may perform such works that he, the Lord, and your highness also, may be
+served in some measure in this so great favor that has been shown us, as
+he knows that such is our desire; and should we not be deserving to serve
+him in this voyage, and so holy undertaking, may the Lord be pleased
+though we may pay with our lives for our shortcomings in the work. We
+promise your highness that our lives will be the matters of least moment
+that we shall adventure in this so great favor that has been shown us,
+and that we will not return before your highness with our lives in our
+bodies without bringing some certain information of that which your
+highness desires."
+
+And they all again kissed the hands of the King and of the Queen. Then
+the King came forth from the cathedral and went to his palace, which then
+was in the residence of the alcazar in the castle. There went before him
+the captains, and before them the standard which was carried by their
+ensign in whom they trusted, and on arriving at the palace the King
+dismissed them, and they again kissed his and the Queen's hand. Vasco da
+Gama on a horse, with all the men of the fleet on foot, richly dressed in
+liveries, and accompanied by all the gentlemen of the court, went down to
+the wharf on the bank, and embarked in their boats, and the standard went
+in that of Paulo da Gama. Then, taking leave of the gentlemen, they went
+to the ships, and on their arrival they fired all their artillery, and
+the ships were dressed out gayly with standards and flags and many
+ornaments, and the royal standard was at once placed at the top of the
+mast of Paulo da Gama; for so Vasco da Gama commanded. Discharging all
+their artillery, they loosened the sails, and went beating to windward on
+the river of Lisbon, tacking until they came to anchor at Belen, where
+they remained three days waiting for a wind to go out.
+
+There they made a muster of the crews, and the King was there all the
+time in the monastery, where all confessed and communicated. The King
+commanded that they should write down in a book all the men of each ship
+by name, with the names of their fathers, mothers, and wives of the
+married men, and the places of which they were native; and the King
+ordered that this book should be preserved in the House of the Mines, in
+order that the payments which were due should be made upon their return.
+The King also ordered that a hundred _crusadoes_ should be paid to
+each of the married men for them to leave it to their wives, and forty
+crusadoes to each of the single men, for them to fit themselves out with
+certain things; for, as to provisions, they had not got to lay them
+in, for the ships were full of them. To the two brothers was paid a
+gratification of two thousand crusadoes to each of them, and a thousand
+to Nicolas Coelho.
+
+When it was the day of our Lady of March (the 25, 1497), all heard mass;
+they then embarked, and loosened the sails, and went forth from the
+river, the King coming out to accompany them in his boat, and addressing
+them all with blessings and good wishes. When he took leave of them, his
+boat lay on its oars until they disappeared, as is shown in the painting
+of his city of Lisbon. Vasco da Gama went in the ship São Rafael, and
+Paulo da Gama in the São Gabriel, and Nicolas Coelho in the other ship,
+São Miguel. In each ship there were as many as eighty men, officers and
+seamen, and the others of the leader's family, servants and relations,
+all filled with the desire to undertake the labor that was fitting for
+each, and with great trust in the favors which they hoped for from the
+King on their return to Portugal.
+
+Paulo da Gama, as he went out with the Lisbon river, hauled down the
+royal standard from the masthead; but at the great supplications of his
+brother, who gave him good reasons why it was fitting that he should
+carry it, he again hoisted it. The two companions, standing out to sea,
+as I have said, made their way toward Cape Verd, and for that purpose
+they stood well out to sea to make the coast, which they knew they would
+find, as it advanced much to seaward, as they learned from the sailors
+who had been in the caravels of Janinfante. They ran as far as they
+could to sea in the direction of the wind, to double the land without
+difficulty; and thus they navigated until they made the coast, and,
+having reconnoitred it, they tacked and stood out to sea, hauling on the
+bowline as much as they could, as so they ran for many days.
+
+And as it seemed to them that now they could double the land, they again
+tacked toward the coast, also on the bowline, against the wind, until
+they again saw the coast, much farther on than where the caravels had
+reached, which the masters knew from the soundings which they got written
+down from the voyage of Janinfante, and the days which they found to have
+less sun by the clocks. Having well ascertained this, they stood out
+again to sea; thus forcing the ships to windward, they went so far out to
+the sea toward the south that there was almost not six hours of sunlight
+in the day; and the wind was very powerful, so that the sea was very
+fearful to see, without ever being smooth either by day or night, but
+they always met with storms, so that the crews suffered much hardship.
+After a month that they had run on this tack, they stood into shore and
+went as long as they could, all praying to the Lord that they might have
+doubled beyond the land; but when they again saw it they were very sad,
+though they found themselves much advanced by the signs of the soundings
+which the pilots took, and they saw land of another shape which they had
+not before seen.
+
+Seeing that the coast ran out to sea, the masters and pilots were in
+great confusion, and doubtful of standing out again to sea, saying that
+the land went across the sea and had no end to it. This being heard of by
+Vasco da Gama--according, as it was presumed, to the information he had
+from the Jew Zacuto--he told the pilots that they should not imagine such
+a thing, and that without doubt they would find the end of that land, and
+beyond it much sea and lands to run by, and he said to them: "I assure
+you that the cape is very near, and, with another tack standing out to
+sea, when you return you will find the cape doubled." This Vasco da Gama
+said to encourage them, because he saw that they were much disheartened,
+and with the inclination to wish to put back to Portugal. So he ordered
+them to put the ships about to sea, which they did, much against their
+will; for which reason Vasco da Gama determined to stand on this tack so
+long as to be able to double the end of the land, and besought all not to
+take account of their labors, since for that purpose they had ventured
+upon them; and that they should put their trust in the Lord that they
+would double the cape.
+
+Thus he gave them great encouragement, without ever sleeping or taking
+repose, but always taking part with them in hardship, coming up at the
+boatswain's pipe as they all did. So they went on standing out to sea
+till they found it all broken up with the storm, with enormous waves and
+darkness. As the days were very short, it always seemed night; the masts
+and shrouds were stayed, because with the fury of the sea the ships
+seemed every moment to be going to pieces. The crews grew sick with fear
+and hardship, because also they could not prepare their food, and all
+clamored for putting back to Portugal, and that they did not choose to
+die like stupid people who sought death with their own hands; thus they
+made clamor and lamentation, of which there was much more in other ships.
+But the captains excused themselves, saying that they would do nothing
+except what Vasco da Gama did; and he and his companions underwent great
+labor.
+
+As he was a very choleric man, at times with angry words he made them be
+silent, although he well saw how much reason they had at every moment to
+despair of their lives; and they had been going for about two months on
+that tack, and the masters and pilots cried out to him to take another
+tack; but the captain-major did not choose, though the ships were now
+letting in much water, by which their labors were doubled, because the
+days were short and the nights long, which caused them increased fear of
+death; and at this time they met with such cold rains that the men could
+not move. All cried out to God for mercy upon their souls, for now they
+no longer took heed of their lives. It now seemed to Vasco da Gama that
+the time was come for making another tack, and he comforted himself very
+angrily, swearing that if they did not double the cape he would stand out
+to sea again as many times until the cape was doubled, or there should
+happen whatever should please God. For which reason, from fear of this,
+the masters took much more trouble to advance as much as they could; and
+they took more heart on nearing the land, and escaping from the tempest
+of the sea; and all called upon God for mercy, and to give them guidance,
+when they saw themselves out of such great dangers.
+
+Thus approaching the land, they found their labor less and the seas
+calmer, so they went on running for a long time, steering so as to make
+the land and to ease the ships, which they were better able to do at
+night when the captain slept, which the other ships did also, as they
+followed the lantern which Vasco da Gama carried; at night the ships
+showed lights to one another so as not to part company. Seeing how much
+they had run, and did not find the land, they sailed larger so as to make
+it; and as they did not find it, and as the sea and wind were moderate,
+they knew they had doubled the cape; on which great joy fell among them,
+and they gave great praise to the Lord on seeing themselves delivered
+from death. The pilots continued to sail more free, spreading all the
+sails; and, running in this manner, one morning they sighted some
+mountain peaks which seemed to touch the clouds; at which their pleasure
+was so great that all wept with joy, and all devoutly on their knees said
+the _Salve_. After running all day till night, they were not able to
+reach it, and discovered great mountain ridges; so, as it was night, they
+ran along the coast, which lay from east to west; and they took in all
+the sails, only running under large sails, for these were the orders of
+the captain-major.
+
+The next day at dawn they again set all the sails and ran to the land, so
+that at midday they saw a beach which was all rocky, and, running along
+it, they saw deep creeks, and such large bays that they could not see the
+land at the end of them; they also found the mouths of great rivers, from
+which water came forth to the sea with a powerful current; here also,
+near the land, they found many fish, which they killed with fish-spears.
+The watchmen in the tops were always on the lookout to see if there were
+shoals ahead. The crews grew sick with fever from the fish which they
+ate, on which account they ate no more. The pilots, on heaving the lead,
+found no bottom; so they ran on for three days, and at night they kept
+away from the land and shortened sail.
+
+Sailing in this manner, they fell in with the mouth of a large river, and
+the captain-major ordered a boat to be lowered, and the pilot to sound
+the entrance of the river; and he said it was superfluous, because if
+there was a shoal it would be burst through. Then they took in the sails,
+excepting the great one with which they entered the river, which was very
+large; and they went up it, the boat going before and sounding, and,
+approaching land, where they found twelve fathoms, they anchored. There
+they found very good fish, for the river was of fresh water; but in the
+whole of the river they found no beach, for there was nothing but rocks
+and crags. Then Vasco da Gama went to see his brother, and so did Nicolas
+Coelho, and they all dined with great satisfaction, talking of the
+hardships they had gone through.
+
+When they had finished dining, Vasco da Gama ordered Nicolas Coelho to go
+in his boat up the river to see if he found any village. He went up more
+than five leagues, without finding anything besides many streams which
+came from between the mountains to pour into the river; there were no
+woods in the country, nothing but stones on both sides of the river; upon
+which he returned to the captain-major. Then the following day, before
+the morning, Vasco da Gama again ordered Nicolas Coelho to go in a boat
+with sails and oars, and with provisions to eat, and told him to go as
+far as the head of the river, to see if he could find anyone to speak to,
+to learn what country they were in. He went up the river a distance of
+more than twenty leagues, and returned without having found anything.
+
+Then they decided on going out again, and they took in water and wood of
+the dry trees, which it seems the river brings down when it comes from
+the mountain. On that account the captain-major wished himself in person
+to discover the river up to its head, to see whence could come those
+trees which they found there dry, but the masters said this would be a
+labor without profit, and that they ought to go out of the river and make
+for the country which they wished to seek, and they would find it. This
+seemed good to the captain-major, and they came out of the river, with
+much labor, as the wind was contrary and entered the mouth of the river.
+The strong current of the river, which went out to sea, alone assisted
+them, and with it they went outside without sails, only towing with the
+boats which guided them.
+
+When the ships returned to sea they ran along the coast with great
+precaution, and a good lookout not to run upon any shoals, and they
+entered other great rivers and bays; and they explored everywhere and
+searched without ever being able to meet with people, nor boats in the
+seas, for all the country was uninhabited; and in entering and leaving
+the rivers they endured much fatigue, and were much vexed at not being
+able to learn in what country they were. With these detentions and delays
+they wasted much time, and spent all the summer of that country, so they
+had to run along the coast because winds were favorable for going ahead,
+for they were westerly. And because they found everything desolate,
+without people by land or sea, they agreed unanimously not to enter any
+more rivers, but to run ahead, and thus they did; for by day they ran
+under full sail, drawing so near to the land as possible to see if they
+could make out any village or beach, which as yet they had not seen; and
+by night they stood away to sea and ran under shortened sail. Navigating
+in this manner, the wind began to moderate, and fell calm altogether,
+which happened in November, when they had to struggle with another wind,
+with which they stood out to sea, fearing some contrary storm might
+arise; then, taking in all sail, they lay waiting for the springing up of
+another wind, so they went increasing their distance from the land till
+they lost sight of it; for the wind increased continually, and the sea
+rose greatly, for then the winter of that country was setting in.
+
+The masters, seeing that the weather was freshening, took counsel as to
+returning to land and putting into some river until meeting with a change
+of weather. This they did, and, putting about to the land, the wind
+increased so much that they were afraid of not finding a river in which
+to shelter, and of being lost. On which account they again stood out to
+sea, and made ready the ships to meet the storm which they saw rising
+every moment, so that the water should not come in, with ropes made fast
+to the masts, and with the shrouds passed over the yards so that the
+masts should remain more secure; and they took away all the pannels from
+the tops, and the sails, so as not to hold the wind; the small sails and
+the lower sails all struck, and with the foresails only they prepared to
+weather the storm.
+
+Seeing the weather in this state, the pilot and master told the
+captain-major that they had great fear on account of the weather because
+it was becoming a tempest, and the ships were weak, and that they thought
+they ought to put in to land and run along the coast and return to seek
+the great river into which they had first entered, because the wind was
+blowing that way, and they could enter it for all that there was a storm.
+But when the captain-major heard of turning backward he answered them
+that they should not speak such words, because, as he was going out of
+the bar at Lisbon, he had promised to God in his heart not to turn back a
+single span's breadth of the way which he had made; that on that account
+they should not speak in that wise, as he would throw into the sea
+whomsoever spoke such things. At which the crew, in despair, abandoned
+themselves to the chances of the sea, which was broken up with the
+increase of the tempest and rising of the gale, which many times chopped
+round, and blew from all parts, and at times fell; so that the ships were
+in great peril from their great laboring in the waves, which ran very
+high. Then the storm would again break with such fury that the seas rose
+toward the sky, and fell back in heavy showers which flooded the ships.
+The storm raging thus violently, the danger was doubled; for suddenly the
+wind died out, so that the ships lay dead between the waves, lurching
+so heavily that they took in water on both sides; and the men made
+themselves fast not to fall from one side to the other; and everything in
+the ships was breaking up, so that all cried to God for mercy.
+
+Before long the sea came in with more violence, which increased their
+misfortune, with the great difficulty of working the pumps; for they were
+taking in much water, which entered both above and below; so they had no
+repose for either soul or body, and the crews began to sicken and die of
+their great hardships. At this the pilot and masters and all the people
+poured out cries and lamentations to the captains, urgently requiring
+them to put back and seek an escape from death, which they were certain
+of meeting with by their own will if they did not put about. To which the
+captains gave no other reply than that they would do no such thing unless
+the captain-major did it. The captain-major, seeing the clamors of his
+crew, answered them with brave words, saying that he had already told
+them that backward he would not go, even though he saw a hundred deaths
+before his eyes; thus he had vowed to God; and let them look to it that
+it was not reasonable that they should lose all the labors which they had
+gone through up to this time; that the Lord, who had delivered them until
+now, would have mercy upon them; they should remember that they had
+already doubled the Cape of Storms and were in the region which they had
+come to seek, to discover India, on accomplishing which, and returning to
+Portugal, they would gain such great honor and recompenses from the King
+of Portugal for their children; and they should put their trust in God,
+who is merciful, and who, from one hour to another, would come with his
+mercy and give them fair weather, and that they should not talk like
+people who distrusted the mercy of God. But, although the captain-major
+always spoke to them these and other words of great encouragement, they
+did not cease from their loud clamor and protestations that he would give
+an account to God of their deaths of which he would be the cause, and of
+the leaving desolate their wives and children; all this accompanied by
+weeping and cries, and calls to God for mercy.
+
+While they went on this way with their souls in their mouths, the sea
+began to go down a little, and the wind also, so that the ships could
+approach to speak one another, and all clamored with loud cries that they
+should put about to seek some place where they could refit the ships, as
+they could not keep them afloat with the pumps. The crews of the other
+ships spoke with more audacity, saying that the captain-major was but one
+man, and they were many; and they feared death, while the captains
+did not fear it, nor took any account of losing their lives. The
+captain-major chose that the two other ships should know his design, and
+he said and swore by the life of the King his sovereign that from the
+spot where he then was he had not to turn back one span's breadth, even
+though the ships were laden with gold, unless he got information of that
+which they had come to seek, and that even if he had near there a very
+good port he would not go ashore, lest some of them should retire to a
+certain death on shore, allowing themselves to remain there, rather than
+go on with the ships trusting to the mercy of God, in which they had such
+small reliance that they made such exclamations from the weakness of
+their hearts, as if they were not Portuguese; on which account he would
+undeceive them all, for to Portugal they would not return unless they
+brought word to the King of that which he had so strongly commended to
+them, and that he took the same account of death as did any one of them.
+
+While they were at this point a sudden wind arose, with so great a
+concussion of thunder and darkness, and a stronger blast than they had
+yet experienced, and the sea rose so much that the ships could not see
+one another, except when they were upheaved by the seas, when they seemed
+to be among the clouds. They hung out lights so as not to part company,
+for the anxiety and fear which the captain-major felt was the losing
+one of the ships from his company, so that the seamen would put back to
+Portugal by force, as, indeed, they had very much such a desire in their
+hearts.
+
+But the captains took very great care of this, because Vasco da Gama,
+before going out to Lisbon, when conversing alone with the Jew Zacuto
+in the monastery, had received from him much information as to what he
+should do during his voyage, and especially recommendations of great
+watchfulness never to let the ships part company, because if they
+separated it would be the certain destruction of all of them.
+
+Vasco da Gama took great care of this, personally, and by means of his
+servants and relations in whom he trusted; and this they attended to with
+much greater solicitude after they heard the sailors say that they were
+many, and the captains only a few single men, and in fact they had in
+their minds such an intention of rising up against the captains, and
+by force putting back to Portugal, and they thought that, if it became
+necessary to arrest them for this and bring them before the King, he
+would have mercy upon them, and, should they not find mercy, they
+preferred rather to die there where their wives and children and fathers
+were, and in their native country, and not in the sea to be eat by the
+fishes. With such thoughts they all spoke to one another secretly,
+determining to carry it out, and trusting that the King would not hang
+them all for the good reasons which they would give him; or else to
+secure their lives they would go to Castile until they were pardoned.
+This was the greatest insolence they were guilty of; and so they decided
+upon executing their plan. In taking this decision they did not perceive
+the danger of death, into which they were going more than ever.
+
+In the ship of Nicolas Coelho there was a sailor who had a brother who
+lived with Nicolas Coelho, and was foster-brother of a son of his; and
+the sailor brother told this boy of what they had all determined to do.
+This boy, being very discreet, said to his brother that they should all
+preserve great secrecy, so as not to be found out, for it was a case
+of treason, and he warned his brother not to tell anyone that he had
+mentioned such a thing to him. The boy, on account of the affection which
+he had for his master Nicolas Coelho, discovered the matter to him in
+secret, and he at once gave the boy a serious warning to be very discreet
+in this matter, that they should not perceive that he had told him
+anything of the kind. With the firm determination which Nicolas Coelho at
+once formed to die sooner than allow himself to be seized upon, he became
+very vigilant both by day and night, and warned the boy to try to learn
+with much dissimulation all that they wanted to do and by what means. The
+boy told him that they would not do it unless they could first concert
+with the other ships, so that they all should mutiny; at that Nicolas
+Coelho remained more at ease, but was always very much on his guard for
+himself.
+
+As the storm did not abate, but rather seemed to increase, and as the
+cries and clamor of the people were very great, beseeching him to put
+back, Nicolas Coelho dissembled with them, saying: "Brothers, let us
+strive to save ourselves from this storm, for I promise you that as soon
+as I can get speech with the captain-major I will require him to put
+back, and you will see how I will require it of him." With this they
+remained satisfied. Some days having passed thus with heavy storms, the
+Lord was pleased to assuage the tempest a little and the sea grew calm,
+so that the ships could speak one another; and Nicolas Coelho, coming
+up to speak, shouted to the captain-major that "it would be well to put
+about, since every moment they had death before their eyes, and so many
+men who went in their company were so piteously begging with tears and
+cries to put back the ships. And if we do not choose to do so, it would
+be well if the men should kill or arrest us, and then they would put back
+or go where it was convenient to save their lives; which we also ought to
+do. If we do not do it, let each one look out for himself, for thus I do
+for my part, and for my conscience' sake, for I would not have to give an
+account of it to the Lord."
+
+Paulo da Gama, who also had come up within speaking distance, heard all
+this. When they had heard these words of Nicolas Coelho, who, on ending
+his speech, at once begun to move away, the captain-major answered him
+that he would hold a consultation with the pilot and his crew, and that,
+whatever he determined to do, he would make a signal to him of his
+resolution. During this time they lay hove to in the smooth water,
+because the wind never changed from its former point. Vasco da Gama, as
+he was very quick-witted, at once understood what Nicolas Coelho's words
+meant, and called together all the crew, and said to them that he was not
+so valiant as not to have the fear of death like themselves, neither was
+he so cruel as not to feel grieved at heart at seeing their tears and
+lamentations, but that he did not wish to have to give account to God
+for their lives, and for that reason he begged them to labor for their
+safety, because if the bad weather came again he had determined to put
+back, but, to disculpate himself with the King, it was incumbent upon
+him to draw up a document of the reasons for putting back, with their
+signatures.
+
+At this they all raised their hands to heaven, saying that its mercy was
+already descending upon them, since it was softening the heart of the
+captain-major and inclining him to put back, and they said they all would
+sign the great service which he would render to God and to the King by
+putting back. Then the captain-major said that there was no need of the
+signatures of all, but only of those who best understood the business
+of the sea. Then the pilot and master named them, and they were three
+seamen. Upon this the captain-major retired to his cabin, and told his
+servants to stand at the door of the cabin, and put inside the clerks
+to draw up the document, and ordered the three seamen to enter; and,
+dissembling, he made inquiries as to returning to port, and all was
+written down and they signed it. He then ordered them to go down below
+to another cabin which he had beneath his own for a store-cabin, and he
+ordered the clerk to go down also with them, and he summoned the master
+and pilot and ordered them below also, telling them to go and sign, as
+the clerk was there.
+
+Then he called up the seamen, one by one, and ordered them to be put in
+irons by his servants in his cabin, and heavy irons for the master and
+pilot. All being well ironed and bound, the captain-major turned them
+out, and called all the men, ordering the master and pilot at once to
+give up to him all the articles which they had belonging to the art of
+navigation, or, if not, that he would at once execute them. Being greatly
+afraid they gave everything up to him. Then Vasco da Gama, holding the
+instruments all in his hand, flung them into the sea and said: "See here,
+men, that you have neither master nor pilot, nor anyone to show you the
+way from henceforward, because these men whom I have arrested will return
+to Portugal below the deck, if they do not die before that [for he was
+aware that they had agreed among one another to rise up and return by
+force to Portugal, and on that account had cast everything into the sea];
+and I do not require master nor pilot, nor any man who knows the art of
+navigation, because God alone is the master and pilot who has to guide
+and deliver us by his mercy if we deserve it, and, if not, let his will
+be done. To him you must commend yourselves and beg mercy. Henceforward
+let no one speak to me of putting back, for know from me for a certainty
+that, if I do not find information of what I have come to seek, to
+Portugal I do not return."
+
+Seeing and hearing these things, the crew became much more terrified, and
+with much greater fear of death, which they held as certain, not having
+either pilot or master, nor anyone who knew how to navigate a ship. Then
+the prisoners and all the crew on their knees begged him for mercy, with
+loud cries; the prisoners saying that they, being ignorant men and of
+faint heart, had come to an understanding to put the ship about and
+return to the King and offer themselves for death, if he chose to give it
+them, and they would have taken him a prisoner, that the King might see
+that he was not to blame for putting back; but this was not to have been
+done, except with the will of all the people of the other ships; but
+since God had discovered this to him before they had carried it out, let
+him show them clemency; for well they saw that they deserved death
+from him, which was more than the chains which they bore. All the crew
+frequently called out to him for clemency, and not to put the prisoners
+below the decks, where they would soon die. Then the captain-major,
+showing that he only did it at their entreaty, and not for any need which
+he had of them, ordered them to remain in their cabins in the forecastle,
+still in irons, and forbade their giving any directions for the
+navigation of the ship, except only for the trimming of the sails and the
+work of the ship.
+
+Vasco da Gama then ran alongside of the other ships and spoke them,
+saying that he had put his pilot and master in irons, in which he would
+bring them back to the kingdom, if God pleased that they should return
+there; and, that they should not imagine that he had any need of their
+knowledge, he had flung into the sea all the implements of their art of
+navigation, because he placed his hopes in God alone, who would direct
+them and deliver them from the perils among which they were going, and
+on that account, since he had now made his men secure, let them secure
+themselves as they pleased; and without waiting for an answer he sheered
+off.
+
+Nicolas Coelho felt great joy in his heart on hearing from the
+captain-major that he had got his pilot and master thus secured from
+rising against him, since he had put them in irons; and without much
+dissimulation he spoke to master and pilot and seamen, saying that he was
+much grieved at the captain-major's way of treating his ship's officers,
+whom he stood so much in need of in the labors they were undergoing, but
+what he had done was because of his being of so strong and thorough a
+temperament, as they all knew, and he had not chosen to wait for them to
+make entreaty for the liberty of the prisoners, but that whenever the
+ships again spoke one another he would do this. This all the crew
+begged him to do, with loud cries of mercy, since they would follow the
+flag-ship wherever it went. This Nicolas Coelho promised them, so they
+remained contented.
+
+Paulo da Gama had other conversations with the officers of his ship, with
+much urbanity, for he was a man of gentle disposition; he also promised
+them that he would entreat his brother on behalf of the prisoners, and
+bade all pray God for the saving of their lives, and that all would end
+well; so that all remained consoled.
+
+While these things were happening the wind did not shift its direction,
+but, the sea being smoother, the ships were more easy, though they let
+in so much water that they never left off pumping. The captain-major saw
+this and that the ships had an absolute need of repairs; and also because
+they had no more water to drink, because, with the tossing about in the
+storm, many barrels had broken and given way; under such great pressure,
+he stood in to land under sail, for the weather was moderate and was
+beginning to be favorable; all were praying to God for mercy, and that he
+would grant them a haven of safety. Which God was pleased to do in his
+mercy, for presently he showed them land, at which it seemed that all
+were resuscitated from the death which they looked upon as certain if the
+ships were not repaired. After that the wind came free, and they sailed
+along the land for several days without finding where to put in; this was
+now in January of the year 1498. Thus they ran close to the land, with a
+careful lookout, for they did not dare to leave the land, from the great
+peril in which the ships were from the great leakage.
+
+Proceeding in this way, one day they found themselves at dawn in the
+mouth of a large river, into which the captain-major entered, for
+he always went first; and all entered, and found within a large bay
+sheltered from all winds, in which they anchored, and all exclaimed three
+times, "The mercy of the Lord God!" for which reason they gave this river
+the name of the River of Mercy. Here they soon caught much good fish,
+with which the sick improved, as it was fresh food, and the water of the
+river was very good.
+
+Now, at this time, in all the ships there were not more than a hundred
+fifty men, for all the rest had died. Soon after arriving at this place
+the captain-major went to see his brother and Nicolas Coelho, and they
+conversed, relating their hardships; and Nicolas Coelho related the
+treason which his men were preparing, to take him prisoner and return
+to Portugal, and they did not do it from the fear they had that the
+captain-major would follow after them, and if he caught them would have
+hanged them all; and they only waited for all to agree to mutiny; and he
+had sought those feigned words which he had spoken, and it had pleased
+God that Vasco da Gama had understood them, so that by his imprisoning
+his officers at once all had remained secure. So all gave praise to the
+Lord for having delivered them from such great perils.
+
+Then they settled about refitting the ships, for they had all that was
+necessary for doing it. Although they had a beach and tides for laying
+the ships aground, for greater security it was ordered that they should
+be heeled over while afloat, and thus it was arranged for by all of them.
+While they were on the quarter deck, Paulo da Gama entreated his brother
+to set the prisoners at liberty, which he did, setting free the sailors,
+and the master and pilot, with the condition that, if God should bring
+them back to Lisbon, when he went before the King he would present them
+to him in the same manner in chains, not to do them any harm, but only
+that his difficulties might be credited, and that for this he would
+give him greater favors; at which all the crews felt much satisfaction.
+Afterward they spoke with all the officers, and arranged for careening
+the ships, and went to look at them.
+
+They found there was no repairing the ship of Nicolas Coelho, as it had
+many of the ribs and knees broken. For that reason they at once decided
+to break it up; and then they cut out its masts, and much timber and
+planks of the upper works, which, with the yards and spars of the other
+ships, they lashed together and fastened, and made a great frame, which
+they put under the side of the ship to raise it more out of the water;
+for this purpose they then discharged from the captain-major's ship into
+that of his brother, which was brought alongside, all that they could of
+the stores and goods; and everything heavy below decks they put on one
+side of the ship, which caused it to heel over very much, and with the
+timber under the side, and the tackle fitted to the main-mast, they
+canted the ship over on one side so much that they laid her keel bare;
+and on the outer side they put planks, upon which all the crew got to
+work at the ship, some cleaning the planks from the growth of sea-weed,
+others extracting the calking, which was quite rotten, from the seams;
+and the calkers put in fresh oakum and then pitched it over, for they had
+a stove in a boat where they boiled the pitch.
+
+The captains were occupied with their own work day and night, and gave
+much food and drink to the crews, so that they used such despatch that in
+one day and one night, by morning they had finished one side of the ship,
+very well executed, though with great labor in drawing out the water from
+the ship, which leaked very much lying thus on one side. When she was
+upright they turned her over on the other side, and did the same work,
+much better performed because the ship did not leak so much; and when it
+was completed and the ship upright, it was so sound and water-tight that
+for two days there was no water in the pump.
+
+Then they loaded it again with its stores, and transshipped to it the
+stores of the other ship, upon which they executed the before-mentioned
+calking and repairs, so that it became like new. They then fitted them
+inside with several knees and ribs and inner planking, and all that was
+requisite, with great perfection, and collected the yards, spars, and
+all that they had need of belonging to the ship São Miguel; and the
+captain-major took Nicolas Coelho on board of his ship, entertaining
+him well. They then took away from the ship much wood for their use and
+beached the ship, and took away its rudder and undid it, and stowed away
+its wood and iron-works, in case of its being wanted for the other ships,
+because they had all been built of the same pattern and size, as a
+precaution that all might be able to take advantage of any part of them.
+Then they burned the ship in order to recover the nails, which were in
+great quantity, and a great advantage for other necessities which they
+met with later.
+
+After they had thus repaired the ships, the captain-major sent Nicolas
+Coelho with twenty men in a boat to go and discover the river; and he,
+after ascending it for two leagues, found woods and verdure, and farther
+on he found some canoes which were fishing, and the men in them were
+dark, but not very black; they were naked, having only their middles
+covered with leaves of trees and grass. These men, when they saw the
+boat, came to it and entered it in a brutish manner, and were in a
+state of amazement. No one knew how to speak to them, and they did not
+understand the signs which were made to them. So Nicolas Coelho made them
+go back to their canoes, and returned to the ships, but of the canoes
+one followed after the boat, and the others returned to take the news to
+their villages. These men who came with the boat, at once, without
+any fear, entered the ship and sat down to rest, as if they were old
+acquaintance; no one knew how to speak to them. Then they gave them
+biscuit and cakes and slices of bread with marmalade; this they did not
+understand until they saw our people eat, then they ate it, and, as they
+liked the taste, they ate in a great hurry, and would not share with one
+another. While this was going on they saw many canoes coming, and larger
+ones, with many of those people also naked, with tangled hair like
+Kaffirs, without any other arms than some sticks like half lances,
+hardened in the fire, with sharp points greased over.
+
+The captain-major, seeing the other canoes coming, ordered the first
+come to go to their canoe, which they did unwillingly, and went out and
+remained to speak with those that were arriving, and went their way. The
+others arrived, and all wanted to come on board; as they were more than a
+hundred, the captain-major would not allow them, only ten or twelve, who
+brought some birds which were something like hens, and some yellow fruit
+of the size of walnuts, a very well-tasted thing to eat, which our men
+would not touch, and they, seeing that, ate them for our people to see,
+who, on tasting them, were much pleased with them; they killed one of the
+birds, and found it very tender and savory to eat, and all its bones were
+like those of a fowl. The captain-major ordered biscuit and wine to be
+given them, which they would not touch till they saw our people drink. He
+also ordered a looking-glass to be given them; and when they saw it they
+were much amazed, and looked at one another, and again looked at the
+mirror, and laughed loudly and made jokes, and spoke to the others who
+were in the canoe.
+
+They went away with the looking-glass, highly delighted, and left six
+birds and much of the fruit, and all went away; and in the afternoon they
+came again, but bringing a quantity of those birds, at which our men
+rejoiced very much, and filled hencoops with them, because they gave them
+and were satisfied with anything that was given them, especially white
+stuffs; so that the seamen cut their shirts in pieces, with which they
+bought so many of these birds that they killed and dried them in the sun,
+and they kept very well. Here it was observed that in this river there
+were no flies, for they never saw any all the time they were there, which
+was twenty days; and they went away because the crew began to fall ill.
+It seems that it was from that fruit, which was very delicious to eat;
+and the principal ailment was that their gums swelled and rotted, so that
+their teeth fell out, and there was such a foul smell from the mouth that
+no one could endure it. The captain-major provided a remedy for this, for
+he ordered that each one should wash his mouth with his own water each
+time he passed it, by doing which in a few days they obtained health.
+
+The captain-major made a hole with pickaxes in a stone slab at the
+entrance of this river, and set up a marble pillar, of which he had
+brought many for that purpose, which had two escutcheons, one of the arms
+of Portugal, and another, on the other side, of the sphere, and letters
+engraved in the stone which said, "Of the Lordship of Portugal, Kingdom
+of Christians." The captain-major, seeing how much the seamen and masters
+and pilots worked, especially his own, notwithstanding the imprisonment
+which he had inflicted upon them, when he was about to quit this River
+of Mercy, made them all come to his ship, where he addressed them all,
+beseeching them not to suffer weakness to enter their hearts, which would
+induce them to wish to commit another such error by harboring thoughts of
+treason, which is so hideous before God, and always brings a bad end to
+those who engage in it; he said that he well saw that faint-heartedness
+was the cause of what had passed, and that he forgave all. And that since
+the Lord had been pleased to deliver them from so many dangers as they
+had passed up to that time, by his great mercy, therefore they should put
+their trust in him, who would conduct them in such manner as to obtain
+the result which they were going in search of; by which they would gain
+such great honors and favors as the King would grant them on their return
+to Portugal; and he would present them to the King, and would relate
+their great labors and services, and that they ought to bear in
+remembrance these great advantages, which would be such a cause of
+rejoicing for all of them. They, with tears of joy, all answered, "Amen,
+amen, may the Lord so will it of his great mercy." And they weighed
+anchors and went out of the river with a land-breeze.
+
+Sailing with a fair wind, they got sight of land, which the pilots
+foretold before they saw it; this was a great mountain which is on the
+coast of India, in the kingdom of Cananor, which the people of the
+country in their language call the mountain Delielly, and they call it of
+the rat, and they call it Mount Dely, because in this mountain there were
+so many rats that they never could make a village there. As it was the
+custom to give the fees of good news to the pilots when they see the
+land, they gave to each of the pilots a robe of red cloth and ten
+testoons; and they went on approaching the land until they saw the beach,
+and they ran along it and passed within sight of a large town of thatched
+houses inside a bay, which the pilots said was named Cananor, where many
+skiffs were going about fishing, and several came near to see the ships
+and were much surprised and went ashore to relate that these ships had so
+much rigging and so many sails and white men; which having been told to
+the King he sent some men of his own to see, but the ships had already
+gone far, and they did not go.
+
+In this country of India they are much addicted to soothsayers and
+diviners, especially on this coast of India, which is named the country
+of Malabar, and they call these diviners _canayates_. According to what
+was known later, there had been in this country of Cananor a diviner so
+diabolical, in whom they believed so much, that they wrote down all that
+he said, and preserved it like prophecies which would come to pass. They
+held a legend from him in which it was said that the whole of India would
+be taken and ruled over by a very distant king, who had white people, who
+would do great harm to those who were not their friends; and this was
+to happen a long time later, and he left signs of when it would be. In
+consequence of the great disturbance caused by the sight of these ships,
+the King was very desirous of knowing what they were, and he spoke to his
+diviners, asking them to tell him what ships were those and whence they
+came. The diviners conversed with their devils, and told him that the
+ships belonged to a great king and came from very far; and according to
+what they found written, these were the people who were to seize India
+by war and peace, as they had already told him many times, because the
+period which had been written down was concluded. The King, much moved,
+asked them whether his kingdom would receive much injury. They replied
+that our people would do no harm except to those who did it to them.
+
+Upon this the King became very thoughtful, and talked of this frequently
+with his people, who very much contradicted what the diviners said, and
+they told him not to believe them, for in this they never hit upon the
+truth, because at the time that our ships arrived more than four hundred
+years had elapsed since in one year more than eight hundred sail of large
+and small ships had come to India from the ports of Malacca and China and
+the Lequeos, with people of many nations, and all laden with merchandise
+of great value, which they brought for sale; and they had come to
+Calicut, and had run along the coast and had gone to Cambay; and they
+were so numerous that they had filled the country, and had settled as
+dwellers in all the towns of the sea-coast, where they were received and
+welcomed like merchants, which they were. When those people arrived thus
+on the coast of Malabar everybody considered that they were the people
+whom their prophecies mentioned as those who would take India, and they
+had inquired of the diviners, who, looking at their records, told them
+not to be afraid, since the time when India was to be taken had not yet
+arrived.
+
+Thus it was; for those people had gone over all India, trading and
+selling their merchandise during many years, in which many of them
+married and established their abodes and became naturalized in the
+country, and mixed up with the inhabitants of the country. Many others
+returned to their own country, and as no more ever arrived, they went on
+diminishing in number, until they came to an end; but a numerous progeny
+remained from them, and because they were people of large property, and
+numerous in the towns where they resided, they had a quarter set apart,
+like as in Portugal and Castile in other times there used to be Jewries
+and Moorish quarters set apart; and they built houses for their idols,
+sumptuous edifices, which are to be seen at this day; and in the space
+of a hundred years there did not remain one. All this they had got thus
+recorded in their legends, and since at that time so many people did not
+take India, how was it to be taken now by people who came from such a
+distance, and who would not come in sufficient numbers to be able to
+conquer it? and they mocked at what the soothsayers said. But the King,
+who put great trust in them, and whose heart divined what was going to
+come to pass, spoke to a soothsayer in whom he placed great belief,
+and told him to look and see upon what grounds he made his assertions;
+because, if it was as he had been saying, he would labor to establish
+peace with the Portuguese in such a manner as to make his kingdom secure
+forever, and in this he would spend part of his treasure. The soothsayer
+answered: "Sire, I am telling you the truth, that these men will not
+bring so many people with them to seize upon countries and realms, but
+those who come, in whatever number they may be, will be able to prevail
+more with their ships than all as many as go upon the sea, on which
+account they must be masters of the sea, in which case of necessity
+the people of the land must obey them; and when they shall have become
+powerful at sea, what will happen to your kingdom if you have not secured
+peace with them? I tell you the truth, and you will see it with your
+eyes; and now follow what counsel you please."
+
+The King answered, "My heart tells me that you are speaking the truth,
+and I will do that which is incumbent upon me." The diviner said to him,
+"If before five years you do not see that I have told you the truth,
+order my head to be cut off." Upon which the King remained quite
+convinced, and determined in his heart to establish with the Portuguese
+all the peace and friendship that was possible. And because soon after
+news arrived that our people were at the city of Calicut, which is twelve
+leagues from Cananor, the King sent men to Calicut who always came to
+tell him of what happened there to our men.
+
+The ships continued running along the coast close to land, for the coast
+was clear, without banks against which to take precautions; and the
+pilots gave orders to cast anchor in a place which made a sort of bay,
+because there commenced the city of Calicut. This town is named Capocate,
+and on anchoring there a multitude of people flocked to the beach, all
+dark and naked, only covered with cloths half way down the thigh, with
+which they concealed their nakedness. All were much amazed at seeing what
+they had never before seen. When news was taken to the King he also came
+to look at the ships, for all the wonder was at seeing so many ropes and
+so many sails, and because the ships arrived when the sun was almost set;
+and at night they lowered out the boats, and Vasco da Gama went at once
+for his brother and Nicolas Coelho, and they remained together conversing
+upon the method of dealing with this King, since here was the principal
+end which they had come to seek; it seemed to him that it would be best
+to comport himself as an ambassador, and to make him his present, always
+saying that they had been separated from another fleet which they came
+to seek for there, and that the captain-major had come and brought him
+letters from the King.
+
+This they agreed upon together, and that Vasco da Gama should go on shore
+with that message sent by the captain-major, who carried the standard at
+the peak; they also talked of the manner in which these things were to be
+spoken of. When all was well decided upon, Nicolas Coelho returned to the
+ship, and Vasco da Gama remained with his brother talking with the Moor
+Taibo (the broker), who told him not to go on shore without hostages;
+that such was the custom of men who newly arrived at the country; and
+the Moor said that this King of Calicut was the greatest king of all the
+coast of India, and on that account was very vain, and he was very rich
+from the great trade he had in this city.
+
+[Footnote 1: Translated from the Portuguese by Henry E. J. Stanley.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Herodotus tells us that Phoenicians rounded this cape as
+early as B.C. 605.]
+
+
+
+COLUMBUS DISCOVERS SOUTH AMERICA
+
+A.D. 1498
+
+CLEMENTS ROBERT MARKHAM
+
+
+On September 25, 1493, Columbus sailed from Palos and began his second
+voyage of discovery. He had seventeen vessels and about fifteen hundred
+men. In November he discovered Dominica in the West Indies. Arriving at
+La Navidad, Española (Haiti), he found that the colony which he had left
+there on returning from his first visit had been killed by the Indians.
+At a point farther east he founded Isabella, the first European town in
+the New World.
+
+In April, 1594, he, sailed westward and along the south shore of Cuba,
+which he mistook for a peninsula of Asia. He next discovered Jamaica, and
+in September returned to Isabella. The Indians rose in rebellion
+against the Spaniards, who had ill-used them, and Columbus quelled the
+insurrection, in a battle on the Vega Real, April 25, 1495. He had before
+planned for the enslavement of hostile Indians, an act from which his
+reputation has somewhat suffered.
+
+Owing to hardship and discontent, some of the colonists carried
+complaints to Spain. Bishop Fonseca, who had charge of colonial affairs,
+upheld the complainants, and in 1495 Juan Aguado was sent as royal
+commissioner to Española. Aguado prepared a report, fearing the effects
+of which, Columbus returned to Spain at the same time (1496) with him. A
+brother of Columbus was left in charge of the government at Española. The
+Spanish sovereigns, Ferdinand and Isabella, dismissed the charges against
+Columbus, and on May 30, 1498, he sailed from San Lucar on his third
+voyage to the New World.
+
+The great navigator was no longer the powerful, enduring man of six years
+before. Exposure, months of sleepless watching, anxiety, and tropical
+fevers had at length done their work. The bright intellect, the vivid
+imagination, the great heart, the generous nature, would be the same
+until death, but the constitution was shattered. The admiral now suffered
+from ophthalmia, gout, and a complication of diseases. The last six years
+of his life were destined to be a time of much and cruel suffering,
+aggravated by ingratitude, perfidy, and injustice.
+
+In fitting out the third expedition every petty annoyance and obstruction
+that the malice of Bishop Fonseca could invent was used to thwart and
+delay the admiral. Each subordinate official knew that insolence to the
+object of the Bishop's envy and dislike, and neglect of his wishes, were
+the surest ways to the favor of his chief. One creature of Fonseca, named
+Jimeno de Briviesca, carried his insolence beyond the bounds of the
+endurance even of the dignified and long-suffering admiral, who very
+properly took him by the scruff of the neck on one occasion and kicked
+him off the poop of the flag-ship. The delays of Fonseca and his agents
+caused incalculable injury to the public service, as will presently
+appear.
+
+The sovereigns had ordered that six million maravedis--about ten
+thousand dollars--should be granted for the equipment of the expedition,
+and that eight vessels should be provided. The contractor for provisions
+was Jonato Berardi, a Florentine merchant settled at Seville; and, owing
+to his death, the contracting work fell upon his assistant Amerigo
+Vespucci, who was very actively employed on this service from April,
+1497, to May, 1498. In 1492 Vespucci came to Spain as a partner of an
+Italian trader at Cadiz named Donato Nicolini, and he afterward became
+the chief clerk or agent of Berardi. It was thus that Columbus first
+became acquainted with Amerigo Vespucci, when the admiral had reached the
+ripe age of forty-five. As for his provisions, a good deal of the meat
+turned bad on the voyage, and the contract was not very satisfactorily
+carried out. It is strange that this beef and biscuit contractor should
+have given his name to the New World, but perhaps not more strange than
+that a bacon contractor should be the patron saint of England and of
+Genoa.
+
+The admiral was most anxious to despatch supplies and re-enforcements to
+his brother, and he succeeded in sending off two caravels in advance,
+under the command of Hernandez Coronel, who had been appointed chief
+magistrate of Espafiola. The other vessels consisted of two naos, or
+ships of a hundred tons, and four caravels. After months of harassing and
+unnecessary delay, they dropped down the Guadalquiver from Seville and
+the admiral sailed. He touched at Porto Santo and Madeira, and reached
+Gomera on May 19th. Columbus had become aware, through information
+collected from the natives of the islands, that there was extensive land,
+probably a continent, to the southward. He had also received a letter
+from a skilled and learned jeweller named Jaime Ferrer, dated August 5,
+1495, in which it was laid down that the most valuable things came from
+very hot countries, where the natives are black or tawny. These and other
+considerations led him to determine to cross the Atlantic on a lower
+parallel than he had ever done before; and he invoked the Holy Trinity
+for protection, intending to name the first land that was sighted in
+their honor. But he was impressed with the importance of sending help to
+the colony without delay.
+
+He therefore detached one ship and two caravels from Gomera to make the
+voyage direct. The ship was commanded by Alonzo Sanchez de Carbajal of
+Baeza. One caravel was intrusted to Pedro de Arana, brother of Beatriz
+Enriquez and brother-in-law of the admiral. The other had for her captain
+a Genoese cousin, Juan Antonio Colombo. It will be remembered that
+Antonio, the brother of Domenico Colombo and uncle of the admiral,
+lived at the little coast village of Quinto, near Genoa, and had three
+sons--Juan Antonio, Mateo, and Amighetto. When these cousins heard of the
+greatness and renown of Christopher, they thought at least one of them
+might get some benefit from his prosperity. So the younger ones gave all
+the little money they could scrape together to enable the eldest to go to
+Spain. His illustrious kinsman welcomed him with affection, and as he
+was a sailor he received charge of a caravel, in which trust he proved
+himself, as Las Casas tells us, to be careful, efficient, and fit for
+command. The three vessels sailed from Gomera direct for Española on June
+21st. Columbus continued his voyage of discovery with one vessel and two
+caravels. Pero Alonzo Niño, the pilot of the Niña in the first voyage,
+was with him. Herman Perez Matteos was another pilot, and there were a
+few other old shipmates in the squadron. The admiral touched at Buena
+Vista, one of the Cape de Verd Islands, remaining at anchor for a few
+days, and on July 5th he sailed away into the unknown ocean, for many
+days on a south-west course. His intention was to go south as far as the
+latitude of Sierra Leone, 8° 30' N., and then to steer west until he
+reached land.
+
+After ten days the vessels were in regions of calms, and the people began
+to suffer from the intense heat. The sun melted the tar of the rigging,
+and the seams of the decks began to open. For days and days the scorching
+heat continued, but at length there were some refreshing showers, and
+light breezes sprang up from the west. But their progress was very slow,
+and their stock of water nearly exhausted. So the admiral ordered the
+course to be altered to northwest, in hopes of reaching Dominica. It was
+July 31st, the people were parched with thirst, and yet no land had been
+seen. In the afternoon of that day the admiral's servant, Alonzo Perez
+of Huelva, went to the masthead, and reported land in the shape of three
+separate peaks. Columbus had declared his intention of naming the first
+land sighted after the Holy Trinity, and the coincidence of its appearing
+in the form of three peaks made a deep impression on his mind. The island
+of Trinidad retains its name to this day. The admiral gave heartfelt
+thanks to God, and all the crews chanted the _Salve Regina_ and other
+hymns of prayer and praise. Meanwhile the little squadron glided through
+the water, approaching the newly discovered land, and Columbus named the
+most eastern point "Cabo de la Galera," by reason of a great rock off it,
+which at a distance looked like a galley under sail. All along the coast
+the trees were seen to come down to the sea, the most lovely sight that
+eyes could rest on; and at last, on August 1st, an anchorage was found,
+and they were able to fill up with water from delicious streams and
+fountains. The main continent of South America was seen to the south,
+appearing like a long island, and it received the name of "Isla Santa."
+The point near the watering-place was called "Punta de la Playa."
+
+The western end of the island was named "Punta del Arenal," and here an
+extraordinary phenomenon presented itself. A violent current was rushing
+out through a channel or strait not more than two leagues wide, causing
+great perturbation of the sea, with such an uproar of rushing water that
+the crews were filled with alarm for the safety of the vessels. The
+admiral named the channel "La Boca de la Sierpe." He piloted his little
+squadron safely through it and reached the Gulf of Paria, named by him
+"Golfo de la Ballena." The land to the westward, forming the mainland
+of Paria, received the name of "Isla de Gracia." Standing across to the
+western side of the Gulf, the admiral was delighted with the beauty of
+the country and with the view of distant mountains. Near a point named
+"Aguja" the country was so fruitful and charming that he called it
+"Jardines," and here he saw many Indians, among them women wearing
+bracelets of pearls, and when they were asked whence the pearls were
+obtained they pointed to the westward. As many pearls as could be
+bartered from the natives were collected for transmission to the
+sovereigns, for here was a new source of wealth, another precious
+commodity from the New World.
+
+Columbus was astonished at the vast mass of fresh water that was pouring
+into the Gulf of Paria. He correctly divined the cause, and made the
+deduction that a river with such a volume of water must come from a great
+distance. His prescient mind showed him the mighty river Orinoco, the
+wide savannas, and the lofty range of the Andes; but the trammels of the
+erroneous measurements of astronomers bound them to Asia, and prevented
+him from picturing them to himself in the New World he had really
+discovered. That the land must be continuous appeared to be proved, not
+only from the deductions of science, but also from the Word of God. For
+he believed it to be established from the revealed Word (II Esdras vi.
+42) that the ocean only covered one-seventh of the globe, and that the
+other six-sevenths was dry land. Moreover, his splendid intellect was
+united with a powerful imagination. When he had grasped the facts with
+masterly intuition, his fancy often raised upon them some strange theory,
+derived partly from his extensive reading, partly from his own teeming
+brain. Thinking that a long and rapid course was insufficient to account
+for the volume of water and the violence of the currents, he conceived
+the idea that the earth, though round, was not a perfect sphere, and that
+it rose in one part of the equinoctial line so as to be somewhat of a
+pear shape. Thus he accounted for the exceptional volume of water by the
+motion of rivers flowing down from the end of the pear. One step farther
+in the realms of fancy, and he indulged in a dream that this centre and
+apex of the earth's surface, with its mighty rivers, could be no other
+than the terrestrial paradise. Writing as one thought coursed after
+another in his teeming fancy, we find these passing whims of a vivid
+imagination embodied in the journal intended for the information of the
+sovereigns.
+
+But time was passing on, and it was important that he should convey the
+provisions with which his vessels were loaded to his infant colony. He
+had seen that another narrow channel led from the northern side of the
+gulf, and had named it "Boca del Dragon." On August 12th he had piloted
+his vessels to the Punta de Paria, and prepared to pass through the
+channel. At that critical moment it fell calm, while the two currents
+flowed violently toward the opening, where they met and formed a broken,
+confused sea. But the admiral made use of the currents, and by the
+exercise of consummate seamanship took his three vessels clear of the
+danger and out into the open sea. The islands of Tobago and Granada were
+sighted, receiving the names of "Asuncion" and "Concepcion." Then the
+rocks and islets to the westward came in view, named the "Testigos" and
+"Guardias," and the island "Margarita." The latter name shows that the
+admiral had obtained the correct information from the natives of Paria
+respecting the locality of the pearl-fishery.
+
+The admiral now crowded all sail to reach Espanola, intending to make a
+landfall at the mouth of the river Azuma, where he knew that his brother,
+the Adelantado (Governor), had founded the new city, and named it Santo
+Domingo, in memory of their old father, Domenico Colombo. But the current
+carried him far to the westward, and on August 19th he sighted the coast
+fifty leagues to leeward of the new capital. On hearing of his arrival on
+the coast, Bartolome got on board a caravel and joined him; but it was
+not until the 31st that the two brothers entered San Domingo together,
+the admiral for the first time. Young Diego, the third and youngest
+brother, welcomed them on their arrival. The admiral had been absent for
+two years and a half, during which time the Adelantado had conducted the
+government of the colony with remarkable vigor and ability. Yet, owing
+to the mutinous conduct of the worst of the settlers, there was a very
+disastrous report to make.
+
+When the Adelantado assumed the command on the departure of the admiral
+for Spain in March, 1496, his first step, in compliance with the
+instructions he had received, was to proceed to the valley on the south
+side of the island, in which the gold mine of Hayna was situated, and to
+build a fort, which he named "San Cristoval." He next, having received
+supplies and reënforcements, together with letters from the admiral,
+by the caravels under Nino, took steps for the foundation of the new
+capital. Still following his brother's instructions, he selected a site
+at the mouth of the river Azuma, where there were good anchorage in
+the bay and a fertile valley along the banks of the river. On a bank
+commanding the harbor a fortress was erected, and named "Santo Domingo,"
+while the city was subsequently built on the east bank of the river. It
+became the capital of the colony. Before long Isabella, on the north
+coast, was entirely abandoned. Trees soon grew upon the streets and
+through the roofs of the houses. It presented a scene of wild desolation,
+and ghosts were believed to wander in crowds through the abandoned city.
+Ruins of the house of Columbus, of the church, and the fort can still be
+traced out by those who penetrate into the dense jungle which now covers
+that part of the coast.
+
+The next proceeding of the indefatigable Adelantado was the settlement of
+the beautiful province of Xaragua, forming the southwestern portion of
+the island. It was ruled over by a chief named Behechio, with whom dwelt
+the famous Anacaona, his sister, widow of Caonabo, but, unlike that
+fierce Carib, a constant friend of the Spaniards. Behechio met the
+Adelantado in battle array on the banks of the river Neyva, the eastern
+boundary of his dominions. But as soon as they were informed that the
+errand of the Spanish Governor was a peaceful one, both Behechio and
+Anacaona, who was a princess of great ability and of a most amiable
+disposition, received him with cordial hospitality. When, after a time,
+he opened the subject of tribute to them, they showed opposition. But
+Bartolome proved himself to be a masterly diplomatist, and in the end
+Behechio not only consented to impose a tribute, the details of which
+were amicably arranged, but undertook to collect and deliver it
+periodically to the Spanish authorities. These Indians were quite ready
+to submit to beings who appeared to be superior in power and intelligence
+to themselves. If the sovereigns of Spain had trusted Columbus and his
+brothers fully and completely, had established trading-stations and
+imposed a moderate tribute, and had absolutely prohibited the overrunning
+of the country by penniless and worthless adventurers, they would have
+had a rich and prosperous colony. The discontent and rebellion of the
+natives were solely caused by the misconduct of the Spaniards.
+
+An insurrection broke out in the Vega Real, headed by the chief
+Guarionex, who, after suffering innumerable wrongs from the Spaniards,
+was at last driven to desperation by an outrage on his wife. He assembled
+a number of dependent caciques, but the news was promptly communicated
+to the garrison of Fort Concepcion and forwarded to Santo Domingo. The
+Adelantado stamped out the rebellion with his accustomed vigor. He came
+by forced marches to Concepcion, and thence, without stopping, to the
+camp of the natives, who were completely taken by surprise. Guarionex and
+the other caciques were captured, and their followers dispersed. Always
+generous after victory, Bartolome Columbus released Guarionex at the
+prayer of his people, a measure which was alike magnanimous and politic.
+But it was impossible to rule over the natives satisfactorily unless
+the Spanish settlers could be forced to submit to the laws, and the
+Adelantado was not powerful enough to keep the bad characters in
+subjection. The loyal and decent men of the colony were in a small
+minority. The consequence was that the unfortunate Guarionex was again
+goaded into insurrection. On the approach of the Adelantado he fled into
+the mountains of Ciguey, on the northeast coast, and took refuge with a
+dependent cacique named Mayobanex, whose residence was near Cape Cabron,
+the western extreme of the Samana peninsula. A difficult and arduous
+mountain campaign followed, which Bartolome conducted with remarkable
+military skill. It ended in the capture and imprisonment of both the
+chiefs.
+
+Behechio now announced that he had collected the required tribute,
+consisting of a very large quantity of cotton, and that it was ready for
+delivery. The Adelantado therefore proceeded to Xaragua, and not only
+found this great store of cotton, but received an offer from the generous
+chief to supply him with as much cassava-bread as he needed for the
+use of the colony. This was a most acceptable present, for the lazy,
+ill-conditioned settlers had neglected to cultivate their fields, and a
+famine was imminent. The Adelantado ordered a caravel to be sent round to
+Xaragua to be freighted with cotton and bread, and returned himself to
+Isabella after taking a cordial farewell of his native friends. He had
+shown extraordinary talent in his government of the native population,
+and his rule had been a complete success. Always moderate in victory, he
+had suppressed the insurrections without bloodshed, and had conciliated
+the people by his moderation. He had made long and difficult marches,
+had subdued opposition by his readiness of resource and energy, and had
+administered the native affairs with humanity and excellent judgment.
+
+Unfortunately his power was insufficient to cope successfully with the
+insubordinate Spaniards. The ringleader of the mutineers was Francisco
+Roldan, a man whom Columbus had raised from the dust. He had been a
+servant; and the admiral, noting his ability, had intrusted him with some
+judicial functions. When he sailed for Spain he appointed Roldan chief
+justice of the colony. This ungrateful miscreant fostered discontent and
+mutiny by every art of persuasion and calumny at his command, and soon
+had a large band of worthless and idle ruffians ready to follow his lead.
+His first plan was to murder the Adelantado and seize the government, but
+he lacked the courage or the opportunity to put it into execution. His
+next step was to march into the Vega Real with seventy armed mutineers,
+and attempt to surprise Fort Concepcion. The garrison was commanded by a
+loyal soldier named Miguel Ballester, who closed the gates and defied the
+rebels, sending to the Adelantado for help. Bartolome at once hastened to
+his assistance, and on his arrival at Fort Concepcion he sent a messenger
+to Roldan, remonstrating with him, and urging him to return to his
+duty. But Roldan found his force increasing by the adhesion of all the
+discontented men in the colony, and his insolence increased with his
+power. All would probably have been lost but for the opportune arrival of
+Pedro Hernandez Coronel in February, 1498, who had been despatched
+from San Lucar by the admiral in the end of the previous year with
+reënforcements. He also brought out the confirmation of Bartolome's rank
+as Adelantado.
+
+The Adelantado was thus enabled to leave Fort Concepcion and establish
+his head-quarters at Santo Domingo. He sent Coronel as an envoy to
+Roldan, to endeavor to persuade him to return to his duty; but the
+mutineer feared to submit, believing that he had gone too far for
+forgiveness. He marched into the province of Xaragua, where he allowed
+his dissolute followers to abandon themselves to every kind of excess.
+The three caravels which had been despatched from Gomera by the admiral
+unfortunately made a bad landfall, and appeared off Xaragua. Roldan
+concealed the fact that he was a leader of mutineers, and, receiving the
+captains in his official capacity, induced them to supply him with stores
+and provisions, while his followers busily endeavored to seduce the
+crews, and succeeded to some extent. When Roldan's true character was
+discovered, the caravels put to sea with the loyal part of their crews,
+while Alonzo Sanchez de Carbajal, a loyal and thoroughly honest man, who
+was zealous for the good of the colony, remained behind to endeavor to
+persuade Roldan to submit to the admiral's authority. He only succeeded
+in obtaining from him a promise to enter into negotiations with a view to
+the termination of the deplorable state of affairs he had created, and
+with this Carbajal proceeded to Santo Domingo.
+
+Such was the state of affairs when Columbus arrived at the new seat of
+his government. His brother had ruled with ability and vigor during his
+absence, had administered native affairs very successfully, but his power
+had been insufficient to subdue the band of Spanish miscreants who
+were still in open mutiny. The admiral was filled with grief and
+disappointment at the turn affairs had taken. A thoroughly loyal man
+himself, with no thought or desire but for the good of the colony, he
+was thwarted by treacherous miscreants, who cared for nothing but the
+accumulation of riches for themselves, and a life of indulgence and
+licentious ease. After long consideration he resolved upon a policy of
+conciliation. The unsettled state of affairs was bringing ruin on the
+island, and the restoration of peace was an absolute necessity. The
+magnanimous Genoese was incapable of personal resentment. The men
+themselves were, indeed, beneath his contempt; but he felt bound to treat
+with them, and even to make great concessions, if necessary, for the good
+of the public service. The welfare of the colony was his sole object, and
+he did not hesitate to sacrifice every personal feeling to his sense of
+duty. It is with some impatience that one finds the grand schemes of
+discovery and colonization interrupted by such contemptible means, and
+the course of the narrative checked by the necessity for recording,
+however briefly, the paltry dissensions of vile miscreants such as Roldan
+and his crew.
+
+The mutineers were most unwilling to make any agreement. They were
+leading the sort of lawless and licentious life that exactly suited them,
+and were disinclined to submit to any authority. The interests of
+their leaders, however, were not quite the same, and the acceptance of
+advantageous terms would suit them. Carbajal was employed by the admiral
+to conduct the negotiations, while the veteran Ballester returned to
+Spain in November, 1498, with the news of the rebellion, and a request
+from the admiral that a learned and impartial judge might be sent out to
+decide all disputes.
+
+It was finally agreed that Roldan should return to his duty, still
+retaining the office of chief justice; that all past offences should be
+condoned, and that he and his followers should receive grants of land,
+with the services of the Indians. The admiral consented to these terms
+most unwillingly, and under the conviction that this was the only way to
+avoid the greater evil of civil dissension. He resolved, however, that
+any future outbreak must be firmly and vigorously suppressed by force.
+Although Roldan had now resumed his position as a legitimate official
+ready to maintain order, it could hardly be expected that his fatal
+example would not be followed by other unprincipled men of the same stamp
+when the opportunity offered.
+
+Trouble arose owing to the conduct of a young Castilian named Hernando
+de Guevara. Roldan was established in Xaragua, when the youthful gallant
+arrived at the house of his cousin, Adrian de Mujica, one of the
+ringleaders in Roldan's mutiny, and fell in love with Higueymota, the
+daughter of Anacaona. Guevara, for some misconduct, had been ordered by
+the admiral to leave the island, but instead of obeying he had made his
+way to Xaragua, and caused trouble by this love passage, for he had a
+rival in Roldan himself, who ordered him to desist from the pursuit of
+the daughter of Anacaona, and to return to Santo Domingo. Guevara refused
+to obey, but he was promptly arrested and sent as a prisoner to the
+capital. When his cousin Mujica, who was then in the Vega Real, received
+the news, he raised a mutiny, offering rewards to the soldiers if they
+would follow him in an attempt to rescue Guevara. The admiral, though
+suffering from illness, showed remarkable energy on this occasion.
+Marching very rapidly at the head of eighteen chosen men, he surprised
+the mutineers, captured the ringleader, and carried him off to the
+fort of Concepcion. Some severity had now become incumbent upon the
+authorities, and Mujica was condemned to death. The admiral regretted the
+necessity, but in no other way could a motive be supplied to deter
+others from keeping the country in a constant state of lawless disorder.
+Guevara, Riqueline, and other disorderly characters were imprisoned
+in the fort at Santo Domingo, and by August, 1500, peace was quite
+established throughout the island.
+
+Thus had Columbus restored tranquillity to the colony. By prudent and
+conciliatory negotiations, during which he had exercised the most
+wonderful self-abnegation and patience, he had succeeded in averting the
+serious danger caused by the formidable revolt of Roldan. But as the
+habit of disorder was threatening to become chronic, he wisely took
+another way with the sedition of Mujica, maintaining order by a resort
+to prompt and vigorous action, and making a salutary example which was
+calculated to be deterrent in its effects.
+
+With the restoration of peace, trade revived and prosperity began to
+return. The receivers of grants of land found that they had a stake
+in the country, and sought to derive profit from their crops. Similar
+activity appeared at the mines, and the building at Santo Domingo
+progressed rapidly. The admiral began to hope that the first troubles
+incident to an infant colony were over, and that the time had arrived
+for Spain to feel the advantages of his great achievement. He now
+looked forward to further and more important discoveries followed by
+colonization on the main continent.
+
+Yet at this very time a blow was about to come from a quarter whence it
+was least to be expected, which was destined to shatter all the hopes
+of this long-suffering man, and dissipate all his bright visions of the
+future[1].
+
+[Footnote:1 On the arrival (August 24, 1500) of Francisco de Boabdilla as
+royal commissioner, he deposed Columbus and his brothers and sent them in
+chains to Spain. Although they were immediately released, Columbus was
+not reinstated in his dignities. His fourth and final voyage (1502-1504)
+came far short of his anticipations].
+
+
+
+ESTABLISHMENT OF SWISS INDEPENDENCE
+
+A.D. 1499
+
+HEINRICH ZSCHOKKE
+
+
+The powerful family of the Hapsburgs, still rulers of the Tyrol, or
+eastern portion of the Alps, long claimed authority over the western part
+as well. The severity of their rule led to an organized resistance on the
+part of the mountaineers, and the natural strength of the country secured
+to its defenders victory after victory. The battles of Morgarten
+(1315) and of Sempach (1386) were each accepted as final by their own
+generation; but the house of Hapsburg never formally relinquished its
+ancient rights, and its heads grew in power. From being dukes of Austria
+they advanced to be hereditary emperors of all Germany, and at length in
+1499 the powerful Emperor Maximilian determined to enforce his double
+authority as duke and emperor. His projects were encouraged by the
+discord rife among the little states or cantons which composed the Swiss
+league.
+
+The following account of the war that ensued is from the pen of a
+well-known Swiss historian, and is perhaps colored by rather more
+enthusiasm and racial pride than historic accuracy. Yet the struggle was
+final. Never after did German or Austrian dispute the independence of the
+Swiss. The unfortunate consequences brought by success upon the natives
+are not only true, but profoundly worthy of note.
+
+Fortunately danger and trouble soon appeared from abroad. This united all
+the cantons anew, and was therefore salutary.
+
+Maximilian I of Austria was Emperor of Germany. He had received from
+France the country of Lower Burgundy, and, to hold it more securely,
+incorporated it with the German empire as a single circle. He wished to
+make Switzerland, also, such a German imperial circle. The Confederates
+refused, preferring to remain by themselves as they had been until then.
+In Swabia, the existing states had formed a league among themselves
+for the suppression of small wars and feuds. This pleased the politic
+Emperor; by becoming an associate, he placed himself at the head of the
+league, which he was able to direct for the aggrandizement of his house
+of Austria. He desired that the Confederates, also, should enter the
+Swabian League. The Swiss again refused, preferring to remain by
+themselves as before.
+
+The Emperor was irritated at this, and at Innspruck he said to the
+deputies of the Confederates: "You are refractory members of the empire;
+some day I shall have to pay you a visit, sword in hand." The deputies
+answered and said: "We humbly beseech your imperial majesty to dispense
+with such a visit, for our Swiss are rude men, and do not even respect
+crowns."
+
+The boldness of the Confederates wounded the Swabian League no less. Many
+provocations and quarrels took place, here and there, between the people
+on the borders, so that the city of Constance, for her own security,
+joined the Swabian League. For, one day, a band of valiant men of
+Thurgau, incited by the bailiff from Uri, had tried to surprise the city,
+in order to punish her for her bravadoes against the Swiss.
+
+Neither were the Austrians good neighbors to the Grisons. The Tyrol
+and Engadine were constantly discussing and disputing about markets,
+privileges, and tolls. Once, indeed, in 1476, the Tyrolese had marched
+armed into the valley of Engadine, but were driven back into their own
+country, through the narrow Pass of Finstermunz, with bloody heads. Now
+there was a fresh cause of quarrel. In the division of the Toggenburger
+inheritance, the rights of Toggenburg in the Ten Jurisdictions had fallen
+to the counts of Matsch, Sax, and Montfort, and afterward, 1478-1489, by
+purchase, to the ducal house of Austria. Hence much trouble arose.
+
+As the Grisons had equal cause with the Confederates to fear the power
+and purposes of Emperor Maximilian, the Gray League, 1497, and that of
+God's House, 1498, made a friendly and defensive alliance with Zurich,
+Lucerne, Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden, Zug, and Glarus. The Ten Jurisdictions
+dared not join them for fear of Austria.
+
+Then the Emperor restrained his anger no longer. And, though already
+burdened with a heavy war in the Netherlands, he sent fresh troops into
+the Tyrol, and the forces of the Swabian League advanced and hemmed in
+Switzerland from the Grison Pass, near Luziensteig, between the Rhetian
+mountains and Germany, along the Lake of Constance and the Rhine, as far
+as Basel.
+
+Then Switzerland and Rhetia were in great danger. But the Grisons rose
+courageously to defend their freedom, as did all the Confederates. The
+Sargansers, also, and the Appenzellers hastened to the Schollenberg; the
+banners of Valais, Basel, and Schaffhausen soon floated in view of the
+enemy. No man stayed at home.
+
+It was in February, 1499, that the strife began. Then eight thousand
+imperialists entered the Grison territory of Munsterthal and Engadine;
+Louis of Brandis, the Emperor's general, with several thousand men,
+surprised and held the Pass of Luziensteig, and, by the treachery of
+four burghers, the little city of Maienfeld. But the Grisons retook the
+Luziensteig, and eight hundred Swabians here found their death; the rest
+fled to Balzers. Then the Confederates passed the Rhine near Azmoos, and,
+with the Grisons, obtained a great victory near Treisen. The Swabian
+nobility, with ten thousand soldiers, were posted near St. John's, at
+Hochst and Hard, between Bregenz and Fussach. Eight thousand Confederates
+killed nearly half of the enemy's army, ascended as far as the forests
+of Bregenz, and imposed contributions on the country. Ten thousand other
+Confederates passed victoriously over the Hegau, and in eight days burned
+twenty villages, hamlets, and castles. Skirmish followed quickly upon
+skirmish, battle upon battle.
+
+The enemy, indeed, issuing from Constance, succeeded in surprising the
+Confederate garrison of Ermatingen while asleep, and in murdering in
+their beds sixty-three defenceless men. But they bloodily expiated
+this in the wood of Schwaderlochs, whence eighteen thousand of them,
+vanquished by two thousand Confederates, fled in such haste that the city
+gates of Constance were too narrow for the fugitives, and the number
+of their dead exceeded that of the Swiss opposed to them. A body of
+Confederates on the upper Rhine penetrated into Wallgau, where the enemy
+were intrenched near Frastenz, and, fourteen thousand strong, feared
+not the valor of the Swiss. But when Henry Wolleb, the hero of Uri, had
+passed the Langengasterberg with two thousand brave men, and burned the
+strong intrenchment, his heroic death was the signal of victory to the
+Confederates. They rushed under the thunder of artillery into the ranks
+of Austria and dealt their fearful blows. Three thousand dead bodies
+covered the battle-field of Frastenz. Such Austrians as were left alive
+fled in terror through woods and waters. Then each Swiss fought as though
+victory depended on his single arm; for Switzerland and Swiss glory, each
+flew joyously to meet danger and death, and counted not the number of the
+enemy. And wherever a Swiss banner floated, there was more than one like
+John Wala of Glarus, who, near Gams in Rheinthal, measured himself singly
+with thirty horsemen.
+
+The Grisons, also, fought with no less glory. Witness the Malserhaide in
+Tyrol, where fifteen thousand men, under Austrian banners, behind strong
+intrenchments, were attacked by only eight thousand Grisons. The ramparts
+were turned, the intrenchments stormed. Benedict Fontana was first on the
+enemy's wall. He had cleared the way. With his left hand holding the wide
+wound from which his entrails protruded, he fought with his right and
+cried: "Forward, now, fellow-leaguers! let not my fall stop you! It is
+but one man the less! To-day you must save your free fatherland and
+your free leagues. If you are conquered, you leave your children in
+everlasting slavery." So said Fontana and died. The Malserhaide was full
+of Austrian dead. Nearly five thousand fell. The Grisons had only two
+hundred killed and seven hundred wounded.
+
+When Emperor Maximilian, in the Netherlands, heard of so many battles
+lost, he came and reproached his generals, and said to the princes of the
+German empire: "Send to me auxiliaries against the Swiss, so bold as
+to have attacked the empire. For these rude peasants, in whom there is
+neither virtue nor noble blood nor magnanimity, but who are full of
+coarseness, pride, perfidy, and hatred of the German nation, have drawn
+into their party many hitherto faithful subjects of the empire."
+
+But the princes of the empire delayed to send auxiliaries, and the
+Emperor then learned, with increasing horror, that his army sent over the
+Engadine mountains to suppress the Grison League had been destroyed in
+midsummer by avalanches, famine, and the masses of rock which the
+Grisons threw down from the mountains; then that on the woody height of
+Bruderholz, not far from Basel, one thousand Swiss had vanquished more
+than four thousand of their enemies; that, shortly after, in the same
+region near Dornach, six thousand Confederates had obtained a brilliant
+victory over fifteen thousand Austrians, killing three thousand men, with
+their general, Henry of Furstenberg. Then the Emperor reflected that
+within eight months the Swiss had been eight times victorious in eight
+battles. And he decided to end a war in which more than twenty thousand
+men had already fallen, and nearly two thousand villages, hamlets,
+castles, and cities been destroyed.
+
+Peace was negotiated and concluded on September 22, 1499, in the city of
+Basel. The Emperor acknowledged the ancient rights and the conquests
+of the Confederates, and granted to them, moreover, the ordinary
+jurisdiction over Thurgau, which, with the criminal jurisdiction and
+other sovereign rights, had, until then, belonged to the city of
+Constance. Thenceforward the emperors thought no more of dissolving the
+Confederacy, or of incorporating it with the German empire. In the
+fields of Frastenz, of Malserhaide, and Dornach were laid the first
+foundation-stones of Swiss independence of foreign power.
+
+The confederated cantons thankfully acknowledged what Basel and
+Schaffhausen had constantly done in these heroic days for the whole
+Confederacy, and that warlike Appenzell had never been backward at the
+call of glory and liberty. Therefore Basel, June 9, 1501, and flourishing
+Schaffhausen, August 9, 1501, were received into the perpetual Swiss
+bond, and finally, 1513, Appenzell, already united in perpetual alliance
+with most of the cantons, was acknowledged as coequal with all the
+Confederates.
+
+Thus, in the two hundred fifth year after the deed of William Tell, the
+Confederacy of the Thirteen Cantons was completed. But Valais and Grisons
+were considered as cantons allied to the Confederacy, as were St. Gallen,
+Muhlhausen, Rothweil in Swabia, and other cities--all free places,
+subject to no prince--united with the Swiss by a defensive alliance.
+
+At that period, the thirteen cantons of the Swiss Confederacy were not
+yet, as now, equal in virtue of the bond, nor bound together directly by
+one and the same covenant. They were properly united only with the three
+cantons of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden, as with a common centre, but
+among themselves by special treaties. Each canton was attentive to its
+own interests and glory, seldom to those of the others or to the welfare
+of the whole Confederacy. Fear of the ambition and power of neighboring
+lords and princes had drawn them together more and more. So long as this
+fear lasted, their union was strong.
+
+As the governments were independent of each other so far as their
+covenants allowed, and of foreign princes also, they called themselves
+free Swiss. But within the country districts there was little freedom for
+the people. Only in the shepherd cantons--Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden,
+also Zug, Glarus, and Appenzell--did the country people possess equal
+rights, and, in the city cantons, only the burghers of the cities; and
+often, even among these latter, only a few rich or ancient families. The
+rest of the people, dependent on the cities, having been either purchased
+or conquered, were subjects, often indeed serfs, and enjoyed only the
+limited rights which they had formerly possessed under the counts and
+princes. Even the shepherd cantons held subjects, whom they, like
+princes, governed by their bailiffs. And the Confederate cantons and
+cities would by no means allow their subjects to purchase their freedom,
+as the old counts and lords had formerly permitted the Confederates
+themselves to do.
+
+But the people cared little for liberty; made rude and savage by
+continued wars, they loved only quarrels and combats, revels and
+debauchery, when there was no war in their own country. The young men,
+greedy of booty, followed foreign drums and fought the battles of princes
+for hire. There were no good schools in the villages, and the clergy
+cared little for this. Indeed, the morals of the clergy were often no
+less depraved than those of the citizens and country people; even in the
+convents great disorders frequently prevailed with great wealth. Many of
+the priests were very ignorant; many drank, gambled, and blasphemed; many
+led shameless lives.
+
+In the chief cities of the cantons, debauchery and dissipation were
+rife. There was much division between citizens and councillors; envy and
+distrust between the different professions. The lords, when once seated
+in the great and small councils--legislative and executive--cared more
+for themselves and their families than for the welfare of the citizens;
+they endeavored to advance their sons and relatives, and to procure
+lucrative offices for them. In all the cantons there were certainly some
+great, patriotic souls who preferred the interests of their country to
+their own, but no one listened to them.
+
+As Switzerland had now no foreign wars to fear, and the neighboring kings
+and princes were pleased to have in their armies Swiss, for whose life
+and death they cared much less than for the life and death of their own
+subjects, the principal families of the city and country cantons took
+advantage of these circumstances to open fountains of wealth for
+themselves. The desire of the kings to enlist valiant Swiss favored the
+avidity of the council lords, as did the wish of the young men to get
+booty. In spite of the positive prohibition of the magistrates, thousands
+of young men often enlisted in foreign service, where most of them
+perished miserably, because no one cared for them. Therefore the
+governments judged it best to make treaties with the kings for the
+raising of Swiss regiments, commanded by national officers, subject to
+their own laws and regularly paid, so that each government could take
+care of its subjects when abroad. "Confederates! you require a vent for
+your energies," had Rudolf Reding of Schwyz already said, when, years
+before, he saw the free life of the young men after the Burgundian war.
+
+Now began the letting out of Swiss, Grisons, and Valaisians to foreign
+military service, by their governments. The first treaty of this nature
+was made by the King of France, 1479-1480, with the Confederates in
+Lucerne. Next the house of Austria hired mercenaries, 1499; the princes
+of Italy did the same, as did others afterward. Even the popes themselves
+wanted a lifeguard of Swiss; the first, 1503, was Pope Julius II, who was
+often engaged in war.
+
+Switzerland suffered much from this course. Many a field remained
+untilled, many a plough stood still, because the husbandman had taken
+mercenary arms. And, if he returned alive, he brought back foreign
+diseases and vices, and corrupted the innocent by evil example, for
+he had acquired but little virtue in the wars. Only the sons of the
+patricians and council lords obtained captaincies, commands, and riches,
+by which they increased their influence and consideration in the land,
+and could oppress others. They prided themselves on the titles of
+nobility and decorations conferred by kings, and imagined these to be of
+value, and that they themselves were more than other Swiss.
+
+When the kings perceived the cupidity and folly of the Swiss, they
+took advantage of them for their own profit, sent ambassadors into
+Switzerland, distributed presents, granted gratifications and pensions to
+their partisans in the councils, and for these the council lords became
+willing servants of foreign princes. Then one canton was French, another
+Milanese; one Venetian, another Spanish; but rarely was one Swiss. This
+redounded greatly to the shame of the Swiss. When the German Emperor and
+the King of France were, at the same time, canvassing the favor of the
+cantons and bargaining in competition for troops, so great was the
+contempt or insolence of the French ambassador at Bern, 1516, that he
+distributed the royal pensions to the lords by sound of trumpet. At
+Freiburg he poured out silver crowns upon the ground, and, while he
+heaped them up with a shovel, said to the bystanders, "Does not this
+silver jingle better than the Emperor's empty words?" So much had love of
+money debased the Swiss.
+
+The twelve cantons, Appenzell being the only exception, were at one
+moment allied with Milan against France, at the next with France against
+Milan. Milan was rightly called the Schwyzer's grave. It was not unusual
+for Confederates to fight against Confederates on foreign soil, and to
+kill each other for hire. The ecclesiastical lord, Matthew Schinner,
+Bishop of Sion in Valais, a very deceitful man, helped greatly to
+occasion this. According as he was hired, he intrigued in Switzerland,
+sometimes for the King of France, sometimes against France for the
+Pope, who, in payment, even made him cardinal and ambassador to the
+Confederacy.
+
+The mercenary wars of the Swiss upon foreign battle-fields were not wars
+for liberty or for honor; but these hirelings of princes maintained
+their reputation for valor even there. With the aid of several thousand
+Confederates, the King of France subjected the whole of Lombardy in the
+space of twenty days. But the expelled Duke of the country soon returned
+with five thousand Swiss, whom he had enlisted contrary to the will of
+the magistracy, to drive out the French. Then the King of France received
+twenty thousand men from the cantons with whom he was allied; maintained
+himself in Italy, and gave to the three cantons, Uri, Schwyz, and
+Unterwalden, 1502-1503, the districts of Palenza, Riviera, and Bellenz.
+But, as soon as the King thought he could do without the Swiss, he
+paid them badly and irregularly. Cardinal Schinner, pleased at this,
+immediately shook a bag of gold, with fifty-three thousand guilders, in
+favor of the Pope and of Venice. At once, 1512, twenty thousand Swiss
+and Grisons crossed the high Alps and joined the Venetians against the
+French. The Grisons took possession of Valtelina, Chiavenna, and Bormio.
+They asserted that, a century before, an ejected duke of Milan had ceded
+these valleys to the bishopric of Coire. The Confederates of the twelve
+cantons subjected Lugano, Locarno, and Valmaggia. The French were driven
+out of Lombardy, and the young duke Maximilian Sforza, son of him who had
+been dispossessed by them, was reinstated in his father's inheritance at
+Milan. Victorious for him, the Confederates beat the French near Novara,
+June 6, 1513; two thousand Swiss fell, it is true, but ten thousand of
+the enemy. Still more murderous was the two-days' battle of Melegnano,
+September 14, 1515, in which barely ten thousand Swiss fought against
+fifty thousand French. They lost the battle-field, indeed, but not their
+honor. They sadly retreated to Milan, with their field-pieces on their
+backs, their wounded in the centre of their army. The enemy lost the
+flower of their troops, and called this action the "Battle of the
+Giants."
+
+Then the King of France, Francis I, terrified by a victory which
+resembled a defeat, made, in the next year, a perpetual peace with the
+Confederates, and, by money and promises, persuaded some to furnish
+him with troops; the others, that they would allow no enrolling by his
+enemies. Thus the Confederates once more helped him against the Emperor
+and Pope and against Milan, and the King concluded a friendly alliance
+with them in 1521. During many years they shed their blood for him on the
+battle-fields of Italy, without good result, without advantage, except
+that the Confederacy stood godmother to his new-born son. Each canton
+sent to Paris, for the _fête_, a deputy with a baptismal present of fifty
+ducats. More agreeable to the King than this present was the promptitude
+with which the Swiss sent sixteen thousand of their troops to his
+assistance in Italy. However, as they had lost, April 20, 1522, three
+thousand men near Bicocca; as of nearly fifteen thousand who entered
+Lombardy, 1524, hardly four thousand came back; as, finally, in the
+battle near Pajia, February 24, 1525, in which the King himself became
+prisoner to the Emperor, the Swiss experienced a fresh loss of seven
+thousand men, they by degrees lost all taste for Italian wars.
+
+
+
+AMERIGO VESPUCCI IN AMERICA A.D. 1499
+
+AMERIGO VESPUCCI
+
+
+It was the claim of Amerigo Vespucci that he accompanied four expeditions
+to the New World, and that he wrote a narrative of each voyage. According
+to Amerigo, the first expedition sailed from Spain in 1497; the second,
+of which his own account is here given, in 1499; both by order of
+King Ferdinand. Grave doubt has been thrown upon the first of these
+expeditions, the sole authority for which is Vespucci himself.
+
+The name America was given to two continents in honor of this naval
+astronomer on the authority of an account of his travels published in
+1507, in which he is represented as having reached the mainland in 1497.
+The justice of this naming has always been and still remains a matter of
+warm dispute among historical critics.
+
+But at the age of almost fifty--he was born in Florence in 1451--Vespucci
+unquestionably promoted and made a voyage to the New World. In May, 1499,
+he sailed from Spain with Alonzo de Ojeda, who commanded four vessels.
+During the summer they explored the coast of Venezuela ("Little Venice"),
+a name first given by Ojeda to a gulf of the Caribbean Sea, on the shores
+of which were cabins built on piles over the water, reminding him of
+Venice in Italy. Ojeda, who was but little acquainted with navigation,
+entered upon this voyage more as a marauding enterprise than an
+expedition of discovery, and he gladly availed himself of Amerigo's
+scientific ability. Vespucci was also able to command the financial
+support of his wealthy acquaintances. It is said that many of the former
+sailors of Columbus shipped with this expedition.
+
+The following account was written by Amerigo in a letter to Lorenzo Pier
+Francesco, of the Medici family of Florence, from whom Vespucci had held
+certain business commissions in Spain. Respecting this letter an Italian
+critic observes that "it is the most ancient known writing of Amerigo
+relating to his voyages to the New World, having been composed within a
+month after his return from his second voyage, and remaining buried in
+our archives for a long time. It is a precious monument, for without it
+we should have been left in ignorance of the great additions which he
+made to astronomical science. The most rigorous examination of this
+letter cannot bring to light the least circumstance proving anything for
+or against the accuracy of his first voyage. The diffidence with which
+he commences the matter is, however, a strong indication that he had
+previously written an account of his first voyage to the same Lorenzo de'
+Medici, to whom he addressed this communication."
+
+
+MOST EXCELLENT AND DEAR LORD:
+
+It is a long time since I have written to your excellency, and for
+no other reason than that nothing has occurred to me worthy of being
+commemorated. This present fetter will inform you that about a month ago
+I arrived from the Indies, by the way of the great ocean, brought, by the
+grace of God, safely to this city of Seville. I think your excellency
+will be gratified to learn the result of my voyage, and the most
+surprising things which have been presented to my observation. If I am
+somewhat tedious, let my letter be read in your more idle hours, as fruit
+is eaten after the cloth is removed from the table. Your excellency will
+please to note that, commissioned by his highness the King of Spain, I
+set out with two small ships, on May 18, 1499, on a voyage of discovery
+to the southwest, by way of the great ocean, and steered my course along
+the coast of Africa, until I reached the Fortunate Islands, which are
+now called the Canaries. After having provided ourselves with all things
+necessary, first offering our prayers to God, we set sail from an island
+which is called Gomera, and, turning our prows southwardly, sailed
+twenty-four days with a fresh wind, without seeing any land.
+
+At the end of these twenty-four days we came within sight of land, and
+found that we had sailed about thirteen hundred leagues, and were at that
+distance from the city of Cadiz, in a southwesterly direction. When we
+saw the land we gave thanks to God, and then launched our boats, and,
+with sixteen men, went to the shore, which we found thickly covered with
+trees, astonishing both on account of their size and their verdure, for
+they never lose their foliage. The sweet odor which they exhaled--for
+they are all aromatic--highly delighted us, and we were rejoiced in
+regaling our nostrils.
+
+We rowed along the shore in the boats, to see if we could find any
+suitable place for landing, but, after toiling from morning till night,
+we found no way or passage which we could enter and disembark. We were
+prevented from doing so by the lowness of the land, and by its being so
+densely covered with trees. We concluded, therefore, to return to the
+ships, and make an attempt to land in some other spot.
+
+We observed one remarkable circumstance in these seas.
+
+It was that at fifteen leagues from the land we found the water fresh
+like that of a river, and we filled all our empty casks with it. Having
+returned to our ships, we raised anchor and set sail, turning our prows
+southwardly, as it was my intention to see whether I could sail around a
+point of land which Ptolemy calls the Cape of Cattegara, which is near
+the Great Bay. In my opinion it was not far from it, according to the
+degrees of latitude and longitude, which will be stated hereafter.
+Sailing in a southerly direction along the coast, we saw two large rivers
+issuing from the land, one running from west to east, and being four
+leagues in width, which is sixteen miles; the other ran from south to
+north, and was three leagues wide. I think that these two rivers, by
+reason of their magnitude, caused the freshness of the water in the
+adjoining sea. Seeing that the coast was invariably low, we determined to
+enter one of these rivers with the boats, and ascend it till we either
+found a suitable landing-place or an inhabited village.
+
+Having prepared our boats, and put in provision for four days, with
+twenty men well armed, we entered the river, and rowed nearly two days,
+making a distance of about eighteen leagues. We attempted to land in
+many places by the way, but found the low land still continuing, and so
+thickly covered with trees that a bird could scarcely fly through them.
+While thus navigating the river, we saw very certain indications that the
+inland parts of the country were inhabited; nevertheless, as our vessels
+remained in a dangerous place in case an adverse wind should arise, we
+concluded, at the end of two days, to return.
+
+Here we saw an immense number of birds, of various forms and colors; a
+great number of parrots, and so many varieties of them that it caused us
+great astonishment. Some were crimson-colored, others of variegated green
+and lemon, others entirely green, and others, again, that were black and
+flesh-colored. Oh! the song of other species of birds, also, was so sweet
+and so melodious, as we heard it among the trees, that we often lingered,
+listening to their charming music. The trees, too, were so beautiful and
+smelled so sweetly that we almost imagined ourselves in a terrestrial
+paradise; yet not one of those trees, or the fruit of them, was similar
+to the trees or fruit in our part of the world. On our way back we saw
+many people, of various descriptions, fishing in the river.
+
+Having arrived at our ships, we raised anchor and set sail, still
+continuing in a southerly direction, and standing off to sea about forty
+leagues. While sailing on this course, we encountered a current which ran
+from southeast to northwest; so great was it, and ran so furiously, that
+we were put into great fear, and were exposed to great peril. The current
+was so strong that the Strait of Gibraltar and that of the Faro of
+Messina appeared to us like mere stagnant water in comparison with it. We
+could scarcely make any headway against it, though we had the wind fresh
+and fair. Seeing that we made no progress, or but very little, and the
+danger to which we were exposed, we determined to turn our prows to the
+northwest.
+
+As I know, if I remember right, that your excellency understands
+something of cosmography, I intend to describe to you our progress in our
+navigation, by the latitude and longitude. We sailed so far to the south
+that we entered the torrid zone and penetrated the circle of Cancer. You
+may rest assured that for a few days, while sailing through the torrid
+zone, we saw four shadows of the sun, as the sun appeared in the zenith
+to us at midday. I would say that the sun, being in our meridian, gave us
+no shadow; but this I was enabled many times to demonstrate to all the
+company, and took their testimony of the fact. This I did on account of
+the ignorance of the common people, who do not know that the sun moves
+through its circle of the zodiac. At one time I saw our shadow to the
+south, at another to the north, at another to the west, and at another to
+the east, and sometimes, for an hour or two of the day, we had no shadow
+at all.
+
+We sailed so far south in the torrid zone that we found ourselves under
+the equinoctial line, and had both poles at the edge of the horizon.
+Having passed the line, and sailed six degrees to the south of it, we
+lost sight of the north star altogether, and even the stars of Ursa
+Minor, or, to speak better, the guardians which revolve about the
+firmament, were scarcely seen. Very desirous of being the author who
+should designate the other polar star of the firmament, I lost, many a
+time, my night's sleep while contemplating the movement of the stars
+around the southern pole, in order to ascertain which had the least
+motion, and which might be nearest to the firmament; but I was not able
+to accomplish it with such bad nights as I had, and such instruments as
+I used, which were the quadrant and astrolabe. I could not distinguish a
+star which had less than ten degrees of motion around the firmament; so
+that I was not satisfied within myself to name any particular one for the
+pole of the meridian, on account of the large revolution which they all
+made around the firmament.
+
+While I was arriving at this conclusion as the result of my
+investigations, I recollected a verse of our poet Dante, which may be
+found in the first chapter of his _Purgatory_, where he imagines he
+is leaving this hemisphere to repair to the other, and, attempting to
+describe the antarctic pole, says:
+
+"I turned to the right hand and fixed my mind On the other pole, and saw
+four stars Not seen before, since the time of our first parents: Joyous
+appeared the heavens for their glory. Oh, northern lands are widowed
+Since deprived of such a sight."
+
+It appears to me that the poet wished to describe in these verses, by the
+four stars, the pole of the other firmament, and I have little doubt,
+even now, that what he says may be true. I observed four stars in the
+figure of an almond, which had but little motion, and if God gives me
+life and health I hope to go again into that hemisphere, and not to
+return without observing the pole. In conclusion, I would remark that we
+extended our navigation so far south that our difference of latitude from
+the city of Cadiz was sixty degrees and a half, because, at that city,
+the pole is elevated thirty-five degrees and a half, and we had passed
+six degrees beyond the equinoctial line. Let this suffice as to our
+latitude. You must observe that this our navigation was in the months of
+July, August, and September, when, as you know, the sun is longest above
+the horizon in our hemisphere, and describes the greatest arch in the
+day and the least in the night. On the contrary, while we were at the
+equinoctial line, or near it, within four to six degrees, the difference
+between the day and the night was not perceptible. They were of equal
+length, or very nearly so.
+
+As to the longitude, I would say that I found so much difficulty in
+discovering it that I had to labor very hard to ascertain the distance I
+had made by means of longitude. I found nothing better, at last, than to
+watch the opposition of the planets during the night, and especially that
+of the moon, with the other planets, because the moon is swifter in her
+course than any other of the heavenly bodies. I compared my observations
+with the almanac of Giovanni da Monteregio, which was composed for the
+meridian of the city of Ferrara, verifying them with the calculations in
+the tables of King Alfonso, and, afterward, with the many observations I
+had myself made one night with another.
+
+On August 23, 1499--when the moon was in conjunction with Mars, which,
+according to the almanac, was to take place at midnight, or half an hour
+after--I found that when the moon rose to the horizon, an hour and a half
+after the sun had set, the planet had passed in that part of the east. I
+observed that the moon was about a degree and some minutes farther east
+than Mars, and at midnight she was five degrees and a half farther east,
+a little more or less. So that, making the proportion, if twenty-four
+hours are equal to three hundred and sixty degrees, what are five hours
+and a half equal to? I found the result to be eighty-two degrees and a
+half, which was equal to my longitude from the meridian of the city of
+Cadiz, then giving to every degree sixteen leagues and two-thirds, which
+is five thousand four hundred sixty-six miles and two-thirds. The reason
+why I give sixteen leagues to each degree is because, according to
+Tolomeo and Alfagrano, the earth turns twenty-four thousand miles, which
+is equal to six thousand leagues, which, being divided by three hundred
+sixty degrees, gives to each degree sixteen leagues and two-thirds. This
+calculation I certified many times conjointly with the pilots, and found
+it true and good.
+
+It appears to me, most excellent Lorenzo, that by this voyage most of
+those philosophers are controverted who say that the torrid zone cannot
+be inhabited on account of the great heat. I have found the case to
+be quite the contrary. I have found that the air is fresher and more
+temperate in that region than beyond it, and that the inhabitants are
+also more numerous here than they are in the other zones, for reasons
+which will be given below. Thus it is certain that practice is of more
+value than theory.
+
+Thus far I have related the navigation I accomplished in the south and
+west. It now remains for me to inform you of the appearance of the
+country we discovered, the nature of the inhabitants, and their customs,
+the animals we saw, and of many other things worthy of remembrance which
+fell under my observation. After we turned our course to the north, the
+first land we found to be inhabited was an island at ten degrees distant
+from the equinoctial line. When we arrived at it we saw on the sea-shore
+a great many people, who stood looking at us with astonishment. We
+anchored within about a mile of the land, fitted out the boats, and
+twenty-two men, well armed, made for land. The people, when they saw us
+landing, and perceived that we were different from themselves--because
+they have no beard and wear no clothing of any description, being also of
+a different color, they being brown and we white--began to be afraid of
+us, and all ran into the woods. With great exertion, by means of signs,
+we reassured them and negotiated with them. We found that they were of
+a race called cannibals, the greater part or all of whom live on human
+flesh.
+
+Your excellency may rest assured of this fact. They do not eat one
+another, but, navigating with certain barks which they call 'canoes,'
+they bring their prey from the neighboring islands or countries inhabited
+by those who are enemies or of a different tribe from their own. They
+never eat any women, unless they consider them outcasts. These things we
+verified in many places where we found similar people. We often saw the
+bones and heads of those who had been eaten, and they who had made the
+repast admitted the fact, and said that their enemies always stood in
+much greater fear on that account.
+
+Still they are a people of gentle disposition and beautiful stature. They
+go entirely naked, and the arms which they carry are bows and arrows and
+shields. They are a people of great activity and much courage. They are
+very excellent marksmen. In fine, we held much intercourse with them, and
+they took us to one of their villages, about two leagues inland, and gave
+us our breakfast. They gave whatever was asked of them, though I think
+more through fear than affection; and after having been with them all one
+day, we returned to the ships, still remaining on friendly terms with
+them.
+
+We sailed along the coast of this island, and saw by the seashore another
+large village of the same tribe. We landed in the boats, and found they
+were waiting for us, all loaded with provisions, and they gave us enough
+to make a very good breakfast, according to their ideas of dishes. Seeing
+they were such kind people, and treated us so well, we dared not take
+anything from them, and made sail till we arrived at a gulf which is
+called the Gulf of Paria. We anchored opposite the mouth of a great
+river, which causes the water of this gulf to be fresh, and saw a large
+village close to the sea. We were surprised at the great number of
+people who were seen there. They were without arms, and seemed peaceably
+disposed. We went ashore with the boats, and they received us with great
+friendship, and took us to their houses, where they had made very good
+preparations for breakfast. Here they gave us three sorts of wine to
+drink, not of the juice of the grape, but made of fruits, like beer, and
+they were excellent. Here, also, we ate many fresh acorns, a most royal
+fruit. They gave us many other fruits, all different from ours and of
+very good flavor, the flavor and odor of all being aromatic.
+
+They gave us some small pearls and eleven large ones, and they told us by
+signs that if we would wait some days they would go and fish for them
+and bring us many of them. We did not wish to be detained, so with many
+parrots of various colors, and in good friendship, we parted from them.
+From these people we learned that those of the before-mentioned island
+were cannibals and ate human flesh. We issued from this gulf and sailed
+along the coast, seeing continually great numbers of people, and when we
+were so disposed we treated with them, and they gave us everything we
+asked of them. They all go as naked as they were born, without being
+ashamed. If all were to be related concerning the little shame they have,
+it would be bordering on impropriety; therefore it is better to suppress
+it.
+
+After having sailed about four hundred leagues continually along the
+coast, we concluded that this land was a continent, which might be
+bounded by the eastern parts of Asia, this being the commencement of the
+western part of the continent, because it happened often that we saw
+divers animals, such as lions, stags, goats, wild hogs, rabbits, and
+other land animals which are not found in islands, but only on the
+mainland. Going inland one day with twenty men, we saw a serpent which
+was about twenty-four feet in length, and as large in girth as myself.
+We were very much afraid of it, and the sight of it caused us to return
+immediately to the sea. I oftentimes saw many very ferocious animals and
+serpents.
+
+Thus sailing along the coast, we discovered every day a great number of
+people, speaking various languages. When we had navigated four hundred
+leagues along the coast we began to find people who did not wish for
+our friendship, but stood waiting for us with arms, which were bows and
+arrows, and with some other arms which they use. When we went to the
+shore in our boats, they disputed our landing in such a manner that we
+were obliged to fight with them. At the end of the battle they found that
+they had the worst of it, for, as they were naked, we always made great
+slaughter. Many times not more than sixteen of us fought with two
+thousand of them, and in the end defeated them, killing many and robbing
+their houses.
+
+One day we saw a great many people, all posted in battle array to prevent
+our landing. We fitted out twenty-six men, well armed, and covered the
+boats, on account of the arrows which were shot at us, and which always
+wounded some of us before we landed. After they had hindered us as long
+as they could, we leaped on shore, and fought a hard battle with them.
+The reason why they had so much courage and fought with such great
+exertion against us was that they did not know what kind of a weapon the
+sword was, or how it cuts. While thus engaged in combat, so great was the
+multitude of people who charged upon us, throwing at us such a cloud of
+arrows, that we could not withstand the assault, and, nearly abandoning
+the hope of life, we turned our backs and ran to the boats. While thus
+disheartened and flying, one of our sailors, a Portuguese, a man of
+fifty-five years of age, who had remained to guard the boat, seeing the
+danger we were in, jumped on shore, and with a loud voice called out to
+us, "Children! turn your faces to your enemies, and God will give you
+the victory!" Throwing himself on his knees, he made a prayer, and then
+rushed furiously upon the Indians, and we all joined with him, wounded as
+we were. On that, they turned their backs to us and began to flee, and
+finally we routed them and killed one hundred fifty. We burned their
+houses also, at least one hundred eighty in number. Then, as we were
+badly wounded and weary, we returned to the ships, and went into a harbor
+to recruit, where we stayed twenty days, solely that the physician might
+cure us. All escaped except one, who was wounded in the left breast.
+
+After being cured, we recommenced our navigation, and, through the same
+cause, we often were obliged to fight with a great many people, and
+always had the victory over them. Thus continuing our voyage, we came
+upon an island, fifteen leagues distant from the mainland. As at our
+arrival we saw no collection of people, the island appearing favorably,
+we determined to attempt it, and eleven of us landed. We found a path, in
+which we walked nearly two leagues inland, and came to a village of about
+twelve houses, in which there were only seven women, who were so large
+that there was not one among them who was not a span and a half taller
+than myself. When they saw us, they were very much frightened, and the
+principal one among them, who was certainly a discreet woman, led us by
+signs into a house, and had refreshments prepared for us.
+
+We saw such large women that were about determining to carry off two
+young ones, about fifteen years of age, and make a present of them to
+their king, as they were, without doubt, creatures whose stature was
+above that of common men. While we were debating this subject, thirty-six
+men entered the house where we were drinking; they were of such large
+stature that each one was taller when upon his knees than I when standing
+erect. In fact, they were of the stature of giants in their size and
+in the proportion of their bodies, which corresponded well with their
+height. Each of the women appeared a Pantasilea, and the men Antei. When
+they came in, some of our own number were so frightened that they did not
+consider themselves safe. They had bows and arrows, and very large clubs
+made in the form of swords. Seeing that we were of small stature, they
+began to converse with us, in order to learn who we were and from what
+parts we came. We gave them fair words, for the sake of peace, and said
+that we were going to see the world. Finally, we held it to be our
+wisest course to part from them without questioning in our turn; so
+returned by the same path in which we had come, they accompanying us
+quite to the sea, till we went on board the ships.
+
+Nearly half the trees of this island are dye-wood, as good as that of
+the East. We went from this island to another in the vicinity, at ten
+leagues' distance, and found a very large village, the houses of which
+were built over the sea, like Venice, with much ingenuity. While we were
+struck with admiration at this circumstance, we determined to go and
+see them; and as we went to their houses, they attempted to prevent our
+entering. They found out at last the manner in which the sword cuts, and
+thought it best to let us enter. We found their houses filled with the
+finest cotton, and the beams of their dwellings were made of dye-wood.
+We took a quantity of their cotton and some dye-wood and returned to the
+ships.
+
+Your excellency must know that in all parts where we landed we found a
+great quantity of cotton, and the country filled with cotton-trees, so
+that all the vessels in the world might be loaded in these parts with
+cotton and dye-wood.
+
+At length we sailed three hundred leagues farther along the coast,
+constantly finding savage but brave people, and very often fighting with
+them and vanquishing them. We found seven different languages among them,
+each of which was not understood by those who spoke the others. It is
+said there are not more than seventy-seven languages in the world, but I
+say there are more than a thousand, as there are more than forty which I
+have heard myself.
+
+After having sailed along this coast seven hundred leagues or more,
+besides visiting numerous islands, our ships became greatly sea-worn
+and leaked badly, so that we could hardly keep them free with two pumps
+going. The men also were much fatigued and the provisions growing short.
+We were then, according to the decision of the pilots, within a hundred
+twenty leagues of an island called Hispaniola, discovered by the admiral
+Columbus six years before. We determined to proceed to it, and, as it
+was inhabited by Christians, to repair our ships there, allow the men a
+little repose, and recruit our stock of provisions; because from this
+island to Castile there are three hundred leagues of ocean, without any
+land intervening.
+
+In seven days we arrived at this island, where we stayed two months. Here
+we refitted our ships and obtained our supply of provisions. We afterward
+concluded to go to northern parts, where we discovered more than a
+thousand islands, the greater part of them being inhabited. The people
+were without clothing, timid, and ignorant, and we did whatever we wished
+to do with them. This last portion of our discoveries was very dangerous
+to our navigation, on account of the shoals which we found thereabout.
+In several instances we came near being lost. We sailed in this sea two
+hundred leagues directly north, until our people had become worn down
+with fatigue, through having been already nearly a year at sea. Their
+allowance was only six ounces of bread for eating, and but three small
+measures of water for drinking, per diem. And as the ships became
+dangerous to navigate with much longer, they remonstrated, saying that
+they wished to return to their homes in Castile, and not to tempt fortune
+and the sea any more. Whereupon we concluded to take some prisoners as
+slaves, and, loading the ships with them, to return at once to Spain.
+Going, therefore, to certain islands, we possessed ourselves by force
+of two hundred thirty-two, and steered our course for Castile. In
+sixty-seven days we crossed the ocean and arrived at the islands of
+the Azores, which belong to the King of Portugal and are three hundred
+leagues distant from Cadiz. Here, having taken in our refreshments, we
+sailed for Castile, but the wind was contrary and we were obliged to go
+to the Canary Islands, from there to the island of Madeira, and thence to
+Cadiz.
+
+We were absent thirteen months on this voyage, exposing ourselves to
+awful dangers, and discovering a very large country of Asia and a great
+many islands, the largest part of them inhabited. According to the
+calculations I have several times made with the compass, we have sailed
+about five thousand leagues. To conclude, we passed the equinoctial line
+six and a half degrees to the south, and afterward turned to the north,
+which we penetrated so far that the north star was at an elevation of
+thirty-five degrees and a half above our horizon. To the west we sailed
+eighty-four degrees distant from the meridian of the city and port of
+Cadiz. We discovered immense regions, saw a vast number of people, all
+naked and speaking various languages. On the land we saw numerous wild
+animals, various kinds of birds, and an infinite number of trees, all
+aromatic. We brought home pearls in their growing state, and gold in
+the grain; we brought two stones, one of emerald color and the other of
+amethyst, which was very hard, and at least a half a span long and three
+fingers thick. The sovereigns esteem them most highly, and have preserved
+them among their jewels. We brought also a piece of crystal, which some
+jewellers say is beryl, and, according to what the Indians told us, they
+had a great quantity of the same; we brought fourteen flesh-colored
+pearls, with which the Queen was highly delighted; we brought many other
+stones which appeared beautiful to us, but of all these we did not bring
+a large quantity, as we were continually busied in our navigation, and
+did not tarry long in any place.
+
+When we arrived at Cadiz we sold many slaves, finding two hundred
+remaining to us; the others, completing the number of two hundred
+thirty-two, having died at sea. After deducting the expense of
+transportation, we gained only about five hundred ducats, which, having
+to be divided into fifty-five parts, made each share very small. However,
+we contented ourselves with life, and rendered thanks to God that, during
+the whole voyage, out of fifty-seven Christian men, which was our number,
+only two had died, they having been killed by Indians.
+
+I have had two quartan agues since my return, but I hope, by the favor of
+God, to be well soon, and they do not continue long now, and are without
+chills. I have passed over many things worthy of remembrance, in order
+not to be more tedious than I can help, all which are reserved for the
+pen and in the memory.
+
+They are fitting out three ships for me here, that I may go on a new
+voyage of discovery; and I think they will be ready by the middle of
+September. May it please our Lord to give me health and a good voyage,
+as I hope again to bring very great news and discover the island of
+Trapodana, which is between the Indian Ocean and the Sea of Ganges.
+Afterward I intend to return to my country and seek repose in the days of
+my old age. I have resolved, most excellent Lorenzo, that, as I have thus
+given you an account by letter of what has occurred to me, to send you
+two plans and descriptions of the world, made and arranged by my own hand
+skill. There will be a map on a plane surface, and the other a view of
+the world in spherical form, which I intend to send you by sea, in the
+care of one Francesco Lotti, a Florentine, who is here. I think you will
+be pleased with them, particularly with the globe, as I made one not
+long since for these sovereigns, and they esteem it highly. I could have
+wished to have come with them personally, but my new departure for making
+other discoveries will not allow me that pleasure. There are not wanting
+in your city persons who understand the figure of the world, and who may,
+perhaps, correct something in it. Nevertheless, whatever may be pointed
+out for me to correct, let them wait till I come, as it may be that I
+shall defend myself and prove my accuracy.
+
+I suppose your excellency has learned the news brought by the fleet which
+the King of Portugal sent two years ago to make discoveries on the coast
+of Guinea. I do not call such a voyage as that one of discovery, but only
+a visit to discovered lands; because, as you will see by the map, their
+navigation was continually within sight of land, and they sailed round
+the whole southern part of Africa, which is proceeding by a way spoken of
+by all cosmographical authors. It is true that the navigation has been
+very profitable, which is a matter of great consideration in this
+kingdom, where inordinate covetousness reigns. I understand that they
+passed from the Red Sea and extended their voyage into the Persian Gulf
+to a city called Calicut, situated between the Persian Gulf and the river
+Indus. More lately the King of Portugal has received from sea twelve
+ships very richly laden, and he has sent them again to those parts, where
+they will certainly do a profitable business if they arrive safely.
+
+May our Lord preserve and increase the exalted state of your noble
+excellency as I desire. July 18, 1500.
+
+Your excellency's humble servant, AMERIGO VESPUCCI.
+
+
+
+RISE AND FALL OF THE BORGIAS
+
+A.D. 1502
+
+NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI
+
+
+The commencement of the sixteenth century found Italy suffering from the
+foreign interference of France and Spain. The chief Italian states at
+this period were the kingdom of Naples, the Papal States, the duchy of
+Milan, and the republics of Venice, Florence, and Genoa. Ferdinand V of
+Aragon and Louis XII of France, who had hereditary claims through his
+grandmother Valentina Visconti, had concluded a secret and perfidious
+treaty for the partition of the kingdom of Naples, the effects of which
+Frederick II, the King, vainly sought to avert. They conquered Naples in
+1501, but disagreed over the division of the spoil, and, the French
+army being defeated by the Spanish on the Garigliano in 1503, Spanish
+influence soon after became dominant in Italy.
+
+In the march of the French army on Naples in 1501, the French commander
+had for lieutenant Caesar Borgia, son of Pope Alexander VI, whose career
+furnishes a vivid illustration of the internal conditions of Italy at
+this period. Borgia, who had resigned from the cardinalate conferred on
+him by his father, had been created Duke of Valentinois by the King of
+France, had married the daughter of the King of Navarre, and was invested
+with the duchy of Romagna by his father in 1501.
+
+By force and treachery he reduced the cities of Romagna, which were
+ruled by feudatories of the papal see, and, with the assistance of his
+relations, endeavored to found an independent hereditary power in Central
+Italy.
+
+The contemporaneous account of these events, by the celebrated Niccolo
+Machiavelli, possesses a fascinating interest, which is greatly enhanced
+by the fact that Machiavelli himself was a participant in the events of
+which he writes.
+
+A Florentine by birth, Machiavelli was sent by his fellow-citizens, in
+1502, on a mission to Borgia, who had just returned from a visit to the
+King of France in Lombardy. During Borgia's absence, friends and former
+colleagues, alarmed at his ambition and cruelty, had entered into a
+league with his enemies, and invited the Florentines to join them.
+The Florentines refused, but sent Machiavelli to make professions of
+friendship and offers of assistance to the Duke, and at the same time to
+watch his movements, to discover his real intentions, and endeavor to
+obtain something in return for their friendship. Borgia, who had the
+reputation of being the closest man of his age, had to deal with a
+negotiator who, though young, was a match for him, and the account of the
+mission is very curious; there was deep dissimulation on both sides.
+
+Machiavelli returned to Florence in January, 1503, after three eventful
+months passed in the court and camp of Borgia.
+
+The treatise _The Prince_ has been described as "a display of cool,
+judicious, scientific atrocity on the part of Caesar Borgia (Duke
+Valentino), which seemed rather to belong to a fiend than to the most
+depraved of men. Principles which the most hardened ruffian would
+scarcely hint to his most trusted accomplice, or avow without the
+disguise of some palliating sophism even to his own mind, are professed
+without the slightest circumlocution, and assumed as the fundamental
+axioms of all political science."
+
+On being reproved for the maxims contained in the work, Machiavelli
+replied, "If I taught princes how to tyrannize, I also taught the people
+how to destroy them"; and in these words posterity has vindicated the
+reputation of the talented Italian statesman and author.
+
+Those who from a private station have ascended to the dignity of princes,
+by the favor of fortune alone, meet with few difficulties in their
+progress, but encounter many in maintaining themselves on the throne.
+Obstructed by no impediments during their journey, they soar to a great
+height, but all the difficulties arise after they are quietly seated.
+These princes are chiefly such as acquire their dominions by money or by
+favor. Such were the men whom Darius placed in Greece, in the cities of
+Ionia and of the Hellespont, whom, for their own security and glory, he
+raised to the rank of sovereigns.
+
+Such were the emperors who from a private station arrived at the empire
+by corrupting the soldiery. They sustained their elevation only by the
+pleasure and fortune of those who advanced them, two foundations equally
+uncertain and insecure. They had neither the experience nor the power
+necessary to maintain their position. For, unless men possess superior
+genius or courage, how can they know in what manner to govern others who
+have themselves always been accustomed to a private station? Deficient in
+knowledge, they will be equally destitute of power for want of troops
+on whose attachment and fidelity they can depend. Besides, those states
+which have suddenly risen, like other things in nature of premature and
+rapid growth, do not take sufficient root in the minds of men, but
+they must fall with the first stroke of adversity; unless the princes
+themselves--so unexpectedly exalted--possess such superior talents that
+they can discover at once the means of preserving their good-fortune,
+and afterward maintain it by having recourse to the same measures which
+others had adopted before them.
+
+To adduce instances of supreme power attained by good-fortune and
+superior talent, I may refer to two examples which have happened in our
+own time, viz., Francis Sforza and Caesar Borgia. The former, by lawful
+means and by his great abilities, raised himself from a private station
+to the dukedom of Milan, and maintained with but little difficulty
+what had cost him so much trouble to acquire. Caesar Borgia, Duke of
+Valentinois--commonly called the duke of Valentino--on the other hand,
+attained a sovereignty by the good-fortune of his father, which he lost
+soon after his father's decease; though he exerted his utmost endeavors,
+and employed every means that skill or prudence could suggest, to retain
+those states which he had acquired by the arms and good-fortune of
+another. For, though a good foundation may not have been laid before a
+man arrives at dominion, it may possibly be accomplished afterward by
+a ruler of superior mind; yet this can only be effected with much
+difficulty to the architect and danger to the edifice. If therefore we
+examine the whole conduct of Borgia, we shall see how firm a foundation
+he had laid for future greatness. This examination will not be
+superfluous--for I know no better lesson for the instruction of a prince
+than is afforded by the actions and example of the Duke--for, if the
+measures he adopted did not succeed, it was not his fault, but rather
+owing to the extreme perversity of fortune. Pope Alexander VI, wishing
+to give his son a sovereignty in Italy, had not only present but future
+difficulties to contend with. In the first place, he saw no means of
+making him sovereign of any state independent of the Church; and, if he
+should endeavor to dismember the ecclesiastical state, he knew that the
+Duke of Milan and the Venetians would never consent to it, because Faenza
+and Rimini were already under the protection of the latter; and the
+armies of Italy, from whom he might expect material service, were in the
+hands of those who had the most reason to apprehend the aggrandizement of
+the papal power, such as the Orsini, the Colonni, and their partisans.
+
+It was consequently necessary to dissolve these connections and to throw
+the Italian states into confusion in order to secure the sovereignty of a
+part. This was easy to accomplish. The Venetians, influenced by motives
+of their own, had determined to invite the French into Italy. The Pope
+made no opposition to their design; he even favored it by consenting to
+annul the first marriage of Louis XII, who therefore marched into Italy
+with the aid of the Venetians and the consent of Alexander. He was no
+sooner at Milan than the Pope availed himself of his assistance to
+overrun Romagna, which he acquired by the reputation of his alliance with
+the King of France.
+
+The Duke, having thus acquired Romagna, and weakened the Colonni, wished
+at the same time to preserve and increase his own principality; but there
+were two obstacles in his way. The first arose from his own people, upon
+whom he could not depend, the other from the designs of the French. He
+feared that the Orsini, of whose aid he had availed himself, might fail
+at the critical moment, and not only prevent his further acquisitions,
+but even deprive him of those he had made. And he had reason to apprehend
+the same conduct on the part of France, and was convinced of the trifling
+reliance he could place on the Orsini; for after the reduction of Faenza,
+when he made an attack upon Bologna, they manifested an evident want of
+activity. As to the King, his intentions were easily discerned; for when
+he had conquered the duchy of Urbino, and was about to make an irruption
+into Tuscany, the King obliged him to desist from the enterprise. The
+Duke determined, therefore, neither to depend on fortune nor on the arms
+of another prince. He began by weakening the party of the Orsini and the
+Colonni at Rome, by corrupting all the persons of distinction who adhered
+to them, either by bribes, appointments, or commands suited to their
+respective qualities, so that in a few months a complete revolution was
+effected in their attachment, and they all came over to the Duke.
+
+Having thus humbled the Colonni, he only waited an opportunity for
+destroying the Orsini. It was not long before one offered, of which he
+did not fail to avail himself. The Orsini, perceiving too late that the
+power of the Duke and the Church must be established upon their ruin,
+called a council of their friends at Magione, in Perugia, to concert
+measures of prevention. The consequence of their deliberations was the
+revolt of Urbino, the disturbances of Romagna, and the infinite dangers
+which threatened the Duke on every side, and which he finally surmounted
+by the aid of the French. His affairs once reestablished, he grew weary
+of relying on France and other foreign allies, and he resolved for the
+future to rely alone on artifice and dissimulation--a course in which
+he so well succeeded that the Orsini were reconciled to him through the
+intervention of Signor Paolo, whom he had gained over to his interests
+by all manner of rich presents and friendly offices. And this man, being
+deceived himself, so far prevailed on the credulity of the rest that they
+attended the Duke at an interview at Sinigaglia, where they were all
+put to death. Having thus exterminated the chiefs, and converted their
+partisans into his friends, the Duke laid the solid foundations of his
+power. He made himself master of all Romagna and the duchy of Urbino, and
+gained the affection of the inhabitants--particularly the former--by
+giving them a prospect of the advantages they might hope to enjoy from
+his government. As this latter circumstance is remarkable and worthy of
+imitation, I cannot suffer it to pass unnoticed.
+
+After the Duke had possessed himself of Romagna, he found it had been
+governed by a number of petty princes, more addicted to the spoliation
+than the government of their subjects, and whose political weakness
+rather served to create popular disturbances than to secure the blessings
+of peace. The country was infested with robbers, torn by factions, and a
+prey to all the horrors of civil commotions. He found that, to establish
+tranquillity, order, and obedience, a vigorous government was necessary.
+With this view, he appointed Ramiro d'Orco governor, a cruel but active
+man, to whom he gave the greatest latitude of power. He very soon
+appeased the disturbances, united all parties, and acquired the renown of
+restoring the whole country to peace.
+
+The Duke soon deemed it no longer necessary to continue so rigorous and
+odious a system. He therefore erected in the midst of the province a
+court of civil judicature, with a worthy and upright magistrate to
+preside over it, where every city had its respective advocate. He was
+aware that the severities of Ramiro had excited some hatred against him,
+and resolved to clear himself from all reproach in the minds of the
+people, and to gain their affection by showing them that the cruelties
+which had been committed did not originate with him, but solely in
+the ferocious disposition of his minister. Taking advantage of the
+discontent, he caused Ramiro to be massacred one morning in the
+market-place, and his body exposed upon a gibbet, with a cutlass near it
+stained with blood. The horror of this spectacle satisfied the resentment
+of the people and petrified them at once with terror and astonishment.
+
+The Duke had now delivered himself in a great measure from present
+enemies, and taken effectual means to secure himself by employing against
+them arms of his own, putting it out of the power of his neighbors to
+annoy him. To secure and increase his acquisitions, he had nothing to
+fear from anyone but the French. He well knew that the King of
+France, who had at last perceived his error, would oppose his further
+aggrandizement. He resolved, in the first place, to form new connections
+and alliances, and adopted a system of prevarication with France, as
+plainly appeared when their army was employed in Naples against the
+Spaniards who had laid siege to Gaeta. His design was to fortify himself
+against them, and he would certainly have succeeded if Alexander VI had
+lived a little longer. Such were the methods he took to guard against
+present dangers.
+
+Against those which were more remote--as he had reason to fear that the
+new pope would be inimical to him and seek to deprive him of what had
+been bestowed on him by his predecessor--he designed to have made four
+different provisions: In the first place, by utterly destroying the
+families of all those nobles whom he had deprived of their states, so
+that the future pope might not reestablish them; secondly, by attaching
+to his interests all the gentry of Rome, in order, by their means, to
+control the power of the Pope; thirdly, by securing a majority in the
+college of cardinals; fourthly and lastly, by acquiring so much power,
+during the lifetime of his father, that he might be enabled of himself
+to resist the first attack of the enemy. Three of these designs he had
+effected before the death of Alexander, and had made every necessary
+arrangement for availing himself of the fourth. He had put to death
+almost all the nobles whom he had despoiled, and had gained over all the
+Roman gentry; his party was the strongest in the college of cardinals;
+and, for a further augmentation of his power, he designed to have made
+himself master of Tuscany. He was already master of Perugia and Piombino,
+and had taken Pisa under his protection, of which he soon afterward took
+actual possession. His cautious policy with regard to the French was no
+longer necessary, as they had been driven from the kingdom of Naples
+by the Spaniards, and both of these people were under the necessity of
+courting his friendship. Lucca and Sienna presently submitted to him,
+either from fear or hatred of the Florentines. The latter were then
+unable to defend themselves; and, if this had been the case at the time
+of Alexander's death, the Duke's power and reputation would have been so
+great that he might have sustained his dignity without any dependence on
+fortune or the support of others.
+
+Alexander VI died five years after he had first unsheathed his sword. He
+left his son nothing firmly established but the single state of Romagna.
+All his other conquests were absolutely visionary, as he was not only
+enclosed between two hostile and powerful armies, but was himself
+attacked by a mortal disease. The Duke, however, possessed so much
+ability and courage, was so well acquainted with the arts either of
+gaining or ruining others as it suited his purpose, and so strong were
+the foundations he had laid in that short space of time, that if he had
+either been in health or not distressed by those two hostile armies, he
+would have surmounted every difficulty.
+
+As a proof of the soundness of the foundation he had laid, Romagna
+continued faithful to him and was firm to his interest for above a month
+afterward. Although the Baglioni, the Vitelli, and the Ursini all came
+to Rome at that time, yet--half dead as he was--they feared to attempt
+anything against him. If he could not elect a pope of his own choice,
+he was at least able to prevent the election of one unfriendly to his
+interests. If he had been in health when Alexander died, he would have
+succeeded in all his designs; for he said, the very day that Julius II
+was elected, that he had foreseen every obstacle which could arise on
+the death of his father, and had prepared adequate remedies, but that he
+could not foresee that at the time of his father's death his own life
+would be in such imminent hazard.[1]
+
+Upon a thorough review of the Duke's conduct and actions, I cannot
+reproach him with having omitted any precaution; and I feel that he
+merits being proposed as a model to all who by fortune or foreign arms
+succeed in acquiring sovereignty. For as he had a great spirit and vast
+designs, he could not have acted otherwise in his circumstances; and if
+he miscarried in them, it was solely owing to the sudden death of his
+father, and the illness with which he was himself attacked. Whoever,
+therefore, would secure himself in a new principality against the
+attempts of enemies, and finds it necessary to gain friends; to surmount
+obstacles by force of cunning; to make himself beloved and feared by the
+people, respected and obeyed by the soldiery; to destroy all those who
+can or may oppose his designs; to promulgate new laws in substitution of
+old ones; to be severe, indulgent, magnanimous, and liberal; to disband
+an army on which he cannot rely, and raise another in its stead; to
+preserve the friendship of kings and princes, so that they may be ever
+prompt to oblige and fearful to offend--such a one, I say, cannot have
+a better or more recent model for his imitation than is afforded by the
+conduct of Borgia.
+
+One thing blamable in his actions occurred on the election of Julius II
+to the pontificate. He could not nominate the prelate whom he wished,
+but he had it in his power to exclude anyone whom he disliked. He ought
+therefore never to have consented to the election of one of those
+cardinals whom he had formerly injured, and who might have reason to fear
+him after his election; for mankind injure others from motives either
+of hatred or fear. Among others whom he had injured were St. Peter ad
+Vincula Colonna, St. George, and Ascanius. All the other candidates for
+the pontificate had cause to fear him except the Cardinal of Rouen
+and the Spanish cardinals--the latter were united to him by family
+connections--and the Cardinal d'Amboise, who was too powerfully supported
+by France to have reason to fear him.
+
+The Duke ought by all means to have procured the election of a Spaniard,
+or, in case of failure, should have consented to the proposal of the
+Archbishop of Rouen, but on no account to the nomination of St. Peter ad
+Vincula. It is an error to think that new obligations will extinguish
+the memory of former injuries in the minds of great men. The Duke
+therefore in this election committed a fault which proved the occasion
+of his utter ruin[2].
+
+[Footnote 1: On August 18, 1503, he and his father drank, by mistake, a
+poison which they had presumably prepared for one of their guests. The
+father died, and Borgia's life was for a time in extreme danger.]
+
+[Footnote:2 Within thirteen months he lost all his sovereignties, and was
+imprisoned, but escaped to Spain, where he was killed in the attack on
+Viana in 1507.]
+
+
+
+PAINTING OF THE SISTINE CHAPEL
+
+THE SPLENDOR OF RENAISSANCE ART UNDER MICHELANGELO
+
+A.D. 1508
+
+CHARLES CLÉMENT
+
+
+In the history of the Renaissance the revival of art adds a new glory
+to that of letters, and among the masters of that revival there is none
+greater than Michelangelo Buonarroti, sculptor, painter, architect, poet,
+and heroic man. He was descended from an ancient but not distinguished
+Florentine family, and was born at Caprese, Italy, March 6, 1475. In 1488
+he was apprenticed to the painter Ghirlandajo. He studied antique marbles
+in the garden of San Marco, where he was discovered by Lorenzo de'
+Medici, who in 1489 took him into his palace. There the young student
+remained until his patron's death (1492), improving the great
+opportunities presented to him. The Mask of a Faun was sculptured during
+this time.
+
+Before the expulsion of the Medici he went to Bologna, and there executed
+several works. Returning to Florence in 1495, he was called next year
+to Rome, where he lived till 1501, producing works which displayed his
+extraordinary genius, the most important of them being the Pieta di San
+Pietro (1498). Again returning to Florence, he carved his first David
+from an immense block of Carrara marble. In 1505 he was summoned again
+to Rome, by Pope Julius II, to design his tomb, and this work occupied
+Michelangelo, from time to time, throughout the remainder of his life.
+He was forced--probably through the intrigues of Bramante, his rival in
+architecture--to leave Rome, and once more (1506) returned to Florence.
+In the intervals between all these dates he produced many of his
+masterpieces.
+
+From this period the historian follows Michelangelo through an important
+stage of his active career, showing how "the hand that rounded Peter's
+dome," and created so many other of the greatest works of art, toiled
+on with patient heroism, in spite of hinderances almost incredible. The
+painting of the Sistine Chapel, upon which his fame so largely rests, is
+here described in language that reveals the manhood no less clearly than
+the artistic genius of Michelangelo.
+
+In 1508 Michelangelo returned to Rome and resumed his labors on the
+mausoleum. He had soon again to abandon them. Bramante had persuaded the
+Pope that it was unlucky to have his tomb erected, but advised him to
+employ Michelangelo in painting the chapel built by his uncle Sixtus IV.
+It was, in effect, in the beginning of this year that he commenced this
+gigantic decoration, which was destined to be his most splendid work.
+We shall see the resistance he first opposed to Julius' desire, and the
+ardor with which he undertook and the rapidity with which he accomplished
+the work, once he made up his mind to accept it; but first, since, at the
+period we have come to, most of the statues which now adorn the tomb of
+Julius II at San Pietro in Vinculo, and those more numerous that belonged
+to the original project, but which have been dispersed, were blocked out
+or finished, I wish to give, in order not to return to the subject, a
+general idea of this monument, to show what, from reduction to reduction,
+the original design has become, and what annoyances it occasioned its
+author.
+
+The original magnificent design remained unmodified until 1513; but on
+Julius' death, his testamentary executors, the Cardinals Santiquatro and
+Aginense and the Duke of Urbino, reduced to six the number of statues
+that were to form the decoration, and reduced from ten thousand to six
+thousand ducats the sum to be employed on it.
+
+From 1513 to 1521 Leo X, who cared less to complete his predecessor's
+monument than to endow his native city, Florence, with the works of the
+great artist, employed Michelangelo almost exclusively in building the
+façade and sacristy of San Lorenzo. During the short, austere pontificate
+of Adrian VI, Michelangelo again devoted himself to the sculptures of the
+monument, but under Clement VII he had again to abandon them in order
+to execute in Florence the projects of Leo X, which the new Pope had
+adopted. Toward 1531 the Duke of Urbino at last obtained permission for
+Michelangelo to suspend the works at San Lorenzo in order to finish the
+tomb so long since begun. Nevertheless it does not appear that he was
+allowed much time to devote to it. At last, on the death of Clement
+VII, he thought he had regained his liberty, and could, after such long
+involuntary delay, fulfil his engagements; but hardly was Paul III
+installed than he sent for him, gave him the most cordial reception, and
+begged him to consecrate his talents to his service. Michelangelo replied
+that it was impossible; he was bound by treaty to terminate the mausoleum
+of Julius II Paul flew into a rage and said: "Thirty years have I desired
+this, and now that I am pope I am not to be allowed to satisfy it! I
+shall tear up this contract. I mean that you shall obey me." The Duke of
+Urbino loudly complained, openly accusing Michelangelo of want of good
+faith.
+
+The sculptor, not knowing which way to turn, besought the Pope to allow
+him to complete the work he was pledged to. He formed the wildest
+projects in order to escape the amicable compulsion of Paul, among others
+that of retiring to Carrara, where he had passed some tranquil years
+among the mountains of marble. The Pontiff, to put an end to all these
+discussions, issued a brief, dated September 18, 1537, wherein he
+declared Michelangelo, his heirs and successors, released from all
+obligations resulting from the different contracts entered into on the
+subject of the monument. This fashion of terminating things could not
+satisfy the Duke of Urbino nor relieve Michelangelo. The negotiations
+were again resumed, and it ended in their agreement that the monument
+should be raised in the form in which we now see it in the Church of
+San Pietro in Vinculo, and should be composed of the statue of
+"Moses" executed entirely by the hand of Michelangelo; of two figures
+personifying "Active Life" and "Contemplative Life," which were already
+much advanced, but were to be finished by Rafaello de Monte Lupo; of two
+other statues by this master--a "Madonna," after a model by Michelangelo,
+and the figure of "Julius," by Maso del Bosco.
+
+Such is the very abridged history of this monument, which was not
+entirely completed till 1550, after having caused for nearly half a
+century real torment to Buonarroti. The Duke of Urbino was not satisfied,
+neither was Michelangelo. The figures, originally intended to form part
+of a colossal whole under the great roof of St. Peter's, appear too large
+for the place they now occupy. The importance of the statue of "Moses"
+misleads the mind, suggesting the idea that the monument itself is raised
+to the memory of the Hebrew legislator, rather than to that of the
+warrior-pope. At all events, in this statue is centred the principal, we
+may say the unique, interest of the tomb. This prodigious work must be in
+the memory of all. Amid the masterpieces of ancient and modern sculpture
+the "Moses" remains ever unparalleled, a type, not irreproachable, but
+the most striking, of a new art. I do not speak of the consummate science
+which Michelangelo displays in the modelling of this statue; the Greeks
+were learned in another fashion, but were so equally with him. Whence
+comes it, nevertheless, that in spite of _bizarreries_ needless to defend
+or to deny, and although this austere figure is far from attaining or
+pretending to the serene and tranquil beauty which the ancients regarded
+as the supreme term of art, whence is it that it produces upon the most
+prejudiced mind an irresistible impression? It is that it is more than
+human, that it lifts the soul into a world of feelings and ideas of which
+the ancients knew less than we do. Their voluptuous art, in deifying
+the human form, held down thought to earth. The "Moses" of Michelangelo
+beheld God, heard that voice of thunder, and bears the terrible impress
+of what he saw and heard on Mount Sinai: his profound eye is scrutinizing
+the mysteries he vaguely sees in his prophetic dreams. Is it the Moses of
+the Bible? I cannot say. Is it in this way Praxiteles and Phidias
+would have represented Lycurgus and Solon? We may deny it boldly. The
+legislators in their hands would have been the embodiment of law; they
+would have represented an abstraction in a form whose harmonious beauty
+nothing could alter. Moses is not merely the legislator of a people. Not
+thought alone dwells beneath this powerful brow; he feels, he suffers,
+he lives in a moral world which Jehovah has opened to him, and, although
+above humanity, is a man.
+
+On his return to Rome in 1508, Michelangelo had found Julius II not
+cooled toward him, but preoccupied by new projects. The Pope made no
+allusion to his monument, and was absorbed in the reconstruction of St.
+Peter's, which he had confided to Bramante. Raphael was beginning at the
+same time the frescoes of the Stanza della Segnatura; and two biographers
+of Michelangelo, whose testimony, it is true, on this point may be
+suspected, agree in saying that the architect of St. Peter's, jealous
+of the superiority of the Florentine sculptor, fearing lest he should
+discover the mistakes committed in his recent constructions, and the
+malversations of which perhaps he was not innocent, advised the Pope to
+confide to him the painting of the ceiling of the chapel built by Sixtus
+IV, hoping to compromise and ruin him by engaging him in works of which
+he had no experience.
+
+Julius adopted the idea, sent for Michelangelo, and ordered him to begin
+forthwith. Buonarroti had had no practice in fresco-painting since his
+student days under Ghirlandajo. He knew that the painting of a ceiling
+was not an easy matter. He pleaded every excuse, proposed that the
+commission should be given to Raphael, saying that for his part, being
+but a sculptor, he could not succeed. The Pope was inflexible, and
+Michelangelo began the ceiling on May 10, 1508, the most prodigious
+monument perhaps that ever sprang from the human mind.
+
+Julius had ordered Bramante to construct the necessary scaffoldings,
+but the latter did it in so inefficient a manner that Michelangelo
+was obliged to dispense with his assistance, and construct the whole
+machinery himself. He had sent for some of his fellow-students from
+Florence, not, as Vasari, by some strange aberration, states, because
+he was ignorant of fresco-painting, since all the artists of the time
+understood it, and the pupil of Ghirlandajo had himself practised it, but
+because his fellow-students had had more experience in it, and he
+wished to be helped in a work of this importance. He was, however, so
+dissatisfied with their work that he effaced all that they did, and,
+without any assistance, if we are to believe his biographer, even
+grinding his own colors, he shut himself up in the chapel, beginning
+at dawn, quitting at nightfall, often sleeping in his clothes on the
+scaffolding, allowing himself but a slight repast at the end of the day,
+and letting no one see the works he had begun.
+
+Hardly had he set to work when unforeseen difficulties presented
+themselves, which were on the point of making him relinquish the whole
+thing. The colors, while still fresh, were covered with a mist, the cause
+of which he was unable to discover. Utterly discouraged, he went to the
+Pope and said: "I forewarned your holiness that painting was not my art;
+all I have done is lost, and, if you do not believe me, order someone to
+come and see it." Julius sent San Gallo, who saw that the accident was
+caused by the quality of the time, and that Michelangelo had made his
+plaster too wet. Buonarroti, after this, proceeded with the utmost ardor,
+and in the space of twenty months, without further accident, finished the
+first half.
+
+The mystery with which Michelangelo surrounded himself keenly excited
+public curiosity. In spite of the painter's objection, Julius frequently
+visited him in the chapel, and notwithstanding his great age ascended the
+ladder, Michelangelo extending a hand that he might with safety reach the
+platform. He grew impatient; he was eager that all Rome should share
+his admiration. It was in vain that Michelangelo objected that all the
+machinery would have to be reconstructed, that half the ceiling was
+not completed; the Pope would listen to nothing, and the chapel was
+accordingly opened to the public on the morning of November 1, 1509.
+Julius was the first to arrive before the dust occasioned by the taking
+down of the scaffolding was laid, and celebrated mass there the same day.
+
+The success was immense. Bramante, seeing that his evil intentions, far
+from succeeding, had only served to add to the glory of Michelangelo, who
+had come triumphant out of the trap he had laid for him, besought
+the Pope to permit Raphael to paint the other half of the chapel.
+Notwithstanding the affection he bore his architect, Julius adhered to
+his resolution, and Michelangelo resumed, after a brief interruption, the
+painting of the ceiling; but rumors of these cabals reached him. They
+troubled him, and he complained to the Pope of Bramante's conduct. It
+is probable that the coolness which always existed between Raphael and
+Michelangelo dates from this period.
+
+The second part of the ceiling, by much the most considerable, was
+finished in 1512. It is difficult to explain how Vasari, confusing the
+dates, and appearing to apply to the whole what referred only to the
+first part, could have stated that this immense work was completed in
+the space of twenty months. If anything could astonish, it is that
+Michelangelo was able in four years to accomplish so gigantic a work. It
+is needless, for the purpose of exciting our admiration, to endeavor to
+persuade us that it was done in a space of time materially insufficient.
+
+Such was the impatience of Julius that again he nearly quarrelled with
+Michelangelo. The latter, requiring to go to Florence on business, went
+to the Pope for money. "When do you mean to finish my chapel?" said the
+Pope. "As soon as I can," answered Michelangelo. "'As soon as I can! as
+soon as I can!'" replied the irascible Pontiff; "I'll have you flung off
+your scaffoldings;" and he touched him with his stick. Michelangelo went
+home, set his affairs in order, and was on the point of leaving, when the
+Pope sent him his favorite Accursio with his apology and five hundred
+ducats.
+
+This time, again, Michelangelo was unable to finish his work as
+completely as he would have wished. He desired to retouch certain
+portions; but, seeing the inconvenience of reërecting the scaffoldings,
+he determined to do nothing more, saying that what was wanting to his
+figures was not of importance. "You should put a little gold on them,"
+said the Pope; "my chapel will look very poor." "The people I have
+painted there," answered Michelangelo, "were poor." Accordingly nothing
+was changed.
+
+These paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine transcend all description.
+How give an idea of these countless sublime figures to those who have not
+trembled and turned pale in this awful temple? The immense superiority of
+Michelangelo is manifest in this chapel itself, where are paintings of
+Ghirlandajo, of Signorelli, which pale near those of the Florentine as
+the light of a lamp does in the light of the sun. Raphael painted about
+the same time, and under the influence of what he had seen in the
+Sistine, his admirable "Sibyls of the Pace"; but compare them! He also no
+doubt attained in some of his works--the "St. Paul" of the cartoon, the
+"Vision of Ezekiel," the "Virgin" of the Dresden Museum--the summit of
+sublime art; but that which is the exception with Sanzio is the rule with
+the great Buonarroti. Michelangelo lived in a superhuman world, and his
+daring, unexpected conceptions are so beyond and outside the habitual
+thoughts of men that they repel by their very elevation, and are far from
+fascinating all minds as do the wonderful and charming creations of the
+painter of Urbino.
+
+It is necessary, however, to combat the widespread opinion that
+Michelangelo understood only the extreme feelings, and could express
+these only by violent and exaggerated movements. All agree that his
+figures possess the highest qualities of art--invention, sublimity of
+style, breadth and science in the drawing, appropriateness and fitness of
+color, and this character, so striking in the ceiling of the Sistine that
+it is not of the painter that the paintings make you think, that looking
+at it you say to yourself, "This tragic heaven must have come thus all
+peopled with its gigantic forms"; and it is by an effort of the mind only
+we are brought to think of the creator of this sublime work. But it is
+denied that he understood grace, young and innocent beauty, the forms
+which express the tender and delicate feelings, those which the divine
+pencil of Raphael so admirably represented. I own that he took little
+heed of the pleasurable aspect of things; his austere genius was at ease
+only in grave thoughts; but I do not agree that he was always a stranger
+to gentle beauty, to feminine beauty in particular. I shall not cite
+the "Virgin" of the London Academy, nor in another order the admirable
+"Captive" of the Louvre Museum; but, without quitting the Sistine, could
+we dream of anything more marvellously beautiful than his "Adam" awaking
+for the first time to light? or more chaste, more graceful, more touching
+than his young "Eve" leaning toward her Creator, and breathing in through
+her half-opened lips the divine breath that is giving her life?
+
+What is the meaning of this terrible work? What means this long evolution
+of human destiny? Why did these two beings that we see beautiful and
+happy in the beginning, why did they people the earth with this ardent,
+restless, at once gigantic and powerless race? Ah! Greece would have made
+this ceiling an Olympus, inhabited by happy and divine men! Michelangelo
+put there great unhappy beings, and this painful poem of humanity
+is truer than the wondrous fictions of ancient poetry and art.
+"Michelangelo," says Condivi, "especially admired Dante. He also devoted
+himself earnestly to the reading of the Scriptures and the writings of
+Savonarola, for whom he had always great affection, having preserved in
+his mind the memory of his powerful voice." Besides, the country of the
+great Florentine, the glorious Italy of the Renaissance, was in a state
+of dissolution. Such studies, such reminiscences, such and so sad
+realities, may explain the visions that passed through the mind of the
+great artist during the four years of almost complete solitude he passed
+in the Sistine. The precise meaning of these compositions will probably
+never be known, but so long as men exist they will, as is the object of
+art, attract minds toward the dim world of the ideal.
+
+The year that followed the opening of the Sistine, and which preceded the
+death of Julius, appears, as do the first two of Leo X's pontificate, to
+have been the happiest and calmest of Michelangelo's life. The old Pope
+loved him, "showing him," says Condivi, "attentions he showed no other
+of those who approached him." He honored his probity, and even that
+independence of character of which he himself had more than once had
+experience; Michelangelo, on his side, forgave him his frequent outbursts
+of impetuosity, that were ever atoned for by prompt and complete
+acknowledgment.
+
+Michelangelo's sight, greatly enfeebled by this persistent work of four
+years, compelled him to take almost absolute repose. "The necessity he
+was under," says Vasari, "during this period of work of keeping his eyes
+turned upward, had so weakened his sight that for several months after he
+could not look at a drawing nor read a letter without raising it above
+his head." He enjoyed an uncontested glory in this interval of semirepose
+which followed his great effort. It is probable that his thoughts were
+now concentrated upon the sepulchral monument of his patron, the works
+for which he had been forced to postpone. But Leo X had other views. He
+was all-powerful in Florence, where, by the aid of Julius and the League
+of Cambray, he had reinstated his family in 1512; he now wished to endow
+his native city with monuments which, by recalling to the vanquished
+citizens of this glorious republic the magnificence of their early
+patrons, might help them to forget the institutions they had lost for
+the second time. The Church of San Lorenzo, built by Brunelleschi, where
+several members of his family were buried, had not been completed; he now
+determined to have the façade constructed. Several artists, among others
+San Gallo, the two Sanzovino, and Raphael, sent in plans for this
+important work, but Michelangelo's was preferred, and in 1515 he went to
+Carrara to order the necessary marbles.
+
+Leo did not leave him there long in quiet. Being informed that at
+Serrayezza, in the highest part of the mountains of Pietra Santa on
+the Florentine territory, there was marble equal in quality to that of
+Carrara, he ordered Michelangelo to go to Pietra Santa and work these
+quarries. In vain the latter pointed out the enormous expense of opening
+them, of cutting roads through the mountains, and making the marshes
+passable, besides the inferior quality of the marble. Leo would not
+listen. Michelangelo set out, made the roads, raised the marbles,
+remained from 1516 to 1521 in this desert, and the four years he passed
+there, in the full force of his age and genius, resulted in the transport
+of five columns, four of which remained on the seashore, and the fifth of
+which lies still useless and buried among the rubbish of the piazza of
+San Lorenzo.
+
+Without meaning to contest the debt which the arts owe Leo X, there are
+certain reservations that we must make on this score. A man of letters,
+of amiable manners, astute, somewhat of a mischief-maker, ever
+fluctuating between France and the Emperor, ever on the watch to provide
+for his family, and, to redeem these defects, having neither heroism nor
+the undoubted though mistaken love that Julius II bore to Italy, his
+political career cannot, I think, be defended. He had the merit of being
+the patron of Raphael, whose facile, flexible character pleased him, and
+who, thanks to his protection, marked every instant of his short life by
+some _chef d'oeuvre._ It must not be forgotten that it was by the most
+extravagant largesses, by making a traffic of everything, that he
+encouraged the pleiad of artists who shed such glory upon his name. His
+obstinacy in employing Michelangelo for so many years, in spite of his
+reluctance and entreaties, on a work which his own fickleness and the war
+in Lombardy ought to have made him abandon, has, there can be no doubt,
+deprived us of some admirable works. But for it Michelangelo would have
+finished the tomb of Julius II, and we should now possess a gigantic
+monument that would, no doubt, have rivalled the grandest works of
+ancient statuary.
+
+A few words of Condivi's show the grief and discouragement which the
+capriciousness of Leo, and the inutility of the work the master was
+employed on, caused Michelangelo. "On his return to Florence he found
+Leo's ardor entirely cooled. He continued a long time weighed down by
+grief, unable to do anything, having hitherto, to his great displeasure,
+been driven from one project to another." It was, however, about this
+period (1520) that Leo ordered the tombs of his brother Giuliano and his
+nephew Lorenzo, for the sacristy of the Church of San Lorenzo, which were
+not executed till ten years later; also plans for the library for the
+reception of the valuable manuscripts collected from Cosmo and Lorenzo
+the Magnificent, and which had been dispersed during the troubles of
+1494. He was at Florence when the Academy of Santa Maria Novella, of
+which he was a member, proposed to have transported from Ravenna to
+Florence the ashes of Dante, and addressed the noble supplication to the
+Pope which has been preserved by Gore, signed by the most illustrious
+names of the time, and among others that of Michelangelo, with this
+addition: "I, Michelangelo, sculptor, also beseech your holiness, and
+offer myself to execute a suitable monument for the divine poet in some
+fitting part of the city." Leo did not receive this project favorably,
+and it was abandoned.
+
+The statue "The Christ on the Cross," that had been ordered by Antonio
+Matelli, and which is now in the Church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva,
+was, it is probable, executed during Michelangelo's rare visits to Rome
+under Leo's pontificate. His discouragement had become such that he had
+it finished and put up, at the end of 1521, by a Florentine sculptor of
+the name of Federigo Frizzi. The statue of "Christ," one of the most
+finished, and displaying most knowledge, that issued from the hands of
+Michelangelo, is far, to my mind, from equalling other works of the
+great sculptor. Yet it was the rapidly acquired celebrity of the
+work terminated by Federigo Frizzi that decided Francis I on sending
+Primaticio to Italy, commissioning him to make a cast of the "Christ" of
+the Minerva, and to ask Michelangelo to execute a statue for him; also to
+deliver to him the flattering letter preserved in the valuable collection
+at Lille.
+
+Leo X died on December 1, 1521, a year after Raphael. His successor, the
+humble and austere Adrian VI, knew nothing about pictures, except those
+of Van Eyck and Albert Dürer. His simple manners formed a striking
+contrast to the ostentatious habits of Leo. During his pontificate, all
+the great works were stopped at Rome and slackened at Florence. While
+Michelangelo was obscurely working at the library of San Lorenzo, the
+great age of art was drawing to its close; Raphael and Leonardo were
+dead, and their pupils were already hurrying on to a rapid decadence.
+
+Characters were beginning to decline at the same time that talent did,
+and Michelangelo, who, as it were, opened this grand era, was destined to
+survive alone, like those lofty summits that first receive the morning
+light, and which are still lit up while all around has grown obscure and
+night is already profound.
+
+
+
+BALBOA DISCOVERS THE PACIFIC
+
+A.D. 1513
+
+MANUEL JOSÉ QUINTANA
+
+
+Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, the Spanish soldier and discoverer of the Pacific
+Ocean, was born in 1475, and died near Darien, the scene of his principal
+achievement, probably in 1517. Unfairly charged with conspiracy, after
+rendering great services to his country, he was beheaded just as he was
+completing preparations to explore the "South Sea," as he named the ocean
+which he had discovered.
+
+He first went to Darien from Española (Haiti) in 1510, promoted a
+settlement, and was made its alcalde. In 1512 Pasamonte, king's treasurer
+at Santo Domingo, commissioned him as governor. Balboa undertook many
+explorations, and was usually on friendly terms with the Indians, who
+told him of a great sea lying to the south, and of a country (Peru) rich
+in gold, far down the coast. He set out from Darien September 1, 1513,
+to discover the great sea and the country of which he thus heard. He had
+conquered the Indian king Careta, whose friendship he gained and whose
+daughter he married. He went by sea to his father-in-law's territory, and
+taking with him some of the King's Indians he moved into the territory of
+the cacique Ponca, an enemy of Careta.
+
+Quintana, whose account follows, is the favorite historian of this
+expedition. His _Lives of Celebrated Spaniards_ is regarded as one of the
+classics of Spanish prose literature.
+
+Ponca, not daring to await the coming of the allies, took refuge in the
+mountains, abandoning his land to the ravage and ruin prepared for it by
+the Indians and Spaniards. Balboa, however, did not pursue his success
+further at present; leaving to the future the conquest, or, as he termed
+it, the "pacification" of the interior, he returned to the coast, where
+it was more for the advantage, security, and subsistence of the colony to
+have his friends or his vassals stationed.
+
+Careta had for a neighbor a cacique called by some Comogre, by others
+Panquiaco, chief of about ten thousand Indians, among whom were three
+thousand warriors. Having heard of the valor and enterprise of the
+Castilians, this chief desired to enter into treaty and friendship with
+them; and a principal Indian, a dependent of Careta, having presented
+himself as the agent in this friendly overture, Vasco Nuñez, anxious
+to profit by the opportunity of securing such an ally, went with his
+followers to visit Comogre. No sooner was the cacique apprised of this
+visit than he sailed forth at the head of his principal vassals, and his
+seven sons, all still youths and the offspring of different wives, to
+receive the Spaniards. Great was the courtesy and kindness with which he
+treated his guests, who were lodged in different houses in the town, and
+provided with victuals in abundance, and with men and women to serve
+them. What chiefly attracted their attention was the habitation of
+Comogre, which, according to the memorials of the time, was an edifice of
+a hundred and fifty paces in length and fourscore in breadth, built on
+thick posts, surrounded by a lofty stone wall, and on the roof an attic
+story, of beautifully and skilfully interwoven wood. It was divided into
+several compartments, and contained its markets, its shops, and its
+pantheon for the dead; for it was in the corpses of the cacique's
+ancestors that the Spaniards first beheld these ghastly remains, dried
+and arranged as above described.
+
+The honors of the hospitality were confided to the eldest son of Comogre,
+a youth of more sagacity and intelligence than his brothers; he one day
+presented to Vasco Nuñez and to Colmenares, whom, from their manner and
+appearance, he recognized as chiefs of the party, sixty slaves, and four
+thousand pieces of gold of different weight. They immediately melted the
+gold, and, having separated a fifth for the King, began to divide it
+among themselves; this division begat a dispute that gave occasion to
+threats and violence, which being observed by the Indian, he suddenly
+overthrew the scales in which they were weighing the precious metal,
+exclaiming: "Why quarrel for such a trifle? If such is your thirst for
+gold that for its sake you forsake your own country and come to trouble
+those of strangers, I will show you a province where you may gather by
+the handful the object of your desire; but to succeed, you ought to be
+more numerous than you are, as you will have to contend with powerful
+kings, who will vigorously defend their dominions. You will first find a
+cacique who is very rich in gold, who resides at the distance of six suns
+from hence; soon you will behold the sea, which lies to that part,"
+and he pointed toward the south; "there you will meet with people who
+navigate in barks with sails and oars, not much less than your own, and
+who are so rich that they eat and drink from vessels made of the metal
+which ye so much covet."
+
+These celebrated words, preserved in all the records of the times, and
+repeated by all historians, were the first indications the Spaniards
+had of Peru. They were much excited on hearing them, and endeavored
+to extract from the youth further information of the country he had
+mentioned; he insisted on the necessity of having at least a thousand
+men, to give them a chance of success in its subjugation, offered to
+serve them himself as their guide, to aid them with his father's men, and
+to put his life in pledge for the veracity of his words.
+
+Balboa was transported by the prospect of glory and fortune which opened
+before him; he believed himself already at the gates of the East Indies,
+which was the desired object of the government and the discoverers of
+that period; he resolved to return in the first place to the Darien to
+raise the spirits of his companions with these brilliant hopes, and
+to make all possible preparations for realizing them. He remained,
+nevertheless, yet a few days with the caciques; and so strict was the
+friendship he had contracted with them that they and their families were
+baptized, Careta taking in baptism the name of Fernando, and Comogre that
+of Carlos. Balboa then returned to the Darien, rich in the spoils of
+Ponca, rich in the presents of his friends, and still richer in the
+golden hopes which the future offered him.
+
+At this time, and after an absence of six months, arrived the magistrate
+Valdivia, with a vessel laden with different stores; he brought likewise
+great promises of abundant aid in provisions and men. The succors,
+however, which Valdivia brought were speedily consumed; their seed,
+destroyed in the ground by storms and floods, promised them no resource
+whatever; and they returned to their usual necessitous state. Balboa then
+consented to their extending their incursions to more distant lands, as
+they had already wasted and ruined the immediate environs of Antigua,
+and he sent Valdivia to Spain to apprise the admiral of the clew he
+had gained to the South Sea, and the reported wealth of those regions.
+Valdivia took with him fifteen thousand pieces of gold, which belonged
+to the King as his fifth, and a charge to petition for the thousand men
+which were necessary to the expedition, and to prevent the adventurers
+being compelled to exterminate the tribes and caciques of the Indians,
+for otherwise, being so few in number, they would be driven, to avoid
+their own destruction, to the slaughter of all who would not submit
+themselves. This commission, however, together with the rich presents in
+gold sent by the chiefs of the Darien to their friends, and Valdivia,
+with all his crew, were no doubt swallowed by the sea, as no trace of
+them was ever afterward discovered.
+
+To the departure of Valdivia succeeded immediately the expedition to the
+gulf and the examination of the lands situated at its inner extremity.
+There lay the dominions of Dabaibe, of whose riches prodigious reports
+were spread, especially of an idol and a temple represented to be made
+entirely of gold. There Cemaco, and the Indians who followed him, had
+taken refuge, and had never lost either the wish or the hope of driving
+away the invading horde who had usurped their country.
+
+Balboa marched against them by land with sixty men, and Colmenares went
+by water with as many more to take the enemy by surprise. The former did
+not find Cemaco; but Colmenares was more fortunate, for he surprised the
+savages in Tichiri. He commanded the general to be shot with arrows in
+his presence, and sentenced the lords to be hanged. And so terrified were
+the Indians by this example that they never durst in future elevate their
+thoughts to independence.
+
+It was now deliberated to send new deputies to Spain to acquaint the King
+with the state of the colony, and on the road to touch at Espanola to
+entreat for necessary aid in case Valdivia might have perished on the
+voyage, which event had no doubt taken place. It is said that Balboa
+required this commission for himself, either ambitious of gaining favor
+at court or apprehensive that the colony at Darien might inflict upon him
+punishment due to usurpation; but his companions would not consent to his
+quitting them, alleging that, in losing him, they should feel deserted
+and without a guide or governor; he only was respected, and followed
+willingly by the soldiers; and he only was feared by the Indians. They
+suspected that, if they permitted of his departure, he would never
+return to share those labors and troubles which were from time to time
+accumulating upon them, as had already happened with others. They elected
+Juan de Caicedo, the inspector, who had belonged to the armament of
+Nicuesa, and Rodrigo Enriquez de Colmenares, both men of weight and
+expert in negotiation and held in general esteem. They believed that
+these would execute their charge satisfactorily, and that both would
+return, because Caicedo would leave his wife behind him; and Colmenares
+had realized much property, and a farm in the Darien, pledges of
+confidence in and adhesion to the country. It being thus impossible
+for Balboa to proceed to Spain, in protection of his own interests
+he manoeuvred for gaining at least the good graces of the treasurer,
+Pasamonte; and probably it was on this occasion that he sent him the rich
+present of slaves, pieces of gold, and other valuable articles, of which
+the licentiate Zuazo speaks in his letter to the Senor de Chieves. At the
+same time the new procurators took with them the fifth which belonged to
+the King, together with a donative made him by the colony; and, happier
+than their predecessors, they left the Darien in the end of October, and
+reached Spain the end of May in the year following.
+
+Soon after this departure, a slight disturbance happened, which, though
+at first it threatened to destroy the authority of Vasco Nuñez, served in
+fact to strengthen it. Under pretence that Bartolome Hurtado abused the
+particular favor of the Governor, Alonzo Perez de la Rua, and other
+unquiet spirits, raised a seditious tumult; their object was to seize
+ten thousand pieces which yet remained entire, and divide them at their
+pleasure. After some contests, in which there were many arrests and a
+great display of animosity, the malcontents plotted to surprise Vasco
+Nuñez and throw him into prison. He knew it, and quitted the town as
+if going to the chase, foreseeing that, when these turbulent men had
+obtained possession of the authority and the gold, they would so abuse
+the one and the other that all the rational part of the community would
+be in haste to recall him. And thus it was; masters of the treasure,
+Rua and his friends showed so little decency in the partition that the
+principal colonists, ashamed and disgusted, perceiving the immense
+distance that existed between Vasco Nuñez and these people, seized the
+heads of the sedition, secured them, and called back Balboa, whose
+authority and government they were anxious again to recognize.
+
+In the interim, two vessels, laden with provisions and carrying two
+hundred men, one hundred fifty of whom were soldiers commanded by
+Cristoval Serrano, arrived from Santo Domingo. They were all sent by the
+admiral, and Balboa received from the treasurer Pasamonte the title of
+governor of that land; that functionary conceiving himself authorized to
+confer such a power, and having become as favorable as he had formerly
+been the reverse. Exulting in his title and his opportune success,
+and secure of the obedience of his people, Vasco Nuñez liberated his
+prisoners, and resolved to sally forth into the environs and to occupy
+his men in expeditions and discoveries; but, while engaged in making his
+preparations, he received, to embitter his satisfaction, a letter from
+his friend Zamudio, informing him of the indignation which the charges of
+Encisco, and the first information of the treasurer, had kindled against
+him at court. Instead of his services being appreciated, he was accused
+as a usurper and intruder; he was made responsible for the injuries and
+prejudices of which his accuser loudly complained; and the founder and
+pacificator of the Darien was to be prosecuted for the criminal charges
+brought against him.
+
+This alloy, however, instead of subduing his spirit, animated him to new
+daring and impelled him to higher enterprises. Should he permit another
+to profit by his toils, to discover the South Sea, and to ravish from him
+the wealth and glory which were almost within his grasp? He did,
+indeed, still want the thousand men who were necessary to the projected
+expedition, but his enterprise, his experience, and his constancy
+impelled him to undertake it even without them. He would, by so signal
+a service, blot out the crime of his primary usurpation, and, if death
+should overtake him in the midst of his exertions, he should die
+laboring for the prosperity and glory of his country, and free from the
+persecution which threatened him. Full of these thoughts and resolved on
+following them, he discoursed with and animated his companions, selected
+one hundred ninety of the best armed and disposed, and, with a thousand
+Indians of labor, a few bloodhounds, and sufficient provisions, he set
+sail in a brigantine with ten canoes.
+
+He ascended first to the port and territory of Careta, where he was
+received with demonstrations of regard and welcome suitable to his
+relations with that cacique, and, leaving his squadron there, took his
+way by the sierras toward the dominion of Ponca. That chief had fled,
+as at the first time, but Vasco Nuñez, who had adopted the policy most
+convenient to him, desired to bring him to an amicable agreement, and, to
+that end, despatched after him some Indians of peace, who advised him
+to return to his capital and to fear nothing from the Spaniards. He was
+persuaded, and met with a kind reception; he presented some gold, and
+received in return some glass beads and other toys and trifles. The
+Spanish captains then solicited guides and men of labor for his journey
+over the sierras, which the cacique bestowed willingly, adding provisions
+in great abundance, and they parted friends.
+
+His passage into the domain of Quarequa was less pacific; whose chief,
+Torecha, jealous of this invasion and terrified by the events which had
+occurred to his neighbors, was disposed and prepared to receive the
+Castilians with a warlike aspect. A swarm of ferocious Indians, armed in
+their usual manner, rushed into the road and began a wordy attack upon
+the strangers, asking them what brought them there, what they sought
+for, and threatening him with perdition if they advanced. The Spaniards,
+reckless of their bravadoes, proceeded, nevertheless, and then the chief
+placed himself in front of his tribe, dressed in a cotton mantle and
+followed by the principal lords, and, with more intrepidity than fortune,
+gave the signal for combat. The Indians commenced the assault with loud
+cries and great impetuosity, but, soon terrified by the explosions of the
+crossbows and muskets, they were easily destroyed or put to flight by the
+men and bloodhounds who rushed upon them. The chief and six hundred men
+were left dead on the spot, and the Spaniards, having smoothed away
+that obstacle, entered the town, which they spoiled of all the gold and
+valuables it possessed. Here also they found a brother of the cacique and
+other Indians, who were dedicated to the abominations before glanced at;
+fifty of these wretches were torn to pieces by the dogs, and not without
+the consent and approbation of the Indians. The district was, by these
+examples, rendered so pacific and so submissive that Balboa left all his
+sick there, dismissed the guides given him by Ponca, and, taking fresh
+ones, pursued his road over the heights.
+
+The tongue of land which divides the two Americas is not, at its utmost
+width, above eighteen leagues, and in some parts becomes narrowed a
+little more than seven. And, although from the port of Careta to the
+point toward which the course of the Spaniards was directed was only
+altogether six days' journey, yet they consumed upon it twenty; nor is
+this extraordinary. The great cordillera of sierras which from north to
+south crosses the new continent, a bulwark against the impetuous assaults
+of the Pacific Ocean, crosses also the Isthmus of Darien, or, as may be
+more properly said, composes it wholly, from the wrecks of the rocky
+summits which have been detached from the adjacent lands; and the
+discoverers, therefore, were obliged to open their way through
+difficulties and dangers, which men of iron alone could have fronted and
+overcome. Sometimes they had to penetrate through thick entangled woods,
+sometimes to cross lakes, where men and burdens perished miserably; then
+a rugged hill presented itself before them; and next, perhaps, a deep and
+yawning precipice to descend; while, at every step, they were opposed by
+deep and rapid rivers, passable only by means of frail barks, or slight
+and trembling bridges; from time to time they had to make their way
+through opposing Indians, who, though always conquered, were always to be
+dreaded; and, above all, came the failure of provisions--which formed
+an aggregate, with toil, anxiety, and danger, such as was sufficient to
+break down bodily strength and depress the mind.
+
+At length the Quarequanos, who served as guides, showed them, at
+a distance, the height from whose summit the desired sea might be
+discovered. Balboa immediately commanded his squadron to halt, and
+proceeded alone to the top of the mountain; on reaching it he cast an
+anxious glance southward, and the Austral Ocean broke upon his sight[1].
+
+Overcome with joy and wonder, he fell on his knees, extending his arms
+toward the sea, and with tears of delight offered thanks to heaven for
+having destined him to this mighty discovery. He immediately made a sign
+to his companions to ascend, and, pointing to the magnificent spectacle
+extended before them, again prostrated himself in fervent thanksgiving
+to God. The rest followed his example, while the astonished Indians were
+extremely puzzled to understand so sudden and general an effusion of
+wonder and gladness. Hannibal on the summit of the Alps, pointing out to
+his soldiers the delicious plains of Italy, did not appear, according
+to the ingenious comparison of a contemporary writer, either more
+transported or more arrogant than the Spanish chief when, risen from the
+ground, he recovered the speech of which sudden joy had deprived him,
+and thus addressed his Castilians: "You behold before you, friends, the
+object of all our desires and the reward of all our labors. Before you
+roll the waves of the sea which has been announced to you, and which no
+doubt encloses the immense riches we have heard of. You are the first who
+have reached these shores and these waves; yours are their treasures,
+yours alone the glory of reducing these immense and unknown regions to
+the dominion of our King and to the light of the true religion. Follow
+me, then, faithful as hitherto, and I promise you that the world shall
+not hold your equals in wealth and glory."
+
+All embraced him joyfully and all promised to follow whithersoever he
+should lead. They quickly cut down a great tree, and, stripping it of its
+branches, formed a cross from it, which they fixed in a heap of stones
+found on the spot from whence they first descried the sea. The names of
+the monarchs of Castile were engraven on the trunks of the trees, and
+with shouts and acclamations they descended the sierra and entered the
+plain.
+
+They arrived at some bohios, which formed the population of a chief,
+called Chiapes, who had prepared to defend the pass with arms. The noise
+of the muskets and the ferocity of the war-dogs dispersed them in a
+moment, and they fled, leaving many captives; by these and by their
+Quarequano guides, the Spaniards sent to offer Chiapes secure peace
+and friendship if he would come to them, or otherwise the ruin and
+extermination of his town and his fields. Persuaded by them, the cacique
+came and placed himself in the hands of Balboa, who treated him with much
+kindness. He brought and distributed gold and received in exchange beads
+and toys, with which he was so diverted that he no longer thought of
+anything but contenting and conciliating the strangers. There Vasco Nuñez
+sent away the Quarequanos, and ordered that the sick, who had been left
+in their land, should come and join him. In the mean while he sent
+Francisco Pizarro, Juan de Ezcarag, and Alonzo Martin to reconnoitre the
+environs and to discover the shortest roads by which the sea might be
+reached. It was the last of these who arrived first at the coast, and,
+entering a canoe which chanced to lie there, and pushing it into the
+waves, let it float a little while, and, after pleasing himself with
+having been the first Spaniard who entered the South Sea, returned to
+seek Balboa.
+
+Balboa with twenty-six men descended to the sea, and arrived at the
+coast early in the evening of the 29th of that month; they all seated
+themselves on the shore and awaited the tide, which was at that time on
+the ebb. At length it returned in its violence to cover the spot where
+they were; then Balboa, in complete armor, lifting his sword in one hand,
+and in the other a banner on which was painted an image of the Virgin
+Mary with the arms of Castile at her feet, raised it, and began to march
+into the midst of the waves, which reached above his knees, saying in a
+loud voice: "Long live the high and mighty sovereigns of Castile! Thus in
+their names do I take possession of these seas and regions; and if any
+other prince, whether Christian or infidel, pretends any right to them, I
+am ready and resolved to oppose him, and to assert the just claims of my
+sovereigns."
+
+The whole band replied with acclamations to the vow of their captain,
+and expressed themselves determined to defend, even to death, their
+acquisition against all the potentates in the world; they caused this act
+to be confirmed in writing, by the notary of the expedition, Andres de
+Valderrabano; the anchorage in which it was solemnized was called the
+Gulf of San Miguel, the event happening on that day.
+
+[Footnote 1: Balboa had his first view of the Pacific from this "peak in
+Darien" September 25th.]
+
+
+
+CHRONOLOGY OF UNIVERSAL HISTORY
+
+EMBRACING THE PERIOD COVERED IN THIS VOLUME
+
+A.D. 1438-1516
+
+JOHN RUDD, LL.D. A.D. 1438-1516
+
+
+Events treated at length are here indicated in large type; the numerals
+following give volume and page.
+
+Separate chronologies of the various nations, and of the careers of
+famous persons, will be found in the INDEX VOLUME, with volume and page
+references showing where the several events are fully treated.
+
+
+A.D.
+
+1438. Gutenberg commences printing with movable type[1]. See "ORIGIN AND
+PROGRESS OF PRINTING," viii, i.
+
+All Europe ravaged by the plague; it is aggravated in England and France
+by a direful famine.
+
+1439. Death of Albert II; Ladislaus III, King of Poland, ascends the
+Hungarian throne.
+
+Pope Eugenius removes his council from Ferrara to Florence; here is
+signed a treaty for the ostensible union of the Latin and Greek churches.
+
+A standing army voted by the States-General of France.
+
+1440. Frederick III elected Emperor of Germany.
+
+"JOHN HUNYADY REPULSES THE TURKS." See viii, 30.
+
+1441. Hadji Kerai separates from the Golden Horde; he establishes the
+independent khanate of Crim Tartary, or the Crimea.
+
+1442. Alfonso V of Aragon takes the city of Naples; the whole kingdom
+submits to him; his rival, René of Anjou, returns to Provence.
+
+First modern importation of negro slaves into Europe. See "DISCOVERY OF
+THE CANARY ISLANDS AND THE AFRICAN COAST," viii, 276.
+
+1443. Rising of the Albanians, under Scanderbeg, against the Turks.
+
+1444. Battle of Varna; defeat of the Hungarians by the Turks and death
+of Ladislaus III, King of Poland and Hungary. John Hunyady assumes the
+government in Hungary during the minority of Ladislaus Posthumus.
+
+On the request of Frederick IV of Germany the Dauphin employs a part of
+the French army against Switzerland; battle of St. Jacob's; for ten hours
+1,600 Swiss resist 30,000 veterans; the Swiss perish; 10,000 of the
+victors are slain.
+
+1445. Corinth destroyed by the Turks.
+
+1447. Election of Pope Nicholas V, founder of the Vatican Library. See
+"REBUILDING OF ROME," viii, 46.
+
+Grammar-schools founded in London, England.
+
+1448. Amurath II, or Murad, defeats Hunyady at Cassova.
+
+1449. War between France and England renewed; Normandy conquered by the
+French; Rouen is surrendered.
+
+1450. Rebellion of Jack Cade in England. He was slain and his head stuck
+on London bridge.
+
+Milan surrenders to Francesco Sforza (Stormer, _i. e._, of cities),
+the natural son of a peasant who became a great _condottiere_. He is
+proclaimed duke.
+
+1451. Guienne conquered by the French from the English. Ghent revolts
+against Philip, Duke of Burgundy.
+
+1453. End of the Eastern empire. See "MAHOMET II TAKES CONSTANTINOPLE,"
+viii, 55.
+
+Submission of Ghent to the Duke of Burgundy after its forces had been
+defeated at Gaveren.
+
+Battle of Castillon; defeat of the English; loss of all the English
+conquests in France, except Calais; end of the Hundred Years' War.
+
+Emperor Frederick III creates Austria a duchy.
+
+1454. Mental aberration of Henry VI of England; the Duke of York
+protector.
+
+Publication of the first-known printing with movable type. See "ORIGIN
+AND PROGRESS OF PRINTING," viii, i.
+
+Venice by a treaty with Turkey secures trade privileges in Greece.
+
+1455. Beginning of the contest for the crown of England. See "WARS OF THE
+ROSES," viii, 72.
+
+1456. Battle of Belgrade; victory of Hunyady over the Turks. Athens
+conquered by the Turks.
+
+1457. Church of the Unitas Fratrum organized in Bohemia. Francis Foscaro,
+being deposed as doge of Venice after a reign of thirty-four years, dies
+of grief on hearing the bells rung to celebrate the election of his
+successor.
+
+At Mainz is published the Book of Psalms, the earliest work printed with
+its date.
+
+1458. Pope Pius II acknowledges Ferdinand I as King of Naples, strives
+to restore peace, and unite all powers in resistance to the Turkish
+aggressions.
+
+Genoa submits to the King of France, Charles VII.
+
+Election of Matthias, son of Hunyady, as King of Hungary.
+
+George Podibrad, leader of the church-reform party, chosen King of
+Bohemia. 1459. Silesia submits to Podibrad, King of Bohemia.
+
+1460. James II of Scotland takes up arms against the English; he is
+killed, by the bursting of a cannon, at the siege of Roxburgh castle; his
+son, James III, succeeds.
+
+Christian I of Denmark inherits Schleswig and Holstein.
+
+Discovery of the Cape Verd Islands by the Portuguese; they penetrate to
+the coast of Guinea.
+
+1461. Death of Charles VII of France; his son, Louis XI, involves himself
+in a contest with his leading nobles.
+
+Prince Henry of Portugal, just prior to his death, sends Peter Covilham
+and Alfonso Paiva, overland, to explore India.
+
+Trebizond, the last Greek capital, surrenders to the Ottoman Turks.
+
+1462. Accession of Ivan III, Grand Prince of Moscow. See "IVAN THE GREAT
+UNITES RUSSIA AND BREAKS THE TARTAR YOKE," viii, 109.
+
+1463. War between Venetians and Turks in Greece.
+
+Conference between the kings of France and Castile; the artful policy of
+Louis XI prolongs discord in Spain.
+
+1464. Queen Margaret invades England; her adherents are defeated at
+Hexham. See "WARS OF THE ROSES," viii, 72.
+
+Pope Pius II attempts the organization of a crusade against the Turks; he
+dies at Ancona; Paul II elected.
+
+Sforza, Duke of Milan, makes himself master of Milan.
+
+1465. Henry VI of England is imprisoned in the Tower of London.
+
+War between the League of the Public Good and Louis XI of France; treaty
+of Conflans; the King makes many promises, few of which he performs.
+
+King Matthias invites learned men from Italy to Hungary; he founds the
+University and Library of Budapest.
+
+Athens captured and pillaged by the Venetians, under Victor Capello.
+
+1466. Worn out by constant warfare the Teutonic Knights, by the treaty
+of Thorn, cede West Prussia to Casimir IV of Poland; they retain East
+Prussia as a fief of Poland.
+
+1467. Charles the Bold succeeds to the Duchy of Burgundy.
+
+A crusade against George Podibrad, King of Bohemia, proclaimed by Pope
+Paul II.
+
+1468. Visit of Louis XI to Charles the Bold at Péronne. See "CULMINATION
+OF THE POWER OF BURGUNDY," viii, 125.
+
+Founding of the Library of Venice.
+
+Ivan III repels an invasion of the Golden Horde and prepares the
+independence of Russia.
+
+1469. Marriage of Princess Isabella of Castile to Ferdinand of Aragon.
+
+Beginning of the reign of Lorenzo de' Medici in Florence. See "LORENZO
+DE' MEDICI RULES IN FLORENCE," viii, 134.
+
+About this time Peter Covilham (see 1461), his companion having died in
+India, penetrates into Abyssinia and is there detained. 1470. Restoration
+of Henry VI, by Earl Warwick, to the throne of England.
+
+Siege and capture of Negropont (Euboea) by the Turks; massacre of the
+inhabitants.
+
+Pomponius Laetus collects a society to study the antiquities of Rome; he
+is imprisoned and persecuted for his unguarded enthusiasm.
+
+1471. Edward IV reënters England; defeat of the Lancastrians at Barnet;
+Warwick--the King Maker--slain. See "WARS OF THE ROSES," viii, 72.
+
+Translation by Caxton of _Recueil des Histoires des Troyes_. See "ORIGIN
+AND PROGRESS OF PRINTING" (also plate), viii, 24.
+
+1472. Normandy ravaged by Charles the Bold.
+
+Philippe de Comines, the chronicler, enters into the service of Louis XI.
+
+1473. Resumption of the commotions in France; the Count of Armagnac
+assassinated; the Duke of Alençon arrested.
+
+1474. Ferdinand and Isabella commence their joint reign in Castile.
+Caxton publishes his first book, _The Game and Playe of the Chesse_.
+
+1475. Emperor Frederick IV refuses to give Charles, Duke of Burgundy, the
+title of king; war ensues; Charles conquers Lorraine.
+
+1476. Switzerland unsuccessfully invaded by the Duke of Burgundy.
+Assassination of Sforza, Duke of Milan; his son Gian Galeazzo Maria
+succeeds, under the regency of his mother, Bona.
+
+Sten Sture, Protector of Sweden, founds the University of Upsal; he
+checks the nobility and priesthood by summoning deputies of the towns and
+peasantry to attend the national Diet.
+
+1477. Maximilian, son of Emperor Frederick III, marries Mary of Burgundy.
+
+Italy invaded by the Turks; they advance to within sight of Venice.
+
+Publication of the first book printed in England, Caxton's _Dictes or
+Sayengis of the Philosophers_.
+
+René of Lorraine and his Swiss mercenaries overwhelm Charles the Bold at
+Nancy; he is slain.
+
+Burgundy is seized by Louis XI. See "DEATH OF CHARLES THE BOLD," viii,
+155.
+
+Grant of the Great Privilege of Holland and Zealand, by Mary, Duchess of
+Burgundy. The _Groot Privilegie_ was a recapitulation and recognition of
+ancient rights. Although afterward violated, and indeed abolished, it
+became the foundation of the republic.
+
+1478. Condemnation and death of the Duke of Clarence. He is said to have
+chosen to die by being drowned in a butt of Malmsey, a wine of which he
+had been inordinately fond.
+
+Conspiracy of the Pazzi, a powerful family of Florence, against the
+Medici; most of the conspirators massacred by the people; the others
+judicially punished.
+
+Sultan Mahomet II, of the Ottoman Empire, completes the subjugation of
+Albania.
+
+Novgorod taken by Ivan III, of Russia, who puts an end to its republic.
+
+1479. Battle of Guinegate; Maximilian defeats the French. Ferdinand the
+Catholic succeeds to the throne in Aragon; union of Castile and Aragon.
+
+1480. Founding of the Holy Office of the Inquisition in Spain, by
+Cardinal Mendozas. See "INQUISITION ESTABLISHED IN SPAIN," viii, 166.
+
+1481. Maine and Provence united to France.
+
+Battle of Bielawesch; the Nogay Tartars crush the Golden Horde and secure
+the independence of Russia.
+
+1482. Death of Mary of Burgundy; her infant son, Philip, succeeds to the
+sovereignty of the Netherlands.
+
+Ferdinand and Isabella begin a war for the conquest of Granada.
+
+1483. Usurpation of Richard III; murder of the princes. See "MURDER OF
+THE PRINCES IN THE TOWER," viii, 192.
+
+Death of Louis XI; Charles VII, his son, succeeds to the French throne.
+
+Renewal of the Union of Kalmar; Sweden and Norway acknowledge John I, but
+Sweden retains Sten Stur as Protector.
+
+Birth of Rabelais and Luther.
+
+1485. Landing of the Earl of Richmond in England; Battle of Bosworth;
+Richard III is slain; end of the Wars of the Roses and of the Plantagenet
+dynasty; Henry VII (Richmond) inaugurates the Tudor dynasty. See "WARS OF
+THE ROSES," viii, 72.
+
+Matthias of Hungary captures Vienna; Emperor Frederick III expelled from
+his hereditary dominions.
+
+1486. Excited to revolt by the severities of the Inquisition, the
+Aragonese put to death the chief inquisitor, Pedro Arbues.
+
+Unconscious doubling of the southern extremity of Africa by Bartholomew
+Diaz; he gives it the name of Cabo Tormentoso (Cape Stormy), afterward
+called the Cape of Good Hope. See "THE SEA ROUTE TO INDIA," viii, 299.
+
+1488. Battle of Sauchie Burn; James III of Scotland defeated and slain by
+his rebellious nobles.
+
+Citizens of Bruges capture and imprison, for four months, Maximilian,
+King of the Romans.
+
+1489. Bartholomew, brother of Christopher Columbus, tries to arouse
+maritime enterprise in England.
+
+1490. Ferdinand and Isabella conquer Granada. See "CONQUEST OF GRANADA,"
+viii, 202.
+
+Death of Matthias Corvinus; Ladislaus II, King of Bohemia, is elected
+king of the Hungarians.
+
+1491. Charles VIII of France sends back to her father his affianced
+bride, Margaret; compels Anne of Brittany to break her engagement to
+Maximilian and marries her himself, thus uniting Brittany and France.
+
+1492. Imposture of Perkin Warbeck in England. See "CONSPIRACY, REBELLION,
+AND EXECUTION OF PERKIN WARBECK," viii, 250. Expulsion of Jews from the
+Spanish dominions; this great exodus, hundreds of thousands in all, of
+a commercial hard-working race caused enormous injury to the land so
+depopulated.
+
+Columbus discovers the Bahamas, Cuba, and Haiti. See "COLUMBUS DISCOVERS
+AMERICA," viii, 224.
+
+1493. Death of Emperor Frederick IV; his son, Maximilian succeeds, the
+first to take the title Emperor of Germany without being crowned at Rome.
+
+Leaving a garrison in Espanola, Columbus returns to Spain. He starts on
+his second voyage; discovers Porto Rico.
+
+A papal bull grants to Spain the new world discovered by Columbus, and
+defines the rights of Spain and Portugal.
+
+1494. A treaty, that of Tordesillas, partitions the ocean between Spain
+and Portugal.
+
+Formation of the Christian Commonwealth at Florence. See "SAVONAROLA'S
+REFORMS AND DEATH," viii, 265.
+
+Sir Edward Poynings, Governor of Ireland, induces the parliament of that
+country to pass the act bearing his name, which gives full power to all
+the laws of England.
+
+1495. Conquest of Naples by Charles VIII of France; he retreats to
+France. Ferdinand II is restored to the throne of Naples.
+
+Maximilian establishes the Imperial Chamber.
+
+Extinction of the right of private warfare in Germany.
+
+1496. Encouraged by the success of Columbus, Henry VII of England sends
+out John Cabot and his son, Sebastian, on a voyage of discovery.
+
+Emanuel of Portugal fits out an expedition under Vasco da Gama to explore
+the eastern seas.
+
+1497. "DISCOVERY OF THE MAINLAND OF NORTH AMERICA BY THE CABOTS." See
+viii, 282.
+
+Sten Sture offends the Swedish nobility, is defeated and stripped of his
+protectorate by John II, who enforces the Union of Kalmar; he is crowned
+at Stockholm.
+
+Pinzon and Vespucci discover Central America.
+
+1498. Vasco da Gama rounds the Cape of Good Hope and reaches India. See
+"THE SEA ROUTE TO INDIA," viii, 299.
+
+Columbus makes his third voyage across the Western Ocean; he discovers
+South America; is arrested and returned to Spain in irons. See "COLUMBUS
+DISCOVERS SOUTH AMERICA," viii, 323.
+
+Arrest and execution of Savonarola at Florence. See "SAVONAROLA'S REFORMS
+AND DEATH," viii, 265.
+
+1499. Conquest of the duchy of Milan by the French. Unsuccessful war of
+Maximilian against the Swiss. See "ESTABLISHMENT OF Swiss INDEPENDENCE,"
+viii, 336.
+
+Venezuela reached by Ojeda and Vespucci. See "AMERIGO VESPUCCI IN
+AMERICA," viii, 346.
+
+In Persia the Shiah sect of Mahometans gain the ascendency which they
+have since retained. 1500. Voyage to and exploration of Labrador and
+Newfoundland by Caspar Cortereal, a Portuguese navigator.
+
+Brazil discovered by Pedro Alvarez Cabral, or Cabera; he takes possession
+of the country for the King of Portugal.
+
+1501. Emperor Maximilian creates the Aulic Council, a court of appeal on
+decisions by other German courts.
+
+Joint conquest and partition of Naples by Ferdinand of Aragon and Louis
+XII of France.
+
+Sten Sture regains ascendency in Sweden.
+
+Caesar Borgia makes himself master of Pesaro, Rimini, and Faenza; he is
+guilty of numerous atrocities.
+
+1502. Columbus on his fourth and last voyage reaches the isthmus of
+Panama.
+
+Caesar Borgia fails in his evil course. See "RISE AND FALL OF THE
+BORGIAS," viii, 360.
+
+Montezuma elected to the military leadership of the Aztecs.
+
+In Naples the French and Spanish quarrel and commence hostilities.
+
+1503. Marriage of James IV of Scotland with Margaret Tudor, daughter of
+Henry VII of England; this brought the Stuarts to the throne of England.
+
+Battle of Cerignola and Garigliano; the Spaniards defeat the French and
+become masters of Naples.
+
+Death of Sten Sture; the Swedish people support Svante Sture in
+opposition to the crown, the nobility, and priesthood.
+
+1504. Death of Isabella, Queen of Spain; the throne of Castile passes to
+her daughter, Joanna, and the latter's husband, Philip.
+
+Jealous of the new Indian trade of the Portuguese, the Venetians incite
+the mamelukes of Egypt and the sovereign of Calicut to begin hostilities
+against them.
+
+Citizens of Naples resist by violence the introduction of the
+Inquisition.
+
+Suppression of the Lordship of the Isles by James IV of Scotland.
+
+1505. Death of Ivan the Great; he is succeeded on the Russian throne by
+his son, Basil (Vasili IV).
+
+1506. Expulsion by the Genoese of their nobles and the French.
+
+Madagascar discovered by the Portuguese.
+
+Building of the Great Harry, the first ship of the royal navy of England.
+
+Beginning of the erection of St. Peter's, at Rome, by Bramante d'Urbino;
+Pope Julius II lays the first stone.
+
+1507. Louis XII goes to crush the revolt in Genoa; he succeeds.
+
+1508. Michelangelo begins the decoration of the Sistine chapel. See
+"PAINTING OF THE SISTINE CHAPEL," viii, 369.
+
+1509. Death of Henry VII; his son, Henry VIII, succeeds to the English
+throne; he marries Catherine of Aragon.
+
+Campaign of Cardinal Ximenes in Africa; Oran taken by the Spaniards.
+
+Diego Columbus, son of the discoverer, made governor of Spanish America,
+which is first settled this year.
+
+Subjugation of Porto Rico by Ponce de Leon; he later becomes governor of
+that island.
+
+1510. Occupation of Goa by the Portuguese under Albuquerque, Governor of
+the Indies.
+
+1511. Subjugation of Cuba by the Spaniards under Velasquez.
+
+Malacca taken by the Portuguese; it becomes the centre of their trade in
+the East.
+
+1512. War declared against France by Henry VIII of England.
+
+Battle of Ravenna; victory of the French; their general, Gaston de
+Foix, falls on the field; the revolted cities of Italy submit. Lombardy
+evacuated by the French; restoration of the Sforza dynasty, and of the
+Medici in Florence.
+
+1513. From the Isthmus of Panama Balboa discovers the Pacific Ocean. See
+"BALBOA DISCOVERS THE PACIFIC," viii, 381.
+
+Invasion of France by Henry VIII; defeat of the French at Guinegate,
+"Battle of the Spurs"; Térouanne and Tournai taken by the English.
+
+Battle of Flodden Field; the Scots, under James IV, having invaded
+England, are overwhelmed and their king slain.
+
+Expulsion of the French from Italy.
+
+Juan Ponce de Leon lands in Florida, in his search for the "Fountain of
+Eternal Youth."
+
+1514. Peace concluded with France and Scotland by Henry VIII of England.
+
+Smolensko renounces its subjection to Poland and becomes part of Russia.
+
+Ambassadors from Portugal present to Pope Leo X an elephant, a panther,
+with other animals and products of their new territories in the East.
+
+1515. Wolsey created cardinal, papal legate, and lord chancellor.
+
+Invasion of Italy by Francis I, who this year succeeded Louis XII as King
+of France; he recovers Genoa and Milan.
+
+1516. Death of Ferdinand the Catholic; Charles, his eldest grandson,
+succeeds to the throne of Spain.
+
+Publication of the Greek Testament, with a Latin translation, by Erasmus.
+
+Conclusion of the treaty of "Perpetual Peace" between France and
+Switzerland.
+
+Rise of the piratical power of the Barbarossas in Algiers.
+
+[Footnote:1 Date uncertain.]
+
+
+END OF VOLUME VIII
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Great Events by Famous Historians,
+Vol. 8, by Editor-in-Chief: Rossiter Johnson
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Great Events by Famous Historians, Vol.
+8, by Editor-in-Chief: Rossiter Johnson
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Great Events by Famous Historians, Vol. 8
+       The Later Renaissance: From Gutenberg To The Reformation
+
+Author: Editor-in-Chief: Rossiter Johnson
+
+Release Date: November 17, 2003 [EBook #10103]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GREAT EVENTS V8 ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Jayam Subramanian and PG Distributed
+Proofreaders
+
+
+
+
+
+BINDING Vol. VIII
+
+The binding of this volume is a facsimile of the original in the British
+Museum, and is considered the most artistic mosaic binding design in
+existence.
+
+It was executed about 1710, by Antoine Michel Padeloup, Royal Binder of
+both France and Portugal.
+
+He presented it to Francoise Marie de Bourbon, daughter of Louis XIV and
+Madame de Montespan, on the anniversary of her marriage to Philippe, Duke
+of Orleans, who afterward became Regent of France.
+
+During the Reign of Terror this volume found its way to England, where it
+was sold at a handsome price. It was bequeathed to the British Museum by
+Felix Slade, Esq.
+
+
+
+
+THE GREAT EVENTS
+
+BY
+
+FAMOUS HISTORIANS
+
+A COMPREHENSIVE AND READABLE ACCOUNT OF THE WORLD'S HISTORY, EMPHASIZING
+THE MORE IMPORTANT EVENTS, AND PRESENTING THESE AS COMPLETE NARRATIVES IN
+THE MASTER-WORDS OF THE MOST EMINENT HISTORIANS
+
+NON-SECTARIAN NON-PARTISAN NON-SECTIONAL
+
+ON THE PLAN EVOLVED FROM A CONSENSUS OF OPINIONS GATHERED FROM THE
+MOST DISTINGUISHED SCHOLARS OF AMERICA AND EUROPE, INCLUDING BRIEF
+INTRODUCTIONS BY SPECIALISTS TO CONNECT AND EXPLAIN THE CELEBRATED
+NARRATIVES, ARRANGED CHRONOLOGICALLY, WITH THOROUGH INDICES,
+BIBLIOGRAPHIES, CHRONOLOGIES, AND COURSES OF READING
+
+EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
+
+ROSSITER JOHNSON, LL.D.
+
+ASSOCIATE EDITORS
+
+CHARLES F. HORNE, Ph.D. JOHN RUDD, LL.D.
+
+_With a staff of specialists
+
+VOLUME VIII
+
+The National Alumni_
+
+1905
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+VOLUME VIII
+
+
+_An Outline Narrative of the Great Events_ CHARLES F. HORNE
+
+_Origin and Progress of Printing (A.D. 1438)_ HENRY GEORGE BOHN
+
+_John Hunyady Repulses the Turks (A.D. 1440-1456)_ ARMINIUS VAMBERY
+
+_Rebuilding of Rome by Nicholas V, the "Builder-pope_" _(A.D. 1447-1455)_
+MRS. MARGARET OLIPHANT
+
+_Mahomet II Takes Constantinople (A.D. 1453)_ _End of the Eastern Empire_
+GEORGE FINLAY
+
+_Wars of the Roses (A.D. 1455-1485)_ _Death of Richard III at Bosworth_
+DAVID HUME
+
+_Ivan the Great Unites Russia and Breaks the Tartar_ _Yoke (A.D.
+1462-1505)_ ROBERT BELL
+
+_Culmination of the Power of Burgundy_ _Treaty of Peronne (A.D. 1468)_
+P.F. WILLERT
+
+_Lorenzo de'Medici Rules in Florence_ _Zenith of Florentine Glory (A.D.
+1469)_ OLIPHANT SMEATON
+
+_Death of Charles the Bold (A.D. 1477) Louis XI Unites Burgundy with
+the Crown of France_ PHILIPPE DE COMINES
+
+_Inquisition Established in Spain (A.D.1480),_ WILLIAM H. RULE JAMES
+BALMES
+
+_Murder of the Princes in the Tower (A.D.1483)_ JAMES GAIRDNER
+
+_Conquest of Granada_ (A.D.1490) WASHINGTON IRVING
+
+_Columbus Discovers America_ (A.D.1492) CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS FERDINAND
+COLUMBUS
+
+_Conspiracy, Rebellion, and Execution of Perkin Warbeck_ (A.D.1492)
+FRANCIS BACON
+
+_Savonarola's Reforms and Death_ The French Invade Italy_ (A.D.1494)
+PASQUALE VILLARI JEAN C. L. SISMONDI
+
+_Discovery of the Mainland of North America by the Cabots_ (A.D.1497)
+SAMUEL EDWARD DAWSO
+
+_The Sea Route to India Vasco da Gama Sails around Africa_ (A.D.1498)
+GASPAR CORREA
+
+_Columbus Discovers South America (A.D.1498)_ CLEMENTS ROBERT MARKHAM
+
+_Establishment of Swiss Independence (A.D.1499)_ HEINRICH ZSCHOKKE
+
+_Amerigo Vespucci in America (A.D.1499)_ AMERIGO VESPUCCI
+
+_Rise and Fall of the Borgias (A.D.1502)_ NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI
+
+_Painting of the Sistine Chapel (A.D.1508)_ _The Splendor of Renaissance
+Art under Michelangelo_ CHARLES CLEMENT
+
+_Balboa Discovers the Pacific (A.D.1513)_ MANUEL JOSE QUINTANA
+
+_Universal Chronology (A.D.1438-1516)_ JOHN RUDD
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+VOLUME VIII
+
+_Murder of the princes, sons of King Edward IV, in _the Tower of London
+(page 194)1_ Painting by Otto Seitz.
+
+_Facsimile of a page from Caxton's_ Recuyell of the Historyes of
+Troye--_the first book printed in the English language_
+
+_Louis XI at his devotions in the castle of Peronne while held a prisoner
+by Charles the Bold_ Painting by Hermann Kaulbach.
+
+_Pope Sixties V and the Grand Inquisitor_ Painting by Jean Paul Laurens.
+
+
+
+AN OUTLINE NARRATIVE
+
+TRACING BRIEFLY THE CAUSES, CONNECTIONS, AND CONSEQUENCES OF
+
+THE GREAT EVENTS
+
+(THE LATER RENAISSANCE: FROM GUTENBERG TO THE REFORMATION)
+
+CHARLES F. HORNE
+
+The Renaissance marks the separation of the mediaeval from the modern
+world. The wide difference between the two epochs of Teutonic history
+arises, we are apt somewhat glibly to say, from the fact that our
+ancestors worshipped and were ruled by brute force, whereas we follow the
+broad light of intellect. Perhaps both statements require modification;
+yet in a general way they do suggest the change which by a thousand
+different agencies has, in the course of the last four centuries, been
+forced upon the world. Mediaeval Europe was a land not of equals, but of
+lords and slaves. The powerful nobles regarded themselves as of wholly
+different clay from the hapless peasants whom they trampled under foot,
+serfs so ignorant, so brutalized by want, that they were often little
+better than the beasts with which they herded. Gradually the tradesmen,
+the middle classes, forced their way to practical equality with the
+nobles. Then came the turn of the masses to do the same. The beginnings
+of the merchants' movement we have already traced in the preceding
+volumes; the end of the peasants' effort is perhaps even to-day scarce
+yet accomplished.
+
+In dealing with modern history, therefore, every writer is apt to begin
+with a different date. Some go back as far as Petrarch, who reintroduced
+the study of ancient art and learning; that is, they regard our world as
+a direct continuation of the Roman, with the thousand years of the Middle
+Ages gaping between like an earthquake gulf of barbarism, that was
+bridged at last. Some take the invention of printing as a starting-point,
+feeling that the chief element of our progress has been the gathering of
+information by the poorer classes. Some, looking to political changes,
+turn to the reign of Louis XI of France, noting him as the first modern
+king, or to the downfall of Charles the Bold, the last great feudal
+noble. Others name later starting-points such as the establishment of
+modern art by Michelangelo and Raphael at Rome, the discovery of America,
+with its opening of vast new lands for the pent-up population of narrow
+Europe, or the Reformation, which has been called man's revolt against
+superstition, the establishment of the independence of thought.
+
+All of these epochs fall within the limits of the Renaissance, and all,
+except that of Petrarch, within the later Renaissance which we are now
+considering. The period is therefore worth careful study.
+
+INTELLECTUAL SUPREMACY OF ITALY
+
+Gutenberg's invention had no immediate effect upon his world.[1] Indeed,
+so little enthusiasm did it arouse that while the inventor's plans were
+probably evolved as early as 1438, it was not until 1454 or thereabouts
+that the first completed book was issued from his press. His business
+partner, Faust, sold his wares in wealthy Paris without explaining that
+these were different from earlier hand-written books; and when their
+cheapness, as well as their exact similarity, was discovered, the
+merchant was suspected of having sold himself to the devil. Hence
+probably originated the Faust legend. Superstition, it is evident, had
+still an extended course to run.
+
+It is worth noting that to sell his books Faust left Germany for Paris,
+and that while printing-presses multiplied but slowly in the land of
+their origin, the new art was instantly seized upon in Italy, was there
+made widest use of and pushed to its perfection. In fact, through all the
+Middle Ages the Romance or semi-Teutonic peoples of Italy, France, and
+Spain were intellectually in advance of the more wholly Teutonic races of
+the North. Many of their descendants believe half contemptuously that the
+difference has not even yet been overcome.
+
+Italy at this time held clearly the intellectual supremacy of the western
+world, and Florence under the Medici, Cosmo and then Lorenzo, held the
+supremacy of Italy.[2] Not only in thought, but in art, was there an
+outburst brilliant beyond all earlier times. A friend and pupil of Cosmo
+de' Medici was made pope at Rome, and under the name of Nicholas V
+originated vast schemes for the rebuilding and beautifying of his city of
+ruins.[3] Modern Rome with all its beautiful churches and wonders of art
+rose from the hands of Nicholas and his immediate successors. It was
+their idea that the city should no longer be remembered by its heathen
+greatness, but by its Christian splendor; that the sight of it should
+impress upon pilgrims not the decay of the world, but the glory and
+majesty of the Church. Nicholas also continued the work of Petrarch,
+gathering vast stores of ancient manuscripts, refounding and practically
+beginning the enormous Vatican Library. He established that alliance of
+the Church with the new culture of the age which for a century continued
+to be an honor and distinguishment to both.
+
+In his pontificate occurred the fall of Constantinople, bringing with
+it the definite establishment of the Turks in Europe and the final
+extinction of that Roman Empire of the East which had originated with
+Constantine. For this reason the date of its fall (1453) is also employed
+as marking the beginning of modern Europe. It was at least the closing of
+the older volume, the final not undramatic exit of the last remnant of
+the ancient world, with its long decaying arts and arrogance, its wealth,
+its literature, and its law.[4]
+
+Greek scholars fleeing from the sack of their city brought many
+marvellous old manuscripts to Western Europe and were eagerly welcomed by
+Pope Nicholas and all of Italy. Nicholas even preached a crusade against
+the terrible Turks, and tried once more to rouse Europe to ancient
+enthusiasms. But he failed, and died, they say, heartbroken at his
+helplessness.
+
+THE CLASH OF RACES IN THE EAST
+
+The Turks had recovered from their defeat by the Tartars of Timur, and
+became once more an active menace. With Constantinople in their power,
+they attacked the Venetians and compelled those wealthy traders to pay
+them tribute. Venice by sea and Hungary on land remained for a century
+the bulwarks of Christendom, and were forced, almost unaided, to
+withstand all the assaults of the East. They wellnigh perished in the
+effort. In Hungary this was the period of the great hero, Hunyady, a
+man of unknown birth and no official rank, who roused his countrymen to
+repeated effort and led them to repeated victories and defeats against
+the vastly more numerous invaders.[5]
+
+Hunyady died, worn out with ceaseless warfare, and his son, Matthias,
+was elected by acclamation to be monarch of the land the father had
+preserved. This was the proudest era in the history of the Hunnish race.
+Under Matthias they even resumed their German warfare of five centuries
+before, and won from a Hapsburg emperor his city of Vienna, ancient
+capital of Austria, the eastmark or borderland which had been erected by
+Otto the Great to hold the Huns in check. For a few years Matthias placed
+his kingdom amid the foremost states of Europe; but with his death came
+renewed disunion and disorder to his lawless people, and the fierce,
+fanatic Turks returned again to their assaults.
+
+Further north the yellow races were less successful. Along the shifting
+borderlands of Asia which mark the line of demarcation between the two
+mightier families of man, the tide turned ever more steadily in the
+Aryans' favor. The Russians, under their chief, Ivan III, threw off the
+galling Tartar yoke which they had borne for over two hundred years.
+Ivan concentrated in his own hands the power of all the little Russian
+duchies, overthrew the celebrated Russian republic of Novgorod the Great,
+and defied the Tartars. Equally noteworthy to modern eyes was his wedding
+with Sophia, heiress of the last of the emperors of the East. When that
+outworn empire perished with the fall of Constantinople, Ivan succeeded
+nominally at least to its heirship. Hence it is that his successors have
+assumed the title of caesar or kaiser or czar and have grown to look upon
+themselves as inheritors of the ancient supremacy of Rome.[6]
+
+The fifteenth century was thus a time of many changes in Eastern Europe.
+Not only did the Eastern Empire disappear at last, not only did Hungary
+rise to the brief zenith of her glory, there was a sort of general
+movement, sometimes spoken of as the "Slavonic reaction," against the
+hitherto successful Teutons. The Slavic Bohemians in their "Hussite" wars
+repelled all the religious fighting strength of Europe. The Poles began
+to win back territory from the German empire, and especially from their
+hereditary foes the "Teutonic Knights" of Prussia. And Russia, greatest
+of all the Slav countries, grew into a strong kingdom. She and Turkey,
+rising as twin menaces to the West, assumed at almost the same period
+that threatening aspect which Turkey has only lately lost, and Russia, to
+some statesmen's eyes, still holds.
+
+POLITICAL CHANGES IN WESTERN EUROPE
+
+Turn now to the affairs of Western Europe. The feebleness of the German
+empire continued. For over half a century it was nominally ruled by
+Frederick III (1440-1493), the lazy and feeble emperor who let Matthias
+of Hungary expel him from Vienna, and never made any vigorous effort to
+recover his capital. He was succeeded by his son Maximilian, a man of far
+other temper, full of courage, energy, and hardihood. Maximilian has been
+called "the last of the knights," and indeed his whole career may well
+exemplify the changing times. The one achievement of his life was the
+recovery of Vienna from the Hungarians, and in that he was successful
+only because the heirs of Matthias were being overwhelmed by the Turks.
+
+The remainder of his career was spent in learning bitterly how little
+real power he had as emperor. He attempted to bring the Swiss once more
+under the imperial dominion, but the little armies he could scrape
+together against them were repeatedly defeated.[7] He was always
+declaring war against this kingdom or that, and summoning his great
+lords to aid him in upholding the glory of the empire. They persistently
+declined; and he was helpless. At one time having pledged his alliance to
+the English king, Henry VII, against France, he preserved his knightly
+word by going alone and serving as a volunteer in Henry's army, whither
+his people would not follow him. Instead they stayed at home and demanded
+from him constitutions and courts of law and other internal reforms,
+uninteresting matters about which the gallant soul of Maximilian cared
+not a straw and which he gave his subjects under protest.
+
+To the westward of him a far subtler monarch, by far subtler means, was
+strengthening the power of France and making smooth her way toward that
+supremacy over European affairs which she was later to assert. Louis XI
+(1461-1483) is called the first modern king, though it is little flattery
+to modern statecraft to compare its methods with his, and perhaps our
+recent governments have truly outgrown them. Louis was no warrior,
+although under compulsion he showed possibilities of becoming an able
+general. He preferred to send others who should do his fighting for him,
+to embroil his opponents one with another, and then reap the fruit of
+their mutual exhaustion. He was passed master of all falsity and craft;
+and by his shrewdness he brought to his country peace and prosperity.
+Typically does he represent his age in which intellectual ability, though
+sometimes wholly divorced from nobleness of soul, began to dominate brute
+force.
+
+Charles the Bold stands as the representative of this brute force. He was
+the mightiest of the French nobles. His ancestors, a younger branch
+of the royal family, had been made dukes of Burgundy, and by skilful
+alliances and rapid changes of side through the long Hundred Years' War,
+they had steadily added to their possessions and their powers. The father
+of Charles found himself stronger than his king, possessor not only of
+Burgundy, but of many other fiefs from Germany as well as France, and
+lord of the Netherlands as well.[8]
+
+Charles was thus the last of those great, overgrown vassals so
+characteristic of feudal times. Like Hugh Capet in France, like William
+the Conqueror in England, he hoped to establish himself as an independent
+king. He opened negotiations for this purpose with the Emperor Frederick,
+Maximilian's father. He made himself practically independent of France.
+He wielded a military power greater than that of any other prince of the
+moment, and he knew it and charged like a mad bull at whoever seemed to
+interpose in his designs.
+
+Over such a man Louis XI's cunning had full play. He involved Charles in
+fights with every neighbor. Finally he lured him into conflict with the
+Swiss, and those hardy mountaineers won the repute of being the best
+soldiers of Europe by defeating Charles again and again till they left
+him slain on the field of Nancy (1477).[9] Louis promptly seized most of
+his dead vassal's domains. Maximilian, having wedded Charles' daughter,
+inherited the remainder; and the old Burgundian kingdom, so nearly
+revived to stretch as a permanent dividing land between France and
+Germany, disappeared forever.
+
+What Louis had done with Burgundy he attempted with his other
+semi-independent duchies. The Hundred Years' War had almost destroyed
+central government in France. Louis, by means as secret and varied as his
+cunning could suggest, gradually reestablished an undisputed leadership
+above his lords. Fortunately for France, perhaps, England was prevented
+by a long series of civil wars from interfering in her neighbor's
+affairs. These wars, though they originated before Louis' time, were
+constantly fomented and kept alive by him, and England thus paid dearly
+for having become a source of danger to France.
+
+The Wars of the Roses,[10] as they are called, caused deep-seated changes
+in England's life and society. They mark for her the transition from the
+mediaeval to the modern era which was everywhere taking place. Beginning
+as a contest between two rival branches of the Plantagenets for the
+kingship, these wars remained aristocratic throughout. That is to say,
+the common people took little interest in them, while the nobles,
+espousing sides, fought savagely and murderously, giving one another
+no quarter, sparing the lesser folk, but executing as traitors their
+prisoners of rank. When one side seemed hopelessly overcome, Louis would
+lend them arms and money wherewith to seek revenge once more. Thus almost
+all the old nobility of England perished; and both lines of kings became
+extinct, Richard III, their last representative, being accused of
+murdering all his relatives or possible rivals.[11] At last, Richard too
+was slain, and a new family of rulers, only remotely connected with the
+old, was inaugurated by Henry Tudor, grandson of a private gentleman of
+Wales. This new king, Henry VII (1485-1509), found no powerful lords to
+oppose his will. One or two impostors were raised against him,[12] France
+making anxious efforts to prolong the troubles of her dangerous
+neighbor; but the attempts failed through the utter completeness of the
+aristocracy's exhaustion.
+
+Thus in England as in France, though by widely differing chances, the
+kingly power had triumphed over feudalism. Monarchs began to come into
+direct contact, not always pleasant, with the entire mass of their
+subjects, the "third estate," the common people.
+
+RISE OF SPANISH POWER
+
+Spain also was to pass through a similar experience. Indeed, one of the
+most striking facts of this age of the Renaissance is the swift and
+spectacular rise of Spain from a land of feebleness and internal strife
+into the most powerful kingdom of Europe. We have seen the Spanish
+peninsula in previous ages the seat of endless strife between Saracens
+and Christians. Gradually the Moors had been driven back, and the little
+independent Christian states had been united by the fortunes of war and
+marriage into three--Portugal on the Atlantic coast, Castile occupying
+the larger part of the mainland, and Aragon, a maritime kingdom, less
+extensive in Spain, but extending its sovereignty over many of the
+Mediterranean isles, over Sicily and southern Italy. In 1469 Isabella,
+heiress of Castile, and Ferdinand, heir of Aragon, were wedded; and
+soon afterward their countries were united under their joint rule. The
+combined strength of both was then devoted to a long religious war
+against the Moors. Granada, the last and most famous of the Moorish
+capitals and strongholds, was finally captured in 1492.[13] The followers
+of Mahomet were driven out of Western Europe during the same period that,
+under Turkish leadership, they had at last won Constantinople in the
+East.
+
+The whole Spanish peninsula with the exception of Portugal was thus
+united under Ferdinand and Isabella, greatest of the sovereigns of
+Spain. The ages of battle with the Moors had bred a nation of cavaliers,
+intensely loyal, passionately religious. They were splendid fighters, but
+stern, hard-hearted, merciless men. Isabella, "the Saint," most holy and
+pure-souled of women, herself introduced into her country the terrible
+Inquisition.[14] Jews and Moors were given little peace in life unless
+they turned Christian. Heretics and relapsed converts from the other
+faiths were burned to death. The Queen declared she would approve all
+possible torture to men's bodies, when necessary in order to save their
+souls.
+
+If such were the women of Spain, what was to be expected of the men? How
+could even Ferdinand, "the Wise," keep them employed now that there
+were no longer Moors to fight against? Uprisings, rebellions, began to
+threaten Spain with such desolation as England had endured. But a higher
+Providence solved for Ferdinand his impossible problem: the age of
+maritime discovery began.[15]
+
+THE ERA OF DISCOVERY
+
+The Portuguese from their Atlantic seaboard had already begun to explore
+southward along the African coast. In 1402 they had settled the Canary
+Isles. In 1443 they reached southward beyond the sands of the Sahara and
+saw Cape Verd, discovered that Africa was not all burning desert,
+that heat would not forever increase as they went southward. In 1487
+Bartholomew Diaz, after almost a year of sailing, reached the Cape of
+Good Hope, the southern point of the vast African continent; and in 1497
+Vasco da Gama rounded the cape and sailed on to India[16]. He had found a
+way of bringing Indian spices, silks, and jewels to Europe, bringing them
+in quantities and without paying tribute to the Turks, without crossing
+the deadly deserts of Arabia. He had made his little country wealthy.
+
+Meanwhile, stimulated by Portuguese success, the mariners of other
+nations began to brave the giant storms of the Atlantic. The Turks had
+made trade with the far East wellnigh impossible. Portugal was not the
+only land to seek a sea-route to India. Venice and Genoa saw before them
+the threat of ruin to their most profitable commerce. So we may even say
+that it was the Turks who set the Genoese captain Columbus to planning
+his great voyage; it was the conquest of the Moors that set Isabella free
+to listen to him, and offer her crown jewels for the expedition which
+should convert other heathen, establish other inquisitions; and it was
+the downfall of the Moors which left the Spanish warriors so eager to
+throng to adventure and warfare in the West, once Columbus had shown the
+way.
+
+For a time the theatre of great events shifts to the new continent.
+The Portuguese explorers had doubled the size of the known world. The
+Spaniards doubled it again. But the credit must not be given wholly
+to Spain. Though it was the liberality of her monarchs which had made
+discovery possible, and though it was the daring of her warriors that
+laughed at danger and made conquest sure, yet the Spaniards were not
+sailors. It was to Italy, the home of commerce, that they turned for
+their captains and their pilots. Columbus, the Genoese, had discovered
+the islands along the coast. England, wishing to have a share in this
+world of wonders, sent a Venetian mariner, John Cabot; and he and his son
+sailed along our northern mainland in English ships.[17] Columbus touched
+the coast of South America in 1498.[18] A Florentine, Amerigo Vespucci,
+was the first to cruise far along this southern coast, probably in 1499,
+and it was his name which Europe gave to the new lands.[19]
+
+Following the discovery came settlement, warfare with the unhappy
+Indians, a fierce and frantic search for gold. It was while engaged in
+this work that Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama, saw the vast
+waters of the Pacific, and riding out into them upon his warhorse took
+possession, in the name of Spain, of the largest ocean of the globe.[20]
+Men recognized at last that these were not the Asiatic shores, but a
+wholly new continent which they had found.
+
+RELIGIOUS CHANGES
+
+Let us pause to recapitulate the wonders which this age of the
+Renaissance had seen--a new world of Africa discovered in the South, a
+new world of America in the West, the rise of Spain, the conquest of the
+last of the western Saracens at Granada and the rise of the Turks in the
+East, the rise of Russia, the downfall of the last vestige of the ancient
+empire of Rome, the last expiring effort of feudalism in Charles the
+Bold, and of errant knighthood in Maximilian; the beginning of modern
+statecraft in Louis XI of France, Henry VII of England, and Ferdinand the
+Wise of Spain; the spread of printing and with it the spread of thought
+and knowledge among the masses; and, sometimes accounted greatest of all,
+came the wonderful awakening of art in Italy. We have traced the early
+part of this under the Medici and Pope Nicholas. Lorenzo de'Medici was
+the centre of its later development.[21] From his court went forth that
+galaxy of artists which the world of art unites in calling the unequalled
+masters of all ages--Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, and a host of
+others.[22]
+
+Unfortunately in Italy at least the great movement in art and literature
+took an antireligious, sometimes an antipatriotic, tone. Lorenzo was
+openly defiant and scornful of the teachings of the Church, and after his
+death a French king, Charles VIII, was able to enter Italy and march from
+end to end of it without opposition. Religion seemed dying there, and
+love of country dead.
+
+Florence underwent an extravagant though brief religious revival. The
+monk Savonarola preached against wickedness in high places, and thundered
+at the Florentines for their presumption and vanity. The impressionable
+people wept, they appointed a "day of vanities" and laid all their rich
+robes and jewels at Savonarola's feet. They made him ruler of the city.
+But, alas! they soon tired of his severities, sighed for their vanities
+back again, and at last burned the reformer at the stake.[23]
+
+In Rome itself there arose popes, Lorenzo's followers, who preferred
+art to Christianity, or others like the terrible Alexander Borgia, who
+adopted the maxims of the new statecraft. Alexander, a worthy disciple of
+Louis XI, admired falsehood before truth, and sought to win his aims by
+poisoning his enemies. The career of his nephew Caesar Borgia has supplied
+history with its most awful picture of successful crime, and the book
+written in his praise by Macchiavelli has given us a new word for Satanic
+subtlety and treachery. We call it Macchiavellian. The rest of Europe
+shrank from Italy in fear, and named it "poisoning Italy."[24]
+
+Against the spiritual dominance of such a land the world was surely ready
+for revolt. The mind of man, so long and slowly awakening, and at last so
+intensely roused, seeing great discoveries on every hand, was no longer
+to be controlled by authority. The time was ripe for the Reformation.
+
+[FOR THE NEXT SECTION OF THIS GENERAL SURVEY SEE VOLUME IX]
+
+[Footnote 1: See _Origin and Progress of Printing_, page 5.]
+
+[Footnote 2: See _Beginning and Progress of the Renaissance_, vol. ix, p.
+110.]
+
+[Footnote 3: See _Rebuilding of Rome by Nicholas V_, page 46.]
+
+[Footnote 4: See _Mahomet II Takes Constantinople_, page 55.]
+
+[Footnote 5: See _John Hunyady Repulses the Turks_, page 30.]
+
+[Footnote 6: See _Ivan the Great Unites Russia_, page 109.]
+
+[Footnote 7: See _Establishment of Swiss Independence_, page 336.]
+
+[Footnote 8: See _Culmination of the Power of Burgundy_, page 125.]
+
+[Footnote 9: See _Death of Charles the Bold_, page 155.]
+
+[Footnote 10: See _Wars of the Roses_, page 72.]
+
+[Footnote 11: See _Murder of the Princes in the Tower_, page 192,]
+
+[Footnote 12: See _Conspiracy, Rebellion, and Execution of Perkin
+Warbeck_, page 250.]
+
+[Footnote 13: See _Conquest of Granada_, page 202.]
+
+[Footnote 14: See _Inquisition Established in Spain_, page 166.]
+
+[Footnote 15: See _Columbus Discovers America_, page 224.]
+
+[Footnote 16: See _The Sea Route to India_, page 299.]
+
+[Footnote 17: See _Discovery of the Mainland of North America by the
+Cabots_, page 282.]
+
+[Footnote 18: See _Columbus Discovers South America_, page 323.]
+
+[Footnote 19: See _Amerigo Vespucci in America_, page 346.]
+
+[Footnote 20: See _Balboa Discovers the Pacific_, page 381.]
+
+[Footnote 21: See _Lorenzo de'Medici Rules in Florence_, page 134.]
+
+[Footnote 22: See _Painting of the Sistine Chapel_, page 369.]
+
+[Footnote 23: See _Savonarola's Reforms and Death_, page 265.]
+
+[Footnote 24: See _Rise and Fall of the Borgias_, page 360.]
+
+
+
+ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF PRINTING
+
+A.D. 1438
+
+HENRY GEORGE BOHN
+
+
+It was perhaps not altogether fortuitous that the invention of printing
+came concurrently with the Revival of Learning. Men's minds were turned
+toward practical experiment in that art by the very influences made
+active through the labors of those scholars who ushered in the
+Renaissance. "The art preservative of all other arts" has also preserved
+the records of its own beginnings and development, although of its
+earlier sources our knowledge is very obscure, and even the modern
+achievement, which antiquity in various ways foreshadowed, is itself a
+subject of uncertainty and dispute.
+
+Bohn, in his admirable survey of the origin and progress of modern
+printing, gives us a full and accurate account, from the earliest
+evidences and conjectures relating to antiquity to the latter part of the
+nineteenth century, confining himself, however, to European developments.
+But before the middle of the sixteenth century printing was introduced
+into Spanish America. Existing books show that in Mexico there was a
+press as early as 1540; but it is impossible to name positively the first
+book printed on this continent. North of Mexico the first press was used,
+1639, by an English Non-conformist clergyman named Glover. In 1660 a
+printer with press and types was sent from England by the corporation for
+propagating the gospel among the Indians of New England in the Indian
+language. This press was taken to a printing-house already established at
+Cambridge, Mass. It was not until several years later that the use of a
+press in Boston was permitted by the colonial government, and until near
+the end of the seventeenth century no presses were set up in the colonies
+outside of Massachusetts.
+
+In 1685 printing began in Pennsylvania, a few years later in New York,
+and in Connecticut in 1709. From 1685 to 1693 William Bradford, an
+English Quaker, conducted a press in Philadelphia, and in the latter
+year he removed his plant to New York. He was the first notable American
+printer, and became official printer for Pennsylvania, New York, New
+Jersey, Rhode Island, and Maryland. His first book was an almanac for
+1686. In 1725 he founded the _New York Gazette_, the first newspaper in
+New York. But the first newspaper published in the English colonies was
+the _Boston News-Letter_, founded in 1704 by John Campbell, a bookseller
+and postmaster in Boston. Only four American periodicals had been
+established when, in 1729, Benjamin Franklin, who was already printer
+to the Pennsylvania Assembly, became proprietor and editor of the
+_Pennsylvania Gazette_.
+
+Until the last quarter of the eighteenth century the progress of printing
+in America was slow. But in 1784 the first daily newspaper, the _American
+Daily Advertiser_, was issued in Philadelphia, and from this time
+periodical publications multiplied and the printing of books increased,
+until the agency and influence of the press became as marked in the
+United States as in the leading countries of Europe.
+
+Even since the time when Bohn wrote, the progress made in various
+branches of the printer's art has been such as might have astonished
+that famous publisher of so many standard works. Recent improvements
+for increasing the capacity of the press, and often the quality of its
+productions, are quite comparable to those which our own time has seen in
+other departments of industry, as in the applications of electricity and
+the like. In addition to the further development of stereotyping, there
+has been marvellous improvement in nearly all the machinery and processes
+of printing. This is especially marked in rapid color-printing, and in
+the successors of inadequate typesetting-machines--in the linotype, the
+monotype, the typograph, etc.
+
+Most wonderful of all, perhaps, is the improved printing-press itself,
+in various classes, each adapted to its special purpose. The sum of all
+improvements in this department of mechanical invention is seen in the
+great cylinder-presses now in general use, especially the one known as
+the web perfecting press. This is a machine of great size and intricate
+construction, which yet does its complex work with an accuracy that
+almost seems to denote conscious intelligence. It prints from an immense
+roll of paper, making the impression from curved stereotype plates, runs
+at high speed, prints both sides of the paper at one run, and folds,
+pastes, and performs other processes as provided for. By doubling and
+quadrupling the parts, the ordinary speed of about twenty-four thousand
+impressions an hour may be increased to one hundred thousand an hour.
+The multicolor web perfecting press prints four or more colors at one
+revolution of the impression cylinder.
+
+To meet the demands of such an enormous consumption of paper as the
+modern press requires, it was necessary to invent other processes and to
+utilize more abundant and cheaper material for paper-making than those
+formerly employed. This requirement has been supplied in recent years
+mainly through the extensive manufacture of paper from wood-pulp. This
+method, together with improved processes in the use of other materials,
+has removed all fear of a paper famine such as has sometimes threatened
+the printing industry in the past.
+
+"Nature does not advance by leaps," says an old proverb; neither does her
+offspring, Art. All the great boons vouchsafed to man by a munificent
+providence are of gradual development; and though some may appear to have
+come upon us suddenly, reflection and inquiry will always show that they
+have had their previous stages.
+
+Indeed, nothing in this great world which concerns the well-being of man
+takes place by accident, but is brought forward by divine will, precisely
+at the moment most suitable to our condition. So it was with astronomy,
+the mariner's compass, the steam-engine, gas, the electric telegraph, and
+many other of those blessings which have progressed with civilization.
+The elements were there and known, but the time had not arrived for their
+fructification.
+
+And so it is with printing: although its invention is placed in the
+middle of the fifteenth century, and almost the very year fixed, this can
+only be regarded as a matured stage of it. To illustrate this, I propose
+to begin with a cursory view of its primitive elements, of which the very
+first were no doubt initiative marks and numerals.
+
+The use of numerals has been denominated "the foundation of all the arts
+of life"; and we know with certainty that several nations, and among them
+the Mexicans, had numerals before they were acquainted with letters. The
+first method of reckoning was with the fingers, but small stones were
+also used--hence the words "calculate" and "calculation," which are
+derived from _calculus_, the Latin for a pebble-stone.
+
+The Chinese counted for many years with notched sticks; and even in
+England, in comparatively modern times, accounts were kept by tallies, in
+which notches were cut alike in two parallel pieces of wood. Shakespeare
+alludes to "the score and the tally" in his _Henry VI_; and this mode
+of keeping accounts is still adopted by some of the bakers and dyers in
+Warwickshire and Cheshire. And tallies are occasionally produced in the
+small-debt courts, where they are admitted as authentic proofs of debt.
+Hence the origin and name of the "tally court of the exchequer." The
+Peruvians, at the time they were conquered by Pizarro, counted with
+knotted strings.
+
+After numerals, came picture-writing, hieroglyphics, and symbolic
+characters, such are were used by the Egyptians, the Chinese, and the
+Mexicans; which, however unconnected they may be with each other, are
+of the same general character. Indeed, the Chinese have never advanced
+beyond symbolic characters, of which it is said they have more than one
+hundred thousand combinations or varieties.
+
+Rude as these conditions of humanity may seem, they are matched in modern
+England, even at a very recent date, if we may credit a well-known story:
+A rustic shopkeeper in a remote district, being unable to read or write,
+contrived to keep his accounts by picture-writing, and charged his
+customer, the miller, with a cheese instead of a grindstone, from having
+omitted to mark a hole in the centre.
+
+After picture and symbolic writings would follow phonetic characters,
+or marks for sounds; that is, the alphabet. Even the alphabet, which in
+civilized countries has now existed for more than three thousand years,
+was perfected by degrees; for it has been clearly ascertained that
+the earliest known did not comprise more than one-half or, at most,
+two-thirds of the letters which eventually formed its complement. Thus,
+the Pelasgian alphabet, which is derived from the Phoenician, and is the
+parent of the Greek and Roman, consisted originally of only twelve or
+thirteen letters.
+
+The invention of the alphabet, which, in a small number of elementary
+characters, is capable of six hundred and twenty sextillions of
+combinations, and of exhibiting to the sight the countless conceptions of
+the mind which have no corporeal forms, is so wonderful that great men of
+all ages have shrunk from accounting for it otherwise than as a boon of
+divine origin. This feeling is strengthened by the singular circumstance
+that so many alphabets bear a strong similarity to each other, however
+widely separated the countries in which they arose.
+
+In Egypt the invention of the alphabet is by some ascribed to Syphoas,
+nearly two thousand years before the Christian era, but more commonly
+to Athotes, Thoth, or Toth, a deity always figured with the head of the
+ibis, and very familiar in Egyptian antiquities. Cadmus is accredited
+with having introduced it from Egypt into Greece about five centuries
+later.
+
+From the alphabet the gradation is natural to compounds of letters and
+written language, and, though speech is one of the greatest gifts to man,
+it is writing which distinguishes him from the uncivilized savage. The
+practice of writing is of such remote antiquity that neither sacred nor
+profane authors can satisfactorily trace its origin. The philosopher may
+exclaim with the poet:
+
+"Whence did the wondrous mystic art arise. Of painting speech and
+speaking to the eyes? That we, by tracing magic lines, are taught How
+both to color and embody thought?"
+
+The earliest writing would probably have been with chalk, charcoal,
+slate, or perhaps sand, as children from time immemorial have been taught
+to read and write in India. The Romans used white walls for writing
+inscriptions on, in red chalk--answering the purpose of our
+posting-bills--of which several instances were found on the walls of
+Pompeii. Plutarch informs us that tradesmen wrote in some such manner
+over their doors, and that auction bills ran thus:
+
+"Julius Proculus will this day have an auction of his superfluous goods,
+to pay his debts."
+
+Next seems to have followed writing or engraving on stone, wood, ivory,
+and metals, of which we have many early evidences. The Decalogue, or the
+Ten Commandments, given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai, was originally,
+we are told in the Bible, written upon two tables of stone; the pillars
+of Seth were of brick and stone; the laws of the Greeks were graven on
+tables of brass, which were called _cyrbes_. Herodotus mentions a letter
+written with a style on stone slabs, which Themistocles, the Athenian
+general, sent to the Romans about B.C. 500; and we have another evidence
+of the same period still existing--the so-called Borgian inscription,
+which is a passport graven in bronze, entitling the holder to hospitable
+reception wherever he demanded it. Upward of three thousand of such
+engraved tablets, including the famous Roman laws of the Twelve Tables,
+were consumed in the great fire which destroyed the Capitol in the time
+of Vespasian.
+
+I could cite a great many other evidences of early writing on stone or
+brass, but will merely recommend you to see the Rosetta[25] inscription,
+which is conspicuously placed in the British Museum. It is this very
+interesting stone which, being partly Greek and partly Egyptian, has
+enabled us to decipher so many Egyptian monuments.
+
+Pliny informs us that table-books of wood--generally made of box or
+citron wood--were in use before the time of Homer, that is, nearly three
+thousand years ago; and in the Bible we read of table-books in the time
+of Solomon. These table-books were called by the Romans _pugillares_,
+which may be translated "hand-books"; the wood was cut into thin slices,
+finely planed and polished, and written upon with an iron instrument
+called a _stylus_. At a later period, tables, or slices of wood, were
+usually covered with a thin layer of hard wax, so that any matter written
+upon them might be effaced at pleasure, and the tables used again. Such
+practice continued as late as A.D. 1395. In an account roll of Winchester
+College of that year we find that a table covered with green wax was kept
+in the chapel for noting down with a style the daily or weekly duties
+assigned to the officers of the choir. Ivory also was used in the same
+way.
+
+Wooden table-books, as we learn from Chaucer, were used in England as
+late as the fifteenth century. When epistles were written upon tables of
+wood they were usually tied together with cord, the seal being put upon
+the knot. Some of the table-books must have been large and heavy, for
+in Plautus a schoolboy seven years old is represented as breaking his
+master's head with his table-book.
+
+Writing seems also to have been common, at a very early period, on palm
+and olive leaves, and especially on the bark of trees--a material used
+even in the present time in some parts of Asia. The bark is generally cut
+into thin flat pieces, from nine to fifteen inches long and two to four
+inches wide, and written on with a sharp instrument. Indeed, the tree,
+whether in planks, bark, or leaves, seems in ancient times to have
+afforded the principal materials for writing on. Hence the word _codex_,
+originally signifying the "trunk or stem of a tree," now means a
+manuscript volume. _Tabula_, which properly means a "plank" or "board,"
+now also signifies the plate of a book, and was so used by Addison, who
+calls his plates "tables." _Folium_ ("a leaf") has given us the word
+"folio"; and the word _liber_, originally meaning the "inner bark of a
+tree," was afterward used by the Romans to signify a book; whence we
+derive our words, "library," "librarian," etc. One more such etymology,
+the most interesting of all, is the Greek name for the bark of a tree,
+_biblos_, whence is derived the name of our sacred volume.
+
+Before I leave this stage of the subject, I will mention the way in which
+the Roman youth were taught writing. Quintilian tells us that they were
+made to write through perforated tablets, so as to draw the stylus
+through a kind of furrow; and we learn from Procopius that a similar
+contrivance was used by the emperor Justinian for signing his name. Such
+a tablet would now be called a stencil-plate, and is what to the present
+day is found the most rapid and convenient mode of marking goods, only
+that a brush is used instead of an iron pen or style.
+
+Writing and materials have so much to do with the invention of printing
+that I feel obliged to tarry a little longer at this preliminary stage.
+The most important of all the ancient materials for writing upon were
+papyrus, parchment, and vellum; and on these substances nearly all our
+most valuable manuscripts were written. Papyrus, or paper-rush, is a
+large fibrous plant which abounds in the marshes of Egypt, especially
+near the borders of the Nile. It was manufactured into a thick sort of
+paper at a very early period, Pliny says three centuries before the reign
+of Alexander the Great; and Cassiodorus, who lived in the sixth century,
+states that it then covered all the desks of the world. Indeed, it had
+become so essential to the Greeks and Romans that the occasional scarcity
+of it is recorded to have produced riots. Every man of rank and education
+kept _librarii_, or book-writers, in his house; and many _servi_, or
+slaves, were trained to this service, so that they were a numerous class.
+
+Papyrus is a very durable substance, made of the innermost pellicles of
+the stalk, glued together transversely, with the glutinous water of
+the Nile. It was for many centuries the great staple of Egypt, and was
+exported in large quantities to almost every part of Europe and Asia, but
+never, it would appear, to England or Germany. After the seventh century
+its use was gradually superseded by the introduction of parchment; and
+before the end of the twelfth century it had gone generally out of use.
+From "papyrus" the name of "paper," which, with slight variations, is
+common to many languages, is no doubt derived.
+
+Parchment and vellum--which are made from the skin of animals, the former
+from sheep or goat, the latter from calf, both prepared with lime--were
+in use at a very early period, long before their accredited introduction.
+It has been by some supposed that Eumenes, King of Pergamus, who lived
+about B.C. 190, was the inventor of parchment; but it was known much
+earlier, as may be seen by several references to it in the Bible (Isaiah,
+viii. i; Jeremiah, xxxvi. 2; Ezekiel, xi. 9). It is, however, very
+probable that it may have been brought to perfection at Pergamus, as it
+was one of the principal articles of commerce of that kingdom.
+
+Parchment, in early times, was not only expensive, but often very
+difficult to procure; whence arose the practice of erasing old writing
+from it, and engrossing it a second time. Such manuscripts are called
+"palimpsests." Modern art has found the means of discharging the more
+recent ink, and thus restoring the original writing, by which means we
+have recovered many valuable pieces, particularly Cicero's lost book, _de
+Republica_ and some fragments of his _Orations_.
+
+The most ancient manuscripts, both on papyrus and parchment, were kept
+in rolls, called in Latin _volumina_, whence our English word "volume."
+Chinese paper, made from the bark of the bamboo, the mulberry, or the
+khu-ku tree, and so extremely thin that it can only be used on one side,
+is supposed to have been invented fifty years before the Christian era
+or earlier. Chinese rice-paper is made from the stems of the bread-fruit
+tree, cut into slices and pressed. The skins of all kinds of animals
+are used--among them the African skin, of a brown color, upon which the
+Hebrew Pentateuch and service-books used in the Jewish synagogues were
+formerly written. Silk-paper was prepared for the most part in Spain
+and its colonies, but was never brought to much perfection. Asbestos, a
+fibrous mineral, was made into paper, tolerably light and pliant, which,
+being incombustible, was denominated "eternal paper." Herodotus tells
+us that cloth was made of asbestos by the Egyptians; and Pliny mentions
+napkins made of it in A.D. 74. We know by tradition that the intestines
+of a serpent served for Homer's _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_; and that the
+_Koran_ was written in part on shoulder-bones of mutton, kept in a
+domestic chest by one of Mahomet's wives.
+
+We now come to the great period of writing-papers made from cotton and
+linen rags, as used at the present day, and which from the first were
+so perfect that they have since undergone no material improvement.
+Cotton-paper was an Eastern invention, probably introduced in the ninth
+century, although not generally used in Europe till about the twelfth and
+thirteenth centuries. Greek manuscripts are found upon it of the earlier
+period, and Italian manuscripts of the later. It seems to have prevailed
+at particular periods, in particular countries, according to the
+facilities for procuring it, as it now does almost exclusively in
+America. Linen paper, the most valuable and important of all the bases
+available for writing or printing, is likewise supposed to have been
+introduced into Europe from the East, early in the thirteenth century,
+although not in general use till the fourteenth.
+
+Before the end of the fourteenth century, paper-mills had been
+established in many parts of Europe, first in Spain, and then
+successively in Italy, Germany, Holland, and France. They seem to have
+come late into England, for Caxton printed all his books on paper
+imported from the Low Countries; and it was not till Winkin de Worde
+succeeded him, in 1495, that paper was manufactured in England. The
+Chinese are supposed to have used it for centuries before, and appear to
+have the best title to be considered the inventors of both cotton and
+linen paper.
+
+Paper may be made of many other materials, such as hay, straw, nettles,
+flax, grasses, parsnips, turnips, colewort leaves, wood-shavings, indeed
+of anything fibrous; but as the invention of printing is not concerned in
+them, I see no occasion to consider their merits.
+
+Before I pass from paper, it may not be irrelevant to say a word or
+two on the names by which we distinguish the sorts and sizes. The
+term "post-paper" is derived from the ancient water-mark, which was a
+post-horn, and not from its suitableness to transport by post, as many
+suppose. The original watermark of a fool's cap gave the name to that
+paper, which it still retains, although the fool's cap was afterward
+changed to a cap of liberty, and has since undergone other changes. The
+smaller size, called "pot-paper," took its name from having at first
+been marked with a flagon or pot. Demy-paper, on which octavo books
+are usually printed, is so called from being originally a "demi" or
+half-sized paper; the term is now, however, equally applied to hard or
+writing papers. Hand-cap, which is a coarse paper used for packing, bore
+the water-mark of an open hand.
+
+I will now say a few words about pens and ink, for without them we could
+neither have had printing nor books. Pens are of great antiquity, and are
+frequently alluded to in the Bible. Pens of iron, which may mean styles,
+are mentioned by Job and Jeremiah. Reed pens are known to have been in
+common use by the ancients, and some were discovered at Pompeii. Pens of
+gold and silver are alluded to by the classical writers, and there
+is evidence of the use of quills in the seventh century. Of whatever
+material the pen was made, it was called a _calamus_, whence our familiar
+saying, "_currente calamo_" ("with a flowing pen"). The use of styles, or
+iron pens, must have been very prevalent in ancient days, as Suetonius
+tells us that the emperor Caligula incited the people to massacre a Roman
+senator with their styles; and, previous to that, Caesar had wounded
+Cassius with his style.
+
+The next, and not the least important, ingredient in writing and printing
+is ink. Staining and coloring matters were well known to the ancients at
+a very early period, witness the lustrous pigments on Etruscan vases more
+than two thousand years ago; and inks are often mentioned in the Bible.
+Gold, silver, red, blue, and green inks were thoroughly understood in
+the Middle Ages, and perhaps earlier; and the black writing-ink of the
+seventh down to the tenth century, as seen in our manuscripts, was in
+such perfection that it has retained its lustre better than some of
+later ages. Printing-ink, by the time it began to be currently used for
+book-printing in the fifteenth century, had attained a perfection which
+has never been surpassed, and indeed scarcely equalled.
+
+Paper and ink being at their highest point, we will now consider the
+advances which had in the mean time been made in engraving and type or
+letter cutting. It will be seen that the material elements of printing
+were by degrees converging to a culminating point. The evidences of
+engraving, both in relief and intaglio, are of very ancient date. I need
+hardly remind you of the exquisite workmanship on coins, cameos, and
+seals, many centuries before the Christian era, to illustrate the high
+state of cultivation at which the arts must then have arrived. The art of
+casting and chasing in bronze was extensively practised in the twelfth
+century, and I have seen a specimen with letters so cut in relief that
+they might be separated to form movable type. The goldsmiths were
+certainly among the greatest artists of the early ages, and were
+competent to execute forms or moulds of any kind to perfection.
+
+In the British Museum is a brass signet stamp, more than two thousand
+years old, on which two lines of letters are very neatly engraved
+in relief, in the reversed order necessary for printing; and as the
+interstices are cut away very deeply and roughly, there is little doubt
+but that this stamp was used with ink on papyrus, parchment, or
+linen, for paper was not then known. Indeed, the experiment of taking
+impressions from it in printing-ink has been tried, and found to answer
+perfectly. A large surface so engraved would at once have given to the
+world an equivalent to what is now regarded as the most advanced state of
+the art of printing; that is, a stereotype plate. Vergil mentions brands
+for marking cattle with their owner's name; probably this kind of brass
+stamp, but larger.
+
+I could cite many more examples of ancient engraving which would yield
+impressions on paper, either by pressure or friction. But our business is
+with printing rather than engraving; I will, therefore, go back to the
+subject, and cite a very early and interesting example of stamping
+engraved letters on clay. I mean the Babylonian bricks, supposed to be
+four thousand years old, mostly sun-baked, but some apparently kiln-burnt
+almost to vitrification. Of these there are now many examples in England,
+added to our stores by the indefatigable researches of Layard, Rawlinson,
+and others. These bricks, which are about a foot square and three inches
+thick, are on one side covered with hieroglyphics, evidently impressed
+with a stamp, just as letters are now stamped on official papers.
+
+Another evidence of the same kind, and of about the same age, is the
+famous Babylonian cylinder found in the ruins of Persepolis, and now
+preserved in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge. It is about
+seven inches high, barrel-shaped, and covered with inscriptions in the
+cuneiform character, disposed in vertical lines, and affording a positive
+example of an indented surface produced by mechanical impression. Such
+cylinders are supposed to have been memorials of matters of national or
+family importance, and were in early ages, as we know by tradition, very
+numerous. Stamped or printed blocks of lead, bearing the names of Roman
+authorities, are to be found in the British Museum.
+
+Printing on leather was practised by the Egyptians, as we discover from
+their mummies, which have bandages of leather round their heads, with the
+name of the deceased printed on them. And in Pompeii a loaf was found on
+which the name of the baker and its quality were printed. Among ancient
+testimonies, one of the most interesting is that afforded by Cicero in
+his _de Natura Deorum_. He orders types to be made of metal, and calls
+them _forma literarum_--the very words used by our first printers; and in
+another place he gives a hint of separate cut letters when he speaks of
+the impossibility of the most ingenious man throwing the twenty-four
+letters of the alphabet together by chance, and thus producing the famous
+_Annals_ of Ennius. He makes that observation in opposition to the
+atheistical argument of the creation of the world by chance.
+
+We have besides, in what is generally classed as a manuscript, a
+reasonable although disputed evidence of an elementary stage of printing;
+I mean the _Codex Argenteus_ (or _Silver Book_) of Upsala, which contains
+a portion of the gospels in Mesogothic, supposed to be of the fourth or
+fifth century, the work of Ulfilas. In this codex the first lines of each
+gospel and of the Lord's Prayer are in large gold letters, apparently
+printed by a stamp, in the manner of a bookbinder, as there are
+indentations on the back of the vellum. The small letters are written in
+silver. The whole is on a light purple or violet colored vellum.
+
+Having said enough, I think, of the ancients' knowledge of type-forms and
+printing materials, I pass on to the recognized establishments of the art
+in the fifteenth century; for, whatever knowledge the ancients had
+of printing, it would appear to have yielded no immediate fruits to
+posterity.
+
+But before I proceed to modern times, I am bound to note that the
+Chinese, who seem to have been many centuries in advance of Europe in
+most of the industral arts, are supposed to have practised
+block-printing, just as they do now, more than a thousand years ago. Nor
+does the complicated nature of their written language, which consists of
+more than one hundred thousand word-signs, admit of any readier mode. But
+they print, or rather rub off, impressions with such speed--seven
+hundred sheets per hour--that, until the introduction of steam, they far
+outstripped Europeans. Gibbon, it will be remembered, regrets that the
+emperor Justinian, who lived in the sixth century, did not introduce the
+art of printing from the Chinese, instead of their silk manufacture.
+
+Block-printing ushered in the great epoch; and the first dawn of it
+in Europe seems to have been single prints of saints and scriptural
+subjects, with a line or two of description engraved on the same wooden
+plate. These are for the most part lost; but there is one in existence,
+large and exceedingly fine, of St. Christopher, with two lines of
+inscription, dated 1423, believed to have been printed with the ordinary
+printing-press. It was found in the library of a monastery near Augsburg,
+and is therefore presumed to be of German execution. Till lately this was
+the earliest-dated evidence of block-printing known; but there has since
+been discovered at Malines, and deposited at Brussels, a wood-cut
+of similar character, but assumed to be Dutch or Flemish, dated
+"MCCCCXVIII"; and though there seems no reason to doubt the genuineness
+of the cut, it is asserted that the date bears evidence of having been
+tampered with.
+
+There is a vague tradition, depending entirely on the assertion of a
+writer named Papillon, not a very reliable authority, which would give
+the invention of wood-cut-printing to Venice, and at a very early period.
+He asserts that he once saw a set of eight prints, depicting the deeds
+of Alexander the Great, each described in verse, which were engraved in
+relief, and printed by a brother and sister named Cunio, at Ravenna,
+in 1285. But though the assertion is accredited by Mr. Ottley, it is
+generally disbelieved.
+
+There is reason to suppose that playing-cards, from wooden blocks, were
+produced at Venice long before the block-books, even as early as 1250;
+but there is no positive evidence that they were printed; and some insist
+that they were produced either by friction or stencil-plates. It seems,
+however, by no means unlikely that cards, which were in most extensive
+use in the Middle Ages, should, for the sake of cheapness, have been
+printed quite as early, if not earlier, than even figures of saints; and
+the same artists are presumed to have produced both.
+
+From single prints, with letter-press inscriptions, the next stage, that
+of a series of prints accompanied by letter-press, was obvious. Such are
+our first recognized block-books, among which are the Apocalypse, and the
+_Biblia Pauperum_ (or _Poor Man's Bible_), supposed to have been printed
+at Haarlem by Laurence Koster, between 1420 and 1430; I say supposed,
+because we have no positive evidence either of the person, place, or
+date; and Erasmus, who was born at Rotterdam in 1467, and always ready
+to advance the honor of his country, is silent on the subject. We rely
+chiefly upon the testimony of Ulric Zell, an eminent printer of Cologne,
+who is quoted in the _Cologne Chronicle_ of 1499, and Hadrian Junius, a
+Dutch historian of repute, who wrote in the next century. Both agree in
+ascribing the invention of book-printing from wooden blocks, as well as
+the first germ of movable wood and metallic type printing, to Haarlem;
+and Junius adds the name of Laurence Koster. His surname of Koster is
+derived from his office, which was that of custodian, sexton, or warden
+of the Cathedral Church of Haarlem. The story told of the accident by
+which the discovery was made is as follows:
+
+Koster, as he was one day walking in a wood adjoining the city, about the
+year 1420, cut some letters on the bark of a beech tree, from which he
+took impressions on paper for the amusement of his brother-in-law's
+children. The idea then struck him of enlarging their application;
+and, being a man of an ingenious turn, he invented a thicker and more
+tenacious ink than was in common use, which blotted, and began to print
+figures from wooden tablets or blocks, to which he added several lines of
+letters, first solid, and then separate or movable. These wooden types
+are said to have been fastened together with string.
+
+One thing seems pretty clear, which is, that, whether or not Koster was
+the printer, the first block-books were produced somewhere in Holland, as
+several are in Dutch, a language seldom, if ever, printed out of its own
+country. They were generally printed in light-brown ink, like a sepia
+drawing, which, I think, was adopted with a view to their being
+colored--a condition in which we find the greater part of them. When
+these prints were colored they presented very much the appearance of the
+Low Country stained-glass windows.
+
+Block-books continued to be printed and reprinted, first in Holland and
+afterward in Germany, with considerable activity, for twenty or thirty
+years, during which period we had several editions of the _Biblia
+Pauperum_, the _Ars Moriendi_ (or _Art of Dying),_ the _Speculum Humanae
+Salvationis_, and many others, chiefly devoted to the promulgation of
+scripture history. The earliest ones are printed, or rather transferred
+by friction--and therefore on one side only of the paper--entirely from
+solid blocks; later on, some portions were printed with movable types of
+wood; and at last the letter-press was entirely of movable metal types.
+Junius says that Koster by degrees exchanged his wooden types for leaden
+ones, and these for pewter; and I will add that it is not unlikely they
+may have been cast in lead or pewter plates from the wooden blocks, as
+metal-casting was well understood at the time.
+
+The pretensions of Haarlem and Koster have for more than a century been a
+matter of fierce controversy; and there have been upward of one hundred
+and fifty volumes written for or against, without any approach to a
+satisfactory decision. This one thing is certain, that, whether or not we
+owe the first idea of movable type to Laurence Koster or to Haarlem, we
+do not owe to the period any very marked use of it; that was reserved for
+a later day.
+
+There is a story current, dependent on the authority of Junius, that
+Koster's principal workman, assumed to be Hans or John Faust--and some,
+to reconcile improbabilities, even say John Gutenberg--who had been sworn
+to secrecy, decamped one Christmas Eve, after the death of Koster, while
+the family were at church, taking with him types and printing apparatus
+and, after short sojourns at Amsterdam and Cologne, got to Mainz or
+Mayence with them, and there introduced printing. He is said by Junius
+to have printed, about the year 1442--that is, two years after Koster's
+death--the _Doctrinale_ of Alexander Gallus and the _Tracts_ of Peter of
+Spain, with the very types which Koster made use of in Haarlem; but as no
+volume of this kind has ever been discovered, nor any trace of one, the
+entire story is generally regarded as apocryphal. Laurence Koster died
+in 1440, at the age of seventy; therefore any printing attributed to him
+must be within that period.
+
+What has hitherto been advanced proves only that mankind had walked for
+many centuries on the borders of the two great inventions, chalcography
+and typography, without having fully and practically discovered either of
+them.
+
+We now come to the great epoch of printing--I mean the complete
+introduction, if not actually the first invention, of movable metal
+or fusile types. This took place at Mainz, in or before 1450, and the
+general consent of Europe assigns the credit of it to Gutenberg. Of a man
+who has conferred such vast obligations on all succeeding ages, it may be
+desirable to say a few words.
+
+John Gutenberg was born at Mainz in 1397, of a patrician and rather
+wealthy family. He left his native city, it is said, because implicated
+in an insurrection of the citizens against the nobility, and settled
+at Strasburg, where, in 1427, we find him an established merchant, and
+sustaining a suit of breach of promise brought against him by a lady
+named Ann of the Iron Door, whom he afterward married. While resident
+here, and before 1439, his attention appears to have been actively
+directed to the art of printing, as we learn by a legal document of the
+time, found of late years in the archives of Strasburg. He is there
+stated to have entered into an engagement with three persons, named
+Dreizehn, Riffe, and Heilmann, to reveal to them "a secret art of
+printing which he had lately discovered," and to take them into
+partnership for five years, upon the payment of certain sums.
+
+The death of Dreizehn before he had paid up all his instalments led to a
+suit on the part of his relations, which ended in Gutenberg's favor. In
+the course of the evidence one of the witnesses, a goldsmith, deposed to
+having received from Gutenberg three or four years previously--that
+is, about 1435--upward of three hundred florins for materials used in
+printing. Other witnesses proved the anxiety that Gutenberg had shown to
+have four pages of type distributed which appear to have been screwed up
+in chase, and lying on a press on the deceased's premises.
+
+This would be evidence that Gutenberg had arrived at a knowledge of
+movable types, either of wood or metal, and probably of both, before
+1440; and, had it not been for the rupture of the partnership before
+anything had been printed by the new process, Strasburg might have
+claimed the honor which is now given to Mainz.
+
+Soon after this--it is supposed in 1444--Gutenberg returned to his native
+city, by leave of the town council, which he was obliged to ask, bringing
+with him all his materials. In 1446 he entered into a partnership with
+John Faust--a wealthy and skilful goldsmith and engraver--who
+engaged, upon being taught the secrets of the art and admitted into a
+participation of the profits, to advance the necessary funds, which he
+did to the extent of two thousand two hundred florins. Goldsmiths, it
+should be borne in mind, were then the great artists in all kinds of
+metal work, and extremely skilful in modelling, engraving, and casting,
+which were exactly the arts required for type-founding.
+
+The new partnership immediately commenced operations, hired a house
+called Zumjungen, and took into their employ Peter Schoeffer, who had
+been Faust's apprentice, as their assistant. Faust is supposed to have
+employed himself in cutting the type, which is an extremely slow process,
+till Peter Schoeffer, afterward his son-in-law, suggested an improved
+mode of casting it in copper matrices struck by steel punches, pretty
+much in the same manner as was till recently practised throughout Europe.
+The firm had for some time previously adopted a method of casting type in
+moulds of plaster, which was a tedious process, as every letter required
+a new mould.
+
+Although to Gutenberg are undoubtedly due all the main features of
+metal-type printing, yet we owe, perhaps, to the practical skill of
+Faust, and the taste of Schoeffer, who was an accomplished penman, the
+exquisite finish and perfection with which their first joint effort came
+forth to the world. This was a Latin Vulgate, printed in a large cut
+metal type, and commonly called the Mazarin Bible, because the first copy
+known to bibliographers was found in the library of Cardinal Mazarin.
+It consists of six hundred and forty-one leaves, forming two, sometimes
+four, large volumes in folio; some copies on paper of beautiful texture,
+some on vellum. It was without date or names of the printers, as it was
+evidently intended to present the appearance of a manuscript; but it is
+supposed, on good evidence, to have been printed between 1450 and 1455,
+and it is not improbable the volumes were all that time, that is,
+five years, and some say more, at press; for we know, by certain
+technicalities, that every page was printed off singly.
+
+These precious volumes, as splendid as they are wonderful, have excited
+the admiration of all beholders. The sharpness and elegant uniformity of
+the type, the lustre of the ink, and the purity of the paper leave that
+first great monument of the typographic art unsurpassed by any subsequent
+effort; nor could it be exceeded with all the appliances of the present
+day.
+
+"It is a striking circumstance," says Mr. Hallam, "that the high-minded
+inventors of this great art tried, at the very outset, so bold a flight
+as the printing of an entire Bible, and executed it with astonishing
+success. It was Minerva leaping on earth in her divine strength and
+radiant armor, ready, at the moment of her nativity, to subdue and
+destroy her enemies."
+
+There is a curious story current about this Bible, which, as it is
+connected with a popular fiction, I will venture to repeat. It is that
+Faust went to Paris with some of his Bibles for sale, one of which,
+printed on vellum and richly illuminated, he sold to the King for seven
+hundred and fifty crowns, and another to the Archbishop of Paris for
+three hundred crowns, and to the poorer clergy and the laity copies on
+paper as low as fifty crowns, and even less. Faust does not appear to
+have disclosed the secret of how they were produced, and probably let it
+be supposed that they were manuscript; for the aim of the first printers
+was to make their books equal in beauty to the finest manuscripts, and
+as far as possible undistinguishable from them, to which end the large
+capitals and decorations were filled in by hand.
+
+The Archbishop, proud of his purchase, showed it to the King, who,
+comparing it with his own, found with surprise that they tallied so
+exactly in every respect, excepting the illuminated ornaments, as
+convinced them that they were produced by some other art than
+transcription; and on further inquiry they found that Faust had sold
+a considerable number exactly similar. Orders, therefore, were given
+without delay to apprehend and prosecute him as a practitioner of the
+black art in multiplying Holy Writ by aid of the devil. Hence arose the
+popular fiction of the Devil and Dr. Faustus, which, under different
+phases, has found its way into every country in Europe, and probably gave
+rise to Goethe's celebrated drama.
+
+In 1455, as we find by a notarial document, dated November 6th of that
+year, Faust separated from Gutenberg, and successfully instituted
+proceedings against him for money advanced. Gutenberg, who had exhausted
+all his means in bringing his invention to maturity, was obliged to
+mortgage and in the end surrender all his materials, and, it should seem,
+his printed stock. His impoverishment may easily be accounted for when we
+are told, as a received fact, that before the first four sheets of his
+Bible were completed he had already expended four thousand crowns upon
+it--a large sum in those days. Of this his then wealthier partner reaped
+all the subsequent advantage.
+
+After this period, Faust, and his son-in-law, Peter Schoeffer, in
+possession of the materials, printed on their own account, and, within
+eighteen months of their separation from Gutenberg, produced the
+celebrated Latin Psalter of 1457, the first book in any country which
+bears a complete imprint--that is, the name of the printer, place, and
+date. This magnificent volume, of which the whole edition was printed on
+vellum, is now even rarer than the Mazarin Bible, and of extraordinary
+value; the letters are very large and bold, cast in metal type, and the
+ornamental initials are beautifully cut in wood.
+
+Two years later, that is, in 1459, Faust and Schoeffer produced an
+almost fac-simile reprint of the Psalter, and in the same year _Durandi
+Rationale Divinorum Officiorum_, the latter with an entirely new font of
+metal type--the first cast from Schoeffer's punches--which some, in the
+erroneous belief that the Psalter was printed from wooden types, have
+asserted to be the first dated book printed with metal type. Then
+followed, in 1460, the _Constitutiones Clementis V_, a handsome folio,
+and in 1462 their famous Latin Bible, the first one with a date.
+
+In the mean time, Gutenberg, undaunted by the loss of all that had cost
+him so many years of unremitted application and his whole fortune, began
+afresh; and this time, it should seem, with better success, as we find
+him, in 1459, undertaking to present, for certain considerations, all the
+books he had then printed, or might thereafter print, to a convent where
+his sister was a nun. No book, however, has yet been discovered bearing
+the name of Gutenberg; and we can only guess what came from his press by
+a peculiarity of type, of which, after the first Bible, the most marked
+is the famous _Catholicon_, dated 1460--a kind of universal dictionary,
+the germ of all future cyclopaedias, and which became so popular that
+more than forty editions were printed of it in as many years. In 1465
+Gutenberg retired from printing, being appointed to a lucrative office at
+the court of the Archbishop of Mainz, and in 1467 he died.
+
+And here we take leave of Gutenberg, with admiration for his patience,
+his perseverance, and his self-sacrifice in a cause which has produced
+such glorious fruits. He was one of those noble spirits who are endowed
+with a perception of what is good, and pursue it independent of worldly
+considerations. Posterity has done him tardy justice in erecting a marble
+monument to his memory and establishing a jubilee, which gave rise to one
+of the most touching of Mendelssohn's compositions.
+
+By this time the secret had transpired to the neighboring states, and
+Mentelin, of Strasburg, and Pfister, or Bamberg, were, before the
+beginning of 1462, in full activity. Indeed, Pfister is, by some, thought
+to have printed before 1460; and his finely executed Latin Bible, in cast
+type, was for many years regarded as the first.
+
+At this critical period, when the art was reaching its zenith, the
+operations of the Mainz printers were suddenly brought to a standstill
+by the siege and capture of the city in 1462. The occasion of this was a
+fierce dispute between the Pope and the people as to who had the right of
+appointment to the archbishopric, lately become vacant. The original hive
+of workmen dispersed to other states, and by degrees the mysteries of the
+art became spread over the civilized world. Such, indeed, was the fame
+printing had acquired, and its manifest importance, that every crowned
+head sought to introduce it into his kingdom, and welcomed the fugitives.
+Within a few years of this period the art had been carried by the
+scattered German workmen into Italy, France, Spain, and Switzerland; and
+before the close of the fifteenth century it was practised in more than
+two hundred twenty different places.
+
+Before entering upon the history of printing in England, I will take
+leave to call your attention to a few prominent facts connected with its
+progress abroad, as well as to some points of its early condition which
+could not be conveniently introduced in chronological order. All the
+books printed previously to 1465 are in the Gothic, or black letter,
+which still remained the favorite in Germany and the Low Countries long
+after the Italians introduced their beautiful Roman letter. The first
+books in which any Greek type occurs are Cicero's _Offices_, printed
+by Faust and Schoeffer in 1465, directly after the resumption of their
+establishment; and _Lactantius_, printed the same year by Sweynheim and
+Pannartz, in the monastery of Soubiaco at Rome. The first book printed
+entirely in Greek was Constantine Lascar's _Greek Grammar_, Milan, 1476.
+
+One of the earliest of the Italian books, and, to use the words of
+Dr. Dibdin, perhaps the most notorious volume in existence, was the
+celebrated Boccaccio, printed at Venice by Valdarfer in 1471. This book
+deserves particular mention, because of an extraordinary contest which
+once took place for its possession between two wealthy bibliomaniacs. It
+was a small black-letter folio, in faded yellow morocco, and supposed
+to be unique. Its history is this: In the early part of the eighteenth
+century it had come accidentally into the possession of a London
+bookseller, who successively offered it to Harley, Earl of Oxford, and
+to Lord Sunderland; then the two principal collectors, for one hundred
+guineas; but both were staggered at the price and higgled about the
+purchase. An ancestor of the late Duke of Roxburghe, whom nobody dreamed
+of as a collector, hearing of the book, secured it, and then invited the
+two noblemen to dinner, with the view of parading his trophy. In due
+course he led the conversation to the book, and, after letting them
+expatiate on its rarity, told them he thought he had a copy in his
+bookcase, which they emphatically declared to be impossible, and
+challenged him to produce it. On producing the book, about the purchase
+of which they had only been temporizing, they were not a little
+chagrined.
+
+This same copy made its appearance again, half a century later, at the
+Duke of Roxburghe's sale in 1812, a time when bibliomania was at its
+height. Loud notes of preparation foretold that it would sell for a
+considerable sum; five hundred and even one thousand guineas were
+guessed, as it was known that Lord Spencer, the Duke of Devonshire, and
+the Marquis of Blandford were all bent on its possession, but nobody
+anticipated the extravagant sum it was to realize. After a very spirited
+competition, it was knocked down to the Marquis of Blandford for two
+thousand sixty pounds. This book was resold at the Marquis of Blandford's
+sale, in 1819, for eight hundred seventy-five guineas, and passed to Lord
+Spencer, in whose extraordinary library it now reposes.
+
+Before the commencement of the sixteenth century, that is, within forty
+or fifty years of the invention of printing with movable type, upward of
+twenty thousand volumes had issued from at least a thousand different
+presses. All the principal Latin classics, many of the Greek, and upward
+of two hundred fifty editions of the Bible, or parts of the Bible, had
+appeared.
+
+One of the most active and enterprising of the early printers was Anthony
+Koburger of Nuremberg, an accomplished scholar, who began there in 1472,
+and before the year 1500 had printed thirteen large editions of the Bible
+in folio, and a prodigious number of other books. He kept twenty-four
+presses at work, employing one hundred workmen, and had sixteen shops for
+the sale of books in the principal cities of Germany, besides factors
+and agents all over Europe. He printed, in 1493, that grand volume, the
+_Nuremberg Chronicle_, which is illustrated with upward of one thousand
+woodcuts by Michael Wohlgemuth, the master of Albert Duerer, and is
+curious as being one of the first books in which cross-hatchings occur in
+wood-engraving.
+
+The sixteenth century opened with another invention in type, the Italic,
+which was beautifully exemplified in a pocket edition of Vergil, the
+first of a portable series of classical works commenced in 1501 at Venice
+by the celebrated Aldus Manutius, who, after some years of preparation,
+had entered actively on his career as a printer in 1494, and deservedly
+ranks as one of the best scholars of any age.
+
+Then came the Giunti, the learned family of the Stephenses, of whom
+Robert is accredited as the author of the present divisions of our
+New Testament into chapters, and Henry, author of the great Greek
+_Thesaurus_, the most valuable Greek lexicon ever published. To the
+opprobrium of the age, he died in an almshouse.
+
+Among many others immortalized by their successful contributions to the
+great cause we must not forget the Plantins, whose memories are still so
+cherished at Antwerp that their printing establishment remains to this
+day untouched, just as it was left two centuries ago, with all the
+freshness of a chamber in Pompeii, the type and chases of their famous
+Polyglot lying about, as if the workmen had but just left the office.
+
+The accordance of the art of printing with the spirit of the times which
+gave it birth must be regarded as singularly providential. The Protestant
+Reformation in Germany was brought about by Luther's accidentally
+meeting, in a monastic library, with one of Gutenberg's printed Latin
+Bibles, when at the age of twenty. "A mighty change," says Luther, "then
+came over me," and all his subsequent efforts are to be attributed to
+that event. His recognition of the importance of printing is given in
+these words: "Printing is the best and highest gift, the _summum et
+postremum donum_ by which God advanceth the Gospel. Thanks be to God that
+it hath come at last. Holy fathers now at rest would rejoice to see this
+day of the revealed Gospel."
+
+William Caxton, by common consent, is the introducer of the art of
+printing into England. He was born about 1422, in Kent, and received
+what was then thought a liberal education. His father must have been in
+respectable circumstances, as there was at that time a law in full force
+prohibiting any youth from being apprenticed to trade whose parent was
+not possessed of a certain rental in land. In his eighteenth year Caxton
+was apprenticed to Robert Large, an eminent London mercer, who in 1430
+was sheriff and in 1439 Lord Mayor of London. At his death, in 1441,
+he bequeathed Caxton a legacy of twenty marks--a large sum in those
+days--and an honorable testimony to his fidelity and integrity. Soon
+after this the Mercers' Company appointed him their agent in the Low
+Countries, in which employment he spent twenty-three years.
+
+In 1464 he was one of two commissioners officially employed by Edward IV
+to negotiate a commercial treaty with Philip of Burgundy; and in 1468,
+when the King's sister, Margaret of York, married Charles of Burgundy,
+called "the Bold," he attached himself to their household, probably
+in some literary capacity, as in the next year we find him busied in
+translating at her request. During the greater part of this long period
+he was residing or travelling in the midst of the countries where the new
+art of printing was the great subject of interest, and would naturally
+take some measures to acquaint himself with it. Indeed, it has been said
+that he had a secret commission from Edward IV to learn the art, and to
+bribe some of the foreign workmen into England. Be this as it may, we
+know that Caxton acquired a complete knowledge of it while abroad, for
+he tells us so, and that he had printed at Cologne the _Recueil des
+Histoires de Troye_ (or _Romance History of Troy_), in 1465, and in 1472
+an English edition of the same, translated by himself. These two early
+productions are remarkable as being the first books printed in either the
+French or English language[26]. The English edition was sold at the Duke
+of Roxburghe's sale for one thousand sixty pounds, and is now in the
+possession of the Duke of Devonshire.
+
+Caxton returned to England about 1474, bringing with him presses and
+types, and established himself in one of the chapels of Westminster
+Abbey, called the Eleemosynary, Almondry, or Arm'ry, supposed to have
+been on the site of Henry VII's chapel. A printer would naturally resort
+to the abbey for patronage, as in those days it was the head-quarters
+of learning as well as of religion. Before the foundation of grammar
+schools, there was usually a _scholasticus_ attached to the abbeys and
+cathedral churches, who directed and superintended the education of the
+neighboring nobility and gentry. He was, besides, one of the members of
+the _scriptorium_, a large establishment within the abbey, where school
+and other books used to be written.
+
+The first book Caxton printed, after he returned to England and
+established himself at the Almonry, is supposed to be _The Game and Play
+of Chesse_, dated 1474. But some have raised doubts whether this was
+printed in England, as there is no actual evidence of it. One of the
+arguments is that the type is exactly the same as what he had previously
+used at Cologne; but this is no evidence at all, as both the type and
+paper used in England for many years came from Cologne, and there is no
+doubt that Caxton brought some with him. A second edition of the book of
+chess, with woodcuts, was printed two or three years later, and this is
+generally admitted to have been printed in England.
+
+The first book with an unmistakable imprint was his _Dictes and Sayings
+of Philosophers_, which had been translated for him by the gallant but
+unfortunate Lord Rivers, who was murdered in Pomfret castle by order of
+Richard III. The colophon of this states that it was printed in the Abbey
+of Westminster in 1477. He appears to have printed but one single volume
+upon vellum, which is _The Doctrynal of Sapience_, 1489, of which a copy,
+formerly in the King's Library at Windsor, is now in the British Museum.
+This is a very interesting work as connected with Caxton, being entirely
+translated by himself into English verse. It is an allegorical fiction,
+in which the whole system of literature and science comes under
+consideration.
+
+Caxton died in 1491, after having produced, within twenty years of his
+active career, more than fifty volumes of mark, including Chaucer, Gower,
+Lydgate, and his own _Chronicle_ of England. Before Caxton's time the
+youths of England were supplied with their school-books and their
+reading, which was necessarily very limited, by the Company of
+Stationers, or text-writers, who wrote and sold, by an exclusive royal
+privilege, the school-books then in use. These were chiefly the A B Cs,
+(called _Absies_), the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, and the address to the
+Virgin Mary, called _Ave Maria_.
+
+The location of these stationers was in the neighborhood of St. Paul's
+Cathedral, whence arose the names Paternoster Row, Creed Lane, Amen
+Corner, and Ave Maria Lane. Manuscripts of a higher order, that is, in
+the form of books, were mostly supplied by the monks, and were scarcely
+accessible to any but the wealthy, from their extreme cost. Thus, a
+Chaucer, which may now be bought for a few shillings, then cost more than
+a hundred pounds; and we read of two hundred sheep and ten quarters of
+wheat being given for a volume of homilies.
+
+Minstrels, instead of books, were in early times the principal medium of
+communication between authors and the public; they wandered up and down
+the country, chanting, singing, or reciting, according to the taste of
+their customers, and had certain privileges of entertainment in the halls
+of the nobility.
+
+It may be wondered that Caxton, like many of the foreign printers, did
+not begin with, or at least some time during his career print, the
+Scriptures, especially as Wycliffe's translation had already been made.
+But there were good reasons. Religious persecution ran high, and the
+clergy were extremely jealous of the propagation of the Scriptures among
+the people. Knighton had denounced the reading of the Bible, lamenting
+lest this jewel of the Church, hitherto the exclusive property of the
+clergy and divines, should be made common to the laity; and Archbishop
+Arundel had issued an enactment that no part of the Scriptures in English
+should be read, either in public or private, or be thereafter translated,
+under pain of the greater excommunication. The Star Chamber, too, was big
+with terrors. A little later, Erasmus' edition of the New Testament was
+forbidden at Cambridge; and in the county of Surrey the Vicar of Croydon
+said from the pulpit, "We must root out printing, or printing will root
+out us."
+
+Winkin de Worde, who had come in his youth with Caxton to England and
+continued with him in the superintendence of his office to the day of his
+death, succeeded to the business, and conducted it with great spirit
+for the next forty years. He began by entirely remodelling his fonts
+of Gothic type, and introduced both Roman and Italic; became his own
+founder, instead of importing type from the Low Countries; promoted the
+manufacture of paper in this country; and such was his activity that he
+printed the extraordinary number of four hundred eight different works.
+He deserves, perhaps, more praise than he has ever received for the
+important part he played in establishing and advancing the art in
+England.
+
+But no one of our early printers deserves more grateful remembrance than
+Richard Grafton, who, in 1537, was the first publisher of the Bible in
+England. I say in England, because the first Bible, known as Coverdale's,
+and several editions of the Testament, translated by Tyndale, had been
+previously printed abroad in secrecy. Grafton's first edition of the
+Bible was a reprint of Coverdale and Tyndale's translation, with slight
+alterations, by one who assumed the name of Thomas Matthew, but whose
+real name was John Rogers, then Prebendary of St. Paul's, and afterward
+burned as a heretic in Smithfield. Even this was printed secretly abroad,
+nobody yet knows where, and did not have Grafton's name attached to it
+till the King had granted him a license under the privy seal. Though this
+year, 1537, has by the annalists of the Bible been called the first year
+of triumph, on account of the King's license, yet Bibles were still apt
+to be dangerous things to all concerned; and what was permitted one day
+was not unlikely, by a change in religion or policy, to be interdicted
+the next with severe visitations.
+
+Although Henry VIII had recently completed his breach with Rome and
+been excommunicated, he alternately punished the religious movements of
+Protestants and Catholics, according to his caprice; and it was but a few
+years previously that the reading of the Bible had been prohibited by
+act of parliament, that men had been burned at the stake for having even
+fragments of it in their possession, and that Tyndale's translation of
+the new Testament had been bought up and publicly burned (1534) by order
+of Cuthbert Tunstall, Bishop of London; and even as late as May, 1536,
+the reading of the sacred volume had been strictly forbidden.
+
+Grafton, therefore, must have been a bold man to face the danger. Thus,
+in 1538, when a new edition of the Bible, commonly called the "Great
+Bible," afterward published in 1539, was secretly printing in Paris at
+the instance of Lord Cromwell, under the superintendence of Grafton,
+Whitchurch, and Coverdale, the French inquisitors of the faith
+interfered, charging them with heresy, and they were fortunate in making
+their escape to England.
+
+Shortly after the death of Caxton's patron, Lord Cromwell, Grafton was
+imprisoned for the double offence of printing Matthew's Bible and the
+Great Bible, notwithstanding the King's license; and though after a while
+released, he was again imprisoned in the reign of Philip and Mary on
+account of his Protestant principles; and, after all his services to
+religion and literature, died in poverty in 1572.
+
+Printing was now spreading all over England. It had already begun at
+Oxford in 1478--some say earlier--at Cambridge soon after, although the
+first dated work is 1521; at St. Albans in 1480; York in 1509; and other
+places by degrees.
+
+Printing did not reach Scotland till 1507, and then but imperfectly, and
+Ireland not till 1551, owing, it is said, to the jealousy with which it
+was regarded by the priesthood.
+
+We will now take a rapid survey of the vast strides printing has made of
+late years in England, and therewith close. The principal movements have
+been in stereotyping, electrotyping, the improvement of presses, and the
+application of steam power. Stereotyping is the transfer of pages of
+movable type into solid metal plates, by the medium of moulds formed of
+plaster of Paris, _papier-mache,_ gutta-percha, or other substances. This
+art is supposed to have been invented, in or about 1725, by William Ged,
+a goldsmith of Edinburgh. A small capitalist, who had engaged to embark
+with him, withdrawing from the speculation in alarm, he accepted
+overtures from a Mr. William Fenner, and in 1729 came to London. Here
+he obtained three partners, in conjunction with whom he entered into a
+contract with the University of Cambridge for stereotyping Bibles and
+prayer-books. But the workmen, fearing that stereotyping would eventually
+ruin their trade, purposely made errors, and, when their masters were
+absent, battered the type, so that the only two prayer-books completed
+were suppressed by authority, and the plates destroyed. Upon this the
+art got into disrepute, and Ged, after much ill-treatment, returned to
+Edinburgh, impoverished and disheartened. Here his friends, desirous that
+a memorial of his art should be published, entered into a subscription to
+defray the expense; and a Sallust, printed in 1736, and composed and cast
+in the night-time to avoid the jealous opposition of the workmen, is now
+the principal evidence of his claim to the invention.
+
+But the time had not come; for without a very large demand, such as could
+not exist in those days, stereotyping would be of no advantage. Books
+which sell by hundreds of thousands, and are constantly reprinting, such
+as Bibles, prayer-books, school-books, Shakespeares, Bunyans, Robinson
+Crusoes, Uncle Toms, and very popular authors and editions, will pay for
+stereotyping; but for small numbers it is a loss. After the invention had
+been neglected long enough to be forgotten, Earl Stanhope, who had for
+several years devoted himself earnestly to the subject, and made many
+experiments, resuscitated it, in a very perfect manner, in 1803; and his
+printer, Mr. Wilson, sold the secret to both universities and to most of
+the leading printers. To the art of stereotyping the public is mainly
+indebted for cheap literature, for when the plates are once produced the
+chief expense is disposed of.
+
+Something akin to stereotyping is another method of printing, called
+logography, invented by John Walter of the London _Times_, in 1783, and
+for which he took out a patent. This means a system of printing from type
+cast in words instead of single letters, which it was thought would save
+time and corrections when applied to newspapers, but it was not found to
+answer. A joke of the time was a supposed order to the type-founder for
+some words of frequent occurrence, which ran thus: "Please send me a
+hundredweight, sorted, of murder, fire, dreadful robbery, atrocious
+outrage, fearful calamity, alarming explosion, melancholy accident; an
+assortment of honourable member, whig, tory, hot, cold, wet, dry; half
+a hundred weight, made up in pounds, of butter, cheese, beef, mutton,
+tripe, mustard, soap, rain, etc., and a few devils, angels, women,
+groans, hisses, etc." This method of printing did not succeed; for if
+twenty-four letters will give six hundred sextillions of combinations, no
+printing-office could keep a sufficient assortment of even popular words.
+
+[Footnote 1: See Vol 1, 8]
+
+[Footnote 2: See accompanying fac-simile of a page of the English
+edition--a reproduction as faithful as possible in text, color, texture
+of paper, etc.]
+
+
+
+JOHN HUNYADY REPULSES THE TURKS[1]
+
+A.D. 1440-1456
+
+ARMINIUS VAMBERY
+
+
+From the time (1354) when the Turks took Gallipoli and secured their
+first dominion in Europe, the Ottoman power on that side of the
+Hellespont was gradually increased. In 1360 Amurath I crossed from Asia
+Minor, ravaged an extensive district, and took Adrianople, which he made
+the first seat of his royalty and the first shrine of Mahometanism in
+Europe. He next turned toward Bulgaria and Servia, where in the warlike
+Slavonic tribes he found far stronger foes than the Greek victims of
+earlier Turkish conquests.
+
+Pope Urban V preached a crusade against the Turks; and Servia, Hungary,
+Bosnia, and Wallachia leagued themselves to drive the Ottomans out of
+Europe. Amurath defeated them and added new territory to his previous
+acquisitions. A peace was made in 1376, but a new though fruitless
+attempt of the Slavonic peoples against him gave Amurath a pretext for
+further assault upon southeastern Europe. In 1389 he conquered and
+annexed Bulgaria and subjugated the Servians. In the same year Amurath
+was assassinated.
+
+Bajazet I, the son and successor of Amurath, still further extended
+the Turkish conquests. Under Bajazet's son, Mahomet I (1413-1421),
+comparative peace prevailed; but his son, Amurath II, rekindled the
+flames of war. A strong combination, including, with other peoples,
+the Hungarians and Poles, was made against him. In the struggle that
+followed, and which for a time promised the complete expulsion of the
+Turks from Europe, the great leader was the Hungarian, John Hunyady, born
+in 1388. According to some writers, he was a Wallach and the son of a
+common soldier. Creasy calls him "the illegitimate son of Sigismund, King
+of Hungary, and the fair Elizabeth Morsiney." With him appeared a new
+spirit, such as the Ottomans up to that time could not have expected to
+encounter in that part of Europe. In Vambery's narrative we have the
+authority of Hungary's greatest historian for the leading events in the
+life of her greatest hero.
+
+In Europe a new power pulsating with youthful life had arrived from
+somewhere in the interior of Asia with the intention of conquering the
+world. This power was the Turk--not merely a single nation, but a whole
+group of peoples clustered round a nation, inspired by one single idea
+which urged them ever forward--"There is no god but God, and Mahomet is
+the apostle of God."
+
+The Mahometan flood already beat upon the bounds of Catholic Christendom,
+in the forefront of which stood Hungary. Hungary's King, Sigismund, was
+able for a moment in 1396 to unite the nations of Europe against the
+common danger, but the proud array of mail-clad knights were swept away
+like chaff before the steady ranks of the janizaries.
+
+And herewith began the long series of desolating inroads into Hungary,
+for the Turks were wont to suck the blood of the nation they had marked
+down as their prey. They took the country by surprise, secretly,
+suddenly, like a summer storm, appearing in overwhelming numbers,
+burning, murdering, robbing, especially men in the hopes of a rich
+ransom, or children whom they might bring up as Mahometans and
+janizaries. This body, the flower of the Turkish armies, owed its origin
+for the most part to the Christian children thus stolen from their
+parents and their country. This infantry of the janizaries was the first
+standing army in Europe. Living constantly together under a common
+discipline, like the inmates of a cloister, they rushed blindly forward
+to the cry of "God and his Prophet!" like some splendid, powerful wild
+beast eager for prey. The Turkish sultans published the proud order:
+"Forward! Let us conquer the whole world; wheresoever we tie up our
+horses' heads, that land is our own."
+
+To resist such a nation, that would not listen to negotiation, but only
+thirsted for war and conquest, seemed already an impossibility. Europe
+trembled with fear at the reports of the formidable attacks designed
+against her, and listened anxiously for news from distant Hungary, which
+lay, so to say, in the lion's very mouth.
+
+Against such an enemy a soldier of the modern type was useless, one who
+slays only in defence of his own life and at the word of command, whose
+force consists in the high development of the military art and the
+murderous instruments of modern technical science. What was wanted was a
+heroic soul, inspired by a burning faith like to that which impelled the
+Mahometan soldier. This heroic soul, this burning faith, united to
+the tenacious energy of youth, were all found united in John Hunyady,
+accompanied withal by a singular talent for leadership in war. He could
+not rely for support upon the haughty magnates who could trace their
+descent back for centuries and despised the parvenu with a shorter
+pedigree and a smaller estate. He was consequently obliged to cast in
+his lot with the mass of the lesser nobility, individually weaker, it is
+true, but not deficient in spirit and a consciousness of their own worth.
+Of this class he soon became the idolized leader. Around him gathered the
+hitherto latent forces of Hungarian society, especially from Transylvania
+and South Hungary and the Great Hungarian Plain, which suffered most from
+the incursions of the Turks, and were therefore most impressed with the
+necessity of organizing a system of defence. It was these who were the
+first to be inspired by Hurvyady's heroic spirit.
+
+Before commencing his career as independent commander he, following
+his father's example, attached himself to the court of Sigismund, the
+Emperor-king, in whose train he visited the countries of Western Europe,
+Germany, England, and Italy, till he at length returned home, his mind
+enriched by experience but with the fervor of his first faith unchilled.
+
+When over fifty years old, he repaired at his sovereign's command to the
+south of Hungary to organize the resistance to the Turks. At first he
+was appointed ban of Severin, and as such had the chief command of the
+fortified places built by the Hungarians for the defence of the Lower
+Danube. After that he became waywode of Transylvania, the civil and
+military governor of the southeastern corner of the Hungarian kingdom.
+
+Before, however, he had reached these dignities he had fought a
+succession of battles and skirmishes with such success that for the
+fanatical Turkish soldiery his form, nay, his very name, was an object
+of terror. It was Hunyady alone whom they sought to slay on the field of
+battle, well persuaded that, he once slain, they would easily deal with
+the rest of Hungary. Thus in 1442 a Turkish leader, named Mezid Bey,
+burst into Transylvania at the head of eighty thousand men in pursuance
+of the Sultan's commands, with no other aim than to take Hunyady dead or
+alive.
+
+Nor, indeed, did Hunyady keep them waiting for him. He hurried at the
+head of his troops to attack the Turkish leader, who was laying siege to
+Hermannstadt. Upon this, Mezid Bey, calling his bravest soldiers around
+him, described to them once more Hunyady's appearance, his arms, his
+dress, his stature, and his horse, that they might certainly recognize
+him. "Slay him only," he exclaimed, "and we shall easily deal with the
+rest of them; we shall drive them like a flock of sheep into the presence
+of our august master."
+
+On that occasion was seen with what self-sacrificing enthusiasm his
+soldiers loved their heroic leader. When they learned from their spies
+the purpose of the Turks, they took all possible measures to secure his
+precious life. One of their number, Simon Kemeny, who bore a striking
+resemblance to Hunyady, determined to sacrifice himself for his leader.
+He announced that he would put on Hunyady's clothes and armor. The Turks
+would then attack him under the belief that he was the celebrated chief,
+and while they were thus engaged the real Hunyady would fall upon them
+unexpectedly and put them to flight. At first Hunyady would by no means
+consent to this plan, as he did not wish to expose Kemeny to such mortal
+danger; but at last, seeing the great military advantages likely to
+accrue from it, he consented.
+
+And so, indeed, it fell out. As soon as the battle began, the Turks,
+perceiving Simon Kemeny in the garb of Hunyady, directed all their force
+against him. Kemeny, after a stout defence, fell, together with a great
+number of his followers, and the Turks, seeing him fall, set up a general
+cry of triumph and exultation. Just at this critical moment they were
+hotly attacked in the flank by the genuine Hunyady. Thus attacked in the
+very moment when they imagined that they had already gained the day,
+the Turks were thrown into confusion and took wildly to flight. Twenty
+thousand corpses were left on the battlefield; among them lay Mezid Bey
+himself, together with his sons.
+
+Fearful was the rage of the Turkish Sultan when he heard of the defeat
+and death of Mezid Bey, and he at once despatched another army against
+Hunyady, which like the first numbered eighty thousand men. This time,
+however, Hunyady did not let them enter Transylvania, but waited for
+them at the pass known as the Iron Gate, among the high mountains on the
+southern boundary of Hungary.
+
+The Hungarian army was not more than fifteen thousand men, so that the
+Turks were at least five times as strong. But the military genius of
+Hunyady made up for the small number of his followers. He posted them in
+a strong position in the rough pass, and attacked the enemy in places
+where it was impossible for him to make use of his strength. Thus more
+than half the Turkish army perished miserably in the battle. Again their
+commander-in-chief fell on the field, together with six subordinate
+commanders, while two hundred horse-tail standards fell into Hunyady's
+hands as trophies of his victory.
+
+These two splendid victories filled all Europe with joy and admiration.
+Christendom again breathed freely; for she felt that a champion sent by a
+special providence had appeared, who had both the courage and the ability
+to meet and to repel the haughty and formidable foe. But Hunyady was not
+content with doing so much. He thought that by this time he might
+carry the war into the enemy's country. The plan of operations was
+exceptionally daring, yet Hunyady had not resolved on it without careful
+consideration. In the mean time, through Hunyady's exertions, Wladislaw
+III, the young King of Poland, had been elected king of Hungary. Hunyady
+gained the new King over to his plans, and by this means secured the
+cooeperation of the higher aristocracy and the armed bands which they
+were bound to lead into the field at the King's summons. Hunyady counted
+besides on the assistance of Europe; in the first place on the popes, who
+were zealous advocates of the war against the Mahometans; next on Venice,
+which, as the first commercial city and state at that time, had suffered
+severe losses owing to the spread of Turkish dominions; on the gallant
+Poles, whose King now wore the Hungarian crown; and lastly upon the
+peoples of Christendom in general, whose enthusiasm for a war against the
+infidels had been quickened by the report of Hunyady's victories. And,
+indeed, at his request the Pope sent some small sums of money, the Poles
+furnished an auxiliary force, while numerous volunteers from the rest of
+Europe flocked to serve under his banner.
+
+Although the assistance thus furnished was comparatively unimportant, it
+nevertheless served to increase his zeal for the daring undertaking. He
+and his heroic companions were not only proud of defending their own
+native country, but felt that they were the champions of all Christendom
+against Ottoman aggression, and their religious enthusiasm kept pace with
+their patriotism. If they did not get regiments sent to their aid, they
+felt that the eyes of all Europe were upon them, ready to grieve at their
+possible ill-success, while their victories would be celebrated with the
+_Te Deum_ in the cathedrals of every capital in Europe.
+
+The aggressive campaign was commenced without delay; Hunyady's resolves
+were at once translated into fact; he would not allow the beaten foe
+time to recover breath. His plan was to cross the Danube, and penetrate
+through the passes of the Balkan to Philippopolis, at that time the
+capital of the Sultan's dominions, where he kept the main body of his
+army. About Christmas, a season in which the Turk does not like to fight,
+amid heavy snow and severe cold, the Hungarian army of about thirty
+thousand men pressed forward. Hunyady marched in advance with the
+vanguard of twelve thousand picked men; after him the King and the Pope's
+legate, with the rest of the army. The Sultan, however, with a large body
+of men had occupied the passes of the Balkans and prevented their further
+advance. This impediment, coupled with the cold and severe weather,
+depressed the spirits of the troops, worn out with fatigue. Hunyady,
+however, raised their spirits by gaining a victory; lighting one night
+upon a body of the enemy, twenty thousand in number, he attacked them at
+once and after a few hours' struggle succeeded in dispersing them.
+
+Later on he took two large towns with their citadels, and in three
+engagements triumphed over three separate divisions of the enemy.
+Learning that a still larger body of Turks was attempting to cut off his
+communications with the King's army, he attacked that also and put it to
+flight. After that he joined his corps with the main army under the King,
+and, indeed, none too soon. Sultan Amurath suddenly arrived with the main
+body of his forces, which he strongly intrenched in the narrowest passes
+of the Balkans. Hunyady saw that these intrenchments could not be forced,
+and did all he could to entice his enemy down into the plain. This he
+succeeded in doing. In the battle that ensued the King, too, played
+a conspicuous part and received a wound. In the end, however, the
+Hungarians gained the victory, and the younger brother of the Grand
+Vizier was taken prisoner. So much success was sufficient for Hunyady for
+the time, especially as the natural obstacles had proved insurmountable.
+The Hungarian army returned home in good order, and the young King made
+a triumphal entry into his capital, preceded by a crowd of Turkish
+prisoners and captured Turkish ensigns. These last trophies of victory
+were deposited in the Coronation Church in the fortress of Buda.
+
+And now something happened which had hitherto been deemed incredible:
+the Sultan sued for peace--a true believer and a sovereign, from an
+"unbelieving giaour." The peace was concluded, and Hungary again became
+possessed of those dependent (South Slavonic) provinces which lay between
+the territories of the Sultan and the kingdom of Hungary in the narrower
+sense of the word. In three short years Hunyady had undone the work of
+years on the part of the Turks. The Sultan, however, soon repented of
+what he had done, and continually delayed the fulfilment of his promise
+to evacuate certain frontier fortresses. For this cause the young King,
+especially incited thereto by the Pope, determined to renew the war.
+Hunyady at first opposed the King's resolution, and wished to wait; later
+on he was gained over to the King's view, and took up the matter with his
+whole soul. The opportunity was inviting, for the Sultan with his main
+army was engaged somewhere in Asia, and the Venetians promised to prevent
+with their fleet his return to Europe across the narrow seas in the
+neighborhood of Constantinople.
+
+The Hungarian army, indeed, set out (1444) on its expedition, and,
+continually expecting the arrival of the troops of their allies--the
+Emperor of Constantinople and the princes of Albania--penetrated ever
+farther and farther into the hostile territory. They were to be joined by
+their allies at the town of Varna on the shores of the Black Sea. When,
+however, the Hungarians had arrived at that town, they found no trace of
+their expected allies, but on the contrary learned with certainty that
+the Sultan had succeeded in eluding the vigilance of the Venetians, had
+brought his army in small boats over into Europe, and was now following
+fast on their track.
+
+Thus all hope of aid from allies was at an end; the brave general and his
+small Hungarian force had to rely on their own resources, separated as
+they were by some weeks' journey from their own country, while the enemy
+would be soon upon them in numbers five times their own. Yet, even so,
+Hunyady's faith and courage did not desert him. The proverb says, "If thy
+sword be short, lengthen it by a step forward." And Hunyady boldly,
+but yet with the caution that behooved a careful general, took up his
+position before the Sultan's army. Both he and his Hungarians fought with
+dauntless courage, availing themselves of every advantage and beating
+back every assault. Already victory seemed to be assured. A few hours
+after the battle had begun both the Turkish wings had been broken, and
+even the Sultan and the brave janizaries were thinking of flight, when
+the young King, the Pole Wladislaw, whom Hunyady had adjured by God to
+remain in a place of safety until the combat should be decided, was
+persuaded by his Polish suite to fling himself, with the small band in
+immediate attendance upon him, right on the centre of the janizaries, so
+that he too might have a share in the victory and not leave it all
+to Hunyady. The janizaries wavered for a moment under this new and
+unexpected attack, but, soon perceiving that they had to do with the King
+of Hungary, they closed round his band, which had penetrated far into
+their ranks. The King's horse was first hamstrung, and, as it fell, the
+King's head was severed from his body, stuck upon the point of a spear,
+and exposed to the view of both armies. The Hungarians, shocked at the
+unexpected sight, wavered, and, feeling themselves lost, began to fly.
+All the entreaties and exhortations of Hunyady were in vain. Such was the
+confusion that he could be neither seen nor heard, and in a few minutes
+the whole Hungarian army was in headlong flight.
+
+Hunyady, left to himself, had also to seek safety in flight. Alone,
+deserted by all, he had to make his way from one place of concealment to
+another, till after some weeks' wandering he arrived in Hungary. The bad
+news had preceded him, and in consequence everything was in confusion.
+Again arose that difficult question: Who should be the new king under
+such difficult circumstances? The Sultan's army had, however, suffered
+so much in the battle of Varna that for the time he left the Hungarians
+unmolested.
+
+The nation was disposed to choose for its king the child Ladislaus, son
+of King Albert, the predecessor of Wladislaw. The child, however, was in
+the power of the neighboring Prince, Frederick, the Archduke of Austria,
+who was not disposed to let him go out of his hands without a heavy
+ransom. In these circumstances the more powerful nobles in Hungary took
+advantage of the confusion to strengthen each his own position at the
+expense of the nation. At first the government of the country was
+intrusted to a number of captains, but this proved so evidently
+disastrous that the better sort of people succeeded in having them
+abolished and Hunyady established as sole governor. For all that,
+however, Hunyady had a good deal of trouble with the chief aristocrats,
+Garay, Czillei, Ujlaki, who, envying the parvenu his sudden promotion and
+despising his obscure origin, took up arms to resist his authority. Thus
+Hunyady, instead of blunting the edge of his sword upon foreign foes, had
+to bridle the insubordination of his own countrymen. Luckily it did not
+take long to force the discontented to own the weight of his arm and his
+superiority as a military leader.
+
+Order being thus to some extent reestablished at home, Hunyady was again
+able to turn his attention to the Turks. He felt that he had in fact
+gained the battle of Varna, which was only lost through the jealous humor
+of a youthful king; that it behooved him not to stop half way; that it
+was his duty to continue offensive operations. But in so doing he had to
+rely upon his own proper forces. It is true that he was governor of the
+country, but for the purpose of offensive warfare beyond the frontier he
+could not gain the consent of the great nobles.
+
+Luckily his private property had enormously increased by this time. The
+Hungarian constitution required the King to bestow the estates of such
+noblemen as died without male heirs, or had been condemned for any
+offence, on such noblemen as had approved themselves valiant defenders
+of the country. Now where could be found a more worthy recipient of such
+estates than Hunyady, to whom the public treasury was besides a debtor on
+account of the sums he disbursed for the constant warfare he maintained
+against the Turks? Especially in the south of Hungary a whole series
+of lordly estates, many of them belonging to the crown, had come into
+Hunyady's hands, either as pledges for the repayment of the money he had
+paid his soldiers, or as his own private property.
+
+The yearly revenue arising from these vast estates was employed by
+Hunyady, not in personal expenditure, but in the defence of his country.
+He himself lived as simply as any of his soldiers, and recognized no
+other use of money than as a weapon for the defence of Christendom
+against Islam. In the early morning, while all his suite slept, he passed
+hours in prayer before the altar in the dimly lighted church, imploring
+the help of the Almighty for the attainment of his sole object in
+life--the destruction of the Turkish power. At last, 1448, he set out
+against the Sultan with an army of twenty-four thousand of his most
+trusty soldiers.
+
+This time it was on the frontier of Servia, on the "Field of Blackbirds,"
+that Hunyady encountered Sultan Amurath, who had an army of one hundred
+and fifty thousand men--again more than five times the number of the
+Christians. Hunyady at first withdrew himself into his intrenched camp,
+but in a few days felt himself strong enough to engage with the enemy on
+the open field. The battle lasted without interruption for two days and a
+night. Hunyady himself was several times in deadly peril. Once his horse
+was shot under him. He was to be found wherever assistance, support,
+encouragement, were needed. At last, on the morning of the third day,
+as the Turks, who had received reinforcements, were about to renew the
+attack, the Waywode of Wallachia passed over to the side of the Turks.
+The Waywode belonged to the Orthodox Eastern Church. He had joined
+Hunyady on the way, and his desertion transferred six thousand men from
+one side to the other, and decided the battle in favor of the Turks.
+The Hungarians, worn out by fatigue, fell into a discouragement, while
+Hunyady had no fresh troops to bring up to their support. The battle came
+to a sudden end. Seventeen thousand Hungarian corpses strewed the field,
+but the loss of the Turks was more than thirty thousand men.
+
+Hunyady, again left to himself, had again to make his escape. At first
+he only dismissed his military suite; afterward he separated from his
+faithful servant in the hope that separately they might more easily
+baffle their pursuers. Next he had to turn his horse adrift, as the poor
+animal was incapable of continuing his journey. Thus he made his way
+alone and on foot toward the frontiers of his native land. After a while,
+looking down from the top of a piece of elevated ground, he perceived a
+large body of Turks, from whom he hid himself in a neighboring lake. He
+thus escaped this danger, but only to encounter another. At a turn of
+the road he came so suddenly upon a party of Turkish plunderers as to be
+unable to escape from them, and thus became their prisoner. But the Turks
+did not recognize him, and, leaving him in the hands of two of their
+number, the rest went on in search of more prey. His two guards soon came
+to blows with one another about a heavy gold cross which they had found
+on the person of their captive, and, while they were thus quarrelling,
+Hunyady suddenly wrenched a sword out of the hand of one of the two Turks
+and cut off his head, upon which the other took to flight, and Hunyady
+was again free.
+
+In the mean time, however, George, the Prince of Servia, who took part
+with the aristocratic malcontents, and who, although a Christian, out of
+pure hatred to Hunyady had gone over to the side of the Turks, had given
+strict orders that all Hungarian stragglers were to be apprehended and
+brought before him. In this way Hunyady fell into the hands of some
+Servian peasants, who delivered him to their Prince. Nor did he regain
+his liberty without the payment of a heavy ransom, leaving his son
+Ladislaus as hostage in his stead.
+
+He thus returned home amid a thousand perils, and with the painful
+experience that Europe left him to his own resources to fight as best he
+could against the ever-advancing Turks. The dependencies of the Hungarian
+crown, Servia and Wallachia--on whose recovery he had spent so much
+blood and treasure--instead of supporting him, as might be expected of
+Christian countries, threw themselves in a suicidal manner into the arms
+of the Turks. They hoped by their ready submission to find favor in the
+eyes of the irresistible conquerors, by whom, however, they were a little
+later devoured.
+
+After these events Hunyady continued to act as governor or regent of
+Hungary for five years more, by which time the young Ladislaus, son of
+King Albert, attained his majority. In 1453 Hunyady finally laid down his
+dignity as governor, and gave over the power into the hands of the young
+King, Ladislaus V, whom Hunyady had first to liberate by force of arms
+from his uncle, Frederick of Austria, before he could set him on the
+throne of Hungary. The young King, of German origin, had hardly become
+emancipated from his guardian when he fell under the influence of his
+other uncle, Ulric Czillei. This Czillei was a great nobleman of Styria,
+but was withal possessed of large estates in Hungary. As a foreigner and
+as a relative of King Sigismund, he had long viewed with an evil eye
+Hunyady's elevation. On one occasion Hunyady had to inflict punishment
+on him. He consequently now did everything he could to induce the young
+King, his nephew, to hate the great captain as he himself did. He sought
+to infuse jealousy into his mind and to lead him to believe that Hunyady
+aimed at the crown. His slanders found the readier credence in the
+mind of the youthful sovereign as he was completely stupefied by an
+uninterrupted course of debauchery. At last the King was brought to agree
+to a plan for ensnaring the great man who so often jeoparded his life and
+his substance in the defence of his country and religion. They summoned
+him in the King's name to Vienna, where Ladislaus, as an Austrian prince,
+was then staying, with the intention of waylaying and murdering him. But
+Hunyady got wind of the whole plot, and when he arrived at the place of
+ambush it was at the head of two thousand picked Hungarian warriors. Thus
+it was Czillei who fell into the snare. "Wretched creature!" exclaimed
+Hunyady; "thou hast fallen into the pit thou diggedst for me; were it not
+that I regard the dignity of the King and my own humanity, thou shouldst
+suffer a punishment proportioned to thy crime. As it is, I let thee off
+this time, but come no more into my sight, or thou shalt pay for it with
+thy life."
+
+Such magnanimity, however, did not disarm the hostility of those who
+surrounded the King. On the pretence of treason against the King, Hunyady
+was deprived of all his offices and all his estates. The document is
+still to be seen in the Hungarian state archives, in which the King, led
+astray by the jealousies that prevailed among his councillors, represents
+every virtue of the hero as a crime, and condemns him to exile.
+
+Fortunately Czillei himself soon fell into disfavor; the Germans
+themselves overthrew him; and the King, now better informed, replaced
+Hunyady in the post of captain-general of the kingdom.
+
+Hunyady, who meanwhile had been living retired in one of his castles, now
+complied with the King's wish without difficulty or hesitation, and again
+assumed the highest military command. Instead of seeking how to revenge
+himself after the manner of ordinary men, he only thought of the great
+enemy of his country, the Turk. And indeed, as it was, threatening clouds
+hung over the horizon in the southeast.
+
+A new sultan had come to the throne, Mahomet II, one of the greatest
+sovereigns of the house of Othman. He began his reign with the occupation
+of Constantinople, 1453, and thus destroyed the last refuge of the
+Byzantine empire. At the news of this event all Europe burst into a
+chorus of lamentation. The whole importance of the Eastern question at
+once presented itself before the nations of Christendom. It was at once
+understood that the new conqueror would not remain idle within the
+crumbling walls of Constantinople.
+
+And, indeed, in no long time was published the proud _mot d'ordre_, "As
+there is but one God in heaven, so there shall be but one master upon
+earth."
+
+Hunyady looked toward Constantinople with heavy heart. He foresaw the
+outburst of the storm which would in the first place fall upon his own
+country, threatening it with utter ruin. Hunyady, so it seemed, was again
+left alone in the defence of Christendom.
+
+The approaching danger was delayed for a few years, but in 1456 Mahomet,
+having finally established himself in Constantinople, set out with the
+intention of striking a fatal blow against Hungary. On the borders of
+that country, on the bank of the Danube, on what was, properly speaking,
+Servian territory, stood the fortress of Belgrad. When the danger from
+the Turks became imminent, the kings of Hungary purchased the place from
+the despots of Servia, giving them in exchange several extensive estates
+in Hungary, and had at great expense turned it into a vast fortress, at
+that time supposed to be impregnable.
+
+Mahomet determined to take the place, and to this end made the most
+extensive preparations. He led to the walls of Belgrad an army of not
+less than one hundred and fifty thousand men. The approach of this
+immense host so terrified the young King that he left Hungary and took
+refuge in Vienna along with his uncle and counsellor, Czillei.
+
+Hunyady alone remained at his post, resolute like a lion attacked. The
+energy of the old leader--he was now nearly sixty-eight--was only steeled
+by the greatness of the danger; his forethought and his mental resources
+were but increased. As he saw that it would be impossible to do anything
+with a small army, he sent his friend, John Capistran, an Italian
+Franciscan, a man animated by a burning zeal akin to his own, to preach a
+crusade against the enemies of Christendom through the towns and villages
+of the Great Hungarian Plain. This the friar did to such effect that in a
+few weeks he had collected sixty thousand men, ready to fight in defence
+of the cross. This army of crusaders--the last in the history of the
+nations--had for its gathering cry the bells of the churches; for its
+arms, scythes and axes; Christ for its leader, and John Hunyady and John
+Capistran for his lieutenants.
+
+The two greatest leaders in war of that day contended for the possession
+of Belgrad. The same army now surrounded that fortress which a few years
+before had stormed Constantinople, reputed impregnable. The same hero
+defended it who had so often in the course of a single decade defeated
+the Turkish foe in an offensive war, and who now, regardless of danger,
+with a small but faithful band of followers, was prepared to do all that
+courage, resolution, and prudence might effect.
+
+Many hundred large cannon began to break down the stone ramparts; many
+hundred boats forming a river flotilla covered the Danube, so as to cut
+off all communication between the fortress and Hungary. During this time
+Hunyady's son Ladislaus and his brother-in-law Michael Szilagyi were in
+command in the fortress. Hunyady's first daring plan was to force his way
+through the blockading flotilla, and enter Belgrad before the eyes of
+the whole Turkish army, taking with him his own soldiers and Capistran's
+crusaders. The plan completely succeeded. With his own flotilla of
+boats he broke through that of the Turks and made his entrance into the
+fortress in triumph. After this the struggle was continued with equal
+resolution and ability on both sides; such advantage as the Christians
+derived from the protection afforded by the fortifications being fully
+compensated by the enormous superiority in numbers both of men and cannon
+on the part of the Turks.
+
+Without example in the history of the storming of fortresses was the
+stratagem practised by Hunyady when he permitted the picked troops of the
+enemy, the janizaries, to penetrate within the fortification, and there
+destroyed them in the place they thought they had taken. Ten thousand
+janizaries had already swarmed into the town, and were preparing to
+attack the bridges and gates of the citadel, when Hunyady ordered lighted
+fagots, soaked in pitch and sulphur and other combustibles, to be flung
+from the ramparts into the midst of the crowded ranks of the janizaries.
+The fire seized on their loose garments, and in a short time the whole
+body was a sea of fire. Everyone sought to fly. Then it was that Hunyady
+sallied out with his picked band, while Capistran, with a tall cross in
+his hand and the cry of "Jesus" on his lips, followed with his crowd of
+fanatics, the cannon of the fortress played upon the Turkish camp, the
+Sultan himself was wounded and swept along by the stream of fugitives.
+Forty thousand Turks were left dead upon the field, four thousand were
+taken prisoners, and three thousand cannon were captured.
+
+According to the opinion of Hunyady himself, the Turks had never suffered
+such a severe defeat. Its value as far as the Hungarians were concerned
+was heightened by the fact that the ambitious Sultan was personally
+humiliated. There was now great joy in Europe. At the news of the
+brilliant victory the _Te Deum_ was sung in all the more important cities
+throughout Europe, and the Pope wished to compliment Hunyady with a
+crown.
+
+A crown of another character awaited him--that of his Redeemer, in whose
+name he lived, fought, and fell. The exhalations from the vast number of
+unburied or imperfectly buried bodies, festering in the heat of summer,
+gave rise to an epidemic in the Christian camp, and to this the great
+leader fell a victim. Hunyady died August 11, 1456, in the sixty-eighth
+year of his age. He died amid the intoxication of his greatest victory,
+idolized by his followers, having once more preserved his country from
+imminent ruin. Could he have desired a more glorious death?
+
+He went to his last rest with the consciousness that he had fulfilled his
+mission, having designed great things and having accomplished them. And
+the result of his lifelong efforts survived him. His great enemy, the
+Turk, for the next half-century could only harass the frontier of his
+native land; and his country, a few years after his death, placed on the
+royal throne his son Matthias.
+
+[Footnote 1: By permission of Selmar Hess.]
+
+
+
+REBUILDING OF ROME BY NICHOLAS V, THE "BUILDER-POPE"
+
+A.D. 1447-1455
+
+MRS. MARGARET OLIPHANT
+
+
+Of those pontiffs who are called the pride of modern Rome--through whom
+the city "rose most gloriously from her ashes"--Nicholas V (Tommaso
+Parentucelli) was the first. He was born at Sarzana, in the republic of
+Genoa, about 1398, was ordained priest at the age of twenty-five, became
+Archbishop of Bologna, and in 1447 was elevated to the papal chair. His
+election was largely due to the influential part he had taken at the
+councils of Basel, 1431-1449, and Ferrara-Florence, 1438-1445. In 1449,
+by prevailing upon the Antipope, Felix V, to abdicate, he restored the
+peace of the Church. He endeavored, but in vain, to arouse Europe to its
+duty of succoring the Greek empire.
+
+Although the coming Reformation was already casting its shadow before,
+Nicholas stood calm in face of the inevitable event, devoting himself to
+the spiritual welfare of the Church and to the interests of learning and
+the arts. But he is chiefly remembered as the first pope to conceive a
+systematic plan for the reconstruction and permanent restoration of Rome.
+He died before that purpose could be executed in accordance with his
+great designs; but others, entering into his labors, carried his work to
+a fuller accomplishment.
+
+It was to the centre of ecclesiastical Rome, the shrine of the apostles,
+the chief church of Christendom and its adjacent buildings, that the care
+of the Builder-pope was first directed. The Leonine City of Borgo, as
+it is more familiarly called, is that portion of Rome which lies on the
+right side of the Tiber, and which extends from the castle of St. Angelo
+to the boundary of the Vatican gardens--enclosing the Church of St.
+Peter, the Vatican palace with all its wealth, and the great Hospital of
+Santo Spirito, surrounded and intersected by many little streets, and
+joining to the other portions of the city by the bridge of St. Angelo.
+
+Behind the mass of picture-galleries, museums, and collections of all
+kinds, which now fill up the endless halls and corridors of the papal
+palace, comes a sweep of noble gardens full of shade and shelter from the
+Roman sun, such a resort for the
+
+  "learned leisure
+  Which in trim gardens takes its pleasure"
+
+as it would be difficult to surpass. In this fine extent of wood and
+verdure the Pope's villa or casino, now the only summer palace which the
+existing Pontiff chooses to permit himself, stands as in a domain, small
+yet perfect. Almost everything within these walls has been built or
+completely transformed since the days of Nicholas. But, then as now,
+here was the heart and centre of Christendom, the supreme shrine of the
+Catholic faith, the home of the spiritual ruler whose sway reaches over
+the whole earth. When Nicholas began his reign, the old Church of St.
+Peter was the church of the Western world, then, as now, classical
+in form, a stately basilica without the picturesqueness and romantic
+variety, and also, as we think, without the majesty and grandeur, of a
+Gothic cathedral, yet more picturesque if less stupendous in size and
+construction, than the present great edifice, so majestic in its own
+grave and splendid way, with which, through all the agitations of the
+recent centuries, the name of St. Peter has been identified. The earlier
+church was full of riches and of great associations, to which the
+wonderful St. Peter's we all know can lay claim only as its successor and
+supplanter. With its flight of broad steps, its portico and colonnaded
+facade crowned with a great tower, it dominated the square, open and
+glowing in the sun, without the shelter of the great existing colonnades
+or the sparkle of the fountains.
+
+Behind was the little palace begun by Innocent III, to afford a shelter
+for the popes in dangerous times, or on occasion to receive the foreign
+guests whose object was to visit the shrine of the apostles. Almost
+all the buildings then standing have been replaced by greater, yet the
+position is the same, the shrine unchanged, though everything else then
+existing has faded away, except some portion of the old wall which
+enclosed this sacred place in a special sanctity and security, which was
+not, however, always respected. The Borgo was the holiest portion of all
+the sacred city. It was there that the blood of the martyrs had been
+shed, and where from the earliest age of Christianity their memory and
+tradition had been preserved. It was not necessary for us to enter into
+the question whether St. Peter ever was in Rome, which many writers have
+laboriously contested. So far as the record of the Acts of the Apostles
+is concerned, there is no evidence at all for or against, but tradition
+is all on the side of those who assert it. The position taken by Signor
+Lanciani on this point seems to us a very sensible one. "I write about
+the monuments of ancient Rome," he says, "from a strictly archaeological
+point of view, avoiding questions which pertain, or are supposed to
+pertain, to religious controversy.
+
+"For the archaeologist the presence and execution of SS. Peter and Paul in
+Rome are facts established beyond a shadow of doubt by purely monumental
+evidence. There was a time when persons belonging to different creeds
+made it almost a case of conscience to affirm or deny _a priori_ those
+facts, according to their acceptance or rejection of the tradition of
+any particular church. This state of feeling is a matter of the past, at
+least for those who have followed the progress of recent discoveries and
+of critical literature. There is no event of the Imperial age and of
+Imperial Rome which is attested by so many noble structures, all of which
+point to the same conclusion--the presence and execution of the apostles
+in the capital of the Empire. When Constantine raised the monumental
+basilicas over their tombs on the Via Cornelia and the Via Ostiensis;
+when Eudoxia built the Church ad Vincula; when Damascus put a memorial
+tablet in the Platonia and Catacombos; when the houses of Pudens and
+Aquila and Prisca were turned into oratories; when the name of Nymphae
+Sancti Petri was given to the springs in the catacombs of the Via
+Nomentana; when the 29th of June was accepted as the anniversary of St.
+Peter's execution; when sculptors, painters, medallists, goldsmiths,
+workers in glass and enamel, and engravers of precious stones all began
+to reproduce in Rome the likeness of the apostle at the beginning of the
+second century, and continued to do so till the fall of the Empire--must
+we consider them as laboring under a delusion, or conspiring in the
+commission of a gigantic fraud? Why were such proceedings accepted
+without protest from whatever city, whatever community--if there were
+any other--which claimed to own the genuine tombs of SS. Peter and Paul?
+These arguments gain more value from the fact that the evidence on the
+other side is purely negative."
+
+This is one of those practical arguments which are always more
+interesting than those which depend upon theories and opinions. However,
+there are many books on both sides of the question which may be
+consulted. We are content to follow Signor Lanciani. The special sanctity
+and importance of Il Borgo originated in this belief. The shrine of the
+apostle was its centre and glory. It was this that brought pilgrims from
+the far corners of the earth before there was any masterpiece of art to
+visit, or any of those priceless collections which now form the glory
+of the Vatican. The spot of the apostles' execution was indicated "by
+immemorial tradition" as between the two goals (_inter duas metas_) of
+Nero's Circus, which spot Signor Lanciani tells us is exactly the site
+of the obelisk now standing in the piazza of St. Peter. A little chapel,
+called the Chapel of the Crucifixion, stood there in the early ages,
+before any great basilica or splendid shrine was possible.
+
+This sacred spot, and the church built to commemorate it, were naturally
+the centre of all those religious traditions which separate Rome from
+every other city. It was to preserve them from assault, "in order that
+it should be less easy for the enemy to make depredations and burn the
+Church of St. Peter, as they have heretofore done," that Leo IV, the
+first pope whom we find engaged in any real work of construction, built a
+wall round the mound of the Vatican, and Colle Vaticano--"little hill,"
+not so high as the seven hills of Rome--where against the strong wall
+of Nero's Circus Constantine had built his great basilica. At that
+period--in the middle of the ninth century--there was nothing but the
+church and shrine--no palace and no hospital. The existing houses were
+given to the Corsi, a family which had been driven out of their island,
+according to Platina, by the Saracens, who shortly before had made an
+incursion up to the very walls of Rome, whither the peoples of the coast
+(_luoghi maritimi del Mar Terreno_) from Naples northward had apparently
+pursued the corsairs, and helped the Romans to beat them back. One other
+humble building of some sort, "called Burgus Saxonum, Vicus Saxonum,
+Schola Saxonum, and simply Saxia or Sassia," it is interesting to know,
+existed close to the sacred centre of the place, a lodging built for
+himself by Ina, King of Wessex, in 727. Thus the English have a national
+association of their own with the central shrine of Christianity.
+
+There was also a Schola Francorum in the Borgo. The pilgrims must have
+built their huts and set up some sort of little oratory--favored, as
+was the case even in Pope Nicholas' day, by the excellent quarry of
+the Circus close at hand--as near as possible to the great shrine
+and basilica which they had come so far to say their prayers in, and
+attracted, too, no doubt, by the freedom of the lonely suburb between the
+green hill and the flowing river. Leo IV built his wall round this little
+city, and fortified it by towers. "In every part he put sculptors of
+marble and wrote a prayer," says Platina. One of these gates led to St.
+Pellegrino, another was close to the castle of St. Angelo, and was "the
+gate by which one goes forth to the open country." The third led to the
+School of the Saxons; and over each was a prayer inscribed. These three
+prayers were all to the same effect--"that God would defend this new city
+which the Pope had enclosed with walls and called by his own name, the
+Leonine City, from all assaults of the enemy, either by fraud or by
+force."
+
+The greatest, however, of all the conceptions of Pope Nicholas, the very
+centre of his great plan, was the library of the Vatican, which he began
+to build and to which he left all the collections of his life. Vespasian
+gives us a list of the principal among these five thousand volumes, the
+things which he prized most, which the Pope bequeathed to the Church and
+to Rome. These cherished rolls of parchment, many of them translations
+made under his own eyes, were enclosed in elaborate bindings ornamented
+with gold and silver. We are not, however, informed whether any of the
+great treasures of the Vatican library came from his hands--the good
+Vespasian taking more interest in the work of his scribes than in
+codexes. He tells us of five hundred scudi given to Lorenzo Valle with a
+pretty speech that the price was below his merits, but that eventually he
+should have more liberal pay; of fifteen hundred scudi given to Guerroni
+for a translation of the _Iliad_, and so forth. It is like a bookseller
+of the present day vaunting his new editions to a collector in search of
+the earliest known. But Pope Nicholas, like most other patrons of his
+time, knew no Greek, nor probably ever expected that it would become a
+usual subject of study, so that his translations were precious to him,
+the chief way of making his treasures of any practical use.
+
+The greater part, alas! of all his splendor has passed away. One pure and
+perfect glory, the little Chapel of San Lorenzo, painted by the tender
+hand of Fra Angelico, remains unharmed, the only work of that grand
+painter to be found in Rome. If one could have chosen a monument for the
+good Pope, the patron and friend of art in every form, there could not
+have been a better than this. Fra Angelico seems to have been brought to
+Rome by Pope Eugenius, but it was under Nicholas, in two or three years
+of gentle labor, that the work was done. It is, however, impossible to
+enumerate all the undertakings of Pope Nicholas. He did something to
+reestablish or decorate almost all the great basilicas. It is feared--but
+here our later historians speak with bated breath, not liking to bring
+such an accusation against the kind Pope, who loved men of letters--that
+the destruction of St. Peter's, afterward ruthlessly carried out by
+succeeding popes, was in his plan, on the pretext, so constantly
+employed, and possibly believed in, of the instability of the ancient
+building. But there is no absolute certainty of evidence, and at all
+events he might have repented, for he certainly did not do that deed. He
+began the tribune, however, in the ancient church, which may have been a
+preparation for the entire renewal of the edifice; and he did much toward
+the decoration of another round church, that of the Madonna delle Febbre,
+an ill-omened name, attached to the Vatican. He also built the Belvedere
+in the gardens, and surrounded the whole with strong walls and towers
+(round), one of which, according to Nibby, still remained fifty years
+ago, which very little of Nicholas' building has done. His great sin was
+one which he shared with all his brother-popes, that he boldly treated
+the antique ruins of the city as quarries for his new buildings, not
+without protest and remonstrance from many, yet with the calm of a mind
+preoccupied and seeing nothing so great and important as the work upon
+which his own heart was set.
+
+This excellent Pope died in 1455, soon after having received the news of
+the downfall of Constantinople, which is said to have broken his heart.
+He had many ailments, and was always a small and spare man of little
+strength of constitution; "but nothing transfixed his heart so much as to
+hear that the Turks had taken Constantinople and killed the Europeans,
+with many thousands of Christians, among them that same 'Imperadore
+de Gostantinopli' whom he had seen seated in state at the Council of
+Ferrara, listening to his own and other arguments, only a few years
+before--as well as the greater part, no doubt, of his own clerical
+opponents there. When he was dying, 'being not the less of a strong
+spirit,' he called the cardinals round his bed, and many prelates with
+them, and made them a last address. His pontificate had lasted a little
+more than eight years, and to have carried out so little of his great
+plan must have been heavy on his heart; but his dying words are those
+of one to whom the holiness and unity of the Church came before all. No
+doubt the fear that the victorious Turks might spread ruin over the whole
+of Christendom was first in his mind at that solemn hour.
+
+"'Knowing, my dearest brethren, that I am approaching the hour of my
+death, I would, for the great dignity and authority of the apostolic see,
+make a serious and important testimony before you, not committed to the
+memory of letters, not written, neither on a tablet nor on parchment, but
+given by my living voice, that it may have more authority. Listen, I pray
+you, while your little Pope Nicholas, in the very instant of dying, makes
+his last will before you. In the first place I render thanks to the
+Highest God for the measureless benefits which, beginning from the day of
+my birth until the present day, I have received of his infinite mercy.
+And now I recommend to you this beautiful Spouse of Christ, whom, so
+far as I was able, I have exalted and magnified, as each of you is well
+aware; knowing this to be the honor of God, for the great dignity that is
+in her, and the great privileges that she possesses, and so worthy, and
+formed by so worthy an Author, who is the Creator of the universe. Being
+of sane mind and intellect, and having done that which every Christian is
+called to do, and specially the Pastor of the Church, I have received the
+most sacred body of Christ with penitence, taking it from his table with
+my two hands, and praying the Omnipotent God that he would pardon my
+sins. Having had these sacraments I have also received the extreme
+unction, which is the last sacrament for the redeeming of my soul.
+Again I recommend to you, as long as I am able, the Roman Church,
+notwithstanding that I have already done so; for this is the most
+important duty you have to fufil in the sight of God and men. This is the
+true Spouse of Christ which he bought with his blood. This is the robe
+without seam, which the impious Jews would have torn, but could not. This
+is that ship of St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles, agitated and tossed
+by varied fortunes of the winds, but sustained by the Omnipotent God, so
+that she could never be submerged or shipwrecked. With all the strength
+of your souls sustain her and rule her: she has need of your good works,
+and you should show a good example by your lives. If you with all your
+strength care for her and love her, God will reward you, both in this
+present life and in the future with life eternal; and to do this with all
+the strength we have, we pray you, do it diligently, dearest brethren.'
+
+"Having said this he raised his hands to heaven and said: 'Omnipotent
+God, grant to the holy Church, and to these fathers, a pastor who will
+preserve her and increase her; give to them a good pastor who will rule
+and govern thy flock the most maturely that one can rule and govern. And
+I pray for you and comfort you as much as I know and can. Pray for me to
+God in your prayers.' When he had ended these words he raised his right
+arm and, with a generous soul, gave the benediction,' _Benedict vos Deus,
+Pater et Filius et Spiritus Sanctus_'--speaking with a raised voice and
+solemnly, _in modo pontificate_"
+
+These tremulous words, broken and confused by the weakness of his last
+hours, were taken down by the favorite scribe, Giannozzo Manetti, in the
+chamber of the dying Pope; with much more of the most serious matter
+to the Church and to Rome. His eager desire to soften all possible
+controversies and produce in the minds of the conclave about his bed, so
+full of ambition and the force of life, the softened heart which would
+dispose them to a peaceful and conscientious election of his successor,
+is very touching, coming out of the fogs and mists of approaching death.
+
+In the very age that produced the Borgias, and himself the head of that
+band of elegant scholars and connoisseurs, everything but Christian,
+to whom Rome owes so much of her external beauty and splendor, it is
+pathetic to stand by this kind and gentle spirit as he pauses on the
+threshold of a higher life, subduing the astute and worldly minded
+churchmen around him with the tender appeal of the dying father, their
+_Papa Niccolato_, familiar and persuasive--beseeching them to be of one
+accord without so much as saying it, turning his own weakness to account
+to touch their hearts, for the honor of the Church and the welfare of the
+flock.
+
+
+
+MAHOMET II TAKES CONSTANTINOPLE.
+
+END OF THE EASTERN EMPIRE
+
+A.D. 1453
+
+GEORGE FINLAY
+
+
+By the greater number of historians the fall of Constantinople under the
+Moslem power is considered as the decisive event which separates the
+modern from the mediaeval period. From the same event dates the final
+establishment of the Ottoman empire both in Asia Minor and in Europe. At
+that moment, when the Moorish power in Spain had been almost destroyed,
+Christian Europe was threatened for the second time with Mahometan
+conquest.
+
+From 1354, when Suleiman crossed the Hellespont and captured Gallipoli,
+the Turks from Asia Minor had kept their foothold on European soil. Under
+Amurath I (1359-1389), Bajazet I (1389-1403), Mahomet I and Amurath
+II (1404-1451)--the last of whom, in 1422, unsuccessfully besieged
+Constantinople--the Ottoman dominions in Europe were much extended. When
+Mahomet II, son of Amurath II, became Sultan (1451), the Turks were so
+strongly established, and the Eastern Empire was so much weakened, that
+he was prepared to finish the work of his predecessors and make the
+Ottoman power in Europe what it has ever since been.
+
+Mahomet "the Conqueror"--such was his surname--had for his adversary
+Constantine XIII, the last of the Greek emperors, who was proclaimed in
+1448, with the consent of Amurath II, whose power is thus attested. The
+Empire was torn by the quarrels of political factions and by theological
+dissensions. When Mahomet succeeded to the sultanate he was but
+twenty-one years old, but had already given proof of great talents,
+learning, and ambition, all guided by a judgment of remarkable maturity.
+
+The first object of Mahomet's ambition was the conquest of
+Constantinople, the natural capital of his dominions. As long as it was
+held by Eastern Christians the Ottoman empire was open to invasion
+by those of the West. The first threatening act of Mahomet was the
+construction of a fortress on Constantine's territory, at the narrowest
+part of the Bosporus, and within five miles of Constantinople.
+Constantine was too weak to resent the menace with vigor, and Mahomet
+treated his mild protest with contempt, denying the right of a vassal of
+the Porte to dispute the Sultan's will. A feeble resistance by some
+of the Greeks only gave Mahomet pretexts for further aggression, soon
+followed by his formal declaration of war.
+
+
+Both parties began to prepare for the mortal contest. The siege of
+Constantinople was to be the great event of the coming year. The Sultan,
+in order to prevent the Emperor's brothers in the Peloponnesus from
+sending any succors to the capital, ordered Turakhan, the Pacha of
+Thessaly, to invade the peninsula. He himself took up his residence at
+Adrianople, to collect warlike stores and siege artillery. Constantine,
+on his part, made every preparation in his power for a vigorous defence.
+He formed large magazines of provisions, collected military stores, and
+enrolled all the soldiers he could muster among the Greek population of
+Constantinople. But the inhabitants of that city were either unable or
+unwilling to furnish recruits in proportion to their numbers. Bred up in
+peaceful occupation, they probably possessed neither the activity nor the
+habitual exercise which was required to move with ease under the weight
+of armor then in use. So few were found disposed to fight for their
+country that not more than six thousand Greek troops appeared under arms
+during the whole siege.
+
+The numerical weakness of the Greek army rendered it incapable of
+defending so large a city as Constantinople, even with all the advantage
+to be derived from strong fortifications. The Emperor was therefore
+anxious to obtain the assistance of the warlike citizens of the Italian
+republics, where good officers and experienced troops were then numerous.
+As he had no money to engage mercenaries, he could only hope to succeed
+by papal influence. An embassy was sent to Pope Nicholas V, begging
+immediate aid, and declaring the Emperor's readiness to complete the
+union of the churches in any way the Pope should direct. Nicholas
+despatched Cardinal Isidore, the Metropolitan of Kiev, who had joined the
+Latin Church, as his legate. Isidore had represented the Russian Church
+at the Council of Florence; but on his return to Russia he was imprisoned
+as an apostate, and with difficulty escaped to Italy. He was by birth
+a Greek; and being a man of learning and conciliatory manners, it was
+expected that he would be favorably received at Constantinople.
+
+The Cardinal arrived at Constantinople in November, 1452. He was
+accompanied by a small body of chosen troops, and brought some
+pecuniary aid, which he employed in repairing the most dilapidated
+part of the fortifications. Both the Emperor and the Cardinal deceived
+themselves in supposing that the dangers to which the Greek nation and
+the Christian Church were exposed would induce the orthodox to yield
+something of their ecclesiastical forms and phrases. It was evident that
+foreign aid could alone save Constantinople, and it was absurd to imagine
+that the Latins would fight for those who treated them as heretics and
+who would not fight for themselves. The crisis therefore compelled the
+Greeks to choose between union with the Church of Rome or submission to
+the Ottoman power. They had to decide whether the preservation of the
+Greek empire was worth the ecclesiastical sacrifices they were called
+upon to make in order to preserve their national independence.
+
+In the mean time the emperor Constantine celebrated his union with the
+papal Church, in the Cathedral of St. Sophia, on December 12, 1452. The
+court and the great body of the dignified clergy ratified the act by
+their presence; but the monks and the people repudiated the connection.
+In their opinion, the Church of St. Sophia was polluted by the ceremony,
+and from that day it was deserted by the orthodox. The historian Ducas
+declares that they looked upon it as a haunt of demons, and no better
+than a pagan shrine. The monks, the nuns, and the populace publicly
+proclaimed their detestation of the union; and their opposition was
+inflamed by the bigotry of an ambitious pedant, who, under the name of
+Georgius Scholarius, acted as a warm partisan of the union at the Council
+of Florence, and under the ecclesiastical name of Gennadius is known in
+history as the subservient patriarch of Sultan Mahomet II. On returning
+from Italy, he made a great parade of his repentance for complying
+with the unionists at Florence. He shut himself up in the monastery
+of Pantokrator, where he assumed the monastic habit and the name of
+Gennadius, under which he consummated the union between the Greek Church
+and the Ottoman administration.
+
+At the present crisis he stepped forward as the leader of the most
+bigoted party, and excited his followers to the most furious opposition
+to measures which he had once advocated as salutary for the Church, and
+indispensable to the preservation of the State. The unionists were now
+accused of sacrificing true religion to the delusion of human policy, of
+insulting God to serve the Pope, and of preferring the interests of their
+bodies to the care of their souls. In place of exhorting their countrymen
+to aid the Emperor, who was straining every nerve to defend their
+country--in place of infusing into their minds the spirit of patriotism
+and religion, these teachers of the people were incessantly inveighing
+against the wickedness of the unionists and the apostasy of the Emperor.
+So completely did their bigotry extinguish every feeling of patriotism
+that the grand duke Notaras declared he would rather see Constantinople
+subjected to the turban of the Sultan than to the tiara of the Pope.
+
+His wish was gratified; but, in dying, he must have felt how fearfully he
+had erred in comparing the effects of papal arrogance with the cruelty of
+Mahometan tyranny. The Emperor Constantine, who felt the importance of
+the approaching contest, showed great prudence and moderation in his
+difficult position. The spirit of Christian charity calmed his temper,
+and his determination not to survive the empire gave a deliberate
+coolness to his military conduct. Though his Greek subjects often raised
+seditions, and reviled him in the streets, the Emperor took no notice of
+their behavior. To induce the orthodox to fight for their country, by
+having a leader of their own party, he left the grand duke Notaras in
+office; yet he well knew that this bigot would never act cordially with
+the Latin auxiliaries, who were the best troops in the city; and the
+Emperor had some reason to distrust the patriotism of Notaras, seeing
+that he hoarded his immense wealth, instead of expending a portion of it
+for his country.
+
+The fortifications were not found to be in a good state of repair.
+Two monks who had been intrusted with a large sum for the purpose of
+repairing them had executed their duty in an insufficient and it was
+generally said in a fraudulent manner. The extreme dishonesty that
+prevailed among the Greek officials explains the selection of monks as
+treasurers for military objects; and it must lessen our surprise at
+finding men of their religious professions sharing in the general
+avarice, or tolerating the habitual peculations of others.
+
+Cannon were beginning to be used in sieges, but stone balls were used in
+the larger pieces of artillery; and the larger the gun, the greater was
+the effect it was expected to produce. Even in Constantinople there was
+some artillery too large to be of much use, as the land wall had not been
+constructed to admit of their recoil, and the ramparts were so weak as
+to be shaken by their concussion. Constantine had also only a moderate
+supply of gunpowder. The machines of a past epoch in military science,
+but to the use of which the Greeks adhered with their conservative
+prejudices, were brought from the storehouses, and planted on the walls
+beside the modern artillery. Johann Grant, a German officer, was the most
+experienced artilleryman and military engineer in the place.
+
+A considerable number of Italians hastened to Constantinople as soon as
+they heard of its danger, eager to defend so important a depot of Eastern
+commerce. The spirit of enterprise and the love of military renown had
+become as much a characteristic of the merchant nobles of the commercial
+republics as they had been, in a preceding age, distinctions of the
+barons in feudal monarchies. All the nations who then traded with
+Constantinople furnished contingents to defend its walls. A short time
+before the siege commenced, John Justiniani arrived with two Genoese
+galleys and three hundred chosen troops, and the Emperor valued his
+services so highly that he was appointed general of the guard. The
+resident bailo of the Venetians furnished three large galeases and a body
+of troops for the defence of the port. The consul of Catalans, with his
+countrymen and the Aragonese, undertook the defence of the great palace
+of Bukoleon and the port of Kontoskalion. Cardinal Isidore, with the
+papal troops, defended the Kynegesion, and the angle of the city at the
+head of the port down to St. Demetrius. The importance of the aid which
+was afforded by the Latins is proved by the fact that of twelve military
+divisions, into which Constantine divided the fortifications, the
+commands of only two were intrusted to the exclusive direction of Greek
+officers. In the others, Greeks shared the command with foreigners, or
+aliens alone conducted the defence.
+
+When all Constantine's preparations for defence were completed, he found
+himself obliged to man a line of wall on the land side of about five
+miles in length, every point of which was exposed to a direct attack. The
+remainder of the wall toward the port and the Propontis exceeded nine
+miles in extent, and his whole garrison hardly amounted to nine thousand
+men. His fleet consisted of only twenty galleys and three Venetian
+galeases, but the entry of the port was closed by a chain, the end of
+which, on the side of Galata, was secured in a strong fort of which the
+Greeks kept possession. During the winter the Emperor sent out his fleet
+to ravage the coast of the Propontis as far as Cyzicus, and the spirit of
+the Greeks was roused by the booty they made in these expeditions.
+
+Mahomet II spent the winter at Adrianople, preparing everything necessary
+for commencing the siege with vigor. His whole mind was absorbed by
+the glory of conquering the Roman Empire and gaining possession of
+Constantinople, which for more than eleven hundred fifty years had been
+the capital of the East. While the fever of ambition inflamed his soul,
+his cooler judgment also warned him that the Ottoman power rested on a
+perilous basis as long as Constantinople, the true capital of his
+empire, remained in the hands of others. Mahomet could easily assemble a
+sufficient number of troops for his enterprise, but it required all his
+activity and power to collect the requisite supplies of provisions
+and stores for the immense military and naval force he had ordered to
+assemble, and to prepare the artillery and ammunition necessary to insure
+success.
+
+Early and late, in his court and in his cabinet, the young Sultan could
+talk of nothing but the approaching siege. With the writing-reed and
+a scroll of paper in his hand he was often seen tracing plans of the
+fortifications of Constantinople, and marking out positions for his own
+batteries. Every question relating to the extent and locality of the
+various magazines to be constructed in order to maintain the troops was
+discussed in his presence; he himself distributed the troops in their
+respective divisions and regulated the order of their march; he issued
+the orders relating to the equipment of the fleet, and discussed the
+various methods proposed for breaching, mining, and scaling the walls.
+His enthusiasm was the impulse of a hero, but the immense superiority of
+his force would have secured him the victory with any ordinary degree of
+perseverance.
+
+The Ottomans were already familiar with the use of cannon. Amurath II had
+employed them when he besieged Constantinople in 1422; but Mahomet now
+resolved on forming a more powerful battering-train than had previously
+existed. Neither the Greeks nor Turks possessed the art of casting large
+guns. Both were obliged to employ foreigners. An experienced artilleryman
+and founder named Urban, by birth a Wallachian, carried into execution
+the Sultan's wishes. He had passed some time in the Greek service; but,
+even the moderate pay he was allowed by the Emperor having fallen in
+arrear, he resigned his place and transferred his services to the Sultan,
+who knew better how to value warlike knowledge. He now gave Mahomet
+proof of his skill by casting the largest cannon which had ever been
+fabricated. He had already placed one of extraordinary size in the
+new castle of the Bosporus, which carried across the straits. The gun
+destined for the siege of Constantinople far exceeded in size this
+monster, and the diameter of its mouth must have been nearly two feet
+and a half. Other cannon of great size, whose balls of stone weighed one
+hundred fifty pounds, were also cast, as well as many guns of smaller
+calibre. All these, together with a number of ballistae and other ancient
+engines still employed in sieges, were mounted on carriages in order to
+transport them to Constantinople. The conveyance of this formidable train
+of artillery, and of the immense quantity of ammunition required for its
+service, was by no means a trifling operation.
+
+The first division of the Ottoman army moved from Adrianople in February,
+1453. In the mean time a numerous corps of pioneers worked constantly at
+the road, in order to prepare it for the passage of the long train of
+artillery and baggage wagons. Temporary bridges, capable of being
+taken to pieces, were erected by the engineers over every ravine and
+water-course, and the materials for every siege advanced steadily, though
+slowly, to their destination. The extreme difficulty of moving the
+monster cannon with its immense balls retarded the Sultan's progress, and
+it was the beginning of April before the whole battering-train reached
+Constantinople, though the distance from Adrianople is barely a hundred
+miles. The division of the army under Karadja Pacha had already reduced
+Mesembria and the castle of St. Stephanus. Selymbria alone defended
+itself, and the fortifications were so strong that Mahomet ordered it to
+be closely blockaded, and left its fate to be determined by that of the
+capital.
+
+On April 6th Sultan Mahomet II encamped on the slope of the hill facing
+the quarter of Blachern, a little beyond the ground occupied by the
+crusaders in 1203, and immediately ordered the construction of lines
+extending from the head of the port to the shore of the Propontis. These
+lines were formed of a mound of earth, and they served both to restrain
+the sorties of the besieged and to cover the troops from the fire of
+the enemy's artillery and missiles. The batteries were then formed; the
+principal were erected against the gate of Charsias, in the quarter of
+Blachern, and against the gate of St. Romanus, near the centre of the
+city wall. It was against this last gate that the fire of the monster gun
+was directed and the chief attack was made.
+
+The land forces of the Turks probably amounted to about seventy thousand
+men of all arms and qualities; but the real strength of the army lay in
+the corps of janizaries, then the best infantry in Europe, and their
+number did not exceed twelve thousand. At the same time, twenty thousand
+cavalry, mounted on the finest horses of the Turkoman breed, and hardened
+by long service, were ready to fight either on horseback or on foot,
+under the eye of their young Sultan. The fleet which had been collected
+along the Asiatic coast, from the ports of the Black Sea to those of
+the Aegean, brought additional supplies of men, provisions, and military
+stores. It consisted of three hundred twenty vessels of various sizes
+and forms. The greater part were only half-decked coasters, and even the
+largest were far inferior in size to the galleys and galeases of the
+Greeks and Italians.
+
+The fortifications of Constantinople toward the land side vary so little
+from a straight line that they afford great facilities for attack. The
+defences had been originally constructed on a magnificent scale and with
+great skill, according to the ancient art of war. Even though they were
+partly ruined by time and weakened by careless reparations, they still
+offered a formidable obstacle to the imperfect science of the engineers
+in Mahomet's army. Two lines of wall, each flanked with its own towers,
+rose one above the other, overlooking a broad and deep ditch. The
+interval between these walls enabled the defenders to form in perfect
+security, and facilitated their operations in clearing the ditch and
+retarding the preparation for assault. The actual appearance of the low
+walls of Constantinople, with the ditch more than half filled up, gives
+only an incorrect picture of their former state.
+
+Mahomet had made his preparations for the siege with so much skill that
+his preliminary works advanced with unexpected rapidity. The numerical
+superiority of his army, and the precautions he had adopted for
+strengthening his lines, rendered the sorties of the garrison useless.
+The ultimate success of the defence depended on the arrival of assistance
+from abroad; but the numbers of the Ottoman fleet seemed to render even
+this hope almost desperate. An incident occurred that showed the
+immense advantage conferred by skill, when united with courage, over an
+apparently irresistible superiority of force in naval warfare. Four large
+ships, laden with grain and stores, one of which bore the Greek and the
+other the Genoese flag, had remained for some time wind-bound at Chios,
+and were anxiously expected at Constantinople. At daybreak these ships
+were perceived by the Turkish watchmen steering for Constantinople, with
+a strong breeze in their favor. The war-galleys of the Sultan immediately
+got under way to capture them. The Sultan himself rode down to the point
+of Tophane to witness a triumph which he considered certain and which he
+thought would reduce his enemy to despair. The Greeks crowded the walls
+of the city, offering up prayers for their friends and trembling for
+their safety in the desperate struggle that awaited them. The Christians
+had several advantages which their nautical experience enabled them to
+turn to good account. The good size of their ships, the strength of their
+construction, their weight, and their high bulwarks were all powerful
+means of defence when aided by a stiff breeze blowing directly in the
+teeth of their opponents. The Turks were compelled to row their galleys
+against this wind and the heavy sea it raised. In vain they attacked the
+Christians with reckless valor, fighting under the eye of their fiery
+sovereign. The skill of their enemy rendered all their attacks abortive.
+In vain one squadron attempted to impede the progress of the Christians,
+while another endeavored to run alongside and carry them by boarding.
+Every Turkish galley that opposed their progress was crushed under the
+weight of their heavy hulls, while those that endeavored to board had
+their oars shivered in the shock, and drifted helpless far astern. The
+few that succeeded for a moment in retaining their place alongside were
+either sunk by immense angular blocks of stone that were dropped on their
+frail timbers, or were filled with flames and smoke by the Greek fire
+that was poured upon them. The rapidity with which the best galleys were
+sunk or disabled appalled the bravest; and at last the Turks shrank from
+close combat on an element where they saw that valor without experience
+was of no avail. The Christian ships, in the mean time, held steadily on
+their course, under all the canvas their masts could carry, until they
+rounded the point of St. Demetrius and entered the port, where the chain
+was joyfully lowered to admit them.
+
+The young Sultan, on seeing the defeat of his galleys, lost all command
+over his temper. He could hardly be restrained from urging his horse into
+the sea, and in his frantic passion heaped every term of abuse and
+insult on his naval officers. He even talked of ordering his admiral,
+Baltaoghlu, to be impaled on the spot; but the janizaries present
+compelled even Mahomet to restrain his vengeance. This check revealed to
+Mahomet the extent of the danger to which his naval force was exposed
+should either the Genoese or Venetians send a powerful fleet to the
+assistance of the emperor Constantine.
+
+This naval discomfiture was also attended by some disasters on shore. The
+monster cannon burst before it had produced any serious impression on the
+walls. Its loss, however, was soon replaced; but the Ottoman army was
+repulsed in a general attack. An immense tower of timber, mounted on many
+wheels, and constructed on the model used in sieges from the time of the
+ancient Greeks and Romans, was dragged up to the edge of the ditch. Under
+its cover, workmen were incessantly employed throwing materials into the
+ditch to enable the tower itself to approach the walls, while the fire of
+several guns and the operations of a corps of miners ruined the opposite
+tower of the city. The progress of the besiegers induced them to risk an
+assault, in which they were repulsed, after a hard-fought struggle: and
+during the following night John Justiniani made a great sortie, during
+which his workmen cleared the ditch, and his soldiers filled the tower
+with combustible materials and burned it to the ground. Its exterior,
+having been protected by a triple covering of buffalo-hides, was found to
+be impervious even to Greek fire.
+
+In order to counteract the effect of these defeats, which had depressed
+the courage of the Ottomans and raised the spirits of the Greeks, the
+Sultan resolved to adopt measures for placing his fleet in security, and
+facilitating the communication between the army before Constantinople and
+the naval camp on the Bosporus. The Venetians had recently transported
+a number of their galleys from the river Adige overland to the lake
+of Garda. This exploit, which had been loudly celebrated at the time,
+suggested to the Sultan the idea of transporting a number of vessels from
+the Bosporus into the port of Constantinople, where the smooth water and
+the command of the shore would secure to his ships the mastery of the
+upper half of that extensive harbor. The distance over which it was
+necessary to transport the galleys was only five miles, but a steep
+hill presented a formidable obstacle to the undertaking. Mahomet,
+nevertheless, having witnessed the transport of his monster cannon
+over rivers and hills, was persuaded that his engineers would find no
+difficulty in moving his ships overland. A road was accordingly made, and
+laid with strong planks and wooden rails, which were plastered over with
+tallow. It extended from the station occupied by the fleet at Dolma
+Baktshe to the summit of the ridge near the Cemetery of Pera. On this
+inclined plane, with the assistance of windlasses and numerous yokes of
+oxen, the vessels were hauled up one after the other to the summit of the
+hill, from whence they descended with difficulty to the point beyond
+the present arsenal, where they were launched into the port under the
+protection of batteries prepared for their defence. Historians, wishing
+to give a dramatic character to their pages, have attributed marvellous
+difficulties to this daring exploit. It was a well-conceived and
+well-executed undertaking, for a division of the Ottoman fleet was
+conveyed into the port in a single night, where the Greeks, at the
+dawn of day, were amazed at beholding the hostile ships safe under the
+protection of inexpugnable batteries.
+
+To establish an easy and rapid communication between the naval camp
+on the Bosporus and the army before Constantinople, Mahomet ordered a
+floating bridge to be constructed across the port, from the point near
+the old foundry, on the side of Galata, to that near the angle of the
+city walls, near Haivan Serai, the ancient amphitheatre. The roadway of
+this bridge was supported on the enormous jars used for storing oil and
+wine, numbers of which were easily collected in the suburbs of Galata.
+These jars, when bound together with their mouth inverted in the water,
+formed admirable pontoons. Artillery was mounted on this bridge and the
+galleys were brought up to the city walls, which were now assailed from
+a quarter hitherto safe from attack. The Genoese under Justiniani on one
+occasion, and the Venetians on another, were defeated in their attempts
+to burn the Turkish fleet and destroy the bridge. The fire of the
+artillery rendered the attacks of the Italians abortive, and their
+failure afforded a decisive proof that the defence of the city was
+becoming desperate. To avoid the admission of their inferiority in
+force, the defeated parties threw the blame on one another, and their
+dissensions became so violent that the Emperor could hardly appease the
+quarrel.
+
+During all the labors of the besiegers in other quarters, the approaches
+were pushed vigorously forward against the land wall. Though the activity
+in other and more novel operations might attract greater attention, the
+industry of those engaged in filling up the ditch, and the fire of the
+breaching batteries, never relaxed. Though all attempts to cross the
+ditch at the gate of St. Romanus were long baffled by the Greeks, and
+the mining operations at Blachern were discovered and defeated by Johann
+Grant, still the superior number and indefatigable perseverance of the
+Ottomans at last filled up the ditch, and the fire of their guns ruined
+the walls. A visible change in the state of the fortifications encouraged
+the assailants, and showed the besieged that the enemy was gradually
+gaining a decided advantage. At the commencement of the siege, the
+Ottoman engineers had displayed so little knowledge of the mode of using
+artillery to effect a breach that a Hungarian envoy from John Hunyady,[1]
+who visited Mahomet's camp, ridiculed the idea of their producing any
+effect on the walls of Constantinople. This stranger was said to have
+taught the Turks to fire in volleys, and to cut the wall in rectangular
+sections, in order to produce a practicable breach.
+
+The batteries at length effected a practicable breach at the gate of St.
+Romanus. Before issuing his final orders for the assault, Mahomet
+II summoned the Emperor to surrender the city, and offered him a
+considerable appanage as a vassal of the Porte elsewhere. Constantine
+rejected the insulting offer, and the Sultan prepared to take
+Constantinople by storm. Four days were employed in the Ottoman camp
+making all the arrangements necessary for a simultaneous attack by land
+and sea along the whole line of the fortifications, from the modern
+quarter of Phanar to the Golden Gate. The Greeks and Latins within the
+walls were not less active in their exertions to meet the crisis. The
+Latins were sustained by their habits of military discipline, and their
+experiences of the chances of war; the Greeks placed great confidence in
+some popular prophecies which foretold the ultimate defeat of the Turks.
+They felt a pious conviction that the imperial and orthodox city would
+never fall into the hands of infidels. But the emperor Constantine was
+deceived by no vain hopes. He knew that human prudence and valor could do
+no more than had been done to retard the progress of the besiegers.
+
+Time had been gained, but the Greeks showed no disposition to fight for a
+heretical emperor, and no succors arrived from the Pope and the western
+princes. Constantine could now only hope to prolong the defence for a
+few hours, and, when the city fell, to bring his own life to a glorious
+termination by dying on the breach.
+
+On the night before the assault, the Emperor rode round to all the posts
+occupied by the garrison, and encouraged the troops to expect victory by
+his cheerful demeanor. He then visited the Church of St. Sophia, already
+deserted by the orthodox, where with his attendants he partook of the
+holy sacrament according to the Latin form. He returned for a short time
+to the imperial palace, and, on quitting it to take his station at the
+great breach, he was so overcome by the certainty that he should
+never again behold those present that he turned to the members of his
+household, many of whom had been the companions of his youth, and
+solemnly asked them to pardon every offence he had ever given them. Tears
+burst from all present as Constantine mounted his horse and rode slowly
+forward to meet his fate.
+
+The contrast between the city of the Christians and the camp of the
+Mahometans was not encouraging. Within the walls an emperor in the
+decline of life commanded a small and disunited force, with twenty
+leaders under his orders, each at the head of an almost independent band
+of Greek, Genoese, Venetian, or Catalan soldiers. So slight was the tie
+which bound these various chiefs together that, even when they were
+preparing for the final assault, the Emperor was obliged to use all his
+authority and personal influence to prevent Justiniani and the grand duke
+Notaras from coming to blows. Justiniani demanded to be supplied with
+some additional guns for the defence of the great breach, but Notaras,
+who had the official control over the artillery, peremptorily refused the
+demand.
+
+In the Turkish camp, on the other hand, perfect unity prevailed, and a
+young, ardent, and able sovereign concentrated in his hands the most
+despotic authority over a numerous and well-disciplined army. To excite
+the energy of that army to the highest pitch of enthusiasm, the Sultan
+proclaimed to his troops that he granted them the whole plunder of
+Constantinople, reserving to himself only the public buildings. The day
+of the battle was regarded as a religious festival in the Ottoman camp,
+and on the previous night lamps were hung out before every tent, and
+fires were kindled on every eminence in or near the lines. Thousands of
+lanterns were suspended from the flagstaffs of the batteries and from the
+masts and yards of the ships, and were reflected in the waters of
+the Propontis, the Golden Horn, and the Bosporus. The whole Ottoman
+encampment was resplendent with the blaze of this illumination. Yet a
+deep silence prevailed during the whole night, except when the musical
+cadence of the solemn chant of the call to prayers showed the Greeks the
+immense numbers and the strict discipline of the host.
+
+Before the dawn of day, on the morning of May 29, 1453, the signal was
+given for the attack. Column after column marched forward, and took up
+its ground before the portion of the wall it was ordered to assail. The
+galleys, fitted with towers and scaling-platforms, advanced against the
+fortifications of the port protected by the guns on the bridge. But the
+principal attack was directed against the breach at the gate of St.
+Romanus, where two flanking towers had fallen into the ditch and opened
+a passage into the interior of the city. The gate of Charsias and the
+quarter of Blachern were also assailed by chosen regiments of janizaries
+in overwhelming numbers. The attack was made with daring courage, but for
+more than two hours every point was successfully defended. In the port,
+the Italian and Greek ships opposed the Turkish galleys so effectually
+that the final result appeared to favor the besieged. But on the land
+side, one column of troops followed the other in an incessant stream. The
+moment a division fell back from the assault, new battalions occupied its
+place. The valor of the besieged was for some time successful, but they
+were at last fatigued by their exertions, and their scanty numbers were
+weakened by wounds and death. Unfortunately, Justiniani, the protostrator
+or marshal of the army, and the ablest officer in the place, received a
+wound which induced him to retire on board his ship to have it dressed.
+Until that moment he and the Emperor had defended the great breach with
+advantage; but after his retreat Sagan Pacha, observing that the energy
+of the defenders was relaxed, excited the bravest of the janizaries to
+mount to the assault. A chosen company led by Hasan of Ulubad, a man of
+gigantic frame, first crossed the ruins of the wall, and their leader
+gained the summit of the dilapidated tower which flanked the breach.
+The defenders, headed by the emperor Constantine, made a desperate
+resistance. Hasan and many of his followers were slain, but the
+janizaries had secured the vantage-ground, and, fresh troops pouring in
+to their aid, they surrounded the defenders of the breach. The Emperor
+fell amid a heap of slain, and a column of janizaries rushed into
+Constantinople over his lifeless body.
+
+About the same time another corps of the Ottomans forced an entrance into
+the city at the gate of the Circus, which had been left almost without
+defence, for the besieged were not sufficiently numerous to guard the
+whole line of the fortifications, and their best troops were drawn to the
+points where the attacks were fiercest. The corps that forced the gate of
+the Circus took the defenders of the gate of Charsias in the rear, and
+overpowered all resistance in the quarter of Blachern.
+
+Several gates were now thrown open, and the army entered Constantinople
+at several points. The cry that the enemy had stormed the walls preceded
+their march. Senators, priests, monks, and nuns, men, women, and
+children, all rushed to seek safety in St. Sophia's. A prediction current
+among the Greeks flattered them with the vain hope that an angel would
+descend from heaven and destroy the Mahometans, in order to reveal the
+extent of God's love for the orthodox. St. Sophia's, which for some time
+they had forsaken as a spot profaned by the Emperor's attempt at a union
+of the Christian world, was again revered as the sanctuary of orthodoxy,
+and was crowded with the flower of the Greek nation, confident of
+a miraculous interposition in favor of their national pride and
+ecclesiastical prejudices.
+
+The besiegers, when they first entered the city, fearing lest they might
+encounter serious resistance in the narrow streets, put every soul they
+encountered to the sword. But as soon as they were fully aware of the
+small number of the garrison, and the impossibility of any further
+opposition, they began to make prisoners. At length they reached St.
+Sophia's, and, rushing into that magnificent temple, which could with
+ease contain twenty thousand persons, they performed deeds of plunder and
+violence not unlike the scenes which the crusaders had enacted in the
+same spot in 1204. The men, women, and children who had sought safety
+in the building were divided among the soldiers as slaves, without any
+reference to their rank or respect for their ties of blood, and hurried
+off to the camp, or placed under the guard of comrades, who formed a
+joint alliance for the security of their plunder. The ecclesiastical
+ornaments and church plate were poor indeed when compared with the
+immense riches of the Byzantine cathedral in the time of the crusaders;
+but whatever was movable was immediately divided among the soldiers with
+such celerity that the mighty temple soon presented few traces of having
+been a Christian church.
+
+While one division of the victorious army was engaged in plundering the
+southern side of the city, from the gate of St. Romanus to the Church
+of St. Sophia, another, turning to the port, made itself master of the
+warehouses that were filled with merchandise, and surrounded the Greek
+troops under the grand duke Notaras. The Greeks were easily subdued,
+and Notaras surrendered himself a prisoner. About midday the Turks were
+in possession of the whole city, and Mahomet II entered his new capital
+at the gate of St. Romanus, riding triumphantly past the body of the
+emperor Constantine, which lay concealed among the slain in the breach
+he had defended. The Sultan rode straight to the Church of St. Sophia,
+where he gave the necessary orders for the preservation of all the
+public buildings. Even during the license of the sack, the severe
+education and grave character of the Ottomans exerted a powerful
+influence on their conduct, and on this occasion there was no example
+of the wanton destruction and wilful conflagrations that had signalized
+the Latin conquest. To convince the Greeks that their orthodox empire
+was extinct, Mahomet ordered a mollah to ascend the bema and address
+a sermon to the Mussulmans, announcing that St. Sophia was now a mosque
+set apart for the prayers of the true believers. To put an end to all
+doubts concerning the death of the Emperor, he ordered Constantine's
+head to be brought and exposed to the people of the capital, from
+whence it was afterward sent as a trophy to be seen by the Greeks of
+the principal cities in the Ottoman empire.
+
+[Footnote 1: The great Hungarian leader, who long fought against the
+Turks, and signally defeated them at Belgrad in 1456.--ED.]
+
+
+
+WARS OF THE ROSES
+
+DEATH OF RICHARD III AT BOSWORTH
+
+A.D. 1455-1485
+
+DAVID HUME
+
+
+Historians themselves declare that no part of English history since the
+Norman Conquest is so obscure and uncertain as that of the Wars of the
+Roses. "All we can distinguish with certainty through the deep cloud
+which covers that period is a scene of horror and bloodshed, savage
+manners, arbitrary executions and treacheries, dishonorable conduct in
+all parties." These brutal aspects of that horrid drama of history,
+running through more than the course of a full generation, are depicted
+for the mimic stage by Shakespeare, in _Henry VI and Richard III_, with
+a vividness that brings before us the ghastly realities of the historic
+theatre itself, and with such realization of the rude forces at work
+as calls for all the poet's refining art to make their representation
+tolerable to modern spectators.
+
+But the historians, while consciously failing to discover the hidden
+motives of intrigue and treachery which throughout actuated the parties
+to this fearful struggle of Englishmen with Englishmen, have nevertheless
+recorded for us its main outlines and leading episodes with sufficient
+clearness. We are enabled to see England as she was in that great
+transition of her "making"--in the throes of civil strife, again to be
+endured two centuries later--through which she must pass before she could
+become a "land of settled government."
+
+During the weak reign of Henry VI, France was delivered from English
+rule, mainly through the heroism of Jeanne d'Arc. In 1450 the commons
+rose against King Henry and the house of Lancaster, to which he belonged,
+and declared in favor of the house of York--these houses having already
+come into serious rivalry for the supreme power. The disasters in France
+strengthened the Yorkists, and brought their representative, Richard,
+Duke of York, to the front, with armed forces to support his claims.
+In 1452 he marched upon London, demanding the removal of the Duke of
+Somerset, Henry's chief minister, but a conflict was temporarily averted.
+When, in 1454, King Henry became insane, the Duke of York was made
+protector by parliament. He might now have seized the crown, but his
+forbearance was taken advantage of by the rival party, and "proved the
+source of all those furious wars which ensued"--the Wars of the Roses,
+beginning with the first battle of St. Albans, in 1455, and ending with
+the death of Richard III at Bosworth Field, in 1485.
+
+The wars were signalized by twelve pitched battles; they cost the lives
+of about eighty princes of the blood; and during their ravages the
+ancient nobility of England was almost annihilated. Yet in these fierce
+wars comparatively little damage was done to the general population or to
+industry and trade. The wars derived their name from the fact that the
+partisans of the house of Lancaster took the red rose as their badge, and
+those of York chose the white rose.
+
+The enemies of the Duke of York soon found it in their power to make
+advantage of his excessive caution. Henry being so far recovered from his
+distemper as to carry the appearance of exercising the royal power, they
+moved him to resume his authority, to annul the protectorship of the
+Duke, and to commit the administration into the hands of Somerset (1455).
+Richard, sensible of the dangers which might attend his former acceptance
+of the parliamentary commission should he submit to the annulling of it,
+levied an army, but still without advancing any pretensions to the crown.
+He complained only of the King's ministers, and demanded a reformation of
+the government.
+
+A battle was fought at St. Albans, in which the Yorkists were superior,
+and, without suffering any material loss, slew about five thousand
+of their enemies, among whom were the Duke of Somerset, the Earl
+of Northumberland, the Earl of Stafford, eldest son of the Duke of
+Buckingham, Lord Clifford, and many other persons of distinction. The
+King himself fell into the hands of the Duke of York, who treated him
+with great respect and tenderness; he was only obliged--which he regarded
+as no hardship--to commit the whole authority of the crown into the hands
+of his rival.
+
+Affairs did not immediately proceed to the last extremities; the
+nation was kept some time in suspense; the vigor and spirit of Queen
+Margaret,[1] supporting her small power, still proved a balance to the
+great authority of Richard, which was checked by his irresolute temper.
+A parliament, which was soon after assembled, plainly discovered, by the
+contrariety of their proceedings, the contrariety of the motives by which
+they were actuated. They granted the Yorkists a general indemnity; and
+they restored the protectorship to the Duke, but at the same time they
+renewed their oaths of fealty to Henry, and fixed the continuance of the
+protectorship to the majority of his son Edward.
+
+It was not found difficult to wrest power from hands so little tenacious
+as those of the Duke of York. Margaret, availing herself of that Prince's
+absence, produced her husband before the House of Lords; and as his state
+of health permitted him at that time to act his part with some tolerable
+decency, he declared his intentions of resuming the government, and of
+putting an end to Richard's authority. The House of Lords assented to
+Henry's proposal, and the King was declared to be reinstated. Even the
+Duke of York acquiesced in this irregular act of the peers, and no
+disturbance ensued. But that Prince's claim to the crown was too well
+known, and the steps which he had taken to promote it were too evident
+ever to allow sincere trust and confidence to have place between the
+parties.
+
+The court retired to Coventry, and invited the Duke of York and the Earls
+of Salisbury and Warwick to attend the King's person. When they were on
+the road, they received intelligence that designs were formed against
+their liberties and lives. They immediately separated themselves; Richard
+withdrew to his castle of Wigmore; Salisbury to Middleham, in Yorkshire;
+and Warwick to his government of Calais, which had been committed to him
+after the battle of St. Albans, and which, as it gave him the command of
+the only regular military force maintained by England, was of the utmost
+importance in the present juncture. Still, men of peaceable dispositions,
+and among the rest Bourchier, Archbishop of Canterbury, thought it not
+too late to interpose with their good offices in order to prevent that
+effusion of blood with which the kingdom was threatened; and the awe in
+which each party stood of the other rendered the mediation for some time
+successful.
+
+It was agreed that all the great leaders on both sides should meet in
+London and be solemnly reconciled. The Duke of York and his partisans
+came thither with numerous retinues, and took up their quarters near each
+other for mutual security. The leaders of the Lancastrian party used the
+same precaution. The mayor, at the head of five thousand men, kept a
+strict watch night and day, and was extremely vigilant in maintaining
+peace between them. Terms were adjusted, which removed not the ground of
+difference. An outward reconciliation only was procured; and in order to
+notify this accord to the whole people, a solemn procession to St. Paul's
+was appointed, where the Duke of York led Queen Margaret, and a leader of
+one party marched hand in hand with a leader of the opposite. The less
+real cordiality prevailed, the more were the exterior demonstrations of
+amity redoubled. But it was evident that a contest for a crown could
+not thus be peaceably accommodated, that each party watched only for an
+opportunity of subverting the other, and that much blood must yet be
+spilt ere the nation could be restored to perfect tranquillity or enjoy a
+settled and established government.
+
+Even the smallest accident, without any formed design, was sufficient, in
+the present disposition of men's minds, to dissolve the seeming harmony
+between the parties; and, had the intentions of the leaders been ever so
+amicable, they would have found it difficult to restrain the animosity of
+their followers. One of the King's retinue insulted one of the Earl of
+Warwick's; their companions on both sides took part in the quarrel; a
+fierce combat ensued; the Earl apprehended his life to be aimed at; he
+fled to his government of Calais; and both parties, in every county of
+England, openly made preparations for deciding the contest by war and
+arms.
+
+The Earl of Salisbury, marching to join the Duke of York, was overtaken
+at Blore Heath, on the borders of Staffordshire, by Lord Audley, who
+commanded much superior forces; and a small rivulet with steep banks ran
+between the armies. Salisbury here supplied his defect in numbers by
+stratagem a refinement of which there occur few instances in the English
+civil wars, where a headlong courage, more than military conduct, is
+commonly to be remarked. He feigned a retreat, and allured Audley to
+follow him with precipitation; but when the van of the royal army had
+passed the brook, Salisbury suddenly turned upon them, and partly by the
+surprise, partly by the division of the enemy's forces, put this body to
+rout; the example of flight was followed by the rest of the army; and
+Salisbury, obtaining a complete victory, reached the general rendezvous
+of the Yorkists at Ludlow. The Earl of Warwick brought over to this
+rendezvous a choice body of veterans from Calais, on whom, it was
+thought, the fortune of the war would much depend; but this reenforcement
+occasioned, in the issue, the immediate ruin of the Duke of York's party.
+When the royal army approached, and a general action was every hour
+expected, Sir Andrew Trollop, who commanded the veterans, deserted to
+the King in the night-time; and the Yorkists were so dismayed at this
+instance of treachery, which made every man suspicious of his fellow,
+that they separated next day without striking a blow; the Duke fled to
+Ireland; the Earl of Warwick, attended by many of the other leaders,
+escaped to Calais, where his great popularity among all orders of men,
+particularly among the military, soon drew to him partisans, and rendered
+his power very formidable. The friends of the house of York in England
+kept themselves everywhere in readiness to rise on the first summons from
+their leaders.
+
+After meeting with some successes at sea, Warwick landed in Kent, with
+the Earl of Salisbury and the Earl of March, eldest son of the Duke of
+York; and being met by the Primate, by Lord Cobham, and other persons of
+distinction, he marched, amid the acclamations of the people, to London.
+The city immediately opened its gates to him; and, his troops increasing
+on every day's march, he soon found himself in a condition to face the
+royal army, which hastened from Coventry to attack him. The battle was
+fought at Northampton, and was soon decided against the royalists by the
+infidelity of Lord Grey of Ruthin, who, commanding Henry's van, deserted
+to the enemy during the heat of action, and spread a consternation
+through the troops. The Duke of Buckingham, the Earl of Shrewsbury, the
+Lords Beaumont and Egremont, and Sir William Lucie were killed in the
+action or pursuit; the slaughter fell chiefly on the gentry and nobility;
+the common people were spared by orders of the Earls of Warwick and
+March. Henry himself, that empty shadow of a king, was again taken
+prisoner; and as the innocence and simplicity of his manners, which bore
+the appearance of sanctity, had procured him the tender regard of
+the people, the Earl of Warwick and the other leaders took care to
+distinguish themselves by their respectful demeanor toward him.
+
+A parliament was summoned in the King's name, and met at Westminster,
+where the Duke soon after appeared from Ireland. This Prince had never
+hitherto advanced openly any claim to the crown. He advanced toward the
+throne; and being met by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who asked him
+whether he had yet paid his respects to the King, he replied that he knew
+of none to whom he owed that title. He then stood near the throne, and,
+addressing himself to the House of Peers, he gave them a deduction of his
+title by descent, and pleaded his cause before them. The lords remained
+in suspense, and no one ventured to utter a word. Richard was much
+disappointed at their silence; but, desiring them to reflect on what he
+had proposed to them, he departed the house.
+
+The peers, after deliberating, declared the title of the duke of York to
+be certain and indefeasible; but in consideration that Henry had
+enjoyed the crown, without dispute or controversy, during the course of
+thirty-eight years, they determined that he should continue to possess
+the title and dignity during the remainder of his life; that the
+administration of the government, meanwhile, should remain with Richard;
+that he should be acknowledged the true and lawful heir of the monarchy;
+that everyone should swear to maintain his succession, and it should
+be treason to attempt his life. The act thus passed with the unanimous
+consent of the whole legislative body.
+
+The Duke, apprehending his chief danger to arise from Queen Margaret,
+sought a pretence for banishing her the kingdom; he sent her in the
+King's name a summons to come immediately to London, intending, in case
+of her disobedience, to proceed to extremities against her. But the Queen
+needed not this menace to excite her activity in defending the rights of
+her family. After the defeat of Northampton she had fled with her infant
+son to Durham, thence to Scotland; but soon returning she applied to the
+northern barons, and employed every motive to procure their assistance.
+Her affability, insinuation, and address--qualities in which she
+excelled--her caresses, her promises, wrought a powerful effect on
+everyone who approached her; the admiration of her great qualities was
+succeeded by compassion toward her helpless condition; the nobility of
+that quarter, who regarded themselves as the most warlike in the kingdom,
+were moved by indignation to find the southern barons pretend to dispose
+of the crown and settle the government. And, that they might allure
+the people to their standard, they promised them the spoils of all the
+provinces on the other side of the Trent. By these means the Queen had
+collected an army twenty thousand strong, with a celerity which was
+neither expected by her friends nor apprehended by her enemies.
+
+The Duke of York, informed of her appearance in the north, hastened
+thither with a body of five thousand men, to suppress, as he imagined,
+the beginnings of an insurrection; when, on his arrival at Wakefield, he
+found himself so much outnumbered by the enemy. He threw himself into
+Sandal castle, which was situated in the neighborhood; and he was advised
+by the Earl of Salisbury and other prudent counsellors to remain in that
+fortress till his son, the Earl of March, who was levying forces in the
+borders of Wales, could advance to his assistance. But the Duke, though
+deficient in political courage, possessed personal bravery in an eminent
+degree; and notwithstanding his wisdom and experience, he thought that he
+should be forever disgraced if, by taking shelter behind walls, he should
+for a moment resign the victory to a woman. He descended into the plain
+and offered battle to the enemy, which was instantly accepted. The great
+inequality of numbers was sufficient alone to decide the victory; but the
+Queen, by sending a detachment, who fell on the back of the Duke's army,
+rendered her advantage still more certain and undisputed. The Duke
+himself was killed in the action; and as his body was found among the
+slain, the head was cut off by Margaret's orders and fixed on the gates
+of York, with a paper crown upon it, in derision of his pretended title.
+
+The Queen, after this important victory, divided her army. She sent the
+smaller division, under Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pembroke, half brother to
+the King, against Edward the new Duke of York. She herself marched with
+the larger division toward London, where the Earl of Warwick had been
+left with the command of the Yorkists. Pembroke was defeated by Edward
+at Mortimer's Cross, in Herefordshire, his army was dispersed, and he
+himself escaped by flight.
+
+Margaret compensated this defeat by a victory which she obtained over the
+Earl of Warwick. That nobleman, on the approach of the Lancastrians, led
+out his army, reenforced by a strong body of the Londoners, who were
+affectionate to his cause; and he gave battle to the Queen at St.
+Albans. While the armies were warmly engaged, Lovelace, who commanded a
+considerable body of the Yorkists, withdrew from the combat; and this
+treacherous conduct decided the victory in favor of the Queen. The person
+of the King fell again into the hands of his own party. Lord Bonville, to
+whose care he had been intrusted by the Yorkists, remained with him after
+the defeat, on assurances of pardon given him by Henry; but Margaret,
+regardless of her husband's promise, immediately ordered the head of that
+nobleman to be struck off by the executioner. Sir Thomas Kiriel, a brave
+warrior, who had signalized himself in the French wars, was treated in
+the same manner.
+
+The Queen made no great advantage of this victory. Young Edward advanced
+upon her from the other side, and, collecting the remains of Warwick's
+army, was soon in a condition of giving her battle with superior forces.
+She found it necessary to retreat to the north. Edward entered the
+capital amid the acclamations of the citizens, and immediately opened a
+new scene to his party. This Prince, in the bloom of youth, remarkable
+for the beauty of his person, for his bravery, his activity, his
+affability, and every popular quality, found himself so much possessed of
+public favor that, elated with the spirit natural to his age, he resolved
+no longer to confine himself within those narrow limits which his father
+had prescribed to himself, and which had been found by experience so
+prejudicial to his cause. He determined to assume the name and dignity
+of king, to insist openly on his claim, and thenceforth to treat the
+opposite party as traitors and rebels to his lawful authority. His army
+was ordered to assemble in St. John's Fields, and great numbers of
+people surrounded them. They were asked whether they would have Henry of
+Lancaster for king. They unanimously exclaimed against the proposal It
+was then demanded whether they would accept of Edward, eldest son of
+the late Duke of York. They expressed their assent by loud and joyful
+acclamations. A great number of bishops, lords, magistrates, and other
+persons of distinction were next assembled at Baynard's castle, who
+ratified the popular election; and the new king was on the subsequent day
+proclaimed in London by the title of Edward IV.
+
+In this manner ended the reign of Henry VI, a monarch who while in his
+cradle had been proclaimed king both of France and England, and who began
+his life with the most splendid prospects that any prince in Europe had
+ever enjoyed.
+
+Young Edward, now in his twentieth year, was bold, active, and
+enterprising. The very commencement of his reign gave symptoms of his
+sanguinary disposition. The scaffold, as well as the field, incessantly
+streamed with the noblest blood of England. Queen Margaret had prudently
+retired northward among her own partisans, and she was able in a few days
+to assemble an army sixty thousand strong in Yorkshire. The King and the
+Earl of Warwick hastened, with an army of forty thousand men, to check
+her progress; and when they reached Pomfret they despatched a body of
+troops, under the command of Lord Fitzwalter, to secure the passage of
+Ferrybridge over the river Are, which lay between them and the enemy.
+Fitzwalter took possession of the post assigned him, but was not able
+to maintain it against Lord Clifford, who attacked him with superior
+numbers. The Yorkists were chased back with great slaughter, and Lord
+Fitzwalter himself was slain in the action.
+
+The Earl of Warwick, dreading the consequences of this disaster, at a
+time when a decisive action was every hour expected, immediately ordered
+his horse to be brought him, which he stabbed before the whole army, and,
+kissing the hilt of his sword, swore that he was determined to share the
+fate of the meanest soldier. A proclamation was at the same time issued,
+giving to everyone full liberty to retire, but menacing the severest
+punishment to those who should discover any symptoms of cowardice in the
+ensuing battle. Lord Falconberg was sent to recover the post which had
+been lost. He passed the river some miles above Ferrybridge, and, falling
+unexpectedly on Lord Clifford, revenged the former disaster by the defeat
+of the party and the death of their leader.
+
+The hostile armies met at Touton, and a fierce and bloody battle ensued.
+While the Yorkists were advancing to the charge, there happened a great
+fall of snow, which, driving full in the faces of their enemies,
+blinded them; and this advantage was improved by a stratagem of Lord
+Falconberg's. That nobleman ordered some infantry to advance before the
+line, and, after having sent a volley of flight arrows (as they were
+called) amid the enemy, immediately to retire. The Lancastrians,
+imagining that they were gotten within reach of the opposite army,
+discharged all their arrows, which thus fell short of the Yorkists. After
+the quivers of the enemy were emptied, Edward advanced his line and did
+execution with impunity on the dismayed Lancastrians. The bow, however,
+was soon laid aside, and the sword decided the combat, which ended in a
+total victory on the side of the Yorkists. Edward issued orders to give
+no quarter. The routed army was pursued to Tadcaster with great bloodshed
+and confusion, and above thirty-six thousand men are computed to have
+fallen in the battle and pursuit. Henry and Margaret had remained at York
+during the action; but, learning the defeat of their army, they fled into
+Scotland.
+
+Scotland had never exerted itself to take advantage either of the wars
+which England carried on with France or of the civil commotions between
+the contending families. James I avoided all hostilities with foreign
+nations. After the murder of that excellent Prince, the minority of
+his son and successor, James II, and the distractions incident to it,
+retained the Scots in the same state of neutrality. But when the quarrel
+commenced between the houses of York and Lancaster, and became absolutely
+incurable but by the total extinction of one party, James, who had now
+risen to man's estate, was tempted to seize the opportunity, and he
+endeavored to recover those places which the English had formerly
+conquered from his ancestors. He laid siege to the castle of Roxburghe in
+1460, and had provided himself with a small train of artillery for that
+enterprise; but his cannon was so ill-framed that one of them burst as he
+was firing it, and put an end to his life in the flower of his age.
+
+His son and successor, James III, was also a minor on his accession; the
+usual distractions ensued in the government: the Queen Dowager, Anne
+of Gueldres, aspired to the regency; the family of Douglas opposed her
+pretensions; and Queen Margaret, when she fled into Scotland, found there
+a people little less divided by faction than those by whom she had been
+expelled. Though she pleaded the connections between the royal family
+of Scotland and the house of Lancaster, she could engage the Scottish
+council to go no further than to express their good wishes in her favor;
+but on her offer to deliver to them immediately the important fortress of
+Berwick, and to contract her son in marriage with a sister of King James,
+she found a better reception; and the Scots promised the assistance of
+their arms to reinstate her family upon the throne. But Edward did not
+pursue the fugitive King and Queen into their retreat; he returned to
+London, where a parliament was summoned for settling the government.
+
+On the meeting of this assembly, Edward found the good effects of his
+vigorous measure in assuming the crown, as well as of his victory at
+Touton, by which he had secured it. The parliament no longer hesitated
+between the two families, or proposed any of those ambiguous decisions
+which could only serve to perpetuate and to inflame the animosities
+of party. They recognized the title of Edward, by hereditary descent,
+through the family of Mortimer, and declared that he was king by right,
+from the death of his father, who had also the same lawful title; and
+that he was in possession of the crown from the day that he assumed the
+government, tendered to him by the acclamations of the people. They
+reinstated the King in all the possessions which had belonged to the
+crown at the pretended deposition of Richard II.
+
+But the new establishment seemed precarious and uncertain, not only from
+the domestic discontents of the people, but from the efforts of foreign
+powers. Louis, the eleventh of the name, had succeeded to his father,
+Charles, in 1460, and was led from the obvious motives of national
+interest to feed the flames of civil discord among such dangerous
+neighbors by giving support to the weaker party. But the intriguing
+and politic genius of this Prince was here checked by itself: having
+attempted to subdue the independent spirit of his own vassals, he had
+excited such an opposition at home as prevented him from making all the
+advantage, which the opportunity afforded, of the dissensions among the
+English. He sent, however, a small body to Henry's assistance under
+Varenne, seneschal of Normandy, 1462, who landed in Northumberland
+and got possession of the castle of Alnwick; but as the indefatigable
+Margaret went in person to France, where she solicited larger supplies,
+and promised Louis to deliver up Calais if her family should by his means
+be restored to the throne of England, he was induced to send along with
+her a body of two thousand men-at-arms, which enabled her to take the
+field and to make an inroad into England, 1464. Though reenforced by a
+numerous train of adventurers from Scotland, and by many partisans of
+the family of Lancaster, she received a check at Hedgeley Moor from Lord
+Montacute, or Montagu, brother to the Earl of Warwick and warden of the
+east marches between Scotland and England. Montagu was so encouraged with
+this success that, while a numerous reinforcement was on its march to
+join him by orders from Edward, he yet ventured, with his own troops
+alone, to attack the Lancastrians at Hexham; and he obtained a complete
+victory over them. The Duke of Somerset, the Lords Roos and Hungerford,
+were taken in the pursuit, and immediately beheaded by martial law at
+Hexham. Summary justice was in like manner executed at Newcastle on Sir
+Humphrey Nevil, and several other gentlemen. All those who were spared in
+the field suffered on the scaffold, and the utter extermination of their
+adversaries was now become the plain object of the York party; a conduct
+which received but too plausible an apology from the preceding practice
+of the Lancastrians.
+
+The fate of the unfortunate royal family, after this defeat, was
+singular. Margaret, flying with her son into a forest, where she
+endeavored to conceal herself, was beset, during the darkness of the
+night, by robbers, who, either ignorant or regardless of her quality,
+despoiled her of her rings and jewels, and treated her with the utmost
+indignity. The partition of this rich booty raised a quarrel among them;
+and, while their attention was thus engaged, she took the opportunity of
+making her escape with her son into the thickest of the forest, where she
+wandered for some time, overspent with hunger and fatigue and sunk with
+terror and affliction. While in this wretched condition, she saw a robber
+approach with his naked sword; and, finding that she had no means of
+escape, she suddenly embraced the resolution of trusting entirely for
+protection to his faith and generosity. She advanced toward him, and,
+presenting to him the young Prince, called out to him, "Here my friend, I
+commit to your care the safety of your King's son."
+
+The man, whose humanity and generous spirit had been obscured, not
+entirely lost, by his vicious course of life, was struck with the
+singularity of the event, was charmed with the confidence reposed in him,
+and vowed not only to abstain from all injury against the Princess, but
+to devote himself entirely to her service. By his means she dwelt some
+time concealed in the forest, and was at last conducted to the sea-coast,
+whence she made her escape into Flanders. She passed thence into her
+father's court, where she lived several years in privacy and retirement.
+Her husband was not so fortunate or so dexterous in finding the means of
+escape. Some of his friends took him under their protection and conveyed
+him into Lancashire, where he remained concealed during a twelvemonth;
+but he was at last detected, delivered up to Edward, and thrown into the
+Tower. The safety of his person was owing less to the generosity of his
+enemies than to the contempt which they had entertained of his courage
+and his understanding.
+
+The imprisonment of Henry, the expulsion of Margaret, the execution and
+confiscation of all the most eminent Lancastrians, seemed to give full
+security to Edward's government. But his amorous temper led him into
+a snare, which proved fatal to his repose and to the stability of his
+throne. Jaqueline of Luxemburg, Duchess of Bedford, had, after her
+husband's death, so far sacrificed her ambition to love that she espoused
+in second marriage Sir Richard Woodeville, a private gentleman, to
+whom she bore several children, and among the rest Elizabeth, who was
+remarkable for the grace and beauty of her person, as well as for other
+amiable accomplishments. This young lady had married Sir John Gray of
+Groby, by whom she had children; and her husband being slain in the
+second battle of St. Albans, fighting on the side of Lancaster, and his
+estate being for that reason confiscated, his widow retired to live with
+her father, at his seat of Grafton, in Northamptonshire. The King came
+accidentally to the house after a hunting party, in order to pay a visit
+to the Duchess of Bedford, and, as the occasion seemed favorable for
+obtaining some grace from this gallant monarch, the young widow flung
+herself at his feet, and with many tears entreated him to take pity on
+her impoverished and distressed children. The sight of so much beauty in
+affliction strongly affected the amorous Edward, love stole sensibly into
+his heart under the guise of compassion; and her sorrow, so becoming a
+virtuous matron, made his esteem and regard quickly correspond to his
+affection. He raised her from the ground with assurances of favor; he
+found his passion increase every moment by the conversation of the
+amiable object; and he was soon reduced, in his turn, to the posture and
+style of a supplicant at the feet of Elizabeth. But the lady, either
+averse to dishonorable love from a sense of duty, or perceiving that
+the impression which she had made was so deep as to give her hopes of
+obtaining the highest elevation, obstinately refused to gratify his
+passion; and all the endearments, caresses, and importunities of
+the young and amiable Edward proved fruitless against her rigid and
+inflexible virtue. His passion, irritated by opposition and increased by
+his veneration for such honorable sentiments, carried him at last beyond
+all bounds of reason, and he offered to share his throne, as well as his
+heart, with the woman whose beauty of person and dignity of character
+seemed so well to entitle her to both. The marriage was privately
+celebrated at Grafton; the secret was carefully kept for some time; no
+one suspected that so libertine a prince could sacrifice so much to a
+romantic passion; and there were, in particular, strong reasons which
+at that time rendered this step, to the highest degree, dangerous and
+imprudent.
+
+The King, desirous to secure his throne, as well by the prospect of
+issue as by foreign alliances, had, a little before, determined to make
+application to some neighboring princess; and he had cast his eye on Bona
+of Savoy, sister to the Queen of France, who, he hoped, would by her
+marriage insure him the friendship of that power which was alone both
+able and inclined to give support and assistance to his rival. To render
+the negotiation more successful, the Earl of Warwick had been despatched
+to Paris, where the Princess then resided; he had demanded Bona in
+marriage for the King; his proposals had been accepted; the treaty was
+fully concluded; and nothing remained but the ratification of the terms
+agreed on, and the bringing over the Princess to England. But when the
+secret of Edward's marriage broke out, the haughty Earl, deeming himself
+affronted, both by being employed in this fruitless negotiation and by
+being kept a stranger to the King's intentions, who had owed everything
+to his friendship, immediately returned to England, inflamed with rage
+and indignation. The influence of passion over so young a man as Edward
+might have served as an excuse for his imprudent conduct had he deigned
+to acknowledge his error or had pleaded his weakness as an apology; but
+his faulty shame or pride prevented him from so much as mentioning the
+matter to Warwick; and that nobleman was allowed to depart the court,
+full of the same ill-humor and discontent which he had brought to it.
+
+Every incident now tended to widen the breach between the King and this
+powerful subject. The Queen, who lost not her influence by marriage, was
+equally solicitous to draw every grace and favor to her own friends and
+kindred and to exclude those of the Earl, whom she regarded as her mortal
+enemy.
+
+The Earl of Warwick could not suffer with patience the least diminution
+of that credit which he had long enjoyed, and which he thought he had
+merited by such important services. Edward also, jealous of that power
+which had supported him, was well pleased to raise up rivals to the
+Earl of Warwick; and he justified, by this political view, his extreme
+partiality to the Queen's kindred. But the nobility of England, envying
+the sudden growth of the Woodevilles, was more inclined to take part with
+Warwick's discontent.
+
+An extensive and dangerous combination was insensibly formed against
+Edward and his ministry. While this cloud was gathering at home, Edward
+endeavored to secure himself against his factious nobility by entering
+into foreign alliances. But whatever ambitious schemes the King might
+have built on these alliances, they were soon frustrated by intestine
+commotions, which engrossed all his attention. These disorders probably
+arose not immediately from the intrigues of the Earl of Warwick, but from
+accident, aided by the turbulent spirit of the age, by the general humor
+of discontent which that popular nobleman had instilled into the nation,
+and perhaps by some remains of attachment to the house of Lancaster. The
+hospital of St. Leonard's, near York, had received, from an ancient
+grant of King Athelstane, a right of levying a thrave of corn upon every
+ploughland in the county. The country people complained that the revenue
+of the hospital was no longer expended for the relief of the poor, but
+was secreted by the managers, and employed to their private purposes.
+After long repining at the contribution, they refused payment;
+ecclesiastical and civil censures were issued against them; their goods
+were distrained, and their persons thrown into jail; till, as their
+ill-humor daily increased, they rose in arms, fell upon the officers
+of the hospital, whom they put to the sword, and proceeded in a body,
+fifteen thousand strong, to the gates of York. Lord Montagu, who
+commanded in those parts, opposed himself to their progress; and having
+been so fortunate in a skirmish as to seize Robert Hulderne, their
+leader, he ordered him immediately to be led to execution, according to
+the practice of the times.
+
+The rebels, however, still continued in arms; and being soon headed by
+men of greater distinction--Sir Henry Nevil, son of Lord Latimer, and Sir
+John Coniers--they advanced southward, and began to appear formidable to
+the Government. Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, was ordered by Edward to march
+against them at the head of a body of Welshmen; and he was joined by five
+thousand archers, under the command of Stafford, Earl of Devonshire. But
+a trivial difference about quarters having begotten an animosity between
+these two noblemen, the Earl of Devonshire retired with his archers, and
+left Pembroke alone to encounter the rebels.
+
+The two armies approached each other near Banbury, 1469, and Pembroke,
+having prevailed in a skirmish, and having taken Sir John Nevil prisoner,
+ordered him immediately to be put to death, without any form of process.
+This execution enraged without terrifying the rebels; they attacked the
+Welsh army, routed them, put them to the sword without mercy; and, having
+seized Pembroke, they took immediate revenge upon him for the death
+of their leader. The King, imputing this misfortune to the Earl of
+Devonshire, who had deserted Pembroke, ordered him to be executed in a
+like summary manner.
+
+Soon after there broke out another rebellion. It arose in Lincolnshire,
+and was headed by Sir Robert Welles. The army of the rebels amounted to
+thirty thousand men. The King fought a battle with the rebels, defeated
+them, took Sir Robert Welles and Sir Thomas Launde prisoners, and
+ordered them immediately to be beheaded. Edward during these transactions
+had entertained so little jealousy of the Earl of Warwick or the Duke of
+Clarence that he sent them with commissions of array to levy forces
+against the rebels; but these malecontents, as soon as they left the
+court, raised troops in their own name, issued declarations against the
+Government, and complained of grievances, oppressions, and bad ministers.
+The unexpected defeat of Welles disconcerted all their measures; and
+they retired northward into Lancashire, where they expected to be joined
+by Lord Stanley, who had married the Earl of Warwick's sister. But as
+that nobleman refused all concurrence with them, and as Lord Montagu
+also remained quiet in Yorkshire, they were obliged to disband their
+army and to fly into Devonshire, where they embarked and made sail
+toward Calais.
+
+The King of France received Warwick with the greatest demonstrations
+of regard, and hoped to make him his instrument in overturning the
+government of England and reestablishing the house of Lancaster. No
+animosity was ever greater than that which had long prevailed between
+that house and the Earl of Warwick. But his present distresses and the
+entreaties of Louis made him hearken to terms of accommodation; and
+Margaret being sent for from Angers, where she then resided, an agreement
+was soon concluded between them. It was stipulated that Warwick should
+espouse the cause of Henry and endeavor to restore him to liberty and to
+reestablish him on the throne; that the administration of the government
+during the minority of young Edward, Henry's son, should be intrusted
+conjointly to the Earl of Warwick and the Duke of Clarence; that Prince
+Edward should marry the Lady Anne, second daughter of that nobleman; and
+that the crown, in case of the failure of male issue in that Prince,
+should descend to the Duke of Clarence, to the entire exclusion of King
+Edward and his posterity. The marriage of Prince Edward with the Lady
+Anne was immediately celebrated in France.
+
+Edward foresaw that it would be easy to dissolve an alliance composed
+of such discordant parts. For this purpose he sent over a lady of great
+sagacity and address, who belonged to the train of the Duchess of
+Clarence, and who, under color of attending her mistress, was empowered
+to negotiate with the Duke, and to renew the connections of that Prince
+with his own family. She represented to Clarence that he had unwarily,
+to his own ruin, become the instrument of Warwick's vengeance, and had
+thrown himself entirely in the power of his most inveterate enemies;
+that the mortal injuries which the one royal family had suffered from
+the other were now past all forgiveness, and no imaginary union of
+interests could ever suffice to obliterate them; that, even if the
+leaders were willing to forget past offences, the animosity of their
+adherents would prevent a sincere coalition of parties, and would, in
+spite of all temporary and verbal agreements, preserve an eternal
+opposition of measures between them; and that a prince who deserted his
+own kindred, and joined the murderers of his father, left himself
+single, without friends, without protection, and would not, when
+misfortunes inevitably fell upon him, be so much as entitled to any pity
+or regard from the rest of mankind. Clarence was only one-and-twenty
+years of age, and seems to have possessed but a slender capacity; yet
+could he easily see the force of these reasons; and, upon the promise
+of forgiveness from his brother, he secretly engaged, on a favorable
+opportunity, to desert the Earl of Warwick and abandon the Lancastrian
+party.
+
+During this negotiation Warwick was secretly carrying on a correspondence
+of the same nature with his brother, the Marquis of Montagu, who was,
+entirely trusted by Edward; and like motives produced a like resolution
+in that nobleman. The Marquis, also, that he might render the projected
+blow the more deadly and incurable, resolved on his side to watch a
+favorable opportunity for committing his perfidy, and still to maintain
+the appearance of being a zealous adherent to the house of York.
+
+After these mutual snares were thus carefully laid, the decision of the
+quarrel advanced apace. Louis prepared a fleet to escort the Earl of
+Warwick, and granted him a supply of men and money. The Duke of Burgundy,
+on the other hand, anxious to support the reigning family in England,
+fitted out a larger fleet, with which he guarded the Channel. Edward was
+not sensible of his danger; he made no suitable preparations against
+the Earl of Warwick; he even said that the Duke might spare himself the
+trouble of guarding the seas, and that he wished for nothing more than to
+see Warwick set foot on English ground.
+
+The event soon happened of which Edward seemed so desirous. A storm
+dispersed the Duke of Burgundy's navy, and left the sea open to Warwick.
+That nobleman seized the opportunity, and, setting sail, quickly landed
+at Dartmouth with the Duke of Clarence, the earls of Oxford and Pembroke,
+and a small body of troops, while the King was in the North, engaged in
+suppressing an insurrection which had been raised by Lord Fitz-Hugh,
+brother-in-law to Warwick. The scene which ensues resembles more
+the fiction of a poem or romance than an event in true history. The
+prodigious popularity of Warwick, the zeal of the Lancastrian party,
+the spirit of discontent with which many were infected, and the general
+instability of the English nation occasioned by the late frequent
+revolutions drew such multitudes to his standard that in a very few days
+his army amounted to sixty thousand men and was continually increasing.
+Edward hastened southward to encounter him; and the two armies approached
+each other near Nottingham, where a decisive action was every hour
+expected.
+
+The rapidity of Warwick's progress had incapacitated the Duke of Clarence
+from executing his plan of treachery; and the Marquis of Montagu had here
+the opportunity of striking the first blow. He communicated the design to
+his adherents, who promised him their concurrence; they took to arms in
+the night-time, and hastened with loud acclamations to Edward's quarters;
+the King was alarmed at the noise, and, starting from bed, heard the cry
+of war usually employed by the Lancastrian party. Lord Hastings, his
+chamberlain, informed him of the danger, and urged him to make his escape
+by speedy flight from an army where he had so many concealed enemies and
+where few seemed zealously attached to his service. He had just time to
+get on horseback and to hurry with a small retinue to Lynne, in Norfolk,
+where he luckily found some ships ready, on board of which he instantly
+embarked. The Earl of Warwick, in eleven days after his first landing,
+was left entire master of the kingdom. But Edward's danger did not end
+with his embarkation. The Easterlings or Hanse Towns were then at war
+both with France and England; and some ships of these people, hovering on
+the English coast, espied the King's vessels and gave chase to them; nor
+was it without extreme difficulty that he made his escape into the port
+of Alkmaar in Holland.
+
+Immediately after Edward's flight had left the kingdom at Warwick's
+disposal, that nobleman hastened to London; and taking Henry from his
+confinement in the Tower, into which he himself had been the chief
+cause of throwing him, he proclaimed him King with great solemnity.
+A parliament was summoned, in the name of that Prince, to meet at
+Westminster. The treaty with Margaret was here fully executed; Henry
+was recognized as lawful king; but, his incapacity for government being
+avowed, the regency was intrusted to Warwick and Clarence till the
+majority of Prince Edward; and in default of that Prince's issue,
+Clarence was declared successor to the crown.
+
+The ruling party were more sparing in their executions than was usual
+after any revolution during those violent times. The only victim
+of distinction was John Tibetot, Earl of Worcester. All the other
+considerable Yorkists either fled beyond sea or took shelter in
+sanctuaries, where the ecclesiastical privileges afforded them
+protection. In London alone it is computed that no less than two thousand
+persons saved themselves in this manner, and among the rest Edward's
+Queen, who was there delivered of a son, called by his father's name.
+Queen Margaret had not yet appeared in England, but, on receiving
+intelligence of Warwick's success, was preparing with Prince Edward for
+her journey. All the banished Lancastrians flocked to her, and, among the
+rest, the Duke of Somerset, son of the Duke beheaded after the battle
+of Hexham. This nobleman, who had long been regarded as the head of
+the party, had fled into the Low Countries on the discomfiture of
+his friends; and as he concealed his name and quality, he had there
+languished in extreme indigence. But both Somerset and Margaret were
+detained by contrary winds from reaching England, till a new revolution
+in that kingdom, no less sudden and surprising than the former, threw
+them into greater misery than that from which they had just emerged.
+
+The Duke of Burgundy equipped four large vessels, in the name of some
+private merchants, at Terveer, in Zealand; and, causing fourteen ships to
+be secretly hired from the Easterlings, he delivered this small squadron
+to Edward, who, receiving also a sum of money from the Duke, immediately
+set sail for England, 1471.
+
+Edward, impatient to take revenge on his enemies and to recover his lost
+authority, made an attempt to land with his forces, which exceeded not
+two thousand men, on the coast of Norfolk; but being there repulsed, he
+sailed northward and disembarked at Ravenspur, in Yorkshire. Finding that
+the new magistrates, who had been appointed by the Earl of Warwick, kept
+the people everywhere from joining him, he pretended, and even made oath,
+that he came, not to challenge the crown, but only the inheritance of the
+house of York, which of right belonged to him, and that he did not intend
+to disturb the peace of the kingdom. His partisans every moment flocked
+to his standard; he was admitted into the city of York; and he was soon
+in such a situation as gave him hopes of succeeding in all his claims and
+pretensions.
+
+Warwick assembled an army at Leicester, with an intention of meeting and
+of giving battle to the enemy, but Edward, by taking another road, passed
+him unmolested and presented himself before the gates of London. Edward's
+entrance into London made him master not only of that rich and powerful
+city, but also of the person of Henry, who, destined to be the perpetual
+sport of fortune, thus fell again into the hands of his enemies. It does
+not appear that Warwick, during his short administration, which had
+continued only six months, had been guilty of any unpopular act, or had
+anywise deserved to lose that general favor with which he had so lately
+overwhelmed Edward. But this Prince, who was formerly on the defensive,
+was now the aggressor. Everyone who had been disappointed in the hopes
+which he had entertained from Warwick's elevation either became a cool
+friend or an open enemy to that nobleman; and each malecontent, from
+whatever cause, proved an accession to Edward's army.
+
+The King, therefore, found himself in a condition to face the Earl of
+Warwick, who, being reenforced by his son-in-law the Duke of Clarence,
+and his brother the Marquis of Montagu, took post at Barnet, in the
+neighborhood of London. Warwick was now too far advanced to retreat, and,
+as he rejected with disdain all terms of peace offered him by Edward and
+Clarence, he was obliged to hazard a general engagement. The battle was
+fought with obstinacy on both sides. The two armies, in imitation of
+their leaders, displayed uncommon valor; and the victory remained long
+undecided between them. But an accident threw the balance to the side of
+the Yorkists. Edward's cognizance was a sun; that of Warwick a star
+with rays; and the mistiness of the morning rendering it difficult to
+distinguish them, the Earl of Oxford, who fought on the side of the
+Lancastrians, was by mistake attacked by his friends and chased off the
+field of battle. Warwick, contrary to his more usual practice, engaged
+that day on foot, resolving to show his army that he meant to share every
+fortune with them, and he was slain in the thickest of the engagement;
+and as Edward had issued orders not to give any quarter, a great and
+undistinguished slaughter was made in the pursuit. There fell about one
+thousand five hundred on the side of the victors.
+
+The same day on which this decisive battle was fought, Queen Margaret
+and her son, now about eighteen years of age and a young prince of great
+hopes, landed at Weymouth, supported by a small body of French forces.
+When this Princess received intelligence of her husband's captivity, and
+of the defeat and death of the Earl of Warwick, her courage, which had
+supported her under so many disastrous events, here quite left her; and
+she immediately foresaw all the dismal consequences of this calamity. At
+first she took sanctuary in the Abbey of Beaulieu; but being encouraged
+by men of rank, who exhorted her still to hope for success, she resumed
+her former spirit and determined to defend to the utmost the ruins of her
+fallen fortunes. She advanced through the counties of Devon, Somerset,
+and Gloucester, increasing her army on each day's march, but was at last
+overtaken by the rapid and expeditious Edward at Tewkesbury, on the banks
+of the Severn. The Lancastrians were here totally defeated; the Earl
+of Devonshire and Lord Wenlock were killed in the field; the Duke of
+Somerset and about twenty other persons of distinction, having taken
+shelter in a church, were surrounded, dragged out, and immediately
+beheaded; about three thousand of their side fell in battle; and the army
+was entirely dispersed.
+
+Queen Margaret and her son were taken prisoners and brought to the King,
+who asked the Prince, after an insulting manner, how he dared to invade
+his dominions. The young Prince, more mindful of his high birth than
+of his present fortune, replied that he came thither to claim his just
+inheritance. The ungenerous Edward, insensible to pity, struck him on the
+face with his gauntlet; and the Dukes of Clarence and Gloucester, Lord
+Hastings, and Sir Thomas Gray, taking the blow as a signal for further
+violence, hurried the Prince into the next apartment and there despatched
+him with their daggers. Margaret was thrown into the Tower; King Henry
+expired in that confinement a few days after the battle of Tewkesbury;
+but whether he died a natural or violent death is uncertain. It is
+pretended, and was generally believed, that the Duke of Gloucester killed
+him with his own hands; but the universal odium which that Prince had
+incurred, perhaps inclined the nation to aggravate his crimes without any
+sufficient authority.
+
+All the hopes of the house of Lancaster seemed now to be utterly
+extinguished. Every legitimate prince of that family was dead; almost
+every great leader of the party had perished in battle or on the
+scaffold; the Earl of Pembroke, who was levying forces in Wales,
+disbanded his army when he received intelligence of the battle of
+Tewkesbury, and he fled into Brittany with his nephew, the young Earl of
+Richmond. The bastard of Falconberg, who had levied some forces, and
+had advanced to London during Edward's absence, was repulsed; his men
+deserted him; he was taken prisoner and immediately executed; and peace
+being now fully restored to the nation, a parliament was summoned, which
+ratified, as usual, all the acts of the victor, and recognized his legal
+authority.
+
+This Prince, who had been so firm and active and intrepid during the
+course of adversity, was still unable to resist the allurements of a
+prosperous fortune; and he devoted himself, as before, to pleasure and
+amusement, after he became entirely master of his kingdom. But while he
+was thus indulging himself in pleasure, he was roused from his lethargy
+by a prospect of foreign conquests. He passed over to Calais, 1475, with
+an army of one thousand five hundred men-at-arms and fifteen thousand
+archers, attended by all the chief nobility of England, who,
+prognosticating future successes from the past, were eager to appear on
+this great theatre of honor. But all their sanguine hopes were damped
+when they found, on entering the French territories, that neither did the
+constable open his gates to them nor the Duke of Burgundy bring them the
+smallest assistance. That Prince, transported by his ardent temper, had
+carried all his armies to a great distance, and had employed them in wars
+on the frontiers of Germany and against the Duke of Lorraine; and though
+he came in person to Edward, and endeavored to apologize for this breach
+of treaty, there was no prospect that they would be able this campaign to
+make a conjunction with the English. This circumstance gave great disgust
+to the King, and inclined him to hearken to those advances which Louis
+continually made him for an accommodation.
+
+Louis was sensible that the warlike genius of the people would soon
+render them excellent soldiers, and, far from despising them for their
+present want of experience, he employed all his art to detach them from
+the alliance of Burgundy. When Edward sent him a herald to claim the
+crown of France, and to carry him a defiance in case of refusal, so far
+from answering to this bravado in like haughty terms, he replied with
+great temper, and even made the herald a considerable present. He took
+afterward an opportunity of sending a herald to the English camp, and
+having given him directions to apply to Lords Stanley and Howard, who,
+he heard, were friends to peace, he desired the good offices of these
+noblemen in promoting an accommodation with their master. As Edward was
+now fallen into like dispositions, a truce was soon concluded on terms
+more advantageous than honorable to Louis. He stipulated to pay Edward
+immediately seventy-five thousand crowns, on condition that he should
+withdraw his army from France, and promised to pay him fifty thousand
+crowns a year during their joint lives. In order to ratify this treaty,
+the two monarchs agreed to have a personal interview. Edward and Louis
+conferred privately together; and having confirmed their friendship, and
+interchanged many mutual civilities, they soon after parted. As the two
+armies, after the conclusion of the truce, remained some time in the
+neighborhood of each other, the English were not only admitted freely
+into Amiens, where Louis resided, but had also their charges defrayed,
+and had wine and victuals furnished them in every inn without any payment
+being demanded.
+
+This treaty did very little honor to either of these monarchs. It
+discovered the imprudence of Edward, who had taken his measures so ill
+with his allies as to be obliged, after such an expensive armament, to
+return without making any acquisitions adequate to it. It showed the want
+of dignity in Louis, who, rather than run the hazard of a battle,
+agreed to subject his kingdom to a tribunal, and thus acknowledge the
+superiority of a neighboring prince possessed of less power and territory
+than himself. But Louis thought that all the advantages of the treaty
+were on his side, and that he had overreached Edward by sending him out
+of France on such easy terms.
+
+The most honorable part of Louis' treaty with Edward was the stipulation
+for the liberty of Queen Margaret, who, though after the death of her
+husband and son she could no longer be formidable to Government, was
+still detained in custody by Edward. Louis paid fifty thousand crowns for
+her ransom; and that Princess, who had been so active on the stage of
+the world, and who had experienced such a variety of fortune, passed the
+remainder of her days in tranquillity and privacy till the year 1482,
+when she died; an admirable princess, but more illustrious by her
+undaunted spirit in adversity than by her moderation in prosperity.
+She seems neither to have enjoyed the virtues nor been subject to the
+weaknesses of her sex, and was as much tainted with the ferocity as
+endowed with the courage of that barbarous age in which she lived.
+
+The Duke of Clarence, by all his services in deserting Warwick, had never
+been able to regain the King's friendship, which he had forfeited by his
+former confederacy with that nobleman. He was still regarded at court as
+a man of a dangerous and a fickle character; and the imprudent openness
+and violence of his temper, though they rendered him much less dangerous,
+tended extremely to multiply his enemies and to incense them against him.
+Among others, he had had the misfortune to give displeasure to the Queen
+herself, as well as to his brother, the Duke of Gloucester, a prince
+of the deepest policy, of the most unrelenting ambition, and the least
+scrupulous in the means which he employed for the attainment of his ends.
+A combination between these potent adversaries being secretly formed
+against Clarence, it was determined to begin by attacking his friends. He
+was alarmed when he found acts of tyranny exercised on all around him;
+but, instead of securing his own life against the present danger by
+silence and reserve, he was open and loud in justifying the innocence of
+his friends and in exclaiming against the iniquity of their prosecutors.
+The King, highly offended with his freedom, or using that pretence
+against him, committed him to the Tower, 1478, summoned a parliament, and
+tried him for his life. Clarence was pronounced guilty by the peers. The
+House of Commons was no less slavish and unjust; they both petitioned
+for the execution of the Duke and afterward passed a bill of attainder
+against him.
+
+The only favor which the King granted him after his condemnation was to
+leave him the choice of his death; and he was privately drowned in a butt
+of malmsey in the Tower--a whimsical choice, which implies that he had an
+extraordinary passion for that liquor.
+
+The Duke left two children by the elder daughter of the Earl of Warwick:
+a son, created an earl by his grandfather's title, and a daughter,
+afterward Countess of Salisbury. Both this Prince and Princess were also
+unfortunate in their end, and died violent deaths--a fate which, for many
+years, attended almost all the descendants of the royal blood of England.
+There prevails a report that a chief source of the violent prosecution of
+the Duke of Clarence, whose name was George, was a current prophecy that
+the King's son should be murdered by one the initial letter of whose name
+was G. It is not impossible but, in those ignorant times, such a silly
+reason might have some influence; but it is more probable that the whole
+story is the invention of a subsequent period, and founded on the murder
+of these children by the Duke of Gloucester.
+
+All the glories of Edward's reign terminated with the civil wars, where
+his laurels, too, were extremely sullied with blood, violence, and
+cruelty. His spirit seems afterward to have been sunk in indolence and
+pleasure, or his measures were frustrated by imprudence and the want
+of foresight. While he was making preparations for a French war he was
+seized with a distemper, of which he expired, 1483, in the forty-second
+year of his age and the twenty-third of his reign.
+
+During the latter years of Edward IV the nation, having in a great
+measure forgotten the bloody feuds between the two roses, and peaceably
+acquiescing in the established government, was agitated only by some
+court intrigues, which, being restrained by the authority of the King,
+seemed nowise to endanger the public tranquillity. But Edward knew that,
+though he himself had been able to overawe rival factions, many disorders
+might arise from their contests during the minority of his son; and he
+therefore took care, in his last illness, to summon together several of
+the leaders on both sides, and, by composing their ancient quarrels, to
+provide as far as possible for the future tranquillity of the government.
+After expressing his intentions that his brother, the Duke of Gloucester,
+then absent in the North, should be intrusted with the regency, he
+recommended to them peace and unanimity during the tender years of his
+son, and engaged them to embrace each other with all the appearance of
+the most cordial reconciliation. But this temporary or feigned agreement
+lasted no longer than the King's life; he had no sooner expired than the
+jealousies of the parties broke out afresh; and each of them applied, by
+separate messages, to the Duke of Gloucester, and endeavored to acquire
+his favor and friendship.
+
+This Prince, during his brother's reign, had endeavored to live on good
+terms with both parties, and his high birth, his extensive abilities, and
+his great services had enabled him to support himself without falling
+into a dependence on either. But the new situation of affairs, when the
+supreme power was devolved upon him, immediately changed his measures,
+and he secretly determined to preserve no longer that neutrality which
+he had hitherto maintained. His exorbitant ambition, unrestrained by any
+principle either of justice or humanity, made him carry his views to the
+possession of the crown itself, and, as this object could not be
+attained without the ruin of the Queen and her family, he fell, without
+hesitation, into concert with the opposite party. But, being sensible
+that the most profound dissimulation was requisite for effecting his
+criminal purposes, he redoubled his professions of zeal and attachment
+to that Princess; and he gained such credit with her as to influence
+her conduct in a point which, as it was of the utmost importance, was
+violently disputed between the opposite factions.
+
+The young King, at the time of his father's death, resided in the castle
+of Ludlow, on the borders of Wales, whither he had been sent, that
+the influence of his presence might overawe the Welsh and restore the
+tranquillity of that country, which had been disturbed by some late
+commotions.
+
+The Duke of Gloucester, being the nearest male of the royal family
+capable of exercising the government, seemed entitled, by the customs of
+the realm, to the office of protector; and the council, not waiting for
+the consent of parliament, made no scruple of investing him with that
+high dignity. The general prejudice entertained by the nobility against
+the Queen and her kindred occasioned this precipitation and irregularity;
+and no one foresaw any danger to the succession, much less to the lives
+of the young princes, from a measure so obvious and so natural. Besides
+that the Duke had hitherto been able to cover, by the most profound
+dissimulation, his fierce and savage nature, the numerous issue of
+Edward, together with the two children of Clarence, seemed to be an
+eternal obstacle to his ambition; and it appeared equally impracticable
+for him to destroy so many persons possessed of a preferable title and
+imprudent to exclude them.
+
+But a man who had abandoned all principles of honor and humanity was
+soon carried by his predominant passion beyond the reach of fear or
+precaution; and Gloucester, having so far succeeded in his views, no
+longer hesitated in removing the other obstructions which lay between
+him and the throne. The death of the Earl of Rivers[2], and of other
+prisoners detained in Pomfret, was first determined; and he easily
+obtained the consent of the Duke of Buckingham, as well as of Lord
+Hastings, to this violent and sanguinary measure. Orders were accordingly
+issued to Sir Richard Ratcliffe, a proper instrument in the hands of
+this tyrant, to cut off the heads of the prisoners. The Protector then
+assailed the fidelity of Buckingham by all the arguments capable of
+swaying a vicious mind, and he easily obtained from him a promise of
+supporting him in all his enterprises.
+
+The Duke of Gloucester, knowing the importance of gaining Lord Hastings,
+sounded at a distance his sentiments, but found him impregnable in his
+allegiance and fidelity to the children of Edward, who had ever honored
+him with his friendship. He saw, therefore, that there were no longer any
+measures to be kept with him; and he determined to ruin utterly the man
+whom he despaired of engaging to concur in his usurpation. On the very
+day when Rivers, Gray, and Vaughan were executed, or rather murdered, at
+Pomfret, by the advice of Hastings, the Protector summoned a council
+in the Tower, whither that nobleman, suspecting no design against him,
+repaired without hesitation. The Duke of Gloucester was capable of
+committing the most bloody and treacherous murders with the utmost
+coolness and indifference. On taking his place at the council table he
+appeared in the easiest and most jovial humor imaginable. He seemed to
+indulge himself in familiar conversation with the councillors before they
+should enter on business, and having paid some compliments to Morton,
+Bishop of Ely, on the good and early strawberries which he raised in his
+garden at Holborn, he begged the favor of having a dish of them, which
+that prelate immediately despatched a servant to bring to him. The
+Protector left the council, as if called away by some other business,
+but, soon after returning with an angry and inflamed countenance, he
+asked them what punishment those deserved that had plotted against _his_
+life, who was so nearly related to the King, and was intrusted with the
+administration of government. Hastings replied that they merited the
+punishment of traitors. "These traitors," cried the Protector, "are the
+sorceress, my brother's wife, and Jane Shore, his mistress, with others
+their associates; see to what a condition they have reduced me by their
+incantations and witchcraft!" Upon which he laid bare his arm, all
+shrivelled and decayed; but the councillors, who knew that this infirmity
+had attended him from his birth, looked on each other with amazement;
+and, above all, Lord Hastings, who, as he had since Edward's death
+engaged in an intrigue with Jane Shore, was naturally anxious concerning
+the issue of these extraordinary proceedings.
+
+"Certainly, my lord," said he, "if they be guilty of these crimes, they
+deserve the severest punishment." "And do you reply to me," exclaimed the
+Protector, "with your _ifs_ and your _ands_? You are the chief abettor of
+that witch, Shore; you are yourself a traitor; and I swear by St. Paul
+that I will not dine before your head be brought me." He struck the table
+with his hand; armed men rushed in at the signal; the councillors were
+thrown into the utmost consternation; and one of the guards, as if by
+accident or mistake, aimed a blow with a pole-axe at Lord Stanley, who,
+aware of the danger, slunk under the table; and though he saved his life,
+he received a severe wound in the Protector's presence. Hastings was
+seized, and instantly beheaded on a timber-log which lay in the court of
+the Tower.
+
+Lord Stanley, the Archbishop of York, the Bishop of Ely, and other
+councillors were committed prisoners in different chambers of the Tower.
+These acts of violence, exercised against the nearest connections of the
+late King, prognosticated the severest fate to his defenceless children;
+and after the murder of Hastings, the Protector no longer made a secret
+of his intentions to usurp the crown. The licentious life of Edward
+afforded a pretence for declaring his marriage with the Queen invalid and
+all his posterity illegitimate. It was also maintained that the act of
+attainder passed against the Duke of Clarence had virtually incapacitated
+his children from succeeding to the crown; and, these two families being
+set aside, the Protector remained the only true and legitimate heir of
+the house of York. The Protector resolved to make use of another plea,
+still more shameful and scandalous. His partisans were taught to maintain
+that both Edward IV and the Duke of Clarence were illegitimate, and that
+the Duke of Gloucester alone appeared to be the true offspring of the
+Duke of York.
+
+In a few days the Duke of Buckingham went to Baynard's castle, where
+the Protector then resided, to make him a tender of the crown. Richard
+refused to appear, and pretended to be apprehensive for his personal
+safety; a circumstance taken notice of by Buckingham, who observed "that
+the Prince was ignorant of the whole design." At last he was persuaded to
+step forth, but he still kept at some distance; and he asked the meaning
+of the intrusion and importunity. Buckingham told him that the nation
+was resolved to have him for King. The Protector declared his purpose of
+maintaining his loyalty to the present sovereign. He was told that the
+people had determined to have another prince; and if he rejected their
+unanimous voice, they must look out for one who would be more compliant.
+This argument was too powerful to be resisted; he was prevailed on to
+accept of the crown; and he thenceforth acted as legitimate and rightful
+sovereign.
+
+This ridiculous farce was soon after followed by a scene truly
+tragical--the murder of the two young princes. Richard gave orders to Sir
+Robert Brakenbury, constable of the Tower, to put his nephews to death,
+but this gentleman, who had sentiments of honor, refused to have any hand
+in the infamous office. The tyrant then sent for Sir James Tyrrel, who
+promised obedience; and he ordered Brakenbury to resign to this gentleman
+the keys and government of the Tower for one night. Tyrrel, choosing
+three associates, Slater, Dighton, and Forest, came in the night-time to
+the door of the chamber where the princes were lodged, and, sending in
+the assassins, he bade them execute their commission, while he himself
+stayed without. They found the young princes in bed and fallen into a
+profound sleep. After suffocating them with the bolster and pillows, they
+showed their naked bodies to Tyrrel, who ordered them to be buried at the
+foot of the stairs, deep in the ground, under a heap of stones, 1483.
+
+These circumstances were all confessed by the actors in the following
+reign; they were never punished for the crime, probably because Henry,
+whose maxims of government were extremely arbitrary, desired to establish
+it as a principle that the commands of the reigning sovereign ought to
+justify every enormity in those who paid obedience to them. But there is
+one circumstance not so easy to be accounted for: it is pretended that
+Richard, displeased with the indecent manner of burying his nephews, whom
+he had murdered, gave his chaplain orders to dig up the bodies, and to
+inter them in consecrated ground; and as the man died soon after, the
+place of their burial remained unknown, and the bodies could never be
+found by any search which Henry could make for them. Yet in the reign of
+Charles II, when there was occasion to remove some stones and to dig in
+the very spot which was mentioned as the place of their first interment,
+the bones of two persons were there found, which by their size exactly
+corresponded to the age of Edward and his brother. They were concluded
+with certainty to be the remains of those princes, and were interred
+under a marble monument by orders of King Charles.
+
+The first acts of Richard's administration were to bestow rewards on
+those who had assisted him in usurping the crown, and to gain by favors
+those who, he thought, were best able to support his future government.
+
+But the person who, both from the greatness of his services and the power
+and splendor of his family, was best entitled to favors under the new
+government, was the Duke of Buckingham, and Richard seemed determined to
+spare no pains or bounty in securing him to his interests. But it was
+impossible that friendship could long remain inviolate between two men of
+such corrupt minds as Richard and the Duke of Buckingham. The Duke,
+soon after Richard's accession, began to form a conspiracy against the
+government, and attempted to overthrow that usurpation which he himself
+had so zealously contributed to establish. Never was there in any country
+a usurpation more flagrant than that of Richard, or more repugnant to
+every principle of justice and public interest. To endure such a bloody
+usurper seemed to draw disgrace upon the nation, and to be attended with
+immediate danger to every individual who was distinguished by birth,
+merit, or services. Such was become the general voice of the people; all
+parties were united in the same sentiments; and the Lancastrians, so long
+oppressed, and of late so much discredited, felt their blasted hopes
+again revive, and anxiously expected the consequences of these
+extraordinary events.
+
+The Duke of Buckingham, whose family had been devoted to that interest,
+and who, by his mother, a daughter of Edmund, Duke of Somerset, was
+allied to the house of Lancaster, was easily induced to espouse the
+cause of this party, and to endeavor the restoring of it to its ancient
+superiority. Morton, Bishop of Ely, a zealous Lancastrian, whom the King
+had imprisoned, and had afterward committed to the custody of Buckingham,
+encouraged these sentiments; and by his exhortations the Duke cast his
+eye toward the young Earl of Richmond as the only person who could free
+the nation from the tyranny of the present usurper.
+
+Henry, Earl of Richmond, was at this time detained in a kind of honorable
+custody by the Duke of Brittany, and his descent, which seemed to give
+him some pretensions to the crown, had been a great object of jealousy
+both in the late and in the present reign. Symptoms of continued jealousy
+in the reigning family of England seemed to give some authority to
+Henry's pretensions, and made him the object of general favor and
+compassion, on account of dangers and persecutions to which he was
+exposed. The universal detestation of Richard's conduct turned still more
+the attention of the nation toward Henry; and as all the descendants of
+the house of York were either women or minors, he seemed to be the only
+person from whom the nation could expect the expulsion of the odious and
+bloody tyrant. But notwithstanding these circumstances, which were so
+favorable to him, Buckingham and the Bishop of Ely well knew that there
+would still lie many obstacles in his way to the throne. It was therefore
+suggested by Morton, and readily assented to by the Duke, that the only
+means of overturning the present usurpation was to unite the opposite
+factions by contracting a marriage between the Earl of Richmond and the
+princess Elizabeth, eldest daughter of King Edward, and thereby blending
+together the opposite pretensions of their families.
+
+The plan being laid upon the solid foundations of good sense and sound
+policy, it was secretly communicated to the principal persons of both
+parties in all the counties of England, and a wonderful alacrity appeared
+in every order of men to forward its success and completion. But it was
+impossible that so extensive a conspiracy could be conducted in so secret
+a manner as entirely to escape the jealous and vigilant eye of Richard;
+and he soon received intelligence that his enemies, headed by the Duke
+of Buckingham, were forming some design against his authority. He
+immediately put himself in a posture of defence by levying troops in the
+North; and he summoned the Duke to appear at court, in such terms as
+seemed to promise him a renewal of their former amity. But that nobleman,
+well acquainted with the barbarity and treachery of Richard, replied only
+by taking arms in Wales, and giving the signal to his accomplices for a
+general insurrection in all parts of England.
+
+But at that very time there happened to fall such heavy rains, so
+incessant and continued, as exceeded any known in the memory of man; and
+the Severn, with the other rivers in that neighborhood, swelled to a
+height which rendered them impassable and prevented Buckingham from
+marching into the heart of England to join his associates. The Welshmen,
+partly moved by superstition at this extraordinary event, partly
+distressed by famine in their camp, fell off from him; and Buckingham,
+finding himself deserted by his followers, put on a disguise and took
+shelter in the house of Banister, an old servant of his family. But being
+detected in his retreat, he was brought to the King at Salisbury, and was
+instantly executed, according to the summary method practised in that
+age. The other conspirators, who took arms in four different places, at
+Exeter, at Salisbury, at Newbury, and at Maidstone, hearing of the
+Duke of Buckingham's misfortunes, despaired of success and immediately
+dispersed themselves.
+
+The King, everywhere triumphant and fortified by this unsuccessful
+attempt to dethrone him, ventured at last to summon a parliament--a
+measure which his crimes and flagrant usurpation had induced him hitherto
+to decline. His enemies being now at his feet, the parliament had no
+choice left but to recognize his authority and acknowledge his right to
+the crown. His only son, Edward, then a youth of twelve years of age, was
+created prince of Wales.
+
+Sensible that the only circumstance which could give him security was
+to gain the confidence of the Yorkists, Richard paid court to the Queen
+Dowager with such art and address, made such earnest protestations of
+his sincere good-will and friendship, that this Princess ventured to put
+herself and her daughters into the hands of the tyrant. He now thought it
+in his power to remove the chief perils which threatened his government.
+The Earl of Richmond, he knew, could never be formidable but from his
+projected marriage with the princess Elizabeth, the true heir of the
+crown; and he therefore intended to espouse, himself, this Princess, and
+thus to unite in his own family their contending titles. He flattered
+himself that the English nation, seeing all danger removed of a disputed
+succession, would then acquiesce under the dominion of a prince who
+was of mature years, of great abilities, and of a genius qualified for
+government, and that they would forgive him all the crimes which he had
+committed in paving his way to the throne.
+
+But the crimes of Richard were so horrid, and so shocking to humanity,
+that every person of probity and honor was earnest to prevent the sceptre
+from being any longer polluted by that bloody and faithless hand which
+held it. All the exiles flocked to the Earl of Richmond in Brittany, and
+exhorted him to hasten his attempt for a new invasion, and to prevent the
+marriage of the princess Elizabeth, which must prove fatal to all his
+hopes.
+
+The Earl set sail from Harfleur, in Normandy, with a small army of about
+two thousand men; and after a navigation of six days he arrived at
+Milford Haven, in Wales, where he landed without opposition. He directed
+his course to that part of the kingdom, in hopes that the Welsh, who
+regarded him as their countryman, and who had been already prepossessed
+in favor of his cause by means of the Duke of Buckingham, would join his
+standard, and enable him to make head against the established government.
+Richard, who knew not in what quarter he might expect the invader, had
+taken post at Nottingham, in the centre of the kingdom; and having
+given commissions to different persons in the several counties, whom he
+empowered to oppose his enemy, he purposed in person to fly, on the first
+alarm, to the place exposed to danger.
+
+Henry, advancing toward Shrewsbury, received every day some reenforcement
+from his partisans. The two rivals at last approached each other at
+Bosworth, near Leicester, Henry at the head of six thousand men, Richard
+with an army of above double the number; and a decisive action was every
+hour expected between them. Stanley, who commanded above seven thousand
+men, took care to post himself at Atherstone, not far from the hostile
+camps; and he made such a disposition as enabled him on occasion to join
+either party.
+
+The van of Richmond's army, consisting of archers, was commanded by the
+Earl of Oxford; Sir Gilbert Talbot led the right wing; Sir John Savage
+the left; the Earl himself, accompanied by his uncle the Earl of
+Pembroke, placed himself in the main body. Richard also took post in
+_his_ main body, and intrusted the command of his van to the Duke of
+Norfolk; as his wings were never engaged, we have not learned the names
+of the several commanders. Soon after the battle began, Lord Stanley,
+whose conduct in this whole affair discovers great precaution and
+abilities, appeared in the field, and declared for the Earl of Richmond.
+This measure, which was unexpected to the men, though not to their
+leaders, had a proportional effect on both armies: it inspired unusual
+courage into Henry's soldiers; it threw Richard's into dismay and
+confusion. The intrepid tyrant, sensible of his desperate situation, cast
+his eye around the field, and, descrying his rival at no great distance,
+he drove against him with fury, in hopes that either Henry's death or his
+own would decide the victory between them. He killed with his own hand
+Sir William Brandon, standard-bearer to the Earl; he dismounted Sir John
+Cheyney. He was now within reach of Richmond himself, who declined not
+the combat, when Sir William Stanley,[3] breaking in with his troops,
+surrounded Richard, who, fighting bravely to the last moment, was
+overwhelmed by numbers, and perished by a fate too mild and honorable
+for his multiplied and detestable enormities. His men everywhere sought
+safety by flight.
+
+There fell in this battle about four thousand of the vanquished. The loss
+was inconsiderable on the side of the victors. Sir William Catesby, a
+great instrument of Richard's crimes, was taken, and soon after beheaded,
+with some others, at Leicester. The body of Richard was found in the
+field, covered with dead enemies, and all besmeared with blood. It was
+thrown carelessly across a horse, was carried to Leicester amid the
+shouts of the insulting spectators, and was interred in the Gray Friars'
+Church of that place.
+
+The historians who favor Richard--for even this tyrant has met with
+partisans among the later writers--maintain that he was well qualified
+for government had he legally obtained it, and that he committed no
+crimes but such as were necessary to procure him possession of the crown;
+but this is a poor apology when it is confessed that he was ready to
+commit the most horrid crimes which appeared necessary for that purpose;
+and it is certain that all his courage and capacity--qualities in which
+he really seems not to have been deficient--would never have made
+compensation to the people for the danger of the precedent and for the
+contagious example of vice and murder exalted upon the throne. This
+Prince was of a small stature, hump-backed, and had a harsh, disagreeable
+countenance; so that his body was in every particular no less deformed
+than his mind.
+
+[Footnote 1: Wife of Henry VI.]
+
+[Footnote 2: The Queen's brother.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Brother of Lord Stanley, _above_.]
+
+
+
+IVAN THE GREAT UNITES RUSSIA AND BREAKS THE TARTAR YOKE
+
+A.D. 1462-1505
+
+Robert Bell
+
+
+At the birth of Ivan III (1440) Russia was all but stifled between the
+great Lithuanian empire of the Poles and the vast possessions of the
+Mongols. In vain had a succession of Muscovite princes endeavored to give
+unity to the little Russian state. Between the grand princes of Moscow
+and those of Lithuania stood Novgorod and Pskof, the two chief Russian
+republics, hesitating to declare their allegiance.
+
+By the creation of new appanages the Russian princes continually
+destroyed the very unity for which they labored. Moreover, at a time when
+the great nations of the West were organizing, Muscovy or Russia had
+no settled relations with their civilization. The opening of the
+Renaissance, the progress of discovery, the invention of printing--by
+these the best spirits in Russia were stirred to fresh aspirations for
+national organization and participation in the great European movement.
+
+According to the tradition, her deliverer had been foretold and was
+expected. His triumphs were predicted at his birth. The man through whom,
+or at least in whose name, Russia was to be restored to herself, to be
+freed from the Mongol yoke, and brought into living connection with
+Western Europe, was Ivan, son and heir of Vasili the Blind, Grand Prince
+of Moscow.
+
+This child became Ivan III, surnamed the "Great," because during his
+reign, 1462-1505, the expectations of his country were largely realized.
+He was the first who could call himself "Ruler of all the Russias," and
+he is regarded as the original founder of the Russian empire. Already,
+at his accession, the Muscovite principalities were beginning to draw
+together, and circumstances were favorable to the prosecution of the task
+upon which he was called to enter--the completing of their union and the
+securing of their national independence.
+
+Ivan was a man of great cunning and prudence, and was remarkable
+for indomitable perseverance, which carried him triumphantly to the
+conclusions of his designs in a spirit of utter indifference to the
+ruin or bad faith that tracked his progress. Such a man alone, who was
+prepared to sacrifice the scruples of honor and the demands of justice,
+was fit to meet the difficulties by which the grand princedom of Moscow
+was surrounded. He saw them all clearly, resolved upon the course he
+should take; and throughout a long reign, in which the paramount ambition
+of rendering Russia independent and the throne supreme was the leading
+feature of his policy, he pursued his plans with undeviating consistency.
+
+But that policy was not to be accomplished by open and responsible
+acts. The whole character of Ivan was tinged with the duplicity of the
+churchmen who held a high place in his councils. His proceedings were
+neither direct nor at first apparently conducive to the interests of
+the empire, but the great cause was secretly advancing against all
+impediments. While he forbore to risk his advantages, he left an
+opportunity for disunion among his enemies, by which he was certain to
+gain in the end. He never committed himself to a position of the security
+of which he was not sure; and he carried this spirit of caution to
+such an extremity that many of the early years of his reign present a
+succession of timid and vacillating movements, that more nearly resemble
+the subterfuges of a coward than the crafty artifices of a despot.
+
+The objects, of which he never lost sight, were to free himself from
+enemies abroad and to convert the princedom at home into an autocracy. So
+extensive a design could not have been effected by mere force of arms,
+for he had so many domestic and foreign foes to meet at once, and so many
+points of attack and defence to cover, that it was impossible to conduct
+so grand a project by military means alone. That which he could not
+effect, therefore, by the sword, he endeavored to perform by diplomatic
+intrigue; and thus, between the occasional victories of his armies and
+the still more powerful influence of his subtle policy, he reduced
+his foes and raised himself to an eminence to which none of his most
+ambitious predecessors had aspired. The powers against whom he had
+to wage this double war of arms and diplomacy were the Tartars and
+Lithuanians, beyond the frontier; and the independent republics of
+Novgorod, Vyatka, and Pskof, and the princes of the yet unsettled
+appanages within. The means he had at his command were fully sufficient
+to have enabled him to subdue those princes of the blood who exhibited
+faint signs of discontent in their appanages, and who could have been
+easily reached through the widely diffused agency of the boyars; but the
+obstinate republics of the North were more difficult of access. They
+stood boldly upon their independence, and every attempt to reduce them
+was followed by as fierce a resistance, and by such a lavish outlay of
+the wealth which their commercial advantages had enabled them to amass
+that the task was one of extraordinary difficulty. Kazan, the first
+and greatest of the Tartar cities, too, claimed a sovereignty over the
+republics, which Ivan was afraid to contest, lest that which was but a
+vague and empty claim might end in confirmed authority. It was better to
+permit the insolent republicans to maintain their entire freedom than
+to hazard, by indiscretion, their transferrence to the hands of those
+Tartars who were loosened from the parent stock.
+
+His first act, therefore, was to acknowledge, directly or indirectly,
+according to the nature of their different tenures, the rights of all his
+foes within and without. He appeared to admit the justice of things as
+he found them; betrayed his foreign enemies into a confidential reliance
+upon his acquiescence in their exactions; and even yielded, without a
+murmur, to an abuse of those pretensions to which he affected to submit,
+but which he was secretly resolved to annihilate. This plausible
+conformity procured him time to prepare and mature his designs; and so
+insidiously did he pursue his purpose that he extended that time by
+a servility which nearly forfeited the attachment of the people. The
+immediate object of consideration was obviously the Golden Horde, because
+all the princes and republics, and even the Poles and Lithuanians, were
+interested in any movement that was calculated to embarrass the common
+enemy. Ivan's policy was to unite as many of his enemies as he could
+against a single one, and, finally, to subdue them all by the aid of each
+other. Had he ventured upon any less certain course, he must have risked
+a similar combination against himself. He began by withholding the
+ordinary tribute from the Khan, but without exhibiting any symptoms of
+inallegiance. He merely evaded the tax, while he acknowledged the right;
+and his dissimulation succeeded in blinding the Tartar, who still
+believed that he held the Grand Prince as a tributary, although he
+did not receive his tribute. The Khan, completely deceived, not only
+permitted this recusancy to escape with impunity, but was further
+prevailed upon to withdraw the Tartar residents and their retinues, and
+the Tartar merchants who dwelt in Moscow and who infested, with the
+haughty bearing of masters, even the avenues of the Kremlin.
+
+This latter concession was purchased by bribery, for Ivan condescended to
+buy the interference of a Tartar princess. So slavish and degrading
+was his outward seeming that his wife, a noble and spirited lady, the
+daughter of the Emperor of Byzantium, could with difficulty prevail upon
+him to forego the humiliating usages which had hitherto attended the
+reception of the Mongol envoys. It had been customary on the part of the
+grand princes to go forward to meet the Tartar minister, to spread a
+carpet of fur under his horse's feet, to hear the Khan's letter read upon
+their knees, to present to the envoy a cup of koumiss, and to lick from
+the mane of the horse the drops which had fallen from the lips of the
+negotiator: and these disagreeable customs Ivan would have complied with
+but for the successful remonstrances of the Princess.
+
+Kazan presented the most alluring point of actual attack. The horde that
+had established that city subsisted by predatory excursions, and even the
+other bands of the barbarians were not unwilling to witness the descent
+of the Russians upon one of their own tribes that had acquired so much
+power. The project was favored by so many circumstances that, although
+his policy was evidently at this period to preserve peace as long as he
+could, he was tempted to make a general levy, and to assemble the whole
+flower of the population for the purpose of driving out of his dominions
+the bold invaders who had intrenched themselves within the walls of a
+fortified town. This was about 1468. At that very time the army of the
+Golden Horde, inspired by some sudden impulse, was advancing into Russia.
+It appears, however, that the multitudes assembled by Ivan were so
+numerous that the Khan's troops retired upon the mere rumor of their
+approach; so that the display of his resources had all the effect he
+desired, and he won a signal victory without striking a blow. The old
+Russian annalist dwells, with some pomp of words, upon this bloodless
+triumph, and, in the true vein of hyperbole, says that the Russian army
+shone like the waves of the sea illuminated by the sunbeams. We take the
+expression for all it is worth, when we estimate the force as having been
+more numerous than that of the Tartars.
+
+It does not appear that Ivan was yet prepared, even with this great
+armament, to risk his future objects by any hostile collision, so long
+as such an extremity could be averted by intrigue; for in the following
+year, when the anticipated march against Kazan was at last commenced,
+he suddenly paused in the midst of his course, although the result was
+almost certain. Were it of much consequence, it would not be easy to
+decide the cause of this strange and abrupt proceeding; but it was
+evident that the soldiery were resolved not to return home without
+spoils. They rushed onward to the city; and even the general, who was
+instructed by Ivan to countermand the attack, in vain attempted to
+restrain them. With a leader of their own choosing, they fell upon Kazan,
+and utterly routed the inhabitants. The Grand Prince, perceiving that
+the enemy was powerless, now no longer hesitated; but, engaging all the
+princes in his service, and throwing his own guards into the ranks, he
+despatched his colossal forces to reduce the already dismembered hold of
+the Tartars of Kazan. The event was a complete victory, but Ivan remained
+safe at Moscow, to watch the issue of an undertaking which he could not
+reasonably have feared.
+
+The subjugation of Kazan left the field clear for his designs upon the
+three domestic republics. Vyatka, insolent in its own strength, declared
+itself neutral between Moscow and Kazan; and on the fall of the latter
+city, Novgorod, apprehensive that Ivan would turn his arms immediately
+against her, called upon the people of Pskof for aid, expressing her
+determination to march at once against the Grand Prince, in order to
+anticipate and avert his intentions. The Novgorodians were the more
+determined upon this bold measure by the personal pusillanimity which
+Ivan betrayed in a war where the advantages lay entirely at his own side.
+They calculated upon the terror they should inspire; and judged that if
+they could not succeed in vanquishing the Grand Prince, they should, at
+all events, be enabled to secure their own terms. Marpha, a rich and
+influential woman, the widow of a _posadnik_, and who was enamoured of a
+Lithuanian chief, conceiving the romantic design of bestowing her country
+as a marriage dower upon her lover, exerted all her power to kindle the
+enthusiasm and assist the project of the citizens. Her hospitality was
+unbounded. She threw open her palace to the people; lavished her wealth
+among them in sumptuous entertainments and exhibitions, and caused the
+_vetchooi kolokol_ ("assembling-bell"), which summoned the popular
+meetings to the market-place, to be rung as the signal of these orgies of
+licentiousness. The great bell in Novgorod was the type of the republican
+independence of the citizens, and represented the excesses into which
+they were not unwilling to plunge whenever it was necessary to testify
+their sense of that wild liberty which they had established among
+themselves. It was tolled on all occasions of a public nature, and the
+people gathered in multitudes at the well-known call. If any individual
+were accused of a crime against the republic or of any offence against
+the laws, the judges appeared at the sound of the bell to hold a summary
+court of justice, and the citizens surrounded the trial-seat, prepared to
+execute the sentence. Every citizen, with his sons, attended, carrying
+each two stones under his arms; and, if the accused were found guilty,
+lapidation instantly followed. The house of the culprit was also
+immediately plundered, cast down, confiscated, and sold for the benefit
+of the corporation. Except in China, where a law still more sanguinary
+and destructive prevails in cases of murder, there is hardly a similar
+instance of deliberate legal severity to be found among nations elevated
+above barbarism.
+
+Inspired by the revelries of the ambitious Marpha, and the patriotic
+associations she awakened, the Novgorodians expelled the officer of the
+Grand Prince; possessed themselves of some land that belonged to him in
+right of his fief; and, to confirm their revolt against his authority,
+submitted themselves, by treaty, to Casimir, Prince of Lithuania. In this
+position of affairs, Ivan wisely resolved to leave Vyatka to its own
+course, confining his attention solely to Novgorod, and seeking to win
+over Pskof and its twelve tributary cities, so that he might combine them
+against the turbulent republic. The fall of Novgorod accomplished, the
+conquest of the other obstinate cities was easily effected.
+
+The polite, cool, and persevering means he brought into operation against
+the refractory republic were admirably seconded by the machinery of
+communication which had been previously established in the persons of
+the boyars, whose local influence was of the first consequence on this
+occasion. As the tide of these numerous negotiations changed, Ivan
+assumed the humility or the pride, the generosity or the severity,
+adapted to the immediate purpose; and, working upon the characters of the
+individuals as well as their interests, he succeeded in gaining a great
+moral lever before he unsheathed a sword. He made allies of all the
+classes and princes that lay in his way to the heart of the independent
+corporation. He represented to the nobles the anomalous nature and
+usurpation of the democratic institutions of Novgorod, and he roused
+their pride into resentment. He gained over the few princes who still
+held trembling appanages by painting to them in strong colors the
+enormous opulence and commercial monopolies of the republic; and he
+filled the whole population with revenge against the fated city, by
+exaggerated accounts of its treasonable designs against the internal
+security of the empire. Thus, by artful insinuations of the personal
+advantages and general benefits that were to spring from the overthrow
+of Novgorod, he succeeded in neutralizing all the opposition he had any
+reason to apprehend, and in exciting increased enthusiasm on the part of
+the people.
+
+Having made these subtle preparations to facilitate his proceedings, he
+sent an ambassador to the citizens calling upon them to acknowledge his
+authority; and only awaited their decisive refusal, which he anticipated,
+as an excuse for immediate hostilities. The Novgorodians returned an
+answer couched in terms of scorn and defiance. His reply was carried by
+three formidable armies, which, breaking in on the Novgorodian territory
+on three different sides, prostrated the hopes of the citizens by
+overwhelming masses, against which their gallant resistance was of no
+avail. In this brief and desperate struggle, Ivan possessed extraordinary
+superiority by the recent acquisition of firearms and cannon, the use of
+which he had learned from Aristotle of Bologna, an Italian, whom he had
+taken into his service as an architect, mintmaster, and founder. The
+triumph of the arms of the Grand Prince was rapidly followed by the
+incursions of swarms of the peasantry, who, secretly urged forward
+by Ivan, rushed upon the routed enemy, and completed the work of
+devastation. This licentious exhibition of popular feeling Ivan affected
+to repress, and, availing himself of the opportunity it afforded to
+assume toward the Novgorodians a moderation he did not feel, he pretended
+to protect them against any greater violence than was merely necessary
+to establish his right to the recovery of the domains of which they had
+despoiled him, and the payment of the ransom that was customary under
+such circumstances. Here his deep and crafty genius had room for
+appropriate display. He did not consider it prudent to seize upon the
+republic at once, as, in that event, he was bound to partition it among
+his kinsmen, by whose aid, extended upon special promises, he had
+overthrown it; so he contented himself with a rich ransom, having already
+beggared it by suffering lawless followers to plunder it uninterruptedly
+before he interfered, and by demanding an act of submission. But in this
+act he contrived to insert some words of ambiguous tendency, under the
+shelter of which he might, when his own time arrived, leap upon his prey
+with impunity.
+
+The confusion into which the Novgorodians were thrown and the great
+reduction of strength which they suffered in the contest enabled Ivan
+to deprive them of some of their tributaries, under the pretence of
+rendering them a service, so that their exhaustion was seized upon as a
+fresh source of injustice. The Permians having offered some indignity
+to the republic, Ivan interfered, and transferred the commerce of that
+people with Germany to Moscow; and, on another occasion, when the Livoman
+knights attempted an aggression, Ivan sent his ambassadors and troops
+to force a negotiation in his own name; thus actually depriving both
+Novgorod and Pskof, they being mutually concerned, of the right of making
+peace and war in their own behalf. By insidious measures like these he
+continued to oppress and absorb the once independent city that claimed
+and kept so towering an ascendency. But not satisfied with such means of
+accumulating the supreme power, he sowed dissensions between the rich
+classes and the poor, and after fomenting fictitious grievances,
+terminating in open quarrel, he succeeded in having all complaints laid
+before him for decision. Then, going among them, he impoverished the
+wealthy by the lavish presents his visits demanded, and captivated the
+imagination of the multitude by the dazzling splendor of his retinues and
+the flexible quality of his justice. The time was now approaching for
+a more explicit declaration of his views. On pretence of these
+disagreements he loaded some of the principal citizens, the oligarchs of
+the republic, with chains and sent them to Moscow. It was so arranged
+that these nobles were denounced by the mob; and Ivan, in acceding to
+their demand for vengeance, secured the allegiance of the great bulk of
+the population. The stratagem succeeded; and with each new violation of
+justice he gained an accession of popular favor.
+
+The progress of the scheme against the liberties of Novgorod was slow,
+but inevitable. The inhabitants gradually referred all their disputes to
+the Grand Prince; and he, profiting by the growing desire to erect him
+into the sole judge of their domestic grievances, at length summoned the
+citizens to appear before him at Moscow. The demand was as unexpected as
+it was extraordinary.
+
+Never before had the Novgorodians gone out from their own walls to sue or
+receive judgment; but so seductive and treacherous were the professions
+of Ivan that, unsuspicious of his designs, they consented to appear
+before his throne. Throughout the whole of these encroachments on the
+ancient usages in which the rights of the people resided, he appeared to
+be lifted above all personal or tyrannical views. Marpha, the ambitious
+widow, who had stirred up the revolt and sought to attach Novgorod to
+Lithuania, had never been molested; and even the principal persons who
+were most conspicuous in resisting his authority at the outset were
+suffered to remain unharmed. These instances of magnanimity, as they were
+believed to be, lulled the distrust of the citizens, and seduced them by
+degrees to abandon their old customs one by one at his bidding. For seven
+years he continued with unwearied perseverance to wean them from all
+those distinctive habits that marked their original character and
+separated them from the rest of the empire; and at last, when he thought
+that he had succeeded in obliterating their attachment to the republican
+form of government, he advanced his claim to the absolute sovereignty,
+which was now sanctioned by numberless acts of submission, and by
+traitorous voices of assent within the council of the citizens.
+
+At an audience to which he admitted an envoy, that officer, either
+wilfully or by accident, addressed him by the name of sovereign; and
+Ivan, instantly seizing upon the inadvertency, claimed all the privileges
+of an absolute master. He required that the republic should surrender its
+expiring rights into his hands, and take a solemn oath of allegiance;
+that his boyars should be received within its gates, with full authority
+to exercise their almost irresponsible control over the city; that the
+palace of Yaroslaff, the temple of Novgorodian liberty, should be given
+up to his viceroy; that the forum should be abolished; and that the
+popular assemblies, and all the corresponding immunities of the people,
+should be abrogated forever.
+
+The veil was dropped too suddenly. The citizens were not prepared for so
+abrupt and uncompromising an assertion of authority. Hitherto they had
+admitted the innovations of the Grand Prince, but it was of their
+own free will. They did not expect that he would ground any right of
+sovereignty upon their voluntary acquiescence in his character of
+arbitrator and ally; and the news of his despotic claim filled them with
+despair and indignation. The great bell, which had formerly been the
+emblem of their citizenship, now tolled for the last time. They assembled
+in the market-place in tumultuous crowds, and summoning the treacherous
+or imprudent envoy before them, they tried him by a clamorous and summary
+process, and, before the sentence was completed, tore him limb from limb.
+Believing that some of the nobles were accessory to the surrender of
+their freedom, they fell upon those they suspected, and murdered them in
+the streets, thus hastening, and confirming by their intemperance, the
+final alienation of the wealthy classes from their cause; and having by
+these acts of unbridled desperation given the last demonstrations of
+their independence, they once more threw themselves into the arms of
+Lithuania, which were open to receive them.
+
+But Ivan was prepared for this demonstration of passion. His measures
+were too deeply taken to suffer surprise by any course which the
+Novgorodians, in their righteous hatred of oppression, might think fit
+to adopt. When he learned the reception they gave to his mandate, he
+affected the most painful astonishment. He declared that he alone was the
+party aggrieved, that he alone was deceived; that they had laid snares
+for his counsel and countenance; and that even when, yielding to their
+universal requisition, he had consented to take upon him the toils of
+government, they had the audacity to confront him with an imposition in
+the face of Russia, to shed the blood of their fellow-men, and to insult
+heaven and the empire by calling into the sacred limits the soldiers of
+an adverse religion and a foreign power. These ingenious remonstrances
+were addressed to the priests, the nobles, and the people, and had the
+desired effect. The bishops embarked zealously in the crusade, and the
+people entered willingly into the delusion. The dependent republic of
+Pskof and the principality of Twer, paralyzed in the convulsion, appeared
+to waver; but Ivan, resolved to deprive Novgorod of any help they might
+ultimately be tempted to offer, drew out their military strength, under
+the form of a contingency, and left them powerless. Yet, although
+strongly reenforced on all sides, he still avoided a contest. With
+a mingled exhibition of revenge and attachment, he threatened and
+propitiated in the same breath.
+
+"I will reign supreme at Novgorod," he exclaimed; "as I do at Moscow. You
+must surrender all to me; your posadnik, and the bell that calls your
+national council together;" and at the same time he professed his
+determination to respect those very liberties which by these demands were
+to be sacrificed forever. The Novgorodians, terrified by the immense
+force Ivan had collected, which it seemed he only used to menace, and not
+to destroy, attempted to capitulate; but he was insensible to all their
+representations, and, even while he promised them their freedom, he
+refused to grant it. The armament, mighty as it was, which he had
+prepared, was kept aloof to threaten and not to strike. He acted as if he
+feared to risk the issue of a contest with any of his enemies, or as if
+he were unwilling to suffer the loss consequent even upon victory. He
+wanted to overbear by terror rather than by arms, so that the fearful
+agency of his name might do the work of conquest more powerfully and at
+less cost than his armies, which must have been thinned by battles, and
+might have been subdued by fortune. So long as he could preserve his
+terrible ascendency by the force of the fear which he inspired, he was
+secure; but the single defeat, or the doubtful issue of a solitary
+struggle, might reduce the potent charm of his unvanquished power. In
+this way he drew the chain tighter; and in the agonies of the protracted
+and narrowing pressure, Novgorod, unable to resist, died in agonies of
+despair.
+
+The surrender of the liberties of the republic was complete. On taking
+possession of the city, Ivan seized upon the person of the popular
+Marpha, and sent her and seven of the principal citizens as prisoners
+to Moscow, confiscating their properties in the name of the state. The
+national assemblies and municipal privileges ceased January 15, 1478, on
+which day the people took the oath of servitude; and on the 18th, the
+boyars and their immediate followers, and the wealthy and the influential
+classes of the inhabitants, voluntarily came forward and entered into the
+service of the Grand Prince. The revenues of the clergy, which were
+by the act of submission transferred to the treasury of Ivan, were
+immediately devoted by him to the service of three hundred thousand
+followers of boyars, through whose intermediate agency he intended to
+assert and maintain his unlimited and supreme authority over the fallen
+city. But not alone did he possess himself of the private property of
+some of the principal persons who had rendered themselves prominent in
+the recent declaration of independence, but he demanded a surrender of a
+great part of the territories that belonged by charter to the public.
+He also further enriched himself, and impoverished the Novgorodians, by
+seizing upon all the gold and valuables to which he could, with any show
+of propriety, lay claim. He is said to have conveyed to Moscow no less
+than three hundred cart-loads of gold, silver, and precious stones,
+besides furs, cloths, and merchandise to a considerable amount.
+
+The settlement of his power in Novgorod had scarcely been concluded when
+intelligence was received that the Tartars of the Golden Horde were
+preparing for a third invasion. The enormous physical force that was at
+Ivan's disposal, the late accession of strength and increase of domain,
+by which his means were not only improved, but the number and means of
+his opponents were reduced, and the general state of the country, which
+was, in all respects, favorable to the objects of his ambition, deprived
+such a movement of its wonted terrors. Ivan had nothing to fear from the
+approach of the enemy. He was surrounded by the princes of the blood, who
+had warmly embarked in the common cause; he had an immense army at his
+command, panting for new fields of spoil and glory; he had broken up his
+domestic enemies in the North, and dismembered or attached the insurgent
+republics. He had left Lithuania to the rapacious guardianship of the
+Khan of the Crimea, who was sufficiently formidable to neutralize the
+incursions of the duchy upon the frontier; and on every side he found an
+ardent population impatient to expel the invader. Yet, encouraging
+as these circumstances were, and although they seemed to present the
+fortunate opportunity for carrying into execution his cherished plan of
+autocracy, Ivan held back. He alone of all Russia was intimidated. His
+project of empire was so lofty and comprehensive that he appeared to
+shrink from any collision that could even remotely peril its ultimate
+success. He was so dismayed that he forced the Princess to fly from
+Moscow and seek a temporary shelter in the North. Terror-struck and
+unmanned, he deserted the army, and shut himself up in the capital for
+security; and when the armed population, pouring forth from all quarters,
+and animated by one spirit of resistance, had advanced as far as the
+Oka to meet the Tartars, he recalled his son to the capital, as if he
+apprehended the consummation of some evil either in his own person or
+that of his heir. But the voice of the general indignation reached him in
+his retreat, and even his son refused to leave his post in the army. The
+murmurs of a disappointed people rose into clamors which he could not
+affect to misunderstand. They reproached him with having burdened them
+with taxes, without having paid the Khan his tribute; and that, now
+the Tartars had come into Russia to demand restitution, he fled from
+vindication of his own acts, and left the people to extricate themselves
+from a dilemma into which he had brought them.
+
+In this difficulty Ivan had no choice left but to submit to the will of
+the country. He accordingly convoked a meeting of the bishops and boyars
+for the purpose of asking their advice; but their counsel was even still
+more conclusive; and the reluctant Prince was compelled to rejoin the
+army. The fear by which he was moved, however, could not be concealed,
+and it gradually infected the ranks of the soldiery. He had no sooner
+taken his station at the head of the army than he became spellbound. A
+river, the Lugra, divided him from the enemy; he could not summon courage
+to attempt it, but stood gazing in disastrous terror upon the foe, with
+whom he opened negotiations to beg for terms. In the mean time the news
+of his indecision spread, and the people at Moscow grew turbulent. The
+Primate, perceiving the disaffection that was springing up, addressed the
+Prince in the language of despair. He represented to him the state of the
+public mind, and the inglorious procedure of suing for a peace where he
+could insure a victory and dictate his own terms. "Would you," exclaimed
+the Primate, "give up Russia to fire and sword, and the churches to
+plunder? Whither would you fly? Can you soar upward like the eagle? Can
+you make your nest amid the stars? The Lord will cast you down from even
+that asylum. No! you will not desert us. You would blush at the name of
+fugitive and traitor to your country!"
+
+Ivan was surrounded by two hundred thousand soldiers; reenforcements
+were thronging constantly to his side; the enemy was cut off from all
+assistance from his ally of Lithuania; and one word of encouragement
+would have set all these advantages into action. The troops only awaited
+the signal to rush upon the invaders; but Ivan, amid these flattering
+and animated circumstances, was dispirited. Even the voice of the Church
+addressed him in vain. He was utterly paralyzed; and cowardice had so
+completely taken possession of his mind that when the early winter had
+set in and frozen the river, so as to obliterate the obstacle that
+separated him from the troops of the Khan, he was seized with
+consternation, and fled in the wildest disorder from his position. He was
+so alarmed that he could not even preserve any regularity on the retreat,
+and all was confusion and panic.
+
+So disgraceful an abandonment of his duty, which in other times must have
+cost him his throne, if not his life, was not visited with that rigor by
+the Russians which so glaring a defection deserved. The sovereign Prince
+was removed to too great a distance from the people to be judged of with
+precision or promptitude. The motives of his acts were not accessible
+to the multitude, who, accustomed to despotism, had not yet learned to
+question the wisdom of their rulers. The rapid advances that had been
+made toward the concentration of the governing power in the autocratical
+form, limited still more the means of popular observation and the vigor
+of the popular check upon the supreme authority. The Grand Prince stood
+so much aloof from his subjects, surrounded by special advisers and
+court favorites, that even the language of remonstrance, which sometimes
+reached his ears, was so softened in its progress that its harshness
+was that of subservient admonition; and he was as little shaken by
+the smothered discontent of the people as they were roused by an open
+sacrifice of their interests. But not alone was this reverence for the
+autocracy so great as to protect the autocrat from violent reprisals on
+the part of his subjects; but the national veneration for the descendant
+of St. Vladimir and the stock of Rurik was sufficient to absorb all the
+indignation which the weakness or the wickedness of the Prince might have
+aroused.
+
+Ivan, however, independently of those acts of prejudice and ignorance
+which preserved him from the wrath which he had so wantonly provoked,
+was destined to find all the unfavorable circumstances of his position
+changed into the most extraordinary and unexpected advantages. In the
+crisis of his despair the fortunes of the day turned to his favor. While
+he hung behind the Lugra, seeking a base and humiliating compromise at
+the hands of the enemy, his lieutenant of Svenigorod, and his ally the
+Khan of the Crimea, advanced upon the Golden Horde, and pushed their
+victorious arms into the very den of the Tartars, at the time that
+the Tartar forces were drawn off in the invasion of Russia. Speedy
+intelligence of this disaster having reached the enemy, he made a
+precipitate retreat, in the hope of reaching his fastnesses on the
+frontier in time to avert the destruction that threatened him; but
+the Russians had been too rapid in their movements; and the work of
+devastation, begun by them, was completed by a band of marauding Tartars,
+who entered soon after they retired, and, carrying away the women and
+the remnant of the treasures left behind, reduced the city of the Golden
+Horde to ashes before the distant army could accomplish its retrograde
+march. Nor was this all the triumph that Ivan was called upon to share,
+without any participation in the danger. The return of the Tartars was
+arrested midway by a hetman of the Cossacks and the mirza of the
+Nogais, who, falling upon the confused and disorderly ranks, on their
+ill-conducted flight homeward, cut them in pieces, and left scarcely a
+living vestige on the field of the ancient and implacable enemies of the
+country.
+
+The extinction of the Tartars was final. The Golden Horde was
+annihilated, and the scourge of Russia and her princes was no more. In
+a better educated state of society, these events, so sudden and so
+important, must have been attributed to proximate and obvious causes--the
+combinations of operations over which Ivan had no control, and the
+dismay into which the Tartars were surprised, followed up quickly by
+overwhelming masses who possessed the superiority in numbers and in plan.
+Ivan, who could lay no claim to the honors of the enterprise, would not
+have been associated in its results had the people been instructed in
+the respect which was due to themselves. But the Russians, profoundly
+venerating the person of the Grand Prince, and accustomed to consider
+him as the depository of a wisdom refined above the sphere of ordinary
+mortality, did not hesitate to ascribe this transcendent exploit to the
+genius of the reluctant autocrat. They looked back upon his pusillanimity
+with awe, and extracted from his apparent fears the subtle elements of a
+second providence. He was no longer the coward and the waverer. He had
+seen the body of the future, before its extreme shadows had darkened
+other men's vision; and the whole course of his timid bearing, even
+including his flight from the Lugra, was interpreted into a prudent
+and prophetic policy, wonderful in its progress and sublime in its
+consequences. Without risking a life, or spilling a drop of blood, and
+merely by an evasive diversion of his means, he had vanquished the
+Asiatic spoiler; and at the very moment that the people were disposed to
+doubt his skill and his courage, he had actually destroyed the giant by
+turning the arms of his own nation against him. Such was the unanimous
+feeling of Russia. Transferring the glory of their signal deliverance
+from those who had achieved it to him who had evaded the responsibility
+of the attempt, they worshipped, in the Grand Prince, the incarnation of
+the new-born liberty.
+
+
+
+CULMINATION OF THE POWER OF BURGUNDY
+
+TREATY OF PERONNE
+
+A.D. 1468
+
+P. F. WILLERT
+
+
+From the planting of the Burgundian branch of the house of Valois, in
+1364, arose a formidable rival of the royal power in France. During the
+next hundred years the dukes of Burgundy played prominent parts in French
+history, and then appeared one of the line who advanced his house to its
+loftiest eminence. This was Charles, surnamed the "Bold," son of Philip,
+misnamed the "Good." Charles was born in 1433, and became Duke of
+Burgundy in 1467. He "held the rank of one of the first princes in Europe
+without being a king, and without possessing an inch of ground for which
+he did not owe service to some superior lord." Some of his territories
+were held of the Holy Roman Empire, and some of the French crown, and
+he was at once a vassal of France and of the Emperor. His dominions
+contained many prosperous and wealthy cities.
+
+But the possessions of Charles lacked unity alike in territorial
+compactness, political distinction, and local rule, and in national
+characteristics, language, and laws. His peculiar position exposed him
+to the jealous rivalry of Louis XI of France. The King's object was the
+consolidation of his monarchy, while Charles aimed to extend his duchy
+at the expense of Louis' territories. Thus the two rivals became deadly
+enemies.
+
+Charles conceived the design of restoring the old kingdom of Burgundy. In
+1467, having secured alliances with Brittany and England, he prepared for
+a campaign of conquest. But Louis offered him advantageous terms of peace
+and invited him to a conference. While Charles hesitated, Louis stirred
+to revolt the Duke's subjects in Liege, with whom Burgundy had lately
+been at war. The negotiations between Louis and Charles, and the events
+which followed, form the subject of Willert's narrative.
+
+Many messengers came and went, yet Charles hesitated to accept peace even
+on terms so greatly to his advantage. The King, if he could but see the
+Duke, felt sure he might end this uncertainty, perhaps even obtain more
+favorable concessions.
+
+When once the idea of a personal interview had possessed him he was deaf
+to the warnings and entreaties of his more prudent or honest advisers.
+
+Charles did not seem anxious to meet the King, and when at length
+he yielded to the representations of the King's envoy, he sent a
+safe-conduct in the most explicit terms: "Sir, if it be your pleasure to
+visit this town of Peronne to confer with us, I swear to you and promise
+by my faith and on my honor that you may come, stay, and return at your
+good pleasure, without let or harm, notwithstanding any cause that may
+now be or hereafter may arise."
+
+After receiving this assurance, Louis might fairly suppose that he had
+nothing to fear. He had before trusted himself safely to Charles' honor.
+Nor had he himself abused the chance which once delivered his rival into
+his hands unprotected by promise or oath. He therefore set out at once
+for Peronne, accompanied only by some eighty archers of his Scotch
+guard and by his personal attendants. He was met at the frontier by
+a Burgundian escort under Philip de Crevecoeur, and he found Charles
+himself waiting to receive him at the banks of a little river not far
+from Peronne. The princes greeted each other with respect on the one
+side, and with hearty affection on the other. They entered the town side
+by side, the King's arm resting on his kinsman's shoulder. The castle of
+Peronne was small and inconvenient; the King was therefore lodged in
+the house of one of the richest citizens. He had scarcely reached his
+quarters when the Marshal of Burgundy joined Charles' army with the
+forces he commanded. With him came Philip of Savoy and two of his
+brothers, Antony de Chateauneuf, and other men who had shared largely in
+the King's favor, but who had fled from his resentment after betraying
+his confidence. These his enemies might consider the occasion favorable
+for a bold stroke. If they acted without the connivance of Charles he
+might be grateful to those who satisfied his enmity without irretrievably
+compromising his honor. Louis therefore asked to be allowed to move into
+the castle, where his archers could at any rate defend him against a
+surprise. On the next day the conference began; all that he could demand
+was offered to Charles if only he would abandon the alliance of Brittany
+and England. But he was determined not to give way, and was insensible to
+the blandishments of his guest, who may have been tormented by painful
+misgivings as he looked from his prison-like rooms at a gloomy tower in
+which Charles the Simple had been confined, and, it was said, murdered by
+a rebellious vassal.
+
+At the first suggestion of the interview with the King, Charles had
+objected that he could scarcely believe in his sincere desire for peace
+while his envoys were encouraging rebels. Cardinal Balue replied that
+when the people of Liege learned that the King and Duke had met, they
+would not venture upon any hostile movement. But the French agents were
+not informed of their master's intended visit to Peronne, and did not
+attempt to discourage a premature attack. It is indeed doubtful whether
+they could in any case have changed the course of events.
+
+The first rumors of what had happened in a popular outbreak at Liege
+reached Peronne on the night of October 10th. As was natural, they were
+greatly exaggerated. Tongres had been sacked, the garrison put to the
+sword; Humbercourt, the Burgundian Governor, and the Bishop murdered;
+the King's envoys had been seen leading and encouraging the assailants.
+Charles broke into cries of rage: "The traitor King! So he is only come
+to cheat me by a false pretence of peace! By St. George, he and those
+villains of Liege shall pay dearly for this!" He did not pause to
+consider whether it was likely that Louis had been simple enough to
+provoke a catastrophe fatal to his hopes and dangerous to his safety. If
+Comines, the Duke's chamberlain, and another favorite attendant, who were
+with their master at the time, had not done their best to soothe him it
+is probable that the donjon of Peronne would once more have closed upon a
+captive king. Charles was at little pains to conceal his rage; and when
+Louis was told that the gates of town and castle were guarded to prevent
+the escape of a thief who had stolen a casket of jewels, he knew that he
+was a prisoner. Yet, however bitter his self-reproach, however gloomy his
+forebodings, he did not lose his presence of mind. His attendants were
+allowed free access to the castle; he had brought with him fifteen
+thousand gold crowns, and these he anxiously employed to secure the good
+offices of Charles' advisers. For three nights the angry agitation and
+perplexity of Charles were so great that he did not undress. He would
+throw himself on his bed for a time and then start up and pace about his
+room, uttering threats and invectives against the King.
+
+Nothing was done or decided on the first day, October 11, 1468. On the
+second a council was held which sat late into the night. A minority of
+the council, the enemies of Louis, or those who were only anxious to
+flatter the passions of their master, advised him to use to the full
+the opportunity which chance and the foolhardiness and duplicity of his
+adversary had placed in his hands. They urged him to keep the King in
+secure confinement after providing for the virtual partition of the
+kingdom among the great feudatories. The majority, those who had some
+regard for the honor of the house of Burgundy, the lawyers, who respected
+the letter, if not the spirit, of an agreement, perhaps also the more
+far-sighted politicians, were of a different opinion. The fame of the
+Duke would suffer irreparable injury by so flagrant a violation of his
+plighted word. The advantages, moreover, to be gained by the captivity,
+the deposition, perhaps the death of the King, were uncertain. The heir
+to the throne was entirely in the hands of the Bretons, and was not
+likely to be eager to advance the interests of Burgundy. A large and
+well-disciplined army, commanded by experienced captains, was assembled
+on the frontiers. If they could not rescue their master, they would at
+least endeavor to avenge him, while the new King could acquire an easy
+popularity by execrating a crime of which he and Francis of Brittany
+would reap all the advantage. It was a wiser course to accept the terms
+which the King in his alarm proffered--the settlement in favor of
+Burgundy of all the disputed questions which had arisen out of the
+treaties of Arras and Conflans--and it might be possible to humiliate and
+disgrace Louis by compelling him to take part in the punishment of his
+allies, the citizens of Liege, who by their trust in him had been lured
+to destruction.
+
+Charles left the council apparently undecided, and passed the night in as
+great a storm of passion as the two preceding. The conflict within him
+doubtless fanned his wrath. Comines, who shared his room, endeavored to
+calm him, and to persuade him to embrace the course most consistent with
+his interests and the King's safety; for so great a prince, if once a
+captive, might scarcely hope to leave his prison alive. Toward morning
+Charles determined to content himself with insisting that Louis should
+sign a peace on such terms as he should dictate, and accompany him
+against Liege. The King, says Comines, had a friend who informed him that
+he would be safe if he agreed to these conditions, but that otherwise his
+peril would be extreme. This friend was Comines himself, and Louis never
+forgot so timely a service. The two days during which his fate was being
+decided had been passed by him in the greatest agony of mind. Though he
+had been allowed to communicate freely with the French nobles and his own
+attendants, he had been ominously neglected by the Burgundian courtiers.
+As soon as the Duke had determined what conditions he intended to impose,
+he hastened to the castle to visit his captive. The memorable interview
+is described by two eye-witnesses--Comines and Olivier de la Marche.
+Charles entered the King's presence with a lowly obeisance; but his
+gestures and his unsteady voice betrayed his suppressed passion. The King
+could not conceal his fear. "My brother," he asked, "am I not safe in
+your dominions?"
+
+"Yes, sire, so safe that if I saw a cross-bow pointed at you I would
+throw myself before you to shield you from the bolt."
+
+He then asked the King to swear a peace on the proposed basis: (i) The
+faithful execution of the treaty of Conflans; (2) the abolition of the
+jurisdiction of the Parliament of Paris over Flanders; (3) the surrender
+of all regalian rights in Picardy; (4) the release of the Duke from all
+fealty to the King if the treaty was in any way infringed or imperfectly
+executed. Louis agreed, and Charles requested his assistance in punishing
+the rebellion of Liege. The King expressed his perfect readiness. The
+princes then signed a draft of the treaty and swore to execute it
+faithfully on the cross of St. Laud. Charles had insisted that Louis
+should swear on the relic, a fragment of the true Cross once kept in the
+Church of St. Laud at Angers, which the King always carried with him,
+esteeming it highly, because he believed that whoever forswore himself on
+it would surely die within the year. The Duke at the same time promised
+to do homage for the fiefs he held of the crown of France, but the
+execution of this promise was evaded.
+
+On the 15th the Duke, with an army of forty thousand men, and the King
+with his slender escort, and some three hundred men-at-arms who joined
+him by the way, began their march on Liege. Louis was not less anxious
+than his companion that Dammartin should not attempt a forcible rescue.
+Victory or defeat would have been alike dangerous to his safety. Twice
+at Charles' request orders were sent to disband, or at least remove, the
+French army from the frontier. The King's letters were delivered by his
+messenger in the persistent presence of a Burgundian who prevented the
+possibility of any private communication. Louis' crafty old soldier,
+Dammartin, paid little attention to such orders. He sent word to the Duke
+that, unless his master soon returned, all France would come to fetch
+him.
+
+The first divisions of the Burgundian army reached Liege October 22d. The
+citizens, whose walls had been destroyed and artillery confiscated, were
+in no position to resist an army which might have conquered an emperor.
+At the suggestion of the legate they released their bishop, begging him
+to intercede on their behalf, and offered to surrender their goods to the
+Duke's discretion if only he would spare their lives. Charles would
+not listen to their overtures; he swore that he would have town and
+inhabitants at his discretion or that he and his army should perish in
+the attempt.
+
+The townsmen, with the boldness of despair, sallied forth to meet the
+advance guard of their enemies; they were driven back with great loss.
+Four days later, the 26th, the Duke and main body of the army had not
+come up. The troops, who had repulsed the sally on the 22d, had as yet
+met with little resistance, and thought themselves strong enough to
+occupy an open town defended only by ill-armed traders and mechanics.
+The weather was cold and rainy, the temptation of securing comfortable
+quarters and the undivided profits of the sack irresistible. The
+assailants occupied one of the suburbs, but their advance was checked by
+some hastily constructed defences. At nightfall the citizens came
+out through the breaches of their walls; they were enabled, by their
+knowledge of the rough and precipitous ground, to fall unobserved upon
+the rear of the enemy; eight hundred Burgundians were killed, and the
+rout would have been complete had not the Duke with the main body of
+his army pushed forward to the assistance of a division which was still
+holding its ground.
+
+On the next day the King arrived, and soon after took up his quarters
+close to those of the Duke. He showed himself to the men, who had
+placed their trust in him, wearing the St. Andrew's cross, the badge
+of Burgundy, and replying "_Vive Bourgogne!_" to their cries of "_Vive
+France!_" That night there was a great and sudden alarm. The Duke of
+Burgundy, though brave, was sometimes wanting in presence of mind, and on
+this occasion appeared more troubled in the King's presence than pleased
+his friends. Louis took the command, giving his orders with great
+coolness and prudence. Even as a general he gained by comparison with his
+rival. He was indeed not less anxious than Charles that the Burgundian
+army should suffer no reverse. He feared everything that might arouse the
+ready suspicion and ungovernable temper of the Duke. On the evening of
+the 29th a few hundred men, colliers and miners from the mountainous
+district of Franchemont, led by the owners of the house in which the King
+and Duke were sleeping, made a desperate attempt to surprise the princes
+in their beds. They would have succeeded had they not delayed to attack
+a barn in which three hundred Burgundian men-at-arms were posted. Only
+a few followed their guides straight to the quarters of the sovereigns.
+They were unable, therefore, to overcome the resistance of the guard
+before the noise of the conflict had aroused the camp. The assailants
+were overwhelmed by numbers, and fell fighting to the last. The assault
+had been ordered for the next day, but this bold and unexpected attack so
+surprised and disconcerted the Burgundians that the King thought he might
+be able to persuade the Duke to agree to a capitulation, or at least to
+postpone the assault. He only obtained a contemptuous request that he
+should consult his own safety by retiring to Namur. This reflection on
+his courage stimulated him to greater ostentation of zeal. He could
+scarcely be restrained from leading the assault.
+
+The citizens were worn out by guarding an open town against a powerful
+army for more than a week; they imagined that as it was a Sunday they
+would not be attacked till the morrow. The assailants entered the town
+with little or no resistance. Yet the fury and license of the soldiery
+could not have been greater had their passions been excited by an
+obstinate and bloody struggle. The horrors of the sack of Dinant[1] were
+surpassed, although many of the citizens were able to escape across the
+Meuse. The deliberate vengeance of the Duke was more searching and not
+less cruel than the lust and rapine of his army; all prisoners who would
+not pay a heavy ransom were drowned. Although the cold was so intense
+that wine froze, and that his men lost fingers and toes from frost-bites,
+Charles did not shrink from the labor of hunting down those who had fled
+to the mountains, and burning the villages in which they had sought a
+refuge. He had previously taken leave of the King.
+
+Four or five days after the occupation of Liege, Louis had expressed a
+wish to depart. If he could be of any further use, his brother might
+command his services; but he was anxious to see that their treaty was
+registered by the Parliament of Paris, without which it could not be
+valid. The Duke seemed unwilling to let his prey escape, but could find
+no pretence for his detention. Next year, said the King, he would come
+again and spend a month pleasantly with his dear brother in festivities
+and good cheer. The treaty, now drawn up in its final shape by the
+Burgundian lawyers, was read over to Louis, in order that he might object
+to any article of which he disapproved. But he readily ratified all that
+he had promised at Peronne. It had seemed useless to require him to
+bestow Normandy on Charles of France; nor is the question of his appanage
+mentioned in the treaty itself. But the King was compelled to promise
+to invest his brother with Champagne and Brie. These provinces, lying
+between Burgundy and the Low Countries, would, in the hands of an ally,
+serve to consolidate the Duke's dominions, and could be easily defended
+in case the King attempted to resume his concessions. Just before the
+princes departed, Louis said, as if the thought had suddenly occurred:
+"What do you wish me to do if my brother is not content with the appanage
+I offer him for your sake?" Charles answered carelessly: "If he will
+not take it, I leave the matter to you two to settle; only let him be
+satisfied." The King considered the thoughtless admission into which he
+had tricked his rival most important, since he fancied that it released
+him, so far as his brother's appanage was concerned, from the fearful
+obligation of his oath.
+
+But notwithstanding this last advantage, we cannot doubt that Louis felt
+bitterly disappointed and ashamed. Although all songs, caricatures,
+and writings reflecting on the perfidy of the Duke of Burgundy, and
+by implication on the folly of the King, were forbidden under severe
+penalties, and even all manner of talking birds which might be taught the
+hateful word "Peronne" had been seized by the royal officers, he had not
+the heart to visit Paris. The parliament was summoned to meet him at
+Senlis. He ordered it to register the treaty without comment, and
+hastened southward to hide his mortification in his favorite castles of
+Touraine.
+
+[Footnote 1: By Burgundians in 1466.]
+
+
+
+LORENZO DE' MEDICI RULES IN FLORENCE
+
+ZENITH OF FLORENTINE GLORY
+
+A.D. 1469
+
+OLIPHANT SMEATON
+
+
+During the twelfth century several of the Italian cities--especially
+Florence and Venice--rose to great wealth and power. Venice, through her
+favorable situation, became preeminent in commerce, while Florence was
+coming to be the most important industrial centre of Europe. In the
+thirteenth century Florence was the scene of continual strife between the
+Guelfs and Ghibellines, but she not only continued to develop in material
+prosperity, but also attained to intellectual activities whereby in the
+next century she gained a higher distinction. She took the foremost
+part in the Renaissance, and was the birthplace or the home of Dante,
+Boccaccio, and other leaders of the modern movement.
+
+In the fifteenth century Florence reached a still loftier eminence under
+the Medici, a family celebrated for the statesmen which it produced and
+for its patronage of letters and art. Its most illustrious members were
+Cosmo (1389-1464) and his grandson Lorenzo, surnamed the "Magnificent."
+Lorenzo was born January 1, 1449, when the second great period of the
+Renaissance was nearing its close. That was the "period of arrangement
+and translation; the epoch of the formation of the great Italian
+libraries; the age when, in Florence around his grandfather Cosmo,
+in Rome around Pope Nicholas V, and in Naples around Alfonso the
+Magnanimous, coteries of the leading humanists were gathered, engaged in
+labors which have made posterity eternally their debtors."
+
+Conjointly with his younger brother Giuliano, Lorenzo, on the death of
+his father Piero, in 1469, succeeded to the vast wealth and political
+power of the family. In 1478 the death of Giuliano left Lorenzo sole
+ruler of Florence.
+
+To few men has either the power or the opportunity been given to
+influence their epoch, intellectually and politically, to a degree so
+marked as was the lot of Lorenzo de' Medici. One of the most marvellously
+many-sided of the many-sided men who adorned the Italy of the fifteenth
+century, he did more to place Florence in the forefront of the world's
+culture than any other citizen who claimed Val d'Arno[1] as his
+birthplace. His influence was great because he was in sympathy so
+catholic with all the varied life of his age and circle. While during the
+one hour he would be found learnedly discussing the rival claims of the
+Platonic and Aristotelian philosophers with Ficino and Landino, the next
+might witness him the foremost reveller in the Florentine carnival,
+crowned with flowers and with the winecup in his hand, gayly carolling
+the _ballate_ he had composed for the occasion; while the third might
+behold him surrounded by the leading painters and sculptors of Tuscany,
+discoursing profoundly on the aims and mission of art. Truly a unique
+personality, at one and the same time the glorious creation and the
+splendid epitome of the spirit of the Renaissance!
+
+When Lorenzo de' Medici consented to assume the "position" occupied by
+his father Piero and his grandfather Cosmo, he was not the raw youth his
+immature years would lead one to suppose. Although intellectual maturity
+is reached at an earlier age in the sunny South than in the fog-haunted
+lands of Northern Europe, Lorenzo had enjoyed a long apprenticeship
+before being called to undertake the duties devolving on him as the
+uncrowned king of Florence. From his thirteenth year he had been the
+companion and shared the counsels, first of his grandfather and father,
+and subsequently of his father alone. From the former especially he
+learned many important lessons in statecraft. The matter is open to
+question, however, if any advice had more far-reaching results or was
+laid more carefully to heart than this which is contained in more
+than one of Cosmo's letters: "Never stint your favors to the cause
+of learning, and cultivate sedulously the friendship of scholars and
+humanists." Toward such a course Lorenzo's inclinations, as well as his
+interests, pointed, and during his life Florence was the Athens not only
+of Italy but of Europe as a whole. Here, among many others, were to be
+found such "epoch-makers" as Poliziano, Ficino, and Landino, Pico della
+Mirandola, Leo Battista Alberti, Michelangelo, Luigi Pulci--men who
+glorified their age by crowning it with the nimbus of their genius.
+
+The literary and artistic greatness of Florence was not due, however,
+to the comparative intellectual poverty of the other states in Italy.
+Florence was only _primus inter pares_--greatest among many that were
+great. When the fact is recalled that such contemporaries as Pomponius
+Laetus, Bartolommeo Sacchi, Molza, Alessandro Farnese (Paul III),
+Platina, Sabellicus at Rome; Pontanus, Sannazaro, and Porcello in Naples;
+and Pomponasso and Boiardo at Ferrara, were then at or nearing their
+prime, the position of Florence as the acknowledged centre of European
+culture was conceded by sense of right alone. Than this nothing proves
+more emphatically the strides learning had been making. It was no longer
+the prerogative of the few, but the privilege of the many. From the
+first, Lorenzo recognized what a strong card he held in the affection and
+respect of the Italian as well as of the Florentine humanists.
+
+The great secret of Lorenzo's preeminence in European and Italian, as
+well as in Tuscan, politics lies in the fact that he was able to unite
+the sources of administrative, legislative, and judicial power in
+himself. All the public offices in Florence were held by his dependents,
+and so entirely was the state machinery controlled by him that we find
+such men as Louis XI and the emperor Maximilian, Alfonso of Naples,
+and Pope Innocent VIII recognizing his authority and appealing to him
+personally, in place of to the seigniory, to effect the ends they
+desired. Such power enabled him to avoid the risks his grandfather Cosmo
+had been compelled to run to maintain his authority. The Medicean
+faction was better in hand than in his grandfather's days, and Lorenzo,
+therefore, in playing the _role_ of the peacemaker of Italy, at the time
+when he held the "balance of power" through his treaties with Milan,
+Naples, and Ferrara, could speak with a decision that carried weight when
+he found it necessary to threaten a restless "despot" with a political
+combination that might depose him.
+
+Lorenzo's services to learning were inspired by feelings infinitely more
+noble than those actuating his political plans. A patriotism as lofty as
+it was beneficent led him to desire that his country should be in the
+van of Italian progress in Renaissance studies. His sagacious prevision
+enabled him to proportion the nature and extent of the benefit he
+conferred to the need it was intended to supply. Many statesmen do more
+harm than good by failing to appreciate this law of supply and demand.
+They grant more than is required, and that which should have been a boon
+becomes a burden. Charles V, at the time of the Reformation, on more
+than one occasion committed this error, as also did Wolsey and Mazarin.
+Lorenzo, like Richelieu, recognized the value of moderation in giving,
+and caused every favor to be regarded as a possible earnest of others to
+come.
+
+The earlier years of his power were associated with many stirring events
+which exercised no inconsiderable influence on the state of learning. For
+example, his skilful playing off of Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza of Milan
+against Ferrante, King of Naples, led to greater attention being directed
+by the Florentines to Neapolitan and Milanese affairs, with the result
+that humanists and artists from both these places paid frequent visits to
+Florence, where they were welcomed by Lorenzo as his guests. Then when
+the revolt of the small city of Volterra from Florentine rule was
+suppressed by Lorenzo's agents, with a rigorous severity that cast a
+stain on their master's name, owing to many unoffending scholars having
+suffered to the extent of losing their all, Lorenzo made noble amends.
+Not only did he generously assist the inhabitants to repair their losses,
+not only did he make grants to the local scholars and send them copies of
+many of the codices in his own library to supply the loss of their books
+which had been burned by the soldiery, but he purchased large estates in
+the neighborhood, that the citizens might benefit by his residence among
+them. In this way, too, he brought the Volterran scholars into more
+intimate relations with the Florentine humanists, and thus contributed to
+the further diffusion of the benefits of the Renaissance.
+
+All was not plain sailing, however, as regards the progress of the "New
+Learning." Despite his efforts, Lorenzo could not prevent its development
+being checked during the papal-Neapolitan quarrel with Florence. That war
+originated in a dispute with Pope Sixtus IV, who kept Italy in a ferment
+during the whole duration of his pontificate, 1471-1484. Were no other
+proof forthcoming of Lorenzo's marvellous diplomatic genius than this one
+fact, that he checkmated the political schemes of Sixtus, and finally
+so neutralized his influence as to render him wellnigh impotent for
+evil-doing, such an achievement was sufficient to stamp him one of the
+greatest masters of statecraft Europe has known. In any estimate of his
+ability we must take into account the unsatisfactory character of many of
+the instruments wherewith he had to achieve his purposes, and also the
+fact that he had neither a great army at his back with which to enforce
+the fulfilment of treaty obligations--for Florence never was a city of
+soldiers--nor had he the prestige of an official position to lend weight
+to his words. To all intents and purposes he was a private citizen of
+the Florentine republic. Yet such was the dynamic power of the man's
+marvellous personality, and the reputation he had earned, even in his
+early years, for supreme prescience and far-reaching diplomatic subtlety,
+that far and wide he was regarded as the greatest force in Italian
+politics. Sixtus sallied forth to crush; he returned to the Vatican a
+crushed and a discredited man, to die of sheer chagrin over his defeat by
+Lorenzo in his designs upon Ferrara.
+
+Then followed the memorable dispute, in 1472-1473, over the bishopric of
+Pisa, when the Pope's nominee, Francesco Salviati, was refused possession
+of his see, Pisa being one of the Tuscan towns under the control of
+Florence. To this Sixtus retaliated by seeking the friendship of Ferrante
+of Naples, a move Lorenzo anticipated by forming the league between
+Florence, Milan, and Venice. This league thoroughly alarmed both the Pope
+and Ferrante, and on the latter visiting Rome in 1475 a papal-Neapolitan
+alliance was formed.
+
+Even then hostilities might not have broken out had the young Duke
+of Milan not been assassinated in 1476, leaving an infant heir. This
+entailed a long minority, with all its dangers, and the apprehensions
+regarding these were not fanciful, inasmuch as Lodovico Sforza, uncle of
+the baby Duke, usurped the position under pretext of acting as regent.
+These crimes were plainly responsible for the Pazzi conspiracy in 1478
+against the Medici themselves, a conspiracy which resulted in Giuliano,
+the younger brother of Lorenzo, being murdered in the cathedral, during
+mass, on the Sunday before Ascension, while Lorenzo himself was slightly
+wounded. That Sixtus and his nephew were accessories before the fact
+is now regarded as unquestionable. The vengeance taken by the enraged
+Florentines on the conspirators, their relatives, friends, and property,
+was terrible; the innocent, alas! being sacrificed indiscriminately with
+the guilty.
+
+The Archbishop of Pisa, Francesco Salviati, had entered eagerly into
+the scheme, and, although his sacred office prevented him from actually
+assisting in the deed, he was present in the cathedral until the signal
+was given for the perpetration of the deed, when he left the building to
+secure the Palazzo Publico. He was therefore summarily hanged with
+the others from the windows of the civic buildings. Sixtus made the
+execution, or the "murder" as he called it, of Salviati, his pretext for
+calling on his allies to make war on Florence. When he saw, however, that
+this action was only throwing the city more completely than ever into the
+arms of the Medici, he changed his tactics and said he had no quarrel
+with "his well-beloved children of Florence," but only with "that son of
+iniquity and child of perdition, Lorenzo de' Medici," and those who had
+aided and abetted him, among whom the humanists were expressly mentioned.
+Against Lorenzo and his associates a brief of excommunication was
+launched, and the city was urged to regain the papal favor by
+surrendering the offenders.
+
+The result might have been predicted. The "brief" only tended to knit the
+bonds of association closer between Lorenzo and the "City of the Flower,"
+while the humanists to a man rallied round their patron. Even the
+choleric Filelfo, now a very old man, who had been on anything but
+friendly terms with the Medici, addressed two bitter satires to Sixtus,
+in which the Pope was styled the real aggressor, while the great humanist
+offered to write a history of the whole transaction, that posterity might
+know the true facts. The only power which gave its adhesion to Sixtus was
+Naples, while Venice, Ferrara, and Milan declared for Florence.
+
+Thus commenced that tedious war which not only ruined so many Florentine
+merchants, but retarded the cause of learning so materially. When the
+people were groaning under heavy taxes, when all coin which Lorenzo
+could scrape together had to be poured out to pay the _condottieri_, or
+soldiers of fortune, by whom the battles of Florence were fought, there
+was of course but short commons for the humanists who had made Florence
+their home. Many of those adapted themselves to circumstances, but
+others, to whom money was their god, left the banks of the Arno for those
+southern cities where the pinch of scarcity did not prevail.
+
+In this campaign the Florentines gained but little prestige. The larger
+share of the cost was quietly suffered by their allies to fall on the
+city of bankers. The Milanese were occupied with their own affairs,
+owing to the _coup d'etat_ accomplished by Lodovico Sforza. The Duke of
+Ferrara withdrew owing to some disagreement with the condottieri
+engaged by Lorenzo. The Venetians only despatched a small contingent
+under Carlo Montone and Diefebo d'Anguillari; accordingly, in the end,
+the whole burden of the struggle fell on Florence. The Magnifico's
+position gradually became precarious, inasmuch as many persons declared
+the war to be in reality a personal quarrel between Pope Sixtus and
+the Medici. Complaints began to be heard that the public treasury was
+exhausted and the commerce of the city ruined, while the citizens were
+burdened with oppressive taxes. Lorenzo had the mortification of being
+told that sufficient blood had been shed, and that it would be expedient
+for him rather to devise some means of effecting a peace than of making
+further preparations for the war.
+
+In these circumstances, and confronted by one of the most dangerous
+crises of his whole life, Lorenzo rose to the occasion and effected a
+solution of the difficulty by daring to perform what was undoubtedly one
+of the bravest acts ever achieved by a diplomatist. By some statesmen
+it might be condemned as foolhardy, by others as quixotic. Its very
+foolhardiness and quixotry fascinated the man it was intended to
+influence, the blood-thirsty, cruel, and pitiless Ferrante of Naples, who
+was restrained from crime by the fear neither of God nor man, and who
+had actually slain the condottiere Piccinino when he visited him under a
+safe-conduct from the monarch's best ally. But the Renaissance annals are
+filled with the records of men and women whose natures are marvellous
+studies of contrasted and contradictory traits. Such was the Neapolitan
+tyrant. While a monster in much, he had his vulnerable points. He was
+ambitious to pose as a friend of the "New Learning," and he knew that
+Lorenzo was not only the most munificent patron, but also one of the most
+illustrious exponents, of the Renaissance principles.
+
+Although his enemy, Ferrante received Lorenzo with every demonstration of
+respect and satisfaction. He lost sight of the hostile diplomatist in
+the great humanist. Two Neapolitan galleys were sent to conduct him
+to Naples, and he was welcomed on landing with much pomp. Never did
+Lorenzo's supreme diplomatic genius, never did his versatile powers as a
+statesman, as a scholar, as a patron of letters, and as a brilliant man
+of the world, blaze forth in more splendid effulgence than during his
+three-months' stay in Naples. Though opposed by all the papal authority
+and resources; though Sixtus by turns threatened, cajoled, entreated,
+promised, in order to prevent Lorenzo having any success, the successor
+of St. Peter was beaten all along the line, and the Magnifico carried
+away with him a treaty, signed and sealed, which practically meant that
+henceforth Naples and the papacy would be in antagonistic camps.
+
+It was the Renaissance card which won the trick. With startling boldness,
+yet with consummate art, Lorenzo played the game of flattering Ferrante.
+No ordinary adulation, however, would have had success with the
+Neapolitan Phaleris. He was too strong-minded a man for anything of that
+kind. But to be hailed by the great Renaissance patron of the period,
+by one also who was himself one of the leading humanists, as a
+brother-humanist and a fellow-patron of learning, was a delicate incense
+to his vanity which he could not resist. He liked to be consulted on
+matters of literary moment, and, when he blundered, Lorenzo was too
+shrewd a student of human nature to correct him.
+
+Another fact in Lorenzo's favor was that he had the warm support not only
+of the beautiful Ippolyta Maria, daughter of Cosmo's friend, Francesco
+Sforza of Milan, and now wife of Alfonso, Duke of Calabria, King
+Ferrante's heir, as well as of Don Federigo, the monarch's younger son,
+who, along with Ippolyta, was a friend to the "New Learning," but he also
+had the whole body of Neapolitan humanists on his side, scarce one of
+whom but had experienced in some form or another the Medicean bounty.
+Such powerful advocacy was not without its influence in bringing about
+the result; while Ferrante more and more realized that if the Florentine
+Medici were crushed he would have no ally to whom to look for help when
+the inevitable shuffle of the political cards took place on the death of
+Sixtus.
+
+In February, 1480, therefore, Lorenzo returned in triumph to Florence,
+to be received with rapture by his fellow-citizens. Had he delayed a few
+months longer, his visit and his _ad-miseri-cordiam_ appeals would not
+have been needed. In August of that year Keduk Achmed, one of the Turkish
+Sultan's (Mahomet II) ablest generals, besieged and took the city of
+Otranto. In face of the common danger to all Italy, Sixtus was compelled
+to accept the treaty made by Ferrante with Lorenzo, and a general peace
+ensued. The decade accordingly closed with an absolution for all offences
+granted by the Pope to Florence, conditional on the Tuscan republic
+contributing its share to the expenses of the military preparations to
+resist the invasion of the Turk.
+
+Notwithstanding the war, the progress of the Renaissance during the first
+decade of Lorenzo's rule was very marked. To the rapid diffusion of
+printing this was largely due. Lorenzo had not imbibed the prejudices
+against the new art entertained by Cosmo and Federigo of Montefeltro. He
+looked at the practical, not the sentimental, side of the question as
+regards the new invention. Having seen that the press could throw off, in
+a few days, scores of copies of any work, of which it took an amanuensis
+months to produce one; also that the scholars of all Italy could be
+furnished almost immediately, and at a low price, with the texts of any
+manuscript they desired, while they had to wait months for a limited
+number of copies whose cost was wellnigh prohibitive, he supported the
+new invention from the outset. Having resolved to further his father's
+efforts to establish printing in Florence, he stimulated the local
+goldsmith, Bernardo Cennini, to turn his attention to type-casting in
+metal, and even agreed to pay him an annual grant from the year 1471
+until he had fairly settled himself in business. Nor did he confine his
+favors to him. John of Mainz and Nicholas of Breslau, who arrived in
+Florence, the former in 1472 and the latter in 1477, also participated
+in his open-hearted liberality. Printing struck its roots deep into the
+Tuscan community and flourished excellently. Though the Florentine craft
+never attained the reputation of the Venetian Aldi and Asolani, the
+Giunti of Rome, the Soncini of Fano, the Stephani of Paris, and Froben
+of Basel, it had the name, for a time at least, of being one of the most
+accurate of all presses.
+
+To Lorenzo it owed this celebrity. At an early date he perceived that the
+new art would be of little value if there were not careful press readers.
+He was therefore among the first to induce scholars of distinction to
+engage in this task. For example, he enlisted the aid of Cristoforo
+Landino, who in his _Disputationes Camaldunenses_ had really inaugurated
+the science of textual criticism by urging that a careful comparison
+of the various codices should constitute the preliminary step in any
+reproduction of the classics. Landino's work on Vergil and Horace merits
+the warmest praise. Lorenzo also impressed Poliziano into the work, whose
+labors in marking the various readings, in adding _scholia_ and "notes"
+illustrative of the text of Catullus, Propertius, Ovid, etc., were of the
+utmost value. To Lorenzo and to his younger brother Giuliano, another
+great humanist, Giorgio Merula of Milan, dedicated his _Plautus_,
+published in Venice in 1472, showing at how early an age the Magnifico
+had taken his place among the recognized patrons of the Italian
+Renaissance.
+
+We ought not, moreover, to omit mention of another achievement of
+Lorenzo, though performed in a sphere of effort lying outside of the
+strict limits of our Renaissance survey. Seeing it was the "Revival of
+Letters," however, which induced the revival of the cultivation of the
+vernacular Italian literature, surely it is not out of place to refer to
+it here. Early in life Lorenzo became imbued with the conviction that his
+native tongue was unsurpassed as a medium for "the expression of noble
+thoughts in noble numbers." Not only did he encourage others to study
+Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio, but by following out his own precepts
+he became one of the great Italian poets. His _Selve d'Amore,_ his
+_Corinto_, his _Ambra_, his _La Nencia da Barberino_, his _Laude_, his
+_Sonetti_, his _Cansoni_, etc., are all poems that live in the Italian
+literature of to-day. Not as a man ashamed of the vernacular, and forced
+to use it because he can command no better, does Lorenzo write. "He is
+sure of the justice of his cause, and determined by precept and example
+and by the prestige of his princely rank to bring the literature he loves
+into repute again."
+
+But of these poems we cannot here take further note. By the scholars of
+the Renaissance such work was looked askance at. If they did produce any
+of these "trifles," as they were called, they almost blushed to own them,
+and were ashamed to communicate them to each other. That he dared to
+be natural says much for Lorenzo, and it was largely due to his
+encouragement that Cristoforo Landino undertook his great work on
+"Dante," to which we owe so much to-day.
+
+In conjunction with his patronage of printing, there was no line of
+effort in which Lorenzo did more real good than in collecting manuscripts
+and antiquities, and in making them practically public property. On this
+account he is styled, by Niccolo Leonicino, "Lorenzo de' Medici, the
+great patron of learning in this age, whose messengers are dispersed
+through every part of the earth for the purpose of collecting books on
+every science, and who has spared no expense in procuring for your use,
+and that of others who may devote themselves to similar studies, the
+materials necessary for your purpose." The agents he employed travelled
+through Italy, Greece, Europe, and the East--Hieronymo Donato, Ermolao
+Barbaro, and Paolo Cortesi being the names of some of his most trusted
+"commissioners." But the coadjutor whose aid he principally relied on, to
+whom he committed the care and arrangement of his vast museum and great
+library, was Poliziano, who himself made frequent excursions throughout
+Europe, Asia, and Northern Africa to discover and purchase such remains
+of antiquity as suited the purposes of his patron. Another successful
+agent, though at a later date, was Giovanni Lascaris, who twice journeyed
+into the East in search of manuscripts and curios. In the second of these
+he brought back upward of two hundred copies of valuable codices from the
+monasteries on Mount Athos.
+
+To still another service rendered by Lorenzo to the cause of the
+Renaissance attention must be called--the founding of the Florentine
+Academy for the study of Greek. This institution, distinct, be it
+remembered, from the _Uffiziali dello Studio_ (or high-school),
+exercised a marvellous influence on the progress of the "New Learning."
+Accordingly, as Roscoe says, succeeding scholars have been profuse in
+their acknowledgments to Lorenzo, who first formed the establishment from
+which, to use their own classical figure, as from the Trojan horse,
+so many illustrious champions have sprung, and by means of which the
+knowledge of the Greek tongue was extended not only throughout Italy,
+but throughout Europe as well, from all the countries of which numerous
+pupils flocked to Florence--pupils who afterward carried the learning
+they had received to their native lands.
+
+Of this institution the first public professor was Joannes Argyropoulos,
+who, having enjoyed the patronage of Cosmo and Piero, and directed the
+education of Lorenzo, was selected by the latter as the fittest person to
+be the earliest occupant of the chair. During his tenure of it he sent
+out such pupils as Poliziano, Donato Acciaiuoli, Janus Pannonius, and
+the famous German humanist Reuchlin. Argyropoulos did not hold the
+appointment long. His death took place at Rome in 1471, and he was
+succeeded first by Theodore of Gaza, and then by Chalcondylas. Poliziano
+certainly discharged the duties of the office frequently, but at first
+only as _locum tenens_. He was then almost incessantly engaged in
+travelling for his patron in Greece and Asia Minor, and was too valuable
+a coadjutor to be tied down to the routine of teaching until he had
+completed his work. During the next decade he became the "professor," and
+discharged the duties with a genius and an adaptability to circumstances
+that won for him the admiration and love of all his students.
+
+This decade was also remarkable for the commencement of the devotion to
+the cultivation of literary style, a pursuit yet to reach its culmination
+in Poliziano in Florence and in Bembo and Sadoleto in Rome. Originality
+gradually gave place to conventionality, until men actually came to
+prefer the absurdities of Ciceronianism, and a cold, colorless adherence
+to hard-and-fast rules of composition, to a work throbbing with the
+pulsation of virile life. Humanism was beginning to take flight from
+Italy, to find a home and a welcome beyond the Alps.
+
+The final decade of Lorenzo's life constituted the midsummer bloom of
+the Tuscan renaissance, the meridian of the intellectual and artistic
+supremacy of Florence. In Lorenzo it found its fullest expression. He was
+typical of its spiritual as well as of its moral meaning; typical, too,
+of that mental unrest which sought escape from the pressing problems of
+an enigmatic present by reverting to the study of a classic past whose
+ethical, social, and political difficulties were rarely of a complex
+character, but concerned themselves principally with what may be termed
+the elementary verities of man's relations to the Deity and to his
+fellows.
+
+Lorenzo's amazing versatility has been pronounced a fault by some who
+believed they detected in him the potential capacity of rivalling
+Dante, Petrarch, and Ariosto on their own ground, had he only
+conserved his energies. This is a foolish supposition. Lorenzo's
+many-sidedness was but the reflection in himself, as the most accurate
+mirror of the time, of all that wondrous susceptibility to beauty, that
+eager craving after the realization of the [greek: to kalon] ("the Good")
+so characteristic of the best Hellenic genius, whether we study it in the
+dramas of Sophocles or the _Republic_ of Plato or in the statesmanship of
+Pericles. If Lorenzo had resembled his grandfather and concentrated his
+energies upon finance and politics, there might have been a line of
+reigning Medicean princes in Florence half a century earlier than
+actually was the case, but Europe would have been distinctly the loser
+by the absence of the greatest personal force making for culture which
+characterized the Renaissance.
+
+This last decade of Lorenzo's life--from his thirty-first to his
+forty-second year--was memorable in many respects. In the year 1481 he
+was again exposed to the danger of assassination. Battista Frescobaldi
+and two assistants in the Church of the Carmeli, and again on Ascension
+Day, made an attempt to stab him, but were frustrated by the vigilance of
+Lorenzo's friends. There is no doubt that this second attempt was also
+instigated by Girolamo Riario, the nephew of Sixtus IV. Thereafter
+Lorenzo never moved out without a strong bodyguard of friends and
+adherents--a precaution rendered necessary by the repeated plots that
+were being hatched against him by his enemies.
+
+No sooner had the presence of the Turks at Otranto, in the extreme
+southeast of Italy, been rendered a thing of the past by the surrender of
+the Moslem garrison to the Duke of Calabria in September, 1481, than
+the peninsula was again ranged in opposing camps by the attempt of the
+Venetians, assisted by Sixtus and his nephew, to dispossess Ercole
+d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, of his dominions. The Duke had married
+the daughter of Ferdinand, King of Naples, an alliance which, by
+strengthening him, gave on that account great offence to the Venetians.
+They therefore sought to provoke him by insisting on their monopoly of
+the manufacture of salt in North Italy, and by building a fortress on
+a part of the Ferrarese territory which they pretended was within the
+limits of their own. When he remonstrated, they declined to remove it. In
+vain he appealed to Sixtus. The latter was one of the wolves waiting to
+devour him. He then turned to Lorenzo.
+
+To the inexpressible chagrin of Venice and of Sixtus, the Magnifico
+promptly espoused his cause, formed an alliance with Ferdinand and other
+states, and, before the Pope and the Venetians were aware he had moved,
+they found themselves confronted by Naples, Florence, Milan, Bologna,
+Mantua, and Faenza. The allies were commanded by Federigo of Montefeltro,
+Duke of Urbino, while the Venetian-papal troops were placed under Ruberto
+Malatesta of Rimini. In this campaign, however, Lorenzo was really the
+master-spirit. Although successes were won on both sides, a more than
+usually tragic complexion was given to the war by the death of the two
+commanders of the opposing forces. They had been friends from youth, and
+such a trifle as the fact that they were hired to fight against each
+other never disturbed the tenor of their mutual regard. Armstrong says no
+more than the truth when he remarks: "It was a pathetic coincidence.
+The two rival generals had bequeathed to each other the care of their
+children and estates, a characteristic illustration of the easy
+good-fellowship in this game of Italian war."
+
+The war dragged on with varying results until Lorenzo played his reserve
+card. He induced the Slavic Archbishop of Carniola, who, visiting Rome
+as the emperor Frederick's envoy, had been shocked by the shameless
+immorality of the Pope's life, to begin an agitation for a general
+council. In this he was supported by several of the rulers in Northern
+Italy and Eastern Europe. The move was so far successful. The Pope became
+alarmed, and hurriedly broke off his alliance with Venice, on the plea
+that the prevention of fresh schism in the Church must take precedence of
+every other consideration. The real fact of the matter was he dreaded the
+fate of Pope John XXIII, for he knew the actions of his nephew Girolamo
+Riario would not stand conciliar examination. Moreover, his other nephew,
+Giuliano della Rovere, afterward Pope Julius II, a bitter enemy to
+Girolamo, and Lorenzo's warm friend, had, during the disgrace of his
+cousin, gained the Pope's ear and told him some plain but wholesome
+truths regarding the unpleasant consequences of a permanent rupture with
+Lorenzo.
+
+All these considerations induced Sixtus to yield and leave Venice to
+prosecute the war alone. This it did against a quadruple alliance, for
+the Pope, when the haughty republic of the lagoons refused to disgorge
+its Ferrarese prey at his orders, promptly changed sides, and was as keen
+against the aggressor as he had previously been favorable to it. The
+Venetians sustained two severe defeats, while their fleet was almost
+shattered by a storm. The pecuniary strain was beyond their resources
+longer to maintain. They therefore resorted to the customary project of
+inducing some other power to intervene. In this case they took the step
+of inviting the Duke of Orleans to lay claim to the dukedom of Milan, and
+the Duke of Lorraine to the throne of Naples. The move was successful
+as regards Ludovico of Milan; he withdrew from the alliance, and much
+against the wish of the other allies the peace of Bagnolo was concluded
+in August, 1484. To Sixtus the news came as the knell of his dearest
+hopes. He gave way to one wild outburst of passion, in which he cursed
+all who had been engaged in making peace, then apoplexy supervened, and
+within a few hours he was a corpse. He was succeeded by Cardinal Cybo, a
+warm friend toward the Medici, and one who had such a profound admiration
+for the genius of Lorenzo in statecraft that he seldom took any step
+without consulting him, though unfortunately he did not always follow the
+Magnifico's advice.
+
+If no one else reaped honor and glory from this Ferrarese war, Lorenzo
+undoubtedly did so. By both sides the fact was admitted that he had acted
+throughout as a far-seeing, sagacious diplomatist, who, while giving
+preeminence, as was natural, to the welfare of his own state, had sought
+to conserve the cause of letters, even amid the turmoil incident upon the
+collision of political interests. He had proved the friend even of the
+enemies of his own country, when once they had passed from the scene
+of conflict, as, for example, when he dared Girolamo Riario to raise a
+finger in the direction of dispossessing the son of the Pope's general,
+Ruberto Malatesta, of his Rimini estates. He was the friend of the
+oppressed everywhere, and in more cases than one his powerful protection
+saved the children of his friends from being robbed by powerful
+relatives. This connection between Florence, Naples, Milan, Rome, and
+Ferrara tended to the promotion of intellectual intercourse between
+them. As printing was now being briskly prosecuted all over Northern and
+Central Italy, the interchange of literature went on ceaselessly among
+them.
+
+This, however, was Lorenzo's last great war. True, he was implicated in
+the prolonged quarrel between the papacy and King Ferrante of Naples, yet
+it was more as a mediator between the two antagonists than as the ally
+of the last-named that he took part in it; although, as Armstrong points
+out, he paid for the services of Trivulsio and four hundred cross-bowmen,
+that by enabling the Neapolitans to check San Severino, the leader of the
+papal-Venetian troops, he might induce Innocent VIII to lose heart and
+retire from the struggle.
+
+Lorenzo, during the last six years of his life, or, to speak more
+definitely, after the peace of Bagnolo, had become in Italian, as he was
+rapidly becoming in European, politics the master-spirit that inspired
+the moves on the diplomatic chess-board. In the mind of the historical
+student whose attention is directed to this period, admiration and wonder
+go hand-in-hand as we contemplate the marvellous sagacity and prevision
+of the man, together with the skill wherewith he made Florence--the
+weakest from a military point of view of the five greater Italian
+powers--the one which exercised the most preponderating influence
+upon the affairs of the peninsula. His supreme genius conceived and
+consummated the great scheme for ensuring the peace of Italy by a triple
+alliance of the three larger states--Florence, Milan, and Naples--against
+the other two, Venice and the papacy.
+
+As showing how entirely it was dependent upon him, the alliance was
+operative only so long as he was alive to bind the antagonistic forces of
+Naples and Milan together by the link of his own personal influence.
+He, in a word, was the subtle acid holding in chemical combination many
+mutually repellent substances. When his influence was withdrawn by death,
+within a few months they had all fallen apart, the triple alliance was
+forgotten and Italy was doomed. Even by those with whom he was nominally
+at war he was resorted to for advice. He it was that kept Innocent VIII
+from taking up a position that would have rendered the papacy ridiculous
+in the eyes of Europe, when he sought to threaten Naples with
+consequences he was powerless to inflict.
+
+Many writers have accused Lorenzo of cowardice, of pusillanimity, of want
+of political resolution on account of this very course of action, namely,
+that he assisted the enemies of Florence to extricate themselves from
+their dilemmas. Such criticism fails entirely to understand both the aim
+and the scope of his policy. He desired to keep Italy for the Italians.
+His clear-sighted sagacity saw nothing but danger in the plans of
+Ludovico of Milan to invite the French King into Italy, or in those of
+Venice to encourage the Duke of Lorraine to press his claims upon Milan.
+The intervention of either France or Spain in Italy was, in his idea,
+fraught only with dire disaster. Fain would he have patched up the
+quarrel between Naples and the papacy by mutual concessions, because
+he foresaw what would happen if the colossal northern powers had their
+cupidity aroused regarding Italy, and learned how defenceless she really
+was. Because he foresaw so clearly the horrors of the invasion of 1494
+and 1527, he acted as he did, even toward those who were enemies of
+Florence. His alarm appears in the letter, dated July, 1489, which he
+addressed to his ambassador in Rome: "I dislike these Ultramontanes and
+barbarians beginning to interfere in Italy. We are so disunited and so
+deceitful that I believe that nothing but shame and loss would be our
+lot; recent experience may serve to foretell the future." How true a
+prophet he was, the subsequent course of Italian history revealed!
+
+Anxious though the situation was, crucial though many of the problems
+he had to solve undoubtedly were, yet the statement may be accepted as
+approximately true that the last three or four years of Lorenzo's
+life were spent amid profound peace--at least as far as Florence was
+concerned. Roscoe's picture is highly colored, but not overcolored:
+
+"At this period the city of Florence was at its highest degree
+of prosperity. The vigilance of Lorenzo had secured it from all
+apprehensions of external attack; and his acknowledged disinterestedness
+and moderation had almost extinguished that spirit of dissension for
+which it had been so long remarkable. The Florentines gloried in their
+illustrious citizen, and were gratified by numbering in their body a man
+who wielded in his hand the fate of nations and attracted the respect
+and admiration of all Europe; the administration of justice engaged his
+constant attention, and he carefully avoided giving rise to an idea that
+he was himself above the control of the law."
+
+And Guicciardini adds: "This season of tranquillity was prosperous beyond
+any that Italy had experienced during the long course of a thousand
+years. Abounding in men eminent in the administration of public affairs,
+skilled in every honorable science and every useful art, it stood high in
+the estimation of foreign nations; which extraordinary felicity, acquired
+at many different opportunities, several circumstances contributed to
+preserve, but among the rest no small share of it was by general consent
+ascribed to the industry and the virtue of Lorenzo de' Medici, a citizen
+who rose so far above the mediocrity of a private station that he
+regulated by his counsels the affairs of Florence, then more important by
+its situation, by the genius of its inhabitants, and the promptitude
+of its resources than by the extent of its dominions, and who, having
+obtained the implicit confidence of the Roman pontiff Innocent VIII,
+rendered his name great and his authority important in the affairs of
+Italy."
+
+Though he had never allowed the demands of civic affairs to interfere
+with his interest in the progress of the Renaissance, war-time, as we
+have said, is not favorable to the cultivation of letters. While
+the connection between the states during the course of hostilities
+undoubtedly promoted the increase of mutual interest in each other's
+intellectual development, the fact that the Magnifico had to disburse
+enormous sums for the prosecution of the campaigns necessarily limited
+his ability to extend the same princely patronage to the cause of
+learning. But with the conclusion of peace he resumed the original scale
+of his benefactions, and the last four years of his life were, perhaps,
+the most fruitful of all in sterling good achieved in the fostering of
+the Renaissance.
+
+He encouraged the printers to double their output; he munificently
+assisted such undertakings as the first edition of Homer, edited by the
+famous scholars Demetrius Chalcondyles and Demetrius Cretensis, as well
+as other editions of the classics prepared by Poliziano, Marullus, and
+others. In the final estimate of his influence upon his age we hope to
+show that his aim was as pure as the prosecution of its realization was
+determined. He encouraged foreigners to come to Florence to study
+Greek, and, when their funds failed them, in many cases he generously
+entertained them at his own expense. Grocyn and Linacre, as well as
+Reuchlin, testify to the wise generosity of the great Magnifico, and all
+three declare that to him, more than to any other man, the Renaissance
+owed not only its development, but even the character it assumed in Italy
+in the second last decade of the fifteenth century.
+
+The end came when he was literally in his prime. Only forty-two years of
+age, he might reasonably have looked forward to many years of active work
+and the enjoyment of his honors! But Lorenzo, although not a vicious, was
+a pleasure-loving man, and he had drained the cup of enjoyment to the
+very lees. His constitution was undermined by worry and late vigils, by
+the very intensity of interest wherewith he had devoted himself to the
+pleasures of the moment. Accordingly, late in 1491 he began to feel the
+gout, from which he had suffered for some years, becoming so troublesome
+that he was unable for the duties devolving on him. He had lost his
+wife, Clarice Orsini, in July, 1487, at a time when he was absent at the
+sulphur baths of Filetta, striving to obtain relief from pain; therefore
+his last years were lonely indeed.
+
+Life had lost its relish to the dying Magnifico. The only thing over
+which he showed a flash of the old interest was in March, 1492, when his
+son Giovanni (afterward Leo X), on being made a cardinal by Innocent
+VIII, was invested with the _insignia_ in the Abbey Church of Fiesole.
+Although then within a month of his end, although, moreover, so weak that
+he was unable to attend the investiture mass or to head his table at the
+banquet which followed, he caused himself to be carried in a litter into
+the hall, where he publicly paid reverence to his son as a prince of
+the Church. He then embraced him as a father and gave him his paternal
+blessing. That done, and after addressing a few words of welcome to his
+guests collectively, he was slowly borne back to his chamber to die.
+Nevermore was he seen in public.
+
+His ruling passion was, however, strong in death. In place of surrounding
+himself with clergy, his last hours were spent with the humanists and
+scholars he had loved so well. To his beautiful villa of Careggi, and
+to that room facing the south which he called his own, he retired, and
+summoned Ficino, Poliziano, and Pico della Mirandola to bear him company
+until he dipped his feet in the River of Death. They discussed many
+things, but principally the consolations afforded by philosophy. Then
+they reverted to the subject of the classics, and to the valuable codices
+which Lascaris was bringing back from Greece.
+
+But hope at last burned low, and the physicians had to confess that the
+case was beyond their skill. How rudimentary as regards medical science
+that skill was may be judged from the fact that the staple remedy
+prescribed by the great Milanese doctor, Lazaro da Ficino, who had been
+called in to consult with Lorenzo's own medical man, Pier Leoni of
+Spoleto, was a potion compounded of crushed pearls and jewels. As might
+have been expected, such a treatment accelerated rather than retarded the
+disease.
+
+The last hours of Lorenzo, and particularly his historic interview with
+Savonarola, have often been described and are to this day the subject
+of debate. There are two sides to every story, and this one of the last
+visit of the haughty prior of San Marco's to the dying Magnifico is no
+exception. Poliziano relates the incident in one form, the followers
+of Savonarola in another; but neither report is absolutely authentic.
+Suffice it for us that Benedetto, writing a week after the Magnifico's
+death, says of the matter: "Our dear friend and master died so nobly,
+with all the patience, the reverence, the recognition of God which the
+best of holy men and a soul divine could show, with words upon his lips
+so kind, that he seemed a new St. Jerome."
+
+Perhaps the most reasonable attitude to assume toward the problem is that
+Lorenzo died as he lived, feeling that strange, restless curiosity as to
+what was summed up in the idea of a "future life" which he had manifested
+all his days: "If I believe aught implicitly," he is reported to have
+said in earlier years to Alberti, "I believe in Plato's doctrine of
+immortality in the _Phaedo,_ for religion is too much a matter of
+temperament for us to lay down hard-and-fast rules about it." Lorenzo
+outwardly conformed in his dying hours to the rites of the Catholic
+Church. He received the _viaticum_ kneeling, he repeated the responses in
+an earnest and fervent tone, and then, when he felt that the grains in
+the hour-glass of life were running out, he pressed a crucifix to his
+lips and so passed within the veil. As a humanist he had been reared, as
+a humanist he had lived and labored, as a humanist he died, maintaining
+to the very last his interest in those studies which it had been his
+life's passion to pursue.
+
+The sun of the Florentine renaissance had set forever!
+
+[Footnote 1: By permission of Selmar Hess.]
+
+
+
+DEATH OF CHARLES THE BOLD
+
+LOUIS XI UNITES BURGUNDY WITH THE CROWN OF FRANCE
+
+A.D. 1477
+
+PHILIPPE DE COMINES
+
+
+During the greater part of his rule as duke of Burgundy, Charles the
+Bold was at war with Louis XI of France, notwithstanding the treaty of
+Peronne, 1468, which the French monarch accepted under duress. Meanwhile
+it was the constant aim of Charles to enlarge his dukedom, and when, in
+1475, he had made another peace with Louis, the Duke turned anew to his
+scheme of conquest.
+
+Charles soon made himself master of Lorraine, which he had long coveted,
+and then, 1476, invaded Switzerland. "It was reserved for a small people,
+already celebrated for their heroic valor and their love of liberty, to
+beat this powerful man." Crossing the Jura, Charles besieged the little
+town of Granson, and after its capitulation he hanged or drowned all the
+defenders. When the news of this barbarity had spread through Switzerland
+the eight cantons arose, and almost under the walls of Granson the Swiss
+inflicted upon Charles a crushing defeat. In June, 1476, the Duke saw his
+second army destroyed by the Swiss and the Lorrainers, whom Comines calls
+Germans. In the following winter Charles assembled a third army and
+marched against Nancy, the capital of Lorraine, which was then held by
+the same allies. They were commanded by the Duke of Lorraine, who went to
+the relief of the garrison at Nancy from St. Nicholas, six miles away.
+
+Comines, whose account is given below, was a French statesman and
+historian, who, after being for a time in the service of Charles the
+Bold, went over to Louis and became his personal counsellor. He was
+therefore intimately versed in the history of these times.
+
+The Duke of Lorraine and his army of Germans broke up from St. Nicholas,
+and advanced toward the Duke of Burgundy, with a resolution to give him
+battle. The Count of Campobasso joined them that very day, and carried
+off with him about eightscore men-at-arms; and it grieved him much that
+he could do his master no greater mischief. The garrison of Nancy had
+intelligence of his design, which in some measure encouraged them to hold
+out; besides, another person had got over the works, and assured them
+of relief, otherwise they were just upon surrendering, and would have
+capitulated in a little time, had it not been for the treachery of this
+Count; but God had determined to finish this mystery.
+
+The Duke of Burgundy, having intelligence of the approach of the Duke of
+Lorraine's army, called a kind of council, contrary to his custom, for
+generally he followed his own will. It was the opinion of most of his
+officers that his best way would be to retire to Pont-a-Mousson, which
+was not far off, and dispose his army in the towns about Nancy; affirming
+that, as soon as the Germans had thrown a supply of men and provisions
+into Nancy, they would march off again; and the Duke of Lorraine being in
+great want of money, it would be a great while before he would be able to
+assemble such an army again; and that their supplies of provisions could
+not be so great but, before half the winter was over, they would be in
+the same straits as they were now; and that in the mean time the Duke
+might raise more forces and recruit himself; for I have been told by
+those who ought to know best, that the Duke of Burgundy's army did not
+then consist of full four thousand men, and of that number not above one
+thousand two hundred were in a condition to fight. Money he did not want;
+for in the castle of Luxembourg--which was not far off--there were in
+ready cash four hundred fifty thousand crowns, which would have raised
+men enough. But God was not so merciful to him as to permit him to take
+this wise counsel or discern the vast multitude of enemies who on every
+side surrounded him. Therefore he chose the worst plan, and, like a rash
+and inconsiderate madman, resolved to try his fortune, and engage the
+enemy with his weak and shattered army, notwithstanding the Duke of
+Lorraine had a numerous force of Germans, and the King's army was not far
+off.
+
+As soon as the Count of Campobasso arrived in the Duke of Lorraine's
+army, the Germans sent him word to leave the camp immediately, for they
+would not entertain such traitors among them. Upon which message he
+retired with his party to Conde, a castle and pass not far off, where he
+fortified himself with carts and other things as well as he could,
+in hopes that, if the Duke of Burgundy were routed, he might have an
+opportunity of coming in for a share of the plunder, as he did afterward.
+Nor was this practice with the Duke of Lorraine the most execrable action
+that Campobasso was guilty of; but, before he left the army, he conspired
+with several other officers--finding it was impracticable to attempt
+anything against the Duke of Burgundy's person--to leave him just as they
+came to the charge; for at that time he supposed it would put the army
+into the greatest terror and consternation; and if the Duke fled, he was
+sure he could not escape alive, for he had ordered thirteen or fourteen
+sure men, some to run as soon as the Germans came up to charge them, and
+others to watch the Duke of Burgundy and kill him in the rout; which was
+well enough contrived, for I myself have seen two or three of those who
+were thus employed to kill the Duke. Having thus settled his conspiracy
+at home, he went over to the Duke of Lorraine upon the approach of the
+German army; but, finding they would not entertain him, he retired to
+Conde, as I said before.
+
+The German army marched forward, and with them a considerable body of
+French horse, whom the King had given leave to be present in that action.
+Several parties lay in ambush not far off, that, if the Duke of Burgundy
+were routed, they might surprise some person of quality or take some
+considerable booty. By this everyone may see into what a deplorable
+condition this poor Duke had brought himself by his contempt of good
+counsel. Both armies being joined, the Duke of Burgundy's forces, which
+had been twice beaten before, and were weak and ill-provided besides,
+were quickly broken and entirely defeated. Many saved themselves by
+flight; the rest were either taken or killed; and among them the Duke of
+Burgundy himself was killed on the spot. Not having been in the battle
+myself, I will say nothing of the manner of his death; but I was told by
+some that they saw him beaten down, but, being prisoners themselves, were
+not able to assist him; yet, while they were in sight, he was not killed,
+but a great body of men coming that way afterward, they killed and
+stripped him in the throng, not knowing who he was. This battle was
+fought on January 5, 1476, upon the eve of Twelfth-day.
+
+The King having established posts in all parts of his kingdom--which
+before never had been done--it was not long ere he received the news of
+the Duke of Burgundy's defeat; and he was in hourly expectation of the
+report, for letters of advice had reached him before, importing that
+the German army was advancing toward the Duke of Burgundy's, and that a
+battle was expected between them. Upon which many persons kept their ears
+open for the news, in order to carry it to the King. For his custom was
+to reward liberally any person who brought him the first tidings of any
+news of importance, and to remember the messenger besides. His majesty
+also took great delight in talking of it before it arrived, and would
+say, "I will give so much to any man who first brings me such and such
+news." The Lord du Bouchage and I, being together, happened to receive
+the first news of the battle of Morat, and we went with it to the King,
+who gave each of us two hundred marks of silver. The Lord du Lude,
+who lay without the Plessis, had the first news of the arrival of the
+courier, with the letters concerning the battle of Nancy; he commanded
+the courier to deliver him the packet, and as he was a great favorite of
+the King's he durst not refuse him. By break of day the next morning,
+the Lord du Lude knocked at the door next to the King's chamber, and, it
+being opened, he delivered in the packet from the Lord of Craon and other
+officers. But none of the first letters gave any certainty of the Duke's
+death; they only stated that he was seen to run away, and that it was
+supposed he had made his escape.
+
+The King was at first so transported with joy at the news he scarce knew
+how to behave himself; however, his majesty was still in some perplexity.
+On one hand, he was afraid that if the Duke should be taken prisoner by
+the Germans, by means of his money, of which he had great store, he would
+make some composition with them. On the other, he was doubtful, if the
+Duke had made his escape, though defeated for the third time, whether he
+should seize upon his towns in Burgundy or not; which he judged not very
+difficult to do, since most of the brave men of that country had been
+slain in those three battles. As to this last point, he came to this
+resolution--which I believe few were acquainted with but myself--that if
+the Duke were alive and well, he would command the army which lay ready
+in Champagne and Barrois to march immediately into Burgundy, and
+seize upon the whole country while it was in that state of terror and
+consternation; and when he was in possession of it he would inform the
+Duke that the seizure he had made was only to preserve it for him, and
+secure it against the Germans, because it was held under the sovereignty
+of the crown of France, and therefore he was unwilling it should fall
+into their hands, and whatever he had taken should be faithfully
+restored; and truly I am of opinion his majesty would have done it,
+though many people who are ignorant of the motives that guided the King
+will not easily believe it. But this resolution was altered as soon as he
+was certain of the Duke of Burgundy's death.
+
+Upon the King's receiving the above-mentioned first letter--which gave no
+account of the Duke's death--he immediately sent to Tours, to summon all
+his captains and other great personages to attend him. Upon their arrival
+he communicated his letters to them. They all pretended great joy; but
+to such as more narrowly observed their behavior, it was easy to be
+discerned that most of them did but feign it; and, notwithstanding all
+their outward dissimulation, they had been better pleased if the Duke of
+Burgundy had been successful. The reason of this might be, because the
+King was greatly feared, and now, if he should find himself clear and
+secure from his enemies, they were afraid they would be reduced, or at
+least their offices and pensions retrenched; for there were several
+present who had been engaged against him with his brother the Duke of
+Guienne in the confederacy called the "Public Good." After his majesty
+had discourse with them for some time, he went to mass, and then ordered
+dinner to be laid in his chamber, and made them all dine with him; there
+being with him his chancellor and some other lords of his council.
+The King's discourse at dinner-time was about this affair, and I well
+remember that myself and others took particular notice how those who were
+present dined; but to speak truth--whether for joy or sorrow I cannot
+tell--there was not one of them that half filled his belly; and certainly
+it could not have been from modesty or bashfulness before the King, for
+there was not one among them but had dined with his majesty many times
+before.
+
+As soon as the King rose from table he retired, and distributed to some
+persons certain lands belonging to the Duke of Burgundy, as though he had
+been dead. He despatched the Bastard of Bourbon, Admiral of France, and
+myself into those parts, with full power to receive the homage of all
+such as were willing to submit and become his subjects. He ordered us to
+set out immediately, and gave us commission to open all his letters and
+packets which we might meet by the way, that thereby we might ascertain
+whether the Duke was dead or alive. We departed with all speed, though it
+was the coldest weather I ever felt in my life. We had not ridden above
+half a day's journey when we met a courier, and commanding him to deliver
+his letters we learned by them that the Duke of Burgundy was slain, and
+that his body had been found among the dead, and recognized by an Italian
+page that attended him and by one Monsieur Louppe, a Portuguese, who was
+his physician, and who assured the Lord of Craon that it was the Duke his
+master, and the Lord of Craon notified the same at once to the King.
+
+Upon receiving this news we rode directly to the suburbs of Abbeville,
+and were the first that announced the intelligence to the Duke's
+adherents in those parts. We found the inhabitants of the town in treaty
+with the Lord of Torcy, for whom they had held a great affection for a
+long time. The soldiers and officers of the Duke of Burgundy negotiated
+with us, by means of a messenger whom he had sent to them beforehand; and
+in confidence of success they dismissed four hundred Flemings who
+were then quartered in the town. The citizens, laying hold of this
+opportunity, opened the gates immediately to the Lord of Torcy, to the
+great prejudice and disadvantage of the captains and officers of the
+garrison--for there were seven or eight of them to whom, by virtue of the
+King's authority, we had promised money, and pensions for life; but they
+never enjoyed the benefit of that promise, because the town was not
+surrendered by them. Abbeville was one of the towns that Charles VII
+delivered up by the treaty of Arras in the year 1435, which towns were to
+return to the crown of France upon default of issue male; so that their
+admitting us so easily is not so much to be wondered at.
+
+From thence we marched to Dourlans, and sent a summons to Arras, the
+chief town in Artois, and formerly part of the patrimony of the earls of
+Flanders, which for want of heirs male always descended to the daughters.
+The Lord of Ravestein and the Lord des Cordes, who were in the town of
+Arras, offered to enter into a treaty with us at Mount St. Eloy and to
+bring some of the chief citizens with them. It was concluded that I
+and some others should meet them in the King's behalf; but the Admiral
+refused to go himself, because he presumed they would not consent to
+grant all our demands. I had not been long at the place of appointment
+when the two above-mentioned lords of Ravestein and Des Cordes arrived,
+attended by several persons of quality, and by certain commissioners on
+the part of the city, one of whom was their pensionary, named Monsieur
+John de la Vaquerie, whom they appointed to be their spokesman, and who
+since that time has been made first president of the Parliament of Paris.
+
+We demanded in the King's name to have the gates immediately opened and
+to be received into the town, for both the town and the whole country
+belonged to the King by right of confiscation; and if they refused
+to obey this summons, they would be in danger of being besieged, and
+compelled to submit by force, since their Duke was defeated, and his
+dominions utterly unprovided with means of defence, upon account of their
+irrecoverable losses in the three late battles. The lords returned answer
+by their speaker Monsieur John de la Vaquerie that the county of Artois
+belonged to the lady of Burgundy, daughter of Duke Charles, and descended
+to her in a right line from Margaret, Countess of Flanders, Artois,
+Burgundy, Nevers, and Rethel, who was married to Philip I, Duke of
+Burgundy, son of King John of France, and younger brother to King Charles
+V; wherefore they humbly entreated the King that he would observe and
+continue the truce that had existed between him and the late Duke of
+Burgundy, her father.
+
+Our conference was but short, for we expected to receive this answer; but
+the chief design of my going thither was to have a private conference
+with some persons that were thereto try if I could bring them over to the
+King's interest. I made overtures to some of them, who soon afterward did
+his majesty signal service. We found the whole country in a state of very
+great consternation, and not without cause; for in eight days' time they
+would scarce have been able to raise eight men-at-arms, and for other
+soldiers there were not in the whole country above one thousand five
+hundred--reckoning horse and foot together--that had escaped from the
+battle in which the Duke of Burgundy was slain, and they were quartered
+about Namur and Hainault. Their former haughty language was much altered
+now, and they spoke with more submission and humility; not that I would
+upbraid them with excessive arrogance in times past, but, to speak
+impartially, in my time they thought themselves so powerful that they
+spoke neither of nor to the King with the same respect as they have done
+since; and if people were wise, they would always use such moderate
+language in their days of prosperity that in the time of adversity they
+would not need to change it.
+
+I returned to the Admiral, to give him an account of our conference; and
+there I was informed that the King was coming toward us, and that upon
+receiving the news of the Duke's death he immediately set out, having
+despatched several letters in his own and his officers' names to send
+after him what forces could presently be assembled, with which he hoped
+to reduce the provinces I have just mentioned to his obedience.
+
+The King was overjoyed to see himself rid of all those whom he hated
+and who were his chief enemies; on some of them he had been personally
+revenged, as on the Constable of France, the Duke of Nemours, and several
+others. His brother, the Duke of Guienne, was dead, and his majesty
+came to the succession of the duchy. The whole house of Anjou was
+extinct--Rene, King of Sicily, John and Nicholas, Dukes of Calabria, and
+since them their cousin, the Count du Maine, afterward made count of
+Provence. The Count d'Armagnac had been killed at Lestore, and the
+King had got the estates and movables of all of them. But the house
+of Burgundy, being greater and more powerful than the rest, having
+maintained war with Charles VII, our master's father, for two-and-thirty
+years together without any cessation, by the assistance of the English,
+and having their dominions bordering upon the King's and their subjects
+always inclinable to invade his kingdom, the King had reason to be more
+than ordinarily pleased at the death of that Duke, and he triumphed more
+in his ruin than in that of all the rest of his enemies, as he thought
+that nobody, for the future, either of his own subjects or his neighbors,
+would be able to oppose him or disturb the tranquillity of his reign. He
+was at peace with England, and made it his chief business to continue so;
+yet, though he was freed in this manner from all his apprehensions, God
+did not permit him to take such courses in the management of his affairs
+as were most proper to promote his own interests and designs.
+
+And certainly, although God Almighty has shown, and does still show, that
+his determination is to punish the family of Burgundy severely, not only
+in the person of the Duke, but in its subjects and estates, yet I think
+the King our master did not take right measures to gain his end. For, if
+he had acted prudently, instead of pretending to conquer them, he should
+rather have endeavored to annex all those large territories, to which he
+had no just title, to the crown of France by some treaty of marriage;
+or to have gained the hearts and affections of the people, and so have
+brought them over to his interest, which he might, without any great
+difficulty, have effected, considering how their late afflictions had
+impoverished and dejected them. If he had acted after that manner, he
+would not only have prevented their ruin and destruction, but extended
+and strengthened his own kingdom, and established them all in a firm and
+lasting peace. He might by this means have eased, his own country of
+its intolerable grievances, and particularly of the marches and
+counter-marches of his troops, which are commanded continually up and
+down from one end of the kingdom to the other, sometimes upon very slight
+occasions.
+
+In the Duke of Burgundy's lifetime the King often talked with me about
+this affair, and told me what he would do if he should outlive the Duke,
+and his discourse at that time was very rational and wise; he told me
+he would propose a match between his son and the Duke of Burgundy's
+daughter, and if she would not consent to that, on the ground that the
+Dauphin was too young, he would then endeavor to marry her to some young
+prince of his kingdom, by which means he might keep her and her subjects
+in amity, and obtain without war what he intended to lay claim to for
+himself; and this was his resolution not more than a week before he heard
+of the Duke of Burgundy's death; but the very day he received that news
+his mind began to change, and this wise counsel was laid aside when the
+Admiral and I were despatched into those provinces. However, the King
+spoke little of what he intended to do--only to some few that were about
+him he promised sundry of the Duke's lordships and possessions.
+
+As the King was upon the road toward us, he received from all parts the
+welcome news of the delivering up the castles of Han and Bohain, and that
+the inhabitants of St. Quentin had secured that town for themselves, and
+opened their gates to their neighbor, the Lord of Mouy. He was certain
+of Peronne, which was commanded by Master William Bische, and, by the
+overtures that we and several other persons had made him, he was in great
+hopes that the Lord des Cordes would strike in with his interest. To
+Ghent he sent his barber, Master Oliver, [1] born in a small village
+not far off; and other agents he sent to other places, with great
+expectations from all of them; and most of them promised him very fair,
+but performed nothing. Upon the King's arrival near Peronne, I went to
+wait on his majesty, and at the same time William Bische and others
+brought him the surrender of the town of Peronne, with which he was
+extremely pleased.
+
+The King stayed there that day, and I dined with him, according to my
+usual custom, for it was his humor to have seven or eight always with him
+at table, and sometimes many more. After dinner he withdrew, and seemed
+not to be at all pleased with the Admiral's little exploit and mine; he
+told us he had sent his barber, Master Oliver, to Ghent, and he doubted
+not but he would persuade that town to submit to him; and Robinet
+Dodenfort to St. Omer, as he had great interest there; and these his
+majesty extolled as fit persons to manage such affairs, to receive the
+keys of great towns, and to put garrisons of his troops into them. He
+also mentioned others whom he had employed in the same negotiation in
+other places.
+
+While the King was busy in subduing towns and places in the marches of
+Picardy, his army was in Burgundy, under the command, apparently, of the
+Prince of Orange, a native and subject of the county of Burgundy, but one
+who had recently, for the second time, become an enemy of Duke Charles,
+so that the King made use of him, because he was a powerful noble in both
+the county and duchy of Burgundy, and was likewise well connected and
+greatly beloved. But the Lord of Craon was the King's lieutenant, and had
+the real charge of the army, and was the person in whom the King reposed
+most confidence; for he was a man of great wisdom, and thoroughly devoted
+to his master, though somewhat too fond of gain. This Lord of Craon, when
+he drew near Burgundy, sent forward the Prince of Orange and others to
+Dijon to use persuasion, and require the people to render obedience to
+the King; and they managed the matter so adroitly, principally by means
+of the Prince of Orange, that the city of Dijon and all the other towns
+in the duchy of Burgundy, together with many in the county, gave their
+allegiance to the King.
+
+[Footnote 1: This personage will be familiar to all who have read
+Sir Walter Scott's novel of _Quentin Durward_. Oliver le Mauvais was
+_valet-de-chambre_ and chief barber to Louis XI; in October, 1474, he
+received letters of nobility from that Prince, authorizing him to change
+his name of Mauvais to that of Le Dain. On November 19, 1477, the King
+conferred the estates of the deceased Count of Meulant on Oliver le Dain
+and his heirs; and to this gift he added the Forest of Senart in October,
+1482. On May 21, 1484, Oliver was hanged "for various great crimes,
+offences, and malefactions."]
+
+
+
+INQUISITION ESTABLISHED IN SPAIN
+
+A.D. 1480
+
+WILLIAM H. RULE JAMES BALMES
+
+
+Prior to the twelfth century the church authorities had been content with
+defining heresy, while the treatment of heretics was left to secular
+magistrates. But the spread of heresy at the end of the twelfth century
+caused the episcopal authorities to look for some occasion for enlarging
+their prerogatives. In 1204 Pope Innocent III appointed a papal delegate
+with authority to judge and punish misbelievers. From this germ sprung
+the Holy Office, commonly known as the Inquisition.
+
+This papal act met with some opposition from the bishops, upon whose
+prerogatives it encroached; and it provoked rebellion among those against
+whom it was directed, the Albigenses of Southern France, whose doctrines
+were spreading into Italy. In 1208 Innocent began a crusade against them,
+which was led by Arnold of Citeaux and Simon de Montfort, and proved a
+bloody war of extermination, lasting several years.
+
+Meanwhile the papacy gradually proceeded in the design of creating
+a tribunal under its own direct control. Such a tribunal was soon
+practically instituted. Its leading spirit was St. Dominic, founder of
+the Dominican order of preaching friars, but the title of Inquisitor was
+not yet adopted at the time of his death, in 1221. St. Dominic, however,
+is with good reason regarded as the founder of the Inquisition.
+
+After the death of St. Dominic the Inquisition gradually assumed a more
+definite and avowed character, and its repressive hand, inflicting
+terrible punishments upon accused heretics, was soon felt throughout
+Southern Europe, and later in the Netherlands, the order of St. Dominic
+at first furnishing its principal agents.
+
+But later the Inquisition entered upon another stage, under Spanish
+direction, through a specific organization, practically independent of
+papal or royal control, though acting under the sanction of both church
+and state. It became "the most formidable of irresponsible engines in the
+annals of religious institutions." Two points of view--Protestant and
+Catholic--are here presented of the Spanish history of the Holy Office.
+
+
+WILLIAM H. RULE
+
+
+"Better and happier luck for Spain"--I translate the words of
+Mariana--"was the establishment in Castile, which took place about this
+time, of a new and holy tribunal of severe and grave judges, for the
+purpose of making inquest and chastising heretical pravity and apostasy,
+judges other than the bishops, on whose charge and authority this office
+was anciently incumbent. For this intent the Roman pontiffs gave them
+authority, and order was given that the princes should help them with
+their favor and arm. These judges were called 'inquisitors,' because of
+the office which they exercised of hunting out and making inquest, a
+custom now very general in Italy, France, Germany, and also in the
+kingdom of Aragon. Castile, henceforth, would not suffer any nation to go
+beyond her in the desire which she always had to punish such enormous and
+wicked excesses. We find mention, before this, of some inquisitors who
+discharged this function, but not in the manner and force of those who
+followed them.
+
+"The chief author and instrument of this salutary grant was the Cardinal
+of Spain (Mendoza), who had seen that, in consequence of the great
+liberty of past years, and from the mingling of Moors and Jews with
+Christians in all sorts of conversation and trade, many things went out
+of order in the kingdom. With that liberty it was impossible that some of
+the Christians should not be infected. Many more, leaving the religion
+which they had voluntarily embraced as converts from Judaism, again
+apostatized and returned to their old superstition--an evil which
+prevailed more in Seville than in any other part. In that city,
+therefore, secret searches were first made, and they severely punished
+those whom they found guilty. If their delinquency was considerable after
+having kept them long time imprisoned, and after having tormented them,
+they burned them. If it was light, they punished the offenders, with the
+perpetual dishonor of their family. Of not a few they confiscated the
+goods, and condemned them to imprisonment for life. On most of them they
+put a _sambenito_, which is a sort of scapulary of yellow color, with a
+red St. Andrew's cross, that they might go marked among their neighbors,
+and bear a signal that should affright and scare by the greatness of the
+punishment and of the disgrace; a plan which experience has shown to
+be very salutary, although, at first, it seemed very grievous to the
+natives."
+
+Cardinal Mendoza might have been an instrument of establishing the new
+tribunal in Spain, but no author was wanted for that work. Pope Gregory
+IX, fit successor of Innocent III, had completed in Spain, as in the
+county of Toulouse and kingdom of France, the scheme which his uncle
+Innocent began. By a bull, dated May 26, 1232, he appointed Dominican
+friars inquisitors in Aragon, and forthwith proceeded to confer the same
+benefit on the kingdoms of Navarre, Castile, and Portugal; Granada being
+in possession of the Moors. Ten years later, in a council at Tarragona,
+the chief technicalities of the Spanish Inquisition were settled. At the
+invitation of Peter, Archbishop of Tarragona, Raymund of Penaforte, the
+Pope's penitentiary, presided. The definitions of the council are notable
+for the determination they evidence to conduct the affairs of the
+tribunal with entire legal precision and formality. The "vocabulary" was
+now settled, and one has only to turn to the _Acts_ of the Council of
+Tarragona to find the exact meaning of "heretic, believer, suspected,
+simple, vehement, most vehement, favorer, concealer, receiver,
+receptacle, defender, abettor, relapsed."
+
+As everyone may well know, no inconsiderable part of the Spanish
+population consisted of Jews, many of whose ancestors had taken refuge in
+that country, or had settled there for purposes of commerce, ages before
+the birth of our Lord, and their number had been increased from time to
+time, in consequence of imperial edicts which drove them from Italy,
+or by the attractions of honor and wealth in Spain. They were the most
+industrious and therefore the most wealthy people in those kingdoms,
+and had possessed great influence. Their learned men occupied important
+stations as physicians, agents of government, and even officers of
+state; while the "New Christians," or Jews professedly converted to
+Christianity, were intermarried with the highest families in Spain, and
+all this had taken place in spite of the enmity of the clergy, popular
+bigotry, and the adverse legislation of _cortes_ or parliaments. But the
+wealth which procured Jews and New Christians so much worldly influence
+became the occasion of great suffering. The "Old Christians," being less
+industrious, and therefore less affluent, were frequently their debtors.
+And although usury was checked by legislators, who dreaded its pressure
+on themselves, and debts were often repudiated, the Jews maintained their
+position of creditors; and, as the _Cartilla_ says, creditors are often
+unreasonable persons, or, at least, are considered to be such. Christians
+of pure blood, therefore, finding themselves involved in long reckonings,
+became increasingly impatient, and, under a cloak of zeal for the
+Catholic religion, were incessantly embroiling them with the magistracy
+or stirring up the populace against them.
+
+Llorente estimates the number of Jews who perished under the fury of
+mobs, in the year 1391, at upward of one hundred thousand. To evade
+persecution, multitudes submitted to be baptized. More than a million had
+changed name at the end of the fourteenth century. After those tumults
+controversial preachers, such as San Vicente Ferrer, declaimed for popery
+against Judaism; and in the first ten years of the fifteenth century a
+second multitude of forced converts threw themselves into the bosom of
+the Romish Church, to the discouragement of their brethern and to their
+own confusion at last. They were set under the keenest vigilance of the
+inquisitors, without being able even to counterfeit any attachment to the
+Church, whose most grievous yoke they had put on, but which in heart they
+hated.
+
+Now the Church gloried over the declension of Judaism. In presence of
+Benedict XIII, antipope, a Spaniard, wandering in Spain, because in
+Rome they would not own him, a formal disputation was carried on for
+sixty-nine days between Jerome of Santa Fe and other converts--or, as
+the Jews not improperly called them, apostates--on the one side, and a
+company of rabbis on the other. Such a controversy, carried on even
+in the presence of a half-pope, could only come to the prescribed
+conclusion; and after seeing all persuasion and corruption exhausted to
+bring over the Hebrews to his sect, but without much success, Benedict
+closed the debate, pronounced the Jews vanquished, and gave them notice
+of severer measures. The richer from interest, the poorer from bigotry,
+and the priesthood from instinct, poured contempt even on proselytes,
+whom they classified according to their supposed degrees of heterodoxy.
+Some were called "converts," to note the newness of their Christianity;
+others "confessed," to tell that they had confessed the falseness of
+Judaism. Sometimes they were branded as "maranos," from the words _maran
+atha_, which the priests, in their ignorance, took to mean "accursed."
+The whole were spoken of as a generation of maranos, or, worst of all in
+the imagination of a papist, "Jews." Goaded by the cowardly persecution,
+the proselytes groaned after deliverance; a few even dared to renounce
+the profession of a faith they never held, and many resumed the practice
+of Jewish rites in private. This opened a new field to the zeal of the
+inquisitors; but the labor of suppressing a revolt so widely spread, so
+rapidly extending, and even infecting the Romish families with whom the
+imperfect converts were united, was more than the inquisitors could
+undertake without a more powerfully organized system of their own.
+
+I believe that the fear of the Bible and the hatred of the Jews of Spain,
+first imprinted in the page of history by the Council of Illiberis in the
+beginning of the fourth century, was in course of time much aggravated by
+the earnest love of the Spanish Jews for the original scriptures of the
+Old Testament. It was not until the eleventh century that rabbinical
+tradition gained much hold in the Jewish mind in Spain, but, from the
+first, Christians had cursed Jews in sincere but blind zeal against
+the descendants, as they thought, of those who crucified our Lord in
+Jerusalem. Yet the Sephardim in Spain could have had no knowledge of the
+Crucifixion until some weeks, at soonest, after it had taken place, and
+perhaps never knew of the hostility of the Jews in Jerusalem against the
+Saviour.
+
+Until the dispersion of the Eastern colleges in the eleventh century,
+no great rabbis came into Spain with pretension of authority to enforce
+Talmudical traditions. When zealots of the sort did come, they found a
+community of Hebrews far superior to the Jews of Palestine. No Assyrian
+had bribed them to worship the gods of Nineveh. Their neighbors the
+Carthaginians, so long as Carthage stood, had persisted in worshipping
+the Baal and the Ashtaroth that recreant Israelites in Samaria and Jews
+in Jerusalem worshipped for ages; but, while those gods had altars in
+Sidon and in Carthage, we do not hear of any altars being raised to
+them in "the captivity of Jerusalem, which was in Sepharad," or Spain
+(Obadiah, 20); neither do we hear that those Jews betrayed any ambition
+to make a hedge to protect God's law, instead of taking care to keep it.
+But the first propagators of traditionism in Spain came from the East, on
+the breaking up of the great schools of Babylonia by the Persians.
+
+Ancient or Karaite synagogues remained in Spain until the expulsion of
+Jews at the close of the fifteenth century, and yet much later in the
+provinces that were not annexed to the United Kingdom of Castilla and
+Leon under Ferdinand and Isabella. Some of the strongest features of
+biblical learning imparted to the literature of the Reformation in its
+earlier stages proceeded from the converted Jews of Spain.
+
+About the year 1470, when the persecution of both Jews and Mahometans was
+at its height--except in the kingdom of Granada--and when the testimony
+quoted from the Old Testament against worship of images must have been
+extremely galling to the worshippers, the priests thought it necessary
+to enforce the prohibition of vernacular versions of the Bible. Such
+versions, we know, were then circulated more freely in France, Spain,
+and Portugal. In Spain, one of the chief translators was Rabbi Moses of
+Toledo. To put a stop to Bible-reading, an appeal was made to Pope Paul
+II, who prohibited the translation of the holy Scriptures "into the
+languages of the nations." This authority was quoted in the Council of
+Trent by Cardinal Pacheco, in justification of the practice of the Church
+of Rome in his day; but another cardinal, Madrucci, arguing against him,
+replied with cutting calmness that "Paul, of popes the second," or
+any other pope, might be easily deceived in judging of the fitness or
+unfitness of a law, but not so Paul the Apostle, who taught that God's
+word should never depart from the mouth of the faithful.
+
+During the persecutions of the fifteenth century, while Ferdinand and
+Isabella made progress in reconquering the kingdom of Granada from the
+Moors, and Mahometanism, like Judaism, was declining, the Moriscoes, a
+middle class, resembling the New Christians, and not less dangerous to
+Romanism, also challenged the powers of the Inquisition. No other country
+in popedom was at that time more deeply imbued with disaffection of the
+doctrines and worship of the Church of Rome. Then in 1477, one Brother
+Philip de' Barberi, a Sicilian inquisitor, came to the court of Ferdinand
+and Isabella, who were sovereigns of Sicily, to solicit the confirmation
+of some privileges recently granted to the Holy Office in that island;
+and, having observed the peril of the Church within the enlarged and
+united dominions of "the Catholic kings" under whose rule nearly all
+Spain was comprehended, advised the creation of one undivided court of
+inquisition, like that of Sicily, as the only means of defence against
+the maranos, Moriscoes, Jews, and Mussulmans.
+
+The advice was quickly taken. First of all, the Dominicans, and after
+them the dignitaries of the secular clergy, crowded round the throne to
+pray for a reformation of the Inquisition after the Sicilian model. They
+appealed to the greed of King Ferdinand by offering him the proceeds of
+a confiscation, which might be rapidly effected, in pursuance of laws of
+the Church to that intent provided. They appealed to the piety of Queen
+Isabella, and were careful that tales of Jewish murders and Jewish
+desecrations should be poured incessantly into the royal ear. Ferdinand
+had no scruple. He sincerely prayed the Pope to sanction such a measure,
+and, swiftly as couriers could bring it, came the desired bull. Isabella
+could not blame the zeal of priests and monks; for she, too, was a
+zealot. She could not gainsay the urgency of the nuncio. She could not
+quench in her husband's bosom the thirst of gold. But she had brought
+half the kingdom as her dower; and therefore some deference was due to
+her conscience and judgment, and both in conscience and judgment she
+desired gentler measures. During two or three years her orator and
+confessor wrote books, and preachers were permitted to publish arguments,
+and disputants to enter into conferences, for the conviction of the Jews.
+
+At her majesty's request, Cardinal Mendoza issued a constitution in
+Seville, in 1478, containing "the form that should be observed with a
+Christian from the day of his birth, as well in the sacrament of baptism
+as in all other sacraments which he ought to receive, and of what he
+should be taught, and ought to do and believe as a faithful Christian,
+every day, and at all times of his life, until the day of his death. And
+he ordered this to be published in all the churches of the city, and put
+in tables in each parish, as a settled constitution. He also published a
+summary of what curates and clerks should teach their parishioners, and
+what the parishioners should observe and show to their children." Thus
+does Hernando del Pulgar, in his _Chronicle of the Catholic Sovereigns_,
+describe what some too hastily call a catechism. It was merely a standard
+of things to be believed and done, set forth by authority. The King and
+Queen also, _not the Cardinal_, commanded "some friars, clerks, and other
+religious persons to teach the people." But no true Jew would let himself
+be taught that idolatry is not damnable; and even the less discouraging
+issues of controversy with the vacillating or the ignorant were not
+honestly reported.
+
+The constitution of Cardinal Mendoza and the harangues of the friars were
+ineffectual, as well they might be, for the Jews knew that the Christians
+had a sacred book, said to be written by divine inspiration, as well as
+the Law of Moses; and if that book was not put into their hands, they
+could scarcely be expected to believe a religion whose chief written
+authority was kept out of sight. That it was, indeed, kept out of sight
+was undeniable; and the notorious Alfonso de Castro, chaplain of Philip
+II, boasted in his book against heresies that there was "an edict of
+the most illustrious and Catholic sovereigns of Spain, Ferdinand and
+Isabella, in which, under the severest penalties, they forbade anyone to
+translate the holy Scriptures into a vulgar language, or to have any such
+version in his possession. For they were afraid lest any occasion
+of error should be given to the people over whom God had made them
+governors." The clergy maintained that conversion to the truth by
+argument was impossible, and, at their instance, the bull was no longer
+kept in reserve, but was published in 1480.
+
+The Queen's trial of humanity was ended; but a question of policy
+remained. The King and Queen remembered that they had an interest in
+Spain as well as the Pope, but they scarcely knew how that interest
+could be guarded if the inquisitors were allowed absolute power over the
+persons and property of their subjects. To have proposed lay assessors
+and open court would have provoked a quarrel with the Pope, then powerful
+enough to raise Europe in arms against them; therefore they modestly
+requested no more than that some priests nominated by the King should
+be associated with some others nominated by the Pope; or that the King
+should name all, and the Pope confirm his nominations. The "Catholic
+sovereigns" calculated that nominees of Rome would, of course, prefer the
+rights of the Church to those of the crown, but they fancied, or they
+wished to fancy, that priests of their own choice would prefer their
+interests to those of a stranger. This was an illusion, and therefore
+Rome made little difficulty; and after due correspondence, and some
+changes, the Supreme Council of the Spanish Inquisition was constituted
+thus:
+
+Inquisitor-general--Friar Thomas de Torquemada, of whom Llorente says
+that it was hardly possible that there could have been another man so
+capable of fulfilling the intentions of King Ferdinand, by multiplying
+confiscations; those of the court of Rome, by propagating their
+jurisdictional and pecuniary maxims; and those of the projectors of the
+Inquisition, by infusing terror into the people by public executions.
+
+
+Two assessors--Juan Gutierrez de Chabes and Tristan de Medina,
+jurisconsults.
+
+Three King's counsellors--Don Alonso Carillo, a bishop-elect, with Sancho
+Valasquez de Cuellar and Poncio de Valencia, doctors of civil law. In
+matters relating to royal power they were to have a definite vote; but in
+affairs of spiritual jurisdiction they could only be suffered to offer an
+opinion, inasmuch as a spiritual power resided in the chief inquisitor
+alone.
+
+Under the jurisdiction of the supreme council were four subordinate
+tribunals, and eventually several others were added, while some
+inquisitors, hitherto holding special powers from the Pope, were stripped
+of their independence, that the court of Rome might have one uniform
+action throughout Spain. As the Holy Office advanced in labor and
+experience, the supreme council was enlarged, and at last it consisted of
+a president--inquisitor-general for the time being; six counsellors
+with the title of apostolic; a fiscal; a secretary of the chamber;
+two secretaries of the council; an alguazil-in-chief, or sheriff; one
+receiver; two reporters; four apparitors; one solicitor; and as many
+consulters as circumstances might require. Of course these were all
+maintained in a style worthy of their office. The Inquisitor-general, or
+president of the council, exerted an absolute power over every Spanish
+subject, so that he almost ceased to be himself a subject. He alone
+consulted with the King concerning the appointment of inquisitors to
+preside over all the provincial tribunals. Each of those inferior
+inquisitions was managed by three inquisitors, two secretaries, one
+under-sheriff, one receiver, and a certain number of triers and
+consulters. Their functions were considerably restricted, leaving
+all capital cases and ultimate decisions in the hands of the Madrid
+"Supreme."
+
+But while Ferdinand, Isabella, Torquemada, and the nuncio were concerting
+their plans and preparing death for heretics, what said Spain to it?
+Neither was clergy nor laity content. After the bull of Sixtus IV
+empowering the King to name inquisitors furnished with absolute
+authority, and to remove them at pleasure, had arrived, but lay
+unpublished in consequence of the Queen's repugnance, a provincial synod
+sat at Seville, where the regal court then was, 1478. Had the clergy of
+Castile desired the Inquisition, the synod would have said so; but so far
+were they from approving of such a tribunal, to which every bishop would
+be subject, but where no bishop would any longer have a voice, that they
+passed over the affair of heresy in silence, not consenting to accept the
+Inquisition, yet not presuming to remonstrate against it. Then would have
+been the time for the clergy to add their power to that of the throne for
+the suppression of false doctrine, believing, as they did believe, that
+forcible suppression was not only lawful, but meritorious in the sight of
+God; and so they would probably have done if inquisitor and bishop were
+to have had cooerdinate jurisdiction, as in the first inquisition of
+Toulouse, and in the early Italian inquisition; but they saw, with alarm,
+that the episcopate was to be despoiled of its authority at a stroke.
+
+A few months before the publication of the bull, but long after every
+person in Spain knew the purport of its contents, and in the certainty
+that it would be carried into execution, the Cortes of Toledo met;
+but, instead of avoiding any act that would interfere with the new
+jurisdiction then to be introduced, they made several provisions for
+separating Jews and Christians by the enclosure of Jewries in the towns,
+and for compelling the former to wear a peculiar garb, and abstain from
+exercising the vocation of surgeon or physician or innkeeper or barber
+or apothecary among Christians. The parliament plainly ignored the
+Inquisition in making this enactment on their own authority.
+
+And what said the magistracy and the people? Seville represented
+the general state of feeling at the time. There, when a company of
+inquisitors presented themselves, conducted into the city by men and
+horses which had been impressed for the purpose by royal order, the civil
+authorities refused to help them, notwithstanding the injunctions of the
+bull, the obligations of canon law, and a mandate from the Crown. The new
+inquisitors found themselves unable to act for want of help; meanwhile
+the objects of their mission forsook the city, and found shelter in the
+neighboring districts; and Ferdinand had to issue specific orders to
+overpower the hostility of all the classes of the people and to compel
+the magistrates to assist the new set of officers ecclesiastic. These
+orders were most reluctantly obeyed.
+
+Thus fortified, the inquisitors took up their abode in the Dominican
+convent of St. Paul, and issued their first mandate January 2, 1481.
+They said that they were aware of the flight of the New Christians, and
+commanded the Marquis of Cadiz, the Count of Arcos, and all the dukes,
+marquises, counts, gentlemen, rich men, and others of the kingdom of
+Castile to arrest the fugitives and send them to Seville within a
+fortnight, sequestrating their property. All who failed to do this were
+excommunicated as abettors of heresy, deposed from their dignities, and
+deprived of their estates; and their subjects were to be absolved from
+homage and obedience. Crowds of fugitives were driven back into Seville,
+bound like felons; the dungeons and apartments of the convent overflowed
+with prisoners; and the King assigned the castle of Triana, on the
+opposite bank of the Guadalquiver, to the "New and Holy Tribunal," to be
+a place of safe custody. There the inquisitors, elate with triumph over
+the reluctant magistrates and panic-stricken people, shortly afterward
+erected a tablet with an inscription in memory of the first establishment
+of the modern Inquisition in Western Europe. The concluding sentences
+of the inscription were: "God grant that, for the protection and
+augmentation of the faith, it may abide unto the end of time!--Arise, O
+Lord, judge thy cause!--Catch ye the foxes!"
+
+Their second edict was one of "grace." It summoned all who had
+apostatized to present themselves before the inquisitors within a term
+appointed, promising that all who did so, with true contrition and
+purpose of amendment, should be exempted from confiscation of their
+property--it was understood that they should be punished in some other
+way--but threatening that, if they allowed that term to pass over without
+repentance, they should be dealt with according to the utmost rigor of
+the law. Many ran to the convent of St. Paul, hoping to merit some small
+measure of indulgence. But the inquisitors would not absolve them until
+they had disclosed the names, calling, residence, and given a description
+of all others whom they had seen, heard, or understood to have
+apostatized in like manner. After getting this information, they bound
+the terrified informers to secrecy. This first object being accomplished,
+they sent out a third monition, requiring all who knew any that had
+apostatized into the Jewish heresy to inform against them within six
+days, under the usual penalties. But they had already marked the very
+men; and those suspected converts suddenly saw the apparitors inside
+their houses, and were dragged away to the dungeons. New Christians who
+had preserved any of the familiar usages of their forefathers, such as
+putting on clean clothes on Saturday, who stripped the fat from beef or
+mutton, who killed poultry with a sharp knife, covered the blood, and
+muttered a few Hebrew words, who had eaten flesh in Lent, blessed their
+children, laying hands on their heads, who observed any peculiarity of
+diet or distinction of feast or fast, mourned for the dead after their
+ancient manner, or whose friends had presumed to turn the face toward a
+wall when in the agony of death, all such being vehemently suspected of
+apostasy, were to be punished accordingly. Thirty-six elaborate articles
+were furnished whereby everyone was instructed how to ensnare his
+neighbor.
+
+But what shall we say of a faith that could only hope to be kept alive
+in the world by the extinction of charity, honor, pity, and humanity?
+Llorente describes the immediate issue:
+
+"Such opportune measures for multiplying victims could not but produce
+the desired effect. Hence, on January 6, 1481, there were burned six
+unhappy persons; sixteen on March 26th; many on April 21st; and by
+November 4th, two hundred ninety-eight in all. Besides these, the
+inquisitors condemned seventy-nine to perpetual imprisonment. And all
+this in the city of Seville only; since, as regards the territories of
+this archbishopric and of the bishopric of Cadiz, Juan de Mariana says
+that, in the single year of 1481, two thousand Judaizers were burned in
+person, and very many in effigy, of whom the number is not known, besides
+seventeen thousand subjected to cruel penance. Among those burned were
+many principal persons and rich inhabitants, whose property went into the
+treasury.
+
+"As so many persons were to be put to death by fire, the Governor of
+Seville caused a permanent raised pavement, or platform of masonry, to
+be constructed outside the city, which has lasted to our time [until
+the French invasion, if not later], retaining its name of _Quemadero_
+('Burning-place'); and at the four corners four large hollow statues of
+limestone, within which they used to place the impenitent alive, that
+they might die by slow heat. I leave my readers to consider whether this
+punishment of an error of the understanding was consistent or not with
+the doctrine of the Gospel?
+
+"Fear caused an immense multitude of others of the same class of New
+Christians to emigrate to France, Portugal, and even Africa. But many
+others, whose effigies had been burned, appealed to Rome, complaining of
+the injustice of those proceedings; in consequence of which appeals the
+Pope wrote, on January 29, 1482, to Ferdinand and Isabella, saying that
+there were innumerable complaints against the inquisitors, Fray Miguel
+Morillo and Fray Juan de San Martin especially, because they had not
+confined themselves to canon law, but declared many to be heretics that
+were not. His holiness said that, but for the royal nomination, he would
+have deprived them of their office; but that he revoked the power he had
+given to the sovereign to nominate others, supposing that fit persons
+would be found among those nominated by the general or the provincial of
+the Dominicans, to whom the privilege belonged, and in prejudice of
+whose privilege the former nomination by Ferdinand and Isabella had been
+allowed."
+
+So adroitly did the Pope take the absolute control of the Inquisition
+into his own hands under pretence of impartial justice, and leave the
+weaker tyrant to eat the fruit of his doings. But since that time pope
+and king have been again united in the management of the Holy Office, the
+latter, however, in abject subservience to the former. Neither in the
+appeals nor in the brief was there anything that could divert Torquemada
+from the prosecution of his purposes; and therefore he hastened to bring
+Aragon under his jurisdiction. Ferdinand convened the cortes of that
+kingdom in the city of Tarragona, April, 1484; in that assembly appointed
+a junta to prepare measures for the establishment of another tribunal;
+and then Torquemada, in pursuance of the latest pontifical decision,
+created Friar Caspar Inglar, a preacher of the Dominican community, and
+Pedro Arbues de Epila, a canon of the metropolitan church, inquisitors.
+The King gave a mandate to the civil authorities--a firman, it might
+be called--compelling them to lend aid to the new officers; and, on
+September 13th following, the Grand Justice of Aragon, with his five
+lieutenants of the long robe and various other magistrates, swore upon
+the holy Gospels that they would give men and arms to defend and to
+enforce the authority of the Holy Inquisition. And as they swore
+thus, the King's chief secretary for Aragon, the prothonotary, the
+vice-chancellor, the royal treasurer--whose own father and grandfather
+were Jews, and persecuted by the old inquisitors--together with a
+multitude of persons of high rank and office, in whose veins flowed
+Jewish blood, and whose descendants are now among the first families in
+Spain, looked on with dismay, and sent a deputation to Rome, bearing
+remonstrance against the newly created Inquisition; and deputed others
+to present their appeal to the same effect at the court of Ferdinand
+and Isabella. All these deputies were afterward proceeded against as
+hinderers of the Holy Office; and meanwhile the inquisitors, in contempt
+of opposition, set themselves to work without delay.
+
+In the months of May and June, 1485, two acts of faith were celebrated in
+Saragossa, capital of Aragon, and a large number of New Christians burned
+alive. The public was enraged, certainly, but helpless; yet not so
+helpless but that many awoke to a conviction that, since the inquisitors
+had resorted to terror for the conservation of the faith, they ought to
+be restrained by terror in their turn.
+
+In the night of September 14, 1485, one of the inquisitors, Pedro Arbues,
+covered as usual with a coat of mail under his robes, and wearing a steel
+skull-cap under his hat--for he was every moment conscious of guilt and
+apprehensive of retribution--took a lantern in one hand and a bludgeon in
+the other; and, like a sturdy soldier of his peculiar Church, walked from
+his house to the cathedral of that same Saragossa, to join in matins. He
+knelt down by one of the pillars, setting his lantern on the pavement.
+His right hand held the weapon of defence, yet stealthily half covered
+with the cloak. The canons, in their places, were chanting hymns. Two men
+came and knelt down near him. They understood, as most Spaniards do, how
+most effectually to attack a man, and how to kill him quickest. Therefore
+one of them suddenly disabled him on one side by a blow on the left arm.
+The other swung his cudgel at the back of his head, just below the edge
+of the steel cap, and laid him prone. He never spoke again, but expired
+in a few hours. This murder, as might be expected, was well made use of
+by the priests, serving them to plead the necessity of an inquisition to
+repress violence; and the inhabitants of the city were instantly overawed
+by a display of high judicial authority which they had no power to
+resist.
+
+Queen Isabella, horrified at the murder of her confessor--for "confessor
+of the kings" was an honorary dignity conferred on each inquisitor in
+Spain--erected a monument to his memory at her own expense; and when the
+murders perpetrated by Arbues himself had somewhat faded out of public
+memory, he was beatified at Rome, and a chapel was constructed for his
+veneration in the church where he had fallen. Therein his remains were
+laid; and over the spot where he received the mortal blow a stone was
+placed, with the inscription: "_Siste, viator,_" etc. "Stay, traveller!
+Thou adorest the place (_locum adoras_) where the blessed Pedro de Arbues
+was laid low by two missiles. Epila gave him birth. This city gave him a
+canonry. The apostolic see elected him to be the first Father Inquisitor
+of the Faith. Because of his zeal he became hateful to the Jews; by whom
+slain, he fell here a martyr in the year 1485. The most serene Ferdinand
+and Isabella reared a marble mausoleum, where he became famous for
+miracles. Alexander VII, Pontifex Maximus, wrote him into the number of
+holy and blessed martyrs on the 17th day of April in the year 1664. The
+tomb having been opened, the sacred ashes were translated, and placed
+under the altar of the chapel (built by the chapter, with the material
+of the tomb, in the space of sixty-five days), with solemn rite and
+veneration, on the 23d day of September, in the year 1664."
+
+The intelligence of that murder threw all Aragon into commotion. The
+powers, ecclesiastical and royal, panted for vengeance, and the murderers
+were put to a most painful death. The Jews and New Christians trembled
+with terror and rage. The inhabitants of many towns, Teruel, Valencia,
+Lerida, and Barcelona included, compelled the inquisitors to cease from
+inquest; and it was only by means of military force, after edicts and
+bulls had failed, that the King and Pope together could quash two years'
+public resistance. In Saragossa, where the murder had been contrived by a
+party of chief inhabitants, a consciousness of guilt weakened their hands
+and they endeavored to save themselves by flight. Thousands of people
+deserted the city, although they had no participation in the deed and
+were everywhere treated as rebels; and in that migration incidents
+occurred which might throw a tinge of horrible romance on our history.
+Let me briefly mention two.
+
+An inhabitant of Saragossa found his way to Tudela, and there begged for
+shelter and concealment in the house of Don Jaime, Infante of Navarre,
+legitimate son of the Queen of Navarre and nephew of King Ferdinand
+himself. The Infante could not refuse asylum and hospitality to an
+innocent fugitive. He allowed the man to hide himself for a few days and
+then pass on to France. For this act of humanity Don Jaime was arrested
+by the inquisitors, thrown into prison as an impeder of the Holy Office,
+brought thence to Saragossa, a place quite beyond the jurisdiction of
+Navarre, and there made to do open penance in the cathedral, in presence
+of a great congregation at high mass. And what penance! The Archbishop
+of Saragossa presided; but this Archbishop was a boy of seventeen, an
+illegitimate son of the King; and he it was that commanded two priests to
+flog his father's lawful nephew, the Infante of Navarre, with rods. They
+whipped Don Jaime around the church accordingly.
+
+The other case was diabolical. Gaspar de Santa Cruz escaped to Toulouse,
+where he died and was buried after his effigy had been burned in
+Saragossa. In this city lived a son of his, who, in duty bound, had
+helped him to make good his retreat. This son was delated as an impeder
+of the Holy Office, arrested, brought out at an act of faith, made
+to read a condemnation of his deceased father, and then sent to the
+inquisitor at Toulouse, who took him to his father's grave, and compelled
+him to dig up the corpse and burn it with his own hands. Whether the
+inquisitors were most barbarous or the young man most vile, it may be
+difficult to say. But it is a most infamous glory of the Inquisition
+that, for satisfaction of its own requirements, the express laws of God
+and man and the first instincts of humanity are equally set at naught.
+
+The Arch-inquisitor of Spain, shortly after his accession to the office,
+summoned the subalterns from their stations to meet him at Seville, and
+framed, with them, a set of instructions for uniform administration. They
+were published, twenty-eight in number, on October 29, 1484. On January
+9, 1485, eleven more were added. The spirit of these instructions
+pervades the _Directory_ of Eymeric, into which they were incorporated by
+his commentator. It is only important to mention here that on the present
+occasion an agent was appointed to represent this Inquisition at Rome,
+and there to defend the inquisitors on occasion of appeals from the
+subjects of inquisitorial violence or from their friends or their
+survivors. And this was in spite of a bull sent into Spain two years
+before, appointing the Archbishop of Seville sole judge of such appeals.
+But that bull was a mere feint for conciliation and never acted on at
+Rome.
+
+We must not fail to mark this point in the history, forasmuch as here
+begins the practically juridical relation between the court of Rome as
+supreme, and the provinces of the Roman Church as subordinate, in matters
+concerning inquisition.
+
+
+JAMES BALMES
+
+
+As to the Spanish Inquisition, which was only an extension of that which
+was established in other countries, we must divide it, with respect to
+its duration, into three great periods. We omit the time of its existence
+in the kingdom of Aragon, before its introduction into Castile. The
+first of these comprehends the time when the Inquisition was principally
+directed against the relapsed Jews and Moors, from the day of its
+installation under the Catholic sovereigns till the middle of the
+reign of Charles V. The second extends from the time when it began to
+concentrate its efforts to prevent the introduction of Protestantism into
+Spain until that danger entirely ceased; that is, from the middle of the
+reign of Charles V till the coming of the Bourbons. The third and last
+period is that when the Inquisition was limited to repress infamous
+crimes and exclude the philosophy of Voltaire; this period was continued
+until its abolition, in the beginning of the nineteenth century.
+
+It is clear that, the institution being successively modified according
+to circumstances at these different epochs--although it always remained
+fundamentally the same--the commencement and termination of each of these
+three periods which we have pointed out cannot be precisely marked;
+nevertheless, these three periods really existed in its history, and
+present us with very different characters.
+
+Everyone knows the peculiar circumstances in which the Inquisition was
+established in the time of the Catholic sovereigns; yet it is worthy of
+remark that the bull of establishment was solicited by Queen Isabella;
+that is, by one of the most distinguished sovereigns in our history--by
+that Queen who still, after three centuries, preserves the respect and
+admiration of all Spaniards. Isabella, far from opposing the will of the
+people in this measure, only realized the national wish. The Inquisition
+was established chiefly against the Jews. Before the Inquisition
+published its first edict, dated Seville, in 1481, the Cortes of Toledo,
+in 1480, had adopted severe measures on the subject. To prevent the
+injury which the intercourse between Jews and Christians might occasion
+to the Catholic faith, the cortes had ordered that unbaptized Israelites
+should be obliged to wear a distinctive mark, dwell in separate quarters,
+called _juiveries_, and return there before night. Ancient regulations
+against them were renewed; the professions of doctor, surgeon,
+shopkeeper, barber, and tavern-keeper were forbidden them. Intolerance
+was, therefore, popular at that time. If the Inquisition be justified in
+the eyes of friends to monarchy, by conformity with the will of kings, it
+has an equal claim to be so in the eyes of lovers of democracy.
+
+No doubt the heart is grieved at reading the excessive severities
+exercised at that time against the Jews; but must there not have been
+very grave causes to provoke such excesses? The danger which the Spanish
+monarchy, not yet well established, would have incurred if the Jews, then
+very powerful on account of their riches and their alliances with the
+most influential families, had been allowed to act without restraint, has
+been pointed out as one of the most important of these causes. It was
+greatly to be feared that they would league with the Moors against the
+Christians. The respective positions of the three nations rendered this
+league natural; this is the reason why it was looked upon as necessary to
+break a power which was capable of compromising anew the independence of
+the Christians. It is necessary also to observe that at the time when the
+Inquisition was established the war of eight hundred years against the
+Moors was not yet finished. The Inquisition was projected before 1474; it
+was established in 1480, and the conquest of Granada did not take place
+till 1492. Thus it was founded at the time when the obstinate struggle
+was about to be decided; it was yet to be known whether the Christians
+would remain masters of the whole peninsula or whether the Moors should
+retain possession of one of the most fertile and beautiful provinces;
+whether these enemies, shut up in Granada, should preserve a position
+excellent for their communication with Africa, and a means for all the
+attempts which, at a later period, the Crescent might be disposed to make
+against us. Now, the power of the Crescent was very great, as was clearly
+shown by its enterprises against the rest of Europe in the next century.
+In such emergencies, after ages of fighting, and at the moment which was
+to decide the victory forever, have combatants ever been known to conduct
+themselves with moderation and mildness?
+
+It cannot be denied that the system of repression pursued in Spain, with
+respect to the Jews and the Moors, was inspired, in great measure, by the
+instinct of self-preservation: we can easily believe that the Catholic
+princes had this motive before them when they decided on asking for the
+establishment of the Inquisition in their dominions. The danger was not
+imaginary; it was perfectly real. In order to form an idea of the turn
+which things might have taken if some precaution had not been adopted,
+it is enough to recollect the insurrections of the last Moors in later
+times.
+
+Yet it would be wrong, in this affair, to attribute all to the policy
+of royalty; and it is necessary here to avoid exalting too much the
+foresight and designs of men; for my part, I am inclined to think that
+Ferdinand and Isabella naturally followed the generality of the nation,
+in whose eyes the Jews were odious when they persevered in their creed,
+and suspected when they embraced the Christian religion. Two causes
+contributed to this hatred and animadversion: first, the excited state of
+religious feeling then general in all Europe, and especially in Spain;
+second, the conduct by which the Jews had drawn upon themselves the
+public indignation.
+
+The necessity of restraining the cupidity of the Jews, for the sake of
+the independence of the Christians, was of ancient date in Spain: the old
+assemblies of Toledo had attempted it. In the following centuries the
+evil reached its height; a great part of the riches of the peninsula had
+passed into the hands of the Jews, and almost all the Christians found
+themselves their debtors. Thence the hatred of the people against the
+Jews; thence the frequent troubles which agitated some towns of the
+peninsula; thence the tumults which more than once were fatal to the
+Jews, and in which their blood flowed in abundance. It was difficult for
+a people accustomed for ages to set themselves free by force of arms to
+resign themselves peacefully and tranquilly to the lot prepared for them
+by the artifices and exactions of a strange race, whose name, moreover,
+bore the recollection of a terrible malediction.
+
+In later times an immense number of Jews were converted to the Christian
+religion; but the hatred of the people was not extinguished thereby,
+and mistrust followed these converts into their new state. It is very
+probable that a great number of these conversions were hardly sincere,
+as they were partly caused by the sad position in which the Jews who
+continued in Judaism were placed. In default of conjectures founded on
+reason in this respect, we will regard as a sufficient corroboration of
+our opinion the multitude of Judaizing Christians who were discovered as
+soon as care was taken to find out those who had been guilty of apostasy.
+However this may be, it is certain that the distinction between New and
+Old Christians was introduced; the latter denomination was a title
+of honor, and the former a mark of ignominy; the converted Jews were
+contemptuously called _maranos_ ("impure men," "pigs"). With more or
+less foundation, they were accused of horrible crimes. In their dark
+assemblies they committed, it was said, atrocities which could hardly be
+believed for the honor of humanity. For example, it was said that, to
+revenge themselves on the Christians and in contempt of religion, they
+crucified Christian children, taking care to choose for the purpose the
+greatest day among Christian solemnities. There is the often-repeated
+history of the knight of the house of Guzman, who, being hidden one night
+in the house of a Jew whose daughter he loved, saw a child crucified at
+the time when the Christians celebrated the institution of the sacrifice
+of the eucharist. Besides infanticide, there were attributed to the Jews
+sacrileges, poisonings, conspiracies, and other crimes. That these rumors
+were generally believed by the people is proved by the fact that the Jews
+were forbidden by law to exercise the professions of doctor, surgeon,
+barber, and tavern-keeper; this shows what degree of confidence
+was placed in their morality. It is useless to stay to examine the
+foundations for these sinister accusations. We are not ignorant how far
+popular credulity will go, above all when it is under the influence of
+excited feelings, which makes it view all things in the same light. It is
+enough for us to know that these rumors circulated everywhere and with
+credit, to understand what must have been the public indignation against
+the Jews, and consequently how natural it was that authority, yielding
+to the impulse of the general mind, should be urged to treat them with
+excessive rigor.
+
+The situation in which the Jews were placed is sufficient to show that
+they might have attempted to act in concert to resist the Christians;
+what they did after the death of St. Peter Arbues shows what they
+were capable of doing on other occasions. The funds necessary for the
+accomplishment of the murder--the pay of the assassins, and the other
+expenses required for the plot--were collected by means of voluntary
+contributions imposed on themselves by all the Jews of Aragon. Does not
+this show an advanced state of organization, which might have become
+fatal if it had not been watched?
+
+In alluding to the death of St. Peter Arbues, I wish to make an
+observation on what has been said on this subject as proving the
+unpopularity of the establishment of the Inquisition in Spain. What more
+evident proof, we shall be told, can you have than the assassination of
+the inquisitor? Is it not a sure sign that the indignation of the people
+was at its height and that they were quite opposed to the Inquisition?
+Would they otherwise have been hurried into such excesses? If by "the
+people" you mean the Jews and their descendants, I will not deny that the
+establishment of the Inquisition was indeed very odious to them, but it
+was not so with the rest of the nation. The event we are speaking of gave
+rise to a circumstance which proves just the reverse. When the report of
+the death of the inquisitor was spread through the town, they went in
+crowds in pursuit of the New Christians, so that a bloody catastrophe
+would have ensued had not the young Archbishop of Saragossa, Alphonsus of
+Aragon, presented himself to the people on horseback, and calmed them by
+the assurance that all the rigor of the laws should fall on the heads of
+the guilty. Was the Inquisition as unpopular as it has been represented?
+and will it be said that its adversaries were the majority of the people?
+Why, then, could not the tumult of Saragossa have been avoided in spite
+of all the precautions which were no doubt taken by the conspirators, at
+that time very powerful by their riches and influence?
+
+At the time of the greatest rigor against the Judaizing Christians, there
+is a fact worthy of attention. Persons accused, or threatened with the
+pursuit of the Inquisition, took every means to escape the action of that
+tribunal: they left the soil of Spain and went to Rome. Would those
+who imagine that Rome has always been the hot-bed of intolerance, the
+firebrand of persecution, have imagined this? The number of causes
+commenced by the Inquisition, and summoned from Spain to Rome, is
+countless, during the first fifty years of the existence of that
+tribunal; and it must be added that Rome always inclined to the side of
+indulgence. I do not know that it would be possible to cite one accused
+person who, by appealing to Rome, did not ameliorate his condition. The
+history of the Inquisition at that time is full of contests between the
+kings and popes; and we constantly find, on the part of the holy see,
+a desire to restrain the Inquisition within the bounds of justice and
+humanity. The line of conduct prescribed by the court of Rome was not
+always followed as it ought to have been. Thus we see the popes compelled
+to receive a multitude of appeals, and mitigate the lot that would have
+befallen the appellants if their cause had been definitely decided in
+Spain. We also see the Pope name the judge of appeal, at the solicitation
+of the Catholic sovereigns, who desired that causes should be finally
+decided in Spain: the first of these judges was Inigo Manrique,
+Archbishop of Seville. Nevertheless, at the end of a short time, the same
+Pope, in a bull of August 2, 1483, said that he had received new appeals,
+made by a great number of the Spaniards of Seville, who had not dared to
+address themselves to the judge of appeal for fear of being arrested.
+Such was then the excitement of the public mind; such was at that time
+the necessity of preventing injustice or measures of undue severity. The
+Pope added that some of those who had had recourse to his justice had
+already received the absolution of the apostolical penitentiary, and that
+others were about to receive it; he afterward complained that indulgences
+granted to divers accused persons had not been sufficiently respected
+at Seville; in fine, after several other admonitions, he observed to
+Ferdinand and Isabella that mercy toward the guilty was more pleasing
+to God than the severity which it was desired to use; and he gave the
+example of the good shepherd following the wandering sheep. He ended by
+exhorting the sovereigns to treat with mildness those who voluntarily
+confessed their faults, desiring them to allow them to reside at Seville
+or in some other place they might choose; and to allow them the enjoyment
+of their property, as if they had not been guilty of the crime of heresy.
+
+Moreover, it is not to be supposed that the appeals admitted at Rome, and
+by virtue of which the lot of the accused was improved, were founded on
+errors of form and injustice committed in the application of the law. If
+the accused had recourse to Rome, it was not always to demand reparation
+for an injustice, but because they were sure of finding indulgence. We
+have a proof of this in the considerable number of Spanish refugees
+convicted at Rome of having fallen into Judaism. Two hundred fifty of
+them were found at one time, yet there was not one capital execution.
+Some penances were imposed on them, and, when they were absolved, they
+were free to return home without the least mark of ignominy. This took
+place at Rome in 1498.
+
+It is a remarkable thing that the Roman Inquisition was never known to
+pronounce the execution of capital punishment, although the apostolic see
+was occupied during that time by popes of extreme rigor and severity in
+all that relates to the civil administration. We find in all parts of
+Europe scaffolds prepared to punish crimes against religion; scenes which
+sadden the soul were everywhere witnessed. Rome is an exception to the
+rule--Rome, which it has been attempted to represent as a monster of
+intolerance and cruelty. It is true that the popes have not preached,
+like Protestants, universal toleration; but facts show the difference
+between popes and Protestants. The popes, armed with a tribunal
+of intolerance, have not spilled a drop of blood; Protestants and
+philosophers have shed torrents. What advantage is it to the victim to
+hear his executioners proclaim toleration? It is adding the bitterness of
+sarcasm to his punishment.
+
+The conduct of Rome in the use which she made of the Inquisition is the
+best apology of Catholicity against those who attempt to stigmatize her
+as barbarous and sanguinary. In truth, what is there in common between
+Catholicity and the excessive severity employed in this place or that, in
+the extraordinary situation in which many rival races were placed, in the
+presence of danger which menaced one of them, or in the interest which
+the kings had in maintaining the tranquillity of their states and
+securing their conquests from all danger?
+
+I will not enter into a detailed examination of the conduct of the
+Spanish Inquisition with respect to Judaizing Christians; and I am
+far from thinking that the rigor which it employed against them was
+preferable to the mildness recommended and displayed by the popes. What
+I wish to show here is that rigor was the result of extraordinary
+circumstances--the effect of the national spirit and of the severity of
+customs in Europe at that time. Catholicity cannot be reproached with
+excesses committed for these different reasons. Still more, if we pay
+attention to the spirit which prevails in all the instructions of
+the popes relating to the Inquisition, if we observe their manifest
+inclination to range themselves on the side of mildness, and to suppress
+the marks of ignominy with which the guilty, as well as their families,
+were stigmatized, we have a right to suppose that, if the popes had not
+feared to displease the kings too much, and to excite divisions which
+might have been fatal, their measures would have been carried still
+further. If we recollect the negotiations which took place with respect
+to the noisy affair of the claims of the Cortes of Aragon, we shall see
+to which side the court of Rome leaned.
+
+As we are speaking of intolerance with regard to the Judaizers, let us
+say a few words as to the disposition of Luther toward the Jews. Does
+it not seem that the pretended reformer, the founder of independence of
+thought, the furious declaimer against the oppression and tyranny of the
+popes, should have been animated with the most humane sentiments toward
+that people? No doubt the eulogists of this chieftain of Protestantism
+ought to think thus also. I am sorry for them; but history will not allow
+us to partake of this delusion. According to all appearances, if the
+apostate monk had found himself in the place of Torquemada, the Judaizers
+would not have been in a better position. What, then, was the system
+advised by Luther, according to Seckendorff, one of his apologists?
+"Their synagogues ought to be destroyed, their houses pulled down, their
+prayer-books, the _Talmud_, and even the books of the Old Testament to
+be taken from them; their rabbis ought to be forbidden to teach, and be
+compelled to gain their livelihood by hard labor." The Inquisition, at
+least, did not proceed against the Jews, but against the Judaizers; that
+is, against those who, after being converted to Christianity, relapsed
+into their errors, and added sacrilege to their apostasy by the external
+profession of a creed which they detested in secret, and which they
+profaned by the exercise of their old religion. But Luther extended his
+severity to the Jews themselves; so that, according to his doctrines, no
+reproach can be made against the sovereigns who expelled the Jews from
+their dominions.
+
+The Moors and the Moriscoes no less occupied the attention of the
+Inquisition at that time; and all that has been said on the subject of
+the Jews may be applied to them with some modifications. They were
+also an abhorred race--a race which had been contended with for eight
+centuries. When they retained their religion, the Moors inspired hatred;
+when they abjured it, mistrust; the popes interested themselves in their
+favor also in a peculiar manner. We ought to remark a bull issued in
+1530, which is expressed in language quite evangelical: it is there said
+that the ignorance of these nations is one of the principal causes of
+their faults and errors; the first thing to be done to render their
+conversion solid and sincere was, according to the recommendation
+contained in this bull, to endeavor to enlighten their minds with sound
+doctrine.
+
+It will be said that the Pope granted to Charles V the bull which
+released him from the oath taken in the Cortes of Saragossa in the year
+1519, an oath by which he had engaged not to make any change with respect
+to the Moors; whereby, it is said, the Emperor was enabled to complete
+their expulsion. But we must observe that the Pope for a long time
+resisted that concession; and that if he at length complied with the
+wishes of the Emperor, it was only because he thought that the expulsion
+of the Moors was indispensable to secure the tranquillity of the kingdom.
+Whether this was true or not, the Emperor, and not the Pope, was the
+better judge; the latter, placed at a great distance, could not know the
+real state of things in detail. Moreover, it was not the Spanish monarch
+alone who thought so; it is related that Francis I, when a prisoner at
+Madrid, one day conversing with Charles V, told him that tranquillity
+would never be established in Spain if the Moors and Moriscoes were not
+expelled.
+
+
+
+MURDER OF THE PRINCES IN THE TOWER
+
+A.D. 1483
+
+JAMES GAIRDNER
+
+
+The brief reign of Richard III, 1483-1485, left for historians one
+subject of dispute which even to our own day has not been finally
+determined--his alleged murder of his nephews, King Edward V and Richard,
+Duke of York, sons of Edward IV. These princes at the supposed time of
+their death were about thirteen and nine years of age respectively.
+
+Before his usurpation Richard III, last of the Plantagenet line, was
+known as the Duke of Gloucester. He served in the Wars of the Roses, and
+on the death of Edward IV, April, 1483, he seized the young Edward V and
+caused himself to be proclaimed protector. He then caused his parliament
+to set the two princes aside as illegitimate, and they were imprisoned
+in the Tower of London. On June 26, 1483, Richard assumed the crown, and
+soon after the death of the princes was publicly announced.
+
+In Gairdner's discussion we have the results of the best historical
+inquiries concerning this most important question of Richard's career.
+
+A great amount of public anxiety prevailed touching the two young princes
+in the Tower. They were virtually prisoners, and their confinement
+created great dissatisfaction. A movement in their behalf was gotten up
+in the South of England while Richard was away. In Kent, Sussex,
+and Essex, in Hampshire, Wiltshire, and Dorset, even as far west as
+Devonshire, cabals were formed for their liberation, which all appear to
+have been parts of one great conspiracy organized in secret by the Duke
+of Buckingham. By the beginning of October some disturbances had actually
+taken place, and the following letter was written in consequence by the
+Duke of Norfolk to one of his dependents in Norfolk:
+
+"_To my right well-beloved friend, John Paston, be this delivered in
+haste_.
+
+"Right well-beloved friend, I commend me to you. It is so that the
+Kentish men be up in the Weald and say that they will come and rob the
+city, which I shall let [_i. e.,_ prevent] if I may.
+
+"Therefore I pray you, that with all diligence you make you ready and come
+hither, and bring with you six tall fellows in harness; and ye shall not
+lose your labor, that knoweth God; who have you in his keeping.
+
+"Written at London the 10th day of October.
+
+"Your friend,
+
+"J. NORFOLK."
+
+The rumor of the projected movement in behalf of the princes was speedily
+followed by the report that they were no more. Of course they had been
+removed by violence. Regarding the time and manner of the deed no news
+could then be obtained, but the news that the deposed King and his
+brother had been assassinated was spread with horror and amazement
+through the land. Among all the inhumanities of the late civil war there
+had been nothing so unnatural as this. To many the tale seemed too cruel
+to be true. They believed that the princes must have been sent abroad
+to defeat the intrigues of their friends. But time passed away and they
+never appeared again. After many years, indeed, an impostor counterfeited
+the younger; but even he, to give credit to his pretensions, expressly
+admitted the murder of his elder brother.
+
+Nevertheless, there have been writers in modern days who have shown
+plausible grounds for doubting that the murder really took place. Two
+contemporary writers, they say, mention the fact only as a report; a
+third certainly states it, incorrectly, at least, in point of time; and
+Sir Thomas More, who is the only one remaining, relates it with certain
+details which it does seem difficult to accept as credible. More's
+account, however, must bear some resemblance to the truth. It is mainly
+founded upon the confession of two of the murderers, and is given by the
+writer as the most trustworthy report he had met with. If, therefore, the
+murder be not itself a fiction, and the confession, as has been surmised,
+a forgery, we should expect the account given by Sir Thomas More to be in
+the main true, clear, and consistent, though Horace Walpole and others
+have maintained that it is not so. The substance of the story is as
+follows: Richard, some time after he had set out on his progress, sent
+a special messenger and confidant, by name John Green, to Sir Robert
+Brackenbury, the constable of the Tower, commanding him to put the two
+princes to death. Brackenbury refused to obey the order, and Green
+returned to his master at Warwick. The King was bitterly disappointed.
+"Whom shall a man trust," he said, "when those who I thought would most
+surely serve me, at my command will do nothing for me?" The words were
+spoken to a private attendant or page, who told him, in reply, that there
+was one man lying on a pallet in the outer chamber who would hardly
+scruple to undertake anything whatever to please him. This was Sir James
+Tyrell, who is described by More as an ambitious, aspiring man, jealous
+of the ascendency of Sir Richard Ratcliffe and Sir William Catesby.
+Richard at once acted upon the hint, and calling Tyrell before him
+communicated his mind to him and gave him a commission for the execution
+of his murderous purpose. Tyrell went to London with a warrant
+authorizing Brackenbury to deliver up to him for one night all the keys
+of the Tower. Armed with this document he took possession of the place,
+and proceeded to the work of death by the instrumentality of Miles
+Forest, one of the four jailers in whose custody the princes were, and
+John Dighton, his own groom. When the young princes were asleep, these
+men entered their chamber, and, taking up the pillows, pressed them hard
+down upon their mouths till they died by suffocation. Then, having caused
+Sir James to see the bodies, they buried them at the foot of a staircase.
+But "it was rumored," says More, "that the King disapproved of their
+being buried in so vile a corner; whereupon they say that a priest of Sir
+Robert Brackenbury's took up the bodies again, and secretly interred
+them in such place as, by the occasion of his death, could never come to
+light." Sir James, having fulfilled his mission, returned to the King,
+from whom he received great thanks, and who, Sir Thomas informs us, "as
+some say, there made him a knight."
+
+It has been maintained that this story will not bear criticism. What
+could have induced Richard to time his cruel policy so ill and to arrange
+it so badly? The order for the destruction of the children could have
+been much more easily, safely, and secretly executed when he was in
+London than when he was at Gloucester or Warwick. Fewer messages
+would have sufficed, and neither warrants nor letters would have been
+necessary. Was it a sudden idea which occurred to him upon his progress?
+If so, he might surely have waited for a better opportunity. If not, he
+might at least have taken care to sift Brackenbury before leaving London,
+so as to be sure of the two he intended to employ. Is it likely that
+Richard would have given orders for the commission of a crime, without
+having good reason to rely upon his intended agent's boldness and
+depravity?
+
+But, having tried Sir Robert's scruples, and found them somewhat stronger
+than he anticipated, what follows? It might have been expected that
+Sir Robert's respect for his master, if he had any, would have been
+diminished; that the favor of his sovereign would have been withdrawn
+from him; and perhaps that the tyrant, having seen an instance of the
+untrustworthiness of men in matters criminal and dangerous, would have
+learned to become a little more circumspect. But the facts are quite
+otherwise. Sir Robert continued long after in the good graces of his
+sovereign, always remained faithful to him, even when many others
+deserted him, and finally fell in battle bravely fighting in his cause.
+Richard did not become more cautious, but, on the contrary, more
+imprudent than ever. He complained loudly of his disappointment, even in
+the presence of a page. This page is nameless in the story, but he serves
+to introduce to the King not less a person than Sir James Tyrell, who is
+represented as willing to do anything to obtain favor, and envious of the
+influence possessed by others. He undertakes and executes the task
+which Brackenbury had refused, and for this service we are told he
+was knighted. All this greatly misrepresents Sir James' position and
+influence, if not his character. He not only was a knight long before
+this, but had been in the preceding year created by Richard himself
+a knight banneret for his distinguished services during the Scotch
+campaign. He had been, during Edward IV's reign, a commissioner for
+executing the office of lord high constable. He was then master of the
+King's henchmen, or pages. He was also master of the horse. If his mere
+position in the world did not make him disdain to be a hired assassin,
+he at least did not require to be recommended through the medium of that
+nameless page.
+
+Moreover, it appears that the fact of the princes having been murdered
+was held in great doubt for a long time afterward. Even More himself,
+writing about thirty years later, is obliged to acknowledge that the
+thing had "so far come in question that some remained long in doubt
+whether they were in Richard's days destroyed or no." This is certainly
+remarkable, when it is considered that it was of the utmost importance
+for Henry VII to terminate all controversy upon the question. Yet Sir
+Thomas tells us that these doubts arose not only from the uncertainty men
+were in whether Perkin Warbeck was the true duke of York, "but for that
+also that all things were so covertly demeaned, one thing pretended and
+another meant, that there was nothing so plain and openly proved but that
+yet, for the common custom of close and covert dealing, men had it ever
+inwardly suspect." All this, it is urged, may very well suggest that
+the doubts were reasonable, and that the princes in reality were not
+destroyed in the days of Richard III. And, indeed, when we consider how
+many persons, according to More's account, took part in the murder or
+had some knowledge of it, it does appear not a little strange that there
+should have been any difficulty in establishing it on the clearest
+evidence. For besides Tyrell, Dighton, and Forest, the chief actors,
+there were Brackenbury, Green the page, one Black Will, or Will
+Slaughter, who guarded the princes, and the priest who buried them, all
+fully aware of the circumstances of the crime.
+
+In Henry VII's time Brackenbury was dead, and so it is said was the
+priest; Forest, too, had ended his days miserably in a sanctuary. But it
+does not appear what had become of either Green or the page. Tyrell and
+Dighton were the only persons said to have been examined; and though we
+are told that they both confessed, yet there is a circumstance that
+makes the confession look exceedingly suspicious. Tyrell was detained in
+prison, and afterward executed, for a totally different offence; while,
+as Bacon tells us, "John Dighton, _who it seemeth spake best for the
+King,_ was forthwith set at liberty." Taking Bacon's view of the
+circumstances of the disclosure as if it were infallible, the sceptics
+here find matter of very grave suspicion. "In truth," says Walpole,
+"every step of this pretended discovery, as it stands in Lord Bacon,
+warns us to give no heed to it. Dighton and Tyrell agreed both in a tale,
+_as the King gave out_. Their confession, therefore, was not publicly
+made; and as Sir James Tyrell, too, was suffered to live, but was shut
+up in the Tower and put to death afterward for we know not what treason,
+what can we believe but that Dighton was some low mercenary wretch, hired
+to assume the guilt of a crime he had not committed, and that Sir James
+Tyrell never did, never would, confess what he had not done, and was
+therefore put out of the way on a fictitious imputation? It must be
+observed, too, that no inquiry was made into the murder on the accession
+of Henry VII--the natural time for it, when the passions of men were
+heated, and when the Duke of Norfolk, Lord Lovel, Catesby, Ratcliffe, and
+the real abettors or accomplices of Richard were attainted and executed.
+No mention of such a murder was made in the very act of parliament that
+attainted Richard himself and which would have been the most heinous
+aggravation of his crimes. And no prosecution of the supposed assassins
+was ever thought of till eleven years afterward, on the appearance of
+Perkin Warbeck." Such are the striking arguments by which it has been
+sought to cast a doubt upon the murder, and particularly More's account
+of it.
+
+To all which it may be replied, in the first place, that it is by no
+means necessary to suppose More's narrative, though it appeared to him
+the most credible account he had heard, absolutely correct in all its
+details, especially in those which he mentions as mere reports. His
+authority was evidently the alleged confession of Tyrell and Dighton,
+obtained second-hand. This, though true in the main, may not have been
+absolutely correct, even as it was first delivered, and may have been
+somewhat less accurate as it was reported to Sir Thomas, who perhaps
+added from hearsay a few errors of his own, like that about Sir James
+Tyrell's knighthood.
+
+Secondly, the argument with regard to Richard's imprudence, in pursuing
+the course ascribed to him, goes but little way to discredit the facts,
+unless it can be shown that caution and foresight were part of his
+ordinary character. The prevailing notion of Richard III, indeed, is of a
+cold, deeply politic, scheming, and calculating villain. But I confess I
+am not satisfied of the justice of such a view. Not only Richard, but
+all his family, appear to me to have been headstrong and reckless as
+to consequences. His father lost his life by a chivalrous and quixotic
+impetuosity; his brother Edward lost his kingdom once by pure
+carelessness; his brother Clarence fell, no less by lack of wisdom than
+by lack of honesty; and he himself, at Bosworth, threw away his life by
+his eagerness to terminate the contest in a personal engagement. Had
+Richard fully intended to murder his nephews at the time he determined
+upon dethroning the elder, I have very little doubt that he would have
+kept his northern forces in London to preserve order in the city till
+after the deed was done. I for my part do not believe that such was his
+intention from the first. How much more probable, indeed, that after he
+had left London the contemplated rising in favor of the princes suggested
+to him an action which cost him his peace of mind during the whole of his
+after-life!
+
+Thirdly, the doubts of contemporaries do not appear to have been very
+general. The expression of Sir Thomas More is only "that some remained in
+doubt"; and More is not a writer who would have glossed over a fact to
+please the court. As to Perkin Warbeck, who pretended to be the younger
+of the princes, Henry VII's neglect to confute his pretensions may have
+arisen from other causes than a suspicion that he was the true duke of
+York. There is no reason to suppose that his followers in England were
+numerous. The belief in the murder appears to have been general. It
+was mentioned as a fact by the Chancellor of France, in addressing the
+estates-general which met at Tours in the following January. It was
+acknowledged to be true in part by Warbeck himself, who, it has been
+shown since Walpole's time, in personating the Duke of York, admitted
+that his brother Edward had been murdered, though he asserted that he
+himself had providentially escaped. It is evident that no one dreamed in
+those days that the story of the murder was altogether a fiction. The
+utmost that any well-informed person could doubt was whether it had been
+successfully accomplished as to both the victims.
+
+With regard to the confessions of Tyrell and Dighton, Bacon has certainly
+spoken without warrant in stating that they were examined at the time of
+Warbeck's appearance. The time when they were examined is stated by
+Sir Thomas More to have been when Tyrell was confined in the Tower for
+treason against Henry VII, which was in 1502, three years after Warbeck's
+execution. Before that date there is no ground for believing that
+Tyrell's guilt in regard to the murder was generally known. Before that
+date, indeed, the world seems to have had no conception in what manner
+the crime was committed, and the common story seems to have been that
+Richard had put his nephews to the sword; but the confession of Tyrell at
+once put an end to this surmise, and we hear of it no longer. Henry VII
+assuredly did not for a long time treat him as a criminal; for not only
+did he hold under Henry the office of captain of Guisnes, but he was
+employed by the King in an expedition against Flanders. Nay, even after
+Warbeck had been taken and confessed his imposture, Tyrell was employed
+on an important embassy to Maximilian, King of the Romans. It is quite
+clear, therefore, that he was never questioned about the murder in
+consequence of Warbeck's pretensions. But being afterward condemned to
+death on a charge of treason--not an unknown charge, as Walpole imagines,
+but a charge of having treasonably aided the escape of the Earl of
+Suffolk--he was then, as More says, examined about it in the Tower,
+having probably made a voluntary confession of guilt to ease his
+conscience before his execution.
+
+No doubt, after all, the murder rests upon the testimony of only a very
+few original authorities, but this is simply owing to the scantiness of
+contemporary historians. It is true, also, that of these there are two
+who only mention it as a report; but it must be observed that neither of
+them expresses the smallest doubt of its truth, and one of them more than
+hints that he believes it as a fact. How, indeed, could there possibly
+be two opinions about a rumor of this kind, seeing that it was never
+contradicted by the King himself? Assuredly from this time the conduct
+both of Richard and his enemies was distinctly governed by the belief
+that his nephews were no longer alive.
+
+Moreover, the truth of the story seems to be corroborated by a discovery
+which took place in the reign of Charles II. In the process of altering
+the staircase leading to the chapel in the White Tower, the skeletons of
+two young lads, whose apparent ages agreed with those of the unfortunate
+princes, were found buried under a heap of stones. Their place of
+sepulture corresponded with the situation mentioned in the confession of
+the murderers, so that the report alluded to by More of the removal of
+the bodies seems to have been a mistake. The antiquaries of the day had
+no doubt they were the remains of young Edward V and his brother, and
+King Charles caused them to be fittingly interred in Henry VII's chapel
+at Westminster. A Latin inscription marks the spot and tells of the
+discovery.
+
+We have no doubt, therefore, that the dreadful deed was done. It was
+done, indeed, in profound secrecy; the fact, I suspect, remained some
+little time unknown; and for years after there was no certainty as to the
+way it was performed. Years elapsed even before the world suspected the
+foul blot upon Tyrell's knighthood, and he enjoyed the favor both of
+Richard and of his successor; but at last the truth came out.
+
+As to the other agents in the business, various entries in the Patent
+Rolls, and in the Docket Book of King Richard's grants, show that they
+did not pass unrewarded. Before the murder Green had been appointed
+comptroller of the customs at Boston, and had also been employed to
+provide horse meat and litter for the King's stables; afterward, if we
+may trust a note by Strype--but I own I cannot find his authority--he
+was advanced to be receiver of the Isle of Wight and of the castle and
+lordship of Portchester. To Dighton was granted the office of bailiff of
+Ayton in Staffordshire. Forest died soon after, and it appears he was
+keeper of the wardrobe at Barnard castle, but whether appointed before
+or after the murder there is no evidence to show. Brackenbury received
+several important grants, some of which were of lands of the late Lord
+Rivers.
+
+And yet hitherto Richard's life, though not unmarked by violence, had
+been free from violence to his own flesh and blood. Even his most
+unjustifiable measures were somewhat in the nature of self-defence; or if
+in any case he had stained his hands with the blood of persons absolutely
+innocent, it was not in his own interest, but in that of his brother,
+Edward IV. The rough and illegal retribution which he dealt out to
+Rivers, Vaughan, Hawte, Lord Richard Grey, and Lord Hastings was not more
+severe than perhaps law itself might have authorized. The disorders of
+civil war had accustomed the nation to see justice sometimes executed
+without the due formalities; and his neglect of those formalities had
+not hitherto made him unpopular. But the license of unchecked power is
+dangerous, no less to those who wield than to those who suffer it; and it
+was peculiarly so to one of Richard's violent and impatient temper. He
+had been allowed so far to act upon his own arbitrary judgment or will
+that expediency was fast becoming his only motive and extinguishing
+within him both humanity and natural affection.
+
+Nevertheless, he was not yet sunk so low as to regard his own unnatural
+conduct with indifference. Deep and bitter remorse deprived him of all
+that tranquillity in the possession of power for the attainment of which
+he had imbrued his hands in blood. "I have heard by credible report,"
+says Sir Thomas More, "of such as were secret with his chamberers, that
+after this abominable deed done he never had quiet in his mind, he never
+thought himself sure. Where he went abroad, his eyes whirled about, his
+body privily fenced, his hand ever on his dagger, his countenance and
+manner like one always ready to strike again. He took ill rest at nights,
+lay long waking and musing; sore wearied with care and watch, he rather
+slumbered than slept. Troubled with fearful dreams, suddenly sometimes
+started he up, leapt out of his bed and ran about the chamber. So was his
+restless heart continually tossed and tumbled with the tedious impression
+and stormy remembrance of his most abominable deed."
+
+Such was the awful retribution that overtook this inhuman King during the
+two short years that he survived his greatest crime, till the battle of
+Bosworth completed the measure of his punishment. His repentance came too
+late.
+
+
+
+CONQUEST OF GRANADA
+
+A.D. 1490
+
+WASHINGTON IRVING
+
+
+Although the Moors held Spain for over seven hundred and fifty years,
+they never had possession of the entire country. In the North, fragments
+of the Visigothic Christian kingdoms survived, and at length these grew
+into a strong power destined to drive out the Arabs, who had so long made
+the Spanish peninsula a seat of Mahometan civilization.
+
+The Moorish power reached its height in the tenth century, and gradually
+declined in the eleventh, when it broke up into petty and short-lived
+kingdoms. The Almoravides from Africa began their rule in Spain about
+1090. This dynasty was overthrown by the Almohades in 1145, and the
+latter became extinct in Spain in 1257.
+
+After the disruption of the realm of the Almohades, the Moorish kingdom
+of Granada was established, and was held in vassalage to Castile, of
+which Ferdinand and Isabella, in 1474, became joint sovereigns. The Moors
+made Granada, their capital, a large and powerful city, and there in the
+thirteenth century they built their magnificent palace and citadel, the
+Alhambra, the finest example of Moorish architecture and decorative art.
+
+In 1482, having prepared themselves for what proved a final struggle with
+the Moors, Ferdinand and Isabella began the war against Boabdil, the King
+of Granada, who the year before had seized the throne from his father,
+Muley Hasan. After some early reverses and later interruptions--during
+which the wavering Ferdinand was held to his purpose by the rebukes
+and encouragement of his stout-hearted Queen--the Christian sovereigns
+reduced the strongholds of the Moors, until by 1490 the more important
+half of the kingdom of Granada had been conquered. The city and its
+small surrounding district alone remained to Boabdil. On April 23, 1491,
+Ferdinand and Isabella encamped before Granada with fifty thousand foot
+soldiers and ten thousand horse, and the last contest began.
+
+Though Granada was shorn of its glories, and nearly cut off from all
+external aid, still its mighty castles and massive bulwarks seemed to set
+all attacks at defiance. Being the last retreat of Moorish power, it had
+assembled within its walls the remnants of the armies that had contended,
+step by step, with the invaders, in their gradual conquest of the land.
+All that remained of high-born and high-bred chivalry was here; all that
+was loyal and patriotic was roused to activity by the common danger; and
+Granada, that had so long been lulled into inaction by vain hopes of
+security, now assumed a formidable aspect in the hour of its despair.
+
+Ferdinand saw that any attempt to subdue the city by main force would be
+perilous and bloody. Cautious in his policy, and fond of conquests gained
+by art rather than valor, he determined to reduce the place by famine.
+For this purpose, his armies penetrated into the very heart of the
+Alpujarras, and ravaged the valleys and sacked and burned the towns upon
+which the city depended for its supplies. Scouting parties, also,
+ranged the mountains behind Granada and captured every casual convoy of
+provisions. The Moors became more daring as their situation became more
+hopeless. Never had Ferdinand experienced such vigorous sallies and
+assaults. Musa[1], at the head of his cavalry, harassed the borders of
+the camp, and even penetrated into the interior, making sudden spoil and
+ravage, and leaving his course to be traced by the slain and wounded.
+
+To protect his camp from these assaults, Ferdinand fortified it with deep
+trenches and strong bulwarks. It was of a quadrangular form, divided into
+streets like a city, the troops being quartered in tents, and in booths
+constructed of bushes and branches of trees. When it was completed, Queen
+Isabella came in state, with all her court, and the Prince and Princess,
+to be present at the siege. This was intended to reduce the besieged to
+despair by showing the determination of the sovereigns to reside in the
+camp until the city should surrender. Immediately after her arrival, the
+Queen rode forth to survey the camp and its environs: wherever she went
+she was attended by a splendid retinue; and all the commanders vied with
+each other in the pomp and ceremony with which they received her. Nothing
+was heard, from morning until night, but shouts and acclamations and
+bursts of martial music; so that it appeared to the Moors as if a
+continual festival and triumph reigned in the Christian camp.
+
+The arrival of the Queen, however, and the menaced obstinacy of the siege
+had no effect in damping the fire of the Moorish chivalry. Musa inspired
+the youthful warriors with the most devoted heroism. "We have nothing
+left to fight for," said he, "but the ground we stand on; when this is
+lost, we cease to have a country and a name."
+
+Finding the Christian King forbore to make an attack, Musa incited his
+cavaliers to challenge the youthful chivalry of the Christian army to
+single combat or partial skirmishes. Scarce a day passed without gallant
+conflicts of the kind, in sight of the city and the camp. The combatants
+rivalled each other in the splendor of their armor and array, as well as
+in the prowess of their deeds. Their contests were more like the stately
+ceremonials of tilts and tournaments than the rude conflicts of the
+field. Ferdinand soon perceived that they animated the fiery Moors with
+fresh zeal and courage, while they cost the lives of many of his bravest
+cavaliers; he again, therefore, forbade the acceptance of any individual
+challenges, and ordered that all partial encounters should be avoided.
+The cool and stern policy of the Catholic sovereign bore hard upon the
+generous spirits of either army, but roused the indignation of the Moors
+when they found that they were to be subdued in this inglorious manner.
+"Of what avail," said they, "are chivalry and heroic valor? The crafty
+monarch of the Christians has no magnanimity in warfare; he seeks to
+subdue us through the weakness of our bodies, but shuns to encounter the
+courage of our souls."
+
+When the Moorish knights beheld that all courteous challenges were
+unavailing, they sought various means to provoke the Christian warriors
+to the field. Sometimes a body of them, fleetly mounted, would gallop up
+to the skirts of the camp, and try who should hurl his lance farthest
+within the barriers, having his name inscribed upon it, or a label
+affixed to it containing some taunting defiance. These bravadoes caused
+great irritation, but still the Spanish warriors were restrained by the
+prohibition of the King.
+
+Among the Moorish cavaliers was one named Yarfe, renowned for his great
+strength and daring spirit; but whose courage partook of fierce audacity
+rather than chivalric heroism. In one of these sallies, when they
+were skirting the Christian camp, this arrogant Moor outstripped his
+companions, overleaped the barriers, and, galloping close to the royal
+quarters, launched his lance so far within that it remained quivering
+in the earth close by the pavilions of the sovereigns. The royal guards
+rushed forth in pursuit, but the Moorish horsemen were already beyond the
+camp, and scouring in a cloud of dust for the city. Upon wresting the
+lance from the earth, a label was found upon it importing that it was
+intended for the Queen.
+
+Nothing could equal the indignation of the Christian warriors at the
+insolence of the bravado and the discourteous insult offered to the
+Queen. Hernando Perez del Pulgar, surnamed "he of the exploits," was
+present, and resolved not to be outbraved by this daring infidel. "Who
+will stand by me," said he, "in an enterprise of desperate peril?" The
+Christian cavaliers well knew the harebrained valor of Hernando del
+Pulgar, yet not one hesitated to step forward. He chose fifteen
+companions, all men of powerful arm and dauntless heart. In the dead
+of the night he led them forth from the camp, and approached the city
+cautiously, until he arrived at a postern-gate, which opened upon the
+Darro and was guarded by foot-soldiers. The guards, little thinking of
+such an unwonted and partial attack, were for the most part asleep.
+The gate was forced, and a confused and chance-medley skirmish ensued;
+Hernando del Pulgar stopped not to take part in the affray; putting spurs
+to his horse, he galloped furiously through the streets, striking fire
+out of the stones at every bound. Arrived at the principal mosque, he
+sprang from his horse, and, kneeling at the portal, took possession of
+the edifice as a Christian chapel, dedicating it to the blessed Virgin.
+In testimony of the ceremony, he took a tablet which he had brought with
+him, on which was inscribed in large characters "Ave Marie," and nailed
+it to the door of the mosque with his dagger. This done, he remounted his
+steed and galloped back to the gate. The alarm had been given--the city
+was in an uproar--soldiers were gathering from every direction. They were
+astonished at seeing a Christian warrior galloping from the interior of
+the city. Hernando del Pulgar overturned some, cut down others, rejoined
+his companions, who still maintained possession of the gate by dint of
+hard fighting, and all made good their retreat to the camp. The Moors
+were at a loss to imagine the meaning of this wild and apparently
+fruitless assault; but great was their exasperation, on the following
+day, when the trophy of hardihood and prowess, the "_Ave Maria_" was
+discovered thus elevated in bravado in the very centre of the city.
+The mosque thus boldly sanctified by Hernando del Pulgar was actually
+consecrated into a cathedral after the capture of Granada.
+
+The royal encampment lay at such a distance from Granada that the general
+aspect of the city only could be seen as it rose gracefully from the
+vega, covering the sides of the hills with palaces and towers. Queen
+Isabella had expressed an earnest desire to behold, nearer at hand, a
+city whose beauty was so renowned throughout the world; and the Marquis
+of Cadiz, with the accustomed courtesy, prepared a great military escort
+and guard to protect the Queen and the ladies of the court while they
+enjoyed this perilous gratification.
+
+A magnificent and powerful train issued forth from the Christian camp.
+The advance guard was composed of legions of cavalry, heavily armed,
+that looked like moving masses of polished steel. Then came the King
+and Queen, with the Prince and Princess and the ladies of the court,
+surrounded by the royal bodyguard, sumptuously arrayed, composed of
+the sons of the most illustrious houses of Spain; after these was the
+rearguard, composed of a powerful force of horse and foot; for the
+flower of the army sallied forth that day. The Moors gazed with fearful
+admiration at this glorious pageant, wherein the pomp of the court was
+mingled with the terrors of the camp. It moved along in a radiant line,
+across the vega, to the melodious thunders of martial music; while banner
+and plume and silken scarf and rich brocade gave a gay and gorgeous
+relief to the grim visage of iron war that lurked beneath.
+
+The army moved toward the hamlet of Zubia, built on the skirts of the
+mountain to the left of Granada, and commanding a view of the Alhambra
+and the most beautiful quarter of the city. As they approached the hamlet
+the Marquis of Villena, the count Urena, and Don Alonzo de Aguilar filed
+off with their battalions, and were soon seen glittering along the side
+of the mountain above the village. In the mean time the Marquis of Cadiz,
+the Count de Tendilla, the Count de Cabra, and Don Alonzo Fernandez,
+Senior of Alcandrete and Montemayor, drew up their forces in battle array
+on the plain below the hamlet, presenting a living barrier of loyal
+chivalry between the sovereigns and the city. Thus securely guarded, the
+royal party alighted, and, entering one of the houses of the hamlet,
+which had been prepared for their reception, enjoyed a full view of the
+city from its terraced roof.
+
+While grim tranquillity prevailed along the Christian line, there rose a
+mingled shout and sound of laughter near the gate of the city. A Moorish
+horseman, armed at all points, issued forth, followed by a rabble, who
+drew back as he approached the scene of danger. The Moor was more robust
+and brawny than was common with his countrymen. His visor was closed; he
+bore a huge buckler and a ponderous lance; his cimeter was of a Damascus
+blade, and his richly ornamented dagger was wrought by an artificer
+of Fez. He was Yarfe, the most insolent, yet valiant, of the Moslem
+warriors. As he rode slowly along in front of the army, his very steed,
+prancing with fiery eye and distended nostril, seemed to breathe defiance
+to the Christians.
+
+But what were the feelings of the Spanish cavaliers when they beheld,
+tied to the tail of his steed, and dragged in the dust, the inscription
+"Ave Maria," which Hernando Perez del Pulgar had affixed to the door of
+the mosque! A burst of horror and indignation broke forth from the
+army. Hernando del Pulgar was not at hand, but one of his young
+companions-in-arms, Garcilasso de la Vega by name, putting spurs to his
+horse, galloped to the hamlet of Zubia, threw himself on his knees before
+the King, and besought permission to accept the defiance of this insolent
+infidel and to revenge the insult offered to our blessed Lady. The
+request was too pious to be refused; Garcilasso remounted his steed; he
+closed his helmet, graced by four sable plumes, grasped his buckler of
+Flemish workmanship and his lance of matchless temper, and defied the
+haughty Moor in the midst of his career.
+
+A combat took place in view of the two armies and of the Castilian court.
+The Moor was powerful in wielding his weapons and dexterous in managing
+his steed. He was of larger frame than Garcilasso and more completely
+armed; and the Christians trembled for their champion. The shock of their
+encounter was dreadful; their lances were shivered and sent up splinters
+in the air. Garcilasso was thrown back in the saddle--his horse made a
+wild career before he could recover, gather up the reins, and return
+to the conflict. They now encountered each other with swords. The Moor
+circled round his opponent as hawk circles whereabout to make a swoop;
+his Arabian steed obeyed his rider with matchless quickness; at every
+attack of the infidel it seemed as if the Christian knight must sink
+beneath his flashing cimeter. But if Garcilasso were inferior to him in
+power, he was superior in agility; many of his blows he parried; others
+he received upon his Flemish shield, which was proof against the Damascus
+blade. The blood streamed from numerous wounds received by either
+warrior.
+
+The Moor, seeing his antagonist exhausted, availed himself of his
+superior force, and, grappling, endeavored to wrest him from his saddle.
+They both fell to earth; the Moor placed his knee upon the breast of his
+victim, and, brandishing his dagger, aimed a blow at his throat. A cry of
+despair was uttered by the Christian warriors, when suddenly they beheld
+the Moor rolling lifeless in the dust. Garcilasso had shortened his
+sword, and, as his adversary raised his arm to strike, had pierced him to
+the heart.
+
+The laws of chivalry were observed throughout the combat--no one
+interfered on either side. Garcilasso now despoiled his adversary;
+then, rescuing the holy inscription of "Ave Maria" from its degrading
+situation, he elevated it on the point of his sword, and bore it off as a
+signal of triumph amid the rapturous shouts of the Christian army.
+
+The sun had now reached the meridian, and the hot blood of the Moors was
+inflamed by its rays and by the sight of the defeat of their champion.
+Musa ordered two pieces of ordnance to open a fire upon the Christians.
+A confusion was produced in one part of their ranks. Musa called to the
+chiefs of the army: "Let us waste no more time in empty challenges; let
+us charge upon the enemy; he who assaults has always an advantage in the
+combat." So saying, he rushed forward, followed by a large body of
+horse and foot, and charged so furiously upon the advance guard of the
+Christians that he drove it in upon the battalion of the Marquis of
+Cadiz.
+
+The gallant Marquis now gave the signal to attack. "Santiago!" was
+shouted along the line; and he pressed forward to the encounter, with
+his battalion of twelve hundred lances. The other cavaliers followed his
+example, and the battle instantly became general.
+
+When the King and Queen beheld the armies thus rushing to the combat,
+they threw themselves on their knees and implored the holy Virgin to
+protect her faithful warriors. The Prince and Princess, the ladies of the
+court, and the prelates and friars who were present did the same; and
+the effect of the prayers of these illustrious and saintly persons was
+immediately apparent. The fierceness with which the Moors had rushed to
+the attack had suddenly cooled; they were bold and adroit for a skirmish,
+but unequal to the veteran Spaniards in the open field. A panic seized
+upon the foot-soldiers--they turned and took to flight. Musa and his
+cavaliers in vain endeavored to rally them. Some took refuge in the
+mountains; but the greater part fled to the city in such confusion that
+they overturned and trampled upon each other. The Christians pursued them
+to the very gates. Upward of two thousand were either killed, wounded, or
+taken prisoners, and the two pieces of ordnance brought off as trophies
+of the victory. Not a Christian lance but was bathed that day in the
+blood of an infidel. Such was the brief but bloody action, which was
+known among the Christian warriors by the name of the "Queen's skirmish";
+for when the Marquis of Cadiz waited upon her majesty he attributed the
+victory entirely to her presence. The Queen, however, insisted that it
+was all owing to her troops being led on by so valiant a commander. Her
+majesty had not yet recovered from her agitation at beholding so terrible
+a scene of bloodshed; though certain veterans present pronounced it as
+gay and gentle a skirmish as they had ever witnessed.
+
+The ravages of war had as yet spared a little portion of the vega of
+Granada. A green belt of gardens and orchards still flourished around the
+city, extending along the banks of the Xenel and the Darro. They had been
+the solace and delight of the inhabitants in their happier days, and
+contributed to their sustenance in this time of scarcity. Ferdinand
+determined to make a final and exterminating ravage to the very walls of
+the city, so that there should not remain a single green thing for the
+sustenance of man or beast.
+
+As the evening advanced the bustle in the camp subsided. Everyone sought
+repose, preparatory to the next day's trial. The King retired early, that
+he might be up with the crowing of the cock to head the destroying army
+in person. The Queen had retired to the innermost part of her pavilion,
+where she was performing her orisons before a private altar. While thus
+at her prayers she was suddenly aroused by a glare of light and wreaths
+of suffocating smoke. In an instant the whole tent was in a blaze; there
+was a high gusty wind, which whirled the light flames from tent to tent,
+and wrapped the whole in one conflagration.
+
+Isabella had barely time to save herself by instant flight. Her first
+thought, on being extricated from her tent, was for the safety of the
+King. She rushed to his tent, but the vigilant Ferdinand was already at
+the entrance of it. Starting from bed at the first alarm, and fancying it
+an assault of the enemy, he had seized his sword and buckler, and sallied
+forth undressed, with his cuirass upon his arm. The late gorgeous camp
+was now a scene of wild confusion. The flames kept spreading from one
+pavilion to another, glaring upon the rich armor and golden and silver
+vessels, which seemed melting in the fervent heat. The ladies of the
+court fled, shrieking and half dressed, from their tents. There was an
+alarm of drum and trumpet, and a distracted hurry about the camp of men
+half armed.
+
+The idea that this was a stratagem of the Moors soon subsided; but it was
+feared they might take advantage of it to assault the camp. The Marquis
+of Cadiz, therefore, sallied forth with three thousand horse to check any
+advance from the city. When they emerged from the camp they found the
+whole firmament illuminated. The flames whirled up in long light spires,
+and the air was filled with sparks and cinders. A bright glare was thrown
+upon the city, revealing every battlement and tower. Turbaned heads were
+seen gazing from every roof, and armor gleamed along the walls; yet not a
+single warrior sallied from the gates. The Moors suspected some stratagem
+on the part of the Christians, and kept quietly within their walls. By
+degrees the flames expired; the city faded from sight; all again became
+dark and quiet, and the Marquis of Cadiz returned with his cavalry to the
+camp. When the day dawned on the Christian camp nothing remained of
+that beautiful assemblage of stately pavilions but heaps of smouldering
+rubbish. The fire at first had been attributed to treachery, but on
+investigation it proved to be entirely accidental.
+
+The wary Ferdinand knew the sanguine temperament of the Moors, and
+hastened to prevent their deriving confidence from the night's disaster.
+At break of day the drums and trumpets sounded to arms, and the Christian
+army issued from among the smoking ruins of their camp, in shining
+squadrons, with flaunting banners and bursts of martial melody, as though
+the preceding night had been a time of high festivity instead of terror.
+
+The Moors had beheld the conflagration with wonder and perplexity. When
+the day broke and they looked toward the Christian camp, they saw
+nothing but a dark smoking mass. Their scouts came in with the joyful
+intelligence that the whole camp was a scene of ruin. Scarce had the
+tidings spread throughout the city when they beheld the Christian army
+advancing toward their walls. They considered it a feint to cover their
+desperate situation and prepare for a retreat. Boabdil had one of his
+impulses of valor--he determined to take the field in person, and to
+follow up this signal blow which Allah had inflicted on the enemy. The
+Christian army approached close to the city, and were laying waste the
+gardens and orchards, when Boabdil sallied forth, surrounded by all that
+was left of the flower and chivalry of Granada. There was not so much one
+battle as a variety of battles; every garden and orchard became a scene
+of deadly contest; every inch of ground was disputed, with an agony of
+grief and valor, by the Moors; every inch of ground that the Christians
+advanced they valiantly maintained; but never did they advance with
+severer fighting or greater loss of blood.
+
+The cavalry of Musa was in every part of the field; wherever it came it
+gave fresh ardor to the fight. The Moorish soldier, fainting with heat,
+fatigue, and wounds, was roused to new life at the approach of Musa; and
+even he who lay gasping in the agonies of death, turned his face
+toward him, and faintly uttered cheers and blessings as he passed. The
+Christians had by this time gained possession of various towers near the
+city, from whence they had been annoyed by cross-bows and arquebuses. The
+Moors, scattered in various actions, were severely pressed. Boabdil,
+at the head of the cavaliers of his guard, displayed the utmost valor,
+mingling in the fight in various parts of the field, and endeavoring to
+inspirit the foot soldiers in the combat. But the Moorish infantry was
+never to be depended upon. In the heat of the action a panic seized upon
+them; they fled, leaving their sovereign exposed with his handful of
+cavaliers to an overwhelming force. Boabdil was on the point of falling
+into the hands of the Christians, when, wheeling round, with his
+followers, they threw the reins on the necks of their fleet steeds and
+took refuge by dint of hoof within the walls of the city.
+
+Musa endeavored to retrieve the fortune of the field. He threw himself
+before the retreating infantry, calling upon them to turn and fight for
+their homes, their families, for everything that was sacred and dear to
+them. It was all in vain--they were totally broken and dismayed, and fled
+tumultuously for the gates. Slowly and reluctantly Musa retreated to the
+city, and he vowed nevermore to sally forth with foot soldiers to the
+field. In the mean time the artillery thundered from the walls and
+checked all further advances of the Christians. King Ferdinand,
+therefore, called off his troops, and returned in triumph to the ruins of
+his camp, leaving the beautiful city of Granada wrapped in the smoke of
+her fields and gardens and surrounded by the bodies of her slaughtered
+children. Such was the last sally made by the Moors in defence of their
+favorite city.
+
+They now shut themselves up gloomily within their walls; there were no
+longer any daring sallies from their gates. For a time they flattered
+themselves with hopes that the late conflagration of the camp would
+discourage the besiegers; that, as in former years, their invasion would
+end with the summer, and that they would again withdraw before the
+autumnal rains. The measures of Ferdinand and Isabella soon crushed these
+hopes. They gave orders to build a regular city upon the site of their
+camp, to convince the Moors that the siege was to endure until the
+surrender of Granada. Nine of the principal cities of Spain were charged
+with the stupendous undertaking; and they emulated each other with a zeal
+worthy of the cause. To this city it was proposed to give the name of
+Isabella, so dear to the army and the nation; but that pious Princess,
+calling to mind the holy cause in which it was erected, gave it the name
+of Santa Fe, or the "City of the Holy Faith," and it remains to this day
+a monument of the piety and glory of the Catholic sovereigns.
+
+In the mean time the besieged city began to suffer the distress of
+famine. Its supplies were all cut off; a cavalcade of flocks and herds,
+and mules laden with money, coming to the relief of the city from the
+mountains of the Alpujarras[2], was taken by the Marquis of Cadiz and led
+in triumph to the camp, in sight of the suffering Moors. Autumn arrived,
+but the harvests had been swept from the face of the country; a rigorous
+winter was approaching, and the city was almost destitute of provisions.
+The people sank into deep despondency. They called to mind all that
+had been predicted by astrologers at the birth of their ill-starred
+sovereign, and all that had been foretold of the fate of Granada at the
+time of the capture of Zahara.
+
+Boabdil was alarmed by the gathering dangers from without and by the
+clamors of his starving people. He summoned a council, composed of the
+principal officers of the army, the alcaids of the fortresses, the
+_xequis_ or sages of the city, and the _alfaquis_ or doctors of the
+faith. They assembled in the great hall of audience of the Alhambra, and
+despair was painted in their countenances. Boabdil demanded of them
+what was to be done in their present extremity; and their answer was,
+"Surrender." The venerable Abul Kazim Abdalmalek, governor of the city,
+represented its unhappy state: "Our granaries are nearly exhausted, and
+no further supplies are to be expected. The provender for the war-horses
+is required as sustenance for the soldiery; the very horses themselves
+are killed for food; of seven thousand steeds which once could be sent
+into the field, three hundred only remain. Our city contains two hundred
+thousand inhabitants, old and young, with each a mouth that calls
+piteously for bread."
+
+The xequis and principal citizens declared that the people could no
+longer sustain the labors and sufferings of a defence. "And of what avail
+is our defence," said they, "when the enemy is determined to persist in
+the siege?--what alternative remains but to surrender or to die?"
+
+The heart of Boabdil was touched by this appeal, and he maintained a
+gloomy silence. He had cherished some faint hope of relief from the
+Sultan of Egypt or the Barbary powers, but it was now at an end; even
+if such assistance were to be sent, he had no longer a seaport where it
+might debark. The counsellors saw that the resolution of the King was
+shaken, and they united their voices in urging him to capitulate.
+
+The valiant Musa alone arose in opposition: "It is yet too early," said
+he, "to talk of a surrender. Our means are not exhausted; we have yet one
+source of strength remaining, terrible in its effects, and which often
+has achieved the most signal victories--it is our despair. Let us rouse
+the mass of the people; let us put weapons in their hands; let us fight
+the enemy to the very utmost, until we rush upon the points of their
+lances. I am ready to lead the way into the thickest of their squadrons;
+and much rather would I be numbered among those who fell in the defence
+of Granada than of those who survived to capitulate for her surrender!"
+The words of Musa were without effect. Boabdil yielded to the general
+voice; it was determined to capitulate with the Christian sovereigns; and
+the venerable Abul Kazim was sent forth to the camp empowered to treat
+for terms.
+
+The old Governor was received with great distinction by Ferdinand and
+Isabella, who appointed Gonsalvo of Cordova and Fernando de Zafra,
+secretary to the King, to confer with him. All Granada awaited, in
+trembling anxiety, the result of his negotiations. After repeated
+conferences he at length returned with the ultimate terms of the Catholic
+sovereigns. They agreed to suspend all attack for seventy days, at the
+end of which time, if no succor should arrive to the Moorish King, the
+city of Granada was to be surrendered.
+
+All Christian captives should be liberated without ransom. Boabdil and
+his principal cavaliers should take an oath of fealty to the Castilian
+crown, and certain valuable territories in the Alpujarra mountains should
+be assigned to the Moorish monarch for his maintenance. The Moors of
+Granada should become subjects of the Spanish sovereigns, retaining their
+possessions, their arms and horses, and yielding up nothing but their
+artillery. They should be protected in the exercise of their religion,
+and governed by their own laws, administered by cadis of their own faith,
+under governors appointed by the sovereigns. They should be exempted from
+tribute for three years, after which term they should pay the same that
+they had been accustomed to render to their native monarchs. Those who
+chose to depart for Africa within three years should be provided with a
+passage for themselves and their effects, free of charge, from whatever
+port they should prefer.
+
+For the fulfilment of these articles four hundred hostages from the
+principal families were required, previous to the surrender, to be
+subsequently restored. The son of the King of Granada, and all other
+hostages in possession of the Castilian sovereigns, were to be restored
+at the same time. Such were the conditions that the vizier Abul Kazim
+laid before the council of Granada as the best that could be obtained
+from the besieging foe. When the members of the council found that the
+awful moment had arrived when they were to sign and seal the perdition of
+their empire and blot themselves out as a nation, all firmness deserted
+them and many gave way to tears. Musa alone retained an unaltered mien.
+"Leave, seniors," cried he, "this idle lamentation to helpless women and
+children: we are men--we have hearts, not to shed tender tears, but
+drops of blood. I see the spirit of the people so cast down that it is
+impossible to save the kingdom. Yet there still remains an alternative
+for noble minds--a glorious death! Let us die defending our liberty and
+avenging the woes of Granada. Our mother Earth will receive her children
+into her bosom, safe from the chains and oppressions of the conqueror;
+or, should any fail a sepulchre to hide his remains, he will not want a
+sky to cover him. Allah forbid it should be said the nobles of Granada
+feared to die in her defence!"
+
+Musa ceased to speak, and a dead silence reigned in the assembly. Boabdil
+looked anxiously around and scanned every face; but he read in them all
+the anxiety of careworn men, in whose hearts enthusiasm was dead, and
+who had grown callous to every chivalrous appeal. "Allah Akbar! God
+is great!" exclaimed he; "there is no god but God, and Mahomet is his
+prophet! It is in vain to struggle against the will of heaven. Too surely
+was it written in the book of fate that I should be unfortunate and the
+kingdom expire under my rule."
+
+"Allah Akbar! God is great!" echoed the viziers and alfaquis; "the will
+of God be done!" So they all accorded with the King that these evils were
+preordained; that it was hopeless to contend with them; and that the
+terms offered by the Castilian monarchs were as favorable as could be
+expected.
+
+When Musa saw that they were about to sign the treaty of surrender, he
+rose in violent indignation: "Do not deceive yourselves," cried he, "nor
+think the Christians will be faithful to their promises, or their King as
+magnanimous in conquest as he has been victorious in war. Death is the
+least we have to fear. It is the plundering and sacking of our city, the
+profanation of our mosques, the ruin of our homes, the violation of our
+wives and daughters--cruel oppression, bigoted intolerance, whips and
+chains, the dungeon, the fagot, and the stake--such are the miseries and
+indignities we shall see and suffer; at least, those grovelling souls
+will see them who now shrink from an honorable death. For my part, by
+Allah, I will never witness them!"
+
+With these words he left the council chamber and strode gloomily through
+the Court of Lions and the outer halls of the Alhambra, without deigning
+to speak to the obsequious courtiers who attended in them. He repaired
+to his dwelling, armed himself at all points, mounted his favorite
+war-horse, and, issuing forth from the city by the gate of Elvira, was
+never seen or heard of more.[3]
+
+The capitulation for the surrender of Granada was signed on November 25,
+1491, and produced a sudden cessation of those hostilities which had
+raged for so many years. Christian and Moor might now be seen mingling
+courteously on the banks of the Xenel and the Darro, where to have met
+a few days previous would have produced a scene of sanguinary contest.
+Still, as the Moors might be suddenly aroused to defence, if, within the
+allotted term of seventy days, succors should arrive from abroad, and as
+they were at all times a rash, inflammable people, the wary Ferdinand
+maintained a vigilant watch upon the city, and permitted no supplies of
+any kind to enter. His garrisons in the seaports, and his cruisers in the
+Straits of Gibraltar, were ordered likewise to guard against any relief
+from the Grand Sultan of Egypt or the princes of Barbary. There was no
+need of such precautions. Those powers were either too much engrossed by
+their own wars or too much daunted by the success of the Spanish arms, to
+interfere in a desperate cause; and the unfortunate Moors of Granada were
+abandoned to their fate.
+
+The month of December had nearly passed away; the famine became extreme,
+and there was no hope of any favorable event within the terms specified
+in the capitulation. Boabdil saw that to hold out to the end of the
+allotted time would but be to protract the miseries of his people. With
+the consent of his council, he determined to surrender the city on
+January 6th. On December 30th he sent his grand vizier Yusef Aben Comixa,
+with the four hundred hostages, to King Ferdinand, to make known his
+intention; bearing him, at the same time, a present of a magnificent
+cimeter, and two Arabian steeds superbly caparisoned.
+
+The unfortunate Boabdil was doomed to meet with trouble to the end of his
+career. The very next day, the santon or dervis Hamet Aben Zarrax, who
+had uttered prophecies and excited commotions on former occasions,
+suddenly made his appearance. Whence he came no one knew; it was rumored
+that he had been in the mountains of the Alpujarras and on the coast of
+Barbary, endeavoring to rouse the Moslems to the relief of Granada. He
+was reduced to a skeleton; his eyes glowed like coals in their sockets,
+and his speech was little better than frantic raving. He harangued the
+populace in the streets and squares, inveighed against the capitulation,
+denounced the King and nobles as Moslems only in name, and called upon
+the people to sally forth against the unbelievers, for that Allah had
+decreed them a signal victory.
+
+Upward of twenty thousand of the populace seized their arms and paraded
+the streets with shouts and outcries. The shops and houses were shut up;
+the King himself did not dare to venture forth, but remained a kind of
+prisoner in the Alhambra. The turbulent multitude continued roaming and
+shouting and howling about the city during the day and a part of the
+night. Hunger and a wintry tempest tamed their frenzy; and when morning
+came the enthusiast who had led them on had disappeared. Whether he had
+been disposed of by the emissaries of the King or by the leading men of
+the city is not known; his disappearance remains a mystery.
+
+The Moorish King now issued from the Alhambra, attended by his principal
+nobles, and harangued the populace. He set forth the necessity of
+complying with the capitulation, from the famine that reigned in the
+city, the futility of defence, and from the hostages having already been
+delivered into the hands of the besiegers. The volatile population agreed
+to adhere to the capitulation, and there was even a faint shout of "Long
+live Boabdil the unfortunate!" and they all returned to their homes in
+perfect tranquillity.
+
+Boabdil immediately sent missives to King Ferdinand, apprising him of
+these events, and of his fears lest further delay should produce new
+tumults. He proposed, therefore, to surrender the city on the following
+day. The Castilian sovereigns assented, with great satisfaction; and
+preparations were made in city and camp for this great event, that was to
+seal the fate of Granada.
+
+It was a night of doleful lamentings within the walls of the Alhambra;
+for the household of Boabdil were preparing to take a last farewell of
+that delightful abode. All the royal treasures and the most precious
+effects of the Alhambra were hastily packed upon mules; the beautiful
+apartments were despoiled, with tears and wailings, by their own
+inhabitants. Before the dawn of day a mournful cavalcade moved obscurely
+out of a postern gate of the Alhambra and departed through one of the
+most retired quarters of the city. It was composed of the family of the
+unfortunate Boabdil, which he sent off thus privately that they might not
+be exposed to the eyes of scoffers or the exultation of the enemy. The
+city was yet buried in sleep as they passed through its silent streets.
+The guards at the gate shed tears as they opened it for their departure.
+They paused not, but proceeded along the banks of the Xenel on the road
+that leads to the Alpujarras, until they arrived at a hamlet at some
+distance from the city, where they halted and waited until they should be
+joined by King Boabdil.
+
+The sun had scarcely begun to shed his beams upon the summits of the
+snowy mountains which rise above Granada when the Christian camp was in
+motion. A detachment of horse and foot, led by distinguished cavaliers,
+and accompanied by Hernando de Talavera, Bishop of Avila, proceeded to
+take possession of the Alhambra and the towers. It had been stipulated
+in the capitulation that the detachment sent for this purpose should
+not enter by the streets of the city; a road had therefore been opened,
+outside of the walls, leading by the Puerta de los Milinos (or "Gate of
+the Mills"), to the summit of the Hill of Martyrs, and across the hill to
+a postern gate of the Alhambra.
+
+When the detachment arrived at the summit of the hill the Moorish King
+came forth from the gate, attended by a handful of cavaliers, leaving his
+vizier Yusef Aben Comixa to deliver up the palace. "Go, senior," said
+he to the commander of the detachment, "go and take possession of those
+fortresses, which Allah has bestowed upon your powerful sovereigns,
+in punishment of the sins of the Moors." He said no more, but passed
+mournfully on along the same road by which the Spanish cavaliers had
+come, descending to the vega to meet the Catholic sovereigns. The troops
+entered the Alhambra, the gates of which were wide open, and all its
+splendid courts and halls silent and deserted.
+
+In the mean time the Christian court and army poured out of the city
+of Santa Fe and advanced across the vega. The King and Queen, with the
+Prince and Princess, and the dignitaries and ladies of the court, took
+the lead, accompanied by the different orders of monks and friars, and
+surrounded by the royal guards splendidly arrayed. The procession moved
+slowly forward and paused at the village of Armilla, at the distance of
+half a league from the city.
+
+The sovereigns waited here with impatience, their eyes fixed on the lofty
+tower of the Alhambra, watching for the appointed signal of possession.
+The time that had elapsed since the departure of the detachment seemed
+to them more than necessary for the purpose, and the anxious mind of
+Ferdinand began to entertain doubts of some commotion in the city. At
+length they saw the silver cross, the great standard of this crusade,
+elevated on the Torre de la Vala (or "Great Watch-tower") and sparkling
+in the sunbeams. This was done by Hernando de Talavera, Bishop of Avila.
+Beside it was planted the pennon of the glorious apostle St. James, and a
+great shout of "Santiago! Santiago!" rose throughout the army. Lastly
+was reared the royal standard by the king of arms, with the shout of
+"Castile! Castile! For King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella!" The words were
+echoed by the whole army, with acclamations that resounded across the
+vega. At sight of these signals of possession the sovereigns sank upon
+their knees, giving thanks to God for this great triumph; the whole
+assembled host followed their example, and the choristers of the royal
+chapel broke forth into the solemn anthem of _Te Deum laudamus_.
+
+The procession now resumed its march with joyful alacrity, to the sound
+of triumphant music, until they came to a small mosque, near the banks
+of the Xenel, and not far from the foot of the Hill of Martyrs, which
+edifice remains to the present day, consecrated as the hermitage of St.
+Sebastian. Here the sovereigns were met by the unfortunate Boabdil,
+accompanied by about fifty cavaliers and domestics. As he drew near he
+would have dismounted in token of homage, but Ferdinand prevented him. He
+then proffered to kiss the King's hand, but this sign of vassalage was
+likewise declined; whereupon, not to be outdone in magnanimity, he leaned
+forward and kissed the right arm of Ferdinand. Queen Isabella also
+refused to receive this ceremonial of homage, and, to console him under
+his adversity, delivered to him his son, who had remained as hostage ever
+since Boabdil's liberation from captivity. The Moorish monarch pressed
+his child to his bosom with tender emotion, and they seemed mutually
+endeared to each other by their misfortunes.
+
+He then delivered the keys of the city to King Ferdinand, with an air of
+mingled melancholy and resignation. "These keys," said he, "are the last
+relics of the Arabian empire in Spain; thine, O King, are our trophies,
+our kingdom, and our person. Such is the will of God! Receive them with
+the clemency thou hast promised, and which we look for at thy hands."
+
+King Ferdinand restrained his exultation with an air of serene
+magnanimity. "Doubt not our promises," replied he, "nor that thou shalt
+regain from our friendship the prosperity of which the fortune of war has
+deprived thee."
+
+On receiving the keys, King Ferdinand handed them to the Queen; she in
+her turn presented them to her son Prince Juan, who delivered them to the
+Count de Tendilla, that brave and loyal cavalier being appointed alcaid
+of the city and captain-general of the kingdom of Granada.
+
+Having surrendered the last symbol of power, the unfortunate Boabdil
+continued on toward the Alpujarras, that he might not behold the entrance
+of the Christians into his capital. His devoted band of cavaliers
+followed him in gloomy silence; but heavy sighs burst from their bosoms
+as shouts of joy and strains of triumphant music were borne on the breeze
+from the victorious army.
+
+Having rejoined his family, Boabdil set forward with a heavy heart
+for his allotted residence in the valley of Purchena. At two leagues'
+distance, the cavalcade, winding into the skirts of the Alpujarras,
+ascended an eminence commanding the last view of Granada. As they arrived
+at this spot the Moors paused involuntarily to take a farewell gaze at
+their beloved city, which a few steps more would shut from their sight
+forever. The Moorish cavaliers gazed with a silent agony of tenderness
+and grief upon that delicious abode, the scene of their loves and
+pleasures. While they yet looked, a light cloud of smoke burst forth from
+the citadel, and presently a peal of artillery, faintly heard, told that
+the city was taken possession of, and the throne of the Moslem kings was
+lost forever.
+
+The unhappy Boabdil was not to be consoled; his tears continued to flow.
+"Allah Akbar!" exclaimed he; "when did misfortunes ever equal mine?" From
+this circumstance the hill, which is not far from the Padul, took the
+name of Feg Allah Akbar; but the point of view commanding the last
+prospect of Granada is known among Spaniards by the name of _El ultimo
+suspiro del Moro_("The last sigh of the Moor").
+
+The sovereigns did not enter the city on this day of its surrender, but
+waited until it should be fully occupied by their troops and public
+tranquillity insured. In a little while every battlement glistened with
+Christian helms and lances, the standard of the faith and of the realm
+floated from every tower, and the thundering salvoes of the ordnance told
+that the subjugation of the city was complete. The grandees and cavaliers
+now knelt and kissed the hands of the King and Queen and the prince Juan,
+and congratulated them on the acquisition of so great a kingdom, after
+which the royal procession returned in state to Santa Fe.
+
+It was on January 6th, the day of kings and festival of the Epiphany,
+that the sovereigns made their triumphal entry. The King and Queen looked
+on this occasion as more than mortal; the venerable ecclesiastics, to
+whose advice and zeal this glorious conquest ought in a great measure to
+be attributed, moved along with hearts swelling with holy exultation, but
+with chastened and downcast looks of edifying humility; while the hardy
+warriors, in tossing plumes and shining steel, seemed elevated with a
+stern joy at finding themselves in possession of this object of so many
+toils and perils. As the streets resounded with the tramp of steed and
+swelling peals of music, the Moors buried themselves in the deepest
+recesses of their dwellings. There they bewailed in secret the fallen
+glory of their race, but suppressed their groans, lest they should be
+heard by their enemies and increase their triumph.
+
+The royal procession advanced to the principal mosque, which had been
+consecrated as a cathedral. Here the sovereigns offered up prayers and
+thanksgivings, and the choir of the royal chapel chanted a triumphant
+anthem, in which they were joined by all the courtiers and cavaliers.
+Nothing could exceed the thankfulness to God of the pious King Ferdinand
+for having enabled him to eradicate from Spain the empire and name of
+that accursed heathen race, and for the elevation of the cross in that
+city wherein the impious doctrines of Mahomet had so long been cherished.
+In the fervor of his spirit he supplicated from heaven a continuance
+of its grace, and that this glorious triumph might be perpetuated. The
+prayer of the pious monarch was responded by the people, and even his
+enemies were for once convinced of his sincerity.
+
+It had been a last request of the unfortunate Boabdil, and one which
+showed how deeply he felt the transition of his fate, that no person
+might be permitted to enter or depart by the gate of the Alhambra,
+through which he had sallied forth to surrender his capital. His request
+was granted; the portal was closed up, and remains so to the present
+day--a mute memorial of that event.
+
+The Spanish sovereigns fixed their throne in the presence chamber of
+the palace, so long the seat of Moorish royalty. Hither the principal
+inhabitants of Granada repaired, to pay them homage and kiss their hands
+in token of vassalage; and their example was followed by deputies from
+all the towns and fortresses of the Alpujarras which had not hitherto
+submitted.
+
+Thus terminated the war of Granada, after ten years of incessant
+fighting; equalling the far-famed siege of Troy in duration, and ending,
+like that, in the capture of the city. Thus ended also the dominion of
+the Moors in Spain, having endured seven hundred seventy-eight years,
+from the memorable defeat of Roderick, the last of the Goths, on the
+banks of the Guadalete. This great triumph of our holy Catholic faith
+took place in the beginning of January, 1492, being three thousand six
+hundred fifty-five years from the population of Spain by the patriarch
+Tubal; three thousand seven hundred ninety-seven from the general deluge;
+five thousand four hundred fifty-three from the creation of the world,
+according to Hebrew calculation; and in the month Rabic, in the eight
+hundred ninety-seventh year of the Hegira, or flight of Mahomet.
+
+[Footnote 1: Musa ben Abil Gazan, Boabdil's best cavalier--a fiery
+soldier, of royal lineage.]
+
+[Footnote 2: A mountainous region in the provinces of Granada and
+Almeria.]
+
+[Footnote 3: So say Arabian historians. According to another account,
+Musa, meeting a party of Andalusian cavaliers, killed several of them,
+but, being disabled by wounds, threw himself into the Xenel and was
+drowned.]
+
+
+
+COLUMBUS DISCOVERS AMERICA
+
+A.D. 1492
+
+CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS FERDINAND COLUMBUS
+
+
+The year 1492, in which Columbus discovered America, is adopted by some
+writers as separating the modern from the mediaeval period in history.
+It marks the culmination of the wonderful achievements in discovery
+for which the fifteenth century is so memorable. By 1492 the world had
+advanced far beyond the ignorance of the period when Marco Polo made and
+described his famous travels from Europe to the East, 1324, and when Sir
+John Mandeville's extravagant account of Eastern journeys, 1357-1371, was
+published. European knowledge of the Orient had been greatly increased
+by the crusades, and this, together with the spread of commerce, had
+quickened the desire of Western peoples for still further explorations of
+the world.
+
+During the first half of the fifteenth century the Portuguese were most
+enterprising in the work of discovery, and before 1500 they had searched
+the western coast of Africa, passed the equator, and seen the Cape of
+Good Hope, which Vasco da Gama doubled in 1497, on his way to India.
+
+Meanwhile Christopher Columbus, a native of Genoa, a famous maritime
+city, was planning a route of his own for a voyage to the East
+Indies--the great object, at that period, of all ambitious navigators.
+As the Portuguese sought, and at last found, an ocean route by the east
+around Africa, so Columbus meditated a westward voyage, and was the first
+to seek India in that direction. After vainly submitting his plan to John
+II of Portugal, to the Genoese Government, and to Henry VII of England,
+he appealed--at first without success--to Ferdinand and Isabella of
+Castile. But at the end of their war with Granada, 1492, he obtained a
+better hearing, and gained the favor of Isabella, who joined the Pinzons,
+merchants of Palos, in fitting out for him three small vessels, the Nina,
+the Santa Maria, and the Pinta. With the concurrence of Ferdinand, she
+made Columbus, for himself and his heirs, admiral in all the regions that
+he should discover, and viceroy in any lands acquired by him for Spain.
+
+When the bold mariner sailed from Saltes, an island near Palos, a small
+town in the province of Huelva, Spain, he had complete confidence in his
+theory of finding new lands to the west. And his unshakable faith in his
+idea and in his purpose constitutes the most heroic aspect of his first
+voyage.
+
+Of recent years great interest and much historical discussion have been
+aroused in connection with real or imagined pre-Columbian discoveries of
+America, especially with the discovery by the Northmen. But all attempts
+to diminish the glory of Columbus' achievement, by proving that the
+results of previous discoveries were known to him, have, as Hubert
+Howe Bancroft declares, signally failed. Columbus was not the first
+to conceive the possibility of reaching the East by sailing west.
+Toscanelli, the Italian astronomer, who made the map which Columbus used,
+and others among his contemporaries entertained the theory; but the
+Genoese sailor was the first to act upon this belief.
+
+Supposing, as he did to his latest day, that he had found the eastern
+coast of India, and not another continent, Columbus gave the name of
+Indies to the islands he discovered, whose inhabitants he also called
+Indians; yet he did not have the honor of giving his own name to the New
+World which he made known to mankind.
+
+In the following pages his own unstudied account of the first voyage and
+discovery, and the narrative from the biography of Columbus by his son,
+furnish a very complete history of the enterprise from which so large a
+part of the world's later development has followed. It should be noted,
+however, that both of the accounts manifest the not unnatural desire to
+give full prominence to the part taken by Columbus himself. His able
+coadjutors, the Pinzons, scarce receive such adequate mention as they are
+given by more modern narrators.
+
+The letter to Gabriel Sanchez appears here in a careful edition, one
+of the treasured possessions of the New York Public Library--Lenox
+Library--through the courtesy of whose officers it is presented in this
+work. It is the first letter of Columbus, giving the earliest information
+of his discovery, and is here rendered in a new translation, as contained
+in the little volume published in 1892 by the trustees of the Lenox
+Library, as a "tribute to the memory of the great discoverer."
+
+
+CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS
+
+[Letter of Christopher Columbus, to whom our age owes much, concerning
+the islands recently discovered in the Indian sea[1], for the search of
+which, eight months before, he was sent under the auspices and at the
+cost of the most invincible Ferdinand, King of Spain[2]; addressed to
+the magnificent lord Raphael Sanxis[3], treasurer of the same most
+illustrious King, and which the noble and learned man Leander de Cosco
+has translated from the Spanish language into Latin, on the third of the
+calends of May[4], 1493, the first year of the pontificate of Alexander
+VI.]
+
+Because my undertakings have attained success, I know that it will be
+pleasing to you; these I have determined to relate, so that you may be
+made acquainted with everything done and discovered in this our voyage.
+On the thirty-third day after I departed from Cadiz,[5] I came to the
+Indian sea, where I found many islands inhabited by men without number,
+of all which I took possession for our most fortunate King, with
+proclaiming heralds and flying standards, no one objecting. To the first
+of these I gave the name of the blessed Saviour,[6] on whose aid relying
+I had reached this as well as the other islands. But the Indians call
+it Guanahani. I also called each one of the others by a new name. For I
+ordered one island to be called Santa Maria of the Conception,[7] another
+Fernandina,[8] another Isabella,[9] another Juana,[10] and so on with the
+rest.
+
+As soon as we had arrived at that island which I have just now said
+was called Juana, I proceeded along its coast toward the west for some
+distance. I found it so large and without perceptible end, that I
+believed it to be not an island, but the continental country of
+Cathay;[11] seeing, however, no towns or cities situated on the
+sea-coast, but only some villages and rude farms, with whose inhabitants
+I was unable to converse, because as soon as they saw us they took
+flight, I proceeded farther, thinking that I would discover some city or
+large residences.
+
+At length, perceiving that we had gone far enough, that nothing new
+appeared, and that this way was leading us to the north, which I wished
+to avoid, because it was winter on the land, and it was my intention to
+go to the south, moreover the winds were becoming violent, I therefore
+determined that no other plans were practicable, and so, going back, I
+returned to a certain bay that I had noticed, from which I sent two of
+our men to the land, that they might find out whether there was a king in
+this country, or any cities. These men travelled for three days, and they
+found people and houses without number, but they were small and without
+any government, therefore they returned.
+
+Now in the mean time I had learned from certain Indians, whom I had
+seized there, that this country was indeed an island, and therefore I
+proceeded toward the east, keeping all the time near the coast, for three
+hundred twenty-two miles, to the extreme ends of this island. From
+this place I saw another island to the east, distant from this Juana
+fifty-four miles, which I called forthwith Hispana,[12] and I sailed to
+it; and I steered along the northern coast, as at Juana, toward the east,
+five hundred sixty-four miles. And the said Juana and the other islands
+there appear very fertile. This island is surrounded by many very safe
+and wide harbors, not excelled by any others that I have ever seen. Many
+great and salubrious rivers flow through it. There are also many very
+high mountains there.
+
+All these islands are very beautiful, and distinguished by various
+qualities; they are accessible, and full of a great variety of trees
+stretching up to the stars; the leaves of which I believe are never shed,
+for I saw them as green and flourishing as they are usually in Spain in
+the month of May; some of them were blossoming, some were bearing fruit,
+some were in other conditions; each one was thriving in its own way. The
+nightingale and various other birds without number were singing in the
+month of November, when I was exploring them. There are besides in the
+said island Juana seven or eight kinds of palm-trees, which far excel
+ours in height and beauty, just as all the other trees, herbs, and fruits
+do. There are also excellent pine-trees, vast plains and meadows, a
+variety of birds, a variety of honey, and a variety of metals, excepting
+iron. In the one which was called Hispana, as we said above, there are
+great and beautiful mountains, vast fields, groves, fertile plains, very
+suitable for planting and cultivating, and for the building of houses.
+
+The convenience of the harbors in this island, and the remarkable number
+of rivers contributing to the healthfulness of man, exceed belief, unless
+one has seen them. The trees, pasturage, and fruits of this island differ
+greatly from those of Juana. This Hispana, moreover, abounds in different
+kinds of spices, in gold, and in metals. On this island, indeed, and on
+all the others which I have seen, and of which I have knowledge, the
+inhabitants of both sexes go always naked, just as they came into the
+world, except some of the women, who use a covering of a leaf or some
+foliage, or a cotton cloth, which they make themselves for that purpose.
+
+All these people lack, as I said above, every kind of iron; they are also
+without weapons, which indeed are unknown; nor are they competent to use
+them, not on account of deformity of body, for they are well formed, but
+because they are timid and full of fear. They carry for weapons, however,
+reeds baked in the sun, on the lower ends of which they fasten some
+shafts of dried wood rubbed down to a point; and indeed they do not
+venture to use these always; for it frequently happened, when I sent two
+or three of my men to some of the villages, that they might speak with
+the natives, a compact troop of the Indians would march out, and as soon
+as they saw our men approaching they would quickly take flight, children
+being pushed aside by their fathers, and fathers by their children. And
+this was not because any hurt or injury had been inflicted on any one of
+them, for to everyone whom I visited and with whom I was able to converse
+I distributed whatever I had, cloth and many other things, no return
+being made to me; but they are by nature fearful and timid. Yet when they
+perceive that they are safe, putting aside all fear, they are of simple
+manners and trustworthy, and very liberal with everything they have,
+refusing no one who asks for anything they may possess, and even
+themselves inviting us to ask for things.
+
+They show greater love for all others than for themselves; they give
+valuable things for trifles, being satisfied even with a very small
+return, or with nothing; however, I forbade that things so small and of
+no value should be given to them, such as pieces of plates, dishes, and
+glass, likewise keys and shoe-straps; although, if they were able to
+obtain these, it seemed to them like getting the most beautiful jewels
+in the world. It happened, indeed, that a certain sailor obtained in
+exchange for a shoe-strap as much worth of gold as would equal three
+golden coins; and likewise other things for articles of very little
+value, especially for new silver coins, and for some gold coins, to
+obtain which they gave whatever the seller desired, as for instance an
+ounce and a half and two ounces of gold, or thirty and forty pounds of
+cotton, with which they were already acquainted. They also traded cotton
+and gold for pieces of bows, bottles, jugs and jars, like persons without
+reason, which I forbade because it was very wrong; and I gave to them
+many beautiful and pleasing things that I had brought with me, no value
+being taken in exchange, in order that I might the more easily make them
+friendly to me, that they might be made worshippers of Christ, and that
+they might be full of love toward our King, Queen, and Prince, and the
+whole Spanish nation; also that they might be zealous to search out and
+collect, and deliver to us, those things of which they had plenty, and
+which we greatly needed.
+
+These people practise no kind of idolatry; on the contrary they firmly
+believe that all strength and power, and in fact all good things, are
+in heaven, and that I had come down from thence with these ships and
+sailors; and in this belief I was received there after they had put
+aside fear. Nor are they slow or unskilled, but of excellent and acute
+understanding; and the men who have navigated that sea give an account of
+everything in an admirable manner; but they never saw people clothed, nor
+these kind of ships.
+
+As soon as I reached that sea, I seized by force several Indians on the
+first island, in order that they might learn from us, and in like manner
+tell us about those things in these lands of which they themselves had
+knowledge; and the plan succeeded, for in a short time we understood them
+and they us, sometimes by gestures and signs, sometimes by words; and
+it was a great advantage to us. They are coming with me now, yet always
+believing that I descended from heaven, although they have been living
+with us for a long time, and are living with us today. And these men were
+the first who announced it wherever we landed, continually proclaiming to
+the others in a loud voice, "Come, come, and you will see the celestial
+people." Whereupon both women and men, both children and adults, both
+young men and old men, laying aside the fear caused a little before,
+visited us eagerly, filling the road with a great crowd, some bringing
+food and some drink, with great love and extraordinary good-will.
+
+On every island there are many canoes of a single piece of wood, and,
+though narrow, yet in length and shape similar to our row-boats, but
+swifter in movement. They steer only by oars. Some of these boats are
+large, some small, some of medium size. Yet they row many of the larger
+row-boats with eighteen cross-benches, with which they cross to all those
+islands, which are innumerable, and with these boats they perform their
+trading, and carry on commerce among them. I saw some of these row-boats
+or canoes which were carrying seventy and eighty rowers.
+
+In all these islands there is no difference in the appearance of the
+people, nor in the manners and language, but all understand each other
+mutually; a fact that is very important for the end which I suppose to be
+earnestly desired by our most illustrious King, that is, their conversion
+to the holy religion of Christ, to which in truth, as far as I can
+perceive, they are very ready and favorably inclined.
+
+I said before how I proceeded along the island Juana in a straight line
+from west to east three hundred twenty-two miles, according to which
+course, and the length of the way, I am able to say that this Juana is
+larger than England and Scotland together; for, besides the said three
+hundred twenty-two thousand paces, there are two more provinces in that
+part which lies toward the west, which I did not visit; one of these the
+Indians call Anan, whose inhabitants are born with tails. They extend to
+one hundred eighty miles in length, as I have learned from those Indians
+I have with me, who are all acquainted with these islands. But the
+circumference of Hispana is still greater than all Spain from Colonia to
+Fontarabia[13]. This is easily proved, because its fourth side, which I
+myself passed along in a straight line from west to east, extends five
+hundred forty miles.
+
+This island is to be desired and is very desirable, and not to be
+despised; in which, although, as I have said, I solemnly took possession
+of all the others for our most invincible King, and their government is
+entirely committed to the said King, yet I especially took possession of
+a certain large town, in a very convenient location, and adapted to all
+kinds of gain and commerce, to which we give the name of our Lord of the
+Nativity. And I commanded a fort to be built there forthwith, which
+must be completed by this time; in which I left as many men as seemed
+necessary, with all kinds of arms, and plenty of food for more than
+a year. Likewise one caravel, and for the construction of others
+men skilled in this trade and in other professions; and also the
+extraordinary good-will and friendship of the King of this island toward
+us. For those people are very amiable and kind, to such a degree that the
+said King gloried in calling me his brother. And if they should change
+their minds, and should wish to hurt those who remained in the fort, they
+would not be able, because they lack weapons, they go naked, and are too
+cowardly. For that reason those who hold the said fort are at least
+able to resist easily this whole island, without any imminent danger to
+themselves, so long as they do not transgress the regulations and command
+which we gave.
+
+In all these islands, as I have understood, each man is content with only
+one wife, except the princes or kings, who are permitted to have twenty.
+The women appear to work more than the men. I was not able to find out
+surely whether they have individual property, for I saw that one man had
+the duty of distributing to the others, especially refreshments, food,
+and things of that kind. I found no monstrosities among them, as very
+many supposed, but men of great reverence, and friendly. Nor are they
+black like the Ethiopians. They have straight hair, hanging down. They do
+not remain where the solar rays send out the heat, for the strength of
+the sun is very great here, because it is distant from the equinoctial
+line, as it seems, only twenty-six degrees. On the tops of the mountains,
+too, the cold is severe, but the Indians, however, moderate it, partly
+by being accustomed to the place, and partly by the help of very hot
+victuals, of which they eat frequently and immoderately. And so I did not
+see any monstrosity, nor did I have knowledge of them anywhere, excepting
+a certain island named Charis,[14] which is the second in passing from
+Hispana to India.
+
+This island is inhabited by a certain people who are considered very
+warlike by their neighbors. These eat human flesh. The said people have
+many kinds of row-boats, in which they cross over to all the other Indian
+islands, and seize and carry away everything that they can. They differ
+in no way from the others, only that they wear long hair like the women.
+They use bows and darts made of reeds, with sharpened shafts fastened to
+the larger end, as we have described. On this account they are considered
+warlike, wherefore the other Indians are afflicted with continual fear,
+but I regard them as of no more account than the others. These are
+the people who visit certain women, who alone inhabit the island
+Mateunin[15], which is the first in passing from Hispana to India. These
+women, moreover, perform no kind of work of their sex, for they use bows
+and darts, like those I have described of their husbands; they protect
+themselves with sheets of copper, of which there is great abundance among
+them.
+
+They tell me of another island, greater than the aforesaid Hispana, whose
+inhabitants are without hair, and which abounds in gold above all the
+others. I am bringing with me men of this island and of the others that I
+have seen, who give proof of the things that I have described.
+
+Finally, that I may compress in few words the brief account of our
+departure and quick return, and the gain, I promise this, that if I am
+supported by our most invincible sovereigns with a little of their help,
+as much gold can be supplied as they will need, indeed as much of spices,
+of cotton, of chewing-gum (which is only found in Chios), also as much of
+aloes-wood, and as many slaves for the navy, as their majesties will wish
+to demand. Likewise rhubarb and other kinds of spices, which I suppose
+these men whom I left in the said fort have already found, and will
+continue to find; since I remained in no place longer than the winds
+forced me, except in the town of the Nativity, while I provided for the
+building of the fort and for the safety of all. Which things, although
+they are very great and remarkable, yet they would have been much greater
+if I had been aided by as many ships as the occasion required.
+
+Truly great and wonderful is this, and not corresponding to our merits,
+but to the holy Christian religion, and to the piety and religion of our
+sovereigns, because what the human understanding could not attain, that
+the divine will has granted to human efforts. For God is wont to listen
+to his servants who love his precepts, even in impossibilities, as has
+happened to us on the present occasion, who have attained that which
+hitherto mortal men have never reached. For if anyone has written or
+said anything about these islands, it was all with obscurities and
+conjectures; no one claims that he had seen them; from which they seemed
+like fables. Therefore let the King and Queen, the princes and their most
+fortunate kingdoms, and all other countries of Christendom, give thanks
+to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who has bestowed upon us so great
+a victory and gift. Let religious processions be solemnized; let sacred
+festivals be given; let the churches be covered with festive garlands.
+Let Christ rejoice on earth, as he rejoices in heaven, when he foresees
+coming to salvation so many souls of people hitherto lost. Let us be glad
+also, as well on account of the exaltation of our faith as on account
+of the increase of our temporal affairs, of which not only Spain, but
+universal Christendom, will be partaker. These things that have been done
+are thus briefly related. Farewell. Lisbon, the day before the ides of
+March.[16]
+
+CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, Admiral of the Ocean Fleet.
+
+Epigram of R. L. de Corbaria, Bishop of Monte Peloso
+
+"To THE MOST INVINCIBLE KING OF SPAIN
+
+"No region now can add to Spain's great deeds: To such men all the world
+is yet too small. An Orient land, found far beyond the waves, Will add,
+great Betica, to thy renown. Then to Columbus, the true finder, give Due
+thanks; but greater still to God on high, Who makes new kingdoms for
+himself and thee: Both firm and pious let thy conduct be."
+
+
+FERDINAND COLUMBUS
+
+All the conditions which the admiral demanded being conceded by their
+Catholic majesties, he set out from Granada on May 21, 1492, for Palos,
+where he was to fit out the ships for his intended expedition. That town
+was bound to serve the crown for three months with two caravels, which
+were ordered to be given to Columbus; and he fitted out these and a third
+vessel with all care and diligence. The ship in which he personally
+embarked was called the Santa Maria; the second vessel, named the Pinta,
+was commanded by Martin Alonso Pinzon; and the third, named the Nina,
+which had square sails, was under the command of Vincent Yanez Pinzon,
+the brother of Alonso, both of whom were inhabitants of Palos. Being
+furnished with all necessaries, and having ninety men to navigate the
+three vessels, Columbus set sail from Palos on August 3, 1492, shaping
+his course directly for the Canaries.
+
+During this voyage, and indeed in all the _four_ voyages which he made
+from Spain to the West Indies, the admiral was very careful to keep an
+exact journal of every occurrence which took place; always specifying
+what winds blew, how far he sailed with each particular wind, what
+currents were found, and everything that was seen by the way, whether
+birds, fishes, or any other thing. Although to note all these particulars
+with a minute relation of everything that happened, showing what
+impressions and effects answered to the course and aspect of the stars,
+and the differences between the seas which he sailed and those of our
+countries, might all be useful; yet, as I conceive that the relation of
+these particulars might now be tiresome to the reader, I shall only give
+an account of what appears to me necessary and convenient to be known.
+
+On Saturday, August 4th, the next day after sailing from Palos, the
+rudder of the Pinta broke loose. The admiral strongly suspected that
+it was occasioned by the contrivance of the master on purpose to avoid
+proceeding on the voyage, which he had endeavored to do before they left
+Spain, and he therefore ranged up alongside of the disabled vessel to
+give every assistance in his power, but the wind blew so hard that he was
+unable to afford any aid. Pinzon, however, being an experienced seaman,
+soon made a temporary repair by means of ropes, and they proceeded on
+their voyage. But on the following Tuesday, the weather becoming rough
+and boisterous, the fastenings gave way, and the squadron was obliged to
+lay to for some time to renew the repairs. From this misfortune of twice
+breaking the rudder, a superstitious person might have foreboded the
+future disobedience of Pinzon to the admiral; as through his malice the
+Pinta twice separated from the squadron, as shall be afterward related.
+Having applied the best remedy they could to the disabled state of the
+rudder, the squadron continued its voyage, and came in sight of the
+Canaries at daybreak of Thursday, August 9th; but owing to contrary
+winds, they were unable to come to anchor at Gran Canaria until the 12th.
+The admiral left Pinzon at Gran Canaria to endeavor to procure another
+vessel instead of that which was disabled, and went himself with the Nina
+on the same errand to Gomera.
+
+The admiral arrived at Gomera on Sunday, August 12th, and sent a boat on
+shore to inquire if any vessel could be procured there for his purpose.
+The boat returned next morning, and brought intelligence that no vessel
+was then at that island, but that Dona Beatrix de Bobadilla, the
+proprietrix of the island, was then at Gran Canaria in a hired vessel of
+forty tons belonging to one Gradeuna of Seville, which would probably
+suit his purpose and might perhaps be got. He therefore determined to
+await the arrival of that vessel at Gomera, believing that Pinzon might
+have secured a vessel for himself at Gran Canaria, if he had not been
+able to repair his own. After waiting two days, he despatched one of his
+people in a bark which was bound from Gomera to Gran Canaria, to acquaint
+Pinzon where he lay, and to assist him in repairing and fixing the
+rudder. Having waited a considerable time for an answer to his letter, he
+sailed with the two vessels from Gomera on August 23d for Gran Canaria,
+and fell in with the bark on the following day, which had been detained
+all that time on its voyage by contrary winds. He now took his man from
+the bark, and, sailing in the night past the island of Teneriffe, the
+people were much astonished at observing flames bursting out of the lofty
+mountain called El Pico (or the Peak of Teneriffe). On this occasion the
+admiral was at great pains to explain the nature of this phenomenon to
+the people by instancing the example of Aetna and several other known
+volcanoes.
+
+Passing by Teneriffe, they arrived at Gran Canaria on Saturday, August
+25th, and found that Pinzon had only got in there the day before. From
+him the admiral was informed that Dona Beatrix had sailed for Gomera on
+the 20th with the vessel which he was so anxious to obtain. His officers
+were much troubled at the disappointment; but he, who always endeavored
+to make the best of every occurrence, observed to them that since it had
+not pleased God that they should get this vessel it was perhaps better
+for them, as they might have encountered much opposition in pressing it
+into the service, and might have lost a great deal of time in shipping
+and unshipping the goods. Wherefore, lest he might again miss it if he
+returned to Gomera, he resolved to make a new rudder for the Pinta at
+Gran Canaria, and ordered the square sails of the Nina to be changed to
+_round_ ones, like those of the other two vessels, that she might be able
+to accompany them with less danger and agitation.
+
+The vessels being all refitted, the admiral weighed anchor from Gran
+Canaria on Saturday, September 1st, and arrived next day at Gomera, where
+four days were employed in completing their stores of provisions and
+of wood and water. On the morning of Thursday, September 6, 1492,
+the admiral took his departure from Gomera, and commenced his great
+undertaking by standing directly westward, but made very slow progress at
+first on account of calms. On Sunday, September 9th, about daybreak, they
+were nine leagues west of the island of Ferro. Now, losing sight of
+land and stretching out into utterly unknown seas, many of the people
+expressed their anxiety and fear that it might be long before they should
+see land again; but the admiral used every endeavor to comfort them with
+the assurance of soon finding the land he was in search of, and raised
+their hopes of acquiring wealth and honor by the discovery. To lessen the
+fear which they entertained of the length of way they had to sail, he
+gave out that they had only proceeded fifteen leagues that day, when the
+actual distance sailed was eighteen; and, to induce the people to believe
+that they were not so far from Spain as they really were, he resolved to
+keep considerably short in his reckoning during the whole voyage, though
+he carefully recorded the true reckoning every day in private.
+
+On Wednesday, September 12th, having got to about one hundred fifty
+leagues west of Ferro, they discovered a large trunk of a tree,
+sufficient to have been the mast of a vessel of one hundred twenty tons,
+and which seemed to have been a long time in the water. At this distance
+from Ferro, and for somewhat farther on, the current was found to set
+strongly to the northeast. Next day, when they had run fifty leagues
+farther westward, the needle was observed to vary half a point to the
+eastward of north, and next morning the variation was a whole point
+east. This variation of the compass had never been before observed, and
+therefore the admiral was much surprised at the phenomenon, and concluded
+that the needle did not actually point toward the polar star, but to some
+other fixed point. Three days afterward, when almost one hundred leagues
+farther west, he was still more astonished at the irregularity of the
+variation; for, having observed the needle to vary a whole point to the
+eastward at night, it pointed directly northward in the morning.
+
+On the night of Saturday, September isth, being then almost three
+hundred leagues west of Ferro, they saw a prodigious flash of light,
+or fire-ball, drop from the sky into the sea, at four or five leagues'
+distance from the ships, toward the southwest. The weather was then quite
+fair and serene like April, the sea perfectly calm, the wind favorable
+from the northeast, and the current setting to the northeast. The people
+in the Nina told the admiral that they had seen the day before a heron,
+and another bird which they called _rabo-de-junco._ These were the first
+birds which had been seen during the voyage, and were considered as
+indications of approaching land. But they were more agreeably surprised
+next day, Sunday, September 16th, by seeing great abundance of yellowish
+green sea-weeds, which appeared as if newly washed away from some rock
+or island. Next day the seaweed was seen in much greater quantity, and a
+small live lobster was observed among the weeds; from this circumstance
+many affirmed that they were certainly near the land.
+
+The sea-water was afterward noticed to be only half so salt as before;
+and great numbers of tunny-fish were seen swimming about, some of which
+came so near the vessel that one was killed by a bearded iron. Being now
+three hundred sixty leagues west from Ferro, another of the birds called
+rabo-de-junco was seen. On Tuesday, September 18th, Martin Alonso Pinzon,
+who had gone ahead of the admiral, in the Pinta, which was an excellent
+sailer, lay to for the admiral to come up, and told him that he had seen
+a great number of birds fly away westward, for which reason he was in
+great hopes to see land that night;
+
+Pinzon even thought that he saw land that night about fifteen leagues
+distant to the northward, which appeared very black and covered with
+clouds. All the people would have persuaded the admiral to try for land
+in that direction; but, being certainly assured that it was not land,
+and having not yet reached the distance at which he expected to find the
+land, he would not consent to lose time in altering his course in that
+direction. But as the wind now freshened, he gave orders to take in the
+topsails at night, having now sailed eleven days before the wind due
+westward with all their sails up.
+
+All the people in the squadron being utterly unacquainted with the seas
+they now traversed, fearful of their danger at such unusual distance from
+any relief, and seeing nothing around but sky and water, began to mutter
+among themselves, and anxiously observed every appearance. On September
+19th a kind of sea-gull called _alcatras_ flew over the admiral's ship,
+and several others were seen in the afternoon of that day, and, as the
+admiral conceived that these birds would not fly far from land, he
+entertained hopes of soon seeing what he was in quest of. He therefore
+ordered a line of two hundred fathoms to be tried, but without finding
+any bottom. The current was now found to set to the southwest.
+
+On Thursday, September 20th, two alcatrases came near the ship about two
+hours before noon, and soon afterward a third. On this day likewise they
+took a bird resembling a heron, of a black color with a white tuft on its
+head, and having webbed feet like a duck. Abundance of weeds were seen
+floating in the sea, and one small fish was taken. About evening three
+land birds settled on the rigging of the ship and began to sing. These
+flew away at daybreak, which was considered a strong indication of
+approaching the land, as these little birds could not have come from any
+far distant country; whereas the other large fowls, being used to water,
+might much better go far from land. The same day an alcatras was seen.
+
+Friday, the 21st, another alcatras and a rabo-de-junco were seen, and
+vast quantities of weeds as far as the eye could carry toward the north.
+These appearances were sometimes a comfort to the people, giving them
+hopes of nearing the wished-for land; while at other times the weeds were
+so thick as in some measure to impede the progress of the vessels, and
+to occasion terror lest what is fabulously reported of St. Amaro in the
+frozen sea might happen to them, that they might be so enveloped in the
+weeds as to be unable to move backward or forward; wherefore they steered
+away from those shoals of weeds as much as they could.
+
+Next day, being Saturday, September 22d, they saw a whale and several
+small birds. The wind now veered to the southwest, sometimes more and
+sometimes less to the westward; and though this was adverse to the
+direction of their proposed voyage, the admiral, to comfort the people,
+alleged that this was a favorable circumstance; because, among other
+causes of fear, they had formerly said they should never have a wind to
+carry them back to Spain, as it had always blown from the east ever since
+they left Ferro. They still continued, however, to murmur, alleging that
+this southwest wind was by no means a settled one, and, as it never blew
+strong enough to swell the sea, it would not serve to carry them back
+again through so great an extent of sea as they had now passed over.
+In spite of every argument used by the admiral, assuring them that the
+alterations in the wind were occasioned by the vicinity of the land, by
+which likewise the waves were prevented from rising to any height, they
+were still dissatisfied and terrified.
+
+On Sunday, September 23d, a brisk gale sprung up west-northwest, with a
+rolling sea, such as the people had wished for. Three hours before noon
+a turtle-dove was observed to fly over the ship; toward evening an
+alcatras, a river fowl, and several white birds were seen flying about,
+and some crabs were observed among the weeds. Next day another alcatras
+was seen and several small birds which came from the west. Numbers of
+small fishes were seen swimming about, some of which were struck with
+harpoons, as they would not bite at the hook.
+
+The more that the tokens mentioned above were observed, and found not
+to be followed by the so anxiously looked-for land, the more the people
+became fearful of the event and entered into cabals against the admiral,
+who they said was desirous to make himself a great lord at the expense
+of their danger. They represented that they had already sufficiently
+performed their duty in adventuring farther from land and all possibility
+of succor than had ever been done before, and that they ought not to
+proceed on the voyage to their manifest destruction. If they did they
+would soon have reason to repent their temerity, as provisions would soon
+fall short, the ships were already faulty and would soon fail, and it
+would be extremely difficult to get back so far as they had already gone.
+None could condemn them in their own opinion for now turning back,
+but all must consider them as brave men for having gone upon such an
+enterprise and venturing so far. That the admiral was a foreigner who
+had no favor at court; and as so many wise and learned men had already
+condemned his opinions and enterprise as visionary and impossible, there
+would be none to favor or defend him, and they were sure to find more
+credit if they accused him of ignorance and mismanagement than he would
+do, whatsoever he might now say for himself against them.
+
+Some even proceeded so far as to propose, in case the admiral should
+refuse to acquiesce in their proposals, that they might make a short end
+of all disputes by throwing him overboard; after which they could give
+out that he had fallen over while making his observations, and no one
+would ever think of inquiring into the truth. They thus went on day after
+day, muttering, complaining, and consulting together; and though the
+admiral was not fully aware of the extent of their cabals, he was not
+entirely without apprehensions of their inconstancy in the present trying
+situation, and of their evil intentions toward him. He therefore exerted
+himself to the utmost to quiet their apprehensions and to suppress
+their evil design, sometimes using fair words, and at other times fully
+resolved to expose his life rather than abandon the enterprise; he put
+them in mind of the due punishment they would subject themselves to if
+they obstructed the voyage. To confirm their hopes, he recapitulated
+all the favorable signs and indications which had been lately observed,
+assuring them that they might soon expect to see the land. But they, who
+were ever attentive to these tokens, thought every hour a year in their
+anxiety to see the wished-for land.
+
+On Tuesday, September 25th, near sunset, as the admiral was discoursing
+with Pinzon, whose ship was then very near, Pinzon suddenly called out,
+"Land! land, sir! let not my good news miscarry," and pointed out a large
+mass in the southwest, about twenty-five leagues distant, which seemed
+very like an island. This was so pleasing to the people that they
+returned thanks to God for the pleasing discovery; and, although the
+admiral was by no means satisfied of the truth of Pinzon's observation,
+yet to please the men, and that they might not obstruct the voyage, he
+altered his course and stood in that direction a great part of the night.
+Next morning, the 26th, they had the mortification to find the supposed
+land was only composed of clouds, which often put on the appearance of
+distant land; and, to their great dissatisfaction, the stems of the ships
+were again turned directly westward, as they always were unless when
+hindered by the wind. Continuing their course, and still attentively
+watching for signs of land, they saw this day an alcatras, a
+rabo-de-junco, and other birds as formerly mentioned.
+
+On Thursday, September 27th, they saw another alcatras coming from the
+westward and flying toward the east, and great numbers of fish were seen
+with gilt backs, one of which they struck with a harpoon. A rabo-de-junco
+likewise flew past; the currents for some of the last days were not so
+regular as before but changed with the tide, and the weeds were not
+nearly so abundant.
+
+On Friday, the 28th, all the vessels took some of the fishes with gilt
+backs; and on Saturday, the 29th, they saw a rabo-de-junco, which,
+although a sea-fowl, never rests on the waves, but always flies in the
+air, pursuing the alcatrases. Many of these birds are said to frequent
+the Cape de Verd Islands. They soon afterward saw two other alcatrases
+and great numbers of flying-fishes. These last are about a span long, and
+have two little membranous wings like those of a bat, by means of which
+they fly about a pike-length high from the water and a musket-shot in
+length, and sometimes drop upon the ships. In the afternoon of this day
+they saw abundance of weeds lying in length north and south, and three
+alcatrases pursued by a rabo-de-junco.
+
+On the morning of Sunday, September 30th, four rabo-de-juncos came to the
+ship; and from so many of them coming together it was thought the land
+could not be far distant, especially as four alcatrases followed soon
+afterward. Great quantities of weeds were seen in a line stretching from
+west-north-west to east-north-east, and a great number of the fishes
+which are called _emperadores_, which have a very hard skin and are not
+fit to eat. Though the admiral paid every attention to these indications,
+he never neglected those in the heavens, and carefully observed the
+course of the stars. He was now greatly surprised to notice at this time
+that Charles' Wain, or the Ursa Major constellation, appeared at night
+in the west, and was north-east in the morning. He thence concluded that
+their whole night's course was only nine hours, or so many parts in
+twenty four of a great circle; and this he observed to be the case
+regularly every night. It was likewise noticed that the compass varied
+a whole point to the northwest at nightfall, and came due north every
+morning at daybreak. As this unheard-of circumstance confounded and
+perplexed the pilots, who apprehended danger in these strange regions and
+at such unusual distance from home, the admiral endeavored to calm their
+fears by assigning a cause for this wonderful phenomenon. He alleged that
+it was occasioned by the polar star making a circuit round the pole, by
+which they were not a little satisfied.
+
+Soon after sunrise on Monday, October 1st, an alcatras came to the ship,
+and two more about ten in the morning, and long streams of weeds floated
+from east to west. That morning the pilot of the admiral's ship said that
+they were now five hundred seventy-eight leagues west from the island
+of Ferro. In his public account the admiral said they were five hundred
+eighty-four leagues to the west; but in his private journal he made the
+real distance seven hundred seven leagues, or one hundred twenty-nine
+more than was reckoned by the pilot. The other two ships differed much in
+their computation from each other and from the admiral's pilot. The pilot
+of the Nina, in the afternoon of the Wednesday following, said they
+had only sailed five hundred forty leagues, and the pilot of the Pinta
+reckoned six hundred thirty-four. Thus they were all much short of the
+truth; but the admiral winked at the gross mistake, that the men, not
+thinking themselves so far from home, might be the less dejected.
+
+The next day, being Tuesday, October 2d, they saw abundance of fish,
+caught one small tunny, and saw a white bird with many other small birds,
+and the weeds appeared much withered and almost fallen to powder. Next
+day, seeing no birds, they suspected that they had passed between some
+islands on both hands, and had slipped through without seeing them, as
+they guessed that the many birds which they had seen might have been
+passing from one island to another. On this account they were very
+earnest to have the course altered one way or the other, in quest of
+these imaginary lands. But the admiral, unwilling to lose the advantage
+of the fair wind which carried him due west, which he accounted his
+surest course, and afraid to lessen his reputation by deviating from
+course to course in search of land, which he always affirmed that he well
+knew where to find, refused his consent to any change. On this the people
+were again ready to mutiny, and resumed their murmurs and cabals against
+him. But it pleased God to aid his authority by fresh indications of
+land.
+
+On Thursday, October 4th, in the afternoon, above forty sparrows together
+and two alcatrases flew so near the ship that a seaman killed one of
+them with a stone. Several other birds were seen at this time, and many
+flying-fish fell into the ships. Next day there came a rabo-de-junco and
+an alcatras from the westward, and many sparrows were seen. About sunrise
+on Sunday, October 7th, some signs of land appeared to the westward, but
+being imperfect no person would mention the circumstance. This was owing
+to fear of losing the reward of thirty crowns yearly for life which
+had been promised by their Catholic majesties to whoever should first
+discover land; and to prevent them from calling out "Land, land!" at
+every turn without just cause, it was made a condition that whoever said
+he saw land should lose the reward if it were not made out in three days,
+even if he should afterward actually prove the first discoverer. All on
+board the admiral's ship, being thus forewarned, were exceedingly careful
+not to cry out "Land!" on uncertain tokens; but those in the Nina, which
+sailed better and always kept ahead, believing that they certainly saw
+land, fired a gun and hung out their colors in token of the discovery;
+but the farther they sailed, the more the joyful appearance lessened,
+till at last it vanished away. But they soon afterward derived much
+comfort by observing great flights of large fowl and others of small
+birds going from the west toward the southwest.
+
+Being now at a vast distance from Spain, and well assured that such small
+birds would not go far from land, the admiral now altered his course
+from due west which had been hitherto, and steered to the southwest. He
+assigned as a reason for now changing his course, although deviating
+little from his original design, that he followed the example of the
+Portuguese, who had discovered most of their islands by attending to the
+flight of birds, and because these they now saw flew almost uniformly in
+one direction. He said likewise that he had always expected to discover
+land about the situation in which they now were, having often told them
+that he must not look to find land until they should get seven hundred
+fifty leagues to the westward of the Canaries, about which distance he
+expected to fall in with Hispaniola, which he then called Cipango;[17]
+and there is no doubt that he would have found this island by his direct
+course, if it had not been that it was reported to extend from north to
+south. Owing therefore to his not having inclined more to the south, he
+had missed that and others of the Caribbee islands, whither those birds
+were now bending their flight, and which had been for some time upon his
+larboard hand. It was from being so near the land that they continually
+saw such great numbers of birds; and on Monday, October 8th, twelve
+singing birds of various colors came to the ship, and after flying round
+it for a short time held on their way. Many other birds were seen from
+the ship flying toward the southwest, and that same night great numbers
+of large fowl were seen, and flocks of small birds proceeding from the
+northward, and all going to the southwest. In the morning a jay was seen,
+with an alcatras, several ducks, and many small birds, all flying the
+same way with the others, and the air was perceived to be fresh and
+odoriferous as it is at Seville in the month of April. But the people
+were now so eager to see land and had been so often disappointed that
+they ceased to give faith to these continual indications; insomuch that
+on Wednesday, the 10th, although abundance of birds were continually
+passing both by day and night, they never ceased to complain. The admiral
+upbraided their want of resolution, and declared that they must persist
+in their endeavors to discover the Indies, for which he and they had been
+sent out by their Catholic majesties.
+
+It would have been impossible for the admiral to have much longer
+withstood the numbers which now opposed him; but it pleased God that, in
+the afternoon of Thursday, October 11th, such manifest tokens of being
+near the land appeared that the men took courage and rejoiced at their
+good-fortune as much as they had been before distressed. From the
+admiral's ship a green rush was seen to float past, and one of those
+green fish which never go far from the rocks. The people in the Pinta saw
+a cane and a staff in the water, and took up another staff very curiously
+carved, and a small board, and great plenty of weeds were seen which
+seemed to have been recently torn from the rocks. Those of the Nina,
+besides similar signs of land, saw a branch of a thorn full of red
+berries, which seemed to have been newly torn from the tree.
+
+From all these indications the admiral was convinced that he now drew
+near to the land, and after the evening prayers he made a speech to the
+men, in which he reminded them of the mercy of God in having brought them
+so long a voyage with such favorable weather, and in comforting them with
+so many tokens of a successful issue to their enterprise, which were now
+every day becoming plainer and less equivocal. He besought them to be
+exceedingly watchful during the night, as they well knew that in the
+first article of the instructions, which he had given to all the three
+ships before leaving the Canaries, they were enjoined, when they should
+have sailed seven hundred leagues west without discovering land, to lay
+to every night from midnight till daybreak. And, as he had very confident
+hopes of discovering land that night, he required every one to keep watch
+at their quarters; and, besides the gratuity of thirty crowns a year for
+life, which had been graciously promised by their sovereigns to him that
+first saw the land, he engaged to give the fortunate discoverer a velvet
+doublet from himself.
+
+After this, as the admiral was in his cabin, about ten o'clock at night,
+he saw a light on shore; but it was so unsteady that he could not
+certainly affirm that it came from land. He called to one Pedro Gutierrez
+and desired him to try if he could perceive the same light, who said he
+did; but one Rodrigo Sanchez of Segovia, on being desired to look the
+same way, could not see it, because he was not up time enough, as neither
+the admiral nor Gutierrez could see it again above once or twice for a
+short space, which made them judge it to proceed from a candle or torch
+belonging to some fisherman or traveller, who lifted it up occasionally
+and lowered it again, or perhaps from people going from one house to
+another, because it appeared and vanished again so suddenly. Being now
+very much on their guard, they still held on their course until about two
+in the morning of Friday, October 12th, when the Pinta, which was always
+far ahead, owing to her superior sailing, made the signal of seeing land,
+which was first discovered by Rodrigo de Triana at about two leagues from
+the ship. But the thirty crowns a year were afterward granted to the
+admiral, who had seen the light in the midst of darkness, a type of the
+spiritual light which he was the happy means of spreading in these dark
+regions of error. Being now so near land, all the ships lay to, everyone
+thinking it long till daylight, that they might enjoy the sight they had
+so long and anxiously desired.
+
+When daylight appeared, the newly discovered land was perceived to
+consist of a flat island fifteen leagues in length, without any hills,
+all covered with trees, and having a great lake in the middle. The island
+was inhabited by great abundance of people, who ran down to the shore
+filled with wonder and admiration at the sight of the ships, which they
+conceived to be some unknown animals. The Christians were not less
+curious to know what kind of people they had fallen in with, and the
+curiosity on both sides was soon satisfied, as the ships soon came to
+anchor. The admiral went on shore with his boat well armed, and having
+the royal standard of Castile and Leon displayed, accompanied by the
+commanders of the other two vessels, each in his own boat, carrying the
+particular colors which had been allotted for the enterprise, which were
+white with a green cross and the letter F on one side, and on the other
+the names of Ferdinand and Isabella crowned.
+
+The whole company kneeled on the shore and kissed the ground for joy,
+returning God thanks for the great mercy they had experienced during
+their long voyage through seas hitherto unpassed, and their now happy
+discovery of an unknown land.
+
+The admiral then stood up, and took formal possession in the usual words
+for their Catholic majesties of this island, to which he gave the name
+of San Salvador. All the Christians present admitted Columbus to the
+authority and dignity of admiral and viceroy, pursuant to the commission
+which he had received to that effect, and all made oath to obey him as
+the legitimate representative of their Catholic majesties, with such
+expressions of joy and acknowledgment as became their mighty success; and
+they all implored his forgiveness of the many affronts he had received
+from them through their fears and want of confidence. Numbers of the
+Indians or natives of the island were present at these ceremonies; and,
+perceiving them to be peaceable, quiet, and simple people, the admiral
+distributed several presents among them. To some he gave red caps, and
+to others strings of glass beads, which they hung about their necks, and
+various other things of small value, which they valued as if they had
+been jewels of high price.
+
+After the ceremonies, the admiral went off in his boat, and the Indians
+followed him even to the ships, some by swimming and others in their
+canoes, carrying parrots, clews of spun cotton yarn, javelins, and other
+such trifling articles, to barter for glass beads, bells, and other
+things of small value. Like people in the original simplicity of nature,
+they were all naked, and even a woman who was among them was entirely
+destitute of clothing. Most of them were young, seemingly not above
+thirty years of age, of a good stature, with very thick black lank hair,
+mostly cut short above their ears, though some had it down to their
+shoulders, tied up with a string about their head like women's tresses.
+Their countenances were mild and agreeable and their features good; but
+their foreheads were too high, which gave them rather a wild appearance.
+They were of a middle stature, plump, and well shaped, but of an olive
+complexion, like the inhabitants of the Canaries, or sunburnt peasants.
+Some were painted with black, others with white, and others again with
+red; in some the whole body was painted, in others only the face, and
+some only the nose and eyes. They had no weapons like those of Europe,
+neither had they any knowledge of such; for when our people showed them a
+naked sword, they ignorantly grasped it by the edge. Neither had they any
+knowledge of iron, as their javelins were merely constructed of wood,
+having their points hardened in the fire, and armed with a piece of
+fish-bone. Some of them had scars of wounds on different parts, and,
+being asked by signs how these had been got, they answered by signs that
+people from other islands came to take them away, and that they had been
+wounded in their own defence. They seemed ingenious and of a voluble
+tongue, as they readily repeated such words as they once heard. There was
+no kind of animals among them excepting parrots, which they carried to
+barter with the Christians among the articles already mentioned, and in
+this trade they continued on board the ships till night, when they all
+returned to the shore.
+
+In the morning of the next day, being October 13th, many of the natives
+returned on board the ships in their boats or canoes, which were all of
+one piece hollowed like a tray from the trunk of a tree; some of these
+were so large as to contain forty or forty-five men, while others were so
+small as only to hold one person, with many intermediate sizes between
+these extremes. These they worked along with paddles formed like a
+baker's peel or the implement which is used in dressing hemp. These oars
+or paddles were not fixed by pins to the sides of the canoes like ours,
+but were dipped into the water and pulled backward as if digging. Their
+canoes are so light and artfully constructed that if overset they soon
+turn them right again by swimming; and they empty out the water by
+throwing them from side to side like a weaver's shuttle, and when half
+emptied they ladle out the rest with dried calabashes cut in two, which
+they carry for that purpose.
+
+This second day the natives, as said before, brought various articles to
+barter for such small things as they could procure in exchange. Jewels or
+metals of any kind were not seen among them, except some small plates of
+gold which hung from their nostrils; and on being questioned from whence
+they procured the gold, they answered by signs that they had it from
+the south, where there was a king who possessed abundance of pieces and
+vessels of gold; and they made our people to understand that there were
+many other islands and large countries to the south and southwest. They
+were very covetous to get possession of anything which belonged to the
+Christians, and being themselves very poor, with nothing of value to give
+in exchange, as soon as they got on board, if they could lay hold of
+anything which struck their fancy, though it were only a piece of a
+broken glazed earthen dish or porringer, they leaped with it into the sea
+and swam on shore with their prize. If they brought anything on board
+they would barter it for anything whatever belonging to our people, even
+for a piece of broken glass; insomuch that some gave sixteen large clews
+of well-spun cotton yarn, weighing twenty-five pounds, for three small
+pieces of Portuguese brass coin not worth a farthing. Their liberality in
+dealing did not proceed from their putting any great value on the things
+themselves which they received from our people in return, but because
+they valued them as belonging to the Christians, whom they believed
+certainly to have come down from heaven, and they therefore earnestly
+desired to have something from them as a memorial. In this manner all
+this day was spent, and the islanders, as before, went all on shore at
+night.
+
+[Footnote 1: In the other editions this part of the sentence reads,
+"concerning the islands of India beyond the Ganges, recently
+discovered."]
+
+[Footnote 2: The name of Isabella (Helisabet) is also omitted in the
+title of one of Plannck's editions; it is found in the two other Roman
+editions.]
+
+[Footnote 3: The correct form is Gabriel Sanchez.]
+
+[Footnote 4: April 29th.]
+
+[Footnote 5: A mistake of the Latin translator. Columbus sailed from
+Palos, August 3, 1492; on September 8th he left the Canaries, and on
+October 11th, or thirty-three days later, he reached the Bahamas.]
+
+[Footnote 6: In Spanish, San Salvador, one of the Bahama Islands. It
+has been variously identified with Grand Turk, Cat, Watling, Mariguana,
+Samana, and Acklin Islands. Watling's Island seems to have much in its
+favor.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Perhaps Crooked Island, or, according to others, North
+Caico.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Identified by some with Long Island, by others with Little
+Inagua.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Identified variously with Fortune Island and Great Inagua.]
+
+[Footnote 10: The island of Cuba.]
+
+[Footnote 11: China.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Hispaniola, or Hayti.]
+
+[Footnote:13 From Catalonia by the sea-coast to Fontarabia in Biscay.]
+
+[Footnote 14: Identified with Dominica.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Supposed to be Martinique.]
+
+[Footnote 16: March 14, 1493.]
+
+[Footnote 17: The name given by Marco Polo to an island or islands
+supposed to be the modern Japan, for outlying portions of which Columbus
+mistook the West Indies.]
+
+
+
+CONSPIRACY, REBELLION, AND EXECUTION OF PERKIN WARBECK
+
+A.D. 1492
+
+FRANCIS BACON
+
+
+Soon after his accession to the throne of England, Henry VII married
+Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV, uniting the rival houses of
+York and Lancaster. But notwithstanding this adjustment of the rival
+interests, the rule of Henry, the Lancastrian, failed to satisfy the
+Yorkists; and this party, with the aid of Margaret of Burgundy--sister of
+Edward IV--and James IV of Scotland, set up two impostors, one after the
+other, to claim the English throne. At the same time there was living a
+real heir of the house of York--young Edward, Earl of Warwick, son of the
+Duke of Clarence, brother to Edward IV. Henry had taken the precaution to
+keep this genuine Yorkist in the Tower.
+
+In 1487 a spurious earl of Warwick appeared in Ireland. Receiving
+powerful support in that country, he was actually crowned in the
+Cathedral of Dublin. In order to defeat this imposture Henry exhibited
+the real earl to the people of London. He also vanquished the army of
+the pretender at Stoke, in June, 1487. This false earl was found to be
+Lambert Simnel, son of an Oxford joiner. He became a scullion in King
+Henry's kitchen.
+
+The second of these impostors, known as Perkin Warbeck, contrived to make
+himself a figure of some importance in the history of England. Supposedly
+born in Flanders, he first appears upon the historic stage in 1492, when
+he landed at Cork. Going soon after to France, he was recognized by the
+court as Duke of York, according to his claim. How he was coached for his
+part, and how the drama in which he played it was acted out, are told by
+Bacon in what is perhaps the best specimen we have of that great author's
+style in historical composition.
+
+Warbeck was executed in 1499, and, although Bacon gives us no dates,
+the whole history, covering about seven years, may be said to form
+a practically continuous series of incidents. The character of this
+adventurer has been made quite prominent in literature, having been the
+subject of Ford's tragedy, _The Chronicle History of Perkin Warbeck_
+(1634), of a play by Charles Macklin, _King Henry VII, or the Popish
+Impostor_ (1716), and of Joseph Elderton's drama, _The Pretender_.
+
+This youth of whom we are now to speak was such a mercurial as the like
+hath seldom been known, and could make his own part if at any time he
+chanced to be out. Wherefore, this being one of the strangest examples of
+a personation that ever was in elder or later times, it deserveth to be
+discovered and related at the full--although the King's manner of showing
+things by pieces and by dark lights hath so muffled it that it hath been
+left almost as a mystery to this day.
+
+The Lady Margaret,[1] whom the King's friends called Juno, because she
+was to him as Juno was to Aeneas, stirring both heaven and hell to do him
+mischief, for a foundation of her particular practices against him, did
+continually, by all means possible, nourish, maintain, and divulge the
+flying opinion that Richard, Duke of York, second son to Edward IV, was
+not murdered in the Tower, as was given out, but saved alive. For that
+those who were employed in that barbarous act, having destroyed the elder
+brother, were stricken with remorse and compassion toward the younger,
+and set him privily at liberty to seek his fortune.
+
+There was a townsman of Tournai, that had borne office in that town,
+whose name was John Osbeck, a convert Jew, married to Catherine de Faro,
+whose business drew him to live for a time with his wife at London, in
+King Edward's days. During which time he had a son[2] by her, and being
+known in the court, the King, either out of a religious nobleness because
+he was a convert, or upon some private acquaintance, did him the honor to
+be godfather to his child, and named him Peter. But afterward, proving a
+dainty and effeminate youth, he was commonly called by the diminutive
+of his name, Peterkin or Perkin. For as for the name of Warbeck, it was
+given him when they did but guess at it, before examinations had been
+taken. But yet he had been so much talked of by that name, as it stuck by
+him after his true name of Osbeck was known.
+
+While he was a young child, his parents returned with him to Tournai.
+There he was placed in the house of a kinsman of his called John
+Stenbeck, at Antwerp, and so roved up and down between Antwerp and
+Tournai, and other towns of Flanders, for a good time, living much in
+English company and having the English tongue perfect. In which time,
+being grown a comely youth, he was brought by some of the espials of the
+Lady Margaret into her presence. Who, viewing him well, and seeing that
+he had a face and personage that would bear a noble fortune, and finding
+him otherwise of a fine spirit and winning behavior, thought she had now
+found a curious piece of marble to carve out an image of a Duke of York.
+She kept him by her a great while, but with extreme secrecy.
+
+The while she instructed him by many cabinet conferences. First, in
+princely behavior and gesture, teaching him how he should keep state, and
+yet with a modest sense of his misfortunes. Then she informed him of all
+the circumstances and particulars that concerned the person of Richard,
+Duke of York, which he was to act, describing unto him the personages,
+lineaments, and features of the King and Queen, his pretended parents;
+and of his brother and sisters, and divers others, that were nearest him
+in his childhood; together with all passages, some secret, some common,
+that were fit for a child's memory, until the death of King Edward. Then
+she added the particulars of the time from the King's death, until he and
+his brother were committed to the Tower, as well during the time he was
+abroad as while he was in sanctuary. As for the times while he was in the
+Tower, and the manner of his brother's death, and his own escape, she
+knew they were things that a very few could control. And therefore she
+taught him only to tell a smooth and likely tale of those matters,
+warning him not to vary from it.
+
+It was agreed likewise between them what account he should give of his
+peregrination abroad, intermixing many things which were true, and such
+as they knew others could testify, for the credit of the rest, but still
+making them to hang together with the part he was to play. She taught him
+likewise how to avoid sundry captious and tempting questions which were
+like to be asked of him. But, this she found him so nimble and shifting
+as she trusted much to his own wit and readiness, and therefore labored
+the less in it.
+
+Lastly, she raised his thoughts with some present rewards and further
+promises, setting before him chiefly the glory and fortune of a crown
+if things went well, and a sure refuge to her court if the worst should
+fall. After such time as she thought he was perfect in his lesson, she
+began to cast with herself from what coast this blazing star should first
+appear, and at what time it must be upon the horizon of Ireland, for
+there had the like meteor strong influence before. The time of the
+apparition to be when the King should be engaged in a war with France.
+But well she knew that whatsoever should come from her would be held
+suspected. And therefore, if he should go out of Flanders immediately
+into Ireland, she might be thought to have some hand in it. And besides
+the time was not yet ripe, for that the two kings were then upon terms of
+peace. Therefore she wheeled about; and to put all suspicion afar off,
+and loath to keep him any longer by her, for that she knew secrets
+are not long-lived, she sent him unknown into Portugal, with the Lady
+Brampton, an English lady, that embarked for Portugal at that time, with
+some _privado_ of her own, to have an eye upon him, and there he was to
+remain, and to expect her further directions.
+
+In the mean time she omitted not to prepare things for his better welcome
+and accepting, not only in the kingdom of Ireland, but in the court of
+France. He continued in Portugal about a year, and by that time the King
+of England called his parliament and declared open war against France.
+Now did the sign reign, and the constellation was come, under which
+Perkin should appear. And therefore he was straight sent unto by the
+Duchess to go for Ireland, according to the first designment. In Ireland
+he did arrive, at the town of Cork. When he was thither come, his own
+tale was, when he made his confession afterward, that the Irishmen,
+finding him in some good clothes, came flocking about him, and bare him
+down that he was the Duke of Clarence that had been there before. And
+after, that he was the base son of Richard III. And lastly, that he was
+Richard, Duke of York, second son to Edward IV. But that he, for his
+part, renounced all these things, and offered to swear upon the holy
+evangelists that he was no such man; till at last they forced it upon
+him, and bade him fear nothing, and so forth. But the truth is that
+immediately upon his coming into Ireland he took upon him the said person
+of the Duke of York, and drew unto him complices and partakers by all the
+means he could devise. Insomuch as he wrote his letters unto the Earls
+of Desmond and Kildare to come in to his aid, and be of his party; the
+originals of which letters are yet extant.
+
+Somewhat before this time, the Duchess had also gained unto her a near
+servant of King Henry's own, one Stephen Frion, his secretary for the
+French tongue; an active man, but turbulent and discontented. This Frion
+had fled over to Charles, the French King, and put himself into his
+service, at such time as he began to be in open enmity with the King. Now
+King Charles, when he understood of the person and attempts of Perkin,
+ready of himself to embrace all advantages against the King of England,
+instigated by Frion, and formerly prepared by the Lady Margaret,
+forthwith despatched one Lucas and this Frion, in the nature of
+ambassadors to Perkin, to advertise him of the King's good inclination
+to him, and that he was resolved to aid him to recover his right against
+King Henry, a usurper of England and an enemy of France; and wished him
+to come over unto him at Paris.
+
+Perkin thought himself in heaven now that he was invited by so great a
+king in so honorable a manner. And imparting unto his friends in Ireland,
+for their encouragement, how fortune called him, and what great hopes
+he had, sailed presently into France. When he was come to the court of
+France, the King received him with great honor; saluted and styled him by
+the name of the Duke of York; lodged him and accommodated him in great
+state; and, the better to give him the representation and the countenance
+of a prince, assigned him a guard for his person, whereof Lord Congresall
+was captain. The courtiers likewise, though it be ill mocking with the
+French, applied themselves to their King's bent, seeing there was reason
+of state for it. At the same time there repaired unto Perkin divers
+Englishmen of quality--Sir George Neville, Sir John Taylor, and about one
+hundred more--and among the rest this Stephen Frion, of whom we spake,
+who followed his fortune both then and for a long time after, and was,
+indeed, his principal counsellor and instrument in all his proceedings.
+
+But all this on the French King's part was but a trick, the better to bow
+King Henry to peace. And therefore, upon the first grain of incense that
+was sacrificed upon the altar of peace at Boulogne, Perkin was smoked
+away. Yet would not the French King deliver him up to King Henry, as
+he was labored to do, for his honor's sake, but warned him away and
+dismissed him. And Perkin, on his part, was ready to be gone, doubting he
+might be caught up underhand. He therefore took his way into Flanders,
+unto the Duchess of Burgundy, pretending that, having been variously
+tossed by fortune, he directed his course thither as to a safe harbor,
+noways taking knowledge that he had ever been there before, but as if
+that had been his first address. The Duchess, on the other part, made it
+as new strange to see him, pretending, at the first, that she was taught
+and made wise, by the example of Lambert Simnel, how she did admit of
+any counterfeit stuff, though, even in that, she said she was not fully
+satisfied.
+
+She pretended at the first, and that was ever in the presence of others,
+to pose him and sift him, thereby to try whether he were indeed the very
+Duke of York or no. But, seeming to receive full satisfaction by his
+answers, she then feigned herself to be transported with a kind of
+astonishment, mixed of joy and wonder, at his miraculous deliverance,
+receiving him as if he were risen from death to life, and inferring that
+God, who had in such wonderful manner preserved him from death, did
+likewise reserve him for some great and prosperous fortune. As for his
+dismission out of France, they interpreted it, not as if he were detected
+or neglected for a counterfeit deceiver, but, contrariwise, that it did
+show manifestly unto the world that he was some great matter, for that it
+was his abandoning that, in effect, made the peace, being no more but the
+sacrificing of a poor, distressed prince unto the utility and ambition of
+two mighty monarchs.
+
+Neither was Perkin, for his part, wanting to himself, either in gracious
+or princely behavior, or in ready or apposite answers, or in contenting
+and caressing those that did apply themselves unto him, or in petty scorn
+and disdain to those that seemed to doubt of him; but in all things did
+notably acquit himself, insomuch as it was generally believed, as well
+among great persons as among the vulgar, that he was indeed Duke Richard.
+Nay, himself, with long and continued counterfeiting, and with oft
+telling a lie, was turned by habit almost into the thing he seemed to be,
+and from a liar to a believer. The Duchess, therefore, as in a case out
+of doubt, did him all princely honor, calling him always by the name of
+her nephew, and giving the delicate title of the "White Rose of England,"
+and appointed him a guard of thirty persons, halberdiers, clad in a
+party-colored livery of murrey and blue, to attend his person. Her court
+likewise, and generally the Dutch and strangers, in their usage toward
+him, expressed no less respect.
+
+The news hereof came blazing and thundering over into England that the
+Duke of York was sure alive. As for the name of Perkin Warbeck, it was
+not at that time come to light, but all the news ran upon the Duke of
+York; that he had been entertained in Ireland, bought and sold in France,
+and was now plainly avowed and in great honor in Flanders. These fames
+took hold of divers; in some upon discontent, in some upon ambition, in
+some upon levity and desire of change, and in some few upon conscience
+and belief, but in most upon simplicity, and in divers out of dependence
+upon some of the better sort, who did in secret favor and nourish these
+bruits. And it was not long ere these rumors of novelty had begotten
+others of scandal and murmur against the King and his government, taxing
+him for a great taxer of his people and discountenancer of his nobility.
+The loss of Britain and the peace with France were not forgotten. But
+chiefly they fell upon the wrong that he did his Queen, in that he did
+not reign in her right. Wherefore they said that God had now brought to
+light a masculine branch of the house of York, that would not be at his
+courtesy, howsoever he did depress his poor lady.
+
+And yet, as it fareth with things which are current with the multitude
+and which they affect, these fames grew so general as the authors were
+lost in the generality of the speakers; they being like running weeds
+that have no certain root, or like footings up and down, impossible to be
+traced. But after a while these ill-humors drew to a head, and settled
+secretly in some eminent persons, which were Sir William Stanley, lord
+chamberlain of the King's household, the Lord Fitzwater, Sir Simon
+Montfort, and Sir Thomas Thwaites. These entered into a secret conspiracy
+to favor Duke Richard's title. Nevertheless, none engaged their fortunes
+in this business openly but two, Sir Robert Clifford and Master William
+Barley, who sailed over into Flanders, sent, indeed, from the party of
+the conspirators here, to understand the truth of those things
+that passed there, and not without some help of moneys from hence;
+provisionally to be delivered, if they found and were satisfied that
+there was truth in these pretences. The person of Sir Robert Clifford,
+being a gentleman of fame and family, was extremely welcome to the Lady
+Margaret, who, after she had conference with him, brought him to the
+sight of Perkin, with whom he had often speech and discourse. So that in
+the end, won either by the Duchess to affect or by Perkin to believe, he
+wrote back into England that he knew the person of Richard, Duke of York,
+as well as he knew his own, and that this young man was undoubtedly he.
+By this means all things grew prepared to revolt and sedition here,
+and the conspiracy came to have a correspondence between Flanders and
+England.
+
+The King, on his part, was not asleep, but to arm or levy forces yet,
+he thought, would but show fear, and do this idol too much worship.
+Nevertheless, the ports he did shut up, or at least kept a watch on them,
+that none should pass to or fro that was suspected; but for the rest, he
+chose to work by counter-mines. His purposes were two--the one to lay
+open the abuse, the other to break the knot of the conspirators. To
+detect the abuse there were but two ways--the first, to make it manifest
+to the world that the Duke of York was indeed murdered; the other to
+prove that, were he dead or alive, yet Perkin was a counterfeit. For the
+first, thus it stood. There were but four persons that could speak upon
+knowledge to the murder of the Duke of York--Sir James Tyrell, the
+employed man from King Richard; John Dighton and Miles Forest, his
+servants, the two butchers or tormentors; and the priest of the Tower,
+that buried them. Of which four, Miles Forest and the priest were dead,
+and there remained alive only Sir James Tyrell and John Dighton.
+
+These two the King caused to be committed to the Tower. and examined
+touching the manner of the death of the two innocent princes. They agreed
+both in a tale, as the King gave out, to this effect: That King Richard,
+having directed his warrant for the putting of them to death to
+Brackenbury, the lieutenant of the Tower, was by him refused. Whereupon
+the King directed his warrant to Sir James Tyrell, to receive the key of
+the Tower from the lieutenant, for the space of a night, for the King's
+special service. That Sir James Tyrell accordingly repaired to the Tower
+by night, attended by his two servants aforenamed, whom he had chosen for
+that purpose. That himself stood at the stair-foot, and sent these two
+villains to execute the murder. That they smothered them in their beds,
+and, that done, called up their master to see their naked dead bodies,
+which they had laid forth. That they were buried under the stairs, and
+some stones cast upon them. That when the report was made to King Richard
+that his will was done, he gave Sir James Tyrell great thanks, but took
+exception to the place of their burial, being too base for them that were
+king's children. Whereupon another night, by the King's warrant renewed,
+their bodies were removed by the priest of the Tower, and buried by him
+in some place which, by means of the priest's death soon after, could not
+be known.
+
+Thus much was then delivered abroad to be the effect of those
+examinations; but the King, nevertheless, made no use of them in any
+of his declarations, whereby, as it seems, those examinations left the
+business somewhat perplexed. And, as for Sir James Tyrell, he was soon
+after beheaded in the Tower-yard for other matters of treason. But John
+Dighton, who, it seemeth, spake best for the King, was forthwith set
+at liberty, and was the principal means of divulging this tradition.
+Therefore, this kind of proof being left so naked, the King used the more
+diligence in the latter for the tracing of Perkin. To this purpose he
+sent abroad into several parts, and especially into Flanders, divers
+secret and nimble scouts and spies, some feigning themselves to fly over
+unto Perkin and to adhere to him, and some, under other pretence, to
+learn, search, and discover all the circumstances and particulars of
+Perkin's parents, birth, person, travels up and down, and in brief to
+have a journal, as it were, of his life and doings. Others he employed,
+in a more special nature and trust, to be his pioneers in the main
+counter-mine.
+
+The King of Scotland--James IV--having espoused the cause of Warbeck, and
+attended him upon an invasion of England, though he would not formally
+retract his judgment of Perkin, wherein he had engaged himself so far,
+yet in his private opinion, upon often speech with the Englishmen, and
+diverse other advertisements, began to suspect him for a counterfeit.
+Wherefore in a noble fashion he called him unto him, and recounted the
+benefits and favors that he had done him in making him his ally, and in
+provoking a mighty and opulent king, by an offensive war, in his quarrel,
+for the space of two years together; nay, more, that he had refused an
+honorable peace, whereof he had a fair offer, if he would have delivered
+him; and that, to keep his promise with him, he had deeply offended both
+his nobles and people, whom he might not hold in any long discontent; and
+therefore required him to think of his own fortunes, and to choose out
+some fitter place for his exile; telling him withal that he could not say
+but that the English had forsaken him before the Scottish, for that,
+upon two several trials, none had declared themselves on his side;
+but nevertheless he would make good what he said to him at his first
+receiving, which was that he should not repent him for putting himself
+into his hands; for that he would not cast him off, but help him with
+shipping and means to transport him where he should desire. Perkin, not
+descending at all from his stage-like greatness, answered the King in
+few words, that he saw his time was not yet come; but, whatsoever his
+fortunes were, he should both think and speak honor of the King. Taking
+his leave, he would not think on Flanders, doubting it was but hollow
+ground for him since the treaty of the Archduke, concluded the year
+before; but took his lady, and such followers as would not leave him, and
+sailed over into Ireland.
+
+When Perkin heard of the late Cornwall insurrection he began to take
+heart again, and advised upon it with his council, which were principally
+three--Herne, a mercer, that fled for debt; Skelton, a tailor; and
+Astley, a scrivener; for Secretary Frion was gone. These told him that he
+was mightily overseen, both when he went into Kent and when he went into
+Scotland--the one being a place so near London and under the King's
+nose; and the other a nation so distasted with the people of England,
+that if they had loved him ever so well, yet they could never have taken
+his part in that company. But if he had been so happy as to have been in
+Cornwall at the first, when the people began to take arms there, he had
+been crowned at Westminster before this time; for these kings, as he
+had now experience, would sell poor princes for shoes. But he must rely
+wholly upon people; and therefore advised him to sail over with all
+possible speed into Cornwall; which accordingly he did, having in his
+company four small barks, with some sixscore or sevenscore fighting men.
+
+He arrived in September at Whitsand Bay, and forthwith came to Bodmin,
+the blacksmith's town, where they assembled unto him to the number
+of three thousand men of the rude people. There he set forth a new
+proclamation stroking the people with fair promises, and humoring them
+with invectives against the King and his government. And as it fareth
+with smoke, that never loseth itself till it be at the highest, he did
+now before his end raise his style, entitling himself no more Richard,
+Duke of York, but Richard IV, King of England. His council advised him
+by all means to make himself master of some good walled town; as well to
+make his men find the sweetness of rich spoils, and to allure to him all
+loose and lost people, by like hopes of booty as to be a sure retreat to
+his forces in case they should have any ill day or unlucky chance of the
+field. Wherefore they took heart to them and went on, and besieged the
+city of Exeter, the principal town for strength and wealth in those
+parts.
+
+Perkin, hearing the thunder of arms, and preparations against him from so
+many parts, raised his siege, and marched to Taunton, beginning already
+to squint one eye upon the crown and another upon the sanctuary; though
+the Cornish men were become, like metal often fired and quenched,
+churlish, and that would sooner break than bow; swearing and vowing not
+to leave him till the uttermost drop of their blood were spilt. He was at
+his rising from Exeter between six and seven thousand strong, many having
+come unto him after he was set before Exeter, upon fame of so great an
+enterprise, and to partake of the spoil, though upon the raising of his
+siege some did slip away.
+
+When he was come near Taunton, he dissembled all fear, and seemed all the
+day to use diligence in preparing all things ready to fight. But about
+midnight he fled with threescore horses to Bewdley[3], in the New Forest,
+where he and divers of his company registered themselves sanctuary-men,
+leaving his Cornish men to the four winds, but yet thereby easing them
+of their vow, and using his wonted compassion not to be by when his
+subjects' blood should be spilt. The King, as soon as he heard of
+Perkin's flight, sent presently five hundred horse to pursue and
+apprehend him before he should get either to the sea or to that same
+little island called a sanctuary. But they came too late for the latter
+of these. Therefore all they could do was to beset the sanctuary, and to
+maintain a strong watch about it, till the King's pleasure were further
+known.
+
+Perkin, having at length given himself up, was brought into the King's
+court, but not to the King's presence; though the King, to satisfy his
+curiosity, saw him sometimes out of a window or in passage. He was in
+show at liberty, but guarded with all care and watch that were possible,
+and willed to follow the King to London. But from his first appearance
+upon the stage in his new person of a sycophant or juggler, instead of
+his former person of a prince, all men may think how he was exposed to
+the derision not only of the courtiers, but also of the common people,
+who flocked about him as he went along, that one might know afar off
+where the owl was by the flight of birds; some mocking, some wondering,
+some cursing, some prying and picking matter out of his countenance and
+gesture to talk of; so that the false honor and respects, which he had so
+long enjoyed, were plentifully repaid in scorn and contempt.
+
+As soon as he was come to London the King gave also the city the solace
+of this May-game; for he was conveyed leisurely on horseback, but not in
+any ignominious fashion, through Cheapside and Cornhill, to the Tower,
+and from thence back again unto Westminster, with the churme of a
+thousand taunts and reproaches. But to amend the show, there followed a
+little distance of Perkin an inward counsellor of his, one that had been
+sergeant farrier to the King. This fellow, when Perkin took sanctuary,
+chose rather to take a holy habit than a holy place, and clad himself
+like a hermit, and in that weed wandered about the country till he was
+discovered and taken. But this man was bound hand and foot upon the
+horse, and came not back with Perkin, but was left at the Tower, and
+within few days after executed.
+
+Soon after, now that Perkin could tell better what himself was, he was
+diligently examined; and after his confession taken, an extract was made
+of such parts of it as were thought fit to be divulged, which was printed
+and dispersed abroad; wherein the King did himself no right; for as there
+was a labored tale of particulars of Perkin's father and mother and
+grandsire and grandmother and uncles and cousins, by names and surnames,
+and from what places he travelled up and down; so there was little or
+nothing to purpose of anything concerning his designs or any practices
+that had been held with him; nor the Duchess of Burgundy herself, that
+all the world did take knowledge of, as the person that had put life and
+being into the whole business, so much as named or pointed at. So that
+men, missing of that they looked for, looked about for they knew not
+what, and were in more doubt than before; but the King chose rather not
+to satisfy than to kindle coals.
+
+It was not long but Perkin, who was made of quicksilver, which is hard to
+hold or imprison, began to stir. For, deceiving his keepers, he took him
+to his heels, and made speed to the sea-coasts. But presently all corners
+were laid for him, and such diligent pursuit and search made as he was
+fain to turn back and get him to the house of Bethlehem, called the
+priory of Sheen (which had the privilege of sanctuary), and put himself
+into the hands of the prior of that monastery. The prior was thought a
+holy man and much reverenced in those days. He came to the King, and
+besought the King for Perkin's life only, leaving him otherwise to the
+King's discretion. Many about the King were again more hot than ever to
+have the King take him forth and hang him. But the King, that had a high
+stomach and could not hate any that he despised, bid, "Take him forth and
+set the knave in the stocks"; and so, promising the prior his life, he
+caused him to be brought forth. And within two or three days after, upon
+a scaffold set up in the palace court at Westminster, he was fettered and
+set in the stocks for the whole day. And the next day after the like was
+done by him at the cross in Cheapside, and in both places he read his
+confession, of which we made mention before; and was from Cheapside
+conveyed and laid up in the Tower.
+
+But it was ordained that this winding-ivy of a Plantagenet should kill
+the true tree itself. For Perkin, after he had been a while in the Tower,
+began to insinuate himself into the favor and kindness of his keepers,
+servants of the lieutenant of the Tower, Sir John Digby, being four in
+number--Strangeways, Blewet, Astwood, and Long Roger. These varlets, with
+mountains of promises, he sought to corrupt, to obtain his escape; but
+knowing well that his own fortunes were made so contemptible as he could
+feed no man's hopes, and by hopes he must work, for rewards he had none,
+he had contrived with himself a vast and tragical plot; which was, to
+draw into his company Edward Plantagenet, Earl of Warwick, then prisoner
+in the Tower, whom the weary life of a long imprisonment, and the often
+and renewing fears of being put to death, had softened to take any
+impression of counsel for his liberty.
+
+This young Prince he thought these servants would look upon, though not
+upon himself; and therefore, after that, by some message by one or two of
+them, he had tasted of the Earl's consent, it was agreed that these four
+should murder their master, the lieutenant, secretly, in the night, and
+make their best of such money and portable goods of his as they should
+find ready at hand, and get the keys of the Tower, and presently let
+forth Perkin and the Earl. But this conspiracy was revealed in time,
+before it could be executed. And in this again the opinion of the King's
+great wisdom did surcharge him with a sinister fame, that Perkin was but
+his bait to entrap the Earl of Warwick. And in the very instant while
+this conspiracy was in working, as if that also had been the King's
+industry, it was fated that there should break forth a counterfeit Earl
+of Warwick, a cordwainer's son, whose name was Ralph Wilford; a young man
+taught and set on by an Augustin friar, called Patrick. They both from
+the parts from Suffolk came forward into Kent, where they did not only
+privily and underhand give out that this Wilford was the true Earl of
+Warwick, but also the friar, finding some light credence in the people,
+took the boldness in the pulpit to declare as much, and to incite
+the people to come in to his aid. Whereupon they were both presently
+apprehended, and the young fellow executed, and the friar condemned to
+perpetual imprisonment.
+
+This also happening so opportunely, to represent the danger to the King's
+estate from the Earl of Warwick, and thereby to color the King's severity
+that followed; together with the madness of the friar so vainly and
+desperately to divulge a treason before it had gotten any manner of
+strength; and the saving of the friar's life, which nevertheless was,
+indeed, but the privilege of his order; and the pity in the common
+people, which, if it run in a strong stream, doth ever cast up scandal
+and envy, made it generally rather talked than believed that all was
+but the King's device. But howsoever it were, hereupon Perkin, that had
+offended against grace now the third time, was at last proceeded with,
+and by commissioners of oyer and determiner, arraigned at Westminster
+upon divers treasons committed and perpetrated after his coming on
+land within this kingdom, for so the judges advised, for that he was a
+foreigner, and condemned, and a few days after executed at Tyburn; where
+he did again openly read his confession, and take it upon his death to be
+true. This was the end of this little cockatrice of a king that was able
+to destroy those that did not espy him first. It was one of the longest
+plays of that kind that had been in memory, and might perhaps have had
+another end if he had not met with a king wise, stout, and fortunate.
+
+[Footnote 1: Sister to Edward IV, and widow of Charles _le Temeraire_,
+Duke of Burgundy.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Bernard Andre, the poet laureate of Henry VII, states in his
+manuscript life of his patron, that Perkin, when a boy, was "_servant_ in
+England to a Jew named Edward, who was baptized, and adopted as godson by
+Edward IV, and was on terms of intimacy with the King and his family."
+Speed, mistranslating Andre's words, makes Perkin the _son_ of the Jew,
+instead of the servant; and Bacon amplifies the error, and transforms
+John Osbeck into the convert Jew, who, having a handsome wife, it might
+be surmised why the licentious King "should become gossip in so mean a
+house." Hume adds: "People thence accounted for that resemblance which
+was afterward remarked between young Perkin and that monarch." The
+surmise of Bacon, grounded upon the error of Speed, is clinched into the
+positive assertion of Hume as to a popular belief for which there is not
+the slightest ground.--_Charles Knight_.]
+
+[Footnote:3 The Abbey of Beaulieu, near Southampton.]
+
+
+
+SAVONAROLA'S REFORMS AND DEATH
+
+THE FRENCH INVADE ITALY
+
+A.D. 1494
+
+PASQUALE VILLARI JEAN C. L. SISMONDI
+
+
+Girolamo Savonarola, the great moral, political, and religious reformer
+of Italy, was born in Ferrara, September 21, 1452. He was of noble
+family, studied medicine, but renounced his intended profession and
+became a Dominican monk. In 1491 he became prior of St. Mark's, Florence.
+When he began to preach in the Church of St. Mark on the sins of the
+time, he applied to Italy the prophetic language of the Apocalypse. He
+predicted the restoration of the Church in Italy through severe divine
+viistations. His power in the pulpit was overwhelming, and the fame
+of his preaching was spread abroad, many regarding him as an inspired
+prophet. In his denunciations he spared neither wealth nor position,
+laity nor clergy, and he exhorted the people to order their lives by the
+simple rules of Scripture.
+
+Savonarola refused to pay the customary homage of his office to the ruler
+of Florence, who at this time was Lorenzo de' Medici. His own office,
+the preacher declared, was received, not from Lorenzo, but from God.
+Overlooking the slight, Lorenzo tried by all means to win Savonarola's
+favor, but the reformer persisted in denouncing him. When a committee
+asked the preacher to desist from his denunciations and prophetic
+warnings, he bade them tell Lorenzo to repent of his sins, adding that,
+if he threatened banishment, the ruler himself would soon depart, while
+his censor would remain in Florence.
+
+In 1492 Lorenzo died and his son Piero succeeded him. But Savonarola now
+became the most powerful man in the republic, and he exerted himself for
+reformation of his own monastery, the Church, and the state itself. Soon
+he prophesied the downfall of the Medici, against whom he arrayed a
+considerable part of the Florentine people. He predicted that one should
+come over the Alps and wreak vengeance upon the tyrants of Italy. In 1494
+Charles VIII of France invaded Italy, warred against Naples, and advanced
+on Florence. Piero de' Medici, thoroughly frightened, surrendered his
+strongholds and agreed to pay Charles two hundred thousand ducats.
+
+Of Savonarola's career from this time, and the state of Florence up to
+the day of his death, the two authors here selected give faithful and
+vivid narratives. In _Romola_ George Eliot portrays the character and
+acts of this great reformer with a legitimate intensifying, for artistic
+purposes, of the certified facts of history.
+
+PASQUALE VILLARI
+
+The month of November, 1494, began under sinister auspices in Florence.
+The unexpected, almost incredible news of the surrender of fortresses
+which had cost the republic prolonged sieges and enormous expense, and
+formed the key of the whole Tuscan territory, instantly raised a tumult
+among the people, and the general fury was increased by letters received
+from the French camp, and the accounts of the returned envoys. For they
+told with what ease honorable terms might have been wrested from the
+King; with what a mixture of cowardice and self-assertion Piero de'
+Medici had placed the whole republic at the mercy of Charles VIII.
+
+All gave free vent to their indignation, and the people began to gather
+in the streets and squares. Some of the crowd were seen to be armed with
+old weapons which had been hidden away for more than half a century; and
+from the wool and silk manufactories strong, broad-set, dark-visaged men
+poured forth. On that day it seemed as though the Florentines had leaped
+back a century, and that, after patient endurance of sixty years'
+tyranny, they were now decided to reconquer their liberty by violence and
+bloodshed.
+
+Nevertheless, in the midst of this general excitement, men's minds were
+daunted by an equally general feeling of uncertainty and distrust. It
+was true that the Medici had left no soldiers in Florence, and that the
+people could at any moment make themselves masters of the whole city; but
+they knew not whom to trust, nor whom to choose as their leader. The old
+champions of liberty had nearly all perished during the last sixty years,
+either at the block or in persecution and exile. The few men at all
+familiar with state affairs were those who had always basked in the favor
+of the Medici; and the multitude just freed from slavery would inevitably
+recur to license if left to themselves. This, therefore, was one of
+those terrible moments when no one could foretell what excesses and what
+atrocities might not be committed. All day the people streamed aimlessly
+through the streets, like an impetuous torrent; they cast covetous
+glances on the houses of the citizens who had amassed wealth by acts
+of oppression; but they had no one to lead them; only, at the hour of
+Savonarola's sermon, they all flocked instinctively to the Duomo. Never
+had so dense a throng been gathered within its walls; all were too
+closely packed to be able to move; and when at last Savonarola mounted
+the pulpit he looked down upon a solid and motionless mass of upturned
+faces. Unusual sternness and excitement were depicted on every
+countenance, and he could see steel corselets flashing here and there in
+the cloaked crowd.
+
+The friar was now the only man having any influence over the people, who
+seemed to hang on his words and look for safety to him alone. One hasty
+word from his mouth would have sufficed to cause all the houses of the
+principal citizens to be sacked, to revive past scenes of civil warfare,
+and lead to torrents of blood. For the people had been cruelly trampled
+on, and were now panting for a cruel revenge. He therefore carefully
+abstained from all allusion to politics; his heart was overflowing with
+pity; he bent forward with outstretched arms from the pulpit, and, in
+tones which echoed throughout the building, proclaimed the law of peace
+and charity and union.
+
+"Behold the sword has come upon you, the prophecies are fulfilled, the
+scourges begun! Behold! these hosts are led by the Lord! O Florence! the
+time of singing and dancing is at an end; now is the time to shed floods
+of tears for thy sins. Thy sins, O Florence! thy sins, O Rome! thy sins,
+O Italy! They have brought these chastisements upon thee! Repent ye,
+then; give alms, offer up prayers, be united! O my people! I have long
+been as thy father; I have labored all the days of my life to teach ye
+the truths of faith and of godly living, yet have I received naught but
+tribulation, scorn, and contumely; give me at least the consolation of
+seeing ye do good deeds! My people, what desire hath ever been mine but
+to see ye saved, to see ye united? 'Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven
+is at hand!' But I have said this so many times, I have cried to ye so
+many times; I have wept for thee, O Florence! so many times, that it
+should be enough. To thee I turn, O Lord, to thee, who didst die for love
+of us and for our sins; forgive, forgive, O Lord, the Florentine people,
+that would fain be thy people."
+
+In this strain he continued to exhort his hearers to charity, faith, and
+concord with such succeeding earnestness and fervor that he was exhausted
+and almost ill for several days after. These sermons were less eloquent
+than some of the others, since he was too deeply moved for reflection or
+for studied effects; but the tenderness with which he spoke dominated and
+soothed the people, who, fresh from the tumults without, entered this
+place of peace to hear the words of the Gospel. So magical was the power
+of Savonarola's voice in those days that, in all this great stir of
+public excitement, not a single excess was committed, and the revolution
+that seemed on the point of being effected by violence on the Piazza was
+quietly and peacefully accomplished within the walls of the palace.
+And this miracle, unprecedented in Florentine history, is unanimously
+attributed by the historians of the time to Savonarola's beneficial
+ascendency over the minds of the people.
+
+On November 4th, the seigniory called a special meeting of the Council of
+Seventy, in order to decide what course to adopt. All the members were
+adherents and nominees of the Medici, but were so enraged by the cowardly
+surrender of the fortresses that they already had the air of a republican
+assembly. According to the old Florentine law and custom, no one was
+allowed to speak unless invited to do so by the seigniory, and was then
+only expected to support the measures which they had proposed. But in
+moments of public excitement neither this nor any other law was observed
+in Florence. On this day there was great agitation in the council; the
+safety of the country was at stake; the seigniory asked everyone for
+advice, and all wished to speak. Yet so much were men's minds daunted by
+the long habit of slavery that when Messer Luca Corsini broke through the
+old rule, and, rising to his feet uninvited, began to remark that things
+were going badly, the city falling into a state of anarchy, and that some
+strong remedy was required, everyone felt amazed. Some of his colleagues
+began to murmur, others to cough; and at last he began to falter and
+became so confused that he could not go on with his speech.
+
+However, the debate was soon reopened by Jacopo di Tanai de' Nerli, a
+youth of considerable spirit, who warmly seconded Corsini's words; but
+he too presently began to hesitate, and his father, rising in great
+confusion, sought to excuse him in the eyes of the assembly by saying
+that he was young and foolish.
+
+Lastly Piero di Gino Capponi rose to his feet. With his finely
+proportioned form, white hair, fiery glance, and a certain air of buoyant
+courage like that of a war-horse at sound of trumpet, he attracted
+universal attention and reduced all to silence. He was known to be a man
+of few but resolute words and of still more resolute deeds. He now spoke
+plainly and said: "Piero de' Medici is no longer fit to rule the state;
+the republic must provide for itself; _the moment has come to shake off
+this baby government_. Let ambassadors be sent to King Charles, and,
+should they meet Piero by the way, let them pass him without salutation;
+and let them explain that he has caused all the evil, and that the city
+is well disposed to the French. Let honorable men be chosen to give a
+fitting welcome to the King; but, at the same time, let all the captains
+and soldiery be summoned in from the country and hidden away in cloisters
+and other secret places. And besides the soldiery let all men be prepared
+to fight in case of need, so that when we shall have done our best to act
+honestly toward this most Christian monarch, and to satisfy with money
+the avarice of the French, we may be ready to face him and show our teeth
+if he should try us beyond our patience, either by word or deed. And
+above all," he said in conclusion, "it must not be forgotten to send
+Father Girolamo Savonarola as one of the ambassadors, for he has gained
+the entire love of the people." He might have added: because he has the
+entire respect of the King; for Charles had conceived an almost religious
+veneration for the man who had so long foretold his coming, and declared
+it to be ordained by the Lord.
+
+The new ambassadors were elected on November 5th, and consisted of
+Pandolfo Rocellai, Giovanni Cavalcanti, Piero Capponi, Tanai de' Nerli,
+and Savonarola. The latter allowed the others to precede him to Lucca,
+where they hoped to meet the King, while he followed on foot according
+to his usual custom, accompanied by two of his brethren. But, before
+starting, he again addressed the people, and preached a sermon ending
+with these words: "The Lord hath granted thy prayers, and wrought a great
+revolution by peaceful means. He alone came to rescue the city when it
+was forsaken of all. Wait and thou shalt see the disasters which will
+happen elsewhere. Therefore be steadfast in good works, O people of
+Florence; be steadfast in peace! If thou wouldst have the Lord steadfast
+in mercy, be thou merciful toward thy brethren, thy friends, and thy
+enemies; otherwise thou too shalt be smitten by the scourges prepared for
+the rest of Italy. '_Misericordiam volo_,' crieth the Lord unto ye. Woe
+to him that obeyeth not his commands!" After delivering this discourse
+he started for Pisa, where the other ambassadors, and also the King,
+speedily arrived.
+
+Meanwhile disturbances went on increasing, and the populace seemed
+already intoxicated with license. The dwellings of Giovanni Guidi, notary
+and chancellor of the Riformagioni, and of Antonio Miniati, manager of
+the Monte, were put to the sack, for both these men, having been faithful
+tools of the Medici, and their subtle counsellors in the art of burdening
+the people with insupportable taxes, were objects of general hatred. The
+house of Cardinal Giovanni de' Medici was also pillaged, together with
+the garden by St. Mark's, in which so many treasures of art had been
+collected by Lorenzo. So far, with the exception of a few dagger-thrusts,
+no blood had been shed; but many were eager for conflict, and it would
+have certainly begun had not Savonarola's partisans done their best to
+keep the peace, and had not the friar been hourly expected from Pisa,
+whither he had repaired on the 13th day of the month with a second
+embassy. The seigniory also endeavored to quell the disturbances by means
+of edicts of the severest kind.
+
+But the popular discontent was now heightened by the arrival of other
+envoys from Pisa with very unsatisfactory tidings. They had informed the
+King that Florence was friendly to him, and already preparing to welcome
+him with all the honors due to his royalty; they only asked that, being
+received as a friend, he should bear himself in that light, and deign to
+name his terms at once, so that free vent might be given to the public
+joy. But the only reply Charles condescended to give was that, "Once in
+the great town, all should be arranged." And it was evident from his
+majesty's coldness that the solicitations of Piero de' Medici, his
+earnest prayers, lavish promises of money, and submissive obedience had
+turned him not in his favor. Consequently the ambassadors had to leave
+without any definite answer, and could only say that the monarch was by
+no means well disposed to the republic.
+
+But when the foiled envoys had left Pisa, Savonarola repaired to the
+French camp, and, passing through that great host of armed men, made his
+way to the King's presence. Charles, who was surrounded by his generals,
+received him very kindly, and thereupon, without wasting much time in
+preliminaries, the friar, in sonorous and almost commanding accents,
+addressed him with a short exhortation beginning as follows: "O most
+Christian King, thou art an instrument in the hand of the Lord, who
+sendeth thee to relieve the woes of Italy, as for many years I have
+foretold; and he sendeth thee to reform the Church, which now lieth
+prostrate in the dust. But if thou be not just and merciful; if thou
+shouldst fail to respect the city of Florence, its women, its citizens,
+and its liberty; if thou shouldst forget the task the Lord hath sent thee
+to perform, then will he choose another to fulfil it; his hand shall
+smite thee, and chastise thee with terrible scourges. These things say I
+unto you in the name of the Lord." The King and his generals seemed much
+impressed by Savonarola's menacing words, and to have full belief in
+them. In fact, it was the general feeling of the French that they were
+divinely guided to fulfil the Lord's work, and Charles felt a strong
+veneration for the man who had prophesied his coming and foretold the
+success of his expedition. Consequently the friar's exhortation inspired
+him with real terror, and also decided him to behave more honorably to
+the Florentines. Thus, when Savonarola returned to the city shortly
+after the other ambassadors, he was the bearer of more satisfactory
+intelligence.
+
+As the King's intentions were still unknown, fresh relays of ambassadors
+were sent out to him. But meanwhile French officers and men passed the
+gates in little bands of fifteen or so at a time, and were seen roving
+about the town unarmed, jaunty, and gallant, bearing pieces of chalk in
+their hands to mark the houses on which their troops were to be billeted.
+While affecting an air of contemptuous indifference, they were unable to
+hide their amazement at the sight of so many splendid buildings, and at
+every turn were confounded by the novel scenes presented to their gaze.
+But what struck them most of all was the grim severity of the palaces,
+which appeared to be impregnable strongholds, and the towns still scarred
+with the marks of fierce and sanguinary faction fights. Then, on November
+15th, they witnessed a sight that sent a thrill of fear to their souls.
+Whether by accident or design, a rumor suddenly spread through the town
+that Piero de' Medici was nearing the gates. Instantly the bell of the
+seigniory clanged the alarm; the streets swarmed with a furious mob;
+armed men sprang, as by magic, from the earth, and rushed toward the
+Piazza; palace doors were barred; towers bristled with defenders;
+stockades began to be built across the streets, and on that day the
+French took their first lesson in the art of barricades. It was soon
+ascertained that the rumor was false, and the tumult subsided as quickly
+as it had risen. But the foreign soldiers were forced to acknowledge that
+their tactics and stout battalions would be almost powerless, hemmed in
+those streets, against this new and unknown mode of warfare. In fact, the
+Florentines looked on the Frenchmen with a certain pert assurance, as if
+they would say, "We shall see!" For, having now regained its liberty,
+this people thought itself master of the world, and almost believed that
+there was nothing left for it to fear.
+
+Meanwhile splendid preparations were being made in the Medici palace for
+the reception of King Charles; his officers were to be lodged in the
+houses of the principal citizens, and the streets through which he was to
+pass were covered with awnings and draped with hangings and tapestries.
+On November 17th the seigniory assembled on a platform erected by the San
+Frediano gate; and numbers of young Florentine nobles went forth to meet
+the King, who made his state entry at the twenty-first hour of the day.
+The members of the seigniory then rose and advanced toward him to pay
+their respects, while Messer Luca Corsini, being deputed to that office,
+stood forth to read a written address. But just at that moment rain began
+to fall, the horses grew restless and hustled against one another, and
+the whole ceremony was thrown into confusion.
+
+Only Messer Francesco Gaddi, one of the officers of the palace, had
+sufficient presence of mind to press his way through the throng and make
+a short speech suited to the occasion in French, after which the King
+moved forward under a rich canopy. The monarch's appearance was in
+strange contrast with that of the numerous and powerful army behind him.
+He seemed almost a monster, with his enormous head, long nose, wide,
+gaping mouth, big, white, purblind eyes, very diminutive body,
+extraordinarily thin legs, and misshapen feet. He was clad in black
+velvet and a mantle of gold brocade, bestrode a tall and very beautiful
+charger, and entered the city riding with his lance levelled--a martial
+attitude then considered as a sign of conquest. All this rendered the
+meanness of his person the more grotesquely conspicuous. By his side rode
+the haughty Cardinal of St. Piero in Vincoli, the Cardinal of St. Malo,
+and a few marshals. At their heels came the royal bodyguard of one
+hundred bowmen, composed of the finest young men in France, and then
+two hundred French knights marching on foot with splendid dresses and
+equipment. These were followed by the Swiss vanguard, resplendent and
+party-colored, bearing halberds of burnished steel, and with rich waving
+plumes on their officers' helmets. The faces of these men expressed the
+mountaineer spirit of daring, and the proud consciousness of being the
+first infantry in Europe; while the greater part of them had scornfully
+thrown aside the cuirass, preferring to fight with their chests bared.
+
+The centre consisted of Gascon infantry, small, light, agile men, whose
+numbers seemed to multiply as the army advanced. But the grandest sight
+was the cavalry, comprising the flower of the French aristocracy, and
+displaying finely wrought weapons, mantles of gorgeous brocade, velvet
+banners embroidered with gold, chains of gold, and other precious
+ornaments. The cuirassiers had a terrible aspect, for their horses seemed
+like monsters with their cropped tails and ears. The archers were men of
+extraordinary height, armed with very long wooden bows; they came
+from Scotland and other northern countries, and, in the words of a
+contemporary historian, "seemed to be beast-like men" _("parevano uomini
+bestiali")_.
+
+This well-ordered and disciplined army, composed of so many different
+nationalities, with such varied attire and strange weapons, was as new
+and amazing a sight to Florence as to almost all Italy, where no standing
+armies were as yet in existence, and mercenaries the only soldiery known.
+It is impossible to give the number of the forces accompanying the King
+to Florence, for his artillery were marching toward Rome by another
+route; he had left garrisons in many strongholds, and sent on another
+body of men by Romagna. Gaddi, who witnessed the entrance of the French,
+says that their numbers amounted to twelve thousand; Rinuccini, who was
+also present, estimated them at a lower figure; others at a higher. In
+any case the city and suburbs were crammed with them.
+
+The procession marched over the Ponte Vecchio ("Old Bridge"), which was
+gay with festive decorations and sounds of music, wound across the Piazza
+amid a crowd of triumphal cars, statues, etc., and, passing the Canto dei
+Pazzi, made the tour of the Cathedral Square, and halted before the great
+door of the church. The people shouted the name of France with cries
+of applause, but the King only smiled inanely and stammered some
+inappropriate words in Italian. Entering the Duomo, he was met by the
+seigniory, who, to avoid the pressure of the armed host, had been obliged
+to come around by the back streets. After joining in prayers with their
+royal guest, they escorted him to the sumptuous palace of the Medici, and
+the soldiers dispersed to their quarters. That night and the next the
+whole city was a blaze of illuminations; the intervening day was devoted
+to feasting and amusements, and then the terms of the treaty began to be
+discussed.
+
+The terms of the treaty stood as follows: That there should be a good
+and faithful friendship between the republic and the King; that their
+subjects should have reciprocal protection; that the King should receive
+the title of restorer and protector of the liberty of Florence; that he
+should be paid one hundred twenty thousand florins in three instalments;
+that he was not to retain the fortresses for more than two years; and if
+the Neapolitan expedition finished before that date, he was then to give
+them up without delay; that the Pisans were to receive pardon as soon as
+they should resume their allegiance to Florence. It was also stipulated
+that the decree putting a price on the heads of the Medici should be
+revoked, but that the states of Giuliano and Cardinal Giovanni were to
+remain confiscated until all Piero's debts had been paid, and that the
+said Piero was to remain banished to a distance of two hundred miles, and
+his brothers of one hundred, from the Tuscan border. After the agreement
+had been drawn up in regular official form, the contracting parties met
+in the Duomo to swear to the observance of all its clauses, and in the
+evening there was a general illumination of the city, although the people
+gave no signs of their previous good-will toward the King.
+
+But no sooner was one difficulty disposed of than another arose. When
+all was concluded Charles relapsed into his normal state of inertia, and
+showed no disposition to depart. The city was thronged by the French
+quartered in the houses, and the Italian soldiery hidden on all sides;
+the shops were shut up and all traffic suspended; everything was in a
+state of uncertainty and disorder, and the continual quarrels between the
+natives and the foreigner might at any moment provoke the most serious
+complications. There were perpetual robberies and murders by night--a
+most unusual state of things for Florence; and the people seemed to be on
+the verge of revolt at the least provocation. Thus matters went on from
+day to day, and consequently all honest citizens vainly did their utmost
+to hasten the King's departure. And the universal suspense was heightened
+by the impossibility of finding any way of forcing him to a decision.
+
+At last another appeal was made to Savonarola, who was exerting all his
+influence to keep the people quiet, and whose peaceful admonitions during
+this period of danger and confusion had been no less efficacious than the
+heroic defiance of Piero Capponi. The friar's sermons at this time were
+always directed to the general welfare. He exhorted the citizens "to lay
+aside their animosities and ambitions; to attend the councils at the
+palace in a righteous spirit, and with a view, not to their personal
+interest, but to the general good, and with the firm resolve to promote
+the unity and concord of their city. Then, indeed, would they be
+acceptable in the Lord's sight." He addressed himself to every class
+of the people in turn, proving to all that it would be to their own
+advantage, both in this life and the next, to labor for the defence of
+liberty and the establishment of unity and concord. When asked to seek
+the King and endeavor to persuade him to leave, he cheerfully undertook
+the task and hastened to the royal abode. The officers and lords in
+attendance were at first inclined to refuse him admittance, fearing that
+his visit might defeat their plan of pillaging the treasures of this
+sumptuous palace. But, remembering the veneration in which the friar was
+held by the King, they dared not refuse his demand and allowed him to
+pass. Charles, surrounded by his barons, received him very graciously,
+and Savonarola went straight to the point by saying: "Most Christian
+Prince, thy stay here is causing great injury both to our own city and
+thy enterprise. Thou losest time, forgetful of the duty imposed on thee
+by Providence, and to the serious hurt of thy spiritual welfare and
+worldly fame. Hearken now to the voice of God's servant! Pursue thy
+journey without delay. Seek not to bring ruin on this city, and thereby
+rouse the anger of the Lord against thee."
+
+So at last, on November 28th, at the twenty-second hour of the day, the
+King departed with his army, leaving the people of Florence very badly
+disposed toward him. Among their many just causes of complaint was
+the sack of the splendid palace in which he had been so liberally and
+trustfully entertained. Nor were common soldiers and inferior officers
+alone concerned in this robbery; the hands of generals and barons were
+equally busy, and the King himself carried off objects of the greatest
+value; among other things a precious intaglio representing a unicorn,
+estimated by Comines to be worth about seven thousand ducats. With such
+an example set by their sovereign, it may be easily imagined how the
+others behaved; and Comines himself tells us that "they shamelessly took
+possession of everything that tempted their greed." Thus the rich and
+marvellous collections formed by the Medici were all lost, excepting what
+had been placed in safety at St. Mark's, for the few things left
+behind by the French were so much damaged that they had to be sold.
+Nevertheless, the inhabitants were so rejoiced to be finally rid of their
+dangerous guests that no one mourned over these thefts. On the contrary,
+public thanksgivings were offered up in the churches, the people went
+about the streets with their old gayety and lightheartedness, and the
+authorities began to take measures to pro vide for the urgent necessities
+of the new republic.
+
+During this interval the aspect of Florentine affairs had entirely
+changed. The partisans of the Medici had disappeared from the city as if
+by magic; the popular party ruled over everything, and Savonarola ruled
+the will of the whole population. He was unanimously declared to have
+been a prophet of all that had occurred, the only man that had succeeded
+in controlling the King's conduct on his entry into Florence, the only
+man who had induced him to depart; accordingly all hung on Savonarola's
+lips for counsel, aid, and direction as to their future proceedings. And,
+as though the men of the old state saw the need of effacing themselves to
+make way for new blood, several prominent representatives and friends of
+the Medici house died during this period. Angelo Poliziano had passed
+away this year, on September 24th, "loaded with as much infamy and public
+opprobrium as a man could well bear." He was accused of numberless vices
+and unlimited profligacy; but the chief cause of all the hatred lavished
+on him was the general detestation already felt for Piero de' Medici,
+the approach of his downfall and that of all his adherents. Nor was the
+public rancor at all softened by the knowledge that the last utterances
+of the illustrious poet and learned scholar had been the words of a
+penitent Christian. He had requested that his body should be clothed in
+the Dominican habit and interred in the Church of St. Mark, and there
+his ashes repose beside the remains of Giovanni Picodella Mirandola, who
+expired on the very day of Charles VIII's entry into Florence. Pico had
+long entertained a desire to join the fraternity of St. Mark's, but,
+delaying too long to carry out his intent, was surprised by death at the
+early age of thirty-two years. On his death-bed he, too, had besought
+Savonarola to allow him to be buried in the robe he had yearned to wear.
+
+The end of these two celebrated Italians recalled to mind the last hours
+and last confession of Lorenzo the Magnificent, and was by many regarded
+as a sign that the Medicean adherents had been unwilling to pass away
+without acknowledging their crimes, without asking pardon from the people
+whom they had so deeply oppressed, and from the friar, who was, as it
+were, the people's best representative. It was certainly remarkable that
+all these men should turn to the convent of St. Mark, whence had issued
+the first cry of liberty, and the first sign of war against the tyranny
+of the Medici.
+
+
+JEAN C. L. SISMONDI
+
+At the moment that Florence expelled the Medici, the republic was divided
+among three different parties. The first was that of the enthusiasts,
+directed by Girolamo Savonarola, who promised the miraculous protection
+of the Divinity for the reform of the Church and establishment of
+liberty. These demanded a democratic constitution; they were called the
+"Piagnoni." The second consisted of men who had shared power with the
+Medici, but who had separated from them; who wished to possess alone the
+powers and profits of government, and who endeavored to amuse the people
+by dissipations and pleasures, in order to establish at their ease an
+aristocracy. These were called the "Arabbiati." The third party was
+composed of men who remained faithful to the Medici, but, not daring to
+declare themselves, lived in retirement; they were called "Bigi."
+
+These three parties were so equally balanced in the _balia_ named by the
+parliament, on December 2, 1494, that it soon became impossible to carry
+on the government. Girolamo Savonarola took advantage of this state of
+affairs to urge that the people had never delegated their power to a
+balia which did not abuse the trust.
+
+"The people," he said, "would do much better to reserve this power to
+themselves, and exercise it by a council, into which all the citizens
+should be admitted." His proposition was agreed to; more than one
+thousand eight hundred Florentines furnished proof that either they,
+their fathers, or their grandfathers had sat in the magistracy; they were
+consequently acknowledged citizens and admitted to sit in the general
+council. This council was declared sovereign on July 1, 1495; it was
+invested with the election of magistrates, hitherto chosen by lot, and
+a general amnesty was proclaimed, to bury in oblivion all the ancient
+dissensions of the Florentine republic.
+
+So important a modification of the constitution seemed to promise this
+republic a happier futurity. The friar Savonarola, who had exercised such
+influence in the council, evinced at the same time an ardent love of
+mankind, deep respect for the rights of all, great sensibility, and an
+elevated mind. Though a zealous reformer of the Church, and in this
+respect a precursor of Luther, who was destined to begin his mission
+twenty years later, he did not quit the pale of orthodoxy; he did not
+assume the right of examining doctrine; he limited his efforts to the
+restoration of discipline, the reformation of the morals of the clergy,
+and the recall of priests, as well as other citizens, to the practice of
+the gospel precepts. But his zeal was mixed with enthusiasm; he believed
+himself under the immediate inspiration of Providence; he took his own
+impulses for prophetic revelations, by which he directed the politics of
+his disciples, the Piagnoni.
+
+He had predicted to the Florentines the coming of the French into Italy;
+he had represented to them Charles VIII as an instrument by which the
+Divinity designed to chastise the crimes of the nation; he had counselled
+them to remain faithful to their alliance with that King, the instrument
+of Providence, even though his conduct, especially in reference to the
+affairs of Pisa, had been highly culpable.
+
+This alliance, however, ranged the Florentines among the enemies of Pope
+Alexander VI, one of the founders of the league which had driven the
+French out of Italy. He accused them of being traitors to the Church and
+to their country for their attachment to a foreign prince. Alexander,
+equally offended by the projects of reform and by the politics of
+Savonarola, denounced him to the Church as a heretic, and interdicted him
+from preaching. The monk at first obeyed, and procured the appointment of
+his friend and disciple the Dominican friar, Buonvicino of Pescia, as
+his successor in the Church of St. Mark; but on Christmas Day, 1497, he
+declared from the pulpit that God had revealed to him that he ought not
+to submit to a corrupt tribunal; he then openly took the sacrament with
+the monks of St. Mark, and afterward continued to preach. In the course
+of his sermons he more than once held up to reprobation the scandalous
+conduct of the Pope, whom the public voice accused of every vice
+and every crime to be expected in a libertine so depraved--a man so
+ambitious, perfidious, and cruel--a monarch and a priest intoxicated with
+absolute power.
+
+In the mean time the rivalry encouraged by the court of Rome between
+the religious orders soon procured the Pope a champion eager to combat
+Savonarola; he was a Dominican--the general of the Augustines, that
+Order whence Martin Luther was soon to issue. Friar Mariano di Ghinazzano
+signalized himself by his zeal in opposing Savonarola. He presented to
+the Pope Friar Francis of Apulia, of the order of Minor Observantines,
+who was sent to Florence to preach against the Florentine monks, in the
+Church of Santa Croce. This preacher declared to his audience that he
+knew Savonarola pretended to support his doctrine by a miracle. "For me,"
+said he, "I am a sinner; I have not the presumption to perform miracles;
+nevertheless, let a fire be lighted, and I am ready to enter it with
+him. I am certain of perishing, but Christian charity teaches me not to
+withhold my life if in sacrificing it I might precipitate into hell a
+heresiarch, who has already drawn into it so many souls."
+
+This strange proposition was rejected by Savonarola; but his friend and
+disciple, Friar Dominic Buonvicino, eagerly accepted it. Francis of
+Apulia declared that he would risk his life against Savonarola only.
+Meanwhile a crowd of monks, of the Dominican and Franciscan orders,
+rivalled each other in their offers to prove by the ordeal of fire, on
+one side the truth, on the other the falsehood, of the new doctrine.
+Enthusiasm spread beyond the two convents; many priests and seculars,
+and even women and children, more especially on the side of Savonarola,
+earnestly requested to be admitted to the proof. The Pope warmly
+testified his gratitude to the Franciscans for their devotion. The
+Seigniory of Florence consented that two monks only should devote
+themselves for their respective orders, and directed the pile to be
+prepared. The whole population of the town and country, to which a signal
+miracle was promised, received the announcement with transports of joy.
+
+On April 17, 1498, a scaffold, dreadful to look on, was erected in the
+public square of Florence; two piles of large pieces of wood, mixed with
+fagots and broom, which should quickly take fire, extended each eighty
+feet long, four feet thick, and five feet high; they were separated by a
+narrow space of two feet, to serve as a passage by which the two priests
+were to enter and pass the whole length of the piles during the fire.
+
+Every window was full; every roof was covered with spectators; almost
+the whole population of the republic was collected round the place. The
+portico called the Loggia dei Lanzi, divided in two by a partition, was
+assigned to the two orders of monks. The Dominicans arrived at their
+station chanting canticles and bearing the holy sacrament. The
+Franciscans immediately declared that they would not permit the host to
+be carried amid flames. They insisted that the friar Buonvicino should
+enter the fire, as their own champion was prepared to do, without this
+divine safeguard. The Dominicans answered that "they would not separate
+themselves from their God at the moment when they implored his aid." The
+dispute upon this point grew warm.
+
+Several hours passed away. The multitude, which had waited long and began
+to feel hunger and thirst, lost patience; a deluge of rain suddenly fell
+upon the city, and descended in torrents from the roofs of the houses;
+all present were drenched. The piles were so wet that they could
+no longer be lighted; and the crowd, disappointed of a miracle so
+impatiently looked for, separated, with the notion of having been
+unworthily trifled with. Savonarola lost all his credit; he was
+henceforth rather looked on as an impostor.
+
+Next day his convent was besieged by the Arabbiati, eager to profit by
+the inconstancy of the multitude; he was arrested with his two friends,
+Domenico Buonvicino and Silvestro Marruffi, and led to prison. The
+Piagnoni, his partisans, were exposed to every outrage from the populace;
+two of them were killed, their rivals and old enemies exciting the
+general ferment for their destruction. Even in the seigniory the majority
+was against them, and yielded to the pressing demands of the Pope. The
+three imprisoned monks were subjected to a criminal prosecution.
+
+Alexander VI despatched judges from Rome with orders to condemn the
+accused to death. Conformably with the laws of the Church, the trial
+opened with the torture. Savonarola was too weak and nervous to support
+it; he vowed in his agony all that was imputed to him, and, with his two
+disciples, was condemned to death. The three monks were burned alive, May
+23, 1498, in the same square where, six weeks before, a pile had been
+raised to prepare them a triumph.
+
+
+
+DISCOVERY OF THE MAINLAND OF NORTH AMERICA BY THE CABOTS
+
+A.D. 1497
+
+SAMUEL EDWARD DAWSON
+
+
+Newfoundland prides herself on being the oldest colony of the English
+crown. By virtue of John Cabot's discovery, in A.D. 1497, she also claims
+the honor of being the first portion of the New-World continent to be
+discovered and made known by Europeans. This was fourteen months before
+Columbus, on his third expedition, beheld the American mainland.
+
+At the close of the fifteenth century, the impelling motive of discovery
+among the Old-World nations, and their adventurous mariners, was the hope
+of finding a short western passage to the riches of the East Indies. This
+was the chief lure of the period, added to the ambition of Old-World
+monarchs to extend their territorial possessions and bring them within
+the embrace of their individual flags. Henry VII of England aided the
+Cabots, father and son, to fit out two expeditions from Bristol to
+explore the coasts of the New World and extend the search for hitherto
+unknown countries. The result of these enterprises was the discovery of
+Newfoundland and Labrador as well as other lands, and England's claim to
+the possession of the greater portion of the North American continent.
+
+Probably no question in the history of this continent has been the
+subject of so much discussion as the lives and voyages of the two Cabots.
+Their personal character, their nationality, the number of voyages they
+made, and the extent and direction of their discoveries have been, and
+still are, keenly disputed over. The share, moreover, of each in
+the credit due for the discoveries made is a very battle-ground for
+historians. Some learned writers attribute everything to John Cabot;
+others would put him aside and award all the credit to his second son,
+Sebastian. The dates even of the voyages are disputed; and very learned
+professors of history in Portugal do not hesitate to declare that the
+voyages are apocryphal, the discoveries pretended, and the whole question
+a mystification.
+
+Nevertheless, solely upon the discoveries of the Cabots have always
+rested the original claims of the English race to a foothold upon this
+continent. In the published annals of England, however, no contemporary
+records of them exist; nor was there for sixty years in English
+literature any recognition of their achievements. The English claims rest
+almost solely upon second-hand evidence from Spanish and Italian authors,
+upon contemporary reports of Spanish and Italian envoys at the English
+court, upon records of the two letters-patent issued, and upon two or
+three entries lately discovered in the accounts of disbursements from
+the privy purse of King Henry VII. These are our title-deeds to this
+continent. The evidence is doubtless conclusive, but the whole subject of
+western discovery was undervalued and neglected by England for so long
+a period that it is no wonder if Portuguese savants deny the reality of
+those voyages, seeing that their nation has been supplanted by a race
+which can show so little original evidence of its claims.
+
+It is not my intention to wander over all the debatable ground of the
+Cabot voyages, where every circumstance bristles with conflicting
+theories. The original authorities are few and scanty, but mountains of
+hypotheses have been built upon them, and too often the suppositions of
+one writer have been the facts of a succeeding one. Step by step the
+learned students before alluded to have established certain propositions
+which appear to me to be true, and which I shall accept without further
+discussion. Among these I count the following:
+
+1. That John Cabot was a Venetian, of Genoese birth, naturalized at
+Venice on March 28, 1476, after the customary fifteen years of residence,
+and that he subsequently settled in England with all his family.
+
+2. That Sebastian, his second son, was born in Venice, and when very
+young was taken by his father to England with the rest of the family.
+
+3. That on petition of John Cabot and his three sons, Lewis, Sebastian,
+and Sancio, letters-patent of King Henry VII were issued, under date
+March 5, 1496, empowering them, at their own expense, to discover
+and take possession for England of new lands not before found by any
+Christian nation.
+
+4. That John Cabot, accompanied perhaps by his son Sebastian, sailed from
+Bristol early in May, 1497. He discovered and landed upon some part
+of America between Cape Cod, in Massachusetts, and Cape Chidley, in
+Labrador; that he returned to Bristol before the end of July of the same
+year; that, whatever might have been the number of vessels which started,
+the discovery was made by John Cabot's own vessel, the Matthew of
+Bristol, with a crew of eighteen men.
+
+5. That thereupon, and in consideration of this discovery made by John
+Cabot, King Henry VII granted new letters-patent, drawn solely to John
+Cabot, authorizing a second expedition on a more extended scale and with
+fuller royal authority, which letters-patent were dated February 3, 1498;
+that this expedition sailed in the spring of 1498, and had not returned
+in October. It consisted of several ships and about three hundred men.
+That John and Sebastian Cabot sailed on this voyage. When it returned
+is not known. From the time of sailing of this expedition John Cabot
+vanishes into the unknowable, and from thenceforth Sebastian alone
+appears in the historic record.
+
+These points are now fully supported by satisfactory evidence, mostly
+documentary and contemporary. As for John Cabot, Sebastian said he died,
+which is one of the few undisputed facts in the discussion; but if
+Sebastian is correctly reported in Ramusio to have said that he died at
+the time when the news of Columbus' discoveries reached England, then
+Sebastian Cabot told an untruth, because the letters-patent of 1498 were
+addressed to John Cabot alone. The son had a gift of reticence concerning
+others, including his father and brothers, which in these latter days has
+been the cause of much wearisome research to scholars. To avoid further
+discussion of the preceding points is, however, a great gain.
+
+From among the numerous opinions concerning the landfall of John Cabot
+three theories emerge which may be seriously entertained, all three being
+supported by evidence of much weight: 1. That it was in Newfoundland. 2.
+That it was on the Labrador coast. 3. That it was on the island of Cape
+Breton.
+
+Until a comparatively recent period it was universally held by English
+writers that Newfoundland was the part of North America first seen by
+Cabot. The name "Newfoundland" lends itself to this view; for in the
+letters-patent of 1498 the expression "Londe and iles of late founde,"
+and the wording of the award recorded in the King's privy-purse accounts,
+August 10, 1497, "To hym that founde the new ile LI0," seem naturally to
+suggest the island of Newfoundland of our day; and this impression
+is strengthened by reading the old authors, who spell it, as Richard
+Whitbourne in 1588, "New-found-land," in three words with connecting
+hyphens, and often with the definite article, "The Newe-found-land." A
+cursory reading of the whole literature of American discovery before
+1831 would suggest that idea, and some writers of the present day still
+maintain it. Authors of other nationalities have, however, always
+disputed it, and have pushed the English discoveries far north to
+Labrador, and even to Greenland. Champlain, who read and studied
+everything relating to his profession, concedes to the English the coast
+of Labrador north of 56 deg. and the regions about Davis Straits; and the
+maps, which for a long period, with a few notable exceptions, were
+made only by Spaniards, Portuguese, and Italians, bear out Champlain's
+remonstrances. It seems, moreover, on a cursory consideration of the
+maps, probable that a vessel on a westerly course passing south of
+Ireland should strike somewhere on the coast of Newfoundland about Cape
+Bonavista, and, Cabot being an Italian, that very place suggests itself
+by its name as his probable landfall. The English, who for the most part
+have had their greatness thrust upon them by circumstances, neglected
+Cabot's discoveries for fifty years, and during that time the French and
+Portuguese took possession of the whole region and named all the coasts;
+then, when the troubled reign of Henry VIII was over, the English people
+began to wake up, and in fact rediscovered Cabot and his voyages. A
+careful study, however, of the subject will be likely to lead to the
+rejection of the Newfoundland landfall, plausible as it may at first
+sight appear.
+
+In the year 1831 Richard Biddle, a lawyer of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania,
+published a memoir of Sebastian Cabot which led the way to an almost
+universal change of opinion. He advanced the theory that Labrador was the
+Cabot landfall in 1497. His book is one of great research, and, though
+confused in its arrangement, is written with much vigor and ability. But
+Biddle lost the historian in the advocate. His book is a passionate brief
+for Sebastian Cabot; for he strangely conceives the son to have been
+wronged by the ascription to John Cabot of any portion of the merit of
+the discovery of America. Not only would he suppress the elder Cabot, but
+he covers the well-meaning Hakluyt with opprobrium and undermines his
+character by insinuations, much as a criminal lawyer might be supposed to
+do to an adverse witness in a jury trial. Valuable as the work is, there
+is a singular heat pervading it, fatal to the true historic spirit.
+Hakluyt is the pioneer of the literature of English discovery and
+adventure--at once the recorder and inspirer of noble effort. He is more
+than a translator; he spared no pains nor expense to obtain from the lips
+of seamen their own versions of their voyages, and, if discrepancies are
+met with in a collection so voluminous, it is not surprising and need not
+be ascribed to a set purpose; for Hakluyt's sole object in life seems
+to have been to record all he knew or could ascertain of the maritime
+achievements of the age.
+
+Biddle's book marks an epoch in the controversy. In truth, he seems to
+be the first who gave minute study to the original authorities and broke
+away from the tradition of Newfoundland. He fixed the landfall on the
+coast of Labrador; and Humboldt and Kohl added the weight of their great
+learning to his theory. Harrisse, who in his _John and Sebastian Cabot_
+had written in favor of Cape Breton, has, in his latest book, _The
+Discovery of America_, gone back to Labrador as his faith in the
+celebrated map of 1544 gradually waned and his esteem for the character
+of Sebastian Cabot faded away. Such changes of view, not only in this
+but in other matters, render Mr. Harrisse's books somewhat confusing,
+although the student of American history can never be sufficiently
+thankful for his untiring research.
+
+The discovery in Germany by von Martius in 1843 of an engraved
+_mappemonde_ bearing date of 1544, and purporting to be issued under the
+authority of Sebastian Cabot, soon caused a general current of opinion in
+favor of a landfall in Cape Breton. The map is unique and is now in the
+National Library at Paris. It bears no name of publisher nor place of
+publication. Around it for forty years controversy has waxed warm. Kohl
+does not accept the map as authentic; D'Avezac, on the contrary, gives it
+full credence. The tide of opinion has set of late in favor of it, and
+in consequence in favor of the Cape Breton landfall, because it bears,
+plainly inscribed upon that island, the words "_prima tierra vista_," and
+the legends which are around the map identify beyond question that as
+the landfall of the first voyage. Dr. Deane, in _Winter's Narrative and
+Critical History,_ supports this view. Markham, in his introduction to
+the volume of the Hakluyt Society for 1893, also accepts it; and our
+own honorary secretary (the late Sir John Bourinot), in his learned and
+exhaustive monograph on Cape Breton, inclines to the same theory.
+
+I do not propose here to discuss the difficult problems of this map.
+For many years, under the influence of current traditions and cursory
+reading, I believe the landfall of John Cabot to have been in
+Newfoundland; but a closer study of the original authorities has led me
+to concur in the view which places it somewhere on the island of Cape
+Breton.
+
+At the threshold of an inquiry into the "_prima tierra vista_" or
+landfall of 1497, it is before all things necessary to distinguish
+sharply, in every recorded detail, between the first and second voyages.
+I venture to think that, if this had always been done, much confusion
+and controversy would have been avoided. It was not done by the older
+writers, and the writers of later years have followed them without
+sufficiently observing that the authorities they were building upon were
+referring almost solely to the second voyage. Even when some occasional
+detail of the first voyage was introduced, the circumstances of the
+second voyage were interwoven and became dominant in the narrative, so
+that the impression of one voyage only remains upon the mind. We must
+therefore always remember the antithesis which exists between them. Thus,
+the first voyage was made in one small vessel with a crew of eighteen
+men, the second with five ships and three hundred men. The first voyage
+was undertaken with John Cabot's own resources, the second with the royal
+authority to take six ships and their outfit on the same conditions as
+if for the King's service. The first voyage was a private venture, the
+second an official expedition. The first voyage extended over three
+months and was provisioned for that period only; the second was
+victualled for twelve months and extended over six months at least, for
+how much longer is not known. The course of the first voyage was south of
+Ireland, then for a while north and afterward west, with the pole star on
+the right hand. The course of the second, until land was seen, was north,
+into northern seas, toward the north pole, in the direction of Iceland,
+to the cape of Labrador, at 58 deg. north latitude. On the first voyage no
+ice was reported; on the second the leading features were bergs and floes
+of ice and long days of arctic summer. On the first voyage Cabot saw no
+man; on the second he found people clothed with "beastes skynnes." During
+the whole of the first voyage John Cabot was the commander; on the second
+voyage he sailed in command, but who brought the expedition home and when
+it returned are not recorded. It is not known how or when John Cabot
+died; and, although the letters-patent for the second voyage were
+addressed to him alone, his son Sebastian during forty-five years took
+the whole credit in every subsequent mention of the discovery of America,
+without any allusion to his father. This antithesis may throw light upon
+the suppression of his father's name in all the statements attributed to
+or made by Sebastian Cabot. He may always have had the second voyage in
+his mind. His father may have died on the voyage. He was marvellously
+reticent about his father. The only mention which occurs is on the map
+seen by Hakluyt, and on the map of 1544, supposed, somewhat rashly, to be
+a transcript of it. There the discovery is attributed to John Cabot and
+to Sebastian his son, and that has reference to the first voyage. From
+these considerations it would appear that those who place the landfall
+at Labrador are right; but it is the landfall of the second voyage--the
+voyage Sebastian was always talking about--not the landfall of John Cabot
+in 1497.
+
+If Sebastian Cabot had not been so much wrapped up in his own vainglory,
+we might have had a full record of the eventful voyage which revealed to
+Europe the shores of our Canadian dominion first of all the lands on the
+continents of the western hemisphere. Fortunately, however, there resided
+in London at that time a most intelligent Italian, Raimondo di Soncino,
+envoy of the Duke of Milan, Ludovico Sforza, one of those despots of the
+Renaissance who almost atoned for their treachery and cruelty by their
+thirst for knowledge and love of arts. Him Soncino kept informed of
+all matters going on at London, and especially concerning matters of
+cosmography, to which the Duke was much devoted. From his letters we are
+enabled to retrace the momentous voyage of the little Matthew of Bristol
+across the western ocean--not the sunny region of steady trade-winds, by
+whose favoring influence Columbus was wafted to his destination, but the
+boisterous reaches of the northern Atlantic--over that "still vexed sea"
+which shares with one or two others the reputation of being the most
+storm-tossed region in the world of ocean. That the land discovered was
+supposed to be a part of Asia appears very clearly from the same letters.
+It was in the territory of the Grand Cam. The land was good and the
+climate temperate; and Cabot intended on his next voyage, after occupying
+that place, to proceed farther westward until he should arrive at the
+longitude of Japan, which island he evidently thought to be south of his
+landfall and near the equator.
+
+It should be carefully noted that, in all the circumstances on record
+which are indisputably referable to this first voyage, nothing has been
+said of ice or of any notable extension of daylight. These are the marks
+of the second voyage; for if anything unusual had existed in the length
+of the day it would have been at its maximum on Midsummer's Day, June
+24th, the day he made land. Nothing is reported in these letters which
+indicates a high latitude. Now Labrador is a cold, waste region of rocks,
+swamps, and mountains. Even inside the Straits of Belle-Isle it is so
+barren and forbidding as to call forth Cartier's oft-cited remark that
+"it was like the land God gave to Cain." The coast of Labrador is not the
+place to invite a second voyage, if it be once seen; but the climate of
+Cape Breton is very pleasant in early summer and the country is well
+wooded.
+
+From the contemporary documents relating specially to the first voyage,
+it is beyond question that Cabot saw no human being on the coast, though
+he brought back evidences of their presence at some previous time. It is
+beyond doubt, also, on the same authority, that the voyage lasted not
+longer than three months, and that provisions gave out, so that he had
+not time to land on the return voyage. It was, in fact, a reconnoitring
+expedition to prepare the way for a greater effort, and establish
+confidence in the existence of land across the ocean easily reached from
+England. The distance sailed is given by Soncino at four hundred leagues;
+but Pasqualigo, writing to Venice, gives it at seven hundred leagues,
+equivalent to two thousand two hundred twenty-six miles, which is very
+nearly the distance between Bristol and Cape Breton as now estimated.
+
+All these circumstances concerning the first voyage are derived from John
+Cabot's own reports, and are extracted from documents dated previous to
+the return of the second expedition, and therefore are, of necessity,
+free from admixture with extraneous incidents. Antonio Galvano, an
+experienced Portuguese sailor and cosmographer, writing in 1563, like the
+others, knows of one voyage only, which he fixes in 1496. He interweaves,
+like them, in his narrative many circumstances of the second voyage, but
+it is important to note that from some independent source is given the
+landfall at 45 deg., the latitude very nearly of Cape Breton, on the island
+of Cape Breton. Another point is also recorded in the letters that, on
+the return voyage, Cabot passed two islands to the right, which the
+shortness of his provisions prevented him from examining. This note
+should not be considered identical with the statement recorded by Soncino
+in his first letter, for this last writer evidently means to indicate the
+land which Cabot found and examined; he says that Cabot discovered two
+large and fertile islands, but the two islands of Pasqualigo were passed
+without examination. They were probably the islands of St. Pierre and
+Miquelon; but that John Cabot had no idea of a northward voyage at that
+time in his mind would appear from his intention to sail farther to
+the east on his next voyage until he reached the longitude of Cipango.
+Moreover, the reward recorded in the King's privy-purse accounts "to hym
+that founde the new ile," and the wording, thrice repeated, of the second
+letters-patent, "the land and isles of late found by the said John,"
+indicate that it was not at that time known whether the mainland of
+Cathay had been reached, or, as in the discoveries of Columbus, islands
+upon the coast of Asia.
+
+From the preceding narrative, based solely upon documents written within
+twelve months of the event--which documents are records of statements
+taken from the lips of John Cabot, the chief actor, at the very time of
+his return from the first voyage--it will, I trust, appear that in 1497,
+at a time of year when the ice was not clear from the coasts of Labrador,
+he discovered a part of America in a temperate climate, and that this
+was done without the name of Sebastian Cabot once coming to the surface,
+excepting when it appears in the patent of 1496, together with the names
+of Lewis and Sancio, his brothers. While the circumstances recorded
+are incompatible with a landfall at Labrador, they do not exclude the
+possibility of a landfall on the eastern coast of Newfoundland, which is
+so varied in its character as to correspond with almost any conditions
+likely to be found in a landfall on the American coast; but inasmuch as,
+from other reasons, it will, I think, appear that the landfall was at
+Cape Breton, it will be a shorter process to prove by a positive argument
+where it was than to show by a negative argument where it was not.
+
+I might here borrow the quaint phrase of Herodotus and say, "Now I have
+done speaking of" John Cabot. He has, beyond doubt, discovered the
+eastern coast of this our Canada, and he has organized a second
+expedition, and he has sailed in command. Forthwith, upon such sailing,
+he vanishes utterly, and his second son, Sebastian, both of his brothers
+having in some unknown way also vanished, emerges, and from henceforth
+becomes the whole Cabot family. It behooves us, therefore, if we wish to
+grasp the whole subject, to inquire what manner of man he was.
+
+Sebastian Cabot was born in Venice, and, when still very young, was
+taken to England with the rest of his family by his father. He was then,
+however, old enough to have learned the humanities and the properties of
+the sphere, and to this latter knowledge he became so addicted that he,
+early in life, formed fixed ideas. He is probably entitled to the merit
+of having urged the practical application of the truths that the shortest
+course from point to point upon the globe lies upon a great circle, and
+also that the great circle uniting Western Europe with Cathay passes over
+the north pole. This fixed idea of the younger Cabot pervaded all his
+life and shows in all his reported conversations. He adhered to it with
+the pertinacity of a Columbus, and, in his later life after his return
+to England, his efforts, which in youth were directed to a northwest
+passage, went out toward a northeast passage to Cathay. John Cabot's
+genius was more practical, as the second letter of Raimondo di Soncino
+shows. His intention was to occupy on the second voyage the landfall
+he had made and then push on to the east (west, as we call it now) and
+south. The diversion of that expedition to the coast of Labrador would
+indicate that the death of the elder Cabot and the assumption of command
+by his son occurred early in the voyage. Sebastian Cabot seems to have
+been not so much a great sailor as a great nautical theorizer. Gomara
+says he discovered nothing for Spain; and beyond doubt his expedition to
+La Plata cannot be considered successful, for it was intended to reach
+the Moluccas. One fixed idea of his life was the course to Cathay by the
+north. That idea he monopolized to himself. He overvalued its importance
+and thought to be the Columbus of a new highway to the east. Hence he
+may have underrated his father's achievements as he brooded over what he
+considered to be his own great secret. He theorized on the sphere and he
+theorized on the variation of the compass, and he theorized on a method
+of finding longitude by the variation of the needle; so that even Richard
+Eden, who greatly admired him, wrote as follows: "Sebastian Cabot on
+his death-bed told me that he had the knowledge thereof (longitude by
+variation) by divine revelation, yet so that he might not teach any man.
+But I thinke that the goode olde man in that extreme age somewhat doted,
+and had not, yet even in the article of death, utterly shaken off all
+worldlye vaine glorie." These words would seem to contain the solution
+of most of the mystery of the suppression of John Cabot's name in the
+narratives of Peter Martyr, Ramusio, Gomara, and all the other writers
+who derived their information from Sebastian Cabot during his long
+residence in Spain.
+
+And now we may pass on to the consideration of the second voyage; and
+first among the writers, in order of time as also in order of importance,
+is Peter Martyr of Anghiera, who published his _Decades of the New World_
+in 1516. Sebastian Cabot had then been in Spain for four years, high in
+office and in royal favor. Peter Martyr was his "familiar friend and
+comrade," and tells the Pope, to whom these _Decades_ were addressed as
+letters, that he wrote from information derived from Cabot's own lips.
+Here, I venture to think, many of the writers on this subject have gone
+astray; for the whole question changes. Martyr knows of only one voyage,
+and that was beyond doubt the voyage of 1498; he knows of only one
+discoverer, and that the man from whose lips he writes the narrative. The
+landfall is far north, in a region of ice and perpetual daylight. At the
+very outset the subject is stated to be "those northern seas," and then
+Peter Martyr goes on to say that Sebastian Cabot furnished two ships at
+his own charges; and that, with three hundred men, he sailed toward the
+north pole, where he saw land, and that then he was compelled to turn
+westward; and after that he coasted to the south until he reached the
+latitude of Gibraltar; and that he was west of the longitude of Cuba.
+In other words, he struck land far in the north, and from that point he
+sailed south along the coast as far as Cape Hatteras. That Labrador was
+the landfall seems clear; for he met large masses of ice in the month of
+July. These were not merely the bergs of the western ocean, but masses of
+field-ice, which compelled him to change his course from north to west,
+and finally to turn southward. The same writer states that Cabot himself
+named a portion of the great land he coasted "Baccalaos," because of the
+quantity of fish, which was so great that they hindered the sailing of
+his ships, and that these fishes were called baccalaos by the natives.
+This statement has given rise to much dispute. As to the quantity
+of fish, all succeeding writers concur that it was immense beyond
+conception; and probably the swarming of the salmon up the rivers of our
+Pacific coast may afford a parallel; but that Cabot did not so name the
+country is abundantly clear. A very exhaustive note on the word will be
+found at page 131 of Dr. Bourinot's _Cape Breton_.
+
+Bearing in mind the preceding considerations, the study of the early
+maps will become profitable, and I would now direct attention to them to
+ascertain what light they may throw upon the landfall of John Cabot and
+the island of St. John opposite to it. It must be remembered that John
+Cabot took the time to go on shore at his landfall, and planted the
+banners of England and St. Mark there. At that time of year and in that
+latitude it was light at half-past three, but it was five when he saw
+land, and he had to reach it and perform the ceremonies appropriate for
+such occasions; so the island opposite could not be far away. The island,
+then, will be useful to identify the landfall if we find it occurring
+frequently on the succeeding maps.
+
+Don Pedro de Ayala, joint Spanish ambassador at London, wrote, on July
+25, 1498, to his sovereigns that he had procured and would send a copy of
+John Cabot's chart of his first voyage. This map of Juan de la Cosa is
+evidence that Ayala fulfilled his promise. It is a manuscript map made at
+the end of the year 1500, by the eminent Biscayan pilot, who, if not the
+equal of Columbus in nautical and cosmographical knowledge, was easily
+the second to him. Upon it there is a continuous coast line from Labrador
+to Florida, showing that the claim made by Sebastian Cabot of having
+coasted from a region of ice and snow to the latitude of Gibraltar was
+accepted as true by La Cosa, whatever later Spanish writers may have
+said. Recent writers of authority have arrived at the conclusion that,
+immediately after Columbus and Cabot had opened the way, many independent
+adventurers visited the western seas; for there are a number of
+geographical facts recorded on the earliest charts not easy to account
+for on any other hypothesis. Dr. Justin Winsor shows that La Cosa, and
+others of the great sailors of the earliest years of discovery, soon
+recognized that they had encountered a veritable barrier to Asia,
+consisting of islands, or an island of continental size, through which
+they had to find a passage to the golden East. Their views were not,
+however, generally accepted.
+
+That La Cosa based the northern part of his map upon Cabot's discoveries
+is demonstrated by the English flags marked along the coast and the
+legend "_Mar descubierto por Ingleses_," because no English but the Cabot
+expeditions had been there; and what is evidently intended for Cape Race
+is called "Cavo de Ynglaterra." The English flags mark off the coast from
+that cape to what may be considered as Cape Hatteras. Cabot, as before
+stated, confidently expected to reach Cathay. He sailed for that as his
+objective point, and he was looking for a broad western ocean, so that
+narrow openings were to him simply bays of greater or less depth. The
+sailors of those early voyages coasted from headland to headland, as
+plainly appears from many of the maps upon which the recesses of the
+sinuosities of the coast are not completed lines, and it must be borne in
+mind that in sailing between Newfoundland and Cape Breton the bold and
+peculiar contours of both can be seen at the same time. This is possible
+in anything like clear weather, but, in the bright weather of Midsummer
+Day, Cape Ray would necessarily have been seen from St. Paul's, and the
+opening might well have been taken for a deep indentation of the coast.
+Between "Cavo descubierto" and "Cavo St. Jorge" such an indentation is
+shown on the map, but the line is closed, showing that Cabot did not sail
+through.
+
+Cavo descubierto ("the Discovered Cape"), and, close to it, "_Mar
+descubierto por Ingleses!_" What can be more evident than that the spot
+where Europeans first touched the American continent is thus indicated?
+Why otherwise should it especially be called "the Discovered Cape" if not
+because this cape was first discovered? It is stated elsewhere that on
+the same day, opposite the land, an island was also discovered; and in
+fact upon the Madrid fac-simile two small islands are found, one of which
+is near Cavo descubierto. The name "the Discovered Cape" at the extreme
+end of a series of names tells its own story. Cabot overran Cape Race
+and went south of St. Pierre and Miquelon without seeing them, and,
+continuing on a westerly course, hit Cape Breton at its most easterly
+point. An apt illustration occurs in a voyage made by the ship
+Bonaventure in 1591, recorded in Hakluyt. She overshot Cape Race without
+knowing it and came to the soundings on the bank south of St. Peter's,
+where they found twenty fathoms, and then the course was set northwest by
+north for Cape Ray. The course was sharply altered toward a definite
+and known point, but, if he did not see Cape Race, not knowing what was
+before him, Cabot would have had no object in abruptly altering his
+course, but, continuing his westerly course, would strike the east point
+of Cape Breton. That point, then, and not Cape North, would be "the
+Discovered Cape"--the _prima vista_--and there, not far off "over against
+the land," "opposite the land" (_exadverso_), he would find Scatari
+Island, which would be the island of St. John, so continually attendant
+on Cape Breton upon the succeeding maps. If this theory be accepted, all
+becomes clear, and the little Matthew, having achieved success, having
+demonstrated the existence of Cathay within easy reach of England,
+returned home, noticing and naming the salient features of the south
+coast of Newfoundland. She had not too much time to do it, for she was
+back in Bristol in thirty-four days at most. This theory is further
+confirmed by the circumstance recorded by Pasqualigo that, as Cabot
+returned, he saw two islands on the right which he had not time to
+examine, being short of provisions. These islands would be St. Pierre and
+Miquelon; for there are two, and only two, important islands possible to
+be seen at the right on the south coast of Newfoundland on the homeward
+course. La Cosa, beside the two small islands above noted, has marked on
+his map three larger islands, I. de la Trinidad, S. Grigor, and I. Verde,
+but they are not laid down on the map in the places of St. Pierre and
+Miquelon, nor are there any islands existing in the positions shown. I.
+de la Trinidad is doubtless the peninsula of Burin, as would appear by
+its position almost in contact with the land, and its very peculiar
+shape. In coasting along, it would appear as an island, for the isthmus
+is very narrow, and St. Pierre and Miquelon would be clearly seen as
+islands on the right. As for the bearings of the coast, it will appear by
+a comparison with Champlain's large map that they are compass bearings,
+for they are the same on both.
+
+I have dwelt at length upon the map of La Cosa, because, for our northern
+coasts, it is in effect John Cabot's map. After the return of the second
+expedition, the English made a few voyages, but soon fell back into the
+old rut of their Iceland trade. The expedition was beyond question a
+commercial failure, and therefore, like the practical people they are,
+they neglected that new continent which was destined to become the chief
+theatre for the expansion of their race. Their fishermen were for many
+years to be found in small numbers only on the coast, and, as before,
+their supply of codfish was drawn from Iceland, where they could sell
+goods in exchange.
+
+Meantime the Bretons and Normans, and the Basques of France and Spain,
+and the Portuguese grasped that which England practically abandoned. That
+landfall which Cabot gave her in 1497 cost much blood and treasure to win
+back in 1758. The French fishermen were on the coast as early as 1504,
+and the names on La Cosa's map were displaced by French names still
+surviving on the south coast and on what is called the "French shore" of
+Newfoundland. Robert Thorne in 1527--and no doubt others unrecorded--in
+vain urged upon the English government to vindicate its right. According
+to the papal bulls and the treaty of Tordesillas, the new lands were
+Portuguese east of a meridian three hundred seventy leagues west of
+the Cape de Verd Islands and Spanish to the west of it. Baccalaos and
+Labrador were considered to be Portuguese; and, upon the maps, when any
+mention is made of English discoveries they are accordingly relegated to
+Greenland or the far north of Labrador. The whole claim of England went
+by abandonment and default. The Portuguese, as the Rev. Dr. Patterson has
+shown, named all the east coast of Newfoundland, and their traces are
+even yet found on the coasts of Nova Scotia and of Cape Breton.
+
+Therefore it is that the maps we have now to refer to are not so much
+Spanish as Portuguese. They will tell us nothing of the English, nor of
+Cabot, but we shall be able to follow his island of St. John--the only
+one of his names which survived. The outlines of some very early maps are
+given by Kunstmann, Kretschmer, and Winsor, but until 1505 they have
+no bearing upon our problem. In that year Reinel's map was made, and,
+although Newfoundland forms part of _terra firma_, the openings north
+and south of it are plainly indicated by unclosed lines. Cape Race has
+received its permanent name, "_Raso_" and, although only the east coast
+of Newfoundland is named, there is no possibility of mistaking the
+easternmost point of Cape Breton. Just opposite _(ex adverso_) is laid
+down and named the island of Sam Joha, in latitude 46 deg., the precise
+latitude of Scatari Island. Here, then, in 1505, is in this island of
+St. John an independent testimony to the landfall of 1497--not off Cape
+North, which does not yet appear, nor inside the gulf, for it is not even
+indicated--but in the Atlantic Ocean, at the cape of Cape Breton--the
+"Cavo descubierto" of La Cosa.
+
+I have not considered it necessary to prove that if Cabot's landfall were
+Cape North he could not have discovered the low lying shore of Prince
+Edward Island on the same day. I have preferred to show that Prince
+Edward Island was not known as an island and did not appear on any map
+for one hundred years after John Cabot's death. If Cabot had possessed a
+modern map, and had been looking for Prince Edward Island, and had pushed
+on without landing at the north cape of Cape Breton, and had shaped his
+course southward, he might have seen it in a long Midsummer Day, but
+Cabot did not press on. He landed and examined the country, and found
+close to it St. John's Island, which he also examined. Upon that
+easternmost point of this Nova Scotian land of our common country John
+Cabot planted the banner of St. George on June 24, 1497, more than one
+year before Columbus set foot upon the main continent of America, and
+now, after four hundred years, despite all the chances and changes of
+this Western World, that banner is floating there, a witness to our
+existing union with our distant mother-land across the ocean.
+
+
+
+THE SEA ROUTE TO INDIA
+
+VASCO DA GAMA SAILS AROUND AFRICA
+
+A.D. 1498
+
+CASPAR CORREA[1]
+
+
+The same goal which attracted the Spaniards westward drew the Portuguese
+south, the desire to find a sea route to India, and thus garner the
+enormous profits of the trade in spices and other Indian wealth. In the
+early years of the fifteenth century the Portuguese, overshadowed by the
+Spanish kingdom, which almost enclosed their country, realized that they
+could extend their territory only by colonizing beyond seas. They began,
+therefore, to send out expeditions, and in 1410 discovered the island
+of Madeira. Soon afterward discoveries were undertaken by Prince Henry,
+called the "Navigator," whose whole life was given to these enterprises.
+Before his death, 1460, his Portuguese mariners, in successive voyages,
+had worked their way well down the western coast of Africa. In 1462 an
+expedition reached Sierra Leone, almost half way down the continent. Nine
+years later the equator was passed, and in 1486 Bartholomew Dias sailed
+around the southern point of Africa, which he had been sent to discover.
+On his return voyage, 1487, he found the Cape of Good Hope, having before
+doubled it without knowing that he had done so.[2]
+
+To Portuguese navigators the way to India by this route was soon made
+clear. In 1497 Vasco da Gama was placed by King Emanuel I of Portugal in
+command of an expedition of three small ships sent to discover such a
+route. He sailed from Lisbon in July of that year, in November doubled
+the Cape of Good Hope, arrived at Calicut, on the Malabar coast of
+India, in May, 1498, and in September, 1499, returned to Lisbon. He was
+accompanied by his brother Paulo, who, with other of the celebrated
+navigator's companions, appears in the following account of this great
+achievement. The quaint narrative was written by the chronicler who
+accompanied the expedition in person.
+
+The ships being equipped and ready, one Sunday the King went with Queen
+Dona Maria to hear mass, which was said pontifically by the bishop
+Calcadilha, who also made a discourse in praise of the voyage, and holy
+design of the King in regard to the new discovery which he was commanding
+to be made; and he called upon the people to pray to the Lord that the
+voyage might be for his holy service, and for the exalting of his holy
+faith, and for the increase of the good and honor of the kingdom of
+Portugal. At the mass the good brothers Da Gama and their associates were
+present, richly dressed, and the King showed them great honor and favor,
+as they stood close to the curtain, where also were the principal lords
+of the realm and gentlemen of the court. Mass being over, the King came
+out from the curtain and spoke to the captains, who placed themselves on
+their knees before him; and they spoke to him, saying:
+
+"Sire, the honor we are receiving from your highness is so great that
+with a hundred bodies and lives which we might expend in your service we
+never could repay the least part of it, since greater honors were never
+shown by a sovereign to his vassals than you have shown us, as the great
+prince, king, and lord that you are, with such magnanimity and honor
+that, if at this very moment we should die, our lineage should remain in
+the highest degree of honor which is possible, only because your highness
+has chosen and sent us for this work, while you have so many and such
+noble vassals to whom to commit it; for which we are already recompensed
+before rendering this service, and until we end our lives in performing
+it. For this we beg of the mercy of the Lord, that he direct us, and we
+may perform such works that he, the Lord, and your highness also, may be
+served in some measure in this so great favor that has been shown us, as
+he knows that such is our desire; and should we not be deserving to serve
+him in this voyage, and so holy undertaking, may the Lord be pleased
+though we may pay with our lives for our shortcomings in the work. We
+promise your highness that our lives will be the matters of least moment
+that we shall adventure in this so great favor that has been shown us,
+and that we will not return before your highness with our lives in our
+bodies without bringing some certain information of that which your
+highness desires."
+
+And they all again kissed the hands of the King and of the Queen. Then
+the King came forth from the cathedral and went to his palace, which then
+was in the residence of the alcazar in the castle. There went before him
+the captains, and before them the standard which was carried by their
+ensign in whom they trusted, and on arriving at the palace the King
+dismissed them, and they again kissed his and the Queen's hand. Vasco da
+Gama on a horse, with all the men of the fleet on foot, richly dressed in
+liveries, and accompanied by all the gentlemen of the court, went down to
+the wharf on the bank, and embarked in their boats, and the standard went
+in that of Paulo da Gama. Then, taking leave of the gentlemen, they went
+to the ships, and on their arrival they fired all their artillery, and
+the ships were dressed out gayly with standards and flags and many
+ornaments, and the royal standard was at once placed at the top of the
+mast of Paulo da Gama; for so Vasco da Gama commanded. Discharging all
+their artillery, they loosened the sails, and went beating to windward on
+the river of Lisbon, tacking until they came to anchor at Belen, where
+they remained three days waiting for a wind to go out.
+
+There they made a muster of the crews, and the King was there all the
+time in the monastery, where all confessed and communicated. The King
+commanded that they should write down in a book all the men of each ship
+by name, with the names of their fathers, mothers, and wives of the
+married men, and the places of which they were native; and the King
+ordered that this book should be preserved in the House of the Mines, in
+order that the payments which were due should be made upon their return.
+The King also ordered that a hundred _crusadoes_ should be paid to
+each of the married men for them to leave it to their wives, and forty
+crusadoes to each of the single men, for them to fit themselves out with
+certain things; for, as to provisions, they had not got to lay them
+in, for the ships were full of them. To the two brothers was paid a
+gratification of two thousand crusadoes to each of them, and a thousand
+to Nicolas Coelho.
+
+When it was the day of our Lady of March (the 25, 1497), all heard mass;
+they then embarked, and loosened the sails, and went forth from the
+river, the King coming out to accompany them in his boat, and addressing
+them all with blessings and good wishes. When he took leave of them, his
+boat lay on its oars until they disappeared, as is shown in the painting
+of his city of Lisbon. Vasco da Gama went in the ship Sao Rafael, and
+Paulo da Gama in the Sao Gabriel, and Nicolas Coelho in the other ship,
+Sao Miguel. In each ship there were as many as eighty men, officers and
+seamen, and the others of the leader's family, servants and relations,
+all filled with the desire to undertake the labor that was fitting for
+each, and with great trust in the favors which they hoped for from the
+King on their return to Portugal.
+
+Paulo da Gama, as he went out with the Lisbon river, hauled down the
+royal standard from the masthead; but at the great supplications of his
+brother, who gave him good reasons why it was fitting that he should
+carry it, he again hoisted it. The two companions, standing out to sea,
+as I have said, made their way toward Cape Verd, and for that purpose
+they stood well out to sea to make the coast, which they knew they would
+find, as it advanced much to seaward, as they learned from the sailors
+who had been in the caravels of Janinfante. They ran as far as they
+could to sea in the direction of the wind, to double the land without
+difficulty; and thus they navigated until they made the coast, and,
+having reconnoitred it, they tacked and stood out to sea, hauling on the
+bowline as much as they could, as so they ran for many days.
+
+And as it seemed to them that now they could double the land, they again
+tacked toward the coast, also on the bowline, against the wind, until
+they again saw the coast, much farther on than where the caravels had
+reached, which the masters knew from the soundings which they got written
+down from the voyage of Janinfante, and the days which they found to have
+less sun by the clocks. Having well ascertained this, they stood out
+again to sea; thus forcing the ships to windward, they went so far out to
+the sea toward the south that there was almost not six hours of sunlight
+in the day; and the wind was very powerful, so that the sea was very
+fearful to see, without ever being smooth either by day or night, but
+they always met with storms, so that the crews suffered much hardship.
+After a month that they had run on this tack, they stood into shore and
+went as long as they could, all praying to the Lord that they might have
+doubled beyond the land; but when they again saw it they were very sad,
+though they found themselves much advanced by the signs of the soundings
+which the pilots took, and they saw land of another shape which they had
+not before seen.
+
+Seeing that the coast ran out to sea, the masters and pilots were in
+great confusion, and doubtful of standing out again to sea, saying that
+the land went across the sea and had no end to it. This being heard of by
+Vasco da Gama--according, as it was presumed, to the information he had
+from the Jew Zacuto--he told the pilots that they should not imagine such
+a thing, and that without doubt they would find the end of that land, and
+beyond it much sea and lands to run by, and he said to them: "I assure
+you that the cape is very near, and, with another tack standing out to
+sea, when you return you will find the cape doubled." This Vasco da Gama
+said to encourage them, because he saw that they were much disheartened,
+and with the inclination to wish to put back to Portugal. So he ordered
+them to put the ships about to sea, which they did, much against their
+will; for which reason Vasco da Gama determined to stand on this tack so
+long as to be able to double the end of the land, and besought all not to
+take account of their labors, since for that purpose they had ventured
+upon them; and that they should put their trust in the Lord that they
+would double the cape.
+
+Thus he gave them great encouragement, without ever sleeping or taking
+repose, but always taking part with them in hardship, coming up at the
+boatswain's pipe as they all did. So they went on standing out to sea
+till they found it all broken up with the storm, with enormous waves and
+darkness. As the days were very short, it always seemed night; the masts
+and shrouds were stayed, because with the fury of the sea the ships
+seemed every moment to be going to pieces. The crews grew sick with fear
+and hardship, because also they could not prepare their food, and all
+clamored for putting back to Portugal, and that they did not choose to
+die like stupid people who sought death with their own hands; thus they
+made clamor and lamentation, of which there was much more in other ships.
+But the captains excused themselves, saying that they would do nothing
+except what Vasco da Gama did; and he and his companions underwent great
+labor.
+
+As he was a very choleric man, at times with angry words he made them be
+silent, although he well saw how much reason they had at every moment to
+despair of their lives; and they had been going for about two months on
+that tack, and the masters and pilots cried out to him to take another
+tack; but the captain-major did not choose, though the ships were now
+letting in much water, by which their labors were doubled, because the
+days were short and the nights long, which caused them increased fear of
+death; and at this time they met with such cold rains that the men could
+not move. All cried out to God for mercy upon their souls, for now they
+no longer took heed of their lives. It now seemed to Vasco da Gama that
+the time was come for making another tack, and he comforted himself very
+angrily, swearing that if they did not double the cape he would stand out
+to sea again as many times until the cape was doubled, or there should
+happen whatever should please God. For which reason, from fear of this,
+the masters took much more trouble to advance as much as they could; and
+they took more heart on nearing the land, and escaping from the tempest
+of the sea; and all called upon God for mercy, and to give them guidance,
+when they saw themselves out of such great dangers.
+
+Thus approaching the land, they found their labor less and the seas
+calmer, so they went on running for a long time, steering so as to make
+the land and to ease the ships, which they were better able to do at
+night when the captain slept, which the other ships did also, as they
+followed the lantern which Vasco da Gama carried; at night the ships
+showed lights to one another so as not to part company. Seeing how much
+they had run, and did not find the land, they sailed larger so as to make
+it; and as they did not find it, and as the sea and wind were moderate,
+they knew they had doubled the cape; on which great joy fell among them,
+and they gave great praise to the Lord on seeing themselves delivered
+from death. The pilots continued to sail more free, spreading all the
+sails; and, running in this manner, one morning they sighted some
+mountain peaks which seemed to touch the clouds; at which their pleasure
+was so great that all wept with joy, and all devoutly on their knees said
+the _Salve_. After running all day till night, they were not able to
+reach it, and discovered great mountain ridges; so, as it was night, they
+ran along the coast, which lay from east to west; and they took in all
+the sails, only running under large sails, for these were the orders of
+the captain-major.
+
+The next day at dawn they again set all the sails and ran to the land, so
+that at midday they saw a beach which was all rocky, and, running along
+it, they saw deep creeks, and such large bays that they could not see the
+land at the end of them; they also found the mouths of great rivers, from
+which water came forth to the sea with a powerful current; here also,
+near the land, they found many fish, which they killed with fish-spears.
+The watchmen in the tops were always on the lookout to see if there were
+shoals ahead. The crews grew sick with fever from the fish which they
+ate, on which account they ate no more. The pilots, on heaving the lead,
+found no bottom; so they ran on for three days, and at night they kept
+away from the land and shortened sail.
+
+Sailing in this manner, they fell in with the mouth of a large river, and
+the captain-major ordered a boat to be lowered, and the pilot to sound
+the entrance of the river; and he said it was superfluous, because if
+there was a shoal it would be burst through. Then they took in the sails,
+excepting the great one with which they entered the river, which was very
+large; and they went up it, the boat going before and sounding, and,
+approaching land, where they found twelve fathoms, they anchored. There
+they found very good fish, for the river was of fresh water; but in the
+whole of the river they found no beach, for there was nothing but rocks
+and crags. Then Vasco da Gama went to see his brother, and so did Nicolas
+Coelho, and they all dined with great satisfaction, talking of the
+hardships they had gone through.
+
+When they had finished dining, Vasco da Gama ordered Nicolas Coelho to go
+in his boat up the river to see if he found any village. He went up more
+than five leagues, without finding anything besides many streams which
+came from between the mountains to pour into the river; there were no
+woods in the country, nothing but stones on both sides of the river; upon
+which he returned to the captain-major. Then the following day, before
+the morning, Vasco da Gama again ordered Nicolas Coelho to go in a boat
+with sails and oars, and with provisions to eat, and told him to go as
+far as the head of the river, to see if he could find anyone to speak to,
+to learn what country they were in. He went up the river a distance of
+more than twenty leagues, and returned without having found anything.
+
+Then they decided on going out again, and they took in water and wood of
+the dry trees, which it seems the river brings down when it comes from
+the mountain. On that account the captain-major wished himself in person
+to discover the river up to its head, to see whence could come those
+trees which they found there dry, but the masters said this would be a
+labor without profit, and that they ought to go out of the river and make
+for the country which they wished to seek, and they would find it. This
+seemed good to the captain-major, and they came out of the river, with
+much labor, as the wind was contrary and entered the mouth of the river.
+The strong current of the river, which went out to sea, alone assisted
+them, and with it they went outside without sails, only towing with the
+boats which guided them.
+
+When the ships returned to sea they ran along the coast with great
+precaution, and a good lookout not to run upon any shoals, and they
+entered other great rivers and bays; and they explored everywhere and
+searched without ever being able to meet with people, nor boats in the
+seas, for all the country was uninhabited; and in entering and leaving
+the rivers they endured much fatigue, and were much vexed at not being
+able to learn in what country they were. With these detentions and delays
+they wasted much time, and spent all the summer of that country, so they
+had to run along the coast because winds were favorable for going ahead,
+for they were westerly. And because they found everything desolate,
+without people by land or sea, they agreed unanimously not to enter any
+more rivers, but to run ahead, and thus they did; for by day they ran
+under full sail, drawing so near to the land as possible to see if they
+could make out any village or beach, which as yet they had not seen; and
+by night they stood away to sea and ran under shortened sail. Navigating
+in this manner, the wind began to moderate, and fell calm altogether,
+which happened in November, when they had to struggle with another wind,
+with which they stood out to sea, fearing some contrary storm might
+arise; then, taking in all sail, they lay waiting for the springing up of
+another wind, so they went increasing their distance from the land till
+they lost sight of it; for the wind increased continually, and the sea
+rose greatly, for then the winter of that country was setting in.
+
+The masters, seeing that the weather was freshening, took counsel as to
+returning to land and putting into some river until meeting with a change
+of weather. This they did, and, putting about to the land, the wind
+increased so much that they were afraid of not finding a river in which
+to shelter, and of being lost. On which account they again stood out to
+sea, and made ready the ships to meet the storm which they saw rising
+every moment, so that the water should not come in, with ropes made fast
+to the masts, and with the shrouds passed over the yards so that the
+masts should remain more secure; and they took away all the pannels from
+the tops, and the sails, so as not to hold the wind; the small sails and
+the lower sails all struck, and with the foresails only they prepared to
+weather the storm.
+
+Seeing the weather in this state, the pilot and master told the
+captain-major that they had great fear on account of the weather because
+it was becoming a tempest, and the ships were weak, and that they thought
+they ought to put in to land and run along the coast and return to seek
+the great river into which they had first entered, because the wind was
+blowing that way, and they could enter it for all that there was a storm.
+But when the captain-major heard of turning backward he answered them
+that they should not speak such words, because, as he was going out of
+the bar at Lisbon, he had promised to God in his heart not to turn back a
+single span's breadth of the way which he had made; that on that account
+they should not speak in that wise, as he would throw into the sea
+whomsoever spoke such things. At which the crew, in despair, abandoned
+themselves to the chances of the sea, which was broken up with the
+increase of the tempest and rising of the gale, which many times chopped
+round, and blew from all parts, and at times fell; so that the ships were
+in great peril from their great laboring in the waves, which ran very
+high. Then the storm would again break with such fury that the seas rose
+toward the sky, and fell back in heavy showers which flooded the ships.
+The storm raging thus violently, the danger was doubled; for suddenly the
+wind died out, so that the ships lay dead between the waves, lurching
+so heavily that they took in water on both sides; and the men made
+themselves fast not to fall from one side to the other; and everything in
+the ships was breaking up, so that all cried to God for mercy.
+
+Before long the sea came in with more violence, which increased their
+misfortune, with the great difficulty of working the pumps; for they were
+taking in much water, which entered both above and below; so they had no
+repose for either soul or body, and the crews began to sicken and die of
+their great hardships. At this the pilot and masters and all the people
+poured out cries and lamentations to the captains, urgently requiring
+them to put back and seek an escape from death, which they were certain
+of meeting with by their own will if they did not put about. To which the
+captains gave no other reply than that they would do no such thing unless
+the captain-major did it. The captain-major, seeing the clamors of his
+crew, answered them with brave words, saying that he had already told
+them that backward he would not go, even though he saw a hundred deaths
+before his eyes; thus he had vowed to God; and let them look to it that
+it was not reasonable that they should lose all the labors which they had
+gone through up to this time; that the Lord, who had delivered them until
+now, would have mercy upon them; they should remember that they had
+already doubled the Cape of Storms and were in the region which they had
+come to seek, to discover India, on accomplishing which, and returning to
+Portugal, they would gain such great honor and recompenses from the King
+of Portugal for their children; and they should put their trust in God,
+who is merciful, and who, from one hour to another, would come with his
+mercy and give them fair weather, and that they should not talk like
+people who distrusted the mercy of God. But, although the captain-major
+always spoke to them these and other words of great encouragement, they
+did not cease from their loud clamor and protestations that he would give
+an account to God of their deaths of which he would be the cause, and of
+the leaving desolate their wives and children; all this accompanied by
+weeping and cries, and calls to God for mercy.
+
+While they went on this way with their souls in their mouths, the sea
+began to go down a little, and the wind also, so that the ships could
+approach to speak one another, and all clamored with loud cries that they
+should put about to seek some place where they could refit the ships, as
+they could not keep them afloat with the pumps. The crews of the other
+ships spoke with more audacity, saying that the captain-major was but one
+man, and they were many; and they feared death, while the captains
+did not fear it, nor took any account of losing their lives. The
+captain-major chose that the two other ships should know his design, and
+he said and swore by the life of the King his sovereign that from the
+spot where he then was he had not to turn back one span's breadth, even
+though the ships were laden with gold, unless he got information of that
+which they had come to seek, and that even if he had near there a very
+good port he would not go ashore, lest some of them should retire to a
+certain death on shore, allowing themselves to remain there, rather than
+go on with the ships trusting to the mercy of God, in which they had such
+small reliance that they made such exclamations from the weakness of
+their hearts, as if they were not Portuguese; on which account he would
+undeceive them all, for to Portugal they would not return unless they
+brought word to the King of that which he had so strongly commended to
+them, and that he took the same account of death as did any one of them.
+
+While they were at this point a sudden wind arose, with so great a
+concussion of thunder and darkness, and a stronger blast than they had
+yet experienced, and the sea rose so much that the ships could not see
+one another, except when they were upheaved by the seas, when they seemed
+to be among the clouds. They hung out lights so as not to part company,
+for the anxiety and fear which the captain-major felt was the losing
+one of the ships from his company, so that the seamen would put back to
+Portugal by force, as, indeed, they had very much such a desire in their
+hearts.
+
+But the captains took very great care of this, because Vasco da Gama,
+before going out to Lisbon, when conversing alone with the Jew Zacuto
+in the monastery, had received from him much information as to what he
+should do during his voyage, and especially recommendations of great
+watchfulness never to let the ships part company, because if they
+separated it would be the certain destruction of all of them.
+
+Vasco da Gama took great care of this, personally, and by means of his
+servants and relations in whom he trusted; and this they attended to with
+much greater solicitude after they heard the sailors say that they were
+many, and the captains only a few single men, and in fact they had in
+their minds such an intention of rising up against the captains, and
+by force putting back to Portugal, and they thought that, if it became
+necessary to arrest them for this and bring them before the King, he
+would have mercy upon them, and, should they not find mercy, they
+preferred rather to die there where their wives and children and fathers
+were, and in their native country, and not in the sea to be eat by the
+fishes. With such thoughts they all spoke to one another secretly,
+determining to carry it out, and trusting that the King would not hang
+them all for the good reasons which they would give him; or else to
+secure their lives they would go to Castile until they were pardoned.
+This was the greatest insolence they were guilty of; and so they decided
+upon executing their plan. In taking this decision they did not perceive
+the danger of death, into which they were going more than ever.
+
+In the ship of Nicolas Coelho there was a sailor who had a brother who
+lived with Nicolas Coelho, and was foster-brother of a son of his; and
+the sailor brother told this boy of what they had all determined to do.
+This boy, being very discreet, said to his brother that they should all
+preserve great secrecy, so as not to be found out, for it was a case
+of treason, and he warned his brother not to tell anyone that he had
+mentioned such a thing to him. The boy, on account of the affection which
+he had for his master Nicolas Coelho, discovered the matter to him in
+secret, and he at once gave the boy a serious warning to be very discreet
+in this matter, that they should not perceive that he had told him
+anything of the kind. With the firm determination which Nicolas Coelho at
+once formed to die sooner than allow himself to be seized upon, he became
+very vigilant both by day and night, and warned the boy to try to learn
+with much dissimulation all that they wanted to do and by what means. The
+boy told him that they would not do it unless they could first concert
+with the other ships, so that they all should mutiny; at that Nicolas
+Coelho remained more at ease, but was always very much on his guard for
+himself.
+
+As the storm did not abate, but rather seemed to increase, and as the
+cries and clamor of the people were very great, beseeching him to put
+back, Nicolas Coelho dissembled with them, saying: "Brothers, let us
+strive to save ourselves from this storm, for I promise you that as soon
+as I can get speech with the captain-major I will require him to put
+back, and you will see how I will require it of him." With this they
+remained satisfied. Some days having passed thus with heavy storms, the
+Lord was pleased to assuage the tempest a little and the sea grew calm,
+so that the ships could speak one another; and Nicolas Coelho, coming
+up to speak, shouted to the captain-major that "it would be well to put
+about, since every moment they had death before their eyes, and so many
+men who went in their company were so piteously begging with tears and
+cries to put back the ships. And if we do not choose to do so, it would
+be well if the men should kill or arrest us, and then they would put back
+or go where it was convenient to save their lives; which we also ought to
+do. If we do not do it, let each one look out for himself, for thus I do
+for my part, and for my conscience' sake, for I would not have to give an
+account of it to the Lord."
+
+Paulo da Gama, who also had come up within speaking distance, heard all
+this. When they had heard these words of Nicolas Coelho, who, on ending
+his speech, at once begun to move away, the captain-major answered him
+that he would hold a consultation with the pilot and his crew, and that,
+whatever he determined to do, he would make a signal to him of his
+resolution. During this time they lay hove to in the smooth water,
+because the wind never changed from its former point. Vasco da Gama, as
+he was very quick-witted, at once understood what Nicolas Coelho's words
+meant, and called together all the crew, and said to them that he was not
+so valiant as not to have the fear of death like themselves, neither was
+he so cruel as not to feel grieved at heart at seeing their tears and
+lamentations, but that he did not wish to have to give account to God
+for their lives, and for that reason he begged them to labor for their
+safety, because if the bad weather came again he had determined to put
+back, but, to disculpate himself with the King, it was incumbent upon
+him to draw up a document of the reasons for putting back, with their
+signatures.
+
+At this they all raised their hands to heaven, saying that its mercy was
+already descending upon them, since it was softening the heart of the
+captain-major and inclining him to put back, and they said they all would
+sign the great service which he would render to God and to the King by
+putting back. Then the captain-major said that there was no need of the
+signatures of all, but only of those who best understood the business
+of the sea. Then the pilot and master named them, and they were three
+seamen. Upon this the captain-major retired to his cabin, and told his
+servants to stand at the door of the cabin, and put inside the clerks
+to draw up the document, and ordered the three seamen to enter; and,
+dissembling, he made inquiries as to returning to port, and all was
+written down and they signed it. He then ordered them to go down below
+to another cabin which he had beneath his own for a store-cabin, and he
+ordered the clerk to go down also with them, and he summoned the master
+and pilot and ordered them below also, telling them to go and sign, as
+the clerk was there.
+
+Then he called up the seamen, one by one, and ordered them to be put in
+irons by his servants in his cabin, and heavy irons for the master and
+pilot. All being well ironed and bound, the captain-major turned them
+out, and called all the men, ordering the master and pilot at once to
+give up to him all the articles which they had belonging to the art of
+navigation, or, if not, that he would at once execute them. Being greatly
+afraid they gave everything up to him. Then Vasco da Gama, holding the
+instruments all in his hand, flung them into the sea and said: "See here,
+men, that you have neither master nor pilot, nor anyone to show you the
+way from henceforward, because these men whom I have arrested will return
+to Portugal below the deck, if they do not die before that [for he was
+aware that they had agreed among one another to rise up and return by
+force to Portugal, and on that account had cast everything into the sea];
+and I do not require master nor pilot, nor any man who knows the art of
+navigation, because God alone is the master and pilot who has to guide
+and deliver us by his mercy if we deserve it, and, if not, let his will
+be done. To him you must commend yourselves and beg mercy. Henceforward
+let no one speak to me of putting back, for know from me for a certainty
+that, if I do not find information of what I have come to seek, to
+Portugal I do not return."
+
+Seeing and hearing these things, the crew became much more terrified, and
+with much greater fear of death, which they held as certain, not having
+either pilot or master, nor anyone who knew how to navigate a ship. Then
+the prisoners and all the crew on their knees begged him for mercy, with
+loud cries; the prisoners saying that they, being ignorant men and of
+faint heart, had come to an understanding to put the ship about and
+return to the King and offer themselves for death, if he chose to give it
+them, and they would have taken him a prisoner, that the King might see
+that he was not to blame for putting back; but this was not to have been
+done, except with the will of all the people of the other ships; but
+since God had discovered this to him before they had carried it out, let
+him show them clemency; for well they saw that they deserved death
+from him, which was more than the chains which they bore. All the crew
+frequently called out to him for clemency, and not to put the prisoners
+below the decks, where they would soon die. Then the captain-major,
+showing that he only did it at their entreaty, and not for any need which
+he had of them, ordered them to remain in their cabins in the forecastle,
+still in irons, and forbade their giving any directions for the
+navigation of the ship, except only for the trimming of the sails and the
+work of the ship.
+
+Vasco da Gama then ran alongside of the other ships and spoke them,
+saying that he had put his pilot and master in irons, in which he would
+bring them back to the kingdom, if God pleased that they should return
+there; and, that they should not imagine that he had any need of their
+knowledge, he had flung into the sea all the implements of their art of
+navigation, because he placed his hopes in God alone, who would direct
+them and deliver them from the perils among which they were going, and
+on that account, since he had now made his men secure, let them secure
+themselves as they pleased; and without waiting for an answer he sheered
+off.
+
+Nicolas Coelho felt great joy in his heart on hearing from the
+captain-major that he had got his pilot and master thus secured from
+rising against him, since he had put them in irons; and without much
+dissimulation he spoke to master and pilot and seamen, saying that he was
+much grieved at the captain-major's way of treating his ship's officers,
+whom he stood so much in need of in the labors they were undergoing, but
+what he had done was because of his being of so strong and thorough a
+temperament, as they all knew, and he had not chosen to wait for them to
+make entreaty for the liberty of the prisoners, but that whenever the
+ships again spoke one another he would do this. This all the crew
+begged him to do, with loud cries of mercy, since they would follow the
+flag-ship wherever it went. This Nicolas Coelho promised them, so they
+remained contented.
+
+Paulo da Gama had other conversations with the officers of his ship, with
+much urbanity, for he was a man of gentle disposition; he also promised
+them that he would entreat his brother on behalf of the prisoners, and
+bade all pray God for the saving of their lives, and that all would end
+well; so that all remained consoled.
+
+While these things were happening the wind did not shift its direction,
+but, the sea being smoother, the ships were more easy, though they let
+in so much water that they never left off pumping. The captain-major saw
+this and that the ships had an absolute need of repairs; and also because
+they had no more water to drink, because, with the tossing about in the
+storm, many barrels had broken and given way; under such great pressure,
+he stood in to land under sail, for the weather was moderate and was
+beginning to be favorable; all were praying to God for mercy, and that he
+would grant them a haven of safety. Which God was pleased to do in his
+mercy, for presently he showed them land, at which it seemed that all
+were resuscitated from the death which they looked upon as certain if the
+ships were not repaired. After that the wind came free, and they sailed
+along the land for several days without finding where to put in; this was
+now in January of the year 1498. Thus they ran close to the land, with a
+careful lookout, for they did not dare to leave the land, from the great
+peril in which the ships were from the great leakage.
+
+Proceeding in this way, one day they found themselves at dawn in the
+mouth of a large river, into which the captain-major entered, for
+he always went first; and all entered, and found within a large bay
+sheltered from all winds, in which they anchored, and all exclaimed three
+times, "The mercy of the Lord God!" for which reason they gave this river
+the name of the River of Mercy. Here they soon caught much good fish,
+with which the sick improved, as it was fresh food, and the water of the
+river was very good.
+
+Now, at this time, in all the ships there were not more than a hundred
+fifty men, for all the rest had died. Soon after arriving at this place
+the captain-major went to see his brother and Nicolas Coelho, and they
+conversed, relating their hardships; and Nicolas Coelho related the
+treason which his men were preparing, to take him prisoner and return
+to Portugal, and they did not do it from the fear they had that the
+captain-major would follow after them, and if he caught them would have
+hanged them all; and they only waited for all to agree to mutiny; and he
+had sought those feigned words which he had spoken, and it had pleased
+God that Vasco da Gama had understood them, so that by his imprisoning
+his officers at once all had remained secure. So all gave praise to the
+Lord for having delivered them from such great perils.
+
+Then they settled about refitting the ships, for they had all that was
+necessary for doing it. Although they had a beach and tides for laying
+the ships aground, for greater security it was ordered that they should
+be heeled over while afloat, and thus it was arranged for by all of them.
+While they were on the quarter deck, Paulo da Gama entreated his brother
+to set the prisoners at liberty, which he did, setting free the sailors,
+and the master and pilot, with the condition that, if God should bring
+them back to Lisbon, when he went before the King he would present them
+to him in the same manner in chains, not to do them any harm, but only
+that his difficulties might be credited, and that for this he would
+give him greater favors; at which all the crews felt much satisfaction.
+Afterward they spoke with all the officers, and arranged for careening
+the ships, and went to look at them.
+
+They found there was no repairing the ship of Nicolas Coelho, as it had
+many of the ribs and knees broken. For that reason they at once decided
+to break it up; and then they cut out its masts, and much timber and
+planks of the upper works, which, with the yards and spars of the other
+ships, they lashed together and fastened, and made a great frame, which
+they put under the side of the ship to raise it more out of the water;
+for this purpose they then discharged from the captain-major's ship into
+that of his brother, which was brought alongside, all that they could of
+the stores and goods; and everything heavy below decks they put on one
+side of the ship, which caused it to heel over very much, and with the
+timber under the side, and the tackle fitted to the main-mast, they
+canted the ship over on one side so much that they laid her keel bare;
+and on the outer side they put planks, upon which all the crew got to
+work at the ship, some cleaning the planks from the growth of sea-weed,
+others extracting the calking, which was quite rotten, from the seams;
+and the calkers put in fresh oakum and then pitched it over, for they had
+a stove in a boat where they boiled the pitch.
+
+The captains were occupied with their own work day and night, and gave
+much food and drink to the crews, so that they used such despatch that in
+one day and one night, by morning they had finished one side of the ship,
+very well executed, though with great labor in drawing out the water from
+the ship, which leaked very much lying thus on one side. When she was
+upright they turned her over on the other side, and did the same work,
+much better performed because the ship did not leak so much; and when it
+was completed and the ship upright, it was so sound and water-tight that
+for two days there was no water in the pump.
+
+Then they loaded it again with its stores, and transshipped to it the
+stores of the other ship, upon which they executed the before-mentioned
+calking and repairs, so that it became like new. They then fitted them
+inside with several knees and ribs and inner planking, and all that was
+requisite, with great perfection, and collected the yards, spars, and
+all that they had need of belonging to the ship Sao Miguel; and the
+captain-major took Nicolas Coelho on board of his ship, entertaining
+him well. They then took away from the ship much wood for their use and
+beached the ship, and took away its rudder and undid it, and stowed away
+its wood and iron-works, in case of its being wanted for the other ships,
+because they had all been built of the same pattern and size, as a
+precaution that all might be able to take advantage of any part of them.
+Then they burned the ship in order to recover the nails, which were in
+great quantity, and a great advantage for other necessities which they
+met with later.
+
+After they had thus repaired the ships, the captain-major sent Nicolas
+Coelho with twenty men in a boat to go and discover the river; and he,
+after ascending it for two leagues, found woods and verdure, and farther
+on he found some canoes which were fishing, and the men in them were
+dark, but not very black; they were naked, having only their middles
+covered with leaves of trees and grass. These men, when they saw the
+boat, came to it and entered it in a brutish manner, and were in a
+state of amazement. No one knew how to speak to them, and they did not
+understand the signs which were made to them. So Nicolas Coelho made them
+go back to their canoes, and returned to the ships, but of the canoes
+one followed after the boat, and the others returned to take the news to
+their villages. These men who came with the boat, at once, without
+any fear, entered the ship and sat down to rest, as if they were old
+acquaintance; no one knew how to speak to them. Then they gave them
+biscuit and cakes and slices of bread with marmalade; this they did not
+understand until they saw our people eat, then they ate it, and, as they
+liked the taste, they ate in a great hurry, and would not share with one
+another. While this was going on they saw many canoes coming, and larger
+ones, with many of those people also naked, with tangled hair like
+Kaffirs, without any other arms than some sticks like half lances,
+hardened in the fire, with sharp points greased over.
+
+The captain-major, seeing the other canoes coming, ordered the first
+come to go to their canoe, which they did unwillingly, and went out and
+remained to speak with those that were arriving, and went their way. The
+others arrived, and all wanted to come on board; as they were more than a
+hundred, the captain-major would not allow them, only ten or twelve, who
+brought some birds which were something like hens, and some yellow fruit
+of the size of walnuts, a very well-tasted thing to eat, which our men
+would not touch, and they, seeing that, ate them for our people to see,
+who, on tasting them, were much pleased with them; they killed one of the
+birds, and found it very tender and savory to eat, and all its bones were
+like those of a fowl. The captain-major ordered biscuit and wine to be
+given them, which they would not touch till they saw our people drink. He
+also ordered a looking-glass to be given them; and when they saw it they
+were much amazed, and looked at one another, and again looked at the
+mirror, and laughed loudly and made jokes, and spoke to the others who
+were in the canoe.
+
+They went away with the looking-glass, highly delighted, and left six
+birds and much of the fruit, and all went away; and in the afternoon they
+came again, but bringing a quantity of those birds, at which our men
+rejoiced very much, and filled hencoops with them, because they gave them
+and were satisfied with anything that was given them, especially white
+stuffs; so that the seamen cut their shirts in pieces, with which they
+bought so many of these birds that they killed and dried them in the sun,
+and they kept very well. Here it was observed that in this river there
+were no flies, for they never saw any all the time they were there, which
+was twenty days; and they went away because the crew began to fall ill.
+It seems that it was from that fruit, which was very delicious to eat;
+and the principal ailment was that their gums swelled and rotted, so that
+their teeth fell out, and there was such a foul smell from the mouth that
+no one could endure it. The captain-major provided a remedy for this, for
+he ordered that each one should wash his mouth with his own water each
+time he passed it, by doing which in a few days they obtained health.
+
+The captain-major made a hole with pickaxes in a stone slab at the
+entrance of this river, and set up a marble pillar, of which he had
+brought many for that purpose, which had two escutcheons, one of the arms
+of Portugal, and another, on the other side, of the sphere, and letters
+engraved in the stone which said, "Of the Lordship of Portugal, Kingdom
+of Christians." The captain-major, seeing how much the seamen and masters
+and pilots worked, especially his own, notwithstanding the imprisonment
+which he had inflicted upon them, when he was about to quit this River
+of Mercy, made them all come to his ship, where he addressed them all,
+beseeching them not to suffer weakness to enter their hearts, which would
+induce them to wish to commit another such error by harboring thoughts of
+treason, which is so hideous before God, and always brings a bad end to
+those who engage in it; he said that he well saw that faint-heartedness
+was the cause of what had passed, and that he forgave all. And that since
+the Lord had been pleased to deliver them from so many dangers as they
+had passed up to that time, by his great mercy, therefore they should put
+their trust in him, who would conduct them in such manner as to obtain
+the result which they were going in search of; by which they would gain
+such great honors and favors as the King would grant them on their return
+to Portugal; and he would present them to the King, and would relate
+their great labors and services, and that they ought to bear in
+remembrance these great advantages, which would be such a cause of
+rejoicing for all of them. They, with tears of joy, all answered, "Amen,
+amen, may the Lord so will it of his great mercy." And they weighed
+anchors and went out of the river with a land-breeze.
+
+Sailing with a fair wind, they got sight of land, which the pilots
+foretold before they saw it; this was a great mountain which is on the
+coast of India, in the kingdom of Cananor, which the people of the
+country in their language call the mountain Delielly, and they call it of
+the rat, and they call it Mount Dely, because in this mountain there were
+so many rats that they never could make a village there. As it was the
+custom to give the fees of good news to the pilots when they see the
+land, they gave to each of the pilots a robe of red cloth and ten
+testoons; and they went on approaching the land until they saw the beach,
+and they ran along it and passed within sight of a large town of thatched
+houses inside a bay, which the pilots said was named Cananor, where many
+skiffs were going about fishing, and several came near to see the ships
+and were much surprised and went ashore to relate that these ships had so
+much rigging and so many sails and white men; which having been told to
+the King he sent some men of his own to see, but the ships had already
+gone far, and they did not go.
+
+In this country of India they are much addicted to soothsayers and
+diviners, especially on this coast of India, which is named the country
+of Malabar, and they call these diviners _canayates_. According to what
+was known later, there had been in this country of Cananor a diviner so
+diabolical, in whom they believed so much, that they wrote down all that
+he said, and preserved it like prophecies which would come to pass. They
+held a legend from him in which it was said that the whole of India would
+be taken and ruled over by a very distant king, who had white people, who
+would do great harm to those who were not their friends; and this was
+to happen a long time later, and he left signs of when it would be. In
+consequence of the great disturbance caused by the sight of these ships,
+the King was very desirous of knowing what they were, and he spoke to his
+diviners, asking them to tell him what ships were those and whence they
+came. The diviners conversed with their devils, and told him that the
+ships belonged to a great king and came from very far; and according to
+what they found written, these were the people who were to seize India
+by war and peace, as they had already told him many times, because the
+period which had been written down was concluded. The King, much moved,
+asked them whether his kingdom would receive much injury. They replied
+that our people would do no harm except to those who did it to them.
+
+Upon this the King became very thoughtful, and talked of this frequently
+with his people, who very much contradicted what the diviners said, and
+they told him not to believe them, for in this they never hit upon the
+truth, because at the time that our ships arrived more than four hundred
+years had elapsed since in one year more than eight hundred sail of large
+and small ships had come to India from the ports of Malacca and China and
+the Lequeos, with people of many nations, and all laden with merchandise
+of great value, which they brought for sale; and they had come to
+Calicut, and had run along the coast and had gone to Cambay; and they
+were so numerous that they had filled the country, and had settled as
+dwellers in all the towns of the sea-coast, where they were received and
+welcomed like merchants, which they were. When those people arrived thus
+on the coast of Malabar everybody considered that they were the people
+whom their prophecies mentioned as those who would take India, and they
+had inquired of the diviners, who, looking at their records, told them
+not to be afraid, since the time when India was to be taken had not yet
+arrived.
+
+Thus it was; for those people had gone over all India, trading and
+selling their merchandise during many years, in which many of them
+married and established their abodes and became naturalized in the
+country, and mixed up with the inhabitants of the country. Many others
+returned to their own country, and as no more ever arrived, they went on
+diminishing in number, until they came to an end; but a numerous progeny
+remained from them, and because they were people of large property, and
+numerous in the towns where they resided, they had a quarter set apart,
+like as in Portugal and Castile in other times there used to be Jewries
+and Moorish quarters set apart; and they built houses for their idols,
+sumptuous edifices, which are to be seen at this day; and in the space
+of a hundred years there did not remain one. All this they had got thus
+recorded in their legends, and since at that time so many people did not
+take India, how was it to be taken now by people who came from such a
+distance, and who would not come in sufficient numbers to be able to
+conquer it? and they mocked at what the soothsayers said. But the King,
+who put great trust in them, and whose heart divined what was going to
+come to pass, spoke to a soothsayer in whom he placed great belief,
+and told him to look and see upon what grounds he made his assertions;
+because, if it was as he had been saying, he would labor to establish
+peace with the Portuguese in such a manner as to make his kingdom secure
+forever, and in this he would spend part of his treasure. The soothsayer
+answered: "Sire, I am telling you the truth, that these men will not
+bring so many people with them to seize upon countries and realms, but
+those who come, in whatever number they may be, will be able to prevail
+more with their ships than all as many as go upon the sea, on which
+account they must be masters of the sea, in which case of necessity
+the people of the land must obey them; and when they shall have become
+powerful at sea, what will happen to your kingdom if you have not secured
+peace with them? I tell you the truth, and you will see it with your
+eyes; and now follow what counsel you please."
+
+The King answered, "My heart tells me that you are speaking the truth,
+and I will do that which is incumbent upon me." The diviner said to him,
+"If before five years you do not see that I have told you the truth,
+order my head to be cut off." Upon which the King remained quite
+convinced, and determined in his heart to establish with the Portuguese
+all the peace and friendship that was possible. And because soon after
+news arrived that our people were at the city of Calicut, which is twelve
+leagues from Cananor, the King sent men to Calicut who always came to
+tell him of what happened there to our men.
+
+The ships continued running along the coast close to land, for the coast
+was clear, without banks against which to take precautions; and the
+pilots gave orders to cast anchor in a place which made a sort of bay,
+because there commenced the city of Calicut. This town is named Capocate,
+and on anchoring there a multitude of people flocked to the beach, all
+dark and naked, only covered with cloths half way down the thigh, with
+which they concealed their nakedness. All were much amazed at seeing what
+they had never before seen. When news was taken to the King he also came
+to look at the ships, for all the wonder was at seeing so many ropes and
+so many sails, and because the ships arrived when the sun was almost set;
+and at night they lowered out the boats, and Vasco da Gama went at once
+for his brother and Nicolas Coelho, and they remained together conversing
+upon the method of dealing with this King, since here was the principal
+end which they had come to seek; it seemed to him that it would be best
+to comport himself as an ambassador, and to make him his present, always
+saying that they had been separated from another fleet which they came
+to seek for there, and that the captain-major had come and brought him
+letters from the King.
+
+This they agreed upon together, and that Vasco da Gama should go on shore
+with that message sent by the captain-major, who carried the standard at
+the peak; they also talked of the manner in which these things were to be
+spoken of. When all was well decided upon, Nicolas Coelho returned to the
+ship, and Vasco da Gama remained with his brother talking with the Moor
+Taibo (the broker), who told him not to go on shore without hostages;
+that such was the custom of men who newly arrived at the country; and
+the Moor said that this King of Calicut was the greatest king of all the
+coast of India, and on that account was very vain, and he was very rich
+from the great trade he had in this city.
+
+[Footnote 1: Translated from the Portuguese by Henry E. J. Stanley.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Herodotus tells us that Phoenicians rounded this cape as
+early as B.C. 605.]
+
+
+
+COLUMBUS DISCOVERS SOUTH AMERICA
+
+A.D. 1498
+
+CLEMENTS ROBERT MARKHAM
+
+
+On September 25, 1493, Columbus sailed from Palos and began his second
+voyage of discovery. He had seventeen vessels and about fifteen hundred
+men. In November he discovered Dominica in the West Indies. Arriving at
+La Navidad, Espanola (Haiti), he found that the colony which he had left
+there on returning from his first visit had been killed by the Indians.
+At a point farther east he founded Isabella, the first European town in
+the New World.
+
+In April, 1594, he, sailed westward and along the south shore of Cuba,
+which he mistook for a peninsula of Asia. He next discovered Jamaica, and
+in September returned to Isabella. The Indians rose in rebellion
+against the Spaniards, who had ill-used them, and Columbus quelled the
+insurrection, in a battle on the Vega Real, April 25, 1495. He had before
+planned for the enslavement of hostile Indians, an act from which his
+reputation has somewhat suffered.
+
+Owing to hardship and discontent, some of the colonists carried
+complaints to Spain. Bishop Fonseca, who had charge of colonial affairs,
+upheld the complainants, and in 1495 Juan Aguado was sent as royal
+commissioner to Espanola. Aguado prepared a report, fearing the effects
+of which, Columbus returned to Spain at the same time (1496) with him. A
+brother of Columbus was left in charge of the government at Espanola. The
+Spanish sovereigns, Ferdinand and Isabella, dismissed the charges against
+Columbus, and on May 30, 1498, he sailed from San Lucar on his third
+voyage to the New World.
+
+The great navigator was no longer the powerful, enduring man of six years
+before. Exposure, months of sleepless watching, anxiety, and tropical
+fevers had at length done their work. The bright intellect, the vivid
+imagination, the great heart, the generous nature, would be the same
+until death, but the constitution was shattered. The admiral now suffered
+from ophthalmia, gout, and a complication of diseases. The last six years
+of his life were destined to be a time of much and cruel suffering,
+aggravated by ingratitude, perfidy, and injustice.
+
+In fitting out the third expedition every petty annoyance and obstruction
+that the malice of Bishop Fonseca could invent was used to thwart and
+delay the admiral. Each subordinate official knew that insolence to the
+object of the Bishop's envy and dislike, and neglect of his wishes, were
+the surest ways to the favor of his chief. One creature of Fonseca, named
+Jimeno de Briviesca, carried his insolence beyond the bounds of the
+endurance even of the dignified and long-suffering admiral, who very
+properly took him by the scruff of the neck on one occasion and kicked
+him off the poop of the flag-ship. The delays of Fonseca and his agents
+caused incalculable injury to the public service, as will presently
+appear.
+
+The sovereigns had ordered that six million maravedis--about ten
+thousand dollars--should be granted for the equipment of the expedition,
+and that eight vessels should be provided. The contractor for provisions
+was Jonato Berardi, a Florentine merchant settled at Seville; and, owing
+to his death, the contracting work fell upon his assistant Amerigo
+Vespucci, who was very actively employed on this service from April,
+1497, to May, 1498. In 1492 Vespucci came to Spain as a partner of an
+Italian trader at Cadiz named Donato Nicolini, and he afterward became
+the chief clerk or agent of Berardi. It was thus that Columbus first
+became acquainted with Amerigo Vespucci, when the admiral had reached the
+ripe age of forty-five. As for his provisions, a good deal of the meat
+turned bad on the voyage, and the contract was not very satisfactorily
+carried out. It is strange that this beef and biscuit contractor should
+have given his name to the New World, but perhaps not more strange than
+that a bacon contractor should be the patron saint of England and of
+Genoa.
+
+The admiral was most anxious to despatch supplies and re-enforcements to
+his brother, and he succeeded in sending off two caravels in advance,
+under the command of Hernandez Coronel, who had been appointed chief
+magistrate of Espafiola. The other vessels consisted of two naos, or
+ships of a hundred tons, and four caravels. After months of harassing and
+unnecessary delay, they dropped down the Guadalquiver from Seville and
+the admiral sailed. He touched at Porto Santo and Madeira, and reached
+Gomera on May 19th. Columbus had become aware, through information
+collected from the natives of the islands, that there was extensive land,
+probably a continent, to the southward. He had also received a letter
+from a skilled and learned jeweller named Jaime Ferrer, dated August 5,
+1495, in which it was laid down that the most valuable things came from
+very hot countries, where the natives are black or tawny. These and other
+considerations led him to determine to cross the Atlantic on a lower
+parallel than he had ever done before; and he invoked the Holy Trinity
+for protection, intending to name the first land that was sighted in
+their honor. But he was impressed with the importance of sending help to
+the colony without delay.
+
+He therefore detached one ship and two caravels from Gomera to make the
+voyage direct. The ship was commanded by Alonzo Sanchez de Carbajal of
+Baeza. One caravel was intrusted to Pedro de Arana, brother of Beatriz
+Enriquez and brother-in-law of the admiral. The other had for her captain
+a Genoese cousin, Juan Antonio Colombo. It will be remembered that
+Antonio, the brother of Domenico Colombo and uncle of the admiral,
+lived at the little coast village of Quinto, near Genoa, and had three
+sons--Juan Antonio, Mateo, and Amighetto. When these cousins heard of the
+greatness and renown of Christopher, they thought at least one of them
+might get some benefit from his prosperity. So the younger ones gave all
+the little money they could scrape together to enable the eldest to go to
+Spain. His illustrious kinsman welcomed him with affection, and as he
+was a sailor he received charge of a caravel, in which trust he proved
+himself, as Las Casas tells us, to be careful, efficient, and fit for
+command. The three vessels sailed from Gomera direct for Espanola on June
+21st. Columbus continued his voyage of discovery with one vessel and two
+caravels. Pero Alonzo Nino, the pilot of the Nina in the first voyage,
+was with him. Herman Perez Matteos was another pilot, and there were a
+few other old shipmates in the squadron. The admiral touched at Buena
+Vista, one of the Cape de Verd Islands, remaining at anchor for a few
+days, and on July 5th he sailed away into the unknown ocean, for many
+days on a south-west course. His intention was to go south as far as the
+latitude of Sierra Leone, 8 deg. 30' N., and then to steer west until he
+reached land.
+
+After ten days the vessels were in regions of calms, and the people began
+to suffer from the intense heat. The sun melted the tar of the rigging,
+and the seams of the decks began to open. For days and days the scorching
+heat continued, but at length there were some refreshing showers, and
+light breezes sprang up from the west. But their progress was very slow,
+and their stock of water nearly exhausted. So the admiral ordered the
+course to be altered to northwest, in hopes of reaching Dominica. It was
+July 31st, the people were parched with thirst, and yet no land had been
+seen. In the afternoon of that day the admiral's servant, Alonzo Perez
+of Huelva, went to the masthead, and reported land in the shape of three
+separate peaks. Columbus had declared his intention of naming the first
+land sighted after the Holy Trinity, and the coincidence of its appearing
+in the form of three peaks made a deep impression on his mind. The island
+of Trinidad retains its name to this day. The admiral gave heartfelt
+thanks to God, and all the crews chanted the _Salve Regina_ and other
+hymns of prayer and praise. Meanwhile the little squadron glided through
+the water, approaching the newly discovered land, and Columbus named the
+most eastern point "Cabo de la Galera," by reason of a great rock off it,
+which at a distance looked like a galley under sail. All along the coast
+the trees were seen to come down to the sea, the most lovely sight that
+eyes could rest on; and at last, on August 1st, an anchorage was found,
+and they were able to fill up with water from delicious streams and
+fountains. The main continent of South America was seen to the south,
+appearing like a long island, and it received the name of "Isla Santa."
+The point near the watering-place was called "Punta de la Playa."
+
+The western end of the island was named "Punta del Arenal," and here an
+extraordinary phenomenon presented itself. A violent current was rushing
+out through a channel or strait not more than two leagues wide, causing
+great perturbation of the sea, with such an uproar of rushing water that
+the crews were filled with alarm for the safety of the vessels. The
+admiral named the channel "La Boca de la Sierpe." He piloted his little
+squadron safely through it and reached the Gulf of Paria, named by him
+"Golfo de la Ballena." The land to the westward, forming the mainland
+of Paria, received the name of "Isla de Gracia." Standing across to the
+western side of the Gulf, the admiral was delighted with the beauty of
+the country and with the view of distant mountains. Near a point named
+"Aguja" the country was so fruitful and charming that he called it
+"Jardines," and here he saw many Indians, among them women wearing
+bracelets of pearls, and when they were asked whence the pearls were
+obtained they pointed to the westward. As many pearls as could be
+bartered from the natives were collected for transmission to the
+sovereigns, for here was a new source of wealth, another precious
+commodity from the New World.
+
+Columbus was astonished at the vast mass of fresh water that was pouring
+into the Gulf of Paria. He correctly divined the cause, and made the
+deduction that a river with such a volume of water must come from a great
+distance. His prescient mind showed him the mighty river Orinoco, the
+wide savannas, and the lofty range of the Andes; but the trammels of the
+erroneous measurements of astronomers bound them to Asia, and prevented
+him from picturing them to himself in the New World he had really
+discovered. That the land must be continuous appeared to be proved, not
+only from the deductions of science, but also from the Word of God. For
+he believed it to be established from the revealed Word (II Esdras vi.
+42) that the ocean only covered one-seventh of the globe, and that the
+other six-sevenths was dry land. Moreover, his splendid intellect was
+united with a powerful imagination. When he had grasped the facts with
+masterly intuition, his fancy often raised upon them some strange theory,
+derived partly from his extensive reading, partly from his own teeming
+brain. Thinking that a long and rapid course was insufficient to account
+for the volume of water and the violence of the currents, he conceived
+the idea that the earth, though round, was not a perfect sphere, and that
+it rose in one part of the equinoctial line so as to be somewhat of a
+pear shape. Thus he accounted for the exceptional volume of water by the
+motion of rivers flowing down from the end of the pear. One step farther
+in the realms of fancy, and he indulged in a dream that this centre and
+apex of the earth's surface, with its mighty rivers, could be no other
+than the terrestrial paradise. Writing as one thought coursed after
+another in his teeming fancy, we find these passing whims of a vivid
+imagination embodied in the journal intended for the information of the
+sovereigns.
+
+But time was passing on, and it was important that he should convey the
+provisions with which his vessels were loaded to his infant colony. He
+had seen that another narrow channel led from the northern side of the
+gulf, and had named it "Boca del Dragon." On August 12th he had piloted
+his vessels to the Punta de Paria, and prepared to pass through the
+channel. At that critical moment it fell calm, while the two currents
+flowed violently toward the opening, where they met and formed a broken,
+confused sea. But the admiral made use of the currents, and by the
+exercise of consummate seamanship took his three vessels clear of the
+danger and out into the open sea. The islands of Tobago and Granada were
+sighted, receiving the names of "Asuncion" and "Concepcion." Then the
+rocks and islets to the westward came in view, named the "Testigos" and
+"Guardias," and the island "Margarita." The latter name shows that the
+admiral had obtained the correct information from the natives of Paria
+respecting the locality of the pearl-fishery.
+
+The admiral now crowded all sail to reach Espanola, intending to make a
+landfall at the mouth of the river Azuma, where he knew that his brother,
+the Adelantado (Governor), had founded the new city, and named it Santo
+Domingo, in memory of their old father, Domenico Colombo. But the current
+carried him far to the westward, and on August 19th he sighted the coast
+fifty leagues to leeward of the new capital. On hearing of his arrival on
+the coast, Bartolome got on board a caravel and joined him; but it was
+not until the 31st that the two brothers entered San Domingo together,
+the admiral for the first time. Young Diego, the third and youngest
+brother, welcomed them on their arrival. The admiral had been absent for
+two years and a half, during which time the Adelantado had conducted the
+government of the colony with remarkable vigor and ability. Yet, owing
+to the mutinous conduct of the worst of the settlers, there was a very
+disastrous report to make.
+
+When the Adelantado assumed the command on the departure of the admiral
+for Spain in March, 1496, his first step, in compliance with the
+instructions he had received, was to proceed to the valley on the south
+side of the island, in which the gold mine of Hayna was situated, and to
+build a fort, which he named "San Cristoval." He next, having received
+supplies and reenforcements, together with letters from the admiral,
+by the caravels under Nino, took steps for the foundation of the new
+capital. Still following his brother's instructions, he selected a site
+at the mouth of the river Azuma, where there were good anchorage in
+the bay and a fertile valley along the banks of the river. On a bank
+commanding the harbor a fortress was erected, and named "Santo Domingo,"
+while the city was subsequently built on the east bank of the river. It
+became the capital of the colony. Before long Isabella, on the north
+coast, was entirely abandoned. Trees soon grew upon the streets and
+through the roofs of the houses. It presented a scene of wild desolation,
+and ghosts were believed to wander in crowds through the abandoned city.
+Ruins of the house of Columbus, of the church, and the fort can still be
+traced out by those who penetrate into the dense jungle which now covers
+that part of the coast.
+
+The next proceeding of the indefatigable Adelantado was the settlement of
+the beautiful province of Xaragua, forming the southwestern portion of
+the island. It was ruled over by a chief named Behechio, with whom dwelt
+the famous Anacaona, his sister, widow of Caonabo, but, unlike that
+fierce Carib, a constant friend of the Spaniards. Behechio met the
+Adelantado in battle array on the banks of the river Neyva, the eastern
+boundary of his dominions. But as soon as they were informed that the
+errand of the Spanish Governor was a peaceful one, both Behechio and
+Anacaona, who was a princess of great ability and of a most amiable
+disposition, received him with cordial hospitality. When, after a time,
+he opened the subject of tribute to them, they showed opposition. But
+Bartolome proved himself to be a masterly diplomatist, and in the end
+Behechio not only consented to impose a tribute, the details of which
+were amicably arranged, but undertook to collect and deliver it
+periodically to the Spanish authorities. These Indians were quite ready
+to submit to beings who appeared to be superior in power and intelligence
+to themselves. If the sovereigns of Spain had trusted Columbus and his
+brothers fully and completely, had established trading-stations and
+imposed a moderate tribute, and had absolutely prohibited the overrunning
+of the country by penniless and worthless adventurers, they would have
+had a rich and prosperous colony. The discontent and rebellion of the
+natives were solely caused by the misconduct of the Spaniards.
+
+An insurrection broke out in the Vega Real, headed by the chief
+Guarionex, who, after suffering innumerable wrongs from the Spaniards,
+was at last driven to desperation by an outrage on his wife. He assembled
+a number of dependent caciques, but the news was promptly communicated
+to the garrison of Fort Concepcion and forwarded to Santo Domingo. The
+Adelantado stamped out the rebellion with his accustomed vigor. He came
+by forced marches to Concepcion, and thence, without stopping, to the
+camp of the natives, who were completely taken by surprise. Guarionex and
+the other caciques were captured, and their followers dispersed. Always
+generous after victory, Bartolome Columbus released Guarionex at the
+prayer of his people, a measure which was alike magnanimous and politic.
+But it was impossible to rule over the natives satisfactorily unless
+the Spanish settlers could be forced to submit to the laws, and the
+Adelantado was not powerful enough to keep the bad characters in
+subjection. The loyal and decent men of the colony were in a small
+minority. The consequence was that the unfortunate Guarionex was again
+goaded into insurrection. On the approach of the Adelantado he fled into
+the mountains of Ciguey, on the northeast coast, and took refuge with a
+dependent cacique named Mayobanex, whose residence was near Cape Cabron,
+the western extreme of the Samana peninsula. A difficult and arduous
+mountain campaign followed, which Bartolome conducted with remarkable
+military skill. It ended in the capture and imprisonment of both the
+chiefs.
+
+Behechio now announced that he had collected the required tribute,
+consisting of a very large quantity of cotton, and that it was ready for
+delivery. The Adelantado therefore proceeded to Xaragua, and not only
+found this great store of cotton, but received an offer from the generous
+chief to supply him with as much cassava-bread as he needed for the
+use of the colony. This was a most acceptable present, for the lazy,
+ill-conditioned settlers had neglected to cultivate their fields, and a
+famine was imminent. The Adelantado ordered a caravel to be sent round to
+Xaragua to be freighted with cotton and bread, and returned himself to
+Isabella after taking a cordial farewell of his native friends. He had
+shown extraordinary talent in his government of the native population,
+and his rule had been a complete success. Always moderate in victory, he
+had suppressed the insurrections without bloodshed, and had conciliated
+the people by his moderation. He had made long and difficult marches,
+had subdued opposition by his readiness of resource and energy, and had
+administered the native affairs with humanity and excellent judgment.
+
+Unfortunately his power was insufficient to cope successfully with the
+insubordinate Spaniards. The ringleader of the mutineers was Francisco
+Roldan, a man whom Columbus had raised from the dust. He had been a
+servant; and the admiral, noting his ability, had intrusted him with some
+judicial functions. When he sailed for Spain he appointed Roldan chief
+justice of the colony. This ungrateful miscreant fostered discontent and
+mutiny by every art of persuasion and calumny at his command, and soon
+had a large band of worthless and idle ruffians ready to follow his lead.
+His first plan was to murder the Adelantado and seize the government, but
+he lacked the courage or the opportunity to put it into execution. His
+next step was to march into the Vega Real with seventy armed mutineers,
+and attempt to surprise Fort Concepcion. The garrison was commanded by a
+loyal soldier named Miguel Ballester, who closed the gates and defied the
+rebels, sending to the Adelantado for help. Bartolome at once hastened to
+his assistance, and on his arrival at Fort Concepcion he sent a messenger
+to Roldan, remonstrating with him, and urging him to return to his
+duty. But Roldan found his force increasing by the adhesion of all the
+discontented men in the colony, and his insolence increased with his
+power. All would probably have been lost but for the opportune arrival of
+Pedro Hernandez Coronel in February, 1498, who had been despatched
+from San Lucar by the admiral in the end of the previous year with
+reenforcements. He also brought out the confirmation of Bartolome's rank
+as Adelantado.
+
+The Adelantado was thus enabled to leave Fort Concepcion and establish
+his head-quarters at Santo Domingo. He sent Coronel as an envoy to
+Roldan, to endeavor to persuade him to return to his duty; but the
+mutineer feared to submit, believing that he had gone too far for
+forgiveness. He marched into the province of Xaragua, where he allowed
+his dissolute followers to abandon themselves to every kind of excess.
+The three caravels which had been despatched from Gomera by the admiral
+unfortunately made a bad landfall, and appeared off Xaragua. Roldan
+concealed the fact that he was a leader of mutineers, and, receiving the
+captains in his official capacity, induced them to supply him with stores
+and provisions, while his followers busily endeavored to seduce the
+crews, and succeeded to some extent. When Roldan's true character was
+discovered, the caravels put to sea with the loyal part of their crews,
+while Alonzo Sanchez de Carbajal, a loyal and thoroughly honest man, who
+was zealous for the good of the colony, remained behind to endeavor to
+persuade Roldan to submit to the admiral's authority. He only succeeded
+in obtaining from him a promise to enter into negotiations with a view to
+the termination of the deplorable state of affairs he had created, and
+with this Carbajal proceeded to Santo Domingo.
+
+Such was the state of affairs when Columbus arrived at the new seat of
+his government. His brother had ruled with ability and vigor during his
+absence, had administered native affairs very successfully, but his power
+had been insufficient to subdue the band of Spanish miscreants who
+were still in open mutiny. The admiral was filled with grief and
+disappointment at the turn affairs had taken. A thoroughly loyal man
+himself, with no thought or desire but for the good of the colony, he
+was thwarted by treacherous miscreants, who cared for nothing but the
+accumulation of riches for themselves, and a life of indulgence and
+licentious ease. After long consideration he resolved upon a policy of
+conciliation. The unsettled state of affairs was bringing ruin on the
+island, and the restoration of peace was an absolute necessity. The
+magnanimous Genoese was incapable of personal resentment. The men
+themselves were, indeed, beneath his contempt; but he felt bound to treat
+with them, and even to make great concessions, if necessary, for the good
+of the public service. The welfare of the colony was his sole object, and
+he did not hesitate to sacrifice every personal feeling to his sense of
+duty. It is with some impatience that one finds the grand schemes of
+discovery and colonization interrupted by such contemptible means, and
+the course of the narrative checked by the necessity for recording,
+however briefly, the paltry dissensions of vile miscreants such as Roldan
+and his crew.
+
+The mutineers were most unwilling to make any agreement. They were
+leading the sort of lawless and licentious life that exactly suited them,
+and were disinclined to submit to any authority. The interests of
+their leaders, however, were not quite the same, and the acceptance of
+advantageous terms would suit them. Carbajal was employed by the admiral
+to conduct the negotiations, while the veteran Ballester returned to
+Spain in November, 1498, with the news of the rebellion, and a request
+from the admiral that a learned and impartial judge might be sent out to
+decide all disputes.
+
+It was finally agreed that Roldan should return to his duty, still
+retaining the office of chief justice; that all past offences should be
+condoned, and that he and his followers should receive grants of land,
+with the services of the Indians. The admiral consented to these terms
+most unwillingly, and under the conviction that this was the only way to
+avoid the greater evil of civil dissension. He resolved, however, that
+any future outbreak must be firmly and vigorously suppressed by force.
+Although Roldan had now resumed his position as a legitimate official
+ready to maintain order, it could hardly be expected that his fatal
+example would not be followed by other unprincipled men of the same stamp
+when the opportunity offered.
+
+Trouble arose owing to the conduct of a young Castilian named Hernando
+de Guevara. Roldan was established in Xaragua, when the youthful gallant
+arrived at the house of his cousin, Adrian de Mujica, one of the
+ringleaders in Roldan's mutiny, and fell in love with Higueymota, the
+daughter of Anacaona. Guevara, for some misconduct, had been ordered by
+the admiral to leave the island, but instead of obeying he had made his
+way to Xaragua, and caused trouble by this love passage, for he had a
+rival in Roldan himself, who ordered him to desist from the pursuit of
+the daughter of Anacaona, and to return to Santo Domingo. Guevara refused
+to obey, but he was promptly arrested and sent as a prisoner to the
+capital. When his cousin Mujica, who was then in the Vega Real, received
+the news, he raised a mutiny, offering rewards to the soldiers if they
+would follow him in an attempt to rescue Guevara. The admiral, though
+suffering from illness, showed remarkable energy on this occasion.
+Marching very rapidly at the head of eighteen chosen men, he surprised
+the mutineers, captured the ringleader, and carried him off to the
+fort of Concepcion. Some severity had now become incumbent upon the
+authorities, and Mujica was condemned to death. The admiral regretted the
+necessity, but in no other way could a motive be supplied to deter
+others from keeping the country in a constant state of lawless disorder.
+Guevara, Riqueline, and other disorderly characters were imprisoned
+in the fort at Santo Domingo, and by August, 1500, peace was quite
+established throughout the island.
+
+Thus had Columbus restored tranquillity to the colony. By prudent and
+conciliatory negotiations, during which he had exercised the most
+wonderful self-abnegation and patience, he had succeeded in averting the
+serious danger caused by the formidable revolt of Roldan. But as the
+habit of disorder was threatening to become chronic, he wisely took
+another way with the sedition of Mujica, maintaining order by a resort
+to prompt and vigorous action, and making a salutary example which was
+calculated to be deterrent in its effects.
+
+With the restoration of peace, trade revived and prosperity began to
+return. The receivers of grants of land found that they had a stake
+in the country, and sought to derive profit from their crops. Similar
+activity appeared at the mines, and the building at Santo Domingo
+progressed rapidly. The admiral began to hope that the first troubles
+incident to an infant colony were over, and that the time had arrived
+for Spain to feel the advantages of his great achievement. He now
+looked forward to further and more important discoveries followed by
+colonization on the main continent.
+
+Yet at this very time a blow was about to come from a quarter whence it
+was least to be expected, which was destined to shatter all the hopes
+of this long-suffering man, and dissipate all his bright visions of the
+future[1].
+
+[Footnote:1 On the arrival (August 24, 1500) of Francisco de Boabdilla as
+royal commissioner, he deposed Columbus and his brothers and sent them in
+chains to Spain. Although they were immediately released, Columbus was
+not reinstated in his dignities. His fourth and final voyage (1502-1504)
+came far short of his anticipations].
+
+
+
+ESTABLISHMENT OF SWISS INDEPENDENCE
+
+A.D. 1499
+
+HEINRICH ZSCHOKKE
+
+
+The powerful family of the Hapsburgs, still rulers of the Tyrol, or
+eastern portion of the Alps, long claimed authority over the western part
+as well. The severity of their rule led to an organized resistance on the
+part of the mountaineers, and the natural strength of the country secured
+to its defenders victory after victory. The battles of Morgarten
+(1315) and of Sempach (1386) were each accepted as final by their own
+generation; but the house of Hapsburg never formally relinquished its
+ancient rights, and its heads grew in power. From being dukes of Austria
+they advanced to be hereditary emperors of all Germany, and at length in
+1499 the powerful Emperor Maximilian determined to enforce his double
+authority as duke and emperor. His projects were encouraged by the
+discord rife among the little states or cantons which composed the Swiss
+league.
+
+The following account of the war that ensued is from the pen of a
+well-known Swiss historian, and is perhaps colored by rather more
+enthusiasm and racial pride than historic accuracy. Yet the struggle was
+final. Never after did German or Austrian dispute the independence of the
+Swiss. The unfortunate consequences brought by success upon the natives
+are not only true, but profoundly worthy of note.
+
+Fortunately danger and trouble soon appeared from abroad. This united all
+the cantons anew, and was therefore salutary.
+
+Maximilian I of Austria was Emperor of Germany. He had received from
+France the country of Lower Burgundy, and, to hold it more securely,
+incorporated it with the German empire as a single circle. He wished to
+make Switzerland, also, such a German imperial circle. The Confederates
+refused, preferring to remain by themselves as they had been until then.
+In Swabia, the existing states had formed a league among themselves
+for the suppression of small wars and feuds. This pleased the politic
+Emperor; by becoming an associate, he placed himself at the head of the
+league, which he was able to direct for the aggrandizement of his house
+of Austria. He desired that the Confederates, also, should enter the
+Swabian League. The Swiss again refused, preferring to remain by
+themselves as before.
+
+The Emperor was irritated at this, and at Innspruck he said to the
+deputies of the Confederates: "You are refractory members of the empire;
+some day I shall have to pay you a visit, sword in hand." The deputies
+answered and said: "We humbly beseech your imperial majesty to dispense
+with such a visit, for our Swiss are rude men, and do not even respect
+crowns."
+
+The boldness of the Confederates wounded the Swabian League no less. Many
+provocations and quarrels took place, here and there, between the people
+on the borders, so that the city of Constance, for her own security,
+joined the Swabian League. For, one day, a band of valiant men of
+Thurgau, incited by the bailiff from Uri, had tried to surprise the city,
+in order to punish her for her bravadoes against the Swiss.
+
+Neither were the Austrians good neighbors to the Grisons. The Tyrol
+and Engadine were constantly discussing and disputing about markets,
+privileges, and tolls. Once, indeed, in 1476, the Tyrolese had marched
+armed into the valley of Engadine, but were driven back into their own
+country, through the narrow Pass of Finstermunz, with bloody heads. Now
+there was a fresh cause of quarrel. In the division of the Toggenburger
+inheritance, the rights of Toggenburg in the Ten Jurisdictions had fallen
+to the counts of Matsch, Sax, and Montfort, and afterward, 1478-1489, by
+purchase, to the ducal house of Austria. Hence much trouble arose.
+
+As the Grisons had equal cause with the Confederates to fear the power
+and purposes of Emperor Maximilian, the Gray League, 1497, and that of
+God's House, 1498, made a friendly and defensive alliance with Zurich,
+Lucerne, Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden, Zug, and Glarus. The Ten Jurisdictions
+dared not join them for fear of Austria.
+
+Then the Emperor restrained his anger no longer. And, though already
+burdened with a heavy war in the Netherlands, he sent fresh troops into
+the Tyrol, and the forces of the Swabian League advanced and hemmed in
+Switzerland from the Grison Pass, near Luziensteig, between the Rhetian
+mountains and Germany, along the Lake of Constance and the Rhine, as far
+as Basel.
+
+Then Switzerland and Rhetia were in great danger. But the Grisons rose
+courageously to defend their freedom, as did all the Confederates. The
+Sargansers, also, and the Appenzellers hastened to the Schollenberg; the
+banners of Valais, Basel, and Schaffhausen soon floated in view of the
+enemy. No man stayed at home.
+
+It was in February, 1499, that the strife began. Then eight thousand
+imperialists entered the Grison territory of Munsterthal and Engadine;
+Louis of Brandis, the Emperor's general, with several thousand men,
+surprised and held the Pass of Luziensteig, and, by the treachery of
+four burghers, the little city of Maienfeld. But the Grisons retook the
+Luziensteig, and eight hundred Swabians here found their death; the rest
+fled to Balzers. Then the Confederates passed the Rhine near Azmoos, and,
+with the Grisons, obtained a great victory near Treisen. The Swabian
+nobility, with ten thousand soldiers, were posted near St. John's, at
+Hochst and Hard, between Bregenz and Fussach. Eight thousand Confederates
+killed nearly half of the enemy's army, ascended as far as the forests
+of Bregenz, and imposed contributions on the country. Ten thousand other
+Confederates passed victoriously over the Hegau, and in eight days burned
+twenty villages, hamlets, and castles. Skirmish followed quickly upon
+skirmish, battle upon battle.
+
+The enemy, indeed, issuing from Constance, succeeded in surprising the
+Confederate garrison of Ermatingen while asleep, and in murdering in
+their beds sixty-three defenceless men. But they bloodily expiated
+this in the wood of Schwaderlochs, whence eighteen thousand of them,
+vanquished by two thousand Confederates, fled in such haste that the city
+gates of Constance were too narrow for the fugitives, and the number
+of their dead exceeded that of the Swiss opposed to them. A body of
+Confederates on the upper Rhine penetrated into Wallgau, where the enemy
+were intrenched near Frastenz, and, fourteen thousand strong, feared
+not the valor of the Swiss. But when Henry Wolleb, the hero of Uri, had
+passed the Langengasterberg with two thousand brave men, and burned the
+strong intrenchment, his heroic death was the signal of victory to the
+Confederates. They rushed under the thunder of artillery into the ranks
+of Austria and dealt their fearful blows. Three thousand dead bodies
+covered the battle-field of Frastenz. Such Austrians as were left alive
+fled in terror through woods and waters. Then each Swiss fought as though
+victory depended on his single arm; for Switzerland and Swiss glory, each
+flew joyously to meet danger and death, and counted not the number of the
+enemy. And wherever a Swiss banner floated, there was more than one like
+John Wala of Glarus, who, near Gams in Rheinthal, measured himself singly
+with thirty horsemen.
+
+The Grisons, also, fought with no less glory. Witness the Malserhaide in
+Tyrol, where fifteen thousand men, under Austrian banners, behind strong
+intrenchments, were attacked by only eight thousand Grisons. The ramparts
+were turned, the intrenchments stormed. Benedict Fontana was first on the
+enemy's wall. He had cleared the way. With his left hand holding the wide
+wound from which his entrails protruded, he fought with his right and
+cried: "Forward, now, fellow-leaguers! let not my fall stop you! It is
+but one man the less! To-day you must save your free fatherland and
+your free leagues. If you are conquered, you leave your children in
+everlasting slavery." So said Fontana and died. The Malserhaide was full
+of Austrian dead. Nearly five thousand fell. The Grisons had only two
+hundred killed and seven hundred wounded.
+
+When Emperor Maximilian, in the Netherlands, heard of so many battles
+lost, he came and reproached his generals, and said to the princes of the
+German empire: "Send to me auxiliaries against the Swiss, so bold as
+to have attacked the empire. For these rude peasants, in whom there is
+neither virtue nor noble blood nor magnanimity, but who are full of
+coarseness, pride, perfidy, and hatred of the German nation, have drawn
+into their party many hitherto faithful subjects of the empire."
+
+But the princes of the empire delayed to send auxiliaries, and the
+Emperor then learned, with increasing horror, that his army sent over the
+Engadine mountains to suppress the Grison League had been destroyed in
+midsummer by avalanches, famine, and the masses of rock which the
+Grisons threw down from the mountains; then that on the woody height of
+Bruderholz, not far from Basel, one thousand Swiss had vanquished more
+than four thousand of their enemies; that, shortly after, in the same
+region near Dornach, six thousand Confederates had obtained a brilliant
+victory over fifteen thousand Austrians, killing three thousand men, with
+their general, Henry of Furstenberg. Then the Emperor reflected that
+within eight months the Swiss had been eight times victorious in eight
+battles. And he decided to end a war in which more than twenty thousand
+men had already fallen, and nearly two thousand villages, hamlets,
+castles, and cities been destroyed.
+
+Peace was negotiated and concluded on September 22, 1499, in the city of
+Basel. The Emperor acknowledged the ancient rights and the conquests
+of the Confederates, and granted to them, moreover, the ordinary
+jurisdiction over Thurgau, which, with the criminal jurisdiction and
+other sovereign rights, had, until then, belonged to the city of
+Constance. Thenceforward the emperors thought no more of dissolving the
+Confederacy, or of incorporating it with the German empire. In the
+fields of Frastenz, of Malserhaide, and Dornach were laid the first
+foundation-stones of Swiss independence of foreign power.
+
+The confederated cantons thankfully acknowledged what Basel and
+Schaffhausen had constantly done in these heroic days for the whole
+Confederacy, and that warlike Appenzell had never been backward at the
+call of glory and liberty. Therefore Basel, June 9, 1501, and flourishing
+Schaffhausen, August 9, 1501, were received into the perpetual Swiss
+bond, and finally, 1513, Appenzell, already united in perpetual alliance
+with most of the cantons, was acknowledged as coequal with all the
+Confederates.
+
+Thus, in the two hundred fifth year after the deed of William Tell, the
+Confederacy of the Thirteen Cantons was completed. But Valais and Grisons
+were considered as cantons allied to the Confederacy, as were St. Gallen,
+Muhlhausen, Rothweil in Swabia, and other cities--all free places,
+subject to no prince--united with the Swiss by a defensive alliance.
+
+At that period, the thirteen cantons of the Swiss Confederacy were not
+yet, as now, equal in virtue of the bond, nor bound together directly by
+one and the same covenant. They were properly united only with the three
+cantons of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden, as with a common centre, but
+among themselves by special treaties. Each canton was attentive to its
+own interests and glory, seldom to those of the others or to the welfare
+of the whole Confederacy. Fear of the ambition and power of neighboring
+lords and princes had drawn them together more and more. So long as this
+fear lasted, their union was strong.
+
+As the governments were independent of each other so far as their
+covenants allowed, and of foreign princes also, they called themselves
+free Swiss. But within the country districts there was little freedom for
+the people. Only in the shepherd cantons--Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden,
+also Zug, Glarus, and Appenzell--did the country people possess equal
+rights, and, in the city cantons, only the burghers of the cities; and
+often, even among these latter, only a few rich or ancient families. The
+rest of the people, dependent on the cities, having been either purchased
+or conquered, were subjects, often indeed serfs, and enjoyed only the
+limited rights which they had formerly possessed under the counts and
+princes. Even the shepherd cantons held subjects, whom they, like
+princes, governed by their bailiffs. And the Confederate cantons and
+cities would by no means allow their subjects to purchase their freedom,
+as the old counts and lords had formerly permitted the Confederates
+themselves to do.
+
+But the people cared little for liberty; made rude and savage by
+continued wars, they loved only quarrels and combats, revels and
+debauchery, when there was no war in their own country. The young men,
+greedy of booty, followed foreign drums and fought the battles of princes
+for hire. There were no good schools in the villages, and the clergy
+cared little for this. Indeed, the morals of the clergy were often no
+less depraved than those of the citizens and country people; even in the
+convents great disorders frequently prevailed with great wealth. Many of
+the priests were very ignorant; many drank, gambled, and blasphemed; many
+led shameless lives.
+
+In the chief cities of the cantons, debauchery and dissipation were
+rife. There was much division between citizens and councillors; envy and
+distrust between the different professions. The lords, when once seated
+in the great and small councils--legislative and executive--cared more
+for themselves and their families than for the welfare of the citizens;
+they endeavored to advance their sons and relatives, and to procure
+lucrative offices for them. In all the cantons there were certainly some
+great, patriotic souls who preferred the interests of their country to
+their own, but no one listened to them.
+
+As Switzerland had now no foreign wars to fear, and the neighboring kings
+and princes were pleased to have in their armies Swiss, for whose life
+and death they cared much less than for the life and death of their own
+subjects, the principal families of the city and country cantons took
+advantage of these circumstances to open fountains of wealth for
+themselves. The desire of the kings to enlist valiant Swiss favored the
+avidity of the council lords, as did the wish of the young men to get
+booty. In spite of the positive prohibition of the magistrates, thousands
+of young men often enlisted in foreign service, where most of them
+perished miserably, because no one cared for them. Therefore the
+governments judged it best to make treaties with the kings for the
+raising of Swiss regiments, commanded by national officers, subject to
+their own laws and regularly paid, so that each government could take
+care of its subjects when abroad. "Confederates! you require a vent for
+your energies," had Rudolf Reding of Schwyz already said, when, years
+before, he saw the free life of the young men after the Burgundian war.
+
+Now began the letting out of Swiss, Grisons, and Valaisians to foreign
+military service, by their governments. The first treaty of this nature
+was made by the King of France, 1479-1480, with the Confederates in
+Lucerne. Next the house of Austria hired mercenaries, 1499; the princes
+of Italy did the same, as did others afterward. Even the popes themselves
+wanted a lifeguard of Swiss; the first, 1503, was Pope Julius II, who was
+often engaged in war.
+
+Switzerland suffered much from this course. Many a field remained
+untilled, many a plough stood still, because the husbandman had taken
+mercenary arms. And, if he returned alive, he brought back foreign
+diseases and vices, and corrupted the innocent by evil example, for
+he had acquired but little virtue in the wars. Only the sons of the
+patricians and council lords obtained captaincies, commands, and riches,
+by which they increased their influence and consideration in the land,
+and could oppress others. They prided themselves on the titles of
+nobility and decorations conferred by kings, and imagined these to be of
+value, and that they themselves were more than other Swiss.
+
+When the kings perceived the cupidity and folly of the Swiss, they
+took advantage of them for their own profit, sent ambassadors into
+Switzerland, distributed presents, granted gratifications and pensions to
+their partisans in the councils, and for these the council lords became
+willing servants of foreign princes. Then one canton was French, another
+Milanese; one Venetian, another Spanish; but rarely was one Swiss. This
+redounded greatly to the shame of the Swiss. When the German Emperor and
+the King of France were, at the same time, canvassing the favor of the
+cantons and bargaining in competition for troops, so great was the
+contempt or insolence of the French ambassador at Bern, 1516, that he
+distributed the royal pensions to the lords by sound of trumpet. At
+Freiburg he poured out silver crowns upon the ground, and, while he
+heaped them up with a shovel, said to the bystanders, "Does not this
+silver jingle better than the Emperor's empty words?" So much had love of
+money debased the Swiss.
+
+The twelve cantons, Appenzell being the only exception, were at one
+moment allied with Milan against France, at the next with France against
+Milan. Milan was rightly called the Schwyzer's grave. It was not unusual
+for Confederates to fight against Confederates on foreign soil, and to
+kill each other for hire. The ecclesiastical lord, Matthew Schinner,
+Bishop of Sion in Valais, a very deceitful man, helped greatly to
+occasion this. According as he was hired, he intrigued in Switzerland,
+sometimes for the King of France, sometimes against France for the
+Pope, who, in payment, even made him cardinal and ambassador to the
+Confederacy.
+
+The mercenary wars of the Swiss upon foreign battle-fields were not wars
+for liberty or for honor; but these hirelings of princes maintained
+their reputation for valor even there. With the aid of several thousand
+Confederates, the King of France subjected the whole of Lombardy in the
+space of twenty days. But the expelled Duke of the country soon returned
+with five thousand Swiss, whom he had enlisted contrary to the will of
+the magistracy, to drive out the French. Then the King of France received
+twenty thousand men from the cantons with whom he was allied; maintained
+himself in Italy, and gave to the three cantons, Uri, Schwyz, and
+Unterwalden, 1502-1503, the districts of Palenza, Riviera, and Bellenz.
+But, as soon as the King thought he could do without the Swiss, he
+paid them badly and irregularly. Cardinal Schinner, pleased at this,
+immediately shook a bag of gold, with fifty-three thousand guilders, in
+favor of the Pope and of Venice. At once, 1512, twenty thousand Swiss
+and Grisons crossed the high Alps and joined the Venetians against the
+French. The Grisons took possession of Valtelina, Chiavenna, and Bormio.
+They asserted that, a century before, an ejected duke of Milan had ceded
+these valleys to the bishopric of Coire. The Confederates of the twelve
+cantons subjected Lugano, Locarno, and Valmaggia. The French were driven
+out of Lombardy, and the young duke Maximilian Sforza, son of him who had
+been dispossessed by them, was reinstated in his father's inheritance at
+Milan. Victorious for him, the Confederates beat the French near Novara,
+June 6, 1513; two thousand Swiss fell, it is true, but ten thousand of
+the enemy. Still more murderous was the two-days' battle of Melegnano,
+September 14, 1515, in which barely ten thousand Swiss fought against
+fifty thousand French. They lost the battle-field, indeed, but not their
+honor. They sadly retreated to Milan, with their field-pieces on their
+backs, their wounded in the centre of their army. The enemy lost the
+flower of their troops, and called this action the "Battle of the
+Giants."
+
+Then the King of France, Francis I, terrified by a victory which
+resembled a defeat, made, in the next year, a perpetual peace with the
+Confederates, and, by money and promises, persuaded some to furnish
+him with troops; the others, that they would allow no enrolling by his
+enemies. Thus the Confederates once more helped him against the Emperor
+and Pope and against Milan, and the King concluded a friendly alliance
+with them in 1521. During many years they shed their blood for him on the
+battle-fields of Italy, without good result, without advantage, except
+that the Confederacy stood godmother to his new-born son. Each canton
+sent to Paris, for the _fete_, a deputy with a baptismal present of fifty
+ducats. More agreeable to the King than this present was the promptitude
+with which the Swiss sent sixteen thousand of their troops to his
+assistance in Italy. However, as they had lost, April 20, 1522, three
+thousand men near Bicocca; as of nearly fifteen thousand who entered
+Lombardy, 1524, hardly four thousand came back; as, finally, in the
+battle near Pajia, February 24, 1525, in which the King himself became
+prisoner to the Emperor, the Swiss experienced a fresh loss of seven
+thousand men, they by degrees lost all taste for Italian wars.
+
+
+
+AMERIGO VESPUCCI IN AMERICA A.D. 1499
+
+AMERIGO VESPUCCI
+
+
+It was the claim of Amerigo Vespucci that he accompanied four expeditions
+to the New World, and that he wrote a narrative of each voyage. According
+to Amerigo, the first expedition sailed from Spain in 1497; the second,
+of which his own account is here given, in 1499; both by order of
+King Ferdinand. Grave doubt has been thrown upon the first of these
+expeditions, the sole authority for which is Vespucci himself.
+
+The name America was given to two continents in honor of this naval
+astronomer on the authority of an account of his travels published in
+1507, in which he is represented as having reached the mainland in 1497.
+The justice of this naming has always been and still remains a matter of
+warm dispute among historical critics.
+
+But at the age of almost fifty--he was born in Florence in 1451--Vespucci
+unquestionably promoted and made a voyage to the New World. In May, 1499,
+he sailed from Spain with Alonzo de Ojeda, who commanded four vessels.
+During the summer they explored the coast of Venezuela ("Little Venice"),
+a name first given by Ojeda to a gulf of the Caribbean Sea, on the shores
+of which were cabins built on piles over the water, reminding him of
+Venice in Italy. Ojeda, who was but little acquainted with navigation,
+entered upon this voyage more as a marauding enterprise than an
+expedition of discovery, and he gladly availed himself of Amerigo's
+scientific ability. Vespucci was also able to command the financial
+support of his wealthy acquaintances. It is said that many of the former
+sailors of Columbus shipped with this expedition.
+
+The following account was written by Amerigo in a letter to Lorenzo Pier
+Francesco, of the Medici family of Florence, from whom Vespucci had held
+certain business commissions in Spain. Respecting this letter an Italian
+critic observes that "it is the most ancient known writing of Amerigo
+relating to his voyages to the New World, having been composed within a
+month after his return from his second voyage, and remaining buried in
+our archives for a long time. It is a precious monument, for without it
+we should have been left in ignorance of the great additions which he
+made to astronomical science. The most rigorous examination of this
+letter cannot bring to light the least circumstance proving anything for
+or against the accuracy of his first voyage. The diffidence with which
+he commences the matter is, however, a strong indication that he had
+previously written an account of his first voyage to the same Lorenzo de'
+Medici, to whom he addressed this communication."
+
+
+MOST EXCELLENT AND DEAR LORD:
+
+It is a long time since I have written to your excellency, and for
+no other reason than that nothing has occurred to me worthy of being
+commemorated. This present fetter will inform you that about a month ago
+I arrived from the Indies, by the way of the great ocean, brought, by the
+grace of God, safely to this city of Seville. I think your excellency
+will be gratified to learn the result of my voyage, and the most
+surprising things which have been presented to my observation. If I am
+somewhat tedious, let my letter be read in your more idle hours, as fruit
+is eaten after the cloth is removed from the table. Your excellency will
+please to note that, commissioned by his highness the King of Spain, I
+set out with two small ships, on May 18, 1499, on a voyage of discovery
+to the southwest, by way of the great ocean, and steered my course along
+the coast of Africa, until I reached the Fortunate Islands, which are
+now called the Canaries. After having provided ourselves with all things
+necessary, first offering our prayers to God, we set sail from an island
+which is called Gomera, and, turning our prows southwardly, sailed
+twenty-four days with a fresh wind, without seeing any land.
+
+At the end of these twenty-four days we came within sight of land, and
+found that we had sailed about thirteen hundred leagues, and were at that
+distance from the city of Cadiz, in a southwesterly direction. When we
+saw the land we gave thanks to God, and then launched our boats, and,
+with sixteen men, went to the shore, which we found thickly covered with
+trees, astonishing both on account of their size and their verdure, for
+they never lose their foliage. The sweet odor which they exhaled--for
+they are all aromatic--highly delighted us, and we were rejoiced in
+regaling our nostrils.
+
+We rowed along the shore in the boats, to see if we could find any
+suitable place for landing, but, after toiling from morning till night,
+we found no way or passage which we could enter and disembark. We were
+prevented from doing so by the lowness of the land, and by its being so
+densely covered with trees. We concluded, therefore, to return to the
+ships, and make an attempt to land in some other spot.
+
+We observed one remarkable circumstance in these seas.
+
+It was that at fifteen leagues from the land we found the water fresh
+like that of a river, and we filled all our empty casks with it. Having
+returned to our ships, we raised anchor and set sail, turning our prows
+southwardly, as it was my intention to see whether I could sail around a
+point of land which Ptolemy calls the Cape of Cattegara, which is near
+the Great Bay. In my opinion it was not far from it, according to the
+degrees of latitude and longitude, which will be stated hereafter.
+Sailing in a southerly direction along the coast, we saw two large rivers
+issuing from the land, one running from west to east, and being four
+leagues in width, which is sixteen miles; the other ran from south to
+north, and was three leagues wide. I think that these two rivers, by
+reason of their magnitude, caused the freshness of the water in the
+adjoining sea. Seeing that the coast was invariably low, we determined to
+enter one of these rivers with the boats, and ascend it till we either
+found a suitable landing-place or an inhabited village.
+
+Having prepared our boats, and put in provision for four days, with
+twenty men well armed, we entered the river, and rowed nearly two days,
+making a distance of about eighteen leagues. We attempted to land in
+many places by the way, but found the low land still continuing, and so
+thickly covered with trees that a bird could scarcely fly through them.
+While thus navigating the river, we saw very certain indications that the
+inland parts of the country were inhabited; nevertheless, as our vessels
+remained in a dangerous place in case an adverse wind should arise, we
+concluded, at the end of two days, to return.
+
+Here we saw an immense number of birds, of various forms and colors; a
+great number of parrots, and so many varieties of them that it caused us
+great astonishment. Some were crimson-colored, others of variegated green
+and lemon, others entirely green, and others, again, that were black and
+flesh-colored. Oh! the song of other species of birds, also, was so sweet
+and so melodious, as we heard it among the trees, that we often lingered,
+listening to their charming music. The trees, too, were so beautiful and
+smelled so sweetly that we almost imagined ourselves in a terrestrial
+paradise; yet not one of those trees, or the fruit of them, was similar
+to the trees or fruit in our part of the world. On our way back we saw
+many people, of various descriptions, fishing in the river.
+
+Having arrived at our ships, we raised anchor and set sail, still
+continuing in a southerly direction, and standing off to sea about forty
+leagues. While sailing on this course, we encountered a current which ran
+from southeast to northwest; so great was it, and ran so furiously, that
+we were put into great fear, and were exposed to great peril. The current
+was so strong that the Strait of Gibraltar and that of the Faro of
+Messina appeared to us like mere stagnant water in comparison with it. We
+could scarcely make any headway against it, though we had the wind fresh
+and fair. Seeing that we made no progress, or but very little, and the
+danger to which we were exposed, we determined to turn our prows to the
+northwest.
+
+As I know, if I remember right, that your excellency understands
+something of cosmography, I intend to describe to you our progress in our
+navigation, by the latitude and longitude. We sailed so far to the south
+that we entered the torrid zone and penetrated the circle of Cancer. You
+may rest assured that for a few days, while sailing through the torrid
+zone, we saw four shadows of the sun, as the sun appeared in the zenith
+to us at midday. I would say that the sun, being in our meridian, gave us
+no shadow; but this I was enabled many times to demonstrate to all the
+company, and took their testimony of the fact. This I did on account of
+the ignorance of the common people, who do not know that the sun moves
+through its circle of the zodiac. At one time I saw our shadow to the
+south, at another to the north, at another to the west, and at another to
+the east, and sometimes, for an hour or two of the day, we had no shadow
+at all.
+
+We sailed so far south in the torrid zone that we found ourselves under
+the equinoctial line, and had both poles at the edge of the horizon.
+Having passed the line, and sailed six degrees to the south of it, we
+lost sight of the north star altogether, and even the stars of Ursa
+Minor, or, to speak better, the guardians which revolve about the
+firmament, were scarcely seen. Very desirous of being the author who
+should designate the other polar star of the firmament, I lost, many a
+time, my night's sleep while contemplating the movement of the stars
+around the southern pole, in order to ascertain which had the least
+motion, and which might be nearest to the firmament; but I was not able
+to accomplish it with such bad nights as I had, and such instruments as
+I used, which were the quadrant and astrolabe. I could not distinguish a
+star which had less than ten degrees of motion around the firmament; so
+that I was not satisfied within myself to name any particular one for the
+pole of the meridian, on account of the large revolution which they all
+made around the firmament.
+
+While I was arriving at this conclusion as the result of my
+investigations, I recollected a verse of our poet Dante, which may be
+found in the first chapter of his _Purgatory_, where he imagines he
+is leaving this hemisphere to repair to the other, and, attempting to
+describe the antarctic pole, says:
+
+"I turned to the right hand and fixed my mind On the other pole, and saw
+four stars Not seen before, since the time of our first parents: Joyous
+appeared the heavens for their glory. Oh, northern lands are widowed
+Since deprived of such a sight."
+
+It appears to me that the poet wished to describe in these verses, by the
+four stars, the pole of the other firmament, and I have little doubt,
+even now, that what he says may be true. I observed four stars in the
+figure of an almond, which had but little motion, and if God gives me
+life and health I hope to go again into that hemisphere, and not to
+return without observing the pole. In conclusion, I would remark that we
+extended our navigation so far south that our difference of latitude from
+the city of Cadiz was sixty degrees and a half, because, at that city,
+the pole is elevated thirty-five degrees and a half, and we had passed
+six degrees beyond the equinoctial line. Let this suffice as to our
+latitude. You must observe that this our navigation was in the months of
+July, August, and September, when, as you know, the sun is longest above
+the horizon in our hemisphere, and describes the greatest arch in the
+day and the least in the night. On the contrary, while we were at the
+equinoctial line, or near it, within four to six degrees, the difference
+between the day and the night was not perceptible. They were of equal
+length, or very nearly so.
+
+As to the longitude, I would say that I found so much difficulty in
+discovering it that I had to labor very hard to ascertain the distance I
+had made by means of longitude. I found nothing better, at last, than to
+watch the opposition of the planets during the night, and especially that
+of the moon, with the other planets, because the moon is swifter in her
+course than any other of the heavenly bodies. I compared my observations
+with the almanac of Giovanni da Monteregio, which was composed for the
+meridian of the city of Ferrara, verifying them with the calculations in
+the tables of King Alfonso, and, afterward, with the many observations I
+had myself made one night with another.
+
+On August 23, 1499--when the moon was in conjunction with Mars, which,
+according to the almanac, was to take place at midnight, or half an hour
+after--I found that when the moon rose to the horizon, an hour and a half
+after the sun had set, the planet had passed in that part of the east. I
+observed that the moon was about a degree and some minutes farther east
+than Mars, and at midnight she was five degrees and a half farther east,
+a little more or less. So that, making the proportion, if twenty-four
+hours are equal to three hundred and sixty degrees, what are five hours
+and a half equal to? I found the result to be eighty-two degrees and a
+half, which was equal to my longitude from the meridian of the city of
+Cadiz, then giving to every degree sixteen leagues and two-thirds, which
+is five thousand four hundred sixty-six miles and two-thirds. The reason
+why I give sixteen leagues to each degree is because, according to
+Tolomeo and Alfagrano, the earth turns twenty-four thousand miles, which
+is equal to six thousand leagues, which, being divided by three hundred
+sixty degrees, gives to each degree sixteen leagues and two-thirds. This
+calculation I certified many times conjointly with the pilots, and found
+it true and good.
+
+It appears to me, most excellent Lorenzo, that by this voyage most of
+those philosophers are controverted who say that the torrid zone cannot
+be inhabited on account of the great heat. I have found the case to
+be quite the contrary. I have found that the air is fresher and more
+temperate in that region than beyond it, and that the inhabitants are
+also more numerous here than they are in the other zones, for reasons
+which will be given below. Thus it is certain that practice is of more
+value than theory.
+
+Thus far I have related the navigation I accomplished in the south and
+west. It now remains for me to inform you of the appearance of the
+country we discovered, the nature of the inhabitants, and their customs,
+the animals we saw, and of many other things worthy of remembrance which
+fell under my observation. After we turned our course to the north, the
+first land we found to be inhabited was an island at ten degrees distant
+from the equinoctial line. When we arrived at it we saw on the sea-shore
+a great many people, who stood looking at us with astonishment. We
+anchored within about a mile of the land, fitted out the boats, and
+twenty-two men, well armed, made for land. The people, when they saw us
+landing, and perceived that we were different from themselves--because
+they have no beard and wear no clothing of any description, being also of
+a different color, they being brown and we white--began to be afraid of
+us, and all ran into the woods. With great exertion, by means of signs,
+we reassured them and negotiated with them. We found that they were of
+a race called cannibals, the greater part or all of whom live on human
+flesh.
+
+Your excellency may rest assured of this fact. They do not eat one
+another, but, navigating with certain barks which they call 'canoes,'
+they bring their prey from the neighboring islands or countries inhabited
+by those who are enemies or of a different tribe from their own. They
+never eat any women, unless they consider them outcasts. These things we
+verified in many places where we found similar people. We often saw the
+bones and heads of those who had been eaten, and they who had made the
+repast admitted the fact, and said that their enemies always stood in
+much greater fear on that account.
+
+Still they are a people of gentle disposition and beautiful stature. They
+go entirely naked, and the arms which they carry are bows and arrows and
+shields. They are a people of great activity and much courage. They are
+very excellent marksmen. In fine, we held much intercourse with them, and
+they took us to one of their villages, about two leagues inland, and gave
+us our breakfast. They gave whatever was asked of them, though I think
+more through fear than affection; and after having been with them all one
+day, we returned to the ships, still remaining on friendly terms with
+them.
+
+We sailed along the coast of this island, and saw by the seashore another
+large village of the same tribe. We landed in the boats, and found they
+were waiting for us, all loaded with provisions, and they gave us enough
+to make a very good breakfast, according to their ideas of dishes. Seeing
+they were such kind people, and treated us so well, we dared not take
+anything from them, and made sail till we arrived at a gulf which is
+called the Gulf of Paria. We anchored opposite the mouth of a great
+river, which causes the water of this gulf to be fresh, and saw a large
+village close to the sea. We were surprised at the great number of
+people who were seen there. They were without arms, and seemed peaceably
+disposed. We went ashore with the boats, and they received us with great
+friendship, and took us to their houses, where they had made very good
+preparations for breakfast. Here they gave us three sorts of wine to
+drink, not of the juice of the grape, but made of fruits, like beer, and
+they were excellent. Here, also, we ate many fresh acorns, a most royal
+fruit. They gave us many other fruits, all different from ours and of
+very good flavor, the flavor and odor of all being aromatic.
+
+They gave us some small pearls and eleven large ones, and they told us by
+signs that if we would wait some days they would go and fish for them
+and bring us many of them. We did not wish to be detained, so with many
+parrots of various colors, and in good friendship, we parted from them.
+From these people we learned that those of the before-mentioned island
+were cannibals and ate human flesh. We issued from this gulf and sailed
+along the coast, seeing continually great numbers of people, and when we
+were so disposed we treated with them, and they gave us everything we
+asked of them. They all go as naked as they were born, without being
+ashamed. If all were to be related concerning the little shame they have,
+it would be bordering on impropriety; therefore it is better to suppress
+it.
+
+After having sailed about four hundred leagues continually along the
+coast, we concluded that this land was a continent, which might be
+bounded by the eastern parts of Asia, this being the commencement of the
+western part of the continent, because it happened often that we saw
+divers animals, such as lions, stags, goats, wild hogs, rabbits, and
+other land animals which are not found in islands, but only on the
+mainland. Going inland one day with twenty men, we saw a serpent which
+was about twenty-four feet in length, and as large in girth as myself.
+We were very much afraid of it, and the sight of it caused us to return
+immediately to the sea. I oftentimes saw many very ferocious animals and
+serpents.
+
+Thus sailing along the coast, we discovered every day a great number of
+people, speaking various languages. When we had navigated four hundred
+leagues along the coast we began to find people who did not wish for
+our friendship, but stood waiting for us with arms, which were bows and
+arrows, and with some other arms which they use. When we went to the
+shore in our boats, they disputed our landing in such a manner that we
+were obliged to fight with them. At the end of the battle they found that
+they had the worst of it, for, as they were naked, we always made great
+slaughter. Many times not more than sixteen of us fought with two
+thousand of them, and in the end defeated them, killing many and robbing
+their houses.
+
+One day we saw a great many people, all posted in battle array to prevent
+our landing. We fitted out twenty-six men, well armed, and covered the
+boats, on account of the arrows which were shot at us, and which always
+wounded some of us before we landed. After they had hindered us as long
+as they could, we leaped on shore, and fought a hard battle with them.
+The reason why they had so much courage and fought with such great
+exertion against us was that they did not know what kind of a weapon the
+sword was, or how it cuts. While thus engaged in combat, so great was the
+multitude of people who charged upon us, throwing at us such a cloud of
+arrows, that we could not withstand the assault, and, nearly abandoning
+the hope of life, we turned our backs and ran to the boats. While thus
+disheartened and flying, one of our sailors, a Portuguese, a man of
+fifty-five years of age, who had remained to guard the boat, seeing the
+danger we were in, jumped on shore, and with a loud voice called out to
+us, "Children! turn your faces to your enemies, and God will give you
+the victory!" Throwing himself on his knees, he made a prayer, and then
+rushed furiously upon the Indians, and we all joined with him, wounded as
+we were. On that, they turned their backs to us and began to flee, and
+finally we routed them and killed one hundred fifty. We burned their
+houses also, at least one hundred eighty in number. Then, as we were
+badly wounded and weary, we returned to the ships, and went into a harbor
+to recruit, where we stayed twenty days, solely that the physician might
+cure us. All escaped except one, who was wounded in the left breast.
+
+After being cured, we recommenced our navigation, and, through the same
+cause, we often were obliged to fight with a great many people, and
+always had the victory over them. Thus continuing our voyage, we came
+upon an island, fifteen leagues distant from the mainland. As at our
+arrival we saw no collection of people, the island appearing favorably,
+we determined to attempt it, and eleven of us landed. We found a path, in
+which we walked nearly two leagues inland, and came to a village of about
+twelve houses, in which there were only seven women, who were so large
+that there was not one among them who was not a span and a half taller
+than myself. When they saw us, they were very much frightened, and the
+principal one among them, who was certainly a discreet woman, led us by
+signs into a house, and had refreshments prepared for us.
+
+We saw such large women that were about determining to carry off two
+young ones, about fifteen years of age, and make a present of them to
+their king, as they were, without doubt, creatures whose stature was
+above that of common men. While we were debating this subject, thirty-six
+men entered the house where we were drinking; they were of such large
+stature that each one was taller when upon his knees than I when standing
+erect. In fact, they were of the stature of giants in their size and
+in the proportion of their bodies, which corresponded well with their
+height. Each of the women appeared a Pantasilea, and the men Antei. When
+they came in, some of our own number were so frightened that they did not
+consider themselves safe. They had bows and arrows, and very large clubs
+made in the form of swords. Seeing that we were of small stature, they
+began to converse with us, in order to learn who we were and from what
+parts we came. We gave them fair words, for the sake of peace, and said
+that we were going to see the world. Finally, we held it to be our
+wisest course to part from them without questioning in our turn; so
+returned by the same path in which we had come, they accompanying us
+quite to the sea, till we went on board the ships.
+
+Nearly half the trees of this island are dye-wood, as good as that of
+the East. We went from this island to another in the vicinity, at ten
+leagues' distance, and found a very large village, the houses of which
+were built over the sea, like Venice, with much ingenuity. While we were
+struck with admiration at this circumstance, we determined to go and
+see them; and as we went to their houses, they attempted to prevent our
+entering. They found out at last the manner in which the sword cuts, and
+thought it best to let us enter. We found their houses filled with the
+finest cotton, and the beams of their dwellings were made of dye-wood.
+We took a quantity of their cotton and some dye-wood and returned to the
+ships.
+
+Your excellency must know that in all parts where we landed we found a
+great quantity of cotton, and the country filled with cotton-trees, so
+that all the vessels in the world might be loaded in these parts with
+cotton and dye-wood.
+
+At length we sailed three hundred leagues farther along the coast,
+constantly finding savage but brave people, and very often fighting with
+them and vanquishing them. We found seven different languages among them,
+each of which was not understood by those who spoke the others. It is
+said there are not more than seventy-seven languages in the world, but I
+say there are more than a thousand, as there are more than forty which I
+have heard myself.
+
+After having sailed along this coast seven hundred leagues or more,
+besides visiting numerous islands, our ships became greatly sea-worn
+and leaked badly, so that we could hardly keep them free with two pumps
+going. The men also were much fatigued and the provisions growing short.
+We were then, according to the decision of the pilots, within a hundred
+twenty leagues of an island called Hispaniola, discovered by the admiral
+Columbus six years before. We determined to proceed to it, and, as it
+was inhabited by Christians, to repair our ships there, allow the men a
+little repose, and recruit our stock of provisions; because from this
+island to Castile there are three hundred leagues of ocean, without any
+land intervening.
+
+In seven days we arrived at this island, where we stayed two months. Here
+we refitted our ships and obtained our supply of provisions. We afterward
+concluded to go to northern parts, where we discovered more than a
+thousand islands, the greater part of them being inhabited. The people
+were without clothing, timid, and ignorant, and we did whatever we wished
+to do with them. This last portion of our discoveries was very dangerous
+to our navigation, on account of the shoals which we found thereabout.
+In several instances we came near being lost. We sailed in this sea two
+hundred leagues directly north, until our people had become worn down
+with fatigue, through having been already nearly a year at sea. Their
+allowance was only six ounces of bread for eating, and but three small
+measures of water for drinking, per diem. And as the ships became
+dangerous to navigate with much longer, they remonstrated, saying that
+they wished to return to their homes in Castile, and not to tempt fortune
+and the sea any more. Whereupon we concluded to take some prisoners as
+slaves, and, loading the ships with them, to return at once to Spain.
+Going, therefore, to certain islands, we possessed ourselves by force
+of two hundred thirty-two, and steered our course for Castile. In
+sixty-seven days we crossed the ocean and arrived at the islands of
+the Azores, which belong to the King of Portugal and are three hundred
+leagues distant from Cadiz. Here, having taken in our refreshments, we
+sailed for Castile, but the wind was contrary and we were obliged to go
+to the Canary Islands, from there to the island of Madeira, and thence to
+Cadiz.
+
+We were absent thirteen months on this voyage, exposing ourselves to
+awful dangers, and discovering a very large country of Asia and a great
+many islands, the largest part of them inhabited. According to the
+calculations I have several times made with the compass, we have sailed
+about five thousand leagues. To conclude, we passed the equinoctial line
+six and a half degrees to the south, and afterward turned to the north,
+which we penetrated so far that the north star was at an elevation of
+thirty-five degrees and a half above our horizon. To the west we sailed
+eighty-four degrees distant from the meridian of the city and port of
+Cadiz. We discovered immense regions, saw a vast number of people, all
+naked and speaking various languages. On the land we saw numerous wild
+animals, various kinds of birds, and an infinite number of trees, all
+aromatic. We brought home pearls in their growing state, and gold in
+the grain; we brought two stones, one of emerald color and the other of
+amethyst, which was very hard, and at least a half a span long and three
+fingers thick. The sovereigns esteem them most highly, and have preserved
+them among their jewels. We brought also a piece of crystal, which some
+jewellers say is beryl, and, according to what the Indians told us, they
+had a great quantity of the same; we brought fourteen flesh-colored
+pearls, with which the Queen was highly delighted; we brought many other
+stones which appeared beautiful to us, but of all these we did not bring
+a large quantity, as we were continually busied in our navigation, and
+did not tarry long in any place.
+
+When we arrived at Cadiz we sold many slaves, finding two hundred
+remaining to us; the others, completing the number of two hundred
+thirty-two, having died at sea. After deducting the expense of
+transportation, we gained only about five hundred ducats, which, having
+to be divided into fifty-five parts, made each share very small. However,
+we contented ourselves with life, and rendered thanks to God that, during
+the whole voyage, out of fifty-seven Christian men, which was our number,
+only two had died, they having been killed by Indians.
+
+I have had two quartan agues since my return, but I hope, by the favor of
+God, to be well soon, and they do not continue long now, and are without
+chills. I have passed over many things worthy of remembrance, in order
+not to be more tedious than I can help, all which are reserved for the
+pen and in the memory.
+
+They are fitting out three ships for me here, that I may go on a new
+voyage of discovery; and I think they will be ready by the middle of
+September. May it please our Lord to give me health and a good voyage,
+as I hope again to bring very great news and discover the island of
+Trapodana, which is between the Indian Ocean and the Sea of Ganges.
+Afterward I intend to return to my country and seek repose in the days of
+my old age. I have resolved, most excellent Lorenzo, that, as I have thus
+given you an account by letter of what has occurred to me, to send you
+two plans and descriptions of the world, made and arranged by my own hand
+skill. There will be a map on a plane surface, and the other a view of
+the world in spherical form, which I intend to send you by sea, in the
+care of one Francesco Lotti, a Florentine, who is here. I think you will
+be pleased with them, particularly with the globe, as I made one not
+long since for these sovereigns, and they esteem it highly. I could have
+wished to have come with them personally, but my new departure for making
+other discoveries will not allow me that pleasure. There are not wanting
+in your city persons who understand the figure of the world, and who may,
+perhaps, correct something in it. Nevertheless, whatever may be pointed
+out for me to correct, let them wait till I come, as it may be that I
+shall defend myself and prove my accuracy.
+
+I suppose your excellency has learned the news brought by the fleet which
+the King of Portugal sent two years ago to make discoveries on the coast
+of Guinea. I do not call such a voyage as that one of discovery, but only
+a visit to discovered lands; because, as you will see by the map, their
+navigation was continually within sight of land, and they sailed round
+the whole southern part of Africa, which is proceeding by a way spoken of
+by all cosmographical authors. It is true that the navigation has been
+very profitable, which is a matter of great consideration in this
+kingdom, where inordinate covetousness reigns. I understand that they
+passed from the Red Sea and extended their voyage into the Persian Gulf
+to a city called Calicut, situated between the Persian Gulf and the river
+Indus. More lately the King of Portugal has received from sea twelve
+ships very richly laden, and he has sent them again to those parts, where
+they will certainly do a profitable business if they arrive safely.
+
+May our Lord preserve and increase the exalted state of your noble
+excellency as I desire. July 18, 1500.
+
+Your excellency's humble servant, AMERIGO VESPUCCI.
+
+
+
+RISE AND FALL OF THE BORGIAS
+
+A.D. 1502
+
+NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI
+
+
+The commencement of the sixteenth century found Italy suffering from the
+foreign interference of France and Spain. The chief Italian states at
+this period were the kingdom of Naples, the Papal States, the duchy of
+Milan, and the republics of Venice, Florence, and Genoa. Ferdinand V of
+Aragon and Louis XII of France, who had hereditary claims through his
+grandmother Valentina Visconti, had concluded a secret and perfidious
+treaty for the partition of the kingdom of Naples, the effects of which
+Frederick II, the King, vainly sought to avert. They conquered Naples in
+1501, but disagreed over the division of the spoil, and, the French
+army being defeated by the Spanish on the Garigliano in 1503, Spanish
+influence soon after became dominant in Italy.
+
+In the march of the French army on Naples in 1501, the French commander
+had for lieutenant Caesar Borgia, son of Pope Alexander VI, whose career
+furnishes a vivid illustration of the internal conditions of Italy at
+this period. Borgia, who had resigned from the cardinalate conferred on
+him by his father, had been created Duke of Valentinois by the King of
+France, had married the daughter of the King of Navarre, and was invested
+with the duchy of Romagna by his father in 1501.
+
+By force and treachery he reduced the cities of Romagna, which were
+ruled by feudatories of the papal see, and, with the assistance of his
+relations, endeavored to found an independent hereditary power in Central
+Italy.
+
+The contemporaneous account of these events, by the celebrated Niccolo
+Machiavelli, possesses a fascinating interest, which is greatly enhanced
+by the fact that Machiavelli himself was a participant in the events of
+which he writes.
+
+A Florentine by birth, Machiavelli was sent by his fellow-citizens, in
+1502, on a mission to Borgia, who had just returned from a visit to the
+King of France in Lombardy. During Borgia's absence, friends and former
+colleagues, alarmed at his ambition and cruelty, had entered into a
+league with his enemies, and invited the Florentines to join them.
+The Florentines refused, but sent Machiavelli to make professions of
+friendship and offers of assistance to the Duke, and at the same time to
+watch his movements, to discover his real intentions, and endeavor to
+obtain something in return for their friendship. Borgia, who had the
+reputation of being the closest man of his age, had to deal with a
+negotiator who, though young, was a match for him, and the account of the
+mission is very curious; there was deep dissimulation on both sides.
+
+Machiavelli returned to Florence in January, 1503, after three eventful
+months passed in the court and camp of Borgia.
+
+The treatise _The Prince_ has been described as "a display of cool,
+judicious, scientific atrocity on the part of Caesar Borgia (Duke
+Valentino), which seemed rather to belong to a fiend than to the most
+depraved of men. Principles which the most hardened ruffian would
+scarcely hint to his most trusted accomplice, or avow without the
+disguise of some palliating sophism even to his own mind, are professed
+without the slightest circumlocution, and assumed as the fundamental
+axioms of all political science."
+
+On being reproved for the maxims contained in the work, Machiavelli
+replied, "If I taught princes how to tyrannize, I also taught the people
+how to destroy them"; and in these words posterity has vindicated the
+reputation of the talented Italian statesman and author.
+
+Those who from a private station have ascended to the dignity of princes,
+by the favor of fortune alone, meet with few difficulties in their
+progress, but encounter many in maintaining themselves on the throne.
+Obstructed by no impediments during their journey, they soar to a great
+height, but all the difficulties arise after they are quietly seated.
+These princes are chiefly such as acquire their dominions by money or by
+favor. Such were the men whom Darius placed in Greece, in the cities of
+Ionia and of the Hellespont, whom, for their own security and glory, he
+raised to the rank of sovereigns.
+
+Such were the emperors who from a private station arrived at the empire
+by corrupting the soldiery. They sustained their elevation only by the
+pleasure and fortune of those who advanced them, two foundations equally
+uncertain and insecure. They had neither the experience nor the power
+necessary to maintain their position. For, unless men possess superior
+genius or courage, how can they know in what manner to govern others who
+have themselves always been accustomed to a private station? Deficient in
+knowledge, they will be equally destitute of power for want of troops
+on whose attachment and fidelity they can depend. Besides, those states
+which have suddenly risen, like other things in nature of premature and
+rapid growth, do not take sufficient root in the minds of men, but
+they must fall with the first stroke of adversity; unless the princes
+themselves--so unexpectedly exalted--possess such superior talents that
+they can discover at once the means of preserving their good-fortune,
+and afterward maintain it by having recourse to the same measures which
+others had adopted before them.
+
+To adduce instances of supreme power attained by good-fortune and
+superior talent, I may refer to two examples which have happened in our
+own time, viz., Francis Sforza and Caesar Borgia. The former, by lawful
+means and by his great abilities, raised himself from a private station
+to the dukedom of Milan, and maintained with but little difficulty
+what had cost him so much trouble to acquire. Caesar Borgia, Duke of
+Valentinois--commonly called the duke of Valentino--on the other hand,
+attained a sovereignty by the good-fortune of his father, which he lost
+soon after his father's decease; though he exerted his utmost endeavors,
+and employed every means that skill or prudence could suggest, to retain
+those states which he had acquired by the arms and good-fortune of
+another. For, though a good foundation may not have been laid before a
+man arrives at dominion, it may possibly be accomplished afterward by
+a ruler of superior mind; yet this can only be effected with much
+difficulty to the architect and danger to the edifice. If therefore we
+examine the whole conduct of Borgia, we shall see how firm a foundation
+he had laid for future greatness. This examination will not be
+superfluous--for I know no better lesson for the instruction of a prince
+than is afforded by the actions and example of the Duke--for, if the
+measures he adopted did not succeed, it was not his fault, but rather
+owing to the extreme perversity of fortune. Pope Alexander VI, wishing
+to give his son a sovereignty in Italy, had not only present but future
+difficulties to contend with. In the first place, he saw no means of
+making him sovereign of any state independent of the Church; and, if he
+should endeavor to dismember the ecclesiastical state, he knew that the
+Duke of Milan and the Venetians would never consent to it, because Faenza
+and Rimini were already under the protection of the latter; and the
+armies of Italy, from whom he might expect material service, were in the
+hands of those who had the most reason to apprehend the aggrandizement of
+the papal power, such as the Orsini, the Colonni, and their partisans.
+
+It was consequently necessary to dissolve these connections and to throw
+the Italian states into confusion in order to secure the sovereignty of a
+part. This was easy to accomplish. The Venetians, influenced by motives
+of their own, had determined to invite the French into Italy. The Pope
+made no opposition to their design; he even favored it by consenting to
+annul the first marriage of Louis XII, who therefore marched into Italy
+with the aid of the Venetians and the consent of Alexander. He was no
+sooner at Milan than the Pope availed himself of his assistance to
+overrun Romagna, which he acquired by the reputation of his alliance with
+the King of France.
+
+The Duke, having thus acquired Romagna, and weakened the Colonni, wished
+at the same time to preserve and increase his own principality; but there
+were two obstacles in his way. The first arose from his own people, upon
+whom he could not depend, the other from the designs of the French. He
+feared that the Orsini, of whose aid he had availed himself, might fail
+at the critical moment, and not only prevent his further acquisitions,
+but even deprive him of those he had made. And he had reason to apprehend
+the same conduct on the part of France, and was convinced of the trifling
+reliance he could place on the Orsini; for after the reduction of Faenza,
+when he made an attack upon Bologna, they manifested an evident want of
+activity. As to the King, his intentions were easily discerned; for when
+he had conquered the duchy of Urbino, and was about to make an irruption
+into Tuscany, the King obliged him to desist from the enterprise. The
+Duke determined, therefore, neither to depend on fortune nor on the arms
+of another prince. He began by weakening the party of the Orsini and the
+Colonni at Rome, by corrupting all the persons of distinction who adhered
+to them, either by bribes, appointments, or commands suited to their
+respective qualities, so that in a few months a complete revolution was
+effected in their attachment, and they all came over to the Duke.
+
+Having thus humbled the Colonni, he only waited an opportunity for
+destroying the Orsini. It was not long before one offered, of which he
+did not fail to avail himself. The Orsini, perceiving too late that the
+power of the Duke and the Church must be established upon their ruin,
+called a council of their friends at Magione, in Perugia, to concert
+measures of prevention. The consequence of their deliberations was the
+revolt of Urbino, the disturbances of Romagna, and the infinite dangers
+which threatened the Duke on every side, and which he finally surmounted
+by the aid of the French. His affairs once reestablished, he grew weary
+of relying on France and other foreign allies, and he resolved for the
+future to rely alone on artifice and dissimulation--a course in which
+he so well succeeded that the Orsini were reconciled to him through the
+intervention of Signor Paolo, whom he had gained over to his interests
+by all manner of rich presents and friendly offices. And this man, being
+deceived himself, so far prevailed on the credulity of the rest that they
+attended the Duke at an interview at Sinigaglia, where they were all
+put to death. Having thus exterminated the chiefs, and converted their
+partisans into his friends, the Duke laid the solid foundations of his
+power. He made himself master of all Romagna and the duchy of Urbino, and
+gained the affection of the inhabitants--particularly the former--by
+giving them a prospect of the advantages they might hope to enjoy from
+his government. As this latter circumstance is remarkable and worthy of
+imitation, I cannot suffer it to pass unnoticed.
+
+After the Duke had possessed himself of Romagna, he found it had been
+governed by a number of petty princes, more addicted to the spoliation
+than the government of their subjects, and whose political weakness
+rather served to create popular disturbances than to secure the blessings
+of peace. The country was infested with robbers, torn by factions, and a
+prey to all the horrors of civil commotions. He found that, to establish
+tranquillity, order, and obedience, a vigorous government was necessary.
+With this view, he appointed Ramiro d'Orco governor, a cruel but active
+man, to whom he gave the greatest latitude of power. He very soon
+appeased the disturbances, united all parties, and acquired the renown of
+restoring the whole country to peace.
+
+The Duke soon deemed it no longer necessary to continue so rigorous and
+odious a system. He therefore erected in the midst of the province a
+court of civil judicature, with a worthy and upright magistrate to
+preside over it, where every city had its respective advocate. He was
+aware that the severities of Ramiro had excited some hatred against him,
+and resolved to clear himself from all reproach in the minds of the
+people, and to gain their affection by showing them that the cruelties
+which had been committed did not originate with him, but solely in
+the ferocious disposition of his minister. Taking advantage of the
+discontent, he caused Ramiro to be massacred one morning in the
+market-place, and his body exposed upon a gibbet, with a cutlass near it
+stained with blood. The horror of this spectacle satisfied the resentment
+of the people and petrified them at once with terror and astonishment.
+
+The Duke had now delivered himself in a great measure from present
+enemies, and taken effectual means to secure himself by employing against
+them arms of his own, putting it out of the power of his neighbors to
+annoy him. To secure and increase his acquisitions, he had nothing to
+fear from anyone but the French. He well knew that the King of
+France, who had at last perceived his error, would oppose his further
+aggrandizement. He resolved, in the first place, to form new connections
+and alliances, and adopted a system of prevarication with France, as
+plainly appeared when their army was employed in Naples against the
+Spaniards who had laid siege to Gaeta. His design was to fortify himself
+against them, and he would certainly have succeeded if Alexander VI had
+lived a little longer. Such were the methods he took to guard against
+present dangers.
+
+Against those which were more remote--as he had reason to fear that the
+new pope would be inimical to him and seek to deprive him of what had
+been bestowed on him by his predecessor--he designed to have made four
+different provisions: In the first place, by utterly destroying the
+families of all those nobles whom he had deprived of their states, so
+that the future pope might not reestablish them; secondly, by attaching
+to his interests all the gentry of Rome, in order, by their means, to
+control the power of the Pope; thirdly, by securing a majority in the
+college of cardinals; fourthly and lastly, by acquiring so much power,
+during the lifetime of his father, that he might be enabled of himself
+to resist the first attack of the enemy. Three of these designs he had
+effected before the death of Alexander, and had made every necessary
+arrangement for availing himself of the fourth. He had put to death
+almost all the nobles whom he had despoiled, and had gained over all the
+Roman gentry; his party was the strongest in the college of cardinals;
+and, for a further augmentation of his power, he designed to have made
+himself master of Tuscany. He was already master of Perugia and Piombino,
+and had taken Pisa under his protection, of which he soon afterward took
+actual possession. His cautious policy with regard to the French was no
+longer necessary, as they had been driven from the kingdom of Naples
+by the Spaniards, and both of these people were under the necessity of
+courting his friendship. Lucca and Sienna presently submitted to him,
+either from fear or hatred of the Florentines. The latter were then
+unable to defend themselves; and, if this had been the case at the time
+of Alexander's death, the Duke's power and reputation would have been so
+great that he might have sustained his dignity without any dependence on
+fortune or the support of others.
+
+Alexander VI died five years after he had first unsheathed his sword. He
+left his son nothing firmly established but the single state of Romagna.
+All his other conquests were absolutely visionary, as he was not only
+enclosed between two hostile and powerful armies, but was himself
+attacked by a mortal disease. The Duke, however, possessed so much
+ability and courage, was so well acquainted with the arts either of
+gaining or ruining others as it suited his purpose, and so strong were
+the foundations he had laid in that short space of time, that if he had
+either been in health or not distressed by those two hostile armies, he
+would have surmounted every difficulty.
+
+As a proof of the soundness of the foundation he had laid, Romagna
+continued faithful to him and was firm to his interest for above a month
+afterward. Although the Baglioni, the Vitelli, and the Ursini all came
+to Rome at that time, yet--half dead as he was--they feared to attempt
+anything against him. If he could not elect a pope of his own choice,
+he was at least able to prevent the election of one unfriendly to his
+interests. If he had been in health when Alexander died, he would have
+succeeded in all his designs; for he said, the very day that Julius II
+was elected, that he had foreseen every obstacle which could arise on
+the death of his father, and had prepared adequate remedies, but that he
+could not foresee that at the time of his father's death his own life
+would be in such imminent hazard.[1]
+
+Upon a thorough review of the Duke's conduct and actions, I cannot
+reproach him with having omitted any precaution; and I feel that he
+merits being proposed as a model to all who by fortune or foreign arms
+succeed in acquiring sovereignty. For as he had a great spirit and vast
+designs, he could not have acted otherwise in his circumstances; and if
+he miscarried in them, it was solely owing to the sudden death of his
+father, and the illness with which he was himself attacked. Whoever,
+therefore, would secure himself in a new principality against the
+attempts of enemies, and finds it necessary to gain friends; to surmount
+obstacles by force of cunning; to make himself beloved and feared by the
+people, respected and obeyed by the soldiery; to destroy all those who
+can or may oppose his designs; to promulgate new laws in substitution of
+old ones; to be severe, indulgent, magnanimous, and liberal; to disband
+an army on which he cannot rely, and raise another in its stead; to
+preserve the friendship of kings and princes, so that they may be ever
+prompt to oblige and fearful to offend--such a one, I say, cannot have
+a better or more recent model for his imitation than is afforded by the
+conduct of Borgia.
+
+One thing blamable in his actions occurred on the election of Julius II
+to the pontificate. He could not nominate the prelate whom he wished,
+but he had it in his power to exclude anyone whom he disliked. He ought
+therefore never to have consented to the election of one of those
+cardinals whom he had formerly injured, and who might have reason to fear
+him after his election; for mankind injure others from motives either
+of hatred or fear. Among others whom he had injured were St. Peter ad
+Vincula Colonna, St. George, and Ascanius. All the other candidates for
+the pontificate had cause to fear him except the Cardinal of Rouen
+and the Spanish cardinals--the latter were united to him by family
+connections--and the Cardinal d'Amboise, who was too powerfully supported
+by France to have reason to fear him.
+
+The Duke ought by all means to have procured the election of a Spaniard,
+or, in case of failure, should have consented to the proposal of the
+Archbishop of Rouen, but on no account to the nomination of St. Peter ad
+Vincula. It is an error to think that new obligations will extinguish
+the memory of former injuries in the minds of great men. The Duke
+therefore in this election committed a fault which proved the occasion
+of his utter ruin[2].
+
+[Footnote 1: On August 18, 1503, he and his father drank, by mistake, a
+poison which they had presumably prepared for one of their guests. The
+father died, and Borgia's life was for a time in extreme danger.]
+
+[Footnote:2 Within thirteen months he lost all his sovereignties, and was
+imprisoned, but escaped to Spain, where he was killed in the attack on
+Viana in 1507.]
+
+
+
+PAINTING OF THE SISTINE CHAPEL
+
+THE SPLENDOR OF RENAISSANCE ART UNDER MICHELANGELO
+
+A.D. 1508
+
+CHARLES CLEMENT
+
+
+In the history of the Renaissance the revival of art adds a new glory
+to that of letters, and among the masters of that revival there is none
+greater than Michelangelo Buonarroti, sculptor, painter, architect, poet,
+and heroic man. He was descended from an ancient but not distinguished
+Florentine family, and was born at Caprese, Italy, March 6, 1475. In 1488
+he was apprenticed to the painter Ghirlandajo. He studied antique marbles
+in the garden of San Marco, where he was discovered by Lorenzo de'
+Medici, who in 1489 took him into his palace. There the young student
+remained until his patron's death (1492), improving the great
+opportunities presented to him. The Mask of a Faun was sculptured during
+this time.
+
+Before the expulsion of the Medici he went to Bologna, and there executed
+several works. Returning to Florence in 1495, he was called next year
+to Rome, where he lived till 1501, producing works which displayed his
+extraordinary genius, the most important of them being the Pieta di San
+Pietro (1498). Again returning to Florence, he carved his first David
+from an immense block of Carrara marble. In 1505 he was summoned again
+to Rome, by Pope Julius II, to design his tomb, and this work occupied
+Michelangelo, from time to time, throughout the remainder of his life.
+He was forced--probably through the intrigues of Bramante, his rival in
+architecture--to leave Rome, and once more (1506) returned to Florence.
+In the intervals between all these dates he produced many of his
+masterpieces.
+
+From this period the historian follows Michelangelo through an important
+stage of his active career, showing how "the hand that rounded Peter's
+dome," and created so many other of the greatest works of art, toiled
+on with patient heroism, in spite of hinderances almost incredible. The
+painting of the Sistine Chapel, upon which his fame so largely rests, is
+here described in language that reveals the manhood no less clearly than
+the artistic genius of Michelangelo.
+
+In 1508 Michelangelo returned to Rome and resumed his labors on the
+mausoleum. He had soon again to abandon them. Bramante had persuaded the
+Pope that it was unlucky to have his tomb erected, but advised him to
+employ Michelangelo in painting the chapel built by his uncle Sixtus IV.
+It was, in effect, in the beginning of this year that he commenced this
+gigantic decoration, which was destined to be his most splendid work.
+We shall see the resistance he first opposed to Julius' desire, and the
+ardor with which he undertook and the rapidity with which he accomplished
+the work, once he made up his mind to accept it; but first, since, at the
+period we have come to, most of the statues which now adorn the tomb of
+Julius II at San Pietro in Vinculo, and those more numerous that belonged
+to the original project, but which have been dispersed, were blocked out
+or finished, I wish to give, in order not to return to the subject, a
+general idea of this monument, to show what, from reduction to reduction,
+the original design has become, and what annoyances it occasioned its
+author.
+
+The original magnificent design remained unmodified until 1513; but on
+Julius' death, his testamentary executors, the Cardinals Santiquatro and
+Aginense and the Duke of Urbino, reduced to six the number of statues
+that were to form the decoration, and reduced from ten thousand to six
+thousand ducats the sum to be employed on it.
+
+From 1513 to 1521 Leo X, who cared less to complete his predecessor's
+monument than to endow his native city, Florence, with the works of the
+great artist, employed Michelangelo almost exclusively in building the
+facade and sacristy of San Lorenzo. During the short, austere pontificate
+of Adrian VI, Michelangelo again devoted himself to the sculptures of the
+monument, but under Clement VII he had again to abandon them in order
+to execute in Florence the projects of Leo X, which the new Pope had
+adopted. Toward 1531 the Duke of Urbino at last obtained permission for
+Michelangelo to suspend the works at San Lorenzo in order to finish the
+tomb so long since begun. Nevertheless it does not appear that he was
+allowed much time to devote to it. At last, on the death of Clement
+VII, he thought he had regained his liberty, and could, after such long
+involuntary delay, fulfil his engagements; but hardly was Paul III
+installed than he sent for him, gave him the most cordial reception, and
+begged him to consecrate his talents to his service. Michelangelo replied
+that it was impossible; he was bound by treaty to terminate the mausoleum
+of Julius II Paul flew into a rage and said: "Thirty years have I desired
+this, and now that I am pope I am not to be allowed to satisfy it! I
+shall tear up this contract. I mean that you shall obey me." The Duke of
+Urbino loudly complained, openly accusing Michelangelo of want of good
+faith.
+
+The sculptor, not knowing which way to turn, besought the Pope to allow
+him to complete the work he was pledged to. He formed the wildest
+projects in order to escape the amicable compulsion of Paul, among others
+that of retiring to Carrara, where he had passed some tranquil years
+among the mountains of marble. The Pontiff, to put an end to all these
+discussions, issued a brief, dated September 18, 1537, wherein he
+declared Michelangelo, his heirs and successors, released from all
+obligations resulting from the different contracts entered into on the
+subject of the monument. This fashion of terminating things could not
+satisfy the Duke of Urbino nor relieve Michelangelo. The negotiations
+were again resumed, and it ended in their agreement that the monument
+should be raised in the form in which we now see it in the Church of
+San Pietro in Vinculo, and should be composed of the statue of
+"Moses" executed entirely by the hand of Michelangelo; of two figures
+personifying "Active Life" and "Contemplative Life," which were already
+much advanced, but were to be finished by Rafaello de Monte Lupo; of two
+other statues by this master--a "Madonna," after a model by Michelangelo,
+and the figure of "Julius," by Maso del Bosco.
+
+Such is the very abridged history of this monument, which was not
+entirely completed till 1550, after having caused for nearly half a
+century real torment to Buonarroti. The Duke of Urbino was not satisfied,
+neither was Michelangelo. The figures, originally intended to form part
+of a colossal whole under the great roof of St. Peter's, appear too large
+for the place they now occupy. The importance of the statue of "Moses"
+misleads the mind, suggesting the idea that the monument itself is raised
+to the memory of the Hebrew legislator, rather than to that of the
+warrior-pope. At all events, in this statue is centred the principal, we
+may say the unique, interest of the tomb. This prodigious work must be in
+the memory of all. Amid the masterpieces of ancient and modern sculpture
+the "Moses" remains ever unparalleled, a type, not irreproachable, but
+the most striking, of a new art. I do not speak of the consummate science
+which Michelangelo displays in the modelling of this statue; the Greeks
+were learned in another fashion, but were so equally with him. Whence
+comes it, nevertheless, that in spite of _bizarreries_ needless to defend
+or to deny, and although this austere figure is far from attaining or
+pretending to the serene and tranquil beauty which the ancients regarded
+as the supreme term of art, whence is it that it produces upon the most
+prejudiced mind an irresistible impression? It is that it is more than
+human, that it lifts the soul into a world of feelings and ideas of which
+the ancients knew less than we do. Their voluptuous art, in deifying
+the human form, held down thought to earth. The "Moses" of Michelangelo
+beheld God, heard that voice of thunder, and bears the terrible impress
+of what he saw and heard on Mount Sinai: his profound eye is scrutinizing
+the mysteries he vaguely sees in his prophetic dreams. Is it the Moses of
+the Bible? I cannot say. Is it in this way Praxiteles and Phidias
+would have represented Lycurgus and Solon? We may deny it boldly. The
+legislators in their hands would have been the embodiment of law; they
+would have represented an abstraction in a form whose harmonious beauty
+nothing could alter. Moses is not merely the legislator of a people. Not
+thought alone dwells beneath this powerful brow; he feels, he suffers,
+he lives in a moral world which Jehovah has opened to him, and, although
+above humanity, is a man.
+
+On his return to Rome in 1508, Michelangelo had found Julius II not
+cooled toward him, but preoccupied by new projects. The Pope made no
+allusion to his monument, and was absorbed in the reconstruction of St.
+Peter's, which he had confided to Bramante. Raphael was beginning at the
+same time the frescoes of the Stanza della Segnatura; and two biographers
+of Michelangelo, whose testimony, it is true, on this point may be
+suspected, agree in saying that the architect of St. Peter's, jealous
+of the superiority of the Florentine sculptor, fearing lest he should
+discover the mistakes committed in his recent constructions, and the
+malversations of which perhaps he was not innocent, advised the Pope to
+confide to him the painting of the ceiling of the chapel built by Sixtus
+IV, hoping to compromise and ruin him by engaging him in works of which
+he had no experience.
+
+Julius adopted the idea, sent for Michelangelo, and ordered him to begin
+forthwith. Buonarroti had had no practice in fresco-painting since his
+student days under Ghirlandajo. He knew that the painting of a ceiling
+was not an easy matter. He pleaded every excuse, proposed that the
+commission should be given to Raphael, saying that for his part, being
+but a sculptor, he could not succeed. The Pope was inflexible, and
+Michelangelo began the ceiling on May 10, 1508, the most prodigious
+monument perhaps that ever sprang from the human mind.
+
+Julius had ordered Bramante to construct the necessary scaffoldings,
+but the latter did it in so inefficient a manner that Michelangelo
+was obliged to dispense with his assistance, and construct the whole
+machinery himself. He had sent for some of his fellow-students from
+Florence, not, as Vasari, by some strange aberration, states, because
+he was ignorant of fresco-painting, since all the artists of the time
+understood it, and the pupil of Ghirlandajo had himself practised it, but
+because his fellow-students had had more experience in it, and he
+wished to be helped in a work of this importance. He was, however, so
+dissatisfied with their work that he effaced all that they did, and,
+without any assistance, if we are to believe his biographer, even
+grinding his own colors, he shut himself up in the chapel, beginning
+at dawn, quitting at nightfall, often sleeping in his clothes on the
+scaffolding, allowing himself but a slight repast at the end of the day,
+and letting no one see the works he had begun.
+
+Hardly had he set to work when unforeseen difficulties presented
+themselves, which were on the point of making him relinquish the whole
+thing. The colors, while still fresh, were covered with a mist, the cause
+of which he was unable to discover. Utterly discouraged, he went to the
+Pope and said: "I forewarned your holiness that painting was not my art;
+all I have done is lost, and, if you do not believe me, order someone to
+come and see it." Julius sent San Gallo, who saw that the accident was
+caused by the quality of the time, and that Michelangelo had made his
+plaster too wet. Buonarroti, after this, proceeded with the utmost ardor,
+and in the space of twenty months, without further accident, finished the
+first half.
+
+The mystery with which Michelangelo surrounded himself keenly excited
+public curiosity. In spite of the painter's objection, Julius frequently
+visited him in the chapel, and notwithstanding his great age ascended the
+ladder, Michelangelo extending a hand that he might with safety reach the
+platform. He grew impatient; he was eager that all Rome should share
+his admiration. It was in vain that Michelangelo objected that all the
+machinery would have to be reconstructed, that half the ceiling was
+not completed; the Pope would listen to nothing, and the chapel was
+accordingly opened to the public on the morning of November 1, 1509.
+Julius was the first to arrive before the dust occasioned by the taking
+down of the scaffolding was laid, and celebrated mass there the same day.
+
+The success was immense. Bramante, seeing that his evil intentions, far
+from succeeding, had only served to add to the glory of Michelangelo, who
+had come triumphant out of the trap he had laid for him, besought
+the Pope to permit Raphael to paint the other half of the chapel.
+Notwithstanding the affection he bore his architect, Julius adhered to
+his resolution, and Michelangelo resumed, after a brief interruption, the
+painting of the ceiling; but rumors of these cabals reached him. They
+troubled him, and he complained to the Pope of Bramante's conduct. It
+is probable that the coolness which always existed between Raphael and
+Michelangelo dates from this period.
+
+The second part of the ceiling, by much the most considerable, was
+finished in 1512. It is difficult to explain how Vasari, confusing the
+dates, and appearing to apply to the whole what referred only to the
+first part, could have stated that this immense work was completed in
+the space of twenty months. If anything could astonish, it is that
+Michelangelo was able in four years to accomplish so gigantic a work. It
+is needless, for the purpose of exciting our admiration, to endeavor to
+persuade us that it was done in a space of time materially insufficient.
+
+Such was the impatience of Julius that again he nearly quarrelled with
+Michelangelo. The latter, requiring to go to Florence on business, went
+to the Pope for money. "When do you mean to finish my chapel?" said the
+Pope. "As soon as I can," answered Michelangelo. "'As soon as I can! as
+soon as I can!'" replied the irascible Pontiff; "I'll have you flung off
+your scaffoldings;" and he touched him with his stick. Michelangelo went
+home, set his affairs in order, and was on the point of leaving, when the
+Pope sent him his favorite Accursio with his apology and five hundred
+ducats.
+
+This time, again, Michelangelo was unable to finish his work as
+completely as he would have wished. He desired to retouch certain
+portions; but, seeing the inconvenience of reerecting the scaffoldings,
+he determined to do nothing more, saying that what was wanting to his
+figures was not of importance. "You should put a little gold on them,"
+said the Pope; "my chapel will look very poor." "The people I have
+painted there," answered Michelangelo, "were poor." Accordingly nothing
+was changed.
+
+These paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine transcend all description.
+How give an idea of these countless sublime figures to those who have not
+trembled and turned pale in this awful temple? The immense superiority of
+Michelangelo is manifest in this chapel itself, where are paintings of
+Ghirlandajo, of Signorelli, which pale near those of the Florentine as
+the light of a lamp does in the light of the sun. Raphael painted about
+the same time, and under the influence of what he had seen in the
+Sistine, his admirable "Sibyls of the Pace"; but compare them! He also no
+doubt attained in some of his works--the "St. Paul" of the cartoon, the
+"Vision of Ezekiel," the "Virgin" of the Dresden Museum--the summit of
+sublime art; but that which is the exception with Sanzio is the rule with
+the great Buonarroti. Michelangelo lived in a superhuman world, and his
+daring, unexpected conceptions are so beyond and outside the habitual
+thoughts of men that they repel by their very elevation, and are far from
+fascinating all minds as do the wonderful and charming creations of the
+painter of Urbino.
+
+It is necessary, however, to combat the widespread opinion that
+Michelangelo understood only the extreme feelings, and could express
+these only by violent and exaggerated movements. All agree that his
+figures possess the highest qualities of art--invention, sublimity of
+style, breadth and science in the drawing, appropriateness and fitness of
+color, and this character, so striking in the ceiling of the Sistine that
+it is not of the painter that the paintings make you think, that looking
+at it you say to yourself, "This tragic heaven must have come thus all
+peopled with its gigantic forms"; and it is by an effort of the mind only
+we are brought to think of the creator of this sublime work. But it is
+denied that he understood grace, young and innocent beauty, the forms
+which express the tender and delicate feelings, those which the divine
+pencil of Raphael so admirably represented. I own that he took little
+heed of the pleasurable aspect of things; his austere genius was at ease
+only in grave thoughts; but I do not agree that he was always a stranger
+to gentle beauty, to feminine beauty in particular. I shall not cite
+the "Virgin" of the London Academy, nor in another order the admirable
+"Captive" of the Louvre Museum; but, without quitting the Sistine, could
+we dream of anything more marvellously beautiful than his "Adam" awaking
+for the first time to light? or more chaste, more graceful, more touching
+than his young "Eve" leaning toward her Creator, and breathing in through
+her half-opened lips the divine breath that is giving her life?
+
+What is the meaning of this terrible work? What means this long evolution
+of human destiny? Why did these two beings that we see beautiful and
+happy in the beginning, why did they people the earth with this ardent,
+restless, at once gigantic and powerless race? Ah! Greece would have made
+this ceiling an Olympus, inhabited by happy and divine men! Michelangelo
+put there great unhappy beings, and this painful poem of humanity
+is truer than the wondrous fictions of ancient poetry and art.
+"Michelangelo," says Condivi, "especially admired Dante. He also devoted
+himself earnestly to the reading of the Scriptures and the writings of
+Savonarola, for whom he had always great affection, having preserved in
+his mind the memory of his powerful voice." Besides, the country of the
+great Florentine, the glorious Italy of the Renaissance, was in a state
+of dissolution. Such studies, such reminiscences, such and so sad
+realities, may explain the visions that passed through the mind of the
+great artist during the four years of almost complete solitude he passed
+in the Sistine. The precise meaning of these compositions will probably
+never be known, but so long as men exist they will, as is the object of
+art, attract minds toward the dim world of the ideal.
+
+The year that followed the opening of the Sistine, and which preceded the
+death of Julius, appears, as do the first two of Leo X's pontificate, to
+have been the happiest and calmest of Michelangelo's life. The old Pope
+loved him, "showing him," says Condivi, "attentions he showed no other
+of those who approached him." He honored his probity, and even that
+independence of character of which he himself had more than once had
+experience; Michelangelo, on his side, forgave him his frequent outbursts
+of impetuosity, that were ever atoned for by prompt and complete
+acknowledgment.
+
+Michelangelo's sight, greatly enfeebled by this persistent work of four
+years, compelled him to take almost absolute repose. "The necessity he
+was under," says Vasari, "during this period of work of keeping his eyes
+turned upward, had so weakened his sight that for several months after he
+could not look at a drawing nor read a letter without raising it above
+his head." He enjoyed an uncontested glory in this interval of semirepose
+which followed his great effort. It is probable that his thoughts were
+now concentrated upon the sepulchral monument of his patron, the works
+for which he had been forced to postpone. But Leo X had other views. He
+was all-powerful in Florence, where, by the aid of Julius and the League
+of Cambray, he had reinstated his family in 1512; he now wished to endow
+his native city with monuments which, by recalling to the vanquished
+citizens of this glorious republic the magnificence of their early
+patrons, might help them to forget the institutions they had lost for
+the second time. The Church of San Lorenzo, built by Brunelleschi, where
+several members of his family were buried, had not been completed; he now
+determined to have the facade constructed. Several artists, among others
+San Gallo, the two Sanzovino, and Raphael, sent in plans for this
+important work, but Michelangelo's was preferred, and in 1515 he went to
+Carrara to order the necessary marbles.
+
+Leo did not leave him there long in quiet. Being informed that at
+Serrayezza, in the highest part of the mountains of Pietra Santa on
+the Florentine territory, there was marble equal in quality to that of
+Carrara, he ordered Michelangelo to go to Pietra Santa and work these
+quarries. In vain the latter pointed out the enormous expense of opening
+them, of cutting roads through the mountains, and making the marshes
+passable, besides the inferior quality of the marble. Leo would not
+listen. Michelangelo set out, made the roads, raised the marbles,
+remained from 1516 to 1521 in this desert, and the four years he passed
+there, in the full force of his age and genius, resulted in the transport
+of five columns, four of which remained on the seashore, and the fifth of
+which lies still useless and buried among the rubbish of the piazza of
+San Lorenzo.
+
+Without meaning to contest the debt which the arts owe Leo X, there are
+certain reservations that we must make on this score. A man of letters,
+of amiable manners, astute, somewhat of a mischief-maker, ever
+fluctuating between France and the Emperor, ever on the watch to provide
+for his family, and, to redeem these defects, having neither heroism nor
+the undoubted though mistaken love that Julius II bore to Italy, his
+political career cannot, I think, be defended. He had the merit of being
+the patron of Raphael, whose facile, flexible character pleased him, and
+who, thanks to his protection, marked every instant of his short life by
+some _chef d'oeuvre._ It must not be forgotten that it was by the most
+extravagant largesses, by making a traffic of everything, that he
+encouraged the pleiad of artists who shed such glory upon his name. His
+obstinacy in employing Michelangelo for so many years, in spite of his
+reluctance and entreaties, on a work which his own fickleness and the war
+in Lombardy ought to have made him abandon, has, there can be no doubt,
+deprived us of some admirable works. But for it Michelangelo would have
+finished the tomb of Julius II, and we should now possess a gigantic
+monument that would, no doubt, have rivalled the grandest works of
+ancient statuary.
+
+A few words of Condivi's show the grief and discouragement which the
+capriciousness of Leo, and the inutility of the work the master was
+employed on, caused Michelangelo. "On his return to Florence he found
+Leo's ardor entirely cooled. He continued a long time weighed down by
+grief, unable to do anything, having hitherto, to his great displeasure,
+been driven from one project to another." It was, however, about this
+period (1520) that Leo ordered the tombs of his brother Giuliano and his
+nephew Lorenzo, for the sacristy of the Church of San Lorenzo, which were
+not executed till ten years later; also plans for the library for the
+reception of the valuable manuscripts collected from Cosmo and Lorenzo
+the Magnificent, and which had been dispersed during the troubles of
+1494. He was at Florence when the Academy of Santa Maria Novella, of
+which he was a member, proposed to have transported from Ravenna to
+Florence the ashes of Dante, and addressed the noble supplication to the
+Pope which has been preserved by Gore, signed by the most illustrious
+names of the time, and among others that of Michelangelo, with this
+addition: "I, Michelangelo, sculptor, also beseech your holiness, and
+offer myself to execute a suitable monument for the divine poet in some
+fitting part of the city." Leo did not receive this project favorably,
+and it was abandoned.
+
+The statue "The Christ on the Cross," that had been ordered by Antonio
+Matelli, and which is now in the Church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva,
+was, it is probable, executed during Michelangelo's rare visits to Rome
+under Leo's pontificate. His discouragement had become such that he had
+it finished and put up, at the end of 1521, by a Florentine sculptor of
+the name of Federigo Frizzi. The statue of "Christ," one of the most
+finished, and displaying most knowledge, that issued from the hands of
+Michelangelo, is far, to my mind, from equalling other works of the
+great sculptor. Yet it was the rapidly acquired celebrity of the
+work terminated by Federigo Frizzi that decided Francis I on sending
+Primaticio to Italy, commissioning him to make a cast of the "Christ" of
+the Minerva, and to ask Michelangelo to execute a statue for him; also to
+deliver to him the flattering letter preserved in the valuable collection
+at Lille.
+
+Leo X died on December 1, 1521, a year after Raphael. His successor, the
+humble and austere Adrian VI, knew nothing about pictures, except those
+of Van Eyck and Albert Duerer. His simple manners formed a striking
+contrast to the ostentatious habits of Leo. During his pontificate, all
+the great works were stopped at Rome and slackened at Florence. While
+Michelangelo was obscurely working at the library of San Lorenzo, the
+great age of art was drawing to its close; Raphael and Leonardo were
+dead, and their pupils were already hurrying on to a rapid decadence.
+
+Characters were beginning to decline at the same time that talent did,
+and Michelangelo, who, as it were, opened this grand era, was destined to
+survive alone, like those lofty summits that first receive the morning
+light, and which are still lit up while all around has grown obscure and
+night is already profound.
+
+
+
+BALBOA DISCOVERS THE PACIFIC
+
+A.D. 1513
+
+MANUEL JOSE QUINTANA
+
+
+Vasco Nunez de Balboa, the Spanish soldier and discoverer of the Pacific
+Ocean, was born in 1475, and died near Darien, the scene of his principal
+achievement, probably in 1517. Unfairly charged with conspiracy, after
+rendering great services to his country, he was beheaded just as he was
+completing preparations to explore the "South Sea," as he named the ocean
+which he had discovered.
+
+He first went to Darien from Espanola (Haiti) in 1510, promoted a
+settlement, and was made its alcalde. In 1512 Pasamonte, king's treasurer
+at Santo Domingo, commissioned him as governor. Balboa undertook many
+explorations, and was usually on friendly terms with the Indians, who
+told him of a great sea lying to the south, and of a country (Peru) rich
+in gold, far down the coast. He set out from Darien September 1, 1513,
+to discover the great sea and the country of which he thus heard. He had
+conquered the Indian king Careta, whose friendship he gained and whose
+daughter he married. He went by sea to his father-in-law's territory, and
+taking with him some of the King's Indians he moved into the territory of
+the cacique Ponca, an enemy of Careta.
+
+Quintana, whose account follows, is the favorite historian of this
+expedition. His _Lives of Celebrated Spaniards_ is regarded as one of the
+classics of Spanish prose literature.
+
+Ponca, not daring to await the coming of the allies, took refuge in the
+mountains, abandoning his land to the ravage and ruin prepared for it by
+the Indians and Spaniards. Balboa, however, did not pursue his success
+further at present; leaving to the future the conquest, or, as he termed
+it, the "pacification" of the interior, he returned to the coast, where
+it was more for the advantage, security, and subsistence of the colony to
+have his friends or his vassals stationed.
+
+Careta had for a neighbor a cacique called by some Comogre, by others
+Panquiaco, chief of about ten thousand Indians, among whom were three
+thousand warriors. Having heard of the valor and enterprise of the
+Castilians, this chief desired to enter into treaty and friendship with
+them; and a principal Indian, a dependent of Careta, having presented
+himself as the agent in this friendly overture, Vasco Nunez, anxious
+to profit by the opportunity of securing such an ally, went with his
+followers to visit Comogre. No sooner was the cacique apprised of this
+visit than he sailed forth at the head of his principal vassals, and his
+seven sons, all still youths and the offspring of different wives, to
+receive the Spaniards. Great was the courtesy and kindness with which he
+treated his guests, who were lodged in different houses in the town, and
+provided with victuals in abundance, and with men and women to serve
+them. What chiefly attracted their attention was the habitation of
+Comogre, which, according to the memorials of the time, was an edifice of
+a hundred and fifty paces in length and fourscore in breadth, built on
+thick posts, surrounded by a lofty stone wall, and on the roof an attic
+story, of beautifully and skilfully interwoven wood. It was divided into
+several compartments, and contained its markets, its shops, and its
+pantheon for the dead; for it was in the corpses of the cacique's
+ancestors that the Spaniards first beheld these ghastly remains, dried
+and arranged as above described.
+
+The honors of the hospitality were confided to the eldest son of Comogre,
+a youth of more sagacity and intelligence than his brothers; he one day
+presented to Vasco Nunez and to Colmenares, whom, from their manner and
+appearance, he recognized as chiefs of the party, sixty slaves, and four
+thousand pieces of gold of different weight. They immediately melted the
+gold, and, having separated a fifth for the King, began to divide it
+among themselves; this division begat a dispute that gave occasion to
+threats and violence, which being observed by the Indian, he suddenly
+overthrew the scales in which they were weighing the precious metal,
+exclaiming: "Why quarrel for such a trifle? If such is your thirst for
+gold that for its sake you forsake your own country and come to trouble
+those of strangers, I will show you a province where you may gather by
+the handful the object of your desire; but to succeed, you ought to be
+more numerous than you are, as you will have to contend with powerful
+kings, who will vigorously defend their dominions. You will first find a
+cacique who is very rich in gold, who resides at the distance of six suns
+from hence; soon you will behold the sea, which lies to that part,"
+and he pointed toward the south; "there you will meet with people who
+navigate in barks with sails and oars, not much less than your own, and
+who are so rich that they eat and drink from vessels made of the metal
+which ye so much covet."
+
+These celebrated words, preserved in all the records of the times, and
+repeated by all historians, were the first indications the Spaniards
+had of Peru. They were much excited on hearing them, and endeavored
+to extract from the youth further information of the country he had
+mentioned; he insisted on the necessity of having at least a thousand
+men, to give them a chance of success in its subjugation, offered to
+serve them himself as their guide, to aid them with his father's men, and
+to put his life in pledge for the veracity of his words.
+
+Balboa was transported by the prospect of glory and fortune which opened
+before him; he believed himself already at the gates of the East Indies,
+which was the desired object of the government and the discoverers of
+that period; he resolved to return in the first place to the Darien to
+raise the spirits of his companions with these brilliant hopes, and
+to make all possible preparations for realizing them. He remained,
+nevertheless, yet a few days with the caciques; and so strict was the
+friendship he had contracted with them that they and their families were
+baptized, Careta taking in baptism the name of Fernando, and Comogre that
+of Carlos. Balboa then returned to the Darien, rich in the spoils of
+Ponca, rich in the presents of his friends, and still richer in the
+golden hopes which the future offered him.
+
+At this time, and after an absence of six months, arrived the magistrate
+Valdivia, with a vessel laden with different stores; he brought likewise
+great promises of abundant aid in provisions and men. The succors,
+however, which Valdivia brought were speedily consumed; their seed,
+destroyed in the ground by storms and floods, promised them no resource
+whatever; and they returned to their usual necessitous state. Balboa then
+consented to their extending their incursions to more distant lands, as
+they had already wasted and ruined the immediate environs of Antigua,
+and he sent Valdivia to Spain to apprise the admiral of the clew he
+had gained to the South Sea, and the reported wealth of those regions.
+Valdivia took with him fifteen thousand pieces of gold, which belonged
+to the King as his fifth, and a charge to petition for the thousand men
+which were necessary to the expedition, and to prevent the adventurers
+being compelled to exterminate the tribes and caciques of the Indians,
+for otherwise, being so few in number, they would be driven, to avoid
+their own destruction, to the slaughter of all who would not submit
+themselves. This commission, however, together with the rich presents in
+gold sent by the chiefs of the Darien to their friends, and Valdivia,
+with all his crew, were no doubt swallowed by the sea, as no trace of
+them was ever afterward discovered.
+
+To the departure of Valdivia succeeded immediately the expedition to the
+gulf and the examination of the lands situated at its inner extremity.
+There lay the dominions of Dabaibe, of whose riches prodigious reports
+were spread, especially of an idol and a temple represented to be made
+entirely of gold. There Cemaco, and the Indians who followed him, had
+taken refuge, and had never lost either the wish or the hope of driving
+away the invading horde who had usurped their country.
+
+Balboa marched against them by land with sixty men, and Colmenares went
+by water with as many more to take the enemy by surprise. The former did
+not find Cemaco; but Colmenares was more fortunate, for he surprised the
+savages in Tichiri. He commanded the general to be shot with arrows in
+his presence, and sentenced the lords to be hanged. And so terrified were
+the Indians by this example that they never durst in future elevate their
+thoughts to independence.
+
+It was now deliberated to send new deputies to Spain to acquaint the King
+with the state of the colony, and on the road to touch at Espanola to
+entreat for necessary aid in case Valdivia might have perished on the
+voyage, which event had no doubt taken place. It is said that Balboa
+required this commission for himself, either ambitious of gaining favor
+at court or apprehensive that the colony at Darien might inflict upon him
+punishment due to usurpation; but his companions would not consent to his
+quitting them, alleging that, in losing him, they should feel deserted
+and without a guide or governor; he only was respected, and followed
+willingly by the soldiers; and he only was feared by the Indians. They
+suspected that, if they permitted of his departure, he would never
+return to share those labors and troubles which were from time to time
+accumulating upon them, as had already happened with others. They elected
+Juan de Caicedo, the inspector, who had belonged to the armament of
+Nicuesa, and Rodrigo Enriquez de Colmenares, both men of weight and
+expert in negotiation and held in general esteem. They believed that
+these would execute their charge satisfactorily, and that both would
+return, because Caicedo would leave his wife behind him; and Colmenares
+had realized much property, and a farm in the Darien, pledges of
+confidence in and adhesion to the country. It being thus impossible
+for Balboa to proceed to Spain, in protection of his own interests
+he manoeuvred for gaining at least the good graces of the treasurer,
+Pasamonte; and probably it was on this occasion that he sent him the rich
+present of slaves, pieces of gold, and other valuable articles, of which
+the licentiate Zuazo speaks in his letter to the Senor de Chieves. At the
+same time the new procurators took with them the fifth which belonged to
+the King, together with a donative made him by the colony; and, happier
+than their predecessors, they left the Darien in the end of October, and
+reached Spain the end of May in the year following.
+
+Soon after this departure, a slight disturbance happened, which, though
+at first it threatened to destroy the authority of Vasco Nunez, served in
+fact to strengthen it. Under pretence that Bartolome Hurtado abused the
+particular favor of the Governor, Alonzo Perez de la Rua, and other
+unquiet spirits, raised a seditious tumult; their object was to seize
+ten thousand pieces which yet remained entire, and divide them at their
+pleasure. After some contests, in which there were many arrests and a
+great display of animosity, the malcontents plotted to surprise Vasco
+Nunez and throw him into prison. He knew it, and quitted the town as
+if going to the chase, foreseeing that, when these turbulent men had
+obtained possession of the authority and the gold, they would so abuse
+the one and the other that all the rational part of the community would
+be in haste to recall him. And thus it was; masters of the treasure,
+Rua and his friends showed so little decency in the partition that the
+principal colonists, ashamed and disgusted, perceiving the immense
+distance that existed between Vasco Nunez and these people, seized the
+heads of the sedition, secured them, and called back Balboa, whose
+authority and government they were anxious again to recognize.
+
+In the interim, two vessels, laden with provisions and carrying two
+hundred men, one hundred fifty of whom were soldiers commanded by
+Cristoval Serrano, arrived from Santo Domingo. They were all sent by the
+admiral, and Balboa received from the treasurer Pasamonte the title of
+governor of that land; that functionary conceiving himself authorized to
+confer such a power, and having become as favorable as he had formerly
+been the reverse. Exulting in his title and his opportune success,
+and secure of the obedience of his people, Vasco Nunez liberated his
+prisoners, and resolved to sally forth into the environs and to occupy
+his men in expeditions and discoveries; but, while engaged in making his
+preparations, he received, to embitter his satisfaction, a letter from
+his friend Zamudio, informing him of the indignation which the charges of
+Encisco, and the first information of the treasurer, had kindled against
+him at court. Instead of his services being appreciated, he was accused
+as a usurper and intruder; he was made responsible for the injuries and
+prejudices of which his accuser loudly complained; and the founder and
+pacificator of the Darien was to be prosecuted for the criminal charges
+brought against him.
+
+This alloy, however, instead of subduing his spirit, animated him to new
+daring and impelled him to higher enterprises. Should he permit another
+to profit by his toils, to discover the South Sea, and to ravish from him
+the wealth and glory which were almost within his grasp? He did,
+indeed, still want the thousand men who were necessary to the projected
+expedition, but his enterprise, his experience, and his constancy
+impelled him to undertake it even without them. He would, by so signal
+a service, blot out the crime of his primary usurpation, and, if death
+should overtake him in the midst of his exertions, he should die
+laboring for the prosperity and glory of his country, and free from the
+persecution which threatened him. Full of these thoughts and resolved on
+following them, he discoursed with and animated his companions, selected
+one hundred ninety of the best armed and disposed, and, with a thousand
+Indians of labor, a few bloodhounds, and sufficient provisions, he set
+sail in a brigantine with ten canoes.
+
+He ascended first to the port and territory of Careta, where he was
+received with demonstrations of regard and welcome suitable to his
+relations with that cacique, and, leaving his squadron there, took his
+way by the sierras toward the dominion of Ponca. That chief had fled,
+as at the first time, but Vasco Nunez, who had adopted the policy most
+convenient to him, desired to bring him to an amicable agreement, and, to
+that end, despatched after him some Indians of peace, who advised him
+to return to his capital and to fear nothing from the Spaniards. He was
+persuaded, and met with a kind reception; he presented some gold, and
+received in return some glass beads and other toys and trifles. The
+Spanish captains then solicited guides and men of labor for his journey
+over the sierras, which the cacique bestowed willingly, adding provisions
+in great abundance, and they parted friends.
+
+His passage into the domain of Quarequa was less pacific; whose chief,
+Torecha, jealous of this invasion and terrified by the events which had
+occurred to his neighbors, was disposed and prepared to receive the
+Castilians with a warlike aspect. A swarm of ferocious Indians, armed in
+their usual manner, rushed into the road and began a wordy attack upon
+the strangers, asking them what brought them there, what they sought
+for, and threatening him with perdition if they advanced. The Spaniards,
+reckless of their bravadoes, proceeded, nevertheless, and then the chief
+placed himself in front of his tribe, dressed in a cotton mantle and
+followed by the principal lords, and, with more intrepidity than fortune,
+gave the signal for combat. The Indians commenced the assault with loud
+cries and great impetuosity, but, soon terrified by the explosions of the
+crossbows and muskets, they were easily destroyed or put to flight by the
+men and bloodhounds who rushed upon them. The chief and six hundred men
+were left dead on the spot, and the Spaniards, having smoothed away
+that obstacle, entered the town, which they spoiled of all the gold and
+valuables it possessed. Here also they found a brother of the cacique and
+other Indians, who were dedicated to the abominations before glanced at;
+fifty of these wretches were torn to pieces by the dogs, and not without
+the consent and approbation of the Indians. The district was, by these
+examples, rendered so pacific and so submissive that Balboa left all his
+sick there, dismissed the guides given him by Ponca, and, taking fresh
+ones, pursued his road over the heights.
+
+The tongue of land which divides the two Americas is not, at its utmost
+width, above eighteen leagues, and in some parts becomes narrowed a
+little more than seven. And, although from the port of Careta to the
+point toward which the course of the Spaniards was directed was only
+altogether six days' journey, yet they consumed upon it twenty; nor is
+this extraordinary. The great cordillera of sierras which from north to
+south crosses the new continent, a bulwark against the impetuous assaults
+of the Pacific Ocean, crosses also the Isthmus of Darien, or, as may be
+more properly said, composes it wholly, from the wrecks of the rocky
+summits which have been detached from the adjacent lands; and the
+discoverers, therefore, were obliged to open their way through
+difficulties and dangers, which men of iron alone could have fronted and
+overcome. Sometimes they had to penetrate through thick entangled woods,
+sometimes to cross lakes, where men and burdens perished miserably; then
+a rugged hill presented itself before them; and next, perhaps, a deep and
+yawning precipice to descend; while, at every step, they were opposed by
+deep and rapid rivers, passable only by means of frail barks, or slight
+and trembling bridges; from time to time they had to make their way
+through opposing Indians, who, though always conquered, were always to be
+dreaded; and, above all, came the failure of provisions--which formed
+an aggregate, with toil, anxiety, and danger, such as was sufficient to
+break down bodily strength and depress the mind.
+
+At length the Quarequanos, who served as guides, showed them, at
+a distance, the height from whose summit the desired sea might be
+discovered. Balboa immediately commanded his squadron to halt, and
+proceeded alone to the top of the mountain; on reaching it he cast an
+anxious glance southward, and the Austral Ocean broke upon his sight[1].
+
+Overcome with joy and wonder, he fell on his knees, extending his arms
+toward the sea, and with tears of delight offered thanks to heaven for
+having destined him to this mighty discovery. He immediately made a sign
+to his companions to ascend, and, pointing to the magnificent spectacle
+extended before them, again prostrated himself in fervent thanksgiving
+to God. The rest followed his example, while the astonished Indians were
+extremely puzzled to understand so sudden and general an effusion of
+wonder and gladness. Hannibal on the summit of the Alps, pointing out to
+his soldiers the delicious plains of Italy, did not appear, according
+to the ingenious comparison of a contemporary writer, either more
+transported or more arrogant than the Spanish chief when, risen from the
+ground, he recovered the speech of which sudden joy had deprived him,
+and thus addressed his Castilians: "You behold before you, friends, the
+object of all our desires and the reward of all our labors. Before you
+roll the waves of the sea which has been announced to you, and which no
+doubt encloses the immense riches we have heard of. You are the first who
+have reached these shores and these waves; yours are their treasures,
+yours alone the glory of reducing these immense and unknown regions to
+the dominion of our King and to the light of the true religion. Follow
+me, then, faithful as hitherto, and I promise you that the world shall
+not hold your equals in wealth and glory."
+
+All embraced him joyfully and all promised to follow whithersoever he
+should lead. They quickly cut down a great tree, and, stripping it of its
+branches, formed a cross from it, which they fixed in a heap of stones
+found on the spot from whence they first descried the sea. The names of
+the monarchs of Castile were engraven on the trunks of the trees, and
+with shouts and acclamations they descended the sierra and entered the
+plain.
+
+They arrived at some bohios, which formed the population of a chief,
+called Chiapes, who had prepared to defend the pass with arms. The noise
+of the muskets and the ferocity of the war-dogs dispersed them in a
+moment, and they fled, leaving many captives; by these and by their
+Quarequano guides, the Spaniards sent to offer Chiapes secure peace
+and friendship if he would come to them, or otherwise the ruin and
+extermination of his town and his fields. Persuaded by them, the cacique
+came and placed himself in the hands of Balboa, who treated him with much
+kindness. He brought and distributed gold and received in exchange beads
+and toys, with which he was so diverted that he no longer thought of
+anything but contenting and conciliating the strangers. There Vasco Nunez
+sent away the Quarequanos, and ordered that the sick, who had been left
+in their land, should come and join him. In the mean while he sent
+Francisco Pizarro, Juan de Ezcarag, and Alonzo Martin to reconnoitre the
+environs and to discover the shortest roads by which the sea might be
+reached. It was the last of these who arrived first at the coast, and,
+entering a canoe which chanced to lie there, and pushing it into the
+waves, let it float a little while, and, after pleasing himself with
+having been the first Spaniard who entered the South Sea, returned to
+seek Balboa.
+
+Balboa with twenty-six men descended to the sea, and arrived at the
+coast early in the evening of the 29th of that month; they all seated
+themselves on the shore and awaited the tide, which was at that time on
+the ebb. At length it returned in its violence to cover the spot where
+they were; then Balboa, in complete armor, lifting his sword in one hand,
+and in the other a banner on which was painted an image of the Virgin
+Mary with the arms of Castile at her feet, raised it, and began to march
+into the midst of the waves, which reached above his knees, saying in a
+loud voice: "Long live the high and mighty sovereigns of Castile! Thus in
+their names do I take possession of these seas and regions; and if any
+other prince, whether Christian or infidel, pretends any right to them, I
+am ready and resolved to oppose him, and to assert the just claims of my
+sovereigns."
+
+The whole band replied with acclamations to the vow of their captain,
+and expressed themselves determined to defend, even to death, their
+acquisition against all the potentates in the world; they caused this act
+to be confirmed in writing, by the notary of the expedition, Andres de
+Valderrabano; the anchorage in which it was solemnized was called the
+Gulf of San Miguel, the event happening on that day.
+
+[Footnote 1: Balboa had his first view of the Pacific from this "peak in
+Darien" September 25th.]
+
+
+
+CHRONOLOGY OF UNIVERSAL HISTORY
+
+EMBRACING THE PERIOD COVERED IN THIS VOLUME
+
+A.D. 1438-1516
+
+JOHN RUDD, LL.D. A.D. 1438-1516
+
+
+Events treated at length are here indicated in large type; the numerals
+following give volume and page.
+
+Separate chronologies of the various nations, and of the careers of
+famous persons, will be found in the INDEX VOLUME, with volume and page
+references showing where the several events are fully treated.
+
+
+A.D.
+
+1438. Gutenberg commences printing with movable type[1]. See "ORIGIN AND
+PROGRESS OF PRINTING," viii, i.
+
+All Europe ravaged by the plague; it is aggravated in England and France
+by a direful famine.
+
+1439. Death of Albert II; Ladislaus III, King of Poland, ascends the
+Hungarian throne.
+
+Pope Eugenius removes his council from Ferrara to Florence; here is
+signed a treaty for the ostensible union of the Latin and Greek churches.
+
+A standing army voted by the States-General of France.
+
+1440. Frederick III elected Emperor of Germany.
+
+"JOHN HUNYADY REPULSES THE TURKS." See viii, 30.
+
+1441. Hadji Kerai separates from the Golden Horde; he establishes the
+independent khanate of Crim Tartary, or the Crimea.
+
+1442. Alfonso V of Aragon takes the city of Naples; the whole kingdom
+submits to him; his rival, Rene of Anjou, returns to Provence.
+
+First modern importation of negro slaves into Europe. See "DISCOVERY OF
+THE CANARY ISLANDS AND THE AFRICAN COAST," viii, 276.
+
+1443. Rising of the Albanians, under Scanderbeg, against the Turks.
+
+1444. Battle of Varna; defeat of the Hungarians by the Turks and death
+of Ladislaus III, King of Poland and Hungary. John Hunyady assumes the
+government in Hungary during the minority of Ladislaus Posthumus.
+
+On the request of Frederick IV of Germany the Dauphin employs a part of
+the French army against Switzerland; battle of St. Jacob's; for ten hours
+1,600 Swiss resist 30,000 veterans; the Swiss perish; 10,000 of the
+victors are slain.
+
+1445. Corinth destroyed by the Turks.
+
+1447. Election of Pope Nicholas V, founder of the Vatican Library. See
+"REBUILDING OF ROME," viii, 46.
+
+Grammar-schools founded in London, England.
+
+1448. Amurath II, or Murad, defeats Hunyady at Cassova.
+
+1449. War between France and England renewed; Normandy conquered by the
+French; Rouen is surrendered.
+
+1450. Rebellion of Jack Cade in England. He was slain and his head stuck
+on London bridge.
+
+Milan surrenders to Francesco Sforza (Stormer, _i. e._, of cities),
+the natural son of a peasant who became a great _condottiere_. He is
+proclaimed duke.
+
+1451. Guienne conquered by the French from the English. Ghent revolts
+against Philip, Duke of Burgundy.
+
+1453. End of the Eastern empire. See "MAHOMET II TAKES CONSTANTINOPLE,"
+viii, 55.
+
+Submission of Ghent to the Duke of Burgundy after its forces had been
+defeated at Gaveren.
+
+Battle of Castillon; defeat of the English; loss of all the English
+conquests in France, except Calais; end of the Hundred Years' War.
+
+Emperor Frederick III creates Austria a duchy.
+
+1454. Mental aberration of Henry VI of England; the Duke of York
+protector.
+
+Publication of the first-known printing with movable type. See "ORIGIN
+AND PROGRESS OF PRINTING," viii, i.
+
+Venice by a treaty with Turkey secures trade privileges in Greece.
+
+1455. Beginning of the contest for the crown of England. See "WARS OF THE
+ROSES," viii, 72.
+
+1456. Battle of Belgrade; victory of Hunyady over the Turks. Athens
+conquered by the Turks.
+
+1457. Church of the Unitas Fratrum organized in Bohemia. Francis Foscaro,
+being deposed as doge of Venice after a reign of thirty-four years, dies
+of grief on hearing the bells rung to celebrate the election of his
+successor.
+
+At Mainz is published the Book of Psalms, the earliest work printed with
+its date.
+
+1458. Pope Pius II acknowledges Ferdinand I as King of Naples, strives
+to restore peace, and unite all powers in resistance to the Turkish
+aggressions.
+
+Genoa submits to the King of France, Charles VII.
+
+Election of Matthias, son of Hunyady, as King of Hungary.
+
+George Podibrad, leader of the church-reform party, chosen King of
+Bohemia. 1459. Silesia submits to Podibrad, King of Bohemia.
+
+1460. James II of Scotland takes up arms against the English; he is
+killed, by the bursting of a cannon, at the siege of Roxburgh castle; his
+son, James III, succeeds.
+
+Christian I of Denmark inherits Schleswig and Holstein.
+
+Discovery of the Cape Verd Islands by the Portuguese; they penetrate to
+the coast of Guinea.
+
+1461. Death of Charles VII of France; his son, Louis XI, involves himself
+in a contest with his leading nobles.
+
+Prince Henry of Portugal, just prior to his death, sends Peter Covilham
+and Alfonso Paiva, overland, to explore India.
+
+Trebizond, the last Greek capital, surrenders to the Ottoman Turks.
+
+1462. Accession of Ivan III, Grand Prince of Moscow. See "IVAN THE GREAT
+UNITES RUSSIA AND BREAKS THE TARTAR YOKE," viii, 109.
+
+1463. War between Venetians and Turks in Greece.
+
+Conference between the kings of France and Castile; the artful policy of
+Louis XI prolongs discord in Spain.
+
+1464. Queen Margaret invades England; her adherents are defeated at
+Hexham. See "WARS OF THE ROSES," viii, 72.
+
+Pope Pius II attempts the organization of a crusade against the Turks; he
+dies at Ancona; Paul II elected.
+
+Sforza, Duke of Milan, makes himself master of Milan.
+
+1465. Henry VI of England is imprisoned in the Tower of London.
+
+War between the League of the Public Good and Louis XI of France; treaty
+of Conflans; the King makes many promises, few of which he performs.
+
+King Matthias invites learned men from Italy to Hungary; he founds the
+University and Library of Budapest.
+
+Athens captured and pillaged by the Venetians, under Victor Capello.
+
+1466. Worn out by constant warfare the Teutonic Knights, by the treaty
+of Thorn, cede West Prussia to Casimir IV of Poland; they retain East
+Prussia as a fief of Poland.
+
+1467. Charles the Bold succeeds to the Duchy of Burgundy.
+
+A crusade against George Podibrad, King of Bohemia, proclaimed by Pope
+Paul II.
+
+1468. Visit of Louis XI to Charles the Bold at Peronne. See "CULMINATION
+OF THE POWER OF BURGUNDY," viii, 125.
+
+Founding of the Library of Venice.
+
+Ivan III repels an invasion of the Golden Horde and prepares the
+independence of Russia.
+
+1469. Marriage of Princess Isabella of Castile to Ferdinand of Aragon.
+
+Beginning of the reign of Lorenzo de' Medici in Florence. See "LORENZO
+DE' MEDICI RULES IN FLORENCE," viii, 134.
+
+About this time Peter Covilham (see 1461), his companion having died in
+India, penetrates into Abyssinia and is there detained. 1470. Restoration
+of Henry VI, by Earl Warwick, to the throne of England.
+
+Siege and capture of Negropont (Euboea) by the Turks; massacre of the
+inhabitants.
+
+Pomponius Laetus collects a society to study the antiquities of Rome; he
+is imprisoned and persecuted for his unguarded enthusiasm.
+
+1471. Edward IV reenters England; defeat of the Lancastrians at Barnet;
+Warwick--the King Maker--slain. See "WARS OF THE ROSES," viii, 72.
+
+Translation by Caxton of _Recueil des Histoires des Troyes_. See "ORIGIN
+AND PROGRESS OF PRINTING" (also plate), viii, 24.
+
+1472. Normandy ravaged by Charles the Bold.
+
+Philippe de Comines, the chronicler, enters into the service of Louis XI.
+
+1473. Resumption of the commotions in France; the Count of Armagnac
+assassinated; the Duke of Alencon arrested.
+
+1474. Ferdinand and Isabella commence their joint reign in Castile.
+Caxton publishes his first book, _The Game and Playe of the Chesse_.
+
+1475. Emperor Frederick IV refuses to give Charles, Duke of Burgundy, the
+title of king; war ensues; Charles conquers Lorraine.
+
+1476. Switzerland unsuccessfully invaded by the Duke of Burgundy.
+Assassination of Sforza, Duke of Milan; his son Gian Galeazzo Maria
+succeeds, under the regency of his mother, Bona.
+
+Sten Sture, Protector of Sweden, founds the University of Upsal; he
+checks the nobility and priesthood by summoning deputies of the towns and
+peasantry to attend the national Diet.
+
+1477. Maximilian, son of Emperor Frederick III, marries Mary of Burgundy.
+
+Italy invaded by the Turks; they advance to within sight of Venice.
+
+Publication of the first book printed in England, Caxton's _Dictes or
+Sayengis of the Philosophers_.
+
+Rene of Lorraine and his Swiss mercenaries overwhelm Charles the Bold at
+Nancy; he is slain.
+
+Burgundy is seized by Louis XI. See "DEATH OF CHARLES THE BOLD," viii,
+155.
+
+Grant of the Great Privilege of Holland and Zealand, by Mary, Duchess of
+Burgundy. The _Groot Privilegie_ was a recapitulation and recognition of
+ancient rights. Although afterward violated, and indeed abolished, it
+became the foundation of the republic.
+
+1478. Condemnation and death of the Duke of Clarence. He is said to have
+chosen to die by being drowned in a butt of Malmsey, a wine of which he
+had been inordinately fond.
+
+Conspiracy of the Pazzi, a powerful family of Florence, against the
+Medici; most of the conspirators massacred by the people; the others
+judicially punished.
+
+Sultan Mahomet II, of the Ottoman Empire, completes the subjugation of
+Albania.
+
+Novgorod taken by Ivan III, of Russia, who puts an end to its republic.
+
+1479. Battle of Guinegate; Maximilian defeats the French. Ferdinand the
+Catholic succeeds to the throne in Aragon; union of Castile and Aragon.
+
+1480. Founding of the Holy Office of the Inquisition in Spain, by
+Cardinal Mendozas. See "INQUISITION ESTABLISHED IN SPAIN," viii, 166.
+
+1481. Maine and Provence united to France.
+
+Battle of Bielawesch; the Nogay Tartars crush the Golden Horde and secure
+the independence of Russia.
+
+1482. Death of Mary of Burgundy; her infant son, Philip, succeeds to the
+sovereignty of the Netherlands.
+
+Ferdinand and Isabella begin a war for the conquest of Granada.
+
+1483. Usurpation of Richard III; murder of the princes. See "MURDER OF
+THE PRINCES IN THE TOWER," viii, 192.
+
+Death of Louis XI; Charles VII, his son, succeeds to the French throne.
+
+Renewal of the Union of Kalmar; Sweden and Norway acknowledge John I, but
+Sweden retains Sten Stur as Protector.
+
+Birth of Rabelais and Luther.
+
+1485. Landing of the Earl of Richmond in England; Battle of Bosworth;
+Richard III is slain; end of the Wars of the Roses and of the Plantagenet
+dynasty; Henry VII (Richmond) inaugurates the Tudor dynasty. See "WARS OF
+THE ROSES," viii, 72.
+
+Matthias of Hungary captures Vienna; Emperor Frederick III expelled from
+his hereditary dominions.
+
+1486. Excited to revolt by the severities of the Inquisition, the
+Aragonese put to death the chief inquisitor, Pedro Arbues.
+
+Unconscious doubling of the southern extremity of Africa by Bartholomew
+Diaz; he gives it the name of Cabo Tormentoso (Cape Stormy), afterward
+called the Cape of Good Hope. See "THE SEA ROUTE TO INDIA," viii, 299.
+
+1488. Battle of Sauchie Burn; James III of Scotland defeated and slain by
+his rebellious nobles.
+
+Citizens of Bruges capture and imprison, for four months, Maximilian,
+King of the Romans.
+
+1489. Bartholomew, brother of Christopher Columbus, tries to arouse
+maritime enterprise in England.
+
+1490. Ferdinand and Isabella conquer Granada. See "CONQUEST OF GRANADA,"
+viii, 202.
+
+Death of Matthias Corvinus; Ladislaus II, King of Bohemia, is elected
+king of the Hungarians.
+
+1491. Charles VIII of France sends back to her father his affianced
+bride, Margaret; compels Anne of Brittany to break her engagement to
+Maximilian and marries her himself, thus uniting Brittany and France.
+
+1492. Imposture of Perkin Warbeck in England. See "CONSPIRACY, REBELLION,
+AND EXECUTION OF PERKIN WARBECK," viii, 250. Expulsion of Jews from the
+Spanish dominions; this great exodus, hundreds of thousands in all, of
+a commercial hard-working race caused enormous injury to the land so
+depopulated.
+
+Columbus discovers the Bahamas, Cuba, and Haiti. See "COLUMBUS DISCOVERS
+AMERICA," viii, 224.
+
+1493. Death of Emperor Frederick IV; his son, Maximilian succeeds, the
+first to take the title Emperor of Germany without being crowned at Rome.
+
+Leaving a garrison in Espanola, Columbus returns to Spain. He starts on
+his second voyage; discovers Porto Rico.
+
+A papal bull grants to Spain the new world discovered by Columbus, and
+defines the rights of Spain and Portugal.
+
+1494. A treaty, that of Tordesillas, partitions the ocean between Spain
+and Portugal.
+
+Formation of the Christian Commonwealth at Florence. See "SAVONAROLA'S
+REFORMS AND DEATH," viii, 265.
+
+Sir Edward Poynings, Governor of Ireland, induces the parliament of that
+country to pass the act bearing his name, which gives full power to all
+the laws of England.
+
+1495. Conquest of Naples by Charles VIII of France; he retreats to
+France. Ferdinand II is restored to the throne of Naples.
+
+Maximilian establishes the Imperial Chamber.
+
+Extinction of the right of private warfare in Germany.
+
+1496. Encouraged by the success of Columbus, Henry VII of England sends
+out John Cabot and his son, Sebastian, on a voyage of discovery.
+
+Emanuel of Portugal fits out an expedition under Vasco da Gama to explore
+the eastern seas.
+
+1497. "DISCOVERY OF THE MAINLAND OF NORTH AMERICA BY THE CABOTS." See
+viii, 282.
+
+Sten Sture offends the Swedish nobility, is defeated and stripped of his
+protectorate by John II, who enforces the Union of Kalmar; he is crowned
+at Stockholm.
+
+Pinzon and Vespucci discover Central America.
+
+1498. Vasco da Gama rounds the Cape of Good Hope and reaches India. See
+"THE SEA ROUTE TO INDIA," viii, 299.
+
+Columbus makes his third voyage across the Western Ocean; he discovers
+South America; is arrested and returned to Spain in irons. See "COLUMBUS
+DISCOVERS SOUTH AMERICA," viii, 323.
+
+Arrest and execution of Savonarola at Florence. See "SAVONAROLA'S REFORMS
+AND DEATH," viii, 265.
+
+1499. Conquest of the duchy of Milan by the French. Unsuccessful war of
+Maximilian against the Swiss. See "ESTABLISHMENT OF Swiss INDEPENDENCE,"
+viii, 336.
+
+Venezuela reached by Ojeda and Vespucci. See "AMERIGO VESPUCCI IN
+AMERICA," viii, 346.
+
+In Persia the Shiah sect of Mahometans gain the ascendency which they
+have since retained. 1500. Voyage to and exploration of Labrador and
+Newfoundland by Caspar Cortereal, a Portuguese navigator.
+
+Brazil discovered by Pedro Alvarez Cabral, or Cabera; he takes possession
+of the country for the King of Portugal.
+
+1501. Emperor Maximilian creates the Aulic Council, a court of appeal on
+decisions by other German courts.
+
+Joint conquest and partition of Naples by Ferdinand of Aragon and Louis
+XII of France.
+
+Sten Sture regains ascendency in Sweden.
+
+Caesar Borgia makes himself master of Pesaro, Rimini, and Faenza; he is
+guilty of numerous atrocities.
+
+1502. Columbus on his fourth and last voyage reaches the isthmus of
+Panama.
+
+Caesar Borgia fails in his evil course. See "RISE AND FALL OF THE
+BORGIAS," viii, 360.
+
+Montezuma elected to the military leadership of the Aztecs.
+
+In Naples the French and Spanish quarrel and commence hostilities.
+
+1503. Marriage of James IV of Scotland with Margaret Tudor, daughter of
+Henry VII of England; this brought the Stuarts to the throne of England.
+
+Battle of Cerignola and Garigliano; the Spaniards defeat the French and
+become masters of Naples.
+
+Death of Sten Sture; the Swedish people support Svante Sture in
+opposition to the crown, the nobility, and priesthood.
+
+1504. Death of Isabella, Queen of Spain; the throne of Castile passes to
+her daughter, Joanna, and the latter's husband, Philip.
+
+Jealous of the new Indian trade of the Portuguese, the Venetians incite
+the mamelukes of Egypt and the sovereign of Calicut to begin hostilities
+against them.
+
+Citizens of Naples resist by violence the introduction of the
+Inquisition.
+
+Suppression of the Lordship of the Isles by James IV of Scotland.
+
+1505. Death of Ivan the Great; he is succeeded on the Russian throne by
+his son, Basil (Vasili IV).
+
+1506. Expulsion by the Genoese of their nobles and the French.
+
+Madagascar discovered by the Portuguese.
+
+Building of the Great Harry, the first ship of the royal navy of England.
+
+Beginning of the erection of St. Peter's, at Rome, by Bramante d'Urbino;
+Pope Julius II lays the first stone.
+
+1507. Louis XII goes to crush the revolt in Genoa; he succeeds.
+
+1508. Michelangelo begins the decoration of the Sistine chapel. See
+"PAINTING OF THE SISTINE CHAPEL," viii, 369.
+
+1509. Death of Henry VII; his son, Henry VIII, succeeds to the English
+throne; he marries Catherine of Aragon.
+
+Campaign of Cardinal Ximenes in Africa; Oran taken by the Spaniards.
+
+Diego Columbus, son of the discoverer, made governor of Spanish America,
+which is first settled this year.
+
+Subjugation of Porto Rico by Ponce de Leon; he later becomes governor of
+that island.
+
+1510. Occupation of Goa by the Portuguese under Albuquerque, Governor of
+the Indies.
+
+1511. Subjugation of Cuba by the Spaniards under Velasquez.
+
+Malacca taken by the Portuguese; it becomes the centre of their trade in
+the East.
+
+1512. War declared against France by Henry VIII of England.
+
+Battle of Ravenna; victory of the French; their general, Gaston de
+Foix, falls on the field; the revolted cities of Italy submit. Lombardy
+evacuated by the French; restoration of the Sforza dynasty, and of the
+Medici in Florence.
+
+1513. From the Isthmus of Panama Balboa discovers the Pacific Ocean. See
+"BALBOA DISCOVERS THE PACIFIC," viii, 381.
+
+Invasion of France by Henry VIII; defeat of the French at Guinegate,
+"Battle of the Spurs"; Terouanne and Tournai taken by the English.
+
+Battle of Flodden Field; the Scots, under James IV, having invaded
+England, are overwhelmed and their king slain.
+
+Expulsion of the French from Italy.
+
+Juan Ponce de Leon lands in Florida, in his search for the "Fountain of
+Eternal Youth."
+
+1514. Peace concluded with France and Scotland by Henry VIII of England.
+
+Smolensko renounces its subjection to Poland and becomes part of Russia.
+
+Ambassadors from Portugal present to Pope Leo X an elephant, a panther,
+with other animals and products of their new territories in the East.
+
+1515. Wolsey created cardinal, papal legate, and lord chancellor.
+
+Invasion of Italy by Francis I, who this year succeeded Louis XII as King
+of France; he recovers Genoa and Milan.
+
+1516. Death of Ferdinand the Catholic; Charles, his eldest grandson,
+succeeds to the throne of Spain.
+
+Publication of the Greek Testament, with a Latin translation, by Erasmus.
+
+Conclusion of the treaty of "Perpetual Peace" between France and
+Switzerland.
+
+Rise of the piratical power of the Barbarossas in Algiers.
+
+[Footnote:1 Date uncertain.]
+
+
+END OF VOLUME VIII
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Great Events by Famous Historians,
+Vol. 8, by Editor-in-Chief: Rossiter Johnson
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